GTTC: lemon-mint ice cream (and the 10K!)

For this week's Garden to Table Challenge, I decided to make use of the mint that is growing prolifically but obediently within its bounds in the sunken pot in the garden.  This lemon mint ice cream is made with a lemon and muddled mint syrup, which is poured into the ice cream freezer along with the lemon zest infused custard base.  It was a really different flavor with a refreshing and light creamy taste.  I love making ice cream, though mine is usually a soft serve.  You're technically supposed to let the ice cream harden for several hours after running it through the ice cream maker/freezer - which I never do.  Really now.  Who can wait?!

Want to join us in the weekly Garden to Table Challenge?  See here for the details.  Random periodic prizes will be awarded.  This week, a starter pack of Asian vegetable seeds goes to Lindalou from Our Mush Push.  She's always doing something interesting, fun, or creative.  Check her out!  Lindalou - e-mail me with your address when you get a chance...

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If you followed my run recaps, you know I started the year off strong making a sustained, consistent effort.  Then, almost all at once, I fell fully off the wagon.  I talked my friend into doing a race with me in December but I backed out at the last minute.  I would have backed out of this too, but I really couldn't do this to my friend, especially after talking her into doing it (and the other one!) in the first place!  The 10K race was today and I accomplished my goal of 1) finishing the race, 2) finishing on the road as opposed to the sidewalk where they make you move if you're going too slow, 3) not getting picked up by the straggler van, and 4) not being one of the 10 slowest people.  In other words, I was just trying not to humiliate myself.  I was not only not one of the 10 slowest, but when I finished, there was still a sea of people behind me!  I've been refreshing the results page of the race site and the times are still not posted.  But as one of the many inspiring t-shirt messages I ran behind said, "Finishing is Winning"!

Edited to add:  not that there's anything wrong with being one of the last 10...

week 12 run recap - fat (asparagus, that is)

I never tire of these gorgeous magnolias. Could a bloom period be any shorter though?!


Race is approaching and my running is decreasing. Not smart. These posts, which I have set to post automatically for "accountability" every week for the rest of this year are actually really annoying me. I deleted all my posts scheduled to post after the race to spare you and me. This week, I ran twice. Didn't time it. I'm finding the whole thing getting old.

But here's an instance when getting old is good! In this photo (in which my daughter looks really horrendous for some reason), I found the fattest spear of purple asparagus yet - proof that patience is really a virtue for asparagus growers. My small asparagus bed was planted about...7 years ago I think?

week 11 run recap - no running, lots of excuses

Truth be told, I did no running this week. BUT! I did stay active with many gardening tasks to make up for the mileage. Plus, I plan to get back to it this week. As usual, the confidence was going to my head as I started improving my pace and so I started slacking. Not good since the 10K is just over a month away... Anyway, this week, I:

• Raked all the sweet gum seedpods from the slope and the back yard.
• Removed about 70% of the onion grass from the slope and vegetable garden beds.
• Pulled all the dandelions and shotweed from the perennial beds, garden beds, lawn, and vegetable garden.
• Repaired the four stone raised veggie beds.
• Put up a wire fence around half my yard to keep the dog out.
• Amended a few of the veggie beds with Bumper Crop.
• Planted some annuals (yellow viola and pink ranunculus) in the big planter on the front porch.
• Started seeds indoors and set up the grow lights, potted the baby lemon tree I bought.
• Planted some purchased plants in the garden (rhubarb, cauliflower, spinach)
• Sowed some beets, carrots, lettuce, cukes, dill
• Did general clean up of all the perennials and herbs - everything wintered over!
• Pulled all the carrots
• Pulled ivy off the fence.

OK. Really, I thought I was going to do a half-assed excuse job here, but after listing all this, I did a LOT! All that, and I had time to play some bocce ball with my 7 year old. Spring (or at least spring-weather!) is so fantastic.

Above: rhubarb and Meyer lemon tree.

week 10 run recap - Chestnut Lodge

This week was a bit of a crappy running week - about 3 miles on Wednesday but my usual 6.2 miles on Saturday. I'm plateauing on the pace.

Above: This is where the circa 1886 main building of Chestnut Lodge Hospital used to stand before it burned to the ground a few years ago. The old and historic psychiatric hospital, where I worked for 5 years, had some past. Geez - the crazy stories I could tell from just my time there would be completely overshadowed by the other sordid tales if walls could talk (which I guess these couldn't since there are no walls left). Arson is likely responsible and conveniently paved the way for the new development of expansive homes on minuscule lots. I dare say I find the whole thing sick.

Anyway, one of my 3 mile routes takes me through the development (and the old hospital campus). Maybe I should stop doing this route because as much as I like the stroll down memory lane, it always leave me feeling uneasy.

And on a lighter note, I know all these gazillions of birds naturally live in homes up there, but I'm still always delighted when I stumble upon a nest I can check out up close.

week 9 run recap - things my midwife never told me about running

This photo is sort of misleading - this is the watershed area at the end of my street in sprawling suburbia...  Really pretty though, huh?  If it weren't a protected area, they'd bulldoze for sure, build some luxury townhouses and condos and put in a commercial block complete with Panera, Chipotle, Starbucks, and Marble Slab.

This week, I started my Riiiiiippped in 30 days program and the hard part was the food.  Really.  Like an addict, I was fiending for food most of the week.  One day I was driving my older kid to dance class and the voice in my head was saying, "Go to Krispy Kreme on the way home and get 2 glazed donuts or maybe get some fries or a snack size bowl from KFC or some chips and queso from Qdoba or some bubble tea or at least an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks.  It was pretty bad.  I did ok until Friday when I fell off the wagon and went on a TOTAL sweet carb binge.  That night, I had a dream that I was going to a meeting at work but there was free food because the guy who comes to sell life insurance was visiting and trying to entice customers with his bagels, apple turnovers, and danishes.  I spent so much time filling a PLATTER with food that I was going to take with me to eat during my meeting, that I missed the actual meeting.  Anyway, trying not to let all that derail me.

On crappy days this week, I did the Jillian DVD.  On nice kid-activity-free days, I ran about 3 miles on Wednesday and did 6.2 miles today running a 12.41 minute mile.  Yay!

So I successfully had 2 natural childbirths.  To manage the pain during labor, it's important to relax through the contractions as much as possible.  At one point during labor, my midwife told me to relax my eyebrows.  I didn't even realize it, but I probably had a scrunched up face and furrowed brow.  OK, the midwife didn't give me any advice about running, but I've noticed that every now and then, I do the same kind of scrunched up face with furrowed brown when I run.  I've been following the advice to relax my face and it's very helpful.  The exhaustion face does not make anything easier and in fact, only serves to make me feel more tired and intense - in a not good way.  Consciously making an effort to relax the face has helped me feel more relaxed, less tired, and more energetic.  It's been an interesting parallel.

week 8 run recap - It's spring!

I'm sure there's some good reason for all this (about a 1/2 mile's worth of what you see below), but it's still always sad to see...

Above: the jail that's just down the street.  Below: the school where I work.  There's no significance to the juxtaposition of the images.  Really.  This week, I fought the urge to do no exercise but resigned myself to a short run on Wednesday so I could get back early enough to do some garden clean up on that glorious 68 degree afternoon.  A bit short of 2 miles, but still beat my time yet again for a 12.19 minute mile!  This morning, I lay in bed for about 40 minutes and successfully talked myself out of going on my scheduled long run.  Only the thought of breakfast souffles from Panera actually got me out of bed.

I've realized (yet again), that exercise is fantastic and makes me feel great, but there's just no way to actually lose weight and change the way I look (especially for apple shapes like me) without making changes to the daily diet - which is why tomorrow starts a 30 day eating plan per Jillian Michaels.  I'm not really a big fan or anything, but just bought the Ripped in 30 days DVD and am going to follow the eating plan too.  Watch out weeds cause in 30 days I'm going to be rrrrriiiippped and ready to do quadruple the amount of weeding and not even feel it the next day.  

It's spring!  Well, not quite, but my garden sure thinks so.  At this point, I'm not holding out for the snow any longer.  The daffs are up and I'm looking forward to spring!

week 7 run recap - and my musical tribute to the past

More pretty dried things blowing in the winter wind...

I was very excited because Verizon has an early upgrade program (for which they charge $20 to participate in), and I was going to get my new phone today!  I could have almost dealt with the photo quality of my Blackberry for a few more months (upgrade month is June), but what I can barely tolerate is listening to the same handful of songs over and over again.  See, when I got this Blackberry, by dumb luck, I was able to get some songs on my phone...and I have been running to these same songs for the past three years.  Now that I am trying to run more consistently, I've had just about enough!  Here's what I've been listening too over and over and over again - you'll marvel at my range of taste:  Santigold, Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Miley Cyrus (The Climb is good.  For real), Major Lazer, Sean Kingston, N.E.R.D., Neon Trees, OK Go, MGMT, Wheezer, The Darkness, Kings of Leon, Gnarls Barkley.  I've tried different cords, chat rooms, manuals, but just can't figure out how to put any new songs on this phone.

I did not really want to run today.  Here's why: Last night, I stuffed my face with quesadillas and a Nachos Bell Grande from Taco Bell, and then topped that off with 2 cannolis.  Not smart to basically have a dinner of cheese since I'm a lactard.  After this morning's breakfast of Chick-n-mini's and hash browns, I was psychologically in no mood to run.  Like ever again.  However, I told myself that if I did, I would allow myself to get a new phone today.  Plus, more "wintry mix" is expected and if I didn't run today, then it wouldn't happen for a few days.

There's lots of news to report this week - good and bad.

Bad news - I was denied the phone.  Turns out other family members have used up the early upgrades and I must wait till June 5th after all.  GRRRRR!!!

Good news - I figured out how to get the music on my Blackberry!!!  I just took out the tiny memory card in my phone and stuck in in the adaptor to make it a normal sized memory card.  That went in the laptop's F drive.  Then, I bought songs, downloaded to a folder in my laptop and copy and pasted onto the F drive.

And other good news - This week I improved my running time yet again.  Monday and Wednesday I ran 2.85 miles at an average of 12.6 minutes a mile.  Today, I did 6.2 miles at an average of 12.58 minutes a mile.  Today, I felt a significant difference in my endurance (even with the horrible fuel I've provided my body) and though I usually do lots of stopping, I was like a freaking machine today and stopped to walk only short sections of inclines.  I was so pleased!

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More on music:  so I was also able to figure out how to get CD's onto my phone as well!  I used to have a pretty decent collection of CDs in college, but once, my car was broken into and everything was stolen.  Then, when I replaced it all, my car was stolen and I lost everything again.  Now, I am growing a nice little collection for the 3rd time.  I'm not trying to replace this stuff on purpose, but in my husband's sentimentality, he picks up music for me when he goes on his weekly hunt for LP's.  He's replaced nearly most of my high school and college collection - sometimes in duplicate or triplicate.  I used to listen to some pretty cool music (and was equally diverse then!):  Rage Against the Machine, Lords of Acid, KMFDM, Meat Beat Manifesto, Nitzer Ebb (in 10th grade, my friend and I cried when tix to the show were sold out), PJ Harvey, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Ramones, Fugazi (just watched this video and feel instantly like I'm 15 again), Bad Brains (loved them - one of the first shows I went to - skip to minute 1 if you click the link), Ministry, Portishead, tons of Erasure, Bob (and even Ziggy! omg now I'm 14 and at camp in Massachusetts) Marley, 4 Non Blondes, UB40, Nirvana (am I taking you back or what?!) (wonder if I can find my old flannel shirt and army pants)...

week 1 run recap

I used to belong to a really nice and really expensive gym where the "concierge" gives each member a little smooch on the ass at every visit.  I loved this gym and tolerated getting up at 4:40 each morning to do an amazing step class (I think this ages me - the fact that I'm of the step generation).  The gym decided that since there were ONLY about 12 people each morning, they would cancel the class.  Did I mention the expensive membership?  Humph.  This made me (and the other steppers) so mad.  Plus, you know how gyms might have tables advertising an energy drink or hi-protein bar or something?  This gym had tables advertising botox.  That was a little over the top.  There is this one guy who is always at the gym when I am, and who loudly clears his throat about every 30 seconds.  I can hear it 6 treadmills away and with my music on.  The incident that put me over the edge was this other guy I was running next to one morning.  At first I thought he said something to me, and I even said "What?", but then I realized he was talking to himself.  Every two minutes he'd go, "Come on".  Two minutes later, "Do it".  Then again, "Come on".  It was a little bit creepy.  Very quickly, I figured that if I was going to just run on the treadmill, I'd enjoy my own company on the open sidewalk more.

I love running but only have committed spurts.  This year, I want to be able to say, "I'm a runner", and not, "Well, I run, but like, just sometimes.  And really, I do more of a walk/run.  But I haven't run in a while, but yeah, uh...I run".  

I do have some weight loss/fitness goals.  I would like to start by dropping 8 pounds.  Slow and steady is perfectly fine.  Then, I would like to stop yo-yoing once and for all.  Never really go off the rails again.  In the past maybe...5 years, it's been gain 10, lose 10, gain 10 lose 10 and I'm sick of it.  

I would also like to run a race.  Maybe Pike's Peek.  More on this later.  

To accomplish this, I have pre-scheduled weekly "run recap" posts that will post automatically whether or not I'm doing my job.  They'll be mostly short and sweet, and are intended to provide accountability.  I will list what I did for that week, and if all goes well, will be able to track some progress!  And just for my records, I will record my weight at the beginning of each month.  I'll try not to bore readers, because I do realize this is a public blog.  There are usually some interesting things along the way that I'll capture on my increasingly crappy Blackberry.  On to the inaugural post...

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Week 1: baseline week after a couple months of being mostly sedentary.  Ran 20 minutes on Friday and 35 minutes on Sunday.  I love how cardio progress is so quickly made.  Part of my run includes a stop at the bleachers.  Here's where I do some crunches and push ups.  This week, I can do about 50 crunches and 30 push ups (on knees).  Weight at the beginning of the year is _ _ 3.  I really don't care about revealing my weight to people, but some people can be funny since weight is a tricky subject, so I'm just going to record the last digit.  

I've really enjoyed the holiday decorations - including this festive and dignified port-a-potty cover in front of someone's house.  I live in a neighborhood where there are lots of lovely old homes that are constantly being added on to.  This one (not pictured) was fortunately tastefully done and looks great.  

And my treat when I got home?  A breakfast of bread and nutella lovingly made by my 6 year old.