Casual Sunday in Manhattan Beach

 

Manhattan Beach

 

Went to Manhattan Beach today for brunch at Creme de la Crepe and had a great omelet with chorizo, avocado, cheese and mushrooms. This place had so many yummy looking things it was hard to pick!

After brunch we walked along the beach and enjoyed the warm sand squishing between our toes while the cool breeze brushed across our faces. It was the perfect day to be on the beach. We saw a few trainees studying dialog but mostly it was locals enjoying the Sunday sun.

On our way back to the car we stopped at the Manhattan Beach Creamery and inhaled; the sugary sweets could be smelled for blocks. As we were about to leave I noticed this candy bra. It is made with the same candies on a string as candy necklaces only many more of the strands and it is a BRA! LOL

 Then we went to a clothing shop and these Nippets were for sale. There seemed to be a theme starting so I took a picture. These actually are useful for cold nights or even when you are teaching...yes, even in a hot room you sometimes get "a chill".

 Tomorrow the trainees go back to the yoga bubble. These trainees seem to enjoy their time off way more than I did. I only remember studying by the pool, going to do laundry and getting groceries. Good for them for getting out and seeing the world...or at least LA.

Typical succulent at the beach. I love how LA doesn't really have grass, all their ground cover are usually some type of succulent. This one has beautiful yellow and purple blooms.

Roasted Asparagus Conquered! Cooked and Eaten.

There is an ongoing discussion in my family on the proper way to cook and serve asparagus. It started recently with a dining experience in which my dad couldn't eat all the asparagus stem on the plate. His point was they, the chef, should cut off the part you can't eat. I suggested they perhaps left the stems longer as a presentation factor, long asparagus look nicer.

Now whenever possible my dad orders things with asparagus and reports back on the presentation and edibility. I think only once has someone prepared asparagus in such a way it could be completely eaten. When they say "clean you plate", my dad takes that literally, he wants to be able to eat everything...including the garnish!

So when I received asparagus in my Urban Acres co-op share this past week I chuckled. I couldn't remember ever cooking asparagus and I wondered if my preparation would meet my dads standards. (Of course anything I cook my dad will eat, he is just that kind of loving dad!)

I found a recipe for roasted asparagus in an Edibles Magazine I had picked up while at the DFW Farm Truck 5K race. Asparagus is my coop? Asparagus recipe? A sign I am suppose to try both! So here goes.

Today I decided to cook the asparagus. I find it difficult to know where to "break" asparagus. There is some magical sweet spot between edible and not. In preparing the asparagus one piece fell on the floor and part of the end snapped off. Huh, I think, that must be where it wanted to break off. Ok...so I picked up both pieces, rinsed off the top and tossed the end part in the compost. Then I thought, maybe that is it, it naturally breaks where it needs to when it hits something. I take each stalk and gently hit it against the sink and whola! all the stalks break at different points but they all do clearly break off clean. Not sure if this is the right way to do it but it worked!

I combined the asparagus with all the ingredients and roasted per the recipe, sans the baking sheet. (I don't actually have a baking sheet per the instructions but a pizza stone worked perfectly, just use tongs to turn the asparagus.)

About to go into the oven

Roasted asparagus!

Happy to report all the cooked parts were edible, even the lemon. What a great tangy with the oregano and fennel! Asparagus is in season right now, pick some up and try this recipe, you won't be disappointed!

Recap of my run at the White Rock and Roll 5 mile race

I don't know why blogging is so hard for me; I think of millions of things to write about, most of those thoughts being generated AS I am running, biking or practicing yoga. Then it is hard to sit down and actually type them out. Saturday's run is a perfect example. I ran the White Rock and Roll 5 mile run and had lots of things I wanted to mention in a blog post, the afternoon rolled by, then all the sudden it was Sunday, then Monday and now it is Tuesday and I still haven't recapped my race. Ugh.

For what it's worth, here is my recap of the race.

I'll start off with saying I wore a pair of short shorts and the race technical tee. I'm not sure why I thought those shorts were better than the longer ones I have, it seemed like a good idea the night before. More on that later.  The race started out fine, we started off at the bottom of the hill near Winfrey Point and ran north  along the lake. At the mile marker I was at 9:50. I thought, whoa!, that is fast! Too fast as it turns out. I couldn't keep the pace. I ran to nearly the water station, got two cups of water and kept running...for about a minute. I was pooped!

As we rounded the corner I saw a guy running towards me with a number. Are you serious? Someone is running back ALREADY?! Ugh. Then I notice we are going to run up the same hill I ride my bike to go home from the lake. I hate this hill. I use to know a guy that would give me a hard time because I went up the darn thing so slowly, nearly staying still. It isn't even that big a hill, I just get whipped even thinking about it.

My goal was to look at the ground and just put one foot in front of the other until I made it to the top. I even told myself I could walk once I got to the top. Sometimes I am the worst self motivator. I ran half way up and stopped, walked for a bit then ran. Slacker.

After the hill we turned right and had a slight down hill with a good breeze. About this time I feel the rubbing of the insides of my legs and I remember why I have longer running shorts. It's not that my legs are enormous, though they are larger than I prefer, it's just that they touch each other. The only time I didn't have this issue was when I trained for my marathon, was training with a personal trainer 3x a week and eating right.

So as my legs are being rubbed raw, I am cursing myself for wearing short shorts, for having big thighs to begin with, for the fact that I didn't bring any chaffing cream and for the fact that my sweat is running down my legs and where my skin is raw it now stings like a mother!

I'm sure I looked a little funny tugging at the insides of my shorts trying to pull them down a bit. Reminds me a bit of the time I wore a cute outfit for Y2K only for it to be FREEZING and I spent the night huddled in a little ball freezing my A off.

The rest of the run was pretty much like the last few miles, a little running and a little walking. I did OK overall, I finished at 59:20, which is not a bad time for me, especially since I haven't been running that much lately.

The best part is the completion of this race marks the 6th event I have completed this year! Only 6 more to go in my Bike Run Yoga Challenge!

Do you have a "Shower Naked Body"?

Earlier this week I saw a post on facebook that said "Summer is coming...do you have your bikini body?" I felt compelled to respond, not on the post because I clearly DO NOT have my bikini body, but in my own timeline. Here is my post:


I just saw a post asking if I was ready for the summer...did I have my bikini body?! Uh, no. I don't even have a shower naked body. I need more yoga, more crossfit, more running, more vegetables and less procrastination.

Do you ever feel like that? You don't even want to shower naked for fear you MIGHT see something you probably don't want to see. It is that feeling of dread you get when you realize the fat jeans you bought are tight and not because you threw them in the dryer. Or when you try and dress cute and realize all your shirts either pull around the waist or there is more than a muffin top above your pants, it is more like the edge of a pot pie from Marie Calendars. Who needs a pot pie waist?!

I love and hate getting dressed at the yoga studio. Hate it because there are HUGE mirrors from floor to ceiling and it is too easy to catch a glimpse of the side or back view of my hip/ass area and realize that back in the day when they were trying to decide what to call the balled up cheese in a cheese sauce, they might have been looking at my legs and said AH HA, let's call this stuff cottage cheese. Hate it because my body sometimes reminds me of the disproportionate renditions of females from Monet or Renoir where the thighs are big, tummy pooches out and their arms look like cave man clubs. Love it because every time I see myself I sigh and inch closer to getting motivated to actually DO SOMETHING about it.

This is my next step to doing something. I just signed up for my sixth event of the year. The White Rock and Roll is a 5 or 10 mile run, I am doing the 5 miler. I haven't run 5 miles since Thanksgiving so we shall see how it goes. 

I don't think running 5 miles will get me a "bikini body" or even a "shower naked body" but it is definitely better than going to the mall and buying one size larger.