Frog legs, freezing and all things France.

 

Have you ever seen a frogs leg? They have  a very similar muscle structure to humans. Check it out.

Yeah…we had to coat those babies, deep fry them and eat them at school. Truth, they taste kind of like chicken. However I could not get over the idea that I was gnawing on a human leg, therefore I could only eat one bite.

Tonight

47 °F

Chance of Rain

30% chance of precipitation

Fall is officially here and it has brought rain and much colder temperatures. I am really loving it though. Cold and overcast is wonderful to me. Remind me I said that in January and February.

And last but of course not least. Lately I have been obsessed with the idea of traveling to France. We are hopefully going next summer, but I am getting antsy. Reading blogs like this one don’t help the matter much. I have gotten a Learn French for Beginners course from the library and I am looking forward to learning some new French words.

Hope your fall is starting out wonderful!

Peach Chutney

 

This recipe is not mine. It’s from one of the chef’s at school. I had to wrestle and beg ahem…I mean ask nicely for it. Please make this and smother it all over your face. I mean eat it on toast or chicken or dip things into it or can it or do whatever you want with it, just make it!

Peach Chutney

• · 1 qt peaches, peeled and diced
• · 1.5c white sugar
• · ½ c brown sugar
• · 1 c red wine vinegar
• · ½ red onion diced
• · ½ white onion diced
• · 1 red bell pepper, fire roasted, diced
• · ¼ c candied ginger
• · ½ c dried cherries
• · 1/2 c dark rum
• · 1/2t cinnamon
• · 1/2t allspice
• · 1/8t mace
• · 3 thai chili

Mix everything together. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low low simmer and cook 1-2 hours. Low and slow is key here!!

Vegan Corn Chowder

 

The other day my friend Greg tweeted out something about good vegan chowder being impossible. Well, I took that as a personal challenge to create something he would deem delicious. Tonight I have created what I (and Eric) believe to be a great alternative to your normal heavy on the cream corn chowder.

Vegan Corn Chowder (inspired by a recipe found in the Joy of Cooking)

• 1 sm. onion medium to small dice
• 2 md. red potatoes medium dice
• 5-6 small or 4 medium ears of corn (remove the kernels, but keep the cob)
• 1 14 oz can light coconut milk
• 1.5 c coconut milk from the carton (like Silk, or So Delicious brand)
• Salt and Pepper TT(to taste)
• Corn puree (recipe follows)

Additions:

You could add some hot sauce, or chopped carrot or celery.

Directions:

In a heavy stockpot, heat a little bit of oil and sauté the onion till soft. Add in the potatoes, milk, coconut milk, and the corn husks (not the kernels) Simmer 15 minutes or until soft. Remove the husks and add in the kernels and corn puree. Simmer another 5 minutes to heat everything through. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Corn Puree

• Half a bag of frozen corn kernels
• 1 cup coconut milk

In a blender, combine kernels and milk, puree until paste texture.

Notes:

Do not skip salting the chowder. If you don’t add salt, it will be much to sweet. Just add some, then try it. Add a little more…see where you like your salt level. The more salt, the less sweet it will be. Also, the corn puree is key in this recipe because it really helps thicken up the soup. I’m sure you could simmer the soup down until it thickens up, but I really like the addition of the puree for even more corn flavor.

I served my chowder with non-vegan cornbread and simple garden salad. Now that fall is almost here, I see this recipe coming around again and again.

Enjoy!!

Back in the kitchen

 

I started back in the kitchen last week at school. T-2 is is much different than T-1, the first kitchen segment. Much more laid back and totally different atmosphere. I know it will get busy and crazy, but I’m really enjoying it so far. We are doing breakfast week, which is pretty fun. Have you ever tried to flip eggs in a pan without break a yolk? It is tough! Not to mention you have to cook them over easy so you cant wait till their almost cooked through before you flip them.

Tomorrow we are having our live fire where we simulate an actual restaurant. Tickets will come in and by teams, we have to cook 8 different dishes ranging from pancakes to oatmeal to all different styles of eggs. I’m pretty excited for it actually. I think it will be tough but so fun!

In other news. I am ready for some fall type weather. We had a goodbye summer grill-out last night and now I am ready to bust out some boots and jeans. Instead we are having 90+ temps for this entire week. Kill me.

And finally. Eric and I camped in Bend last weekend and here is a photo from our trip.

 

Uninspired

 

I am uninspired to blog and I don’t know why. Lots of things have been going on. We moved, had friends in town, worked hard, played hard and next week I get back into the kitchen at school.

I shall try and post something here in the next day or so in more detail. I’m off to meet my friends for a beer!

Cheers!!

Injury city

 

I am having a really tough go of it over here. Everytime I turn around I am really hurting myself. First on Saturday, we had this.

The on Monday, I did this with my bike pedal.

Yeah, that hurt. Then tonight I did this.

No bloody photo because it was bleeding so bad that I needed to get a band aide on it asap. It’s pretty deep to…but I don’t think deep enough for stiches.  How did I do that one?

Get the picture? This is pretty frustrating because I can’t bike really well with the knee injury, it pulls the skin that is scabbed over and makes it bleed. I can’t run with the ankle injury because my shoes rub on the cut and make it bleed. And now I can’t do any downward dogs because my hand aches.

I am a mess.

Goal Setting part 2

 

Remember that post I wrote a few weeks back about goal setting? If not, here it is again.

Well I subscribe to the Lululemon blog on my google reader, and they recently wrote a post about setting goals that I loved reading. I thought I would copy and paste some of it here, but please visit their site to read the full article. It’s got some really good info on it.

1. Possibility

Set visions & goals in possibility and that are beyond what is likely to happen.

2. Vision

Your vision for your ideal life will drive your goals.

3. Balance

It is important to balance your vision & goals in the major domains of your life.

4. Audacity

Be bold and set goals that are a challenge for you.

5. Format

Formatting your goals in the correct way gives you the greatest likelihood of achieving them.

6. Integrity

Once your goals are set, consider how you incorporate them into your daily life to achieve them.

Here is the link. And really, go check it out and read the full article. I have downloaded their goal sheet and am trying to work on some of it. It’s hard to figure out where I want to be in 10 years, but something that I think I need.

People keep asking me what I want to do when I graduate Culinary School and I usually just tell them that I don’t know yet. Maybe I will just carry about my goal sheet and show it to them next time I am asked. ha. 

Monday.

 

I ran my half marathon and my prize was banged up knees.

Now I am taking some time off. Well, just backing down from intense training for a bit. Trying to let my body get back to working properly.

Our apartment looks like this.

Yeah….we need to move.

It is a gorgeous sunny day outside, and I have spent all my day inside. Fail.

I was going to go to yoga tonight, but I can’t bend my knee all the way. Double fail.

New classes start on Wednesday. Four more weeks till I am back in the kitchen. Excited.

I got acupunctured on the palms of my hands today, it hurt.

It is only August 1st and this month is already shaping up to be busy. Yikes.

Happy Monday.

A wake up call

I got some startling news back yesterday. Well…let me back up a sec. I have been seeing an acupunturist for the past month or so, and right before we left for Vancouver, I went in to get some blood work done. Checking different things like thyroid, cholesterol, hormone levels, things like that.

Well, I got the results back yesterday and lets just say they leave a lot to be desired. I am off the charts low in some areas and high in others. Actually, there wasn’t much good news in the blood work. Well, besides the fact that everything can be fixed and I’m not going to die.

I thought I ate a pretty good diet, but turns out there are things I could work on. I have been advised to cut out sugar, (goodbye Fro-Yo) reduce my wheat intake, up my protein like whoa, and ease back on dairy (not that I was eating that a lot anyways).

I am taking a whole slew of herbs and supplements. 7 to be exact. Two to three times a day.

After my half marathon race on Saturday, I have been advised to slow down my training, run at a much slower pace to lower my heart rate and take life a little bit easier until I get things leveled out again.

I was talking to my mom and Eric about how nice it feels to know that there is something medically wrong, and it’s not just all in my head. I have a treatment plan, a course of action and I’m excited to start feeling completely like myself again.

More Apartment stuff

 

We went and chatted with the Landlord yesterday about our new apartment. She gave us the ok to paint and to let Eric do some home brewing! We took some photos and some measurements and now it’ just wait time until we move. Hopefully the weekend of August 13th!

In the meantime, we bought a couch that is now strategically placed in our ridiculously tiny studio. Long story, but we ended up getting this couch in black from someone on craigslist, for half Ikea’s selling price.

It is so comfortable and I’m pretty excited about it!

We also swung by Home Depot to pick up some paint samples…and I am even more confused than before. ha. To many choices!

Here are some that I have found online that I really like.

DIY

I found these tutorials and knew I wanted to share them. They don’t have much to do with each other…BUT who cares.

found here

Make Custom Color Chalkboard Paint

Start with flat-finish latex paint in any shade. For small areas, such as a door panel, mix 1 cup at a time.

1. Pour 1 cup of paint into a container. Add 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Mix with a paint stirrer, carefully breaking up clumps.

2. Apply paint with a roller or a sponge paintbrush to a primed or painted surface. Work in small sections, going over the same spot several times to ensure full, even coverage. Let dry.

3. Smooth area with 150-grit sandpaper, and wipe off dust.

4. To condition: Rub the side of a piece of chalk over entire surface. Wipe away residue with a barely damp sponge.

found here

Just a few more

 

Indulge me. A few more fabulous room/furniture photos.

I love the pear painting!

 

Hello, my name is Megan and my taste is all over the place.

(images via, anthropology, cb2, pier1, ikea, internet in general.)

Yay!

We got the apartment that our friend is moving out of! This is a huge weight that has been lifted off my shoulders. Not only is this place double our current size (so many 500-600 sq ft) but it’s cheaper! And it’s in a great neighborhood.

I’m really, really excited. The only downside, is the kitchen is still sub par. Yes, it’s bigger than our current kitchen, but it has kind of a crappy stove and it’s still pretty small.

I think Eric is not as excited about this new place as I am. I think he was hoping we would get into a newer building with nice appliances and a big kitchen. Thing is, with our budget we can’t afford that kind of place. And after really talking it out this morning we decided to go ahead and take this apartment and enjoy the things we really like about it.

And since we will be spending less, we will have extra money each month for things like home brewing, bikes crap (ha), TRAVEL, savings…etc.

I would take photos, but since our friend currently lives in the apartment, that would be weird. Basically, it’s a one bedroom/studio. There is room for a couch and a blowup mattress in the living room, and we have a semi-private bedroom. Meaning it’s a different room, but it has no door. Hello curtain!

So all day instead of doing homework (oops, but seriously, who does homework on a Friday anyways??) I have been perusing decorating sites.

See, I would really like to make this new place feel like we live there. The place we are in now is so nice, and I really love it, but it kind of feels like since it’s so small, that we just threw some furniture in it and called it good. In our new place, I would like to put art on the walls and actually spend some time thinking about what to put where…and maybe we could even paint. I doubt it, but you never know until you ask.

As I am browsing the internet, I am trying to save some photos to use as inspiration for decorating. Now, I am NOT a decorating genius, actually…I know nothing about decorating, but I’m trying to give it a go. Here are some of my favorite ideas. And no, our apartment does not look anything like these pictures. I wish. ha.

 

Love these colors.

I am really loving the yellow

I am sensing a theme. Yellow, green, turquoise (and I had to spell check that word)

Yay! Happy decorating to me!

I have been thinking a lot lately about the secrets that people keep. I’m not necessarily talking about dirty, sex secrets or hidden family secrets of times past. I guess I am more talking about the things that are going on in our lives that we don’t want other people to know, or don’t feel comfortable sharing.

Then I was thinking about how odd it is that we can sit next to some stranger on a bus or train and share some random piece of information about ourselves but we don’t/won’t share things with our close friends.

Then of course my thoughts brought it home to me and I started to think what things I share with what people and why. I think I’m a pretty open person, and at some point I will probably tell you something about myself that you don’t even want to know. But there are things that I just don’t feel comfortable sharing with even my closest friends. Heck, there are some things I’m scared to share with Eric.

Sometimes I feel like all I talk about on this blog is, sad whoa is me stuff. And I never mean to share just the bad things, but it does seem to work out that when I’m struggling with something, I use this as an outlet to get my feelings out.

I have an ongoing health thing(not fatal)…and I’m not going into details…and if you ask me about it in person, I probably won’t want to talk about it…but I need prayers/good thoughts/whatever sent my way. I’m honestly starting to lose hope that this health issue will ever be resolved and it is getting to me.

And the hard part is, there doesn’t seem to be anyone that can help. There are doctors that are hoping to help, but there is no guarantee and I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I  feel broken, and alone. And there is not enough tape or glue in the world to put me back together.

Lentil ‘Meatloaf’

We are trying to incorporate meat into our diet about once a week these days. I think Eric would like to add on another day if meat wasn’t so expensive. I still don’t really enjoy eating meat, (love me some tofu!!) although it seems lately the meat I will eat just happens to be BBQ.

Anyways, this isn’t about what I do and don’t like to eat. This is about a delicious lentil ‘meatloaf’ that I made last night. The thing about lentils is they are very inexpensive and if your lucky enough to have a grocery store that carries them in bulk, you can get just the amount you need for a single recipe instead of buying a huge bag that you might not use up.

We ate this loaf along side cauliflower from our CSA box and mom’s homemade sourdough bread. It was truly a good dinner and since it’s been cooler at night these days, it was a healthy comfort meal. And you know what? leftover loaf would make a great sandwich!

1 cup lentils

3 cups vegetable stock or broth

1/2- 1 large yellow onion sm. dice

2 large carrots grated

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves minced or finely grated garlic

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tbsp brown rice syrup, or agave nectar, or honey

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Simmer together the lentils, broth until the lentils are tender and have absorbed all the broth.

Prep the veggies. Saute everything in the olive oil over medium high heat for six minutes, or until soft.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add salt, pepper and oregano.

Add the breadcrumbs, eggs and cooked lentils and toss well. Press mixture into a greased loaf pan.

In a small bowl combine the ketchup, sweetener and balsamic vinegar. Spread on top of loaf. Bake for 40ish minutes.

Enjoy!

(and of course I don’t have a photo, because I didn’t even think about taking a picture. Must get better at this!)

Goals

 

Today in class we talked about setting goals.

A lot of the info was stuff I had heard before, but for some reason it sunk in a little deeper today.

I would like to think of myself as a free spirit, but I know that’s not entirely true. I like my lists, my plans and looking forward to the future. I like to know what is going on next week and next month. I like to plan events or activities and work on what I need to get done before hand.

But when I think what are my goals? I come up a little lost. I think I know what I want to do when I graduate, but am I sure? Today reminded me that I need to really be thinking on what I want to do after school, and I need to start figuring out what my goals are.

Here are some of the things we talked about in class.

When you are setting your goals, how you see yourself can have a negative or positive affect on your goals. If you don’t think very highly of yourself, your probably not going to set goals that will really help you exceed. If you think to highly of yourself, you might set a goal that will never become a reality.

Write down in “I Will” sentences. Such as, by May of 2012 I will graduate Culinary School.

Set a specific date. If you just say, I will run a marathon, then there is no time frame for you to achieve that goal. You need a date to work towards.

Identify everything you need to achieve your goal. Ok so you want to open a restaurant. What are the things you need to do before hand? Maybe some management class? Maybe some research.

Identify obstacles to overcome. What are things that might get in your way of reaching your goal. Have a plan to work around those obstacles or at least know how to deal with them when they arrive.

Identify people/groups that can help you reach your goal. If you want to run a marathon, maybe you should join a running group. Or find a personal trainer or even a friend to hold you reliable to your training schedule.

Create a detailed plan of action. You can’t just say your going to do something and not have a plan. Write out what needs to be done and when you want to have done things by.

And remember what is in this for you. Personal growth? Experience? It’s your passion? Try to always keep in mind what reaching that goal will do for you.

Sometimes I get caught up in the idea that I need to be skinnier, or fitter. If only my thighs didn’t touch, or I had muscular arms…then I would be content. If only I had a flat stomach, then I could really be happy.

In those times, I have to remind myself. I have run 18 miles. I can hold my own in a 60 min yoga class. I have biked 80 miles in one weekend. I wont let how my body looks affect my happiness because I know that it’s those thick thighs that let me do things like this…

And this…

Can’t forget this…

And sometimes I just need to sit and remember that…

Moving…again…

 

And the search is on. We are moving again. And I have mixed feelings about moving. I love it and hate it. Our tiny little studio has been good to us, but it’s time for something with a bigger kitchen. Or even a kitchen. ha.

We are having to weigh the pros and cons of more square footage with a higher monthly payment, or smaller space with less money out of pocket. It’s a tough decision for sure.

BTW-the cold salads I made last week were this one and this one.

Delicious and the perfect thing for a hot summer dinner.

A month??

How is it that it has been a month since I last updated?

How is it that it is already July 10th?

How is it that we have lived in Portland nearly one year?

How is it that we have been married almost three years?

It's 7:30 on a Sunday night and I am struggling to keep my eyes open.

I worked at a wedding yesterday that went late and didn't get to bed until 2am. Up by 7 was difficult to do, but I did it...and now I am trying not to fall asleep.

8pm is an ok time to go to bed right?

I have so much free time in the mornings on MWF that I am going to start biking with Eric to work before class. He will no longer be able to use the excuse that he can do something because he biked 28 miles that day.

I find it odd that I have no problem biking a lot of miles these days. I remember not to long ago that I didn't want to bike 5 miles, let alone 20+.

We have good friends named the Newtons and we got to bike around with them today. We picnic'd it up and had a great time. How lucky are we to not only have good friends in Portland, but to have some that just so happen to have the last name as us?

All we have been eating lately is variations of cold salad like wheat berry pinto bean salad and lentil salad and asian noodle salad. They are pretty good most of the time and I am thankful for the fresh produce flowing in. I can't seem to get enough of kale these days. Or fresh fruit. I was just saying today that I could easily go on a fruit only diet.

Eric has taken over our small studio with his bike and I kind of like watching him work on it. He whistles and will occasionally look over and smile.

We had the best time on our vacation and I have photos to prove it. To bad it takes forever to upload photos on blogger.

It is now 7:42 and I am going to give into my sleepy eyes...but before I go..

Makes me laugh every time.

100 mile challenge

 

No, not a running challenge. Surprise I know. I might actually talk about something on here besides running.

This is a food challenge. There is actually a website and some books about a 100 mile diet. But I really hate the word diet and the people that wrote the book, did the diet for a year…and I’m not going to do it for a year, so let’s just say this is my version of their diet.

What am I doing? The plan is to only consume food that grows or is harvested within 100 miles of Portland.

How long? I am planning on doing this challenge for the rest of June and since we are going to Vancouver at the end of the month, I will have to take a break but if all goes well, I would like to go through July also.

Is Eric doing this? Short answer no. Well really, I am not asking him to do this. Long answer, if he want’s to participate then I would love that but this is a challenge I am putting on myself. With that being said, I will only be cooking dinner with food that is local, so he will kind of be doing it when he is home with me.

What about eating out? This is where it is going to get tricky. We eat out at a lot of places that get most of their ingredients locally, but there are always exceptions. I guess I will cross this bridge when I get to it.

Any exceptions? There might be one or two things that I allow to slide through. Soymilk being a big one. My body doesn’t handle cows milk that well, and with being so active, I need all the protein from milk that I can get. Again, this is going to be a learning experience and I will just make decisions as they come.

And finally, why? Here’s the thing. You get to a point in life when you are no longer challenged by much. Everything is pretty comfortable and almost boring. I hate that point. I always want to be challenged and striving for something. That’s why I did the two month Vegan challenge, and that’s why I am trying this. I am really looking forward to this!

I will try and stay updated on the blog to help keep myself accountable on how everything is going.

It's the weekend!

It's 80+ degrees!

I just got new trail running shoes!

Bet you cant guess where I am... =o)

It’s almost the weekend!

I have blown off my runs two days in a row. That is so not like me. I need this weekend like Portland needs some sun!

We are going to the Ocean with a group of friends from church. We have rented a house on the water, and I fully intend to do some serious beach running, yoga, laughing and relaxing.

My plan is to recharge and take next week one day at a time. I’m going to run, smile and breath every day starting on Saturday.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Let’s keep it real shall we?

 

I am struggling.

I know, I know. If you look back through my blog posts, I’m sure there are more posts about me struggling than ones about being happy or in a good place.

It’s weird because I thought I was really happy. School was going good, life was good, it was beginning to warm up here in Portland.

But as it seems my life goes, things got rocky again. I am struggling and to be honest, I don’t know why. There is not one specific thing that I could blame this on, it just seems to be an over all cloud around me.

I’m moody, emotional, tired, not giving a care about certain things, caring to much about others. Desperately wanting to go jump on the first flight anywhere exciting, but wanting to stay here at the same time.

And before you ask, no, it’s not PMS. You can ask Eric…this has been going on for a while. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m still loving school and I’m still loving on Portland…I’m just restless I guess? Wanting to go somewhere, anywhere. Wanting to explore and discover and be challenged.

Maybe that’s it, maybe I’m not challenged enough in school seeing as how it’s just classroom classes on management and front of the house stuff…but I don’t think so.

Someone told me recently that I need to figure out what kind of person I want to be. Who am I going to grow up into? Then my mom texted me today and told me never to forget who I was.

I think that is still something I am struggling with. Who am I and who am I shaping up to be? And is that question why I am at odds with myself lately?

People at school say I have changed since I started school. I have come out of my shell more they say. Lately someone told me that I look sad all the time. What does that mean? Am I sad?

I’m just frustrated that I’m still battling with this…drama. I think I thought that when I started school everything would just click. All of a sudden everything would feel right…but that’s not the case.

I am jealous of people that seem to have it all together because lately I feel like I’m falling apart. 

Photos

I was looking through our computer at photos, and I came across some that I'm loving at the moment.

Thought I would share them with you.

Weekend=fun!

It seems like the weather here doesn't want us to have nice weekends.

During the week we are blessed with 70+ sunny perfect days, but as soon as the weekend rolls around, the clouds come in and it gets cold.

We tried to take advantage of the 60 cloudy day yesterday by running all of our errands at once. That way, when today hit (55, cloudy and windy) we could stay inside and do exciting things like laundry and homework.

The day started out with my attempt at a long run. I was on deck for 13 miles, so we thought I could run to a farmers market that is 8 miles outside of town, shop and then I would run home.

Turns out after you stop running to eat and browse, your not that motivated to run home. Ah, who knew. So instead we took the bus back. ha.

We got this HUGE omelette to share at the farmers market.

Yeah, we hated it. =o)

This market was huge for fun vendors and lot's of yummy food!

New sports bra=excitement! Eric doesn't like the color though. What's wrong with purple tie-dye??

We spent part of our afternoon at Powell's books browsing, drooling and trying to figure out how I want to spend my birthday money.

And we finished off our night with a scrabble game that we both sucked at, and delicious beers.

I love the weekend.