Valentine's Day

Of all days of the year, Valentine's Day ranks pretty far up on the list of days where a good meal is an important element. I started off the day with hearty bowls of oatmeal for Mark and I. I've been using McCann's steel-cut oats lately, and they are delicious. They cook up quickly on the stove and have a really pleasant porridge-like texture. I love oatmeal because once it's done, it is a blank canvas in terms of toppings. This time, I topped it with cinnamon, Vermont maple syrup, dried cranberries, and walnuts. This will fill you up and keep you going all morning.
For Valentine's dinner we actually went out on Saturday, since we figured we would dodge the crowds. We went to Bamboo Leaf, which is a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant. They have delicious food, and it is a cute little place with really friendly service. We started off the meal with vegetable spring rolls and a veggie and tofu spicy lemongrass soup. For dinner I had a Thai basil stir fry with tofu and veggies, and it was super tasty. I even had leftovers to eat the next day. This place is always a hit, and our Valentine's meal was no exception.

Finally, I made a Valentine's dessert. I have to give all the credit to No Meat Athlete for this one. I made three different kinds of filled chocolate cups - peanut butter, coconut cherry, and Kahlua cocoa. These were really fun to put together and came out great! It's so nice to have handmade candies for Valentine's Day instead of some mass produced, run of the mill chocolate. These also did perfect double duty for celebrating two great friends' engagement today (congrats Greg and Michelle)! You can find the details and recipe for these here.
All in all, it was a great Valentine's weekend. Besides all the tasty food, Mark and I went to Silverball Museum for a pinball date! If you're ever in the area, it is a must-see. I hope your Valentine's Day was a good one, with a few sweet treats involved too!

Asian Feast and Race Prep

Last night Mark and two of our good friends, Jimbo and Greg, made a veritable feast for dinner. Jimbo came by and we went up to the local Asian market to get supplies. We picked up lots of fresh produce and a bunch of other items we needed to make dinner, and I got a few basics that I was low on in my pantry. Then we came back and started cooking. We made a delicious vegetarian version of a Thai soup called tom yum. We put in tofu, shiitaki mushrooms, peppers, onions, napa cabbage, and extra lemongrass, and we topped it with fresh cilantro. This was super spicy, but so delicious you just wanted to keep on eating. We also had a stir fry. We used Chinese broccoli, long beans, peppers, onions, and baby corns, and cooked it in a sauce made with soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and fermented black bean paste. We served it over thin rice noodles. This meal was awesome, satisfying, and yielded enough leftovers for everyone.

As you know, my comeback race is less than a week away. In preparation, I ran twice over this long weekend. I also signed up with a pretty awesome website, Daily Mile. This site allows you to track your training and races by letting you map your route and enter your time. It provides your pace, and gives you a space to say a few words about your workout. I think this will be a really good tool to use throughout the year, both for historical tracking and for staying motivated. I also like to think that in a year's time, I will be able to look back and see my all my effort totaled up.

Today was grocery day, so expect to see some tasty recipes posted this coming week!