What I Like About You

1 hour of yoga. No method. I did my own thing.

Guess what??? Just when you thought it was safe to casually read blogs, here's a meme!!!!!!!! If you're participating in Nablopomo, it gives you something to write about in your blog. Talk about convenient!

Here are the Rules:
• Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
• Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
• Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
• Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here is my tagger:
JULS
It's all her fault so, if you find yourself tagged (at the end of this post), direct your dirty comments to her. (Sorry, Juls! I stole that blurb from you!)

Here are five random facts about me:

1. I'm part Russian, German, Austrian, Polish, Spanish and French, and I grew up with a mixture of Mexican and Russian customs, traditions, and foods. It's a long story.

2. I'm a Gemini. I was born in the year of the Boar, June 9. I share the same birthday as Donald Duck, Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp.

3. I can curl my tounge.

4. When I was about 3 years old, my mom made me a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween and I won a prize (all of $2.00, which was probably huge back then) and my name in the local news paper. Keep in mind that this was well before you could just go to Target and buy a really cool, all inclusive costume. It was early 1960-something and Mom was very crafty.

5. I dislike licorice.

AND...

Here are the names of the five lucky bloggers whom are now officially "tagged" (and because I know you all really want to do another one of these memes!):
Barbie2be
Not Soccer Mom
Pat - Note To Self
Leslie - Be A Good One
Evelyne - Mentally Ready

Rest Stop

No workout/run today. A rest day...

A couple of weeks ago I came a cross a recipe for soup that intrigued me. It was actually from a segment on the local mid-day newscast. I've never really made a recipe from a tv show or news segment before because most TV recipes usually have some form of cheese or dairy, which I need to be careful with due to allergic reactions. This recipe is for roasted garlic and squash soup. Squash is one of those vegetables that's iffy in my house, it's either hit or miss, but this soup was a definite home run with everyone. They even came back for seconds.


ROASTED GARLIC & SQUASH SOUP
(From KGTV San Diego - Chef Larry)

1 garlic bulb
2 tsp.olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

For the soup:
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup leeks, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
2 cups Butternut, Acorn or Kabocha squash, peeled, diced
1 bay leaf
1/3 tsp. thyme leaves
4 cups chicken stock
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
Chives, minced


Roast the Garlic:
Method: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare roasted garlic by slicing off tapered end of the garlic bulb. Season open end of garlic bulb with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap seasoned garlic bulb in aluminum foil. Roast garlic in oven for one hour. Remove and cool. Remove roasted garlic from skin and reserve.

For the Soup:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or pot. Add leeks, celery, carrots, squash and thyme, cook over medium heat.

Allow vegetables to cook until tender and well "caramelized". Add roasted garlic and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Carefully puree mixture with a hand mixer or blender. Adjust seasoning and finish with cream if desired. Place soup in a tureen for service or portion into individual soup bowls and garnish with minced chives. Makes six to eight servings.


My take on this soup:
The roasted garlic comes out soft and buttery. Be prepared to get a little messy when taking it apart. I personally don't measure on recipes like this, so it's easy to fudge a little on the measurements if you don't have enough of one thing or too much of another. I had more than the recipe indicated and used it, so I basically doubled it. I used butternut squash. When Chef Larry made this on TV, he added about a half cup of pumpkin(pureed/mashed/smooshed/canned - whatever) which is not listed on the recipe. I added the pumpkin since I had it.

There wasn't a listing of the calories, carbs/protein/fat ratios, but it's low in fat and calorie kind if you leave out the cream.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Peace

Deck The Halls

Deck the halls with avocados!
Fa la la la la,
la la la la!

Yeah, it's a little bit too early for holiday songs, unless you're advertising on TV.

Yesterday, while spending a little time outside with the dog, she retrieved some avocados that had fallen off the tree(s) and brought them to me ~ well, sort of. She dropped them several feet from where I was standing. This was a first for her, bringing me avocados, but I really shouldn't be too surprised. She is part lab retriever. It sure beats the pinecones she used to bring in from the neighbor's tree at our prior neighborhood, which left a dusty, prickly mess on the floor. The avocados aren't even close to being picked off the trees yet, so they're a bit like rocks. The avocados still need about another month or so on the trees before they're ready to harvest. I'm not sure if the dog actually likes avocados as far as food goes. I'm more inclined to think she's just playing around, as if they were one of her tennis balls.

Today
Activity: Run
Date: 11/06/07 09:18 AM
Distance: 3.18 miles
Time: 0:31:20
Speed: 6.1 mph
Pace: 9' 51 min/mile
Calories: 302

Today's run was my first run in 6 days. If I had planned it out better, such as taking my water belt, I could have put in more miles. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm still dealing with a cold. The first mile was hard, but once I got warmed up and found my "groove," it wasn't so bad, and I was thinking I could do more than just 3, but I was needing water. I ran up and down some hills, but not anything treacherous.

Peace

People Have The Power

Upper Body Workout - Circuits: Bean push-ups, bench dips, bicep curls, upright rows, ab crunches. 6 sets.

I'm still trying to get past this cold. I had to rest between sets, just so I could get some breathing and coughing in... The up side is that I do have some energy back.

I wasn't called into jury duty today *shock* but I still need to call in every day the rest of this week. I guess it's better than going down there and waiting around all day, but it makes it hard to plan out the week.

Did anyone happen to catch Nova's Marathon Challenge? I watched it just because a friend thought I might find it interesting. Yes, it was interesting, and I think this program would be excellent for someone contemplating running a marathon for the first time. Only one of the members lost weight, but she was also participating in a boot camp workout program in addition to marathon training. All but one of the participants completed the challenge. The one who couldn't run had stress fractures, but was there cheering for everyone on marathon day, at the Boston Marathon. I had always thought a runner needed a qualifying time to run the Boston Marathon, but I guess, since this was a Nova experiment, they had special permission to participate.

Peace