Cheryl Katz

My body has quit its most strenuous complaints against general motion, and today I got off my bum and ran an easy 3.1 miles.  Way better average time than in the half, OR in the first 3 miles of the half, go figure, on an equally hilly course.  Guess that’s what a good night’s sleep will do for you.

Clearly, it’s back to the grind.  Having picked up and gone back to running actually has helped to ease tension and relax me, and in the heat following my jog I stretched well.

And now that I’m not substantially increasing mileage for the forseeable future (there might be a marathon ahead, and DEFINITELY another half, but not for a little while) I am shifting priorities for a while back to overall fitness with an eye toward weight loss.  Who knows, maybe running a half marathon 5 pounds lighter will make that much difference in my time and energy level.  Never can tell until I try.

I’m coasting on the “Holy crap I did it!!!” sentiment.  I’m now further chuffed having dragged my sorry butt on a run I didn’t feel particularly inclined to do until it was already under way, and really proud of how good I feel RIGHT NOW.

Taking full advantage of the endorphin boost, I’m counting calories again, I am completely ditching my “chocolate for lunch” attitude of the last few weeks, and I’m gearing up to be cooking a lot – hot kitchen be damned!  I have a very interesting food project on the horizon which you will be hearing about in due time (sooner rather than later, I hope.)

Right now, I’m scanning my to-do list (yes, I have one!) and seeing that I need to get busy.  Daily grind, here I come.

I have run every day this week, at least 3 miles.

Normally I don’t run every day, but today is the last day of Sami’s preschool until camp starts up a week and a half from now.  I just know that the likelihood of getting out for a run where I’d want to be aware of my average speed is pretty slim.  I’m excited to report that depending on the temperature, my average speed ranged between 11 minues/mile and 11.2/mile.  That’s pretty exciting for me, considering that includes the warmup and cooldown walking, and some pretty gnarley hills.

I think that recovery is somehow getting easier.  Last month, every day I ran was followed by at least a day of not running, because I physically felt that I needed the recovery time.  I saw this as a sign of my age…  but I am starting to think that running is making me younger!   If you ask me how old I am and I don’t think too hard about it, or if my kid isn’t there, my go-to answer is still 24, and I am so many kinds of not 24 any more.  But there’s something to this exercise of feeling younger that I like.  Or maybe I need it.  In any case, between the increasing physical ability and the generally sometimes forgetting how old I am, I’d say I am well disposed at the present.

In culinary news, I accidentally bought a jar of Pumpkin Pie Spice when I was reaching for paprika a few weeks ago.  Last night was an exercise in how to kill some staples (carrots, celery, onion), some frozen turkey, some miscellaneous junk and use up some pumpkin pie spice.  I wound up making a stew with red beans, turkey, and vegetables.  On top of the pumpkin pie spice, I added some crushed red pepper, cayenne and brown sugar, and the result was… thoroughly edibly comforting.

It wasn’t mindblowing like other recent experiments have been, but I strove for comfort food for a reason, so it pretty much hit the spot.  Sami wasn’t a fan, but that because it had green things in it, around which she had to diligently pick.  This is kind of how it goes with a persnickety preschooler, but at least she eats.

To Market, To Market with San Diego Foodstuff: Breakfast Surprise at Hillcrest Farmers Market.

Ben, Sami and I biked to the Hillcrest Farmers’ Market on Mothers’ Day (probably the first time we’ve been to the farmers’ market in at least a year.)  (Also, Sami didn’t bike.  She sat on her seat in the front of my bike.)

We had a great time looking for the few things we needed – got some spring onions and shallots which more than satisfied my onion needs, and we brought home a bunch of ruby-red and perfectly sweet cherries.  We also trolled the prepared-foods section in search of a great breakfast, and while there were many options the choices wound up being easy.

Sami and I shared a roasted corn and poblano pepper tamale, which if I recall was the last thing I ever ate at a farmers’ market, how’s that for creature of habit?

Ben got the aforementioned coconut pancakes.  We tried them and were hooked.  They have a custardy, eggy texture and pure coconut flavor – like a coconut breakfast flan.  The post I linked to includes a sample recipe, which I may try one day, but I can’t do these little wonders justice with words.  Go try them!

I made these lemon bars this weekend and they were amazing.

I went to IKEA today, and I hope that someone will remind me next time that whenever I go I want to stab out my eyes with one of their stylishly designed carving forks.  I went in looking for kitchen shelves.  They were out of stock.  I also spied a new set of dishes, but decided to wait for Ben’s approval since he’s expressed that he’d like to be included in some domestic matters; and I observed a few options for kitchen island/cart ideas that might work for additional baking surface space that I have found myself desperately needing.

I left, however, having purchased nothing.  The process of navigating the store was so frustrating (normally I go with the flow of their floor plan, but today I had objectives, people, ‘kay?) on a day when  I just wanted to be in and out.  No such luck.

My schedule this week and weekend sort of necessitate that I move up my running schedule by a day, so I need to squeeze in 30 minutes of running that I otherwise would do tomorrow.  I’ll probably also move Thursday up to Wednesday and somehow squeeze in an extra run day this week.

In running news, I did a series of hill intervals on Thursday, rested Friday and Saturday, and when I did my Sunday run (3 miles, it’s a rest week) I was not just measurably but palpably faster.  On the order of a whole minute per mile.  It was much cooler than it had been on previous recent runs, and also a shorter run, so these are also factors, but it is nice to see some results – theories in action, I love it!

That’s about all the news that’s fit to print today, so far.

I think I’ve figured out what my body is doing here.

I’m building muscle mass, check.  I’m gaining a little weight, check.  I’m starting to look slimmer… not check.

I think what’s happening is that I’m building muscle, which is well and good, except that it’s pushing all my fat OUT.  I’m sure with time I’ll work it all down and lean muscle mass will rule the day (my long runs are around 8 miles now; when we’re talking 12 or 14 miles, we’ll talk again.)  I just need to hang in there.

Sadly, weight loss nutrition and sports nutrition are somewhat at odds with each other.  Fueling an intense run requires eating in quantities and composition things that from a weight loss perspective I am not inclined to consume.  I need to find a balance so that I can adequately fuel my run, develop longer and longer endurance, but also avoid overfueling and building fat stores rather than depleting them.

Damn, but I wish I were better at this nutrition thing.  In any case, I’m trying to relax.  I’m trying to look at these small gains not as setbacks but as the implementation of a new paradigm, new goals with new priorities.  Maybe I will never actually hit my weight loss goal, but if one day I can maintain an 8 minute mile, will it feel worth it?

I don’t know yet.  I’ll let you know when I get there.

(Yup, Ethiopian food again.)

In the spirit of, you know, running with a theme for the entire week, I decided to work the berbere spice blend I threw together a few days ago and rock out with my bad self and $2.50 worth of round steaks which I pre-rubbed with the berbere spices.

I sauteed onions in a tablespoon of canola oil until they were just translucent, then added spices to coat. Sauteed another 30 seconds until well coated, stirring a lot. Removed 90% of the onions from the pan then added the beef strips and cooked them for a good 10-15 minutes, flipping every 5 min or so. I tossed in some more spice blend just for fun, and when I thought the scent was starting to wear off.

After the meat was cooked through, I removed all of the onions and beef from the pan and combined them with the onions I’d removed before. Then I was left with a crusty, spicy, cast iron skillet. Not one to let concentrated flavor go to waste, I threw in some club soda and stirred/scraped the bottom of the pan until most of the crusted-down spices came up. After a few minutes I had a dark brown, tasty sauce reduction which I poured off onto the beef and onions.

Not to be outdone, not even by myself, I made a vague facsimile of injera. I had no teff flour, so I used a mixture of white and whole wheat flours, and added club soda for additional bubbling action. (Recipe here.) I am not crazy about this recipe and will probably try another quick version before I get off my butt and just make some damn teff sourdough starter a few days ahead of when I know I’ll want injera.

So tonight I served up the lentils from Monday, the greens from Tuesday and my approximation which is almost dead-on authentic zilzil, along with pancakes that were super bubbly but not at all injera-like.

The lentils got better after each day in the fridge as leftovers. And this was probably one of the tastiest dinners I’ve had at home in a long time.

After a long day out and about yesterday, Sami crashed in the car on the way home. (We’re talking 5 PM – not a convenient or particularly healthy time for a crash, so needless to say a) I didn’t wind up being able to accept the impromptu dinner invitation we received and b) she woke up practically in the middle of the night hungry for dinner.)

At actual dinner time, I was alone and brought near to the brink of starvation by my own drive not only to feed myself but to somehow be creative about it. I wound up throwing a salad together from rinsed spring mix from our CSA box, some strawberries and a few crushed walnuts, and a home made vinaigrette.

Not quite the satisfying dinner I was looking for, but at least it was attractive looking and probably a #2 on a scale of creativity where 0 is boring as hell and 10 is mindblowing delicious creative artiness. Nonetheless, after this bowl of yum, I was still craving substance.

I cooked up some split peas (didn’t have any lentils in the house) then drained them, tossed them in a tablespoon of vinaigrette, added salt and pepper and chopped in some Irish cheese. Again with the not terribly creative, but what it lacked in originality it sure made up for in satisfaction and in flavor.

I have so much to write about, things with actual substance, and they are so large that I can’t get them out here when I want them. Instead I am holding place with some minutiae, though I suspect it’s in the minutiae that people find the unexpected interesting nuggets of writing that bring me back to others’ blogs. C’est la vie. I offered this by way of lame near-apology; I hope that my “off” posts offer some level of sustenance even if they’re not the masterpieces I hope to be writing. If you’re still reading here, thanks for giving me audience. This blog is as much for me as it is for you.

I wanted to write about the tempest of thoughts sparked by recent watchings of the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof but I am short of time today, so instead I will write about last night’s dinner.

I went down to our favorite meat shop and picked up an organic free-range chicken to roast up for Ben.  I might normally do this on a Friday but Ben is traveling today, so I decided to send him off with a lovely Thursday meal instead of Friday.

I prepare to roast the chicken as usual – the recipe that sends my dear, hungry husband off to the office raving about how I make THE BEST roast chickens on the face of the planet, yada yada – and when it’s snug in the oven, I turn my attention to the handy matter of side dishes.  We’ve got leftover quinoa from two nights ago, so that’s easy, and I have a handful of carrots and beets to use from last week’s CSA box.  

Since I picked up a few yams on a whim at the market, I decided to give a tested recipe another go.  Several weeks ago I made a carrot-sweet potato puree from the The Jewish Princess Cookbook.  (Despite its fluffy exterior, this book has some great time-saving recipe ideas AND offers a good outlook on keeping kosher, if that’s something you’re interested in.  Even if it isn’t, this book is clever and witty; I read this cover to cover and loved every page.)  This time I subbed beets and an onion for some of the carrots, resulting in not only a pretty terracotta-rose colored puree, but a sweeter yet more complex flavor.  ”The mush was really good,” according to the chief hungry stomach of the house.  (Sami spread her mush over her slice of hearty squaw bread and then refused to eat any of it; while normally mush is her thing, this particular recipe is neither kid-tested NOR kid-approved.)

Once the puree was under control, what ho! the chicken came out of the oven.  Given a pan full of delectable chicken drippings and a bunch of chard waiting to be eaten, I decided to kill two birds with one greasy pan, and roast the chard in the rendered chicken fat.  All you ladies whose husbands and children don’t like to eat vegetables… hear me now!  Toss some leafy greens and a thinly sliced onion in the 2-3 tablespoons of golden fatty goodness and roast at 375 for 20 minutes, tossing once.  I can almost promise you no one will be disappointed.  (You can drain out the fat before serving if this sounds like a gross amount of chicken grease to you.  However fat is flavor, and satisfaction – these greens will go a lot further toward real satisfaction than if they’d been steamed or boiled.  And it reused what otherwise might have been completely wasted – a culinary travesty!)

Per usual, I carved up the chicken and saved the bones for this weekend’s stock batch.  The remaining leg, wings and breast will probably become chicken salad of some variety, and/or an omelette, and/or into a soup.  This one 3-lb chicken will probably be 4 or 5 meals – not bad for an hour’s roasting.

Ideal Bite | Crazy-concerned over the PB recall?

Hey locals!  You may remember Spread from when they used to sell their handmade, organic nut butters at the Hillcrest Farmers’ Market.  Now they’ve made the big time – a thriving Internet business (and busy brick-and-mortar comfort foods restaurant, to boot!) and a mention on Ideal Bite!

We’ve tried a variety of their products and they actually are pretty much to die for.  But yay San Diego!

Whether you live in San Diego or not, if you’re interested in a free eco-tip on a daily-or-so basis, you can sign up here.

ruhlman.com: Lunch: Peanut Butter and Cabbage Sandwich.

Peanut butter and cabbage sounded weird to me at first, but I think I will try it tomorrow.  (At the very least, I could probably bust through one or two of the heads of cabbage I have around the house in a week or two.)

Ruhlman’s post got me thinking, though – I don’t have any kind of lunch traditions.  In fact, most days I don’t put any thought into it at all.  Leftover something or other, a slice of bread with something on it, the classic standby bagel with cream cheese and tomato.  One day recently I made tuna salad with yogurt, fresh pepper and a little paprika.  Nothing groundbreaking.

I’d like to make lunch a little more special.  Even just once or twice a week.  I pledge to find something to bring a little charm to an otherwise utterly perfunctory part of my midday.

Anyone out there have a lunch tradition they’d like to share – a special food or a special personal ritual they like to do that surrounds or relates to lunch?  I would love to hear it!