Category Archives: Fat Tire

by | July 24, 2010 · 9:14 am

Arrogant Bastard Riding a Fat Tire!

     FRIDAY! I’m having the most amazing Friday night ever –  it involves homemade foods and brews. What else could a girl ask for? I’m such a homebody.

     The day started off early with me prepping for work. I was feeling extra lazy, so I decided not to make the Green Monster and have some frozen waffles instead.

Two of Trader Joe’s frozen blueberry waffles with agave-maple syrup and a HUGE mug of coffee!
     My roommate was blending up a Monsta for herself as I was headed out the door, watched as I longingly stared at the blender, and added some extra spinach for me. She put it into a to-go coffee mug with a straw sticking out, and I drove out to work, happy to be sipping away :). Roomie, you be amazing! No pictures, because I was driving, and that would just be unsafe.
     Work was very mundane. I read. A LOT! I read about 100 pages of my book before lunch. I headed out midday, prepared to try something different, but ended up getting the usual mini-spicy tuna roll with brown rice. I was planning an amazing meal of fried, syrupy, double-fried foods, but decided that my body would prefer something boring and healthy rather than artery-clogging.
     I got home, ready to enjoy my Friday night with some friends. We started with an old classic.
Fat Tire! This beer holds some amazing memories for me. Every sip is a link to my past :).
     I spent about an hour sipping and reading the last few chapters of my book: The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I am officially done! This book took longer than normal because I haven’t had enough free time, and now that I’m done, I’m very bummed. Does that ever happen to you – you feel really depressed because you’ve finished a book that made you feel like you were part of the story? This is an AMAZING book! It’s so well-written and riveting! I’ve been recommending this to everyone I know – including you! Tell me as soon as you’ve read it!
     Next came dinner! It was a Friday-Grill night! We started with the remains of the jalapeño-cheddar bread from Great Harvest.
Left: a mix of onions, zucchini, red bell pepper, olive oil, salt and pepper. Right: Jalapeño-cheddar bread brushed with olive oil.
     The bread was a success! Although, it’d be pretty difficult to ruin this, even if you burn it, as I have before. Personally, I think a little charcoal makes it taste more rustic.
Those jalapeños were put into the bread WHOLE. No seeds were removed! This bread is torture. Amazing, delicious, painful torture!
Those grilled veggies were placed on a whole-wheat pizza crust, which was topped with provolone cheese and fresh basil. Ridiculously healthy and ridiculously happy :).
     I tried out a beer that I had tried before, but didn’t really like. Arrogant Bastard – loved the name, hated the taste. However, with my newfound appreciation for beer, I decided to give it another go.
This beer is VERY fragrant – almost perfume-y. It has a floral scent, a clove flavor and a very BITTER aftertaste. I had my last sip half an hour ago and I’m still tasting the bitters. Blech. Not my cup of tea – or glass of beer. The bottle and cap make it a little better:
“You’re Not Worthy” – To see the bottle description, go here! It’ll make your day :).
     After dinner, we listened to some music and just enjoyed the peaceful night. This party will be ending early for me. I have to get some sleep so I can be awake and alert for another day at work – I need to refuel my bank account after the extended weekend hanging out with my cousin. I hope you have an amazing weekend!
Which part of Arrogant Bastard is your favorite? Mine is definitely a tie between “Do” and “Not”.

2 Comments

Filed under Arrogant Bastard, beer, Fat Tire, Friday, friends, grill, waffles

by | June 12, 2010 · 7:08 am

Friday? What’s That?

     Ahhh, the bliss of a Friday –  a day that everyone looks forward to so that they can start their weekend. Wait, a weekend? What’s THAT?

     My schedule is quite sporadic. I generally work every weekend, and random days during the week with my acting class every Tuesday. I miss the old days when I had a regular school schedule all week and worked towards the weekend, and finally summer.

     Tonight is graduation night. I’ve been listening to the performances of, “I Will Survive,” reverberate through the canyon up to the house as all the seniors bid farewell to their safe little high school bubble. I never attended my graduation – never really saw the point (I’m weird, remember?), but I listen to this and enjoy what I didn’t mind missing back then. Did all of you attend your graduations?

     Today was an early day at work. I woke up and made a GM for myself. My measurements were a bit off, and I ended up having a little bit extra.

These had spinach, half a frozen banana, 1/4 cup of blueberries, soymilk, ice and a tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter. I finished them both 🙂
     I was hoping the extra Monsta, plus the peanut butter I included would keep me full until lunch, but alas, my metabolism has gone into overdrive. Luckily, I’d thought ahead and sliced up the rest of the strawberries from yesterday’s farmers’ market to take with me.
What? I don’t read at work! I take my job very seriously! 😛
     I packed my own lunch for work today. I’ve been desperately trying to save my money to move out to the lovely Santa Monica so I can have the LA experience while enjoying some unpolluted ocean breeze. Today I had the last of the chana masala and the other half of the TJ’s garlic naan.
     I FINISHED Julie and Julia finally! Not at work… I would NEVER read at work, no matter how dead quiet it was, even if there wasn’t a single customer in the store and there was nothing better to do… I actually ended up enjoying the book! Not a fan of all the kidney/liver/organs-that-filter-out-toxins recipes, but it ended up being a good read. Although I must say, her filthiness really got to me – I can’t stand a dirty kitchen!
     After I finished lunch, I had another hour at work before my stomach began insistently calling to me. To abate it, I went to See’s Candies and got a dark almond cluster – or 4.
Not the smartest move, but 4 of these have 260 calories total, with the fat mainly coming from the roasted almonds, which help keep you full longer. I’m okay with paying that price to calm the tummy.
     I snacked on those almonds throughout the rest of my day whenever my stomach started hollering. When I got home I wasn’t very hungry, but decided to get some more veggies into my system and up my daily green count. I chopped up two small zucchinis and 5 stalks of asparagus.
     I heated up a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, then tossed all the veggies in and let them sear for about four minutes to create a nice brown crust.
   
     After they’d gotten that crust, I liberally sprinkled a big pinch of herbes de provence and a small pinch of salt, then placed a lid on top. If you’re like me, you can’t fancily toss the vegetables without getting them to fly all over the place, so I put the lid on top, then lifted the pan and gave it a good shake to disperse the salt and HDP. Then, I left the lid on for another 5 minutes to let the asparagus and zucchini soften in the steam.
     Now I’m relaxing watching “Build a Better Burger” on Food Network, and prepping for my Friday night! I’m going to enjoy it, even if I do have to work another full shift tomorrow before picking up a roommate at the train station.
     And now, I must admit, I lied to you all last night. I didn’t get a second So Delicious ice cream bar. The Fat Tire filled me up. I promise now that I will have two tonight to make up for the falsehoods that I claimed. I’m so, so sorry. Never again will I lie to you. Now I’m off to enjoy my Friday night! I hope you all have a lovely Friday as well!
Many blessings and happy eatings 🙂

Comments Off on Friday? What’s That?

Filed under asparagus, Becki Kregoski, burgers, Fat Tire, Food Network, Friday, ice cream, so delicious, work, zucchini

by | June 11, 2010 · 8:13 am

Farmers’ Market!

     Anyone want another picture of a GM? Too bad! I forgot to take one. Whoops! I’ve got a lot of pictures to post today though, so it’s probably best I leave out the Monsta.

     Today was my day off from working out. I woke up early, had a big cup of java and a big Monsta, then basically wasted a lot of time staring out the window at the marine layer that covers SoCal every June. And then I drank more coffee.
     The roommates went on a mini-vacation down to San Diego, so I have the house to myself! Before they left, they were kind enough to leave me with a lovely scramble. 
This has one egg, zucchini, bell pepper, spinach and….
Look who’s back! HOT SAUCE!!!!
     Lunch was a repeat, not that I’m complaining! I had half a cup of leftover chana masala (which really soaked up the spice after the first day!) and half of this piece of TJ’s garlic naan.
Lunch today, and more for lunch tomorrow!
     Thursday is Farmers’ Market day! I went out and spent an hour wandering the rows:
 
     I brought back a massive bounty!
     Yes, that is Dear John, the movie – because tonight is DATE NIGHT! Cheesy films and good food, baby! 
     For dinner I made broiled tilapia with homemade chimichurri sauce. I used to buy a chimichurri sauce from the farmers’ market until it just got to be too darn expensive ($5.25 for a 9.2oz jar – it lasts for only about 2 marinades), so today I decided it was time to improvise and make my own based on the ingredients they used in theirs. The following wasn’t completely measured, so it’s a guesstimate turned into measurements:
Chimichurri Sauce a la Bexter
2 cups of fresh parsley
3 tbsp fresh oregano
4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
Twist of freshly ground pepper
Pinch of chile pepper flakes
1. Rinse and dry the parsley, then tear off the leaves and toss them into a food processor.
2. Rinse and dry the oregano, then strip the leaves from the stems by pinching the top and sliding your fingers down against the grain of the stem: 
3. Measure about 3 tablespoons of the leaves into the food processor.
4. Crush 4 cloves of garlic with the blade of a knife, roughly chop, then put into food processor.
5. Pulse the food processor a few times, then add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and chili pepper.
6. Blend until all the ingredients are incorporated. 
7. Bottle and refrigerate the chimichurri sauce.
     For dinner I coated the tilapia in my fresh chimichurri sauce, then placed it under the broiler for 4 minutes per side. Being the genius that I am, I forgot that olive oil has a really low smoke point and ended up opening turning on the oven fan to get rid of the small amount of smoke that billowed from the foil….Whoops 🙂 Then I topped it with another spoonful of chimichurri sauce.
     I threw together a salad of fresh mixed greens with farmers’ market strawberries that I sliced and soaked in a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, and topped it with some pecans I toasted in a pan over medium heat for five minutes. De-freakin-licious!
     I finally got around to watching Dear John! It was… fine. Nothing thrilling, not as good as the book, but movies hardly ever are. Now I’m watching Glee reruns and trying to figure out Blogger’s new format. I JUST got used to the old one! I’m technologically-challenged as it is, are they trying to drive me crazy?
     Oh yes, and I picked up a little something for dessert to go with the strawberries. 
     Yes, those are the So Delicious coconut milk ice cream bars I’ve been lusting after for so long! I have really, really bad news: They’re AMAZING. Only 100 calories, 3.5g of fat! Not bad! I stopped at one, which is a healthy number, but that was an hour ago… I’ll probably have to have another and make sure that the first one wasn’t a fluke. I should actually, definitely go do that now…
Whoops….

3 Comments

Filed under Becki Kregoski, chimichurri, famers' market, Fat Tire, kitchen sink salad, marinade, strawberries, tilapia, Whoops

by | June 8, 2010 · 6:58 am

Monday Blahs

You can kind of see the etching on the glass – these were party favors from my bro’s wedding 🙂 He and my new sister-in-law are big homebrewers!
The day crawled by. Around noon I started getting hungry, and being possibly, officially lactose intolerant, I whipped out the goat’s milk yogurt that I’ve read about. How can I describe this to you? It tasted like liquid goat cheese, and when you pull the spoon out, little strands hang down, back into the cup. EW. I ate about a quarter of it before I just couldn’t take anymore.
Those are stale cinnamon Puffins on top. Sigh.
I had to get that awful taste out of my mouth, so I went on lunch and got the usual: a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice.

Sorry for the lame picture. I really did look crazy taking this, so I was trying to be discreet. Massive Fail.
After four more hours of counting the minutes, I got to come home and throw on some sweats, wash my face and eat a big KSS with the last slice of pizza and… you guessed it: a Fat Tire. This KSS had roasted zucchini, asparagus, chopped red bell pepper, Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad, warmed lentils and fresh herbs that came in the salad bag.

Sorry for the short post. I have the next few days off, so I’ll be getting on the trails, back on my bike and taking more pictures! Happy…? Monday…..

Comments Off on Monday Blahs

Filed under brown rice, Fat Tire, grind, kitchen sink salad, Monday, sushi, work

by | June 7, 2010 · 8:19 am

Lunch Date!

Today was a long day. I mean a really, really long day. I woke up to my phone serenading Owl City to me at 7am, rolled out of bed and threw about 6 cups of spinach into the blender along with 2 frozen bananas, the juice of half of a lemon, a cup of blueberries and a cup of soymilk and ice. I skipped on the Emergen-C again, but even without, this was the best GM to date! Must be all the extra blueberries. Yay antioxidants!
I finally hopped on my bike and spent about 50 minutes going 7.5 miles. Is that a good time? I have no concept as to what qualifies as good timing on a bike. This road route I took was uphill the first 5 miles, then downhill for the rest, excepting the insane hill I have to ride up to get back home. I didn’t stop once, so I’m happy for that! I love having my heart race so much that I can feel my pulse in my teeth, and flying through a cloud of misty marine layer that makes my hair damp. Love it!
After I got back I had a scrambled egg for protein, chugged a crapload of water and stretched my insanely tight quads. I had an hour of relaxing time in the backyard enjoying a hot cup of coffee and a view before I had to head to work.
I worked for a half hour before my stomach started rumbling. I swear, my metabolism is insane! Must. Eat. Constantly. I brought some freshly sliced bell peppers and the remains of my homemade hummus (picture omitted because I thought I’d look like a crazy person taking pictures of my food). Then I had to plow through work with visions of my potential lunch options dancing in my head.
For lunch I went to Lazy Dog Cafe. A wee bit extravagant, but sometimes a girl just needs a good gourmet burger. And maybe a shared beer 🙂
I split a guacamole and green chile burger, as well as the signature Lazy Dog Amber with my awesome lunch date ;). I’m always on the search for that new brew that makes the day seem bright and exciting – this Wednesday I’ll be heading up to the Islands Brewery in Carpinteria with some friends to have some tastings and take a tour. You don’t even need to ask: of course there will be pictures!
I got home after what seemed like the LONGEST day on the planet and was too tired and too out of ingredients to make the Channa Masala I wanted to, so I ordered pizza instead. Oops. I had three (oops again!) slices of thin-crust ham and pineapple, as well as a Fat Tire. I wasn’t even hungry, but three pieces of pizza went into my stomach! I’ll have to work on that… Eating when I’m not hungry is definitely an issue with me.
We just finished watching a family friend, Jenn Karlman, on the season premiere of “Grill It with Bobby Flay!” She and Bobby made different versions of grilled wild wahoo. Very cool to see her looking all pro with her amazing chef skills. You can check Jenn out here. She’s an amazing improvisational cook and makes delicious, healthy meals!
I’m so sorry for the lack of pictures, but I’ll charge the camera battery so I can keep up. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Keep your chins up for the week – just because we have to get back to the drone of work doesn’t mean we can’t have the best droned-out week ever!
Cheers!

Comments Off on Lunch Date!

Filed under Amber, bike, Fat Tire, green monster, hills, Lazy Dog Cafe, mountain bike, pain, spinach, ugh, work

by | June 6, 2010 · 4:41 am

I LOVE INDIAN FOOD!

There is NOTHING better than eating healthy round the clock. I live for eating veggies and tofu, drinking hot lemon water, chomping on fresh fruits, and exercising at least 2 hours a day.
Oh wait… there’s LIFE!
Today started out healthy enough. I made a MONSTER GM to split with the roommates and added the juice of half a lemon this time. Definitely made a difference, as did the additional frozen banana. I’ll try adding the Emergen-C tomorrow morning.
And yes, that is http://eatliverun.com in the background. My mom was kind enough to point out how similar our blog names are. I swear I hadn’t even found her blog before I’d named mine! I was going for a twist on “Eat, Pray Love”. Ah well.
This GM kept me full a full hour and a half, then I was ravenous! Luckily, we were headed straight to The Taj in Ventura for Indian food. I’m OBSESSED with this place and we frequent it at least once a month.
Overhead view
Topographic view
The Taj fortunately (or unfortunately) had a buffet today, so I loaded up with saag, saffron chicken, korma and extra amounts of sauce. There is REALLY nothing better than scooping up the sauces with a hot, freshly baked piece of garlic naan.
Rice is for lame-o’s!
I will always believe that white rice is only a filler. Don’t waste your time on it! Use that searing hot garlic naan to scoop up every single bit of sauce that is left on your plate! If you don’t, I’ll refuse to join you for lunch >:(. Just kidding, I’ll go to lunch with anyone if there’s food involved :). Even more so if it’s free *wink wink*!!!
Since it was buffet style, I just had to go back for dessert…. and maybe a little more saag and saffron sauce.
That’s pineapple at the bottom! I’m healthy!
As my best friend, Michelle, pointed out to me on iChat just now, “Sometimes unhealthy food is healthy for the soul!” I love that girl! I didn’t want to disrespect the chefs, so I cleaned my plate.
But once it was officially gone, I was very, very depressed.
That’s nothing that a little chocolate can’t fix! I settled for my usual: sprinkles-covered marshmallow on a stick:
I got a call yesterday that the bike store FINALLY had my shorts in, so I just had to go try them on!
5’3″ and fierce. I know you’re scared!
News flash: I have chicken legs. Like, annoyingly-crazy skinny legs. Everything about these shorts fit EXCEPT for the legs! They were hanging on me, and while I was willing to overlook this problem, Dave, the cycle guy, told me that I wouldn’t be able to ignore it for long. I placed an order for an extra-small pair. Now I have to wait another week and a half for them to arrive. Ugh.
Back home for a Saturday night, I got to try out my pop’s new pellet rifle 🙂
Elegant and ready to kill! I scared the CRAP out of that mound of dirt below the baked beans can that I was aiming for, that’s for sure!
After feeling like a total bad-ass, I kicked back with a Fat Tire and an amazing view.
OH! And a chocolate-covered sea salt caramel!
Sorry for the blurry picture. I’m still trying to figure out this camera. I drooled over a few very cool digital SLR’s at a camera store today, but the funds aren’t allowing for anything extravagant like that.
Tomorrow I have another full shift at work, so I’m setting my alarm for 7am and I’m going to put the pedal to the asphalt and pump out a few miles! I’m hoping to map out a long loop that’s not on a main road so I can work on adding mileage without getting run over. After that, my Emergen-C GM! See you all tomorrey!

2 Comments

Filed under beer, Chocolate, Fat Tire, Indian Food, Pearl Izumi, pellet gun, trufflehounds, Ventura

by | June 5, 2010 · 8:24 am

GREEN MONSTER!!!

I promised you that I’d finally have something other than a breakfast scramble for breakfast, so I give you…THE GREEN MONSTER!!!!
I used a recipe I got off of http://greenmonstermovement.com/. I chose the “fool proof” recipe for my first time. I’ll try anything once, but I’ll admit, I was nervous to try this baby. I had to go through with it though, because yesterday’s trip to Costco landed me a 2.5lb bag of fresh spinach! Check out what it looks like next to my gigantic blender!

And yes, that is my blender peeking out behind the gi-normous bag! Can’t believe that bag was only $3.99! YAY COSTCO!!!


Lucky for me, I had leftover flax meal from my homemade bread, and a bunch of fresh bananas, so it started like this:
It met its original end-point at this:
But, after the first sip, it was just too bland, so it went back into the blender with a handful of fresh blueberries, and came out as this:
After being passed around between the roommates, the general consensus was that it was STILL TOO BLAND! Still, for the first attempt, this was completely acceptable and drinkable, as this picture seems to show:
I think tomorrow morning I’ll throw in an Emergen-C or two for some extra tang. It was definitely missing something – maybe lemon or lime zest or something similar. I think I’ll also chuck in another cup or two of spinach. I might as well go big or go home :).

After chugging that gigantic, filling MONSTER, I headed off to work. I had an early shift and didn’t plan enough time to eat breakfast as well as drink the GM, plus I didn’t know if the GM was meant to be a replacement for breakfast or had in addition – it’s meant to be had in addition, as I found out :-/.

About half an hour after clocking in, I felt the insistent groan of my raging stomach, so I ran to Subway to try one of their healthy new breakfast sandwiches. I brought along a coupon – (YAY coupons and saving money!) and lucky me, got the new girl. She ended up making me a sandwich with 3 pieces of spinach, a layer of turkey and ham, and a wheat bun that was toasted. At the end of the line, a very confused me handed over my coupon and they tried to charge me $4 for the piece of crap she’d put together! They finally realized their mistake – a breakfast sandwich includes egg and is on an english muffin – and gave me the sub for a buck. I’m still a bit pissed though… definitely didn’t want a hunk of hot bread with meat and wilted spinach :-/. I was going to take a picture, but it was just TOO pitiful!

Lunch turned around though! I went to the sushi place and got a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice, sriracha with a little soy sauce and two huge cups of ice water. I’m working on increasing my H2O intake!
I ran into a friend I used to work with, enter Duck-Duck (my friend from high school), and had a “catch-up” lunch. After parting with Duck-Duck, I had just enough time to go to my usual cushy post-lunch couch and read a few chapters of my current book – Julie and Julia. I just want to point out, this book is a total bummer! I saw the movie a few months ago and thought it was very cute, but this book is just depressing! I’ve never read a book whose author had such a bad attitude! Sheesh! I needed a See’s candy to pick me up, so I got me a Tipperary bon-bon, and split an apple pie truffle with my mum who stopped by :).

FINALLY I got home and was treated by my roommates to a wonderful dinner of seared tilapia and steamed green beans tossed with garlic oil:
You must remember though, it is Friday night, so it was followed by this:
That Fat Tire is most definitely mine! As was the following one… :). I also have been looking into the Tour de Fat – October 23rd in Los Angeles! Anyone want to go? Please let me know!

After the sunset, I retreated back inside and finally got to try some So Delicious ice cream. I’ve been wanting to try the coconut milk So Delicious, but didn’t have the desire or ability to drive all the way to Sprouts, so I settled for this:
I gotta say, ice cream really needs a nice piece of cake to compliment it. Pepperidge Farm’s chocolate layer cake was actually SCREAMING at me to eat it! I had to obey!!!
There really is no better way to end a Friday night. I’m a total homebody, and while going out and getting trashed just isn’t my cup-o-tea, I’m all for a few beers, some cake and ice cream and some good conversation. Nothing better 🙂

Happy Friday and g’night all!

Comments Off on GREEN MONSTER!!!

Filed under beer, cake, Fat Tire, flax, green monster, love, New Belgium, Pepperidge Farm, roommates, so delicious, soy, spinach, sushi