The bike trumped the quinoa! I took off for a nice half hour ride to get to know my new friend – I definitely need to think up a name for her. After the ridiculous struggle up the hill back home, I had a big bowl of make-your-nose-drip-it’s-so-freakin’-spicy vegan chili waiting for me, and just had to make some garlic toast to dip in it.
Garlic Toast:
Take 1 slice of seedy, nutty whole grain bread and drop it in the toaster.
Slice off the end of 1 garlic clove and rub it over both sides of the toast.
Devour.
This is a really simple and delicious way to get the amazing taste of garlic bread without getting the calories from the butter and parmesan cheese that many recipes include. Plus, chili just can’t be eaten without garlic bread. It’s comfort food at its best!
On Friday morning we went for a very short 40 minute hike. We were hoping for a longer one, but real life got in the way, as did a late waking. I headed off to rehearsal for the upcoming film in Burbank and met some costars, got the wardrobe fitting and spent about 2 and a half hours going over the script and figuring out blocking. I came back with the plans of exchanging my bike shorts (the Pearl Izumi Speed ones I got were just a little too short for me to be comfortable wearing them in public), and found a great pair I wanted (the Pearl Izumi Attack shorts are just a tad longer, and a bit more expensive, but the extra panels make them fit much better) but they didn’t have my size. Instead I returned them and ordered the Attack shorts so I can try them on when the cycle shop gets them in next week.
I meant to jump right on my bike when I got home, but I had had a really long day of driving and socializing and driving again, so I crashed on the couch with a Fat Tire (whoops!) and read my latest issue of Backpacker magazine – a favorite of mine 🙂 Then, the roommates came back after a Ventura jaunt with a huge bag of chocolates that they were more than happy to share (thanks a lot, guys :-/). So to sum it up, my day didn’t end up the way I was hoping, but who can be perfect when they’re surrounded by generous people who have free chocolate?
This morning meant an early start at my day job. I had an AMAZING breakfast scramble with a piece of whole grain toast and olive oil – gotta have the healthy fats!
I have been craving massively spicy foods lately, so this one was doused in Trader Joe’s jalapeno hot sauce. Have I mentioned a million times how amazing that stuff is? For a long day at work, I really need to stuff myself in the morning. I’m one who needs to eat every 2 hours, otherwise I get nauseated (weird, right?).
At work I staved off all the sugary coffee drinks I love to get, but accidentally found Paciugo, the gelato place I used to frequent on a daily (!) basis. The thing is, I’d heard that they recently came out with a new flavor called, get this, ORGANIC MAPLE CARAMELIZED BACON! I’ve been dying to try it since I read that it was upcoming on their menu, and MAN was that sample worth it! It’s an amazing creamy, sugary maple gelato with bacon that has been sprinkled with sugar, then baked until caramelized and crumbled on top. It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Needless to say, I went back for another sample…
Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice and spicy Sriracha sauce. Almost any sushi place has brown rice available for a minimal fee, which I find strange… why does it cost MORE to get rice that still has the hull on? Wouldn’t it take MORE time and money to process the rice to get the white rice? Can anyone tell me why that is? I’m totally lost…
As the work day wound to a close, I found myself thinking about those gelato samples more and more and decided, why not? It’s only 100 calories for a child’s size cup, and if I completely deprive myself then I’ll end up gorging later. Plus, I had an awesome bike ride planned for after work. It was so worth it!
I arrived home completely exhausted, and threw myself onto my bike seat before I could even think about what I was doing. I headed down and spent about 50 minutes on a higher gear speeding around a local park. As I headed onto a side trail, my chain dropped (oh, joy…) and I spent 5 minutes covering my hands with grease trying to hook it back on, and even managed to get a big metal chunk of chain lodged in my thumb. I struggled back up my hill without stopping, and got all the way up in record time! Yay!
For dinner I sauteed some frozen butternut squash I chopped up last month and stirred it into the leftover chili with a little brown rice. A little Franziskaner (a really good German hefeweizen) topped me off, and now I’ll be all carb-ed up for another long day at work tomorrow. The next workout will have to wait until Monday :-/