You might notice that some stuff has moved around.

You are crazy.

Everything is exactly as it was.

You should medicate yourself by:

a) drinking a martini;

b)  furiously clicking your mouse at random objects on your screen;

c) watching an episode of the bachelor pad.

Or not.

Because you are not crazy.

I am officially trying to make a mess of this here blog.

Thankfully it will only disrupt the lives of 1 or 2 faithful readers.

And even they are likely not even going to notice.

Or read this.

But if they are …

Hi!

Thanks for being my faithful reading peeps!

Back to the bid-ness …

I’m getting organized.

Please bear with me.

I generally write about food.

I want to write about my training goals and plans.

I still need a spot to whine and ponder and wax on poetically.

So I am organizing spots for each of those things.

Hopefully it will make this here bloggy thing more user friendly, with emphasis on MORE USERS.

Thanks for your patience and general kindness to the “woyld”.

Oh … and my goal is to post every day for the next 30.  Let’s see if I can do it.

Yes.

I know I am crazy.

And I will medicate accordingly.

No, not you.

or you …

or you …

but YOU.

You know who you are.

The Weepies just released a new album … “Be My Thrill”.  You can live stream (full songs … I know!  F-U-L-L SONGS … sweet eh?!) it here.  It makes my world spin a little jolly-er.

Jolly on.

Nifty.

Somedays I think I was born 40 years late.

Other days, 40 years early.

Nifty me!

Before the end of the summer, I want to rent a giant dome tent.  

I want to put it in the middle of a field.

And then I want to fill it with foam.

I’d get like these foam guns and put one in each corner.

They’d just fill it all up with foam.

The whole thing would be really … uhhhhh …

foamy.

Said a first date at the end of our date.

Uh-freakin’-huh …

There was no second date.

Funny things you remember when you’re cleaning up your office and you find old business cards lying around. 

I can’t help but wonder if he had that there field full of foam shindig …

I heard this song.

On my way to meet a friend.  

I wasn’t sure what I would say when I saw her.  

I was sure there was nothing magical I could say.

She didn’t need magic anyway.

She needed love.

I hope I gave her that.

I am sure that some of it bounced off her broken heart,

and her broken spirit.

It is funny that something as big as love is still not enough sometimes.

Thinking: while on my way there, I felt doubt that love would be enough.

Then song for a painter played.

She is beautiful and strong and insightful and so so so creative.

Let time heal her insides.

Why are men such awful stinkin’ cruel and brutal jerks sometimes anyways?

Life post-vegan: simple, focused, still frantic, obsessive.

These days, I am usually thinking about one of the following things:

Food.  Zach.  Food.  Budgets.  Food.  Running.  Food. Training.  Running.  Sleeping.  Food.

These days, my version of multi-tasking consists of thinking about food while running, consuming food while thinking about Zach while running, or dreaming about food and running while sleeping.  Since adopting the vegan diet in March, I have found myself re-invigorated in so many ways.  Not only do I feel energized, but I get a high thinking about upcoming creations in the kitchen.  The focus, a byproduct of discarding a mountain of choices tainted by vegan no-no’s: dairy, meat, fish, eggs, etc., has bred more focus for me.  Becoming disciplined about my diet has resulted in a spill-over effect to increased discipline in so many other areas of my life - spending, training, and taking care of myself have all become easier as a result of this one major change.  

That … and the 10 pounds I have lost make living vegan sweet n’ worth it.

Asparagus and Barley Risotto (adapted from CleanEating magazine)

What’s in it (this amount’ll make 6 side servings)

2T olive oil

5 green onions thinly sliced

2 shallots, minced

4 cups veggie stock

1-1/2 cups water

1-1/2 cups pot or pearl barley (I chose pearl)

1lb asparagus, sliced on diagonal

1-1/2 cups frozen peas (or do as I did and throw in whatever you’ve got - i.e. corn, red pepper, tomato, etc)

1/4 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

zest + juice of 1 lemon

salt and freshly ground pepper

Steps

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium high heat until simmering.  Saute onions and shallots until translucent (two minutes will do ya).  Add the broth, 1 cup of the water and all the barley.  Raise heat to high until you get it to a simmer again, then reduce heat back to medium.  Simmer - give it a good stir at the beginning middle and end.  It takes about 25 minutes for the barley to absorb the liquid.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup water, asparagus and whatever else you’re throwing in.  Raise heat back to medium and put a lid on it.  Stir every now and then over the course of 5 minutes, which is the amount of time to nicely steam your veggies.  Stir in the basil, parsley, lemon juice, zest, and drizzle with about a tablespoon of oil.  Season to your heart’s content (I skipped salt and pepper and found the dish to be full of flavourful goodness.)

Bon vegan appetit!

Step 1 - sauce - a bit of oil, a bit of white wine, a pinch of sugar, and some soya sauce.  

Step 2 - stir-fry onion, garlic and ginger.  Add in the veggies from longer-to-cook to only-needs-a-minute.  I added, in order, orange, red, and yellow peppers, then parsnip, then swiss chard, then shaved daikon.

Step 3 - cook your rice noodles.  I prefer the kind that you place in a bowl covered with boiled water.  They take 2 minutes to cook.  That is why I prefer them.  TWO MINUTES to get-in-my-belly time.  Mmmm.  Mmmm.

Step 4 - plate and enjoy.

One of my friend’s, Indigo, invited herself to girl’s night on Saturday.  She didn’t really need to invite herself, because she has a standing invitation to show up on a moment’s notice at any time … especially when she comes bearing gifts.  She had beers, chips, and gifts for recent birthday girls - me and Baron.  Mine was a delightful yellow asian plate, which I have taken to using as a dinner plate each and every night.  It makes dinner look special.  

It makes me feel special-er.  

Thanks Indigo … you rock.

p.s. for those of you yet to be introduced to daikon - it is a Japanese radish in the body of a long white carrot.  Hard to find in small towns, but worth picking up when you are around an Asian grocery or at a larger city’s supermarket.  It stays fresh for a very long time.

I would like to confess that it is because of some aversion to [lab-made]-ide or -ite or -ium -ate.

But it is not.

Nope it is a combination of being cheap, frustrated with too many bottles on the door, and holy-mackerel the shelf life of Kraft’s Caesar is just sick sick sick and wrong.

So I have created space on the fridge door and have saved a buck or two by whipping up my own.  Sometimes the lab-au-nj doesn’t work out so well, like the garlic-mint combo I tried once, which incidentally kept co-workers and vampires away from my office door for an entire afternoon.  Today’s attempt was a-o-k to the enth degree though.  Four ingredients - olive oil (1/2 cup), rice vinegar (1/3 cup), ripe avocado (1/3), and miso paste (1 t).  

Blend.  

Sample.  

Blend.  

Pour.  

Oh so good.

A simple dressed salad is paired here with steamed red peppers and quinoa mixed with steamed collard greens and yesterday’s mushroom black-eyed pea salsa.