Lightweight Eats

Dan and I did a decent grocery stock-up this weekend and are hoping to make it through our move with no more groceries! We've got a little over a week until we begin the moving process, and about a week and a half before we expect to move our kitchen over to the new place.

The plan of action:
- Eat as much perishable food as possible in the next week. I would like to have very little refrigerated food to move over.
- Finish off boxes of cold cereal, dried goods and other snack foods (dried fruit, sliced bread, nuts, etc.)
- Make a few big batches of soup/pasta to eat while the kitchen is packed up; this is also a great way to use up some pantry goods, like potatoes, pasta and dried legumes

At this point, I've stopped buying things that aren't good for me to eat, so I shouldn't be stuck finishing off boxes of cookies or eating chips in our last few days. Still, I expect that we'll have at least one weird meal. Hopefully pre-cooking a lot of options in the next few days helps us continue to eat at home even when we're busy with moving logistics.

Any advice for moving and finishing off the pantry? Or what we definitely need to have in our new place to survive?

"So what do you do?" People always ask me this--an innocent question with an incredibly complicated answer.

My primary occupation is training. This takes up a good chunk of my time and energy, and is a scheduling priority for me. But training doesn't pay the bills, and often costs money.

I am fortunate enough to have a husband who helps support my training, but my extra income really makes a difference in our quality of life. It allows us to buy high quality organic produce, to eat out on occasion and to put money back into our savings.

Finding work that jives with my schedule hasn't been easy, though. I actually work a lot of different jobs.

My first work came in as personal training work. The connection is pretty obvious--I spend my whole day thinking about exercise, so teaching others about it is fun. Unfortunately, the hours are a little bit difficult to schedule--most people want to exercise outside of work hours, and this is when I have the biggest demand for my time.

So when our training schedule started settling down, I began perusing Craigslist for additional opportunities. I started by looking at the jobs section of Craigslist but with limited success--most of the jobs posted there required fixed hours and offered little flexibility. The opportunities in the gigs section have been much more suited to my needs.

I've added a few hours here and there of fit modeling and tutoring. This work is super flexible--it is usually one to three hours at a time, scheduled the week of, and fits well between my practices.

The fit modeling happens during work hours, which is incredibly convenient. The tutoring usually happens after school, but before work is over. This can be a bit difficult to schedule around practices, but is very doable for a few hours a week. Both of these jobs do require quite a bit of travel time, but I use that time to catch up on reading, blogging, recording workouts and replying to emails when I can.

Finally, I recently started an internship with a startup in SF, AnyRoad. I don't have an official title, yet, but I curate the tours and work with the tour guides to help perfect their submissions. The work is perfect. It's interesting and variable, and I get to read about cool experiences around the work. I can also schedule my work as it fits with my schedule, and a good portion of the work can be done from home.

Of course, it would have been nice if these opportunities hadn't all come in the middle of racing season, and right before we move into a new place, but when it rains it pours. I'm excited for all of these opportunities, and for the financial comfort they are providing. It's also nice to be busy!

So that's what I do--work here and there in a number of different fields and positions. It definitely keeps life interesting.

I know, I know, it's been forever since I updated. Access to internet in Boston was spotty at best, and life since has been insanely busy. I have TWO races to recap!

Head of the Charles:
This wasn't a super serious race. A bunch of former Princeton lightweights raced in the alumnae category as the Fat Cat Rowing Club. We had a blast, and in the meantime, I got another run down the Charles race course. I imagine this will be helpful if I race it in my single next year.

The trip to Boston was also a great time--I met about a million new people, caught up with a lot of old friends, and go the chance to actually explore Boston. I've been a few times before, but never navigated the city myself. I feel much more comfortable with the layout of the city and generally getting around. I'm looking forward to visiting again!

Head of the American:
I got back from Boston on Tuesday evening and was back at the boathouse Wednesday morning to prepare for another race. I had an incredibly busy week last week. Between early morning practices, busy days and late nights getting things done, sleep definitely took a back burner. As a result, my training and my performance suffered.

Saturday, I raced in two events--the open quad and the open single. The quad was a last minute addition to my day--I filled in for a sick teammate--but I was glad to have a run down the course once before my single race. We won this race easily, but it definitely helped with nerves.

My second race was a few hours later in the single. I managed my day really poorly--I spent way too much energy wandering around, and let the heat drain my energy as well. I will need to improve this for future racing.

By the time I launched, I was already exhausted mentally and physically. My stroke rate sat lower than it should have, and I had a really hard time finding the last 5% on my pressure to really race the piece. It showed in my results.

We followed this race up with two hard practices Sunday morning, both of which also suffered from lack of sleep. I'm beginning to realize that sleep is more important to the quality of my training than the food I eat--I often associate hunger with tiredness, and eat when I should nap.

Today, we have the day off of practice, and I'm using it to sleep, work and start packing for our impending move! Long to-do list slowly getting shorter.

I re-rolled, unpacked and repacked, whittled down and squeezed shut, but after much ado I managed to fit a weeks worth of clothing into one backpack.. And not a backpacking pack, either--the kind you see students lugging their textbooks to and from class in.

Things that made it:
Running shoes
Several pairs of wool socks
Shampoo
Floss
My iPad, Charlie

Things that didn't:
Flip flops
Gloves
Conditioner
Q-tips (we actually ran out.. Oops)
The book written by my high school rowing coach, gifted to me by my mom

Currently hanging out waiting for our pilots to make it through San Francisco traffic. (+1 for public transportation.)

I brought along my white headband, which doubles as an eye mask.

With that, good headphones and a window seat, I should be able to get a solid night of sleep on the plane tonight. I don't race until Saturday, so I have plenty of time to recover. I would prefer to enjoy my first few days in Boston, though, so fingers crossed for sleep. After all, there is no Peets to wake me up!

I have a pretty loose itinerary for the trip. I'm staying with friends, and hoping to not overstay my welcome at any one host.

Generally, though, I hope to enjoy some quality me-time, get in at least one good workout a day, and soak in as much east coast fall weather as I can. It will also be fun to re-unite with old teammates, and explore with current teammates. I also expect to meet a lot of new people during race weekend.

See you on the other side of the country! If I can find wifi, I will update.

Wait, that's more than a week..

Oh, yeah, I'm going out of town! But Dan won't be. Since I do almost all of the grocery shopping and a lot of the cooking and planning, I planned ahead for him.

When he saw my plan for the days I'm gone, his response was something along the lines of "Yum." He won't be eating dinner at home every night he's here so there aren't quite enough options, but I imagine he'll have some leftovers in the fridge in case plans fall through.

1. Salad with romaine/spring mix, pomegranate seeds, butternut squash, avocado, raspberries and a lemon/thyme/honey dressing.

2. Stir-fry with tofu, long beans, celery and carrots, over rice, sauce TBD

3. Roasted potatoes and curried cauliflower with chickpeas (if we get around to cooking them)

4. Dinner at my parent's place

5. Burritos/tacos with cheese, black beans, salsa, lettuce, etc.

6. Chicken tortilla soup

7. Hamburgers with grilled broccoli

8. Cereal or PB&J or burrito from local store

9. Spaghetti, spaghetti squash, leftover sage-walnut pesto and chickpeas

A few weeks ago, I mentioned we were starting to eat down our pantry. We are making great progress! For example, this week I used up some chickpeas, nuts and nutritional yeast making Mama Pea's Mmmm sauce. (Seriously, go make it. That woman has not disappointed me yet.)

For a double whammy, I enjoyed it over the last of our steel cut oats.

We've also managed to make great progress on our quinoa, and are down to four cans: black beans, chickpeas, tomatoes and beets. That last one should be a challenge.

A black lentil soup used up a good portion of our black lentils, although we didn't get organized enough to make naan with our bread flour.

I'm not writing just to brag, though. I'd also like to do some out-loud thinking. When we move, we will be restocking our pantry, and we'd like to have a game plan before we get to the store. Dan and I have made a lot of progress towards establishing our eating identity in the past year. Our household is now about 98% vegetarian, with a heavy emphasis on fruit, vegetables, dairy and grains.

But we'd like to make some changes.

These are the foods we'd like to feature in our new pantry:
1. Nuts and seeds, including nut and seed butters. In the past I've hesitated to purchase these because of the price. We've had our jar of almond butter for almost 4 months, though! Overall, worthwhile, and a great, filling snack. (Note: Nutella does not count.)

2. Legumes. Since we discovered the slow cooker method for cooking beans, we've started eating more of them. I still like having cans around, because they're easy. Right now our favorites are black beans, chickpeas and black lentils. I plan to always have these three on hand and buy other varieties as needed.

3. Whole grains. We bought a lot of white flour when we moved into our new place and we haven't really used much of it. After discovering white whole wheat flour, I don't bake nearly as many goods with white flour, so it's pretty much sat on the shelf. We'll also stock quinoa, rice and pasta.

4. Organic and non-dairy milk. The first one is easy--we go through about a gallon a week of milk. The organic stuff tastes better and I believe it is the right way to go. Still, we could use to incorporate a little bit more variety into our diets and non-dairy milk is an easy way to decrease our dependence on dairy. There are lots of options and lots of times it doesn't matter what you use--scrambled eggs, coffee, oatmeal, etc.

5. Tofu. I know soy has gotten some bad press. I'm skeptical, and I plan to continue eating soy. I love tofu, and it's a great source of protein. We usually buy the extra firm variety, but occasionally venture into silken tofu for smoothies.

6. Fruits and vegetables, heavy emphasis on the latter. I could eat grapes until the cows come home (which would be a long time in our home). Same with most types of fruit. I also love vegetables, but I'm not as great at eating them. I still get way more than the suggested number of daily servings, but I feel like that's a pretty low standard.

A few more glass containers is going to be crucial, and maybe the addition of a mini fridge. A lot of these foods require pre-cooking and/or refrigeration, especially for quick eating. And when there's oatmeal in the fridge, I'm much more likely to eat it.

The hope is that limiting our purchases of items not on this list (crackers, cold cereal and candy for example), we will be forced to adjust our eating habits.

Just as it took me a long time to get comfortable eating vegetarian food, I expect it will take adjustment to eating nuts, seeds and veggies as snacks. But if it gives me a 2% improvement in my training, it will be worth it. If it also improves our quality of life, even better.

More and more, I believe that you are what you eat. I want to give my body what it needs to be the best of the best. It's not going to be easy, but it's worth it.

I grew up with Peet's coffee. I never realized it was anything special, until I went to school in New Jersey. We flew out to California for a race and the first thing my coaches did was visit the Peet's. At the time, I didn't really drink coffee except when I was desperately tired.

Since then, I've learned to enjoy a good cup of rich, sugary, milky goodness. For a while, I was getting in the habit of buying a coffee from our local Peet's a few times a week.



It got expensive quickly.

Still, we were trying to avoid having a ridiculously large coffee machine taking up counter space. So went we got a Sur La Table gift card, we went in search of a French press. Had we known their reputation for making incredibly strong coffee, we may have gone with a different choice.

In the end, I think we're really happy with our decision. Our press, an Oxo product that we got a great deal on, makes enough for about 2.5 mugs of coffee. We usually save our leftover coffee in a glass bottle and use it to make mochas with instant hot cocoa mix.

It's also super quick--a big perk when practice starts at 6:30AM, thirty minutes away. Of course, we could have purchased a machine that would have coffee waiting for us in the mornings, but it would have been very bulky, and we don't always drink coffee in the mornings--sometimes it's tea or water, or nothing at all. Including boiling the water and pouring mugs, it takes ten minutes.

We are in the process of sampling all of the coffee varieties from Peet's. (Although we have a recommendation for Vanilla Chai Coffee from Trader Joe's that might sneak in.)

Our first choice was their Sumatra blend. We didn't really like it very much, and found that their "slightly earthy" description really meant "tastes slightly of dirt". Overall, though, it was still a decent cuppa.

In our second round, we purchased the Ethiopian Super Natural--a limited edition blend. I loved this one. It was sharp and fruity and tasted a little bit like dried blueberries. I drank this one with a lot less sugar and still enjoyed it. Dan wasn't as big of a fan--I think he is still holding out on a nutty, chocolatey coffee that tastes like a mocha.

Which brings us to our third variety: Arabian Mocha-Java. Not a fan. I'm not sure where they got "bittersweet chocolate overtones"--more like unsweetened baking chocolate. I guess it is similar to chocolate, in that it's much more pleasant with lots of sugar and a good dose of milk. I'm looking forward to finishing this one off.

On the other hand, I had their Guatemala San Sebastian in the store, which also mentions "fine bittersweet chocolate" in the description and really liked it. (I found it slightly astringent, but not enough to mind.)

Next up, I think I'd like to try a fruity variety again, although we might try one of their standard blends: Blend 101 or House Blend.

Any Peetniks out their have recommendations?

People always tell me I travel light. I can't remember the last time I had to check a bag. When I head to Boston in a week (!) for the Head of the Charles, I'm looking forward to making the journey with just a backpack.

I'll be staying with friends throughout the trip to help make it more affordable, but I'd prefer to take up as little space as I can manage. I also expect to be walking around the city with all of my stuff. The less I have to carry, the better.

Of course, I will also need to work out on the trip, so I will need to bring a decent amount of clothing.

How do I do it?

First, I re-wear clothing. Although I prefer to keep my workout and every day clothing separate, traveling is my one exception. A shirt or tank top can be worn first as a pajama, second as normal clothing and third to work out in. I also wear running shorts as pajamas.

Second, I bring versatile shoes. I will be sad to not have my Vibrams for this trip, but my toes will probably thank me. (Those shoes are NOT warm.) Generally, though, I like to travel with one pair of running shoes and one pair of day-to-day shoes. Occasionally, I will also bring a pair of sandals. This trip, the sandals are staying at home. While it's 80 degrees in NorCal, I'm expecting chilly temps in Boston.

Third, I'm willing to forget things. Or buy them. Or borrow them. Of course I like to have my normal toiletries with me: toothbrush/paste, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, etc., but I don't feel the need to bring everything.

Yes, it might be a little bit less pleasant to go a week without Q-tips, and annoying to have long nails, but that's part of the charm of travel. I'm willing to trade some of the convenience of home for the newness of away, at least for a week.

Fourth, find a small bag that holds its shape. When my back is full, I stop packing. In any case, it's much easier to size up than size down your bag.

I've also found that things pack more efficiently in slightly stiffer bags. Logically, this may not make sense, but I'm going with it. Learning to fold clothing neatly gives you a much tighter pack. (Just because my bags are small does NOT mean they are light.)

Where should you start?
1. Make a list of everything you need for your trip. Be medium-generous: a shirt for every day, a few bottoms, etc.
2. Decide where you can pare down. Maybe you can do laundry, or expect to lounge in pajamas for half of each day, and so can double up on tops.
3. Pack as many double-duty items as you can. Tank tops + a jacket instead of long sleeves, for example. (You can wear the tank top to bed or to workout.)
4. Pack the rest of your list.
5. Unless you have a ridiculous amount of space left, take 10% of your items out. You don't need clean running shorts for every workout. Plus, you'll need the extra space for the way back, when you don't feel like folding so neatly.
6. Plan on buying some things there. Travel toothpaste costs the same in New York as it does in California. Stop at a Walgreens when you arrive and pick up some travel-sized items. Toss them before you come home.

What are your tips for traveling light? Even I'm not sure about making it for a week with just a backpack, so I could use some advice!

Monday:
I finally got my bike fixed last week, so I started off the morning with a 20-minute ride down to the boathouse. The morning workout was about 14km total, with a 4km race in the middle. Overall, it was a decent piece, although not as good as previous ones. Finished off the workout with a nice cool down ride home.

In the afternoon, I did an endurance lift: 1000 repetitions total, in long sets, with medium weights. I'm still settling into the amount of weight I can do on these lifts, and our apartment gym doesn't have a very finely graduated weight set which makes it more difficult.

Tuesday:
Starting a run test at 6AM = leaving the house very, very early. We repeated our 5.6-mile run test and I improved my time significantly: 39:16, a 45-second improvement! I paced myself much better this time, and didn't absolutely crash in the 3rd lap (of four).

I'll be amazed if you can find me in this picture.

We followed up our run with 12km of rowing. The water was really clean which always makes rowing more fun.

In the afternoon, I hopped on our erg at home to discover the batteries were dead! I wasn't too upset--I didn't really want to see what the heat did to my times. (Early in the week, we had highs in the 80s and low 90s--yikes!) I completed the workout without any times, which was oddly liberating.

Finally, I headed over to Lake Merritt to cox the masters women. My practice schedule has changed and I can now only go on Tuesday evenings. We did a fun 5k mock race around the lake. Well, it was fun for me--I think painful is a better descriptor for them. I've been working on steering a lot--a coxswain's most important skill!

Wednesday:
Again, I started the morning off with a quick ride to the boathouse, followed by 20km and another ride home. Overall, it was a very exhausting morning! My endurance is improving, but it's still not where it needs to be. I also felt a bit under-fueled for the length of the workout.

In the afternoon, I did another round of endurance weight-lifting.

Thursday:
The morning workout was the same as yesterday. The group was a bit more split up, so our coach worked with me for the first half of the row. I have a lot of technical issues to focus on, and they are all interrelated. Having the coach there reminding you to work on all of them is super productive but also incredibly exhausting!

The quality of rowing in the second half definitely decreased, partly from the intense focus in the first half, but also because I was a bit worn down from Wednesday's long row. Still, I have a long list of things to work on in future rows, and a better sense of what rowing properly should feel like.

I also worked in some extra heavy-lifting today, in an effort to gain muscle mass. Some of my favorites: single leg squats, pull-ups and push-ups. I also do bicep curls regularly, much to Dan's dismay.

In the evening, another round of coxing at LMRC! I was helping one of their boats prepare for the upcoming Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.

Friday:
More weight lifting! The day's only workout was an endurance lift. Because my body was fresh, I was able to lift a bit more weight and slightly more aggressively than normal. I also added some heavier weight work on to the end of the lift, mostly upper body work. My legs get plenty of extra work from bicycling!

Saturday:
This morning, we rowed forever. Ok, it was really only 24km, but tack 4.5 miles of biking onto either end of that and it becomes some serious mileage. All-in-all, I spent almost 3 hours in the heart rate 140-155bpm zone this morning--comfortably difficult.

Although I haven't quite finished the week out, this afternoon I'm planning on an 80-minute run, and a short, high-intensity lifting session. In the meantime, eating, eating, eating!

I know it's probably a figment of my imagination, but I feel like I'm already getting more muscular from all of my lifting. Either way, it's good motivation!

I've been quiet recently. That's because I've been spending a lot of time job and apartment hunting. Although we love our apartment dearly, Dan and I are looking at other housing options. It's currently that largest part of our monthly budget and when our lease ends, that rent will go up. Financially, it's just not a smart decision to live here anymore.

I've also been working on finding work.

Because of our training schedule, there are significant constraints on work possibilities. Of course, I could easily make sacrifices to work a full-time job--train on either side of work and rarely see Dan or decrease my training volume, for example.

Fortunately, we are not in a place where I have to do those things. Instead, I've been on the hunt for part-time work, and recently stumbled across an awesome gig.

Today was my first day working as a fit model for a local clothing company. Basically, I act as a human mannequin, discussing the fit of the sample garment with the design team and the pattern maker. It's really a lot of fun.

The clothing is all sized to fit my dimensions, more or less, so they give me an item and other than a few tugs or pulls the garment fits. Of course, the point of my being there is to fix all the tugs and pulls!

In the first day, I feel like I've learned so much already! I'm going to have a completely new appreciation of what to look for next time I go purchase clothing, and a better understanding of what goes into making things fit and why they might not fit me correctly.

Oh yea, I've also been busy training a lot, too, but that's the norm.

Yesterday morning, I left our apartment at 6am with a bicycle, a granola bar and two pieces of fruit. Four and a half hours and 21 miles later, I came home starving.

I often spend the 25 minute bike ride home pondering all of the delicious food options waiting for me. I plan out all of the awesome topping I'm going to put on a sandwich, or the vegetables I plan to saute and eat over rice or quinoa.

Then, I get home, open the pantry and eat a faceful of chocolate.

Aside from never buying chocolate, which obviously isn't an option and would really just cause me to hit the peanut butter jar instead, I've found that making my lunch ahead of time solves most of the problem.

If I've taken the time to assemble a gorgeous creation, the guilt of letting it go to waste is enough to pull my hand away from the chocolate (at least for 20 minutes or so).

Soups and salads are definitely some of the best options for night-before-preparation. I leave my salads undressed until just before serving, but the dressing can be made ahead and put in a little jar or tupperware.

Some other prep-ahead suggestions:
- leftovers: bonus points if you put it in a ready-to-microwave bowl
- can of beans over a leftover grain: bonus points for adding a condiment and/or a veggie
- peanut butter and jelly sandwich: I often pack this and bring it with me
- nachos: assemble the chips/cheese in an oven safe dish the night before, and pop that sucker under the broiled right away when you get home. Top with salsa and microwaved black/pinto beans.
- tortilla pizzas: spread tomato paste on a tortilla, or a piece of bread, top with cheese; either microwave or broil when you're ready to eat

What do you do for lunches??

If you haven't made my pumpkin muffins yet, you are missing out. And now, you are double missing out, because we fiddled with the recipe. (I know, I said it was the end.. but I knew they could be even better!)

We made them even healthier, so now you can eat them for breakfast. And then, we made it a cake, because cake for breakfast is incredible. Especially when that cake is whole wheat, and relatively low in fat, with four servings of veggies (if you eat the whole cake).

Feel free to use a 15-ounce can instead of the 17 ounces called for--just add an extra dash of water or milk to make up for it. Or not.

You could also just use the extra pumpkin to make the pumpkin syrup, and then make your own pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin oatmeal and pumpkin yogurt.

Breakfast.

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Pumpkin Cake
makes one 9-inch, single layer cake

2 eggs
17 ounces of pumpkin (see note above)
0.75c sugar (150g) (use as little as 125g for a less sweet version)
0.25c oil
0.5c cold water
0.25t salt
1t baking soda
0.25t baking powder
1.5c (225g) white whole wheat flour
1.5T cinnamon
0.25t nutmeg, freshly ground
0.5t cloves
0.5t ginger

for serving:
pumpkin syrup
hazelnuts
pomegranate kernels

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix ingredients together.
3. Pour into a prepared cake pan. (Grease sides and/or use parchment circle on the bottom.)
4. Bake until done. A little more than an hour? We had other stuff in our oven, which I'm sure affected the baking time. It's done when the center is no longer wiggly and a knife inserted comes out clean.
5. Let cool. Slice and serve with chopped hazelnuts, pomegranate kernels, and an artsy drizzle of pumpkin syrup.
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