Lightweight Eats

There were so many things to be grateful for this weekend, and this whole year. My life is so different from this same time last year and looking better every day.

For this year's Thanksgiving, we decided to have a low-key celebration at home. It's been a stressful month for both Dan and me, so having the long weekend at home was much needed. We're both feeling much more relaxed.

Dan came home from work early on Wednesday and found me elbow deep in cooking. A lot of people find cooking for Thanksgiving very stressful--I had the opposite experience. It was fun and relaxing to plan and execute the menu!!

To help, I planned my dishes so that many of them could be made ahead of time. We had a few rowing friends over to our place for Thursday dinner and wanted to spend our evening enjoying good company, not slicing, dicing, chopping and cooking.

On Wednesday, I managed to make:
- bean salad: garbanzos, edamame, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion and a lemon-thyme dressing
- quinoa, roasted cauliflower, kale salad with a tahini dressing and pomegranate aril garnish (recipe coming soon)
- vegan pumpkin bread and accompanying cranberry sauce (recipes coming after more testing)
- Mmmm sauce, intended for broccoli

Thursday morning, Dan and I worked together to put the finished touches on the meal:
- oven roasted turkey
- super garlicky mashed potatoes
- broiled broccoli spears

Dinner was an absolute blast--we spent the evening laughing and eating until late.

Friday, we headed into San Francisco to see what all the Black Friday hubbub was about. Neither Dan nor I can remember going shopping on Black Friday, and it was quite an experience. I've never seen lines so long for deals that could also be found online. It seems to be as much tradition at this point as actual deal scavenging.

Saturday and Sunday were both spent around home. I had Saturday morning practice, and we spent the afternoon going grocery shopping, making dinner and generally putzing about the house.

Sunday morning, we made pancakes and went for a nice bike ride on the waterfront. In the afternoon, we explored our new neighborhood and went on a coffee date! Lovely!

Overall, a great way to spend a long weekend with an incredible husband.

This coming week, we start training in earnest after a light training week due to Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to the increased eating that comes with increased training! I'll also be putting in a number of hours at work while we prep for our launch.