Im not lazy

I really can say now that I enjoy cooking. Who would have thought that I would prefer to cook over eating out. Some of that is the quality of food of course (kind of a control issue for me) I can’t control what restaurants feed me. My friends know how I eat and they feed me accordingly.. but restaurants? I’ve started to see my body have a reaction to the simplest of foods like bread, marinara sauce, desserts, stuff that wouldn’t have bothered me before. If I want to feel good, I eat in. Even if its a night alone I will find *something* to eat (it doesn’t take a long time to defrost a pound of ground beef) and I will always feel happy after I’ve eaten at home. And it does work out to be cheaper.

I enjoy cooking for Bon and Dan and Brett. It makes for a great night together over a nice meal and wine – and rum ;)

I’ve now reached a happy place – I know where to get all of the best ingredients of food that I can get – I’ve got the meat guy, I’ve got the veggie folks, I’ve got 2 Whole foods, 1 Fresh Market, 1 Abbys and 2 Nutrition S’marts to choose from all with different things! Its amazing!

I really hope that more people go ahead and embrace cooking at home. Use a crockpot if you are short on time. Use wholesome ingredients. Learning to do this is one of the best things I’ve done for myself. Its healthy, a conversation starter, and most of all, it really is fun!

The screw ups suck – and I’ve had my share. I’ve thrown some dinners right down the disposal, I’ve gotten mad and cried because I’ve failed. But, every time I fail, I learn something. I’m not perfect.

I was nervous this morning, I needed to cook a boneless, skinless turkey breast. I don’t know how. I was scared of it getting dried out and being tasteless. I asked Brett for help, he gave me some clues and I tried it. It came out perfectly in 90 minutes. I needed it to make Turkey a la King tonight. A new recipe for me to try. Can’t wait.

BeforeAfterMy turkey breast. Very simple. Onions on the bottom of the pan, some home-made chicken stock in the pan, olive oil covering the breast with some salt, pepper and herbs d’Provence. In the oven at 350 for 90 minutes. YUM YUM!

Ultimate Laziness

Maybe I am just noticing this more because I am taking control over what I (and Brett) eat on a daily basis. I just saw a commercial for Land O Lakes Sautée Express.

REALLY people? are you that freaking lazy that you can’t be bothered to combine butter, olive oil and a few herbs to sautee with? Ok, well I can’t blame just the consumer here. They are just being hypnotized by something new – lame.

I can’t stand this.

Hungry crossfitter

I found a recipe for an amazing asparagus dish.

I made it the other day. I made it again today. Modified. Yummy.

These are a few of my favorite things – I hope that song stays stuck in your head!

Bacon, asparagus, leeks, lemon zest, pine nuts, garlic, Italian parsley, salt and pepper.
Fry the bacon, add a bit of butter then add asparagus and leeks, cook them a bit add the rest of the stuff, cook for a few and serve.  I ate this with a bit of jasmine rice. My body loves me, well except my legs. They hate me, they hate crossfit. I laugh and wobble like a weeble.

IMG_4816Yum. Go eat.

Cruisin’ a week on the open water Part one.

I am lucky. I get to go on cruises. It is something I seriously don’t take for granted. Every single cruise I have been on has been awesome and its own separate experience. This one was was no exception.

We drove down a day early and stayed at this amazing hotel in Pompano Beach called the Beachcomber! Delightful.

Beachcomberresort.com Check it out!

After a wonderful dinner and a drink, we grabbed some ZZZZ’s , both of us excited about getting on the ship the next morning, and very thankful we didn’t have to make the drive from Tampa to Miami the day we get on board!

The view from our hotel room

The initial boarding process is really quite smooth, at least with Celebrity, no real lines or aggravation – these guys have it down pretty good. It wasn’t long til we were on board exploring our surroundings!

Boarding photo

 

My favorite find was the tree growing inside.. right in the middle of the ship – just held there! And, it was REAL!  I think that tree and the grass on the top deck are wonderful touches when you think about how much metal is around you!

Tree, suspended.

 

Eventually we set sail – everyone was out on the pool deck watching the land fade into the distance. Now for the serious stuff. Unpacking, exploring our suite (Yay for surprise upgrade!) and food! Can I just forget about the drill?

I found the grass to be rather comforting;

This is not your typical Florida grass. I love it.

Did I mention that this was this ships first 7 day cruise. New ship, new ship smell. Leather smell in the Wine room, clean, pristine, no sneezing.

I knew this was going to be a wonderful trip.

More tales to follow, including a whirlwind tour of Puerto Rico, a Jeep drive around St. Maarten and zip-lining in St. Kitts.

Did you know that yelling JEEP real loud alerts your passengers to large potholes?

Check back later!

 

 

Day 50 and counting.

Day 50 at Crossfit 14.. Not only am I continuing this self inflicted torture, I am also beginning to love it. It is becoming an addiction. It is definitely a habit. I have two very awesome coaches – Amber and Sara. Both have pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of and have been very kind to me. Even when I roll my eyes at ‘em!

The crew at the box are some of the friendliest folks around in the Tampa area. I was so unsure what kind of crowd I would be walking into but they’ve welcomed me and encouraged me far more than I ever expected. I can’t say thank you enough to them. It has made this whole experience even better.

Todays Wod was great. Certainly not as exhausting as the crazy 8’s thing!

I’m grateful that it’s Friday, I need a break lol

I will just let the photos speak for themselves. If you want to read more about some of my last 50 days of my crossfit experience please look on the main page of this blog, and to the right you will see a link to my other blog which is just about my crossfit adventures and thoughts!

Todays WOD

Results :)

Time for wine. :)

 

This is where I get fit and have fun!

Its been a while. I’ve been busy.

Usually I post this Crossfit work out information elsewhere, but I thought I would slowly introduce it here as well – there is a link to my other blog on the main page of this blog if you wish to delve deeper into my personal self torture.

Someone described me as psycho today. If the shoe fits! I think I am a wee bit nuts but I am on a mission to get fit. I have been disgusted at my upper body strength for the longest time and I’ve never been super strong/fit. Crossfit is changing that – I absolutely love this form of work out – I need to be disciplined, determined, focused. It is now bleeding over into other things besides crossfit.

This will also help as I begin the interior work on the Argosy – which is sitting quietly at the mechanics – waiting on pieces and parts. Its in really good shape and I got a decent quote to fix some of its bits so soon I will have more to say about that.

Todays WOD (Workout Of Day) was a timed one, but there was no real score – we all did the same thing for the same amount of time – the only variance was in what weight we used for the wall ball and the push press.

Workout of the day

So basically we did one set of these every minute on the minute for 5 minutes. If you finish the two exercises say with in 30 secs, you have 30 secs to rest before you did them again.

In the end I did:

30 wallballs at 14 lbs, 30 box jumps – 1 foot height (I seriously need to get over it and go to a higher box to do these) – in 5 minutes

Rest one minute

50 air squats and 50 sit ups in 5 minutes

Rest one minute

25 push press – 35 lbs and 40 lateral hops (hopping over the bar you just did the push press with) in 5 minutes

Rest 3 minutes

We also did a relay – one person ran with a 20 or 40 lb sandbag 200 meters while the other was put through a drill that consisted of burpees, situps, pushups, mountain climbers and wall sits. When the running partner returned, the other person takes sandbag and runs and the partner does the drill. This went on for about 7-10 minutes.

There were plenty of folks laying on the floor.

Maybe I am psycho but damn I love it.

See my other blog if you’re interested in more about cross fit from my perspective.