So, a few days ago, I was feeling in the mood to get my heart pumping, but not necessarily go for a run or go to the gym (time constraints + weather + lack of gym membership AT THE CURRENT TIME). Hmmm…oh right! I bought the P90X set for $4 at a garage sale! Didn’t it have some cardio thing in it? Yes, boys and girls, it did.
You’re an old man now (24 to be exact). So, I’ll direct you to this post for what we did over the past weekend (kind of our birthday weekend/week). That was all a bunch of fun, definitely some good times. His exact birthday was yesterday, September 12th.
Anyhow, two nights ago we decide to have a joint birthday dinner. I ask Chris what he wants for dinner and he says (can you guess?)…SUSHI! So sushi it is! We invite Marga, Ben, and Megan to meet us for a 7:30pm dinner at Sushi Tora. It was nice on the interior and very busy. We arrived in the rain, and were lucky enough to find a spot right in front! A very rare occurrence anywhere near Pearl St. Once everyone arrived, we started off with some Magic Mushrooms–a very popular appetizer there. I believe it contained salmon, mushroom, and some sort of other flavor. Looked good.
We stayed there for a few hours and ordered a lot off the menu (well, Chris did at least). I got some delicious tuna and smoked white tuna sushi (nigiri). I didn’t really like the smoked flavor of the white tuna, just because I’m so in love with white tuna (it’s my favorite, just so you know)
Chris ordered two entrees: cod and mackerel (not raw). He ate them up pretty quickly.
Mackerel: GREAT protein-wise and omega-3s!
Megan and Marga then split a DELICIOUS tempura-battered brie with sliced apples (or were they pears?) with honey. Very very good.
Then, Marga, Ben, and Megan split a bunch of different rolls, all of which mostly contained salmon and eel, I believe. They looked very tasty.
We then ended the night with banana tempura, which was extra delicious. Very sweet and under a base of caramel, mmm! Overall, this place was good, not great, but still an excellent time with family and just enjoying the night. The price didn’t quite match the value, but it’s a big step up from Japango. Our next Sushi adventure will be at Sushi Zanmai, which is supposed to be superb. Can’t wait to try it out!
We went to bed full and happy, having had a really fun night. The next morning, we woke up to wet grounds outside and a steady trickle of rain. I looked at the forecast: 57 degrees alllll day. I knew Chris would be happy. He likes the cold. I don’t quite like the cold (sorry, I’m from SoCal), but I do enjoy my rain and it gives a great reason to stay inside and be happy. Which we did when we could. With the looming chore of the DMV before us, I wanted to take Chris out to a place that had good croissants for breakfast. So I put on my jeans and my NZ gumboots (rare recently, due to it being a usual 90 degrees and all) and we drove to Spruce Confections.
It was delicious (see above). We got two croissants, one mixed berry with chocolate scone, hot chocolate, and Bhakti Chai. We really enjoyed the croissants–they were fresh, buttery, and had a perfect taste. The scone was good, but didn’t compare to the croissant. The hot chocolate was soul-warming, but needed to be a tad bit sweeter, but we will definitely again. Now, the Bhakti Chai was intense. It had the strongest ginger flavor I had ever tasted in a chai before! If anyone is sick, pick up a cup of this stuff! Well, anyhow, it was an adorable little cafe/bakery with quirky girls working the shop, rain dripping down outside, and a couple of cute dogs hiding under tables waiting for their owners to hurry up with their drink. They will definitely see us here again. We can’t wait to go here during the winter, I have a feeling the scene will be perfect.
I then spent the next 3 hours in the DMV, getting a Colorado license while Chris happily sat in the car, playing a new game I got him for his birthday on his 3DS. We then both had work, but by the time 8pm rolled around, we were hungry. Chris picked me up and we discussed dinner. We had recently walked to Marshall’s and on the way, our noses were hijacked by the most wonderful smell…wafting from a big Indian restaurant (Jai Ho). So, last night, we decided to go. It was very good, very quiet, and very atmospheric. We had samosas, garlic naan, a mushroom dish, and a curry dish (which was spicy even though the waiter insisted it was the non-spicy one Chris could get). I guess we’ll need to say “non-Indian non-spicy” next time.
He also got a lot of great birthday loot, including some video games, music, checks, and cards, so thank you everyone!! Cheers 🙂
P.S.- Sorry for skipping a day, beloved readers, as you can see we were very busy yesterday and the night before. Thanks, as always, for reading!
So, I failed Saturday because I was feeling lazy and Alana bailed me out, AND yesterday I was feeling sick and she didn’t bail me out. So here’s a few-days overdue post of our plans for Alana’s birthday and how they actually worked out. So basically…
We wake up on Saturday, September 8th and Alana is nearly 22 years old, American age. She’d be 23 in Korea. Now, she says she was born around 10 am Pacific time, so it’s not quite her birthday but that’s fine. So, actually at midnight, the night before, Alana opened her presents/cards from my family back home (thanks Mom, Dad, and Andrew for the check) and her family back home, thanks Kai for making so much and being so generous, and thanks mum and Dad for the jandals, tiger shirt, and being so generous. So, back to Saturday morning.
Marga invited us out for breakfast and we found ourselves at 10 a.m. at Tangerine on Iris and 28th. It was SOO busy so we knew it was a trendy spot with most-likely delicious food. Two minutes into the meal we got a surprise when Ben showed up. Ben and Marga got lattes, Alana got a chai, I drank water, and the food came out really quickly (it is breakfast food, but fancy). Alana got a vegetarian eggs benedict highlighted with pesto. The pesto was powerful and the eggs were cooked to perfection, along with some well seasoned taters. Marga got a prosciutto di parma wrapped egg-based dish, I think. It was really good and Ben eventually stole it because he wasn’t in the mood for his classic Belgian waffle with fruits and nuts on top. I couldn’t decide, because being a new pescatarian isn’t compatible at a breakfast place usually, and I got the flight of the pancakes, which is their sampler of three different pancakes. One was classic buttermilk, one was whole grain with some interesting toppings, and one was sweet with ricotta and blueberries on top. The maple syrup was good and by the end of the meal, after some plate passing, everything was finished off.
We sat around for a while and had some great conversation, about the democratic national convention and our political views. It is Boulder after all, so talking about politics was safe for us. Marga and Ben split the bill because they’re awesome. Ben had to leave to coach his girl’s soccer team and, as we left, Marga being the ridiculously nice and thoughtful person she is, gave Alana a present wrapped in a bag and some pet spot smell remover for our kitten accidents.
So, we got back home, Alana opened the beautiful wine glasses from Marga (thank you!) and we decided to go to the Boulder Farmer’s Market. We didn’t need much so we just got some Persian garlic. We walked there and back since it’s close and it was a beautiful day… it’s finally been getting cooler and I hope it wasn’t just a phase. Afterwards, we took a nap with the kitties and really did little to no work or chores.
5:30 rolls around and we have plans to visit my friend in Englewood (near Denver). The Buffs game ended hours ago and the Broncos didn’t have a game so we thought traffic wouldn’t be that bad. Well, it wasn’t LA or New York, but it took 80 minutes to go 33 miles on all highways. We stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some hard cider and a salad for our get together. We were going to make a salad at home, but our greens weren’t fresh and we weren’t about to serve them to friends.
So we roll into Englewood, interesting little area, and Garrett lets us into the parking garage. Now, Garrett was my co-worker at Hollister during high school. We played against each other in soccer and basketball in high school. I went to a small public school and he went to a smaller private school. We were both really bad schools for sports in general so nobody really won or lost. I haven’t seen him since high school because he went to CU Boulder and never returned because he loved it so much. Their apartment is beautiful and twice the size of ours, but they only have an original x-box and no matter how many emulators you have for retro-gaming, after selling 90% of my systems, our gaming is better.
But I digress. I was feeling very sick by the end of the day, but we still had a great time, meeting new people like Garrett’s better half “Lee.” She has a fun story having two parents in the military/government, I can’t say more because then my life might be in danger. Oh well, we just ate and hung out and caught up and can’t wait to see them again. Thanks everyone for an amazing birthday. Oh, and I got Alana a Star Wars the Old Republic graphic novel, Super Smash Brawl, and a huge zodiac tapestry for the bedroom wall. And that’s about it! OH and thank you Grandpa and Grandma Powell for the super generous card!!! 🙂
I know, I know, it’s a pretty cheap way of protein, but I had to catch your eye somehow. But maybe just the word ‘cookies’ would’ve done it. Hmmm…
Anyhow, this is a real easy recipe and takes no longer than 20 minutes (including prep time!). It’s great to have with a nice cup of tea (for me, Chai tea). I originally got the recipe from here, but as always, it’s altered. Take a peek below for ingredients and directions!
Ingredients
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the peanut butter, butter, honey, sugar, and egg til it’s smooth like…butter
3. Then stir in the whole-wheat flour and baking powder until blended in
4. Make little balls out of the cookie dough and place them on the cookie sheet
5. Place in oven for 13-15 minutes (depending on how you made the cookies)
6. Enjoy!
Let us know if you enjoyed this recipe! We’d love to hear back from you. Cheers 🙂
We all want to better up our buttocks–whether it be to look nice or to gain a good amount of muscle and strength. Either way, you need a path to get there. And now I give you…the Plié Squat (with turns)! It’s good for anyone wanting to build quad and glutes muscle or simply tone. Trust me, it’s a toughie (I’m still feeling the remnants of muscle fiber tears, three days later).
Your Very Own Gluteus Maximus
Just because it sounds fruity and fluffy, doesn’t mean it won’t kick your glutes into gear. And this is not just a exercise for girls, it helps build great muscle which is where a lot of your leg strength comes from. And, anyways, anyone who knows me, knows that I hate gender restrictions and suggestions. Do what you do and do it for you. Usually, it’s just a Plié squat, pure and simple. However, I like add two lunge turns to one rep (inspired by Women’s Health) to really get the heat burning in my quads and glutes. Want some power? Get ready for a Plié!
The Plié Squat (with lunge turns)
That’s one rep. So I hope that you’re starting to see that maybe this isn’t as easy as the name makes it out to be. I usually go for 12 reps (painfully groaning my way there) and 3-4 sets of those reps. You will definitely feel your legs crying of fatigue after this and most certainly feel those muscle fiber tears the next day (and the day after that…aaand the day after that).
Tell me how this went for you! And as always, if you want free consultation or workout plan, feel free to email me at alana.ppowell@gmail.com
Cheers!
So I completely stole this from a fellow blogger I’ve found through hunting food blogs. Her blog is thedomesticatedfeminist, I encourage you to check her stuff out–delicious recipes! The one I most currently stole, are Stuffed Mushrooms. And of course, with any recipe I find, I alter it slightly (not because I’m creative, but because I’m poor and don’t have all the ingredients). My philosophy is that you should cook with what ya got in your kitchen! And it helps with the wallet too.
Okay, so let’s get your ingredients ready! Oh, and I also made garlic bread.
Ingredients (stuffed mushrooms):
Ingredients (garlic bread):
Directions (garlic bread):
Okay! So first, let’s get started on the garlic bread because it needs sometime to bake.
1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut the garlic bread with a good bread knife so that the knife goes almost all the way to the bottom, but you don’t wholly cut through it.
3. Stir up a mixture of butter and garlic (I used two cloves)
Buttery garlic-y goodness
4. Next, you want to use a butter knife and spread the garlic butter through each slice you’ve made (remember, you don’t want the slices to be separated from the loaf)
5. Pop it in the oven! I’d say for around 10-15 minutes (just keep checking it to make sure the bread doesn’t burn)
Directions (stuffed mushrooms)
Ahhh, now the good stuff!
1. Before we stuff ANYTHING, we need to roast up the tomatoes and spinach: put olive oil and garlic into a pan and throw the tomatoes and spinach in
3. Don’t forget pepper&salt!
4. Let that rest while you fix up the mushrooms.
5. Time to clean the mushrooms. Simply hold under cold water and scrub with your hands, inside and out. Also, take out the stems of the mushrooms. Place on pan.
Mushrooms just dying to be stuffed
6. Now we want to make a magical mixture consisting of olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. Whisk that up. We want enough to fill each mushroom.
7. Pour mixture into mushrooms
7. Now, whatever cheese you have in the house, chop it up! You don’t need many pieces. We had brie and cheddar cheese in our apartment, so that’s what I went with. You want to chop it up into small cubes (or something similar to that)
8. Now, put in the cooked tomatoes and spinach that you roasted beforehand. Try to make them even so you don’t upset your loved ones by being unfair.
Stuffed with goodness
9. Place the pieces of cheese on top. Then sprinkle dried basil over it.
10. Aaaand, pop them in the oven. Remember it’s on 375 degrees. I left them in for around 12 minutes.
And Voila! Some wonderful cooked mushrooms.
Thanks again to thedomesticatedfeminist for her inspiration. I did it my own way, but she sure had a good idea. It is so juicy and wonderful, bursting with flavors like garlic and tomato. Hope you enjoy! Comment if you have any questions or comments!
So what’s it actually mean to celebrate Labor Day? It means to keep a tradition from 1882 alive, by recognizing the hard work and dedication of everyone in this fine country that works for nearly every other day of the year. Or that’s what it more-or-less meant when it was founded.
Now, it’s just another reason for people to “party” in whatever sense of that word they want to follow. Back home, I thought a lot more stores closed on Labor Day but I never count so it’s hard to tell. So much for not working on Labor Day… everyone in Target was working, and they have a lot of employees. Everyone in the grocery was working too. Maybe it’s that people, businesses, and the economy in general can’t really take a day off like it could have when our genera financial situations were doing better. We managed to take off because neither of us have actual jobs right now. But we did put our work in on Labor Day doing our general chores around the house. Cleaning the house, cleaning the litter boxes, changing a light bulb, you know, the little things. We did, also, decided to celebrate a little with some family.
Around 5:30 p.m., Alana made some guacamole with avocados that were 3 for $1. Good deal. She also made homemade chips, but flour tortillas do not make chips as well as corn tortillas. So remember that. On the way to Marga’s (her aunt) in North Boulder (Nobo), we stopped at the grocery store (Safeway) and bought some big-brand chips, a pineapple (for grilling), and some fish. When we got to the fishmonger’s counter, I looked for a fresh (non-frozen or thawed) and wild-caught (not farmed raised) piece of fish. The choices were salmon, sole, halibut, and swordfish. Swordfish was on sale, it’s one of the meatiest and fishiest fish, so that was an easy choice. Good for grilling. So is salmon, but I’ve had enough grilled salmon for a lifetime. We headed over to Marga’s house, and we were the first ones there.
Her new house, which as you can imagine has already seen tons of work, is looking great so far. There’s still a lot to be done, but the progress is really amazing for one person, with a handful of helpers that show up from time to time to contribute, i.e., Michael, us, Megan, Ben, Fred, who knows. When we got there it looked like there was already enough food prepared for eight people but we were just expecting everyone mentioned above, minus Michael, plus Fred’s brother who is visiting from Utah. Well, Fred and his brother had a fantasy football draft, so they couldn’t quite make it, leaving ALL that food for us! What a pity.
Our Lovely Feast
The feast, which was shared by the five (Megan, Ben (Alana’s cousins), Marga, Alana, and I) of us (a friend stopped over but was too full to eat), included: a beautifully presented salad with walnuts, avocado, mixed tomatoes, and blackberries… the chips and guacamole… corn on the cob, boiled in a pot… burgers with feta cheese stuffed into them… homemade potato salad…from Whole Foods (Marga’s would’ve been better)… grilled swordfish steaks… grilled pineapple… grilled peaches… and some pink wine, Rosé?
Marga’s Beautiful Salad
We were all stuffed, I had been eating since Alana started making the guacamole so I was pretty full. We brushed the cats (not the kittens and wow do they make ours seem like toys) and chatted about school starting, Ben’s soccer coaching, our job situation, etc. It was an awesome time and we were so glad that, despite moving to a new place, we had great family to spend our holiday with, even if we aren’t the biggest fans of Labor Day.
I hope you all enjoyed a nice holiday as well, and for all of our international viewers, I’d love to hear if you have your own version of Labor Day where you’re from. Please share!
A lot of people don’t do shoulder workouts (especially girls) and I would like to change that! Do you know how important your shoulders are for your body?! Your shoulder muscles are your stabilizing muscles, they support your arms (biceps, triceps, etc.), your chest, your back, you name it!
However. Doing a shoulder workout is one of the workouts that don’t aim to lift a lot of weight. You need to be gentle on your shoulders, you’re strengthening them so they can, in return, stabilize you. You don’t need to–or should–lift hulk-like weight. Shoulders are tremendously easy to injure–just ask Chris. And if you do heavy weight with the wrong exercises, bye-bye!
Shoulder
This was a home workout. We used a stability ball, resistance bands, and weights. If you don’t have resistance bands, you can still do the other exercises, we used them for a warm up. You are to do 3 sets of each exercise. I’m not going to tell you what weight to do each exercise at because everyone is at a different level. However, if you’d like to know what I do, or what I think you specifically should do, just comment below. I provided links to videos or pictures on how to do these if you’re unfamiliar. Comment below, too, if you’re still a little unsure!
Your Own Special Shoulder Workout:
Again, we do not want heavy weight. We want controlled, slow movements. And we want 3 sets of each exercise. If you don’t have a resistance band, get one. And if you don’t have a stability ball, do those exercises seated on a chair. And girls, these are important for you too. Soon, we’ll have a good camera and quit the laziness to have pictures of US doing these exercises, but for now, the random array of people will have to do. Here are some of Chris:
Again, let me know if you have any questions or comments! Also, if you want a free consultation and training plan, I’d love to help you out, contact us at alana.ppowell@gmail.com
P.S.- Happy Labor Day!
We usually have a bunch of bananas in the house. For fruit salads and more so primarily, for protein shakes (rahh!). However, sometimes we forget about them, or don’t do heavy workouts, so we feel like we don’t deserve one of Chris’ amazing protein shakes (that post is coming up!). So they sit in the lazy Susan cupboard, lonely for attention.
And so later in the week, I stumble upon them in their browning blackish glory. Aha! I know exactly what to do with you! So, the spotted way-too-ripe bananas get pulled from the cupboard and onto our maniacal counter-top. It’s easy, folks. IF you have over-ripe bananas, MAKE BANANA BREAD. I don’t want to hear any excuses. And if you throw them out…you’re in trouble. Let’s get started. I pulled this recipe from here, but altered it slightly (no nuts, nutmeg, etc.).
Ingredients:
Remember to get out a bread pan and butter it or oil it up. Sticking is your enemy. Now first, beat the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl.
Yes, that is a whisk! I’m moving up in the world!
For this next step, make sure the bananas are mashed as much as possible. Then, mix those bananas, eggs, and honey in. I want it smooooth.
You’re almost there!! The final step is to slowly add in the whole-wheat flour. Put a little in, stir it, put some more in, stir it, and so forth. It should come out looking like this:
Then pour it into your already-greased pan. I lost a good amount of the batter to a tragic accident…my appetite.
Now put it in the oven! Remember it should be at 350 degrees. For me, it took exactly 50 minutes to bake. I took it out, tested it with a fork to see if any batter stuck and it was ready! I usually have to stick it in for another ten minutes or so. It came out really well!
Remember that this only has half a cup of sugar in it. That’s barely ANYTHING when it comes to baking. So don’t feel guilty as you shovel this down, it’s got good ingredients. We always love to put butter on ours, gives it a great added flavor, especially when it’s nice and hot.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long before I could get the picture, so that’s a sliver of a piece. Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and…meow!
Dread
Let’s admit it: in this day and age, most people have smartphones. Even if you don’t have one, this still applies to you. Most of our work is often connected to our email, which is often connected to our phone, which is often on our bodies at ALL TIMES. It can get incredibly stressful even when you’re not at work, to check your email and boop! a few work emails slide in, reminding about all the tasks you need to get done. It sucks. But it’s also addicting, wanting to know everything that’s being sent to you at all times, wanting to be on top of it all.
For example, I wake up in the morning and the very first thing I do is lean over (groggily) and press my email. A few seconds later, I hear the familiar short buzz, notifying me that there’s something (or multiple somethings) in my inbox. I see 18 New Emails, and my stomach does a turn, half out of excitement and half out of dread. I know there are some things that could be great potential offers, but also some that task more things on my to-do list. Is that the feeling I want to get right in the start of the morning? I’m starting to think not.
So, as my attempts to observe myself and my reactions towards things, I tried to listen to my stress patterns more. There are sometimes where I don’t mind checking over everything I have to do, getting bombarded with emails from “Stop Animal Cruelty!” to the latest work I need to complete that day, and such. But sometimes, I want to be happy in the moment and do whatever I’m doing whether it be cuddling with the kitties, doing some writing, or spending time with my loved ones.
Thus, in order to demonstrate my learned lesson of understanding myself, I tried to follow not always checking it. For example, we were in the gym yesterday, doing a cardio and leg workout. One of our better workouts since we actually had a facility. Not to say we aren’t out of shape, but hey we’re getting there again. Anyhow, I was enjoying the workout, getting into it, having fun and I felt this itch every time I was resting from a leg press or calf raise. What the heck is that? Oh yeah, it’s an itch to check my email, see if I need to get anything done, who’s contacting me, etc etc etc. But I didn’t press it once! I was pretty proud and I was also happy to be in the moment enjoying myself.
So here’s a little tip from me, when you don’t need to, don’t check your email. Especially if it’s connected to your work.
Peace!
