High of 11

As in, 11degrees Fahrenheit. It's been a cold week here and probably where you live, too (unless you're Sargibso, of course).

John gets so covered up to wait for the bus that all you can see is his little face. I can tell John has really become acclimated to life in the north. This week he said to me, "Once the temperature warms up to, like, twenty degrees, I'll totally run outside." 

We've both been working out at the gym a lot in order to escape the cold. I know the treadmill isn't the same as running outside, and it's so boring that I've started to learn the TV schedule at the gym. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm on the 'mill by 8:30, the same time "Property Virgins" comes on. If I'm lucky, I can get a treadmill by that particular TV so that I can watch young rich folks shop for houses in Toronto. But it's kind of a trade off, since the show that comes on next is "Princesses," a sort of intervention show for spoiled rich girls whose parents want to cut them off financially. The ideal spot is between that TV and the one next to it so that once those rich kids pick a house, I can switch to watching Sports Center.

I know you're glad I told you about my gym TV strategy. 

Anyways, my foot seems to like the treadmill better, and it's been easier to work on my form without having to worry about icy side walks. My mileage is still conservative this month. Next month I'll start training for the Forest City 10K and that will require going outside. On the plus side, I've been using a lot of this indoor time to lift weights and I can tell that I've gotten stronger since Christmas. I hope to write a post soon with some 2013 running plans/goals. For now, they are still forming.

And now, here's some food!

 We made the mushroom bourguignon (that's the link to her recipe!) from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. It's pretty easy and just gets better as leftovers. I'd highly recommend taking a look at that book if you haven't already.

Continuing our tour through Appetite for Reduction, John and I ate three recipes from that book this week:

Caribbean Curried Black-Eyed Peas.

We ate this dish with rice and steamed plantains. Then when we were out rice for the leftovers, we made some orzo pasta to go with it. This isn't my favorite Isa Chandra recipe - somehow it just didn't knock our socks off. But it's tasty and pretty easy. 

 Next: Black Bean Red Velvet Mole. 

We made this before Christmas and froze it - turns out, it freezes well. I have no words for how great this recipe is, especially because its easy-to-tasty ratio is so great. This isn't a labor intensive, authentic mole, for you mole purists. But it's chocolately and easy and delicious. I want to make it again right away.

Big Fat Taco Salad

What can I say? I love taco salad. The "guacamame" (regular guac + edamame) might benefit from a little cumin, but it's a very fresh tasting salad. You can make the salsa-dressing aspect of it in advance and it keeps for five days. John and I eat a lot of salad, so this brought some welcome variety to the salad menu this week. 

We still love Appetite for Reduction, and it's easy to plan dinner when we know we'll pick something from it each week to make. 

In non-food, non-running news, John and I have moved on from a Homeland obsession to watching Friday Night Lights. Holy crap, I love this show. I thought all the hand-held camera work would prevent me from watching it at first, since that makes me very motion sick. But I've gotten the hang of it and I know when to avert my eyes. It's really compelling, even if you aren't into football. Also, I've decided that before every road race, I'm going to look at John and say:

CLEAR EYES

FULL HEARTS

CAN'T LOSE!