Walking is the easiest way to meet your exercise goals!

It was Seattle-type misty today but warmer than it has been here lately.  In fact, it might have been in the upper 40's/low 50's when it was time for our little guy to go to school.  We (mostly me) decided to walk.  The problem with walking is that the roads are narrow with no sidewalks.  Therefore, it is dangerous to stay in the road when cars are coming.  Puddles are everywhere at the edge of the road.

It is almost all uphill going to school.  Making it count as exercise if we keep a good pace.

Did I mention that the streets were narrow?

After I walked to and from school at a brisk pace, walked from the parking lot to my desk, read and answered my email, I decided to look to see what my exercise totals were.  I made it to 26 out of 30 minutes of exercise.

You can see my exercise went off track the two days between today and my tag/dance party day.  

For lunch, I walked to PBW and had a salad (the half of any salad is $4.19 including tax--you can't beat that).  

As soon as walk in the front door of my office, my phone informed me that I made it to 30 minutes.

Today I met all the goals.  Not bad for a Friday.  Oh, and I got this really cool photo from the pocket in my red raincoat.

Playing tag

Two days ago the exercise goal was not met and it is not being met today.  However, I have started walking faster to and from my car.  The commute from the car is now being counted as exercise.  Today, I received 9 minutes of fast walking from the parking lot as exercise.  I say received because I feel like that probably should not count.  Maybe I am cheating the system already.

The above stopwatch is from yesterday.  I started the watch when we started playing tag.  Basically, we ran around in the circle from my living room to bedroom to hall to family room.  It is a nice circle and both children were either chasing or getting chased.  We all got exercise for 6 minutes and 24.06 seconds.  We then got water and danced for "Shake it Off."  Shake it Off inspires lots of synchronized pivots on the balls of your feet.  Sometimes even pivoting with one pivot at at time.  But no pivots are in the basketball way.  Instead just side to side ankle pivots are done.  "Whip/Nae Nae" was next and again I tried to do the moves as enthusiastically as possible.  "Sugar" and "Uptown Funk" followed.  While I may have had to put in my parental code for those two, I am not sure the nudity and subtle messaging from the nudity are not worse in "Shake it Off."

My son finally convinced us to go back to tag.  After he ran too fast for the corners and ran into things, we discontinued running.  Then we did bunny hop, frog leap, hop-on-one-foot, skip, and regular hop tag.  Can I say how much harder those versions are?

Confession: I have only told my assistant that I am doing this blog again.

Upcoming: We went to pick up the stand my husband bought me for Christmas to turn my bike into a stationery bike.  Turns out that he bought me a parking stand and not an exercise stand so we fixed it. Tomorrow, I am putting my bike on it and seeing how that goes.

Dance Party

Yesterday, I met my exercise goal mostly with dancing (28 minutes).  Chasing my children into church garnered me two minutes of exercise.  They were so excited I had to jog to keep up with them.  They love their Sunday School teachers.

I tried dancing on New Year's Eve but head bobbing and swaying do not actually count as exercise.  Alternating moving one foot to the middle and back did not seem to count either.  I had to "Jump Around" (remember that song from maybe the 1900's?).  Running man from the 1990's seemed to count as exercise.  So did the step forward step back and hop that is in the Electric Slide.  I added hops whenever possible to the Whip/Nae Nae moves while watching the video that seemed to work too.

The only songs on demand deemed peppy enough for exercise dance work were "Sugar," "Uptown Funk," "Whip/Nae Nae," and "7/11."  7/11 also had some dance move instruction in the song.  Justin Bieber, Adele, and Taylor Swift were deemed not peppy enough by my five year old.

Isn't Zumba some type of dance?  Maybe I should try that.  Wonder if it is on demand?

This morning my Apple Watch told me that my move goal should be adjusted because 460 calories was too much.  It suggested 190 calories.  Isn't that just encouraging my sloth?  I decided I would take its suggestion but I upped to 250.  Who really needs the Apple Watch telling me my business even if it is tracking my every move?

Reinvented Home, Away, and Food

I have to realize that I am no Anthony Bourdain.  This was a maternity leave project after our daughter was born nearly four years ago.  I like the idea of writing a bit.  No one reads this so it is safe, right?  Safe from criticism.  Safe from weirdos reading it.  Safe from anyone reading it except spammers.

Using this for something is better than nothing.  How about the home part be an exercise blog of sorts?  I am trying to get more exercise into my daily life without spending time away from my kids.  The mom guilt of working full-time plus doing some church committees is enough.

To start, I received an Apple Watch.  It tracks my every move so that should make me instantly fit?  Except instant fitness has not happened in the week that I have used it.  In fact, other than my stand goal, which I have come to understand means stand and move around for a minute, meeting the exercise goal of 30 minutes and the move goal of burning 460 calories have been elusive.

How to meet the exercise goal, which seems to be tied to heart rate, is a work in progress.  Today while I was putting away laundry, I got 11 minutes of exercise on breaks. I typed my parental control password into music choice on Xfinity on demand and danced to Sugar and Blank Space.  Then at some later point, the watch gave me credit for another minute of exercise.

Even though I stepped some (5,188 steps) at the library and the river getting progress toward my move goal, I did not get any "exercise" doing those things.  I cannot be disappointed though.  The river is up.  The view was nice.  Most importantly, it was activity that my five year old enjoyed.  Here are some photos:

I have always had a bit of obsession for light posts.

Lone Eagle Grille, Incline Village, NV

While on a ski trip in February, we ate at Lone Eagle Grille.  This was the best meal of the year so far.  Of course, with two small children, fine dining is not usually high on our list these days.  Pappadoo and Mooma kept Sam and Sarah while Scott and I ate there. 

The first thing that intrigued us was that the wine list was on an iPad.  I asked how many iPads that they had for this purpose, and I think they said a number between 5 and 10. 

This is one time that I only photographed what I ate and not what Scott ate.  Not because his was not presented well, but I think I was just so anxious to eat mine.  My choices were a bit unbalanced because they were both seafood.

For my appetizer, I ordered the "Smoked Hokkaido Scallops" with yuzu gastrique, vanilla parsnip puree, and uni butter.  After writing all of those ingredients, I feel like I have given a description.  These had to be some of the best scallops I have ever had--plump and juicy (well for scallops, anyway).  The scallops were clothed in just the right amount of tang and velvety texture.

 

 

For my entree, I ordered the so-called "Seared Barramundi Fillet" with pearl onion, baby fennel, roasted red bliss potatoes, and herb beurre blanc.  This is as good as it gets.

 



Urbana Washington, D.C.

I made a quick trip to D.C. last weekend for my friend's wedding.  My flight was delayed in Detroit so I missed a brunch reservation with another friend.  After dropping my bags at the Fairfax, I decided to find a lunch somewhere close.  The Fairfax dining rooms appeared to be closed.  Therefore, I started walking toward several restaurants near the Fairfax. 

The first one was Urbana and that was where I ate.  The restaurant appeared to be full but the bar was not.  I asked the hostess if I could sit in the restaurant's bar.  I often have sat at a bar especially a hotel bar when I have been eating alone. 

The defining feature of the dining room seemed to be the walls that were tiled in a dark green ceramic subway tile.  What struck me about the bar was the well-worn corners of the bar stools.  A vivid picture came to mind of a full bar with customers holding onto the corners while leaning over to give the bartender their order.  Or friends holding on and leaning down to speak to their friends on the stools.

The menu was full of standard lunch/brunch favorites of eggs, pancakes, and french toast.  I decided to get the shrimp.  The menu stated that it was "five fresh shrimp seared in a cast iron skillet with garlic olive oil and chiles, served with a salad of arugula, feta, and olives."  The arugula salad was great but it definitely got better as I ate my way to the warm wilty parts at the bottom of the skillet, where the greens and the other ingredients met in a heavenly combination.  Who knew arugula salad could be this good!

The bartender Eric was really nice, and he told me about their brunch special bottomless bellini.  Something I did not need right before a 3:30 p.m. wedding at the Cosmos Club.  The bride and groom were gorgeous and seemed very happy! 

Baby Food Sweet Potatoes

 

 

I made this baby food about a month ago.  I really lost my passion for making baby food when I had difficulty getting Sarah to eat any food.  Fortunately for us, her teachers are very experienced with children who do not want to eat.  I thought if she would eat anything, she would eat commercially prepared baby food so I bought some Earth's Best and Gerber Organics to get her started. 

 

Today, I thought I would try her on what I made last month.  I took out a cube that I had frozen in my Beaba freezer tray.  Then, I put the cube in my small All-Clad skillet on low and heated it, while stirring, until it had all melted.  She ate it so I may go back to baby food making. 

 

To make baby food from sweet potatoes, Scott actually baked them.  He put them in the oven on 400 degrees for about 1 hour.  After they cooled, I scraped the flesh from the skins and put it in our Cuisinart.  I had to add a lot of water to get it thin enough for a first food and thin enough to be about the same consistency of commercially prepared baby food.

 

What I really like a bout sweet potatoes is that very soon I will feel comfortable giving them to her without processing them with anything but a fork.  No additives like water will be needed.  I used two types of sweet potatoes that we bought at the local farmer's market.  One is yellow and the other one is more orange.