Day: December 3, 2010

Plum Crumb

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I am feeling all pumped up from BodyPump with Kath this morning!

It was fun to be in a gym and ACAC is quite posh but I am so over hour long strength sessions.  There is no reason for me to have the muscular endurance to be able to lift something for long than a few minutes (groceries, couches, children).  I prefer a 20-30 minute strength session with cardio intervals, super fast-paced and super efficient.

I channeled my afternoon energy into baking.

Apple-Plum Crumb

Our home is still overflowing with apples and plums from my last day at the orchard.

I started by chopping 3 big Winesap apples and a boatload bowl-full of plums

I mixed 1 Tablespoon of arrowroot powder into 1/3 cup cranberry-grape juice (only because it’s all I had and the color matched the plums!).

And whisked away…

I sprinkled the fruit with cinnamon and ground ginger, added the juice mixture, and stirred it all up.

As for the topping, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of oats, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, cinnamon, 1/4 cup coconut oil, a 1/4 cup honey, and a few tablespoons of almond milk went into a bowl and got all mixed up.

The fruit and topping went into a spring-form pan and into a 350 degree pre-heated oven.

25 minutes later the house started to smell A-ma-ZING!

The good smells must have wafted all the way to the neighbors house because he showed up at the door with a gift.

A challah!

He is so sweet and thoughtful!

After 40 minutes in the oven I decided the crumb was done.

So far I’ve resisted digging into it (we may have people over for dinner tomorrow night and so I am saving it for that).  No such luck for the challah, I am munching on a giant chunk of it and sipping on wine as I blog.

First Friday in C’ville means it time to gallery stroll!  Have a delicious Friday night!

Community Folks

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Tate and I are community people.  Wherever we go it’s not long before we have a dinner date with a couple or Tate’s off on some sports adventure with a new buddy.  We love spending time just the two of us and have done plenty of that over the years but we both thrive on friendships.

Over the last ten years we have lived in four states, two countries, and spent a cumulative 10 months traveling.  Ours is now a crazy, mixed up, global community!

One thing that we were both excited about “settling down” here in Virginia after a year and a half abroad is the idea that we can build a community that we might continue to be a part of for a long, long time.

We have made some great friends already but it takes time.  Lots of time.  Charlottesville has been our home for nearly three months and I feel like I am still an outsider looking in.

On the other hand, I need to be grateful that the seeds that will grow into our community have been planted and are starting to germinate.  Last night we had a really lovely dinner with some new friends and their daughter.  We walked a cold mile to their place, passing through the downtown mall.

I met Anna when I worked at the orchard (she was a customer with Oregon plates so I struck up a conversation!) and we immediately clicked.  Tate instantly loved her also and it was great to meet her husband last night.  The wine flowed free and we talked like old friends.  Tate and I were both in very good spirits as we walked home after dinner.

And more good times with great friends are scheduled for today!

Kath is coming over in an hour to take me to her gym!  The first Friday of every month is bring a guest for free at her ritzy gym so we are going to take BodyPump together.  Maybe we’ll even get up the nerve to do some jumping jacks between sets ;).  Safety in numbers!

We are getting back together with the Team Math (Matt+Kath) this evening for a little gallery strolling and a dance performance.  These two were some of the first people we met in Cville and now feel like olds friends!  I love that rarely more than 5 days goes by without the four of us getting together for a walk or a meal.

Today was one of those mornings where I was thinking about breakfast before I got out of bed.  It doesn’t happen often but I kind of like when it does because the anticipation makes the meal taste even better.

Now I am all full satisfied from hot coffee and this,

A thick slice of toasted homemade whole wheat, a fried egg, cottage cheese, and salsa!  Love me some protein!  I ate this breakfast minus the egg yesterday and it kept me going for hours and hours.

Old Truth: My body prefers protein over grain carbs

New Discovery: Yep, it’s true, protein “holds” my appetite longer than grainy carbs.  I did some experimenting with this recently and as much as I love oats, eggs keep me going longer.