Charlottesville

Oat Crumbs

Leave a Comment

I am writing from my dining table! We are connected! Let’s just say it was not easy and we are not the biggest fans of Comcast right now.  (Lucky for me, my AMAZING husband took the brunt of the annoyance).

Weird morning.  I was up until nearly 4am with insomnia and didn’t get moving again until about 10:30 so although it’s just past noon I feel like I am just getting my day started.  Considering the lack of sleep and weird hours I am feeling pretty good, just having a hard time focusing.  Time for a TO DO list!

  • Sign up for the Charlottesville Fall Classic 10K
  • Call the Food Bank and make appointment to come in and volunteer (September is National Hunger Month)
  • Change address with bank
  • Go to BodyAttack at Gold’s
  • Reply to e-mails
  • Get a job (just a few more days and then I will hit the job trail…)

I really wanted hot oats this morning.  With blueberries and walnuts.  But, alas, when I opened the oat container there was merely crumbs left. 🙁 (this means that we have eaten a pound of oats since we moved in last Tuesday!) So I settled on fruitful yogurt. Wednesday’s yogurt turned out pretty well, at least for a first batch.

I made the mistake of following the directions and stirring it when it came out of the water-bath.  Before stirring the whey was separated and the top was smooth and glassy, just like I like it.  Next time, no stirring!  And there will be a next time…

I topped a cup of yogurt with some defrosted peach slices, blueberries, strawberries, the oat crumbs, and flax seed.  At the last minute I threw on a pinch of unsweetened coconut flakes for good measure (and good fat ;)).

Looks a bit like melted cheese but it tasted like paradise!  The coconut really made this bowl although a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger would have taken it even higher.  Next time.

We started our tasting tour of Charlottesville last night.  C’ville is a super “foodie” town with LOADS of restaurants, many of which pride themselves on localism and partner with area farms for everything from their meat to the hops for beer.  Tate and I have been so busy with the move, not to mention enjoying having OUR OWN kitchen after 8 months, that we hadn’t really been out to eat yet.

Last night we met friends at South Street Brewery.  This spot is just off of the downtown mall and it took us less than 15 minutes to walk there from home.  I am not in love with our immediate neighborhood but the location within the city is perfect.  We can easily walk or bike to all the hot spots in 10-15 minutes!

I drank the Harvest Hops and ate the Ahi Tuna.  Both were worth returning for!  Especially on a Tuesday when pints are only $2.50 instead of the usual $4.  The tuna was two skewers of perfectly seared fish on top of a mountain of spring mix, shredded cabbage, and sauteed super-garlicy mushrooms and covered with a ginger dressing.  Should have taken a picture.  I am still getting the hang of this blogging thing ;).

To run or not to run?  One thing I am growing to LOVE about C’ville is what a huge running community it is.  There are ALWAYS people out running and it inspires me to want to be out running with them!  So although I have a class planned at the gym for this evening I might head out for a quick jog.  Plus, I still have two runs this week to accomplish my Mission Get Moving for the week.

On to the TO DO list!

Happy Friday!

Catch Up

Leave a Comment

The following post was written on Tuesday but I never made it back out to internet…

I went to the gym today for the 3rd time in over 20 months.  I have had a gym membership from the time I was 16 until December 2008 and used to go at least five times a week to teach a class or workout.  While living in Peru I was on a tight budget and gyms were NOT cheap ($50 a month and up) so I ran regularly, did yoga and exercise dvd’s, and walked everywhere.  But I always looked forward to getting back into a gym, I love used to love going to the gym.

I started a week trial at Gold’s and as far as a gym goes I was actually impressed.  They have TONS of cardio machines, separate rooms for group exercise classes, spinning, and “mind-body” classes, a room just for women that has all the cardio and weight equipment that you need, a sauna, and a hydro-massage machine.  I was hoping to catch a class but nothing was scheduled for a few hours so I opted for a cardio workout instead.  20 minutes of elliptical and 30 minutes of running sprints on the treadmill later and I was dripping with sweat and feeling conflicted.  It felt a bit insane to me to be on this electrical machine, watching t.v..   Yeah,  I was burning tons of calories but I was also burning tons of fossil fuels!  I vowed then and there to only use the gym for classes and other non-electrical workouts (and the sauna and massage, choose your battles!).  Monthly membership is $40 and I highly doubt that I will add this to my stack of bills once my free week is up, although I may change my mind when the mercury starts to dip.

I may or may not have mentioned to Mark, who gave me the tour of the club, that I am a currently unemployed personal trainer and group fitness instructor.  😉  Hey, shameless self-promotion is one of the best kinds!

And speaking of shameless self promotion, in my unpacking I found this very sweet letter from one of my old Portland clients

Upon returning home from the gym it was SERIOUSLY time for lunch.

Roasted eggplant hummus (I made it yesterday), Spring Creek Fine Herbs Tofu sprinkled with nutritional yeast and liquid aminos, leftover butternut squash, and a pile of celery and carrot sticks, oh and a leaf of Romaine for green good measure.  I covered the plate with red chili flakes and a bit of salt.

I had high hopes for this tofu because I had cooked up a package of their plain stuff a few days ago and it was a delicious but the Fine herbs wasn’t anything special, I will stick to the plain.  I love that this tofu is local, Twin Oaks is a Virginia intentional community and I actually visited family friends there once or twice when I was a kid.

Another gorgeous fall day!  I have the urge to garden but I am supposed to be on a self-imposed budget this week (moving is $$$!) and I need EVERYTHING from seeds/seedlings/plants to soil so maybe I should just plant the two butterfly bushes I bought on Sunday and call it good.

And here’s yesterday’s post (tried, in vain, to find internet without going to a coffee shop or the library 🙁 )

Another morning at the gym.  I took a class that I think is called PeakPower.   The description on the schedule was really vague but it turns out it’s a combo of step aerobics and “combat” (boxing).  I am realizing more and more that I am no longer a gym girl, at least not while it’s nice enough to run outside and I have a good collection of dvd’s at home.  This is a hard truth seeing as how my career is rather gym-centered.  Maybe I am just not into the cardio classes anymore.  Even though I teach Pilates and know the moves inside and out I ALWAYS work harder while in a class.  And it’s great to be introduced to new intentions, poses, and transitions in yoga classes.

While I didn’t LOVE the class it did make me want to start teaching again.  I need to brave up and ask Gold’s if they are hiring.

Post gym was all about the brewing!  I made kombucha and yogurt like a madwomen.  This is my first time making yogurt and my second time making kombucha (the first batch wasn’t great but I hope to redeem with this one).

Well, it’s my second time for kombucha on my own, my little sis and I made it together when we were housemates in Portland but I played more of an assistant role.  It is a very simple recipe but for some reason I make it more difficult than it is, I am sure I will get the hang of it after a few successful batches.

I am a little nervous about the yogurt though.  You are supposed to keep the mixture at about 100 degrees for at least 7 hours.  I don’t have my cooler here yet so I have the two containers in a warm water bath in my kitchen sink but I am going to have to stay very attentive and keep changing the water to regulate the temperature.   My decision to try my hand at yogurt making is two-fold.   First, economics. I prefer to eat plain organic yogurt (Stoneyfield is my favorite) and a quart costs $3.99.  I bought Whole Foods brand organic fat-free milk for $3.79 for TWO quarts.  I can easily eat two quarts of yogurt a week.  Second, environment.  Two quarts a week adds up to a lot of plastic containers and if I find an affordable local organic milk source it will cut down on environmental costs all the more.  Let’s just hope it turns out!

I am looking forward to biking to the Farmer’s Market this afternoon.  My bike was in storage along with everything else and I have missed riding it and I especially love using it as an alternative mode of transportation.