Brown Rice Penne with Fire House Cheddar (aka Gourmet Mac N Cheese)

My goal as the end of the week rolls around is always to clear my fridge, so I made this up on the spot.

Started with some cut up chard and a cut up sweet red onion I had got from the farmers market last week in a pan with olive oil. Then added some green peppers and garlic. Found some left over tomato sauce (not much, just maybe half a cup) so I poured that in. Then heated up some brown rice penne from TJ. While waiting for the pasta, I found some awesome cheese I had bought last week (Fire House Cheddar) and Mozzerella. I started grating and decided to grate the entire half block of cheese I had left. I added it to my mix of vegetables and added in the penne. The more cheese I added, the more I realize this is probably how someone makes Mac N Cheese!

The fire house cheddar is super spicy already, I even added some pepper flakes. This is definitely the best Mac N Cheese I've ever eaten! Forget the calories for a day :)

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard

We followed this recipe for dinner. The sweet (red) green onions and the bright yellow chard from the farmers market were just delicious! We also added shitake and oyster mushrooms into the recipe. The consistency was a lil too watery but I'll take any hint of alcohol (white wine) that I can get :)

Kale Chips

This surely was an expensive bunch of kale if our bikes were taken at the same time we paid for this.

We made chips again, this time enough to feed 5 people and the cable guy! A little bit of new experimentation shows you should not stuff all you can onto a oven pan but spread it out so that theres only one layer of kale there. It took about 15-18 min to finish at 350 degrees.

Also, we missed balsamic vinegar as the original recipe states but it tastes so good without it.

Matzo Pancakes

I've decided to treat my $500 loss of a bike as a weekend vacation in SF, where if I didn't have the luxury of the lovesack, the delicious food and kitchen there at the Palms, I would definitely have spent that much.


So let's talk about food instead! This weekend of food was yummmy! Mario introduced me to Matzo. I've heard about unleavened bread in the bible but was never sure people actually ate this for Passover. So first, I had it with my omlette with shitake mushrooms and tomatos.


Then he crushed some Matzo and poured hot water on it to soften them. Then he mixed in some eggs. Then fried them in patty shaped portions. I wasn't sure what to expect until I had some. Yummmy!! I had never eaten anything like it before. Then I found out it goes well with condensed milk...mmmm saturated fat and sugar. mmmm why do you taste so good :)

Bye Bike :(

I've been lucky so far that I'd never got my car towed or stolen or any other method of transportation. Until today. I mean, I am fully aware that I had the Napa bike ride NEXT week and was going to go for a short bike ride today to prepare.

We figured that biking to the Farmers market is much faster than the 30 min walk there, so me and Kat went. We parked the bikes in the corner of Mission and Embarcadero a little before the crowds of the Farmers Market. There were about 6 other bikes there when we locked up our bikes. I gave it a tug to make sure the bikes were locked and joked about how it'd be funny if the bikes were to disappear since I had my race next week.

Sure enough, an hour later and after a yummy smoked salmon sandwich lunch and buying vegetables and fruits, we walk to our bikes...but ITS GONE. Not only are OUR bikes gone, but there are no bikes there at all except for one. We walked around the building, dazed and confused. And yeah, sure enough it was gone.

Goodbye new tires, tubes, bike pump, comfy seat I had *just* put on the bike in the past few months and the practice rides and adjustments I've done to get it ready for next week. I shall refrain from using inappropriate words to express my frustration and confusion and instead replace it with symbols: (*#$&)(*&!@#(*!&@$(*%&$^!(*!!!!!!

If anybody sees a white/red Trek bike in Bay Area Craigslist this week let me know. I guess the positive thing is I can get a new nice bike.

Post #100: Thank you World :)

Google Analytics actually gives me a good idea of where my friends are in the world :) In all of 31 countries!

I can't believe it's already been 5 months since my attempt at starting a new lifestyle.

Thanks for all your support so far.
Thanks for all the kind words and feedback.
Thanks for going out to the farmers market and buying vegetables like Kale and Leeks.
Thanks for sending me useful recipes and articles.
Thanks for your generous donations to the Tour De Cure.
Thanks for sharing your own experiences with weight loss and battling diabetes.
Thanks for suggestions of local hiking and biking trails.
Thanks for cooking and trying out new recipes with me.
Thanks for volunteering to eat my (very) experimental cooking which isn't always edible.
Thanks for not minding the brown rice or lack of meat or trying new vegetarian restaurants with me.
Thanks for reminding me that I'll never be Vegetarian while eating yogurt or cesar salads or fish or meat.
Thanks for going hiking or biking or bootcamp or the gym with me.
Thanks for participating in a weight challenge and volunteering to treat me to a nice yummy dinner when I win.
Thanks for wanting to go to Half Dome or Machu Picchu.
and finally...Thanks for reading!!

I am truly grateful and will say that this blog has and will continue to help set me on the right healthy path for life.

I haven't put hard dates to any of my goals so far. But here's the goal of the year: Since my first posting was on my birthday when I was at my unhealthiest, I target that my birthday in 2009 will be when Thu loses 50lbs.

Rancho San Antonio - Black Mountain Trail

What a great sunny weekend in the bay area! It might have been just a tad too hot (High of 90F/32C). Today we braved the 10 mile hike at Black Mountain in Rancho San Antonio. It was a 2300 ft climb (toughest in the first mile and in the last mile) The rest was decent switch backs. We didn't even rest too much and it took about 6 hours. I'm not sure I'd recommend doing this hike when it's scorching hot outside. Some beginning parts are shaded but once you get on top of the power lines, the sun is just brutal. The end is beautiful though, rolling fields, and awesome views of the entire Bay Area.

Darnit, how come it doesn't at all compare to:

• Half Dome - 17 miles round trip and 4800 ft climb. (May 23)
  
• Machu Picchu is 27 miles. (June 1)

Can you believe that someone would hike all this willingly? She must seriously be out of her mind!!!!!

View Route Map

View Pictures

Roasted Beets with Dill Vinaigrette

You know, for the past few weeks we've gotten beets and they look so intimidating since I've never touched them or handled them before. Firstly, the red stains everywhere look exactly like blood. How could something like this taste good??

Oh how wrong I was. We roasted some beets today and they were DELICIOUS! I remember having beets at the salad bar and hating it. But after you roast them, they smell and taste like a potato!!

1. Preheat to 400 degrees.
2. Wash, remove roots.
3. Wrap individual beets in aluminum foil.
4. Roast until skewer inserted into beet comes out easily (45-60min)
5. Unwrap, cool down, peel skin, slice 1/4 inch thick.

While waiting for the beets to roast, we made this Dill Walnut Vinaigrette.
1. Roasted a 1 cup chopped walnuts
2. Combined: 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar, juice from one lemon, a bundle of shallots (minced) and a bundle of dill (minced), 12 tablespoon of olive oil.

After the beets were done and sliced, toss the dressing and the beats and walnuts together.

This was a definite treat and surprise since I expected nothing from this hideous looking vegetable :) I really recommend this recipe!

Other items on the menu today included:

pasta with broccoli and roasted red peppers topped with hot chilli flakes and parmesan cheese ..and a hint of sausage (which I didn't realize until it was too late.)

salad with avocado, cheese, tomatoes...and bits of bacon (which I did remove!)

japanese curry with mushrooms and onions...and beef (which I removed all but one piece)

Los Gatos Creek Trail

You know, I love Youtube!! Instead of taking my bike into the shop because I know next to nothing about bikes, I looked up how to adjust my front and rear derailleur and sure enough, theres a ton of helpful videos. Now I know how my gears work and what those cables from the gear shifters actually do. And what the lil + and - screws are. Finally I can use all my gears!

So off I went to Campbell Park. Of course I'm directionally challenged, even with a GPS watch. I picked one way to go, thinking it goes to Los Gatos, but of course it goes to South San Jose - which is fine since the trail wasn't going to be 25 miles round trip. When it ended in the Willow Glen community, I turned around and went through some nice parks, lakes, dams, and through Los Gatos. After that it's no longer paved or flat and the hills are just ridiculous. I went as far as my legs could take me. But once I saw the gigantic hill at the Lexington Reservoir, I was about done :) The ride back was nice and down hill for the most part and was much much quicker. So with the detour to Willow Glen twice, the ride was 25 Miles in ~3 hours with about 4 snack/rest stops. It was definitely a nice light no elevation trail.

Next week I'll do Sawyer Camp!

Minestrone Soup Part Deux

After being enlightened by how much vegetables can be used up by making soup, I decided to make a variation of the Minestrone soup on the weekend for my consumption the rest of the week.