No, I didn't forget to blog today...

...I did forget to push the "publish" button, but that's about it.  I'll save my "good" post for next week, though, haha.

I did make a pretty superb meal for dinner.  #wifeoftheyear

Pot roast with s'mashed 'taters and the best dinner rolls.

Harry and I are bundled up on the couch, watching "Return of the Jedi" and having some yummy things.

I hope you had an awesome day!  I'll *see* you tomorrow!<3

Long Run With Built-In Drills [Also, It's Really Cold]

I seriously can't stand the treadmill.  I just can't.  I lose my mind during a shorty three mile run on that torture machine.  The beauty [sarcasm] of moving from one place with extreme temperatures to another place with extreme temperatures?  I will eventually have to jump on the stupid thing for long runs.  I thought I did that enough when living in Texas, where the summers are brutal with 85*F temps and 100% humidity at 6am.

I knew that the sidewalks were going to be pretty crummy this past Saturday for my ten-mile run, but not bad enough to force me onto the 'mill.  It was only 28*F when I head out, so it "should be fine".  

Or that's what I thought before I went out.  *le shrug*  After putting on two layers, sunglasses, gloves, a headband that covered my ears, a balaclava, and the hoodie to my thermal top over my head, I took off!  Harry voiced several concerns about me going out (regarding the temperatures, the wind, the windchill, the roads, etc.), so I took along my CTA card in case I needed to hop a bus to get back home.

I got stopped at a red light about a mile into the run.  Normally, I'd either run around the block or take a different route.  I didn't want to jinx going down a different street, so I embraced the break.  The sidewalks were fine up to this point, but of course the corners were pretty ugly from trucks plowing the ever-piling snow.  I was hurdling huge piles of ice and snow at every intersection.  

Then I got here.  About half a mile further.  I did the VERY IRRESPONSIBLE, UNSAFE thing, and ran in the road (only when there weren't any cars coming).  Past this point, high-knees and butt-kicks happened.  Thank goodness I've been doing those drills for most of my life, 'cause if I were any more awkward while trying to work my way over the snow, I'd fall.  On my face.

Around mile 3.5, I though I might seek some refuge at one of the nearby trail systems.  Alas, this is what I found when I got to it:

Yikes!  Not even the trails were safe!  I kept moving along, getting the most hilarious stares and looks from drivers.  There were hardly any people on foot at this point, and I didn't see any other runners.  Ah well...I thought to myself "just keep moving and get this stupid thing over with!".  I was still leaping over giant snow mounds and tip-toeing or shuffling through thick, untouched snow banks. My quads were burning, my hips, ankles, and feet were aching from the tiny movements they weren't use to over this long period of time, but my breathing was fine.  My lower back was also starting to ache, presumably from looking down the whole time.

THIS is where I thankfully turned around and started heading back home.  Ughhhhh!

All in all, a good run.  I'm happy that I moved it from Sunday to Saturday, considering this is how Saturday night ended up, and what I woke up to Sunday morning.

 The rest of the weekend was filled with "30 Rock" on Netflix and football.  I made ribs Sunday evening, pairing it with some of the leftover black-eyed peas and a Shiner Bock.  Harry LOVES these ribs!  He paired his with a Great Lakes Christmas Ale..

The meat just falls off the bone!  I'd like to think that it really sealed our easy Sunday, and my winter break.

However, I am celebrating my very first snow day in Chicago today!  I got the text late last night that my school was going to close for the day.  Yep.  It's cold.  Really, really cold.  With -(NEGATIVE)45*F windchill, I'm celebrating by staying in my PJs.  All day.  :D

Source

First Day of 2014 Adventures [A Race, Noms, and Tradition]

Happy New Year!  I hope you had safe, wonderful New Year celebrations.  Harry and I hit up a very yummy "Modern Southwestern" restaurant called Masa Azul, near some of our friends in Logan Square. We were happy to have tacos for the last Taco Tuesday of 2013, for sure.  We were also very anxious to just get home and avoid some of the madness that can happen near midnight, so we took off pretty early.  After ringing in 2014 with a smooch, we hit the sack.

(I typed the last sentence of the above paragraph lamenting my younger days of staying out until four or five o'clock in the morning on New Year's.)

 This morning, we head out for a "fun" 5K.  Harry and I are both relatively quick runners, but neither one of us were expecting to PR today, especially when there were several inches of snow on the ground and more snow falling from the sky.  We hopped a couple of buses, and were at the Lincoln Park Zoo for the Chicago Special Events New Year's Day 5K.

I quickly learned that I needed:  Thicker socks; thicker gloves; and waterproof running shoes.  Also, I learned that I should over-prepare (a.k.a. over-dress), because sometimes there isn't a warm place to hang out!

Ah well, we had fun.  We decided to take it slow and steady.  There wasn't a clear path, so I was basically looking down the entire time.  I just didn't want to fall on my butt!

I did look up a few times to snap some pictures.

Snow-trudging the whole way!  My quads starting burning so much after the first mile.  Ugh.

This is what I got to stare at for most of the race.  I certainly didn't mind.  :)

Harry was gracious enough to take my phone from me and snap some photos.  This is my first one-legged race shot!

Needless to say, we did not stick around after for any of the post-race festivities.  IT WAS C-O-L-D.  We wanted C-O-F-F-E-E, and N-O-M-S.  After hitting up a Starbucks, grabbing a bus, and my clumsy butt stepping in two snow-slush puddles (my toes were officially pissed off at this point, and poor Harry had to hear me complain...a lot), we went to one of our favorite spots, Revolution brewpub.  

I had the Breakfastman Burger, with a Bean Gene (barrel-aged coffee porter).  DEE-LISH.

Harry's Pork Belly Sandwich, with his Blue Gene (barrel-aged porter with blueberry).  Again...DEE-LISH.

We hopped one more bus and finally got home around 3:00pm.  Since then, we have been lazy.  Just lazy.  That's a pretty good way to spend the afternoon of the first day of the year!  Speaking of which, it is a tradition in the south to enjoy some black-eyed peas with ham on January 1st for good luck.  There are several varieties of traditions and combinations out there, but this is one that has been in my family for a long time.  It's too easy to make in the slow cooker (which helped me embrace the lazy afternoon) for a few hours, and bam!  

Mmmmm, mmmmmm!  Edible luck!  Harry had never had them before, and had two helpings.  This made my heart smile.  =)  Y'all have a beautiful rest of the first day of 2014!

Quinoa Burritos [And How I Survived Navy Pier on the Fourth of July]

One of my favorite restaurants in San Antonio, Green Vegetarian Cuisine (no, I'm not vegetarian, but this place was noms!),  hosts one of the yummiest things of my life, their Quinoa Burrito.  I've had this amazing dish so many times, I've lost count.  Obviously, it'd be especially easy for me to have a hankerin' for one at any time, but even more so since I don't have access to one anymore.  This inspired a little attempt to re-make it.  I didn't even look at the ingredients, which probably would've been the smart way to do it.  I just went for it, based off memory; and if I may say so, I wasn't too far off.

Quinoa Burritos

You will need:

1 cup unprepared quinoa
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 can low-sodium black beans (undrained)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
8-count Burrito size flour tortillas
Olive oil or cooking spray to coat pan and tortillas
Fresh green spinach (you can use thawed frozen spinach if you like, but be sure to squeeze all of the water out of it)
Fresh sprouts
1 plum tomato, diced
Shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
Guacamole (I used Wholly Guacamole, but you're more than welcome to use your own recipe)

Directions:

Prepare quinoa, using chicken broth for liquid (this adds SO much flavor!).  Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat.  Add chopped onion and cook until translucent.  Set aside.  Blend black beans with about half to two-thirds of the liquid from the can in a blender.  Pour into small pot and heat over medium-low heat.  Add cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and cooked onions to pot, and warm.  Set aside.

Spray or and heat large pan over medium heat.  Spray or lightly coat one side of a tortilla with olive oil or cooking spray and place that side down on a plate.  On the other side, spread black bean mix and quinoa over middle, and top with cheese, spinach, sprouts, tomatoes and guacamole.  Tuck ends and fold over to create a "burrito", and cook in pan until golden on both sides.  Enjoy!

And onto the Fourth...
Harry, a born-and-raised Chicagoan, took me to Navy Pier the other night to watch Fourth of July fireworks.  I don't think he was very ecstatic about the idea of it, but he wants to give me as many "firsts" as he can this year.  We knew that there would be a TON of people (there ended up being over 100,000 people at the Pier alone!).  Not only that, but transportation and expenses were a worry, as well.  So just from my experience last night, I've comprised a small list of what we did to ensure a headache-free, relatively cheap good time.

1.)  Pack a meal.
Seriously, we brown-bagged it.  Instead of paying out the wazoo for noms down by the Lake, we opted for a Nutella and 'nanner sandwich and an apple.  This proved to be the best decision of the night.

2.)  Take advantage of public transportation.
The CTA is a must for SO many people here in Chicago.  Harry hasn't owned a car in years (which was bewildering to me at first).  I have never lived anywhere where public transportation was so efficient and so relied upon.  Utilizing it lately has been a treat for me, rather than a chore.  We didn't have to worry about parking, nor did we have to worry about the COST of parking (it's UBER expensive downtown Chi!), NOR did we have to worry about the mass of fustercluck that ensued after the fireworks show (see below).

3.)  Get there early.

Check.  Sure, fireworks go up in the sky, and you can see them from the shores of two other states; but this doesn't do you any good if you're the closest one can be to the show, and you can't see them because you're stuck behind a bazillion people.

We left our crib around 5:15pm, and the fireworks weren't even starting until 9:30pm.  We only live about eight miles away from downtown, but Harry insisted that we get there as early as we could.  There was plenty of entertainment provided, so I wasn't worried about us getting bored.  Plus, we're both pretty entertaining.  :)

We walked around the Pier, went through the museum and shops, and meandered through the mob.  It was only slightly frustrating at times, when people weren't respecting each others space, but it wasn't too horrible for what it was.

We grabbed a beer at some point, found our spot, sat back and waited to...

4.)  Enjoy what we went there to see!

Now, once that was over, all hell broke loose.  I mean it.  Everyone and their dog (and babies, and baby strollers, and children, and aunt, and brother, and...) were heading out; cars were trying to drive through crowds, a huge line of buses were parked just outside of the Pier exit, along with enormous crowds of people all around them.  Police officers lined the intersections, whistling and shouting directions, waving their lights and arms in the air.  People were yelling and screaming, cars and buses were blaring their horns.  Harry knew that we weren't going to get on any of those buses with the crowds around them, so we took off down the street away from the Lake.  His plan was to just get us out of there, to where the crowd would thin out a bit, and try to catch some sort of transportation back home (with which I wasn't about to argue).

Two buses and two later, we arrived home, safe and sound.  Fireworks were still going off around our neighborhood...and by "fireworks", I mean sticks of dynamite and large explosives.  I ain't kidding.  Harry had checked a local newspaper reporter's Twitter feed, which was filled with reports of phones being stolen (by force) by mobs where we had been earlier.  The reporter also included details along the lines of firecrackers being thrown at Police officers.  WOW!

I guess my last bit on the list would have to include:

5.)  Go to an event like this with someone you completely and utterly trust.  I'm extremely lucky that I'm with such an intelligent and informed guy, and while things may have been a tad hectic-scary at times, I felt very taken care of.

I hope that you had a safe and wonderful Independence Day, and a fantastic weekend!