April Showers Bake Sale

I ended up baking a ton of goodies for the April fundraiser bake sale at work since a couple of the girls were unable to this time. I made Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies since I know people are kind of weird about Oatmeal Raisin Cookies... Why don't people like raisins? It's my favorite cookie! It's probably a good thing or else I would have eaten all the oatmeal raisin ones and there wouldn't have been any left for my bake sale! I didn't get a chance to photograph everything so not everything is pictured here...

In addition, I baked Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting, and this weird mistake that turned out pretty good. I named it Chocolate Chip Cake Bread...I was trying to make Chocolate Chip Blondies and was using yogurt to cut out some of that fat from the cream cheese, but yeah I kind of messed up the whole thing and just dumped everything into bowl and turned the mixer on. Haha, it tasted fine, but I had to put it in the a cake pan mold so it looked semi-presentable, so it's probably better I didn't photograph that one!

Running Nutrition (Part 3)

Mocha and Chocolate flavor Clif Shots are a no--it tastes like I'm eating chocolate frosting which is not what I want during my run. I was so thirsty after taking these shots that I chugged too much water too quickly and felt kind of sick after.
Strawberry is another no for me; I just didn't like the flavor. I think Orange is okay and the Double Expresso tasted like coffee so that was fine too.

Gag Me...!

So as you all may have known, I'm training for a marathon and I've been going on these long runs where I need to consume some sort of nutrition so I can have enough energy to finish the entire run. I've been just using the Cliff Shots, but decided to try something new since a couple other people from my training group were recommending the energy chews. I picked up some Sport Jelly Beans by Jelly Belly as well as these Luna Sport Energy Moons and tested them out today...

Let me tell you, they definitely tasted like any other gummy bear type candy so I ate a handful or less and continued on my run. I think about 15-20 minutes after consumption, my stomach was not having it and ended up vomiting some of it out. I know totally gross...I have a bunch of them left and I guess, I'll just bring them to work and eat them like candy when I need a sugar rush...anyone want to try a sport energy chew?!

Protein

So I've been consistently hurt and injured throughout my training. I'm in physical therapy and have all sorts of weird pains shooting through my feet and calves. I haven't really been recovering as well as I had hoped and I realized that it might be due to the lack of protein in my diet because I don't eat meat. I tend to be really good about getting enough protein through beans, spinach, broccoli, etc. However, as my body is going through strenuous activity, I don't think I'm giving it enough nourishment (protein) to let the damage tissues repair itself. As a supplement to my diet of already eating too many beans to cause a fart bomb to go off and maybe make a frickin' hole in the already damage ozone layer, I picked up these little protein roks and have been eating them like chocolate whoppers... They really do taste like those chocolate Whopper candy balls, but chewier.

Happy Chinese New Year!

So it's Chinese New Year and it's the Year of the Tiger. I wanted to ring in the New Year with my family back in CaLi, but I didn't plan things out too well this year. I recently moved into a new apartment in Brooklyn and had to get that all situated and ended up celebrating by myself =(... Cry me a river right?!

Anyway, so in lew of it all, I took a trip to Chinatown to see what the local Chinese were picking up to celebrate the festivities and offering to the Gods. I wish I had my camera with me while I was shopping because there were tons of people at the fish monger trying to get the freshest seafood possible. It was like walking through a zoo of angry Chinese people... As I was heading towards the train to head back home, I dropped by the Buddhist Temple over near the Manhattan Bridge and noticed the Pomelos being offered to the Buddhas and realized I haven't had a Pomelo since 2005 when I was in Beijing! I quickly walked back to the fruit market and purchased two giant sized Pomelos--it was 2 for $5!





Anyway, if you've never had a Pomelo before, you have to try it! It looks like a giant sized grapefruit, but a lot sweeter in flavor. The skin or membrane that surrounds the actual meat is torn off and discarded because it's inedible. I ended up finishing a whole one on my own, haha, it's like eating two large oranges. I think that ended up being my Chinese New Year Dinner! I ended up bringing the other one to work to share with my co-workers who've never seen or heard of this Pomelo fruit. The fruit is grown in South East Asia and tends to be much larger than the ones grown in California. They tend to be popular and in season closer to the Spring and Summer time. Hopefully, you all can try and find one at your local or Asian grocery store if you don't have a Chinatown nearby.

Valentine's Day Bake Sale

I baked Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for my fundraiser bake sale at work today and they were a success!! I think I need to work on presentation...

Running Nutrition (Part 2)

Okay, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I pocketed the Vanilla and Razz flavored Cliff Shots on my Saturday morning long run. First off these things are hard to open while running and making sure you don't squirt the gel all over the place! Anyway, they're really thick and hard to swallow unless you have water or something to wash it down with--thank goodness for my hydration belt. The Razz flavored wasn't bad at all and the Vanilla just kind of tasted like sugar, which is basically what the gels are, just sugar to restore your electrolytes. Next up will be Chocolate and Mocha!