Gym Class Heroes

Good evening and happy Monday! I hope the start to your week- and your November- is going swimmingly.   It’s strange to think that another year is almost over already, and I feel like I only just graduated!  I have two bits of news… one I’ll share now, and one that’s going to wait until the end of the post.

As you know, I’ve been devoting most of my time recently to researching and applying for jobs.  I recently applied to an entry level job at Wine Spectator, and the editor who looked over my application noted, after browsing through the blog and reading my cover letter, noted that while I have a clear and definite passion for food, my interest has not been directed towards wine.  While I may not get this particular job, I’ve decided that I do want to take a more active pursuit towards learning about wine.  Wine has always been important to my family, but with the exception of knowing that Malbec is from Argentina, Vouvray is from the Loire Valley and 2007 was a good year for white, I know next to nothing.  So I’ve decided to take a proactive approach! I’m going to take advantage of the free tastings that go on every day around the city, and  I’ll do my best to have some inkling about the wine I pluck off the $10-and-under shelf at the liquor store.  In the next few days, I’ll add a special tab on the blog devoted purely to vino in order to chronicle my progress.  I don’t know where this will take me, but since I have a little more time on my hands due to unemployment, I’m excited to learn a useful skill and pursue a new hobby!

Anyway… let’s jump back a bit.

Yesterday I was awakened quite early as Ari left for a morning meeting.  Musicians keep very strange hours, I tell ya!  Since I was already up, I decided to make a breakfast cookie to plop in the fridge while I went back to sleep for a few hours.

Jim was made of:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 2 T skim milk
• 1/2 packet YouShake Vanilla Dream protein powder
• 1 t peanut butter
• toppings: cinnamon, 2 prunes, 1 fig, 1 pecan

I also broke into my new McNulty’s Sumatra coffee to get my buzz on. And on and on.

Finally found a real solution to the Ester-C problem… POM Wonderful‘s Pomegranate Nectarine juice (which the company sent to me a few weeks ago) is sweet enough to completely mask the taste! I simply dissolved 1/3 teaspoon of Ester-C into 1/4 cup of juice and gulped it down as fast as possible. All I was left with was a pleasant fruity taste!

After I finished up breakfast, I looked at the time, packed my gym bag and hustled out the door to make a 12:15 60 minute Pilates class in the city.  I got there five minutes early and went into the studio with my jacket, bag and shoes still on so that I could reserve a spot on the floor.  Class had already started!  I was a little annoyed- I didn’t want to disrupt the class, but it was early!  It was also pretty warm and really stuffy, and I thought about asking the instructor to turn off the heat.  After ten minutes, we still hadn’t moved to the mat to work on our cores and instead seemed to be moving through a Vinyasa flow.  I turned to the girl next to me and whispered, “This isn’t Pilates, is it?” She shook her head and whispered, “Nope, it’s hot yoga!”  Oops.  I really love Bikram, but had I known I would be taking the class I would have hydrated, brought water with me, and not just had half a pot of coffee!  Still, I’m glad I stayed for the full 90 minutes, and even more glad that I didn’t pass out from dehydration!

When class was over, I went home to have lunch and get some work done.  I was surprised with festive snail mail from my girlies, which brightened up my day.

I hadn’t brought any food with me, so I rooted around in the freezer to check out the pickings.  Not bad!  I found bulgur pilaf with mixed vegetables, to which I added raisins and  cilantro:

I also found sweet potato soup with navy beans from the Moosewood Cookbook, which I also added cilantro, peanuts and raisins to.

I washed it all down with Natural-flavored Zevia:

Not bad for an improvised lunch!

A little later, I snacked on a Jonagold apple while I did some work.

I’m pretty sure Ari had dinner while it was still light out, so I made a big orange salad with cilantro-chili vinaigrette for myself.

In the mix:

• two handfuls of spinach
• 1 sweet potato, microwaved and diced
• 1 orange
• 1 Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burger
• shredded carrots

I made the cilantro-chili vinaigrette with:

• 1/2 T toasted sesame oil
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 Trice vinegar
• 1/2 t Sriracha sauce
• 1/2 T raw blue agave nectar
• 1 slice red onion
• handful cilantro
• 1/2 t chili flakes

It was enjoyed with a bowl of leftover miso soup and Christina Yang.

For dessert, I had 1/2 each of a brownie and blondie Edgie.

We watched half of Good Bye Lenin! before tuckering out for the night.  It’s been on my Netflix queue for years, but I’m really glad we finally saw it! Or, half of it at least

Onto the second bit of news! My dad called today with a proposition.  He’ll be traveling to Russia in December for work and offered to take me with him.  Let me think… yes!!! We’ll be in Moscow for four days, then we go to St. Petersburg for two. Not only do I get to spend some much-needed quality time with Daddy-O, but I’ll also get to see my Sarah!!!   I can’t wait.  Life is good!