Posts in the Food Category at , Page 4

Run, Little Graham Crackers, Run!!

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Cait — 8 Comments ↓

If graham crackers had legs, I’m pretty sure they’d put them to good use. 🙂

I did this one as a design for a running club; their ‘torturous’ mentor/leader is the graham in the front with the bite out of his head. 🙂 While it may look like the crew of bitty grahams are in varying degrees of torture, that is NOT the truth…they are learning that running takes some sweat, and maybe a tear or two at times? 😉

Naww, no tears, but certainly a looguie or two, am I right?!

When you have runners as friends there are things that you soon learn to not even bat an eye at, loogies are one of them. What’s more, training partners soon become a unique kind of friend; even if you might not exactly been a ‘perfect’ match in the ‘real world’ you find ways to find a common ground between the hours of miles and the shared gruel-fest during repeats.

Then again some of my very closest friends are runners…wow, big surprise. You see, they just ‘get’ us.

So, to those newbie little graham crackers, hang in there. Trust me, it may seem like you’re putting yourself through voluntary torture (and maybe you are) but through that sweat you will learn so much about yourself. And soon you’ll be embracing that lactic burning and *gasp* sort of start to like it in a perverse little way. 🙂

1) When did running flip from ‘I hate this, why am I doing this?’ to ‘I feel like a monster if I don’t get my run in?’

2) Who would win in a race, graham crackers or teddy grahams? 😉

Tune-in to Your Happy Meal? – McDonald’s Lands a TV Show

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Cait — 8 Comments ↓

I admit I’m guilty of two things here: 1) a poorly punny title, sorry, and 2) chiming in here a little late. But regardless, McDonald’s is getting their own TV station? I want one! 🙂

I’m sort of torn on what to think here…at first it’s sort of a sigh and a lowered head. I mean don’t get me started on the whole obesity thing; visions of kids scarfing down fries and McNuggets until they are wedged in the booth and can’t change the station on the TV…oh wait, even if they did change the station it’s all McD’s all the time. 😉

Hey, at least he's running. 😛

But mostly for me it’s the exercies of the obesity problem that really gets me fired up; or the lack thereof. I’m the sort of runnerchick that believes if you workout like a champ, strap on the feedbag! 🙂 That said, I’m not a big McD’s fan myself, I am more of the Pop-Tarts and Chipotle variety, but to each their own. The other part is intensity: if you are logging a lot of miles you have the freedom to eat ‘harder’ than someone who just puts in a stroll around the block…that is a huge part. People need to be realistic with themsevles with exercise…

…and with food. So if you are of the sedetary variety, maybe a couple extra trips through the Drive-thru isn’t warranted. Secondly, common sense people…do you need to eat your weight in fries? The choices you make when you hit up McD’s comes down to you. To make smart choices you need information I know, so be informed if you are needing to lose a few, Rondald isn’t coming into your house, strapping you down and shoveling McNugget lovlies down your gullet. Though, I really like the mental picture.

As for the kids, that is what I just think it is sad, but that burden falls on the shoulders of parents. I think one of the best things my parents did was set by example a love of being active…NOT because it burned calories but because it is good for you and makes you feel good too. So it gets back to the exercise thing with me…promote that McD’s.

Maybe in front of those TV’s (apparently the McDonald channel is only available in their actual restaurants) there should be treadmills. So it you want those fries and frosties, that is totally cool with me (pass me a pint of Ben & Jerry’s instead though) but just bust your bum with some exercise. 🙂

1) What are your thoughts on the McDonald’s Station?

2) Best part of exercise?

3) Growing up, how was your family about exercise and food?

Would You Like Liver With That?

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Cait — 9 Comments ↓

I was watching something last night that brought to mind a story. It was one of those times where you remember something that you had thought you had ‘forgotten’ about until some weird brain-spark dug up this nugget; I then spontaneously busted out in laughter looking like the dorkette I am.

Let me paint you a picture: a collective group of runners have been away on a altitude training camp. Needless to say some particularly high up places are not exactly natural tourist attractions (no offense to high altitude places, I said some of them of course not all!!) and so places to go, run, or even eat are skim.

Our harriers had just come off of a tough track session…add in attitude and you can bet we were beat…time to get our grub on. Trolling around we wind up at a local, chain-wannabe-esque type diner and I’m blanking at the name. Think of like a Denny’s but they are doing their best efforts to ‘class it up’ just a wee bit. Gotta give them props for trying.

Counting coaches we were a big group, probably about twelve, and we made up about half the populous of that diner. Out come the menus and they had a rather wide selection if I do say so, and in the end the food was pretty good if I remember correctly.

They even brought us a bread basket...I don't think Denny's does that.

Amongst our training group were two Africans, one native of Uganda, and the other visiting in from Kenya. Now, comes the fun part. We get to Alex, from Kenya, and he is making a sort of stink face…nothing really seems all too appealing to him. He turns to Julius, from Uganda, and they exchange a word. (They are actually two of the funniest people ever and speak their own completely unique language, not even a dialect, it’s English but they have these saying, mashing of words in a sentence that only they makes sense of.)

Julius turns to the waitress and says deadpan, “Do you have liver an onions?”

Waitress, “Ummmm,” she’s trying to gauge if he’s being serious or just putting her on the spot, “yea, I think we might have some.”

Alex, “YES!!!!” he literally couldn’t contain his excitement, “I want liver and onions!!!”

Julius equally enthused, “Me too!!!”

They were like kids in the candy-store.

Different strokes for different folks, but if you had watched the fire on the track that had been Alex earlier you probably might have paused for just a moment and wondered if you, in fact, should try a helping of liver an onions.

But then you’d see the plates come out, and realize that those servings of liver HAD to be circa the 1920’s and thought better of it.

1) What are some of your favorite foods that others may find as odd or gross?
When I was little I LOVED to just suck on lemons. Ummm, don’t tell my dentist.

2) Do you live at sea-level or altitude?
Sea-level all my life, and I’m sucking wind any time I go up!

3) How was your weekend and what were some highlights?

I’m De-Awsome Apparently and Carrying Water on Runs

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Cait — 5 Comments ↓

I’ve been informed that as of yesterday I am no longer awesome. This is coming from my friend (and new housemate) in reference to the fact that for the very first time I ran with a Garmin. “Well, that was a long time coming,” you think, “did you also know there is a thing called a cell phone?”

I’ve talked before explaining my old school ways, but let’s face it, I finally cracked. Since I now plan on doing a lot more running outside, I would be lying if I said I’m not OCD about at least knowing how many miles I run total. Before my accident I always just ran for time, I knew my ‘easy pace’ and then estimated the miles. Ya, I knew that most days I was probably running a bit faster than that, but I counted it off of the pace and if it was a bit over I was okay with that. I would rather be a little over than under anyways.

But now I have no clue what pace I am going, or what certain paces feel like, my inner-calibration is wonky. I know I’m way slower than before and trust me, getting into the groove that first mile must just look plain comical. So I borrowed a Garmin and strapped that gargantuan thing on my wrist. Sidenote: they really need to make that thing smaller, I mean sheesh! I’ve seen the older models where the face is smaller so I want to try one of those.

Not going to lie, I like it, but only the really basic features. Tell me my total time, total distance, and I was interested in my overall pace average. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

On another subject, I was asked why I didn’t bring any water, sports foods, gels, etc. with me on my runs. The thing is, I never have, but I think that’s because I’m not training for a marathon or ultra-distance. Now, I want to put the disclaimer front and center: I am NOT an expert here, I’m just saying what I do, what I’ve read, and things I’ve heard/talked about with other people I know. Yes, some of THEM are experts, but I am not.

Just my thoughts on the whole ‘to tote accessories or not to tote,’ I don’t bring anything because 1) I don’t want anything more on said person than must be there, like I said that Garmin was bugging me only because it feels like it will take up my whole forearm 2) my stomach is really sensitive and I don’t think eating/drinking would turn out too great on my run 3) I’m not running far enough.

Now, I know that total distance is all relative, but for me, I don’t think it’s necessary to eat or drink anything in the amount of time I’m gone. Now, if I were to run a marathon I know that I’d have to train myself to eat/drink because you need to do that if you want to do your best. I’ve read before that generally if you’re running an hour or less it isn’t necessary to have anything, but if you go longer you should think about restoring your glycogen stores and rehydrate.

”]Yes, sometimes I run more than an hour, but I still think it’s in the zone of not needing anything because it’s not that much more. Though, I’ve run with plenty of other runners on our long runs sans toting extra gear and then refueled/rehydrated upon our return. That’s just what I’m used to and what works for me.

So, I don’t tote. But if you’re running mega miles and training for a marathon or more you SHOULD be training to eat just like you’d be training to run that day. If I ever decide to try and cross that bridge, then I’ll do just that.

Finally, it’s a totally personal choice. I think newer runners may feel more comfortable bringing some water if it’s hot, and if you get used to packing then perhaps you’ll be more likely to continue doing so. However you wanna roll. 🙂

1) Do you tote on your runs? If so, how far does it have to be for you to tote?

2) What do you think about on your runs? Do you ever get songs stuck in your head that you don’t like and then the rest of the run you keep repeating bad lyrics?

Yes, I do, and today was one of those times.

3) Do you run off of time and then estimate the distance from a certain pace?

4) Not a question, but a kindly request. The rocking Christina needs your help, so if you would, head over to her blog and check out the teeny tiny favor that she’s asking for. Do it, it won’t take but a minute, but you’ll get some good karma vibes! 😉

English Muffin Withdrawals and Then I Get All Sappy Motivational On You

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Cait — 4 Comments ↓

So I’ve already raved about loving the new gym situation here in Cali. It’s not a secret either that the BIGGEST draw for moving back to the Sacto area was to be around these folks…

…the fam bam. I’m also kinda hoping some of that style and good looks rubs off on me, but let’s be honest I think after 25 years I’m really just a lost cause.

That said there are some things that I’m missing from the Portland area. The weather, duh, I’m not a fan of smoking hot summers. Upon hearing that I grew up in CA the first thing most people assume is that 1) I’m a surfer 2) I eat sushi by the poundage and suck down wheat grass shots and 3) I grew up on the coast…sorta ties into the first one I guess. The fact that I do actually love sushi is not going too work its way into the post…oops. Well, I still have never tried wheat grass, okay?!

My response to this is, “Okay, no, I grew up in Roseville, it’s in the Sacramento area and really, Sacto is the armpit of California.” Yes, it’s the capital, and for a while we did get to boast of having a governator who could rip you apart and beat you to a bloody pulp if he wished…unless you were a house maid in which case he’d ravage you in another way. Sorry, that was s bit dirty…I digress.

Sacto summers are hot as heck and really super smoggy. In high school it was not uncommon to hear over the loud speaker: “Today is a spare the air day due to the toxic air quality. All sports practices are canceled…football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, cheer…oh, wait, but cross-country is still meeting.” Actually all us distance runners took some glee in the fact we were the only ones dedicated enough to still get out there and burn our lungs to a blackened, smoggy crisp all in the name of the sport.

So yes, I miss P-town’s cooler temps and even the rain. I’m not a person who found it depressing, it was all fine by me, except the times we were getting snow. Now, today I’m realizing two BIG things I’m really going to be missing. I didn’t know they wouldn’t be available when I crossed the border…

Alpenrose Fat Free Cottage Cheese and Franz B lueberry English Muffins!!! Egads, I’m about ready to throw a duel funeral or find a way to smuggle myself some of these in bulk quantities. Not gonna lie I’ve contemplated calling up a store and seeing if they would order these for me special or even the companies directly…I’m only quasi-joking here.

The thing is, I eat much of the same shiznit and I eat a lot of it. If I find something I like I’m pretty dang loyal and it has to be my thing, my brand. I then take full ownership and wrath will befall any fellow customer who dares to snag the last of said item on the shelf before I get to it…I totally called dibs and they knew it!

The cottage cheese, I didn’t realize how much of a difference taste-wise there is between brands. All are not created equal and here it’s super evident…I got some Knudsen’s the other night and nearly just spit it out. I couldn’t even force the rest down. Oh, Alpenrose, how I miss you so! I’d go through a 16 oz carton a day, that stuff has got some awesome protein stats and the tub along would clock me in at 48 g’s total.

Now the blueberry English muffins, if you think I’m wonk for listing these things and think they are boring you are dead wrong….dead wrong! These are really the equivalent of a healified regular blueberry muffin, no joke. They even flipping smell amazing, I mean they make anything in about a 4 foot radius smell all blueberry and yummy. They don’t have these ANYWHERE here and nothing even to substitute them with, like a different brand. There are always those cinnamon raisin ones but no other fruity ones…I’m sad. And PS- I would eat a full 6 count sleeve a day too (umm, carbs are good peeps!)…so really I think logistically I should be able to warrant some kind of bulk shipment, right?!?!

I feel a bit like Julia and Christina should they not be able to get their Puffins fix. So Franz and Alpenrose, if you are reading this I LOVE YOU and I miss you. Please come back, I feel like a jilted lover, you broke up with me so fast, I didn’t even get a chance for closer. Maybe I’ll write some kind of Taylor Swift-esque song a la her Joe Bro phone break-up.

I jest, but apparently because Oregon is really into supporting local businesses and both Franz and Alpenrose are Oregon based, that’s why they were easy to snag up there and non-existent here. Ugh.

In other news, I wanted to thank YOU all for your awesome show and movie suggestions. I have a gift card to Borders and what am I going to buy? If you guessed a ton of smarty people books that will no doubt help enlighten me and make me a better, more well rounded person, you’re wrong.

Though maybe I should because I have a potential cartoon gig that is for a financial business. They want some cartoons for their newsletters…do you ever have an assignment that you just feel too stupid for? Haha. But I think we all have those times where we feel out of our element but you have to just fake it til you make it and play along. I mean of COURSE I’m gonna work my tail off and Google like a demon to provide the best material I can for these folks, I want the gig, and darn it this girl may not be smart but I’ll pretend I am anyways! All in the name of art! 😛

But seriously, how do you handle situations like that? They come in different forms, you’re new to a class and don’t want to be the dork doing the dance moves in the opposite direction as everyone else. You meet up with a new running group, turns out they are a bit faster than you, but you do your best to keep up and pretend you’re not totally dying…and you hope they don’t notice that as the miles progress you are contributing less and less to the conversation.

It comes down to this though, how important is it to you? How bad do you want it? Are you going to let the fear of looking like a doof or not being able to achieve something stop you from ever trying? Or from giving it your all? I want this cartoon assignment so dangnamit I’m going to do what I have to to make it the best that I can and pretend that I have a smarty-top-financial-business-world savvy bone in my body. (I hope that one wasn’t broken in the car wreck…haha.)

With the fitness thing, lots of people just take themselves out of the game by putting limits on themselves. They are the ones who build their own ceiling, but if they were to just not look up and instead look straight ahead, keep putting one foot in front of the other, they’d eventually realize that the looming ceiling they had isn’t there. Or maybe it’s a glass one and all they have to do is shatter it.

You don’t think you can run a 5k? Well, take it mile by mile, or minute by minute and work up to it. You don’t think you can do a 10k? Reference last bit of advice…and so on. Ya, the speed thing, and getting those times faster is tricky, not gonna lie there, and to a certain point I guess you could say there are physical limits…I mean they don’t have those fun little record books for nothing!

But just tell the fear of at least trying to take a U-Haul back to where it came from. But would you ask it to pick me up some Alpenrose Fat Free Cottage Cheese and Franz Blueberry English Muffins if it happens to find any?!?!

1) Are you pretty brand specific? Name a certain food item that you HAVE to have your way, and would beat down a fellow shopper if they snagged the very last one before you got to it.

2) Are you one of those smarty pants who can talk politics and World finances with the best of them?

No. I try to keep it to the important stuff like Seinfeld references and celeb news.

3) How do you handle tackling goals that you sometimes feel might be unobtainable? In moments of doubt what keeps you going?

In the past, when I was racing, my coach would be the one to tell me that they thought I could do something. Often times I thought they were crazy and I’d never be able to do ‘X’ but the thing is, I trusted THEM enough that I forced myself to believe it was possible. When I would doubt it I just thought, “Well, if my coach says I can do it, I can.” And the crazy thing is that whatever they said I could do usually ended up happening. Eventually maybe we all have to be able to take ownership I think and set the goals ourselves, but maybe not though because having someone else push you just that little bit more is a good thing, just so long as we keep moving forward and do chase those big dreams.

Evil To-do Lists That Pick Boogers and Racing Garb

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Cait — 7 Comments ↓

Wowza…how are all of your Saturfarts shaping up so far? Hopefully not too stinky. 😉 Lame, I am, I have admitted that before so I have no shame in letting my full freak flag fly.

Today’s been a pretty productive morning if I do say so myself. Nothing to actually show for it, more like in the errands sense. The ones you put off that you really don’t want to do, that to-do list starts to grow, glaring evilly at you from the corner. Like that kid who picks his nose in class but still doesn’t understand why you aren’t nicer to him…ummm, because you’re gross? But I was able to kick that bugger picking list in the butt, or at least make some decent headway.

The morning started off quite nice, got in a nice 8.5 and a wee more miles on the treadmill. Felt pretty good, just went easy but it felt better than it’s been in the past. Did some arm weights, couple sets of lunges and squats, and then it was time to hit that evil list.

So I’ll have to do the cop-out and talk about other people…’tis the weekend and I know that means some races have to be on the agenda for some folks! If you ran, do feel free to brag on your fine self. 🙂 Or are you waiting until Monday to rep the US of A?! Well, as it seems I can no longer find friends here in the States and have turned to outsourcing, my growing number of Canadian besties probably don’t give too Oy’s about the 4th. Well, unless a stray sparkler or firecracker crosses onto their side.

There was a really fun 4th of July 5 miler race that I used to run when I was in high school. The best part about it? It was FREE!! Ya, that is unheard of now adays for any kind of race, it seems like road races are going the route of the movie theaters. The costs seem to leave my wallet violated in the worst possible way. But races are fun so sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Well, at least there is the possibility of a really cool shirt…

(I made this in fun up for my good friend, she always wanted to sponsor her own race, so at least now when she gets it up and running she’ll have a t-shirt design…lol)

a bag of schwag usually consisting of a kiddie sized bar, maybe some drink powder. If you’re really lucky maybe some BodyGlide…praise the chaffing gods!!

That 5 miler was also fun because people would dress up and every year there were a few guys who always wore the same get-up. No, they weren’t really crazy cool or inventive ones…one guys wore a pair of ratty racing shorts that were red, white, and blue ala the flag. Each year we prayed that the threadbare fibers wouldn’t finally give out midway through the race.

The other guy was even weirder as he’d wear a pair of just regular boxer shorts with Odie on it. You know, the yellow dog with a really long tongue hanging out. I don’t think I have to tell you where the tongue was placed. Gross.

One year my younger sis and I dressed in matching get-ups. My mom special ordered these tops and if I may say so I thought they were the bomb dot come. Oh yes, I said that. Full freak flag remember? The racing tops had flames on them, but not gonna lie I think the thing that made it awesome was that my little sis was about five at the time and ran in the little kiddie 1/2 mile. SHE was the one that looked crazy cute in the garb, so I was cool by association.

Here’s a pic of my top in full flaming glory…I’m bummed I don’t have a pic of my little sis in the top on me.

(Had to blow off the dust on this one…must be 2002ish??)

Well, I’m off to get some grubbage. I’m super boring and pretty much eat lots of the same things, but I figure I like what I like and my tummy agrees! So on the menu for lunch will be chicken and black bean tacos (I actually like burritos more but right now I need to use up those smaller tortillas…this I know you really care about) with a side of carrots and an apple. 🙂

1) Have you dressed up for a race before?

I know my flame top really isn’t all that dressy, but that’s the most I’ve done.

2) If you hosted your own race, what would it be called?

I actually would REALLY love to set one up, but make it a charity event, it’s on the to-do list but I have yet to come up with a really kickbutt name…

3) The best thing you’ve ever scored in a race give-away bag?

4) Best thing you’ve eaten today yet OR that you plan on devouring here at some point?

Some Food For Thought…But Mostly Humor

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Cait — 7 Comments ↓

So toady I thought I’d throw up a few graphic designs I made as marketing suggestions for a local grocery store. They are only in the Northwest, US so chances are you don’t have one close to you. New Seasons is an awesome place, you can get sucked in for hours if you are a foodie, and they make it a point to support local farmers and businesses. They also have lots of organics and are green minded. This isn’t a sales pitch at all, I have no paid deal with the store, I’m only giving you some background so that you ‘get’ some of the jokes. They’re like a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.

Who said healthy isn’t sexy? 🙂

This one wasn’t for New Seasons…but who can get enough shrimp and poop jokes? jk.

Okay, you may or may not find Pop-Tarts there. I know they aren’t organic or local, but in posting up food things I couldn’t resist showering the toaster tarts with love! 🙂

At any rate, yay for funny foods! Hope you enjoyed and because I don’t have my name on each and every one of them, yes, they are mine and if you swipe my original work I will hunt you down and pummel you. 😉

Don’t sweat, there may be a little lacking of running related material today BUT being as every other post is dripping sweaty with such things I implore you to get your endorphin fix there for today. However, yes running is the best and we should all be getting our sweat on. 🙂

1) Favorite fruit or veggie?

Wow, I love I think them all. But especially apples, kiwis, broccoli, and carrots.

2) Favorite protein?

SHRIMP!!!

3) Do you agree that food is costing WAY too much these days?

Yes, it’s scary. I have thought about opening up a shrimp farm in my bathtub.