My third new thing for the day including attending opening night of horse racing at Prairie Meadows Casino. I've never been to a horse race or Prairie Meadows. It was actually a lot of fun, even though I didn't bet. What a cool and different thing to do on a Friday night, for free. Maybe next time I'll bet and win, so it's like Prairie Meadows paid me to go. That would be sweet.
On this cool Friday morning, I took on a record seven-mile run. It was hard; All but the first mile sucked. My legs were burning by the end, but I finished out strong. It's amazing what positive thinking can convince your body to do. On this day, I also took a stab (literally) at preparing wild turkey breast for the first time. Lucas shot it on Monday, it was in my freezer Monday night, and on this plate Friday. I learned turkey has a slimey membrane that must be cut off before cooking. Well, the whole thing is slimey so I thought it all had to go. I got so frustrated I thought I was going to kill the turkey for the second time. Turns out, I did it currently. The membrane is the gross fatty pooch on the side of the breast, which I did successfully detach.
My third new thing for the day including attending opening night of horse racing at Prairie Meadows Casino. I've never been to a horse race or Prairie Meadows. It was actually a lot of fun, even though I didn't bet. What a cool and different thing to do on a Friday night, for free. Maybe next time I'll bet and win, so it's like Prairie Meadows paid me to go. That would be sweet.
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It was my first time at the Grounds for Celebration location in Beaverdale. I went to the one in Windsor Heights a year ago. They are very similar in ambience. I also ordered a butterscotch latte for the first time. It wasn't bad, but it's not something I'll order again. I love butterscotch and coffee, just not together.
I've eaten at Felix and Oscar's before, but today I had one of their pastas. It was catered to work for a staff meeting. I believe it was a penne noodle, with an oil dressing and vegetables. It was really good. That's somewhat healthy, right? I only had a few scoops and passed up on the cookies, brownies and potato chips. Now that's what I call self-control.
I don't know what got into me this morning, but I was able to blow my old swimming record of 5 lengths literally out of the water: 8 lengths baby!
It was my first time eating organic chicken. I usually purchase a frozen bag of chicken breasts - cheap and practical. This time, I decided, let's be healthy. I cooked the fillets up on the stove with onion, garlic, paprika, basil and olive oil. It was good, but didn't taste any different than the frozen stuff. It was more juicy, but that could have been just me preparing it better. And I feel much better knowing I'm eating something healthier.
I was perusing the aisles of Dahl's (because it is much closer than Aldi, and I was going for convenience) when I came across these granola/chocolate waffers. They are not very big - smaller and much thinner than a normal granola bar. Each one is only 80 calories. Although they are quite tastey, it's not worth it for 80 calories. I'd much rather eat two Oreos for 120 cal. I'm sure these are healthier, but when you have to eat two of them, 160 calories doesn't sound as good.
"Yes, of course!" was my response when a co-worker asked me to take pictures of her family. I love taking pictures, especially now of my niece. I made everyone at work look at them a few weeks ago, and they were impressed with how good they looked. So I was really glad my co-worker thought of me to trust her family pictures with.
It was the first time her whole family was getting together in four years so they wanted to get some photos together. I was nervous at first because all I own is a point and shoot camera. Luckily, she quickly explained I would use her sister's DSLR, that way it's on their memory card. I got even more excited because I've never used a DSLR before. When I took the Canon Rebel T3i in my hands - wowza! It was magic. I must have one. Anyone want to loan me a thousand bucks? Pretty pleeeasseee A woman recently told me,"If you are what you eat, but you don't know what you're actually eating, how do you know who you are?" It's a very deep question. Well, the next time I was at the library I saw the documentary Food, Inc., and this thought-provoking idea came back to mind. The movie came out back in 2008. It brought up some very interesting points. Did you know only a handful of meat producers control practically all of America's supply of meat? The film's producers had a hard time getting chicken ranchers to talk to them because the company's they supply wouldn't allow it. It's amazing how much control these big companies have over food prices, production and availability.
The documentary also addressed the fact it's cheaper to eat unhealthy fast food or processed foods at the store than it is to eat fresh, local, healthy products. That's because the government subsidizes the cost of corn so much that many of the things we eat are somehow corn products. I've contemplated making a two-week switch to organic food only. I realized there's very little food in my kitchen that is not processed, not to mention I have no idea where it all came from. Well, I've decided to actually take on this challenge. I will eat only local, organic food for two weeks... starting date to be determined! Seriously though, it will be in the next week or two. We've all heard about Big Brother. Did you know that term was coined by author George Orwell in his 1949 book Nineteen Eighty-four. I just found that out today. Somehow this book came up a few times in conversation recently, and I decided I needed to read it. It's one of those books I think a lot of people read in school, but I didn't.
I actually have no idea what the book is about, so this should be an interesting read. I'll keep you posted. Lucas and I at Sky Zone What do do with a random Wednesday off from work in Des Moines? You really don't have to think too hard. There's always something to do in this active little city. I've been wanting to check out a new adult-friendly play place, the indoor trampoline facility Sky Zone in Grimes. Wednesday evening seemed like the perfect time to bounce on over. (Get it, bounce over!) It was just as fun as I expected. I didn't mind being the only young adults there either. Everyone older than us was there with kids much younger than us. You can bounce for either a half hour or one hour. We picked one hour which was the right amount of time. If you jump the whole time, you'll definitely get your heart rate up and break a sweat. It was $24 which isn't too bad considering that's how much a typical date to the movies costs. Instead of sitting in a cold theater, not talking, ingesting thousands of calories, we got to laugh, talk, and joke around while burning nearly a thousand calories. Plus, I got to show off my gymnastics skills. I'll never pass up a chance to do that. Venison chops, fresh greens beans, salad Bouncing away at Sky Zone worked me up an appetite. Oh wait, I'm always hungry. It was my first time eating venison chops. I've had them in my freezer for quite some time. My dad hunts and always stocks me up on deer meat. For the chops, we put butter, onion, basil and paprika into a skillet over medium-high heat. Those bad boys cooked up in less than 10 minutes. They were tender, lean, and flavorful. I figured I would like them since I enjoy everything else venison, but there's always a chance I'll mess them up while cooking.
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it was also my first time preparing fresh green beans. I always eat them out of the can. Man, they were good with just a bit of butter, salt and pepper. A whole lot of them cost only $.89 at Aldi. Sure, the canned ones are a bit cheaper, but for how good these taste, they are worth the extra few cents. |