I ended the day cooking up some Iowa popcorn on the stove. I've never done that before. I put some butter from Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward in the pan and dumped in the corn kernels from Tiny But Mighty in Shellsburg. It took about five minutes is all. It's tastes very good, and I feel very good knowing I'm not eating some junk processed who knows where with who knows what in it.
Day 3 of the food challenge included yogurt for breakfast, eggs and toast for lunch, snacked on cucumbers, and had a pork chop and lettuce for dinner. Not too bad, but I miss chocolate..
I ended the day cooking up some Iowa popcorn on the stove. I've never done that before. I put some butter from Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward in the pan and dumped in the corn kernels from Tiny But Mighty in Shellsburg. It took about five minutes is all. It's tastes very good, and I feel very good knowing I'm not eating some junk processed who knows where with who knows what in it.
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The second day of my food challenge was tougher than Day 1. I ate the same 7-grain cereal for breakfast. I even tried to add some butter to sweeten it up. Fail. Then Lucas' parents came to town for lunch. Well, I can't really go out to eat right now so we cooked at his place. While everyone else enjoyed wild turkey marinated in teriyaki, I ate grilled turkey with a bit of salt and pepper. It was dry and bland, but I was hungry. It was my first time eating grilled wild turkey; I highly recommend adding some marinade. I also had some yogurt and venison sausage. My dad shot the deer himself and had the meat processed at a locker in northeast Iowa. I consider that local and all-natural.
The past few weeks I've been waiting to begin my two-week challenge of eating only locally-grown organic food. Well, the time has come. I started today - and man, it's going to be a loooong two weeks. I started they day with a bowl of 7-grain cereal, which didn't have much of a taste. I love cereal. This didn't even compare to the normal stuff. Then again, it's not artifically sweetened or enhanced. It consists of barley, corn, oats, wheat, flax, and two other things I believe. You heat it up in water on the stove like oatmeal, but I can't add brown sugar because that's not organic. Needless to say it's a little bland. Lunch was better; I had toast, eggs with cheese and yogurt. For dinner I had pork chops with lettuce and cucumber. That's not really a salad, but I worked with what's in season. I also got me my first grown-up bicycle. After checking out three stores and 5 bike models, I decided to go with the Specialied Vita hybrid at Rasmussen Bike Shop in West Des Moines. I'm excited for my first ride... whenever the rain stops.
Manhattan Deli special Friday afternoon I got to check a long-standing item off my To Do List: Manhattan Deli. It's a small sandwich shop on Ingersoll - a whopping 6 blocks from where I live. I've been trying to eat there for the past year and finally had the opportunity. I split the Friday special, which I don't even remember what it was. It was gooood, along with the home-made peanut butter chocolate rice crispy treat. I need to go back and taste another item. Credit: Tallgrass I then popped over to Tallgrass Grocery Coop in Valley Junction to pick up some locally-grown, organic food. I browsed around there last fall when it first opened. Thanks to my challenge (see post from 4.13.12) to eat only local, organic food for two weeks, I dropped $80 on 16 items. That included a whole chicken for $13, a bottle of Jasper Winery wine for $10, a loaf of Big Sky Bread, eggs, pork chops, lettuce, cucumber, 1/2 gallon of milk, yogurt, provolone cheese, 7-grain cereal, rosemary, butter, and uncooked popcorn. The challenge starts tomorrow. Wish me luck! Von Shakes at Drake Relays street party Friday night I got to check another item off the To Do List: the Drake Relays street party on Court Ave. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was playing for free. I'm a fan so I figured it was a good time to check out the party. Well, it was cold and rainy and crappy out. The Von Shakes played at 9pm. I'd never heard of them before, but they were good. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus wasn't playing until 11pm. At that point, it was raining more and windy. I didn't dress warm enough, and I'm not that big of a fan to tough it out, so we headed home.
There weren't many others out there either. The tents only provided a bit of relief from the rain drops, wind, and cold. I'm sure everyone else could tough it out because they were drunk. Alcohol warms the body, ya know. I'm such the comparison shopper. I can't ever just splurge on something - especially if it's expensive like a bicycle. Last Sunday I checked out Bike World and today I stopped by the Des Moines Bike Collective and Rasmussen Bike Shop. The Bike Collective refurbishes used bicycles. I test drove three bikes, priced between $80-140. They were nice bikes, but didn't really have the athletic style I was going for. I might be crazy enough to try an outdoor triathlon and want a bike that could handle that.
I headed over to Rasmussen which to my pleasant surprise had a sale going on for Specialized bikes. I love sales. I tested the Vita hybrid. I really liked it and the price was just right. Sure, a road bike is probably better for a triathlon, but they are not in my price range. I didn't realize how expensive bikes were until this past week. I decided not to make a decision on a bike and sleep on it. I work evenings. That means my mornings are more like evenings. I go grocery shopping, run errands, workout and watch movies at 9 am. I watched Milk for the first time today. It stars Sean Penn and is based on the life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to office in California. After two failed attempts, Milk was elected as a San Francisco city supervisor in 1977. He was murdered a year later by another supervisor. I love learning about our history. It's interesting to me that people are still making the same statements about homosexuality and same-sex marriage that they did in the 70s. Maybe things haven't changed as much as I thought... Hills! I've been afraid to run the hills around my neighborhood. South of Grand is very hilly, and it's intimidating. But I decided I was ready. I did way better than I thought I would. I felt so strong at the end of it. I also ran in the grass as much as I could. Tough Mudder ain't gonna be on pavement. I need to strengthen up my ankles and prepare myself for uneven trails. I sprinted the last three blocks. All in all, it was a great run.
I blog about food way to much. Oh well, people gotta eat, and I love food. At the grocery store, Hy-Vee this time, I had to get some milk. I randomly saw a Greek yogurt pack with the fruit filling and granola bits. I first tried Greek yogurt last fall. It wasn't bad, but it's way better with the fruit and granola. For 180 calories, it's a filling snack that packs a lot of protein. Man, now I'm craving one...
This is my third year living in Des Moines during the Drake Relays. I made it my goal to make it out to at least one event on my own, not as a part of work. I had the perfect opportunity to check out the pretty pooches at the Beautiful Bulldog pageant since my good friend's dog Thor was competing. Those judges must not have known what they were talking about! Thor didn't win, but he sure looked cute. The winning dog, Tyson, is a very good looking dog too. I'm sure he'll do a great job representing bulldogs and Drake everywhere he goes. And it is a big job. He even made the news in Chicago. My mom said the Tuesday broadcast ended with video from the bulldog pageant. Who knows, maybe King Tyson will be doing commercials next.
To be honest, the program got a little long. It was pushing 1 hour 15 minutes. After watching 50 dogs strut their stuff up and down the catwalk, the MC thanked several people and had random people talking. The Drake fieldhouse acoustics are not great. We could barely, or sometimes not at all, understand what the MC was saying. Maybe they can fix that for next year. Today was my first day looking at bicycles. I completed my first indoor triathlon back in February. I didn't have a bike to train on, just a spinner at the gym. I don't know if outdoof triathlons are in my future, but I do enjoy riding a bike. I stopped in Bike World in West Des Moines for the first time. Ben was very knowledgable and helpful in explaining the models and characteristics of each bike. He recommended the Trek 7.1 or 7.2 for me because of its versatility and I'm not a super serious rider. He said they are two of the most popular bikes they sell. Any suggestions?
No, no, I'm not talking about wild turkey the whiskey. I'm talking about the turkey that I slaved over detaching the membrane. Well, we cut it up, marinated it in a honey teriyaki sauce and cooked it with some peppers and mushrooms in the skillet. Man, did that cook up fast! It couldn't have been 10 minutes and a skillet-full of turkey was cooked to perfection. The meat wasn't gamey, maybe the marinade covered that up. I also heard wild turkey can be dry if you over cook it. Glad we didn't! Now I have to decide how to prepare the other half of the breast.
Wild turkey also goes along with my goal to eat healthier, local, and organic (see post "Food, Inc" from 4.13.12). Nothing processed or genetically-altered about this turkey. |