Day 129: Rest Day

The kitchen was calling at 6:15 this morning. No rest for the wicked, as they say. I made Apricot Pecan Chews to take to JE's coworker and friend. With the extra egg yolks, I made lemon curd. I won't share the recipe, because Pete schooled me on making a true English curd this evening. Holy Cow! I will share that recipe when/if I ever see it. The embarrassing lemon curd (far more custard than tart, still pretty tasty, but not really curd) went into a tiny tartlette made in mini muffin tins. My crust rocked.

Pie Crust

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 ts salt
Pulse in a food processor to blend
add
2 sticks unsalted butter cut into cubes
pulse until you have pea sized chunks of butter
Pour over the top
2 oz vodka stored in the freezer
2.5 oz ice water
pulse to blend (dough will start to stick together when you compress it)

Divide dough in half and freeze half for later use. Roll the other half very thin on a floured surface. Using a medium biscuit cutter, cut out rounds and pat into mini-muffin tins. Bake at 400 until golden brown. Fill with lemon curd and top with sweetened meringue. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the tip of meringue is golden.

An egg carton comes in handy for transport and wrapping. I used mini cake cups to protect each tart and placed them on a ribbon stretched the length of the carton. The ribbon was functional to pop the tarts out of the egg holes.

We went to Pete's tonight, JE's coworker. He is every bit as passionate about food as we are--perhaps even more. We had a great time. He made some really amazing, non traditional pizzas. Awesome!

When we got home, we had our planning meeting. So here is our plan for the week:

Monday:
AM: Brick training:Run 2 miles/bike to work
PM: Bike from work
Swimming: 700 yards total. Swim 200 reg, 100 fast, 200 reg, 100 fast, 100 reg
Sets: Walking lunges, sit ups, push ups, squats
Dinner: left over steak, spinach salad, warm vinaigrette over potatoes, asparagus

Tuesday:
AM: Running: light 2 miles
PM: Circuit training class
Dinner: Chipotle

Wednesday:
AM: Run 5K
Bike to work
PM: Swimming: 700 yards total. Swim 200 reg, 100 fast, 200 reg, 100 fast, 100 reg
Sets: Walking lunges, sit ups, push ups, squats
Dinner: Curry Chicken (pg 205 of How to Eat Supper), Rice, Spinach with sauteed garlic

Thursday:
AM: Leave early to cycle the Back Bay then to work
PM: Swimming: 700 yards total. Swim 200 reg, 100 fast, 200 reg, 100 fast, 100 reg
Sets: Walking lunges, sit ups, push ups, squats
Dinner: Tuna and black olives with pasta and wilted spinach (Costco spinach, goes a long way!)

Friday:
AM: Running, speed work. 10 minutes reg, 1 minute fast, 5 minute reg, 1 minute fast, 5 minute reg, 1 minute fast, 5 minute reg, 1 minute fast, 5 minute reg, 1 minute fast, cool down
PM: yoga
Dinner: Veg chili and corn bread with avocado

Saturday:
AM: Brick Training in Los Alamitos
followed by a lovely bike ride, up Santiago canyon (not set in stone)
Dinner: Pulled pork with King's sweet Hawaiian rolls and coleslaw. Yum!

Since I haven't been doing my weigh in or calorie count publicly, I will share with you that while I haven't been loosing any significant weight, I have dropped 2 inches from my hips and 4 inches from my waist since October. My thighs and calves have both gained half an inch (not exactly desirable for my thighs, but they are definitely far more muscle than they have ever been!