Cat naps after night caps....say that 10x fast.

Tampa must be going through a red lentil shortage.  The farmer's market has been out for two weeks, Whole Foods in South Tampa and North Tampa were cleaned out and I was about to give up on my recipe for Indian dal that I love so much.  Alas.  The fancy Publix in Lutz has a grand Greenwise section and their bulk section was shining like Katy Perry in the Hello Kitty outlet.  Phew, crisis averted.

If your grocery store has a bulk section, see if they carry anything that you normally buy prepackaged.  Normally, you can get the same amount of organic bulk goods for the same or less of the prepackaged option.  These beauties were 2.29/pound and Publix carries a box of Bob's Red Mill red lentils for $6/1 pound, 11 ounces. 

Indian dal......below veggies/spices, 4 cups of water, one can of coconut milk, salt to taste. 

We had the privilege of visiting some friends last night who just had a baby girl.  So precious and I'm not a baby person.  I even held her while she cooed.  Our friends are super classy and we listened to jazz music over dinner and finished the evening with port.  Can I do that every night?

If jazz music and dessert wine isn't in my future, pup snugglin' is.  It has been to long since I've posted the second love of my life.  Anyone else have a massive dog that curls up into the teeniest little ball to sleep?  He is becoming very cat-like. 

I swear I'm not a liar but nothing is wrong.

We had some very amazing friends come stay with us this weekend and I am just bursting with so many warm fuzzies after all of the QT we had hanging out, trying good beers, eating good food, going to church, and overall good times.  I'm kind of a loner.  But friendship is a good thing.

And I needed some good things.  Not because my life isn't undeservedly rich, but because I think I am going crazy.  I've been talking about these back issues for 4 weeks now.  I will admit, I was looking forward to hearing what the doctor said about my x-rays because I wanted to know which vertebrae I'd cracked.

No deal.

I'm fine.  Like almost totally fine.  My phantom pain is a figment of my imagination.  At least that is what the x-ray said.  I don't really want to talk about it.  But I hope I can redeem myself.

He DID say that I have some disc degeneration in my lower back between two vertebrae which is kind of alarming  because I'm not old enough for that to happen but he said that comes early in runners.  And I barely qualify as a runner so I have no idea why my discs are trying to vacate my body. I haven't processed a life with less running yet though.  I have so many races left to run this year, so I may start to wind down after my marathon and obvious Boston Qualifying time.  (you can laugh at that, it's okay)

I'll be spinning my little heart out for a month until I try to run again though. 

 While our plans for Rainbow River were scraped for another weekend because of the weather, we did plenty of relaxing and enjoying Tampa.  Lots of porch sitting, some shopping, and game playing.....

Nitro Hornsboggled.....I think.  I am pretty sure I mess up the name every time but I'll be so sad when they run out.  It has replaced Tocaboga as my #1 CCB beer.

I finally got my Moscow Mule.  Mmmmmm.  I juiced 5 key limes, mixed with about 2 ounces of vodka, poured that over ice and filled to the top with ginger ale (that recipe made two).  Refreshing even though it wasn't the most authentic recipe.  Drinking out of copper mugs in the summer doesn't seem right anyway.

We were going to go out for brunch but since Matt and I have NEVER gone out to brunch in Tampa, and didn't know any good spots, we roughed it at home.  If you know of a good brunch spot, let me know, then try to convince Matt to get up in time for it.  I want some brunch.

Our house is going to smell of maple bacon for-ev-er.

We also hit up a pretty amazing salvage store that's been around forever and never been.  Well it was even cooler than I thought it would be.  Schiller's Architectural Design & Salvage is where it is at.

We always like to showcase our incredible hood so we brought them to Southern Wine and Brewing for some game playing and flights.  We also visited The Refinery for some fancy food.  I had fried okra and some grilled squash but the rest of the table sampled headcheese, duck hearts, beef liver, and tongue.

We really know how to have a good time.

 If this sounds good to you, sorry Charlie because their menu changes every week so by the time you get there there won't be any beef tongue left for you.  But there will probably be other crazy stuff to try so you should go anyway. 

Southern Brewing doesn't make me swoon like Cigar City but their tasting room is a LOT quieter, their beers are still good and no one minds when we play geeky games while drinking. 

You know, just some pituitary gland to satisfy your hunger.  Barf.

 

A Florida Fourth

The last dinner from this week's grocery bounty was pretty spectacular.  We had a pretty solid week of good meals.  Last night was Zucchini "noodles" with Arrabiata Chickpeas.  Super super spicy but amazing flavor.  (I used this recipe)  I didn't measure any of the spices and I ended up adding the rest of our Chili Garlic sauce instead of just chili sauce.  More garlic is better right?  

We are sharing a condo with some friends and they feasted on other stuff I don't have to dwell on.  But my meal could have fed two if Matt hadn't been woo-ed by tilapia.  Poor little fishes.

  I almost crossed of three things off of my Summer Bucket list yesterday. 

-Fireworks on the beach
-Cigar City Brewery Tour
-Lutz 5K

Sadly, I decided that spinning would be the lesser of two evils for my back (please don't tell my mom) and went to the Independence Day ride bright and early instead.  I thought about driving North and registering last minute and just take it easy for the run but I was tired after four straight days of spin. 

Granted, 11:15am is not the perfect time for beer but we suffered through it.

If you don't have closed toe shoes on for the tour of the brewery, they give you these sweet ones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mondays can be delightful.

My co worker told me last Friday she was riding an elevator up to our office and the crabbiest looking woman stepped on.  She said "It's Friday!" to try and warm her up and her response was, "Yes, but boy, do I hate Mondays." 

Goodness, please do not focus on Monday on Friday morning.  That would be the worst and put me in a bad mood too.  Monday wasn't even on my radar yet.

Super good things to remember on this perfectly okay Monday morning.

1.) Cigar City Brewery

  Friday night we went straight from picking up Matt at the airport to Cigar City Brewery.  Tampa residents are so fortunate to have this little gem in their city.


From left to right:  Chocolate Cherry Brown Ale, Hornsboggled on Nitro, Cucumber Saison, Pineapple Pale Ale

My favorites of the night were the Hornsboggled Nitro and the Pineapple Pale Ale.  So much so that I got a full pint of it.  That is rare.  I love variety.



Pinkies out.

2.)  Pineapple Pale Ale (at Cigar City Brewery).

Oh my goodness, it was so good.

3.)  Soho Cycling Gym

Another good thing about Tampa is the Soho Cycling gym.  All of their class packages were 20% off on Saturday which is such a good deal.  If I'm going to die while spinning, I want it to be a class I got for 20% off.  Perfect.  Perfectly torturous.  The teacher really wanted to kill us by spin bike.  But it was so good at the end.  You leave on some kind of adrenaline high.  That is helpful, so while you look like a sweaty mess, at least you have happiness going for you.

Liz and I on an adrenaline high.  I wouldn't go if it weren't for this girl.  I look over at her numerous times during class after hard songs to find someone to comiserate with and she is always laughing at me.  It is very motivating.

4.)  Amazing Baby Showers

I mean really, this was a baby shower that blew up every other baby shower with a nuclear weapon.

There were no weird baby shower games, and the food was incredible.  The hostesses were awesome and so creative.  They didn't just find cool stuff on Pinterest, they found the coolest stuff and actually made it look like it does on Pinterest.  That doesn't really ever happen to me.

Everyone brought a onesie that brought to mind some kind of memory with the new mom.  Then she had to guess who brought it.  My favorite was a tri-athlete who found a onesie that said "Best Swimmer" and pictured some sperm.  Another one was a woman that lived in her neighborhood who taught aerobics and found an Under Armor onesie with a little running skirt. 

Deviled eggs make me want to die a little but these were so funny.  She made her husband help out and attach the axles.  She said that in the picture that the baby was actually mind of a chisled little vienna sausage but she had to draw the line somewhere. 

Lots of champange was available for those of us that don't know what half the stuff she opened is even used for.

Some really talented ladies put this all together.  They are so fun.

I start to well up if I talk about this amazing friend.  She is the best.  And she'll be a great mom. 

5.)  The beach

We live about 30-40 minutes from the beach and NEVER go.  Color me delighted when at the last minute we decided we wanted to see the sunset with some friends and get out there.  Turns out we decided to get some drinks at a bar close to the beach and missed the sunset.    We did get to see the super moon though.  So there's that one.

Bonus Monday good thing:  beers that remind you of vacation. 

I only ever get to enjoy New Belgium beers when we go to Colorado and the only time we ever go to Colorado is when we go skiing (Snowmass actually has a New Belgium bar ON THE SLOPE--it was magical).  We picked up some while we were there last week and the taste just feels very snow bunny. 

So Mom, that's what I did this weekend and why I didn't call you back.  Love you!

An early celebration of a great Dad.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart my parents got me a case of my favorite beer which only comes in huge liter size bottles.  I happily consumed the case but it was annoying that I couldn't just have one bottle and HAD to drink the whole liter <--sacrifice, I know.  I have a special place in my heart for brown ales (and red ales, and pale ales, and IPAs, and stouts, and everything).

This is NOT a gimmicky flavored beer.  It is just a good beer.

At Gino's last night, they had these miniature, normal sized bottles which were perfect.  Where can I find these to buy Rogue??

Gino's has a pretty stellar happy hour.....all American craft beers (bottled, and they have a very extensive list and it includes some really high gravity beers if that's your thang) for $2.50 a bottle.  Since we are going to be away this weekend, we got to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad early and Gino's is his favorite place.
Happy Father's Day!

When we got home, the coconut oil fairy had stopped by our house.  Seriously, next time the coconut oil co-op orders you should get in on it.  Such a good deal for raw, cold pressed, organic, extra virgin, local (every buzz word in the foodie handbook and I made up the local part...does Tampa grow coconuts?) coconut oil.  I think my three jars were $15.   One jar of the good kind is around $8-12 at Whole Foods. 

The bonus is that burglars stay away because they think the jars are full of pee and no ones wants to rob a house that stocks mason jars full of urine.

And if you have never played Citadels, you are missing out on all the nerdy action going on.  Such a fun game.  Even more fun if you have friends that laugh at all of your jokes.  Then living is way more fun too.  And don't be fooled by the healthy sweet snacks going on.  There were lollipops fresh from Valentine's Day passed around as well. 

A meal plan and weekend fun.

Weekend goodness.....I've been a proud Floridian lately, the weather has just been too beautiful.  We sat out with our grandparents before dinner soaking up the breeze and sun in awe that June has brought anything that can be described as "cool".  Our night walks with our pup have been in the 60s which is Florida's winter weather.  Just so beautiful.  

A photo dump of all of the weekend's shenanigans....

A trip to Cigar City Brew Pub to celebrate a birthday and anniversary....and indulged in their Guava Cask Ale...Yum.

The birthday boy was gifted with the trophy from last season's Fantasy Football League.  This season I will dominate and he will never see it again.

She is secretly telling me to get my hair cut.  I know.

a too hot latte to sip while getting eaten up by mosquitoes on the porch

Meet Blue, Luke's cousin and new best friend

Non-stop playing for two days

A short chopstick tutorial at Yummy House

Chinese food for days.....so good.

No one else wanted to order every vegetable on the menu and share that with me on the lazy susan so I just got a giant plate of bok choy.  It was delicious.

Sunday evening yoga...one of the most lovely nights I've been too....the clouds were so beautiful.

Post yoga drinks and birthday celebration for a 62 year old, soon to be fluent in German friend. 



Love my German friends


Not many updates on FCA lately, the kids are ending their school year and have already had their last club meetings.  We have 32 students scholarship-ed to go to Leadership Camp this summer which I am so pumped about.  Pray they will learn to be good and effective leaders, sometimes you wonder if some "Christian" leaders have any Jesus left in them they are so corrupt.  Along these lines, we have about 20 coaches and their spouses scholarship-ed for a Coaches summit in Sarasota to better learn how to demonstrate Christ to their young athletes and encourage them in the coming year.  It is so amazing to see how God has provided this money for these kids and coaches.  Your money is not wasted! 

Because of more free time than usual I'm committing to be a better food planner. 

Lately our eating schedule has been so off kilter that it would not be shocking if I ate baby carrots and an apple for lunch (my sad sack lunch today) and whatever vegetable comes in a microwave and steam able pouch with leftover rice for dinner.  Not that that is a unhealthy lunch but I think my family is getting sick of the same thing every night.  I will make a big pot of rice for the week which will be used in 3 of the meals.

On the menu for this week....

Tacos (I use corn tortillas, lentils/almond stir fried with taco seasoning, lettuce, cilantro rice and tomato/corn salsa)

Grilled veggie plate over cilantro rice (zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, onion, and portebellos)

Cauliflower "rice" with curried red lentils

Falafel pie with salad - similar to this but I'm making my own falafel and not using a mix....

Black Bean Soup and cilantro rice in the crock pot



$45 grocery haul for the week plus three herb plants


We usually go out to dinner one night a week (recently this has been way more than that) and that saves another night for leftovers, or cereal, which is sometimes preferable.  This also prevents me from cooking what I feel like every night (Indian) and giving my husband a taste aversion to curry.  There is one curry meal on the plan this week which is a victory for our household. 

Everything on the plan (except for the black bean soup which I make in the crock pot) can be finished in about 30 minutes too which makes a big difference between hungry and hangry and I got all of the food for the week except for milk which I don't buy at the vegetable market for $45.  That includes three herb plants too which I love having around when I want to sprinkle a pound of cilantro on everything I eat.

Randomness and inappropriate google searches.

I'm so sorry Web MD for abusing your services.  And I'm sorry you know more about me than my closest friends.  I'm not sorry for cursing you when you told me the solution to my lower back pain brought on by spontaneous dancing can only be cured by surgery.  Maybe I didn't tell it I was a juicer.  And juicers are healthy people with no back problems. 

Yesterday this gem wouldn't load onto the blog but now it has so you are lucky.  My parents FOUND this awesome float on their boat.  Who needs a real jet ski when you have this little guy to balance on.  And they tried.  They tried so hard. 

Also this......my dog loves to hug.  He is the cuddliest pup I've ever seen.

Yesterday NOTHING worked.  My iphone had stopped communicating with GMail and Blogger, my office email passwords expired at some point and our service desk is in St. Louis so I couldn't call until 9:30am, our office phones weren't calling out, and our internet went out around the time some of these things were being resolved.  It was like a Monday amplified with a thousand bugs bites and back pain.  I needed an Arrested Development marathon in the worst way possible.

Last night we ended our Memorial Day weekend extravaganza, non stop partying with a game night with our small group.  They are really smart and really smart people don't title teams, Girls vs Guys.  They use chromosomes.  At least I thought they were chromosomes, hope they are.

Another amazing thing.  The most competitive guy in the world is in this picture.  And he is not holding a dog.  He is wearing a hot dog shirt.  It was hard to take his competitive spirit seriously last night with that beauty on.  Where do you find something that amazing?