On the Wish List...

Went for my first run after the Yonge Street 10K on Sunday...

My shins felt like they were in pretty good shape but I did make sure to stretch thoroughly afterwards....

The run was rewarded with leftover black bean salsa salad (I didn't make it) from my good friend's birthday dinner the night before (with some whole wheat pita on the side). Oh and some fresh cut oranges. Wish I had the recipe for the salsa...it was so darn good!

For dinner, I got to treat myself to yet another visit to Fresh...

Thai peanut sauce with marinated tofu cubes, tomato, cilantro, cucumber, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts and some herbs and spices. 

This time I decided on what I use to always get...the Buddha Bowl. So filling. So tasty. So good. Next time around though, I might leave out the cilantro (not a very big fan) and perhaps less chopped peanuts....

Now, putting the yummy foods aside...

So you all probably know that I've been tracking my runs with my Nike+ app on my iPhone. It's a great app (though it's not always completely accurate..but hey, I'm not a pro runner so the .1 km difference doesn't reallyyyyyy matter to me that much) and I love the Nike+ platform online since I can see ALL of my runs, my best times and laps, calories burned, etc.  But ...it sucks because I have to carry the darn phone around ALL the time and it eats up my data when I use the GPS function. 

So naturally...I've been looking for alternatives and I think this one is pretty high on my wish list right now. 

Nike+ Sportwatch GPS

Any thoughts?? :)

Rest week?

It's been a busy week at work this week so I didn't really get the chance to whip up any new dishes for dinner...or worse yet, bake! :(

On Sunday, we decided to order in some sushi from Queen Sushi while watching Game 6 of the Canucks vs. LA Kings game. Yes yes...we all know how that went. And yes yes, it was devastating. :( Atleast the sushi part was good...

Sashimi Queen Street - Tuna, Salmon, Snapper, and Surf Clam

Ichiban Maki Set - Spicy Tuna Rolls, Shrimp Tempura Roll, and Taboo Roll (eel, egg, and avocado)

Crab and Salmon Roll

I've been taking it easy with running after my 10K run on Sunday. My shins weren't feeling that great after the run so I decided to take a couple of days off. My exercises in the last couple of days went a little something like this:

Monday: 50 minutes on the elliptical (at L6 resistance with the occasional 2m stretches of L10)

Tuesday: Hot yoga - 75 mins

Wednesday: Hot yoga - 75 mins

Thursday: 62 minutes (that's went the elliptical automatically made me stop...) on the elliptical, with the same resistance patterns as Monday

I have been having a lot of wraps from Freshii this week ...

My usual egg white whole wheat wrap with Freshii mix, chickpeas, and black beans with spicy peanut sauce and croutons. :)

Dinners this week pretty much consisted of what I had left in the pantry and fridge ...

Chinese-styled scrambled eggs with tomatoes, steamed broccoli, broiled lentils and frozen peas, and pan-fried tofu marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and a tiny bit of sugar.



Today, I decided to give running a try again...Quick 5k run on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the elliptical. 

My shins were feeling okay but my legs were feeling pretty tight overall :( Hopefully it will get better with more yoga & stretches!

Toronto Yonge Street 10K

Hi everyone! Just completed my first 10K run of the year! The weather was really ... un-April like today (3 degrees and windy...booooo). But thank goodness it didn't rain!


But before I get into the deets of the run, I've got pictures of food first! :)

Friday's dinner consisted of a random assortment of whatever was left in my fridge. Microwaved some frozen peas. Seasoned firm tofu and tomato with scrambled eggs (from previous posts). Baked some sweet potatoes and asparagus. Seasoned with salt. 

On Saturday, I decided to try baking some chocolate chip cookies. Tried to find a recipe with less butter. Recipe was adapted from Weight Watchers. 

• 4 tbsp salted butter, softened
• 4 tsp of vegetable oil (I used canola)
• 3/4 cup of raw brown sugar
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large egg white
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 3/8 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a bowl, mix together the softened butter, oil, and brown sugar. Then add in the vanilla extract with the salt and egg whites. Then in a separate bowl, mix together the flour with baking soda. Then gradually mix the flour into the original bowl and stir into the batter. Add in the chocolate chips last. 

On a baking tray with parchment paper, drop in the dough (about a tablespoon into the hand, then roll into a ball, then flatten). Bake until golden around the edges (took me about 10 minutes). 

These turned out to be more like biscottis than cookies...I don't really know what I did wrong for it to end up like that. They were still oddly...pretty good! If you like soft cookies, these probably won't be for you...

For dinner on Sat, I finally decided to visit my good friend Michelle, who was serving up at Duff's Famous Wings at Bayview. Upsetting for some, I did NOT have any of the wings. I know, I know, I'm weird. But hey, they had a good vegetarian option and I did say that I would try to go for that if the option was open to me :) 

The appetizer. Shrimp in deep fried batter, covered heavily in yummy barbeque sauce. 

My Veggie Burger with a house salad as side. Balsamic vinaigrette dress on the side. 

Thanks for a lovely time Mich! 

And then finally...RACE DAY TODAY (and oh yeah, it's also Earth Day!) 

Pre-run breakfast. Steel cut oats with pineapples and cantaloupes. And of course, the much needed coffee :)

I was actually feeling pretty iffy for the race today, not only because the weather sucked, but also because I've been suffering from minor shin splints in the last week or so. I laid off running in the last week because of this and opted to go for more yoga (and lots and lots and lots of stretching!). I was surprised that I didn't actually feel that much pain during the run and did better than I thought I would! 

Huge turnout for the race! Everyone getting ready to go at Yonge and Castlefield. Yes, it was that cold :(

The race started at Yonge and Castlefield...and goes down Yonge until Richmond. Then west on Richmond until Peter, then south on Peter till Front. West on Front until Bathurst. And then...finishing up at Bathurst and Fort York! (Confused yet? haha) 

I think I averaged approximately a 5:08 (per km) pace throughout the race...atleast according to my Nike+ app. My official time was 52 minutes and 39 seconds.

It was freezing :(

Met up at the finish line. Congrats on finishing with your awesome times guys!

Everyone's a winner! :) Until next year!!

Well that's it for now folks. Hope everyone's enjoying the last bits of their weekend! 

Garlicky Ginger Salmon

I decided to try a new recipe for salmon this past weekend. I was getting bored of the usual herb-rubbed pan fried salmon (super easy and quick...) or the honey dijon mustard salmon. And so that's when Google came in handy and I found something new to try...Garlic Ginger Salmon!

• 2 salmon pieces
• 1.5 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 cloves grated/minced garlic
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp tabasco sauce 
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of water [looking back, I would have cut this down to only 1/8 cup]
• 2 tbsp basil leaves
• Salt to taste

First rub the salt over the salmon and set aside. Mix together all the ingredients (no salt) into a bowl for the sauce.

Add a tbsp of oil to a non-stick pan and pan fry the salmon (without the sauce) on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes per side. 

In the last few minutes of cooking, pour in the sauce into the pan. Cook for a minute and drizzle the sauce over the salmon.  The sauce is suppose to thicken...but clearly, mine did not :(  Cook for another 3 minutes or so and voila, that's it!

I also decided to grill some zucchini & sweet potatoes (splashed in some olive oil, salt, and pepper) and steamed some broccoli & carrots. 

    

And...the final product, served over steamed brown rice! :)

Baking Adventures

After a short week last week, boy was I ever excited for the weekend to start yesterday. Can we say TGIF?

Greek Oikos Blueberry Yoghurt with Kashi Go Lean Cereal, followed by more fresh blueberries. 

Lunch was followed by Freshii Whole Wheat Wrap again. Freshii salad mix, edamame, cucumbers, sliced egg, black beans, chick peas, croutons, and half serving of spicy peanut sauce. 

Went for what was going to be a quick run after work but it ended up being a bit further than anticipated. I was watching the season premiere of Mad Men during my run and I guess a good show is just what I need to keep me going.

For dinner, I fixed up a random assortment of such..

Sauteed spinach with garlic, Chinese style scrambled eggs with tomato, boiled lentils, and pan fried firm tofu that was marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, a bit of sugar, and rice vinegar. 

Saturday breakfast (or actually brunch) was pancakes again though I added a twist this time: in addition to the blueberries, there were chocolate chips! Andrei definitely appreciated that :)

I had decided to bake up something old and something new this week. I made my usual banana loaf muffin, except this time, into little cupcakes. More convenient for  on the go!

Then I decided to try some meringue cookies. So easy to make and the best part is that there's no flour or butter! 

Simple Pecan Meringue Cookies

• 3 egg whites 
• 1/2 cup sugar (I would use less - the batch turned out sweeter than I had hoped)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup of crushed pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 250F. Beat the egg whites in a dry bowl with an electric mixer until it's foamy. Then slowly fold in the sugar (while beating) one tablespoon at a time. Beat for another 2-3 minutes. At the end, sprinkle in the pecans and mix for another minute or so. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes. Let it cool down for another half an hour before serving! 

Get set, ready, go!

Hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend!

I started off Friday morning with something that I haven't made in a long time...blueberry pancakes! I tried to find a healthier mix alternative and this was the best that Longos had to offer:

All I needed to add to the mix was 1 tbsp of oil and 2/3 cup of skim milk. I also opted to add in some frozen blueberries...though they kind of look like chocolate chips in this pic 

I didn't want to run the day before the actual 8K run on Friday so I decided to just do 45 minutes on the elliptical and lifted some weights (10 lb-ers). 

Dinner was at one my all time favorite vegetarian restaurant - Fresh on Richmond and Spadina. 

Shared the Quinoa Onion Rings with garlic mayo. 

My vegetarian Thai Burger - vegan burger patty on whole wheat bun with thai peanut sauce. Kale salad on the side. 

Andrei's Beach Bowl sans tofu steaks with goat cheese instead

Before you know it, it was race day! 

The weather was absolutely beautiful for the run on Saturday. A little nippy at first in the morning but it was great by the time we got to the run at 9:30am. 

I felt pretty energized when the race began (fueled up with a bowl of steel cut oats and a Vega endurance gel pack) and was pretty stoked to begin the run. I didn't really take any breaks this run like I thought I would...though I did stop for a couple of breaths twice. I felt good for the majority of the race until the very end..which was about 200m of straight up-hill. What a way to make people finish the race! I was in quite a lot of pain when I finally crossed the finish line ... but it was worth it!

The calibration on my Nike+ is a little off but the time is pretty accurate. 

I know, I looked like a 10 year old running the race. But anyways! My official chip time was 45 mins and 36 seconds. I was pretty happy with the time...my original goal was to finish under 47 mins so I did it! Hopefully I'll be able to do it under 45 mins next year :) 

Also scored some freebies at the run :):)

Post-run dinner was a special treat - Ethiopian food! It was definitely a new experience for me...not only because of the cuisine itself but we had to eat with our hands! The restaurant, Sheba Restaurant, was near Kensington market. 

My vegetarian veggie platter - small servings of lentils, sweet potatoes, collards, cabbage, and some other beans that I could not figure out...all served with Inerja - Ethiopian bread made from teff and barley that's cooked like a pancake! 

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! But most importantly, yay to me being able to eat chocolate again !! :)