My flights have been booked! I really can't wait to go and booking my flights just made my trip to the USA come even closer. Of course I was kind of late in realising it would be convenient to have a debit card (for hotel reservations, car rental, etc) so I filled out an application form and I guess I will have to wait a little while longer before I can book a car and hotels. Although for some of those you don't need a creditcard or you can pay right away, I'll find out soon enough.
My dad's colleague lent me 2 really good travel books about the USA; Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways, and Guide to the State Parks of the United States, both by National Geographic. They already caused me to change the route I'd planned a little.
I've also started looking for places to eat, places to work out (CrossFit gyms!) and I'm 100% sure I'm going to enjoy myself over there. Plus, there are some great hiking and sightseeing opportunities along the road, especially in the National Parks and State Parks.
For dinner was this eggplant and sausage mash. Yum!
My favourite kind of fish is plaice. I simply adore it.. But I hardly ever eat it anymore because it's rather expensive. This weekend however, my parents brought me a huge load of beef and chicken, and.. a package of plaice!! Thanks mom and dad :-D
They also got me a large assortment of tea (herbal tea and green tea) with all flavours I love. They really spoiled me once again!
So of course I had to prepare my plaice today. I like it best when it's pan-grilled and by using some simple spices. So I just heated some coconut oil in my pan, grilled the fillets until browned on both sides and then spiced them with some fish spices.
Along with this creamy spiced cabbage, they made a really good lunch!
That's me! Running my 5k yesterday.
I really enjoyed it, and I'm more than happy with the result! I came in 25th overall (15th in my category) and clocked 20:50!! I wanted to stay under 21 minutes and I did it, I'm so happy about it.
Someone told me I was faster than 99,5% of all participants, and someone else had calculated that I had 24 in front of me, and 4667 behind me. Comments like these make me feel even better :)
So I'm 100% back into the running spirit now and I'm planning to participate in some more races soon. Although I think I can thank most of my result to the crossfit I've been doing which has majorly increased the strength in my legs, core and arms. (and yes, you do use all of those when running)
After the race, I went out to dinner with my parents at our favourite Indian restaurant and had some amazing dishes! I enjoyed the onion bhaji (onion fritters made with chickpea batter and tamarind sauce), seekh kabab bhuna (spiced ground lamb rolls in tomato vegetable sauce) and sag bhaji (very tasty spinach, I don't know what they put in it, but it was very good!).
I had also made a banana cream pie for us to enjoy, so yummy! It's free of so many allergens, you can hardly believe it! Just to sum it up, it's: dairy free, gluten free, grain free, paleo, sugar free, soy free, fruit-sweetened, egg free and nut free. And it tastes absolutely great!
Simplicity is key when it comes to this pie. I actually forgot to take pictures when I was serving it, but I did take some while preparing. I hope that's good enough..
Apparently, blogger has been deleting some of my posts which are now marked as 'concept' posts. So I'm posting them once again..
Here's the recipe for Chicken stuffed pumpkin!
Since I really like roast chicken, I figured I might as well try roasting some drumsticks. The meat is usually really tender and not dry at all, and it takes only 35 minutes to roast them, instead of 90 minutes for a whole chicken. Prefect when you're already a little hungry when you just got home from work and still need to start cooking.
While my drumsticks were roasting, I prepared some cauliflower rice and all together it made a tasty meal.
My first time eating vindaloo was at an Indian restaurant, and I picked it because the sign next to it said 'very, very hot'. I was about 14 years old at that time and thought I'd be able to handle that. The waiter asked me if I was sure about my choice and I told him I was. After all, my dad also took the vindaloo so I could do that too..
About 4 people from the restaurant staff ended up wacthing how I was eating my vindaloo, they were probably sure it was way too hot for me, a pale Dutch girl. Well, it was extremely hot, and my eyes got all teary, but I ate it and loved the taste! That was the day I discovered my love for Indian food.
So when I saw some Vindaloo curry paste at the Asian supermarket a few weeks back, I bought it without hesitation and decided to use it yesterday. I used a 1/4 cup of the curry paste, but it wasn't that hot at all. It was spicy, but not nearly as much as green curry. Next time I might add a red hot chili pepper or 2..
Just a quick warning; if your curry paste is spicy or when you add chili peppers, do NOT eat it prior to a workout. You'll regret it..
This Sunday I'm going out to dinner at my favourite Indian restaurant again (after my race) and I might just try their vindaloo ;-)
I'm not sure if my cravings will ever go away.. Every single time I eat Paleo for over a week, HUGE cravings come over me and it's so hard to get past those..
Anyhow, this morning I made myself a good paleo breakfast, consisting of a beef burger, some cucumber and turnip fritters.
Last time I had turnips, I combined them with parsnips and turned them into fritters as well. But I found out turnips make great fritters on their own as well, so here's the recipe for you all to enjoy.
I also made a very, very tasty pie, but I'll post that recipe later, so make sure to check back tomorrow.
Tomorrow also is my race day.. 5k and I'm already nervous.. Hopefully it'll all go well.
Just a quick post today.. Yesterday I've been busy planning my trip to the USA almost all afternoon and evening and it's not going as I want it to. I have way too many things I want to see, and too little time to do so. What a shame..
So now I've been thinking what places I should let go for now and what I want to see most of all. (which is pretty much everything I planned, but that's not going to work) I didn't even sleep that well because of it!
Anyway, I went for a run this morning (I woke up early..) which went just great and made me realise I've still got plenty of time to figure all of this out.
Maybe I should skip Colorado? I really don't want to though..
Anyway, I made some olive and basil tapenade this weekend. My first attempt on something like this. For serving, I chopped up a large tomato and a yellow pepper, but a generous amount (approx. 2 tbsp) of tapenade on top and mixed well. Along with some grilled salmon, it made a nice dinner.
