Jen is Green

February Photo a Day – 2.7.12

Jen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:07:59 +0000

HMRRC Winter Series #5 – 10M

Jen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:18:24 +0000

Sunday morning I didn’t feel like running at all. I woke up later than usual and got to SUNY with a half hour to spare. When I got there I had trouble finding parking and that put me into a bad mood–I didn’t feel like running at all, let alone 10 miles. I could drop down to the 4 mile race, but after dropping down last time, I wasn’t going to. I was decently prepared for the 10 miler after running a pretty good (but slow for me) 8.5 miler last weekend. 10 Miler it was.

The thing I like about the Winter Series races is that you have to register day-of the race. I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself to run well because, if I didn’t feel like it I don’t have to run at all. But I can’t ever bring myself to not run them because if I have it my head I want to run it, I will. Running with people is a way better motivator then running the miles alone, in my opinion. AND you get food afterward.

Since I didn’t put much pressure on myself for this race, on Saturday I drank a margarita and ate Mexican. A bad idea? Maybe, but I knew I could take the race slow if I had to. I also made sure to hydrate well on Saturday night.

It was about 25 degrees at the start with no wind, and it honestly didn’t feel all that cold. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day for a race in upstate, New York!

I decided to kick my bad mood in the butt and told myself at the start that this was going to be a good race and today was going to be a good day. It immediately made me feel better and when we started I put my music on and got into the groove.

The second thing I love about the Winter Series races is that they aren’t very crowded, yet you’re still running with people. I was never running by myself during any of the races.

Miles 1-5 went by pretty quick and I was averaging at about a 9:00/mile. This is pretty fast for me!! I had to tell myself to slow down if I wanted to finish the second half strong.

The rest of the miles went by and I never felt tired. I felt FAST! The only time I stopped to walk was during the water stops, which helped immensely. The 15K mark was coming up and I checked my watch–I was going to hit the mark at 1:25 something–faster than my Stockade-athon time!!! I was elated.

I turned the corner to the finish line and booked it. My final time for 10 miles: 1:32:37, a PR by over a minute! I was not expecting to PR this race by any means but the fact that I did made me SO happy. I enjoyed the runner’s high for the rest of the day.

I think this was one of the strongest races I’ve ran to date. I never felt tired. I felt FAST! I actually kept running after the finish line for a little bit. If this was a half marathon I’m pretty sure I would have PRed. I felt great! This feeling is WHY I run.

I have to say, the 2012 race season is off to a great start!

Race Stats:
Total miles – 10.08 miles
Time – 1:32:37
Average Pace – 9:15/mile

February Photo a Day – 2.3.12

Jen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:38:01 +0000

The Tour de Egg & Cheese Sandwich

Jen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:56:33 +0000

Saturday Chris and I got up bright and early to meet Daniel B and the rest of the “tourists” at Jack’s Diner, the first stop on the Tour de Egg and Cheese Sandwich! Chris didn’t eat any sandwiches but he just came along for moral support.

Last April, Heather & I took part in one of Daniel’s famous tours, the Tour de Soft Serve, and it was amazing…so I knew I couldn’t pass up the Tour de Egg and Cheese Sandwich! (Check out Daniel’s post to see the real winner!)

Did you know that egg and cheese on a hardroll is something unique to this region? I did not–living here all my life I just thought it was the norm.

Steph and I partnered up so we wouldn’t have to eat five egg and cheddar sandwiches a piece (although sadly I probably could!)

I’m not going to dissect each and every sandwich but I will say four out of the five places we went to were great! The only one I didn’t care for was the pre-made, microwaved egg on a roll from Stewart’s.

My favorite was the sandwich from McCarroll’s in Delmar.

The Cheese and toasty bun was what made it for me–the white cheddar tasted so good and I think the egg was cooked just right..and greasy, yum! It had been a long time since I had a good, greasy egg sandwich. And it was cheap!

Its hard for me to pick a best because remaining four sandwiches (from Jack’s Diner, Famous Lunch, and Bella Napoli) were all great! I’m surprised I’m not sick of eggs after that, I had one for dinner the other night…

Of course I left Bella Napoli with a baked good, one of my favorite goodies, the black & white cookie…with a chocolate bottom…a first for me. Usually the bottom is white.

And it was amazing, of course.

I can’t wait to see the next tour that Daniel has in store!

February Photo a Day – 2.1.12

Jen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:16:55 +0000

Day 1 of The February Photo a Day Challenge!

Date Night at My Linh

Jen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:27:34 +0000

Usually Saturdays are “date days” for Chris and I. Last weekend we went to All Good Bakers for a lunch date, and then this past Saturday we went to the movies at the Spectrum (we saw The Descendents, very good!) followed by dinner.

We tossed around the idea of going next door to New World Bistro, but were turned away at 5:30 pm because they were no seats for 2 until 9:30pm. We should have known better, but just wanted to check for the heck of it.

Enter My Linh, the Vietnamese restaurant that we never think to go to, only a few steps away from the Spectrum on Delaware Avenue.

I ordered a glass of wine and Chris and I split an appetizer, the Bi Cuon Chay, which were “vegetarian summer rolls filled seasoned tofu and braised gluten, rice vermicelli noodles, lettuce, mint, cucumber, and bean sprouts. Served with vegetarian sauce.”

I couldn’t really taste the “braised gluten”, but the sauce I dipped them in was very tasty! Not sure if I would order them again.

For my meal I decided to go with the Mi Can Ram Xa, “strips of braised gluten, seasoned with lemongrass, sauteed in vegetarian sauce, accompanied by perfumed rice.”

If I didn’t know any better I would have said this looked like beef! But for those wondering, gluten is a meat substitute, sometimes called seitan.

The gluten itself was very flavorful and when mixed with the rice the dish was really tasty. But the last few bites of it were very salty, which is common in faux-meat dishes. The dish was good, but not amazing.

Chris ended up going with the entree sized Pho Bo, since he had never had Pho before! The Pho was described as “Sliced sirloin beef and rice noodles in a beef broth. Served with fresh bean sprouts, basil, lime, and jalapeno peppers.”

I thought it was really neat that they brought the uncooked sliced meat out and dropped it in broth for you and it actually cooks in the broth, pretty cool.

Overall, our experience at My Linh was good! The service was excellent. You can really tell they care about their customers here. I overheard the table next to us say they didn’t like their drinks and the server gave them the option to swap them out for something else. Pretty nice of them in my opinion!

February Photo a Day Challenge

Jen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:17 +0000

The other day I saw a sweet challenge over on another local blog that seemed like something fun to participate in!

Its going to challenge to me photograph something different every day during the month of February! I may not post a photo on the blog every day, but I will definitely be tweeting with the hashtag #Febphotoaday. I hope you will join us too!

My First CSA

Jen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:24 +0000

I’m happy to announce I officially joined my first CSA! In case you are wondering, A CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture program, is a program where local farmers deliver fresh produce straight to you! Well, sort of. You pay for a share, which is usually anywhere from 20-22 weeks, usually from June to October. A share consists of a weekly box of produce that you can either pick up at a drop-off point or get delivered to your place of work (if you are lucky!) Usually farms have a large share or small (sometimes called half) share. I opted for the small share since Chris and I will be sharing the produce!

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The farm that I picked is Otter Hook Farms, located in Greenville, New York, which is just south of Albany. They have an Albany drop off point which is awesome. I figured out the cost would be economical—if they have a good growing season and the weather cooperates—and it would equal out to be about $14 of fresh organic produce a week for two people. The exciting part is that each week the produce you get changes according to the growing season. One of the benefits of participating in a CSA is that it forces me to eat the vegetables that are in season, local and organic! You also feel good because you are helping support a local farm. It’s also going to force me to get creative in the kitchen with new vegetables and I will hopefully be learning to cook new foods in new ways.

I’m so excited! I can’t wait to share the experience here on the blog.

Have you ever participated in a Community Supported Agriculture program—if so, how was your experience?

What is Tempeh?

Jen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:17 +0000

Sunday night I made a dish out of my new cookbook (that I won over at Relishments!), How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

A lot of the recipes in here are easy and they don’t have strange ingredients that I have to search high and low for. So far I’ve made two recipes from this, the first being Wild Rice with Roasted Winter Squash. It came out amazing and lasted me a week’s worth of lunches!

Anyway, the second recipe I tried was Tempeh with Brown Rice and Spinach.

Whenever I mention tempeh, I get weird looks. What the heck is it?

Tempeh is made from slightly fermented soybeans and pressed into a patty, sort of like a veggie burger. It has an earthy flavor, unlike tofu which has no flavor, and can be used as a meat substitute in most recipes. It is also high in protein and calcium! The particular brand I bought has 22 grams of protein per serving! It is usually found in the produce section of the grocery store, next to the faux-meats and tofu.

My dish came out really tasty–almost risotto-like in consistency but instead I used brown rice and there is absolutely no dairy products in it. It is completely vegan! I also used mustard greens in place of spinach because I wanted to use mine up.

This is an awesome cookbook and I can’t wait to try out more recipes from it.

Lunch at All Good Bakers

Jen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:00:42 +0000

This past weekend Chris and I ventured out into the snow for a walk to All Good Bakers in Albany for lunch.

I had been trying to get here for lunch forever! They have weird hours right now because they are in the beginning of expanding and moving to a new location so it had been difficult to go around my schedule. Saturday was the day!

Their location is pretty awkward, right smack in the middle of the “student ghetto”, but it wasn’t a bad walk from Chris’ place…maybe 15 minutes. AND the great part was that we got 10% off our order for walking there since they are an environmentally friendly business!

Since I saw the weekend menu posted online a few days ago I had my eyes on their BBQ seitan sliders!

Also, their vegan cinnamon bun which I got to go.

(pretty great price for a huge cinnamon bun!)

Chris and I each got the sliders for lunch and we waited maybe 10-15 minutes for them to come out which wasn’t bad at all.

They came out looking so cute! A side salad of “Belgian Endive filled with shredded Carrots, Black Walnuts, and Garlic & Herb Goat Cheese; finished with a Citrus infused Balsamic Reduction” came with lunch, too. The salad was quite tasty and the goat cheese was awesome.

The sliders were what I was really excited for!

Too cute! Anyway, the bbq seitan was awesome and the tiny rolls were chewy but not too hard. I loved this meal! Its really nice to see a 100% vegetarian restaurant with emphasis on all local food in Albany, even if they only have a few items at a time.

Chris and I both really loved our lunch. It was perfect!

I’m really looking forward to seeing what this bakery has in store for the future.

Also: I had the vegan cinnamon bun after my race on Sunday and it was great! The frosting was amazing. Love.