Santa Cruz 5K: March 3, 2019

A few months back, I was looking for something to kick my motivation back into gear so I signed up for a local 5K race. I didn't really get in all of the training that I needed, but it did force me to get in more running than I've done in quite some time.

My run time was slow, but it felt good to get back out at an event. My mother in law, on the other hand, kicked butt at the race and came in third in her age group!! She smoked me by more than five minutes, and it was fun to have someone to race with.

I'm hoping that our upcoming summer vacation will help to be my new motivation for working out. Bathing suit season is always a reason to get myself into the gym, so hopefully I can keep up the routine.

Chicken Pad Thai Round 1

We had a recipe on deck for Pad Thai, which we'd already made a few notes on. From the last time we made it, we were looking to make a version that was less sweet and more spicy. It helped that we were able to find all of the right ingredients this time around, instead of trying to substitute. On top of that, we added a lot more Cayenne Pepper and it did come out with quite a good kick!

Next time around, we need to put in less bean sprouts. The recipe calls for 3 full cups of it, and we just don't think we need that much. To add a little more crunch to the dish, we also think it would be good to chop up some fresh peppers.

It also goes without saying that I need to use a bigger pan next time.  hahaha  It was a bit of a mess in the medium size skillet.

February Parmesan Risotto

It had been quite a while since we made risotto, and I was interested in seeing if we had picked up any good tips from all the cooking shows we watch. The biggest tip I was sure would help was making sure the broth was warmed before we started cooking with it. And I'm not sure if that was the only thing that helped, but this latest version turned out pretty good.

 

We think that we might use a little less white wine next time, and sub some if it with fresh lemon juice. Despite adding the wine at the beginning of the cooking process, it still didn't cook all the way out. We also want to add a little more Parmesan to the final stir to make it a little more flavorful.

I do attribute a huge amount of the result to the local, fresh cheese that we found. We bought two blocks of it, so we'll also use it in the next round of Carbonara. Big game changer to have amazing ingredients to cook with!