Taking my lunch to work

It is 10 o’clock in the morning and I have eaten 90% of the lunch I brought with me. I’ve always been like that. I ate breakfast, then I got to work and ate dessert with my coffee. Then I wiped out the leftover black bean & corn salad in a mason jar. Now the only reason I haven’t heated up and finished off the sweet potato soup is because it is still frozen.

I got on a kick making all sorts of food and freezing it in the past month or so. Now I have all sorts of things to choose from. I had gotten a big package of cheap “steak” from the store and threw it in the fridge to marinate for too long awhile then popped them in the freezer. I took one out yesterday and because it marinated too long awhile, it is sort of salty. Too salty to eat straight up, so I made the most amazing tacos to date. I cooked up the meat until it was just pink in the center (this was more a happy accident than a strategy as I fail am not good at cooking meat to order), heated up corn tortillas, swiped sour cream in thon tortillas, piled on the black bean and corn salad and three strips of meat. All this was washed down with one Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat beer.

I had to restrain myself, but was only successful in the beer department. I ate all the tortillas I had left in the package.

I have ribs in the freezer and I think that’s next up although my Better Idea Department is loudly proclaiming that this is a project for the weekend.

Yesterday I finished off my favorite food: chutney. I had no more than a teaspoon left in the jar, but I got another jar as a birthday present. So naturally it was time to let go of the last vestiges of what I had so there was an appropriate excuse to open the new jar. I dug out what was there for an English muffin with PB, then I dug out the rest with my spoon. And then? You’ve probably guessed by now that I stuck my finger in the jar and licked as much as I could before throwing the jar in the dishwasher. It’s a nice jar. The woman we met at the 5k on Sunday does something with her husband and kids: they keep all the safety pins from their bibs in a glass jar. I think I may do that with this jar. The safety pins need a place to live anyway, right?

I counted up and I need 36 pins to put in my jar. That means in just one year I have done 9 events. How cool am I?

Don’t answer that.

Setting goals and reaching them

Early last week, I set a goal of running an entire 5k event without walking. Several days later, I accomplished it. I must be winning at life these days. I thought I would be mostly by myself (among hundreds of runners) at this race on Sunday morning, but I was wrong. I met up with several friends, which made things fabulous. Cindy was there to hold my jacket and take photos and be generally encouraging. She is very good at this stuff! Here I am right before the race starts. I am not sure if I am laughing or talking or what I'm doing. It looks a little like I've been hit or the wind is blowing me backwards and throwing open my jacket - oh, the excitement! It's like a docu-drama, my life.

John is a co-worker and the instigator of a lot of smack talk event registrations. He is the reason I am standing in the chilly weather on a Sunday morning when I should be at church. I set this goal for the next 12 months and within minutes, I got an email saying, "Hey, are you running in the Capital Pursuit this weekend?"

Being the cheeky competitor I am, I legged it to the registration table and threw down my double sawbuck for a chance to prove myself to...um, well, mostly just to myself. I do realize, people, that no one is keeping score but me.

Here we are at the beginning of the race. John later wrote, "I wonder if the 0800 me knew how the rest of the day me was going to feel?" And I could relate. I spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I met up with friends, made a new friend (I don't remember her name!), got to watch the children's race and cheered in the 10-mile runners. Then I walked 2 blocks and went to mass. I don't think anyone noticed, but I almost fell asleep toward the end. Twice.

In this photo, they've just announced the release of a pack of wild and hungry tigers, lions, monkeys, housecats and elephants one block behind us.

I am smiling in this photo, which was taken by Cindy, my professional photographer. Aren't these photos great? If I had taken this, I assure you it would be blurry and useless. My mom noticed that I smile a lot in these photos. Sure, I have some nervous energy but I'm also pretty happy. I never thought I would do this sort of thing. I get up early, I walk, I run, I swim. I'm unidentifiable. Just this morning, I was browsing for a programmer on Careerbuilder and I came across this bullet point (not kidding) in a resume out of Seattle. I think it sums up self, so I did the old copy & paste to share with all of you:

I learned that I have excellent personal skills.

Mind you, it doesn't say I have excellent interpersonal skills. Just personal skills. And I assure you, I make this promise to you, I really mean it when I say my personal skills rock. My skills are so personal you're probably unaware of them, so I want a t-shirt or a cake that shouts the news to the world.

Hunger is the best sauce

I ate the best hamburger of my life today.

That may be a little overstated, but this morning I walked/ran about seven miles. The ladies had put together lunch and I was so hungry it tasted like the best meal ever put before me. Couple that with eating outside, which always makes food taste better, and you have a meal fit for...well, me!

It made me think of all the times I eat mindlessly because it's time to eat or I am bored. I wonder if most of America needs to work a little harder for their food so it tastes even better and does good things for our bodies.

Did you know that late summer can be a difficult time for your local food bank/pantry? Please buy an extra can of corn to give away this month and savor your next meal!!