My Kind of Weather

After what felt like a rant yesterday I think I should post some updates on the recent adventures I been on.  First we have a trip to Augusta, MO to a local apple orchard - Centennial Farms - for apple picking.  We joined some friends for the afternoon and made a day of just hanging out and enjoying the weather.

Trying to get "artsy" with my photos

Does this make me look like I have ape arms?

We took a hay ride to the apple trees where they dropped us off and away we went.  Before you went out though you had to grab a bag that ranged in size.  Stacy had plans for apple pies and fritters so we grabbed two BIG bags.  We greatly over estimated the amount of apples we needed.

Yes that says 14 lbs.

After the orchard we were hungry and thirsty so after a failed attempt at one restaurant (it was a little to stuffy for our taste) we settled on something more our speed.  Enter the Augusta Brewing Company.  It was right on the Katy Bike Trail so there was a good mix of people and it had a neat vibe to it.  Of course I don't have any photos so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was a pretty cool setup.

Fast forward to October and there was an extended weekend (celebrating our anniversary) in Las Vegas with friends and again photos are limited.  I sometimes ask myself what use is bringing a camera if I don't use it.  Thank goodness for camera phones, right?

Yes that is a steak knife down the center of the plate

Well the couple pictures I did get were from breakfast at the Hash House A Go Go.  Where they market their food as "twisted farm food".  It was spectacular.  The wait was crazy long.  So long in fact when we put our names on the wait list one of the couples we were with went and grabbed coffee from Starbucks, returned, and we all finished our coffee before we were seated with time to spare.  Yeah it was an epic wait but totally worth it.  I swear the breakfast was probably 1,500 calories by itself and worth every single one.

A couple we were with celebrated their anniversary at Mastro's

My choice for the best restaurant that we ate at is Mastro's Ocean Club.  It's located in the Crystal shopping center and WOW.  It's also where I ate the best sweet potato fries in my life along with arctic char, calamari, and the list goes on.  The live music was nice too although it was a little loud at times, but provided a good mix of classic tune-age.

Fast forward again and that brings us to yesterday and my trip to Cuivre River State Park.  Charlie had been laying around looking depressed so I thought I would seize the opportunity and great weather and take him exploring.  I also wanted to get some pictures of the fall colors.  Turns out I might have been a little late, but I think they turned out alright.

I think Charlie is a little lost

Ok well now you're caught up don't you feel better?  I'm running my first 10k in a week so I will post picks of that when I finish come hell or high water.  I know it's only 6ish miles, but my training has been non-existent so it should be interesting.

Campus Nutrition

So one thing that I struggle with and assume many others do as well is how to eat healthier on the go.  I hate feeling trapped in my food choices on campus or on the town.  Now I should mention that I'm not a nutrition snob and refuse to eat anything not organic, free range, pulled with my own two hands or what have you.  In fact a good article on this can be found here.  While I do "watch" what I eat I try not to be snobby about it.  Yes, I eat organic when possible and I limit my red meat and refined flour intake.  Yes, I go out to dinner and eat steaks, bacon cheese burgers, fries, drink beer and enjoy pizza like the next guy.  I do all this while keeping in mind portions, how often I'm partaking in said debauchery, and where I am for the week.  To me this is a responsible and sustainable approach to eating.  I mean if you're counting and weighing and passing on delicious food why are you here?  Life is meant to be enjoyed not only physically but with all your senses.  Don't short yourself by missing out on food you WANT to eat!

O.k. off my soap box and back onto topic.  Campus nutrition is tough.  When I look at the selections in the cafeteria I see pizza, burgers, chicken, salad, chips, pop, and everything else college folk eat.  I'm not 18.  I have noticed that my metabolism has slowed as I coast down the backside of my twenties.  It's really amazing actually how fast it turned for the worst.  One day I was eating anything I wanted and the next day the love handles and belly began to grow and my face started to fill out.  Crazy.  To think I've been told it's only downhill from here.  Wohoo?  I'm determined to change that trend for myself.

O.k. back on track again.  campus food is not only very limited, but expensive.  Me being the cheap guy I am (see medicine ball build) I bring my own food/snacks.  One of the things I bring are these freeze dried fruit crisps by Brothers All Natural.  They come in a couple different flavors, but I love the Fuji apple and Asian pear. 

What's nice about is these is they don't bruise!  I hate it when I go to eat a some fruit and it's been smashed, dented, bruised or whatever from being in a backpack with 30#s of books.  The second snack I take to get me through the school day is something salty.  I have a sweet with the fruit, but sometimes that's not enough OR I just want salt.  Enter my new favorite "chip" garden veggie chips.

Believe me when I say that these taste nothing like a healthy chip.  They have three flavors that I know of; sea salt (flat, ribbed chip), lightly salted (they're shaped into straws), and rosemary olive oil (Stacy's favorite).  I'm providing a link because unlike the fruit crisps just a Google search may not be enough.  Check them out here.

That's it!  Add in some water and it gets me through my day without feeling terribly hungry until I'm able to get home and eat a usually late lunch.

Till next time I'd be interested to hear ideas of what anyone else does for food/snacks on the run, at work, or during class?  Post below!

Asian Grilled Skirt Steak

I just wanted to post a recipe for an awesome healthy dinner recipe.  I found it at Health Bent and let me tell you it tastes great.  I was a bit of a skeptic when it said to use the skirt steak, but I followed the recipe to a "T" and it tasted great.  What is awesome about this recipe is that you get great taste without all the sodium from lots of soy sauce and it is gluten free.  I let it marinade in the fridge for about six hours, pulled it out and grilled it up.  It doesn't get any easier if you ask me.  Here is a picture of how mine turned out.

 

www.health-bent.com