two firsts!

Happy beautiful summer day!!  I just went for a beautiful 2 mile walk around my condo complex while listening to the latest episode of the Strange Brews Podcast (I'm fan #130!) & now I'm taking a chill break on the couch with all my windows open, a mug of coffee (shut up, I drink coffee in hundred degree weather, today is nothing) & two incredibly snuggly kitties for a quick break before a Whole Foods run.

Shoutout to Reebok - I LOVE these new leggings!!

This morning I went to my very first ever Pound Fit class!  Ever since I heard about it I've been stoked to try it. I spent my formative years in marching band, jazz band, small group ensembles, etc. - playing every form of percussion instrument that existed. How could I NOT love a class that incorporated drum sticks into a loud, high-energy/intensity workout??  So when I heard that the fabulous Nancy G was going to be teaching Pound classes at Ken Jackson's, I signed up immediately.

The class was full of new people (like me), so we were warned that it was going to be a slower pace than usual - we filled out the 45 minute class two songs short of what Nancy told us would eventually constitute a "full" class - but it was still a fantastic workout. I hadn't read quite as much into the workout history, so I wasn't aware that it was so pilates-based and didn't realize how much core and lower body work would be involved - the songs that have you sitting on the mat doing a thousand torturous variations on the yoga boat pose were KILLERS, and I can feel all the squatting & lunging in the hip flexors/glutes/quads already.  I can't wait to take the class again & get it up to speed - I burned about 400 calories in the 45 minute class, but we took lots of breaks so that Nancy could explain poses, make sure we all knew what we were doing & that we all had correct form, so I think you could easily hit 600+ later on down the road.  I'm always looking for a core/strength type class that ups the energy and has a nice cardio element to it - call me a cheater, but I just get so bored doing traditional pilates.  Plus, DRUMMING!!

Not nearly as pretty as all the ones on google.......

My other first was something I've been hearing about EVERYWHERE for the past couple months, but living in the Midwest we just don't see them anywhere - acai bowls!!  The more I keep seeing pictures of these delicious creations, the more I've been craving them, so I took matters into my own hands.  I'll admit, I've never taste acai OR pitaya (the two - from what I can tell - most common bases to a smoothie bowl), so I really had no idea what to expect.  I did a little research and ended up snagging a couple packs of Sambazon original smoothie packs, hitting up the internet for topping tips (most especially this blog post over at The Fitnessista) and ended up blending mine with a banana & some almond milk, then topping with banana, blueberries, almonds, a little bit of granola, some goji berries and a drizzle of peanut butter & honey.  I accidentally added too much almond milk so my first bowl was a liiiiiiittle bit soupy, but it was so so so good that I forgave myself.  I can't wait to try a million different toppings - I was so leery about adding peanut butter for some reason, but there are few things in the world I love more than nut butters, so I talked myself into believing it would be good and damn, was it ever.  I feel a new late night post-gym obsession coming on......

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What's something new you've tried lately, & what inspired you to take the plunge?

hot date on the detroit river

In my favorite place, showing off my other favorite place; whats a Canadian/American girl to do?

Skye & I and the most obnoxious tech shirts
I have ever seen.

I did the best thing ever this weekend, which was a 5k for a super amazing cause that I wholeheartedly support with NONE of the mega-stress that usually surrounds a race for me (that impending doom leading up to the moment that it starts, then abates for the first two minutes of feeling good, and then picks back up and spirals into the WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF despair that keeps me company for the rest of the race as I feel like my body is being broken down into a thousand miserable little non-runner pieces).  Why? Because my non-athlete friend Skye was in town from Ohio to support the cause with me, so as part of the deal to get her up here I agreed to walk it with her.  HA!  Take that, running!  (I admit though, I felt super guilty watching people pass me knowing I could pace them or even finish before them, had I been trying - and also kind of disappointed that I didn't truly run it because the course was BEAUTIFUL.)

The race we ran was Mickey's Run up in Windsor, sponsored by the Windsor Spitfires hockey team. The Spits are near and dear to my heart, and even more so is former captain Mickey Renaud, in whose honor the race is held to benefit the Windsor Spitfires Foundation.  I wasn't able to run the inaugural race last year because it was the same weekend I had another 5k planned, so I was extra excited to run this year.

Part of the track we ran - the whole thing was this beautiful & I want to go back and run this course for real some day.

The beautiful finisher medals we got.

After the race, we headed down to take a nice walk by the Riverfront before coming back to Detroit, & then decided that it was such a beautiful day that we should take advantage of it by staying outside, so I drove us over to Belle Isle to spend a few hours!  I can't remember the last time I was on the island, but it was definitely a perfect decision. I've been wanting to go to the aquarium ever since it reopened.  I wasn't disappointed - it's AMAZING to see it in working condition again - and even more cool is the fact that it's still undergoing renovations, but instead of trying to hide it, the aquarium almost flaunts this fact, filling open display tanks with local artwork, advertisements for local interests and signs for coming attractions.  Hallways under construction are only haphazardly blocked off, so visitors can see the work being done, and the employees are more than happy to tell you what they're working on renovating next. Such an amazing display of what makes Detroit so special.  We also spent some time walking through the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and dipping our feet in the river before heading back home.

Riverwalk selfie!

Belle Isle Aquarium.

The beautiful koi pond out back of the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory made me long to be back in Asia. I could sit out there all day just basking in how peaceful it was. Unfortunately there was a wedding photo shoot going on when we were there, so this is as close as we could get :(

Enjoying the beautiful Detroit River.

Of course I couldn't leave without some spoils from the LCBO..........

Amazing Michigan history including a full spread on the Edmund Fitzgerald (which, as I pointed out about forty times as we walked through, is also an awesome beer).

We could have probably stay there all day to be quite honest - but we ended up leaving around the middle of the afternoon to meet up with some friends, grill some delicious venison burgers topped with blue cheese & horseradish sauce & marathon as many episodes of Orange is the New Black we could before passing out (which was way early....being out in the sun all day is exhausting!). 

Most delicious lettuce wrap I've had in a while....

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you feel guilty when you don't put your all into a workout, for whatever reason? Do you find yourself spending the rest of the day trying to compensate for it?

communing with nature.......or something

I have a new obsession, and it's long walks through beautiful scenery. I try (as I've said before) to run, but I just can't find a way to truly enjoy it in a way that makes me want to do it for fun (aka not a race). But now that the Michigan chill has FINALLY broken, I want to spend every second outside forever.  

Tuesdays I usually go to an absolutely phenomenal hot vin yoga class, but this week the sun was shining, it was beautiful, and stuck in a dark, hot room at my gym for an hour was just not what I was feeling, so I headed out to Stony Creek for a nature walk instead!

This is the first year I've bought a park pass, so I'm determined to make the most of it and go as often as I can. I had heard they had gorgeous walking trails so I sought them out and intended to walk the 2.5 mile Habitat Trail, but when I finished I wasn't satisfied...so I tried to hop on the 1.5 mile Landscape trail, but apparently I'm not very good at signs because I ended up doubling back on myself twice and walking almost 5 miles...oh well; at least I made a nice dent in my huge backlogged list of podcasts. 

I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out that this was my first opportunity to try out my new BondiBand headband! A really fantastic store called GearBox Rx opened up in downtown Rochester Hills recently, selling CrossFit gear of all kinds, from shoes to apparel to hear & equipment, to my favorite part - a huge, huge selection of Paleo snacks from all over the internet. No longer do you have to submit to $8 shopping charges on one jar of almond butter or bottle of wing sauce, and no longer do you have to order a months supply of treats at once (at least if you live here). Plus the guys who run it are super knowledgable, personable, and assure me I will always be able to get my fix of Rickaroons from them (they also carry Steve's Paleo Goods, Nikki's Coconut Butter, PaleoTreats, Meenut Butter, Nohmad cookies/chocolates... Basically go there right now because everything delicious is literally at your fingertips. ANYWAY the BondiBand is AWESOME - kept the hair and sweat out of my eyes without getting irritable or itchy or hot (and as I am temporarily growing my hair out, this is the most important thing in the whole world, because I am decidedly NOT use to hair on my neck). New favorite!

Afterward I was feeling so summery that I stopped and picked up some fresh cut flowers for my condo - amazingly it's been 2 days and the cats have only eaten one or two flowers...... (This is why we can't have nice things.)

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you have spring/summer fever, too? How are you adjusting your workouts?

double brew day

The best thing about brew days is that you literally get to spend them sitting outside sampling brews, smelling delicious malt, and eating tasty appetizery food all day while your wort boils away - and then when the hard work is over, there's always an epic dinner (and, if you're me, a cheesecake!) to be enjoyed.

Memorial Day weekend because of the long weekend holiday we decided to go extra ham in the brewing process and make two batches in one day! That meant (after a nice early morning 3 mile walk to counter the effects of all that beer), setting up and starting the burner up around 11 am so we could literally brew alllllll day.

We started off with a simpler extract brew, but a recipe I created from scratch, for an oatmeal stout (I went really light on the oats, though) brewed with some farm-fresh buckwheat honey that a coworker provided me with. This was kind of my "scraps" beer, since I had some leftover LME & hops from precious brews that I wanted to use up - but it will also be the first brew I try priming with honey instead of corn sugar. It smelled sooooooo good!!

The new set up - check out that fancy ass Dark Star burner hanging on the wall above my healthy collection of sample brews ;)

Our brew mates started to arrive around the time this batch was finishing, so after a healthy dose of snacks (yucca chips with guacamole & a metric ton of shelled peanuts for this girl), we got everything not the carboy & set up for the main even: an all-grain Pliny the Elder double IPA clone. 

Let me tell you how fun it was to lift up those 14 lbs of
soggy 2-row malt + 1,000,000,000 lbs of water.

Almost immediately we realized we had a problem - we just splurged on a shiny new Dark Star burner and a gigantic 18" brew kettle, but we haven't build our sparge system yet so were still doing BIAB - and no paint strainer bag is big enough to fit around the lip of an 18" pot!! We ended up having to construct a metal "table" for the bag to sit on at the bottom of the pan so it the grain wouldn't burn. Not the most technical approach, but it got the job done!

Not gonna lie...this one smelled sooooooo good and fresh and hoppy. There are so many hop additions that the wort actually looked green at some points!!!

While it was boiling away, we dug up the last bottle of an old brew a friend of ours made nearly 4 years ago - it was a phenomenal double IPA at the time, but woooooow was it ever strong now. There's a reason those aren't meant to be aged (or, as it's brewer says, hoarded)!! We also sampled Atwater's Maibock, Blue Moon's Pine in the Neck, Lagunitas Undercover IPA, Rogue Ales Yellow Snow, and our very own PCP - a chocolate porter with cocoa nibs that was my very first all from scratch recipe (and it came out better than I expected!)

Post-brew dinner was a BBQ rib feast with corn, potato salad, fruit salad and most importantly PRETZEL JELLO(!!!!!) - but we were so hungry I never bothered to snap a picture.

Both beers started fermenting super fast (probably due to the honey in the stout and the high alcohol content in the Pliny clone) - by the next morning the stout's airlock was already clicking away so loudly I could hear it from across my living room...

My new babes, settling into their temporary home.

The Pliny is just days away from being transferred to secondary and its first schedule dry hop now - can't wait to see the gravity on this baby ;)