Tuesday, September 15, 2009

what's cookin'

As promised, I'm sharing some of the stuff I've been cooking up at home. Last week I made a big batch of broccoli beef. You can usually find this in a lot of Chinese restaurants. The nice thing about making this at home is that it really stretches your dollar. For about $10 (given that you already have the seasonings at home) you can feed an army! I scored some great rib eye and was impressed at how tender and delicious the dish turned out. I also like that my home made version is loaded with garlic and sauce, and lacks the excess oil that most restaurants load their food with. Take my word for it, it's pretty yummy and so easy to make!
I normally pair broccoli beef with plain rice. However, I had some extra brown rice that needed some TLC, so I made friend rice. I usually saute some veggies and olive oil together and then separate. For this batch, I opted for fresh (as opposed to generic frozen) mushrooms, carrots, and snow peas. From there, I saute garlic and onions with the rice and some olive oil. I try to make the rice as crisp (almost burnt) as possible. Then I fold the veggies and viola! At some point I season with soy sauce and black (or white) pepper. If feeling frisky, I'll add a touch of Maggi seasoning. I usually load my fried rice with veggies to make it lush. For example, I like to put three to four times as much fresh veggies than there is rice. That way, I get more quality volume out of my rice. Also, veggies shrink. Therefore, it's best to have more of that yummy goodness!
This weekend I visited two different sets of pals who were passing through town. My old college roomies Mary Anne and Francis (who are now married) took me out for tapas and ice cream. So good! Call me a narcissist, but I like to think that Mitchell's Ice Cream and I make a great couple. As in if we got married we'd make deliciously beautiful and unique ice cream. Ya think?! fathlete confession: I'm fascinated with Mitchell's because they import ingredients from the Philippines to make their tropical flavors. Seriously. Their stuff in amazing. Where else can you find genuine langka, ube, buko, and macapuno ice cream?! fathlete confession: I'm soooo Filipino like that! They even serve halo-halo! I bet it's yummy! I've only been there twice in my life. This is a good thing!

Warm-up
Four rounds of a light version of the WOD.

CrossFit One World WOD
Complete as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes of:
200m run
50 jump rope skips
10 box jumps (I did an 18" box for the first two rounds and then moved down to a 12" box)

Joanne's Final Count - 5 + 200 meter run

Notes (to myself) about this workout: This was a really bad WOD for me. In fact, it was a really bad day. I'm under a lot of pressure and I think it ended up manifesting itself in the WOD. It's no secret that box jumps are my achilles heel. In fact, I ended a previous WOD in tears because of it. Today was no different. My only saving grace was that tears and sweat look exactly the same.

In round three I had an anxiety attack of sorts. I had to stop the jump rope and move over to figure out my breathing. I don't know what happened exactly. It felt like my body couldn't decide if it wanted to finish or cry. So I started sucking air. I then realized that I couldn't breathe through my nose. It was all mouth and my chest locked up. After a short break. I continued. It sucked. I felt defeated.

Today just wasn't my day.

To make myself feel better, I'm going to post a video of Janet Jackson's performance at the VMA's. Talk all the shit you want. I LOVE Janet!

6 comments:

diana.grace said...

I would just like you to know that looking at your food posts makes my mouth water! I wish I had smell-o-vision too. =P

And I didn't get to see the VMAs. Daaang I love Janet too! I feel as if she really did care about her brother...as opposed to other members of her family (*cough* Joe Jackson *cough*).

Marvin said...

Just want to say that I enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work! You are truly an inspiration.

j-ro said...

Diana - I think we're due for some longanisa fried rice. Don't you think?! I agree some members of the Jackson family (*cough* Joe Jackson *cough*) just need to shut it!

Marvin - Thank you so much! Are you Jerry's roomie? If so, y'all want in on the longaniza fried rice too? ha ha!

Ellen said...

I hope you are doing well and busy working on something exciting these days! (I miss your posts though.) I'm definitely going to be in San Francisco for a conference between November 19 and 21st. I am not sure how far it is to Crossfit Oneworld though. Are there other crossfits in San Francisco that you recommend, or should I do my best to get to your awesome box?

j-ro said...

Hi Ellen,

It's great to hear from you. I've been out of commission because a friend is in town and I'm trying to catch up on some work. I'll be back in the box tomorrow.

Congrats on your pull-ups. Wa-hoo! One would think I could finally nail one. But no. Bleh. It'll happen. Really. It will.

You're only in town for three days? Or will you be in town for longer than that? If you're in SF, you may want to check out Lalanne Fitness. They're located near the Montgomery Street Bart station, kind of near the SF MOMA. If you have a car, you may want to visit San Francisco CrossFit. They're located in the Presidio and that part of the city is just plain pretty.

If you want to visit One World and you have time, you can take the Bart (our version of the subway) to Union City and I can pick you up and drive you over. We'd love to have you!

Also, let me know if you'd like to meet! I'd be more than happy to bart over to the city and see you. Let me know what works!

Hope you're well!

Ellen said...

Oh I'm glad you are doing well. :)

I feel strongest attempting pull-ups before the workout with a big swing. Trying like 5 attempts a day before the workout really helped. I definitely noticed my self getting an inch higher from week to week. You can do it!

Pull-ups and pushups were my two big goals. I was getting terrible bruises and scrapes from pushups on my knees, so pushups were a must. But pull-ups are just so cool! I still can't do double-unders, snatch and a whole bunch of things.

I actually have not bought my plane tickets yet and this is my first trip to San Francisco, so I will probably try to stay a few extra days. I think the days of the conference, maybe I'll try out Lalanne Fitness. Thanks for those suggestions!

As for visiting One World, let's stay in touch so you can tell me your schedule. My email's ellenamanda at gmail dot com. I think I'll have time on the 18th, 19th, 21st, or 22nd. It would be really fun to meet for crossfit or in the city!