A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, reads, and gratuitous puppy pictures. This week I made two new recipes and one returning favorite with some hits, runs, and errors.
Eats
The first new recipe that I made was Veggiekins miso glazed tofu meatballs (see here for her Youtube video).
My changes:
- I used regular white button mushrooms instead of the fancy mushrooms that the recipe calls for.
- I don't have Sake so I replaced it with rice vinegar.
- The mixture was too dry and crumbly to form into "balls" so I added a tablespoon of oil in an attempt to make it sticky.
My review:
- Good: holy yum. If you're at all into tofu I think you need to drop everything and make this.
- Bad: I was able to get the mixture to adhere well enough to form "meatballs" but they crumbled as soon as I handled them and completely fell apart once I mixed them in the miso glaze. But no harm no foul because as I already said this was delicious.
The repeat recipe that I made was Recipe Rebel's creamy Italian sausage pasta. The previous time that I made it I skipped the roasted red peppers since I didn't have them. It was excellent without them, but iI had a hankering to go back and revisit this with the missing ingredient. I was also thinking that while this dish is good at all times of the year that it's especially festive for Christmas with the red and the green.
The final recipe that I made was a total impulse move. I'm baking goodies for our big family Christmas party, but it's only for 12 people so I don't need to go all out.
However when Budget Bytes came out with eggnog cookies yesterday, I couldn't get to the kitchen fast enough. The intriguing thing about this recipe is that there is no eggnog - it's just a sugar cookie with nutmeg and rum flavoring.
My review:
- OMG if you are at all into eggnog you too need to drop everything and make these - for something that has no eggnog it captures the essence of eggnog.
- But what the what with the cookie to frosting ratio? The pictures on the Budget Bytes site show thick swathes of frosting. I made a half batch of cookies and a half batch of frosting and immediately made the other half batch of frosting because I could see it was no where near enough. As it was I was only able to pipe frosting on about half of the cookies and had to settle for a thin smear on the rest.
That's enough food talk for now!
Workouts
You know how I'm all "I don't run anymore, I just put in half an hour of some kind of cardio five days a week and call it good?" Well, that's true but after reading San and Sarah's first time marathon recaps plus a spell of good weather this week I found myself outside and pounding the pavement with run walks. The second day that I went out I was tired, so I just did a pattern of two minutes run/one minute walk and found myself leaning in to taking it slow and being nice and relaxed. Look I've been all over the map with running and the slow easy effort doesn't always work but it sure did this week.
Plus I got paid! I found a big phat quarter on the street just waiting for some lucky runner to come along and snap it up. Cha-ching!
The cold came back this weekend so I moved it inside on the treadmill, but the forecast is showing warm weather mid week so I'll see about taking my show back out on the road then.
Watching
Just Seinfeld, still in season 3. Here's our weekly "Doggo watching us watch Seinfeld" picture.
Reading
On the audio book side, I'm still chugging away at Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins. This is one crazy book - and by "crazy" I mean that if you're into Crazy Stuff that Navy Seals Turned Ultra Runners Do, then you would probably enjoy this book. I'm digging it.
On the non-audio book side, I have a love, a hate, and a promising start.
- Love: I finished The Girls from Corona Del Mar by Rufi Thorpe. I have to confess that in my reading I'm more about the journey and not so much about the destination - aka I have a tendency to run out of steam towards the end of a book. This book was the exception to the rule and the ending had me sitting up straight and turning the pages. I'm going to be thinking about this one for quite a while. The only negative is that I didn't bond with either of the girls as much as I did with the main character in Margo's Got Money Troubles (same author).
- Hate: If you know anything about me at all you surely know that I like food. So you would think that Piglet by Lottie Hazell would be a natural for me. It's about a foodie with a complicated relationship with food who learns two weeks before her wedding that her finance has Done Something Bad. This book fell into the uncanny valley of not being bad enough to DNF but also not worth my time to read - so I skimmed it so see what happened. Honestly it wasn't worth my time to skim, but hindsight is 20/20. It was a trifecta of food talk done wrong, characters that I didn't care about, and a situation that I didn't care about. Oh well.
- Promising start: Victim by Andrew Boryga. This one got raves from Sarah's Bookshelves podcast and from the first chapter I've bonded with the main character. As far as what it's about, let me tell you next week! I've heard a plot summary but it was a while ago and I want to read and find out for myself instead of googling it.
What about the gratuitous puppy pix that you promised in the intro?
Right here! We got a decent snowfall this weekend, and I grabbed the good camera and snapped away while my girl played in the snow.
Snow snoot:
Snow zoomies:
When you're 25% Husky it's NBD to flop down on your belly in the snow to chew a stick:
If your toes get cold it's fine because touching the ground is optional:
That's all for now! But I have questions!
- For my plant based friends, have you ever made tofu "meatballs"? What would you add to the recipe to act as a binder and get the balls to stick together?
- Eggnog - yay or nay?
- What's the most money you've ever found, running or not running? I've found $20 - twice! Once while running and once while not running. I'm still happy with my haul of a quarter this week.
WE READ TWO OF THE SAME BOOKS! I loved Girls From Corona Del Mar as you know and I read Piglet this weekend. I also did not care about the characters BUT I did think it was outstanding from a literary point of view. Cringey to read though. I was actually sweating a bit in a few parts, thinking "no no no don't say that." Also, would have really liked the betrayal to have been revealed but it was a clever literary choice.
ReplyDeleteWe eat tofu a couple times a week but I've never made "meatballs." Maybe I'll try it! I'm a hard no on anything eggnog-adjacent so the cookies won't be for me - but I haaaate when there's not enough frosting! Frosting is the important part!
A WHOLE QUARTER, AND I'LL GIVE AUDREY A QUARTER TOO
Same as you - I would have liked to know the deets on the betrayal, but I also agree with the choice not to dish the dirt.. It was the concept that mattered.
DeleteI loved Girls from CDM. I read it when it was a new release and I think it made my best books of the year list! Then I kind of forgot about that author until her recent release so now I am working on her backlist. I had been on the fence about Piglet but now I am convinced it's not worth reading. I hope you like Victim! I really liked it but despised the main character!
ReplyDeleteI have made lentil-based "meat"balls in the past and we really liked them but they are not very sturdy since they don't have a binding ingredient like flour or cracker crumbs or something like that. I should make them again and see if I can trick my children into eating them. They have olives in the recipe which we love. It's from the "Peas and Thank You" cookbook which was quite popular about 10 years ago as the author had a popular blog that has since shut down.
I love the dog pictures! Dogs and kids are so similar about snow. Our children have loved running in the snow, rolling around in it, etc. They love to tramp through piles of snow which makes me a little eye rolly at times because then they complain about being cold and I'm like - gee, I wonder why??
Having had both dogs and kids in my life - the difference is that dogs do everything that you say, and kids can use the bathroom without your involvement. Otherwise they're exactly the same!
DeleteWhen it's done right, I loooove a despicable main character! I have high hopes for Victim!
Merry Christmas!
I’ve made bean balls, but never tofu meatballs. Hmm…sounds interesting. And I always admire your ingenuity in the kitchen. I am admittedly not the best recipe substitutor. Those cookies look delish, though! My husband is very into eggnog. I can take it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shoutout to my marathon post. I am glad I can inspire people to move, running or whatever they want to do. Playing with the dog counts, too, and yours is adorable! She’s growing up quick!
I also admire your ability to DNF books. I always tell myself to finish, but is it really worth my time? For the completor part of me, yes, for time's sake, no!
Enjoy your holiday week, and merry Christmas!
Your marathon was amazing! I just can't say enough how smart you were about planning every detail and being able to push through when things got tough.
DeleteMerry Christmas!
Those doggo pics are fabulous, Birchie! Well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd yay for getting paid while out on a run! I once found CHF 10.- (=USD 11). Swiss bank notes are quite colourful and this one was bright yellow like an autumn leaf (and it was autumn). Another time I found EUR 10 in a public toilet. And yes, of course I picked it up from the floor! 🤣
I'm with you - I would have scooped up the toilet $ in a heartbeat! I'm all about money for nothing!
DeleteLove the Doggo pictures. What's not to love about the snow when you're young and mobile...and don't really get cold feet!
ReplyDeleteThat sausage pasta looks amazing and I love how it ended up being accidentally festive.
I've never found much of consequence, but my husband frequently seems to spot money. The best was a $50 bill he found peeking out of the snow one day walking home to our first apartment after getting married!
$50 is a record for found money so far! And to find it when you guys were young and just starting out - cha ching!
DeleteMerry Christmas!
Yay for puppy pictures! I love the one of Doggo watching you watch Seinfeld! I often find coins when I'm out and about. I wish I'd find bills!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you - I'd prefer to find bills, but since it's rare I'll settle for coins!
DeleteYou guys got a lot of snow! I love the Doggo pics! Your meatballs remind me of the times I have tried to make veggie burgers out of various things and have had various measures of success. Beans are a little more sticky but when it is grains (or other veggies) it doesn't always stick together. I have made many a veggie burger scramble in my time due to failure to patty.
ReplyDeleteI found a 20 Euro note when I was hiking in Slovenia and was over the moon! I think the most I have ever found was like $100 (?) in a parking lot in Florida. I have some friend who found some thousands in cash and actually turned it in to the police, but if nobody claims it, the police actually will give it back to the person who found it, so they ended up getting it in the end! How's that for karma?
I've never tried tofu. But - eggnog talk is timely, because just last night Mini helped herself to a cup of nog. Tank side-eyed her, questioning whether she'd waste his precious stash. She swore that she liked it, took one sip and was like, Oh Yeah, NO! Glad I only took a tiny bit. This is gross. Ha. Tank is happy to have one less fan, and is still grumpy that Reg likes it, because even when you are 22 sharing is hard. I'm not a huge fan of eggnog. It's fine, but I'll skip it so the people who love it can have their fill.
ReplyDeleteMini meant to go to the library to get a book for break, and she was bummed when Tank told her the library is closed today. But I'm thinking maybe she can visit our local used book store and pick up something? Maybe Margo's Got Money Troubles, or the Girls from CDM. I've not read either and she likes to share. :)
I've not found money while running, but our elderly neighbor ran for years - was more of a fast run by the time we met him. He was such a sweet and wonderful neighbor. He measure how far he ran and they had a party when he calculated that his distance measured around the world. This was back before there were gadgets for measuring these things, but I think he knew how long his route was, etc. Anyway, he also tallied how much money he found on his runs over the many years and I can't remember now but I think it was near $1,000? Mostly coins.
I'm loving how Doogo makes snow look like a whole lot of fun. Have a Merry Christmas.