Category Archives: farmers market

Of Markets and Anniversaries

The weather was fairly well a flop this weekend, but we had a good time regardless.  The only clear time was Saturday morning, so John and I snuck out on the bikes to hit the farmer’s market.

The market is small, but actually bigger than it was.  I don’t know why they don’t let in more vendors because there is a waiting list.

John bought some apples and maple syrup.

I bought some jam for my  mom and some rhubarb!

We then went over to the library.

I found my 28-day shapeover book (one of the monthly goals).

We were hungry at this point and decided to have a lunch close to home in case it started raining.  We decided on Cafe on the Park.

This came under new ownership in January and I am not sure the food is quite as good as it was.  I got my usual omelet, but the toast we really anemic.  Have you ever seen toast that small?

The omelet was good, though, and you can’t beat the price.

Then it was just rainy for the rest of the day.

The rain continued into Sunday, which was picnic day at my parent’s house.  It was a combo anniversary/birthday picnic.  My parents celebrated their 45th anniversary on Saturday and my father’s birthday is on Wednesday.

I tried my hand at writing on the cake:

Not too bad.

Note – I did not do the balloons.

I am jealous of my parents’ backyard:

However, with the rain, the food table was set up inside:

Burgers, hot dogs, my  mother’s famous german potato salad.

Tasty:

I managed to do a complete face plant into the trail mix of mixed nuts, M&Ms and craisins.  I got too full with all of that.

We played some cards:

and made my dad sit through singing.

Note the pained smile 😈

I was full, but I somehow managed to eat some cake *and* more trail mix.  I think it is the M&Ms.  They have some kind of power.

We have a week of rain on tap.  A week!  That means I dragged this inside tonight:

I have a Futurama cued up to watch after this post.  I don’t think I could peddle enough miles to burn off half of the M&Ms I ate. 😳

Question:  Do you like M&Ms?

Last day of lifting for 2010.

I thought about running this morning, but when I got up I just didn’t feel like it, so I lifted instead. Still out of day order on the lifting, but it’s all good!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Split Squats 3 set of 10 at 65# Lower body
Bent over dumbbell row 3 sets of 8 with 25# DBs (50# total) Back
Barbell Bench Press 3 sets of 10 at 60# Chest
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Core
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 140# Calves
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 Triceps
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 at 55# Low back and hammies
YTWL 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs Shoulders

Just kind of a light workout today to end up the year.  I have gained some good strength back this year.  Yippee!  I came home to make some custard style cream of wheat!

I am really liking the Teddy peanut butter, although I hate having to measure it out. I think it really is less expensive to buy peanut butter and make the other nut butters myself. Think I will put making cashew butter on the agenda for this weekend.

The sun actually came out today :b  That does wonders for the mood.  It even feels pretty warm at 33 degrees.  That is above the wincing level outside 😀

Work was slow in the morning, and there was a special farmer’s market today since the market won’t be open Saturday:

It has moved inside for the winter, so I decided to pop on over.  I saw brussels on stalks!

I would have gotten one, but I don’t think I could eat the whole stalk before it went bad.  So I just got a few loose ones, plus some parsnips and jerusalem artichoke!  That is going to be a GVE next week.  I haven’t done one of those in forever.

I took a work break for lunch.  Egg wrap.  You know there is hot sauce in there.

I really do like the Joseph’s pitas.  Actually much better than flatout wraps, too!  They are nice and soft and if you toast them, they get crispy instead of chewy.

I noticed today that Shape.com had put my article online in a story about 25 days of inspiration.  I am day 16!  Diane is also in this group.  If only I could parlay all of this press into some extra money, I would be all set LOL!  Hey, a girl has to be a capitalist sometimes…

Snack attack!

I am doing good with this little bag of truffles.  I have had 2 pieces out of this bag since Christmas, so it should last a while provided I don’t sleep eat.  Moderation is something I can do if I put my mind to it.

Had to take this picture of Pixie sleeping today.  If only I could bottle the cuteness that she exudes.

Sleeping in my lap while I was working.  It’s nice having a personal warming unit for cold weather, too.

Cooked up said brussels for dinner along with some ground pork (BBQ style).

I am going to have to start rationing my cinnamon.  We purchase it in 1-pound bags and we are almost out (the horror!!).  I eat probably 2 tsp a day.  Between that and hot sauce, I am not prissy with my condiments.

I have about another half hour of work tonight, then it’s J and L time at the coffee shop!  A pseudo-date 😀

Question:  Do farmer’s markets go year round near you?

Silks And Satin 5K recap and to market

We were up early for the race today.  This race benefits the Special Olympics New York and is one of the bigger races we do.  It was also my very first 5K 2 years ago, so it is a little sentimental.

Had pre run fuel of banana oats topped with cashew butter and jam.  Plus coffee.

Then we hit the road – too early!

Pre race face:

Lots of people milling around at the registration line.

There were 700 preregistrants (including me) and a huge line for race day registrants (including John). I would estimate around 1000 people or so.

The race corrals stop at a 10 minute mile, so we line up in the 8-9 minute mile because people always start further up that really should be farther back.  This race was no exception.  It took about 45 seconds to cross the start line, which gets added to your time unfortunately.  There was a large clog at the beginning and when they called out time at 1 mile they said 11:50. I was surprised at that time because I know that I was running a much faster pace than that.  I felt pretty good, although it was really, really humid out.  Yesterday was cool, but today is upper 80s and humid, as in swimmingly so.

I was passing quite a few people, as expected.  It wastes a lot of energy to weave around people. Maybe I should start farther up, even though I am no where near a 7 minute mile.  Right before mile 2, there was a sound system going and it was playing the theme to Rocky.  How awesome!  I got a big smile and matched the pace.  It gave me a good boost of energy.

Mile 2 and time called out was 22:15.  Much faster pace, so I knew there was some fudge up with where they start the clock.  Right then, a bunch of people passed me.  I think when they hit the 2-mile mark, they pushed it, but then I passed them again a little later.

During mile 3, I had my pace music on the 6.5 mph pace for 5 minutes.  I was drenched in sweat at this time and kind of wanting the race over at this point.  1/2 mile from the finish and I got a bit of a stitch in my side, but I just pressed on and crossed the line at a about 32:50.  So, I don’t know what to think about that time, but it doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that I finished! Woo Hoo!

It’s also opening day for the Saratoga Race Track, and we were parked by the warm up track.  See how foggy humid it is?  This is post race and about 8:45 a.m.  or so.

Horses are such beautiful creatures.

I didn’t have any post race snack, as we wanted an awesome bagel in Saratoga, but we did grab our swag bags and then went to the farmers market first.

Post race face.  Little more awake here! I did mop off my face before taking this.  Even my forearms and shoulders were sweating, so you know it was humid.

Such lovely produce.

We got some of these tiny plums.  They look like cherries, don’t they?

They are very sweet and delicious!

I also picked up some hot peppers and patty pan squash.

Then it was time for Uncommon Grounds!  I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with honey nut cream cheese.

View from Mount Bagel.

Yum.  Best bagels around.

Can you believe all of this done by 10 am ??

Here was the swag bag from the race:

Plus a t-shirt.  I am going to keep a few of the cookies and ship the rest off with John at his poker night, as the guys will eat those.

The drink is a cranberry/pomegranate one, but sweetened with Splenda.  Booo….  John will get both bottles (we got identical bags!)

Trest of the day was spent mowing the lawn (too hot, good thing it is small), some weeding (too hot), porch sitting (too hot),

snacking because I didn’t want a sit down meal:

Plums!

I ate each time I got hungry.

Watched the tour.  39 seconds Contador won by…..hmmmm…. that’s all I’m sayin’.

Afternoon hunger assuaging.

We are headed out for dinner now.  I want an omelet and we don’t have any eggs in the house!  Need that breakfast for dinner.  Have a super evening!

45-mile ride and carb loading!

Thank you all for the nice comments on my hair.  It’s going to take some getting used to again.  A year ago my hair was about this length.  It grew a lot!

I had a nice carby breakfast to get ready for the bike ride today.  Banana custard oats topped with some of that fresh made peanut butter and some jam.

Yum!  Plus a couple cups of cafe au lait.  I am going to do a nut butter primer this week some time.  Just gotta find the time to put it together.

I made up some protein snacks for the ride.  These are a mix of dates, cashews, unsweetened coconut, coconut oil and brown rice protein powder.  Formed into balls.

These are flipping good!  They are just begging to be dipped in chocolate, too.  I love these!  I’ll have to figure out an exact recipe for them and post.  They are calorie dense, but good for fueling.

We were debating on where to ride today.  This was going to be my first long ride (more than 20 miles) since I hurt my back.  It was pretty windy today, but we decided to head down to Saratoga.  I was a little bit nervous because of how hilly it is.  We took this same route a few days before I hurt my back  about 6 weeks ago.  I told John that I was worried I would be holding him back, and he said that we were a team.  I almost cried at that.  We did pretty well.  It was quite windy, and a headwind to boot.  Perfect temperature, though!

( I love John’s legs. 😳  )Snack time!

Those date balls.  So good.  The bike route going this way is part of the main road, so it is just a wide shoulder.  We got to Saratoga and stopped at the farmer’s market.  I wish the Glens Falls market was like this one.  It’s quite large and lots of fun stuff!

I would have gotten some greek yogurt if we weren’t riding!  These are alien and scary:

Celeriac.  I should try this sometime, but I don’t like celery that much, and that is what it is supposed to taste like.

We did buy some cheese, though.  Had samples of it.  This was sooooo good!

Spendy, so I only got a 1/4 pound.  I think eating it with some crusty bread will happen at some point this week.

We were pretty hungry for lunch at this point, so we stopped off to Uncommon Grounds to have one of their fabulous bagels!

Banana nut bagel with honey walnut cream cheese.  Now *this* is a bagel.  Worth every carby bite.  We then spent some time in town, and John got a new wheel put on his bike.  We ended up riding a few miles around there and stopped to get more carbs for the ride home.  This is a german chocolate cake cupcake:

We split this cupcake and lookie what was in the middle!

Scrumptious!  And very rich.  Good thing we split it.  Although truth be told, I definitely probably could have eaten the whole thing myself.

Then we headed home.  Still pretty windy.  I was doing quite well until we hit mile 35.  We had just made a turn and there was a steep hill.  I just knew I wasn’t going to make it to the top without walking some without all my former strength, and my speed dropped too much to make it all the way up.  This time I did cry.  I got to the top where John was waiting and I just was so frustrated about this stupid injury that I started to cry.  John said it’s okay because I am still recovering, but I just said, “but I don’t want to be anymore!”  Sometimes the emotional part of this injury really gets to me.  I know it will take time, but it just takes a toll on the psyche.

Anyway, we rested a little bit so I could compose myself and we continued on.  I knew that the hill to home would not be happening, so we took a different route around.  It added a few miles to the trip, but I was so pleased we took it.  It’s much flatter and this was where my clip shoes shined (shone?).  I felt so efficient and got my second wind.  Yay!  I could have kept going after we got  back.  I found my quads didn’t burn much, which I attribute to the clip shoes.  And I was wearing my new padded bike shorts.  My butt never hurt before riding, and it certainly didn’t hurt at all with the shorts.  Cool.

Arrived home:

Total distance:  45.6 miles (Longest ride of the year to date!!)

Average speed:  12.3 going, 13.2 coming home.  Pretty good with wind and hills.

Time:  3 hours 30 minutes

Top speed: 27.8 mph (Hills and kinda scary!)

Calories burned:  1380  (per odometer, I say 1200).

Assessment:  I feel really good.  My back is a squidge achy, as well as my knee, but it doesn’t feel injured, if that makes sense.  It only gets better from here.  Who needs running?? :mrgreen:

I was pretty hungry for dinner, and wanted a good protein hit.

3.5 oz of chicken with 1 oz of feta cheese and some toasted almonds.  Mixed with BBQ sauce.  The standard salad.  I wolfed this down and my body wanted a few more carbs, so I had a small dish of rice.

Now I am munching on an Attune bar.  I feel like a bottomless pit right now.  I’ll probably have some cereal later to make sure I have eaten enough today.

Hope you all had a super Saturday!

Question:  Do you shop at farmer’s markets?

Another 5K

Today I did a virtual 5K – where a bunch of us (100) all ran a 5K on our own this weekend. My sister joined me – and here we are in the final couple of laps around the track:

DH had walked down to the bakery down the street and had cranberry orange scones fresh from the oven waiting for us! All I could think about was scones for the last 3/4 mile LOL! The jog burned off all of those calories. HRM says I burn 400 calories jogging for 51 minutes (3.23 miles). The time was a bit longer than usual, since my sister was with me and she has only done a 5K once before – so went a bit slower. It was fun having someone to jog with, I have to say. I could actually talk – which was surprising.
Other than the scone, food was pretty good today. We made a good dinner that was a lower fat version of a chili cheese dog.
One Smart Ones veggie link (the big kind), 1/4 cup of Hormel chili with no beans, wheat hot dog bun and a sprinkle of reduced fat cheddar on top. It was super filling, and only about 250 calories for the whole thing! I would never eat a chili cheese dog in ‘real life’, but I would have this version again!

In our efforts to not eat corporate meat, we got some new products at the grocery store. (We were going to get local meat at the farmer’s market today – but by the time I finished the run, it was too late to get there). So, we got the Smart dogs, and a new veggie burger. I was disappointed that the local stores seem to have stopped carrying my Boca Flame grilled patty that I love. I don’t know why. 2 different stores stopped carrying them. Also – some TVP, I don’t know why, though LOL!

Interesting tidbit: We went to fireworks last night, and there were food vendors there. I did not have anything. DH walked over to see what they had, came back empty handed. He said he stood there, looked around and it seemed to him that 90% of the people were overweight standing in long lines for greasy food.

C/P/F ratio:
53/24/23

Farmer's Market

Gosh I love this time of year when the Farmer’s market is open! I don’t know why it feels so healthy and refreshing to walk around the market, even when there are all those baked goods for sale! LOL!

Someone there is now selling Greek yogurt. Yum! My favorite. Not low fat, but I only eat 1/2 cup at a time, and fat is okay 🙂

Got some apples, fresh rhubarb, greek yogurt and farm fresh eggs. Great deal on eggs, too – since there are at least 4 vendors selling eggs – they keep their prices competitive.

Today I did C25K Week 7 Day 2. Another 25 minute jog. I am now trying to increase the distance I jog in that time. On Thursday I did 1.5 miles. Today I did 1.5 miles and got in an extra 1/8 mile before the time was up. Yay! I really, really think I can do this. Take that highschool jerks who made fun of me when I ran!! Haha!