Food Truck Stop

Posted on September 4, 2014 by chatty

We’ve got some brisk food-truck business going on in downtown Bellevue. I’ve been frequenting the Paleo truck (Tuesdays) for a while now. Although, lately they have not been serving my favorite, fried plantains. Months ago some friends and I checked out the Skillet Street Food truck (Thursdays), though it’s pretty heavy for lunch, if you get what they are known for, burgers with fancy bacon jams, and not be health-conscious and order a kale salad like some people I dined with.

But there’s another food truck we just had to try. It’s been around for a while and my work spouse, EC, is very familiar with it as her Louisiana-born husband requires a certain level of soul food in his diet or risk self-destruction.

When work colleague Sam found out that the Where Ya At, Matt truck made a stop in downtown Bellevue (Wednesdays) he couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. Not kidding. But I can’t blame him, and he did get us all to check it out, and it was most definitely definitely worth it. Especially because the boss-lady shared her beignets with us and OMG BEST BEIGNETS EVER.

I don’t think I’ve had one of these since I was in New Orleans … over a decade ago

Here is the oyster po’boy I got. It was crusty french bread and fried goodness and I ate the whole thing. I also ended up taking my other co-workers jambalaya home because he left it in my fridge and seriously, you’re going to leave it in my fridge? In my defense, he wasn’t feeling well and I waited a full day and then bought him his fancy SBUX drink later on so we’re even.

On a side note, the week after our group outing to visit Matt, Sam mentioned not very casually at all that it was Wednesday, which meant Matt was back. I had to put my foot down. I can’t do this all the time. I’m already over my limit, but I told him we’d do it again soon. There is too much on that menu that needs to be tasted

I’m lucky to work somewhere like this, with people like these.

Grill King

Posted on September 3, 2014 by chatty

The crown goes to the husband. Evidence: This grilled corn-on-the-cob. We used to soak then foil wrap then grill. Nope. The correct way to do it, the way they must do it at those state fairs, is to peel and grill with the husks open. So good. A kid favorite.

I missed this, all those years we didn’t have a grill. Sigh.

Turkey Veggie Muffins

Posted on September 2, 2014 by chatty

Sometimes it takes forever to get around to doing something and when you finally get around to doing it, and it’s pretty successful you wonder, why the heck did I wait so long? Having a kid, for example. Who knew it’d be so awesome? And, in this case, turkey muffins.

Paleo peeps rave about this idea. It’s quick! It’s on-the-go! It’s blah-blah-blah. I told the husband this was my plan and he kind of gave that “um, okay” noncommital answer. Just in case I bought him a little container of chicken salad. Turns out he didn’t need it.

First of all, it IS easy to make. Cuisinart some veggies (in this case, red pepper, onion, zucchinni). Season the heck out of some turkey (Worcestershire, salt/pepper, TJ’s Everyday Seasoning, onion powder). Add some panko breadcrumbs. Combine it all and scoop into a muffin pan. Spoon barbecue or teriyaki sauce on top.

450 degrees + 20 minutes = 180 internal temp on a meat thermometer = DONE.

I based the recipe on this AllRecipes one. Keeper. You can paleo-ize it by skipping the breadcrumbs and replacing with something paleo-friendly (I dunno, maybe almond flour or an egg? I’m trying to shift my focus away from Paleo for a bit so why don’t you try it out and tell me how it goes)

Served with ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes from our garden and some sauteed green beans.

Some good healthy eats after a month of not-so-much.

Like that time I (finally) went to Kingfish

Posted on September 1, 2014 by chatty

When I first moved to Seattle (which, incidentally, was Labor Day Weekend 1997), my first apartment (once I was done sleeping on my brother’s couch) was in North Capital Hill, around 23rd & Aloha. I shared this apartment with Minnea, and I vaguely recall talking about this restaurant called The Kingfish Cafe, which was some popular soul food restaurant that was just amazing. At the time, it was also always crowded, and, you know, for a recent college grad, kind of pricey. So, yeah. Never got around to going.

Fast-forward 16 years and look at that, I finally made it out there. The packed crowds are a thing of the past (at least on the day we were there, which was on the early side, because that’s how I roll), but the creole food remains, now surrounded by a ton of new stores and condos. So it goes. Here’s some Kingfish Cafe goodness.

Welcome to Kingfish Cafe.

Frog legs. Taste like chicken.

Gumbo

Slice of crazy chocolate mint cake that was bigger than my head. The mint was the frosting. It was good, but seriously, too much. Even for me, a devoted lover of all things sweet.

Finally.

WODs of August 2014

Posted on August 31, 2014 by chatty

This is going to be abbreviated, as I was out of town for a week, and two other weeks I only went twice because of poor sleep issues (for those of you not in the know, I am a regular attendee of the 5:30 a.m. class. Every once in a while I find myself unable to sleep and end up cancelling my spot at 2 in the morning to try to snag some extra Zs), and once I forgot to take a pic. Actually, that one I remember. It was a 4:30PM class the day after returning from our vacation, and the coach erased the board for the day before I could snap a pic. But, it was EMOM even minutes 10 Burpees, odd minutes 6 Front Squats, for 12 minutes. Good times. And so were these …

This was yesterday’s (end of the month, end of the week). A very sweaty workout. Pull-ups were terrible, maybe because I did the burpees before the row, and that wiped my back strength out? All around a hard and long workout.

A lot of front squats this month. Not a fan of this particular squat.

I am a nervous nelly when it comes to those lateral jump overs. Ideally one can whip them out, do them quickly. I can’t string more than two or three together like that.

Lot of writing on this wall. Hm. Doubleunders I’m sure slowed me down for this. I was a full 2 and a half minutes slower than the other guy, it seems.

I remember this one in that the kettlebell swings clicked for me. My coach, Jess, gave me some cue that changed the way I was doing them, for the better. It’s all about the momentum.

I remember doing this one, especially the skill work (balance) …but it’s not memorable.

A lot of running. Good deal.

There was one more I remember doing this month … We basically did 6x400m, where the goal was to rest for the same amount of time it took to run the lap. What I remember about that one was the consistency I was able to maintain over the 6 reps: The first 4 were all around 2 minutes and the last 2 were like 2:06 or something. More running. Good, since I’ve only been getting out to run maybe once a week, in prep for my upcoming 10K. First race of the year. Yeah!

Grillin’ like a villain

Posted on August 3, 2014 by chatty

We were eating dinner on our deck one night and the husband said, “We need a new grill”.

“Yeah, we do,” I replied. Tried to play it casual, but inside I was like “YEAH, BABY!”

You see, while I like to post pictures of food and stuff that I bake and cook, it’s the husband that does the majority of the cooking in the household. And I’ve been dying to buy him a new grill as a birthday or father’s day gift, but I didn’t want it to come across as, “hey, here’s your new toy now go make me a steak”. It would be like the husband giving the wife a vacuum cleaner as a gift (let’s assume the wife was expecting something else).

Anyway. The husband got this sweet grill and has been having a blast playing with it. I want to take more photos of the foods he’s cooking up, but I tend to dig in and not care much about taking photos. Here are a couple where I wasted precious eating time …

1) Barbecued Chicken. Still tweaking the process, but the end result was the best-tasting chicken I’ve had in ages. Chicken is chicken. We eat it often because it is relativley inexpensive, easy to prepare, and the kid likes it. But then you make it this way and you WANT to eat the skin because it’s so darn crispy delicious. And just, yeah.

Oh yeah. He also tried grilling these vegetables, too.

2) Pork chop. Ripping the meat off the bone kind of thing. The kiddo asked to have a piece with a bone, so we shared this and split half of another chop that was more like a loin? or a rib? As the husband explained the one not pictured, was similar to a rib-eye steak (only it’s pork, of course). Whatever it was, it was amazing.

Sweet grill marks!

A new grill. Like a gift that keeps on giving.

(the above pic was taken by my assistant, Kiddo).

Chocolate summer

Posted on August 2, 2014 by chatty

I melted about 3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and here’s what happened…

It all started because we had a few very ripe bananas waiting around for us. This is rare occurence in the chattycha household as the family tends to eat all the bananas before they get super-duper ripe. Lately the husband has been buying more bananas, and maybe it was the heat that was ripening them quicker. Anyway. We had this one large banana that was on the verge of mad ripeness when I saved it for a Frozen Banana Pop recipe I read in a PCC Newsletter.

Super easy. I combined the chips with about a teaspoon of coconut oil in a makeshift double-boiler. Under low but boiling watter/heat, I stirred the chocolate until completely melted. Then we spooned the melted chocolate onto two Banana Pops (peeled the banana, cut it in half, used our reusable frozen popsicle holders and carefully stuck them through the banana). On the kiddos not pictured, we sprinkled some starry sprinkled on the chocolate. On mine I used up some leftover coconut and almond slices. Laid them on wax paper on a tray and left in the freezer until the next day. A deliciously refreshing result.

The thing is, we still had quite a bit of melted chocolate to go after making 2 banana pops (we only had one ripe banana, so making more banana pops was not an option). Thanks to some quick thinking, I did these other two treats:

1) Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. Lined a few mini-muffin tins with mini-muffin paper cups. Poured enough chocolate on the bottom of hte cups to line them. Took a teaspoon or less of almond butter and added into each cup. Covered the tops as best as I could with more chocolate. Refrdigerate for at least 30 minutes. I probably made about six of these.

2) The messiest s’more. The best-iest s’more. This one needs very little explanation. Marshmallows get roasted using the broiler. Graham crackers get drenched in melted chocolate. Everything gets smooshed together. Chattycha gets excited because after running around with a pan of melted chocolate for 15 minutes like a madwoman, she can finally sit down and have sweet treat.

A really messy s’more

I need to make a point of keeping chocolate chips in the house!

Hello there, puddin’

Posted on August 2, 2014 by chatty

I saw we had about a cup of leftover coffee from the morning pot, couldn’t help myself. Reviewed PaleOMG’s easy recipe (the one I was too lazy to look up the first time) and made myself a tasty treat.

I find a spoonful or two before CrossFit in the morning is a nice change from the banana bite I usually do.

It looks super unappetizing. But I was eating it early morning, when the eyes aren’t so good

I didn’t use the full amount of honey. The nut butter gives it some additional pudding-like texture. And with this, my bag of chia seeds is nearly empty.

WODs of July 2014

Posted on August 1, 2014 by chatty

It’s been a while since I last posted. Busy and fun and hot summer. I’ve got some tasty food posts lined up in the queue, but let’s get down to business first …

This was the last wod of the month, and suited my strengths, Burpees and erging. I don’t necessarily like these activities,i can just keep a good pace for both of them.

Earlier this week. I was in the “SSC” class, where we use telephone poles to measure distances and I was positive we were running to the 5th pole, not the 4th. But, if everyone is running to the 5th, what are you going to do, not do the same? Slow workout for me.

Karen is bad enough, but then she has to go and bring her mean friend Double Unders to (literally) whip my butt. I didn’t even meet the other one. As it turns out, though, I did Karen in the same amount of time as I did it without her friends waiting around for me.

I felt this one for days after, especially in the tush. Reverse lunges will always do it to me. Also, I messed up the counting so had to guesstimate the math at the end.

What’s missing in this photo is the 7 minute rest in between rounds (3 rounds). The goal is to maintain the highest intensity for all rounds, and strive to kee the same time throughout. I knew Round 1 was going to be faster as I didn’t pace myself well in the first 250m erg piece. Rounds 2 and 3 are more like it.

Slow and steady.

Toes to Bar have become a pain in the butt. Technically, a pain in the back. So I’ve stopped doing them. Knees to elbow (or, it’s hated alternative, V-Ups) are just fine by me. With T2B AND DUs, this was not a favorite.

We did this last summer. I can’t read my notes to see how I compare, though. Press and Push Press are among my favorite lifts, though.

Pretty sure I ran the first part and erged the second one. I was too tired to get my butt out the door, so I sat down at the erg instead.

My goal is always to stay at or under 4:00 for a 1,000-meter row. If you have the option of erging first or second (which we have to do due to lack of rowers for everyone) … choose the latter.

I like the ladders. I haven’t done much bench press since starting CrossFit (vs. the gym, where I did it all the time). It’s a nice change of pace. I miss it.

Sweet treats from ‘The Paleo Kitchen’

Posted on July 1, 2014 by chatty

I’ve mentioned before I enjoy the food blog PaleOMG. Juli, the blogger, is young, down-to-earth, often hilarious and sometimes a bit neurotic. She seems to pretty much have her s*it together at the ripe old age of 26, having been through the types of food issues that so many women have, and being willing to share her story. It took me most of my life to realize this in myself, and I’m still struggling. Also, her recipes are good, with her Almost-5-Ingredient-Pizza-Pie being among my favorites.

Anyway, she co-wrote a cookbook, The Paleo Kitchen, with fellow blogger Civilized Caveman, who I’ve read, but I enjoy less.

So, they have this cookbook. AND they were coming to Seattle in support of said cookbook. To not just any bookstore, but the independent bookstore that’s a couple miles from our house, Ravenna Third Place Books. The one the kid and I have been frequenting on a regular basis this year. So, I really felt like I should be there. Not only did I decide to go, but I was going to BUY the book AT the bookstore, and not on Amazon like I normally would. You see, I had recently finished this book about Amazon (borrowed form the library, but read on my beloved Kindle), and it kind of turned me off on supporting Amazon. So in solidarity to my indie bookstore (I bought the last couple of Harry Potters there, even showed up at midnight to pick my copy up), I bought The Paleo Kitchen there, for full price. That plus some books for the kid and a Theo chocolate bar (it’s hard to find that Chai Tea flavor. Third Place is one of the few places that carry it, so I can’t help but buy a bar when I’m there, you know, for just in case.) and I was out 50 bucks. Gulp. Supporting the indies, I kept muttering to myself.

Anyway, I showed up, got great parking, bought the book, took the kid to dinner in the back at Vios (there is a restaurant, IN the bookstore. They serve Greek-inspired food. And espresso. And gelato. This place is my dream. Oh, and there is a pub downstairs, but that’s another story of another time). By the time we were done with dinner the front of the store was packed for the author presentation. I ended up hanging with the kiddo in the kids section, and just listening to them speak. It was kind of cool, because readers often feel like they know a blogger personally, especially one like Juli, who seems to share a lot more than just food tips and recipes. That was kind of neato. Not neato? The lame questions that were asked.

What I loved that George said was about substitutions. It irritates me when, right after Juli or George have posted a recipe, the comments start popping up … “I love this recipe for Slivered Almond-Almond Flour cookies, but I’m allergic to Almonds. Do you have a substitution idea?” Here’s an idea, if you’re allergic, then find another recipe! Anyway, George basically said, if we say to use coconut flour, it’s because it’s the best ingredient for the recipe. If you tell me you made the recipe but swapped in one thing for another and it didn’t work out, it’s because you didn’t make the recipe. It’s like, yes, they MUST get annoyed with all those questions, and his statement there kind of made me thing. YES! So annoying.

People kept asking a variation of “What’s your dream food, your favorite cheat, etc etc” Poor authors sort of kept saying the same thing over and over … I kind of wanted to tell the crowd of chicks (it was, like 95% women. just a sprinkling of males in the crowd) … IT’S A LIFESTYLE. They don’t miss that stuff because they’ve made a lifestyle decision.

Well, anyway. I can yell all I want, but I’m just like those girls, I suppose. Deciding to chow down on one last doughnut before starting another bout of clean eating (tomorrow, I swear!) I’m heading into dangerous territory where my poor eating habits are beginning to affect my workouts, and my overall well-being. But I love those darn sweets. Did you not read that sentence where I bought a chocolate bar at a bookstore? Don’t judge, okay. And just because it’s paleo doesn’t mean it’s not high-calorie. It’s just a different kind of calorie.

So. Clean eating starts tomorrow. Which means less paleo-izing to satisfy a sweet tooth.

So I best be testing out these recipes today, right! Here are a few pics of the first two recipes I tried from this cookbook. They are both dessert/sweets (see paragraph above). It’s been a little warm, and I’ve been a lot lazy, but the pulled pork is next on my list to try. Until then, have a look-see:

Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread from The Paleo Kitchen

Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread. I didn’t swirl the topping enough. but it was yummy regardless. This is one of those few instances where I’m not going to say something about being disappointed with the paleo-version of a dish. This one, was pretty close to the real thing.. Not too eggy, as paleo breads can be. The banana bread was probably the best paleo bread I’ve made … could have been sweeter but I ran out of bananas.

No-Bake Tropical Escape Cookies. These were tasty, though I wouldn’t trade them for an actual tropical escape. They tended to crumble a bit, though. Had to eat a two-bite treat in one big bite to avoid having them fall apart. I ate a lot of these.

This was the first recipe I tried, and it was super easy, especially when entertaining a little sous chef.

All in all, it’s a good cookbook. I wished each recipe had some additional perspective on what they were thinking/inspired by to create the recipe. It was pretty straight forward in the recipe portion, with bios/paleo info in the beginning. An enjoyable read, and the photos are impressive.

Though I might have been happier had I saved some money buying it on Amazon (No! That’s wrong, keep your moral high ground, aaaaaaaaahhh!)

Chatty Cha

dessert first