That time we met a young gun

Posted on July 5, 2015 by chatty

This one time my friends and I ended up at Brimmer & Heeltap. It was our lucky day as the Bartender-in-residence was a Young Guns semi-finalist. Willi had a knack for mixing and came up with some delicious concoctions for us. I tried Willi’s Hard Lemonade and it was perfect for the hot happy hour we were having.

I also ordered their seasonal fish, black cod, if I recall (and I couldn’t possibly tell you anymore, except that it was “all right”)

Then this happened: Strawberry Chamomile Semifreddo and Peanut Butter Chocolate Layer Cake. Two desserts (shared! Two desserts to share) because, hello! Dessert!Definitely need to go back here. Maybe coordinate with Willi dropping by, too.

Retro Foods

Posted on July 3, 2015 by chatty

So. What happened? My most previous post was dated April 13, one day before my 40th birthday. Almost as if at, bloggers 40 and older are no longer allowed to write about trivial stuff like food and fitness. Their blogging cards are taken away. Or, maybe, shortly after my birthday the family and I left for a fabulous Hawaiian vacation, then I got lazy. I mean busy. Real busy.

But, all along I’ve been taking pictures, so I’ll be posting pics and stories over the next weeks and will catch you up on the goings on at the chattycha household and beyond. Mother’s day and Father’s day have come and gone, but you’ll be able to experience them again right here.

Let’s start with this one, the birthday cake I conjured up. I was feeling kinda retro, it being the start of my fourth decade. I am a child of the 70s, and this is a cake of the 70s (or maybe even earlier. Who knows.These food fads come and go).

A pineapple upside down cake. Marschino cherries, brown sugar glaze. Very easy, very pretty, very tasty.

Kid’s verdict: “I like it, except for the pineapple.” … Ooooookaaaaay then.

Next up: A retro potluck. We were tasked with a dish that grandma used to make, or something like that. I knew I wanted to do a jello salad, then discovered this gem on AllRecipes. Extremely easy: 1 container of Cool Whip, 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 box of orange-flavored Jell-o, 1 can each of mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple.

Mix well, chill and serve.

Comments I received on this one: “Exactly how Mom used to make,” and “That’s not retro, that’s at our Thanksgiving table every year.”

Odd and strange, but surprisingly yummy. Good for one day only. The next day it starts to separate and gets leaky and stuff.

Mind you, I never had these foods when I was a kid. Certainly my grandparents, whom I saw only a handful of times on accounting of their living in Taiwan, never ever made this stuff. My parents wouldn’t have, either. It’s all foods I assumed “Americans” ate. It’s the 70s childhood I envisioned. How close was I?

Seattle Restaurants Old – Chandlers Crabhouse

Posted on April 13, 2015 by chatty

For Easter the husband’s parents treated us to Chandler’s Crabhouse on South Lake Union. This place has been there forever. It is the restaurant the husband’s parents treated us to in celebration of our engagement, like, 12 years ago or something. Yeesh.

I ordered the special, this ahi tuna dish from their “fresh sheet”:

Ahi tuna, Chander's Crabhouse Lake Union

“Crispy on the outside, rare on the inside, served with Napa slaw, honey-ginger soy, serrano ponzu”.

I was going to get a mixed greens salad, but the waiter, a very nice dude, suggested I get the “Chef’s Seasonal”. Radish, I remember, plus some other vegetable whose name I can’t remember. Whatever. It was really tasty.

Have you seen this vegetable? What is it?

As a dessert the grandparents ordered a brownie a la mode, and the look on the kid’s face, after a day of eating Easter treat after treat, was priceless. I only let her have a few bites. I’m such a meany.

https://instagram.com/p/0yLnxxoueu/?taken-by=cacha02

Hoppy Easter!

Seattle Restaurants New – Manolin

Posted on April 11, 2015 by chatty

Fernet Panna Cotta, Bitter Chocolate

Fremont is not the Fremont I remember. Nor is Ballard. Between 1999 and 2004, I lived and/or worked in both of these neighborhoods. From 2004 through 2009 I was a frequent visitor of Fremont because of the boathouse. We left Ballard just as the condominiums were moving in, and these days it’s like a foreign country. It’s like what Bellevue looked to me (before I started working in Bellevue).

Back in the day, like 10 years ago, Stone Way was not the place to be. It was industrial. Now there’s the new Brooks Running building. Fancy restaurants like Joule. And this one. Manolin. I don’t even know what was there before. The buildings on that street were almost invisible, just a roadway to get from 34th to 45th.

Manolin was fun. Bright and airy, yet cozy and intimate. A kind host. A waitress who knew her whiskey. Fun cocktails and more fun appetizers (Plantain Chips! Daikon Dumplings!). But I’m a desserts kind of girl, so here are some pictures of desserts.

Rhubarb Shortcake, Ginger, Bourbon Vanilla

There are two kinds of desserts on the menu, and we ordered both. Because that’s how you do it.

I am in no way complaining about the changes that have happened in Fremont, because, come on. It’s been 10 years since that was my playground. Things are going to change. And I think for the most part, it has changed for the better.

But it’s not me. So it’s weird. I miss it.

Well, okay, maybe that panna cotta is me.

Just a little bit.

Workouts March 2015

Posted on April 10, 2015 by chatty

Lots of changes going on at the gym. For one, they have changed their name from SoundCrossfit to Sound Strength and Conditioning. We never were that typical Crossfit Gym. I never called it a “box” without using quotations. I never entered a competition. I never treated it like a sport. I hate kipping. And have no desire or feel the need to every do a Muscle-Up, or try a handstand walk. And you know what, I’m doing okay.

So, moving forward I’ll call it strength and conditioning. Or strength training, which is how I categorized gym-related things on this blog before all this Crossfit nonsense started.

Anyway, here is March. I started doing Yoga in Feb/March. I was also sick as a dog for about a week. Wendler has started again, and as we spent a lot of time squatting over the past 6 months, the squat is not one of the lifts I’m working on this time around. I’m doing bench press, press and deadlifts. Bench Press is fun. I haven’t done it much since I left my traditional gym. I’m much stronger than I was back then. I’m also older, so a little more careful.

These, like usual, are not in any specific order, although Bench is Mondays, Press is Wednesdays and Makeups aka DLs are Fridays. They’re all jumbled up.

The original work out was a 2K. Vomit vomit. Wanna do something different? asked the coach. Yes, heck yes said the playas. So she crafted this on the spot. Much more fun, much less boring. I’d rather do pretty much anything than a 2K time trial

It’s these types of workouts where you go to your strength. For me, I ask myself, what is the lesser of three evils and the answer is usually running, unless I’m feeling particularly rebellious or stupid, then I’ll erg. I most likely will not choose DoubleUnders unless someone forces me to.

For the ring rows we put or feet on a box, and pulled one every 10 seconds. Made them much more difficult.

Me, Jean, and the guys.

Run to 60th and back is a half-mile, I believe. Lots of running this month. Or, maybe lots of running because I choose to run.

Wow. This looks terrible. One-arm KB Swings? Oh right. I ended up using a very like KB to get through this.

Different handwriting! This must be Andy. Ah yes. The top half was the official workout then halfway through he changed it up on the fly and we finished the AMRAP doing the bottom half.

I played hooky

Posted on March 31, 2015 by chatty

I was a good kid in school. High school, especially. Never skipped class. Always there, on time, homework done. In college I skipped a little more, but not a lot, and always justified it somehow (“I’m going to skip this class so I can study for the test in my next class”). The one exception is the day I skipped all of my classes so I could be an extra in the movie “Chain Reaction“. I sat in Mandel Hall for most of the day, as one of the students in the audience listening to a lecture from Dr. Barkley, played by U of C professor Nicholas Rudall. If you perchance watch the scene you’ll see I was not the only one to skip class. 100% worth it. (sorry if I have told this story before in a previous post. It’s one of the go-to stories I have from college.)

But this one day, in the somewhat recent past, I played hooky. What kind of hooky? Did I skip work (cough, cough, I think I’m coming down with something, better not spread the germs at the office)? Or did I skip the home and family responsibilities (Bye, honey, I’m off to “work”)? I shall not divulge. But based on these pics maybe you can guess where I went for sustenance (Pretty obvious if you are a Seattle foodie). I’m usually a salad and protein kind of person but, you know, all bets are off when you’re doing something against type. So I had a biscuit with homemade peanut butter, honey and a ripe banana.

Based on the presentation, I’m guessing I inadvertently ordered a kids meal?

Smiley face, eh? Well why not pair it with a sweet cocktail. This is an espresso drink with Baileys and other liqueurs that made it dessert-like. And strong. Really strong, for my taste, at least.

See that Kindle cover peeking out from the side? It’s the international sign for “table for one, please do not disturb”.

There is where things went sideways. Whereas some may overindulge by ordering another cocktail, as I hadn’t had much to eat that day, I was still a little hungry and made the mistake of ordering another biscuit. Way overboard. Not the bisguit, which was just butter and jam (and very enjoyable). But the aftermath … I don’t know if it was the eating poorly beforehand or just the overload of rich, buttermilky goodness, or the too strong beverage, but someone should have stopped me.

Note to self: skip the fancy accoutrements and just go for the butter and jam.

While the food was great, I did not fare so well for the rest of the day. Perhaps that’s the price one pays for playing hooky.

On yoga and crossfit

Posted on March 23, 2015 by chatty

Less Talk, More Plank. These pics were taken by Chris Rosa for SoundCrossFit.

Yoga has never been my thing. It was really in for a while, with all of my friends. I remember going to a free class at Ballard Health Club. I just recall it being crowded, and I felt weird because I didn’t know what I was doing. The instructor wasn’t helpful or maybe I gave off a “don’t look at me” vibe as I felt very self-conscious. I went to a least a couple other classes like that. I tried doing yoga at home, with a DVD, but I never got much out of it. It sort of pissed me off that this lady I was watching was on some tropical island while I was stuck in our cramped tv space with dog hair on the carpet. Not very relaxing. Not relaxing at all.

My crossfit gym began offering a weekly yoga class maybe about a year or so ago. I went to a free trial class and it was not detestable. I didn’t hate it. It is taught by one of the instructors I love as a crossfit coach, and seeing her day in, day out as a crossfit coach I was able to hear tidbits about her adventures in taking extensive yoga courses.

So, I liked it. I didn’t like having to pay additional, and, frankly, it didn’t really work well with my schedule. Fast forward many months later, Yoga is switched to a 6 a.m. morning class. And the schedule change came right when I was training for my first race of the year, and my body was feeling a bit worn out. AND I find out I can use my existing membership classes to attend.

I can make this work, I decide, and finally, my 2015 workout goal has been determined. I’m going to try yoga for the year. Just once a week (how many times a week does one do yoga, anyway? Daily? Twicely?) for now. And, as I’ve been at it for a few weeks now and I’ve managed to make 6 a.m. work for me and my weekday morning routine (it means Max gets walked at 5:15 on Tuesdays, but I haven’t seen him complain yet).

So, after different attempts at trying yoga, and after pretty much ignoring it for years (even though many friends suggested I try it again), after saying many times (even to my yoga instructor, probably, before she was my yoga instructor), “oh, I’m just not into yoga,” or “It’s not my thing. I just don’t get it” … After too many “I would rather spend my time on a “real” workout,” here’s why this yoga class, at this time, seems to be working for me.

1) The familiarity. I’m a total rookie, and I don’t mind admitting it. But I walked into a class where I knew the physical space, I knew the instructor, and she knew me and was familiar with my physical abilities. I walked in and I knew most of the people in the room, too. Suddenly that first barrier of having to go through the rigmarole of figuring people out and deciding if you like or dislike this or that has been removed. For an introvert, this is a huge hurdle. Add on top of that the removal of class schedules and costs and suddenly the barriers are down (of course, if I continue this for the rest of the year I think I’m going to have to upgrade my membership status, but now that I know what I’m getting into, I’m more apt to accept that cost. I see what they’re doing here. Nice move, SCF).

2) The Crossfit connection. What’s nice about doing it all under the same roof is that you have a coach that is familiar with your regular routine. And can translate what you do in the gym (or, as they say, “the box”) with the yoga (relate a yoga move to your deadlift stance. Or feel how “plugging your shoulder” feels compared to a bentover row). Conversely, in Crossfit you translate what you’ve done in yoga, back into class. My plank is better. My push-ups are better.

It definitely helps that Jess, the instructor, is pragmatic and down-to-earth. There’s no hippie-dippie business going on here. Classes are instructional and challenging in a non-stressful environment. Not unlike our Crossfit classes.That fits my style.

3) Oh sorry, my bad. It is a real workout. If you do it right, and you concentrate in the right places, and it’s more of a “flowing” thing or whatever (see, I’m a rookie, haven’t got the lingo down yet), yeah, there’s a bit of sweat action going on. I’m not dripping or anything, but, like Crossfit, put as much effort into it as you want to get out of it, and you may see a sweaty outcome. As I was breathing through that crazy chair position for what seemed like forEVER, I thought to myself, would I rather be doing Wall Balls? Possibly.

Would I trade three weekly Crossfit WODs out for 3 yoga classes? Nope. But there’s no reason we can’t live harmoniously under one roof.

Smile for the camera

Posted on March 22, 2015 by chatty

Earlier this year we had some pics taken of us at SoundCrossFit. I told my friend I would share a few. Here’s one:

This photo was taken by Chris Rosa at SoundCrossFit

Smile! You’re on Crossfit Camera

For the record, I don’t normally smile when doing Wall Balls. I’m usually mumbling. I’m counting, for sure. Like take our last wall ball workout, a rehash of 13.3: 12 minutes AMRAP: 150 Wall Balls, 90 Double Unders, 30 Muscle Ups (that 30 could be 3 it could be 300, doesn’t matter because I doubt I’ll be getting to one muscle up anytime soon). Let’s focus on the 150 WBs, also known as Karen. Go in with a strategy, and your strategy shouldn’t be “go all out at the start”. Instead, break the 150 down to groups of 25 first. If you have to, break the 25 down into 10 and 15. So, there’s definitely a lot of counting involved. So there I am, huffing and puffing away, I vividly recall mumbling to myself at about the 125 mark. I’m mumbling, “C’mon. 25 left. Just 25 more. You got this” And then I do it.

Mumbling, yes. Smiling, no.

My best guess about this smiling nonsense is a) this is a photo shoot and there’s this guy with a camera standing right next to me and it’s making me kinda nervous, so it’s a nervous smile or b) this is a staged camera shot and my coach, Danielle, has just handed me the lightest wall ball ever and I’m kinda excited thinking, “this is the lightest wall ball ever!”

More wall balls

I’ll share a few more pics in later posts. Stay tuned!

(Photo Credit: Chris Rosa)

Race Report: Hot Chocolate 15K

Posted on March 21, 2015 by chatty

Back in January I mentioned this race I signed up for. Remember? So, it finally came up, the Hot Chocolate 15K, on March 1. For those who don’t want to do the math, a 15K is 9.3 miles. Training-wise I had managed to get one 9-mile run in. It was hard, but done. At the 6-mile mark my ankles were beginning to ache, and knowing I had another 5K to go was kind of killing me, though I made it through. As the race course appeared to be a big uphill climb up Highway 99, I forced myself to incorporate a lot more hills, including THE HILL (NE 70th, between the Burke-Gilman Trail and around 45th Ave NE. Aiiyaah).

So anyway, I ran the HC with two other women, Rina and Trina. Yes. Tina, Rina and Trina ran the race. #Winning. Both of them are faster runners than I. My target was a 10:00 mi pace, and I hit it. More or less. Less.

Here are my unofficial splits, per my Timex:

10:10
9:41
10:01
9:57
10:14
10:31
9:05
10:14
11:37
3:29 (final .3)

Overall it felt okay. I passed on the first “treat” station. Chocolate chips, I think. At the 6-mile station, or whatever station they were doing strawberry marshmallows, I said what the hell and had one. It actually tasted really good. At around mile 6 you reach the turnaround point on Highway 99, and start going downhlll back towards the Seattle Center. That mile was my fastest and it felt great. Those final 2 miles were incredibly tedious. The downhill is not as downhill as you want it to be, and for me I was ready to be done. Now that I’ve reviewed my splits, I see that the final final mile was where I really tanked. I remember already suffering and there’s one final hill on Mercer Street. Like a lump more than a hill, but you’re running up it thinking to yourself, this is unfair!

Overall the race is a well-oiled machine. Parking wasn’t horrendous (we carpooled, parked far enough way that the walk to the course is basically a warm-up. Mildly long Honey Bucket lines. Good swag. Not as crazy-fun as Beat the Blerch, but at least it’s not in Carnation. And when else do you get to run around Hwy-99 and check out the gorgeous view of Lake Union from up high? That was pretty cool. These treats were cool, too

This pic is from Trina’s FB page. I finished the race long after R&T were done, so I too my chocolate platter to go, and got it share some of it with the kid. The kid now uses the cup as a bath toy. Not too shabby.

There was an early race start, like 8 AM. We were home by 10:30. I stretched, showered, then headed up to Bryant Corner Bakery for the weekend breakfast I had been craving.

That’s a lot of food. But I ran a race! And it was good. So good.

Yep. Here’s how I like to train:

https://instagram.com/p/zn3qhDouXp/

So, the lesson here is that the 10K is still my favorite race length. I hit my goals pretty much with the 10K in mind. Add that extra 5K and watch me flounder.

BUT…. I just learned that a college friend is coming out to Seattle this summer to run See Jane Run. Half-marathon. Soooo.

Nah.

Maybe.

I’ll decide in May.

WODs of Feb ’15

Posted on March 20, 2015 by chatty

February saw a review and practice of olympic lifts. I also added an extra day of running every week, in preperation of the 15K I ran (race report, coming right up).

Overall, a good month of steady workouts. It was an up and down month of eating. Work was a bit nutty which often translates into stress eating for me. Just getting out of that rut, and feeling much better.

At the end of the month I also added a yoga class to my repetoire (which has since replaced my morning of running). I’m very new to it, but I like it. Did you know you can sweat doing yoga? And I’m not talking hot yoga. More on that later.

AKA 13.3 I assumed I would not get through the Double Unders, so I didn’t get a pull-up bar set up (I need a box to reach the bar, as well as a band to perform more than one pull-up). I might have had a better score had I been prepared. Wonder if I’ll remember that next time it comes around.

Is it me, or did we do a lot of DUs this month? I’m working on the skill. Not as good as Rina or Amanda, but can string more than 5 in a row a few times, then just do a few at a time. All in the timing.

More Double Under! Are you keeping track?

Sprints on the erg, at a 25 SPM or less. Right up my alley.

No DUs, but singles.

Rowing for calories a crossfit thing, no? It would seem to be the only reason why I might tamper with the damper. Anyway, my mantra in times like these is, you can do anything for 60 seconds. Just get it done.

Fun.

New handwriting. New coach. Same burpees.

Wendler returns. This quarter I’ll be doing Bench Press, Press and Deadlift. These are the 1RMs I’m working with: Bench Press: 85 Press: 80 DL: 165 Oh, the workout happened, too. Yay box jumps.

Chatty Cha

dessert first