running

I take requests now…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

This week I’m making THREE cookies! Yikes! Three Cookies means I’ve spent all morning baking, cleaning, baking, washing dishes and then washing more dishes. And by washing dishes, I mean packing and unpacking the dishwasher– which is the same as washing dishes to me.

I can make three cookies this morning because the boys are at a tennis tournament, and so I’ve been left to my own devices… and I had a cookie request. A cookie request for a cookie that is NOT appealing to me at all. Black Sesame Earl Grey Cookies. The idea of Black Sesame Tahini in a cookie is blah- I don’t like tahini or hummus or nuts or nut adjacent things. And I hate Earl Grey tea. So combining the two in cookie form is completely unappealing. But Jinx, the same friend that kicked off the cookie frenzy almost 12 months ago with a cookie from Amsterdam, sent me a recipe and because she’s brought back cookies for me EVERY time she goes to Amsterdam, I couldn’t say no. So I’m making Black Sesame Earl Grey Cookies. And because they are COMPLETELY unappealing to me personally, I’m also making a modified version of David Leibovitz’s Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies. The modification is that they’re not sitting for 12 hours or overnight. I’m also making Chocolate Shake and French Fry Cookies from Christina Tosi’s Bake Club.

I’m quite excited by the Bake Club cookies. They look a bit weird but I think the concept will be yummy! The salted tahini– not sure about- it’s the tahini. But we’ll see… Hopefully Jinx will like the Black Sesame cookies, the gym and pole crew will like the Chocolate Chip cookies (they’re VERY highly rated by the New York Times), and hopefully TomTom and The Runner will enjoy the Chocolate Shake and French Fry Cookies. I’m not baking next weekend since The Runner is running up in Queensland, but I’m already thinking of our next baking adventure– thanks to the stash of leftover Easter Eggs I’m FINALLY getting around to emptying out of the Easter bucket. Stay tuned!

The next 12 months…

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

When I first started this blog it was meant to be about triathlons and recipes- mainly because at the time my boyfriend (now fiancee) was into triathlons and I had a stack of cookbooks that were gathering dust and that he was teasing me about.  I started in good faith dutifully cooking and writing but then somehow life got in the way.  Suddenly the blog was an outlet for unfamiliar feelings- first grief then happiness and finally coming to terms with both.  

I’m really thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to share the last 14 months with all of you.  Cathartic isn’t the word- but I’m not sure what the right word is.   It’s been helpful.  The only downside is that I feel like I veered from the blog’s true purpose- running, cooking, and eating and I feel bad for anyone who subscribed based on those three things.  I’d like to think that my New Years resolution will be to make the blog only about cooking and running but I know that’s not going to be completely true.  The next 12 months will be full of ups, and possibly a few downs as well (but hopefully not) as I become Mrs. Cook-Runner (yes, I’m thinking of hyphenating).  Unfortunately, because I don’t know what the future holds I can’t promise what the blog will hold- or what I will write about in it.  I can promise to try to get the blog back to its “roots.”

So here’s my early New Year’s Resolution– I will go back to the blog’s basics.   I will restart the regular Sunday recipe dinners in the new year and maybe we’ll even get The Runner to write about his experience doing triathlons or even some fancy new triathlon toy that he tests out- after all, the blog is about our life together so he should probably get a feature here and there. 

I’m hoping to publish a cookbook in August- not promising anything but planning a VERY exclusive, limited release booklet to a select handful of family and friends…   Anyway…. For those of you who are following the blog for recipes and triathlon tips, I’ll try to do better on that front.  For those of you who want to know what’s going on with a cook and her fiancée who appropriately enough live on Dine Street, stay tuned, there will be more of that as well!

 

Challenge 1: Done! Bring on Challenge 2!

~ stephzuniga ~ 3 Comments

Phew!  I have exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes left of my 30 day Gluten Free challenge and to be honest, it hasn’t been that bad.  I’ve had two cheat days- one was for charity and one was a hens day high tea.  Yes, I made the most of it and had high tea, pizza and McDonald’s all in the same day because well, if you’re going to fall off the wagon, why bother drinking light beer.  I’m not missing any foods really and I feel pretty good and am feeling slimmer and trimmer.  It could be my imagination but I’m pretty sure it’s true.  Lots of athletes- Novak Djokovic for one-  have switched to a gluten free diet because they swear it’s made them fitter, healthier and a better athlete.  (See here for an article) Well, I probably won’t win Wimbledon or the US Open any time soon, but I’m glad I’ve given the gluten free thing a go (again!)  because I do feel pretty good.  It’s surprisingly easy to follow and hasn’t really affected my daily eating habits- especially since I’m not a big toast eater and at home we’ve subbed gluten free pasta for normal pasta.  It’s definitely something that I may continue with longer term– although I may have a chicken schnitzel sandwich or bowl of pasta tomorrow– just because I can!

Sadly, October’s challenge is not going to be as easy.  For October (drumroll please!) I’m giving up dairy foods.   Yep, that’s right, no milk, cream, cheese, custard, gomme, yoghurt (frozen or not), gelato, kefir, lassi, etc for the next 30 days.   I’m going to avoid butter where possible but without being the crazy lady who interrogates the waiter in a restaurant to find out whether the chicken, fish, beef, etc is cooked in butter.   I’m not going OTT, but I’m challenging myself to avoid it as much as possible.  Two things I’m worried about the most:

1) My daily breakfast of yoghurt and berries

2)  My coffee.  Sometimes soy just doesn’t cut it.  

3)  Cheese.  I LOVE CHEESE!

I’ve cut out cow’s milk in the past and it wasn’t too bad– mainly because I was having sheep’s milk yoghurt and lots of goats cheese when the craving set in.  This time I’m going all the way.   And cutting out everything…. see the list here.  If Wikipedia says it’s a dairy product, I’m going to do my best not to eat it.  Sigh……  tempted to have one last cheese and ice cream binge in the next 69 minutes but I don’t think that’s the best idea ever.  

The Runner is doing a 30 day green smoothie challenge which I’m not officially doing but all the recipes make enough for two so… am having mini smoothies as well.  I’m also starting to run- which I hate.  But that’s a different topic all together.

For now, I’m going to go and spend the next 62 minutes foraging for a milky treat before I kiss it all goodbye for the next 30 days! 

No, Sorry for the next 30 days, I don’t.