There’s No Place Like.. the OC Fair

OC Fair 2012

.. Actually.. every county fair out there is probably very similar to the OC Fair.. same expensive fried foods.. same rickety carnival rides.. same giant vegetable contests.. same cute little baby piglets! But, it’s still a good time!

Terrariums

I didn’t go to the fair last year.. or the year before.. Minh isn’t a fan of crowds or heat or paying a ridiculous amount of money for something that’s really bad for you. He also “doesn’t get” art (whatever that means).

Stripes… not on purpose…

On the other hand.. I love the fair. I don’t like the crowds, but I love the food and the people watching and looking at all the crafty things people can make or gigantic vegetables people can grow and perusing the endless aisles of ridiculous gadgetry. I just love the feel of the fair. And who could say no to free parking (at OCC) and $2 entry (early bird on Saturday)?

Doesn’t seem to like me very much, does he?

Unfortunately.. with the detox.. the fair is not as fun… no corn, no sweets, no fried food, no lemonade, no funnel cake, no frozen banana.. it pretty much sucked in that respect.. All I had was a gigantic turkey leg! It was good.. but one cannot survive the fair on turkey leg alone…

om nom nom …

Yarn play house.. Hunter-sized!

Now that the detox is over… I MUST GO BACK!!! Those bloomin’ onions, charred corn, cotton candy, lemonade, everything fried stands better watch out!

“P” is for Pizza

What started as pizza night for 3 (me, Minh, and John) turned out to be a little pizza party for 10(ish). John had asked a long long time ago to make pizza in our spiffy “pizza oven” (Weber Grill + KettlePizza… modified a bit with some added metal and ceramic tiles). And since pizza is Minh’s favorite food, I’m a bit surprised that it’s taken this long to get a pizza party together..

Pizza dough.. pre-rise…

San Marzano tomatoes!

in the oven

toppings station

basic red

basic green

post-party clean-up

Toppings included.. basic pizza sauce (crushed tomatoes with olive oil), pesto, mushrooms, red peppers, red onions, pepperoni, prosciutto, basil, garlic, wild arugula, and of course mozzarella (shredded, bocconcini, and sliced). Dough was a basic neopolitan pizza dough from Serious Eats. Turned out pretty awesome, and we’ll probably have many more pizza parties in the future. Just need to tweak temperatures and times slightly… and maybe learn how to make the crust better (not the recipe, but be able to spread the crust thinner and bigger…). Any tips?

Detox: Week 2

OMG.. I’m so glad these two weeks are OVER!

Choosing foods got easier in this second week, but it was still very hard to pick meals because of the no-corn/no-soy/no-gluten rule. We did a lot more cooking at home and a bit less eating out, which was good.

Sunday:
Brunch – turkey breakfast sausage, breakfast potatoes, GF/Vegan pancakes, berry compote, sous-vide eggs (because I forgot that they weren’t allowed), almond champagne (because it was book club!)
Dinner – grilled rainbow trout, wild rice, grilled zucchini (King’s Fish House)

Monday:
Lunch: mixed greens salad with grilled salmon
Dinner: roast chicken with potatoes and crispy baked green beans

Tuesday:
Lunch: mixed green salad with chicken
Dinner: chicken curry and brown rice

Wednesday:
Lunch: “skinny” fish taco (lettuce wrapped – FREE!!), brown rice and black beans (Wahoo’s)
Dinner: vegetarian chili and brown rice

Thursday:
Lunch: brown rice sushi (Whole Foods – FREE!!)
Dinner: leftover chicken curry and brown rice

Friday / Saturday: …
I’ll admit it now.. I ended the detox early. I was pretty much over it, and didn’t feel any different other than craving foods all the time and not liking it one bit. I’m all for eating whole foods and being more aware of what you’re putting into your body, but the detox was just too extreme for me.  I will probably never do a detox ever again, at least not something so long and restrictive… you need to give yourself a break sometimes!

On the Water

A while back, as a wedding present to ourselves, Minh and I purchased a pair of brand new kayaks from REI… he got red, I got green.

We didn’t have a chance to take them out on the water because of the wedding planning, and the increased risk of sunburn (and weird tanlines) on the water. So the quietly sat in our house, first in the living room, then in the garage, and then on a rack that Minh built to store them. We FINALLY got to take them out this past weekend along with our friend Chris. We launched them at Huntington Harber and went for a little sunset glide…

Photo stolen from Chris’ facebook

It was so fun because we had no idea what we were doing and kept paddling in circles. It was also extremely hard on the shoulders, which just shows how little upper body strength I have. Here’s a little time lapse video that we took (because we’re in love with timelapsing now!)..

Looking forward to many more outings on the water!

Detox: Week One

I’m one week into a two week detox.. and it sucks! Granted, this is one of the easier detox programs… I can still eat a ton of food, just restricted on some things, and I have a supplement that I take twice a day. Nothing like those juice cleanses or 3-day detoxes where you can’t eat anything or you have to be by the toilet all day. No, this one is more about being mindful of what you eat and decreasing the amount of toxins in your body. It also focusses on avoiding allergens… not necessarily foods that you are allergic to, but foods that people are generally allergic to..

The following foods are restricted during the detox:

Dairy and eggs
Soy and soy based products
Gluten
Peanuts
Citrus
Processed foods
Refined sugar
Red meat
Shellfish
Tuna and swordfish
Chocolate
Caffeine
Alcohol

It’s been tough. Anyone who knows me knows that I love eating candy and junk food (like Flaming Hot Cheetos). I also love bread and cheese and meat (like Big Macs).. so it’s been pretty rough going. All I ever crave is barbecue, pizza, and candy (and now Big macs). Apparently, fruit alone is not sweet enough, nuts are not as satisfying as chips, and fish and chicken have nothing on a juice steak or burger….

So here’s what I HAVE been eating:

Everyday:

Breakfast Smoothie – consists of 1/2 c almond milk, 1/2 cup juice (pomegranate, apple, or carrot), 1/2 T chia seeds, 1/2 cup mixed berries, 1/2 banana, handful of baby spinach, handful of cucumber slices, + detox supplement powder

Breakfast Smoothie: Tastes better than it looks….

SNACKS: mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries), nuts (roasted brazil nuts, pistachios and raw almonds), veggies (carrots, celery, cucumber, sweet peppers) and hummus

Sunday:
Lunch: Salad – mixed greens, avocado, red onion, cucumber, grilled chicken, olive oil and vinegar
Dinner: grilled swai, mashed potatoes (no milk, just a mashed with a touch of olive oil), sauteed swiss chard with slivered almonds

Monday:
Lunch: rice pilaf and grilled chicken kabob (Daphne’s)
Dinner: acorn squash stuffed with quinoa, chicken and pecans

Tuesday:
Lunch: leftover acorn squash and quinoa
Dinner: sous-vide chicken drumstick, broccoli and mashed potatoes

Wednesday:
Lunch: brown rice, black beans, grilled fish (Wahoo’s)
Dinner: spaghetti squash with ground turkey and fresh tomato sauce

Thursday:
Lunch: sushi made with brown rice (Whole Foods – FREE!)
Dinner: grilled salmon and brown rice (Malibu Fish Grill)

Friday:
Lunch: leftover chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes
Dinner: rotisserie chicken, green beans, plain baked potato (Claim Jumper)

Saturday:
Lunch: turkey leg (OC Fair)
Dinner: grilled salmon salad

Generally speaking, the food is good for you.. but I’m getting so tired of breakfast smoothies and veggies with hummus.. How am I supposed to survive another week? And how am I supposed to survive the fair on Saturday.. or book club on Sunday?? Probably would be only hurting myself with cheater days on the weekend, right?

First Ride Back!

It’s been about six months since Minh and I got a good ride in. Mostly because I’m prone to crashing and we didn’t want to be all bloody and bruised for the wedding.. also because cycling gives you weird tan lines. But now with the wedding done, we’re free to get all sorts of weird tan lines!

This past Saturday, I had my first ride back! It wasn’t fast or far.. but I got a good 20 miles in about an hour and a half. Had to go solo since Minh had to work.

FIRST RIDE BACK!

Sunday, the guys wanted to get pizza in Seal Beach, so rather than give my legs a rest, I tagged along (even though I wasn’t allowed any pizza.. story for a different day). This time, we attached our new GoPro to the bike.. it lasted the majority of the ride, but died at some point after lunch while we were riding on the beach path (easy recovery after a heavy lunch for the boys).

You can see that we took many stops.. like the Seal Beach Farmers market and the pier.. and here and there waiting for people to meet up or catch up. Overall a good ride though… Next time, I’m getting pizza.

Side note: Check out our ultra-successful “helmet-lock” technique… where we interlock our helmets around our bicycles to prevent theft.

 

Mrs.

So.. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I haven’t died, just been really busy…. busy GETTING MARRIED!!!

For all who were not able to make it and all who we weren’t able to invite (and those of you who want to relive the memories) here is a slideshow of pictures and a time-lapsed video of the whole event.

Wedding Slide Show

Wedding Time Lapse Video

I’m so happy to be married to my bestfriend! Can’t wait to take on the world together!