Baby steps

I did my first run outside. On concrete. In a neighborhood.

Real life is no joke.

I've been running on a treadmill and I kept hearing people say that treadmill miles don't translate into real world mileage. I figured I'd lose a little bit, but man, as I jumped over uneven sidewalks and dodged unruly trees, I felt as though I was almost back at square 1.

Almost.

With that being said, I'll say this: I'm a punk. When I started to get uncomfortable, I'd ask the BF to stop (he offered to run with me, even though he only had his Vans -- how nice is that?). He'd oblige. He did make me run the last few blocks back to my house nonstop though. Kept saying, 'come on, just a little further' when I started to slow down. I wanted to tell him I wasn't going to stop, but the quick pace we'd been keeping needed to come down a notch if I wasn't going to collapse on my doorstep. Then he raced me to my front door. I lost.

So yeah, I think I've decided that if I have the chance to run outside versus doing a few hours in the gym, I'm going to choose to run outside. I didn't hurt as much, and I'm not going to be pumping weights come May 2. I'm going to be running in Central Park/Times Square. Oh goodness. What did I sign up for?

Healthy Recipe #2 - Thai Chicken Basil

What's that? You say I forgot to cook something healthy in February? I did. But if I think about it I did do some creative cooking, just forgot to blog about it.

I didn't have any broccoli florets for my chicken Alfredo, so I used a stir fry mix of fresh carrots, broccoli, pea pods and little baby corn, and boiled that with my fettuccine. Then, instead of chicken, I cooked some salmon with just some simple seasonings (salt and pepper) and tossed all of it in jarred Alfredo sauce (the least healthy part of all this, I know). It came out pretty good. So I'm going to count that as my healthy recipe for February.

Anyway, after my workout tonight (gotta get my run on) I'm going to run by the grocery store to pick up ingredients for this recipe, one of my Thai favorites: Chicken Basil. I'm going to add more veggies (red and green bell peppers, scallions, onions, green beans and whole mushrooms) and use sliced chicken breast and serve it over regular white rice, like my favorite Thai restaurant here in Providence. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

THAI CHICKEN BASIL

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped Thai chile pepper (or other chile pepper/red pepper flakes)
• 8 ounces ground chicken breast
• 1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (optional) Kecap manis
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper (optional)
• 1/2 cup Thai holy basil (Ga-Prao)
• Salt
• Steamed jasmine rice
  

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or wok at high heat. Stir in the chopped garlic and cook until it is golden brown. Add the Thai chile pepper and stir well.

Add the ground chicken and cook it just halfway done. Reduce the heat to medium and add the mushrooms, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, sweet soy sauce, and chicken stock. Mix well.

When all the ingredients are cooked, add the red bell pepper and the Thai holy basil. Mix well and season to taste with salt. Serve over steamed jasmine rice.

UPDATE!!!!UPDATE!!!!UPDATE!!!!UPDATE!!!!UPDATE!!!!

Man. I have been paying for the people at Pakarang Exquisite Thai for nothing! Now, I did have to buy some things I'm kinda wondering when else I'll use (fish sauce and oyster sauce) but I made the chicken basil and it is FANTASTIC!

Here's my yummy dinner. Sorry I don't have a picture of my finished plate. I was hungry and forgot. *Shrug*

It's nice and spicy like I like it. A few changes though -- I didn't use the sweet soy sauce, and I only put in one tablespoon of red pepper flakes, which was plenty. I figured if I wanted it to be hotter, I could add more later. Glad I held off. It was sufficiently spicy with just 1 tablespoon. Two tablespoons and I doubt I would have been able to eat it. I chopped the mushrooms into quarters, and sliced the peppers in bite sized chunks. And I put in like, 6 breast tenderloins, also sliced (on the bias) in bite sized chunks. To save some time, I used minute rice.

This one is a keeper.

Since I've been gone

A few things, since I haven't updated in forever:

I didn't get my hair done. Loser, right? I was in the middle of covering a murder trial and I wasn't committed to paying for someone to do my hair for the Follies.

So I did it myself instead.

It's not the same style. I originally did two strand twists with the intent to do a twist out the night of the show (an old standby from Follies past). But then, I twisted up a few of the twists and realized it looked pretty cute as it was. So I left it. Here it is:

I'll post a better picture a little lower.

So anyway, the Follies were a hit. The show went off pretty well and I only forgot a few of my words -- That's a success in my eyes.

I didn't get mentioned, but the Phoenix gave us a pretty good review. Overall, we've been getting a lot of good feedback about the show. I wasn't in that many numbers -- I think three, not counting the opener and closer, so it was a low key night for me. Which was actually good because I wasn't completely exhausted as I have been in previous years where I'm on stage constantly. This year, I played Sasha Obama with another coworker and sung a song about how cute we Obama girls are, I was in a song about the layoffs at my newspaper, and I was in a song about Steve Alves - a former senator in West Warwick who was ousted by a baker. Good times indeed.

In other news, the BF went with me to the show. I fought him on the outfit (which was his idea) but we turned out to be "the best dressed couple in Swansea." I'll take it. He was excited about the Urkel glasses. I was skeptical at first, but they turned out to be a nice addition.

After the show, we went out to a local bar and hung out with some of my coworkers and the other folks who went to the show. Then we went to my coworker's house and played Rockband until like, 3:30, 4 a.m. It was ridiculous. A good night though. A really good night.

At work, things have been kinda rocky -- no pun intended. We laid off an additional 100 people, including two of my favorite office assistants ever in life. They were my friends -- one even my "adopted mom" who always looked out for me when I first came to the Journal and was assigned to her bureau. I didn't get a chance to say goodby because I've been working on a murder trial and was out of the office most days. After they got the news, thankfully the company didn't make them continue to work - like they did the last round of layoffs we had. So when I came in to joke with one of them, their desks were cleared out. Good for them, sad for me. I'm going to get some cards and write nice notes to them and send them to them, because I honestly don't know if I'll see them again. Which is pretty sad.

The good note is that, as I mentioned, I've been covering a murder trial the last few weeks. You know I LOVE trials right? You do. Anyway, I think I've been writing some really good stories -- I even got front page two days in a row. Yesterday, I was the front page centerpiece! How cool is that? Wanna read my stuff? Here's some of it. You can also google me. I got hits, yo.

Bishop tells his story

Alfred "Freddie" Bishop guilty in 2007 murder

Brother of slaying victim tells of fatal struggle with intruder in Warwick home

And I was a freaking blog superstar all during the trial. I was calling in updates, e-mailing posts and just all around being a "blog-centered" superstar. I rock. Hard.

Anyway, um, other than that, things have been cool. I'm completely slacking on my exercise, which I fully plan to get back on this weekend. I've just been pooped lately. But I gotta start running again or I'll never be ready for this 5K. Oh, and just in case you haven't already, there's still time to donate!