A Side of Sweet

Beautiful Food, Travel & Design

Black Bean Lettuce Wraps Recipe

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Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are my new favorite thing.  For sandwiches, I’m not a huge fan of bread, to begin with.  It always seems like the carb to real food ratio is wayyy off.  I think that Subway is the number one perpetrator of this.  I hardly eat there anymore because I usually can’t find my sandwich fixin’s among the huge amount of bread that is wrapped around them.  The wrap is often a better option, but it doesn’t bring a lot to the table flavor-wise and at the ends there tends to be more wrap build up than I find appealing.  This is where the lettuce wrap saves the day. It is completely guilt-free and lets the ingredients shine through for themselves…. Read More »

Palo Alto Farmer’s Market

I had last Saturday off, so I checked out the Palo Alto farmer’s market.  The Madison farmer’s market is a tourist attraction and generally entails being trapped in a crowd of people all shuffling along in the same direction.  The Palo Alto farmer’s market is much different.  It is quite a bit smaller, with only 15 or so vendors, but still boasts a huge variety of goods – everything from the typical fresh flowers and veggies to dried apricots, infused olive oils to baked goods.  It wasn’t crowded and I felt like I could take my time to check out each stand, without “holding up the line.”


I feel so spoiled to be in California right now, where “buying local” means juicy organic peaches, perfectly ripened avocado and crusty loaves of fresh bread.


I was admiring a flower stand and the owner started talking to me about his wares.  He was about my age, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he quit a “serious” job to grow a huge beard and start an organic flower farm.  He had so much advice to give about keeping cut flowers fresh and which flowers to pick so your bouquet lasts a long time.  Did you know that a pinch of sugar will prolong the life of your bouquet?  Also, every time you add water to the vase, you should completely clean it to remove all the debris and bacteria that build up on the sides.  I admit, I usually just stick them under the faucet and top off the existing water!

When I explained to him that I’m living alone in a tiny place on the Stanford Campus and that I’m not home much to enjoy flowers, he insisted that I take a small bouquet home to put in a coffee mug.  It definitely makes me smile as I stay up late pouring over my pediatric nephrology textbook.

 

Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon {Race Report}

My last weekend in Wisconsin, Pat and I headed down to Chicago for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.  I have to admit, I almost didn’t run it.  I was originally really excited for the race and started training for it in February.  However, since May it has been unreasonably unseasonably warm in the Midwest.  Temps in the 90’s to 100’s every day = not ideal training weather.

Despite my reservations, I decided to run.  I admit, I may have been a little last minute about this.  We got the the race expo to pick up my packet just as they were tearing things down, literally with minutes to spare.

The race started early, at 6:30am, but it was still muggy.  This was by far the biggest race I’ve ever done – around 20,000 people participated.  Luckily, my predicted start time put me in the second corral, so I only started a minute back from the elite wave.  It was nice to start the race and not have to worry about trying to pass huge crowds of people.

 


The race itself was a ton of fun!  There were bands at every mile and there was a lot of crowd participation.  Everything from cheerleaders to little kids holding signs to friendly neighbors with a very welcome garden hose.  Pat ran around the race course, so I was able to see him three times during the race.  He later told me that he estimated that he ran six miles!

The biggest problem with the half was, well, the running thing.  For some strange reason, the course didn’t have mile markers, so it was hard to tell what my exact pace was.  Finally at the 10K mark, there was a clock.  When I saw how long it had taken me to run a 10K, and that I was less than halfway done, I wanted to sit right down on the curb and call it all off.  It was pretty frustrating to work so hard leading up to a race only to have my training derailed by global warming the weather!

I soldiered on and finished the race.  It was really nice that the last section went along the lake.  It was so pretty I almost forgot that I was suffering!  I wasn’t very happy with my time, 1:44, which is just under 8 minute miles.  My “safe” goal time was at least 5 minutes faster and my “dream” goal time was 10 minutes faster.  Whomp, whomp.  At least I met my goal of finishing in the top 10% of all female participants!

All that hard work and all I had to show for it was some blood blisters and a participation medal:

The food after the run almost made everything all better.  They had Jamba Juice, chocolate milk, pretzels, snickers energy bars and ice cold H20.  I am easy to please.

The best part of the race was being able to proudly wear the jersey of my favorite running brand and sponsor – Brooks.  Every time I run I am thankful that they have supported me through the ups and downs of the last three years.  Even if I didn’t have personal ties with the company, I would only run in their products.  I really can’t get enough of anything they make, but if I had to pick two favorites it would be the Pure Project Pure Connect Shoes and the Infiniti Shorts.

Foodie Penpals Guest Post – Jessica from Delicious Obsessions

Hi everyone!

This was the first month that I have participated in the Foodie Pen Pals program from The Lean Green Bean. I stumbled across the Lean Green Bean website about a month ago and I saw her program. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to meet new people and share local food and goodies (which I love) with others around the country!

For the box that I was to receive, I was paired with another blogger, which was great! I am a real food and natural living blogger and I publish the Delicious Obsessions website. I always love meeting new bloggers and reading their take on life and finding out what they specialty is. I was thrilled to be paired with Kelly from Running Blonde. As I waited for the package to arrive, I spent time reading Kelly’s site and learning about her. It sounds like Kelly’s life is getting exciting (and busy) as she packs up to head to California to do some hospital work. Go Kelly!

When Kelly’s package arrived, I was SO excited to get it! I don’t know the last time I’ve received something personal like this in the mail, so this was very exciting. That, or I am very easily amused. 😉

The first thing I noticed was that she had recycled packing materials. Love that! I’m all about using what you have on hand and getting creative to make things work without buying new stuff. She also a nice, handwritten card, which I have on my fireplace mantle. 🙂

I cracked open the box and the first thing I saw was the big bag of granola. YUM! Both my husband and I love granola! The Maple Walnut granola is from Nature’s Bakery Cooperative in Madison, WI.

The second item was a jar of honey. Now, I love, love, love raw honey. You can even read the recent post that I wrote about raw honey here. You’ll notice in that article, I mention that I am turning into a honey collector of sorts. I love collecting different honeys from all over the country, and hopefully, the world! Turns out, this honey is about as personal as you can get — it comes from Kelly’s father’s bees! How awesome is that?

The next item was a box of gourmet chocolates from Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier … ahhhh … chocolates. YUM! Apparently, Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier is quite famous outside of Wisconsin. I have never heard of the company, but now that I have had the opportunity to sample the chocolates, I must say they are AMAZING! Sadly, the heat was a little too powerful and the chocolates melted together into a pool. A pool of chewy, salty, sweet goodness. Melted or not, they tasted great!

Lastly, we have booze! What care package wouldn’t be complete without beer? I was sent a bottle of New Glarus Brewing Co.’s Spotted Cow beer. I have yet to crack it open, but I will be soon! Sounds like some burgers are in my near future?

How fun! I loved each and every gift that I received from Kelly. Thank you, Kelly, for putting together a fun package of fun goodies and for being my first foodie pen pal! I hope that we can stay in touch!

Weekend Update

Oh hi there from Stanford, California!  I’m going to be living on campus here for the next week and doing a pediatric rotation at the hospital here!  I just flew in on Saturday (and boy are my arms tired?).  It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but I’m all moved in and thanks to Goodwill/Costco/Ikea my “dorm” is starting to feel like home.

I hope to post pictures soon, but I’m expecting my blogging to become a bit more sporadic.  The good news is that I have a nice guest blog post tomorrow from Jessica of Delicious Obsessions.  She was my Foodie Penpal this month and she’ll be writing about the box of Wisconsin goodies that I sent here!

Here are a few random snaps from my time out and about in Palo Alto/Stanford today:

1. Archery practice!  Apparently, Stanford has an archery team and a dedicated archery practice field.  My roommate informs me that they sometimes offer free lessons.  I am hoping that this happens while I’m here.  It would be amazing to try!

2. There are flowers everywhere!  These were outside of a gas station!

3-4. I had Korean food for lunch.  I stopped at So Gong Dong Tofu House and had Bimibap.  It was absolutely fantastic and full of healthy veggies, tofu, and my favorite, Kimchi.

5. More flowers!  This was outside an adult retirement center.

6. This touching sculpture was also in front of the retirement center.

It’s so beautiful here!  I did a run on the Campus Drive loop and there is so much to see.  It’s a really beautiful place.  I’m excited and nervous to start tomorrow!