May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

Cooking with Kelly

I thought it would be fun to take a cooking class with Kelly - so I made it a 101 goal, that way he'd agree to do it with me for the sake of helping me cross something off the list.

Of course, secretly I knew that he'd love the class. See how I work?

Once I started my transition phase from one job to the next, it made it a little easier to take a cooking class in the evening. I wasted no time in signing us up for a vegetarian cooking course with Chef Jason at our Whole Foods store in Plano.

The evening's menu:

Everyone has to sign a waiver before starting - lawsuit happy culture meets the "hazards" of cooking, like grease popping.

We all suited up in aprons and got ready to cook. In my case, I became the official observer and judge of technique. When I offered at one point to help, Kelly told me that I get to cook all the time so it was his turn.

He was having fun - I KNEW IT!!!

We started by flame-roasting a red pepper. Chef Jason had done all of the prep work for us.

Look at that concentration!

Then we pan fried lightly breaded tofu.

And prepped veggies. Kelly had great skill at chiffonade!

We also made our own marinade.

Which we tossed with udon noodles cooked al dente.

We stirred in the veg - uncooked - to the noodle mixture, then topped everything with the tofu and a garnish of toasted sesame seeds.

Beautiful! And delicious, as well as quick and easy to prepare. It's going on The List.

After we returned from eating our first dish, we got to work on our second item of the evening: Eggplant Sandwiches.

He's totally mastered knife skills.

We made our own marinade and tossed the slices to coat.

While sauteing the eggplant (you could grill or bake instead if you preferred), we sliced tomatoes and pulled the leaves off stems of fresh basil.

Then we built our sandwiches. This was my job and I did it masterfully.

We were too full to eat another meal, so we packed our sandwiches to take home. I might add that we had them for breakfast the next day and they were amazing.

Amazing enough that I'd have them for breakfast again.

Kelly's already talking about the next cooking class that we'll take together - he wants to do Chef Jason's sushi class.

This working in Plano and seeing my husband more often thing is going to be a-ma-zing.

Acupressure Massage: The Therapist Goes to War

The husband loves me - he sent me off on a Sunday afternoon to get a foot massage (ahhh...Top Feet!) and an acupressure massage.

I'd never had an acupressure massage before. By the way, it's the same thing as shiatsu massage, which you may have heard of.

(I had heard of shiatsu, but I'd never had that either.)

Anyway, it was the best and worst hour of my life.

In acupressure/shiatsu, the therapist uses his fingers, thumbs and palms to apply pressure to release muscle knots. It also includes assisted stretching and joint movement.

For a runner who hasn't done yoga in a while (bad me) or rolled in a while (really bad me) and just ran 9-miles for the first time in a while the day before (that's me), there were some serious knots, tight muscles and tight muscle fascia.

For my therapist, serious knots and tight muscles/muscle fascia was merely an afternoon challenge, a personal battle of sorts. Therapist vs the body. And, as the movie Highlander says, "There can be only one."

He won.

Ho-ly-cow, he won.

I can't wait to go back.

When in Doubt - Run

The big questions of life:

• If you've only run three times in six weeks, should you run a marathon? 
• If you've had a head cold for over a week and have barely slept because of coughing and congestion, should you run a marathon?
• If there's been a major sleet storm that shut down the city, should you travel to run a marathon?
• If the weather is predicted to be unseasonably cold, should you run a marathon?

If you are Kelly and John, the answer is Of course you should run a marathon.

They are lunatics.

That's why despite roads (and driveways) that looked like this:

We drove to a marathon.

That's why despite lack of training runs, conditioning and cold weather, they were determined:

They even took time to plan their race strategy for the Army Marathon before the start.

That's why at the end of the race, with wind chills well below freezing, they looked like this:

To be fair, Kelly wants me to say that the day before the race I questioned his doubts about running the race. He claims I pushed him into running but the truth is, I knew what he would be like if he decided not to run. And I have to live with that mess.

A Redemption Marathon

Last weekend's Houston Marathon was a big run for Kelly and our best friend, J.

Kelly desperately needed a really strong run, a run that said he still had speed and a fighting chance to chase a Boston qualifying time. J wanted to break 4 hours. He said the mission was PR or ER.

Both had logged serious time at the gym, changed their diets and started serious cross training. As a result, both wives had done the same.

We were all - as Kelly noted - in danger of becoming boring old people who could only talk about calorie counts and training routines.

The morning looked promising. Cool(ish) weather. Good sleep. The right fueling the day before.

And as a result, the run was great! Kelly didn't hit the time he was on track for, because the temps increased significantly during the last 10k on the course. But he still logged one of his best times in years. As for John? He beat 4 hour. Barely, but he did it, despite the heat.

We left Houston with two happy guys, both who intend to run the Houston Marathon every year now.

Remembering Christmas Parties of Yore

Apparently, Kelly didn't get the memo that it was a photo booth. He thought it was a kissing booth.

I didn't mind.

I Live with a Lethal Man

Stinging insects beware.

My husband will kill you dead. D-E-A-D ... and without regrets.

There is no chance of escape.

[ I feel strangely safe, loved and well-protected from all stinging enemies, foreign and domestic. ]

Why Kelly Loves Texas

In the midst of a rousing group sing-along to "God blessed Texas" midway through the Brad Paisley concert, Kelly turned to me and said:

This is why I love Texas - it's just the best state.

And full of a bunch of drunk proud people.

Source

Marking a Record

This year was the big 1-5 for the Hayleys - 15 years of (mostly) wedded bliss.

As DINK (Dual-Income-No-Kids), we've been a footloose and fancy free household. In 15 years, we have:

• Lived in 5 apartments
• Rented 1 house
• Owned 1 house
• Cared for (and spoiling) 3 cats
• Moved overseas (and back)

It only seemed fitting to sit for anniversary photos to commemorate surviving - and enjoying - our time together.

Though after I drug Kelly out to a park on a 98F evening, I wasn't so sure we'd be together for year 16...

I Sent a Text

I sent Kelly a text the other morning, just to let him know that I loved him.

He never answered.

That night was his usual evening commitment, which means I tend to either book evening meetings or work late. When I finally got home, I found a box of donuts from Max's on the kitchen counter.

I sent Kelly a text to let him know I was home and had seen the donuts.

And he answered.

My Predictable Guy

We had a great time on Saturday hanging out in Fort Worth with my family.

That despite having run 15 miles with a 3:45 am start time and experiencing the closest thing I've felt to jet lag without actually being in jet lag. I suppose a week at conference plus a 3:45 am run start time with only 20 hours of sleep to my name will do that.

But enough of that.

We met up for lunch and a visit, then wandered over to one of my company's most recent projects, the Sundance Square Plaza. It's a gorgeous public space and, fortunately, it was a unseasonably cool gorgeous summer day. Perfect to watch a little girl do this:

And that's when we got in trouble. Kelly noticed that other adults were in the fountains.

He thought it would be fun to splash around.

He thought I should join him.

I should have known better.

Never. Never. NEVER trust Kelly to simply "splash around."

My Cross to Bear

For every photo that I'm happy with, like this:

I have to endure a shot (or three or five) like this:

He will not behave.

Do Not

Do not tell your husband, Don't laugh.

Do not tell your husband, I don't want to hear mocking comments.

Do not tell your husband, I have a good reason for doing this.

The truth is, you're wasting your breath while giving him fair warning that he needs to rev up his joke machine.

This is particularly true if you've decided to try out a product called Frownies.



Source

Turnabout is Fair Play

He bought me an iPad for an early birthday present.

So I cashed in some Amazon gift card money that we've earned through our health rewards program and got him this fancy-pantsy triathelete training watch.

The Garmin 910XT.

He's in runner geek heaven!

The Best Kind of Team

Aren't we a great team?

Another Weird Thing...

The thing about eating dinner with your favorite hand therapist is that you sometimes learn that a small football injury that you thought was a jammed joint is really Mallet Finger.

Bummer for my guy. But at least he'll get to spend some more time with his favorite hand therapist!

And there's nothing quite like walking out of dinner, across the parking lot to CVS and having your favorite hand therapist splint your finger before everyone said goodbye for the evening. It really was the perfect ending to an incredibly bizarre day!

Happy (VERY) Early Birthday!

Last weekend, my love said he was in the mood to run to the store and asked me to go with him.

So I did.

No clue where we were going, by the way.

He pulled up in front of Best Buy, walked in and told the first sales clerk that greeted us that his job was to help me pick out an iPad - whatever kind I wanted.

Then he looked at me and said, "Happy early birthday, love! Your husband has been saving and just didn't want to wait until July to surprise you."

Surprise indeed. WHOO-HOO!!!!

They Have What?

Kelly describing an office he visited last month:

It was a top-secret place. It made you think of 007.

They even had a palm reader at the door.

Source

Bake Those Tacos



Apologies for the sporadic posting.

 

Though I don't know why I'm apologizing - I gave plenty of warning that I was in a busy season of life.

 

Anyway, I was out of town for a goodly portion of the week. It's always nice to return home and get back to cooking good food for the good man in your life.

 

Baked Tacos

 

Yes. I baked tacos. And they were delicious - delicious enough to make again and again.

 

Fully cook your desired fillings (I used refried beans and spicy taco meat). Place taco shells in an oven-safe baking dish and fill. I topped my tacos with new-for-us-to-try queso fresco.

 

I feel as though I need to take a recipe detour to talk about queso fresco and why I was trying it out. My husband, great and adventurous eater that he is, despises goat milk products of any sort. No chevre. No feta. It's a sad situation for me.

 

I've been on the lookout for a cheese that might have the same saltiness of a feta but none of the goat milk sourness that makes Kelly gag. I heard that queso fresco had many of the same properties and, in even better news for me, is widely available.

 

The cheese did indeed crumble nicely and, just to be safe, I had my guy taste a bit before I potentially ruined our dinner with cheese. He proclaimed the flavor to be "AWESOME."

 

These types of successes really do give me a thrill. And now I can't wait to try making my oh-so-yummy Spinach Feta Pasta with queso fresco as a substitute.

 

Anyway, fill your tacos:

 

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes to crisp the shells and melt the cheese.

Top with your favorite cold fillings.

Seriously delicious!

Now I feel the need to try other combinations, like

• Kung Pao chicken and cabbage
• Spaghetti squash and black beans
• Chicken tikka and butter lettuce
• Roasted chicken and corn salsa

What combinations would you come up with? (I might just be tempted to try them out!)

Trouble Brewing

This is the pictoral definition of "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." reference