yep, I biffed it

I know it’s a little delayed, but I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!  I sure enjoyed the extra day.  I don’t know what it is but that one extra day makes such a difference in getting things done and feeling ready to start the week again.  We didn’t really have any specific plans or go to any BBQ parties, but just made time to get things done, go on a bike ride and also to relax a little bit which was really really nice. 

I made some progress on my sports nutrition project and have decided to do it on a supplement/ergogenic aid called FRS.  It is endorsed by Lance Armstrong, along with other athletes.  It’s main component is an antioxidant called quercetin, along with other antioxidants and a little caffeine.  I’m not sure that this product will cause someone to have amazing athletic abilities, but some of the research is somewhat favorable for it.  The only question I have is that FRS does contain the same amount of caffeine as 1/2 cup of coffee, as well as green tea extract, so how much of the energizing effect is from quercetin and the other antioxidants and how much of it is from caffeine alone?  We’ll see.  I’m also meeting with my advisor tomorrow . . . eek!

Today was a pretty normal kind of day except for one major thing, I didn’t use my car!  Chris and I decided to bike to work this morning now that we work pretty close from each other and live not too far from work.  It is about 16 miles each way for me and not too bad.  Well, the morning stretch wasn’t bad at all.  I wasn’t too tired, even though we had to leave the house by 5:30am, and the temperature was just perfect and actually slightly cool.  On the way back, well, it was 98 degrees, very windy and I felt like my legs were going to give out.  I also managed to experience my first mishap with clipless pedals.  Let me explain . . .

Shimano 105 – the tip of the shoe goes about where my finger is and you push your foot it until you hear a ‘click’  Seems easy right?!

In the beginning of our ride home I felt pretty good, a little tired from getting up so early and working all day, but good.  I fueled up with a banana, 1/2 a luna bar and 1/2 package of luna moons with lots of water throughout the day of course, but I could tell my hunger wasn’t satisfied.  I had been ravenous all day.  It seemed like I couldn’t tame the flames of my metabolism no matter what! 

 

By the last stretch of the ride home I was feeling a bit shaky tired and knew I better finish the last of the luna moons I had with me.  At this point we were on a nice straight path, so we decided to stop there rather than at the street to grab a quick refuel.  Well, as I went to stop I completely spaced that I was locked into the bike.  Since we didn’t stop at a stop sign or light I didn’t register and think of clipping out!  Yep, there I went teetering and cursing before I fell hard into the dirt on the side of the path right on the side of my a*#  gosh dangit!  How could I let that happen?!  I thought I had escaped the curse when I successfully finished my first ride with them, in a group no less, without falling over.  Ah well, I guess everyone has to fall over sometime.  Only the better reason to pick right up and keep at it.  I have a nice goose egg bruise on the side of my bum, ouch!  I still really like the pedals because the are very efficient with transferring the energy from your legs to the momentum of the wheels or something like that.  It’s like instant gratification :)  

Anyhow, when we finally made it home, I was, and can you believe it . . .  RAVENOUS!!  I made grilled fish tacos the night before and boy did they hit the spot for leftovers.  I had to have 3 of them before I even started to feel satiated, and then proceeded to have a 1/2 cup of cantaloupe and a mochi.  Mochis are the best invention ever and I usually get them at TJ’s for a special treat (another reason TJ’s rocks my socks off).  They are little pockets of chewy, gelatinous coating filled with creamy ice cream!  We like the mango flavor, but they also have chocolate and green tea I believe, yum!  And there is about 100 kcals in one.  

oooh!  And another little snack that I just love and seems to disappear all too quickly is True North.  I hadn’t tried this flavor before, and it’s sure yummy!  Just have to be careful like most trail mix because in 5 clusters there is 170 kcals.  Great, concentrated energy! 

I found this recipe from CookingLight (what’s new?) and I thought I HAD to try it!  I love fish tacos in the restaurants, not the battered kind, but the nice grilled ones, topped with creamy lime cilantro sauce and crispy cabbage.  This is one of those recipes that really tastes like it does in the restaurant, well pretty darn close!  I adapted it a little bit, mostly increasing everything because it wasn’t really enough spices to flavor the fish.

Grilled Fish Tacos with

Creamy Lime Cilantro Yogurt Sauce   

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1/2  cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/2  cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 cup low-fat greek yogurt
• 2  tsp grated lime rind
• 3-4 tsp fresh lime juice, more for sprinkling
• 1/4  tsp salt
• 2  garlic cloves, minced

 
Tacos:

• 3 tsp ground cumin
• 3 tsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 – 1 tsp ground red pepper
• 1/4-1/2  tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp  garlic powder
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2  lbs red snapper fillets (I had halibut in the freezer)
• olive oil spray
• 8  (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 2  cups shredded green cabbage

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare sauce, combine ingredients in a small bowl; refrigerate.

To prepare tacos, combine spices in a small bowl; sprinkle and press spice mixture evenly over both sides of fish. Place fish on a baking sheet lightly coated with oil. Bake at 425° for 9 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness (alternatively you can use a grill pan for about 2 1/2 min per side). Place fish in a bowl; break into pieces with a fork. Heat tortillas to your liking (we like to get them crispy). Divide fish evenly among tortillas; top each with cabbage and sauce; sprinkle with more lime.  So good!!!

Whew, that was a long one, hope you are having a good week so far! 

Any good biff moments for you?