reviews, races, and remembering momma.

ok... so when did i fall off the face of the blogosphere?

i have a bit to catch up with you guys!

first, can i just say how much i love robert downey jr?

om nom nom.

if going to prison is wrong, i don't wanna be right.

ahem.

iron man 2 was really good! i liked it better than the first one.

and i'm not gonna lie, as much as i want to hate her, can i trade lives with scarlett johansson?

she's absolutely crazy in this movie.

ironic how they're posing identically.

anyways, if you liked the first iron man, go see the second one.

or if you didn't give a crap abou the first one, go watch my husband robert downey jr!

on a completely related note, i got to go to a new favorite restaurant last week!

palani drive is a cute little place in the older part of richmond. the best way i know how to describe it is... fusion? like a mix of vegetarian, mexican and asian food...

...which, coincidently, is the food that will be served in heaven.

salsa? hummus? tahini? cashews? peanut sauce?

i'll take it.

i'm little sister, she's big sister

and apparently i have a killer vein attacking my neck.

... no wonder i have such an attractive boyfriend.

Spicy Thai Peanut – rice, black beans, spinach, spicy peanut sauce, tomatoes, scallions, crumbled peanuts, chile tortilla – 5.95

la mama and i split this, and also ate this:

Palani Salad – mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, scallions – 5.95

... and yes, that is a box of currants and a bottle of hot sauce in the background.

what, you don't bring your own accessories when you go out?

what do you carry in your purse then!?

also a noteworthy nosh:

from whole paycheck's hotbar, of course.

roasted beets, yeller squash, lemon asparagus, and the best 5 bean salad that must be recreated.

... jessica, get on that!

seriously, i could eat those beans every. flippin. day.

moving right along - today was one of the best days i've ever had.

bright and early, mom and i headed downtown to run the susan b. komen race for the cure,

a 5k fundraiser to fight breast cancer and increase prevention awareness.

there was a great crowd...

a few thousand people, for sure.

god totally blessed us with a perfect spring day to race.

love that breeze!

most of the race took place on the bridges over the river, which was really cool.

new favorite picture!

this fall, mom will have been in remission for 4 years.

needless to say, we were feeling a little celebratory mid-run.

the 804, baby!

home stretch...

the view from the bridge.

sometimes, va ain't all that bad.

post-race, in all our shweaty glory.

shameless health plug:

you guys, if i can encourage you to do anything this mother's day, please lovingly encourage your mom to get a yearly mammogram!

my mom, like a lot of other incredible moms, put her health on the back-burner to raise her kids. if she had just taken the time for her mammograms, though, she might not have had to endure hell fighting breast cancer.

other things also raise your risk:

- drinking alcohol, even one drink a day

- being overweight, even a few pounds!

- not exercising consistently

these things seem like "normal" parts of life, but they're not healthy habits.

so please, please, please, nag your mom to make her health the top priority this year.

she can't be a good mom if she doesn't put herself first every once in a while, and prevention through a healthy lifestyle is the only way we can stop this monster.  

phew, you bored yet?
hopefully, tomorrow i will get the chance to post the second part of my thoughts i've been working...

and i've been really thinking about your definitions of beauty.
thanks for your thoughts, and keep 'em coming!
-r

grocery shoppin, thai food, important announcement, and first blogger meetup!

hey beauties!

i hope you guys are having a teriffic humpday morning.

i know i am. i am totally in love with spring weather!

before i bombard you with pics, can i just take a moment to say how grateful i am for you guys?

i love the community that i've been welcomed into!

you guys don't just make awesome food, but you're awesome people. thanks!

and shoutout to my dad - he just started reading! hey dad!

yesterday, i had an awesome foodie day - grocery shoppin, thai food for lunch, and my first blogger meet up at whole foods! and an announcement :)

shall we begin?

tom leonard's... richmond version of harris teeter i guess?

look how hairy this guy is!

local produce? yes please!

the staff kept looking at me funny when i'd whip out my camera,

so i exercised restraint. boo.

look what i found! someone excited?

i couldn't justify dropping $6 dollars on 4 bars when i had a CARTLOAD of produce...

priorities, right??

oh look. i found a few cows.

next stop? world market!

if you haven't even been, check out the website. they have a unique collection of foods and decor from around the world.

sign up for their rewards program for awesome discounts on wine, if you imbibe :)

A WALL OF HOT SAUCE!!!

i'm home.

i'm always keepin' my eyes peeled for a new kind of hot sauce or salsa.

i use them everyday multiple times!

if you guys have any hot sauce/salsa recommendations, please let me know!

ok... am i the only one with a dirty mind???

(sorry mom.)

next stop: thai diner too!

mom heard that this place was one of the best in richmond.

not sure anything could beat tara thai, but whatever.

we gave it a shot.

free appetizer neither mom nor i ate.

when i touched it, my hands got slimy... oil anyone?

their "tempura veggies" was a fried piece of broccoli... lol.

our entrees -

thai chef salad with scallops in chili-lime sauce...

...and bamboo shoots stir-fried in sriratcha.

if you guys have never eaten thai food before,

you should know:

when you say "hot" or "spicy" to a waiter in a thai restaurant, they don't mean american hot... they mean thai hot. if you aren't up for a tear-inducing, sinus-clearing experience, order "medium."

mom couldn't eat this, and she's a trooper!

last stop? my first blogger meetup!

so exciting!!! stephanie was sooo nice to include me in her date with miss brittany!

they go every month to a cooking demo at whole foods, where they cook following a theme.

this month was cinco de mayo, so we got AMAZING mexican food! and the chef was awesome - he went to johnson & wales for his culinary degree (my dream!), was really cool, and was pretty cute!

... and get this - he asked me for my blog link so he could follow me!!!

i have a follower! i'm just happy outside of my head right now.

(hey chef jesse!)

gettin' ready for my girls' date.

thanks so much to stephanie's mom for taking 10000 pictures of us!

she's so sweet, and gets the blog thing.

super weird?

stephanie's little sister was in my spanish class in high school!

small world, right?

and if you guys don't already read stephanie and brittany's blogs, check them out!

they are total sweethearts, and cook amazing food!

our menu - hello salsa!

my first taste of ceviche! this one was made with tilapia and jicama.

amazing!

chef jesse mixed it with his homemade salsa. i die.

i sense a homemade salsa recipe coming up... :)

guac!!!

i haven't had guac in years because it usually has sour cream added to it, and i HATE sour cream.

let's just say i am a fan ONCE AGAIN. as if i needed convincing with avocados...

amazing tacos with adobo chili hot sauce.

the damage...

what a great experience!

thanks again to stephanie for thinking of me!

and my announcement?

i got invited to be a hollaback girl!

a what?

the hollaback girls are a beautiful group of bloggers who think that health blogging needs a bit of help.

we don't bash our bodies, we don't complain about what we can't do, and we are strong, powerful women that treat our bodies that way.

head over and check out the site, and keep your eyes peeled for my first post!

happy hump day!!!

-r

soy... joy?

a quick word of foreshadowing.

this is a whopper post!
appreciation, recap of my last few days/foodie dates, and a little ditty on soy for y'all.
you've been warned :)

a quick word of thanks.

to all you guys who have been reading/comment/making suggestions on my calorie and wheat posts...

YOU ARE THE BEST!
it's incredible to have this new circle of people who understand me, have insight, and can help me through the tough times.
(special shoutout to averie, katie, and emily! thanks ladies... and many more!)

and a quick weekend recap (so far!).
i had GREAT workouts this week... what a blessing! i got all 5 days in - 2 lifting days, 2 runs, 1 walk/jog with mom in the sunshine! i also had a great thursday with momma. we went shopping for her some new shirts for spring and me a new sports bra...

i was ready for the spring weather alright!

but first, we had to eat.

because i couldn't be more obsessed with grilled veggies,

we went back to california pizza kitchen (my second time this week!)

and we split the grilled vegetable salad with grilled shrimp ($16.75)

yummmmmmmmmmm i want another STAT.

the shrimp were freakin' ridiculously good!

and i did find a sports bra... wonders never cease!

it's crazy hard to find one for me.

Under Armor Head Gear Zip Front "Endure"

yay for companies who make freak sizes!

i would definitely recommend this one if you are like me, and have a small ribcage.

they come down to a size 30!!! so rare. fabulous.

unfortunately, mom didn't find any clothes.

darn... we have to keep shopping :)

we were pretty wiped out when we got home, so i made us an lazy easy dinner that actually was heavenly!

scrambled eggs with garlic and onion powder, S&P, and laughing cow wedge on rye wasa crackers spread with sundried tomatoes and italian herbs

i love these crackers!

          because my little sister's coming home from her spring break trip today (!!!), i baked up a double batch of natalie's millet-oatmeal bread for her school lunches when she gets back.
          and because she's allergic to oats, i substituted buckwheat flour in for the oat flour. it adds a nice depth and protein to the bread that the oats kinda lack (if you've had GF bread before, you know what i mean!). i also substituted maple syrup for the molasses (i used it up a while ago... oops!) and added in some herbs for flava flav!

then friday i got to spend some time with my freshman year roomie!

clearly i have a red polka dot fetish. i'm ok with it.

...and eat Ellwood's thai spring rolls! (and some zucchini that's m.i.a... hmm)

i MIGHT have been hungry.

appetite before blogging sometimes...

shoutout to my local girl brittany, who blogs frequently about ET.

as a sidenote: i'm also pretty jealous she gets to go there often, and is in cali.

loser.

anyways, i also got to go out for AMAZING pizza with some beautiful friends to bottoms up pizza. since it was dark in there, i would have felt weird using my flash...

you guys feel the same?
i got the maggie malay, which had their amazingly fresh tomato sauce, local roma tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, and just the perfect sprinkle of feta cheese on top.

so far today,
i've met up with an awesome girl at whole foods for brunch (hey hunter!).

she's my host/buddy from the passover celebration. her dad was so interested in why i was taking pictures... he wanted to see my blog! i was honored :). i had some questions for her about starting my wheat-free test tomorrow (she's gluten-free), and she was super helpful.

i had the split pea soup. pretty darn tasty!

i wish it wasn't cold enough out to crave soups anymore though :(

...boo?

and now... soy joy?

          as i've mentioned before, i try to stay away from eating a lot of soy because of my mom's breast cancer. when she was on chemo, she did a lot of research on the possible contributors, since her cancer wasn't hereditary. although you can't "give yourself" cancer, you certainly can create an environment conducive to the cells' growth, and she wanted to learn how to prevent that for the future.

          at that time (around 2006), there were some very conflicting findings on whether or not soy was safe for daily consumption. some studies "had proven" that soy is helpful for preventing heart disease, obesity, and certain types of cancers. they claimed that asian countries have been consuming soy for thousands of years, and since they have the lowest rate of illnesses, soy must be the cure (especially in place of animal proteins). other studies "proved" that soy is, in fact, very harmful in human consumption, and acts like a phyto-estrogen in the body, which accelerates the spread of estrogen-fed cancers (like my mom's).

          since then, new health reports have come out each year, yet it still seems unclear whether it is something we should be comfortable with accepting as 100% safe.

my opinion?

oh, so glad you asked!

my theory is this - based on a few years of careful googling research since my mom's diagnosis, i don't have much i can say for certain.... what i can say is this: any time the media "discovers" a new superfood that cures EVERYTHING and has no flaws, be careful. food is just that... food. it is not a miracle drug, it is not your comfort, and it is not your enemy. it is fuel for your body. you guys know that i LOVE me some food, but everything in it's place... moderation. and that's how i feel about soy. think of soy like chocolate; just because it's healthy does NOT mean it's ok to hammer down a pound on christmas (sidenote: i know! darn.).

         

          i am not a nutritionist/doctor/prophet (yet!... except the prophet thing), but my understanding of soy is this:  it is a natural, healthy food... in it's pure, unadultered, non-GMO form, in moderation. my issue, however, is this: the average american eats far more food/calories than we should, and an increasingly large percent of this is soy. incase you haven't read a nutrition label in the last decade, soy protein isolate is an additive to many prepackaged foods, as well as soy lecithin, which is used as an emulsifier/binder in almost all baked goods. if you eat protein bars/shakes/loaf bread/candy/cookies/cereal/anything, i can guarantee you that a good percent of your food is soy (breakfast examples: quaker oats? yep. luna bars? definitely.). the problem i have is not the soy itself, but the fact that it has been processed to death in a factory's lab after being genetically modified for profit (more than 80% of soy products are chemically created!). that, and i don't feel good about eating so much of something that has such mixed reviews on it's effect on breast cancer risks. knowing that soy has estrogen-like effects on the body, i question its ability to interfere with my hormones, and down the road with cancer.

just one more thing.
          a guy friend of mine recently confided in me that for the last year, he has been going to his physician for decreased energy, no sex drive, and breast tissue growth (!). let me just say that this guy is a college lacrosse player, lifts weights weekly, and is sexy as all get-out. the doctor had NO idea why this was happening, given his current health/lifestyle, and eventually gave up, prescribing him chemically-regulated testosterone... at 21. WOW. so i randomly asked him, out of curiosity if he got much concentrated/processed soy in his diet...?
... oh, only a few protein shakes a day!
i suggested to him that before he commit to a life of hormone therapy, he research for himself the effects of soy. maybe try switching to another source of protein and testing if it helps, just to see. the doctor NEVER questioned or considered his diet as the culprit. guys, please educate yourselves. never blindly take my word as law! or anyone elses, or the t.v., or your nutritionist. double check everything! in all of my mom's yearly checkups, never ONCE did the doctor ask her about her habits - diet, sleep, stress, exercise, nothing. they have a lot to consider, and sometimes not all of the important questions are asked.

i'm not saying that soy is evil, or that it causes cancer.

i employ a "better safe than sorry" policy.

if i have concerns, i skip it.

and i have a fair amount of concerns. so i rarely indulge.

we will never know the answers to life's questions unless we pursue them.

fair? thoughts? i'd really love to hear your opinion/experiences.

- r

p.s. - the little sister just got back from florida safe, tanned, radiant, and full of life. in food news, mom made these delicious burgers for dinner! go mom!
and a coupon for crofter's superfruit spread!