My darling

Aislin played a chick in a Christmas pageant with her Preschool class.
Cheep, cheep.

Weightlifting Competition

Windy City CrossFit (WCCF), my gym, hosted a Winter Weightlifting Competition organized by fab acrobat, muscle man and badass coach - Will Howard (he does Turkish Getups using people). Way to shine Will - on both counts!

I volunteered to help out the day of the meet, but my girlfriend and fellow Crossfitter, Kim Hanna, put out the call to all of us 'grown-ass women' (which I think is a compliment - but perhaps a euphemism for women over 30?) - and I answered. Being new to Olympic weightlifting (I never heard of the moves until Oct 2009) I didn't win any awards - this time - ;-) but I did move some weight around. Woohoo, I add weightlifting competitor to my list of achievements!

It was an exciting day! There was every walk of life at this meet. Some of the skinnier women looked like they would break under the weight of their loads. The men were especially fun to watch. They hoisted, hauled and lifted heavy stuff. I got some of them to "clean and jerk" my kids as play. Sweet knuckledraggers! The kids were thrilled to be hoisted in the air like weights! Thanks to Dingo and Doogie for that joyride! Gentle giants *sigh* Couplla great fellas.

CrossFit forges elite fitness. We use many Olympic lifts in our workouts of the day. They are whole body lifts that require technique and full-body strength. Very satisfying movements because it doesn't work just one muscle. It requires all of them!

I'm so proud of everyone who competed (you got to lift or fail while 100 people watched silently - yikes!). My favorite of the day was watching WCCF's own "Doogie" (I have no idea what his real name is). Watch the video and you'll see why (whit guy with a shaved head and Addidas shorts). Awards went to a handful of the WCCF crew. Servia aka "Beef" won the best overall female lifter award. Jen also won for her weight class. Well deserved (those broads are so strong) - Asskickers all!

Enjoy the links to the videos of the competitors I know. I have no idea where else to link them.

Holiday cheer in west humboldt park

The 1/2 grade class from Pilgrim Lutheran school visited CPS Pablo
Casals school today celebrating the true meaning of Christmas -
selfless giving. Just as God did when he sent us baby Jesus. It was
fun, rowdy and so sweet.

Burn and turn - literally - with photos

Back in my volleyball days the term was "turn and burn" when running
court sprints. Yesterday AM I wished I would have turned before I got
burned - literally.

My espresso maker was clogged and going to blow. I opened up the
steaming wand for a bit and then panicked and opened the top. Was
exposed to highly pressurized, HOT steam for a second at most. But it
got me good.

Ice was the only pain relief. I iced it for 7 hours straight. The pain
subsided, except if you touch it. I'm so thankful. It actually made
me thankful for the free gift of salvation too. Cmon, it's cliche but
we all think Hell is hot. And not in a sexy way.

Sidebar: yesterday it snowed here. It's a good thing because I
literally ran out of ice! Ow! Snow, sweet glorious snow - how I love
thee. Squee!!

Beck. From iPhone.

Flank Steak and Edamame

Nothing like a good steak. Flank steak is one of my favorite meals, warm or cold. I don't usually care for leftover meat, but this is great! Great cold or on a salad the next day. If there are any leftovers! It pairs well with red wine or beer.

Flank steak is an extremely lean meat. I marinate my steak overnight in a ziplock bag. If you don't have the time, chef Paula Dean, says that 24 hours of marinating in the fridge = 1 hour marinating at room temp. I've tried it multiple times and it works great! Let it marinate for 1 hour at room temp (non frozen meat). The more time you can let it marinate, the better.

I love eating whole edamame with coarse salt. It's really sexy food! You eat it with your hands and scrape the shell across your bottom teeth to extract the bean. Scraping the coarse salt from the surface of the edamame adds just the right amount of sumthing-sumthing. I love the flavor and texture. Edamame is fun food! My 3 year old daughter even likes! As for it being Paleo - I'm not sure. Technically it is a legume. I think the most pertinent fact of eating paleolithically is that the food was something a caveman would have had access to. I think soybeans are a modern crop. But let's face it, we're in modern times. The real point is to eat real food! I know I wouldn't eat bugs or other nastiness a starving caveman might have consumed. So I looked up the Glycemic Index of Edamame and it is very low. This is good for keeping blood sugar hence insulin levels in balance. So I deem it Paleo friendly! Cue the music! And don't forget - it's super sexay (yeah, I know, I'm talking about food - I love food).

Wondering what the heck that thing is next to the raw cut of meat? It is not an ancient radius bone or crude pipe. LOL. It's fresh horseradish. I experimented by adding some fresh Horseradish to the meat marinade to give it a spicy kick. I tasted the marinade before using, and it was spicy! I was excited to see how it would work! The grilled meat did not taste spicy or horseradish-y at all. In fact I think it lent a sweeter taste to the marinade. So skip it. It's kinda of an exotic ingredient anyway (hard to find).

Most important thing, enjoy cooking, enjoy eating and live well!

Flank Steak Marinade

1/3 C. Olive oil
3 TBL White vinegar
3 TBL Lemon Juice (bottled stuff is OK)
3 TBL Soy Sauce
2 TBL Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 TBL fresh Parsley (or 2 tsp dried)
1 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
2 tsp dry mustard (don't skip this)
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients in a mixing cup. Put meat in ziplock bag and pour marinade over meat. Distribute around meat. Marinate 24 hours in fridge or 1 hour at room temp.

Sear on grill on both sides - 3 minutes. Cook on low-med heat until done (7-10 min). Take off heat at 140 degrees (130 if you want RARE). Let REST for 5 minutes. Cut meat as thin as possible at a 45 degree angle (see photo). ENJOY!