I Make Myself

• A little road trip •

Heinz and I are going on a little road trip today.  He got the week off from work due to the holidays here in San Salvador.

I'll be back in a couple of days hopefully with tons of pictures to share.

I will also be posting about two very important subjects:

1. I started a new strength training routine at the gym. I talked to a new trainer and told him about how I thought I've hit a plateau.

We discussed the routine last friday but actually started yesterday. So far I love it! I feel like I'm working out and using muscles I've never used before! So more on that when I return.

2. My birthday is coming up. The big 3-0 my friends. I am still undecided about my feelings. Some days I feel so blessed and realize I've accomplished the things I set my mind to but then sometimes I think I still want so much more out of life! So many places to go! so many things to learn! 

My birthday is August 8th and I still don't have anything planned. Just a run. That's for sure. I run on important dates. I think it puts the cherry on the top.

As you see I have a few things in my head right now and hopefully this road trip, the beach and drinking many micheladas will help me sort everything out.

LIme, salt, pepper and Worcester sauce. The base for a perfect michelada.

Oh and lets not forget! The Olympics. I'll be back in time to watch all the running competitions.  El Salvador doesn't have many athletes at the Olympics so I am borrowing a few from other countries so I can have someone to cheer for!  I am really cheering for Desi Davila on the Woman's Marathon. 

How about you? are you cheering for one athlete in particular? 

I hope everyone is having fun watching the Olympics! 

• A friday's fix •

It just happens that today is friday but you can fix yourself this salad any given day.

I recently made myself a sauteed eggplant salad and it was delicious. It is by far one of the easiest and yummiest salads I've discovered.

I used:

• 1 medium eggplant
• Salad mix
• Fresh mozzarella - marinated!

I have to talk about the cheese. I recently found these mini mozzarella balls at the supermarket. They are marinated in canola oil, olive oil, garlic, fresh parsley, red pepper and spices. They are simply gorgeous. I like them in my salads.

I cut the eggplant into squares,  placed them on a baking sheet, added salt and pepper and cooked them for about then minutes. I forgot to drizzle olive oil on them so they turned out spongy. I ended up sauteing them for two minutes.

The eggplant and the cheese were tasty enough so no dressing was necessary.

I don't know if its the heat but I had never considered myself a salads person. Lately salads are all I can think of.

How about you? ARE YOU WATCHING THE OLYMPICS?? I bet you thought I was going to ask a salad related question.

Let's not loose our focus!

Have an awesome weekend filled with Olympic competitions.

 

• An Olympic thursday •

Happy Thursday is here!!!!

I'm super excited today, I also just had a huge glass of iced coffee so expect fireworks people!

Nah, just kidding...about the fireworks that is but not about my current state.

The countdown is o.v.e.r! I am beyond...what is the word I'm looking for???... yeah EXCITED that the Olympic Games start tomorrow.

Exactly at 13 hours I will be watching the opening ceremony live from the comfort of my living room. Heinz will bring the food and I will bring the...yes...EXCITEMENT!

To honor this highly anticipated event here are my five London2012 happy things:

1. El Salvador at the opening ceremony

Why? because I will get to see our athletes wearing an outfit designed by my sister! Even if it is for a fraction of a second the world will get to see a token of her talent.

2. The opening ceremony itself

Last one was superb! Now I want to see what Danny Boyle's has to offer.

3. Spreading Hope

What I love most about the Olympics is that you get to hear about these amazing success stories of regular people training hard and overcoming obstacles  to pursue their dreams. Hearing about all the challenges and sacrifices  made by these hard working athletes is just inspiring.

4. Awarding ceremonies

I predict I will be crying. A lot. Even when the athletes don't cry I cry! I guess it has to do with the fact that I would love to experience the feeling of winning an Olympic medal -or any medal for that matter- knowing I am representing my country. Don't call it crying call it dream channeling.

5. Running competitions

Is anyone looking forward to something else? I didn't think so.

 

Now it's your turn to tell me what you love most about the Olympics. What are you looking forward to? Running? Gymnastics? Watching your country's athletes compete? 

The Olympics start tomorrow damn it! spread the joy!

• Dijon salmon fillet •

If you read yesterday's post you may have an idea of today's recipe. 

Monday night I tried to make a Dijon salmon recipe because yesterday I was cooking for a family event.

Which one do you want me to reveal first? the recipe or the event?

I know what you are thinking: food! now!

For this recipe I used:

• 1 Salmon fillet
• 3 Leeks
• 2 spoons of Dijon Mustard
• Olive oil, salt and pepper

The base is of course the sauce. I combined the mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper in a blender and mixed. I've tried mixing it with a spoon and the oil and the mustard will never blend so just go ahead and grab da' machine.

I chopped the leeks and made a bed in an oven-safe container then I placed the salmon and finally I poured the sauce. I sprinkled more leeks on top.

The salmon cooks super fast! Once in the oven, the fillet I shared with Heinz was done in 20 minutes.

These are all pics from yesterday's dinner. Heinz and I did not eat that monstrous salmon steak by our selves. I am offended if that thought crossed your mind ;)

I would share pictures of how it looked once it was cooked and served on the plate but I forgot to take them. I was too busy eating! The rest of the guests didn't remember to take pictures either.

And who might these guests be? well my friends it is there where the mystery lies. Yesterday's dinner was to introduce my sister's  and her boyfriend's family. Big step right? We met them yesterday over dinner. We had a great time and ate some amazing food (I sent my compliments to the chef).

Now tell me, did you make any huge steps yesterday too? My sister introduced our family to her boyfriend's family, I cooked for eight people...come on! be part of the game and let me know what was big about your day yesterday or what will be big about your day TODAY.

• What I ate in a day •

Remember I told you I would be doing more "what I ate in a day" posts. Well I like to be considered a lady of my words!

Yesterday I tried to snap a picture of every meal and today I am sharing it.

Breakfast was  a classic two colored toasts. What do I mean by two colors? This!

I needed to make it a quick breakfast so I chose a basic cream cheese and Nutella double toast. I came up with this breakfast on a day I couldn't decide if I was craving salty or sweet. Why not have both?

I ate an apple as a morning snack. No picture necessary there.

For lunch I was still running late so I wanted to grab a quick bite of something that wouldn't be too heavy because I wanted to squeeze in a lunch time workout. I looked around in my fridge and saw a couple of sweet potatoes I bought to try them out for the first time. I had never ever tried them before! crazy...I know.

I did a quick search on-line to find out how long they took to cook and found -on yahoo answers!- they could be done in 10 minutes.

Lunch was broiled chickpeas and sweet potatoes with fresh mozzarella.

 

For this recipe I used:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella
• French fries powder

To cook the sweet potato I pinched it with a knife a couple of times, wrapped it in a kitchen towel and threw it in the microwave for three minutes. I took it out, peeled it (with care because it was hot) and cut it into squares. I placed them, together with the chickpeas, on a foil paper sheet, I drizzled a little bit of olive oil only over the sweet potatoes and finally sprinkled some french fries powder over everything.

After ten minutes everything was done!!!!!!!

To be completely honest I LOVED this mix of food! The cheese gave it a fresh touch and the sweet taste with the spiciness of the powder was delicious. I made enough to save for Heinz' dinner.

At the gym I did a quick 20 minute inclined treadmill warm-up walk. I continued with a -mostly- lower body circuit workout:

5x15 reps of each exercise

• Crab squats in one place with one 20 lbs dumbbell. 
• Dead-lifts with two 15 lbs dumbbells. One on each hand.
• Regular squats with two 10 lbs dumbbells.  One on each hand.
• Standing shoulder press with two 10 lbs dumbbells. One on each hand.

I added an upper body exercise as a "resting time" between each of the sets, you see my legs rest while my shoulders are burning! that way I don't sit around counting a minute between the reps.

I finished with a 3 miles in 30 minute run and it felt good!!

For dinner I cooked a salmon fillet and broiled more vegetables. I didn't take a picture because it was dark. I will cook it again and I will share the recipe in another post because it was THAT good. I was trying out the recipe for tonight's special dinner.

If you come around tomorrow maybe you'll find out what was special about tonight. Besides my salmon of course.

Well for a typical day this turned out to be a rather longish post. 

I hope you give the sweet potatoes a try. In case you haven't. Like me. Let me know because it would make me feel less weird.

 

 

• Moody monday •

Monday mornings are very special for me. I tend to think and analyze what I did over the weekend and I also plan for the week ahead.

I get very thoughtful and it usually takes me a little time (translate to morning coffee) to get things started -because I am busy thinking ya' know-

I thought about sharing my weekend activities but then...why not share something more useful; I doubt looking at pictures of oysters and sand will be of any use to others. Although they do make colorful posts right?

So if you are up for a picture-less post do stick around because today I will share 5 things that help me beat bad mood.

Bad mood is like the flu! We all get it once in a while and it can be highly contagious. Disgusting. I'd rather be in bed sick than at the beach with a bad mood-er or even worst with bad mood myself.

But lets be honest. There are many things that can be frustrating & enraging. There are things that are completely out of our control and for me something I can't fix is what will normally trigger a bad mood flare up.

FYI we are all prone and nobody is immune so if you do NOT like bad mood maybe this will be useful to you.

Whenever in a bad mood you can:

1. Go out for a run

No secret there fellows. A run is a run. Treadmill, trail, thirty minutes, speed work...doesn't matter. Walk, hop, jog or run. Get out! Move around and get some physical activity done.

I won't credit myself for coming up with this one because well...she did:

 Via

I know I said picture-less but come on...Elle Woods deserves a picture!

And I know you might be thinking "What if I am in an enclosed space and can't get out"

Well then Numero 2 is for you.

2. Set up a personal fort

I hear you my friends. Maybe you are at your workplace and you can't just be like "Ok, I'll go run now". That will usually get you fired and we wouldn't want that.

I used to work at this place where there was a girl who was always -ALWAYS- in a bad mood. Monday mornings, afternoons, lunch and even when it was time to go home she would complain. People like her can be tiring and let's be honest it can get YOU into a bad mood too! As I said it is contagious.

What to do? First and foremost, do not engage into any personal conversation with this kind of people. They will drag you to Frustration Land. Now, don't be rude, listen to them and act like you care but get yourself out of their personal space as soon as possible. You see there are people who are negative & proud. They can't be bothered being different and it may be harsh but if you have ever tried to convince them other wise you will have seen that bad mood is their comfort zone. 

What I did is that I built my personal fort. I would go to my computer and counter weight my co-worker's bad mood with happy, amazing things like:

• Running blogs like Ali's
• Travel and life inspiring blogs like Chris's
• and of course THIS

When it comes to the blogging world people will most likely share their success or struggle stories, their running PR's, trips, happy moments, DIY's, etc. In one word: achievements. The results may not always be as expected but they are achievements none the less. 

I love to read blogs that are about getting things done. From making your own hairdo to completing a marathon. From pictures of what I eat in a day to what I wore today outfits these personal snapshots of other people's life would easily get me in a great -positive- mood.

3. Put it into perspective

How mad you feel will never be equivalent to how fast you sort out a situation so spare yourself the crappy mood. It won't make things any better. 

Bad mood won't make you think quicker or act faster.

4. Let it go

There are things you can't change.

5. Think about the future.

Where will you be two days from now? this weekend? next month?

Fast forward your mind to a happy moment: an upcoming vacation, the good book you will read saturday afternoon or just tomorrow's morning coffee. 

Whatever is getting you into a bad mood is momentary. In a year from now you won't remember what got you in a bad mood today.

 

I hope it helps! What about you? What are your bad mood emergency medicines? I'd love to hear from you! 

• Happy Thursday is here •

Thursday is here and that only means YOU should be happy. We are one day away from da' weekend fellows!

Here is my happy things list for this week!!!

1. FAV by Valeria

 

One of my besties is pouring her creative self into a bracelet collection. Well, not just bracelets but also necklaces and earrings. I love love love them all! We have the same taste when in comes to accessories so it is no surprise that I like her creations.

Just in case you were wondering...yes that is my hand! Shouldn't I just become a hand model? Did you ever see that Friends episode where Joey finds his identical hand twin? so funny!

Bottom line is having creative friends makes me happy! If you want to be happy by rocking her bracelets feel free to email her! (Just make sure you live in El Salvador area) 

2. Substitutes

I've confessed my profound love with Micheladas (beer and lime mix) and my strong belief that they should become our national drink. They are so refreshing I could drink them every day, specially on a hot day which is like ALWAYS here in the tropic. Sometimes I feel like having one but I have to limit my beer intake because after all they are a liquid form of CARBS! 

When I am closely monitoring my diet I will still have a michelada but instead of using beer I use club soda and it tastes exactly the same. My pregnant friends used to drink this all the time since they couldn't drink alcohol. Honestly you can't even tell the difference.

 

3. Lunch with hubby

Heinz has a hectic working schedule but we do get some peaceful times and I love to take advantage when that happens. Yesterday was one of those unplanned lunches where we got together and ate out. I was craving something fresh and what could be fresh-er (I just made up that word) than a ceviche. Yesterday was peruvian style. Simply delicious.

Ceviche & hubby: happy Ruth.

4. My girls.

 

Getting together with your girlfriends is soul nurturing. Getting together and adding wine to the equation is well... just plain perfect. After a perfect night with my soul sisters we each headed home. My sister and I have always shared our friend circle so of course she was there yesterday. We had a lovely night and to top it off there was some drinking and texting involved.

Exhibit A: my sister's text last night. Oh, don't worry if you don't understand. I doesn't mean anything neither in Spanish, English or in any other language.

She blamed it on the autocorrect. 

5. Featured recipe

Now this makes me so happy! one of my recipes was included in a new on-line campaign! How cool and awesome is that? 

 

How about you? did you make your happy thursday list? What made the cut this week?

 

• A very green soup •

A friend of mine said I was veggie obsessed and you know what...I think I am! I believe she might have gotten a hint by the amount of green stuff (as in healthy) I share on this blog.

So to honor my friend's remark I am sharing today a very very green...green peas soup.

Again totally vegetarian yet Heinz approved!

Points to Ruth for getting her man to eat AND repeat an all-veggie dish.

For this recipe I used:

• 1 bag of dried green split peas. I believe the bag weighted 1Lb.
• 4 to 5 cups of water
• 1 medium scallion
• A bunch of chopped coriander
• Salt to taste

I brought  the water to boiling point then added the green peas and the scallion. I didn't even bother chopping the scallion because I knew it would get soft enough to blend afterwards. I let it cook for about 15 minutes and then I turned the heat off letting the peas soak the remaining water. If you want you can skip this step by cooking them longer.

Once it cooled I added the coriander, salt and used the blender to mix everything together.

You can serve it with shredded cheese on top or even some chopped turkey breast. I had mine with sliced chicken sausage.

So tell me...are you veggie obsessed too? Is there one veggie in particular?

If I had to pick a single one I think I might go with broccoli...how about you?

• Broccoli, avocado & mozzarella salad •

This salad is fairly simple but oh so tasty.

For one serving I used:

• 1 small broccoli
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella
• 1/2 half of an avocado

 

For the dressing I used:

• Two spoons of Dijon Mustard
• Olive oil
• Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Chopped Scallion
• Coriander

I love making this Dijon Dressing! As I've said before I don't buy salad dressings at the supermarket, I always make my own. This is a fast and delicious one. It will spike up any salad.

 

Will you be giving it a try?

 

Happy tuesday everyone!

• A wordless weekend •

 

1.Saturday: Thrift store shopping.

 

2. Sunday: A book & a beer at the beach.
 
 

How about you? Did you have a wordless weekend too?