Thursday: RUN and Fabulous Bean Gratin Recipe

While my job will never bring me worldly prestige or wealth, I have to say that every once in a while it is profoundly interesting and allows me to enjoys the sorts of discussions that were maybe present in coffee house before the Russian, French or American revolutions.  There was much talk of correct government, human nature and passion about our subject.

It was induced by yet another reading of Kafka's Metamorphosis.  I am not a huge fan of the story: it is kind of gross, it stresses me that Gregor is essentially a huge roach, and I despise the way that his family comes to treat him.  On the plus side, however, what I feel that I fully understood on this millionth reading, was just how much Kafka hated capitalism.  He hated it so much that he made it a roach.  He wrote it two years before the Russian Revolution while he was working as a civil service lawyer.  His tale of roachdom was a catalyst, and it is very interesting.  I enjoyed the reading and discussing and felt that today was the sort of day that results in lifelong fulfillment in my station.

Anyway, before my interesting work, I attended our church chili supper where I was able to test several different kinds of chili and I ingested an inordinate amount of fritos. Fritos make chili great.

In the afternoon, I got in a very fast five mile run and made it back to the house in time to gather up Young Sloan from nursery school and trot him off on a few errands.  At the Cosmetic Market, I picked up a few Grab the Gold Bars, and it so happened that we were there when they were dismantling the Valentine's Day display.  Long story short, Sloan the Younger walked out of the cosmetic market with a bouquet of 14 helium filled balloons.  It is epic and there is little talk of anything but balloons at Sloan Manor.

 At Whole Foods, we picked up mild turkey sausage with the casings removed, which I sauteed to go with this amazing White Bean Gratin.  It was amazing.  Recipe as follows:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 onions food processed to almost a puree
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• sea salt
• 6 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cans white beans
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• four ounces parmesan cheese

1) sautee the onions in oil until they are carmelized (20-25 minutes)

2) Stir in garlic, pepper flakes, and wine.  Cook until wine is evaporated.  

2) In a separate pot, mix chicken broth, beans and rosemary.  Simmer briefly and season with salt and pepper.

3) Finally, stir two mixtures together and stir in parmesan cheese.  Warm @ 350 until hot and melty all the way through. Serve with Whole Foods Sausage.  

It is crazy delicious!!

Wednesday: Swim and Gilad

Oh yes, sports fans.  I, Betsy Sloan, was not only on time to swim, but I completed the workout with time to spare.  I swam 4000 meters, and it seemed like a great personal triumph.  It is just so nice that Sloan the Younger has stopped tantruming, and we can leave the house without inciting a war of misery.  We waltzed into the gym nursery like it was no big thing.  It took me about 1.5 minutes to give kisses and sign the nursery roster compared to the usual 20 minutes of wailing.  I skipped out with a light heart to hit the pool.

Stephen, who is getting pushy about our workouts by the way, gave us a 300 butterfly set which was really hard.  Workout as follows:

• 200 swim
• 200 kick
• 200 IM
• 200 pull
• 5 x 25 butterfly @ :30
• 2 x 50 butterfly @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 butterfly swim
• 5 x 25 back @ :30
• 2 x 50 back @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 back @ swim
• 5 x 25 swim @ :30
• 2 x 50 swim @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 swim
• 200 swim @ 3:30
• 400 pull @ 6:20
• 100 swim @ 1:50
• 400 pull @ 3:30
• 50 swim @ 1:00
• 100 easy
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 100 warm down

So, an intense workout and the 300 butterfly set was KILLER, but I gimped my way through it!!  Got in a Gilad workout at home, did some cooking, settled in and pulled out the needlepoint!!

Tuesday: Speed Sessions, Yoga and Gilad

There are many times in my life when I have thought that I would like to relive the previous five seconds.  The amount of helter skelter than can take place in five seconds is one of the great marvels of life.  I would like to relive the five seconds that it took me to trip over my feet and skid across the junior high gym in front of all of the other seventh and eight graders, I would like to relive the five seconds at an art showing where a kind man introduced me to his "partner" and I said "Oh, you're a lawyer".   He was not, and he meant his "domestic partner".  I would like to relive the five seconds that it took me drop a bucket of paint in the bathroom that I was painting and thus spend hours cleaning it up.  Today, however, there is a new front runner for the five seconds that I would most like to relive.

As I changed Young Sloan's terrible diaper this morning, it somehow catapulted from my hand and landed face down on the floor splattering its contents everywhere and seeping into the cracks in the hardwood.  The more I cleaned, the more human fecal matter seemed to me on the floor and a bit on the wall.  It will not seem to completely eradicate from the floor, and I will not even get started on the smell.  There is something very depressing about wearing your leopard wedges and having diaper discharge under your fingernails and on the back of your hand.  It is really terrible.  Anyway, we were late to school and I was late to Bible study and I came home early to continue cleaning.

In other news, this morning was the first speed session of the winter season.  My alarm went off at 5:15 AM, I was slightly early, and I was quite proud of myself.  Since today was the first session, we had a time trial, so we warmed up for a mile, ran two miles at our fastest, then ran a few cool down laps.  Just like last year, I mixed up my Garmin and it seems that I ran about a 13:35 or maybe a 13:40 two miles.  This was not as fast as last year, which makes me think my suspicions about my current running ability might be true.  I am just not running well right now, and I hope it is not the beginning of a long decline.

Throughout my speed sessions, I am going to try to get in a Yoga workout on the days that I go to speed sessions.  So, my Yoga session was great today and I felt so much better afterwards that I also got in a Gilad workout as well.

Overall, though I deeply dislike dragging myself out of bad as early as I did this morning, I dearly love being finished with my workout before I have even had my breakfast!!

Sunday/Monday: Swim, Swim and Gilad

So last night, I had too much fun to blog.  My day kicked off at the Nashville zoo where we saw the baby meer cats, turtle fornication, and every other zoo thing that you can imagine.  At home, there was much cooking and taking of food before I headed out to swim at breakneck speed as is my habit.

At Sunday tri-swim, we are still doing a lot of out of the pool stuff and so our yardage was somewhat less.  There was a good bit of butterfly kicking and mid-pool starts.  I was worn out when we finished, but the main event was yet to come!!

Last night, I got together with friends to watch the last installment of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  Lisbeth Salander had all sorts of surliness lined up to help along her crime fighting friends.  The movie would have been impossible to follow without having read the books, but it was a great watch.  Such fun!!

This morning, Young Sloan and I were up earlier than usual, and he was unusually accommodating about leaving the house and we made it to swim on time.  I was standing on the pool deck at 8:30AM, and I was swimming by a little before 8:40.

It is of little surprise to me that I got in 3800 meters before I climbed out of the pool.  It was actually a pretty hard workout and some of the intervals were intense an I had to adjust them for me.  Workout as follows:

• 600 warmup swim
• 6 x 50 drill swim
• 8 x 25 fast
• 3 x 50 descend @ :55
• 4 x 100 @ 1:40
• 3 x 50 @ :55
• 4 x 200 @ 3:30
• 6 x 75 (odd back/ even free)
• 6 x 50 kick
• 500 pull

From the pool, we headed out to the park for the first pretty day of what will one day soon be spring.  The park was a barrage of smug mommies.  Everyone was criticizing the snacks that the other mothers had brought for their children.  The mothers of some children thought that the mothers of other children should not allow their children to climb so high on the jungle gym.  Some mothers thought that if your child bumped into their child it was an accident, and some mothers thought that if your child had bumped into their child, it was SURELY on purpose and with a heart full of mendacity.  Some mothers allowed much screaming and other mothers insisted on quiet voices.  

Young Sloan climbed the highest jungle gym and actually assaulted someone in the sandbox with a stick.  It was unfortunate, but we had stern talks and sad sad consequences and our day was none the dimmer for it.  Once home, Sloan the Younger was zipped into his bed where he refused to nap and therefore committed all of us to a long night of irritability.  

Speed sessions start tomorrow!!

Saturday: Run and Yoga

This morning I was up at 5:45 AM to meet up with my running group.  There was a bit of ice out, and I am certainly ice paranoid.  No issues on the ice front and my run was rather blah.  I ran a not too shabby three miles and then, I felt like my mile times became shameful, just because I dropped off the fast group, BUT when I looked at my Garmin, they really weren't too shabby.  I ran around 8 minutes miles, the Garmin shows that I averaged 8:18s, but that is because I did not stop my watch at the 8 mile water break.  Also, I sort of wimped out on my distance.  I really meant to go all the way out to the end of Radnor Lake as opposed to turning around and heading back at the entrance.  BUT, some other people were turning around, so I turned around as well and here I am.  I was sort of planning on running more like 17 miles and I just bailed.  This is what happens when I am training without a race.  Bleh.

In another slight frustration, my heart rate monitor has a nick in the plastic from where I have taken out the battery so many times.  Running three miles with it sliced the skin underneath is several places so I was able to take it off and run without it.  Overall, however the Gamin is running like a charm and I will probably buff the heart rate monitor down so that I don't have the significant chafing.

In other news, such a dull day.  I needlepointed my life away.  I watched Winter's Bone, which won at Sundance and is nominated for an Oscar.  It was interesting and from it, I felt like I learned at least two things:  1) a crank addiction only ever ends badly and 2) cooking crank never makes as much money as you need.  It was a rather hard movie to watch, but I always like to have a few downers under my belt so that in case I am invited to a party of film critics, I will have more to say that "Have you seen Harry Potter?".

I got in a yoga session after I finished my movie.  WHY have I been neglecting yoga?  It is so good for me every time.  There was so much stretching.  My whole body feels better.

Local Taco for dinner.

Friday: Swim and Pure Barre

Do you know what I am with a great sleep:  a new person, a superhero, a person with great ideas and a sweet disposition.  The crib tent worked like a charm and great sleep was had.  I have not had one cup of coffee today or really even craved one.  Ooooh, I take that back, I had a super terrible cup of gym coffee.  It was so awful, and I drank it out of habit.  It is something I do pretty much every Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday, and I have never even thought to mention it.  There is just something so family Sunday school about drinking terrible coffee out of a styrofoam cup.  I love it, almost as much as I love being well rested.  

So our swim coach no-showed today.  There was some sort of mix-up with the substitute coach, and we were on our own for practice.  It was really a pretty good workout, but we were somewhat ineffective as we spent a goodly bit of time shouting at each other what sort of decision had been made about the next set.  Workout as follows:

• 300 warmup
• 9 x 100 @ 1:45
• 8 x 50 choice with 5 seconds rest
• 10 x 25 white water kick (which means really hard fast kick) without fins
•  5 x 200 @ 3:30 pull

So this was 2800 meters and for all of our standing around and waiting for a coach and then deciding where to swim and what to swim, this was a reasonable workout.  Young Sloan was a champion of good behavior.  Well rested apparently means great things for all of us.  

At home, I placidly zipped Sloan the Younger into his bed and I did not hear him stir for two solid hours.  After a week of no napping, it was so lovely.  I got in a Pure Barre workout and a lot of internet errands.  I read half a magazine article and straightened the house.  What luxury!! 

When Ivan woke up we played a bit with the apple TV and had nice time watching some youtube snake handlers on the bike screen.  We made beet pancakes and had a casual dinner before meeting up with a friend for a quick drink.  Bed time early and run tomorrow!!

Thursday: Day Off

Let me just tell you that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights were not my best sleep.  There was all sorts of wakefulness and my fatigue and declining world view have increased with each day.  I am many things, but gracious and pleasant without sleep is not one of them.  Young Sloan dropped an egg on the floor last night, and it honestly seemed like the worst thing that had ever happened to me personally.  So cruel.

Last night, it all caught up with me and I was asleep at 9:30 PM and did not wake until 7:30 AM.  Ten full hours was truly fabulous.  My whole outlook was different this morning and the prompt arrival of the crib tent this morning acted as a catalyst to my good spirits.  I am on top of the world.  Young Sloan and I lounged about the house all morning, cleaning and then putting together his train set before my good spirits launched us out of the house for a visit.

We decided to head in for a lunch at the dastardly and shrill McDonald's play place.  I will not even post links to my other blog posts of terrible experiences at McDonald's play places.  It seems that no matter what we catch or what human filth we see transpire amidst the primary colored plastic, I will keep taking my child.  There is no place that he would rather go.  NO PLACE.  I mentioned McDonald's today and Young Sloan reacted with a paroxysm of joy: wide of eyes, dancing of feet, the multiply shouted "yay!!! yay!! yay!!  So we were off.

Today, I picked up a salad from The Food Company as I generally refuse McDonald's fare outside of a few french fries though I will apparently feed my child whatever they have to offer.  I sat with a stack of magazines, Tina Fey contributed at article to this week's New Yorker!!, and read at my leisure while Sloan the Younger ran about in for one solid hour and a half.  He was so deliriously happy.  I wonder how long we could stay if I did not finally reach a limit of play place tolerance.  Would he be happy there for five hours?  If I arrived when McDonald's opened and left when it closed could I force Young Sloan to a place where maxxed out and never wanted to return.  Or, would he remember those hours as the best of his entire life?

All I know is that when we left after an hour and a half, there was a full melt down with sad sad tears streaming down bright red cheeks.  Everything perked up in the car and we were ready for a visit to Mimi.  Mimi, who I call Margaret, is by far my favorite nonagenarian.  She just finished Cleopatra, I am currently reading it, and we are both unimpressed.  We looked through pictures and table linens and discussed the wonder of so much winter weather.   Young Sloan was impeccably behaved amongst more china and glass things than he should really ever be exposed to.

In the afternoon, we made it home to assemble the crib tent which means that someone is sleeping silently in their bed which is now actually more like a cage, though it means another night of unmolested sleep for everyone and tomorrow, a glorious glorious nap!!!