ANDI 1000

Had some original kale and hearty for supper last night. I'd like to think that I started eating kale before it was cool. Last night I had it with some cinnamon-raisin mochi squares on the side.

Kale and Hearty (the original recipe)

1/2 lb tofu, cut into slabs or bite-sized pieces

a bunch of kale, ends discarded, leaves cut into bite-sized pieces

olive oil

tamari sauce

Heat a little olive oil (about 1 - 2 teaspoons) in a frying pan over medium heat and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the tofu and brown on both sides. Add the kale. At this point, you can cover the frying pan and allow the kale to steam cook; this is especially useful if your kale is not so young and tender. Once everything is cooked, season with a splash of tamari sauce. Serves two. You can put it over brown rice or whole wheat pasta.

In case you've been to Whole Foods lately and seen the ANDI scores liberally sprinkled around the produce and bulk sections, you may have noticed that kale scores 1000. It's tops for packing nutrients with few calories. In fact, basically all the leafy cooked greens score this way, which is good because I'm afraid that my love of kale has been surpassed by my love of mustard greens. Mmmm...mustard greens. You can cook and eat them just the same way--they have a slightly piquant, nutty flavor that I just can't describe. Alas! I'm a vegetarian scientist, not a poet.

Had a good run after work yesterday, though I wasn't flying quite as easily as I did last Friday. I did manage about 4.3 - 4.4 miles, with just a couple of short 50-100 yard sections uphill that were walked. When I was lagging at the 3.2 mile point, I told myself that I could walk a short section just to relax and give my muscles a break, and that gave me exactly what I needed to finish strong the last mile. I'm going to remember this, especially as I get into the longer and longer runs training for my half marathon.

Saw three deer last night! Plus, since they didn't really move from the yard where they were noshing, I saw them all three times I ran past the same place. Even though it was well past dusk and almost full dark, I was able to spot them because of silhouette and recognizing the lighter patches of fur on their faces and undersides. None of them had antlers, so we've got a pack of does running around the neighborhood after dark, exercising their girl power.

I've been disappointed with my dance options here. After taking two tap and a ballet at the closest studio, I finally realized that I'm just not having fun there. The teaching is certainly adequate and gives my body what it needs, but I get no joy from it. The other ballet studio close to work only has adult classes at 9:20 AM--I guess they don't get much business from working women. The other other dance studio barely has any adult classes at all, and not what I'm interested in.

So tonight I'm all set to head over to a local bikram yoga studio and give that a try instead. I'll let you know how that goes.