Workout Wednesday - That Stinks!

When we lived in Michigan, my brother-in-law's hockey bag was The Grossest Thing Ever.

It was big.
It was bulky.
It was Stank Butt Nasty.

Every athlete knows that smell.  That post-workout, "The Grim Reaper would probably hand over his scythe if he got a whiff of me" smell that probably even offends the dog.  The dog who eats from the trash with no qualms.
Of course, like, oh, probably most women, I didn't think that it applied to me.  That smell was Eau de Men's Locker Room.  While I'm not a huge proponent of the "we don't sweat; we glow" argument, I was convinced that, by virtue of estrogen and ovaries, I was immune and happily griped about my brother-in-law, his buddies, and their collective stench after their games.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Have you ever run when it's 90°, at 4:30 in the morning - before the sun comes up - right after a ginormous monsoon cranked up the humidity to Ludicrous Speed?  Because if you have, you know where this discussion is going.
You probably actually would know that regardless.  I have a pretty awful poker face. P-p-p-poker face
(yeah, I went there).

Anyway, back to where I tell you about how totally and utterly repugnant I smell when Zooey and I get back from our runs.
Like to the point that HRH, in her preschool innocence and lack of filter phase of life, will merrily scream at the top of her lungs, "Mommy!  You stink!" and then not want to give me a hug for fear that she'll start attracting flies.

The good news is that I can shower and smell pretty rather fast.  I'm not a shower lingerer, so once the business of Getting Clean and Unstanky is over, I'm out and done, fresh as a daisy.
The bad news is that getting that same funk out of my running clothes isn't as easy.
There are a few reasons for that:

• My clothes don't take a shower every day (like I do), so usually it's a few to several days before they see the light of the laundry room.
• Zooey enjoys sleeping on them sometimes every single night (fun fact: most scent hounds have a bit of a "musk") because I keep the running clothes separate from my "civvies" - no cross contamination here.
• I refuse to use a special "athlete's" detergent filled with chemicals I'm trying to avoid in other areas of my life.

That's right; we're back to me being all crunchy and trying to go off the grid.

But I'm holding fast to this; between The Husband and myself, we create exactly one laundry load (of six) each week that is dedicated to athletic gear.  Investing in a special detergent, which is probably just a different label and a little extra "fragrance," isn't worth my money or my health, or, quite honestly, the health of our beautiful planet.
So my challenge was to find a way that used a more natural approach but at the same time did manage to leave me with a pile of clean and neutral-smelling (no nasty perfumes here!) workout clothes when all was said and done.

Well, it took me some time, but I think I've got it.  And the process was easy, inexpensive, and you probably have everything already.  Except the natural laundry detergent that is just a step away from me making it myself, which I want to try at some point in the near future.
If you don't have a more natural detergent or, for some weird reason, don't make your own, you can use your regular detergent.  But try to make sure that you use one that doesn't utilize fragrances to perfume and cover odors (I'm well aware that I sound like a freakin' Febreeze commercial - the irony, right?) instead of actually getting rid of them and the gunky stuff that is causing that Sasquatch stink.

And, for the sake of All Stuff that is Fun, can you please imagine me giving you these directions in some sort of Donna Reed or Harriet Nelson get-up, apron and all?

1. Turn your clothes inside out; button any buttons, snap any snaps, and tie any ties (this is actually a process that I learned from The Queen of Clean for all laundry).
2. If clothes are, on a scale from one to atrocious, scoring at least a vile, soak them in a solution of water and white vinegar (you want to be able to smell the vinegar, but you don't want your neighbors to be able to).
3. Once soaking is complete (by complete, I mean "when you remember that you were soaking clothes"), or if you opted not to soak them, place clothes in your washing machine.
4. Add detergent as usual.
5. In the place of liquid bleach, add (more) white vinegar.
6. Set the water temperature to warm (not hot!), and use a longer wash cycle (this will make sure that the water rinses cleaner - no detergent, no vinegar).
7. Air dry all the clothes (even socks and undies!), preferably outside, in the sun.

This strategy even worked on one of my Sparky the Sun Devil technical shirts, which would just not shake that smell for a good long time.
I'm hoping that whenever the Arizona temperatures decide to cool off in about three or four months from now, I can at least get back to the house before I nauseate myself.  But I'm definitely going to work on perfecting this.  Hey - it even worked on Zooey's collar, a haven to Hound Musk everywhere!
Go ahead - try this and let me know how it goes.  I can guarantee that you won't turn crunchy by trying.  Unless you decide you want to.

How do YOU get the stink out?

Grazi, Graze - My First Tasting Event

The Twitterverse is a mysterious, exciting phenomenon, and it's helped me not only become friends with many other amazing food bloggers from across the country, but it's also caused me to come into contact with several food bloggers and food lovers right here in the Valley.  I have had a great deal of fun interacting with them, and I have learned about many outstanding local venues thanks to this bunch. Since I have tended to focus this blog on what we make at home, with few forays into what we eat at local establishments, I'll be honest and say that I kind of blog stalk those who have made it their focus to discuss what local chefs are making for dinner.  That way when events like birthdays and anniversaries come up, I have a list of Places to Visit.
Two of these local foodies are the ladies over at Phoenix Bites.  Started in 2010, the website works to bring together lovers of food from across the Phoenix metro area (which has a larger footprint than some states).  And they were kind enough to add me into their circle of those who have been brought together "in real life."  Last Tuesday, I was invited by Amy and Taryn to a private tasting for food bloggers.  I may have squealed when Taryn's tweet popped up on my phone.  I also may have spent the next hour, in my excitement, googling information about things that had nothing to do with the job I am paid to actually do.  But the only one with me was the dog, and I've made sure she won't tell.
Even better was that the stars had basically aligned themselves to make it possible for me to go with complete ease of schedule - HRH was already going to be overnighting at my mother-in-law's, so it was just a matter of telling The Husband that he was on his own for dinner.  As it turns out, he actually had scheduled what I like to call a "bro date" with a friend of his (he's gonna love that term...), and I was going to be on my own for dinner.  Except that I was going to a tasting.
I've never been to a tasting aside from the cake tasting we had before The Husband and I were married (way back when he was just The Fiance), so to say that I was excited is only a little bit of an understatement.  That combined with the fact that it was going to be a rare weekday evening out, doing something outside of the routine that we all find ourselves in made the work day on Tuesday drag a little slowly.
The event was located at the Zona Hotel & Suites in north Scottsdale.  The address alone had me feeling far more interesting than I had the previous night, when I was dressed in yoga pants and eating the rest of the Thin Mints, and I was looking forward to an evening that didn't include chicken nuggets or a free toy.
Zona Hotel and Suites offered the tasting, actually a menu reveal, as the culmination of the resort's reinventing of its bar and restaurant, Graze Desert Grille, previously under two names.  The new name is a nod to the emphasis on fresh, seasonal, and organic (whenever possible) local ingredients.  This philosophy of farm-to-fork means that the items we tasted will vary by season and ingredient availability; what may have been a fresh beet Tuesday night may become a radish when seasonally appropriate.  This, of course, means that diners in every season will be able to enjoy items in the prime of their flavor.
Menu items offer a snapshot of American cuisine with an emphasis on Southwest influences.  That doesn't mean that you'll see chiles or chimichangas on every plate; the variety that we were offered clearly demonstrates Chef Kevin Myers's endeavor to offer a plate for every palate.  Some of those plates might surprise those who think the Arizona food focus is still mostly "cowboy cuisine."  We've come a long way from a chop house on every corner, baby.
Our menu included samplings from Graze's breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, which, while unveiled for us that evening, will be officially offered beginning April 5.
Along with each course was an appropriate wine or beer pairing, presented to us by Paula from Arizona Stronghold Vineyards and Hana from Quench Fine Wines.  While the food was excellent, the pairings, and the subsequent information that Paula and Hana shared with us about each pairing, was by far my favorite part, and as all but one course was served with a local Arizona brew or vintage, I came away from the evening with a new appreciation for Arizona wineries and wines that is more on the level at which I appreciate Arizona breweries and beers.
I could likely take an entire post to talk about each course and its pairing, so I've selected my favorites here.

I just had my iPhone camera;
the fading sunlight gives it away that I am NOT
Ansel Adams.

Queso Fundido (Family Style) - lunch and dinner menus
Served with warm flour tortillas and stuffed with Schreiner's chorizo and a variety of exotic mushrooms, it was basically all I could do to keep from stealing everyone else's tortillas to pick up every last delicious bite.
I've had queso fundido before in many iterations, but the mushrooms were a first for me, and I can assure you that it shall not be the last.  I can't recommend enough tearing off small pieces of the tortilla to use as the utensil instead of a fork or spoon here.  You get the soft tortilla, just chewy enough, surrounding the melty cheese, and then you get the chorizo and mushrooms; the mushrooms add a little bit of resistance to your bite, so you have to spend a little time chewing, which of course makes the flavor just intensify.  In fact, despite this being the second of our eight courses, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, which means I'll either have to source ingredients to make my own "at home" version or go back in the very near future.
This was also the only course to be paired with a wine that is not local to Arizona.  Instead we sipped Bisol "Jeio" Prosecco.  Like the laws dictating what is and what is not Champagne, Prosecco can only qualify as Prosecco if the grapes are grown in a particular region of Italy.  Hana explained that the Prosecco - very light, crisp, and with plenty of apple and citrus - cut the fattiness of the chorizo and cheese very well.  She was absolutely right - the smaller bubbles of the Prosecco (which I honestly prefer to Champagne any day of the week) were excellent company to the fundido, so when I recreate this at home, I'll just have to obtain a bottle or two.
When I told my friend Alexa about the dish the next day, because I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it and was basically harassing my Spanish teacher friends to find out if they had any recipes they wanted to share with me, she said that this style of queso fundido - with the chorizo and mushrooms - is common in Spain, although it is generally paired with Spanish Cava.
***Note to self - go to Spain.

Photo: LightRain Images

Duck and Brie Quesadilla - dinner menu
Since the words duck and brie are two of my favorite in the genre of food, I knew eating in a manner dictated by social norms - you know, not using both hands and stuffing the quesadillas whole into my maw - was going to be difficult.  I did, however, manage to channel all the lessons that Savor offered me to make sure that I not only enjoyed the idea of the food but the food itself.
This did not disappoint in any imaginable way.  The confit of the duck leg was literally perfect with the Brie.  I'm not even sure how else I can describe it other than perfect, because it was.  It was perfect. Both duck and Brie can be rich, but the combination was not at all overpowering; the balsamic reduction drizzled over it was all that was needed to add a little acidic zing to the otherwise full-flavored bites, and I could easily imagine making this a meal rather than the appetizer that it is on the menu.
Paired with the quesadillas was the 20120 Arizona Stronghold Tazi, a white blend that had a thick and almost syrupy bouquet.  In fact, I dreaded taking a first sip for fear that it would be cloyingly sweet, so much so that I asked Paula if it was a semi-sweet or semi-dry.  She said, "No.  Just try it.  You'll be surprised."  And indeed I was shocked to find instead an extremely full-mouthed and dry wine that was filled with citrus and finished clean.  If asked, I probably would have put a red with this dish, but the full-mouth feel of the wine really made it pair nicely with the duck and Brie, especially in the warm Arizona evening.

I should have put a photography class
on my Twelve for 12.

Local Beet Salad - dinner menu
I know, I know - of all the courses I could have discussed, I chose a salad.  But it was - surprise! - the pairing that made this phenomenal, and it was truly my favorite.
The salad consisted of both "regular" beets as well as golden beets, so the looks of the salad alone should win it some sort of artsy award - green, deep red, gold, and the scattering of lavender-infused goat cheese was far better in person than my phone's camera could capture in the evening light.
I could tell that Paula was excited to offer the pairing for this course, even over her enthusiasm for the other pairings she had already described for her.  She kept saying, "Wait until you try this with the beets. You'll be amazed."
"This" was the Centennial Red - one of three blends that celebrate Arizona's 2012 centennial (which, if you missed it, was February 14 - we're not only The Grand Canyon State, but we're also The Valentine State, in case you're ever on Jeopardy!).
I took my first sip before having any of the salad - the bouquet was laden with berries and some spices, and that initial sip reminded me of some zinfandels that I've had.
THEN I had another sip after a bite of the golden beet.
The wine was completely transfomed.  It was silky and earthy and mineral-y, kind of like sucking on a piece of granite.  That's a Good Thing, mind you - it was the perfect balance to the earthy beet.  But where the beet's earthiness is sweet, the earthiness of the Centennial Red still had the dry spiciness and currant-y finish that thoroughly countered the beet.  I went back and forth between the two - bite of beet, sip of wine - until I had no more beets.  Or wine.

What didn't I discuss but could have?  Well...

• corned beef and green chili hash with egg, sunny side up (breakfast menu)
• pressed pulled pork sandwich (lunch menu) - paired with Mudshark Scorpion amber ale
• rocket salad (lunch and dinner menus)
• pan seared grouper (dinner menu) - paired with Arizona Stronghold Dala chardonnay
• whiskey braised shortrib with white cheddar mashed potato (dinner menu) - paired with Page Springs Vino del Barrio rojo

Pressed pulled pork
Photo: LightRain Images

whiskey braised shortrib
Photo: LightRain Images

So, by the time dessert was presented, I had to force myself to take a bite of the flourless chocolate decadence cake, which was deliciously bittersweet.  The cheesecake lollipops were adorable, but my love for the grouper - atop the best spaghetti squash and greens combination I could imagine - pretty much sealed the fate of dessert that evening.

Now, these were all brilliant dishes and lovely presentations, but they were far from being overly pretentious.  The restaurant is, after all, at a resort that has many families visit (there is a children's menu, in case your Wee One is so inclined to request chicken nuggets like mine does every day), so while everything from the candles and grass centerpieces to the platings were elegantly done, the food itself was comfortable so that a family can easily enjoy a meal without worrying that the other diners will look witheringly over at the people who are letting their child sing the theme song for Jake and the Neverland Pirates over and over again (not that I have ever had that experience; a friend told me about it).  That comfort can make a good meal great, and a great meal fabulous.

My most sincere thanks goes out to Chef Myers, Brian Blanke, and the rest of the team at Zona Hotel and Suites as well as to Paula and Hana for their information and education on the different wines (and one beer) that we sampled.  I can honestly recommend each of the plates and glasses that I was offered and am anxious to try more pairings when I get the chance.  Most of all, however, I am grateful to Taryn and Amy for inviting this teacher-come-blogger on a fun "field trip" to see how the big guns in blogging do a Tuesday night.  Ladies, it was fantastic to meet you two in person; I knew I liked you via Twitter, but in person you take awesome to a new level.

Stumbling Block

Tomorrow is the Big Day of Meat in the Philistine house.  The Husband has been smoking one of the briskets all day today, so we'll have pastrami by morning (it's taking its own sweet time to come to temperature).  The other brisket is still snoozing in the crisper, waiting for its low, slow bath in the roaster tomorrow morning.
As we come closer to tomorrow's dinner, I find myself struggling with the meal.  In my efforts to eat less meat, this is certainly a complete 180 from my normal objectives.  Yes, it will taste good.  Yes, we will have a good time with the friends who come over to share the meal with us.
But the more I work to have a healthy lifestyle, one that works to prevent colon cancer, (and other cancers, too) gives energy, and keeps our hearts healthy, I'm also looking at how my diet affects the planet and how it affects animals.
I can look at my consumption of animal-based food products from a variety of perspectives: the amount of water it takes to feed a herd, how much corn is raised to feed just cattle (which shouldn't be eating corn in the first place), the reprehensible conditions at slaughterhouses, the way chickens are kept inside cages (their beaks and claws having been removed), how pesticides and antibiotics are being pumped into animals and onto crops to make them bigger and more marketable... it makes me shudder.
What is getting harder and harder for me to ignore is the welfare of the animals I am consuming.  How do I know if the beef that I purchased was allowed to roam free in acres of grasslands or shunted into holding pens?  How do I know that the cage-free eggs in my fridge means that the hens were allowed to see the sky and breathe in fresh air instead of just being piled on top of one another in a filthy barn-like structure?  How do I know that the milk I'm giving my daughter came from a cow who was allowed to also nurse its calf instead of having it shipped off to a veal pen?

The truth is that right now, I don't.
I don't know, and that bothers me.

I have done a lot of research when it comes to the vegetables we consume.  I could easily go to the farm where all our veggies are planted and harvested, and I can taste the freshness.
I love it.
It's not see easy with meat and dairy.
Yes, we have local dairies, local cattle ranches, even a local pig farm, and we've gotten products from all of them.
But some of them are not the most convenient to obtain products, and none of them are the cheapest option.  And to be honest, some of them, which I'm not going to name as I don't think that's right or fair to these local organizations, don't raise their animals in a manner with which I'm 100% comfortable.
In an ideal world, I'd be able to have a few chickens in the backyard for natural pest control (they like scorpions, making them my new favorite animal) and egg supply.  My big concern here is neither our city ordinances for our housing zone nor the cranky old neighbor two doors down but rather Zooey.  I imagine a Of Mice and Men Lenny- mouse type incident should we bring home a couple of chicks, which would be devastating to both HRH and myself.  But I'd still like to move more toward that.
In an ideal world, I'd find a dairy that doesn't ship out its calves just to make the milk.  I know from personal experience that one can produce milk even if the wee one for which it was intended isn't there (I've even read articles about women whose babies just wouldn't take to the breast, so they pumped rather than use formula - side note: these women are amazing).  Of course, I understand, too, that human milk is made for human babies; cow milk is made for baby cows.  But I know, realistically, that dairy will be the hardest for me to give up, so were I to be able to find a dairy like I described, I'd be more comfortable using dairy in smaller portions.
In an ideal world, I'd only eat meat on very few occasions, eating that which was raised in that pastoral manner I envision whenever I think of ranching or farming.  The animals would need to have been fed a diet that is amenable to their digestive system (that means grass-fed and finished beef), and the slaughter needs to be as humane as possible.  I know that true vegans believe that any slaughter isn't humane, and I understand that, but I'm trying to use some sort of scale for myself.
We have a friend who went vegan last year, and we talked about his process back in December.  He told me that when he first began, it was a bit easier to cheat, since he was doing it solely for health reasons.  However, he soon started making his decisions from an ethical basis, which made it impossible for him to cheat.  Makes sense - I have a former boss who doesn't eat turkey because it still looks like it did when it was alive, and other people I know won't eat fish because sometimes it can be purchased "with a face."
I know that in order to obtain higher quality products, I'm going to need to spend a little more money.  But we also have a budget that we need to stick to, and that's tougher to reconcile when it's more than a few cents a pound like it might be for organic potatoes over conventional (for the record, potatoes are on the "dirty dozen" list - a list of 12 produce items that "should" be organic purchases so to avoid higher pesticide residues).  It's a conversation that we are continuing to have so that we can make proper, healthy, informed decisions as a family that work for our diet and pocketbook.
Because I'm kind of short on cash right now; I just spent $100 on brisket.

So... what's my plan for my own dinner plate tomorrow?
I don't know.  I went through enough emotional turmoil this week to feel justified, in a way, to have a piece of meat on the plate, and I'm not sure that cabbage and potatoes with brown bread will satiate me after what I plan to have been a 10K morning.
But will I feel good about eating it?
Will I feel good or satisfied afterward?
And, for goodness sake, what am I going to do with that leftover brisket?

What are your feelings with consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs?  What holds greater weight - the price, local availability, or the entire process of raising the animals?  Do you ever struggle with your food choices?

Bag Lady

This blog post has been brought
to you by the Number 4.

I want to thank the lovely 8 people who commented to win my dorky, handmade bag.  I guess I was a little more excited about it than a girl really should be about a knitted bag made out of other bags, but I really think that this is a fantastic way to reuse those plastic bags, which we can't seem to get away from (I, too, often forget my bags when I go to the store, which usually means that there will be some under-the-breath swearing and a debate as to how many more fossil fuels will be burned if I turn around to get my bags).
I just finished another bag, although I'm less thrilled about this pattern; it kind of looks like a hat for Hagrid, but I think I can fix that so it actually looks like a bag is supposed to look.
Anyway, enough with the pleasantries, right?  You just want to know who won.
Congratulations to Megan from Wanna Be a Country Cleaver!  While I had some issues with the random number generator (operator error to an epic degree), I managed to get myself under control to take this screen shot.

Megan, email me your address, and I'll get the bag and the produce bags sent off.  Since you're a loyal WSU Coug, though, I don't think you want any Sun Devil gear.

Running to Save the World, Knitting to Save my Sanity (Plus a GIVEAWAY!)

When we were still living in Michigan, one of the magazines that I acquired had an ad for Nike® of a female runner, standing there, looking all bad-a$$.  The caption was something to the effect of "Yeah, I could be a knitter, but then I wouldn't be a good runner."  I'm totally paraphrasing.  I can hardly remember the Pledge of Allegiance, so I surely can't remember, verbatim, an ad from pre-2007.  Anyway, I was, at the time, not a runner, although I did go to the gym regularly and workout with weights, cardio, and pilates classes.  I was also already knitting, so I remember taking great umbrage at the ad.  Why can't I be in shape AND knit?  Heaven knows that, in Michigan, one can never have too many knit scarves during the winter months.

Fast forward to last fall, when I actually began running for the first time since high school.  I learned that I really do enjoy running (even when someone whose name rhymes with Schmooey trips me because she saw a cat on the other side of the street) and that my knees can handle it (amazing what happens when one stops wearing high heels every day of the week, right?) and even feel great afterwards.  I signed up for my first run - the Colon Cancer Alliance's Undy 5000 - and had a blast.  Then I signed up for London's Run, Dakota's Run, and more.  This year I've signed up for the Undy 5000 again, and I'll be signing up for several more in the next few weeks.

All of my runs have this in common: they help raise money for organizations dedicated to helping others.  Whether that is finding a cure for colon cancer, the cancer that took my dad from me, or helping out military families like the Tillmans, I run even more happily knowing that my entry fee went to more than the pockets of various racing companies.  I am able to run; I need to utilize that ability to help those who might be so weak from chemo a walk to the bathroom is a challenge or who are struggling to make ends meet because their loved ones perished fighting for the freedom I so enjoy.