Best of Friday Food Fight- 2011 Edition

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Run DMT

Photobucket When Karen, Kirsten and I began co-hosting Friday Food Fight for over a year ago, I would have never considered myself “foodie” and it stuns me when someone uses that adjective to describe me. Me? Foodie? I mean, I love food and all but I’m not like Julia Childs or anything.

For years, my DH, Iron Chef Allan, did most of the cooking in our house. Anytime I attempted to cook, he stepped in and took over and honestly, I was happy he did. Cooking was always a chore for me, like laundry or ironing. But when his work schedule changed, I found myself preparing most of the meals out of necessity. After all, we needed to eat. With a twist of fate and a twist of lime, I learned I could cook and what I produced was pretty darn tasty.

Through a year of Friday Food Fights, I’ve discovered a new appreciation for food through preparing meals and photographing them. So I suppose, in some sense of the word that does make me foodie. I’ll take it, like some yummy take-out food.

And speaking of yummy food, I present to you The Best Friday Food Fight 2011 Edition!

Best Breakfast Food - Although Iron Chef Allan’s makes some pretty spectacular pancakes, I found my thrill on a hill of blueberry scones made with fresh picked blueberries.

Best Running Fuel Food – The protein and carbs in Lentils and Pasta packs a lot of punch to go the miles. Just remember to take some Gas Ex so you don’t toot while you trot.

Best Snack/Appetizer – My hummus is always a huge hit. If anyone ever catches onto how easy it is to make, my popularity will stale like an old bag of chips.

Best Soup - Soup is love because it warms your innards from your head to your toes and in the winter months, this hearty Chicken Sausage and Cannellini Bean Stew is always simmering on our stove. We’ve even taken a batch camping.

Best Sandwich – Fo’ Sure it had to be Shrimp Po’Boy.

Simplest Dish - Even when it appears there’s nothing in the house to eat, you can guarantee I have all the ingredients in my pantry to make this oh-so-simple-pasta sauce which pairs nicely with any pasta.

Best Pasta Dish – You know it has to be good when your food is featured on Today Show- Food. I just made some Baked Penne with Eggplant and Chicken Sausage a couple weeks ago and froze half for dinner another night. Mmmmmm…Maybe tonight is the night?

Best Use of Leftovers – This was a tough call for me. I love leftover roasted chicken for chicken salad, but then I love leftover Thanksgiving turkey for turkey enchiladas. I’ll let you be the judge.

Strangest Combination – I’m referring to the “Healthy” Chicken and Waffles, of course and not my SIL and me.

Best Themed Meal – Although my kids weren’t to pleased with the Green Eggs and Ham, I still earned an star upon thar for my effort.

Spookiest Dish- Any dish that looks at you while you’re eating it has to be pretty spooky in my book. Mummy Pizza were a perfect spooky, fun food for Halloween.

Best Dessert – Hands down, it had to be the Frostbitten Red Velvet Brownie Bites. Between how easy they were to bake to the presentation, I impressed myself!

Best Beverage- Just looking at this frosty, cold margarita has me craving one again. Is it 5:00 yet?

What was your favorite Friday Food Fight post? Which dish are you craving to see again?

Link up and share your favorite Friday Food Fight post and while you’re here see, what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are flinging for this week.

*Also shared at*

A Run DMT Year in Review

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Run DMT

January – The F Word

In 2011, the number 40 was more than milestone. At the beginning of year, I proclaimed a goal to run 40 miles before my 40th birthday and my desire to be fit at forty all with the emphasis of the f-bomb.

During the winter break, we built Florida Snowmen with Auntie Kirsten and Meghan which produced some fabulous photos.

February – My Air and Water Diet…Not so Much

Although there was enough love in February to sustain a city, it would take more than hearts, love notes and valentines to keep this mama going.

In a funny vlog, I share a pile food I ate and still lost 18 pounds, ‘cause mama loves to eat which is why I run. When you watch this crazy long vlog, count how many times I drop another f-word. Fantastic.

March – Education

March was a time of reflection and education. It started with a random act of kindness and which led to Lucy joining our family. Then, a Gallery phototheme had me hunt down an old photo from my teaching days. Those students taught me more than I ever taught them.

Also, spending more time with my niece, Meghan has educated me and made me more sensitive to epilepsy. Since March is Epilepsy Awareness month, we recognized it with a spontaneous purple picnic.

April – What Tomorrow Will Bring

In 2011, Liam and I showed our determination and fortitude to reach the finish line.

In April, I waited with bated breath for the NYC marathon lottery selection, which didn’t happen for me. Watch the NYC Marathon video and you’ll understand why I’m applying again this year. Applications for 2012 NYC Marathon lottery open at noon on January 2, 2012. God, I hope I get it. Keep my fingers, toes and shoelaces crossed again.

May – Run DMT’s Top 10 of Summer Don’ts

With May, came lots of sunsets and summer, my favorite season. I heart summer almost as much as I love writing lists.

June – Airplanes

Sometimes my youngest daughter, Emmalynn, has her head in the clouds sometimes and I love her for it. I can totally relate. During the summer months, my head is usually there too.

July – Loving You for Your First Birthday

Although we have three birthdays in July in this family, two of those birthdays were milestones this year. First, our little Tiny Cool, Emmalynn, turned six. Then Little Lion Man turned one and I hit 40. In our first Music Monday vlog duet debut, Little Lion Man and I share our best Minnie Riperton impersonations to recognize his first birthday.

August – Get the Party Started

In August, I blogged a lot of back to school posts and summer coming to end stuff.

But we ended the summer on a high note when we celebrated my 40^th birthday in August and it ROCKED! Plus, I met my goal of losing 40 lbs and 40 miles before my 40^th birthday.

I also organized a Tampa Bay Blogher Meetup. (Another one is in the works for March 2012.)

September – Things Heard at Our Girlfriend Getaway

Summer heat and celebrations were still in full swing in September as well as our annual girlfriend getaway. You may need to take a few shots of Whipped Pinnacle vodka to understand most of this post, but it still makes me chuckle four months later.

October – Random Thoughts about Tigers, Honey Badgers and Bunnies

In October, I transformed into a bad ass honey badger and Amy Whinehouse and transposed my likeness onto some photos for a funny list of 22 Things I’ve Never Done.

November- Ten Years with Our Soul Sister

When November came, my family and I gave 30 gifts in 30 days and counted our blessings. My oldest daughter, Allana turned ten and requested her ears to be pierced. Her milestone birthday hit me harder than my own. Where did a decade go?

December – A Serendipity Style Date

I’m not sure if blogging and Pinterest is making me a better mom/wife/friend or a worse one. How can anything that helps plan dates like this be bad?

Of course, there was some of running happening throughout the year too. After all, I am a Mom on the Run. All my race recaps from this year and previous years can be found here.

Merriest Christmas Moments

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Run DMT

Beautifully set tables ~~with a bit of bokeh~~ ready for loved ones to gather ’round.

Hubby preparing Christmas dinner while wearing his presents.

Grandma Mestanza proudly posing with her almost-as-tall-as-her grandchildren

Little Lion Man giggling on his granny’s knee.

One tired little boy tucking into Grandpa to sleep.

Cousins cuddling.

Sisters striking a pose.

Happy children loving most of their presents…

and exclaiming, “This was the best Christmas ever!”

Random Thoughts about Joining the Janathon

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Run DMT

It’s been over a week since I last ran. I caught a really nasty cold a few days before Christmas and then my Achilles started bothering me again. Even though I wasn’t running, I wore my running shoes to help my heel.

Christmas Eve, I spent a lot of time on my feet cleaning the house barefoot and I think it only aggravated my Achilles more, which I find so ironic. With all the talk about barefoot running, you would think it would help the situation. I seem to experience the opposite whenever I spend my days barefoot. It only makes my Achilles feel worse.

Not running for a week combined with bad eating habits made me feel weak and sluggish, so I decided to break my week long break with a three mile run this morning. I also wanted to test out my newly refurbished Garmin. With my foot still giving me some trouble, I was a bit slow-moving to get out the door.

Weather.com forecasted a 50% chance of rain by 8:00, but an orange-pink sky appeared to say otherwise. Then about halfway into my run, the wind picked up and the sky began to turn dark gray. The storm rolled in right on time which soaked me and my new-to-me Garmin. Great. Let the Garmin corroding began!

3.24 miles

Time 35:08

Ave Pace 10:51

Max Pace 7:37

The Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon is only five weeks away and after this morning’s pathetic run, I’m not feeling very confident about my performance in that race. It may be time for an intervention.

Suncoast Running is offering a boot camp training program plan designed specifically for the short turn-around time for this race and I plan to find out more about it at the informational meeting tomorrow evening.

Obviously, priority number one is to get back into a regular running routine. I’m hoping the Janathon will help with that.

I joined the Janathon for my second year. Basically, all participants commit to running or some work-out every day and log it online at Free Running. Lord knows, I need the accountability aspect of the Janathon to help me stay focused and motivated. Although this year, I doubt I’ll win any prizes as I’m having my wisdom teeth extracted on January 13 and I’ll be down for a few days after the surgery. Nice, huh? Yep, I already have an excuse in place for slacking off.

As for getting back into a regular running routine, I plan to run 4 miles tomorrow with some intervals later in the week, followed by 6-7miles on Saturday. I just need to get moving again.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

A Christmas Calm (with a little Pink Martini)

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Run DMT

On Christmas Eve, a calm feeling came over me. Although I still had the entire house to clean for company while Allan prepared a huge Italian feat for my family, I felt like it was no big deal.

Since Halloween, life has been pretty chaotic from birthday celebrations, school projects, races and then the holidays came. For months, I’ve felt like I was drowning. But for the first time in months, I felt like I could finally catch my breath and I enjoyed the moment with a few more cleansing breaths while I cleaned.

I suppose I felt calm because this was it. The last big thing I had been stressing over was now coming to a close. The presents had been bought and wrapped. Most of my Christmas cards had been mailed. All that was left was to enjoy Christmas and I was truly enjoying it, ironically while I scrubbed toilets.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were perfect. The kids were so excited about all of their presents. The food was fantastic and we shared lots of laughs and good cheer with our families. And it felt so good not to worry about anything (school projects, races, blogging) for a little while.

With today being Boxing Day, we’ll spend a quiet day at home cleaning out closets and cupboards to find space for all our lovely new things we received from Christmas and then we’ll donate all our old gently used toys and clothes to charity in the spirit of Boxing Day. Today could be another calming, therapeutic cleansing day for me in many ways. At least that’s what I’m hoping it to be.

Although I’m enjoying my Christmas calming and cleansing moments, it leaves room for some new goals and plans for the New Year. But that’s another post.

What are your plans and goals for the New Year?

Next week for Music Monday, I would love for you to share a song that captures your plans for the New Year. Will 2012 be more of the same or are you taking on new endeavors? Tell us your thoughts with a tune.

Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.

Merry Christmas from Run DMT

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Run DMT

From our home to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas!

A Serendipity-Style Date

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Run DMT

Last Sunday, Allan and I celebrated our 12^th anniversary. Twelve years, really? Wow.

For our anniversary, I wanted to plan something different other than dinner and a movie. So when I stumbled upon this idea from The Dating Divas on Pinterest, I knew this was the date to plan for us.

Allan and I love the movie Serendipity. Since the way we met happened by chance or nearly met a few times before our first encounter, we love any and all romantic comedies that revolved that theme, however, Serendipity holds the number one spot. (You can watch the trailer here.)

Basically, the two main characters meet by chance in a department store when trying to purchase the same pair of gloves and then spend the rest of day together. At the end of the day, they try to exchange phone numbers but fate steps in so they decide to test fate by writing the numbers on a five dollar bill and in an old book. If either item crosses their paths again, then they’re meant to be together.

When Allan and I celebrated our tenth anniversary in New York City, we tried to replicate Serendipity movie moments, like ice skating in Central Park. Next to our wedding day and our honeymoon (and the birth of our children, of course) that weekend in NYC was the best time ever.

So for our Serendipity-style date, I recreated those special NYC moments with a Tampa flare. I started with an invitation hidden inside the Serendipity DVD case. With snowflakes embellishments and typewriter font, I created an invitation that cleverly outlined our date.

“The best time to ever be
Was our time spent in New York City
And how each moment
Was like a scene from Serendipity.
So let’s relive that date
With some ice and some skates
And lunch at Datz Deli.”

We began the date at Datz Deli. The restaurant was so busy that the only available seating was at the bar. We were all right with that.

To stick with the NYC motif, I ordered the Rockin’ Rueben, but Allan ordered a BBQ Brisket sandwich. I couldn’t eat the whole thing, but I knew I would be hungry again after ice skating.

For the past two holiday seasons, city of Tampa has erected an ice rink at Curtis Hixon Park in the middle of Downtown Tampa, appropriately named Tampa’s Downtown on Ice. Although the rink is small and on this particularly Sunday, very crowded, it filled the bill for the ice skating portion of our date.

Unfortunately, it was hard to hold hands as we skated as we had to swerve around small children. I even fell on my knees at one point, which made me laugh so hard. No matter how small the rink was, we still had huge fun and we left a Serendipity sign to let others know we were there.

Since Allan and I worked up quite a thirst ice skating, we popped over to Taps across the street from Tampa’s Downtown on Ice for a quick pint. We drank to a fun date and toasted twelve great years. Here’s to many more of them!

Magic Reindeer Food

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Run DMT

The kids and I have been making Magic Reindeer Food as part of our Advent calendar for years now. At first, the food was a mixture of old fashioned oats and glitter. Then, I learned how dangerous glitter can be for animals or small children when ingested. From then on, we made our reindeer food with only edible ingredients. Of course, oats are still part of the mixture but instead of craft glitter, we use edible glitter like red and green cake sprinkles.

This year, we added a few more ingredients to make it more like trail mix. After all, those reindeer have such a long journey and they’ll need the extra carbs and sugar to that fuel flight.

Emmalynn, Allana and I had fun searching through the pantry for snacks the reindeer might enjoy. Along with the oats and edible glitter, we added raisins, dried cranberries, Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch, Corn Flakes, peanuts, gum drops, mini marshmallows, Cheerios, pumpkin seeds and wasabi peas. Wasabi peas might seem like an odd addition, but I thought the reindeer might like a little heat on the way back to the frigid North Pole.

After we combined our ingredients, we poured the mix into Ziploc bags and added the how-to poem. This printable Magic Reindeer Food poem tag can be found here.

On Christmas Eve just before bed, the kids, Auntie Simone and I will sprinkle the Reindeer Food in the yard. Of course, we always leave carrots for the reindeer next to Santa’s cookies and milk too.

SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration 2011

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Run DMT

To start the holiday season with a splash, my family and I set sail once again for SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration.

The evening’s Christmas festivities started with small reception to meet some new friends: a sloth, a sea lion and a macaw.

During the reception, we snacked on sugar cookies and sipped on hot cocoa while the Sea of Trees danced and sang. With 25 more trees this year and comprised of more than 200 thousand individually choreographed LED lights, the Sea of Trees truly brings the season to sea.

Once our senses were dazzled and our bellies were full, we made the long journey to the North Pole for The Polar Express Experience.

Liam and I traveled by foot through the Wild Arctic while the girls traveled by train with Daddy. Little Lion Man and I followed the frosty paths through the polar bears and beluga whales to find our way to Santa.

This year, SeaWorld added a new show, O Wondrous Night- The Greatest Story Never Told.

“O Wondrous Night tells the greatest story never told, with more than 30 carols, based upon the Christmas Story and told through the eyes of a variety of live animals. The 30-minute show features puppetry and dance against the backdrop of traditional Christmas music and a true living nativity including camels, goats, sheep, an alpaca, a zebu and a flock of white doves.” -SeaWorld

Unfortunately, my girls were more interested in rides without queues than shows depicting the real season for the season, so we spent the rest of the evening in Shamu’s Happy Harbor.

In between rides, we stumbled upon two lively elves playing a game of marshmallow toss and the girls joined in the fun.

Although the girls wanted to stay for s’more fun, it was time to end the evening on a high note by remembering the Frosty the Snowman philosophy. We’ll be back again someday.

Many other Orlando amusements parks charge an additional fee to participate in such extravagant holiday festivities, but all this magic and wonder is included with a SeaWorld admission every weekend night throughout December including Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

On Dec. 31, families can ring in the New Year SeaWorld style! On New Year’s Eve, SeaWorld offers a spectacular musical celebration with DJs and live bands plus a bold fireworks display to send a wave of welcome for the New Year ahead. With special show times for New Year’s Eve, the festivities continue until 1 a.m.

For more information about the last few days SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration or to purchase a Fun Card, visit SeaWorldOrlando.com.

But wait! There’s more!

Saturdays in January, SeaWorld kicks off a new program Just for Kids featuring special performances by LazyTown, Max and Ruby, the Doodlebops and Choo Choo Soul. Check SeaWorld.com for dates and show times.

A Northern Sky, a Cool Yule and a Miracle

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Run DMT

Does any else feel like Christmas threw up on them? That’s the ugly metaphor I’m choosing to describe the Christmas chaos I’m feeling. You should see the state of my house. I think the tree is finally decorated, but I still have a gazillion cards to post and a pile of last minute gifts still yet to buy and of course, tons of wrapping to do.

However, all of that will be put on hold, because today I am chaperoning a field trip to Legoland with Allana’s class. I plan to write some cards on the bus on the way, but with how car sick I get, I could literally puke Christmas. I may need to rethink that plan.

Anyhow, this Music Monday post will be a little light today because I’ve got so much to do, like blog about our anniversary date in the midst of the Christmas madness. Yesterday, Allan and I had a fabulously fun Serendipity-style date, but I’ll explain all that in great lengths in another blog post.

While you wait for all the details, I’ll tease you with a movie clip from Serendipity set to Nick Drake’s Northern Sky.

If you didn’t know already, I have this thing for movie soundtracks and I absolutely LOVE the Serendipity soundtrack, so I have to include the song even though it’s not a Christmas song. It’s a very fitting song for our anniversary because my Allan comes from a northern town in England and of course, like I said, a perfect way to tie in a tease about our Serendipity-style date.

But Christmas music has been the Music Monday (and Xmas Dolly’s Monday’s Music Moves Me) theme for the past month, so I’ll share a Christmas song from Serendipity.

And since tomorrow night is the first night of Hanukkah, I’ll leave you with some Matisyahu. Besides, it will take nothing short of miracle to help me with all this Christmas chaos.