I'm a Machine.

Swimming went pretty well this morning. I was able to get up in time, but clearly someone else wasn't as peppy:

SB and I swan our longest workout and have been getting faster seeing that we're not taking any longer. We shared the lane with an older guy. He was likely mid to late-40's, heavy set and stopped every length to take a rest. I was finishing up the kick part of our workout when he looked at me and said, "You're a machine. You just keep going." I just laughed and told him that I'm happy someone thought that. I proceeded to finish up my workout, flip turns in tow. (I've been really working on these.) I was waiting for SB to finish up when the man preceded to enter into a conversion with me.

**note: Jayme-ego-feeding below***

He said that I totally must have been on swim team or something because I was "really good." I'm not making the world aware of this conversation because I agree with him, in fact I don't and not just in the "I just say I'm bad at something when I know I really am not" kind of way. I was the slowest swimmer on my water polo team back in high school and I really am NOT fast. I expect to finish in the bottom 10% as far as swim times go for the upcoming triathlon. But this really got me thinking since his view of me if how I view pretty much everyone else in the pool. You know the type: The too slim for their own good, flip turning, competitive team logo stamped swim cap, I do this for a living, type of swimmers. Anyways, I notice them swimming and think "Holy Crap!" I mean perfect example: SB and I finish our workouts with 50m sprints. A girl jumped in our lane and was swimming her warm-up laps (without a swim cap, might I add) faster than our sprints! Anyways, what I'm getting at is that the man's comment was very motivating for me. I remember when I was at the same level that he was and for me to look like a "machine" to him means that maybe someday, maybe I'll get up to another level.

Moving on...

I got my CSA share today! DB and I split the shares and here's what we got this week:

Peek into the inside of the bag

Yay! We got eggs this week. These are THE BEST eggs I've ever eaten. Never going back to conventional.

I see soup in the making.

some of the more exciting things in the package were parsnips, kale, and kiwis. I've never bought parsnips before and I'm so excited about using them. This is one of the reasons why I love the CSA. I am forced (gently) into trying and preparing new foods. Granted this is probably more expensive than going to Safeway, but it's all organic, local when available, and fresh. This is some of the best fruit I've ever eaten! And it prevents me from eating the same bagged salad and potatoes week after week.

Speaking of new trying new things, I happen to love polenta. However, the thought of standing oven the stove while continuously stirring a pot of something that looks like vomit is not so appealing. I'm half-Chinese, meaning that I try to save money whenever possible and get a good deal. I hate spending money of the little tubes of shelf -stable polenta at the store. I have a hard time justifying it seeing that cornmeal is so cheap. I looked up some slow-cooker recipes and I found one that I would use as a guideline for my first try. It turned out fabulous and I will never go back to the vacuum sealed tubes from the store.

Garlicky Sun dried -tomato Polenta with Rosemary and Sausage

Ingredients

1 cup corn meal

3 cups water

Dash of salt

3 cloves of crushed garlic

1/4 cup of sun dried-tomatoes (packed in oil)

Rosemary, finely chopped

Sliced sausage, pre cooked (I used the kind that DB's family makes... it's SOOOOOO good)

Combine corn meal, water, and salt in a slow cooker.

Cook covered on high for 3 hours, stirring every hour.

Stir in remaining ingredients and finishing cooking on low for about 30 minutes, or until you get the consistency you like.

The results:

Believe me, tastes far more appetizing then it looks.


The verdict: good, very good

I am definitely going to use this recipe for a good, end of the week "crap, I have all these random veggies and leftover" meal. It's easy. I go to class, come back and it's done! I stored the left overs in a covered glass dish and it firmed up just like the tube kind from the store making leftovers perfect for slicing and frying up, or using as a substitute for lasagna noodles.