Sun Day

Somehow it turned out to be a 75 degree sunny perfect day down here in Austin. At first I figured it was a perfect day to go get some exercise, because I've apparently become some sort of fitness psychopath now, but my body quickly chimed in: "dude, you've got to take a day off". My body was right. So I took today off from exercise and enjoyed my time with my family today.

I've always had a thing about the first really nice day of the year. I used to celebrate it by drinking one of those Foster's Lager oil cans outside by myself (I'm weird, what do you want), soaking in the nice air and sunshine and reminding myself that happy days were ahead. It is like getting released from prison, less so when you live in Texas than when you live up north, granted. The sun and the smell of the spring air just fill you with happiness. Such an awesome feeling.

Well, there was no Foster's today, but I definitely was going to take advantage of the day. My wife had a soccer game, so I put the boys and my daughter in the Family Truckster and we went to the fields to watch her play and kick the ball around. My daughter was somewhat displeased getting into the car again, having just made the journey back and forth from church in the morning, but she was a happy camper once she was in her baby bjorn again and enjoyed the nice weather. She's such a good baby.

The boys and I played a little soccer and generally we had a fun day. It is somewhat difficult to play soccer with a baby strapped to your chest, in case you're curious. Note that I was not running - it doesn't take much athletic effort to keep up with my 5 and 4 year olds, and I'm not going to run with a baby strapped to me, especially considering what a spaz I am. Even so, walking around for an hour with a baby didn't do much for my back which I wrecked yesterday, but we were all enjoying the day, so it was clearly time to cowboy up and play through the pain. We stopped at the park on the way home for some climbing and a quick game of tag (the baby went home with my wife). Fun in the sun, and I got to move around a little, stretch out, and still get my body some well needed rest. Excellent day all around.

I started making dinner at breakfast this morning. My oldest wanted mango, my youngest pineapple, so I took the leftover bits from each and mixed them with some leftover avocado and Asian pear from yesterday to make a fruit salsa. Recipe as follows:

1/2 avocado, diced (140 calories)
1/2 Asian pear, diced (60 calories)
1 cup pineapple, diced (80 calories)
1/2 mango, diced (70 calories)
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp chili paste
1 tsp grated ginger
1 small handful cilantro, rustic chopped
Pinch salt, to taste

Mix together and let it marinate in the refrigerator for as long as you can. The avocado will melt into the salsa and form a creamy sauce. This will be a little spicy from the chili paste, and the raw ginger will add a little bite to be sure. There will be all kinds of different textures in the salsa from very soft (mango) to very crisp (Asian pear).

I used it as a topping for turkey tenderloins (1/2 pound = 240 calories) which I coated in Chinese five spice and pan seared then roasted in the oven at 350 until done (3 minutes in pan, flip, stick in oven, cook for about 15-20 minutes, let rest). The above recipe of salsa should make about four servings of the salsa, about 100 calories per serving. Of course, if you happen to grab the bowl of salsa and eat it directly because it is tasty, you'll be eating extra calories, but nobody at my home did that....

Side carb was red rice, cooked with a teaspoon of the ginger and a teaspoon of Thai basil. 170 calories per serving. The side vegetable was 4 cups of arugula (30 calories) sauteed in a tablespoon of sesame oil (120 calories), 1 tsp of garlic and 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tbsp chili paste. About 600 calories total, not counting any extra salsa that was consumed...

I always feel energized at the end of my Sundays, and I feel great now. I've also noticed that I lose most of the weight on my Tuesday/Wednesday weigh-ins and maintain that level through Saturday. I think that my day of rest helps me heal and helps my body right itself, and kicks out the weight. When I mentioned this to a friend, he suggested I take seven days a week off and then I'd really shed the pounds. Of course I have a bet with him to lose 15 pounds the fastest (I have this bet with two guys actually), so I don't think he was looking out for my best interests...