Guess who's back...

Remember me?

I hardly remember myself.

I haven’t written a post on here since May 25.  In that time--just over six months--I’ve switched departments at my job, rejoiced in my cousin’s successful kidney transplant, held my best friend’s first child, and oh yes, one more thing. 

I got married. 

Photo by Brienne Michelle Photography

That was kind of a big deal.

So, after all that, I'm back.

Back, but in many ways, a completely different person.

I've never been more overwhelmed by generosity than through this whole wedding process. And nothing is more humbling than committing to love someone for the rest of your life in front of all the people you care about most in this world. 

As much as the last six months has been an absolute whirlwind for me and so much of my life is a new and wonderful journey, I'm also ready to settle in and get back to enjoying the interests I had before the wedding. You know, before I had to make decisions about what I wanted the napkins to look like on the guest tables. What I really missed most through the last six months was writing (I missed my sanity too, but that's a entirely different situation). I knew something had to give until the wedding madness was over.

So now I'm back, and the Concession Stand Blog is back. I'm looking forward to writing more about sports and food. You will also see a lot more stories about my own life. Being a newlywed will be an adventure worth writing about, especially with my husband involved (anyone that knows him is emphatically nodding their heads right now). 

 Here's hoping you'll come along.

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True heroes

Sometimes, I think our view of a heroic act can be rather slim.


We picture members of the military, or firemen, and there's good reason for that. They perform heroic acts daily.

But this week, maybe more than any other in my life, I have been reminded that heroism comes in endless forms.

Like yesterday, when I was rushing to my train on my way home from work, and saw a purse that had been left on the sidewalk. I didn't know what to do, because no one was around to ask if they had dropped it. Suddenly, a man came rushing by me, picked up the purse, and ran to an old lady pushing her walker across the intersection. He didn't have to take the time to stop. It was small, but incredibly heroric.

Or a co-worker, who by knowing something was terribly wrong on Friday, ended up giving birth to her baby two months early, but she likely saved the baby's life, and her own. Or the mother of my best friend from elementary school, getting a double masectomy this past week and totally rocking her fight against breast cancer.

For me, the heroic act of the week goes to my aunt, who today is giving one of her kidneys to her son, my phenomenal cousin Kurt, who is just 17.

He has a kidney disease called cystinosis and today, we hope, will change everything for the better for him. He'll have to lay low all summer, but he should be feeling better than he ever has come fall, just in time for his senior year of high school.

The way Kurt handles his disease on a daily basis is no less heroic than my aunt's wonderful display of motherly love.

He never, ever complains. The thing about that is, in 17 years of life, he has almost never felt good physically. A cold can wipe him out for days. He's had multiple surgeries, on everything from his esophagus to his ankles.

Even about this major surgery, he doesn't appear apprehensive. On Sunday, he joked about being worried that with his mom's kidney inside him, he'll hear her voice in his head no matter where he is for the rest of his life. Teenagers.

Kurt was not blessed with fully functioning kidneys, but he was blessed with an endless supply of optimism and contagious laughter.

He was also blessed with a sister Claire who has spent countless hours in the hospital with him and who, although a year younger, may be his fiercest protector. And a dad, Paul, who would do anything, absolutely anything, for him.

That's four heroes in one family.

This week has served as a reminder to me that heroes are among us everyday, in big ways and small. This week reminded me of a line from a Disney movie (not surprinsgly since I know most of them by heart), Hercules, when Zeus says to his son, "A hero is not measured by the size of his strength, but the strength of his heart."

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Q & A: Dr. Ilya Rachman

There’s no shortage of theories on how to lose weight in this world. What there does seem to be a shortage of is hearing from people who actually know what they are talking about.

Here at the Concession Stand, we love our food. But we also love sports and fitness. So today, we’re combining all three. In a good way, of course (we’d never swim right after eating! Never!).
Dr.  Ilya Rachman (pictured) is an internist that specializes in treating weight-related issues. He’s a Clinical Instructor at the UCLA School of Medicine and he’s also an Attending Physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles (so, if you want to read between the lines here, he knows his stuff). In 2006, he founded the Trim360 weight loss program. The idea for Trim360 came after seeing how people were facing significant health problems due to poor eating habits.

Dr. Rachman was kind enough to speak with the Concession Stand about Trim360 and about the proper approach for anyone who wants to lose weight, particularly athletes who want to achieve specific fitness goals.

CS: How did you get interested in helping people improve their overall health and fitness? 
IR: It was actually kind of an organic process. Most of my day was spent in a doctor’s office fixing what people caused to themselves by eating. Little by little, people are eating themselves into sickness.

(I thought) it would be more common sensical to fix the way they eat and live and it was just a natural progression. We offer practical options in terms of a healthy lifestyle.

CS: How long has Trim360 been going and why did you want to start the program?  
IR: We’ve been doing medical weight loss for about 5-6 years. Physicians don’t get taught weight loss or weight management in medical school or residency, which is quite stunning when you think about it. All we are taught to do is manage cholesterol and give you medicine.

The idea behind Trim360 is practical. It’s common sense and “B.S. free,” so to speak.

CS: Have you worked with athletes in the Trim360 program (or otherwise) before? If yes, what are some common issues they consult you about?
IR: We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to implement this to all demographics, age, categories and types of people. Initially when we started out, we offered it to patients and our patients brought it to their parents their friends, and their children. We’re fortunate to have several generations of family members. Athletes, dancers, business professionals, all kinds of medical backgrounds and social backgrounds (have used Trim360). 

CS: What are some health tips for athletes or people who are physically active who might be changing their diets to achieve a certain fitness goal? 
IR: First thing I would say to any athletes:  if people don’t devote to some thought to the nutritional component, it’s almost pointless to exercise. 

If you don’t consume enough of high-quality protein on a daily basis, there’s no point in exercising; you can’t build muscle, you can’t build muscle memory or any other type of memory that supports your athletic performance.

Minerals and vitamins are little facilitators, so without those new things it’s almost pointless to exercise. You also need unsaturated fats — the right amount of healthy fats — in your diet as well.

CS: What are some common misnomers from people who want to lose weight? 
IR: Not to be derogatory towards exercise, but we don’t want people to get unnecessarily frustrated (when they don’t see results).

Exercise is great for working through weight-loss plateaus, but it’s not great for weight loss itself. Calorie reduction is the best thing for weight loss.

CS: You are working on a book right now. What is it about?  
IR: It’s about dispelling myths and giving people the reality of how to lose weight. It basically gives you a realistic breakdown of what it takes for real people (to lose weight) that have jobs, that have family and that have commitments.

They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. They can implement it so they can have a healthy lifestyle. More specifically, we found it really takes a combination of knowing what your personality type is. Weight-loss approach should be tailored to your personality type. The reason so many people struggle with weight loss issues is they try to implement the wrong plans for their lives.



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The Concession Stand is very appreciative that Dr. Rachman was willing to take the time to answer some questions. If you would like more information about Trim360, visit their website at http://www.trim360.com./

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From madness to letdown

 I just figured now was the time for the Northern Iowa logo. When else would I use it?

Come March, I have this tradition.

It consists solely of embarrassing myself with my NCAA Tournament bracket.

With the first weekend of the NCAA Touranment down, I’m still in the 95th percentile, which sounds like I’ve got this all figured out. And you know, I probably should. For a few years, I was paid to be a sportswriter. That should help.

But it always ends up like it did two years ago, when I filled out a bracket on facebook, which was stupid, because then anyone could see my bracket futility. Mine was so bad that year, I received the following message on facebook from another sportswriter friend of mine:

“I just wanted to let you know that you are the only friend I have on facebook whose bracket is worse than mine.”

Neat.

This year, my first weekend went great, but, since I had Kansas and Georgetown meeting up in the Final Four, I’m very aware that it’s not going to turn out well.

Actually, that’s how I feel about this tournament from this point on.

The first weekend was incredible, with upsets and buzzer beaters all over the place. It even involved Northern Iowa beating Kansas, which is a sentence I never thought I’d ever need to put together in my lifetime. I haven’t enjoyed a tournament this much in years.

What makes for a phenomenal first weekend however, can lead to a lackluster second weekend.

At least, that’s my fear this year.

Upsets are what make the first weekend so much fun. No one expects to see Ohio dismantle Georgetown (at least, I didn’t, which is why I put the Hoyas in my Final Four). No one even considers St. Mary’s having a chance over Villanova.

So we cheer the underdog and get excited when they improbably win.

But the next weekend, we have matchups where it’s even less likely underdog teams will win. Or at least, this round of top-seed teams won’t underestimate the underdogs because now the top teams know if they don’t take these teams seriously, they’ll get burned.

Here are the seed matchups this time for the Sweet 16:

No. 1 vs. No. 12
No. 2 vs. No. 11
No. 3 vs. No. 10
No. 2 vs. No. 6
No. 5 vs. No. 9
No. 1 vs. No. 5
No. 1 vs. No. 4
No. 2 vs. No. 6

I’m not saying these lower seed teams can’t win. Obviously, these teams can, or we would not be talking about them. But now, it’s the Sweet 16. There aren’t any teams that are sleep walking through these games. At this point, the Final Four looms just one week away. The elite teams aren’t messing around anymore.

In the first weekend, Cinderella teams get through on a little talent, a lot of heart and determination, and capitalizing on the fact that the top seeds thought they could take it easy and still win.

Now, it’s more about talent and coaching. And that’s when the big boys start to win out.

I just hope I’m wrong.

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Friday Favorites:

Friday Favorites

New beginnings: In February, I got engaged to my favorite person in the entire world. This week, I started a new job, which came when I needed it most. After a week, I really think I’m going to enjoy this job. This year has started well for me, and I feel incredibly blessed for that. 

NCAA Tournament Round 1: The first day was phenomenal. My fiancé and were watching one of those March Madness highlight shows, where they showed classic moments from the tournament. What did we notice? That all but one of the “classic” games occurred before the 2000s.  The tournament hasn’t been good in quite a few years. This one is shaping up to be interesting, after a very un-interesting year in college basketball. With many of the classic tourney teams gone (UNC, Connecticut, Arizona, UCLA) this year is wide open.

Williams and Sonoma: It won’t be good for my bank account but there’s one right near my work, and that makes me pretty happy.
 
Friday Fails

Not using your brain properly. Well, not you, me. You don’t use your brain, and you end up in East L.A. in a Disneyland-ish line to get your birth certificate and to top it all off, get a parking ticket too. I’m always thankful when a bunch of bad things happen in one day; that way I feel like I’m getting all out of the way for awhile.

Ron Washington- He’s handled the situation as well as he could in the aftermath, but cocaine? At 57? That is disconcerting, to say the least.

Wedding diet. I’m not really on one (surprising information, I’m sure) but I am trying to eat better and work out consistently. That said, working in a big office makes it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to eat healthy. Today there were TWO kinds of cake due to someone leaving, and tomorrow we’re all bringing breakfast stuff for someone’s birthday. I mean, what am I supposed to do with mint-n-chip ice cream cake? Watch other people eat it?

No.

One of my most importantly life rules: if there's mint-n-chip ice cream in the vicinity, don't let it melt.

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Q & A: Dave Roberts

I’m super excited for this week’s Q & A, because it’s with one of the nicest guys to ever put on a Major League Baseball uniform. Ask any baseball writer, player, manager, whoever, that’s been around Dave Roberts (I know several and can include myself in that group after covering the Padres in 2006), and they'll probably tell you the same thing.

You’ll get to hear from him about his new role with the Padres as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations and his take on Spring Training. He also gives us some restaurant suggestions.

But before we get to Dave, allow me a minute to talk about the awesomeness that is Spring Training.

Do the Spring Training games matter? No. Is Spring Training more exciting than the NCAA Tournament? Definitely no. Is a Spring Training game possibly the best way to spend an afternoon in the history of the world? Yes.

In March, the weather in Arizona has not reached its heatstroke-inducing heights yet. So basically, we’re talking about 80-85 degree days. You buy cheap tickets, lay out in the grass just over the outfield fence and watch baseball.

Do you really need to know anything more than that?

It’s also the best place, hands down, to interact with players and or baseball legends. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

True story: last year, my sister and I went to Arizona for a few days for Spring Training, and in the process of taking in a few games, got sunburned. As we were walking into Camelback Ranch for the first time, new Spring Training home of the Dodgers, someone behind us was making fun of our sunburned shoulders. It was Fernando Valenzuela.

So, with baseball season almost here (thankfully) I spoke with Dave Roberts via e-mail.

Yes, the Dave Roberts who stole one of the most famous bases in baseball history while with the Red Sox. That 2004 stolen base turned the fortunes of the Red Sox around and led to their first World Series title in eleventy billion years (That’s not the exact number. I’m just rounding down).

Here are his answers:

CC: What have you enjoyed so far about your new role as a special assistant?
DR: Getting to know and work with players has been a thrill. Also, having the access to the front office has given me a completely different perspective on baseball. Everyday is different and has made my transition from player to staff more intriguing.

CC: Why did you want to stay in the game of baseball after your playing days ended?
DR: It is something I have always wanted to do. Baseball has given me so much and I've always felt compelled to give back to this game in some capacity. 

CC: What does it mean to you to be able to have this position with your hometown team?
DR: Being back in a Padre uniform is really special to me. I don't think I would have taken this position in any other organization. The opportunity that I have been given by my hometown team was something I could not pass up. Geographically it makes sense for me and I believe in the organizational philosophies on and off the field.

CC: What do you enjoy most about Spring Training?
DR: I enjoy playing a bunch of day games and having the chance to go out to dinner. Having the fan interaction in a more laid back environment is always fun. It doesn't matter where you are in Spring Training; a sense of optimism always surrounds the teams.

CC: What is your schedule like during Spring Training in your new role?
DR: My Spring Training is pretty much double duty. I get to the park around 7:30 (a.m.) and leave around 5:00 (p.m.). The first part of my day is spent with the on-field staff and players and the second part is spent with the baseball operations staff. It has been quite an experience.

CC: What are some tips you have for fans to keep in mind who are visiting Arizona for Spring Training?
DR: Get to the park early and watch them do fundamentals and take batting practice. Also, it's much easier to get access to the players for autographs!
 
CC: Any restaurant suggestions?
DR: There are so many great restaurants in the Scottsdale area. My two favorites are Mastros Ocean Club (warm butter cake for dessert) and Sakana ( for sushi).

Again, a big thanks to Dave Roberts for taking the time to do the Q & A. If anyone goes out to Spring Training, I hope you enjoy it!

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The death of a streak

It truly was a remarkable streak.

As a 26-year-old, I have never lived in a world where the University of Arizona Wildcats stayed home during the NCAA Tournament.

Until this week.

I don’t want to wax poetic too much about my alma mater (obviously I sort of am, but I'll try not to get to poetic or waxy) but staying consistently good enough  to be in the premier post season tournament for your sport 25 years in a row is pretty impressive.

In college, I had the opportunity to cover the Arizona basketball team for the 2004-05 season for the Daily Wildcat (best newspaper job I ever had and it’s not even close). It was the last year the Wildcats made any sort of deep run in the tourney. It was the last season, before things started to fall apart for the program and Lute Olson.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime for me. I was fortunate enough to travel with the team all the way through to the Elite 8 in Chicago, and save for a ridiculous performance by Deron Williams and Illinois in the final minutes of regulation and overtime I would have gone to the Final Four (oh yeah, and save for an EPIC implosion by Arizona. Click here for my take on it. Please be nice. I was still in college). The team had Channing Frye and Hassan Adams, both eventually drafted by the NBA. 

In covering the team for a season, I couldn’t help but think it was a good time for Lute to walk away (everyone in Tucson simply calls him Lute, so I will too). The rigors of coaching are tough on someone in their 40s, let alone their 70s.

If he had retired that season, it probably would have turned out differently. But you know what they say about hindsight. The next season he was dealing with marital problems, and then later, health problems that forced him to retire. There was even some NCAA violations reported this year that occurred under Lute.

What’s sad is, the program he single-handedly put on the map, he also was responsible for bringing about its demise.

In past seasons, I thought watching the team was frustrating, because it had a wealth of talent but was inconsistent with its effort. I never felt that way about this season or even embarrassed that the Wildcats were left out of not only the NCAA Tournament but the NIT too. I felt like they were the doing the best with the situation they were given, which makes for a much more enjoyable, likeable team.

The program will be fine, and I think Sean Miller is building something good in Tucson (thank goodness the program avoided that Tim Floyd mess).

So, here is my bracket. My Arizona-less bracket:

Tournament Challenge

But don’t worry. The Wildcats will be back. Very soon.

Happy March Madness everyone!

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Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites:

Spring Training: There’s a line in the movie “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” a Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra movie, where Sinatra is standing at the spring training complex in Florida and gets excited about the coming season. He looks around nostalgically and says, “It happens to me every spring.” 

Me too. Baseball makes me happy. Spring Training makes me happy. Vin Scully makes me happy (the Dodgers themselves this season, however, make me terrified).

To talk about Spring Training and all of its awesomeness — seriously, if you haven’t been before, you’re missing out on one of the best ways to spend a spring afternoon —we’ll have a Q & A post on Tuesday with a former Major Leaguer. Hint: one of his stolen bases is one of the most famous in history. Check it out Tuesday!

Wildcat basketball: for the first time in my lifetime, my UA Wildcats will not be in the NCAA Tournament. It might sound like something that should go in the Friday Fails, but I put it here because that is a remarkable run. I’ll discuss this more in a post on Monday, but I don’t think their NCAA Tournament drought will last long.

Choosing a honeymoon spot: As my best friend says, “it will light at the end of the tunnel with all the wedding stuff.” Thinking about which resort we will stay at is so much more fun than thinking about what flowers to use. But maybe that’s just me.


Friday Fails:

Slacking Concession Stand: After a crazy couple of weeks, now I’m back to a normal schedule, so next week will be better. Promise.

University of Oregon football team: Let’s get it together guys.

The word “woot.” First, it’s not really a word. Second, there HAS to be a better way to express yourself when you are happy. I’m thinking about starting a personal crusade to rid the English language of this “word.”

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Tales of a Running Hater Part VI: The Stitch Edition

This week, I’m starting to feel it.

Week 4 of the Couch-to-5k program has come, and the length time of the running intervals are starting to get longer.

In my mind, and from my athletic background, running for five minutes straight is nothing. But, it’s been awhile since I was in any sort of running shape, so this week was the first of the program I really felt that it was starting to push my limits. Not that my limits are impressive. At all. 

The interval set was run for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, run for 5 minutes, walk for 2 minutes and complete two sets.

In day 1, in the first five minute run, I got a cramp in my side. I worked it out and was fine for the rest of the run. On day 2, another cramp came and this time it lasted through most of the second set. It never hurt to the point that it forced me stop, but it did affect my speed on the last five minute run; I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted in the final couple of minutes.

So I looked up some info on cramps (or stitches, as they’re sometimes called) to hopefully avoid that problem tomorrow when I run day 3.

I read two articles to help me, one on WebMD and one on Cool Running and both said it’s more a breathing problem than anything else. If you learn nothing else from me in this life, remember that shallow breathing is bad. You can get stitches by simply not breathing deep enough. If you start breathing properly, a lot of times the stitch will go away.

When you get a cramp, it’s best to just slow down, even to a walk if necessary, until the stitch goes away. It usually won’t take too long to subside. 

There can be other contributing factors, like being dehydrated or eating too much before going on a run. Good breathing seems to be the key.

I’m coming up on the halfway point of this program, and I’m really glad I started it. As I mentioned in the previous Couch-to-5k posts (you can click here if you want to read them), I have never enjoyed running, but I wanted to challenge myself.

At first, I was struggling to stay motivated to do the runs. But now, I actually (gulp) look forward to run days. I can’t tell you how much better I feel on days I run. Even from start to finish of the run, my body feels drastically improved.

So, look out. I’m actually starting to enjoy this. Sort of.

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Sexual misconduct and sports

It’s something I don’t understand.

When a female accuses someone of sexual misconduct — especially when a female accuses a famous person or professional athlete on such charges — it seems like people immediately want to think, “She’s just a gold digger.”

I don’t have any personal experience in the matter, fortunately (both in getting raped or wanting to hook up with professional athletes. Once you've covered them on a daily basis, believe me, you wouldn't want to either). But, as a woman, I feel compelled to say something in light of this most recent Ben Roethlisberger situation.

Now of course, I don’t know what happened last week between Roethlisberger and the woman who is making the claims against him. So it’s possible the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback will be found not guilty on all charges if this goes to trial. I’m not just talking about his situation specifically.

But, just look at the language in the media when a sexual misconduct situation arises. Maybe it started earlier than this, but the first time I remembering hearing it was the Kobe Bryant rape case, and that’s the phrase “Kobe’s accuser.” Or, Ben Roethlisberger’s accuser. It’s such a negative word. The phrase seems to completely separate Bryant or Roethlisberger from any involvement in the situation. Accuser makes it sound like some crazy person in the Salem witch trials getting up and screaming, “She’s a witch!” at some random person they don't even know.

In my mind, when I hear “possible victim” vs. “accuser”? it makes quite a difference in how I am going to view the person.

What if it was flipped? What if stories would say, “Possible rapist Kobe Bryant”? Or, “possible rapist Ben Roethlisberger”? Well, that’s not saying they committed the crime, so the media outlets are covered from any libel problems. But it puts Bryant or Roethlisberger in a negative light before all the facts are out. I think it’s important to be fair to both sides while the situation is being sorted out and the language used often doesn't do that.

It also frustrates me when people say (again, not just in these two situations specifically) “well, she put herself in that situation. It’s her fault.”Well yes, maybe some of these women were out at nightclubs, and maybe, they were hoping for attention from star athletes. Maybe, they were even hoping to hook up. But, if these women got in that situation, and at any point voiced that they were uncomfortable with what was happening, the other person needs to listen and stop.

It doesn’t matter who the person is, or what their profession is, or even how many people they’ve slept with. Everyone should have the chance to say, “hey, this makes me uncomfortable and I want to stop.” Sleeping around or wanting to hook up with athletes doesn’t make you are immune from getting raped.

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Tales of a Running Hater: Denver Edition

 

Yes, I did actually wear all of that at one time.

At 6:30 a.m. in Denver, which is 5:30 a.m. in my Los Angeles-based brain, I was laying in my warm bed trying to talk myself into getting up.

It was a serious battle in my head. But miraculously, I pulled myself out of bed. Three different times.

I put all of those clothes on and faced the snow-covered ground for Week 3 of the Couch-to-5k running program.

This was the first week that had a longer run. We’ve jumped up from running 90-second intervals to running a couple of 3-minute intervals. Still, not too bad. I know a difficult week is around the corner for me, but at this point, things have gone smoothly from a physical standpoint. I haven’t been sore afterwords. Running in the high altitude makes me breathe heavier than normal, but it hasn’t caused me near as many problems as I thought it might.

But I did come up against something new.

For the first time in my life, I had the chance to feel what it’s like to have my boogers start to freeze in my nose.

(At this point, I should mention despite wearing all those clothes at one time and writing about my boogers freezing, I did manage to get engaged this weekend. This probably surprises you that someone like that could actually find someone to propose to them. I won’t argue with you on that.)

Freezing boogers were only the first day, however. That was when the temperature was in the teens. Day 2, it was in the high 20s. Balmy. On Day 3, I didn’t even have to run with my gloves on. It’s like I’m a full blown Coloradoan now…except for the fact that I’ll NEVER wear shorts when the temperature is in the 40s, like everyone around here seems to. Other than that, it’s exactly the same.

Admittedly, I haven’t exactly gone by the book on the Couch-to-5k, because of getting sick and trying to fit runs in while I’m on a trip where I’ve worked some long hours. It hasn’t gone as smoothly as I had hoped in that department, but I have done all of the workouts required. Doing them in the proper time frame has proven to be a challenge for me.

Still, I am determined to finish, so I’m plugging away. In 12 layers of clothes.





 

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My Denver Surprise

 

I was dropping a bombshell on my brother and sister-in-law the first night I was here visiting them in Denver.

Or… so I thought.

“Bryan and I are talking about getting married,” I said, my eyes locked on anything but my brother and sister-in-law in the Cheesecake Factory on that Saturday night.

If you know me, you know this is an extraordinary statement. I’ve dated my fair share of fellows, and most of the time it ended with me fleeing in panic when things started to get serious.

So, the fact that Bryan and I had talked about getting married, AND the fact that I could verbalize that to another human being (in this case TWO human beings) is probably all you need to know about my feelings for Bryan.

My bro and sister-in-law were excited by this announcement, to say the least.

Five days later, after working a long week with my brother (I’m here to help him out on some projects at his work), we had Friday off, and my sister-in-law was off too. We were going to do some sightseeing.

Or… so I thought.

One of the cool places Travis had mentioned was Sloan’s Lake. Our plan was to go to lunch and then head out for some more tourist-type stuff.

Travis told me to dress nice; the place we were going to lunch was kinda fancy.

While we were driving, Sloan’s Lake appeared on the left.

“This is the lake I was talking about Mandy,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” I said.

And it was. The lake was beautiful; frozen over, with a view of downtown Denver to one side.

So beautiful, in fact, that Travis got impulsive.

Or… so I thought.

“You know what? Why don’t we just get out right now? Do you have your camera? We can take some photos. It’s a perfect day.”

“Yeah sure, that sounds good,” I said.

And it was a perfect day. Well, for Denver anyway. Perfect for this girl is 70 degrees by the beach. But this is Denver in February. So somewhere in the 40s with clear skies and sunshine is perfect. The sun felt warm when we got out of the car and walked around, stepping on chunks of melted ice and snow.

We came to a beautiful bridge. Travis took my camera and told me to stand a certain way. Emily made me turn my back to one entrance of the bridge, and then my brother started snapping photos of the two of us.

Or… so I thought.

Unbeknownst to me, he had the camera on the video function to record what happened next.

While Travis was “taking pictures” I saw a person coming over the bridge out of the corner of my eye. Emily stepped away from me and when I turned to see who it was, I realized that person looked pretty familiar.

It was Bryan. My Bryan. My Bryan who had talked to me on the phone the night before from Los Angeles.

Or... so I thought.

I — being a graceful and soft-spoken lady at all times — shouted something like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” about three octaves higher than I thought possible. You know, in a good, completely stunned sort of way.

I barely got those words out of my mouth, and he was down on one knee. On one knee with a white box. On one knee with a white box that contained something rather shiny.

“I love you very much,” he said.

And um, I honestly don’t remember the rest because I think I was rather close to going into shock. But you know, those are the only words I need to remember.

I assume he said something like, “Will you marry me?” because of the whole ring-and-on-one-knee situation, and also because at some point I remember saying something eloquent like, “Yes. Yes. My answer is yes.”

But mostly, I was stunned that it was all happening.

I think I was stunned because I really wasn’t sure it would ever happen for me. In my mind, the chances that anyone would come around that would make my life so much better, or fill it with so much laughter and happiness seemed slim to none.

Or… so I thought.

 

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Rocky Mountain Hi

If you have been wondering where I have been the last few days here is my answer…

Clearly, not in Los Angeles. I have been in beautiful Denver, Colorado since Saturday and hanging with two of my favorite people in the world, my brother and my sister-in-law.

Personally, I’m a girl who doesn’t like when the temperature drops under 70, but after three days of it looking like this here in Denver...

I was thrilled when they said it would be 40 today.

I don’t even know myself anymore.

This is a trip that’s a lot of work and some play for me, so I just wanted to do a quick photo post while I had the chance.

And, since we couldn’t go without mentioning something sports related, I took this on Tuesday:

Invesco Field is just a short walk from my brother’s office, where I’m helping him with a few projects at his job. It’s been so much fun.

But don’t you worry, there’s a food post coming. My trip happens to coincide with Denver during Restaurant Week (!!!!) and on Sunday, I had one of the most phenomenal meals I’ve ever had.

It involves meat. Lots of meat. 

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Tales of Running Hater Part IV: This is the Remix Edition

Week Two: The REMIX of the Couch to 5k program is well on its way.

I had stated in last week’s post that I was re-doing the second week, because due to an illness, I didn't complete Week Two. I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied at the end of this program if I cut corners. Thus, the REMIX.

Week Two is really pretty easy for me. The program is six intervals of running for 90 seconds, and each one is followed by two minutes of walking. The 30 minutes goes by in a flash.

My goal is to always run a little faster on each interval. I also do one of the intervals on an incline to challenge myself a little more.

As much as I complain about running (you can read my whining here) I always feel so much better after I run. It gives me more energy throughout my entire day. I’m not ready to say I like running yet…we are definitely not on those terms at this point. But I will say I’m warming up to the idea.

I am also excited scared because for the next two weeks, my Couch to 5k will be taking place in Denver. I am visiting my bro and sister-in-law and so I will have to run in two situations that are completely foreign to me: high altitude and snow.

It will definitely be an adventure for this snow-phobic (who am I kidding? Anything-below-70 degrees-phobic) Los Angeles girl. Any Denver runners out there have some good advice for me?  I have the feeling I am going to need it.

If you are running in Denver next week and you see a girl in her mid-20s in a parka, laying on the sidewalk panting for breath in an embarrassing, pathetic sort of way, say hi. That will probably be me after running 200 yards down the street.

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Athlete's Palate: Dessert First

I must have sounded really good.

Like I really had things together around here.

You know, like committing to running three days a week for the next eight weeks. Or, purchasing the cookbook “The Athlete’s Palate,” which has loads of healthy recipes for endurance athletes.

But somehow — totally on accident, of course — I skipped to the dessert section. 

We’re starting with Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Don’t judge me. If it’s in this cookbook, they must be good for you. Plus, my mom was throwing a Valentine’s Day party and as an attendee I was required to bring a red, white, or pink dessert.

This cupcake recipe was contributed to the cookbook by Beth Pilar and Ellen Sternau, who collaborate at their New York City bakery How Sweet It Is. 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 ½ cake flour (I only had all-purpose)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon vinegar

Frosting
8 oz. of cream cheese (at room temperature)
½ pound unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, mix the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vanilla extract and vinegar. Combine wet and dry ingredients and fill your greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full with the batter. The recipe says to cook the cupcakes for 15-20 or until the cupcakes spring back when you touch them.

Since everyone coming to the party was supposed to bring a dessert, I decided to make them mini cupcakes, because people were going to have plenty of sweets. The mini cupcakes took about 15 minutes, so if you are going with smaller cupcakes, 15 minutes is probably the longest time you’ll need. Cook in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, and then remove them too cool completely.

And now, we have come to the frosting.

This is when you know you are making something good:

Make sure your cream cheese and butter is at room temperature and mix together until smooth. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar in batches and then add the vanilla extract.

The frosting makes a ton, and I don’t believe in going crazy on the frosting. It’s against my morals.

But, if you like more frosting than cupcake, you go ahead and do that.  If you decide to eat the leftover frosting with a spoon and nothing else, I won’t tell anyone.

Then, sprinkle on some colored sugar and make the cupcakes look all pretty. Or, if you're like me, try to make them look pretty. Sometimes it works out, but usually it doesn't.

Pretty or not, these cupcakes will still taste ridiculously good. Believe me.

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Is inexperience to blame for Kumaritashvili’s death?

Certainly, it was a one-in-a-million chain of events.

Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s hit that final turn in just the wrong way. He had so much momentum going that it carried him off the track where the Georgian then struck a steel pole.

No one imagined something like that could happen. The death of Kumaritashvili was shocking.

In the wake of his terrible death, two aspects of the story have left me particularly stunned.

Olympic officials and even some of the people in the luge community blame the 21-year-old’s inexperience. In essence, those people believe if Kumaritashvili handled the turn better, we wouldn’t be talking about the dangers of the Whistler track this week.

I don’t know much about luge and I am certainly not a mathematician or physics expert, but it seems obvious to me that lugers going 90 miles per hour down a track with only a helmet to protect them spells danger even for a minute mistake. What would people be blaming this on if a more experienced luger died? If those sleds go that fast, momentum could fling any of them up and over the track, no matter how many luge competitions a person has under their belt.

If inexperience did cause the death of Kumaritashvili, why did the officials move the men’s start down to where the women start? Olympic officials said they did it to ease concerns of the athletes, but it seems many of the lugers did not agree with the changing the track.

And, it’s not as if this particular track hadn’t raised concerns among some of the athletes beforehand. Tragically, one of those lugers was Kumaritashvili himself, who voiced his concerns to his father days before he died. In my mind, inexperience might have been a factor, but cannot be completely to blame. If he’s an Olympian, whether for a powerhouse country or not, I would think he has enough experience to handle turns. His error did not seem out of the ordinary; it looked like something that could happen to any luger at any minute.

The second aspect that upset me was the decision by NBC to show Kumaritashvili’s death over and over. I kept looking at the ground every time the video would start; I couldn’t watch.

One thing I am at least somewhat knowledgeable on in this situation is journalism ethics. I have a degree in journalism and have been a newspaper writer for the last seven years.

When decisions arise such as these — to air or not air a video or a photo — it is tough to know what the right answer is. My local NBC Los Angeles affiliate aired the video to the point where Kumaritashvili lost control of the sled and then cut it off; I felt like that was the appropriate line.

You aren’t dealing with one of those spills we’ll see on a highlight reel one day that we can laugh about. Someone died. Would they show a video of a pedestrian getting hit by a car? Or someone getting shot and killed?

Whether people in the general public want to see the video or not, we just don’t need to see someone lose their life like that. I look at it as a matter of respect for the person who dies. You can’t think of ratings in this instance.

You have to think of respect.

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Friday Favorites and Fails

Friday Favorites

Living in Southern California: We’ve had a rash of bad rainstorms here over the last few weeks, but that is nothing compared to what the Mid-Atlantic is going through right now. I’m sure these are great places to live, but 45 degrees and rainy is generally as bad as it gets here, which is something to be thankful for. I can see snow on the mountains from my house, and that’s exactly where I like it: close enough to take in how beautiful it looks…but far enough away where I am in no danger of the snow touching me if I go outside.

My new cookbook: My plan is to write a full post on this later, but it’s truly ridiculous and nerdy how excited I get about buying new cookbooks. If I wasn’t a writer by trade and actually had money, there’s no doubt the collection on my shelf would at least be double what it currently is.

This particular cookbook makes me happy because it’s a cookbook for athletes called “The Athlete’s Palate.” I plan on cooking through many of the recipes and writing about it here on this blog…and I may or may not be trying the cupcake recipe first.

The Lakers winning without Kobe Bryant:  It’s impressive, first off. Second, it makes other NBA fan bases really jealous and they hate the Lakers even more. This always makes me laugh.

The Winter Olympics getting under way: Opening Ceremonies is tonight in Vancouver. It’s always a great two weeks where we get to hear lots of incredible stories about extraordinary athletes who have sacrificed a lot to get where they are. The Concession Stand is especially pulling for Tim Burke, Emily Azevedo and Jeff Isaacson who have been featured here!

Friday Fails

College basketball: UNC is having an off year…and so is UConn…and so is LSU…and so is the entire Pac 10 Conference. My interest in college basketball, pre-March, continues to wane as each new season comes. Which could be a sign I’m getting old, but my interest in college football remains unchanged. The only college hoops game this year that I have flipped by on TV that compelled me to watch to the end was Kansas-Kansas State in Manhattan (if for no other reason than to see if K-State’s head coach would finally explode from intensity). It’s not that the college game is without good players, but there is no one in my mind that I HAVE to watch when he’s playing. And that’s a problem.

Myself: Spilling a berry smoothie all over the floor and on my tan canvas shoes this week is pretty worthy of a fail, I’d say.

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Enjoy your Valentine’s Day everyone!

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Tales of a running hater part III: Slacker Edition

 

Nope, I haven't put these on in a week. 

Well, that didn’t last long.

Two weeks ago, I was all gung ho. At least, about as gung ho as you can be when you don’t like what you are about to take on.

In this post here, I discussed that despite my hatred of running, I was going to get more serious about doing it on a regular schedule. I picked the program, Couch to 5k. I downloaded a super helpful podcast of the program that would play music, as well as tell me when to start and stop. I joined the facebook fanpage even! Don’t I sound seriously into it?

It took me a week and a half to ruin my streak of keeping with the program.

Impressive, I know.

See, I didn’t just stop because of laziness. I came down with a cold and suddenly my weekend got super busy. I only ran two out of the three scheduled days.

But in a turn of events that is quite different from the normal me, I am sticking with it. If this nine-week program takes me 20 weeks to complete, so be it. My New Years resolution, after all, is “finish what you start.”

My first thought after missing a day was, “well, I’ll just start on the third week Monday. I ran two out of the three days this week. That’s enough.”

It made me feel like a slacker; like I was completely incapable of sticking to anything. All the people that actually enjoy running would be ashamed. And I know and love some of those running enjoyers, as a one-year member of my high school’s cross country team. It only took me one season (it took a lot less than that, but I stuck it out to the end) to realize that running 10 miles a day is not my idea of a good time.

Also, I had read a story last week of a girl who continued to run while having cancer and going through chemotherapy.

So, um, yeah. What was my lame excuse again?

So, we’re going to give it another go, starting on Monday. Couch to 5k Week 2, the REMIX!

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Some Valentine's Day tips for the dudes

Guys, in the words of Snoop Dogg, it’s time to step your love game up.

(yes, anytime I can mention Snoop Dogg here, I will take advantage)

We are four days out from Valentine’s Day, and some of you have literally done nothing towards showing your best girl you consider Feb. 14 different from Feb. 13.

This is not in your best interests. Trust me.

For some guys, I truly think Valentine’s Day is an enigma. They know it can be catastrophic to screw up, but they aren’t really sure how to not screw it up.

Before we get to some tips you can use, keep these two absolute truths in mind about women and Valentine’s Day:

Truth #1: women really just want to feel like they are worth your time and effort (and not just on Valentine’s Day, but especially on Valentine's Day).

Truth #2: women want to have the Valentine’s Day story that all their girls get jealous of when they discuss it the next day. And believe me; we all talk about it the next day.

If you only hit a home run once a year, V-day is the day to do it. Rock this day for your best girl, and it can get you several Get out of Jail Free cards.

One of the best ways to satisfy both of the absolute truths about women and V-day is simple: cook something yourself.

Getting in the kitchen — especially if you usually don’t — will make her feel like she’s worth putting in the extra mile for. Not to mention, it's pretty universal that we find men who cook incredibly sexy.

So, when she’s talking to the girls the next day, if she can say, “My man took me to my favorite (art exhibit, hike, band, store, etc) and then he cooked for me” all of her friends will burn with envy. Then they will go home and exclaim to their husbands or boyfriends, “why couldn’t you be more like (enter your name here)?!”

It doesn’t make sense to guys (and I don’t blame you) but friends burning with envy is a good thing. Believe it.

If you want something simple but special to finish off your V-day, go to the store and buy a cute container (shouldn’t be hard to find right now). Buy a roll of sugar cookie dough and some heart-shaped cut outs. Roll the dough out, cut out some heart shapes and stick on the cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheets in the fridge for at least an hour, so the hearts keep their shape when they cook. Let them cool and then decorate as you please. Stick them in the cute container you bought.

But, if you want to bring out the big guns and do more than baking, there are many places that can help.

Whatever you want to cook, there’s probably a video on the Web on how to do it.

My favorite cooking Web site in the world is www.allrecipes.com. There are videos, recipes and tips from real home cooks.  You can click on a recipe and it will have reviews from people who have tried cooking it, and many of them include tweaks and changes. You can learn a lot from the reviews, like good ingredient substitutes or how to make a dish healthier. They have a section of Valentine’s Day recipes here.

Check out www.lookandtaste.com too. They have videos for just about anything you would want to cook. They also have an awesome glossary that will tell you things like what mangoes are used for, and then demonstrate how to cut them in a video.

And if those don’t give you ideas and some help, there are oh-so many more.

Another Web site I really dig these days is Real Simple.  They have everything from food to beauty advice, and clearly, the overall goal is to keep it simple. This site has loads of easy, delicious dishes.

They also have a page here of easy Valentine’s Day ideas, which includes five easy Valentine’s Day desserts. The desserts have basic ingredients you probably already in your kitchen. One is a chocolate panini recipe which literally needs two ingredients: chocolate and bread. Honestly, there’s no downside to that.

Valentine’s Day — despite its overall lameness in your eyes — truly has little to do with how much money you spend (OK, some of you high super high-maintenance girls, and that’s a you problem. Get a girl who is more into you than sparkly jewelry). If it even looks like you thought ahead and did something that’s meaningful to her, you’ve done your job.

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Super Bowl Analysis

I said it myself, but I didn't listen.


People would ask who my pick was for the Super Bowl. My answer was always the Colts, but then I'd qualify that with something similar to what I said on twitter: "Everyone is so sure the Colts are going to win the Super Bowl. If I were Indy, that would terrify me."


Think of what little chance any "expert" gave the Saints. The build up to the big game gets pretty out of hand (and by "out of hand" I mean if some catastrophic event happened this week, we never would have heard about it) so I limit my TV time, but any person I saw predicting the outcome picked the Colts (including me in this post).


New Orleans needed three things to align to get its 31-17 Super Bowl win. Here's why they pulled it off:


1. The Saints kept Peyton Manning from getting into a rhythm. The time of possession was nearly equal, Saints 30:11 to Indy's 29:49, but the game had a feel that Manning was not on the field enough to get the offensive motor going. Remember after the AFC Championship game, what New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan said?


"With Peyton Manning, if you can't disrupt his rhythm he's going to kill you," Ryan said, "and we couldn't disrupt it enough."  


The Saints simply didn't let Manning kill them. At the end of the game, Manning started rifling 150 MPH-passes at people. Uh, that would be the definition of forcing it, my friends. They flustered Manning, and that turned out to be all the Saints really needed to do to neutralize the entire Colts team. 


2. Drew Brees played nearly perfect. It hardly seems realistic for Brees or anyone else to even dream of performing the way he did in the Super Bowl: 32-39, 288 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions. He never got flustered (the Colts defensive line can blame themselves for that) and he just methodically moved his team down the field almost every series they had. His team backed him up and didn't cough up the ball 150 times like they did in the NFC Championship game against the Vikings. 


3. The Saints got their huge momentum moment. This is a team that is used to feeding off a frenzied fan base. Maybe more than any team in the NFL, they feed off of emotion. New Orleans needed a moment where they felt like, "hey, we can win this." It came at the start of the second half. 


In what could be one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history, the Saints did an onside kick to start the second half. It's one of those, "if we pull this off, we're geniuses, but if not, we're idiots" moves, and it caught Indy completely off guard. It changed everything. 


If the Colts get the ball there at the start of the half, they probably score at least a field goal, and New Orleans starts to worry that they just won't be able to stop the Colts and Manning. Instead, the momentum goes crashing onto the Saints' side and it never leaves. 


My friend James, an avid Saints fan, brought up an interesting point after that onside kick. The cameras showed Dwight Freeney getting his bum ankle re-taped on the sideline. 


James said, "Do you think they went for that onside kick knowing Freeney would be getting his ankle re-taped at halftime?"  


I think that's a total possibility; they knew he wouldn't be ready right at the start of the third quarter. Either way, a brilliant move by the Saints. 


When it was all over, the Saints had their win and my friend James was sitting on the floor, crying tears of joy. When they first showed Bourbon Street, it didn't look all that crazy. But I pictured many of those people sitting together after the game was over, crying tears of joy like James was, and saying what he said:


"I never thought I would see this happen in my lifetime."

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It's the most wonderful time of the year

Sunday. You know what it is.

An epic day of awesomeness that combines the two things we hold most dear at the Concession Stand: (in no particular order) food and sports. Also known as the Super Bowl.

The game itself rarely gets me pumped up. Being from Los Angeles, I am a NFL orphan. My football fan life has been spent voting for specific players more so than teams. Maybe that sounds lame to you, but what else am I supposed to do, vote for the Raiders or Rams? Please don’t make me.

This is where my brand of NFL fandom sort of falls into a crisis. Guess which two NFL players I enjoy watching above almost any other?

That would be Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, the two quarterbacks who will be facing off on Sunday. I’ve followed their careers since they were at Tennessee and Purdue, respectively.

Am I excited for Sunday? Oh. Yes.

While I am still deciding who to actually root for in this game, I did make my food choice between the two cities this week, and that winner is New Orleans.

No offense Indianapolis. It’s not you. It’s just that New Orleans food is so unique. And so… tasty.

I tried my hand at jambalaya this week, and consulted the recipe of the Commissioner; the Tailgating Commissioner, that is (and really, what other commissioner matters?). Joe Cahn has traveled all over the country in his RV, checking out how every corner of the country tailgates. He also happens to be tailgating in Miami this weekend, where the big game will be.

Cahn was kind enough to let me interview him a few weeks ago (you can read the post here) and one of the recipe suggestions he had was for his jambalaya. He’s from New Orleans, so you know he’s not messing around when it comes to jambalaya.

He said this recipe is interchangeable with just about any meat or seafood you want to use, but I stuck with chicken and sausage. You toss it all in one pot and let it go. For someone whose cooking skills are still a work in progress, that fact is much appreciated.

The recipe: (you can see the jambalaya recipe here, or the rest of Cahn’s tailgating recipes here)

Joe’s Jambalaya

Servings: 12-15

1/4 cup vegetable oil 5 cups chicken stock or water flavored with chicken bouillon

1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 tbs. minced garlic
salt and ground black pepper 4 cups long grain rice
1 ½ lbs. sausage cut in ¼-inch slices 2 tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet (browning agent)
4 cups chopped onions 2 tbsp. seasoning salt
2 cups chopped celery 2 cups chopped green onions
2 cups chopped green bell pepper

After cooking the chicken and sausage for a few minutes you remove them and start going on the onions, green bell peppers, garlic and celery in the same pot.

At least, you would have the celery if you liked celery. I don’t, and neither does anyone else in my family. If you’re from New Orleans, I’m sorry for breaking up the trinity there. My personal theory on celery is: if peanut butter can’t even improve the way you taste, you aren’t worth my time.

Ahem, but my celery issues aren’t important. Let’s keep going.

Once the peppers and onions soften, you toss in the chicken broth, the chicken and sausage, seasoning salt, and for red jambalaya, paprika.

Bring it to a boil, and toss in the rice. Bring it to a boil again, then cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir it well, re-cover and simmer for 15-20 more minutes, or until the rice is tender.

Then, you have pot of meaty, flavorful deliciousness that will feed a ton of people comfortably, and you don’t have to put a whole lot of work into it.

If it’s a food competition, my pick is New Orleans. If it’s a football competition, I’m going with the Colts, 31-24.

Happy Super Bowl everyone!

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