Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Wake up Call.....and Turkey.....done!

Mark and I have been training Max Vo2 at our Studio in Palo Alto, Girya, at 5:00 am! Well, 5:15 am to be exact, and that means we have to leave before 5:00. It's one thing to be awake and drinking coffee, it's another to be blasting out over 60 sets of fast snatches every 15 freakin' seconds, lol! I had temporarily stopped any kind of "snatch V02" training, and three weeks ago was the first one I had done in weeks and weeks.....and let me tell you, it just about killed me to do 50 sets! I've got more to say about that, but for now I only have time to say that it's amazing how quickly the conditioning built from that kind of training comes back....thank goodness!


After our workout I leave Girya around 6:30am and drive to 7:15 am Bikram yoga class, and then later in the afternoon, go back for the 4:30 pm class with Mark. Last week I managed 4 double classes, making 11 bikram classes in a weeks time, the 2 weeks before 10 classes each. Two classes per day is not the ideal, but for now I have the luxury of experimenting with my practice.....and more about that when I have the time.


I would be very sad if I missed a daily class however, but cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family is much more important, so I decided to roast my turkey on Wednesday to make sure I could get everything done, including going to yoga today. It's a good thing Thanksgiving dinner is easy around here, the days of overdoing the menu are long gone. I keep it simple....






Turkey
Sourdough stuffing
Mashed potaotes, gravy
Yams (this year Im roasting yams, shitakes, and brussels)
Cranberry, apple slaw
Pumkin pie



What else do you need? No dinner rolls, there's plenty of bread in the stuffing. No ham...it would be nice, but really, how much meat does a person need? I decided to roast the yams with shitake mushrooms and brussel sprouts (a winning combination from Chef Fawn Friday!), they'll be yummy with the gravy, no need for sickeningly sweet yams with brown sugar and marshmallows (I've never made them with marshmallows). It'll take a few minutes to make the slaw, super simple with only shredded cabbage, diced apple, dried cranberry and a yogurt/mayo dressing (a little cider vinegar and lemon), maybe some celery if I have enough left from the stuffing....I purposely did not go to the farmers market this past weekend.


I'll pick up a can of cranberry sauce, the "jellied" kind...it's what my family likes! Mark bought a pumpkin pie at WF's, and I bought a can of "spray" whipped cream for the first time, lol! I mean so what! I learned my lesson years ago about doing the "Martha Stewart" Thanksgiving making all of my own pies, 2 pumkin, an apple, and a chocolate cream, all with my own pastry, in addition to appetizers, and numerous side dishes, blah, blah, blah.....it's so not worth the stress. I don't need to try and impress anyone! No one cares really anyway!


So here it is, Thankgiving morning, and I've got some prep to do before 8:00 am yoga, easy stuff. I'll swing for about 30 minutes when I get home and then cook until 1-2:00 when I expect my 2 boys and their girlfriends. Mark and I celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary tomorrow (the 28th), so we'll open up a bottle of champagne today and celebrate that with our family too!


I hope everyone has a "stress-less" Thanksgiving....I plan to! Life is so good.

16 comments:

Pat said...

Your turkey looks wonderful. I went to my Aunts, but I made good choices and had her wonderful carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I took whole wheat pumpkin muffins. I used applesauce instead of the oil and cut the sugar in half they never new the difference and they loved them.

I have snatches and swings in the morning so I am off to bed. I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and now that I know Happy Anniversary!!

Pat

La Saun Taylor, SFG, AFAA-CPT said...

Beautiful turkey.
Happy 21st Anniversary!

Bryan said...

Glad to see we're not the only family that loves the canned cranberries! We tried to make the real stuff one year - and hated it! Plus, I love the can indentations. It's hilariously white trash. Tasty, yummy, gelatinous goodness.

Jen said...

Oh Tracy, Happy Anniversary to you and Mark! Sounds like you guys had a great day and a great holiday with your family.

We had a good one too.. we had our kosher turkey day in los angeles and then I just got done with the more traditional one for my inlaws at their house with that jellied cranberry sauce (LOL!)

Cheers again to you and Mark!

xoxo Jen

Tracy Reifkind said...

Pat,

Good choices fly out the window when I get hungry! lol I totally porked out on the sourdough stuffing and I ended up making a quick batch of candied yams! Yes, the kind with butter and brown sugar...that was my dessert!

Tracy Reifkind said...

La Saun,

The turkey came out perfectly! I use a method of turning and basting so the breast meat is always juicy...oh and yes, the cheap tureys make the tastiest...no $50 "natural" turkey for me...$5.99, lol!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Christine,

I love just "plopping" out the cranberry sauce and leaving it like that....oh sure, I could slice it and stack it like fallen dominoes, but what the hell, right?

I'm diggin these white trash elements in these trendy times of food snobbery! Although, I thought the canned whipped cream was...well....not nice!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Jen,

My mother-in-laws matzo turkey dressing is "the bomb" and she did give me the recipe long ago before I knew how to cook, so it didn't make a whole lotta sense to me then. I might have been turnd off by the ingredient of "baby food". ????

I need to see if I can find it, baby food, or no baby food it's good!

Jen said...

Tracy, I've never had the Matzo dressing.. this Kosher Thanksgiving is the real deal! They get turkeys that are blessed and everything.. no skin either.. no butter or dairy anywhere in the house. I made an apple pie with an all crisco crust. I was kind of turned off by it, but I have to say that it was the BEST thing on the table! (tooting my own horn!)LOL!! It would have tasted better with butter, but I had to respect their home. They eat some crazy stuff... I think they try to be gourmet but it doesn't really come out right... Give me White Trash any day! Simpler the better I say!!

We had the yams with brown sugar AND marshmellows too! I'm not ashamed to say... There are some "Traditions" (cue the Fiddler on the Roof music now) that we just gotta have!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that turkey looks GOOD! Mine was kind of dry, but oh well. I ate more than my share of stuffing this year, that's for sure.

On a different note, I'm surprised at how I'm progressing with kettlebells. Like I'm able to do more swings per set without a break, etc. It's very motivating. I'm so glad I took your advice!

Lisa said...

Hi Tracy
My name is Lisa. I confess I've been a lurker, reading your blogs for about a year now. You have motivated me to start working out with KB's. I really appreciate all the ideas I've gotten from reading your blog, "Living my Physical Potential", for swinging my KB's. I would love to be invited to continue viewing LMPP.

Thanks
Lisa
kittystrokes@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Wow..sounds like a great thanksgiving dinner. Who needs martha stewart, when we got Tracy Reifkind!! LOL :)

Happy belated 21st wedding anniversary and many happy returns!

Regina

Tracy Reifkind said...

Jen,

Crisco is the secret to a flaky crust, lol! And let's face it, we've all eaten things much worse than Crisco!

Tracy Reifkind said...

saremca,

I routinely work my beginning clients up to 600 swing / 30 minute workouts within a 6 week period, equal work to rest ratio.

The conditioning happens unbelievably quick! Isn't it great? Good for you!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Lisa,

I've closed the blog to all readers at the moment, so don't feel left out!

I'll probabaly write a blogpost here with an update on that subject, but currently I'm so backed up I can barely respond to comments, much less write a blogpost!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Regina,

I used to think that Martha was the luckiest woman ever...but we know better, don't we, LOL! Just kidding!

Hope you're doing well, are you swinging the 12kg alot lately???? I am!