Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

A Botched Attempt at Tabbouleh! August 5, 2010

Filed under: Food — Kelocity @ 9:32 am

First off, let me tell you that my Lebanese Grandfather makes the BEST tabbouleh in the world.

Picture circa 2006!

Here’s the recipe (I assure you when followed correctly it’s amazing!

[[Recipe Removed…. I have to perfect it!]]

 

Now….had I actually followed my own recipe, this would have ended much better…

Mistake #1: Pulsed too many times, the parsley started to puree! 😦

Mistake #2: Should have chopped the tomato separate instead of adding to the parsley.

It ended up almost the consistency of Pesto….and it still tastes great, but how am I going to eat it?

I wonder if I can just toss it with some pasta or rice and make a ‘pesto’ dish? Why not, right? What do you think? Is there a such thing as Parsley Pesto?

 

Sunday Funday! August 1, 2010

Filed under: Food,Friends,Happy,Hollywood Events,Workout — Kelocity @ 4:09 pm
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This morning, I got out the door at 6:30a to meet the Los Angeles Racers for a 5-mile run. It was fantastic. I was still a little tight from the 5k Erika and I ran this week (because I’m sadly a wee bit out of practice with the running!) But I really pushed myself today and it felt amazing.

I was with a few friends and I kept pace with them pretty good today. Sometimes it feels amazing to push past your comfort level a little bit and push on. It was a really rewarding run.

Plus the sun stayed hidden by the clouds til after we were done. That always helps.

Here’s the stats:
5 Miles in 1:03. Burned 470 Calories.

Mile 1: 11:48
Mile 2: 13:28
Mile 3: 12:28
Mile 4: 12:32
Mile 5: 12:45

I was hoping for some negative splits, but I’m pretty happy about our pace. That was doing 5:5 intervals (5 minutes running and 5 minutes walking).

~~~~~~

After coming home and showering, Erika and Timmy and I walked down to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.
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We saw this lemonade stand and HAD to get some!
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I got a Watermelon Lemonade! (PS. I’m trying curls in my hair. What do you think?)
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For lunch, we met up with Irving at Umami Burger in Hollywood.

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It’s a funky new restaurant that all the celebs are raving about.
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At first, I was less than impressed. The staff wasn’t very outgoing and it was a little awkward.
There are also a lot of ordering “rules” and they are pretty adamant about them. I thought this was a little off putting.

But all that aside, the burger was actually really impressive.
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(But I hate when restaurants don’t serve anything on the side. It was literally JUST the burger. Where are my fries and pickles? (They are sold separately and that really annoys me!)

This was definitely a gourmet burger, and it was worth all the aggravation.
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Irving’s had crusted parmesan and some other goodies on it.
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I’m not a huge meat eater, but I ate every last bite of mine. MMM!
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For “dessert”, we had some of Honey Straws from the Farmer’s Market!
Irving’s matched his shirt!
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A very fun day in Hollywood.

 

Anniversary Trip – Part 6 Burlington (And Stowe) July 24, 2010

Filed under: Food,Vermont — Kelocity @ 2:14 pm
Tags: , , , ,

We headed into Burlington for the day to explore.

Lake Champlain:
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We loved the walking trails along the lake.
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But we were walking with purpose…. to the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory!
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We watched a video and learned how to make chocolate! (Sampling all along the way, of course)
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The Factory
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And on the way out, they gave us Truffles. MMmmm! (We really did eat our way through Vermont. Mmmm)

Vermont = Cows
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And lots and lots of this:
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Next Stop: The Trapp Family Lodge! The real family from “The Sound of Music” moved to America and this is where they lived. It’s now a fancy hotel.

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The view from the lodge: (they thought it looked like Austria. I bet it’s beautiful in the winter)
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Pretty!
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We decided this was the PERFECT location for a Smart Car Photoshoot!
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It’s so teeny!

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Then we visited the base of Stowe Mountain. Look at the ski trails!
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The Alpine Slides
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Once back in Stowe, the next day, we did some more walking. There are two trails, one is a paved road for walking and biking. The other one is a “Quiet Path”:
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It’s really just a mowed grass path for walking only. It’ was so fun! (I love fresh cut grass)!

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If you want to eat at one of the restaurants, they all have little shortcut paths you can take to get there. This is one for “Subway” lol (a little blurry)
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We ended up at the Dutch Pancake Cafe for breakfast. We got these amazing pancakes with potatoes and other savory items in them. Mmmm Served with applesauce and sour cream. They were almost like latkes.
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Served with Dutch Syrup. I was very excited about this “stroop” because we had it when I lived in Amsterdam! It was in Dutch!
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Then we headed over to “Emily’s Bridge”.
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We heard it was haunted because “Emily” died here on her way to her wedding centuries ago.
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And then we ventured to Moss Glen Falls.

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It was a little hike to get there.

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But worth the wait. They were very pretty.
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Irving hiked up way further than me, I was happy to just stay put and watch the water. lol
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It was steep!

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Then we tried to go back into Montpelier again…but it was raining like nobody’s business!
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We enjoyed the rain though. I ❤ rain!

What an amazing 3 days in Vermont!

 

Anniversary Trip – Part 5 Stowe

Filed under: Food,Vermont — Kelocity @ 1:55 pm
Tags: , , ,

One of the things that we DEFINITELY wanted to do in Vermont was visit the Ben & Jerry’s factory! IMG_4675

Can you see us in this picture? I asked Irving which one was the girl supposed to stand in, and then he told me that we were supposed to be “Ben and Jerry”. hahaha oh well.

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MMMmm Look at all the flavors!
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We were so excited to do the factory tour!
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It was really a tour for kids, but it was fun.

And the best part??! SAMPLES!
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The flavor of the day was an organic vanilla with chocolate chips!
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As if that wasn’t enough icecream…. we decided to get some more at the scoop shop (when in Rome, right?)

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I got three different flavors:

  1. Half Baked (Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams with Fudge Brownies & Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough)
  2. Triple Caramel Chunk (Caramel Ice Cream with a Swirl of Caramel & Fudge Covered Caramel Chunks)
  3. Coconut 7 Layer Bar (Coconut Ice Cream with Coconut & Fudge Flakes, Walnuts and Swirls of Graham Cracker & Butterscotch)

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Oh man, SO GOOD!

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This is where they steal all their ingredients!
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That’s a lot of sugar!

Then we went to see the “Flavor Graveyard” where some of the dead flavors go when they are discontinued.

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They all had cute little sayings on them.

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With bellies full of ice cream glory, we arrived at our hotel in Stowe. We stayed at the Green Mountain Inn. It was a perfect location, right in downtown Stowe.

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It was a quaint little room.
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With a walk-in closet!
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We headed to the bar and got some beers
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And played a few rounds of Trivial Pursuit
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Then we ventured out to find some dinner. The town is really walker friendly.
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And Pretty!
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We ate dinner at Pie in the Sky.
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I got an amazing eggplant pasta dish.
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Delish!
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Look at that cheese!
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We loved the walking trails all around
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And the art along the way:
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I wish we had this in Los Angeles!
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It was really hot though. We were a sticky mess!

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It was so cute there!
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I forced Irving to take this picture. Bahaha!
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The next morning, we headed to the “Green Mountain Coffee Cafe”.

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It was in an old train depot.
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Mmm Coffee!
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We got some coffee, straight from the source.
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Anniversary Trip – Part 4 Vermont! July 22, 2010

Filed under: Food,Vermont — Kelocity @ 11:04 pm
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As much as we love hanging out with family and friends when we go home, we definitely wanted to get away a little bit and enjoy each other’s company by ourselves.

We decided on a road trip up to Stowe, Vermont. And it was PERFECT!
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On the way, I asked begged to stop at Clark’s Trading Post!
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I used to go there when I was little and it was so fun to relive the memories a little bit. We didn’t stop to see any bears, but I was giddy with excitement just being there. I’m nostalgic, what can I say?
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We must be in New England! I can’t tell if the “G” just didn’t fit or if that’s really how they wan’ted to spell it. HAHA. It sounds like it’s spelled, parkin’!
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Welcome to VERMONT!
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It’s funny, I lived in New England my whole life and had never really spent any quality time in Vermont. It was so beautiful!
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Vermont is so predictable. My map said there were be clear signs on the road.. and look! Identical!
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Around lunch time, we stopped in Cabot, Vermont. It was so cute. It looked like a town from the turn of the century!
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It’s the home of the Cabot Creamery!
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We didn’t do the Cabot tour, but we asked them there where we could find a restaurant for lunch.
Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Where is the closest place we can grab some lunch?
Creamery Worker: You mean like a restaurant?
Me: Yea.
Creamery Worker: Well, this is a small town. We don’t really have any restaurants.
Me (and Irving): Uh…
Creamery Worker: Well, if you go to the Hardware Store across the street, they’ll make you a sandwich.

 

I’m not kidding! So we walked to Cabot Hardware to investigate!
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We didn’t think anyone would believe us when we said we ate in a hardware store, so I took a picture!
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But let me tell you… don’t be fooled. This was the BEST GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH I have EVER had!
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It was made with Cabot Cheese and it was GOOOOOOD!
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This place is HIGHLY recommended. If you’re up there, you MUST go to the hardware store for lunch. No joke!

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Our car parked in front of the Cabot Library. It’s so cute!
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Then we kept driving towards Stowe. One of the places we stopped at along the way was the Bragg Farm Sugar House. I wish I got a picture from the outside, but it was a small family run business that makes maple syrup… the old fashioned way. They showed us a 10 minute video on how to make syrup and then let us taste all the different kinds!
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They “grade” the syrup based on the color of it. The darker ones are made for baking and the lighter ones are made for coffee and pancakes. It was so fun. I felt like I was on a school field trip. It’s fun to learn stuff like this, no?

And the road trip continued with a hunt for covered bridges!
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Found one!
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We seriously giggled when we saw this. It was so cute!

And we kept on drivin’!

Hi Montpelier!
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Bye Montpelier! (We wanted to get to Stowe!)
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Stay tuned in a day or two for the rest of our fabulous trip!