These are not this week’s Powerball numbers folks, these are the temperatures for the last five days. In MID-NOVEMBER. In central MINNESNOWTA. Hard to believe right? Whoever said global warming was bad for the entire Earth is clearly mistaken – why can’t it have positive effects? Such as a WARM Minnesota? History suggests this area was once tropical according to fossils found in this region, but I won’t go into that right now…
I’ve been running outside every day, and I must say, this warm weather has boosted my confidence – I have set a new record time each day! On my first record setting day, none other than Lance Armstrong himself congratulated my accomplishment – I laughed when it played over my iPod headphones. I have been improving my runs by :30 – 1:00 min each day. The day it hit sixty (in shorts and a T-shirt I must add!), I ran an extra 3 miles just because I was enjoying the incredible weather and didn’t feel like going inside to start my homework… =)
In other news, my roommate and I went to the Collegeville Apple Orchard and got pumpkins (I know, our schedules didn’t allow anyone to carve before Halloween) and instead of carving, we broke them open and made pumpkin seeds – a delicious snack for late night library sessions!
For dinner last night I whipped up a variation on a Middle Eastern dish called Tabbouleh. Instead of the usual bulgar wheat, I used Inca Red Quinoa. And I added a few dashes of cumin powder, half a cup of mint, and the juices of one lime + everything that usually goes into Tabbouleh; here’s the mix:
- 1/2 c. Quinoa (or cracked bulgar wheat), cooked and cooled
- 2 c. finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 c. finely chopped fresh mint
- 1/2 cucumber, sliced and diced
- 4 Roma tomatoes
- 3 tbls extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, squeezed
- 1 small lime, squeezed
- dash or two of cumin
- sea salt and pepper to taste
There you have it. I also grilled up some marinated shrimp (on sale for 4.99 a pound at Coborns – I’d consider it a steal for shrimp!). I marinated them in the juice of 1 tangerine, about 1 Tbls. of fresh minced ginger, a splash of olive oil and a few twists of my sea salt grinder. The paring of these two dishes was so good! The citrusy, slightly salty, and the savory came together perfectly! It reminds me of a dish my sister and I made in DC – Coconut mango couscous with grilled ginger marinated shrimp. One of my top five meals of all times!
What is the best meal you’ve ever eaten? Or something that stands out as one of the best?
À tout à l’heure!
Jamie
Tearaveler 