Watch Episode 3 on PBS. See more from Out & About.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Our debut appearance on TV!
Psyched to share this fun piece with you highlighting our amazing journey, our awesome sport and our beloved team... check it out, we're featured just a few minutes in. Thank you Vermont Public Television!!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
What do we have in common with The Biggest Loser?
Bob's workout!! For a little variety we decided to model our circuit on Bob Harper's deck of cards workout this week. My daughter M joined us. Halfway through as we were sweating hard we all thought "shit, if 400lb people can get through this without dying so can we." And we did. Then for good measure we did it again!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Well we worked hard in 2012 and rewarded ourselves with a good party New Year's eve. We gathered at G's, flashing 2013 glasses and hats and noisemakers - the whole nine yards. R rewarded all our work with a big bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label - which we polished off very happily. It was an event planned to the last detail. G's mom made a big steaming pot of that Latin classic, Sancocho and I was charged with dessert.
"Make flan," A said.
"Yeah riiiight," quipped I. "I'm going to make flan for the Puerto Ricans. That's suicide!!"
So I texted G.
What do you want for dessert?
Flan.
You're as crazy as A! You're gonna rip me apart!
And make it properly. With condensed milk and everything.
Fine. You're on.
And on she was. I laughed in the face of danger (her AND her mother) and went for it. A, bless his heart, helped.
Our first crack at caramelizing the sugar was a bust. The recipe I found called for regular white sugar. Well, that liquified, then solidified and turned back into sugar again. And stayed bright white. BUST.
"Try brown sugar" he said, citing a Filipino recipe. So after wiping up the mess, we tried again - with the brown. We'd figured out the ideal temperature to simmer it at by this time, and it worked beautifully.
I mixed up some condensed milk, eggs, vanilla and a few other secret things, and poured it into a pie plate, on top of the waiting caramelized sugar. Just to make sure i didn't create some awful tasting disaster, I made extra in a few custard cups. Into a pan of water and into the oven the entire thing went - with a small prayer to the kitchen goddess that my oven would actually burn at the temperature it was supposed to.
40 minutes later - out it came, looking fabulous. And it tasted pretty good too. I sent a picture to G.
OMG. OMG. OMG you dared and it looks AMAZING. I am glad M is not coming. I am going to eat her piece.
Of course I decided I needed to bring it on a fancy platter - which was too big and caused the thing to slide all over the place. But A, balancing it on his knees the whole ride over, took it all in his regular, relaxed stride. Me on the other hand, had tasted so much sugary gooey-ness in the making of this masterpiece that I had a fashion/body meltdown and went on a closet rampage minutes before we had to leave. I'm very thankful nobody trussed me up and threw me INTO the closet. Boy was I ugly there for a moment.
Anyway, I found an outfit, fixed my hair, breathed in and out a few times. We all got into the car and headed over to G's.
She dove into it the minute we stepped inside. Her mom too. Great - I didn't even get to have a first drink to settle my nerves.
"OMG, that's so good," was G's verdict.
It was her mom's opinion I was afraid of though. I barely dared look her in the eye as she went in for a taste. She took her time. She swirled it around, then swallowed, then opened her mouth to speak. I was a nervous wreck (thank goodness for the nice big glass of Blue Label right now).
"It's good!" Phew. "A little too much.." oh crap, what!? What!? "vanilla. But otherwise very good."
Quick as a flash, A came to my rescue.
"It's Filipino leche flan, that's why there's vanilla." Dude, I can't wait to marry this man. I fair fell on the floor with relief and gratitude.
"Ah, Filipino flan..." mom muttered. And that was that, vanilla explained. (For the record, I didn't think there WAS all that heady a vanilla-ing, but what do I know, I've never made this stuff before nor do I eat it on a regular basis. In fact, I think I've had it twice in my still young life.)
Tastes completed, we danced, ate the sancocho, digested a few seconds and dished up proper servings of flan. And then waited for the glittery ball to drop and announce 2013. Toot toot!
"Make flan," A said.
"Yeah riiiight," quipped I. "I'm going to make flan for the Puerto Ricans. That's suicide!!"
So I texted G.
What do you want for dessert?
Flan.
You're as crazy as A! You're gonna rip me apart!
And make it properly. With condensed milk and everything.
Fine. You're on.
And on she was. I laughed in the face of danger (her AND her mother) and went for it. A, bless his heart, helped.
Our first crack at caramelizing the sugar was a bust. The recipe I found called for regular white sugar. Well, that liquified, then solidified and turned back into sugar again. And stayed bright white. BUST.
 |
| yay, success! |
I mixed up some condensed milk, eggs, vanilla and a few other secret things, and poured it into a pie plate, on top of the waiting caramelized sugar. Just to make sure i didn't create some awful tasting disaster, I made extra in a few custard cups. Into a pan of water and into the oven the entire thing went - with a small prayer to the kitchen goddess that my oven would actually burn at the temperature it was supposed to.
40 minutes later - out it came, looking fabulous. And it tasted pretty good too. I sent a picture to G.
OMG. OMG. OMG you dared and it looks AMAZING. I am glad M is not coming. I am going to eat her piece.
Of course I decided I needed to bring it on a fancy platter - which was too big and caused the thing to slide all over the place. But A, balancing it on his knees the whole ride over, took it all in his regular, relaxed stride. Me on the other hand, had tasted so much sugary gooey-ness in the making of this masterpiece that I had a fashion/body meltdown and went on a closet rampage minutes before we had to leave. I'm very thankful nobody trussed me up and threw me INTO the closet. Boy was I ugly there for a moment.
Anyway, I found an outfit, fixed my hair, breathed in and out a few times. We all got into the car and headed over to G's.
 |
| yup, she ate it all. with a big-a** spoon |
"OMG, that's so good," was G's verdict.
It was her mom's opinion I was afraid of though. I barely dared look her in the eye as she went in for a taste. She took her time. She swirled it around, then swallowed, then opened her mouth to speak. I was a nervous wreck (thank goodness for the nice big glass of Blue Label right now).
"It's good!" Phew. "A little too much.." oh crap, what!? What!? "vanilla. But otherwise very good."
Quick as a flash, A came to my rescue.
"It's Filipino leche flan, that's why there's vanilla." Dude, I can't wait to marry this man. I fair fell on the floor with relief and gratitude.
"Ah, Filipino flan..." mom muttered. And that was that, vanilla explained. (For the record, I didn't think there WAS all that heady a vanilla-ing, but what do I know, I've never made this stuff before nor do I eat it on a regular basis. In fact, I think I've had it twice in my still young life.)
Tastes completed, we danced, ate the sancocho, digested a few seconds and dished up proper servings of flan. And then waited for the glittery ball to drop and announce 2013. Toot toot!
Friday, November 23, 2012
How to survive a fitness test
New season, new attitude. Tomorrow we are going into the first fit test of our new season confident, calm and ready. We are not stressing about any of the numbers (scale, bench weight, chinups, erg time, etc). We're just gonna go in, do our job, and get out. It's about winning the mental game now.
(We'll see how that works out. Stay tuned!)
Also we found the light switch for the sauna. No more scaring little children with our nudity!
Thursday, November 22, 2012
While some trained, others ate
We skipped our Montreal weekly session tonight, and feasted instead. Sometimes family, friends and laughs are exactly what a body needs...especially right before the first fit test of the season. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Training hard without breaking
The regulars at the gym have been taking notice of our workouts of late.
"Wow, you girls are really hitting it hard lately!"
"I love to see you two in here lifting every day."
"So I hear you had a really great summer. What's next?"
 |
| Ahhh... I could fall asleep in here (not recommended!) |
So anyway, back to the story. We've upped our game already, this early in winter training - simply because we have to. We have to hold onto our seats. We have our first fit test Thanksgiving weekend. We are going to be competing against women from across the country for the US national team next spring. And after a really welcome almost 2-month break (from paddling, not training!) - we're re-energized and ready to go.
We have a new, 2nd assistant coach who is already not hesitating to kick our butts. He did that this morning, and then coach P alleviated all the pain Coach Y inflicted upon us with stretches that made us scream and squeal ... After a hot shower all I wanted was a looong nap. Til at least Tuesday. But I can't, because tomorrow G and I have a date to go get some wet heat therapy... splishy fun in the hot tub followed by languid stretching in the sauna. Heaven! And not just fun - but important. So we can keep coming back and working hard... [and getting noticed.. yeah, we sorta dig that :) ]
Thursday, November 1, 2012
We're Back and We're Naked
Big workout today. MONSTER. So big in fact that a gentleman who'd been valiantly working away on an elliptical machine for an interminable time before he decided to go hit something heavyish came up to us as we were axe-chopping our way through a stack of weights on the cable machine.
"Man, I can't wait to do shoulder exercises like you."
Hmm...okay....
"I saw you hitting it hard over there.."
"Yeah," I laughed, "today's a big shoulder day!"
"I had rotator cuff surgery six weeks ago, and one pound hurts like mad."
Aaaah.... the post injury workout attempt. I understand that one. It sucks.
Interesting mix of folks in there with us today. An especially memorable pair were two 20-something hot tamales, in full make-up and pricey-looking outfits. I think they worked out their mouths and eyes more than any other parts of their bodies - though I did see them do two gym-lengths of walking squats with a 5lb dumbell in each hand. Afterward they plopped on the mat and "stretched." Chuckling, we left them there to their social event. They reminded me of me, twenty years ago, when all I had at home were 2lb, 5lb and 8lb pretty pink dumbbells and I thought my Billy Blanks Tae Bo VHS set was badass. Is it wrong to channel an old Virginia Slims ad? Ah to hell with it - WE'VE COME A LOOOOOOONG WAY BABY!
Anyway...spent, we hit the sauna. Naked of course. We laid towels down to protect our cheeks and plopped our bums down on the top bench. G looked right, I looked left, our eyes connected and.... we dissolved into fits of giggles.
"Here we go again.. we're back! Winter training has begun."
"Did you even SEE the summer? It was like zoom zoom zoom HONG KONG zoom zoom zoom END OF SEASON."
"Yeah, I have no idea where it went. It just whizzed right on by."
"Yup we're back. And we're naked."
"Hey G.. could you build a sauna please? So we can enjoy this with our men?"
She squinted at me. "So you can hang it out with my husband?"
More giggles.
"Oh right, yeah, probably not," I said when I could breathe again.
"Actually, he wouldn't care. He'd be down with it." Hmmm.. would A? I'll have to ask him later.
The sauna door is glass, and looks out onto a hallway that leads to the sinks, toilet stalls, lockers and the pool. It's a heavy traffic area. Right on the inside of the door is a lamp. It has a very bright bulb in it. So bright, that if you are sitting on the top bench inside, which we do, you are illuminated brilliantly and, your nakedness is, shall we say, not hideable. Not that we give an iota. We stopped caring a loooong time ago. So we're hanging out, chatting, laughing, glistening all over as the heat melts away all our aches and tension... and suddenly we see the pretty girls approach the door. And turn abruptly away right before reaching it.
Yet more giggles.
But within 2 minutes they were back, tightly toweled and hiding behind their still-fresh-from-the-laundry sport bras. We did the only thing we could do. Clamped our knees and draped the corners of our towels over the tops of our thighs. Courage summoned, but keeping their eyes averted, pretty girls came in, slunk over to the corner, and carried on the same conversation they'd been having in the weight room. We eavesdropped for a while, trying desperately not to laugh too obviously.
G turned to me, eyes wet with contained tears. "So, L, that pumpkin K carved..."
"What? Is it rotting now?"
"Well yeah, but it was soo funny..." and she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Which was contagious and seeing as i was ready to bust at the seams anyway I joined in. The pumpkin actually wasn't the real joke - because if you've seen it you will see it is the ultimate in coolness.
"I just needed to say something so I could laugh," G mouthed at me. "Yeah pumpkin!" she said louder, and we dissolved into laughter again.
I think they spent about 10 minutes with us in there, consoling themselves about a multitude of inane things, and departed to study and eat. Ha.
We flung off our towels, relaxed our knees, let our shoulders drop a little bit more, and laughed and snorted until we could snort no more.
Yeah. We're back. And we're staying naked!!
"Man, I can't wait to do shoulder exercises like you."
Hmm...okay....
"I saw you hitting it hard over there.."
"Yeah," I laughed, "today's a big shoulder day!"
"I had rotator cuff surgery six weeks ago, and one pound hurts like mad."
Aaaah.... the post injury workout attempt. I understand that one. It sucks.
Interesting mix of folks in there with us today. An especially memorable pair were two 20-something hot tamales, in full make-up and pricey-looking outfits. I think they worked out their mouths and eyes more than any other parts of their bodies - though I did see them do two gym-lengths of walking squats with a 5lb dumbell in each hand. Afterward they plopped on the mat and "stretched." Chuckling, we left them there to their social event. They reminded me of me, twenty years ago, when all I had at home were 2lb, 5lb and 8lb pretty pink dumbbells and I thought my Billy Blanks Tae Bo VHS set was badass. Is it wrong to channel an old Virginia Slims ad? Ah to hell with it - WE'VE COME A LOOOOOOONG WAY BABY!
Anyway...spent, we hit the sauna. Naked of course. We laid towels down to protect our cheeks and plopped our bums down on the top bench. G looked right, I looked left, our eyes connected and.... we dissolved into fits of giggles.
"Here we go again.. we're back! Winter training has begun."
"Did you even SEE the summer? It was like zoom zoom zoom HONG KONG zoom zoom zoom END OF SEASON."
"Yeah, I have no idea where it went. It just whizzed right on by."
"Yup we're back. And we're naked."
"Hey G.. could you build a sauna please? So we can enjoy this with our men?"
She squinted at me. "So you can hang it out with my husband?"
More giggles.
"Oh right, yeah, probably not," I said when I could breathe again.
"Actually, he wouldn't care. He'd be down with it." Hmmm.. would A? I'll have to ask him later.
The sauna door is glass, and looks out onto a hallway that leads to the sinks, toilet stalls, lockers and the pool. It's a heavy traffic area. Right on the inside of the door is a lamp. It has a very bright bulb in it. So bright, that if you are sitting on the top bench inside, which we do, you are illuminated brilliantly and, your nakedness is, shall we say, not hideable. Not that we give an iota. We stopped caring a loooong time ago. So we're hanging out, chatting, laughing, glistening all over as the heat melts away all our aches and tension... and suddenly we see the pretty girls approach the door. And turn abruptly away right before reaching it.
Yet more giggles.
But within 2 minutes they were back, tightly toweled and hiding behind their still-fresh-from-the-laundry sport bras. We did the only thing we could do. Clamped our knees and draped the corners of our towels over the tops of our thighs. Courage summoned, but keeping their eyes averted, pretty girls came in, slunk over to the corner, and carried on the same conversation they'd been having in the weight room. We eavesdropped for a while, trying desperately not to laugh too obviously.
G turned to me, eyes wet with contained tears. "So, L, that pumpkin K carved..."
"What? Is it rotting now?"
"Well yeah, but it was soo funny..." and she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Which was contagious and seeing as i was ready to bust at the seams anyway I joined in. The pumpkin actually wasn't the real joke - because if you've seen it you will see it is the ultimate in coolness.
"I just needed to say something so I could laugh," G mouthed at me. "Yeah pumpkin!" she said louder, and we dissolved into laughter again.
I think they spent about 10 minutes with us in there, consoling themselves about a multitude of inane things, and departed to study and eat. Ha.
We flung off our towels, relaxed our knees, let our shoulders drop a little bit more, and laughed and snorted until we could snort no more.
Yeah. We're back. And we're staying naked!!
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