Culinary Thursdays

For the last several weeks, I've given Cindy the night off and taken the girls on culinary adventures. One week we cook, the next we go out to try something new. It'll continue and I want to document the goings-on from time to time. So here's the run down. This week - La Carreta, American Fork. We had anticuchos in the chicken variety (chicken kabobs on fries), bistec a la carreta, and ceviche mixto. The anticuchos and the bistec were utterly forgettable, but the ceviche was good. Last week - knife skills: slicing. We also made poisson en papillote and smoothies with their slicing skills. No cuts. Three weeks ago - Maria Bonita, Orem. We had the choriqueso and the molcajete. Tasty grease bombs both. Nono was all over the cheese, Lissy the peppers in all of it, and Lili just took it all in. Four weeks ago - Heat and time. We talked about heat and time. The girls made their meals start to finish, with hamburgers and fries. They really were proud of themselves. Five weeks ago - Rooster, Provo. We talked about the five flavors and various textures before we got there, then the same as we ate a little of almost everything. The loep choeng was my personal favorite. Andy gave the girls a tour of the kitchen. Six weeks ago - reading a recipe, mise en place. The girls read a shrimp recipe, helped me set up the mise en place, and then I steamed shrimp and rice. A good start.

Epiphany

I figured out today the thing that separates those who do triathlons versus those who are triathletes. It's mental training. Hear me out. Triathletes, true triathletes, truly believe they need to train themselves mentally. I think that's why you see so many of them moving along at 12 mph in their bendover bars. I also think that's why so many of them train alone. Wearing stupid kit. Without music or any other type of distraction not available to them on race day- they're training themselves mentally. I on the other hand see the mental aspect of a training and a triathlon more like a fuel tank - if I burn through it in training, I'll have nothing left come race day. So I mountain bike even during training periods. I ride my road bike because it's more comfortable. I ride with people because it sucks less. And I listen to music. Because making an activity suck more than it needs to just doesn't make sense to me. That's why I can never really be a triathlete. That and my love of all things food related.