Best of Iowa City

It is my last ever weekend actually LIVING in Iowa City.

It is at rare times as such that I am forced to decide upon what are actually the BEST ways to spend my final days. I'm finished packing so I hope I can fit these into the next three days!

Drink coffee at WAKE UP IOWA CITY

Go to Yoga at HOT HOUSE (the 'afternooner' is only $5!)

Go for a run at HICKORY HILL (and maybe touch the black angel :0!)

Eat a meal at LEAF KITCHEN

Go to the farmer's market and make a meal!!

Get a drink at Old Capital Brew House and sit outside with my pals

Go kayaking and exploring at Lake Macbride

And go on a final bicycle tour of Iowa because the weather is BEAUTIFUL

Goodbye Iowa City, I have loved you!

cooking away

Sweet potato Cauliflower pizza (as promised)

So, I've never really been one for Cauliflower until now. And I think I have become obsessed.  Cauliflower in the food processor is a really really good thing.  I found a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust here:

RECIPE

We went with one sweet and one savory.  I roasted a ton of vegetables at 400F for 45 minutes and then put them on the pre-prepared cauliflower crust and baked for 15 more minutes! The sweet one had a coconut oil/cinnamon spread and the savory a cottage cheese/pesto spread. Both were more than delightful! 

Hot town. Summer in the city. 

The Lovin' Spoonful

I don't know why I added that but summer leaves lots of time for good music and meals!

Kitchen: Salmon lettuce wraps

Cooking together during the school year happens..... sometimes.

Cooking together during the summer happens on the daily.

I don't know if I could ever get sick of eating dinner with my best friends picnic style outdoors. 

Yesterday we made Salmon lettuce wraps 

They were delicious

Salmon lettuce wraps (serves 4)

16 oz. wild caught salmon (we don't have a grill so we baked it in foil, but grill away if you have one!)

A head of lettuce

purple cabbage

carrots 

jicama

green onions

mango

lemon juice

sea salt

Cook the carrots and onions together and chop the jicama and purple cabbage.  Add lemon juice and sea salt to the cabbage/jicama bowl.  Use the large pieces of lettuce as the 'wraps' and fill with whatever you please!

Next up: Sweet potato pizza with cauliflower crust

Blueberry Oat Muffins

It's been too long since I've made muffins. So today I made up a recipe based off some other ones.  I was a bit skeptical but when I tried it out it was better than most!

Will you please? Add:

2 cups of quick cooking oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

 1/3 cup of honey

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/4 cup 100% apple juice

1 cup blueberries

Mix it all up in a bowl, put in 10-12 cups (spray the pan or use paper liners), and bake for 25 minutes at 425F.

Let cool.

Eat.

YUM!

normal

Giving something up is not giving up.

Sorry I am gonna ramble on about things. Feel free to stop reading now.

For the longest time I thought I wanted to be a professional runner, and I have no idea why I thought this. I didn't even want to run in college.  It took an entire year of getting sick, having bad workouts, stressing out, researching my future, never 'pr-ing,' and having only one good meet to realize this is not ever what I wanted.  And somehow Saturday night after my last collegiate race (and slowest to date), I found myself wandering a bar-filled street in Austin, Texas wearing only my uniform (which looks like underwear) and crying to Mumford and sons. I don't even know how I got there. I just started sprinting and then I was there and people were staring at me and I was soaked in sweat because it was Texas and I was wailing. And then I realized I didn't want to do it anymore.

Success is addicting.  I was good at running and people knew who I was because of running and I liked that.  I liked that I could work really hard and control every aspect of my life and until this year, control the result.  But I don't think I ever loved competing.  I see people in my life who get excited to race and all I could do was be so nervous and not want to talk about it. I love working hard.  And I love running. I love nature. And I love being surrounded by beautiful wonderful inspiring teammates.  But I did not love racing.  I love what it feels like to get a runner's high and to run really fast and be healthy. But I hated the idea of being an 'athlete.'

Yet I forced it because I was afraid of letting go.  I was afraid that I would never have the same amount of success in anything else again and therefore I would be nobody. And then I realized. I don't care. I love being ordinary and I love a lot of things and it doesn't matter how good I am at them.  And I can always surround myself with good people and I can always run. But I can also bike, swim, climb mountains, stay up late, go on adventures, eat a burger, and drink a beer without feeling guilty or that I am in some way not fully committing myself to success.

And now I have let go.  And I feel free. And I feel so SCARED and so DEPRESSED. But there is hope (Jesus!) and I don't care if I never have the same level of success and that the biggest deal my name will ever be is to sixty year old men who watched high school track. Life is still good and well and there are many blessing and it was so so good to let go. Ironically I have had more good runs since 'being done with running' then I have had the whole year. Funny how that works:)

Okie day. I'm done.