Valentines Day is around the corner! Have you planned what you are going to do with your special someone?
I remember a few years ago when I was in junior year in college trying to finish my nuclear engineering homework, I went to get take out from a sushi place. I had totally forgotten it was Valentines day and I walked into the restaurant in sweatpants and a hoodie while the restaurant was teeming with dressy, uncomfortable looking couples paying more than they should! I am not one to hate, but in my opinion, we can celebrate love in a slightly less tacky manner and in a more personal and special way! Here's a few ideas you can try: 1. Go Running! Running is an easy exercise and you can go as far as you like! A run combined with some walking and hand holding is even more special. End your run with a glass of wine, cheese and talking, and let the endorphins do the work. 2. Go Bowling A bit of competition is very healthy in a relationship. If you're just getting your relationship started, get to know your partner with a little bowling fun. Bowling is cheap, fun and I always like being competitive. Get some beer and have a sporty night with your partner. Call the bowling alley ahead of time to reserve your spot. 3. Rock Climbing If you're a climber, get climbing with your partner. If you're new, learn a new skill together. Rock climbing is slightly more challenging than bowling, but it helps you connect to your partner because you have to rely on each other to get up the wall! Call the climbing gym near you to see if they have a special V'day event. Follow the evening with a chilled glass of beer! 4. Couples yoga This is really great way to connect physically and spiritually with your partner. Couples poses help in flexibility and the range of motion while simultaneously bringing you closer in a new situation. There are several videos of couples yoga on YouTube.Com and all you need is intent and some space in your house. Inexpensive and awesome! 5. Hot Bath Oooooooh...Yes this is a bit steamy but who doesn't like a nice hot bath?! Get some rose petals and some candles, maybe some bath salts and some oils! Nothing like relaxing those muscles in a lovely bath at home with your partner and giving your evening a sexy start. These are just a few ideas of how you can make your Valentines Day special, romantic and healthy! Most importantly, most of these options are $50 or less! Enjoy your partner's company while burning off a few calories!
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This veggie enchilada recipe is one of my favorites and has been finalized after several iterations over the last 2 years! The enchiladas are easily better than any enchiladas I have had at Mexican restaurants and they are relatively easy and quick to make. One more awesome thing about this recipe is that you can eat it without any dairy, making it a perfect dish for vegan dinners. Ingredients 1. 1/2 Onion 2. 3 bulbs Garlic 3. 4 Mushrooms 4. 1/2 green pepper 5. 1/2 cup white corn 6. 1 Jalapeno 7. Can of black beans 8. 2-3 Tbsp Olive oil 9. Enchilada sauce (this can be found in Mexican section in the grocery store) 10. Shredded cheese (optional) Steps: 1. Preheat oven to 375 F 2. Finely chop onion and sauté with one tbsp of olive oil 3. Use a garlic crush or apply pressure with knife to crush the garlic. Add to onion in pan. Wait till onion caralmalizes 4. Add chopped green peppers and mushroom. Cook for 3-4 mins 5. Add 1/2 cup beans with a little bit of water from the can. Let it cook for another 2-3 mins 6. Add 1/3 cup of enchilada sauce to the pan. Add salt and pepper or Mexican seasoning to taste 7. Add frozen corn. Cook for for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the mixture doesn't stick to the pan too much 8. Use a non stick pan or place aluminum sheet in a baking tray. Spray oil to make sure the tortilla doesn't stick. (Its better to use a non stick pan - I rarely have luck with foil) 9. Place the tortilla in the pan and add the mixture. 10. Roll the tortilla into an enchilada. Place finely cut jalapenos on top and pour 1-2 tbsp of enchilada sauce on the enchilada 11. Optional: Add shredded cheese 12. Bake for 20-30 mins or until the enchilada looks cooked and somewhat crunchy. 13. Serve with sour cream and/ or guacamole Chopped onions in the pan (top left) with mush rooms and peppers (middle) and beans, corn and enchilada sauce (top right) Tortilla rolled out on pan (top left) and filling in the tortilla (top right) Rolled enchilada with jalapenos and enchilada sauce (top left), shredded cheese (middle) and final enchilada after being baked (top right) This is a really yum recipe and I haven't followed any online recipe to make this. The extra mix can be stored in a container for a few days so you can make enchiladas easily multiple times a week! Hope you enjoy this delicious enchilada recipe!
Yosemite is the king of panoramas. Once you’re in the valley region, every direction offers outstanding views of massive cliffs and astounding waterfalls… and of course, tourists. If you want to get away from the valley traffic jams and the hustle bustle of the people, go on a hike! Even better, go on a longer hike. Panorama trail, staying true to its name, offers just that! With nearly 9 miles of descent from the glacier point to the valley floor, you’re sure to find sweeping views of large granite cliffs, half dome, waterfalls and national park land as far as your eyes can see. Start the trail by booking a bus tour to the top of the glacier point. You can also choose to shuttle yourself if you have two cars in your group. The bus drivers offer a wealth of knowledge on the bus and it’s actually quite insightful and entertaining! We even saw a video about bears in the US! After your car/ bus gets to glacier point, spend some time actually walking to the Glacier point before starting the Panorama trail. Fun fact: When President Obama visited Yosemite, he went up to Glacier point with this family and took the four mile trail down. So if you do this hike, you’ll literally be walking in the footsteps of a US president. The Panorama trail begins just by the gift shop at Glacier point. It first descends for 3 miles at a steady pace. After this, the trail starts rising in elevation for nearly 700 feet for another mile. This was hard for us as the day was really warm and the sun was quite bright. We marched on and took a nice break near Nevada falls. After this, we quickly descended towards vernal falls and then to the valley floor. The Vernal falls descent, while scenic, is quite steep. A great alternative to the Vernal falls trail is the john Muir trail which is three quarters of a mile longer but far less steeper, and therefore, much nicer on your knees. While Justin and I went down the Vernal falls route, Justin’s parents offered to take the less steep John Muir option. The views along the trail were stunning as we were able to see the Half Dome from several angles. There weren’t too many hikers along the way and for the most part we were by ourselves on the trail. While long, the trail wasn’t as physically demanding as a regular 9 mile hike due to a mostly descending route. I highly recommend this to people with moderate to high fitness levels who want to spend a nice day outside in Yosemite. Bring on the Calf aches! Length – 9.5 miles Duration – 4-7 hours Level – Moderate Equipment:
Waking up in the morning to a ski report of 12 inches of fresh snow gets the blood flowing immediately. First of all, however, you must dig your car out of the snow! The ski report mentioned that there had been a reasonable amount of moisture content in the snow, so I knew straight away that the top of the mountain was going to be better than mid mountain. I selected to take my Volkl Katana V-Werks powder skis today as I when you are skiing powder you need something wider under foot. This helps you float on top of the powder and provides the most amazing feeling. Arriving at the resort car park, I realized that today was going to be incredibly busy. The car park was already full at 9AM. As always on a powder day, the tram line at JHMR is long. I decided to bypass the tram and head up the gondola, expecting to be able to make my way across the mountain once I got up higher. I was looking to ski the Alta chutes under the Sublette chair. The Alta chutes are a set of 3 double black runs that are directly underneath the Sublette chair. The access to them is pretty easy and I am a big fan of the terrain near Alta 3. The trees are wider and the slope is consistently steep. I expected these chutes to have received a decent amount of snow and considering they are north facing, they don’t receive a lot of sun, so the snow underneath the fresh powder will be softer. Another factor to consider is the direction the wind has been blowing – if it has been blowing against the hill, it will result in denser powder so I was hoping that the wind had been coming from the south. After skiing down from the gondola I started to get a little worried about the snow quality as my skis were sticking a little bit and the snow was pretty heavy. Heading over to the thunder chair, I realized that the lift line had also preceded me! It was busy. After finally getting on the thunder chair I decided to ski a chute down into Laramie Bowl. The entrance was pretty cut up but I managed to find some powder turns on the left side of the chute. Unfortunately I triggered a small snow slide and rather than let it knock me over, I decided to straight line the rest of the chute. Skiing heavy powder fast is very very tiring on the quadriceps muscle as there is a lot of resistance coming from the powder and you are constantly fighting to stay upright. After this, my legs were burning a little so I took it easy down the groomer. The lift line at Sublette was also long, but I managed to bypass it pretty quickly with the singles line. Pro Tip: if you ever want to get up the chair fast when there are a lot of people, take the singles line. You are guaranteed to get up much faster. At the top of Sublette I skied down toward the alta chutes this requires some traversing, some rock hopping and a good bit of sliding. Alta 1 was closed due to avalanche danger and due to the slide I had already started I knew this was for good reason. If Alta 1 slides, it could carry you off of a cliff. I traversed across to alta 3 and enjoyed some nice turns although it had already been quite tracked out. I skied the Alta 3 chutes and surrounding area for a few more runs until I had enough of the heavy snow and no fresh tracks and decided to head down into Rawlins bowl. I can usually find fresh tracks in this area, so its often my goto place when everything else has been tracked. Today however, this was a bit of a mistake! I scored some lovely fresh tracks at the top of Rawlins bowl, through the trees and thoroughly enjoyed. However, at the bottom, the snow got so heavy and water laden that my skis were barely moving. Very difficult skiing indeed. As it was now past midday and I didn’t fancy waiting in the lift lines again, I decided to call it a day. Last night's workout was very challenging and I am really glad I got through it!
Here's the synoposis Strength Back squat at 50% of maximum: 5 reps every 6 mins for 6 mins on the minute (This is called EMOM: Every Minute On the Minute) WOD Row 500m 10 Thrusters 10 Box Jumps over 10 Thrusters 10 T2B Rest 8 mins 20 Burpees 20 Burpee Box Jumps 20 Burpee Pull Ups 20 Wall Burpees Needless to say, I was exhausted and my legs were jelly at the end. I paced myself really well so I kept going without taking very long breaks. After the first set of WOD, my hands were cramping in the closed position because all the exercises involved gripping something tightly (rower, bar, etc). I ended up taking a 10 min break to run water over my hand so it stopped cramping and then finished the second part of the WOD. At the moment, Jackson Hole is getting dumped with some serious snow. But a couple days ago, it had been nearly 2 weeks since the last snow storm and fresh snow on the mountain. Nonetheless, its always just so wonderful to get outside on the slopes and see what the day and the mountain has to offer. Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day on the mountain with bright blue skies and not super crowded slopes. The snow, however, was pretty crap. but nothing you can't fix with a few swiggers of schnapps!
Get out on the mountain and enjoy your share of pow in the next few days! Another PERFECT Yoga evening at the Idaho Falls Yoga Co-op. But only to find out that the teacher I had just started falling in love with is leaving.... Booo! Well, I guess I will have to find another teacher who is pretty, has a gorgeous voice, is super accommodating and encouraging, is better at yoga than me (yeah, I know I am modest) and most importantly, doesn't mind charging me a little bit less than the listed price. Sigh.. life is tough.
The class today was full and we practiced a great flow routine. I am super relaxed now (this might have a little to do with the wine permanently full wine glass) and I look forward to going back to the co-op at least once more this week. Also, sorry folks, I was too relaxed to remember to take a picture of the studio. It will happen one of these days! Namaste! Saturday workout was quick but super fun!
I bouldered on the small bouldering wall in my gym for 45 minutes. I am convinced, the route setters are 6 foot 5 super humans with hands as sticky as that of superman! Oh well, I will stop complaining about being a short rock climber because there are people like Ashima Shiraishi and Sasha DiGuilian running around...or shall I say, climbing around? Anyway, I still had a lot of fun climbing in a gym after ages, especially since the local climbing gym in Jackson closed a few months ago. After bouldering, I did some chin ups and several toning exercises with the dumb bell. This was great and my shoulders and upper body was feeling well worked. There was still ten minutes left before the gym closed so I jumped on the treadmill, turned up the elevation so I was essentially running uphill and went a steady pace of 8 minutes per mile. I was sweating pretty hard at the end of the ten minutes and according to the treadmill, I had burned off 135 calories! Not bad at all for ten minutes! Stay healthy friends! Friday Crossfit workout was fun, yet hard. I was definitely huffing and puffing by the end of it! The strength was to build to a heavy overhead squat but I decided instead to do 5 sets of 10 overhead squats (a total of 50) at a low weight for the purpose of toning and improving my technique. Above is the overview of the WOD and me doing the strength part of the workout: overhead squat The WOD was hard but really good fun and it was super quick. It took me 10 mins 27 sec to finish the WOD with a combination of double unders and single skips. Next up was back extensions. This was my first time doing back extensions in a workout so I tried to do a few before the actual WOD. Following back extensions, there were 20 toes to bar, which is probably my biggest strengths at the crossfit workouts. I always kip to do T2B and can do 10-12 before taking a break, so I can get through them relatively quick. Another first timer was sumo deadlift. I had to do 10 of these and I went for 25 lbs bar rather than the RX of 34. If I had to do another set of the sumo deadlifts, I could probably go up to 30 lbs. This was a really great workout but I felt like I could do another WOD at the end of it. I suppose that's a sign that I need to up the weights!
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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