January 15, 2012

Culinary Genius

One of my favorite parts of training less is actually having time to cook. My kitchen resembles the galley in first class, yet I've managed to make some magic in there over the years. Last weekend we had a friend over for Sunday night dinner and I did my signature roasted chicken with assorted roasted root vegetables.


As I gathered up the bones and leftovers it occurred to me I've never made my own stock before. So I loaded the carcass into a pot along with tons of chopped vegetables and herbs and nine hours later I had the richest, most incredibly flavored chicken stock I have ever tasted.


Only my planning was a bit off so I had to wake up at 3am to strain the broth and freeze it before waking up at 6am to swim. I was a little tired that day.

Last night I made a butternut squash soup with ginger and coconut milk. It was truly unbelievable and thankfully made enough to feed an army. I have some stashed in the freezer for a rainy day.


Then today I made vegetable stock since I have tons of vegetables on hand and seem to be inspired. It only has to simmer for an hour so it's less work than an animal-based stock, but still quite delicious. I now have 10 cups of stock in the freezer. Time to make some soup.


On the training front, all is going well and steadily improving. I've only suffered one small setback - shoulder soreness from my return to swimming. Unfortunately the pain was so acute I could barely lift my arm so I'm taking a week off from the pool to let the inflammation die down. Oh darn, we all know how much I love to swim.

I've also been doing my strength work consistently and have to admit, the soreness is pretty humbling. I may be able to propel my body 140.6 miles in a day, but I barely have the muscle power to lift my cat. I know the merits of strength training are widely debated amongst triathletes, but for me personally I feel I need more of it.

2 comments:

  1. Recipe please for the root vegetables!!!

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  2. mmmm nothing like homemade soup (especially made with homemade stock!). hope your shoulder feels better soon. way to go on the conditioning - it's easier said than done!

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