Beets, Birthdays and Boats

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! Y’all are too sweet. I’m kinda in that part of my 20s now where they all blend together. Won’t have another exciting birthday till I’m 30 ;)

Started the day off wonderfully – I slept for almost nine hours!!! Insane, most nights I’m lucky if I get seven.

I brought a packet of multigrain instant oats with me to my mom’s. Mixed it in with some of Mark’s vanilla protein powder and topped with banana+PB.

 
Check out Mark’s bowl! I had a little breakfast envy :P

I believe he said it was Kashi Honey Almond Flax, yogurt, berries, banana and cinnamon. All mixed up into a yog mess of course ;)

After some caffeine and digestion, it was time for the gym! Went to the co-ed Nubody’s downtown as they have a better weights section than the women-only gym. Why do they do that?? Women need good weights too!!

Elliptical 

Minutes	Level	Effort
0-3	10	low
3-5	11	low
5-6	15	high
6-8	12	low
8-9	16	high
9-11	13	low
11-12	17	high
12-14	14	medium
14-15	16	high
15-17	14	medium
17-18	17	high
18-20	14	medium

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
One-arm dumbbell snatch	20 lbs	8	3

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Assisted pull-up	75 lbs	8	3
Incline push-up	bw	12	3

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Single-leg romanian deadlift w/ row	20 lbs	6 ea leg	3

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Cable horizontal woodchop	35 lbs	8	3
Plank	bw	60 sec	3

Treadmill

Minutes	MPH
0-1	3.0
1-3	3.5
3-4	8.0
4-6	3.5
6-7	8.5
7-9	3.5
9-10	9.0
10-12	3.5
12-13	9.5
13-15	3.5

 

For some reason, I just could not get my heart pumping and my muscles didn’t feel that exhausted. I think I was partially half-assing it, and part had way more energy than I’m used to from the sleep.

After the gym, I met up with my dad for a noon-hour brunch (yes, I get that’s technically lunch). We were both craving eggs and fresh fruit, so Cora’s was the natural choice.

I ordered Peggy’s Poached.

One poached egg, one piece of toast, cottage cheese, mixed fruit.

Not shown is how I massacred that egg on the toast, and poured the cottage cheese all over the fruit. It was delicious!

And a steamy Americano to go with.

My dad got eggs benedict with ham.

Totally hit the spot!

After br/lunch, I went shopping with my mom and nana. Some bee-day purchases included a nice purse to hold my DSLR, bread pan, measuring spoons and a vegetable peeler. Tomorrow I’ll be conquering the Running Room!

Dinner was yet another amazing meal – my mother and I went to a local sushi place called Pink Sushi.

I love celebrating my birthday with my mom. I kinda feel like it’s just as much her day as mine. I mean, she actually did all the work ;)

We wanted a little bit of everything, so ordered the sushi & sashimi combination boat. 

It started with some miso soup that I didn’t eat. I don’t really care for miso – too salty!

And then our boat of sushi arrived.

I totally failed at capturing its sheer magnificence on film. It was a thing of beauty!

Every birthday should involve a boat of food ;)

It really did have a little bit of everything, but I think my favourites were the rolls with teriyaki sauce, and the plain pieces of salmon.

My mom and I were in food heaven the whole time. It was amazing. We totally killed that boat.

 
Until next year my friend…

And what’s a birthday without cake!?

Cake I made myself of course – that’s half the fun!

After much debate, I decided on red velvet cake as I’d never had it before. But my mom isn’t the biggest fan of food dye (she was a microbiologist, so with good reason). We tracked down a decent looking recipe that uses beets for the red colouring. So I basically made a beet cake for my birthday :P

Yes, one is now “over the hill” after the age of 24. And yes, I’m “still cookin’” ;)

Low Fat Red Velvet Cake (Chocolate Beet Cake)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup  1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1-1/4 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1-1/3 cups non-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup egg substitute 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups beets, peeled and shredded 4 large beets, cooked and mashed

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk in buttermilk. Beat in butter, egg substitute and vanilla. Add beets. Pour in prepared cake pan. Bake 45 minutes. Cool, then frost with low fat cream cheese frosting.

Low Fat Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. Neufchatel cheese 250g light cream cheese
• 12 oz. 20ish oz fat-free frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat Neufchatel cheese until smooth. Stir in thawed whipped topping and powdered sugar.

I then decorated it expertly…

Then cut myself a giant piece. It’s my birthday – I’m allowed a giant piece of cake!!

It’s reddish, perhaps a nice mahogany? It’s a wonderfully dense and moist cake. You can almost taste the beets, but I think it gives it a really nice earthy sweetness. And the cream cheese frosting is of course to die for. 

Now I’m just relaxing with the fam. I bought some nail polish today (which I haven’t owned since the age of 13) so I’m thinking of giving myself a manicure. I wouldn’t want anything more on the day of my birth than to relax and be with the people I love!!

 

Oh! And check out my horoscope that was in today’s paper:

In the year ahead, there are indications that you could become involved in an endeavour that would yield a second source of income, which could grow into something bigger. But you’ll have to be extremely patient.

 

How cool is that!? I’m hoping it’s PT or blog related – or both! :D

 

Question of the Day: What’s your zodiac sign? Do you believe in that stuff? I’m an Aquarius and I totally do. Yes, horoscopes are generalized, but I like to believe there’s some mysterious meaning behind it all ;)

Hope you’re having a great weekend too!!