Simple and Vegan: Asparagus Soup and Pumpkin Soup

From one soup lover to another, welcome, to all that is soup creativity. Don't be alarmed, the style and flavor of this entry may be different than the previous blog entries, but the recipe entry's elegance, nutrition and simplicity to make remains the same. Why then, the feel of change do you ask?  It is because you are reading the words of a guest blogger - and an unbiased review on the real "low down" of this or "these" soups. 

First off, check the simplicity of the ingredients then the directions. That's what we all look for in what we want to cook right off the bat. But simplicity in cooking, sometimes makes us think "meh" "blah" "it's ookay." But trust this quick review - the simplcity this time, is your friend. You, your family, your friends, will really dive into this bowl. 

Enjoy. Peace and love. Spread the fun of this blog.

Creamy Asparagus (or Pumpkin) Soup

1 bunch of asparagus, chopped into 1" pieces

2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced

1 red potato, diced

1 leek, cleaned and chopped

5-6 c. water or broth

1 tsp. Sea salt

2 tbsp scallions, diced

1. Prepare asparagus. 
2. Combine asparagus, garlic, potato, leek, water and sea salt in a large saucepan. 
3. Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce flame to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potato is soft. 
4. Remove vegetables and puree in food processor or mash by hand. 
5. Add puree back to broth and mix well.  Garnish each serving with scallions.

Why not try the NYC Tri AND the Brooklyn B'un???

Coraline and John cheering on TC athletes at the finish of NYC Tri 2011

I got to spend some time with the female champion, Laurel Wassner, of the 2011 NYC Tri this past weekend at TriStar Nevis and it got me thinking about the NYC Tri.  It is an event that attracts some of the best in triathlon.  That said, it's also an event that is perfect for anyone interested in trying their first olympic triathlon.

The swim is known for the current that assists swimmers through the Hudson quickly to T2.  After racing Beach 2 Battleship with a 52 minute ironman swim in 2011, I really learned to appreciate the power of an "assisted" swim.  The current is also perfect for triathletes who aren't strong swimmers or are nervous about swimming.  You can literally just lay there and float to a swim PR!  The bike is hilly enough to be challenging, though not overwhelming in the least.  And the run is in Central Park and full of spectators cheering wildly as you finish!  I spectated at this race last year and I hope to participate one day.

This year I'll be supporting Team Continuum athletes as they race, just like last year.  I've said it before but its worth saying again - Team Continuum holds a special place in my heart because of the work they do to raise money for people battling cancer, to help them pay their non-medical bills.  I don't know what my family would have done without this type of assistance when my dad had stage 4 throat cancer.

If YOU are interested in racing the NYC Tri, Team Continuum has spots available.  Even better, Team Continuum is offering FREE entry into the Brooklyn Bun Duathlon on 4/15 so that you can get started racing now!  That's two races with only one fundraising commitment.  Contact Letty: letty@teamcontinuum.net to discuss the *negotiable* terms for fundraising.

I'll see you out at the races!!!

Nevis Day #6 - the last day!

This morning I woke up feeling surprisingly great and not sore. What the heck?!?! John says its because the run was shorter than most long course races and TriStar is known to be a race with a faster recovery because the bike leg is the star of the show. I wondered if it was because I should have pushed harder!

We started the day with a 90-min hike with Greg (our homestay) up a giant hill to see the beautiful view from high above the island. Then we went to a brunch held in honor of Kristina and Nic of www.worldbycycle.com. It was a send off party for them to start their year-long journey on bikes (heavy ones packed with gear) around the world. They are raising money to fund youth programs and they're getting married halfway through the trip! Kristina is hoping to take the Guiness record as first woman to ride around the world. Like I said, we've met some pretty amazing people here. It was sad to say goodbye to most of the TriStar people as well, but we'll stay in touch.

We've also been eating mainly locally grown foods! We had fruit for a pre-breakfast snack, fruits, veggies and eggs for brunch, then fresh coconut that we got on the beach as an afternoon snack! I LOVE this and my body feels wonderful. I never thought that this trip would end up as an unplanned "cleanse", even though my general diet is very healthy. This is the next level.

After brunch we went back to the house for some work and office hours. I have managed an excellent balance of working remotely and enjoying the island on this trip. It makes me feel good!

After office hours we were off to the beach for a swim. I managed a very legitimate swim workout and then sat on the beach while John helped the guys with some post-race "men's work". How many pros hang around and offer to help with that? He also gave one of the race directors a private swim clinic today. I got myself a good man.

So as I sit here and watch the sunset on the beach and write this blog post, FOUR COWS JUST WALKED PASSED ME on the edge of the water. Just going for a stroll. No, they were not accompanied by humans. They were just going for a walk. What. It was surreal. This is my life???

TriStar Nevis 111 - Race Report!

After a surprising 7-hour Race Eve sleep, I fueled up with a breakfast of fresh coconut meat, a yam and a banana (for later). Nothing new on race day, unless you're on a tropical island and have a pretty tough stomach and plenty of time to digest. I couldn't miss the opportunity to fuel straight from the island and felt as though the fresh coconut water in my bike bottles was liquid gold.

We rode our bikes to the start - a nice 25 minute warm up. Transition set up was BIG RACE style with bike and run bag drop offs. After we were all set up, we headed over to the beach to warm up with all of our new friends. I danced a bit more than I should before a race but this feels like a vacation and a party and a race. When it was time, we all lined up at the swim start. There were a couple of false starts that got us all giggling and then we were off! I tried to stay on some feet but it was difficult in the ocean and soon I was on my own. I'm not a great swimmer so I spent the whole swim thinking "this is how it feels for people who hate running and do tri". The swim was 1k of beautiful salt water. I climbed out of the water in 21 minutes and was happy with that.

*Sidenote: With the heat and difficulty of this course, this race was just as much a game of nutrition as it is swimming, biking and running. I nailed my fueling plan, drinking at least every 15 minutes and taking in plenty of calories and electrolytes.

Even with an okay swim I was one of the last people out on the bike. This race is mega tough and because it's on a remote island and offers a nice prize purse it attracted some serious talent. The heat wasn't bad at first but the 5k climb at the start of the bike loop is a monster. I only managed to catch one guy and he passed me again on the descent - for every hill and on every loop. We played leap frog for the entire bike. By loop 3 the climbs were all much bigger than they were at first, as climbs are wont to do. The bike ends with a mini loop and they don't even talk about the mini loop being a mini monster climb. It was HARD! My favorite parts of the bike portion were 1) obviously the landscape, ocean and mountains 2) the wild animals that I said "hi babies" to every time I saw one 3) riding through town and having everyone out cheering. The bike was 100k of beauty and pain. What more could an endurance athlete ask for?

Though, I have to admit, not catching up to anyone on the bike got to me a bit but I shook it off to tackle the run in my normal fashion. Here I was able to pass several people and even caught one of the male pros, finishing only a few seconds behind him. The run was insane. I averaged a 9-min pace with *almost* all I had. That said, it was one of the most fun run courses I've run! It started in the fun town, then up a tough climb, then through a dirt road with cows, cranes and goats, then running in shin deep water for about 10 feet to get onto the beach and run on the sand to start the next lap. It's 3 laps total to equal 10k. I threw in a kick to the finish and almost crashed into a cheerleader that jumped out to cheer for the pro who finished seconds before me. We have great video of that and of me dodging her and running straight to John who had his arms full of flowers (that he won - for me). Amy Kloner, female pro and BFF was there too, screaming and yelling for me. She had won the women's race about an hour earlier!

Me: honored to be receiving my award with these ladies

This whole trip has felt like a dream. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to meet so many incredible people. Winston and Greg, the race directors and our homestay, have opened the island up to us as if we were already family. The TriStar staff were also a fun and warm crowd that I feel honored to have spent time with. We definitely hope to come back again. Next time with some of the people we love from home!

Nevis Day #4 - 1 more sleep until TriStar Nevis 111

The swim

This morning began with a swim course preview organized by the race directors and TriStar.  I swam with pros John Hirsch (he's dreamy), Amy Kloner and Laurel Wassner.  I was dropped for their "easy" course preview withing 10 seconds, but it was pretty awesome that they all joined in.  After the swim, we did our own run course preview.  It's hilly and going to be hot.  Macca did this race last year and after checking out his spilts, we knew there had to be some evil during the 10k run.  He ran it in 40-something minutes last year!  Good.  I like a hard race.

While we registered I performed my original choreography of the Caribbean Race Wheel Dance.

It was breathtaking and graceful.

Now we're on pre-race shut down for a bit.  We have our feet up until we head to the pre-race pump up dinner.  I'm really excited to go because everything has been tons of fun so far.

If you want to follow the race, check out www.tristarlive.com and follow TriStar Live on twitter!

Nevis Day #3 - Donkeys, coconuts, and a bike course preview

We woke up at 5:30am and dressed for a run. Our short run started on top of a cloud covered hill (the home of our new friend Greg) and ended at the home of his 8 donkeys! I LOVE THEM! First we met Rio, Michael and Star. They are very friendly and we got to play with them a lot. Then we got to meet some of the others who are still a bit tough to approach.

This is Michael. Look at that face!

Greg is training them for donkey tours. In exchange for their donkey tour work they get food and tons of love from one of the nicest guys I've met. I mean honestly, Greg loves these donkeys and can't even stand to miss a day of visiting them. He can explain their personalities and their likes and dislikes. I can totally see why he loves them so much. So we fed them all and walked around with them a bit. To get home, we hiked trails that are centuries old to get back to Greg's house in the clouds.

This nice lady was hanging out by the trail

When we got back to Greg's driveway, he walked into the backyard, pulled some green coconuts off of the coconut tree, then shared some fresh coconut water and coconut meat with us for breakfast. It was unbelievable and one of the best mornings of my life.

Fresh green coconut

Then we were off to the local radio station to be interviewed for their sports radio show! It was super cool to get to be inside of a radio station and to see how everything works. We even got to wear giant headphones and talk into a microphone. Just like in the movies! I mean... we're kind of a big deal.

It was a packed show because after us they interviewed Kristina and Nic of www.worldbycycle.info. They're leaving on Sunday to start a bike ride around the world. Kristina is going for the Guinness Book record as the first woman to complete the trip on the bike. Her story (she is a canadian referred to by the islanders as "our sister") is amazing. You should check these two out.

Then, we checked out the Agricultural Fair and Farmer's Market. I wanted to see everything all at once. There was so much to take in! There was live music and it had educational demonstrations about composting, water reclamation for irrigation, local animal rights, local animals in general, etc. We also got delicious guava smoothies and tasted other local treats. I wished I had a giant bag to buy one of every fruit and vegetable to bring home and eat!

Later, we got back down to business and did a loop of the 20 mile bike course. The race will be 3 loops of the course, plus a separate mini loop. We have *heard things* about the TriStar Nevis 111 race course. Scary things about an Anaconda. The Anaconda is a 5k climb at the start of the loop. Doing the loop 3 times means the Anaconda = 15k of climbing. The climb was definitely brutal, but I feel prepared for it after SLB and because I'm a strong climber. That said, after a fast descent, the course isn't exactly flat. It rolls steadily in a way that suits me well. I'm riding a road bike and VERY happy about that!

We made dinner at home after the ride. It was our stand by, simple, travel meal: a Veggie Rice Bowl. I cooked brown rice, topped that with 2 eggs over easy, black beans, lettuce, onions, and carrots. Also, hot sauce. Never forget the hot sauce. It was a perfect meal.

A perfect end to a day that I would never want to end... except that the days just keep getting better!

Nevis Day #2 - Falling in love with the island

So, the bike shop, Wheel World,  is on the beach - which also makes it the swim spot. Not only that, there is an outdoor food spot at the same location on the beach. We rode to the bike shop, changed into swim gear, swam over pretty (and enormous) starfish, and then grabbed an amazing carribean/vegetarian lunch on the beach. Sitting there I realized how easy it would be to blink and have 10 years go by.

During the swim, John worked on drafting with me. Swimming is my weakness, mainly because I only learned how to swim a few years ago and I've never really put in the time it takes to improve in the water. March has been a "get serious" swim focus for me and John has been coaching me through form drills, speed intervals, and some racing and open water drills (like drafting). I did well with the lesson on the beach until my bikini bottom fell off. I should have worn an actual training swimsuit! Whatever though, my tan looks great.

Our lovely swim spot

Later that evening was the TriStar Nevis Pink Lily Charity Run. While we waited to start we hung out with our new friends Amy Kloner (female pro) and her boyfriend, Tom.

Amy and I decided to keep it easy and do the "fun run" for fun and not ruin our legs for the race on Saturday. I ran the first half at a strong pace, chatting the whole time, but then I think Amy picked it up because it became much less conversational. I dropped back and kept it easy and threw in a few pick ups to get snappy and finished between 22 and 23 minutes. The finish was a HUGE party! Tri Star and the race directors are great at making a giant presence and making everything a party.

John with our homestay (he's also one of the race directors, Greg - we love him.

I danced, I played with a monkey, and just full on enjoyed the powerful positive and happy energy of the islanders. Honestly, coming from NYC it feels like an enormous exhale from the tense energy at home. Everyone is happy. All the time. It's amazing!

That night we were off to bed early so that we could wake up and go through our homestay Greg's morning routine with him! This is honestly my favorite way to travel. Hang with the locals and tag along while they do their thing. There's no better way to experience a new place. It would be even better with a visitor's guide written by TheyTri, the website designed by a dear friend of mine to support triathlon sherpas and families.  Throw a bike in the mix and you have yourself a heaping pile of traveling perfection.