Tagged: pizza

March 6th, 2009

The Sarah Report: It’s the Same Old, Same Old

I’ve been writing a lot about Twitter and Church 2.0 and work a lot, which is good if you’re interested in those types of things. Maybe it’s not so good if you just want to keep up with your old friend Sarah Jo. Since it’s Friday, I thought I might take a break from writing about the stuff that interests me and write about some stuff that interests you: Me!

Honestly, I don’t feel like you all need much of a Sarah update because I live a pretty boring life, but here are some things you might find interesting:

  • I am still working my way through my Hemingway anthology. I made it through The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, but I’m stuck in the middle of For Whom the Bell Tolls. I’m having trouble sticking with it. I’ll pick it up for a few days and right when I start gaining momentum in the book, I lose it. I am determined to get through it, for I still have to read The Old Man and the Sea afterwards. And then there are five other anthologies I need to get through. So much to read; so little time.
  • I’m not running much. In fact, I haven’t ran since January, and I only worked out three times in February. Pathetic, I know. Even so, I’m sticking pretty closely to the Abs Diet, and I lost another pound or two in February. The Other Sarah offered to take me to her Crossfit classes in March during a trial period, so starting next week, I’ll have muscles so sore I can’t type.
  • I’m growing my hair out. It’s getting really long, about as long as it was when I got married nearly four years ago. And I’m on this kick where I just wash and wear it. No styling or straightening. A little gel. A comb-through. A tousle with the towel. And I’m out the door.
  • I have recently become obsessed with graphic t-shirts and cute flats. I have always been a flip flops, jeans, and t-shirt kind of girl, and even now, years after my adolescence was supposed to have ended, I’m still sporting the same style. Only this time it’s not baggy, cheap tees; it’s tees from Express. And well, the brighter, more colorful the flat shoes, the better.
  • I’m in love with sushi. It’s like my new pizza. I want it all the time.

And that’s about all that’s happening with me. What’s been happening with you?

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August 28th, 2008

Four Post-Run Activities You Shouldn’t Do (And Four You Should)

So it’s Take It and Run Thursday over at Runner’s Lounge, and the title of this week’s writing assignment is “Run. Rest and Recover. Repeat.” I’m supposed to be sharing my secrets for recovery after long runs or hard races, but instead I’m going to share four you shouldn’t do. Let’s take a look:

  1. Don’t walk across hot coals. I don’t care if you do have a runner’s high. Your feet have already taken a beating; don’t torture them any more. Even if you’re caught in the wind of self-realization, understand that you are not Pam from The Office.
  2. Don’t go bull riding. My brother is an aspiring bull rider, and let me tell you, if you’re going to ride bulls, you must be able to move quickly. YOU’RE A LONG DISTANCE RUNNER! And after a long run, slow is the only speed you have, which will not bode well for your back end when the bull head butts you across the arena.
  3. Don’t try to outrun a serial killer. Only outrun serial killers for speed workouts. Granted, serial killers are notably out-of-shape middle-aged men, and I’m sure you give them a run for their money (pun intended), but it’s just not a good idea.
  4. Don’t drink your body weight. I’ve heard that a cold beer after a hot run is wonderful, but let’s not get carried away. Yes, you need to hydrate, and one or two drinks is perfectly fine, but the last thing you want the morning after a long run is a hangover and stiff quads.

I understand that I just ruined your agenda for Labor Day weekend, but let me remedy that with some recovery activities that I do recommend:

  1. Take a nap. In bed, on the couch, it doesn’t matter. Sleep is a way of telling your body, “Thanks for working so hard today. I love you.”
  2. Eat pizza. I’ll be the first to admit that pizza is one of my favorite carb-loading foods, but it also makes a great recovery meal. I personally think that a thin-crust pizza with Canadian bacon, pineapple, onion, and red pepper is the best recovery meal for my body.
  3. Ice everything that hurts. I have tendonitis in my left knee, and while it doesn’t flare up a lot, I like to baby it after hard runs with a little Aleve and some ice. I just prop that baby up on the ottoman and veg out.
  4. Watch a DVD or movie that you know by heart. This activity works best with #1 and #3. Because you know whatever you’re watching so well, you won’t feel guilty for falling asleep while watching it, yet you love it so much that it’ll keep you on the couch while you ice. I’m a big fan of Friends, The Office, and romance comedies after long runs.

That’s all I’ve got, but I’m looking for more ways to recover after my long runs because I might be running a marathon this fall, and I’ll need all the help I can get! Yikes!

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Posted in fitness/health | 7 Comments »

September 1st, 2007

San Francisco Oven’s California Aloha Pizza

As much as I like pizza, I generally don’t eat it more than once a week, but San Francisco Oven released their new California Aloha pizza on Tuesday. I could hardly wait the four days to try it. First, I love SFO and have loved all their other pizzas (you’ll get those reviews later, I’m sure); second, Hawaiian pizza is my favorite, and I’ll try any variation.

The California Aloha is topped with spicy ham, fresh pineapple, cilantro, and sweet smoked BBQ sauce. All together, they’re a great combination, but I would’ve liked more ham and pineapple on my pizza.

The spicy ham had good flavor (and I’m not generally a ham person) but it was a little tough. I’m not sure if the toughness was due to the brick oven baking or if it was just the nature of the ham. The ham pieces were a little large and were hard to bite through, so when I tried to just bite off a bit of the ham, I took the rest with me. If they’d been smaller, SFO could’ve added more and they’d have been easier to eat.

The pineapple was fresh and tasty; most Hawaiian pizzas I try have canned pineapple. Again I would’ve liked to have more on the pizza.

This was the first pizza I’ve tried with cilantro, and I liked the kick it added. Usually, I associate cilantro with Mexican food and homemade salsa, and I forgot about the great flavor it can add to a dish.

The BBQ sauce was tasty, too, though I had to explain to Linden, who was eating with me, why BBQ sauce is good with pineapple. It’s a lot like math: If a=b, and b=c, then a=c.

If pineapple + ham = tasty, and ham + BBQ sauce = tasty, then pineapple + BBQ sauce = tasty.

As I said above, all the toppings in combination were excellent. The cilantro and ham gave the pizza a spicy kick (this probably isn’t a pizza my husband wouldn’t like), while the pineapple and BBQ sauce countered the spiciness with a bit of sweet.

Perhaps it was the lack of Internet (my computer is a crap top) while I worked this afternoon, but I’d like to attribute at least part of my productivity to the California Aloha, which helped me complete the background chapter of my thesis and crank out two-and-a-half (single-spaced) pages of my lit review.

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August 29th, 2007

Papa Murphy’s Veggie deLite Pizza

If you know me at all, you know that pizza is by far my favorite food. I love its versatility as the right pizza can double for multiple meals: dinner, midnight snack, breakfast, lunch. My favorite pizza hands down is a thin crust Hawaiian pizza with pineapple, red onion, and ham; however, I do branch out occasionally and I’m offering pizza reviews as I eat it.

Last night I shared a Papa Murphy’s Veggie deLite pizza with my old roommate Betsy. She introduced me to it earlier this year, and it will probably be a staple of our hang-out time for years to come.

The deLite pizzas have an uber-thin crust, which has half the carbs and half the calories as Papa Murphy’s traditional crusts. Now, I’m a proponent of the thin crust pizza because I can eat more thin crust slices than I can thicker crust slices. Some complain that thin crusts taste and feel like eating cardboard, but having never eaten cardboard myself, I can’t actually defeat that argument (though I imagine cardboard is a bit more fibrous than thin crusts). When you cook it just right, the deLite crust is just the right consistency—not too crunchy and not too soggy. Papa Murphy’s have mastered the art of “take and bake” pizzas, so providing you know how to use your oven, it’s easy to get the pizza crust just the way you like it.

The pizza toppings include fresh spinach, sliced fresh mushrooms, fresh diced roma tomatoes, three 100% whole milk cheeses, and a creamy garlic sauce. Together, all these toppings are delightful. I’m particularly fond of the mushrooms, which have fantastic flavor (as a note, I usually don’t like mushrooms on my pizza—or ever for that matter). The creamy garlic sauce is a nice change from traditional red sauces and has excellent flavor. I tried recreating this sauce at home earlier this summer and failed miserably, so trust me, just drop the change and get this pizza instead. I like olive, green pepper, and onion on my veggie pizzas, too, so next time, I might add them to mix things up.

My only beef with Papa Murphy’s is the use of 100% whole milk cheeses. I won’t stand on my soapbox long, but I’d like to see the company switch to skim milk cheeses. I always appreciate companies who make “eating right” decisions easy. And after all, don’t whole milk cheeses sorta defeat the notion of ordering a light pizza? Papa Murphy’s pizza topping are so flavorful that they really don’t need high fat cheese (and really, how much more flavor does whole milk cheese add to a pizza over skim milk cheese?).

Veggie deLite Nutritional Information

Have you tried this pizza or other pizzas from Papa Murphy’s? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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