Easter Baskets and (with?) Merlot

I came off a relaxing weekend at home, celebrating Easter with lots of chocolate, family time and lazy Sunday afternoon movies (Jurassic Park anyone?).

Two pretty Wymans!

NJ Transit and I are not the best of friends – it’s filled with unfriendly conductors, smelly neighbors, and I’m always nervous whether I’m going to get yelled at for putting my feet up on the seats (what is the final ruling on this??). So after a night of margaritas and Bass drafts, my headache-filled train ride home on Saturday morning was less than pleasant. I warned my family that I was tired, cranky and hungover, but a trip to Trenton for some yummy pizza put me right.

I make a damn good butter lamb.

I had an 8 miler scheduled for the weekend, and was lucky enough to have a great partner for my run – Papa Wyman! He biked alongside me in the beautiful spring weather, through the rolling hills of central Jersey. 

One of my favorite parts about going home is brunch. It always includes bottomless mimosas (sans the $8 Brooklyn price tag). And this past Sunday, a wonderful surprise was waiting for us on our assigned seats.

We've graduated from Easter egg hunts to merlot.

After getting in some hills over the weekend, I took my Cadbury-egg-filled self to the Queensboro bridge on Monday to get in some more. I ended up doing a little over 6 miles at an 8:50 average pace. Following another great podcast with Ira Glass, I finally decided to google him. Who is this man I spend so much virtual time with? 

So not what I pictured.
(Emphasis on so)

After my run, I tried out a recipe my family had for dinner on Saturday night:

Mmmmmm

I know, I know, it looks amazing. So here’s the recipe to help you on your way to deliciousness, courtesy of Papa Wyman (I halved the recipe and substituted brown rice for pasta, so feel free to go crazy with it):

Sesame Shrimp

Ingredients

1/4 cup light soy sauce

1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

2 Tbsp sesame oil

1 1/2 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 small zucchini, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 scallions, chopped

1 pinch crushed red pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce, vinegar, and 1 Tbsp oil

In a large wok, heat 1 Tbsp oil.  Add mushrooms, zucchini, and scallions.  Sprinkle with red pepper to taste.  Stir-fry for 4 or so minutes until veggies are "al dente" (e.g., slightly firm)

Remove veggies from wok and put in bowl - cover to keep warm.

Stir-fry shrimp for 3 - 4 minutes until pink, cooked and crunchy.  

Add veggies and soy sauce mixture and toss.  Serve with rice or pasta

I managed to get to bed Tuesday night, and was hoping I would get my lazy butt out of bed to do some speedwork first thing in the morning. And it was a success.

Best part? I saw my sweetie driving to school on my way to the McCarren Park track! 

My training program had me down for 8x400s, but my knee was giving me a little bit of pain, so I ended up doing 6x400s instead. I didn’t beat myself up for skipping the last two since it was the first time I've ever done speed work in the morning. Somebody give me a cookie.