Updates, pomegranate martinis

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. :)

I'm quite fortunate that I have some time off from work right now. I get some paternity leave, but I'm coupling that with some furlough time from work.. One of those "cost saving" mechanisms at work. Whatever. It doesn't help the take home pay, but spending the time at home with the little one is so much more important.

Things have been going well here. The little guy finally busted through the remainder of the ounces in the 6 pound region and weighs a little over 7 pounds. He's been a really quiet boy, until the last few days. Turns out he's developing colic. Yay. Cranky little fella right now, poor kid. Of course, he's throwing his 7 pounds all around and kicking the shizzzz right out of me. How could someone so little kick so much ass? He's not even taking names.

Well, it is Tuesday... That means Alcohol Tuesday. And with a colicky infant, so totally appropriate. Today, I give you a pomegranate martini.



Guys, it sounds like a fruity and pansy drink, but it's not. I've recently came into some pomegranate juice (more on this in the next post), and this was one way I decided to sample it.

So. Ingredients:

• 3 oz pomegranate juice
  
• 1 oz lemon flavored vodka
  
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
  

Mix, serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of orange. That's my take on a pomegranate martini. It's not too sweet, it's smooth, and it goes down easily. If you don't have Cointreau lying around, you could substitute some triple sec with no problem. Similarly, you could use plain vodka, and maybe add some lemon juice or garnish with a lemon slice.

There's a lot of ways to mix this up and achieve a similar result.

The final product:


I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to be back more frequently. Keep on rockin'!

Have a cigar

Hello everyone!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I've been absent lately. I haven't even been keeping Facebook up to date. I have a good excuse, at least..


Reason being is, mini-Raul has been born! A couple of weeks early, but that wasn't terribly unexpected.

He and Mrs. Raul are doing fine, and everyone is home from the hospital.

Things are going well so far. I'm really glad we did as much prep work around the homestead as we did, so that there was little to do once we got home.

That's that.. I'll try to stay more in touch once we get into a groove. Keep on rockin!

Green Flash

Last night was another run in the rain. We've been having rain for the past few days, and there's no sign of it letting up. At least it wasn't too hot out, and the predicted thunderstorms never materialized.

Somehow, I decided to run last night's run on the faster side. Even including my walk break, the first mile was sub-8. Made me reflect on the fact that before I started running, I ran a sub-8 mile once in my life. Now, I'm walking part of the mile, and still wound up there.

The beginning speed wound up sapping the life out of my legs for the last half mile. I still wound up with 3 miles in, at least. I know I shouldn't be running fast while rebuilding my base, but I figure once won't hurt me (as long as I truly do keep it to a very limited once-in-a-while).

Lovin' the Galloway method still. I'm still lacking some calf power, as I feel like I need to walk after running a mile or so, just to take a break. That works out for me, at least. I wonder if that feeling will go away, and I'll have to force myself to take breaks, or what. We'll see.


I've been lacking a bit of my blogging mojo lately. Blah. Thankfully, I've got a product review coming up (sponsored, even!), maybe some books to talk about, and some new CDs I bought. (I know, CDs. So last decade.)

Today's Alcohol Tuesday entry is Green Flash Brewing's Trippel Belgian Style Ale.




Hailing from the San Diego area, this is a bottle-conditioned Belgian style ale. At a sporty 9.7% ABV, it's got a bit more kick than the average bottle of beer.

They call it a "fiery, golden brew", and I certainly agree with that in regards to color. A decent amount of carbonation, and a moderate head when pouring.

Sipping it fresh out of the fridge yields a high alcohol taste.. not something you really want from a beer. A lot of the trippels have that taste, but it's undesirable (in my opinion, at least). As it warms, the scent and taste of some fruit and spice comes out. It has a slight orange smell, according to Mrs. Raul.


.. Side note.. What is it with the sense of smell in pregnant women? Holy cow. One day, she was picking me up at home. I had a couple of beers in the last hour, but nothing too serious. I had just sat in the car, not even shut the door, and she says "You've been drinking, haven't you?". I mean, wow.

(She doesn't pick up on vodka & tonic, I've found. I only discovered this for the sake of science and experimentation, of course.)

OK. end of side note..


It's a good, but not great beer. I did like it more as the evening went on, due to the different flavors being released as it was warmer. Unfortunately, I do like pulling a beer out of the fridge and starting the consumption right away.

Of course, with a big bottle like this, you're obligated to finish it in one sitting.. I mean, you can't just recork it or anything. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

All in all, glad I tried it, probably won't pick this one up again, however. I'm not opposed to trying the other beers from Green Flash, though.

As always, keep on rockin'..

Us strange runners

Not a lot going on lately. I've been keeping up with running every other day, and my leg/knee/ITB all seem content.

I did take an extra day off on Wednesday, but opted to do a nice lengthy hill walk instead of running. I've been wanting to do hill runs (I know, so weird), but figured that was a better approach to getting something like that in.

On Thursday, there was a hellacious storm that was going to come through. I proved, once again, to my wife that I am a nut, and went out anyway. The weather was hot and humid, and the wind was fierce. Big dark clouds on the horizon, dancing with internal light. A storm was a-comin'.

Of course, while out there, I saw another runner, and we gave each other the knowing nod & smile. I mean, what nuts would be out there with a thunderstorm on the horizon? Me and him. Us strange runners. (You know you'd be out there too.) He was a pro.. he had a Camelbak on. I saw that and was wondering, "Hmm.. what's in there?" I probably would have taken a sip, it was so humid out. (I could have brought my own, but alas.. I didn't.)

Other than that, the run went well. I lengthened my run time and was a bit more methodical in mixing in the Galloway walk breaks. It was a run one mile, walk one minute ratio. All in all, the run went well, and the pace was still pretty decent. I made it home, dry and un-electrocuted.



Has anyone tried the 'Tacos at Midnight' flavor of Doritos? (I know, not exactly healthy eating fare, but that's how I roll.) All I have to say is this.. they nailed it. Totally good taco flavor on a chip.

I tried the 'Last Call Jalepeno Popper' flavor, and it was ok, but not stellar. The taco flavor, though.. Wow. Really good. Definitely worth picking up a second bag. Takes me back to the days of eating at Taco Maker, which is no longer in our area (and hasn't been for years and years. :( ).

Alright everyone, have a great weekend. Keep on rockin'.

Lemony

I was reading an article about sponsored blogging. Here I am, just hoping for free beer and the like, and people are getting cash and trips to Hawaii. I need to set my sights higher.

Last night, I ran 3.5 miles. I listened to a little bit of the Runner's Round Table podcast during the run. All in all, an uneventful run, but they can't all be exciting.

I tried something a bit different for today's Alky Tuesday entry..

I give you..



This is Saranac's Summer Brew. The beer is a lighter beer, with a light yellow color. The description of it is "a refreshing blend of lemonade and lager".

With a description like that, I figured, I'll give it a shot. Plus some guy at the grocery store was talking about it. Not that I should take beer thoughts from a random stranger.

Yeah, well, it's lemony. Damn lemony. Sweet lemony. Sweet, too. But 'sweet' not as in "Oh, an extra day off? Sweet!". No, sweet as in sugary sweet.

Truthfully, after the first couple of tastes, all you get is a sweet taste.

This may be a good beer for a non beer drinker. Once mini-Raul arrives, I've saved a bottle of this for Mrs. Raul. She'll be a good litmus test for this hypothesis.

It's an interesting taste, but not really to my tastes. It really doesn't taste much like beer at all.

I see it's in their 12 pack sampler.. That would be the way I'd recommend it. A 6 pack was an awful lot.


That's all.. looks to be a nice day today, so if I can find some food for my wife, and she's agreeable, I might try to go to a ballgame tonight..

Keep on rockin', everyone!

Long run, rest, all sorts of good stuff

Back from the weekend. What a weekend. Before I get into that, here's something interesting..

I took a page from Lacey on Friday.. I went and sent Jeff Galloway a friend request on Facebook. A few hours later, I got the confirmation message that he is now my FB peep! Woot!

So, going into the weekend, the plan was this.. Lamaze, all day Saturday. Probably some Father's Day shopping. Sunday, there was a Father's day get together with the extended family. (I think there were to be 5 or 6 Dads there.). The weekend was booked solid.

I was a little apprehensive, to be honest, just because it was filled up. I don't know.. I like to take it easy on the weekends, do some unwinding from the week. Having every minute more or less planned out just isn't very fun for me.

That was going into the weekend..

We started off the weekend on Friday afternoon with a trip to the doctor's office.

"How did that go?" you might ask..

Thanks for asking!

It went well, but it appears that Mrs. Raul is starting to develop preeclampsia. As a result, she now gets to see the doctor twice a week, in addition to being put on bed rest. He also indicated that if we get 3 more weeks, we'll be lucky.. Mini-Raul is coming soon, it sounds like. So, if my posts drop off, that may be the reason why..


(For those that are not in the know about preeclampsia (and I wasn't either), it's really not too big of a deal if you're being actively monitored)

So, bed rest took the plans for the weekend, and threw them out of the window.

As a result, we stayed home. I think I traveled within a two mile radius of the homestead all weekend.

Yes, it would have been good to see the fam on Father's day.. That kind of stunk that we missed out on that.

But, I must admit.. a weekend of staying home (minus a trip to the grocery store and a last ditch effort to get all needed supplies for the offspring) was absolutely wonderful. I feel bad my wife is on bed rest, but I *loved* just staying home. Loved loved loved it. I got to do some stuff around the house that I wanted to do, and I got to take it easy. My wife was armed with the phone to page me when she needed something, and life was good.

I went for a "long" run this weekend, Galloway-style. 4 miles done in the rain, and no ill-effects afterward. I took Sunday off, and am ready to go back out today.


Other than that, not a lot going on. You know what to do.. Keep on rockin'!

Skidmarks

Ah yes.. skidmarks. I left 'em yesterday.

No no, not these skidmarks. I left a set with my tires.

I was driving along, minding my own business, and I saw a dear bound up the hill near me, and jump the guardrail. Now, I grew up driving in the "country", and have had a number of close calls. I generally think I do pretty well in spotting them in the turf ahead, etc.

When I saw the deer coming, the thought ran through my mind "Ah shizzzz... Here goes my record for missing deer." I know my day is coming, as there are just so many out and about.

So, I slammed on the brakes, left a portion of my tires on the road, hit the horn, and waited to see what happened.

Inches. That was it. I missed him.

I honestly thought that I could have brushed him with my car. I got out to look later, just to see, not quite believing it. (I did see that I really need to wash my car, however. Wow. What slob takes care of this machine?)

(Coming home later, I got to see my skidmarks, and was all "Ooh, I made those".)


I did go for a run last night, and included my walking in the run totals and time for the first time. Before I get there, I'll talk about the run.

I was going along, again, minding my own business, and feeling great. 3/4 of a mile into the run, I hear a dog barking and making a bee-line for me. Oh, great.

I'm not an animal person. I never had a dog growing up, and I don't really know how to approach a situation like this. I don't know the dog's intentions. I'd prefer him to do his thing, and I'll do mine.

The owner just sort of stood there yelling his name, not really moving. So, I decided to do the "flight" choice of "fight or flight". Not that I can really outrun many of the creatures here on Earth. But, what are you supposed to do?

So, I hauled it, dropped a few vocal choice words toward the dog and his owner, and off I went.

No harm done. Except, it just really turned the run into a crap run. A skidmark run, if you will, since we're in the toilet on this post. After that, I just wasn't feeling the groove. Sure, my numbers were OK, but I just wasn't feeling it.

I punched out 3.56 miles at a 9:20 pace. That included the walking. I'm really surprised it really wasn't too much slower than normal.


All in all, two potentially disastrous situations avoided during the day. Not too shabby at all.

Alright, that's all for now.. keep on rockin'!