The local supermarket pulls through!

That's right, my local supermarket, HEB, now offers a store-brand gluten-free cereal: HEB Rice Squares. Two bucks a box. Hoorah for the savings à la Walmart!

John-burger Helper

Sometimes, I feel that the blogosphere is dominated by foodies. But I for one don't believe that food should always be pretty and proper, especially after an unplanned gut-wrenching run and core session on the eve of a tempo workout. So I present you this, my friends: John-burger Helper, a gluten-free mess of meat, starch, and deliciousness.

The ingredients? One package of Tinkyada spiral rice pasta, one pound *yes, one pound* of ground turkey meat, two medium sized tomatoes (chopped), 3/4 to 1 9-oz package of spinach, 5 cloves of garlic (diced), a dash of Italian seasoning, 2-3 tablespoons of butter, and a healthy heaping of Parmesan cheese. The recipe? Cook up the pasta, rinse it off with cold water, then set it to the side. Then, brown the ground turkey under medium heat and drain the fat. Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook for a little while, then stir in the spinach. Turn off the heat. Finally, combine the meat and veggies with the pasta and stir in the butter, cheese, and seasoning. Voila. Who said life had to be complicated?

P.S. The initial marathon training is going well. More on that later.

What a Tournament

U'Conn, Butler, and VCU (!!!) into the Final Four so far.  Seriously, who saw this coming?

Bracket Busted!

With Ohio State's loss yesterday, my bracket is officially busted.  We are now into the elite eight, and I only have two teams left (Florida, Kansas).  Worse yet: my entire final four has been eliminated.  How embarrassing.  In retrospect, I really should have had some teams going further than planned (U'Conn), but hindsight is always 20/20.  I suppose this means it's time to support the underdogs.  Go Rams!

In completely unrelated news, I have taken up the daunting task of determining a selection of beverage for the wedding.  As Sarah and I have already decided to make this a "beer and wine" wedding, it's now just a matter of what beers and what wines.  Naturally, I can't sample a wide variety of beers (damn you Celiac!), but this is a perfect opportunity to explore the vast array of low-to-moderately priced yet delectable wines.  As such, I have been purchasing a $6-8 bottle or two of wine every week and grabbing a glass with dinner.  So far, I have focused my attention entirely on Italian Chiantis (mainly because they are my favorite), but I will be expanding my search to all sorts of wines which complement Texas barbecue (Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz, Beaujolais, Sauvignon Blanc, Australian Reisleing, etc.).  So, if you know of any good low-to-moderately wines that complement Texas barbecue, please let me know!  The search has commenced, and I need your help.

A Post from the Airport

Of all things I am thankful for at the moment, I am perhaps most thankful for airports with free wireless internet.  For without it, I would be very bored during my current sojourn at Richmond Airport.  Instead, I am able to compulsively check e-mail and Facebook and peruse various forum threads on topics ranging from the benefits of home ownership to the relative merits (or lack thereof) of James Joyce.  And, most importantly, I am able to blog.  Anyways, I just wanted to write a little blurb about a couple of places I have found here in Virginia during my latest visit: Harbour Coffee of Williamsburg, Virginia and Ipanema Cafe of Richmond, Virginia. 

Harbour Coffee is a relatively quiet coffeehouse located in the New Town section of Williamsburg, and it prides itself on the quality of its beans and blends (it serves two varieties of espresso).  It even has a chalk board located in the shop, a big plus for any visiting mathematician =P.  I found Harbour's espresso shots to be on the money and a big improvement over the shots served at Aroma's, arguably the most popular coffee shop in town and the one located nearest my fiancee.  Not a hint of sourness.  All in all, I will be returning in the future to sample more of Harbour's coffee and leave my mark on the chalk boards.  And still left to sample in Williamsburg are the Coffeehouse and the Daily Grind.  Hopefully I will have something to say about these two venues after my next visit.

Sarah and I were pointed to Ipanema Cafe by one of the other students in her graduate program at William and Mary.  The cafe focuses on vegan and vegetarian options, but it also has sizable gluten-free lunch, dinner, and dessert menus.  It is located right near Virginia Commonwealth University, so it is a bit of a pain parking-wise, but it is otherwise pretty easy to get to.  Sarah and I actually loved the overall atmosphere of the cafe, which was small and hip yet comfortable and cozy.  We shared a pot of orange ginger tea, and I grabbed a smoked gouda sandwich with carmelized onions, tomato, thyme, and gluten-free bread served with a small side salad with ginger dressing and sweet-potato fries.  Verdict?  Wonderful (especially the gouda), and the various flavors really complimented each other.  Even better?  They didn't charge anything extra for the surprisingly delicious gluten-free bread.  I honestly could barely even tell I wasn't eating a true wheat-filled sandwich.  The sweet potato fries were also very well-done (Sarah were especially digging those), and I think I am going to try my hand at making some of my own sweet potato fries when I get back to Austin.

And with the thought of scrumptious sweet potato fries haunting my mind, I am going to hunt down some food in this here airport.  Until next time, enjoy the rest of the blogosphere.

Sub 2:40 in a year. The new goal.

Over the past few weeks, I have been sitting on my butt, watching my friends run various marathons and the American elites set new indoor track records.  And it made me feel extremely lazy.  So, yesterday, during an easy run, I set a new goal.  I am going to try to break 2:40 in the Austin marathon next February, 6 days before my wedding.  Bit of a reach goal?  Probably.  But I am still going to give it a shot.  So if you see me, make sure to hassle me about running.  I am going to need all the motivation I can get.

And in other news, it is now March, and that means I can now drink Coca Cola (hoorah!).  But I am going to try to resist drinking Coke (and any other soda) for as long as I can handle.  Let's see how this goes.