At-Home Workout + My First Thai Experience
I’m back from Tennessee and so far have had a bit of an iffy experience being here in New England post-Alfred. Yes, the winter storm was named Alfred.
I had some cozy snacks by the fire last night with my parents, got in bed, and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night though both freezing and starving! I ended up having more snacks by the fire and curling up there in a ball. My bed was not warm enough! My dad woke me up at 5:30 and had me move to my parents’ bed and that was a bit better. Still no power at my office today so I am at Whole Foods charging and have been working on blog stuff all morning. This day is flying!
Whole Foods coffee and the workout I used this morning!
This morning I created my own lower body weights and cardio interval workout. It lasted about an hour (55 minutes?) and was quite good! The key is to move from exercise-to-exercise with NO stopping. I designed it so that different body parts get rest while others are working, so you never have an excuse to not be moving. Those are my favorite kind of workouts! I thought I’d share it with you guys since you seemed to like the last one I posted. This one can be done anywhere – all you need is a set of dumbbells (I used 10 pounders).
Lower Body/Cardio Intervals Workout (always consult your doctor before trying any new workout – I am not a trainer!)
- 100 jumping jacks
- 100 squats (with dumbbells or without)
- 50 sumo squats (with dumbbells or without)
- 50 toe touches
- 20 reverse crunches
- 100 lunges (50 each leg, with dumbbells or without)
- mountain climbers (1 minute)
- one-legged dead lifts (20 each leg, with one dumbbell or two)
- calf raises (25 full, 25 pulses, 25 full, 25 pulses, with dumbbells) FYI the guy in this demo vid is a huge tool I love it.
- 50 suitcases with oblique twist
- 50 dead bugs (without stability ball, but use if you have one!)
- 25 glute kickbacks each leg (end each leg with 25 pulses)
- 25 fire hydrants each leg (end each leg with 25 pulses)
- ice pickers (1 minute)
- fast switch (1 minute)
- leg pull (1 minute each leg) (Sorry guys I can’t find photos for these 3 moves! Any 3 minutes of plyos will do!)
- 25 lying oblique leg raises each leg (end each with 25 pulses)
- 25 lying side oblique crunches each side
- 25 inner thigh lifts each side
- 25 hot potatoes each side
- 25 dolphin pose leg lifts each side
- 25 kettlebell swings w/squat each side (use dumbbell instead of kettlebell, held with one hand not two)
- 20 curtsy squats w/oblique twist (holding a dumbbell) each side (I didn’t use a step
- high knees (1 minute)
Switching gears, I’m excited to finally share my first Thai experience today! Last Wednesday night, I continued my wild and crazy streak of going out to dinner after a day of work and the gym. Unfortunately when I arrived at Thai Angel to meet Jeff and Kim (friends, couple, and my favorite restaurant companions), SaveNowCT deal in hand, my appetite was feeling thrown and I wasn’t that hungry. Sometimes this happens to me after I work out – anyone else? It doesn’t make much sense to me!
I still wanted to sample a couple of different items and get in a full Thai experience. My first choice was the Chicken Satae. Looking back, I wish I had gone with something more adventurous – I eat chicken all the time! But the dipping sauces on the side were enough to make even the blandest of chicken (and this was actually quite delicious meat) taste beyond amazing.
The Thai food I was most excited to experience was the peanut sauce, and it didn’t disappoint. This tasted awesome! I’ve already been craving since then. I think I could honestly dip anything in this sauce. No really, anything, try me!
The second sauce was called a “cucumber sauce” on the menu, but honestly tasted nothing like cucumber. It was delicious, a sweet vinaigrette, but I felt a bit misled! I was excited to try a cucumber sauce since I love cucumbers. The dressing was still good and tasted like a typical sweet chicken marinade, but the peanut sauce overshadowed it a bit with its general awesomeness.
I have always wanted to try the Fresh Rolls since seeing them all over blog entries about Thai food. I’ve seen photo after photo of veggies and shrimp wrapped in rice paper, with peanut sauce on the side, and after seeing each photo I’ve been more and more excited to order them. They did not disappoint, but the sauce did. This promised peanut “sauce” was more like the exact same vinaigrette that came with the chicken, with chopped peanuts floating on top. I quickly abandoned it and dipped the rolls in what I consider to be the real peanut sauce. I really liked the rice paper – such a cool concept!
Kim ordered the Chicken Mango Curry, an adventurous choice for her, since she usually gets the Chicken Pad Thai. The dish came with veggies, mango, chicken, and jasmine rice in a mango curry sauce. She really enjoyed it and said the mango paired well with the chicken. I was curious as to how veggies and fruit would go together in the same dish, but when I thought about it, I love mango salsa in my salads, so it totally makes sense!
Jeff chose the Squid Red Curry. He had never tried squid, so it was another exciting choice and he was pleased with it. The squid did not look the way he and Kim pictured it (they were thinking of something like calamari), but he still enjoyed its taste. His dish came with squid, red curry spice (dry chili) cooked in coconut milk with bamboo shoot, carrot, pineapple, bell pepper, basil.
Overall I’d say I really enjoyed my first Thai experience, and am excited to go back and try a more adventurous dish when my appetite is behaving. I’m thinking a curry, with squid! Thanks to Thai Angel for hosting a great daily deal and preparing a very good meal for us!
I am so glad the family is moving to a hotel tonight. Can’t deal with another night without heat, and we are near the casino so it means a yummy dinner there!
Please let me know if you use and/or like the workout!
Have you ever had Thai food? What’s your favorite Thai dish?
