I’m tired of summer.
Happy Monday, all! At the onset of my 4am run the mercury read 84 degrees with a 77 dew point. What the actual fuck? I’m used to this swelter, and the fact that it worsens with each passing year, but such prior knowledge never makes the whole ordeal any easier.
Seriously, folks, I was dying on my cooldown today. I had to stop a couple times outside of my usual water fountain breaks just to try and get my breathing down.
But, here we are, in the Dog Days of the Season. Nothing to be done but bide the time until autumn. I’m starting to ramp up some early fall recipe developments, and am leaning into my 2026 Thanksgiving menu. Yes, already. Gotta think ahead to the holidays else I’ll get caught with my pants down and no time left to create relevant recipes!
First, though, we gotta slog through the rest of summer. We had a fairly rainy week, which is welcome in our current drought – and, the showers cooled down my pool significantly, which led to some nice swims here and there. I didn’t get as much time on the deck as I would’ve liked, but I can’t exactly pull a lever and switch the weather back to sunshine. The rain’s gonna drop if the rain’s gonna drop, ya know?
Friday was National Tequila Day, and while I’ve largely given up drinking, we celebrated with a trip to Streetlight Taco for supper. I ordered their classic elote and grouper tacos, which were fabulous, as well as a coconut iced tea. The place was SO goddamn loud, though, that J and I were shouting at one another over the din, and neither of us are particularly keen on that type of environment. Seemed like everyone thought to bring their wailing children at that hour.
Sunday I was randomly off, and the morning wound up being a bit scattered. I planned for a pre-dawn swim but my pool was locked at 6am – which is funny because J tried the gate at like 1 am and found it open. The fuck? Since I was up and about anyway I took Polly to the washing stall for a bath and waxing, and now she’s all shiny and happy. Polly’s first wash! I did wind up getting my swim in, but it threw me for a loop the rest of the morning.
Later after the rains cleared I wandered to Shortwave for a midday latte. Super busy in there but, unlike the taco joint, the bustle was a nice hum in the background. Little Miss Ba and I hung out, sipped our drink, and just enjoyed the vibes.
Good eats…Buffalo chickpea wraps I’ll be sharing eventually; a chili cheese quesadilla with leftover tofu bacon; hot bacon chicken thighs with Trader Joe’s corn salsa and black beans (SO good); pulled pork sliders with dill pickle slaw; a huge random modgepodge cobb salad; and pulled pork nachos for a movie night. YUM!
This week, aside from my regularly scheduled recipes, I plan to put together some meal preps for a friend/coworker who’s undergoing surgery on Wednesday. Hey, gives me an excuse to do more fun, creative cooking!
That’s all for now, kids. Enjoy this last week of July and get ready for traffic to turn to shit again once school starts. Yip fucking ee!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A rich, cozy skillet lasagna!
…A decadent hot chocolate to carry you into the fall months!
…An intense no-bake cheesecake that gives me a lot of childhood nostalgia.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Chicken skewers…Love trying Trader Joes goodies and their Chimichurri Chicken Skewers are fabulous! I enjoyed mine with a tomato mayo sandwich (love love love right now), watermelon and grapes, and some of TJs olive oil kettle chips.
“400 Meter Training Workouts for Sprinters”…Right now I’m loosely following this plan because I really need a change from the doldrums of my failed 5k training. One week in and it has proven very challenging, but different, and I like how my mileage has dropped but the intensity has amped up!
Notable Food Holidays
Wednesday, July 29: National Lasagna Day (let’s make a batch of Pomodoro Ricotta Lasagna!)
Thursday, July 30: National Chili Dog Day + National Cheesecake Day (making BOTH this week, look for the chili dog recipe on Tuesday!)
Friday, July 31: National Avocado Day (can’t go wrong with Marinated Tomato Basil Avocado Toast!)
Sunday, August 2: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day (lovin’ on my Homemade Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches lately, or Chocolate Drizzled Honey Nut Ice Cream Bars.)
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Bourbon BBQ Chickpea Meatball Bowls with Minty Mango Salsa
Taco Tuesday…Sheet Pan Blackened Shrimp Poblano Tacos
Wednesday…Sheet Pan BBQ Peach Salmon with Hot Peach Vinaigrette
Thursday…Stovetop Buffalo Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese
Friday Patio Hour…Peach Arnold Palmer
Saturday Baking…Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae Layer Cake
Sunday Brunch…Overnight Lemon Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast
Late Summer Entertaining
Five Late Summer BBQ Sides
2. Smashed Hot Honey Cucumber Watermelon Salad
3. Mango Crunch Salad with Spicy Cilantro Ranch
4. Pizza Night Italian Chopped Salad
Week in Training
Monday, 7.20: 7 miles, 10:21 pace + 25 minute legs
10 x 400m at 7:45 pace. I cut the workout from 16 reps, which I figured would happen. I was not having a good time and it was WINDY. Stamina work clearly isn’t agreeing with me so I’m at another stage where I want to figure out how to keep structure without demoralizing or straining myself. Less is more? I guess we’ll see.
Strength:
- 4 x 12 goblet squat 35#
- 3 x 8 ea. leg extension 60#
- 4 x 8 front squat 50#
- 3 x 15 ea. single arm swing 20#
- 3 x 12 runner’s press 15#
- :65 wall sit
- 30 curtsy lunges
- 5 minute stretch
Tuesday, 7.21: 3.25 miles, 10:54 pace + 21 minute back & biceps
Summer of Sprinting, Day 1: I have NO idea what I’m doing! I found a 400m training plan and figured, so long as my body responds okay, I’ll follow that for awhile and see what happens. Perhaps I’ll run a 400m time trial at the end just for fun. This workout was simple but enjoyable: 10 x :15 around mile pace/:45 easy. I averaged 6:40 for the “on” segments.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 biceps curl 20#
- 3 x 12 mid row 50#
- 3 x 15 hammer curl 15#
- 3 x 12 face pull 32#
- 2 x 15 ea. banded glute bridge
- 2 x 15 ea. lunge matrix
- 50 crunches
- 5 minute stretch
Wednesday, 7.22: 5.2 miles, 11:01 pace + 26 minute legs
Summer of Sprinting, Day 2: 7 x 300m at mile pace with 2 minute walk/jog recovery. Averaged 6:46 with *perfect* negative splits! 6:50, 6:48. 6:48, 6:47, 6:46, 6:46, 6:40, all with some wind resistance. 1.5 mile warmup and cooldown to flank. Had fun with this and felt strong!
Strength:
- 4 x 12 walking lunge 30#
- 4 x 6 hamstring curl 40#
- 3 x 10/1 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 35/40#
- 4 x 10 hip thrust 55#
- 3 x 10 ea. hover donkey kick
- 30 alternating front-back lunge
- 5 minute stretch
Thursday, 7.23: 3.25 miles, 12:21 pace + 22 minute chest & tris
Summer of Sprinting, Day 3: Very easy warmup with strides -> 5 x 50m hill sprints -> easy cooldown. Topped out at a 4:47 pace which ain’t bad! I was surprised my warmup and cooldown miles were so snaily but I guess leg day, my speedwork Wednesday, and probably some GPS funk played into it.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 shoulder press 20#
- 2 x 12/1 x 11 triceps pushdown 32#
- 3 x 12 Svend press 20#
- 3 x 8 chest press 25#
- 3 x 8 triceps extension 35#
- 3 x 20 banded crab walk
- 2 x 20 banded hamstring frog
- :65 plank
- 5 minute stretch
Friday, 7.24: 4.5 miles, 11:03 pace + 15 minute mobility
I think I suffered from my lack of energy gel on this morning’s Summer of Sprinting. 400-300-200-300-400 with 90 seconds rest in between. I just couldn’t find my legs here. I ran a 7:03, 6:47, 6:21 (THAT I was happy with), 6:50, and 6:51.
Saturday, 7.25: 8 miles, 11:41 pace
Long runs will be looking a bit different nowadays! Felt really good this morning and enjoyed the burst of speed at the end. Ran 6.5 easy, then 5 x 100m strides averaging 6:42 with a 60 second walk/jog in between, and finished with a .75 easy cooldown. Took a gel around 1.25 miles in for a bit of fuel.
Sunday, 7.26: 25 minute swim
Total running mileage: 31.2
