The Weather is Fine

Spring is creeping into Seattle and it's perfect weather for running. Sky is overcast but bright, the air is 50s and moist, it's not too hot for tights but not too cold for a light jacket, and the trails are clear of sun seeking zombies.

The One teaser!

VivoBarefoot's current selection is pretty slim as retail awkwardly huddles between winter and spring fashions, so I'm overly excited over this teaser!

I Love My Lucy Lites

Last year after trying a few Vivobarefoot Mary Jane type shoes that did not fit my narrow foot, I bought the Lucy Lite, and it's the only shoe I've worn since.

Back when VivoBarefoot was Terra Plana, long before the Evo or their barefoot lineup, there was the Lucy.

As a budding minimalist, I desperately wanted this shoe, but unfortunately there was no way we'd work out together. First of all, that instep is so deep! With my high arch and narrow foot, I'd look ridiculous. Secondly, it was a little too funky for me. My running shoes were as sporty as I got, so I watched the funky Lucy from afar.

Then VivoBarefoot blew up! And from that beautiful mess came the Lucy Lite.

It's a perfect shoe. Reminiscent of the original Lucy in coloring but available in muted blacks and grays and with the same wide toebox but now featuring a low profile and instep. The shoe wears almost like a slipper in comfort, and rather than coming home and kicking them off, it's forgettable that they're even on your feet. The inside is warm with no rubbing on the seams, and the upper is breathable yet water resistant enough to survive Seattle showers and puddles. Aesthetically, the styling is work casual and the shiny applique on the toe gives it a narrowing look. I've read some reviews where women complained that the toe box made it look a tad masculine from the top down, but I can say that as a very petite woman this shoe does not make my feet look like boats and I have gotten tons of complements on them. Ultimately, when going minimalist some fashion has to give, and wide toe box is a key part of replicating barefoot feel.

And Lucy Lite's minimalist options are impressive. I have felt no constriction of my toes with or without socks of all degrees of thickness. Toe splay is key, but where the shoe shines is its 3mm TPU sole. TPU is a puncture resistant, durable, and dense thermoplastic polyurethane plastic. Inside the shoe VivoBarefoot provides a removable 3mm EVA (soft padding) insole which provides a warm and comfortable ride for your foot, but once you take that insole out, there is no closer you can get to barefoot than taking your shoes off. The TPU sole's 3mm width and flexibility provides full ground feel to the point you have to be careful not to feel a false sense of security wearing a shoe and tender foot pads can feel the wear. I find myself having to step carefully when that insole is out!

Just a note - I do not run in my Lucy Lites. Some people do and I've seen good reviews for this aspect such as Barefoot Angie's. Mine are daily wear. And when I say daily wear, I mean literally daily wear. The only other shoe I wear is the VivoBarefoot Brooklyn for skinny jean/Seattle rain adventures. I cannot recommend them enough for that purpose. Your feet will be joyously happy and your muscles will strengthen considerably. My Lucy Lites are the foundation of my running without ever hitting the trail with them.

Since most shoe reviews only cover newer pairs and I've been wearing mine regularly for over a year, feel free to hit me up for pictures or details on wear and tear. I'd be happy to update.

Catfish and Barley Larb

It's my first week in the From Scratch Book Club cooking from Whole Grains for a New Generation. I've never been in a book club before despite many attempts by friends, but this one is exactly my style. It's online, in a subject I'm interested in, for a book I already own, with just the right amount of people from varied backgrounds and locations. Plus the author of the book has been posting with us! I'm already a big fan of hers from Canning for a New Generation

Last night I made my submission for meeting one ingredient of rice with the catfish and barley larb, but there's actually only a tablespoon of rice in the whole recipe. That tablespoon is toasted and then ground and adds an interesting texture to a very flavorful meal. The one note I'll make on the toasted rice is make sure to grind it pretty fine and to give it a little time in the dressing before serving. I mixed it in almost right before serving and when we first bit in, it was a little hard on the teeth. After 15 minutes it got to a perfect consistency.

The dish itself was extremely easy and the longest step was 40 minutes for the barley. Since this is only added at the end, you can prep and cook everything else during that time. Almost all the ingredients are common and easily available except kaffir leaves. According to the google, there is no substitute for them, so I made a trip to my local Asian grocery, Uwajimaya. I normally wouldn't go out of my way for a single ingredient, but Uwaj also has a great fish, beer, and grain selection, and since the FSC book club's topic for this book is grain, I took a peek and found some interesting variations. Below are just a few I found of barley.

Pressed barley

Organic pearl and dried barley

If you've ever had larb before, you know it has a strong taste of lime and this dish does not disappoint in that area. It is a punch to the mouth with the lime, cilantro, and shallots. I was a little taken aback at first and my lips were a bit tingly (I also put in a lot of red pepper flakes), but the mild barley on the bottom perfectly offsets the strong tang, and you can adjust how strong you want your flavor with how much barley you add. It was definitely a big hit in my house. I've caught my partner sneaking bites from the leftovers in the fridge and oohing at the taste.

Here is a basic run down of the recipe with my edits and without any of Liana Krissoff's lovely prose and recipe variations. You'll have to buy her book to get that :)

1 tbs raw brown rice

1 tsp red pepper

juice of 3 limes

1.5 tbs fish sauce

4 kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced

.25 cup (20g) chopped fresh mint

.5 cup (40g) chopped fresh cilantro

3 shallots, thinly sliced

2 tbs grape seed oil

.80 oz of catfish (or any white fish)

2.5 cups cooked, warm, hulled brown barley

Toast rice until deep brown. Let cool a bit and then process in spice grinder until fine. Mix into bowl with red pepper, lime juice, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, mint, cilantro, and shallots.

Cook fish in oil over med high heat until gold and crispy and cooked through. Drain on paper towels with any delicious scrapings from pan. After they cool until warm, chop fish up and toss it with crispy bits into dressing. Serve on top of barley.

Minimalist Shoe Deals

If you're like me and are constantly on the look out for the newest and best minimalist shoes for running and daily wear, I cannot recommend enough getting on Leftlane Sports and The Clymb for their 48 hour deals.

Just this week I've seen VivoBarefoot, Altra, and Inov-8 for sale on their sites. There was one beautiful week where they were both selling VivoBarefoot covering almost the entire 2012 line of shoes for a fraction of the retail price.

I recommend getting on both as their overlap is minimal, and they have lots of other stuff for every outdoor discipline.

Fermentation tips

Made kimchi this weekend using a very simple Sandor Katz recipe. Each fermentation is a learning process, so here are some insights from this batch.

Use Fresh and Preservative Free

I happened to run out of garlic last night (it was a shock to me too), so I reached for the jar of backup minced garlic I keep for cooking emergencies. I was about to dump it into the kimchi when I remembered to check for preservatives, and thank goodness I did, as Phosphoric Acid was one of the ingredients.

Fermentation is dependent on the growth of healthy and productive bacteria and preservatives like Phosphoric Acid inhibit that process. The easiest way to avoid them is to use fresh ingredients, but that's not always possible.

Many ingredients, such as the above fish sauce and pepper flakes, clearly state they are preservative free, but always research the ingredient list.

Share the Love

When you share your cooking, food becomes personal. Use ingredients from friends in your creations and share your finished product in return. If you don't already have a pipeline, bring food to events. I have a few friends that always bring a jar of pickles to any party or get together. It's easy to make too much food when canning and fermenting, and clearing out your pantry gives you room to explore the possibilities. Share the love and you will get it back in kind.

Wash Up

Yaknow what burns? Peppers and spices transported from innocent fingers to other parts of your body. It feels good to get your hands into your fermented food and feel a personal connection to it, but make sure to wash your hands THOROUGHLY afterwards. Learn from my pain.

I'm back!

I can't believe its been almost a year since I last posted here! So much has happened over that time food-wise. I now own a water bath canner, food mill, gorgeous fermentation crock, giant pressure cooker, and twice as many cookbooks. Rich met his 2012 resolution to brew all our beer and I have made jams, pickles, kimchi, and butter. Despite the name of this blog, I have not met my goal to make cheese and have barely done any running although I have increased the number of minimalist shoes in my closet.

Although we eat fresh and healthy in our household, we are changing our diet around a bit, and I'm planning to share that here. For one, I've joined the From Scratch Book Club and I'll be sharing my cooking from their Feb book pick, Whole Grains for a New Generation. I'll also be talking more about running as getting older and eating all that good food and beer over 2012 has had an affect on my body. Time to get back on the trail :)

Finally, I plan to use this space to play with programming as I work on my computer science degree. I have this semester off (for complicated reasons) and my goal is to fine tune my HTML/Javascript/CSS during that time.

Here's to 2013!