A Big Ol’ Bowl of Magic and a Half Marathon

This past week saw the kiddies get hit hard by a virus. To say it has not been the best week in our house would be an understatement, but I think we have made our way through the worst of it….. well for the kiddies anyway!

I was unsure what to cook for our travels this week. With everyone either sick or on the verge of being sick, cooking a themed dinner was not high on my list of priorities. It never seems to fail that when you are really looking forward to (not to mention training really hard for) something, a virus or illness always seems to creep into the picture! It happened to Mike earlier this year when he was to run the “First-Half” Half Marathon, but became so ill he was unable to move. I don’t think he got out of bed for 3 days!! So this was my weekend, and it was an important one. I was to be running in one of my favourite races, the Vancouver Half Marathon……. I was not about to get sick!

As I was going through The Food of Spain cookbook, my initial thought was that a soup would be nice. Something warm, super easy, yummy. Everyone would feel better! There were a few different recipes for soup in the book, but the one I kept coming back to was Gazpacho. It’s not a warm soup, but a cold soup, and its best served really, REALLY, COLD! The thought of all the raw yummy veggies packed full of vitamins was enough to convince me that this is EXACTLY what our family needed! I wanted to keep with the Tapas style menu and decided to also make Tortilla….. aka Potato Omelette.

Now I have a Gazpacho recipe that I love. I have no idea where I got it from…… all I know is its on my computer, in my documents folder, and I LOVE it. With that said, I am trying to stay pretty authentic in my dinners, so I decided to use a recipe in my cookbook. The recipe in the book definitely has fewer vegetables than my recipe, (maybe my recipe is the V-8 version), but the one in the book also has the addition of soaked and puree’d bread. I was totally intrigued by this, and have since found that I REALLY like this little addition. The bread gives the soup a real nice texture and richness. The soup was a pretty delicious, but both the kiddies were uninterested (I think due to them both being sick). Brodie, managed a few big spoonfuls, while little Syd could only bring herself to try just one bite. I personally, had a second helping of the soup, and then managed to eat all the leftovers on Saturday.

Now…… I wish I could say yummy and good things about the Tortilla that I made. The recipe even states “such a simple dish, so difficult to perfect…… The Tortilla is the dish by which to judge a tapas bar.” Uuummmm ….. OK……so I LIKE things to be PERFECT! I really should have read that and decided to try a different recipe…. that was the red flag waving high in the air for all to see! Did I listen…. no… of course not!

Having made this dish, I honestly can’t wait to try this in an authentic Spanish Tapas Bar. It is the one dish I thought was sooooooo BORING! I didn’t like how it looked, and I didn’t like how it tasted. Maybe I didn’t add enough salt, maybe the potatoes were cut to thick…. maybe I just didn’t have a clue what I was doing….. I’m still at a bit of a loss on this one, but in no hurry to make it again! Mike however, seemed to REALLY enjoy it, (eating 2 whole pieces). Brodie had a few bites….. and little Syd, well she had none! You can bet that this topic it will pop up again on the blog during our travels through Spain!

I am happy to report that both the kiddies and Mike are on the road to recovery. It is always tough when the kiddies are sick. Very often, you wish it was you, and that they didn’t have to go through it…… however…… that was not my thought until Sunday at 10:30am. Race weekend was pretty important and I managed to stay healthy enough to have a pretty decent half marathon finishing in 2:14:54. It was a beautiful new course, in one FABULOUS city! You really should do it if you haven’t… an amazing run…..you won’t be disappointed!

I have no doubt that my determination in not getting sick played a big part in keeping the virus at bay till after race day, however I also think the Gazpacho played an even bigger part with all the freshly pureed vitamins and minerals! Well it looks like I now need to make another big batch of Gazpacho….. I am getting pretty hard hit with the same thing the kiddies and Mike had…. time for that big ol’ bowl to work her magic!

Enjoy your Daily Dose.

Xox