My top 10...

I'm participating in the #writeandrun31 challenge, where I'm trying to write and run each day in January.
Running has been pretty easy, especially since I'm just coming off the #rwrunstreak, so I've only missed a couple of run days this month. On the writing front, since I'm trying to write on my dissertation, I haven't been quite as successful, but I'm working a little at a time.

As part of this challenge, our hosts post writing prompts. Today's prompt was too good to pass up: top 10.

So here's some of my top 10s. Not necessarily in order.

Top 10 books (fiction):
1. Ishmael- Daniel Quinn
2. Neverwhere- Neil Gaiman
3. The Time Travelers Wife- Audrey Niffenger
4.The world according to Garp- John Irving
5. The dogs of Babel- Carolyn Parkhurst
6. High Fidelity- Nick Hornby
7. Farenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
8. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer
9. Anthem- Ayn Rand
10. The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood

Top 10 books (nonfiction):
1. The passion of the western mind - Richard Tarnas
2. The Know it all - A.J. Jacobs
3. The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
4. The botany of desire - Michael Pollan
5. A brief History of Time- Stephen Hawking
6. Eats, Shoots & Leaves- Lynne Truss
7. A history of the world in 6 glasses- Tom Standage
8. What Einstein told his barber- Robert Wolke
9. The art of asking- Amanda Palmer
10. The Omnivore's dilemma- Michael Pollan

Top 10 cookbooks:
1. Happy Herbivore Everyday- Lindsay Nixon
2. La Dolce Vegan- Sarah Kramer
3. Isa Does it!- Isa Chandra Moskowitz
4. The Vegan Zombie, cook & survive- Cooney & Tedd
5. The Oh she glows cookbook- Angela Liddon
6. Happy Herbivore light & lean- Lindsay Nixon
7. Thrive energy cookbook- Brendan Brazier
8. One dish vegan- Robin Robertson
9. Thug Kitchen-...
10. 365 Vegan smoothies- Kathy Patalsky

Top 10 albums:
1. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
2. Passion - Peter Gabriel
3. Requiem- Mozart
4. Pearl- Janis Joplin
5. Space Oddity- David Bowie
6. Nighthawks at the Diner- Tom Waits
7. Abbey Road- The Beatles
8. Theatre is evil- Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra
9. Hard Candy- Counting Crows
10. Living in Clip- Ani Difranco

Top 10 vegan restaurants:
1. Modern Love- Omaha, NE
2. Cafe Gratitude- Kansas City, KS
3. Plant- Asheville, NC
4. Sticky Fingers- Washington, DC
5. Everlasting Life Cafe- Temple Hills, MD
6. City O City- Denver, CO
7. Native Foods- CO & DC
8. Phoenix Garden, Richmond, VA
9. Great Sage, Clarksville, MD
10. Ethos, Winter Park, FLA

Top 10 favorite things to eat:
1. Mangos
2. Bananas
3. Kale
4. Spinach
5. Strawberries
6. Asparagus
7. Avocados
8. Peaches
9. Vegan Nachos
10. Vegan cookies

And the top 10 reasons I run:
1. Because I have dogs with a lot of energy
2. Because my beagle was getting fat
3. Because I was walking anyway
4. Because now I can eat whatever I want to
5. Because now I sleep like a baby
6. Because I've lost 38 pounds so far
7. Because my butt looks great in these jeans
8. Because it gives my yoga practice new meaning
9. Because it gives me devoted thinking time
10. Because I always thought I couldn't

Plan Jan 26 - Feb 1

Monday
Run
Chipotle

Tuesday
Run/swim
Blue corn pasole 

Wednesday
Run
Homemade vegan gnocchi with steamed greens (http://keepinitkind.com/homemade-gnocchi/)

Thursday
Run/swim
Choir rehearsal: leftovers!

Friday
Long run
Tofu Paneer (inspired by The Vegan Zombie)

Saturday
Vegan pizza

Sunday
Leftovers

On Monday, if you order Sofritas (vegan meat-y crumbles) at Chipotle, you'll get a coupon for a free burrito! Hooray Chipotle!

Otherwise,  I have a few nice recipies lined up for the week. Rob and I ended up going out with friends Saturday evening, so our pizza making date has been pushed to next weekend. At least we own the ingredients now! The gnocchi recipie for Wednesday looks a little daunting for a weeknight. I've never made fresh gnocchi before, so we will see how inspired I'm feeling when I get home from work. They may become fritters & greens instead!

I got a good chunk of writing done this week, and have a phone call scheduled with my mentor for Thursday afternoon.If I'm going to make my (new & adjusted) timeline, I'm going to need to devote more time to writing each week. Which kind of sucks, because I really prefer running & yoga-ing & reading & even watching bad tv at this point! But I am determined, I can & will do it.

Speaking of running, I'm up to 8+ miles on my long runs, which is right where I need & want to be in my half training. I have about 6 weeks until the big race, so I plan on adding 1 mile each week for the next 5, then tapering. I may get in a swim this week. If the weather's been good enough, I prefer to run, but it looks like we may get a storm that will send me to the pool!

January/ Veganuary is almost over, and I'm a little sad to see it end. Rob will go back to eating (some) meat after the month is over, although he will continue to eat mostly vegan. If you took on vegan goals for January, will you continue them?

Vegan Eating Out: Yuan Fu's Vegetarian Restaurant, Rockville, MD

Rob and I were up visiting his mom over the weekend, and on our way up, we stopped into Yuan Fu's in Rockville, for dinner. This is a fantastic little Chinese vegan restaurant!

At Yuan Fu's, everything here is vegan and plant based. They state clearly in their menu that though the titles of their dishes have meat names, these are in reference to the styles of the dishes. One thing I really like about this restaurant is that each protein is made from a different base. For instance, beef and pork are seitan, chicken is soy, duck is pressed tofu, fish is soy and seaweed, and shrimp and squid are made with Japanese yam!

We started with an appetizer of Taro Root balls.

I ordered the crispy sesame beef with walnuts and broccoli. The walnuts in my dish were really amazing, and my favorite part of this dish.

Rob had one of the chef's specials: the veggie "duck" with Chinese broccoli, it wasn't listed as a spicy dish, but he ordered it extra spicy. It didn't seem spicy at first, but once you got into the sauce it got hot! Rob said the "duck" may have had too meaty of a texture for some vegans, but he really loved it.

Vegan eating out: Maggies Vegetarian Wraps, Lincoln, NE

The first weekend of January, I traveled out to Nebraska for my neice's baptism. My family lives in central NE, where it gets very cold over the winter months.

Since I was travelling alone, I decided to bring Copper, who is a Nationally Certified Service dog, so she could ride in the cabin of the plane with me. She was awesome, and was allowed to sit on the floor by my feet, ir on my lap, and if it was an empty flight, the stewardesses were okay with her sitting on a seat as long as she was sitting on my coat.

My dad picked me up at the aurpor, and we had lunch at Maggie's Vegetarian Wraps in Lincoln, NE. Not all vegan, but very good with more than 50% of the menu vegan. Everything was made fresh & in house. I had the lentil soup which was delightfully warm and filling. My dad had the nut-meat tacos, which he had some trepidation about,  but enjoyed! I will absolutely return the next time I'm in town.

Plan Jan 19 - 25

Monday
Run
Beans, rice, romaine lettuce, mango salsa & avocado  (inspired by #rubybirdslunch)

Tuesday
Run
Roasted Mediterranean veggie melt sandwich: marinated and baked tofu with daiya mozzeralla, roasted red onions and red peppers, kalamata olive tapenade, garlic vegan mayo, za'tar seasoning, spring mix on buttery toasted bread (inspired by #strongheartscafe)

Wednesday
Run
Field Roast Celebration Roast- roasted with onions, garlic, & carrots (I'm anxious to try out this new-to-me product!)

Thursday
Run
Choir practice- leftovers night

Friday
Run
Sesame Kale Macro Bowl: Tempeh, steamed kale, brown rice, ginger sesame sauce, sauerkraut and onions. Garnished with green onion and served with crunchy cucumber salad (inspired by #nativefoodscafe)

Saturday
Run
Rob has been wanting pizza, so I thought we'd try hand making a crust & pie today

Sunday
Run
Leftovers

First of all, this week starts the Spring semester for us at the college, so I must return to regularly scheduled waking times. Also, Mia has headed back up to Frostburg, she's moving into an apartment this semester and giving up the dorm life. For her I've put a bunch of my vegan recipes and resources on Dropbox. I hope she uses them! It's tough learning how to fend for yourself! I also am working hard on my dissertation, trying to put in at least an hour each day, but this week may be tricky.

Recipes this week are inspired in part by a few accounts I follow on Instagram (IG). The owner of Herbivore Clothing regularly posts pictures of her daughter's school lunch boxes (#rubybirdslunch) which is the inspiration for Monday's meal. Tuesday and Friday's meals are inspired by IG posts from plant-based restaurants!  Speaking of IG, since it is veganuary, I've been trying to post more food photos to my IG (@zuzubeat) and FB (Vegan Questing Adventures) pages. On my IG account, I have been posting flashback travel vegan pictures, helping Kristin promo her upcoming Will Travel for Vegan Food book, too. I love social media platforms for the vegan community! We are a force! And we take great pictures!

I was awfully proud of Rob when he emailed me this past week and said "I've been a vegan for two weeks!" I'd love for him to be a vegan forever....

My sister-in-law, Rachel, is going strong with her veganuary goals, too! If you are a new vegan, how is your month going?

Plan Jan 12-18

Monday
Run
I have meeings all day today, so Mia and Rob will be on their own for dinner.
I will bring my own dinner to work, just in case the vegan option isn't vegan....

Tuesday
Run
Sonoma Salad -this is a salad of tofu, grapes, and celery, and is one of Mia's favorites.

Wednesday
Run
She-crab soup- Mia gets her wisdom teeth out today, so soup for dinner!

Thursday
Run
Veganized chik'n quesidillas. Since Rob is vegan this month, I'm veganizing this for him!

Friday
Run
Tofu quiche

Saturday
Run
Buddha bowls

Sunday
Run
Leftovers

Running has equaled hiking for me this past weekend, as Rob and I spent three days at a cabin in Virginia. I'm up to three and a half minutes of planking, and finished Unbroken while I was there.

Plan Jan 5-11

Monday
Run
Travel day

Tuesday
Run
Savory Aramanth Fritters with avocado and rosemary sweet potato

Wednesday
Run
Tempeh helper AFR

Thursday
Run
Pad Thai Salad AFR

Friday
Run
BBQ Tamarind Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes AFR

Saturday
Run
Hummus and olive selections

Sunday
Run
Leftovers

Sorry for the late posting. I just got back from Nebraska late last night. I had a wonderful weekend, visiting my folks, my brother, Tim, and his family, my Grandma, who is 101 years old, and even some folks I do the veterans events with. My pup, Copper, traveled with me, and that was a fantastic experience, one deserving its own blog post.

I have not gotten off on a great start with my 3 resolutions:
Run (goal- at least 1 mile each day)
Write (goal- at least 1 hour on dissertation each day)
Yoga (goal- at least 15 minutes of practice each day)

I have gotten miles logged each day, albeit two days were speed walking through airports as I waited for planes! I have managed to write a little in my journal each day except Monday, but have not gotten any academic writing done yet. Grrrr. My yoga practice also suffered with my travels. I was able to plank most days, I'm up to two and a half minutes. But I have not gotten my desired 15 minutes.

I'm participating in #writeandrun31 hosted by Matt Frazier, author of No Meat Athlete, where I'm attempting to write and run every day in the month of January. Hopefully this will propell me to finish my dissertation this month!