To Go to NASCAR?

One of my life-long goals, it’s a long and varied list, is to travel to all 50 states. At 25, I’m well on my way, but still have much of the Western half to visit. Now, people will ask, what do you consider visiting? For me, it’s more than just driving through. That might be because for three years I drove from Massachusetts to Tennessee twice a year and don’t really count all of the states Henrietta drove through as places I visited.

I’ve decided that in order for a location to count, I have to do some sort of activity there. It could be as simple as eating a meal there, but it must be in a restaurant, beyond the highway exit options. However, most of the time, it’s more extensive. Personally I’ve spent a lot of time at sporting events in other states, which is a BLAST. You get to experience local culture and exciting events!

So far I’ve made it through 28 states and have been to a game (or major event) in a third of them. I’ve been to a road race, a PGA golf tourney, a couple of baseball games, and a couple of football games. A few weekends ago I even hit up a NASCAR event in Charlotte, NC. Can I just say HOW MUCH FUN I HAD?!

I must say, when traveling, company makes all of the difference. I went with an awesome couple and now two of my favorite people. I met them at a friend's wedding in the summer and we became fast friends... Probably for our mutual weirdness. Danielle and Steve were amazing hosts and kept me quite entertained the entire time.

Going into it, I knew it would be fun, but I didn’t think it would be as exciting as it was. Obviously tailgating was a blast. Met about 30 different people over the course of the day. We made a few friends with our Stump game—if you haven’t played, you should definitely check it out: http://www.worldstump.com/rules.html. Then we meandered over to the main event and listened to the Goo Goo Dolls show, followed by the tight-rope walker who walked over the Grand Canyon. This was all leading up to the main event.

I didn’t realize quite how loud it got, nor how big the tracks are. Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1.5 mile track and has a capacity of 140,000 spectators (Gillette Stadium is 68,756 for comparison). As soon as the drivers started their engines, the noise began to reverberate throughout the stadium. Then the scent of gasoline hit. I was getting amped.

We were seated right before the finish line and the cars all lined up. It wasn’t until their second lap, that the volume maxed out. I don’t even have anything to compare it to. The noise was so much greater than a concert and I could actually feel the vibrations… It was amazing. We only stayed through lap 179 of 330 before calling it a night, but I can’t wait to experience another NASCAR event. Next time we will be hitting up Loudon, NH. 

To Jump on the Quinoa Train?

This week I decided I would actually cook for myself. Normally I say this,  buy some veggies--broccoli, asparagus, green beans-- and then forget halfway through the week that I have them. Sometimes I eat them before they go back, but quite frequently I have to toss them. This week, I decided to stick to my plan! I even invited a couple of girls over last night so that I would have to feed them a real meal... 

On Monday I decided I wanted to make stuffed peppers. If you know me, this is completely out of left field. I'm not really adventurous when it comes to food. I'll pick chicken nuggets over anything with mushrooms any day. Well, I got even more adventurous and decided to use quinoa since I really don't care for rice either. This is where I let the experimentation begin. 

Monday after work, I strolled over to Whole Foods and picked up food for the week. I made Lemon Chicken that night with a side of steamed spinach (another thing I would not usually eat). And the rest of the ingredients for what I thought, and read a little about on the internet, went into a stuffed pepper. 

**You'll soon figure out, I'm not one for recipes, so here is a ballpark of what went in them

Stuffed Peppers
-3 Bell peppers, one yellow, two red
-Box of pre-washed quinoa (only used a cup, then cooked like it said to on the box... it was my first time and super easy)
-Md sized can of crushed tomatoes (drained slightly... they don't drain well apparently)
- Garlic
-Purple Onion
-Left over spinach
-1/2 lb ground turkey breast
-1 turkey sausage, herb I think
-Half a taco seasoning packet
-Sprinkle of black pepper
-Sprinkle of chilli powder
-Sprinkle of taco cheese

So I sauteed the garlic and onion then added the turkeys with a little EVOO. Once that was cooked I added the tomatoes and let it simmer for a hot minute.  I remembered to put in a couple of pieces of the yellow pepper and the spinach. then I tossed in the seasonings *I didn't add salt because the sodium in the taco packet was more than enough. While this was hanging on the stove, I cut the stuff out of the peppers and tossed them in a dish in the oven--my colleague Molly recommended it so I wouldn't have to keep in the oven as long. I took them out about 5 minutes later and filled them with the mixture I'd created, topped with the cheese, and threw them in the oven for 20 minutes.

By this time, the girls had arrived and had poured glasses of Vinho Verde. If you haven't tried it, I recommend it. Our bottle was $6.99 and quite delicious. It was a little surprising because it fizzed slightly, but it's not too sweet. It was a great pairing with dinner, and by that I mean it tasted good. I won't attempt to be a wine connoisseur here.

We sat at my little nook discussing the plans for the week and our ideas for Halloween... More to come on that later. Soon the kitchen smelled amazing and we scarfed down the peppers (didn't even take a picture). 

Overall, I would recommend trying these out. I have the leftover stuffing for lunch today and it's phenom. Warmed it in the micro and put it with some romaine and pineapple. Maybe not the quickest recipe, but delicious and pretty healthy! I can't wait to use peppers as a cooking vessel more often! Ohhh and I really like quinoa... Texture is different, but not off putting. I'll be adding this to more recipes for sure. Happy I jump aboard!