Gift from Austria

We received a very nice gift from a business colleague in Austria - two bottles of Klug-Voltl Gelber Muskateller Wine and a bottle of Kernöl Oil, otherwise known as pumpkin seed oil.

In keeping with the RSBC superfood challenge, we used the Kernol oil as our pumpkin - after all, it is made from pumpkin. Does this count? To start off our meal I tossed together a salad of red butter leaf lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, toasted hazelnuts and then I drizzled the Kernol oil over the top. The oil is rather rich in flavor and texture, instead of the usual balsamic vinegar, I squeezed some Meyer lemon over the top as the acid part of the dressing. Tossed it with some sea salt and crushed pepper. The oil is not only rich in flavor and texture but also very nutty, it definitely complimented everything in the salad. It was very good!

Not sure what to serve with the wine, so we opted to make some of Lil's chicken cutlets. This time I threw fresh rosemary, thyme, garlic and a chili pepper in the food processor with the bread crumbs and made a very fragrant breading. The flour mixture I added some smoky paprika, salt and pepper to it. The different layers of the wine (pear, melon, a little green apple as well as a bit of mineral) really complimented the cutlets. We really enjoyed this meal full of new and exciting flavors!

We thought the crispness of the wine would also be perfect for a summer picnic - guess what we will be doing with the next bottle! Thank you Rainer!

In keeping up with the RSBC Challenge, I ran 3xs and we both biked 15 miles.

Jellie Bellies Unite!

Dust off your bikes, unpack that swimsuit at the bottom of your dresser, pull out your running shoes from the way back part of your closet, it is time for you to join us while we jump start our year! You may even enjoy it as well!

January was incredibly busy for us - lots of extra hours of work, trying to catch up with friends that we had neglected during the previous year and just attempting to regroup for the new year. All this "busy" time left us no gym time or for that matter very little exercise time - the crappy weather we have been having has not made it easy either!

I stumbled upon Balance, when I was looking at Lemon Meringue Pies and saw that Chou was hosting the Ironman meets Iron Chef event - I knew that this was the perfect thing to get our Jelly Bellies off of the couch and back into the swing of things! As well, we had been cleaning out the fridge and pantry for the past couple of weeks, so we would definitely have some room for some great Superfood.

Check back weekly for an update as to how we are doing!