I bike to eat

I like to eat...a lot. It's no secret, and my friends and family can tell you that I can seriously pack it away. And if you've ever seen my dad eat, you know that I got my good eatin' genes from him. I bike for a lot of reasons, but mostly I bike to eat. The more I bike, the more I can eat. And the more I race my bike, the more I HAVE to eat. I love it. The irony about biking to eat is that biking takes up so much time that it's often hard to find time to cook good meals. I know it's generally not PC for women to talk about their weight, but I'm going to go there anyway - no worries though ladies, I'm not talking about "absolute" weight here, just "relative" weight, so don't get your undies in a bundle. About a month ago, I stepped on our body fat scale that gets used most often by my roommate. I could care less about my "% fat" or my "% water", and generally I don't even care too much about the weight as long as the siren doesn't start going off. But this time, my weight was down more than I had expected. I figured it was a fluke and went to bed. A few nights ago (a month later), I got on the scale again and it told me the same thing. I'm not sure how the average woman would react, but I could only think of one thing - sweet, I can eat more!! So I've been pigging out for the last few days, with the help of a few of JoeyC's meals. I'm sure my weight will be back to "normal" by this weekend at the rate I'm eating, but it's been a good week. I'm just bummed I missed Annie's now famous pie.

While I'm talking about food, I should mention that my life has recently been changed by the first Twin Cities Trader Joe's that recently opened in my 'hood! I have so many good things to say about this place that I'm not even sure where to start. To summarize, TJ's has healthy, cheap, food that seems to cater to active/busy people. The best part is that I have yet to eat something from TJ's that has an ingredient that I can't pronounce. It's all natural stuff...which is why I can't figure out why it's so cheap. They have a bunch of awesome pre-made frozen meals that are healthy and are amazingly "fresh"...I read on their website that they "blanch" their vegetables before freezing them, so I guess that's why they're so fresh. The frozen meals are perfect for those nights when I get home late from work, go for a ride, and get back at 8:30 and don't want to have to take an hour to cook a big meal. In addition, they have some of the best spicy guacamole...and it's also cheap...two packets for about $2.50! It's cheaper to buy the pre-made stuff than to buy avocadoes and make it from scratch. And Pete and I eat guacamole as our main dish for at least two meals a week, so we've actually stopped making it ourselves and just buy the TJ's. But it's a hot item there...last night they were all out. And they have a cheap liquor store too - perhaps you've heard of their "two buck Chuck" wine. Margot and Aric shared some with us recently and it was pretty good, especially for that price. And according to the TJ's cashier that we chatted with last night, the plan is to open one more TJ's in the Twin Cities yet this year, and another one next year. Sweet.

strats out