not so savory.

in case you're wondering,

you cannot make whipped cream

into a sour cream substitute,

or creme fraiche,

or something that tastes like savory goodness.

so if you're out of sour cream

and desperately need something to dip

your pierogies in...

please, 

just go to wawa.

do not fall victim to your kitchen aid mixer obsession

and humor your spouse's crazy ideas.

it will NOT make your mouth happy!

:)

**edited to add that michael would like you to know that he did not take pre-made whipped cream and add lime juice to it, that would just be foolish!  
heavy cream was whipped, sans sugar, lime juice was added...gagging ensued.

PHLYTRI Weekend: Part 6

mission triathlon was complete...aaaaand it wasn't even noon...so now what?!

go home and shower...and rest, obvi!  i think i sneezed about 50 times in a row, i'm certain that the schyukill got lodged in my brain and my body was fighting back!  with all of that energy spent i tried to rehydrate and replenish but it wasn't working so well.  kinda felt like i had quickly come down with a nasty cold.  so i did threw on my tri sweatshirt and dozed while watching some tennis and the lousy usa soccer game.  i'm not much of a napper so i kept waking up...and realized that everyone else was snoozing too, so i didn't feel too bad that i was wasting away the afternoon!

thank goodness i was able to get a second wind because we had a reservation at Osteria!  i've been wanting to eat there since i read about it in Philly Mag two years ago...and then in Southwest magazine...and then in Main Line today...finally it was my chance to go to this fab Marc Vetri restaurant and i was not about to let some stiff joints keep me from missing out!

Osteria is not in the most lovely section of the city but the restaurant was terrific!  such a pretty building and the food was superb, but not pretentious at all.  good, fresh ingredients.  decent portions, lots of choices, and wicked delicious bread.  it met all of my expectations and if i can think up some reason to have a big party i'm booking that gorgeous garden room...no doubt about it!  Perfect way to finish off an amazing day...food, family, and a candle :).

oh wait...and one last unexpected surprise...FIREWORKS!!!  we were driving back home and while passing Boathouse Row, an insane fireworks display went off...it literally looked like they were right on the highway!  huge show, lots of my favorites (those screechy swirly ones), probably not a genius idea for the safety of the drivers passing by, but so exciting!!!

Pictures of me looking tired, but less sweaty found here...along with the fam & food!

PHLYTRI Weekend: Part 5

about 50 some-odd minutes later, i found myself rounding the final u-turn and heading into the scary dismount area....and somehow i didn't fall, even though i unclipped my left foot first, which i never do...and suddenly i was racking my bike and had different shoes on.  seriously don't remember that transition AT ALL.  just happy i tied my laces :).

i ran right on out of there and guess what...the fam was right there! how good are they?! serious tri spectating pros!!  my calves started cramping once i hit the road and i got a little lazy.  i think i could ride a bike all day but if i'm running i tend to talk myself into slowing down.  thankfully there were tons of amazing volunteers cheering everyone on...someone actually yelled 'run pippi run' at me, haha, just the pep talk i needed to move those feet faster!  i wanted to hug them all, but my pace was already way off so i just found a good group to run with and kept trucking.  sang a little coldplay to myself, and unfortunately "the song that doesn't end" popped into the brain for about a mile, skipped over that to some jack johnson and topped off the mental playlist with foo fighters...amazingly resisted the urge to sing out-loud!

the home stretch was FINALLY in sight!! the fact that my hair had dried and no longer provided me any cooling action to combat my ever-rising temperature was pushed to the back on my brain...the fact that my toes were starting to go numb was ignored...the fact that i didn't know if my skin was covered in dirt from the river or dried sweat made me laugh instead of vom....because i could SEE the finish line!!  i was THERE!!!  and so i found every last ounce of energy stored inside me and ran as fast as i possibly could over the timing mat....funny joke since it was about 20 feet in front of the actual final timing mat....jerks...haha so slowed down for about 3 steps, figured it out (along with the rest of the group around me) and took that final step.  YAY!! 

thank you volunteer for the participant medal...thank you other volunteer for the water bottle which i was incapable of opening...thank you final volunteer for taking off my timing chip because there was no way bending over was in my immediate future!  found the crew, tried to regain consciousness and looked up to see the race clock at 2 hours and 1 minute and some seconds.  which i translated to mean that i finished my other, set within the last 2 weeks goal....i completed my first tri in under 2 hours!!! i don't think i could've been more overwhelmed if i tried!!  for the record...official time was 1:58:18. Holler! 

Such a fantastic feeling, such a wonderful experience....and all that before 10am!!  Hmm...now which one do i sign up for next?!?

Check out both pages of pictures!

PHLYTRI Weekend: Part 4

after what seemed like forever, it was time to line up for the swim.  i was in the second, and i think the largest, wave.  the water temp at 6am was 84 degrees (WHAAAT?!) so absolutely no wetsuits allowed under any circumstances...no big, i'll just doggy paddle if need be....glad i had already come to terms with that!

yea so the water was just as disgusting as i expected.  could barely see to the end of my arm and it was a superbly nasty color.  swimming in a herd of people is also not so fantastic.  thank goodness for the backstroke, it seriously was my best friend.  as soon as i saw other girls using that tactic for a few minutes at a time i followed suit.  great way to calm down and regain some stamina before getting back into the rhythm of freestyle.  great for the time?  eh, def not so much, but finishing was the main goal!

guess what, the swim sucked! big time! but i made it, and there was one split second on the way out of the water where i thought 'i'm done, i can't do this', but then i got into the transition and thought...you're a moron, you finished the swim...you ARE doing this, now get on your bike!!!!  yea i sat down to put my socks and bike shoes on, yea it killed my first transition time, but it was well worth it.  it gave me the break i needed to erase the swim from my mind.

the bike portion was awesome.  i felt way better than i imagined.  i did drop my water bottle with electrolyte goodness in it about 5 minutes in so i felt like a dork, and it probably didn't help my hydration, but i was in no way the only person down a water bottle.  so i kept peddling.  i was slow on the hills and probably could've eeked out a few extra mphs in a few spots but was seriously concerned with conserving my energy so i concentrated on staying consistent, and strong, and having fun!

throughout the course i passed my family and friends (yea, some awesome friends got out of bed ridiculously early on a saturday morning to cheer me on too! WOW!!) four times, and it was such a surge of energy every time i saw them.  i was so incredibly excited and grateful to have them all there!!!

...

PHLYTRI Weekend: Part 3

Saturday, June 26th.

oh cool, waking up at 4:45am is exactly what i want to do on a super important day.  UGH!  incredibly thankful everything about race day had already been planned out and walked through in my brain.  So although waking up before the sun is never really high on my list, i woke up and was in a really good mood and was calm, weird.  that's not a word commonly associated with me!

made myself some cream of wheat with honey.  who knows if this is really a good thing to eat before a race, but made sense to me, so i gave it a whirl.  had a giant glass of Gogi Berry Green Tea hydration stuff and a banana for good measure.

got dressed, again in a very calm and non-spastic manner, and finished packing up my bag/getting the gear into the car with some help from mz and my sis.  in typical mom & dad fashion, they sat out in the street until they saw me coming out to the car and shutting the garage...wanted to be on time for our 5:30 departure but wouldn't dare want to get in the way!! too funny, how could they possibly get in the way?! :)

watched the sun come up as we were pulling into the parking area by the Please Touch Museum...which mom called the Don't Touch Museum and dad called the Touch Me, Please Museum.  hahahha hysterically entertaining, especially to a hyper, over hydrated girl with really tight french braids!!

made the trek down Black Road and just let it set in that this was really happening.  i was surrounded by competitors and while some of them had some super snazzy gear, everyone was really friendly and i luckily didn't feel intimidated.  i had read everything, i knew what to expect, i couldn't wait to get through the line and have someone sharpie the heck out of me so i could go setup my transition area!

i'm not trying to be bragedocious, but i legit had a clue of what was going on and could not believe how many people were running around like idiots...clearly they didn't read ANYTHING!  i mean there are bike racks very clearly marked with the bib numbers that are allowed to 'park' there...so how is it that the announcer is reading off LISTS people where were mis-racked?!  a little reading/numbers quiz might be a good requirement going forward!!

took some time to talk with a few newbies setting up near me, not certain, but think i was the most excited out of the group.  a couple of girls looked like they were going to puke...i stayed away from them!

....