A Simple Yet Effective Birthday

My birthday this year was one of my most fun yet. It was simple but quite effective as I delivered on my vow to do a cold plunge in Puget Sound.

I'm pretty sure I have not been swimming in Puget Sound since I was a teenager.

The reason is because it is so freakin' cold! Notice how we are the only ones in the water...the only ones crazy enough, I should say.

It actually was not that bad. On this day, it was 59 degrees so it wasn't so cold that you turned numb. I remember turning numb when swimming in Puget Sound in the summer before. But, hey! In this day and age of global warming, I do believe Puget Sound is getting warmer because we were all able to plunge in at least three times. And each time it felt better and better. In between plunges, we recuperated in a mobile sauana by Suana Moon in a balmy 200 degrees.

We've seen the mobile sauna down at Alki beach before and I knew the first time I saw it that I wanted to do it. Here we are in May strolling by. I thought what a great idea.

Two months later, here we are. And we all want to do it again.

You can go in and out as much as you want. Other people were also doing it and were repeat customers. They told us how great they feel afterwards and sleep really good at night. We were all very curious to find out if we would feel any effects of it and sure enough, I could tell. I slept all night until 6:00 am without waking up once. (Usually, I wake up at least once to go to the bathroom). The next morning, Lauren said she didn't feel sore at all after she came to Barre 3 class with me. It was her third time coming with me and each time she has been sore the next morning. So, I think there is something to it. Bruce said he would have NEVER done it except that it was my birthday wish and then he sort of liked it, too. Lauren's boyfriend was also a trooper and joined in and it turned out to be a wonderful experience for all of us.

After the plunge experience, we went home to clean up and headed to my favorite birthday spot for dinner at Salty's and once again I got my favorite complimentary birthday cake; their white chocolate mousse cake with raspberry coulis.

I will wait all year for this light, fluffy, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth cake. The other effect that the cold plunge had on us was that we were all famished and ready to eat! We immediately ordered Salty's amazing bread, that I will also wait all year for, and two orders of their fresh oysters. It all tasted soooooo good after a deep plunge, let me tell you!

We met my sister and her husband there to join my birthday celebration, since they did not prefer to do the cold plunge with us beforehand. I wonder why??

And lucky Lauren also got a piece of their fabulous cake since her birthday is in two weeks. Gotta love Salty's!

We were all in such a happy, fun and festive mood and I think that is another effect of the cold plunge. Are you in a funk? Food not tasting good? Sore muscles? Waking up at night? I know the cure for you. A nice cold plunge and a hot sauna ought to take care of it right away.

Happy Birthday to me!

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Two-Bean Soup with Kale

This hearty vegetarian soup warms up chilly nights. Use any type of canned beans you happen to have on hand and add chicken or Italian sausage for a heftier dish, if you prefer. Makes 4-6 servings 3 Tbsp. olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped carrots 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 tsp. salt, divided 2 cloves garlic, minced 4 cups vegetable broth, divided 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch) 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed, drained and divided 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary or 1 tsp. dried rosemary 1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and saute 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 tsp. salt and garlic; cook 1 minute. 2. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simme...

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