Sunday, May 17, 2009

Virtual Reality Biking Riding

Yesterday was a beautiful and relaxing day. I watched my darling kiddos play soccer in the morning- they were pretty good for six year olds! Well except for a few who enjoyed staring into space and paying no attention at all, but let me tell you- they are the exact same way when I am teaching :) At least I know it's not just me.
After I decided to try out this PB2 stuff I have heard so much about. It's powered peanut butter which I realize sounds disgusting. I probably would never have given it a second though except peanut butter is one of my favorite things in the world, but unfortunately my stomach does not agree, I think because it is high in fat. The powered peanut butter is VERY low in fat so I thought I'd give it a try.
It says you can just mix it with some water and you have peanut butter, but I decided to go for Jenna's recipe of mixing it with Greek yogurt instead. I love her blog and so many of the amazing treats she makes- but this did NOT work for me at all. I think I probably did it wrong (she might even use the chocolate version and I know she adds more things in) but plain- this did NOT work! I decided it was not the PB2's fault and that it was the yogurt's fault for needing something sweeter. Instead I had an English muffin with some of the PB2 (mixed with water). It was much better than the yogurt version, but it still tasted a little weird to me. Am I doing something wrong? Anyone have any recommendations for recipes to use with this PB2...since I still have the whole jar left?
Luckily dinner was a lot more successful than lunch. I went to a new Italian restaurant in Belmont called Il Casale. My parents went a few weeks ago and have been raving about it since. They decided to take Eric and I so we could try it for ourselves. Eric decided to order this really crazy beer that looked to me like a wine bottle!
As for the food, it was delicious. The bread (often my favorite part of Italian restaurants) was nothing to write home about, but the rest of the food more than made up for it. This is my pasta, does that look like Italy or what?
The dessert was wonderful as well. I got a scoop of chocolate chip gelato (did you really think I was going to go for something non-ice cream related?)
Today Caroline (my sister) and I got up bright and early to hit the gym. Since it was raining out this morning I decided to try out this crazy exercise bike at the gym. It was one of those bikes that needs you to steer it, and it has a big TV that shows you the scenery of your bike ride. I choose a beginner coastal route and started out down the "road." I immediately wanted to see what would happen if I forgot to steer and went off a cliff. Since I come from the video game generation, I immediately expected to go flying, have my bike fall out from under me, and crash into the ground. If anyone has ever been to Lanes and Games in Cambridge, my image was similar to the little devil guy that comes out to laugh at you when you miss ALL of the pins. Needless to say, it was quite uneventful! The bike just simply moved itself back on track and really didn't need me to steer at all! BOR----ING! I'm not sure I liked the machine anyway, it felt like it locked everytime my leg extended, particularly on the downhill. It did successfully show me HOW slow I really am- it took me 21 minutes to bike 3.5 miles. PEOPLE CAN RUN THAT FAST- I can almost run that fast! Well...maybe I can't but still shouldn't I be biking at least twice as fast as I can run?
Speaking of biking, I am headed over to the bike shop that I bought my bike from (when I was in 7th grade, haha!) to make sure everything fits properly. I am probably going to go to the doctor later in the week to get my knee checked out and I want to rule out the possibility that bike does not fit. Hopefully they don't say, this bike is way too small, what are you thinking? Because I will say- I am thinking I really don't like biking so I'd rather not drop $1000+ on a new bike :)
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!!

10 comments:

  1. that vr biking sounds interesting! too bad it wasn't more entertaining/realistic though. surely it was off-calibration? that bowl of spaghetti looks amazing!

    thanks for stopping by my blog :) i added you to my reader!

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  2. Haha, I've tried one of those virtual bikes before but I was too short to pedal comfortably! Even on the lowest seat setting. Ahh sometimes it sucks being barely 5'0" tall.

    Hopefully everything goes well with the bike!

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  3. LOL I would have tried the exact same thing with the bike!!!! Too bad it didn't crash...it would've been cool!

    I've ordered some samples of PB2 (I want to buy some when I got to the states next week-end) so I'll tell you how it is when I try it...I was super excited to try out the PB mousse even though I have no greek yogurt...I'll let you know how it turns out for me! I hear it IS supposed to taste a little...off I guess. Not the exact same as regular PB...

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  4. PB2 doesn't sound good to me no matter how you mix it up. Good luck with that though!!

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  5. Ah... that pasta looks much better than the powdered peanut butter! WHy would anyone invent such a thing? Is it because it has less calories?:)

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  6. Aww, that's too bad the PB2 didn't work out. I've been meaning to try some with all the blogosphere hype. Maybe add it to savory dishes instead?

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  7. Too bad about the peanut butter. A good idea at least. That bike sounds interesting. I'd probably be too focused on the screen to work out as hard as I should though.

    I thought of another book for you - Secret Life of Bees. It was excellent.

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  8. Hi Kelly,
    Thanks for the comment :). I know how it feels when it seems like the yoga instructors are constantly "picking" on you. Sometimes I do a little happy dance in my head when they look at my form and then skip over me, as if I'm finally doing it right!! I really try not to take it personally...I've found that whatever class I'm considered the "newbie," that's when I receive the most corrections.

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  9. Hey Kelly! I wish I could give ya some input on the PB2 scenario - but I've never tried it! Always wanted to, though. I hope it all works out for you though...that's pretty disappointing cause supposedly it's pretty darn good.

    Wow..about the bike - never tried that either haha but I probably would have hopped off as well. Geesh...technology is insane these days, even at the gym. I don't understand HALF the stuff they come up with haha!

    Have a lovely day!
    Love,
    Meg

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  10. Thanks for the yoga tip Kelly! I'm glad you tried the PB2, I saw that on Jenna's blog and was wondering what other people thought. Let us know if you find a good way to eat it!
    -Jul

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