Ski Memories

Confession, I took THREE days off from running after my 20 miler on Friday! 
It wasn't intentional.  I would have run Sunday but everything was covered in snow and I was enjoying my day inside in pajamas a little too much. 
I would have run Monday night, but it was below 30 degrees (and windy!) and I had to go with Greg to pick up a car we had in the shop after work, so by the time we got home it was around 6:30pm and I wanted to make Greg dinner before he headed out to work.  I did do some more at home yoga that night though!

Anyway, last night I finally got back out there and did a little over 5 miles. 

It was a little cold, but not too terrible.  I realized that running in the dark, cold air with snow on the ground reminds me of something...  Night skiing!  Growing up in New England, I learned to downhill ski somewhere around second or third grade.  I was pretty much hooked from the first time I clipped into my skis.  My mom took my brother and I to a small mountain near where I grew up almost every Friday night.  I took lessons and then enjoyed hours and hours of ski time with my friends.  The place I went was called Maple Valley, and I'm not even sure it's actually still running.  How sad!

I remember worrying we wouldn't get to go if the roads were bad, but somehow my mom usually seemed to be willing to take us.  I learned a lot in my lessons and picked up skiing fast.  It wasn't long before I went from this: 

"Pizza, french fry, pizza, french fry"  

(Watch the Aspen episode of South Park, and you'll know what I'm talking about...)

to this:

(source)

Haha, just kidding, that's Picabo Street.  I was never anywhere near that good.  But I could do the black diamond trails at Maple Valley ;)

Here's the good ol' lodge, where I ate many a french fry and drank gallons of hot chocolate.

source

I remember how I would be bundled up in my ski pants, jacket, gloves, goggles, and hat, with just my nose exposed (if it wasn't tucked into my neck warmer) and how the cold, crisp air felt riding up that ski lift.  I remember looking down at the white snow on the pretty evergreen forest in the moonlight and then bounding off the lift ready to race down and do it all again.  I loved carving my tracks in the fresh snow and skiing down the mountain like lightning.  It was a total blast and I'm so grateful to my parents for exposing me to skiing as a kid.  Skiing is pretty expensive, so it was pretty cool that they were willing to spend the money and let us go. 

I also skied all through high school at another small mountain in Western Mass called Berkshire East (wow, it's still there/open!).

I went twice a week all winter long and loved every minute of it.  Fun Fact: I actually had my first kiss on the bus ride home from skiing when I was in tenth grade...lol!

I really miss skiing a lot and I've said to Greg if there's one trip I'd like to take in the US that I haven't taken yet, it would be to go out west somewhere and ski someday.  I went to a few other bigger mountains in New England to ski a bunch of times but have never gotten a chance to ski out west.  Greg actually skis too and is pretty good for a Chicago born boy.  We went together a few times in western Virginia when we lived up there and had a blast.

After my run and flood of ski memories, I created this for dinner.

Basically a scaled down version of vegetable marrakesh, because I was using what I had in the house.

I used:
1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and cubed
1 apple, peeled and cubed
1/2 onion
1/2 roasted red pepper
1 heaping teaspoon of garlic (1 or 2 cloves)
1/2 cup pureed butternut squash
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of tumeric
1 tablespoon of cumin
Plus 3/4 cup Quinoa cooked in stock

I roasted the acorn squash, carrots, and apple for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.

Then, I put about a tablespoon of oil in a large pan, and sauteed the onion, garlic, and pepper for a few minutes.  Once the roasted veggies were done in the oven, I added them and the chickpeas into my pan along with the cinnamon, tumeric, and cumin.  Stir in the pureed butternut squash and the apple juice.  Lastly add your cooked Quinoa and stir til everything is well combined and heated through.

I love the flavors in this dish.  :)

Have you ever skied?  What did you do in the winter when you were a kid?