Desperate Measures

Gai's French Food Diary (Part 3)

18 May, Saturday

Breakfast:  I skipped it.  My pathetic effort at intermittent fasting.

While Nicolas and Guylaine were downstairs filling themselves with crepes and croissants, I was upstairs, in our room, doing my exercises and repacking for the nth time.

Yes, I am back to following this:

Except that instead of a one-minute downward dog, I did a one-minute plank.

It's the perfect workout when traveling.  It's probably the equivalent of a CrossFit warm-up but it's better than nothing.

We're back on the road again.  And... ummm... in the car, I may have had a cookie that I swiped from Lan Caradec.  Doh!

First stop was Morlaix.

Morlaix's impressive viaduct.

There was a street market going on and we stopped to smell the asparagus.

White asparageese.  Asparagooses?  ;-)

Beautiful town.  But lunch was calling.

Lunch:  We've moved on to the two-starred restaurants!  (Brittany doesn't have any three-starred restaurants.)  While I've been to some three-stars in Paris, I had never tried a two-star before,  Restaurant Patrick Jeffroy at L'Hotel de Carantec was my first.  And what a gorgeous experience it was.

From the view...

... to the service...

Check out these detachable wooden rests for ladies to put their handbags.

Yeah, okay, they wanted to take my coat but I insisted on keeping it.

... to everything about the food (presentation, taste, portions).

Nicolas' oysters, served on a bed of seaweed.  "9 huîtres creuses « Perles Noires » Cadoret froides ou tièdes, au vinaigre balsamique de cidre."

Guylaine and I chose the langoustines.  "Queues de langoustines au parfum de citronnelle, asperge blanche & morilles."

For our main course, Nicolas shared my need to take a break from fish and we both had the lamb:

"Carré d’agneau du quercy en croûte de pistache, légumes de printemps glacés au jus de volaille."

Check out the desserts:

"Ananas mousseux au citron de Nice, fraise gariguette, tuile craquante au sapin, sorbet tropical."

"Tarte Kouing Amann « Jacques Cartier », confit de rhubarbe, gariguette de Plougastel & sorbet fraise."

After lunch, we checked out the churches at Saint-Thégonnec and Guimiliau.

At Saint-Thégonnec, I walked into a tiny convenience store to look for some shampoo and, while I couldn't find the shampoo I wanted, I did find these:

Funny how I can find these almost anywhere in France but not anywhere else.  Not in the U.S., although I can't say that I really looked, but I certainly couldn't find them in Australia.

Dinner:  We spent the night at Crozon, at the only hotel recommended by the guidebooks (Hôtel de la Presquîle) and ate at their restaurant, Le Mutin Gourmand, another excellent surprise.  The menu du terroir at €29 surprised us with one-star flavors, but with generous portions.

Nicolas and Guylaine's starter.  "Tarte feuilletée à la fourme d’Ambert rôtie aux poires, salade aux fines herbes et jambon crû Ibérico."

This was mine.  I normally don't like salmon, but this was absolutely exquisite.  That salmon crepe alone was to die for.  "Saumon fumé du Mutin, rouleau de printemps, sauce thaï soja-sésame."

While this looks messy, I can assure you it looked much better on the plate.  It probably looks messy because there was so much happening on the plate, but this was just as outstanding as the one we had in the afternoon.  "Agneau des Monts d’Arrée de Gilles Morvan rôti, pleurotes et pommes de terre au romarin."
 

19 May, Sunday

I'm totally exhausted.  I keep sleeping in the car, even if I'm getting at least six hours of sleep at night.  I wonder if it's all the food.  Or the weather.  Or just being in a car.

This morning, I did the exercises and then went for a 20-minute run.  I resolved not to have breakfast.  And then of course, I walked into the breakfast room and all resolve dissolved.

Breakfast:  Bread with butter.  Bread with butter and jam.  Bread with nutella.  Bread with ham and cheese.  Kouign amanns.

Help.

For added exercise, I am now helping lug the bags up and down the stairs.

I was so tired today that, when we to check out the view of the Pointe des Espagnols, I took one look then headed back to the car.

Lots of trekkers and cyclists out in these parts.

At Camaret, there was a flea market and Nicolas found some funky, black-and-red Spanish boots for me that he said used to be all the rage.  I wasn't interested because the heels were too low.  He insisted.  They were the perfect fit and he bought them for me, together with a cowboy leather jacket.  I didn't think I'd ever wear the boots (and I'm still not sure about the jacket) but, this afternoon, one of the heels on my Doc Martens came off, and I certainly don't want to wear my suede No Name shoes in the rain, so I guess those Spanish boots will have to do.  Or I could just wear my Reebok trainers...

We drove on and, on the way to Pointe de Pen-Hir found Obelix's menhirs!

  Obelix carrying his menhir.  (Internet file photo.)

Brittany's Stonehenge.

Lunch:  L'Auberge des Glazicks at Plomodiern.  Another restaurant with two Michelin stars.  Unfortunately, our experience here didn't start off too well with the mis-en-bouche.

They looked good but they were savory-sweet.  While gimmicky, they failed to deliver in taste.

They quickly picked themselves up after that though.  Starting with this strange little cauliflower appetizer that was both and hot cold and was delightful to the senses.

But it was this scampi ravioli wowed us:

The chef tried to pair the duck with anchovies, because it's what the ducks eat, but it's a good thing he didn't have to many anchovies on it as the pairing didn't exactly work.  The duck on its own, however, was beautiful.

The dessert was highly unusual and incorporated the taste of red bell peppers.  That was a strangely pleasant surprise, especially since Nicolas and I don't like bell peppers.

Stops after lunch were Quimper and Concarneau.  Everything was closed at Quimper, given that it is a Sunday and everything closes in France on Sundays, so that at Concarneau, noting the darkening skies, I just wanted to stay put in a bar while Nicolas and his mom wandered about.  Guyaliane wouldn't have it and it's a good thing she insisted because Concarneau's Ville Close was celebrating Fête de la Bretagne and all the shops were open.  (Or maybe they're just open everyday, including Sundays, since Ville Close is a tourist town?)

Anyway, we finally found those personalized Brittany breakfast bowls for Guylaine and myself (- Nicolas bought his at Guimiliau yesterday).

And Nicolas finally got his striped fisherman's sweater and bonnet (- he already bought me a typical Brittany windbreaker before we got on the ferry to Île-de-Brehat).

When in Brittany, right?

We also bought some ridiculously expensive piece of art, but the shop worth looking for here is Li La Li Lou.  They carry a brand called E-zen that carries French designs fabricated in Thailand.  It's their only shop for now.  I would have bought more clothes had I not left my wallet in the car.

We are now at Hotel les Ajoncs D'Or in Pont Aven.  Its claim to fame is that Paul Gaugin once stayed here.  If our hotel room in Saint-Malo was huge, this one is extremely small.  And the town looks unremarkable but I think we're just here for the night before we head off to some island.

If my posts about France, thus far, seem to be haphazardly put together, that's because they are.  Right now, I'm just wanting to publish this so I can get to sleep.  I haven't read or edited any of the posts so I'm not even sure if they're fit for public consumption but if I don't write things down now, I'll forget, or worse, I won't write at all.

Oh yeah...

Dinner:  I skipped it.  :-)

Gai's French Food Diary (Part 2)

17 May, Friday

Breakfast:  Yesterday, Edith told me she was baking a lemon cake for breakfast today so, this morning, I skipped my workout and went down to breakfast instead.  She failed to mention that she had baked the lemon cake with polenta.  I don't like polenta.  I had breakfast anyway.  A croissant, mini baguette, and some other kind of bread with the demi-sal butter Brittany is known for, supermarket cheese, and that yummy homemade raspberry jam.

After breakfast, we took the ferry to Île-de-Bréhat (€15 round-trip, 10 minutes per way).

Island population is about 300.  Except during the summer months, when it balloons to about 6000, as the summer homes, once again, welcome their owners.

On the island, we rented bicycles and biked to the north of the island and back.  Well, I also walked the bicycle uphill and downhill a lot, not being used to gears or breaks or anything that comes with a bicycle that actually works.  It was a great workout.

Lunch:  By the time we finished, we were famished, but the only restaurants open were the tourist traps at the town center.  Nicolas wanted to have mussels so he and Guylaine ordered mussels with two different sauces.  They were the worst mussels they had ever had.  I wisely chose a galette (a savory crepe) and, among our orders, I think mine was the only one worth eating.

We returned the bikes then walked around the island some more until it was time for us to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

We had two more items to check off our list, before heading back to Lan Caradec, our B&B in Lezardrieux.  First, was the view point at Loguivy that Nicolas' friend highly recommended.  We had trouble finding it so Nicolas had to ask for directions and, in the process of doing so, managed to acquire some freshly made crepes (with demi-sal butter and a bit of sugar) for us.

I don't know...  Would you drive out of your way to look at this view?  Bear in mind that Nicolas' friend who recommended this has been to Siargao and stayed with us a few times.  He knows what kind of view we have.

And then there was the Abbaye de Beauport, which Nicolas' mother, Guylaine, kept going on about and really wanted to see.

The Abbey.

Except, once there, they were both quite content to just walk around it.  And by around, I mean circle it in a wide berth almost out towards the sea where there was absolutely nothing and it was freezing cold.

You see that dirt road behind the fence?  That's where they were walking, into the great blue nothingness.  Seriously, does that view look riveting enough for you to lose all feeling in your extremities?

I followed from a distance and tried to keep my cool - well, I had no choice really given that it really was fucking cold.  Finally, I had had enough (I had wrapped my scarf around my head and looked utterly ridiculous and I was still cold!) so I announced that I was going back to the car to wait for them.  That terminated the entire tour.  Apparently, we're an all-for-one-one-for-all team.  Geez.

"But don't you want to see the abbey?" I asked several times in frustration.

It wasn't open to the public, they said.  It was a nature sanctuary, they said, and they were there to admire the trees, the birds, the colors...

"But I saw some people coming out from over there."

"Oh."

Goddamit.  It was ten minutes to closing and they wouldn't admit us into the abbey.  Nature sanctuary, indeed.

Dinner:  Dinner tonight was at another one-star, Aigue Marine Hotel-Restaurant.

Expectations were low because the place had cheap, bright red, plastic baubles as decor on the tables and, instead of a view of the river, the carnival had come to town and we had a view of this instead:

It turned out to be the best meal for Nicolas.  He was blown away by:

The scallops, which I ordered...

... the pork, prepared six ways, also mine...

... and Guylaine's dessert, which should be broken up and mixed with the sauce underneath, like so:

Frankly, I am all scallop-ed, foie-gras-ed, and emulsion-ed out.  I'm glad there was pork on the menu tonight and that it was amazing, because I don't think I could stand to eat any more fish for a while.  

 

Gai's French Food Diary (Part 1)

13 May, Monday

Finally arrived in France, and made our way to Nicolas' parents' house in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Lunch:  Nicolas' mom, Guylaine, prepared some steamed white asparagus with vinaigrette, steak and some mâche salade.  All of which would have been very Paleo, except that I also had some goat's cheese and the top half of a religieuse.

Religieuse.  An eclair shaped like a nun with a bad habit.  (Internet file photo.)

Dinner:  At La Cave Lanzerac, near the Arc de Triomphe, with Nicolas' friends and our mutual friend, Jo Nguyen.  I started with the foie gras and had the plat du jour for my main, which was pork jowls that tasted like a very refined version of corned beef, served with tagliatelle.  No wine or dessert.

14 May, Tuesday

Breakfast:  After I ran for about 20 minutes, I had a bit of bread with anchovies and a quiche lorraine.

At 11:30, we set out on our second road trip with Guylaine.

The three of us had done this before, when we explored the south of France some years back.  Our objective then was to (1) sight see, and (2) eat at as many Michelin-starred restaurants as possible.  What we learned then was that the one-starred restaurants offered the best value for money.  Back then, we found a one-starred restaurant in a tiny town that offered a tasting menu for less than €30!  Nowadays, they're up to about €45 but that's still reasonable for three courses, often times also withamuse-bouches and mignardises - in, more or less, inoffensive surroundings (although we did try this one-star that could have been a set for an old Addams Family special) with amiable yet professional wait staff.  The food is always innovative and interesting and can be outstanding.  While it doesn't always work, it's never so bad that the food is inedible and they usually get two out of three courses right.

Our goal for this trip was to explore Brittany (- I asked Nicolas why we had never been to Mont St. Michel and it turns out it's because Mont Saint-Michel isn't in Paris but in Brittany) and to try out the one-starred restaurants in the area.

Fields of colza gold on our way to Brittany via Normandy.

Lunch:  Since we had set out so late, we couldn't be picky about lunch and stopped at a town called Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy.

Typical Normandy architecture.  Not a lot of it survived the war.

The lunch special looked good, but they had run out so I just had a croque monsieur.  Normandy is known for everything apple so I had to try the cider brut (which is strong and dry, as opposed to "cider doux" which is sweeter) and the compote.  Fortunately, not my cuppa.

We had a quick drive-by look-see at Fougéres, then checked into a hotel in Saint-Malo for the night.

Walking around Fougéres.

An inexpensive but well-located hotel is the Hôtel de l'Univers, which has a cool bar downstairs.  Apparently, the rooms come in two sizes.  Ridiculously small or ridiculously large.  We had a large one while Guylaine had a small one that she said she could barely move in.

Dinner:  At L'Eveil des Sens.  No Michelin star yet but it supposedly has one fork, whatever that means.  (I could have sworn they at least had three.  Har.)  Because no one takes photos of their food in the civilized world, I refrained, which was a mistake in terms of chronicling this food journey because I now cannot remember what I had.  I remember having an over-all good experience, save for my main course - which was scallops served on andouillette slices.  If you're a fan of rancid cadavers, then you'll like andouillette.  If you're sensitive to smell, stay away!

But Nicolas was quite happy with his agneau de pré-salé (lamb that grazed on the salt marshes of Mont Saint-Michel) and Guylaine with her salmon.

A photo of a photo on exhibit at Mont Saint-Michel.  Salt meadow lambs.  Yummmm...

Nicolas ordered from the ala carte menu and had a glass of wine.  Guylaine and I ordered the tasting menu and shared a bottle of mineral water.  Total bill came out to about €120.

15 May, Wednesday

Breakfast:  My birthday!  Did my exercises in the room, then Nicolas and I went walking around Saint-Malo.

Freezing in Saint-Malo.

We were freezing and starving by the time we were done and ducked into the nearest boulangerie for a pain de chocolat for me and a whole host of pastries for him.

Lunch:  We drove to Mont Saint-Michel.  Well, you can't really drive all the way there now since there's a lot of construction going on around it (Project Mont Saint-Michel), aimed at restoring this World Heritage Site into the island that it used to be.  There are free shuttles there.  Or you could walk.

On the shuttle to Mount Saint-Michel.

Anyway, apparently, when in Mont Saint-Michel, one must have the omelette at La Mere Poulard.  Nevermind if it's a plain, ordinary omelette.  Well, a big ass, fluffy, plain, ordinary omelette.  It's all egg.  And maybe some salt and pepper - although it could certainly stand to use some more.  But at €45 for the tasting menu that includes a starter and dessert and a whole lotta egg, whoever came up with this marketing ploy, in the guise of tradition, was pure genius.  If the likes of Leon Trotsky, Maggie Thatcher, Woody Allen and Yves Saint Laurent could admire the Emperor's New Clothes, why shouldn't we?

My pimped-up omelette.

Thankfully, the omelette came with potatoes in cream and a salad.  When mixed all together, with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper, it wasn't half bad.  Plus, my starter (the selection of terrines) and my dessert (the selection of ice cream) were pretty good so, all in all,  I was happy.  Plus I have no clue how much €45 is and I wasn't the one paying...

Tried the cider brut again.  Still not a fan.

We drove around Dinan, stopped at a boulangerie for some crepes and a nutella beignet (- the one at the Enterprise Building is still better), then checked into a sweet, little B&B in Lézardrieux that one of Nicolas' friends recommended.  Lan Caradec is a bit tricky to find but it's the lovely home of Edith and her Japanese artist husband, Toshihiko Wake.  And don't let the internet photos put you off.  It really is a gem of a place.  The rooms are spacious, as are the bathrooms.

Dinner:  Finally, our first one-star of the trip:  Le Bélouga at L'Agapa Hotel in Perros-Guirec, about 30 minutes away from Lézardrieux.  Most of the Michelin-starred restos in the area were closed on Wednesdays and this was one of the two that were open, and the other one was booked for a conference.  So Le Bélouga it was.

L'Agapa.

They had several tasting menus.  The gourmet menu (€90) lets you put together four courses (for a total of five including cheese) from the ala carte menu.  The seasonal menu (€60) features one main ingredient of the season.  (Brittany is France's largest peninsula.  Because of all that water surrounding it, the seafood here is highly recommended.  The ingredient du jour at Le Bélouga was scallops.)  But we chose the surprise menu (€48) where the chef is given free reign to create dishes, working only on constraints we specify (- our only constraint:  No andouilette, please!).  For an additional €20, Nicolas and I paired our meals with wine.

Scallops with a citrus sauce. 

The whole dinner went well but several things stood out at Le Bélouga.  First, the amuse bouche made of - get this - lard.  It was the most awesome piece of pork lard ever.  We would have been happy with just that.

Bite-sized awesomeness.  The lard is on the left.

Then there was the dessert, which was a mix of cooked and raw apples.  I am not an apple fan - but this was easily one of the best desserts on the planet.

It doesn't look like it, but this is probably one of the best desserts on the planet.

And lastly, after all the after-dinner treats (they also make the best madeleines), they offered us some of the chef's chocolate creations.  I tried about four kinds and the one that made me swoon was the "blond chocolate", which was burnt white chocolate, a beautiful beautiful thing.

My chocolate selection.

FYI, Le Bélouga's lunch menu is only €25, so if ever you're in the area...

16 May, Thursday

Guylaine's birthday.  I went downstairs to kiss Guylaine good morning and give her her presents, then went back up to the room to do my exercises.  No breakfast for me, please.  Except that when Nicolas informed me that Edith had made some crepes, I had to relent.  How often does one get homemade crepes in Brittany?  I finished up then, still panting, joined Guylaine and Nicolas for breakfast.

Breakfast:  I wish I could say I just had crepes.  Edith not only makes crepes, she makes her own jam and, possibly, one of the best raspberry jams in the world.  I had it with lots of bread and cheese.

Lunch:  We took it easy today and I caught up with interent stuff (read:  Facebook and email), while Nicolas and Guylaine chatted with Edith and Toshihiko.  At 11:30, we set out for La Clarté, also in Perros-Guirec.  

When we were seated, we recognized the couple from the other table as having been at Le Bélouga the night before and we started chatting with them.  Then the other couple next to us recognized us, also from the night before, and we all had a good laugh about being the One-Star Club and joked about which restaurant we would meet up next.  (Nicolas later informed me that this was rare and one almost never talks to other diners in restaurants in France.)

La Clarté served a similar amuse bouche to Le Bélouga which was an emulsion of foie gras and asparagus, except that La Clarté did it better.  (For some reason, the one at Le Bélouga reminded me of taro cooked in coconut milk.)

The one who ordered best this time around was Guylaine with her lobster starter (- the presentation alone was pretty spectacular) and Saint Pierre (John Dory) main.

Rocking the lobster.

Nicolas and I had the tasting menu with wine, but I found the wine selection at Le Bélouga much better.

After lunch, we explored the Côte de Granit Rose (Pink Granite Coast) in Trégastel, a dramatic landscape of giant pink granite boulders.  It was all very "Land of the Lost".

Nicolas in "The Land of the Lost".  Check out the pink granite sand.

The Pink Granite Coast in Trégastel.

Dinner:  We didn't want anything fancy for dinner and thought we'd eat somewhere near our B&B.  Upon Edith's recommendation, we went to Auberge du Trieux.  It turned out to be the most excellent surprise.  I expected traditional French fare and instead we were treated to a one-star worthy meal!  At €26.60 (plus €3 if you want cheese) for the tasting menu, it was a steal!

We all ordered the same menu, except that Nicolas and Guylaine were able to substitute their mixed seafood starter with 10 pieces of oysters, something they were very happy with.

My starter...

... and theirs!

We also ordered some ormeau (abalone) to try, which was excellent.

But the stand-out of the evening was my chocolate dessert, which featured two different types of mousse (milk and dark), a crunchy chocolate biscuit and some alcohol-spiked chocolate bricks.  And because I wanted to try their white chocolate ice cream, they included a small scoop of it for me to try.

Chocolate overload!  Unexpected fine dining in an auberge.

Fallen

Even before I left Manila, I had lost the plot.  Completely.

So I have commitment issues, sue me.

Nevermind what happened after I kicked myself out of ketosis.  I won't even get into that.  Just those last two days before I left, that last weekend was totally out of control.

First, there was the buffet at Solaire on Saturday night.  (My two cents:  It's pricey - with taxes, it came out to almost P3k, without drinks - but if you're into a lot of seafood, it should be worth it.)  Slowly but surely, I plowed through that buffet.  The lobster, cooked in lemon butter, was the winner.  And the Korean spare ribs.  I liked their gelato and chocolate truffles.  And a few other treats from the dessert station may have found their way into my handbag...  Eek!  Binger!

And then there was Sunday lunch at my aunt's, where I had three servings of nilagang baka - with rice and potatoes, of course.  And, in the spirit of curiosity ("What are Japanese doughnuts?"), I ate 5.5 doughnuts out of six in a box.  I only ate half the cinnamon doughnut because I don't really like cinnamon.  Except that I DIDN'T REALLY LIKE THOSE JAPANESE DOUGHNUTS EITHER.  Gaaah!

And then there was all of that horrible airline food.  Nope, there was no intermittent fasting of any kind going on, despite the best of intentions.  That Sunday night/Monday, I took the following flights:

• Manila-Taiwan
• Taiwan-Amsterdam.  We missed the connection to Paris and, because Nicolas and I had two different bookings, Nicolas was put on a later but direct flight from Amsterdam to Paris, while I was rerouted to Frankfurt.
• Amsterdam-Frankfurt
• Frankfurt-Paris

By the time I got to Paris, I don't know what I looked like but I certainly felt like a sausage all bundled up in my coat.  Gross.

Now, I'm in France, where I find that I have, once again, overpacked with clothes I cannot wear because (a) I cannot fit into them and (b) - Well, I don't really need a (b), do I?

I am trying to control my eating here.  Of all places.  I'm saying no a lot to wine.  And bread.  And cheese.  But yesterday was my birthday and, today, is Nicolas' mom's birthday so I've been indulging.

I did start following this again:

I started last Tuesday.  I also ran for about 20 minutes on that day.  I didn't run yesterday or today but I did walk around a lot.

Why does the bread in this country have to be so damned good???  What am I talking about?  Why does everything in this country have to be so damned good???

I blame this wanton gluttony on my not having had a cigarette since I got back to Manila last April 22nd.  Notice how I haven't said that I've quit.  I'm not sure that I have.  Right now, I just haven't been smoking.

(Stay tuned for my French Food Diary.) 

Last Week in Manila

• MWF:  CrossFit
• TTh:  Kundalini Yoga/Salsa
• SaSu:  Rest Days

And, still, I've eaten more than I've worked out.  <groan>

Powered by Qumana

CrossFit, 10 May 2013, 10:00 AM

8 minutes

21-15-9

• deadlifts (Rx for women:  205 lbs.)
• box jumps (Rx for women:  24" box)

Status:  DNF.  Did not finish.

I deadlifted 105 lbs.  And I swear I started with the 24" box but, as I got increasingly tired, my jumps were getting shorter and shorter.  Finally, I switched boxes with the guy next to me who was only using an 18" box.  (Hello!  His Rx was higher than 24" and he was only using the 18" box!)  I finished the 9 deadlifts of the last round but ran out of time before I could do the box jumps.  I did them after the time ran out anyway.

I almost did the Bootcamp afterwards.  It was actually quite doable and, now, I understand why people do double WODs.  But the reason why I went to the 10 AM in the first place was because I had too many things going on in the afternoon.  If I had given in to my ego wanting to show off and done the Bootcamp, my whole afternoon would have fallen apart and I would have missed a very important meeting.

I think the only time I can be reasoned with not to go to the extreme is when it comes to doing more work than is necessary.

CrossFit, 8 May 2013, 5:00 PM

I missed the 12:30 session - again - because I couldn't get a cab - again.  Grrrr...

First time at the 5 PM session.  Which meant I got to try a different coach.  Always a good thing.  Bettina made us do a TABATA style warm-up.  Quick feet for 20 seconds, then 10 seconds off, air squats for 20 seconds, 10 seconds off, 9-inch box jumps for 20 seconds, etc., etc.

At the end, we played musical boxes.  Musical chairs but with the 9-inch boxes.  And instead of dancing around the chairs, we did bear crawls.  And, when the music stopped, we had to jump on one of the boxes, then squat down on it.  The first person out had to do 25 burpees.  The second one 20, third one 15...  I did five.  Last girl out.  Not bad.

WOD today was:

Part 1:  8 min. AMRAPs

• 40 double-unders (scaled down to either 200 singles or 40 tuck jumps)
• 15 hand release push-ups
• 10* pull-ups

8 min. rest

Part 2:  8 min. AMRAPs

• 20 box jumps
• 15 toes to bar (scaled down to knees to elbows)
• 5* ring dips (scaled down to either a band-assisted ring dip or tricep dips using the parallettes)

*This was Rx for women. I think it was double for the men.

For Part 1, I did 40 tuck jumps for the first set then, because that almost killed me, I switched to 200 single jump ropes for my second set.  I only got as far as eight tuck jumps on the third set.

I did band-assisted pull-ups, using the green rubber band.

 

I only wish that this is what I do.  The band I use could bounce me all the way to the moon.  Not much arm action going on on my part.  AT ALL.

For Part 2, I did Rx on the box jumps (- 18-inch box for women), then did knees to elbows, and tricep dips on the parallettes.  I completed two sets plus all the box jumps of the third set.

There was an awful lot of jumping in the WOD today, which I'd like to dedicate to the memory of Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly of Kriss Kross.  I fucking hate jumping, but I must admit that this song always makes me wanna jump, jump:

 

CrossFit, 6 May 2013, 12:30 PM

2 minutes on, 2 minutes off = 14 minutes (total)

AMRAPs, continue counting where you left off before the break:

• 10 box jumps (- I did Rx for women and used the 18" box.)
• 10 push presses (- 40-lb. barbell for me.)

I did a total of 6.5 reps (+ 10 box jumps).

Last Week's Workout Summary

• Monday - 12:30 PM CrossFit
• Tuesday - 8:00 AM Kundalini Yoga/6:30 PM Salsa
• Wednesday - Rest Day
• Thursday - 8:00 AM Kundalini Yoga/6:30 PM Salsa
• Friday - Rest Day
• Saturday - 12:00 PM CrossFit
• Sunday - Rest Day

CrossFit, 4 May 2013, 12:00 PM

My first weekend WOD in a looooooong time.

Well, I only made it to CrossFit on Monday this week.  It was too hot to do anything on Wednesday and, on Friday, it was impossible to get a taxi anywhere.  So, much as I hate doing CrossFit on weekends (because they normally involve running), I had to suck it up and get my ass to the box today.

Sure enough, as I neared the Libis box, I noticed some guys running in the parking lot.  While carrying another guy on their backs.  Sweet mother of god!

It's a good thing I was a bit brain dead this morning when I checked the Saturday schedule.  Apparently, the regular WOD that I was going for was at 11 AM, and I had shown up for the 12 o'clock Bootcamp instead.  I took a look at the WOD and was glad I made the mistake.  They were doing a partner WOD that involved, yep, running outdoors with their partners on their backs.  No, thank you.

The Bootcamp was much easier.  Pao was the coach today and this was my first time to train with him since he became a coach.

Part 1.  5 minutes AMRAPs:

• 10 hollow rocks
• 10 Russian twists
• 10 Supermans

(I did 5 reps, plus got up to two Supermans on the sixth rep.)

3 minute rest.

Part 2.  Partner WOD.

One partner rows 300 m., while the other does burpees.  (The original WOD called for a 200 m. run but, thankfully, Pao changed it to a 300 m. row instead.)  Then the partners switch, until everyone has done six rounds each.

(I did 84 burpees in all.)

It's worth mentioning that, for the first time EVER since I joined CrossFit, a coach has finally taken the time to cool down with us afterwards.  Great job, Pao!