Sunday Dinner: Salad with Seared Ahi Tuna

Yes, I am aware that it is Monday, and not Sunday...Sorry it's late folks!



Tools
Frying Pan
Sharp Knife*
Spatula
Tongs


Ingredients
1 small ahi tuna steak (roughly the size of...a can of tuna!)
1 head red leaf lettuce
5 or 6 grape or cherry tomatoes (or more)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 serving miso or sesame or ginger (to taste!) dressing

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time:  5 min

Recipe

1. Rinse and chop your lettuce into nice bite sized pieces (I like 2" squares)
2. Put lettuce and tomatoes in a salad bowl and set aside
3. Heat olive oil on medium heat until water will sizzle, but not spatter.  Coat the pan thoroughly.
4. Place the tuna in the pan.  Let sear until a golden brown color is achieved (about 2 min).
5. Using a spatula release the tuna from the pan.  Using tongs gently turn the tuna and brown the other side until golden brown (about 2 min).
6. If desired sear remaining sides of tuna.  Do not overcook.
7. Remove Tuna from heat and immediately slice into 1/4" thick medalions.
8. Serve on salad with dressing as desired.

Note:  You can prepare this the night before for your lunch, or in the morning, as the tuna cooks very quickly.  I prefer to toss it in the pan after I'm done fixing my morning egg whites.


*Don't cheap out on me here folks.  Do yourself a favor, go to some place like Sur la Table or if you're feeling bourgeoisie  Williams-Sonoma and get yourself a nice santoku from Wustof or Henckle.  This is a great all purpose knife that will last you a long time if you take good care of it (that means washing it as soon as you are done with it and putting it RIGHT BACK....NO DISHWASHERS EITHER!)  (Thanks for the pro tips Chad!)

Why can't I take a race picture that doesn't look...well...you'll see

well I just completed day uno of P90X...again.  Loki helped me as usual, yay furry kitty man.  He meows at me and it's almost like he's cheering me on.  Or laughing at me.  Or complaining that I'm at his level, but not petting him.

So I finally looked up my race pictures (yes, whenever I'd had enough of the video, and just couldn't move anymore I filtered through the race pictures from a few weekends ago.  Man I look aweful!  Well I suppose I felt dead inside when I was done, so it probably shows, but man do I always have to make a face like that?

Check it out  oh and don't forget this lovely number getting out of the pool.  I won't make excuses for myself, that race is setting the bar, now I have to keep it up.

If I want to do well at these things, I probably should make something more substantial than popcorn and Smarties for dinner, eh?  Well I've promised my fellow Pers (hehheehehehehehehehe) that I'd post some HEALTHY recipies here to share. (see the next post!)

Back on the wagon...of P90X & Triathlons

So a friend of mine has coerced me into doing P90X again.  Actually a couple of them have.  Dane shared the secret to putting up with Tony's annoying nicknames and innane jokes.  What is this secret you say?  I shall tell you:

Memorize the workouts, then put the T.V. on mute.

Sheer simple genius....right?  Yeeeeesssss.  Kayla has asked that a few people join her in doing the exercises, like some kind of support group.  If you have never watched P90X (there are some out there who have been mere bystanders to this torture session, and know exactly what I mean by watched) then I bid you to do so, so you understand that the dedication is not to being able to do it physically, no. 

The dedication comes in when you have to willingly subject yourself to Tony's self centered innanity (is that even a word??? I guess it is now!) for an hour+ a day.  Every day.  It's harder than you might think.

So today, when I get home from work, I'm going to turn on my computer and do it.  I swear!

Speaking of work, I haven't ridden to work in like a week, and even then the week before last I drove a few days because I had to borrow things from coworkers, or it was rainy or windy.  (I know I know...I live in Los Angeles and I'm whining about the wind and rain, I just feel like a cat those days and just want to hide!)  Today has a slight chance of rain, and I'm just too freaking tired to put up with it, after my friend's wedding this weekend.  Tomorrow I shall ride, and either first thing in the AM or when I get home tomorrow I shall again subject myself to the P90Xification.

I also need to get back into my morning run.  I used to get up every day and stumble out of the house for a run in the morning.  Then I got tendonitis in my foot, and couldn't run for almost 2 years.  While that's always going to be there, the Vibrams seem to really help keep the pain at bay.  Riding the bike all over the place has really helped with my asthma too.  I noticed when I finally did the Tinsel Triathlon again this year, that my athsma was never a factor in my slow running like it always used to be, this time it was just that my legs felt like lead.

One thing at a time though.  I'll keep biking, and I'll get my overall fitness up with Tony & Kayla before I start adding the runs in more than once a week with Nick.

Lastly I've been motivated to keep up with my blog once more.  I feel like there are lots and lots of things that I wish I could do regularly, and there just simply aren't enough hours in the day.  I'd like to post a regular recipe up here once per week, and call it Sunday Dinner.  I'll have to invent some other things for me to post regularly about, like...an assignment!

Enough of that, I have a real job to keep up with.