Pin-It Tuesday: Cinco de Mayo

I'm recapping my Cinco de Mayo cookout that I had this past weekend with a few friends. Finally I had great weather for a party at my house. In October for my birthday, it was 35 degrees and we couldn't sit close enough to the firepit. And for 4th of July, it was 105 and we were all melting.

Sunday was a beautiful, light-breezy 70 degree Wisconsin Spring day. My friend Tiffany brought over her bean bag games and we were ready to have some fun.

I, of course, followed a Mexican theme with the food and marinated chicken for Tequila lime kabobs. I apologize for the lack of photos of the food, but I was rushing around and didn't want to contaminate my phone. But here is the recipe.

I bought 5 lbs of frozen chicken breasts and chopped them into 1 - 2 inch cubes (for skewers). I then started guestimating my ingredients to marinade it. I never follow quantities for a marinade and just do what I think is right.

Tequila
Lime juice
Purple Onion pieces
Sprite
Cumin
Adobo Spice (from Penzey's)
Onion powder
Rice Wine Vinegar

After it marinated for close to 12 hours, I skewered up the chicken putting 4-5 pieces per kabob stick (skewers soaked in water for hours to prevent burning). Then I heated up some of the extra marinade to then brush over the kabobs on the grill.

I had about 20 kabobs to navigate on the grill and unfortunately a few were a little dry, but with only 2 kabobs left, there weren't many complaints.

We also made veggie kabobs that I sprinkled with a little Mural of Flavor (from Penzey's). Those were a huge hit.

But what was even a bigger hit was the cucumber salsa that I found on Facebook first and then Pinterest, which led me to this blog and the recipe. I made about 1.5 times the recipe and here are my alterations. I used dried parsley as I forgot to buy fresh, Greek yogurt in place of sour cream and diced chilis instead of a jalepeno. It was fun to make and it was gone fast at the party.

And then the fun part - cervezaritas (beer margaritas). I have had this recipe pinned on Pinterest for a long time and decided to have a little fun with it and make some different flavored cervezaritas.  Unfortunately the original website is now spam that my pin goes too, but the recipe is written right on the picture :)

I made Pear and Mango cervezaritas. The water and 7Up are replaced with a 12 oz can of Pear Nectar or Mango Nectar. I found these at the local Mexican grocery store in Waukesha called Panos. They had a lot of flavors but I just tried those two. I will definitely be making these more often. They are very refreshing and will be great for summer and so easy to make. I didn't even use the limeade for the second batch. 

Other treats at the party included, taco dip, cheesy black bean dip, spicy Mexican rice, guacamole and tortilla chips, Ruffle chips and french onion dip, fresh fruit, cheese and sausage, oreo gooey balls and brownies with ice cream!

Of course, because it is Wisconsin, we all overdosed on the sun and got a little burnt. But then we had a fire to help keep us warm into the night. I hear we are in for a wicked summer of mosquitoes and such so we have to enjoy it while we can! 

Waukesha Farmers' Market

Last weekend, my parents and I decided to get up early Saturday morning and head out to the Waukesha Farmers' Market. I had only been to it once before this season, so I was due for a trip. 

The farmers' market runs every Saturday from May to October, 8 am to noon on Riverfront Plaza. If you aren't familiar with the road, it is one block north of Main Street along the river. The road is now closed off completely on Saturdays due to the increased size of the market. If you can find the river in downtown, you found the market. 

We parked at my job because I had to drop off my bike for a bike/bar crawl later that night and just walked over. But if you park in the parking lots by the former antique malls, be ready to donate $1 to a great non-profit organization. Because the antique malls are no longer open, but the property is owned by a private company, they need to instill the parking codes still. Berg Management manages the lots and decided to offer up the lots to different organization to collect funds each weekend. High School activities and athletics have been fortunate to reap the benefits of this collection already. If you aren't willing to pay $1 to park, there is still plenty of free parking throughout downtown Waukesha, you may just have to walk a bit further. 

We started by visiting the two booths on the north side of the river. This leaves room for plenty of expansion for the market. One of these booths was the only booth at the market to have any fresh dill as we found out when my dad was asked by every person walking by where he got his dill. The other booth was a jewelry booth that makes really cool bracelets from license plates. You have to see them to understand but I hope to get one before the market is done this Fall.

Yummy mixes at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

 We crossed the river by Main Street Plaza and headed into the market. The market literally has everything - vegetables, fruit, plants, flowers, bread, meat, eggs, jewelry, soap, honey, clothing and more. And each week its a little different too.

Fresh produce at the Waukesha Farmer's Market

Jewelry at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

We stopped at Decatur Cheese first because I remember trying the cheese at the Fort Atkinson market and it was delicious. We bought some muenster and we found a cheese curd that my mom didn't mind - ranch flavored white cheddar curd. We didn't buy any but it went on the list.

Decatur Cheese at Waukesha Farmers' Market

I was on a mission to get some fresh local produce for a Greek dip (found via Pinterest) I was making for my MKEFoodies picnic the next day (more on that to come next week). I needed cucumbers, dill and red pepper. We found some gigantic cucumbers, mini peppers and of course the dill. My parents got tomatoes, the cheese, pickles, the dill and a mixed basket of onions. The pickles are currently sitting in a crock in the kitchen doing their pickle thing. I can hardly wait to have one!

Local produce at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

I also bought myself a spinach asiago mini bread and my mom got an oatmeal raisin cookie that we called breakfast. I got the bread after having a bite off my friend Carolyn's a few months prior at the market and it was heavenly. The cookie was gone after I was handed just one little piece so I'm guessing no complaints.

Beautiful quilt at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

Some of the local downtown restaurants and shops are setting up as part of the farmers' market as well and I find this a really smart idea. Montecito restaurant had plenty of ooey-gooey desserts that looked delicious, Oh What A Day Cupcakes had a small booth with some of their offerings, The Steaming Cup had tea and coffee available, the Record shop on Clinton brought out some of their CDs and DVDs to sell, Plowshare had a booth with baskets and Key Westconsin serves up breakfast seeing as they are on Riverview Plaza. There may have been others, I might have just missed them.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out this market. On Sept. 8 is the annual Art Fest in Waukesha that closes down Main Street with local artisans on display. Come make a day of Waukesha, enjoy the farmer's market, some breakfast/brunch/lunch and then the Art Fest and come see what Waukesha is all about.

Couch to 5K Run #3

When I signed up for The Color Run back in February, I had no intention of it blooming into a new pastime/stress reliever/challenge for me. However, that is exactly what has happened. I have signed myself up for at least 6 more runs this year and plan to blog about each one after I complete it. I still cannot run a full 5k but I'm making progress and the "runners high" that I get after each run is so wonderful.

I have also gotten great insights from running blogs, Facebook groups and friends. At this point, I will listen to almost anything and try it if it sounds like it could be a help. The Red Faced Runners group that started via a blog and blossomed quickly into a Facebook group is a great place for advice and support. I have asked questions to the group and gotten excellent feedback. I also like to see that other people get as red in the face as I do after a run. I don't mind showing off my red face now!

My latest run is another unique one - Storm the Bastille - that is held opening night of Bastille Days in Milwaukee. Yep that's right, it's a night run. It starts at 9 pm in Cathedral Square and weaves east and north before heading south and going through the majority of the Historic Third Ward.

My friend Shauna and I decided to give this night run a try. She is training for the Brewers mini-marathon in September so she is a good go-to for signing up for runs this year. I knew that we wouldn't be running it together as she is a faster runner than me, but its still nice to share the experience with someone.

Batman ready to Storm the Bastille

We got down to Bastille Days around 7:30 and the registration tent and packet pickup area were completely packed with people. We just milled around and started stretching out. There were some people that really got into the night run affect - for instance Batman.

Bastille Days folks

Luckily, Shauna was able to pick up our packets the day before so we avoided the line. The packets included a running number, water bottle, drawstring bag, coupons for Bastille Days and other attractions and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Apparently the long-sleeve has been a staple of this event, which seems odd with the run being held in mid-July in Milwaukee. Sure it's at night but I still didn't want to wear a long-sleeve shirt.

Ready to Storm the Bastille

This race wasn't timed but I still set up my phone to find out my how fast I ran. Runners began congregating at the corner of Jefferson and Wells and so we headed over there after a bit more stretching. We couldn't hear the pre-race announcements at all, which I have seen par for the course for all the races I have been a part of. I hoped nothing was pertinent and prepared myself to take off. Shortly after 9 pm, they counted us down and we began the slow cattle herding stage and then began to jog. With so many people together, we needed to get spaced out a bit before we can start to run and that is what I call the cattle herding part.

I felt great at the beginning of this run. My music mix was a stellar combination of Dave Matthews, The Gufs and Alex Clare so I just zoned and ran. I had a really great first mile even though the sewer covers made me nervous and I had to focus a lot to not twist an ankle on the unevenness of them and the road. That is one thing that I had a hard time with - seeing the road in the dark when there were so many people around to ensure I wouldn't twist an ankle or bump into someone when I took a bad step.

I had already taken my first walking break by the time I got onto Broadway. But Broadway was the long stretch to get us to the Third Ward and I knew that meant a water station was on the way. I was pretty sweaty as I wore a bad shirt that didn't seem to absorb nor wick away sweat. I got to the water station, carefully grabbed a cup, chugged it down and was on my way. In the Third Ward, two restaurants turned on their hoses and sprayed us down a bit. It was really refreshing because there was minimal breeze that night. At the turn around in the Third Ward, I was starting to feel pretty spent, but I could almost see the finish line so I decided to just take in some deep breaths and get it done. It was a bit of an uphill to the finish, but I knew that I could do it. There was a Gatorade-type drink at the edge of the Third Ward and I knew that once I got that in my system, I was going to be good to go. However, as soon as I finished the drink, my running app told me I had completed 3 miles. I knew that the run seemed long but I didn't think it was that long. And I began to dread the remainder of the run because this would be the longest I would have ever run and I was worried how I would fair.

Heading to the finish

I sucked it up and trudged on. I crossed the finish line and headed to the final water station that was a complete chaotic mess. I turned off my Map My Run App and saw that I had actually ran 3.56 miles in 44:06. Apparently I took a few turns wide but there was no way that would equal out to .46 more. Even Shauna ran 3.33 miles. The course was a lot longer than it needed to be. However, running at night was a really fun experience and I would definitely do it again now that I know what to expect.

Red Faced Runner Picture

Lessons that I took away from this:
1. wear proper attire so that you can regulate your temperature properly
2. hydrate more before running
3. get in your groove and zone out right away

US Bank Building leaving Bastille Days

Post run, we wandered around Bastille Days and after plenty of water, I treated myself to a fizzy, citrus cocktail that really hit the spot. I drank more water after and sucked on all the ice cubes. We didn't stay too late because we worked the next day, but the walk back to the car really made me realize that Milwaukee is a really pretty city at night.