Hello my fellow bloggies!  Have you all had a good Saturday?  Mine started out gloriously...the hubb and I slept in 'till 10:30!!!  I cannot even remember the last time we slept that late!  My alarm went off at 7:30 to meet the training group for a run, but when I rolled over to check the temperature and saw that it was only 16* outside I rolled right back over and fell back to sleep!   We did get up and go for a run once it reached a balmy 25* at 11am.  Brrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!  Today was supposed to be 2.5 miles and I mapped out a nice, although hilly, run for us around campus and some surrounding shopping areas.  When we first started I felt really choppy, like I couldn't get into the groove.  Things finally evened out and felt good after about 1/3 mile and stayed that way until about 1-1/2 miles, but then I got two horrible cramps, one under my ribs and one behind my hip bone.  Wierd, huh?  I had to stop to walk it off and decided to just walk the rest of the way back, so I only got about 1-3/4 miles in.  I was so bummed.  Especially after having such good runs this week.  I know sometimes you just have "off" days that can't be predicted or explained.  I remember even when I was having great 8-mile long runs I would have an "easy" 3-mile run a couple days later that I could barely finish.  What do you other runners do out there when you get a cramp mid-run? Breakfast:  I had 1/2 a banana about 30 minutes before my run, then had two Kashi Go Lean blueberry waffles afterwards. One was topped with 1 tbsp almond butter and the other with 1 tbsp apple butter, both with sliced pink lady apple. Lunch:  Well, breakfast was kinda lunch since I slept so late, so my schedule was off all day.  I did make the horrible mistake of going grocery shopping while hungry, which resulted in several snacks that you will see shortly. I had the worst Whole Foods shopping experience today.  I'm still bummed out about it.  I've mentioned that we have a tiny store that doesn't carry a great selection of bars etc, but they are building a new store so I've just been hanging in there 'till its finished.  Over the couple of years that the hubb and I have been shopping at this Whole Foods they've taken away several products that I love dearly to make room for new or different products.  Some examples of products I love that I can no longer get at my store are:

• Clif Nectar Cherry Pomegranate flavor
• Clif Nectar Cranberry Apricot flavor
• Newman's Own Salt + Pepper Pretzels
• Nairn gluten-free Ginger Crackers
• Nairn gluten-free Oat Crackers

And there are countless other things that other Whole Foods stores carry that mine does not.  Especially infuriating are the items that have coupons in the Whole Deal catalogs they pass out that I can't even get at my store.  So today, I had made a list that of course included Stoneyfield Oikos yogurt on it, but when I got to the yogurt aisle there was NO OIKOS!!!  I thought they must be out, until I noticed that the product's spot on the shelf was filled with something new and that there was no longer a tag for the OIKOS!!!  Incredulous, I asked the first WF employee I could find "what happened to the Oikos?!?!?!?!?!?" and he said "Oh, we started carrying this other product instead".  WHAT?!?!?!?!  I know I gave him the same look that my hubb gave me when I told him I had messed with his No-Bakes.  WHY would they stop carrying OIKOS?!?!?!?!  Its only the BEST YOGURT EVER!!!  I was seriously depressed for the rest of the trip.  It didn't help that my next item on the list was wonton wraps, which live on the dairy aisle just down from the Oikos.  When I got to their usual spot on the shelf there were none to be had.  I asked the same employee about wonton wraps and he said "yeah, I think that was another product that got bumped".  Ridiculous.  Not a wonton wrap to be seen in the entire store.   So, our grocery shopping trip today included three separate stores, Whole Foods, Harris Teeter (for oikos and wonton wraps) and Rebecca's Natural Foods (for dried pears, which are nearly impossible to find!!!).  Here's the loot: Yeah, this was a pricey trip.  Mainly because I had to stock up on some baking ingredients for the holidays and some specialty ingredients for BSI recipes I wanted to try out.  I don't have the energy to list all of the items so pictures will have to speak for themselves...  And I do have to give the nice employees at my Whole Foods credit.  When I went to Customer Service to fill out a form to get my Oikos back (yes, I did that), they offered to let me take a container of the new product that had replaced it to sample for free.  I thought that was mighty nice of them... I am intrigued...has anybody ever heard of  "icelandic style skyr" before?  This product had some amazing flavors, but I wanted to get the plain so I could do a true comparison to the Oikos I'm used to.  However, the Siggi's is a whopping $2.69 per 6 oz container, so even if I love it I won't be buying it.  I had a hard enough time paying $1.99 for Oikos, so $2.69 is out of the question! Oh, and this is what happens when you go to the grocery store(s) hungry: You buy ginger snaps from Whole Foods, apple chips from Harris Teeter and molasses clove cookies from Rebecca's.  All were amazing and satisfied the hubb's and my hunger in the car on the way home... Dinner:  I can only talk about part of the meal because the other part was a finalist in the BSI:Ginger contest this week.  I'm trying out several of the recipes being submitted so get them in ASAP so that I can try as many as possible!  :)  Tonight I made the best Egg Drop Soup ever.  I found this recipe so long ago that I can't even remember where I got it.  But trust me, it is SO GOOD.  If you like egg drop soup then you MUST try this recipe... Egg Drop Soup serves 2  Ingredients:

• 4 cups chicken or veggie broth, divided
• 3 quarter-size chunks of fresh ginger or 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh scallions
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Steps:

1. Reserve 3/4 cup of the broth, and pour the rest into a medium-size saucepan.  Stir in the salt, ginger and scallions and bring to a rolling boil.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and the cornstarch until smooth.  Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk together using a fork.  Drizzle the egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture.  Egg should cook immediately.   
4. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually into the soup is the desired consistency.
5. If fresh ginger was used, remove the chunks before serving.

It is so easy, so fast and soooooo yummy!  I'll have more pictures tomorrow night showing my whole dinner. I also had a glass of vino. Ok, its time for bed.  Don't forget to get your BSI recipe in!!!