britta//unfiltered

Brandon loooooves Shore Lunch fish batter. If any of you don’t know, fish fry is a bonafide THING in Wisconsin and we both love it. Going out for Friday fish is a likely event every time we head to our hometown, and when the mister figured out we could fry up a decent version ourselves in a little bit of oil on the stove, it was ON. He drools over the walleye in the seafood cooler every time we grocery shop together but damn – walleye is expensive! So we like to try lots of different kinds of fish, and Brandon always likes his fried.

I usually broil mine with a little olive oil while his portion sizzles in the pan – I can take on an all you can eat fish fry no problem, but try to save it for the really good stuff. You know, out of restaurant deep fryers. Last night, we defrosted a couple tilapia fillets that we had bought on a buy-one-get-one sale, totaling about $6 for a pound of fish. I was feeling something different than my usual broiling technique, so I consulted the Kitchen Bible: How to Cook Everything. It was a gift from my parents a few Christmases ago and I consult it at least once a week.

After Mark Bittman shat all over our grocery choice:

I decided to take his advice on an alternative breading for baked breaded fish – rice cereal. I had brown rice crisp cereal (Whole Foods brand), which I crushed up in a plastic bag, then mixed in a bowl with a generous sprinkle of Trader Joe’s 21 Spice Salute. Then, in a separate bowl, I scrambled up an egg. 1) Coat fish fillet in egg. 2) Dredge fish fillet in breading of choice (Shore Lunch for manfriend, brown rice cereal crispy coating for moi). Then, while Brandon’s fillet fried in hot sunflower oil in a skillet, I baked my fillet at 450* in a baking pan with just a spritz of oil oil spray for a little over 15 minutes.

SO GOOD! I loved how the rice crisp cereal made the breading crunchy, and coating the fillet in egg helped the seasoning really soak into the fish, too. Mark Bittman can say what he wants, it was a pretty successful tilapia if I do say so myself. Brandon liked his fish too, obviously. Direct quote: “You could pretty much cover a turd in Shore Lunch and fry it up and I would think it was good.” Nice, babe. Reaaaal nice.

Here is my non-turd dinner in its entirety – delicious, healthy, baked crispy breaded fish, mashed baby reds topped with Chobani, and mixed greens with some Green Goddess dressing.

Delicious and nutritious.

So… remember how posting monthly goals was one of my New Year’s resolutions? I’m sure you don’t remember because I sure didn’t. I last posted goals for February during a week where I was feeling pretty negative – here they are:

Stick to my half marathon plan. It’s getting important now.
I’m doing a good job on this one! I ran 6 miles yesterday and felt like I could run at least another mile, no problem. I have been slacking pretty badly on a weekly stretch or yoga sessions and I have missed a strength session here and there, but I have been doing three runs a week no excuses. So far, I feel like I’m going to be ready for my race on May 6, and I’m definitely accomplishing my goals of getting back into a consistent workout routine and getting myself fit enough to finish the race. As I get better and better at running, I’ve been wondering if I should set a time goal for myself, but I’m going to keep this first half marathon fun by aiming to enjoy myself and make it to the finish and hopefully sign up for some more races soon.

Go to bed earlier. Hope this results in waking up earlier.
LOLZ. Nope. Going to keep trying… Brandon has been on a really good schedule of getting to bed around 9 the past week while I’ve been traveling, so I’m going to try to get myself on his schedule. 9:00 bedtime is crazy early for this night owl, but shooting for 10 pm is realistic. I say this as I am typing this post at midnight because I slept for my entire 2 hour flight this morning and now am not tired…  I blame switching between Pacific, Central and now Eastern time zones in the last week. Right, that’s it, definitely the time zone.

Live in the love, not in the hate. Every day. The end.
I was a major crankypants when I wrote these goals back in the beginning of February. There are still a lot of stressful things happening behind the scenes with Brandon’s and my personal lives/families/work but that’s life, and I remind myself that all I can control is my reaction. I would say I have definitely been in a more positive mindset lately. I have also decided to keep the blog around and not act like a stressed out freak about something that is fun. It helps me remember to reflect on the things that make me happy and feel grateful – keeping it was a good decision!

Do nice things for people. 
Pigs in a blanket. Enough said.

In a nutshell, my goals were to get my life on a healthier and happier groove – done. I feel good about my upcoming half marathon and I’m feeling positive, especially with the weather getting so warm! Now that I’m out of my funk, here are some more ambitious goals for the rest of March and April:

Continue to stay true to my half marathon training plan – do not skip yoga!
Now that my distances are getting a little longer (7 miles this Sunday! Eeee!) the stretching is going to be even more important. No more skimping.

Finish A Game of Thrones
I’m almost halfway through the book and reallyyyy really liking it. I have heard the show is really entertaining but I always like to read the book before watching the movie/TV show version when I can. I actually can’t wait to spend some more time reading this book – just need to set aside a little time for it!

Plan a birthday trip for the boyfriend’s birthday
Brandon’s birthday is May 11 and we have talked about a few different trips – Toronto, Vegas, and most recently, we have been trying to put together a trip to Washington, DC. A few of his best friends live nearby, and I’ve never been to our nation’s capitol and REALLYYY want to visit. I can’t wait to do all the touristy things and to see Brandon’s friends, who I haven’t seen in forever.

Do 1 run per week in the morning
Yep, this is yet another thinly veiled attempt at tricking myself to get up earlier and go to bed at a normal time.

Work on the blog!!
I’m hoping to set aside an entire DAY sometime in the next month or so to do some major blog work. I have a new domain name I want to move to, a redesign in mind, some links to take down (*ahem* workout tracker), and some blog homework to do, like resizing all the massive images I’ve uploaded.

That’s a lot of goals… but I am feeling energized by the start of spring and can’t wait to do some work!

(Our new fun spring accessories – Bahama Breeze candle which I continue to call “Bahama Mama” because I can’t get it out of my head/remember the actual scent and the CUTEST carrot-shaped Easter eggs. Brandon already ate all the candy. Edited to add – I can’t believe I forgot to say that my grandma got these for us!! Isn’t she the best? Thanks gma  )

One final note:

(paparazzi)

THE BEARD IS GONE!

- Have any men in your life shed their winter facial fur? I actually love Brandon’s beard but it is nice to see his face again

- Working on any goals of your own? Check out this amazing blog post by Justine Musk on how to change yourself and/or your life. I’ve read it like 5 times.