When a young lady's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of regattas.
That's right. I said regatta.
10 years ago - hell, 5 years ago - I never would have imagined the amount of time I spend carrying oars to and from a dock alongside various rivers; that I would know what "skying your blade" or "rushing the boat" means; that I would own half a WinTech International racing single.
Yet, here I am. For those of you don't know, regattas are giant boat races. Teams of rowers (crews) race 2K meters (usually) in 1-, 2-, 4-, or 8-person boats. In an 8-person boat, each rower has one oar. This is called sweep rowing. In the 1-person boat, the rower has two oars. This is called sculling. In the 2- and 4-person boats the rowers can have either one or two oars a piece. Regattas are a lot like all-day track meets. Teams bring tents and blankets, post up on the grass near the river to watch the various events, and spend the day. The boats and oars are set up on waist-high slings creating a labyrinth of Vespolis, Dirigos, and Aldens. Parents and supporters come and go, bringing grills and coolers and boxes of snacks. The rowers eat, nap, do homework - usually while wearing wet spandex and nursing blistered feathering hands or "uni" sunburns. Time is marked by first-, second-, and last-calls for events over the loudspeaker and airhorn blasts announcing yet another boat crossing the finish line. Everything smells of mud, river-water, charcoal grills, and sunscreen. It is a glorious way to spend a weekend.
Roomie sweep-rowed in the OU Varsity 4 and Varsity 8 boats for three years. Last year we bought a racing single and he started to compete as a sculler too. This year he coaches the OU women's crew and competes individually. So come spring (and sometimes fall) I get to spend my time on a blanket, slathering on sunscreen, digging through my first-aid kit for bandaids/hair-ties/athletic tape/nail clippers/tampons/shampoo. Or huddling under a poncho, keeping warm & dry several rowers' parkas/socks/shoes/sweatpants, cheering over the wind. Or spending the night in my mini-van only to get up at 5am the next morning, brush my teeth in a high-school locker room, and have breakfast/lunch/mid-morning snack/post-race re-fuel ready for 25 hungry girls. And did I mention - have a damn good time in the process?
What, you might be asking at this point, does all of this have to do with being a raw vegan? Well, in addition to playing team mom for Roomie and his girls (they may be big-time grown-up college kids, but everyone likes to be taken care of on a sports-related road trip. I went on enough of them playing club volleyball in high school to know that), I also have to pack enough food for me to eat. Roomie and the women's crew may be happy with bagels with PB&J, bananas, and yogurt for breakfast, snack boxes full of such perennial favorites as E.L.Fudge, Cheese-Its, Capri Sun, and string cheese for lunch; but I have a slightly more, shall we say, particular palate. I've got to have enough bags of raw veggies and fresh fruit, pre-cut and ready to eat. Depending on how long we're travelling, I have to have plenty of snacks and such to accouter whatever house salad I'll have to order at the road-side restaurant.
To be honest, I think I bring so much stuff for the crew team to eat so I don't feel so conspicuous lugging a huge soft cooler full of produce around just for myself.
The perishable nature of everything I eat makes things a little tricky, and I am always guaranteed a few puzzled glances when I pull out Tupperware containers full of salad and homemade dips and dressings. Here's the funny thing, though: as soon as I pull out the raw veg and dip, I have at least a dozen people asking for a taste. "Oh! I love raw cauliflower!" "Is that carrots and dip?" "Can I try some of that?" As long as they aren't the ones responsible for buying, cutting, cleaning, bagging, or transporting it, Roomie's rowers are very into healthy foods.
For this past weekend's Gov Cup Regatta in West Virginia, I whipped up a raw humus-like dip (that omits the beans to keep things easily digestible) and a tabouli salad using jicama instead of cracked wheat.
Leopard-Print Bikini Zuchinni Tahini Dip (so named for my traditional Gov Cup attire)
1 zuchinni, chopped
6 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 heaping teaspoons cheater garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 scant teaspoons cumin
2 scant teaspoons paprika
Put everything into the blender and whip it smooth. This only makes about a cup or so of dip, but it doubles (and triples) really well. Serve with any kind of raw veggies.
Jicamouli Salad
1 med-large jicama, chopped (about 6 cups)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cucumber, diced (and peeled if you'd like)
1 big tomato, chopped
3 shallots, diced well
1/2 cup chopped mint
2 cups chopped parsely
at least 2 teaspoons cheater garlic
In a blender/food processor, pulse-chop the jicama until it resembles grains of rice/couscous. Transfer the jicama to a wire-mesh colander and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear. Press all the water out with paper towels then transfer to a large bowl.
In the same blender/food processor, pulse the pine nuts until finely chopped and mix into the bowl of jicama.
Add the olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic to the bowl and mix well.
Add the shallots, mint, and parsley and mix well.
Add the tomatoes and cucumbers, mix well, cover, and refrigerate over night if you can to give the flavors time to mesh. It's really good to eat right away, though too.
Both dishes travelled very well. I had several rowers try (and enjoy!) the tahini dip. The cold jicamouli served over a spinach, romaine, and swiss chard was the perfect accompaniment to laying out in the sun for 6 hours. I think I made up for being out of the tanning beds all winter in one afternoon! Roomie came home with a gold and silver medal; his girls came home with two silvers and a bronze.
Tan lines and clinkage. Not a bad way to start the spring.
That's right. I said regatta.
10 years ago - hell, 5 years ago - I never would have imagined the amount of time I spend carrying oars to and from a dock alongside various rivers; that I would know what "skying your blade" or "rushing the boat" means; that I would own half a WinTech International racing single.
Yet, here I am. For those of you don't know, regattas are giant boat races. Teams of rowers (crews) race 2K meters (usually) in 1-, 2-, 4-, or 8-person boats. In an 8-person boat, each rower has one oar. This is called sweep rowing. In the 1-person boat, the rower has two oars. This is called sculling. In the 2- and 4-person boats the rowers can have either one or two oars a piece. Regattas are a lot like all-day track meets. Teams bring tents and blankets, post up on the grass near the river to watch the various events, and spend the day. The boats and oars are set up on waist-high slings creating a labyrinth of Vespolis, Dirigos, and Aldens. Parents and supporters come and go, bringing grills and coolers and boxes of snacks. The rowers eat, nap, do homework - usually while wearing wet spandex and nursing blistered feathering hands or "uni" sunburns. Time is marked by first-, second-, and last-calls for events over the loudspeaker and airhorn blasts announcing yet another boat crossing the finish line. Everything smells of mud, river-water, charcoal grills, and sunscreen. It is a glorious way to spend a weekend.
Roomie sweep-rowed in the OU Varsity 4 and Varsity 8 boats for three years. Last year we bought a racing single and he started to compete as a sculler too. This year he coaches the OU women's crew and competes individually. So come spring (and sometimes fall) I get to spend my time on a blanket, slathering on sunscreen, digging through my first-aid kit for bandaids/hair-ties/athletic tape/nail clippers/tampons/shampoo. Or huddling under a poncho, keeping warm & dry several rowers' parkas/socks/shoes/sweatpants, cheering over the wind. Or spending the night in my mini-van only to get up at 5am the next morning, brush my teeth in a high-school locker room, and have breakfast/lunch/mid-morning snack/post-race re-fuel ready for 25 hungry girls. And did I mention - have a damn good time in the process?
What, you might be asking at this point, does all of this have to do with being a raw vegan? Well, in addition to playing team mom for Roomie and his girls (they may be big-time grown-up college kids, but everyone likes to be taken care of on a sports-related road trip. I went on enough of them playing club volleyball in high school to know that), I also have to pack enough food for me to eat. Roomie and the women's crew may be happy with bagels with PB&J, bananas, and yogurt for breakfast, snack boxes full of such perennial favorites as E.L.Fudge, Cheese-Its, Capri Sun, and string cheese for lunch; but I have a slightly more, shall we say, particular palate. I've got to have enough bags of raw veggies and fresh fruit, pre-cut and ready to eat. Depending on how long we're travelling, I have to have plenty of snacks and such to accouter whatever house salad I'll have to order at the road-side restaurant.
To be honest, I think I bring so much stuff for the crew team to eat so I don't feel so conspicuous lugging a huge soft cooler full of produce around just for myself.
The perishable nature of everything I eat makes things a little tricky, and I am always guaranteed a few puzzled glances when I pull out Tupperware containers full of salad and homemade dips and dressings. Here's the funny thing, though: as soon as I pull out the raw veg and dip, I have at least a dozen people asking for a taste. "Oh! I love raw cauliflower!" "Is that carrots and dip?" "Can I try some of that?" As long as they aren't the ones responsible for buying, cutting, cleaning, bagging, or transporting it, Roomie's rowers are very into healthy foods.
For this past weekend's Gov Cup Regatta in West Virginia, I whipped up a raw humus-like dip (that omits the beans to keep things easily digestible) and a tabouli salad using jicama instead of cracked wheat.
Leopard-Print Bikini Zuchinni Tahini Dip (so named for my traditional Gov Cup attire)
1 zuchinni, chopped
6 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 heaping teaspoons cheater garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 scant teaspoons cumin
2 scant teaspoons paprika
Put everything into the blender and whip it smooth. This only makes about a cup or so of dip, but it doubles (and triples) really well. Serve with any kind of raw veggies.
Jicamouli Salad
1 med-large jicama, chopped (about 6 cups)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cucumber, diced (and peeled if you'd like)
1 big tomato, chopped
3 shallots, diced well
1/2 cup chopped mint
2 cups chopped parsely
at least 2 teaspoons cheater garlic
In a blender/food processor, pulse-chop the jicama until it resembles grains of rice/couscous. Transfer the jicama to a wire-mesh colander and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear. Press all the water out with paper towels then transfer to a large bowl.
In the same blender/food processor, pulse the pine nuts until finely chopped and mix into the bowl of jicama.
Add the olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic to the bowl and mix well.
Add the shallots, mint, and parsley and mix well.
Add the tomatoes and cucumbers, mix well, cover, and refrigerate over night if you can to give the flavors time to mesh. It's really good to eat right away, though too.
Both dishes travelled very well. I had several rowers try (and enjoy!) the tahini dip. The cold jicamouli served over a spinach, romaine, and swiss chard was the perfect accompaniment to laying out in the sun for 6 hours. I think I made up for being out of the tanning beds all winter in one afternoon! Roomie came home with a gold and silver medal; his girls came home with two silvers and a bronze.
Tan lines and clinkage. Not a bad way to start the spring.
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