my first kabobs!

After my conference wrapped up, I headed to a party at my friend J's house.  Since J and her husband own a grill, I decided to make my very first kabob recipe.  I had been looking forward to making kabobs, because a while back I made a very silly purchase:

I love these circular kabob skewers, but I DON'T EVEN OWN A GRILL.  So it was a little silly for me to buy them, but, I did.  At least I have several kabob recipes to make.  The first one on the list: Caribbean Chicken Kabobs.  The online recipe suggests "Caribbean jerk seasoning" but my cookbook called for "Key West-style seasoning blend."  I could NOT find Key West-style seasoning blend... and this website of discontinued McCormick products suggests that it might not really exist, haha.  I decided to mix my Cajun seasoning with a Caribbean seasoning I found at the grocery store.  I think this recipe turned out well, but it would have been better with more seasoning.  I didn't actually measure out 3 tablespoons so it's possible I didn't use enough.  I'm starting to learn that I don't really like measuring.  Oops.  Anyway, I did most of the prep before I got to J's house so that all I would have to do there is pop pieces on the skewers and grill away!  Note to self: the points of skewers are SHARP.  I definitely poked myself about 20,000 times and have a little mark on my finger.  At least I didn't bleed on my food!

Now, normally you wouldn't cook kabobs in a basket, but the pieces kept sliding off the ends!  I am so grateful J and her husband have all sorts of grilling tools to help me not make a mess.

Everyone at the party seemed to like my skewers, so I'll consider them a success!  I actually bought chicken thighs instead of breasts, because the breasts were really expensive per pound and the thighs were on sale.  I did my best to trim the fat, but I bet thighs are still not quite as good for you... but they were TASTY.  Things to remember in the future :-)

 

Anyway, I stayed at J's house for the night, which was super fun!  J and her husband recently purchased a home near the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.  So, this morning before I hit the road, I obviously had to go for a run on it!  Since I ran 3 miles on Friday and only 1.9 on Monday, I figured I should do somewhere around 2.0-2.5.  Unfortunately, my muscles were pretty sore this morning.  The first 15 minutes or so were fine, but after that I was in pain.  I ended up going about 2.2 miles in 27:18, which included 7 minutes of walking.

As for the trail itself, I have mixed feelings.  There were a LOT of bikers out and it's fairly narrow, so I was definitely afraid that I was going to be killed by a cyclist! I like running on trails though, and having various plant life to look at!

I was kind of disappointed with myself for not pushing through, but my right ankle really hurt!  I didn't want to injure myself... especially because I had a 5 hour drive immediately following my run!  This evening I am still sore but not in pain, so hopefully I'll be ready to go on Tuesday morning.  I'm hoping now that I'm (mostly) back in town I can get back to my normal Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule!