Kate's Point of View

• It’s not crowded (low membership)
• All essentials are there but no frills (not the most up-to-date)
• The place smells like a gym and makes you want to work out 30+* years of sweat are worn into the place and can’t be cleaned off)

Wonder Boy and I now have to explore our other YMCA options or look into other area gyms. I’m assuming one of the YMCAs will work. Mainly because I hate the other chain gyms we could go to. They’re loud and the girls all try to look coordinated and cute. One of my favorite parts about working out (aside from the frozen yogurt I reward myself with) is the opportunity to read. At so many of the chain gyms there is music blaring and TVs on each machine. With that distraction, concentrating on a book is way more difficult. Blech.

The thing I will miss most about my gym has nothing to do with the people or working out. I love seeing the magnolia tree outside bloom every summer. The deep green waxy leaves and big flowers are just beautiful. When I walk by I can’t help but touch them. Last night I snapped some pictures so I wouldn’t forget:

*I have no idea how long my YMCA location has been there, just that my mom went there pre-me.

Do you ever have someone say something and it just sticks in your head? This will sound like I am changing my focus, but hang in there. Years ago I mentioned to a friend how ugly I thought maternity clothes were that tied behind to create a waistline. A week later she announced she was pregnant and paranoid about maternity clothes. Oops! A co-worker of mine recently went on and on about soy and how bad it was. I later realized what her specific issues were with soy and know I can ignore a lot of her concerns, but the comments have remained in my head. And most of those processed foods I eat (told you I’d be back on topic) use soy.

A few family functions ago my uncle-in-law introduced me to quinoa. He also introduced me to the proper pronunciation of the word – Keen-wa versus Qui-no-a. This is a wonder food! It’s a grain, which means it qualifies as a member of one of my favorite food groups, and it has tons of protein in it. Wonder Boy and I have been working in quinoa into our diets with increasing frequency. We strive to mix up our protein sources throughout the week and use as lot less processed food.

Last night I made homemade quinoa / black bean veggie patties. Mmmm they were good! I got the recipe from The Vegetarian Times and, although it took a while to make, the end result was well-worth it. The best part is that the recipe yields 8 patties and I was able to freeze 6 of them for 3 future meals.

I checked the Vegetarian Times site for the recipe, but no luck. Here’s an alternative recipe that also looks good if you’d like to give homemade veggie patties a shot.