Extraordinary Strides
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Extraordinary Strides
Festive Fartlek Frolic: A Nostalgic Delight with Holiday Traditions, Fitness Fun and Scrumptious Recipes
Join us, your favorite coaches Shelby and Christine, as we turn the spotlight on the festive spirit of Hanukkah and Christmas traditions. We're going to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, recalling our personal holiday experiences.
Picture yourself as part of the story, as we paint the canvas with memories of my grandmother during Hanukkah and Christine’s vivid description of the festival of lights. And what’s a holiday celebration without a workout? We've also put together a unique workout to keep you energized during this wonderful season.
Get ready to engage in an entertaining game of "Would You Rather?", infused with a holiday twist that blends celebrations with workouts. Ever wondered what it would be like to partake in a holiday karaoke contest or dance in a Hanukkah flash mob? Or how about living in a gingerbread house versus a sukkah? And what if you had to choose between decorating with Christmas lights or creating an endless buffet of latkes?
These are just some of the questions we'll be asking, and your answers might surprise you!
We promise, in this episode, it's not just about the questions and the workouts - it's also about the delicious holiday flavors! We're going to whip up some scrumptious holiday recipes featuring garlic rosemary latkes, Puerto Rican sofrito, and a foolproof flan recipe.
Plus, we'll give you a taste of the vibrant Christmas traditions of Puerto Rico. So, lace up your shoes and fetch your apron. Whether you're celebrating with family or alone, let's make this holiday season filled with happiness and love.
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Hey friends, coach Shelby and Coach Christine, welcoming you in and letting you know it's time for brunch, where there is always an open table, a hot cup of coffee and endless running fun to keep you moving and grooving. We've got a fun filled workout with you today, so if you are going to be grooving and moving with us right now, let's lace up those shoes, put a smile on your face and log some miles. And if you are not moving and grooving us right now, you can still listen along. But we're going to encourage you. Don't cheat on this workout, which will make a lot of sense as we go into this. Christine, this workout, I think, by far, was probably the one that our group has loved the most, so far.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be purely selfish and say that I don't know if anybody else loved it as much as I have.
Speaker 2:I have enjoyed doing this workout so much. So, friends, we're going to have a 15 minute block. You're going to want to get into that walk or long run, whatever pace feels good to you, to warm on up your body, because we are going to have some harder efforts a little bit later. Let's just start it on that in three, two and one 15 minutes on the clock. This is a great opportunity to maybe even use it as breaking it up into thirds. Start with a walk, add in a few jogs in that second five minute block and then maybe get into your conversation pace. We're going to tell you more about the actual structured, unstructured workout a little bit later.
Speaker 2:But first and foremost I want to say happy Hanukkah. Please do tell me, coach Shelby, what is something that kind of comes to mind when you celebrate Hanukkah in your household.
Speaker 1:In all honesty, when Hanukkah comes around, I immediately think of my grandma. I love my grandma. My grandma was an integral part of my childhood. She lived with us for a few years before she had passed, and she was from our Jewish side as funny as this. I can't necessarily recall doing Hanukkah with her as a child, but something about Hanukkah always makes me think of her. It's weird saying it that way, but I always think of my grandma. I can feel her hug, I can see her face, I can smell her perfume. Just all of it comes flooding back. I tried not to overthink it, which is new for me, but it's exactly where I go with it.
Speaker 2:That makes me so happy because I think that when we do feel the holidays come into the calendar, we start to get so busy with all of the things that while we have a touch of nostalgia, while we have a touch of wanting to feel good about this time of year, we can feel really overwhelmed. But when you're able to break it down to such a visceral, really connected emotion, like you just painted the picture of your grandmother and your relationship and how she played such an important part of your childhood, that's what this time of year is really all about. We're going to have a lot of fun, but also we're going to have you guys do a little bit of pondering on your own about what this time of year may mean for you and how do you connect to those more nostalgic, maybe even idyllic a little bit of your history.
Speaker 1:There's a glow around all of my memories, definitely that hazy flashback in movies that you see. That is my brain 24-7, 365.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes me understand why you're so obsessed with this time of year.
Speaker 1:Which is funny because I think about that hazy thing and this is a great time to remind everybody this workout will be challenging. If you start seeing a haziness, you probably need to check your breathing versus the nostalgic portion.
Speaker 2:Yes, we definitely want to keep you guys present here and now and mindful of where you're moving and grooving, but for right now, you should be feeling good, you should be feeling conversational, you should be able to even respond to us. This is what I think about this time of year, hanukkah being the festival of lights Coach. I learned more about it through our Slay the Holidays Challenge, where we dedicated entire weekend.
Speaker 2:It's been fabulous. I can't wait to learn more. I know that we have quite a few folks that are celebrating as well, so again, we want to kind of share some of those traditions. So tell me more about Hanukkah, coach.
Speaker 1:Hanukkah. Hanukkah, we dance and we spend the menorah or spend the straight. I'll spend the menorah, please don't spend the menorah. But yeah, we learned. I learned a lot more of the backstory of where Hanukkah came from when we did do our Slay the Holidays. But for those who don't know, on the basic sense, it is eight days, there are nine candles, with one being the Shamish or the leader candle, the helper candle, and you light one candle for each night until you have a full glowing menorah and it's supposed to represent when there was not enough oil to last eight days. They only had enough for one night, but magically it lasted for eight nights. So that's a very like, probably kid friendly, version of the story. So we're going to. We're going to keep the warm and fuzzies for a little bit longer.
Speaker 2:Let's definitely keep the warm and fuzzies because actually, when I'm hearing this and I love how you described it as being the leader candle specifically it makes me think. So often in life we may be afraid of shining our light, but this, specifically, is a beautiful parallel to regardless of whatever your traditions are, whatever your beliefs are, whatever you're doing in life, that letting your flame ignite those around you and knowing that you are making such a positive impact on those around you every single time that you lace up or you show up for these type of workouts, we want to give you a big kudos on that and you could be the Shamish in your own life. Hopefully I'm not saying anything that would be totally incorrect. If I at any point do say anything throughout this episode where I should be corrected, you guys know where to find us info at timecom.
Speaker 2:We're all about learning and evolving and getting stronger with how we have our knowledge and how we express it.
Speaker 1:So that was very transparent, like my application of Hanukkah, and different parts of the Jewish realm might be completely different than what other people or what the Torah commands and preaches, but that's just the way. These are my traditions and I think, being able to, especially this time of year when there are so many holidays, so many traditions, I think it's a great time to kind of keep that light shining and keep an open mind that not everybody's holidays are going to look the same, even if it's the same holiday or even from year to year.
Speaker 2:You may find this is a year for you to break out some new traditions. Maybe this is something that speaks to your soul and you want to learn more about it. So I think that I want to learn more about it, and one of the first things that I did learn was that the menorah is lit every night after sundown. What I love specifically about that is that the candles are added right to left, which and you could correct me if I'm wrong I believe that Hebrew is read right to left, so that makes a lot of sense. That would kind of be the parallels to how the candles are lit as well, and it looks like each night the candles are lit with the newest or the one that was just most recently lit. So it's kind of like this leader candle lights the candle and then do you pick up that candle, the one that was just lit, and then light the other candles with it, or do you continue?
Speaker 1:lighting the candle. No, you take the Shamish and the Shamish lights. All the other candles Got it and yeah, I didn't know about the right to left thing for, I don't know, maybe 20 years. I'm not going to lie. I think we still mess that up in our household. I'm sorry if that's sacrilegious. It's not intended any which way, but that's just. I didn't know about it. You can tell that I missed Temple a few times.
Speaker 2:It's okay. It's okay. We're all about again creating our own traditions, and in your household, christmaca is very, very strong of a tradition. I feel like, yes, and it's that right way of okay, I call it Christmaca.
Speaker 1:I've had a shirt that had half of menorah and half of a Christmas tree. I've had half of a cross and half of a Star of David Like, we're big in the melding, and one of my favorite traditions for Hanukkah is we get Christmas ornaments to put on the Christmas tree, and for me it was always a really awesome way of making it our own and following those traditions, but with a little bit of a twist, and my mom actually just bought me a Christmas ornament for Hanukkah and it's the Grinch.
Speaker 2:So we're melding it all together.
Speaker 1:It says 100% Grinch. I'm like that's me oh.
Speaker 2:I do. That's so special. I will say that one of my favorite things that I learned about Hanukkah was that, first and foremost, we all know that fried food is just supreme. Like fried food is just delicious. So I didn't know that most of the Hanukkah dishes were fried and that they had symbolism behind that. And it is again symbolizing, as you mentioned, that miracle oil that burned for the eight nights straight. I honestly just thought it was because it was delicious food, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I still I actually Googled how to say because I've always just called it a jelly doughnut and I asked my mom because she's my go-to for all things Jewish and she's a little rusty but it's a Soufganat or something along those- names.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to even pretend that I can do that. I'm going to say that it's a jelly doughnut. So I'm trying to become more brave with my pronunciations, but I'm not quite there yet.
Speaker 1:Until we learned that that's what it's called, I had never seen it In my 30 plus years of life. I've never seen it, and you know how many times I've seen it since then 1.3 billion.
Speaker 2:It's like when you get a new car and you're like, oh, I'm the first person to have this car, then everyone else has the same car. When you're stuck in traffic, you just become more aware of it, of course. Oh, I say, see you, oive.
Speaker 2:I definitely feel like I can express very frequently in my life, because there are a lot of mistakes that I make from day to day. But that's another thing that I love when I learned about in our conversations with the Hanukkah episode that we did for our private training group was there's no wrong way to spell Hanukkah, because I feel like every single time that I try to spell Hanukkah, I spell it incorrectly. I love that. There's a graciousness to how you choose to spell it. Now, I'm sure that there's some wrong ways, but for the most part, it looks like it's got multiple different spellings and they can vary from region to region. So if you're like me and you're constantly spell checking Hanukkah, I will tell you that, according to our sources, there are multiple different ways and you can be a bit more gracious with yourself during this time of year as well.
Speaker 1:And you know what? The best way, how, the best way it is to spell it actually.
Speaker 2:I, of course, want to know.
Speaker 1:Trying to spell it and then letting auto correct just play roulette with how it's actually going to come out. I usually am always with the HANUKKAH, but I always want to add another N, and that's not how it works.
Speaker 2:But so evidently that is one of the spelling, so one of the ones that I tend to gravitate towards. I always knew that there was two letters that were the same and I've always done it as an N versus the K, but evidently that is one of the ways that it's spelled is H-A-N-N-U-K-A. So I guess, again, there's multiple different ways or different varieties, and I also feel like when we have our respective runners or movers and shakers that are rolling through here who do celebrate Hanukkah, they may be saying no, you're wrong and that's not the way you spell it.
Speaker 1:So I would safely say that, even though this is going to be a choose your own adventure type of run, there's going to be a lot of messages coming in saying like y'all choose your own adventure, but you got a lot twisted and we're secure with that, we are OK with that. That's why it's practicing with all of this, like you were even saying, your traditions while you didn't celebrate Hanukkah for Christmas, you didn't have a lot of the same kind of hallmark-esque foods and hallmark-esque traditions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we definitely learned a lot about each other during talking about the holidays again, when we recorded episodes for the training group, because I feel like we learned that there's a lot of traditional foods that I probably should have had, being here in the United States, more awareness of that. I don't, and so it's been really interesting because I do have more of like the Perican Christmas traditions in my household, of what the foods that I grew up with or the traditions that I grew up with. So I'm looking forward to definitely talking about that a little bit as well, because that's what we're going to do in this game of choosing your own adventure. You're not 100% choosing your adventure, because we're going to have a little bit of some parameters around it, but let's get into what you're going to expect, because we're about 12 minutes into this warmup. So hopefully you're feeling good, you're feeling strong, you're catching your breath. You may have shaken off a little bit of I don't know a little bit of the snow dust. Maybe that's come up your way, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Let's go with that, that's all good, let's go with that. Let's keep that in. Ok, let's go for that one.
Speaker 2:So we're going to give you guys a would you rather? Now you guys know how we roll around. Here is probably one of our favorite games and one that always brings up the most discussions, because we're really, really bad at choosing one versus the other. So we went ahead and honored that and realized that you guys may be just like us and you may feel a little bit of both or neither as well. So we're going to have a opportunity for you to choose your own adventure. We're going into more of like a fart lick where we're going to give you a would you rather? Question. We're going to read the question and the responses, then you're going to have time to harness in on what you feel. Lock that in and then we'll let you know what effort is the same that will match your response. So great example of that is is that you may have anywhere from a conversational pace to a recovery pace, to all the way to tempo, half marathon pace, a little bit of lactate threshold, even some sprinting going on. Now you're not going to know the duration until we actually have you go in to that segment. So there's no gaming.
Speaker 2:This system Like don't think that you're going to be able to guess like, oh, she's done this kind of response twice, so I know that if I choose, I change my answer. I'll do this Really. Just go with the flow and allow yourself to have fun, which is what the fart lick is all about is speed play. This time of year we're super busy and you may not have the time or energy for traditional, more structured speed play, so let yourself just enjoy the ride as we explore some of the Hanukkah in Christmaca, in Christmas, would you rather? I'm so looking forward to these because they're a little over the top fantastical, and when I think over the top fantastical little extra, I think of coach Shelby. So I can't wait to hear your responses on them, coach Shelby.
Speaker 1:I did actually just give one of my over the top accessories to my husband to bring into the main part of the house, and it's a really glittery, obnoxious bow tie or not bow tie tie that has a gingerbread on it. But I'm like here, I'm going to need this when we go to our holiday stuff. So can you put that near my bedside so I don't forget where it is?
Speaker 2:Very important. So, friends, you're going to be able to shine and sparkle in this. Would you rather choosing your own adventure game here? Very shortly, we're going to go into the first one in 30 seconds. Now what we're going to all do is, in between the questions, we're going to meet back all of us in conversation piece, whatever that means for you. So if you're doing run, walk, run, that it's perfectly OK during this game. What we would suggest is that if you're in a harder effort, or if your answer corresponds to the harder effort, that you just push it a little stronger on those runs and those walks and, of course, if we're in a recovery effort, pull it back so that it's nice and light on both that run and walk.
Speaker 2:Coach, I think I'm ready, because we're about 15 minutes in. We're going to settle people into about 30 seconds worth of conversation pace while we get them going into their first. Would you rather question? So let's do that in three, two and one. Let's all meet at our conversation pace. Nice and easy here. We should still be able to talk out loud. And coach, read that first question for us.
Speaker 1:All right. Would you rather participate in a holiday themed karaoke contest, singing only Christmas carols, or dance to a Hanukkah song and a flash mob in the town square? Or if you're like us, you're like, pass on that, or I want both. So take a second, choose wisely. What are you going to pick? And you can say it out loud. If not, you can say it in your head too.
Speaker 2:All right. So if you would rather participate in a holiday themed karaoke contest, singing only Christmas carols, you're gonna go ahead and pull it back into a recovery effort, for you know the effort scale of two to three, like a strong Walk or a light jog. If you're dancing it out to a Hanukkah song in a flash mob, you're gonna go into or stay right here in this conversational pace, nice and easy here, still feeling very good and strong. If it's neither or both and you're more like us, well, let's do it, my friend, because we're going into more of that tempo pace, a little bit of a harder effort for Seven to nine. On that effort scale of one to ten, let's go in three, two and One. Friends, find yourself right there.
Speaker 2:Whatever your responses, don't change it here and now just because you don't like the response of what you have to do. Challenge yourself if you are neither or both, by pushing it up a bit more. And if you are pulling it back because you're in recovery, don't worry, you're gonna have plenty of time to get some harder efforts as well. We're gonna be here for two minutes. You're already about 20 seconds in, so right about here. If you had to pace, change up. You should lock in that effort and just keep on rolling for another 90 seconds.
Speaker 1:So I gotta ask which one are you?
Speaker 2:I'm. I'm definitely Gonna stick right into Conversational pace for me because I am dancing to a Hanukkah song and a flash mob. You guys do not want to do karaoke. I thought you were gonna choose neither as funny as that. I would love to dance it out. I'm not good and I'm not Would probably take five thousand years for me to learn the choreography, but I'm okay with that. Now, what I am curious about this is are there many Hanukkah songs?
Speaker 1:Okay, that's one. That's one bone to pick I do have with this so I would I would have chosen to dance to the Hanukkah song. But as we were curating the playlist for the sleigh the holidays group, do you realize how hard it is to find Hanukkah Music like a? Four of the songs on that playlist are all Adam Sandler parts one through four of the Hanukkah song. But I did not know existed until I started doing this.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, see that. That would be the only problem that I would have this flash mob, because I assume that it would be an Adam Sandler song and I'm not sure that it lends itself to the best Choreography.
Speaker 1:But there was a band that I found that did like a Hanukkah songs and they were kind of burners, like I liked them. So again, I think they're called 613 and they even had like a Star Wars Christmas or a Star Wars Hanukkah song, so it was just decent. I'll take it.
Speaker 2:I like it. What I also like is that we're at that point where everybody's gonna meet back in our conversation pace in three, two and One amazing job. So again, friends, we're gonna remind you you're all meeting at that conversation pace and now we're gonna read the next question for you to make your choice and it would you rather coach Shelby? I cannot wait to hear this answer Build a giant snowman wearing a Santa hat? I guess Sandman here in Florida. Would you rather light a Hanukkah menorah made entirely of ice? Weird, neither or both.
Speaker 2:So, friends, go ahead and lock in that answer that you have. And if you're thinking that doesn't even make any sense, that's the entire purpose. Friends, we want a little bit of joy and a little bit of lightness in your life. So go ahead and and take practically out of that response and Lock it in now. If you're going to be building a giant snowman wearing a Santa hat, or you've already done it this year, you're gonna hang out at conversational effort. If you are lighting the Hanukkah menorah made entirely of ice, that sounds like that would be very hard to do. So you guys are gonna go into a hard effort. Seven to eight on that RP scale. And if it's neither or both, go ahead and pull it back into a recovery effort and maybe stop and smell the peppermint mocha. With that said, let's do it in three, two and one, and you're here for three minutes. Friends, this one was hard.
Speaker 1:But I think I think the weird part of me I want to light a menorah made entirely of ice because I just like my brain Kind of freezes and starts buffering when I think about it. So I feel like I need to actually see this happen in action to fully embrace it.
Speaker 2:First and foremost, I feel like it looks, that sounds beautiful, like. I can already see it in my head and it sounds beautiful. I do think it sounds hard, just as our friends that are going into that hard effort if they chose that specific Response. But I feel like you're both. I can see you doing literally both, like I could see you hanging out with the snowman in your Santa hat and your glittery sweater and then getting inside where it's warm and toasty and lighting. I don't know, can I feel like toasty?
Speaker 1:I get bored, I think. Look like I think of a giant snowman and I'm not gonna lie, all I hear is that's really a lot of work. Like I could have like a moderately sized snowman and probably be okay, but like what constitutes giant? Like I'm barely five feet, so what's the giant? Six feet, eight feet.
Speaker 2:Is there a?
Speaker 1:ladder's involved. I have questions.
Speaker 2:Shelby, let's be honest for you at five feet, a giant snowman, it's probably about three foot two. So I think you can handle that. You could totally handle that, just like our friends that are in the harder effort can totally handle this. You guys are about 90 seconds in 90 seconds to go. Now you should be feeling more of like you cannot have a conversation. You might be able to get out of chuckle. You can definitely roll your eyes, but you are working hard, you are pushing here. You are definitely feeling that out, just outside of that tempo zone. So keep moving, keep grooving again. If you're in recovery effort, hopefully you're enjoying the scenery, maybe taking a selfie here or maybe snapping a shot shot a snapshot of a snowman in Conversational. You should definitely be able to chitchat with us a little bit if you are rolling shoulder to shoulder with us.
Speaker 1:So what are you gonna choose? You didn't share.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, I think that I would either be Neither or both. I would either want to do both. I'd like Neither. I'm a little bit of a, I am a scrooge you like, maybe wearing you may have the Christmas ornament, but I think I am more of a scrooge, for sure, than you ever could be. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think you're a grinch at heart. I think you're. I think you're Scroogey on the outside but warm and fuzzy and gooey on the inside, I mean.
Speaker 2:I think I just gonna.
Speaker 1:I need to adopt you for the holidays, basically.
Speaker 2:I think, as long as there's sparkles, I'm doing whichever one is the sparkliest of the two.
Speaker 1:So Whoever better for?
Speaker 2:that snow, or yes, I'm going with that litter snow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool, I feel like we're just fighting properly. I mean, it depends, I don't know. I've only seen snow a handful of times, so my barometer is not that great more than I have friends.
Speaker 2:Let's now all beat back in that conversation pace in three, two and one. Very exciting to have you guys all meet at that conversation pace. And for you guys that are coming off those harder efforts, I know that you're having a hard time resisting pulling back into a full recovery. Just wait in to see the next. Would you rather question, see, maybe, if you naturally have that kind of recovery waiting for you. So, coach, what's next on our list of would you rather's? This one was a no-brainer for me.
Speaker 1:From the record. So you can either have a snowball fight with elves Okay, play dreidel with a talking snowflake or you can be a party pooper and do both, or or neither and both.
Speaker 2:Okay, I I feel like I know your response. But first I want folks to walk in their responses. If you're having a snowball fight with elves, don't cheat. You're going into a hard effort, tempo six to seven, so you're staying in that Comfortably uncomfortable pace. If you're playing a dreidel with talking snowflakes, are you in a disney movie? Yes, you are, and that's conversational effort for four to five hanging out right here. If it's neither or both, you're going to pull it back into a recovery walk or a light jog on the rp of two to three. Let's go ahead and move into that in three, two and one. And friends, I have such a beautiful present for you all. We're going to be here for four minutes, I know.
Speaker 2:I know all of you guys that are in the harder effort. Absolutely hate us, but reminder you are capable of this. This is an effort you should be able to sustain for at least 60 minutes. Usually, tempo work is about 60 minutes. So you've got this. You've got what it takes. We're just asking for four minutes. Go ahead and shorten that stride, keep those shoulders down in back, keep that chin up and then go for it. Friends, now coach, I feel hands down, but any opportunity that you would have to have talking snowflakes, that's what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Inanimate objects are my love language and I want every inanimate object to talk. I think that's maybe why I, like the movie, wish so much, which, if you have not seen it, 10 out of 10 recommend, even if you don't have a child. Um, I want all the inanimate objects to talk to me. So who would not want to know? Like what is a snowflake? Like what's it? What's it like being unique every single time? And it would also obviously probably be a short game because we live in Florida and it's hot. That's a take a realistic turn to this.
Speaker 2:Well, for the record, they're talking snowflakes. So if there's ever a time for not having realism, this is your opportunity. So let's throw realism again right out that window. We ain't got time for that kind of talk, but we do have time for talking snowflakes. In the minute that this question came into play, I was like this is coach Shelby. I'm pretty sure she probably already does this. Who knows if you've got little snowflakes somewhere in home you're keeping them in the freezer, or bring them out Just to play dreidel with them.
Speaker 1:So they're cute little pocket size too.
Speaker 2:That's how I envision them I feel like there's maybe A christmaca book in the works. In talking snowflakes is gonna have to be like a little star there, quite literally, maybe.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you I need to write some children's books.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So we're almost two minutes in, just two minutes to go. Now, coach, I know or we've come to learn. Speed play and fart licks are your jam. What are you telling folks that are in the harder effort, right here and now?
Speaker 1:It's going to only last for a little bit longer, because this is where it is really fun. I think. Not knowing what snacks is, it's easier to compartmentalize them into sections, versus when you have maybe a structured fart Like, and you know that you're going to be rinsing and repeating the whole time through. You have no idea what snacks, which is both probably infuriating to the type A's out there and also really exciting to everybody else.
Speaker 2:See, I feel like I do resonate more with the type A and I loved this. And what I also loved is that I have the worst memory ever. So, even though we recorded this, I literally do not remember the responses or what like corresponds with each response. So it quite literally was like a completely fresh new workout for me. Half the time.
Speaker 1:I do not remember, like once we stop recording, I'm like what do we just talk about for an hour and change? Yeah, no idea.
Speaker 2:It's actually my favorite when we hear folks letting us know things that we may have said in the episode and I'm like, did I say that?
Speaker 1:Did Shelby say that? Who said that I'll have to go back a lot of times?
Speaker 2:I'll tell you. What I will say right here and now is you guys have less than 60 seconds on the clock. So if you've been in that recovery and you're feeling like maybe You've been in recovery for some time and you want to pop it up into a little light conversation pace, we're not going to hold you back at any point. If you're still rolling strong in that tempo pace and you're like what I've had hard effort after hard effort that's because you're capable, you're strong, you know exactly what you want in life. So keep pushing all the way through for 30 more seconds. We can do anything for 30 seconds, except Wait for that incredible microwave to finish stinging, because I think I'm stopping it three seconds short every single time.
Speaker 1:And then when I stop it and it's still cold, I'm like I'm not spending more of my life waiting on this and I just eat a cold.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. We probably have some patience issues that we need to work through. Friends, you've got 10 seconds here. We're all going to meet back in conversation pace. It'll be nice and easy. Give yourself about 30 seconds While we're reading the question for you to catch your breath in three, two and one.
Speaker 2:So here we are, in conversation pace and I have to say, coach, that I also Love this next question and there may be a theme that we've got going on here. So, would you like to find a magical talking Christmas tree in your living room? Yes, discover a Hanukkah gelt which I learned was chocolate coins that grants wishes, ws, or neither, or both, both, both like both people. Okay, well, friends, don't let her influence you. You choose your answer, lock it in, commit to it. Commit to whatever the effort's going to be, because we're gonna tell you right here and now if that magical talking Christmas tree in your living room has your heart, well, you're gonna go into that hard effort again. We got it right a tempo of six to seven.
Speaker 2:If Discovering Hanukkah gelt that grants wishes, hello, how incredible is that. You're gonna have a recovery walk or a light jog if it's neither, or you're gonna be on team Shelby here You're going with both conversational effort for four to five. So, staying right here, let's do it in three, two and one. Let's move into our chosen pace, really honoring where we're at right, here and now, finding that groove and knowing that you are here, for you are here for three minutes this time, so it won't be as long as the last segment you just had. I told you to choose both. More importantly, yes, she did, she did. More importantly, what wishes do you want?
Speaker 1:granted, oh, I have no idea on that, but again, I have follow up questions. It grants wishes. That's awesome. Are we talking about like a genie situation? Do I get three? Is this forever? Is it only for Hanukkah? Like, come on, I need, I need more parameters to talk over with my Christmas tree.
Speaker 2:Well, let's, let's. Why don't you let the Christmas tree dictate what those rules would be? So what would your Christmas tree dictate as these rules and parameters, I feel like they should be forever, whatever your wish is, but I don't think they should be unlimited. I'm not asking the Christmas tree, they're kind of flimsy, ok well, it's because you load them up with so many ornaments, don't?
Speaker 1:touch my life.
Speaker 2:They can only do so much. They're still they're doing their best thing, trying to hold everything.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say you get one wish for eight days.
Speaker 2:Oh, ok, gosh, one wish for eight days. I know I think I just watched a video of a guy who travels like first class around the world and he was reviewing all of the first class travel on all the different airlines and he went to all seven continents and as exhausting as that looks because it was exhausting for him you could tell he was like waning towards the end. I think that would be so exciting. So that's my wish. It only cost him $40,000.
Speaker 1:Only I love how, before we start recording, she was telling me that I'm documenting about looking at Colts, and now this is the second, if that's not a this or that in the making, I don't know what is.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know about my watching habits, if they should ever be really kind of have it like the central conversation. But what should have a central conversation? Is you working on this Christmas book with this magical talking Christmas tree, this talking snowflakes and a little bit of guilt that Grantsus wishes, because I think this would this. This is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:I know what my wish would be Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I would wish for it to snow in Florida, while it's 75 and sunny and the snow wouldn't melt.
Speaker 2:I'll, I'll, I'll off, you know that makes my heart so happy, because I love that you're still being yes, because you're still being super practical. And I'm thinking we can't have snow. It's going to ruin our crop and all of our farmers are going to have issues. But if it's 75 and sunny and we're getting snow, heck, yeah, I'm down. So that is the perfect wish.
Speaker 2:Giving it up to coach Shelby for coming up with something a lot less selfish than what I did. She clearly she's got the holiday spirit. So, friends, we've got 15 seconds here. We're going to all meet back in our conversation pace. We're going to keep the silliness going again. A lot of you may have a lot on your plate, feeling a little stressed out, so just go with the flow of allowing yourself to enjoy, as we find ourselves at home in our conversation pace and three, two and one, nice and easy here, enjoying that pace, picking it up. If you came out from that recovery job, come on, get back to it. We know you're ready. So, coach, what question is hot and heavy on your mind of? Would you rather?
Speaker 1:I want to buy both of these, not to not to spoil alert, but pick both. Wear a sweater that constantly plays Christmas jingles, a hat that lights up like a Hanukkah menorah. Neither are both. If you choose neither. I'm really disappointed. Come on, embrace the holiday spirit. I would make Christine wear this. I'm positive you would make me wear both.
Speaker 2:I actually feel like there is no doubt on that. Okay, no choice, friends, you're going to lock in your choice right here and now and again, I feel like coach help is being very pushy, I am.
Speaker 1:I am very, I'm very passionate about these fashion choices.
Speaker 2:I am, on the other hand, going to say you do you boo? But if you wear that sweater that constantly plays Christmas jingles, you're going to sprint really hard at an effort scale of nine to 10 again, and being confident in yourself. You've got what it takes to turn over those feet really nice and quick. If you're wearing that hat that lights up like a Hanukkah menorah I want to know what it looks like You're going to sprint hard for nine to 10 on that RPE. So you're going all out. My friends told you, if you've decided neither or you decided both, well, lucky for you, you get to also sprint hard with an effort of nine to 10. So, friends, let's all meet up at that harder effort for some of the harder effort for 60 seconds in three, two and one. Let's go.
Speaker 2:This should not be a surprise, for the folks that did our our follow, a lot of art like that we had, because this is something that we like to throw in a little bit, where again everybody gets to meet at that exact same effort at the exact same time. You're only here for 60 seconds. You should be finding your way from that conversation pace into tempo, pace right about here. Tempo pays going a little faster, shorting that stride. You should find yourself at that harder effort and you should push a little bit more. You know you've got what it takes. You've had those Christmaca cookies, you've got the fuel. Let's keep it going. 30 seconds on the clock left, coach, shoot us a little bit of your wisdom, because this is your effort, girl.
Speaker 1:You're a mean one, mr Grinch. Da, da, da, da. No, really, just breathe through it. You're almost done and it's going to hurt no matter what, so just embrace it.
Speaker 2:I love how, though, you're singing to the sea karaoke, your jam, friends. Just 10 more seconds here again. Don't tense up. Put a smile on your face, give it all. You've got a little bit more in three, two, one. Let's pull back into our conversation pace, and this is where you're going to tell me that you want to pull it back into a walk, and I'm going to suggest that you give yourself an opportunity to pull it back in a conversation pace first, before you pull back into recovery. If you do pull back into a walk, though, there's no shame in the walking game here at all. So we are just rocking and rolling through these questions, friends. We're getting through this harder effort, and then we'll have a conversation pace recovery on the other side, but of course, we're going to keep this going just a little bit longer. This one's an exciting question for me, because I definitely have a response.
Speaker 1:I have a question, obviously because I'm sure you do.
Speaker 2:But also, I'm not. I'm going to be brave for once here and I'm going to try to pronounce something that I've never tried pronouncing before. So let me, let me give that a twirl. So would you rather live in a gingerbread house? Would you rather live in a Suka decorated with winter lights? Neither or both. I don't know what a Suka is. I'm just going to ask you.
Speaker 1:I had to Google it. This was obviously a question that Coach Christine came up with.
Speaker 2:So I assumed you would know my friends, because I was just like, well, she's going to know, um, okay, so I do know what a Suka is actually, and I believe that it's almost like a privacy tent, if the best way that I can describe it.
Speaker 1:Describe it it's like a hookup with walls and coverings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that it's utilized in a lot of different traditions, including like birth and time after that. So, anyway, neither of them are there. They're both beautiful and you guys get to choose whichever one you want. I will say that that one sounds a bit more practical in the gingerbread house. But, my friends, if you're living in a gingerbread house with me, we get to go into tempo, a little bit of that tenacity. In that tempo. If you're living in that sukkah decorated with winter lights, you're gonna have a conversation pace, you're gonna stay right here, and if it's neither of both, well, you get to have recovery for just a wee bit. Let's go in three, two and one.
Speaker 1:I'm not living in either of us. The gingerbread house is gonna have ants, the sukkah it looks like the Jewish equivalent of a manger, so there's no privacy and that is not safe in my opinion. Hashtag safety first, so I'm gonna go with neither I'm gonna go to like Fort Wilderness or Wilderness Lodge in a really nice hotel and that's where I'm gonna stay.
Speaker 2:Well, would you be okay with a sukkah at Fort Wilderness? No, there's still no privacy.
Speaker 1:It feels private to me. That is, that's like, that's like camping and I'm trying to get slow played into camping. So I feel like my husband puts you up to this and now I have even more trust issues.
Speaker 2:I feel like it looks really beautiful and it reminds me of if you're gonna talk about camping. It feels a little bit like glamping to me and again, no, well, friends, it's okay. Whatever you chose, even if Coach Shelby's being judgey-wedgy was a bear over there, I am okay with you choosing that because it does. I think it looks quite beautiful and you are here. It's gorgeous, but I'm not living in it. I mean, you have to. I feel like I should have taken the neither or both out, like now. I feel like we shouldn't like. If you had to have a choice, which one are you living in?
Speaker 1:The gingerbread house, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, especially the Grand Floridian gingerbread house. I think it is as big as my heart.
Speaker 1:I'll just eat it, so that that way I have to go live somewhere else. So problem solved.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. Okay, well, friends, hopefully you are enjoying your specific segment right here and now, knowing again we have less than 30 seconds before we continue this game going. We are coming to an end of our questions. We just have four more segments again, though they're gonna be predetermined times that you're not aware of until you're actually in it. So just know you're almost there and you'll have plenty of opportunity to pull back in If you're in a long run. This is actually still great to do, especially in the middle of a long run, because this allows you to have a bit more of those shifting gears that come in handy during racing, or just allowing you to kind of break up the monotony that can come in with long runs. And we are pulling it back in three, two and one, all nice and easy in our conversation pace. Okay, coach, what else is going on in your world of? Would you rather?
Speaker 1:All right, bringing a little super power energy to this. Would you rather have the ability to decorate anything instantly with Christmas lights, create an endless buffet of lacca with a snap of your fingers? Or neither or both? So I feel like you're both.
Speaker 2:I mean, wouldn't you wanna do anything where it's a snap of your fingers or just like instantly, like a little bit of like genie making a wish? Well, friends, you guys locking your answers right here and now, because if you're going to decorate anything instantly with Christmas lights and hopefully you're around because that's sunny and bright and fun you're gonna go into a hard effort. Seven to nine, not all the way into sprinting, because we need to be mindful, we still have a few more segments. If you're creating that endless buffet of latkes oh delicious, I'm coming to your house with a snap of your fingers you're gonna stay in conversation, pace four to six, nice and easy there. Or if neither or both, you can pull it back into recovery and you probably feel like that recovery is very well earned at this point. In three, two and one, let's go into our respective paces and, friends, with that said, you are here locking it in for three minutes.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely going both on this, not just because I want the recovery, but, like you said, like who doesn't wanna just snap your fingers and I could have food and decor done. And I feel like, though, I would really abuse the snapping my fingers to put lights on everything, because we're, honestly, we're slacking in our decoration department as of the time of this recording and we only have, like, the main house lights up. None of our yard blow-ups are up and I know what.
Speaker 2:None of your. Oh, I'm so disappointed.
Speaker 1:I've been dizzy.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, what kind of nonsense is that? Where is your holiday spirit? If I had the ability to snap my fingers with either of these I'm thinking business opportunity I am gonna be bringing in so much money instantly decorating people's houses or making them delicious potato pancakes for folks that may not know what luck is are. So yes, and I think that both sound like a lot of fun as well as spring and joyfully.
Speaker 1:I looked up services on the getting your lights put up professionally $1,000,000. The minimum $7,500. Like I get it. Like they have to make a whole year's worth of income in two months, but $7,500. Like I could go buy a house. Okay, I couldn't buy a house for $7,500, but I could make a really nice sukkah for $7,500.
Speaker 2:Or a really nice gingerbread house, maybe, maybe because you know those eggs are really expensive too, so you might not be able to do that either. That is incredible, See, I'm saying this would be that might be one of my wishes that I use with the guilt that's granting me wishes so that I can make a whole lot of money. See, that's thinking right there. I would definitely need a ladder you might want, like go go gadget legs if you decide to do that.
Speaker 1:Or like a cherry picker.
Speaker 2:All right, friends, you've got just two more minutes here. I do love again the fact that I know so many of us get stressed out. Even every single year, all of us say this is gonna be the year where I'm just going to make memories, I'm not gonna allow myself to get swept into all of the holiday stress and the holiday rush, but yet something will always kind of tackle your day a little bit and throw you for a loop. So it's such a beautiful reminder that injecting a bit of joy and maybe even some whimsy and silliness is going to help you to get through. Whatever that may be, even if it is having to talk to Aunt Gertrude again about your latest races or why you're having a second helping of latkes or maybe third. I feel like see in that tradition, like I feel like in the Jewish households they would want you to have more. Second, helping.
Speaker 1:Okay, it is very much a thing like we joke about it and my mom's a atypical Jewish mom Like oh hi, it's nice to meet you, Are you hungry? Do you need some food or you need a plate or whatever, like. It's like kind of like Italians and Jewish is very synonymous with food. Yeah, and yeah, that's a thing. You're getting extra latke.
Speaker 2:Well, friends, if you need to get a little bit of an extra recovery or rehydration, meet us in that conversation. Pace in three, two and one. If you need again, if you've been working at this for some time and you want to go ahead and check in with your fuel or hydration, this is a great time to do so, even if it's cold in your side of the world. Sometimes this is when we start slipping on our hydration super important, especially when we are maybe going from holiday to holiday party and not getting in as much water this time of year, or maybe splurging on some other potentially dehydrating beverages, from coffee to wine. So we want to make sure that you're feeling good here. So, coach, with that said, everybody's in that conversation. Pace, let's keep it going with a little bit of. Would you rather? This one, I think, is going to touch on you, employing your heartstrings. I mean seriously, I know it for a fact. Would you rather decorate a Christmas tree with handmade ornaments? Would you rather light a Hanukkah menorah passed down through generations, or neither of both?
Speaker 1:I do both Shock. Of course, this isn't even like a this or that. This is like have you been spying on me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I know, I mean so because we are pulling on those heartstrings a little bit. Both of these are very beautiful and really touching. Well, we're going to do a little bit of, maybe, heart pounding here. So, friends, regardless of your choice, we're all going to meet again as a team into tempo six to seven. Oh yeah, let's do it in three, two and one. Getting that heart pumping just a little bit more, getting into that tempo pace, showing our stride, getting that cadence up, engaging our core, keeping our chest nice and open, as well as shoulders down and back. Let's all harness that joy of this harder effort. Again, we're in a tempo pace. It's a bit of a threshold, it's slightly uncomfortable. More of a sentence pace and lock it in four minutes on the clock. This is going to be. I will tell you this it will be the last long interval you'll have of these efforts.
Speaker 1:So you're okay here, you can handle it before you mess, so now do you do handmade ornaments or all your ornaments? More usually, her face was like oh God, don't call me out like this.
Speaker 2:I went for a run with a friend of mine and we were talking about all of the reasons why I thought that I would be a really bad mom and the thing was that I don't know what I would do with kids that provide me with handmade stuff Like I'm like I don't know. She didn't. Thankfully, she understands my soul and she's like. I feel exactly the same way and I throw my kids stuff out all the time because I don't want to put it up on the refrigerator. It just doesn't appeal to me and I'm like oh, that makes me feel so much better because I feel guilty. Saying that out loud but I don't like clutter in the handmade doesn't necessarily speak to my heart and soul, so I don't think I would do that. But now I love traditions and I love generational gifts of memories. So I think for me it would absolutely be lighting a Hanukkah menorah passed down through generations. I mean, I just love that. I love that this one item is symbolic of so many beautiful stories and memories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean our menorah, I want to say, was brought over by my great grandparents when they came from Poland to the US. I'm not sure the full history, but I do know it's very, very old and it is lovely, as well as the prayer book that we have that my grandpa lovingly did the English translation for which is how we read our Hanukkah prayer. And then on our Christmas tree we have so many handmade ornaments, not just from other people, which is really cool, but also from when my sister and I were growing up. We still put them up, and now with my own kid, I have handmade ornaments and we have a bookcase that goes right near where our tree goes every year. So some of those handmade ornaments stay on our bookcase throughout the year with our other Chachkis Cause in my household our bookcases are just Chachki shelves, they're not actual bookcases.
Speaker 2:I think that sounds beautiful for holding all things that mean a lot to you.
Speaker 2:Of course, in my household, books mean a lot to me, so that's the reason why they hold books.
Speaker 2:But again, this is what's so beautiful about these types of questions is that you get to kind of really hone in on what's important to you. And again in this time of year where we're rushing, trying to figure out if we're gonna have enough of the ingredients for the recipes or if we can really handle another visit with 300 people coming over, or if the house is clean enough, or whatever the case may be, these are the type of questions that help you to resonate with what's really important. So hopefully, friends, you're remembering that right here and now as you're getting in this workout with just 45 seconds to go before we meet back in our conversation pace, and then we have just two final segments before we all meet back in a light and easy conversation pace. We're gonna talk a little bit more about Christmas traditions that maybe I grew up with, and then, of course, we'll share some of our favorite recipes as well. So, friends, you guys are getting closer and closer to the end of this workout and this segment, with about 25 seconds on the clock.
Speaker 1:I thought about that because you had shared when we did the premium podcast. The cookie Is that Coquito. Yeah, I realized that's the drink that our mailman gives us.
Speaker 2:He makes homemade coquito because he's Puerto Rican, shut the front door. Your mailman loves you, girl. He's awesome. He is the coolest mailman ever. Well, we love you guys. So let's all meet back in that conversation. Pace in three, two and one. So I may not love homemade ornaments, but if you're bringing me homemade coquito, I'm definitely down with that. Friends, coquito is the frog.
Speaker 1:I'm always gonna mess that up.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's very similar sounding and there's actually spelled at the front part of the word very exactly the same.
Speaker 1:He's making me the drink, not a frog, because that would be a little weird. From a mailman. I mean frog.
Speaker 2:Yeah, frog milk or frog juice would be a little weird, Ew.
Speaker 1:okay, get off that.
Speaker 2:Nope, next dessert. That All right, my friends, let's get back into the good feeling. So would you prefer to spend a day building a snowman and having a snowball fight with this snowman? And that's a weird one, does he take it from himself? But anyway, cozy up indoors, yeah, baby. Cozy up indoors with a holiday movie marathon. Neither or both Friends lock in your answer right here and now Lock it in.
Speaker 2:Don't change your mind when you hear the results, because if you are going out to build a snowman and a fight with that snowman, you clearly have lots of energy, so you're going into a hard effort. If you're cozying up indoors with a holiday movie marathon, then you can pretty much consider that Shelby's going to come over and hang out with you, and I'm positive. That's your response. So you're going to go into a recovery effort, nice and easy. And if it's neither, both stay in this conversation pace. Let's do it here in three, two and one, and we're just going to hang out here for two minutes.
Speaker 2:So again, if you're in that harder effort, knowing you have what it takes to push a little bit more, you absolutely can do it. You're going to shorten that stride, you're going to quicken at your feet. You're going to be nice and light and you're going to try to also run as fast as you can so that snowman can't hit you with that big snowball that he's sending your way. So let's get right to it, my friends, locking it in here. Coach, am I wrong? Are you holiday movie marathoning? I'm going, both you are. Yeah, I'm not kicking. Oh man, when I saw that I was like there's no way that she is going to. She's like I think of cozying up with holiday movies is like your love language.
Speaker 1:Yes, but here's the thing I'm going to paint the whole picture. Ok, you are outside, you're in the cold, you're getting sweaty, you're doing all the fun activities and then, just as sun starts coming down, it gets too cold. You go in, you have a really nice warm shower, you get in that cozy blanket, that big oversized sweatshirt, and you turn the lights off, except for just the Christmas tree glowing, and you have the movie marathon with the hot chocolate or like that big bowl of pasta for dinner. That is the day you know what you lost me.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really early on I was like how do?
Speaker 1:you, but I get you a nice sweater.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, friends, if you're listening to our holiday gift guide, of course, our first episode of Love, laces and Laughter, those heartwarming gifts, maybe a memory blanket I could see that being an awesome way of cozying on up with that holiday movie marathon. Or maybe you're going to do a little bit of that cozying on up after you're done with this workout, but right here and now, you're here for just 30 more seconds, that's it. We're going to have a conversation pace where we're going to read our final question and then we're all going to head down into a full recovery, nice and easy. So, coach, what are you telling folks that it might be in that harder effort with that snowman?
Speaker 1:You made your choices. No, I'm just kidding. Again, you're looking to get the burn in. You obviously have a lot of energy. Leave what you can out there on the roads, on the treadmill, what have you and just keep your head how high, but put it down and do the work.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. Let's go in three, two and when everyone meet in our conversation pace, you're picking it back up. If you're in recovery, you're staying right where you're at. If you were in that conversation piece and all of you beautiful people that were working hard, you're going to pull it back and catch your breath a little bit.
Speaker 1:I'm tough love today.
Speaker 2:You are, girl you are. So with that, let's finish up this entire segment, choosing our adventure and honoring where we're at. What's the final question, coach?
Speaker 1:All right. Are you going to attend a lively Christmas market in your city, visit a Hanukkah festival with traditional food and games? Are you going to go neither or both? Again if you choose neither, it hurts my heart a little bit and we need to talk. Reach out to us.
Speaker 2:I really do feel like neither on that one would be. It would be a little sad. You guys do need to hit us up a little bit. We clearly haven't done our job of injecting enough silliness into your life. We are sad and we need to go look at our life choices. With that said, coach, what are they doing in this final segment with those respective options?
Speaker 1:You're going to sprint it out for every single option because we're naughty, we're nice and we're going to make you feel the burn for one whole minute 60 seconds. So it doesn't really matter what you choose. You're getting it and you're getting what you get and you don't get upset and the joy that I have in hearing that.
Speaker 2:So let's do it, friends, in three, two and one and don't worry, I'll get my come up and as soon as I actually go out and do this workout again myself and be like, yeah, yeah, and it's okay, because every single time that I finish it, I always feel so proud and so excited and exhilarated. And I'm not going to get into all the reasons why, because there's a lot of neuroscience behind it and a lot of physiology behind it, but right here and now, it's just that you're taking that time for yourself, you're honoring your commitment. You're already here and you know how it takes to go a little bit faster. For the remaining 28 seconds.
Speaker 1:And that's all. It is 28 seconds. That's like 25 days of Christmas and Hanukkah had a baby. It's Christmaca and I'm going to talk just a little bit longer because then before you know it, you're going to be like 15 seconds.
Speaker 2:Then life's going to be even better, totally works for the record every single time, because I'll be like, I'll start looking at my watch and I'm like, oh, it's not as bad as I thought it was and it's not as bad as you thought it was, friends, because you're done in three, two and one Absolutely amazing work. If you do want to pull it back into a walk, we get it. We understand you can cool it down. We're all going to meet, though, at a conversation pace again, to wrap this up with a five minute walk at the end. So feel free to get into a pace that feels good to you as we start to recover, because now we're going to talk a little bit about, I guess, puerto Rican Christmas is what I would say.
Speaker 2:So, first and foremost, trying to pretend that Christmas is traditionally held in the Hispanic community or Latino community would be the same from culture to culture is absolutely an inaccurate. I couldn't possibly. So there's going to be some things that maybe, if you're Dominican, you may have that are similar, or maybe, from Mexican, they're similar, but every culture does have very different, respective traditions. So I'm only going to speak about the Puerto Rican one, just because that's what I grew up with. However, I also feel like it's very much here like stateside, because what we learned a lot with Christmas holidays was that the north may have traditional dishes where the south may have different dishes, or Texas Texas kind of does their own thing, don't you think?
Speaker 1:Everything's bigger in Texas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything's bigger in Texas for sure. So we're going to talk a little bit about Christmas and, of course, the culture of it in Puerto Rico. I think what I told you, coach, and I'm going to reiterate that, is that I feel like, in your heart of hearts, you should be Puerto Rican, you should definitely be like Jewish Puerto Rican and I actually do know a Jewish Cuban individual and I feel like you would fit very perfectly into that, because they start celebrating Christmas pretty early on and it does not stop at the end of December. It goes eight days past three Kings Day, or three wise men, which I saw you share a really funny meme on your Instagram the other day about three wise women versus three wise men.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to get into it here, but did make me chuckle friends. Of course, you could check that out whenever you're on social as well. So, with that said, some of our favorites and this is where I think that we start to differ the most in between Jewish and Puerto Rican is that we have a lot of pork dishes, and so lechon asado is right out of the gate, like you get a really big roaster and people gather for this and it's basically a pig roast, which I feel like that would you'd be like a hard pass on that right out of the gate.
Speaker 1:I actually grew up going to a lot of pig roasts because there was somebody we knew who was Cuban and vegetarian now. When I was a kid. It was a little, it was a little lot, but yeah, no, I've definitely been to a pig roast in my day.
Speaker 2:So what did you find when you celebrated traditional like with traditional Cuban, because Cuban and Puerto Rican, I would say, have very similar aspects of how they celebrate.
Speaker 1:The pig roast definitely is like the one thing that traumatized me. I mean it was very memorable as a kid. But lots of rice I do want to say. There was paella, which I don't know if is actually traditionally Cuban or not, but I do remember a lot of rice and I think it was like paella.
Speaker 2:Okay. So we celebrated with paella in my household as well, harkening back more to our Spanish roots versus our Puerto Rican roots, but that was something that was very much celebrated Also, I think harkening to traditionally most I wouldn't say all, but most Puerto Rican households do have some roots and Catholicism, and of course there is more about fish on certain days of holiday, like high holiday kind of things. So I think again, the biggest difference for me growing up is the reason why I don't think I like Christmas day is because it was always a super let down For me. All of the partying started so much earlier on and our big like blowout celebration was actually on Christmas Eve. It was the supreme of all holidays for us. So Christmas day was actually kind of more of just quiet recovering and it felt very, almost a little too quiet after all the celebrations that came before it, because there is a lot of celebration.
Speaker 2:Baran das come into play and Baran das is like a traveling caravan of music and dancing and I remember the first time I experienced that in Puerto Rico was a wee bit and I thought this is the coolest thing ever. So it's like a flash mob meets karaoke and just lots of neighborly love, and it could be because that cookie though, which is like the eggnog, except it's coconut based, with rum, a lot of rum. Lots of folks have it without rum, so it can be celebrated without it. It does traditionally have lots and lots and lots of rum, depending on who makes it as well. So, and we do.
Speaker 2:I think maybe another reason why I love Team Sweet is because we have a lot of dessert, so arroz glinduense, which is again that Spanish rice with a little bit of sweetness, it's like a rice pudding, tembleque, which my parents loved, which is like a coconut custard. And then I love flan, which I think most people have had flan at this point, and if you haven't, you should. So lots of food. In our like traditions, the presents took the back burner for us, like. I feel like it was mainly food and dancing and music, and that was a really big thing around my household. Do you feel like presents were more central? And how you celebrated the holidays?
Speaker 1:Not as much. So we definitely we had a lot of focus on food. We always have like a big breakfast and we would open up our stockings while breakfast was being made and that was our thing. I also grew up in a time where, like a can, quarters were super big and super novel, so I have an embarrassing amount of home movies of us just like setting up the camera and opening things, like we always had the camcorder going. But we a lot of times for Christmas and New Year's actually, we would have like all of our we do the presents, we do big breakfast, lunch and everything and then we'd go fishing and go off of the pier and that would be like that is so Florida, that is so Florida.
Speaker 1:I know guys, but that was always like we didn't have extended family. We would have almost. We called it lovingly the misfit holidays and the misfit Christmases to where a lot of our family friends that didn't have a place to go or didn't have family to celebrate with they would stop by, usually later in the evening after we did like our morning Christmas stuff and that was always like a big part of it. So food, definitely. My mom is an amazing, amazing cook and feeds a small army. Regardless if there is one person in our house or 10 people in our house, it's going to be the same amount of food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that came clear to us all that participated in the bougie meals on a budget workshop that you led, because it feels like you're preparing to feed a barracks worth of people at all times in your household.
Speaker 1:Even our Thanksgiving, like, I put up a poll on Instagram about how many people it actually was meant to feed and most people said it was supposed to be at least like 10 to 15, it was not. It was four, and one of those four well, actually five, but one of those four is a child and one of them is me, who doesn't eat me.
Speaker 2:Okay, so really it was two and a half people that were being fed off of a feast, okay. So how long did you guys have things that weren't like leftovers in your house, or did you start sharing with others, would you do?
Speaker 1:No, we wound up repurposing it. One night we had turkey pot pie, we had leftovers. A couple of nights, I mean it lasted almost eight days, not really no and even at the meat part. You can't have it that long. Have to have food safety. But yeah, no, we ate almost everything too.
Speaker 2:I believe that because I also believe that you guys are very again learning from bougie meals. On a budget, I think you're kind of a long principle of waste, not, want, not, and you guys do find ways of repurposing. I love the idea of a turkey pot pie. That sounds absolutely comforting and delicious. So I think, again, what you're gonna find and I think that's why it's an exciting time of year is that a lot of us are able to drop some of the maybe some of the parameters that we have around foods, and we've likened this time of year to being very comforting with the foods that bring us great joy or have a lot of wonderful memories attached to them. So that's always exciting. So, with that said, we're gonna go ahead and ask everybody to bring it back down to a walk If you are ready to cool it down. If you have more miles to go, we're gonna send you lots of love and lots of carbs, because that's what we're gonna talk about. It's the recipes we're sharing this week.
Speaker 2:So, with that said, let's go ahead and put it back into our walk in three, two and one. Don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back and give yourself a high five because, again, that was some really hard work and we're super proud of you and we wanna hear your answers. So please do share on the group page. We wanna hear what some of your responses may have been and maybe what some of your traditions would be. So, coach, we're gonna have a little bit of team sweet and team savor. We're gonna highlight both dishes that may be found at our households during this time of year. So hit me with some of the things that you have that we could potentially make at home to celebrate a little. Coach, she'll be with.
Speaker 1:So Laka, obviously right off the bat, but there's a recipe for a garlic rosemary Laka. And I usually don't mess with perfection. However, I will never say no to garlic and rosemary Rosemary. Well, rosemary, gotta use it sparingly, but we have a rosemary plant Again. I know we're in Florida, it's winter, I have a plant, it's fine, but a garlic rosemary Laka sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2:What would you say on the level of difficulty? Is it to make these classic potato pancakes? Would you say it's harder for somebody who is kind of newer in the kitchen? Or would you say this is a pretty easily doable dish?
Speaker 1:I would say this is like middle of the road. A first time cook could make them. But I do suggest like nailing the basics first, to make sure that you don't put on too high of a heat so you're burning the outside and the inside's not getting cooked. And again, I'm gonna say it to, the day is long use frozen potato shreds and thaw them. It will make a better pancake. If you use fresh potatoes, it's going to be too watery. I've said this. I've lost track how many episodes I've actually preached this by now. So if you don't listen, it's your own fault.
Speaker 1:And you are feisty today. I am. I'm sorry, guys.
Speaker 2:The holidays bring out the feisty. Our food brings out the feistiness in you, I'm not sure. Well, friends over on Team Savory we've already talked about there's a lot to be said in terms of all the different park dishes and rice dishes, but I think none of those things are possible without Puerto Rican sofrito. So this is also something beautiful. If you wanted to find something homemade to give to the folks that they will love and be able to use. It is sofrito, now what we traditionally do in our household. It becomes kind of a production of making it along with pasteles, our tamales.
Speaker 2:Puerto Ricans generally have pasteles, but we would make sofrito in big batches. It would be gifts that we would give to others or we would freeze it because it's something that is utilized in every single meal. In terms of the seasoning and what goes in it, and it's very similar if you guys are more familiar with the Cajun dishes where they call it the Holy Trinity, where you season or you start every base with onion, celery and bell pepper very similar, except that we add cilantro and culantro and they are a little different and they do have a little bit of different herbaceousness that I enjoy. I feel like they're really fresh, and I know some people have the weird little thing about cilantro tasting so beef for them and I'm so sorry that your genetics did that to you. That's just so wrong, but for the rest of us this is incredible to have. So that's definitely what I would suggest. If people wanted to add a little savory Puerto Rican tradition into their household, let's move it on into Team Sweetcoach. What are folks having to celebrate Hanukkah with them?
Speaker 1:So these are really interesting to me because I had never heard of them. So we talked about the jelly filled donut or the saffron. Yeah, I get it Butchering it, that's fine, move on. But this is a delicious and easy Sephardic donut. So a Sephardic is a part of the Jewish religion. We'll sidebar that for right now, but I guess these are called the bunelos and they look like an abstract donut and I'm kind of here for it. I guess usually you have them with honey traditionally, but you could also do them with powdered sugar, and I think these would be a lot more user friendly because it's not a donut that has to be perfectly round and then filled.
Speaker 2:I love that. So, going back to difficulty rating, I would say that, from the sofrito standpoint, friends, it's super easy. All you need is a blender or a food processor and you're chopping, thrown in and that's it in it again. I am a big fan of getting ice cube trays, freezing it in there so you can use them very easily in the future. But you do you and whatever works for your household.
Speaker 2:I will say that this next thing on the list, I find it's a little bit harder for team sweet if you want to have more of a Puerto Rican dish and that is the flan, or at least I'm gonna pretend that it's the most difficult thing, so that I don't ever have to make it and I could just have all of my aunts that traditionally make it continue to do so. But it is, although a very simple ingredients, very just five ingredients is all you need. In actuality, it still can be a little bit harder because it requires a different type of baking method in terms of having. I think it's called like a. Is it something, mary? Something where you have like a water vessel so that it bakes the dish with the water in the oven? I don't know exactly what that's called, but it's a little bit harder for me personally. I think for you guys that are pros in the kitchen, you may not have that much difficulty with it.
Speaker 2:There are lots of variations of this, including in my household. The variation would be is that my mother would make it more of a cheesecake flan, which was always really interesting and usually very much requested. But this is-.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking that, as you're like describing it and I'm looking at a picture, I'm like God, I'm like add us some graham cracker crust like a cheesecake. Oh, your mom and I would have gotten along so well I'm sure you guys would have and she loved making it and I loved eating it.
Speaker 2:So it was it worked out perfectly. It was a beautiful relationship, but it's definitely something that I never really learned how to harness it in again because of that baking technique, and I'm not patient enough for that baking technique. So, however, friends, if you want to have a little bit of flan in your life, this is the way to go. This one's probably one of the easier ways of tackling it, and then, when you get a bit more confident and you want to add things in, feel free to do so, and then let me know, because I'll come over for dinner with flan with you guys.
Speaker 1:I might make this I really do.
Speaker 2:I really might make flan. I'm still waiting for your strawberry covered, your chocolate covered strawberries, though, friend.
Speaker 1:I have to make you that, I have to make you stuffing or dressing from Thanksgiving. Listen, I just I don't know. I'll earn my keep through food.
Speaker 2:Okay, that works for me. With that said, friends, you guys earned your keep right here and now by getting through this workout. We hope you enjoyed it. I can't stress enough. We do want to absolutely bring that joy of the holidays to your doorstep and to your heart. However you're celebrating and whatever it may look like whether it's a family of you and loving yourself during this time, or you have a huge household full of people, whatever it is in between please show yourself a lot of grace, a lot of joy and a lot of love. We want you to check out our Quick Bites Holiday Gift Guide episode. We have the final installment coming in this Wednesday, and then we're gonna see you again next week when it's time for brunch, because we're gonna keep serving up more miles to more sides of holiday smiles.
