The fun of gym workouts...

Working out in a gym is pretty enjoyable these days with all the high tech stuff. I spend most of my time on the treadmill in between workouts on the other machines. I was telling Jared the other day that being able to watch TV while you're on the treadmill makes it SOOOO much more entertaining. This isn't MY gym, but these are what the treadmills look like...

I went in on Tuesday night and turned on the machine and this was on TV...

I LOVE this movie. It's just good fun with a great cast. Who can't love William Macy's geeky personality?

Anyway, watching this movie while you're doing a few miles makes doing the few miles so much more enjoyable. In fact, you kind of forget you're walking as you're laughing to all their antics. What made it even better is that the FX channel did little bits from the Sturgis Rally during the commercials and since I've lived in the Black Hills, it was kind of like old home week.

Coincidentally, I will be taking a motorcycle training course the end of June.

Even more coincidentally, the department where I work at Texas State University conducts this course, so I get to take it for half price. Yay!! Because of the on-going project I'm working on with my friend from South Dakota, I figure it's about time I become more familiar with riding a motorcycle other than being just a passenger.

On another note, I was walking in town about a month ago and passed by a little shop that I had never been in before. I drove by it again last week and decided to stop in. It's a very eclectic shop selling everything from jewelry to clothing to knick-knacks to fragrances to...leathers. Hmmm...kind of s strange mix. So a little couple in their 60's owns the shop which is in the bottom floor of an old house in the middle of San Marcos. I got to talking with the woman and she asked if I was a biker. Well, I told her that I was working on a project with a friend from South Dakota on writing a book about rides in the Black Hills, but while I didn't own a bike, I did enjoy riding. She proceeded to tell me that she treated herself to a Harley on her 60th birthday a few years ago. WHOA!! I couldn't believe it. This woman was about 5'2" and probably weighed about 110 pounds. I figured her husband had gotten her into it, but then she said that after she had been riding for about a year and a half, she finally got her husband to buy one! Haha! I asked her if she rides with people, but she said she just rides around the Texas Hill Country by herself and loves it. So now she sells leathers in her shop to cater to the biker crowd. What a story.

So, once again, I've digressed from what I originally wanted to write about. I was on the treadmill again this morning and was watching the Food Network. This show was on...

She was talking about a veggie dish with eggplant, fennel, peppers, cheese and marinara sauce. It sure sounded good, so I decided to try it out tonight. Here are the ingredients. Mind you, I have never once in my entire life made anything with fennel. I don't even know what the heck it is. I went to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients, but they didn't even have fennel, so I had to go to the regular grocery store in town. You actually only use the bulb of the fennel, so it really seems like a big waste of the rest of the plant.

Grill the veggies to get that toasty kind of taste...

And put the ingredients in layers...

Cheese goes in between each layer, so it's a pretty cheesy dish.

The final product...

So, would I make it again? Probably not. It was good, but not great. The fennel was strange. It has an anise (licorice) flavor. I really like eggplant, so I enjoyed that aspect, but the rest of it was kind of a waste. I will be more careful when I'm watching cooking shows while I'm on the treadmill in the future.