Race day fun and good eats!

Good Afternoon all!

This is my post from Sunday however I am just now getting around to posting it.  Sorry...it was a long, wonderful day!

It's race day which means its gonna be hot, humid, crazy crowded and lots of booze consumed.  My morning started by packing up my backpack cooler.  This sucker fit 12 beers and 4 frozen water bottles.  I was very pleased with how much it could carry and didn't kill my back.



We started our day around 9 am.  We figured since we had a ride to the track we didn't need to leave as early.  WRONG.  Record crowds this year meant traffic was horrendous.  Last year I got there at 9 and parked in a lot right across from the track.  This year....no where close.  Abby's dad drove us so we didn't have to deal with having a car and worrying about driving.  The closest he could get us was about 2.5/3 miles away from the track.  OYE.  It was a long walk.  TG the sun was behind clouds most of our walk and it wasn't that humid yet.  I was in good company so didn't mind the walk that much but my feet did.  I swear my feet hate me.  I wore some ballet flat gym shoes.  Wrong choice.  I figured we would be doing a lot of walking and these would be comfy.  Um NO!  I had blisters so bad I was limping.  Last minute packing my bag I threw some flip flops in.  TG!  I put those on and had immediate relief.  We made it to the track took our seats and the fly over happened.  I love when this happens at any event I am at.  How can you not get emotional when this happens?? 

 

Needless to say we had a blast at the track.  We were cabbing it back up to the northside so we left with about 20 laps to go.  We figured we would be waiting for a cab for forever if we waited till the end of the race.  We walked out of the nearest gate and had a cab within 30 seconds.  Hooray!! I was beat by the time I got home.  Took a nap and had a slight hangover by the time I woke up.  So not cool.  I was so hot still and just wanted to go to bed.  I knew I needed to eat something before calling it a night.  I whipped up this quick salad and it hit the spot. 

Chickpea and Feta Salad

2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 Tbsp onion, finely minced

1/2 large red pepper, diced <-----i used roasted red pepper cuz I had it on hand

2 Tbsp parsley, finely minced

9 black olives, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp lemon juice

S & P to taste

1 tsp lemon zest

1. In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, red pepper, parsley, olives, and feta; toss to combine.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together oil and lemon juice.  Pour over chickpea mixture and season to taste.  Garnish with lemon zest

It was refreshing, light and yummy.  It was just what I needed before going to bed at 9pm.  YEP....you read that right.  I was asleep by 9 :)  All day in the sun drinking and walking miles will do that to ya!  Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!! 

Cheers