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January 12, 2010

just a few new finds

Filed under: Blog,Favorites,Lighter Fare — Tags: barley, muffin, persimmon, pistachio, pomegranate, salad, yogurt — Kristen :) @ 11:54 pm

I don’t have too much time to blab on today, as I’m trying my darndest to focus on my proposal, but I did want to just stop by and share a few good finds I discovered and some eats I made this weekend.

Can I just say that it is absolutely glorious sleeping in till 7am and eating when the sun is actually up!! Because we went out to dinner a bit late with our friends Friday evening (terrible pictures by the way), I decided to sleep in just a little bit. I love having the sunshine to be able to take food pictures!! Yay! Most of the time I leave when there’s not enough sunlight and get home when the sun is just going down. Dang you time change.

I could even take a nice picture of breakfast! This is just a mixture of Wallaby yogurt mixed with a scoop of LF cottage cheese, topped with frozen blueberries, cereal, banana, and flax. I also had 1/2 a date bran muffin I found in the freezer. Those muffins are definitely our favorite!

Saturday we spent most of the day running errands and grocery shopping. I found some items I can’t wait to try . . .

For lunch I made a munchie plate with crackers, hummus, string cheese, apple, and salmon salad with pistachios and persimmons.

I tried a Fuyu persimmon for the first time this season and I really enjoy them. It tastes like a subtle creamsicle to me? I like to put them in chicken lettuce wraps too.

I also found the Laughing Cow cheese finally and am looking forward to adding it to various recipes like so many of you do!

Persimmon Pistachio Salmon Salad

one small can wild salmon with bones (for added calcium!)
1/3-1/2 cup low fat greek yogurt
1 Fuyu persimmon, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup chopped pistachios
various seasonings (all-purpose, garlic powder, s & p, splash of vinegar)

Mix it all together!

I found this quick cooking barley at Walmart. This will be great to add to soups, oats or make a salad with because normally barley takes quite awhile to cook.

I have to say I am impressed with Walmart’s selection of healthier items and brands at a reasonable price. For some families, it’s just being able to find these and make the choice to buy them over what they usually do, and that can be tough.

That afternoon we went to a bike demo for a local bike shop that we like to go to and it was also a charity event for our local Shade Tree Shelter. Lots of bikes!

We signed a waiver and then tried out a few of them. Most of the people there were mountain bikers, which is a completely different crowd than road bikers. Kind of like the laid back surfer dude type.

First we tried a couple road bikes. Boy, it’s amazing how much better those felt compared to my baseline model. I was really looking forward to trying a tri bike, but they didn’t have any there to sample. We also got to ride around Red Rock on a mountain bike. It was so much different than a road bike but a lot of fun!

Hey, even this dog was enjoying a little road biking! I thought this was too funny. How does that little guy stay on there?

After a C25K run/walk this morning, I made one of my favorite festive bowl of oats this holiday season. I call them festive oats! (gee that’s inventive)

I just love Egg Nog and usually find the low fat version or the soy version around this time of year. I also saw some kind of pumpkin spice nog at Walmart that I’ll have to try. Both low fat nog versions taste equally yummy. I could imagine these would be awesome in your morning coffee too.

Here’s my version this morning:

1/2 cup soy nog or low fat egg nog
1/2 cup skim milk
pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup oats
1 banana (1/2 mashed to add with oats, 1/2 for topping)
1 tsp flax mixed in
splash of vanilla extract
2 dates
Handful of Kashi cinnamon cereal and shredded wheat
sprinkling of pistachios and pomegranate seeds for the festive touch!

It’s not even Thanksgiving quite yet, but I thought this would be fun 🙂

How do you add a festive touch to your dishes? Any favorite items only available during the holiday season?

If I don’t post again till Thanksgiving I sure hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend no matter what holidays you celebrate! We are going to visit Chris’ dad and step mom who just moved into a new cabin for their retirement. It’s going to be freezing, but I’m looking forward to spending time with family and enjoying a great meal. I am definitely most thankful for my family without a doubt. It just wouldn’t be the same without their never ending love and support. Hope you all enjoy your time too 🙂

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learning to un-plan

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Dinner,Favorites — Tags: lemon, pasta, pesto — Kristen :) @ 5:03 pm

Last night was a wonderful example of good things that can happen when I don’t plan all the time! Chris invited his dad and step mom over for dinner last night. We were going to try to make some seared tuna that his step mom had given to us, but it wasn’t even close to being defrosted since we took it out of the freezer too late. Ok, move to plan B. . .

I made some lemony tofu pesto pasta the night before on Friday thinking I was going to take it over to a friend’s house for a little pot luck. Chris ended up getting home pretty late from a meeting, and their house was all the way across town, so I decided to skip it to be able to wake for the gym the next morning (I hadn’t made it to the gym all week so I was getting a little antsy and felt the need).

So . . . I thought I’ll just heat up that pesto pasta and pair it with some balsamic marinated chicken for tonight! ‘That will work, but I don’t really have any other stuff, what if they won’t like it that much? It has tomatoes in it and Chris’ dad hates tomatoes.’ Then Chris invited two other friends to come over last minute. ‘Wait! I haven’t planned for this, I need to have things all situated, more appetizers, need to clean, do wash, aaaaahhh!’ This was my inner self talking and feeling a bit out of the comfort zone lol But I humbly agreed and hoped we would have enough food and the day old pasta would be ‘good’ enough for my guests. I want them to really enjoy my food and come back!

Turns out the dinner party went pretty darn well! I mean the pasta wasn’t perfect, got a little cold and was slightly not as bright green as the day before, but it tasted pretty darn good. That’s all that mostly matters, right? Chris BBQ’d the chicken and it was a little chewy, but it was still pretty tasty. I had other munchies like cheese and crackers, along with pretzels and nuts, but I think people secretly wanted to have a little more food. I should have made something like a salad, but we ended up making smores and having some vanilla ice cream with a drizzling of cabernet (you have to try this!), so that worked out. Who doesn’t like a little dessert? Sorry no picture 🙁

We ended up going through 4 bottles of wine!! And everything’s better with a little wine, right? lol We also played a fun game of Cranium into the night. I love this game, but I am terrible at it lol

Overall success! Should I have worried so much about not having everything perfectly mapped out? No, it’s really not that big of a deal, but you know that is something that I’m working on and when something like this happens on a whim it moves me forward in the right direction 🙂 It’s weird because sometimes I will just do things spontaneously that I normally wouldn’t and it’s really cool, but other times I think about it too much and that’s when I get into a funk. I say just go for it, whatever it may be!

Home Goods is the best for fun, cheap serving bowls and all kinds of other stuff for the home . . .

So here is the recipe for lemony tofu pesto pasta. It’s a great dish for at least 6 people as a side. And hey, it’s even not bad the next day! It won’t be as bright green, but it’s pretty darn tasty in my opinion 🙂

This time around, in addition to the version above . . .

I used two lemons because the ones I had were pretty small
added 1/2 an avocado to the sauce to make it extra luscious.
cubed some fontina cheese to add in at the end to get slightly melt-y
instead of home made linguini, I used boxed farfalle pasta, and you can use any kind you like really
I had about 1/2 cup of pesto leftover to use in other things like sandwiches, yum!

For the chicken I used a really simple, but flavorful balsamic marinade that gets really sweet and slightly tangy. In a bag, along with about 1.25 pounds of chicken breasts, you add:

balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and that’s it!
You can also reserve the marinade, reduce it down slowly and baste the chicken with it and serve it on the side as a drizzle sauce.

So I say let’s not plan for once, just go out there and do anything spontaneous! Who’s with me?

What have you done today that was spontaneous and fun?

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January 11, 2010

going crazy with CSS

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Dinner,Favorites,Fitness/Health — Tags: Beef, granola bar, ice cream, kale, mushrooms, oatmeal, pasta — Kristen :) @ 4:35 am

Whew! I’ve been trying to work on designing the new template for many hours today and I think my head is about ready to explode!!! I first got a theme template from a site called VivaThemes and I was not impressed at all. I liked the overall look of the theme, but I also spent many hours to find it was not user-friendly, customizable and the customer service was terrible. Even worse I couldn’t get a refund, which is a load of crap. I would not recommend, but I won’t rant on about that . . .

I did find a new theme that is much more user friendly and I’ve been spending more time trying to figure it out. While I will have to eventually code certain things, it just seems better so I guess it’s worth it. ugh!!! (more…)

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January 9, 2010

it’s already Friday?

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Comfort foods,Dinner,Favorites — Tags: crock pot, lamb, quinoa — Kristen :) @ 12:11 am

Usually the weeks just draaaaag for me, but for some reason this one flew by! Maybe because it was the first week back? Who knows, but that’s alright with me.

Oh boy I am sore from kick-my-butt box on Wednesday! Every little back muscle along my rib cage is sore and of course my bum and abs. I couldn’t manage to make it to 6am spin this morning, but that’s okay because I want to be ready for our Great Harvest Red Rock bike ride on Saturday! I’m looking forward to riding the Red Rock loop for the first time. It’s about 41 miles and Great Harvest is providing breakfast for us before the ride, yay!

Yesterday morning I put all the prepped ingredients in the crock-potfor a stew to be ready for us when we got home. I’m in love with this new crock-pot and it’s so much bigger than my old one! I would highly recommend this one because it has several different cooking settings and a probe insert. (more…)

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December 30, 2009

southern safari

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Favorites,Holidays,My Travels — Tags: BBQ, ice cream — Kristen :) @ 4:04 am

After a lazy morning, and a quick stop at Chik-fil-A for lunch, we all headed to Lazy 5, a local animal drive-thru park with over 750 different exotic animals roaming around. It was sure an adventure! I’ve been here once before, but we just drove the grounds in our car. This time around we made an appointment to join a wagon ride and you can actually feed the animals right from your hand! It’s so exhilarating and exciting to see them so close and we all had a great time. I think I managed to take over 200 photos!

Here are some of the good ones . . .

From left to right: my mom, cousin and aunt. Sure love these guys!

I think this one is my favorite, look at that giant tongue!

They also have a petting zoo to walk around after the ride. While many of the animals weren’t out since it’s winter, there were still some roaming around waiting to be fed!

I liked the reflection in this picture . . .

FEED ME PLEASE!!

We had such a blast! It was sure chilly outside brrrr but the sun was shining!

After we got home, my mom and I took her little doggy Shadow for a quick walk. My mom recently adopted Shadow after she was hit by a car on the highway. Her right leg eventually had to be amputated, but she is doing really well now. She is such a sweetheart!

I was surprised at how well she does, and the other 3 legs make up for it 🙂

For dinner we headed out again for some good southern BBQ mmm that is something that I don’t indulge in very often. It’s fun to immerse yourself in different cuisines when visiting a city. There is nothing that I enjoy more than trying and visiting local favorites that make a city unique. I try to avoid national chains as much as possible to support local restaurants when traveling.

We always try to make a stop at a restaurant called Lancasters. It’s a great place to go to for some lip-smackin’ southern BBQ. The inside has a ton of knick-knack items and racing memorabilia all over the walls and there’s even a real bus you can sit in!

My mom ordered sweet tea. Have you heard of this before? Normally when you order iced tea in the west, it’s always unsweet tea.

If you order iced tea in the south, it is always sa-weeat tea (with an accent).

Chris usually orders unsweet tea and he was so surprised the first time he got the sweet stuff and about gagged! I had a sip of it and this stuff is sweeet! It has something near 60g of carbs for a large serving!! Yikes!

Every table gets a basket of hush puppies. Oh my gosh, these are addicting! I forced myself to only have two of these little bites of fried doughy goodness.

For dinner I ordered the salt and pepper catfish combo with pulled pork, corn on the cob and baked beans. I had one catfish filet, 1/2 the pork, 1/2 the corn and all the beans. I also had one of the ribs. Everything was delicious! The ribs were so tender and fell right off the bone mmm

To continue the indulgence of local favorites, there is a great ice cream shop called Bruster’s that Chris and I wanted to make a stop at. gah! this stuff is so good!

I had the small cup with peppermint stick and chocolate peanut butter buckeye. I was so glad I only got the small! I’ve never heard of a buckeye candy before, but I am a freak when it comes to anything with peanut butter and chocolate. What’s not to love? The peppermint had real chunks of peppermint candy and there were swirls of peanut butter all throughout the buckeye flavor. pure. heaven.

ha, love the marketing on the napkin. treat yourself. Yes, that is sure what I’ve been doing lately, but why does food always have to be considered a way to treat yourself? Especially with the holiday season it’s easy to get caught up in all the indulgence, or we try to avoid the temptation at all costs and make ourselves feel guilty if we don’t work off that extra bite of pumpkin pie. Sometimes we don’t want to, and because of personal beliefs cannot eat the food that a host has prepared, but we don’t want to make them feel bad if we don’t eat their food. I’m sure there are many other situations you have experienced also. I’ve come to realize for me it’s important to not dwell on all the eating too much, enjoy the moments with family, friends and the food of the holidays for all that it is in the best way for my wellbeing.

Food is really what brings us together as a family, defines a region and sustains our bodies to keep us going and healthy. I know that I have indulged in wonderful food and have relaxed probably a bit too much, but you know what, I’m enjoying it in moderation and am not going to worry about it for this moment in time 🙂

What are your thoughts on the holiday-food conundrum?

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November 5, 2009

new favorite

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Favorites — Tags: kabocha, quinoa — Kristen :) @ 3:25 am

Happy Wednesday! I just found my new favorite squash and it’s name is KABOCHA!!!

I was first intrigued by this pre-historic looking creature by Sophia. She’s made many enticingly delicious recipes with this squash, that when I saw it at the farmer’s market, I had to try it!

At first I was thinking of making a pizza base with it, but then I saw a box of quinoa in the pantry and decided to stuff it with some kind of quinoa mixture. Boy, this is a keeper for sure! I would have to say that this is one of my new favorite recipes, the top of the top, the cream of the crop, the . . . you get the picture.

I couldn’t really find any reliable nutrition facts on the kabocha, but I could imagine that like most winter squash it is a great source of beta carotene, potassium and vitamin C, along with fiber, especially if you eat the skin. Cutting into it I thought I would have to break out the chain saw, but after baking in the oven the skin is quite tasty. The flesh has a pleasantly sweet flavor, like a cross between a sweet potato and butternut squash and the texture is very smooth, not stringy.

Even if you can’t find Kabocha, you can most certainly use an acorn, butternut or any winter squash you can manage to cut! Don’t be intimidated by squash, all you need is a sturdy board, sharp knife and a careful hand and you’ll get rewarded by some sweet eats!

Apple Quinoa Stuffed Kabocha

Serves 2-4

1 medium kabocha squash
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
8 oz crimini mushrooms
2 apple chicken sausage links, chopped (you could also use chickpeas)
1 small apple, chopped (I left the skin on)
1 cup quinoa
1 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup parmesan
1 inch knob of cranberry goat cheese (from Trader Joe’s or just the plain kind)
salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme and a bit of red pepper flakes for a slightly spicy kick
1/2-1 cup shredded fontina or mozzarella cheese

Pre heat oven to 400. Cut the kabocha in 1/2 to get two nice halves to stuff, scrape out seeds, and place in a baking pan. I cut one down a little bit more and also spread about 1/4 tbsp of butter in each half 🙂

Sauté the next 5 ingredients (up to apple), until nice and golden. Add the quinoa and let sauté for a minute, add the broth, turn to low, cover and simmer for 12 minutes.

Uncover, turn off heat, and add the maple syrup, parm, goat cheese, and spices. Stuff kabocha with the mixture (I had a bit left over), bake covered for about 30-40 minutes. Uncover and top with cheese and bake until nice, golden and bubbly.

Oh so yum in my tum!

Any new favorites on your list??

Comments (14)

October 2, 2009

Carbs are good

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Favorites,Fitness/Health,Sports Nutrition — Tags: mushrooms, pasta — Kristen :) @ 4:43 am

Yes! Carbohydrates are an integral component to an active lifestyle, especially for endurance athletes. Having the right amount of fuel at the right time can make or break performance. Every person is different in their tolerance and there is no one ‘perfect’ equation to it, so it’s important to experiment during training to see what works best. I know I’m preaching to the choir out there, but here are some general carb guidelines for performance:

In general . . .

50-65% CHO or about 5-10g/kg per day for active
40-50% complex CHO, <10% simple CHO
70% CHO for heavy endurance training, not for long term but for days before a big event
CHO is the energy source for anaerobic glycolysis and primary energy source for high intensity activities

Pre-Competition . . .

Make sure you have a sound diet during training because you can’t make up for nutritional inadequacies that quickly.
Focus on easily digestible/low-fiber foods a 1-2 days before unless your body can handle it
Meals should be higher in CHO and relatively lower in protein and fat
- Protein requires ~7x more water with an additional ~50cc of water lost for each gram of urea produced
Stress/Nerves can alter and slow digestion
Never try something new right before/during the event

If you have . . . 3-4 hours before the event

Nice, big substantial meal
60-70% CHO, low residue/fiber (3-5g/kg)

2 hours before the event

Lighter meal (solids and/or liquids depending on the person)
60-70% CHO, low residue/fiber (2g/kg)

1 hour before the event

Snack or CHO beverage
60-70% CHO, low residue/fiber (1g/kg)
aim for low glycemic index foods or add a little bit of protein (scoop of pb) if reactive hypoglycemia is common)

3 hours = 3g/kg 2 hours = 2g/kg 1 hour = 1g/kg

So depending on how much time you have before the event dictates how much is recommended to eat, but it really depends on the person and their individual tolerance. Most events are early in the morning and someone isn’t going to get up at 2 am so they can eat a substantial meal. They would want to make sure they eat/drink something that will satisfy their hunger, replenish and stock their stores lost overnight without causing GI distress.

During the event . . .

This is really only needed when the exercise is intense (~70% VO2 Max) and it will last longer than 1-1.5 hours, and/or if the weather is hot and humid. Athletes can use 30-60g CHO per hour so it’s important to keep the BS stable and prevent depletion or else the body will just stop or ‘hit the wall’.

Ingest 15-20g CHO every 15-20 min of mixed CHO sources to utilize all the intestinal transporters and maximize absorption. I just try to shoot for at least 1/2-1L of fluid an hour and a packet of gummies because I can’t stomach the CHO drinks.
Avoid only fructose because it can delay gastric emptying and cause GI distress in some.
6-8% CHO solutions are best
CHO supplementation before and during events has an additive effect
Delaying replenishment until towards the end can increase BG, but not enhance performance

After the event . . .

It takes about 20 hours to rebuild glycogen stores
1-1.5g/kg within 15-30 minutes and then 1-1.5g/kg every 2 hours until 7-10g/kg is reached. This is especially important for the athlete who has another event soon.
CHO/PRO has no benefit on glycogen synthesis, but protein is very important for muscle recovery.
Most important factor is the AMOUNT of CHO, not necessarily if it is high or low GI, although high GI appears best to maximize stores.

CHO loading is also another strategy athletes use before an event. A good way to tell if it is working is to watch the trends on the scale. If you are gaining weight that means you are storing glycogen because for each gram of glycogen, there is 3g of water weight gained.

Because Chris is getting ready to race a century (118 mile) ride in 2 weeks, I’ve been using him as my guinea pig to help him maximize his performance with nutrition. I think the main thing for him the week before is going to be eating MORE, lots more, to fuel his ride that will take at least 6.5 hours to finish. The last big ride he burned about 2,800 kcals in 4 hours, wow that’s almost a pound!

Speaking of carbs, I definitely include complex and simple carbs in most of my meals because I’m pretty active, they are healthy and I like them! I think my favorite type of carb is pasta in any form if you hadn’t noticed by all the pasta recipes I post 🙂

I went to the farmer’s market today and got lots of goodies: kabocha (Not to be confused with kambucha tea, so sorry for my misspelling earlier!!), apples, pears, lemon thyme, wild chanterelle mushrooms and vanilla beans. So many recipe ideas rolling through my brain!

I decided to experiment with these beauties . . .

I didn’t really have anything planned for dinner since our leftovers ran out, so I decided on a simple dish: chanterelle papparadelle with a lemon thyme sauce. I had never had these mushrooms before and they were very earthy and meaty and went well with the lemon thyme. I had some of TJ’s lemon pepper pasta leftover and it went well too. I just sautéed the mushrooms and a shallot, made a roux with butter, flour and non-fat milk (salt, pepper, & a small pinch of cayenne) and added 2 tbsp lemon thyme and mixed it all together.

Overall a quick, satisfying dinner! I sure wanted to have a glass of sauvignon blanc with this! FYI: wine is no good for performance darn-it!

What are some strategies you use to maximize your performance?

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August 27, 2009

it’s really over

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Dinner,Favorites — Tags: calzone, fig, peach, pizza — Kristen :) @ 4:08 am

My first realization to the end of summer was the giant chunk of change that was gone from my pocket with just a mere click of the mouse, and now with the first week of classes, along with work, I’ve come to the final realization that it is definitely over *sigh* Even though it’s only midweek I feel my free time is going to be very tight this semester and the weekends are just going to fly by even worse than before. I want to let you guys all know that I may be lacking in the blogging and commenting department, but I will try as much as I can. I myself like to personally respond back to each commenter on their own blog because I really enjoy getting your comments and I like to see and respond to your blogs too 🙂

Thanks for all your comments I really appreciate them! I’m going to try to get another ride in this weekend, but it will probably be with the slow riders, so I’ll have to some how get in contact with him again. Whatever my thesis may be I think I’m going to ask these guys if they want to come in the ex phys lab. I wonder if they’ve tried coconut water? hmmm . . .

Happy Hump Day! Even though it’s almost pretty well over. I have to say that on Sunday and Monday I went to bed at 9 and wow, what a difference a few, well about 3 extra hours makes! I wish I could go to bed at 9 every night!

For times sake, I will jump right in to one of my favorites. . .

Chris and I always usually make home-made pizza and calzones on a Friday because we can make the worst mess in the kitchen, have lots of red wine and just be happy that it’s the weekend 🙂 This time we made them Tuesday night. Well, Chris made the dough and then we made the rest together that night. Tuesday night was also Chris’ last day before he started his new job!!!!!!!!! We are so excited and relieved that he got this one, it’s just going to be pretty tough juggling everything and dinner with both of us working full-time and doing grad school. We’ll see how it goes!

There is nothing like fresh, home-made dough! It is just so yummy and pretty darn fun to make too. I’ve made this ww dough recipe before and you can find it here, or you can just simply look at the pictures 🙂

Pizza stones give an awesome texture. Oh my gosh the oven was so freakin’ hot and we were dying. Chris also set off the fire alarm using the grill pan for stuffing ingredients, oops! We had to bring down the box fan to get some air circulating since it was just as hot if not hotter outside. I can’t wait till it cools down here!

Happy buns in the oven!

This one recipe makes a whole lotta dough (wish it was the green kind), so be prepared to make a lot for leftovers!

Ok, best pizza topping invention!!!! Have you ever tried fresh figs on your pizza? Sounds kinda weird, but it works so well. I like to use a balsamic reduction as the ‘sauce’, top it with some spinach, fresh figs, crispy prosciutto and fontina cheese, yum!

Another great pizza topping is grilled peaches, I love the combination of salty sweet things and these also pair well with the salty prosciutto.

I make thin crust pizzas most of the time, but every once in awhile I do like a Chicago deep dish from a place called BJ’s. It’s to-die for! And also their pizookies are a big weakness 🙂

Why not have a calzone or pizza making party for your next get-together? I’ve done this a couple times with some friends and we’ve had an absolute blast (of course an addition of wine makes it fun too). Just have all the ingredients and dough ready to go and get your guests working in the kitchen! Nice!

What’s the worst mess you’ve made in the kitchen?

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