Lynn's World

Vanilla Cupcakes with a Lime Alternative

2012-02-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

This weekend I checked out The Cupcake Diaries from the library. It's written by the owners of Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, DC. I was not a fan of the cupcakes in the store - I was more of a Baked and Wired girl - but they had a chocolate cupcake recipe that I've always liked making (just the cake, not the frosting), so I was curious about some of their other cupcakes.

I tried the basic vanilla.
2 1/2 cups of flour (I went a little shy on the flour, it was more like 2 1/3 cup)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8T unsalted butter at room temp
1 3/4 cups sugar (also went a little shy on this)
2 eggs at room temperature
2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
seeds for 1 vanilla bean (I had half on hand so I used it, and then added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla)
1 3/4 c milk (the recipe called for whole, but I used 2%) at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside in bowl or on wax/parchment paper.
3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. (I beat the sugar on it's own for a minute or two before adding in the sugar). When it's light and fluffy, add the eggs in one at a time.
4. Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds to the milk.
5. Add a third of the dry ingredients into the wet sugar/butter/egg mixture. Wait until it's incorporated, then add in a third of the milk mixture until it is incorporated. Repeat 2 more times.

6. Scoop the batter into a lined cupcake tray. You can use an ice cream scoop for consistency, but I aimed for 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Every one's oven is different, mine took the full 18, almost 19 mins. But start checking at 15 mins. It's ready when a toothpick comes out cleanly.

8. Let the cupcakes cool on wire racks. I was able to make 18 cupcakes from this batter.

I decided to go with the Vanilla Cream-Cheese Frosting.

4 T unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups confectioner's sugar. (not surprisingly I went shy on that because I don't like overly sweet frosting. It was more like 3 2/3 to 3 3/4 cup).

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 oz. room temp cream cheese

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and, using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, mix away until it is to the consistency of your liking. I went long and it got it really nice and smooth.

I did split the frosting. Half I kept vanilla, but with the other half I added in the zest and juice of 1 lime. (If i had and extra half lying around I would have added that) to make a lime cream cheese frosting. I did add a little extra powdered sugar here to to help absorb some of the juice.

The vanilla cupcakes I decorated with sugar sprinkles and the lime I kept plain, but you could see the zest of the lime in the frosting, which I think was quite nice.

All in all, it was a good cupcake.

Best Valentines Ever...

2012-02-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

You have to have lived in DC to get some of these valentines, but some of these are really funny!

Chocolate Molten Cake

2012-02-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

I had a chocolate craving and found a quick, easy recipe for Chocolate Molten Cake. It's a Chuck Hughes recipe. I picked it mainly because it was fast and didn't require too many ingredients. You start with melting 6 ounces of dark chocolate (I used a mix of semisweet and milk chocolate because it was what I had on hand) and a stick of butter (1/2 cup). While it's melting, mix 3 room temperature eggs with a 1/3 cup of sugar. You want it to thicken up and get a nice pale yellow color. Once that happens you want to mix the chocolate mixture into the eggs. Temper the eggs by putting in a little bit of the chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar and stir. The chocolate mixture will be warm and you don't want the eggs to scramble at all. Then mix in all of the chocolate into the eggs. Butter 4 ramakins or molds. Divide the mixture into the ramakins and put into a preheated 400F oven for 9-12 mins. It should still be gooey in the center. Let it set and then eat!

Learning How to Make Bulgogi and Kimchi

2012-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

During my recent trip to Seoul, I signed up to take a beginning Korean cooking class at O'ngo . They offer classes in English, as well as other languages. The day I was there, there was a class in English and one in Japanese.

It was fun. I've been given Korean cookbooks by my Mom in the past, but never really opened. I'm not as good of a cook as my parents. I always get good food when I go home.

Bulgogi is fairly easily. But kimchi is harder. Or at least, I always thought. I have memories from when I was a young kid of my grandmother and parents making large batches of it.

My Dad said he could teach me how to make kimchi. I would like to know how they made it. It would be nice to know my grandmother's kimchi recipe.

I did not taste the kimchi that I made. We ate the instructors. It needed to sit for a day. I left Seoul the day after I took the class. But my Mom and my Aunt Youngmee's family had it. They said it was good - but they are family, they'd kind of have to.

After the class, the guy that helps run the place took us on a food tour of a local market. That was a lot of fun.

Apparently, a lot of restaurants frequent this market. They have all the necessities, including large tubs of red pepper paste. My favorite was the home-made tofu. They were stamped with Korean words. It was very different looking from tofu that comes out of a box.

I had visited another market. It was an outdoor market that had food stalls running up the middle. I grabbed lunch there. It was very crowded, with people huddled around certain stalls. Lining the sides were various restaurants or stalls selling spices, meats, fish, vegetables - you get the picture. It was very different from the supermarkets, where there are ribbons on the fruit that is sold.

Still, at least these markets were something I could wrap my head around. There's one other way of shopping in Seoul. It's a spin of ordering on the web and having it delivered. You didn't need to go online, per se. In one of the subway stations there were photographs of store shelves - everything from detergent to toilet paper and vegetables to milk. While you're waiting, and you realize you need something, you can scan it with your smart phone. From there it will be delivered to your home. (You do need an account I imagine.). It was a hoot!

Turkey Chili

2012-02-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to cook today. It was cold and I wanted comfort food. The easiest comfort food for me to make, with the ingredients I had on hand was....chili! If you read my running blog, you know that I was a NYChiliFest 2012 last weekend. I ate a lot of chili. Still, I got out the ingredients and cooked.

You can watch here.

All in all, it was good. I topped it off with some jack cheese. And the good news is I have lunch for the week!

Cupcakes in Seoul

2012-02-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

One of the things I enjoy about Seoul are the food courts located in the department stores. Think more Harrods than the food court in a mall. Anyway, I needed a break and there were some cupcake stands so I decided to try a couple.

One was a chocolate mint cupcake, the other was banana.

One thing I've noticed right off the bat is that the sweets in Seoul are not as sweet as in the states. I think that's typical, but the cupcakes were not overly sweet.

The chocolate mint was okay. I wanted to like it more than I did. The cake was a little dry, but not too sweet. I really did like the frosting. It was smooth.

The best thing, though, about this cupcake was the name!

It gives a girl ideas. If nothing else, I knew it was my cupcake. I had wanted to ask for some stickers, but I didn't. Besides, my Korean probably wouldn't have been good enough for it.

Anyway, the banana cupcake was more moist, which was welcome after the mint chocolate cupcake. Again, nice job on the frosting. Not too sweet, smooth, and good banana flavor.

I didn't understand why it had mini-marshmellows on top, though. I understand the need for garnish, but it should have something to do with the flavor, right?

The Filling Station Doesn't Fall Short

2012-02-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

As most people who know me or have read this or the running blog, I love burgers. I would go out of my way for a great burger place. And I did over the holidays - not much, but it was a drive.

My cousin, BC, had mentioned that he'd found this great burger place by his house called The Filing Station. So, when I was home over the holidays, I thought I'd try it out. I can see why this would be a great place in the summer. It's really about outdoor seating, since it's like an old curbside shack you would have found in the 1950s. For the winter, they did provide "indoor seating" but it was basically a nice, wooden tent over the shack. It was cute.

Anyway, I ordered a burger and a side of fries. What I really enjoyed about this place was they offered dipping sauces - truffle aioli, spicy ketchup, ancho chile mayo, tartar sauce, blue cheese dip and spicy honey mustard. The chef/order taker recommended the truffle aioli, so I got that.

Out came the burger, fries and dipping sauce. The fries were good, but the dipping sauce made them great! It was so flavorful and tasty. And you didn't need a lot of it. I had dipping sauce left over. As for the burger. It was also really good. It was the meat - I think it had a lot of flavor to it. The burger was also cooked to order. So I asked for medium and it came out medium. All in all, it was worth the drive to Palisades.

I went back with BC, CC and TK, on New Year's Day. I got one of the names burgers - the Texaco. It was good, but not as spicy as I would have thought. I also got the ancho chili mayo this time around. Also, quite yummy, although not as rich as the truffle aioli. But I think the Fill'r up burger will be my standard when I go back. And yes, I will go back! If only to get a beer with my burger next time around. They had a nice selection of New York State microbrews.

Making Sugar Cookies

2012-02-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

As usual, I went on a holiday cookie binge this past December. I made peanut butter blossoms. I branched out into a couple of bar cookies - m&m bars. And, of course, I made sugar cookies. After years of trying out different recipes, I think I've found the one I like. It's based off of Alton Brown's Sugar Cookie recipe.

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk - (go a little shy on this (you'll see why at the in a bit)
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
1/2-1 teaspoon of vanilla (this is my addition to the recipe

It's your typical cookie recipe: sift together the dry ingredients, cream sugar and butter, mix wet ingredients, gradually add dry ingredients into the wet ones. Put the dough into 2 equal disks and refrigerate. (I do this overnight, but you should do this at least for a couple of hours.)

Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and use your cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for 7-10 mins (depending on size and thickness).

Then you decorate!

I used a royal icing:

3 T of Meringue Powder
4 cups of confestioners' sugar
warm water - at least 6 T, but really have more on hand

Mix the dry ingredients and then gradually add the warm water. Stir it in completely, stopping to check consistency as you go along. Once you get it to the consistency you want, divide the icing and add color gels to get different colored icing.

As you can see, I went a little overboard on colors and decorations this year.

I found that if it was smooth enough, you could do this lovely design that reminded my of venitian paper. Basically, you choose a a color as the base of the cookie, put another color frosting as stripes on top, and then, with a toothpick go back and forth. The icing has to be runny or it won't work well. The cookie gloves are a really good example.

In the past, I have invited friends over to help decorate. With the move, I wasn't really able to do that, but next year I hope to. It's more fun that way and decorating 2 dozen cookies can be taxing after awhile. Still, I want to get better. That means actually piping borders and using tips to decorate rather than a butter knife.

We'll see how spring sugar cookies come out.

Doughnut Plant Conclusion

2012-02-02T04:21:00.000-08:00

After running around Seoul - figuratively, not literally - I did not find a Doughnut Plant. I found alot of other U.S. chains from Burger King to Jamba Juice. But alas, no Doughnut Plant.

Looking for NYC in Seoul

2012-01-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

After one 13.5 hour flight and then another 3 hour flight, I made it to Seoul. And what am I trying to do? Locate the Doughnut Plant in Seoul. It's made it's way to Asia and, as my aunt was saying, it's Hillary Clinton's favorite doughnut! (That was the ad campaign used here apparently.) I did learn there is one at the airport, so I can grab some as I leave, but I think it would be a nice way to start my first day in Seoul.

Pizza and Pumpkins...The Best Way to Recover!

2011-10-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

After running the Baltimore Half Marathon with MLR (formerly MLJ), I went back down to Virginia and stayed overnight. This was the first time I'd been to ML and P's house, which is really cute. They've been doing work on the house, and it's paying off in my opinion. When I seen nice kitchen's like theirs and backyards, I always wish I owned my own place.

Anyway, since ML and I had run, P made dinner. Pizza! The best type of food for after a race. And he made all of it, including the whole wheat dough!

He made a pepperoni pizza and then a supreme.

He may not have tossed the dough in the air, but it made for a great base for some tasty pizzas. I get hungry just thinking about it: Pizza and good red wine!

I was a horrible dinner guest, though, I had to do work. I kept checking my emails and updating stories. I felt very bad. But I tried to make up for it by going for ice cream, or I should say this great frozen custard place near their house. Frozen Dairy appears to have been around (at different locations) for over 60 years. It was great!

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay up too late. The race and then the extra three miles kind of zapped me. I fell asleep on the ride back from Baltimore (but me in car usually means I'll fall asleep). I was out by 10:30 p.m.

P had garden in the backyard. Aside from tomatoes and peppers, he grew pumpkins. They were really cute!

Anyway, I don't think it was the inspiration for breakfast, but it makes a good segway. After a great night's sleep, albeit plagued by dreams (or nightmares, really) of work, we had pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! And ML even made a pumpkin shaped pancake -- granted by accident, but it went with the theme.

Despite having to work, it was a great weekend with running, great food and even better company.

What Would Batman Do?

2011-10-14T10:37:00.001-07:00

With the presidential election season already underway (only 13 more months until the election), here are the really important endorsements. Who would comic book heros support?

Dreaming About Work

2011-10-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Why is it that whenever I dream about work it usually tends to be a nightmare. The last couple of days, I keep dreaming that I forgot to set something in the page and the wnyc.org has some gaping hole do to me. I usually wake up and then just check the site to make sure. I'm not always the most detailed oriented person -- and have been known to mess up copy -- but I think I've got the hang of setting the page by now. I'd just like a good night's sleep!

Fall Foliage

2011-10-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

I went to Ithaca, NY, this past weekend to visit with AA and her family. It was a fun, relaxing trip for me. (I did get in a run - which you can read about in the other blog.) AA and I had an interesting discussion in light of the fact that our 20th HS reunion is coming up. How much have we changed/not changed. Looks-wise I think we're pretty much as we were - I bit older. But A was right, it was our demeanor and confidence levels that have changed really. I think about the shy girl I was in HS -- and I still am shy -- but I care less what people think and more about how I feel. Maybe that's just the selfishness that comes with age. But at a certain point in your life you know what you want, what you want to do, and what you're willing or not willing to put up with. Am I wrong in thinking this?

Anyway, I was upstate in the fall, so there were plenty of leaf peeping and hiking. During the short hike we took, I found another bench/chair that I love to photograph when I travel. This is one I took in Ithaca.

There is something sad about an empty chair. It's purpose is to wait for someone or someones to come by and rest. But, on the other hand, it's usually got the best view around. It gets to see the minute changes day by day or the vast vistas in front of it (depending on where the chair/bench is). One day, I'll actually get around to framing all of the ones that I have. The other cool thing that we saw, was this tree with mushrooms growing out of it -- I guess I should say fungi.

It made me wish that I actually knew how to forage in the forest. I know I'm really an urban girl, but there are some country things that I wish I knew how to do - like make jam and preserve things. I know I can learn and there are classes here in the city, but honestly, it's not like a have berry bushes outside my door or a garden to grow things that need to be preserved. One day, I'll have my place in the country. But for now, I'll hit the farmers market for some good jam.

Go With Your Gut

2011-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

That seems to be what most people will tell you. Well, I went with my gut, but I kept doubting myself and switched back, only to hate myself for it. I'm going to go with my gut, next time and not over think things.

53 Hours in London

2011-09-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

I was in London this past weekend (if you read the running blog, you knew this). It was a mix of old and new. I stayed in the neighborhood where I used to live (Fitzroy Street), and even got my Tesco digestive cookies at the same Tesco Metro I used to go grocery shopping in (which incidentally, has gotten much larger from when I was a student). It was a walk down memory lane.

There were some new things this trip. I went running at around London Bridge and ran through Borough Market. It’s a good thing it wasn’t open, because I would have stopped my run and gone eating instead. Still that was fun to see, as was the food stalls near the London eye, and the London eye, for that matter.

The biggest thing was I did not do Afternoon tea at the British Museum, which has always been my go-to. I branched out and tried something different. GF and I met from tea and walked to Charlotte Street Hotel. The setting was nice, not as light and bright as the museum, but it was cute – it had character. As GF pointed out, part of the decorations were jars of what looked liked pickled herbs and vegetables, the jar behind my head was pickled crabs!

As for the tea itself, they had the standard sandwiches, like smoked salmon and cream cheese, and some different ones, like chicken and pickled pumpkin (That was interesting because it was a mix of savory and sweet – the pumpkin was really sweet in my opinion) and a sausage roll with apple. The scones and clotted crème were great, the other pastries were ok.
They had a really nice selection. GF got a peppermint and lime iced tea which sounded refreshing, but I went with the bog standard English Breakfast.

If I had to choose a food theme for this trip, it was fish and chips. I had one of those every day (chips on Saturday, fish on Sunday, and fish and chips on Monday). I did get one good curry in, but I think the next visit should be an Indian food visit. And yes, I'm already planning a next time!

Sunset in NYC

2011-09-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was at work and had a great view of the sunset. So I ran downstairs (I needed to get some dinner) and snapped some pictures of sunset in NYC!

Surfing in NYC

2011-09-02T08:13:00.001-07:00

Some of you may remember that I went through a surfing phase when I lived out West. Well, surfing is coming to NYC. There's going to be a tournament and they'll even be giving free surf lessons. I'm quite tempted. But this kind of sums up my feelings about surfing in NYC.

Besides, the water looks much nicer in Hawaii or Bali or Costa Rica!

Almost Settled

2011-08-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

I've got all my furniture and this morning I hung up my pot rack. All in all, I'm getting settled into my new apartment in NYC!

In the next couple of weeks though, I'll have to unpack my last two boxes, but then I should be good to go!

Other Friend's Talents

2011-08-09T04:50:00.001-07:00

I love it when I discover that a friend has a really cool hobby/talent on the side. I found out that Adam Godet, who I use to work with, is a craftsman and has designed and made some really beautiful tables, boxes, and lamps. I really want to buy a couple and I shall (although I know how much he works at work, and I hate to add on to that load, even though it's something he enjoys). He also has a wonderful blog. His most recent post on technology made me nostalgic. I remember sitting by the radio waiting to tape a song onto a cassette. While I love the convienience of iTunes, there was something fun about discovering new song while waiting for the one you wanted to come onto the air.

Moving

2011-07-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

I move a lot. I'm good at moving. But right now the thought of the move is stressing me out! The biggest hurdle has been cleared. I found a place to live: the UES. I know it's not my preferred neighborhood, but it is one I can afford. Plus it's close to the park and will help with the running. I called that apartment "romantic NYC," as opposed to my first choice apartment which I dubbed "urban New York." Romantic NYC apartment is on a tree-lined street, off of a little courtyard, with lots of sunlight. Urban New York was of of a major thoroughfare, next to businesses like Rastafarian storefront, and was dark and loft-like. It's my Yin-Yang in full force.

No Tris in My Future

2011-07-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Granted, I haven't signed up for any triathlons this year, opting instead to focus on running, but I sold my bike this morning. Sold it cheap to a good home. One where it might actually get ridden more than once a year. Still, I was a little sad to see it go.

Things I'll Miss

2011-07-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

There are a few things I'll miss about Washington, DC, besides my friends and apartment. Pitango Gelato is on the top of the list. I popped in yesterday and was happily surprised that Strawberry gelato is back!

Moving!

2011-06-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'll be moving to NYC in August to start a new job! I'm very excited about the job and the new opportunities. I'm less excited about the actual move and finding a place in the city. But hopefully that will pass.

For some reason, I've been on an organizational kick. I've organized the morale order for work and the softball T-shirts. It's been fun. I think I'm developing into one of life's second-in-command. Give me a task and I'll get it done, but I'm not necessarily the big thinker. I think I use to be the reverse. Maybe it's something to do with growing older...and hopefully wiser.

What's Shakin' DC?

2011-06-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

May 17th, 3:15pm: I got my Shake Shack fix.

And a pair of Shake Shack sunglasses. While I love the fact that Shake Shack is here, it's not the same as sitting in Madison Square Park. And the meat was well-done, not the usual medium-rare. But it's a 15 minute walk away, instead of a 4.5 hour bus ride. I'm not going to complain! I think what I love the most though were the napkin holders!

Let the Countdown Begin!

2011-05-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

An opening day has been announed for Shake Shack in Washington, DC. I think everyone knows where I'll be on May 17th!

NYC Moment

2011-05-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

I was walking past the New York Public Library and took this photo.

Already Failing My New Resolution

2011-05-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks back, I said I'd apply for a job a day. I've really fallen behind on that. I think I modified it to do one search for a new job-related activity. But if not, consider this the modification. At least I'm doing that.

Rainy Day Blues

2011-04-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

It sucks to get a rejection letter, but at least I got one. Most of the time I feel like I'm on a deserted island throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean and waiting. I know that's not how you're supposed to apply for work these days, but I'm a bit old-fashioned.

Today I got a rejection note for a job I didn't really want, but I thought I'd at least get an interview for. It's my past job, just at different government organization. Apparently, I'm qualified, but not qualified enough to be referred to the selecting individual, for a job that I did for my government organization. That one really was a blow. But I've never really suceeded in getting an interview at this government organization. I should take it as a sign, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Remember When You Didn't Have A Smartphone

2011-04-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

The New York Times had this article that encapsulates the thing that I hate about cellphones/smartphones. It's made it okay to be rude. People think it's acceptable to check emails or text in the middle of conversations.

The other thing I hate -- it's a tether. You can't really get away. People expect to get you at any time of the day or expect you to reply within the hour.

New Goal

2011-04-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Every day I'm going to apply for a new job until I get a new job. In the end, I will have a new job or my self-esteem will hit an all time low or be totally crushed.

And for bumper sticker inspiration: Not all who wander are lost.

A Sad Day

2011-04-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Today, Tim Hetherington died in Libya. He and another photographer, Chris Hondros, were killed and two other wounded. Hetherington was a photojournalist whose work I admired, particularly his work in Afghanistan.

The old adage says a picture tells a thousand words. His photographs did just that and more.

Eating My Way Through Austin

2011-03-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Last month I visited JC and BC in Austin, TX. It's taken me so long to write about it because I'm still stuffed from all the great food I ate. J and B always take me out to great places to eat. In part, it's due to all the great food options in Austin, but I think it's in larger part due to the fact that J and B just know all the really places to eat. So, Austin is a city where I don't really come armed with a list of places I want to eat. I trust J and B.

They picked me up from the airport and we went to get some lunch at Bouldin Creek Coffee House. Now, I should say the other great thing about B and J is that they seem to know the people that work/run the restaurants. This was true at Bouldin, which they started going to, I learned, a few years ago at its old, smaller location. Bouldin had a great atmosphere and a vegetarian menu. While the tacos I ordered were great (the Timmy and the Ren), it was the blueberry cornbread that would draw me back again and again. It was moist and the blueberries gave it a hint of sweetness. But if I wanted more, I could dip it into the side of Agave syrup that came with the dish. The three of us shared it, but I could have eaten a couple of them all on my own.

Right across the street from Boudlin was a cupcake place that J had read about, and me being me, I said, "Let's go!" Sugar Mama's had your normal range of cupcake flavors that we got, but also some specialty ones.
Our four-pack included the french toast cupcake. I loved the idea of this cupcake (and want to try making my own version of it). It was a cinnamon cupcake, topped with Maple frosting and bits of candied bacon. It's the cupcake on the left. It was good. I think the only thing I would try differently is instead of maple frosting, I'd try it with the maple glaze. I like the added sweetness. We also tried a couple of other Austin cupcake shops, including the Hey Cupcake near J and B's house, which would fill the center of and top the cupcake with whipped cream if you asked them to.

After we finished the Austin Half marathon, J, N, and I wandered around some of the food trucks that were at the finish line. I tried a nice fish taco. But wanting something more substantial, and a nice alcoholic drink to wash it down with and celebrate the end of the run, we made our way to La Condesa. We sat outside, which was nice.
But it was a little bit chilly and breezy. Still, it was a lovely place to relax and dissect the run. They were only serving the brunch menu, but we started with with some chips and three different dipping salsas. I really like that. It gave you choice on flavor and intensity of heat/spiciness. We ended up splitting a tamale and and egg dish with mushrooms and tomatoes. The eggs were good, but I loved the tamale. I've always had mixed feelings about tamales, but this was moist and the chicken inside was full of flavor. I loved it.

The one place that was on my list for Austin, this time around, was Torchy's Tacos. I had heard so much about this place over, that I wanted to try it for myself. It had the added bonus of being a taco truck. Now Austin is something of a trailer-food nirvana. They even have food trailer parks. We went to a few during my weekend stay. The other one that I wanted to try was closed when I was there. What I learned from my visits was Sunday and Monday are not prime food trailer park times. The next time I'll come towards the end of the week. Anyway, Torchy's has brick and mortar locations as well, but we went to one of the trailers. Now it was an odd time to go between lunch and dinner, and close enough to dinner that I could ruin my appetite,
but I didn't. Aside for the queso, I tried the fried avocado taco. This was the first time I had even heard of a fried avocado, and all I can say is I hope it is not the last time. In fact, I'd love of this idea to come to the DC or NYC area. I'd never stop eating them. Wait, maybe it's a good thing they're not here. The crunchy outside contrasted nicely with the smooth, creamy avocado. It was one of the best things I've ever eaten. And since I nice little bowl of green chile queso was accompanying my "snack" it's saying a lot. I topped that off with a nice little cake pop (from the trailer next door).

But no trip to Austin, or Texas in general, would be complete without barbecue. I had wanted to try Salt Lick. It's been on most cooking shows and is an Austin staple. In fact, I believe B and J once took me to see the pit, but we didn't stay for the food. I try not to ask for too many meat only places though because J does not eat meat. Well, one of B and J's friends was having a birthday dinner and he choose Salt Lick. Not the original location Salt Lick, but the new one, which I was told was actually quite similar to the old one. They had a pit inside and just smelling the BBQ made my mouth water.
What made this place fun though, was that aside from indoor seating, you could sit at picnic tables outside and they had live music outside. I went out to listen for a bit. You can get the Family Style, which is beef, sausage, pork ribs, potato salad, slaw, beans, bread, pickles and onions. Most people got this. J actually brought her own veggie dinner with her that she was able to eat. BBOVM or Bring Your Own Vegetarian Meal is apparently allowed at the original location. The downside to the night we were there is that they had run out of the bread they normally serve and instead only had sandwich bread. Still, B managed to get the waitress to bring out some of their normal bread by pointing out that J is a vegetarian and really there aren't many options for her there. I however, went with the brisket and a beef rib, although B did slip me some pork ribs and sausage from the family style platters that came. It was good. The meat was nice and tender with great flavor on its own. But I also really liked the BBQ sauce and they even had a nice spicy option. I just remember mopping up the sauce with the sandwich bread and then dumping more sauce on my plate and mopping it up again! The potato salad was also really good. It wasn't a mayo based potato salad, in fact it was like a vinaigrette potato salad that was mashed up. The highlight of the meal with the beef rib. I had one. It was huge and quite filling! And, by the time we left, they were out of the beef ribs.

This was just a small sample of all the great food I had in Austin, but if you need recommendations I'd be happy to point you to B and J's direction.

I'm a Geek!

2011-03-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

For Christmas I got Star Wars cookie cutters. I used a good sugar cookie recipie, chilled and then rolled out the dough and stamped out the cookies. It's a different kind of cookie cutter than I'm used to. I didn't decorate the cookies, I feel it's a little above move ability levels at this point. But the impression is good and you know which character you're about to eat!

Walking the Streets of NYC

2011-02-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to NYC. I actually had to go up to Columbia University. Originally, I was going to take the subway up. But I got to NYC aroudn lunchtime and I hadn't eaten at Shake Shack in awhile, so I decided to go to the mid-town location. It was so crowded, I decided to walk up to the UWS location. From there i just continued my walk to 118th street. It was kind of fun. I did stop into Magnolia Cupcake, but it was so disorganzied (they have stations instead of just a line). So while the cupcake station was really busy you had employees just milling around. I just wanted one cupcake. I left and went to Alice's Teacup and got a slice of cake instead. I like the idea of Banana cake, I just wish it were lighter, less dense. I wonder, though, if that's possible. I've never really had a light banana cake before. Any suggestions or ideas?

Snow Day....Sort Of

2011-01-27T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well, it was my normal day off, but with all the snow, I hibernated at home. I made some Channa Punjabi (which I hadn't made in awhile). It's a nice chickpea and zucchini stew with Indian spices. I like it, and it is easy to make.

My big baking project was Walnut Cookie sandwiches with "peanutella" spread. I started by making my own nutella -- with peanuts and walnuts. It was surprisingly easy to make. And it tasted great!

I used 2 cups of roasted peanuts (I bought them raw and roasted them myself -- with some walnuts thrown in) that I put in the food processor and blended until it started to look like peanut butter. Then I added a cup of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and 3/4 tsp of vanilla. I blended it some more and streamed in some grapeseed oil (it's what I had, the original recipe called form vegetable oil or a nut oil) and continued blending it until it looked like nutella.

Then I made the cookies. New recipe -- instead of pecans I used walnuts because my Mom gave me a pound of walnuts. I think the only thing I would try differently is to cut down on the sugar -- the cookie was a little too sweet. The other thing I might try is chilling the dough for longer than 15 minutes. Still, I think all in all it came turned out well.

I'm going to bring them into work tomorrow and hopefully get some feedback on how I can improved the recipe.

The Farmer's Market in Winter

2011-01-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

I like that the Farmer's Market is open during the winter, but I admit I don't get as much veg as I do in the summer. My staples are always there. Eggs, mushrooms, cheese and bacon (sometimes). Today, I picked up some spinach, clams and a spaghetti squash. I think I'm going to make a spinach, mushroom, and ricotta cheese frittata tonight. Tomorrow, I'll go for the squash.

For lunch today, I made did linguine with clams. It was the first time I've ever cooked clams. It was fun. I made a light a sauce with white wine, olive oil, garlic, and parsley and basil from my herb box. The clams were tasty. I think I'll have to buy more things from the fish guy at the farmer's market. The last time I picked up some perch. Despite having taken a class on how to cook fish, I didn't to a really good job with my perch. Something to work on.

Resolution 2011!

2011-01-02T06:06:00.001-08:00

Well, my resolution for 2010 did not happen, but I've got a couple for 2011! One is a running/race related resolution. The other is to be more creative this year. Actually take a writing class or an art class. Basically do something fun like that. The other is to get moving on my NYC plan. Enough talk, this is the year for action!

Gardening On An Hour of Sleep

2010-07-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

When I left work this morning, the sun was just beginning to come out. You know, when the sky gets this gray-blue color, clouds are dark, and if it's going to be a beautiful day streaks of pink and red stretch across the sky. Anyway, after a 12.5 hour shift, I wasn't thinking about going to sleep. I was thinking about how to stay up until I had to be back at work two and a half hours later. I was thinking of going on a run. Thinking is the key word. The humid weather and my 30 minute walk home pretty much killed any idea I had of running. Instead I indulged in the power nap. I woke up, put on my outdoor work outfit, and headed back to work, not to the office, but the garden on the grounds. I spent an hour and a half weeding, moving vines so that they'd be trained to spread inward (which I didn't think you could do) and not over the aisles, and picking ripe veg. It reminded me of my grandfather's garden. It was really my Dad and Grandfather's garden in our backyard. There is this picture of me and my next door neighbor KvZ when we were like 5 and 4 or 6 and 5 holding zucchini from the garden and it was literally half the size of us (well, KvZ). I miss that garden -- granted I didn't appreciate at the time, like so many other things, but I remember the squash, lettuce and peppers that grew there and that I did in fact eat. The garden at work had a lot of herbs and veg: squash, okra, onions (which actually sit right on top of the soil, which surprised me) and even corn! It was a fun reason to get only an hour of sleep. (I didn't go home and go to sleep after. I've been up all day, and plan to sleep very well!)

Cherries, Cherries, Everywhere

2010-07-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, I went to Hartland Orchards in Virginia with AM and LC. We went cherry picking. Apparently, the season for sour cherries started that day. There were lots of families at the orchards with tubs to collect the cherries and ladders and stools to reach the cherries at the top of the trees. We didn't have that foresight. Still, at a dollar a pound, we collected the cherries. As I learned there, sour cherries are best for pie-baking. They're not very sweet. But I'll be honest, I had one there and it was only a bit tart, not sour at all. In fact, it almost bordered on sweet. But since I'm not a big fruit-pie baker, I thought about the other things I could possibly make -- maybe muffins, a sauce, come up with a drink. What won out in the end -- and i was inspired by the hot weather -- was a granita and popsicles. If you're wondering what a granita is -- it's a semi-frozen dessert -- like an italian ice with a coarser texture -- instead of letting it set and freeze like a popsicle, every hour I would scrape it from the sides with a fork. After about 3 hours it gets a beautiful texture. I used OJ, honey, water, sugar, fresh blueberries and about a pound of sour cherries. I blended all the ingredients together with half the fruit until it was smooth puree and then added the other half of the fruit. The end result is that the popsicle had some little bits of fruit running throughout. I've got a couple of other popsicle recipes that I want to try. If the weather stays hot in DC, I think I may have found my summer "cooking" project. Some of the other flavors that sounded good or intriguing include: wild-Berry Pops (yogurt based), minty grape pops, mexican chocolate pops and ginger citrus pops.

Blue Hill at Stone Barn

2010-07-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Despite all my farm to table reading and trips to the farmers market, I've not been to a farm (I don't think the story I did re: drought in upstate NY counts). I finally made it to Blue Hill at Stone Barn. It is a beautiful site just across the Tappen Zee Bridge. I went with my Mom and we had a nice time looking at the grounds, the greenhouses and the animals (pigs, lamb/sheep/ and cows).

It actually would be a fun place to take young kids because, in some ways, it's like a petting zoo where the kids can interact with the animals. As you can see, a lot of parents had that idea. There was a stroller parking lot outside one of the barns! I didn't get to take the official tour, though, which I kind of regret.

But, I did stand on line for close to an hour to get some of the food at Stone Barn. I had some salads, which were really tasty, and a carrot soup, which wasn't.

You Better Belize It!

2010-06-07T17:40:00.001-07:00

Even with the rain, bugs and humidity, I had a really enjoyable week in Belize. For those of you who don't know, it's a former British colony that's in Central America -- so people spoke English and the flight wasn't too long. I started off in the Cayo district of the country -- this is the lush jungle area of the country and stayed at the campsite of this really nice eco-lodge, Chaa Creek. My "tent" was a wooden structure with a screens and a tarp roof. I had kerosene lamps for lighting inside at night, as well as my headlamp. But what I loved, was the deck -- complete with my own hammock. While I may have been "roughing it," the staff at the campsite was great, as were the communal meals. And it wasn't really roughing it, since the bathrooms, showers, and dining facility had electricity. The actual lodge was a 5-minute walk away along the Medicinal trial, which labels ands explains the uses of the various trees and plants for various aliments. While I was in Cayo, I mainly visited Maya ruins, which were amazing. Tikal in neighboring Guatemala seems to the big draw, but I went to the Belizean site of Caracol, which despite a bumpy ride and requiring going with a military caravan, was quite fascinating. Again, I think the success of this trip was owed to a good group and an excellent tour guide.

Apparently, I was in Belize during a holiday, which meant that most people (including me) were worried about my taking local bus transit to my next destination, because no one was certain of the times. It actually turned out really well. I grabbed a bus (a repainted school bus) in San Ignacio to Belmopan and only had wait 5 minutes for the bus that would drop me off at Caves Branch Lodge, my 2nd eco-lodge of the trip. I had signed up to stay in the bunkhouse, kind of like a hostel room that had outdoor showers, which was very Gilligan's Island, but again still in the jungle, except with no hammocks and lots of bugs. Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate and a lot of what I was hoping to do while I was there didn't happen. I did sign up for a Waterfall tour inside a cave. It was a fun trek to a cave and then we entered the cave, snaking our away along side, but mainly in the brook/stream/small river of water, climbing over rocks and crawling under low rock overhangs until we reached a series of waterfalls. I made it up the first small one, but couldn't climb my way up the big one. Still it was fun, and while those of us who couldn't make it up that fall waited, it was actually the one time on this trip that I got cold (I found it quite enjoyable). We even had lunch in the cave, complete with white linen tablecloths. I was supposed to stay 2 nights at Caves Branch, but I had had enough and caught the bus to Dangria late that afternoon and crashed at Val's Hostel.

From there I made it to South Water Caye, a great island right along the South Water barrier reef. I could swim from shore to some excellent snorkeling sites. This was my last eco-lodge, Pelican Beach Resort, and I actually stayed in a cabin right on the water, which on my first day got a great water breeze, and a deck with a hammock! (Do you notice a theme?) I'm not the biggest beach fan, but it was really beautiful, it was a small island, and I could kayak. I even saw a ray (both while snorkeling and while in the boat -- did you know they could leap out of the water?) Even the day it rained was an opportunity for me to sit in my hammock and read. It was the restful part of my vacation.

New Year, New Resolution

2010-02-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been awhile. But I think I figured out my resolution for 2010 -- it's 20 for '10 -- in other words, this year I'm going to try and loose 20 pounds. Still running, that's the plus. But my negatives are higher -- I'm eating meat again - Shake Shack in NYC was one of the first places I went to in January! Yummy burger!

The other negatives were that, due to my now working oven, I went on a littler cookies baking spree. The December snowstorm aided in the baking-palooza. I made different cookies, including the traditional peanut butter blossoms, holiday butter cookies, and I even tried mexican wedding cookies. I also branched out and baked walnut pear cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. (I figured it was the best to use the pears.)

The running is coming along. My first race of the season is the NYC half marathon, which was moved to early spring from the middle/late summer. Weather-wise it should be much nicer! I'm supposed to be doing a long run this weekend, but snowpacalypse/snowmagedden/snowMFG may prevent that from happening. Still, I went out for a walk in the snow. It's really quite beautiful and the streets of DC are empty. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the morning.

Now if only it didn't take me overnight to upload the pics!

Oven Overdrive

2009-12-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've finally got a working oven!! In honor of the oven -- well, really to test it -- I baked brown sugar shortbread cookies. It's a recipe from The Washington Post. It's really quite simple. Blend two sticks (or 8oz) of butter, 1/3 cup of light brown sugar and 1/3 cup of sugar. Add a teaspoon or so of vanilla and a half teaspoon of salt. Mix. Then add 2 cups of flour. I actually used my hands when it came to the last cup of flour -- I'm sure a stand mixer would have been fine. Spread in a 13x9 inch pan and cook in a 325 degree oven for about 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan and then cut into squares.

It's definitely shortbread -- dense, buttery, dry but with a nice sweetness to it.

Now that the kitchen work is done, I also cooked some dinner. I stumbled on the Penn Quarter farmers market. I thought it had closed -- it does next week. I picked up some radishes, arugula, apples, and trumpet mushrooms. I sauteed the mushrooms and radish tops in olive oil and garlic. It was tasty!

An experimented with the radishes and apples. I keep seeing apple fennel slaws or salads on menus. I thought I'd try an apple-radish salad with a light lemon vinaigrette. Not really great - but the sweetness of the apple did balance the tartness and almost pepper-iness of radish. It was worth trying but I think I'll use the rest of the radishes in a salad!

No Bake Desserts

2009-12-04T16:11:00.001-08:00

As you may or may not know, my oven hasn't been working. I'm getting a new one -- actually from the sounds of my landlord a new kitchen entirely -- soon. But I still tried to bake. As you can see -- the results haven't been good. The oven doesn't get too hot, it doesn't maintain the heat, but it manages to burn the top. That was a banana bread. The one that went straight to the trash. The other I covered with tinfoil. It took about 2 hours but I got something that was edible. My latest attempt were cupcakes -- pear and walnut with a cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes didn't work out, but I did manage to get some mini-cupcakes baked all the way through.
I've been experimenting with no-bake desserts. I've been using a chocolate ganache torte as my basis and done a couple of different variations. I got the idea form a chocolate peppermint torte I did a couple of years ago. I've made a gingerbread crust and then did a mix of milk chocolate and bittersweet for the ganache. It was good but really rich and heavy. I tried a new recipe -- this one has a layer of caramel. Now, I've not had luck with making caramel in the past, so I was a bit apprehensive. But I finally got the amber color you're suppose to get! The trick, I think, is not stirring. I just let it boil away. And seeing it turn that beautiful amber color was incredibly satisfying! After adding cream and butter and getting a caramel look and taste, I mixed in some chopped nuts. On the second try I salted the caramel a bit -- I really enjoyed that taste -- and then topped it with the ganache. I got second place at my work's holiday party dessert contest!

Peruvian Cuisine

2009-12-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's taken me awhile to recover from Peru. For a vacation, it was exhausting, grueling, filled with highs and lows -- literally and figuratively -- but it was worth the cold, the numbness, the illness and the exhaustion. I finally got to see Machu Pichu! One of the things I was looking forward to was the food. It did not disappoint. When I was in Lima, I got some great food suggestions, one of which was Astrid and Gaston -- a local celebrity chef restaurant. I went for lunch and it did not disappoint. Because I was in Peru, I had to have chivche. It's suppose to be eaten in the morning and lunch -- never for dinner -- because the fish is fresh. I got the mixed catch of the day. It was spicy with good texture and flavors. My main course was fish -- cooked and topped with a parsley sauce over a bed of roasted quinoia and vegetables. I ate lots of quinoa on this trip and enjoyed it immensely. But what I remember most was picking at the sauce. It was rich and reminded me of barbecue sauce. I did not have room for dessert, but they brought me out some small bites of candy -- one was chocolate the other a gummy sweet -- which honestly I didn't enjoy much. I also got some local white wine which was wonderful. It was my main meal for that day and honestly one of the few meals I completely ate. I hadn't gotten sick at this point and was still enjoying food!
I felt bad about getting sick because the chef that traveled with us hikers did some really great meals in the middle of nowhere. We always got three courses and our lunch and dinners were wonderful -- pasta, a barley risotto, fish, stewed fruit (granted, I wouldn't have eaten them anyway -- and I was too sick to eat it. I was totally passed out when they had the local feast of cuy (guinea pig) but since I'm still in my year of vegetarianism, I would have had to pass. Well, I might have made a small exception. In fact, once we hit Cusco I didn't have much of an appetite. One dinner consisted completely of an appetizer for me. But it was pretty and good. They shape mashed potatoes into little cylindars and top it with avacado, tuna, and chicken. I got two avacados instead of a chicken. Hopefully the n ext time I go to Peru, I'll be able to enjoy more of the food.

Life at the Beach

2009-11-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy couple of months. At the end of September I went to the Hamptons to run the Hamptons Half Marathon. It was a great run, especially compared to last year when it rained for the entire run. The weather this time was beautiful -- sunny and cool. ME and MP did not come out to run this year, so I ended up camping, which was something I hadn't done this summer and it was fun. I had my pre-race meal at Cherrystone's. The chowder and the fish and chips were just as good as I remembered. Then I went to Montauk and walked along the beach. On my way back to the campsite, I stopped for a lobster roll with large chunks of lobster meat. I was cold sitting outside the roadside shack, but full!
On my way back to NJ, I stopped by my great-aunt's house and she and my great uncle took me to their church bazaar for lunch. I had some good, homemade Korean food -- seafood pancakes and bibimbap! It was also great catching up with them. I'd show you pictures, but I had a camera snafu.

Comfort Food, Thy Name is Risotto

2009-08-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Risotto's got everything I love in it: rice, cheese, a creamy texture. It has fast become my favorite comfort food, especially when it's right. And I got it right this weekend. I don't know what I did, if it was the constant stirring, the heating up of the broth before mixing it in with the arborio rice, or if it was my decision to substitute some Allegash white beer for the wine (which I didn't have in the house), but it was a yummy, creamy masterpiece.....for me. I even had leftovers for lunch today and I needed it. It's been one of those days where I question everything I've done that got me to this point in my life, every decision I've made, doors that I chose not to walk through and where I would be had I had the guts, and whether I have the capacity to make good decisions at all. Cooking school or not? Buy or Rent? Stay or Go? Tastes great or less filling? I DON'T KNOW!!!! This is why the leftover risotto was good for me today. For about 23 minutes, I put aside all my nagging, angsty questions, went to the NYTimes online, read some interesting articles about old race horses and the revival of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and forgot about my problems, for a bit.

Food is Good....

2009-08-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Especially after a long run, which I did today -- I'm hoping it was 14 miles (my total was 2:40) but I'm thinking it was just over 13 miles. I enjoyed the run because I did a different route. I included a Haines Point loop instead of just lapping The Mall 3 times. I hadn't noticed this suburban part of DC right along the water -- I wonder where it is? Anyway, right after the run, I had to go help a friend move and pretty much just cleaned up, changed and drank water. When I got to the new apt I was beginning to feel light-headed. Luckily, as a thanks-for-helping-me-move treat, AM bought bagles for everyone! Needless to say, I made a pig of myself. Next time, I'll just pig out before I leave the house! Next week I'm shooting for a 3 hour run. I've got to build-up for Dublin!

Burrito Cart Heaven

2009-08-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

I'm still going through a street food-phase. DC doesn't have the plethora of choices found in other cities, but one day, I was downtown around lunch-time and I saw the line for Pedro and Vinny's burrito cart which is actually run by John. I had first seen this cart on my morning walks to the Metro -- he was setting up -- it could be as early as 6 am and the cart would be there. In case you're wondering, it's never there on my walk home. I stood on line for a good 25 mins and it was worth it. I was told that the burrito is really a vehicle for the hot sauce. I think it's a tasty, spicy work of art. So when you're a few people out, you tell him what type of tortilla you want and if you want cheese. As you get even closer you can see the bottles and bottles of hot sauces or just sauces that can go on your burrito. The cart offers black beans, pinto beans, or the black and tan (a combo of black beans and pinto beans). I get the black and tan. Then you can get home-made salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Then comes your sauce choice: fruity vs. non fruity and the spicy scale with 1 being bland and 10 the spiciest you can get. I tend to go non-fruity and 7. Here is the result!

If I worked downtown, I'd be there at least once a week. It's probably a good thing I don't work downtown. I really would have to run every day.

Tri Again and NYC: 4th time the Charm

2009-08-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was in NJ and NYC. I came up to run the NYC Half Marathon. This was the first half marathon I ever ran and what started me down my slippery, race slope. I love this run. It's a loop around Central Park, you exit the park at 7th and Central Park South and run down through Time's Square, make a right onto 42nd Street, Left onto the West Side highway/Henry Hudson Parkway and run all the way until you hit Battery Square Park. Amazingly enough, this was the first year it was really hot. This leads me to what I don't like about the run -- that is is in August, in NYC. Still, some great runners were there -- Paula, Deena and Ryan. I think this is the only time I can say I ran with Paula and Deena (granted they were about 8000 people ahead of me, but still! Anyway, I couldn't help but think that in the 3.5 years since I started, how far (some might say obsessed) I've come.

I also realized that this was my first timed Half of the year -- not bad at 2:24:44. Last month's race was the NJ Triathlon with SM and KM. I did OK. It was nice that the course was flat, but I am a bit disappointed that I did not do the Olympic distance and opted to do the Sprint. However, considering how large the field was, it was for the best. Had I stayed in Olympic, I would have been the last wave to leave. SM and KM seemed to really enjoy it, so I'm glad (since I was the one that suggested they do try a tri in the first place).

This should give you an idea of how crowded it was. While I like the cross-training involved in a Tri, it's the transportation of gear that is the problem. Tris are something better served close to home, unlike running races where all I need to bring are sneakers.

I've actually done a lot of smaller races in NYC this year -- the mini 10k, the CPC run, and there are a couple in the fall that look fun. It would be nicer though if I actually lived in NYC instead of shlepping up from DC to do the runs.

Fresh From The Backyard

2009-08-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't spent a weekend in DC for awhile. That included the weekend before I went to Morocco. I visited LG nee LR and her husband KG. They live in southern Virginia and every year we meet up somewhere in the middle to go hiking. This time I went a little further south and stayed with them in Lynchburg, VA. The hike we did was CrabTree Falls, VA's prettiest set of waterfalls. It was a nice hike with a lot of elevation -- good practice for Peru!

But the best part of the visit was going back the LG and KG's home. They have a great garden and we picked tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs and BBQ'd. It was a great feast!

LG sent me home with some of her herbs -- basil and mint -- which I made great use of!

I wish I had a yard. Hopefully my window sill garden will suffice.

Mouthwatering Morocco

2009-08-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

I went to Morocco for about a week. I've been before -- Fez which is in the interior of the country. This time I was in Rabat, right along the Atlantic Ocean. Having grown up with the Atlantic to my east, having the Atlantic on my west was a little taste of Bizzaro World. And while I've had pangs and longed for a burger, this was the first true test of veggie year. It first started with my Air France flight. I had called the day before to request a vegetarian meal for the flight and the person on the other end of the phone said it's taken care of. Famous last words. It wasn't. The crew was really good about finding me a salad and giving me extra bread and cheese. After being on the back of the plane, surrounded by young kids who wouldn't sleep and a guy in front of me who had his seat back the entire time, except for take off and landings, we finally arrived in Rabat. It was beautiful. A nice warm day, probably in the low '80s. After we settled in at the hotel, our group wandered down to the medina to grab some dinner.

The Medina. When I hear people say a mass of humanity or the teaming masses of humanity, I think this person has been to an Arab medina. It was a river of people, shops and stall lining the streets, everyone trying to get you into their shop to buy rugs, pottery, leather goods, jewelry, wooden boxes, lamps or even a cellphone. Sometimes the tables are set up smack in the middle of the cobbled street. And the smells -- cooking meat, bread, people who need to shower. You get the picture. It was fun to wander. And we pretty much wandered the medina everyday after work. But the first night in Rabat, we had a Moroccan feast at a Riad. First was the "salads" -- cooked vegetables with some bread. Everything from beets to zucchini and eggplant.

Then there was the tagine, a Moroccan type of stew with braised meat and vegetables. The group couldn't decide between the lamb or the chicken, so they got both. I had two tasty olives from this course.

Now, I should comment on the service. It was excellent. Not only did they carry these huge dishes, the servers portioned out the dishes -- no take a plate and pass it. It did not go unnoticed by the servers that I passed on this course. One asked me in French if I was a vegetarian, so of course I answered him in Arabic and French -- "Nam (yes in arabic), Je suis vegetarianne." When they cleared the plates after the tagines, they brought in new plate and gave them to everyone but me. Now the next course was the couscous course. I was not a fan of couscous until I had it the last time I was in Morocco. Here it is add boiling water and let couscous steam for 5-10 minutes, add flavorings and vegetables and you're good to go. There it is an endeavour that can take hours (I know that because in Fez we had a cooking class on how to make couscous -- it started at 5pm and we ate at 9pm). Everyone was making jokes about how I wasn't getting anything else or how the 2 olives had filled me up. All of a sudden they came with a large dish of couscous and a small, beautiful plate of couscous for me. The large plate had meat under all the veg. Mine did not.

And if that wasn't enough, there was desert and mint tea!

We had variations on this meal throughout our stay in Morocco. I think the best dish I had was fish tagine. They served whole fish and the servers, again, new exactly how to portion it out and serve it was vegetables and the sauce. It was really good.

Aside from wandering the medina, I walked around the Kasbah. It was like a little piece of Santorini, Greece deposited along the coast with whitewashed buildings trimmed with blue. We also say the main historical sights like La Tour Hassan, the tower of Hassan. It's the background of my where's Lynn picture. We also went to Meknes, a historical city with, what is suppose to be, Morocco's prettiest gate entrance and, after setting out on my own, I did manage to get lost in the medina and we also Roman ruins outside of Meknes.

All in all a fun trip, and a great excuse not to be in the office.

Threadless Cake: The End

2009-07-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

After running around, exchanging cake racks, looking for a cake box (the Whole Foods baker just gave me one), getting green icing and checking out some apartments, I finally finished the cake. But only after I had some dinner. All that running around made me tired. I got some take out -- a lobster roll and fries. It's such an outdoorsy meal that I grabbed a book and took my boxed dinner to the roof deck and ate outside. It was nice. Now onto the cake.

First off, I frosted the tree cookies. Then I made whipped cream and used that as the filling with some strawberries.

Then I made some vanilla buttercream frosting. I've never made a buttercream frosting that I like and tonight was no exception. It came out a little too sweet for my taste and that was using half of the powdered frosting that the recipe required. I'm going to have to play around with that still. But I put on my crumb coat and then stuck the cake in the frig to set.

Then I made my woodsman figure. I made him bigger than he should be but since this was my first time working with gum paste and, well, my first time making a figure. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I frosted the rest of the cake. Then I made the face for the day of reckoning tree, laid out the tress and placed the man and his ax down. Here's the finished product!

Threadless Cake

2009-07-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

I've started my entry for the Threadless Cake Contest. I thought it would be fun to do. I had a great idea for the "When I Was 5, My Career Choices Were More Interesting" but I lack the skill the execute it. Maybe in a couple of years. The T-shirt design that has inspired my cake is "The Day of Reckoning."

On Day 1 (yesterday), I made the cookie dough. I'm making the trees out of cookies and will decorate them with green store bought icing.

I wrapped it and let it sit overnight.

On Day 2 (today), I rolled out the dough and made the tree shapes free hand. I also made little cookie axes!

Then I made a 1-2-3-4 cake and flavored it orange with some zest and 2 Tablespoons of orange juice. It was actually really good.

The cakes have been wrapped and are in the frig awaiting Day 3: cake assembly and decoration!

I (Heart) New York Pt. 2

2009-07-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

I was in NYC this weekend. I ran the Central Park Conservancy Run for Central Park with cousins, including their 2 year old son! The kids' race was really cute. The adult race was four miles. I did it in 39:18 and averaged a 9:49 mile, which for me was really good. I hate hilly courses and yet I still seem to do really well on them. Go figure. Anyway, after the race I walked around NYC with MP. We were headed to Koreatown because I was craving Korean food. Along the way, on 9th Avenue we passed by a small farmer's market. I had an apricot, one that had not been dried, for the first time. And it was good! The Farmer's Market maven used some of the ingredients that were fresh that day -- peaches, red onion, garlic, cilantro, tomatoes -- and made a peach salsa.

I also saw a tree sticking out of the terrace of a highrise. This is one of the things I love about Manhattan -- tress pop up in the most unusual places.

About 20 blocks later we made it to Chinatown. First, we went to Pocha 32. But it wasn't open for lunch -- it's apparently a 5pm-3am place. So we went a couple of doors down to BCD Tofu House. We split a pa jun (a seafood pancake -- which they had listed as a pizza, and frankly, that's soooooooo wrong. It was very good -- crisp on the outside and mushy (in a good way) on the inside! And the ban chan could have been a meal in and of itself!

But don't worry, I had room for a great kimchee chi-gae with tofu. MP and I then crossed the street so I could buy some kim-bap for my bus ride to DC. Kim-bap is Korea's version of a sushi roll except the meat is cooked. I got the veggie kim-bap though. Finally we started the almost 30 block trek back to Columbus Circle. We stopped at Bryant Park for a drink. They had this little eating area set up with Adirondack chairs and bench swings. It was really nice. All in all, a great NYC day! Thanks MP for the pictures.

Farmer's Market Meals

2009-07-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend I managed to make it to the U Street Farmer's market. I picked up beets, squash, asparagus, blueberries, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, shallots and two types of cheese - a gouda-type cheese and a soft chevre type cheese. Since I'm still going through a sandwich phase, I took out my half loaf of farmer's market wheat bread and cut off two slices. I chopped out a shallot and sauteed it and asparagus in butter. I then spread some of the chevre cheese on the wheat slices, put on some tomato slices and put that in the skillet. Added the onions and asparagus and voila!

I tried the beet pasta again last night. The beets were boiled in some water. The beet greens were chopped and sauteed in some olive oil. I also added some shallots and mushrooms. I added the whole wheat pasta to the boiled beet water, which turned the pasta this magenta pink color -- it was definitely eye popping. (Of course, I don't have pictures of it). Drained the pasta and beets, added it to the greens mixture, topped it with some olive oil and then topped it with a lot of parmesan cheese. But tonight, after my work out which involved a short 30 minute bike and then a 4 mile run, I opted for a light dinner: cereal topped with blueberries!

Souper Comfort

2009-07-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

When I feel a cold coming on, I like to hit it head on. I'll take off from work, drink lots of OJ, take some cold medication, run (sweat the bug out), rest, and eat lots of soup. Tonight it's Whole Food's Tomato Bisque. I know I could make a tomato bisque, but I actually like Whole Food soups and this tomato bisque is rich, not too sweet, and has some good basil flavor running through. When I was sick last winter (prior to the year of veggies resolution) I went through lots of WF Chicken Noodle, Minestrone, and Seafood Chowder. I did make my own squash soup though (I draw the line at some soups).

Speakeasies In The DC Area

2009-07-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

In June I went to PX. It's a little speakeasy in Old Town, Alexandria. Last year, some co-workers and I went to eat at Eamonn's A Dublin Chipper for some fish and chips. Really great fish, cool assortment of dips AND they deep fry chocolate bars! Anyway, it's a small place and we could only find seating outside on the side street. While we eating and chatting we noticed people knocking on the door of the townhouse next door. What made it unusual was instead of opening the door, the guests spoke through a little peephole that opened at eye level. If you had a reservation, in you went. One gentleman didn't have a reservation and was quite perturbed about not getting in. Curious, I went and knocked to find out what was going on. Turns out the speakeasy is open when the blue light above the door is on and a flag (a pirate flag) is hanging above the door at Eamonn's. You make reservations (for parties no larger than 6). They're known for being creative with their drinks and making a lot of their own juices, bitters, etc. Anyway, after months of talking about going, the FTC (Finer Things Club) finally went. Before meeting up with FTC, I did stop into Eamonn's for a small fish. They're really good and I don't get to Old Town often and, let's face it, I was going to have some drinks, food would be good to have prior to that. The blue light was on. We knocked. The peephole opened and asked, "yes?" To which S answered, "We have a reservation." And we were promptly let in, ushered up some narrow steps into the bar. We sat across from it (and right next to the bathroom door). They brought homemade chips and the drink ordering began! All in all, I started with a drink that had strawberry and rhubarb. It had an ice ball in it the size of a small snowball. It was really quite unusual (and I admit I wondered how they got it that shape). Next I tried to see how creative they were. They had home made ginger-ale so I asked if they could make me something using that. They did. It had some pineapple and other assorted goodies. Then I had something, I recall not liking, so I ended on a drink involving beets. Everyone else got interesting drinks as well -- such as grog! Here's a sampling of the drinks we all had that night.

FTC had gone to The Gibson, a speakeasy in DC. It was also dark and by reservation. It specialized in prohibition era drinks. I wasn't really keen on their drinks menu to be honest. I'm not a drinks connoisseur by any means, but they were both fun nights and an excuse to dress up. But, I'd take Eamonn's or Marvin (the restaurant next door to The Gibson) any day. Marvin served my favorite cocktail of the summer -- the Lawnmower: lemonade with tea infused vodka and mint!

Farmer's Market Carrots and Beets

2009-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

In early June, I went to the farmer's market and bought a bunch of carrots. As usual, I let it sit in the frig a bit too long, so I decided to try my hand at a carrot soup. I looked at a bunch of recipes, but the one that caught my eye was from Nigel Slater. He doesn't like the sweetness of carrot soup, and I tend to agree with him. He adds tomato to the soup. So I cooked some onions, carrots and tomato in vegetable stock and put it through the food mill. I love my food mill! The taste was interesting in a good way, but I don't think I had the proportion right. It definitely tempered the sweetness of the carrots, but I think I may have put in too much tomato.

The other item I picked up during my trip to the U Street Farmer's Market was beets. I've cooked beets before, but this time I used all the beets -- including the greens! I added some of the wilted down greens, cooked diced golden beets, a nice spoonful of ricotta to some pasta. The leftover greens and beets made a nice side salad in and of itself. Beets are on my buy list the next time I'm at the market!

So Much Eating, So Little Writing....

2009-06-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

I've actually been doing a lot of eating out, a bit of cooking, and only a tiny bit of training. We'll start with the most recent. I went to see the National Theatre's worldwide broadcast of Phedre yesterday at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company. The play was good -- although some of the monologues went a little long for my taste. But I went straight from work, so all throughout the day I thought of all the places where I could grab a bite to eat..... Cafe Atlantico, Teaism, Zola, Cedar (a new place in DC), matchbox, Ella's, etc. Then it struck me -- Full Kee -- a hole in the wall in Chinatown, but with a really good food – in Monday’s night case it was desire for their shrimp dumpling and noodle soup. I got my soup to go, went to the Atrium of the Portrait Gallery and proceeded to chow...or more accurately... slurp down.

This weekend, I cooked and grilled. On Saturday, ME and I made another version of the Chana Punjabi (this time with chickpeas and cauliflower) and Zucchini Vichyssoise. These two dishes are becoming standards for me. On Saturday, JW and I grilled -- a portabello mushroom burger for me and a regular burger for her. She did something very interesting with her burger and added tomato paste, Parmesan, and basil to the meat. And on Friday night -- I made a Greek styled orzo salad with a little lemon, olive oil, tomato, spinach, olives and feta cheese and an Asian slaw with red cabbage, carrot, sesame seed, sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper. These were my offering for a picnic dinner before an outdoor showing of the movie Footloose. Unfortunately, a summer thunderstorm put an end to that.

All through last week, I also baked. I found this cool cookie website Cookie Madness. I used it previously to bake Brown Sugar, bittersweet and milk chocolate cookies and I did them again. I also baked butter cookies from Alice Water's The Art Of Simple Foods. The flavor was good, but I don't think it worked well as a drop cookie. Next time, I'll try rolling the dough out and using my cookie cutters.

I also baked chocolate chip, cranberry cookies. When I first made the batch, I didn't having any baking soda and the cookies did not rise. I left the dough in the fridge for about 4 days, and it may have been my imagination, but the cookies had a bit more volume than the first batch. I also made rice krispie treats. Mixing the rice krispies and the melted marshmallow and butter is really quite difficult. Putting into the buttered dish was even harder. The mixture was sticking more to my fingers and spoon then the dish. I eventually sprayed some Pam on a Ziploc bag and got the mixture in that way.

You'll notice, I haven't mentioned any training. That's because I really haven't been doing any. I'm going to have to buckle down in July if I hope to do the Tri.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Frittata

2009-06-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

I'm headed out of town for a long weekend away and needed to use the veggies (farmer's market squash, broccoli and mushrooms) before they spoil. I also head 6 eggs and some bleu cheese, so I made a frittata. I sauteed some onions and garlic, added the mushrooms and chopped up squash and stirred for about 3-4 mins. Added salt and pepper and then the broccoli with a little water so it would steam a bit. All that got put in my pie dish (which I use for everything else but making pies) with some chunks of bleu cheese and covered with some slightly mixed eggs. In my year of veggies, this has been a standard go-to meal for me and I'm really enjoying the variety of vegetables and cheese I can use. So, to sum up, I had a lovely, light dinner which was good post run and swim, as well as having enough leftover for lunch for the next two days!

Beware the Bear

2009-05-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

I think you have to be somewhat nutty to get up at 5am-- and really nutty to do it on a Sunday morning. But that's what we did. The purpose: swim 750m, bike 17.7 (hilly) miles, and then run 3.4 miles. It was the Black Bear Triathlon in the Poconos, PA. I'll be honest, I had not been looking forward to this. I had not trained as much as I should have, and I was worried the water would be cold, and I don't have a wetsuit. Well, the water was cold, the bike was hella-hilly, and the run was a trail run where I had to stop mid-way and get some pebbles out of my shoe.
I waded into the water -- about knee deep -- prior to the start of the race and the water was OK temperature-wise. The swim portion was an in-water start, meaning we had to tread water by some buoys while we waited for the horn to blow. About 25 feet from the shore, as the water got deeper, it also got colder -- it felt 10-15 degrees colder. My feet were going numb! By the time I reached the first buoy, I was beginning to warm-up, but my feet were pretty cold for the entire swim portion. My hill attacks were better -- I'm improving at switching gears, but I did have to dismount twice and walk the bike up some long hills. It was quite funny, I'd bike past some of the walkers, huffing and puffing all the way to the top, only to have them pass me during the downhills or the straightaways. And then the next hill, the same thing would happen. The last two hills I finally learned my lesson!
Despite these challenges, it was a friendly crowd and I did finish. In fact, my swimming time improved a lot from last year's NorthEast Tri. The volunteers were great. And as soon as I crossed the finish line, i was handed a bottle of water and made my way to the food! (pizza, rita's ice, pretzels, oranges and more.) All in all, it was fun.

The best thing non-tri related was the rental car. We took a scenic drive up to Beltzville State Park (the location of the tri) and we stopped at Hershey's Farm Market for lunch. (Incidental, you can also pick up half a pig -- which according to their literature is 5lbs of bacon, 20 center cut pork chops, i country style ribs, 1 ham-cut or whole, 15lbs large link sausage, 1 pork loin end roast, and 1 rack spare ribs). They also had a great candy section and an assortment of Amish focused literature -- which was kind of strange. But it was there we notice the trunk of the car. On the inside of the trunk lid was a tab -- looked like a car air-freshener. If you looked closely, it was a glow in the dark tab with a person jumping out of the trunk! You guessed it. This car had a tab for if a person is "accidentally" locked in the trunk. You might ask how I'm certain of this? Well, I tested it out, of course, post-tri. I climbed into the trunk and had ML close the lid. I saw the glow in the dark tab, pulled it and voila.....the trunk popped open!. Here's ML trying it out!

Sandwiches

2009-05-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

I read the cookbook 'wichcraft: Craft a sandwich into a meal--and a meal into a sandwich by Tom Colicchio and with Sisha Ortuzar. It was good and put me in a sandwich phase. They had some nice veggie selections, but also helped inspire me -- mainly with different cheeses and veggies I might not have otherwise thought of -- like celery and avocado. I went through tomato and goat cheese, tomato and Havarti. I did smoked salmon with cucumbers and an avocado spread. I used brioche and multi grain and even plain whole wheat. My favorite was from the book though. It was a take on french onion soup, but in sandwich form. I sauteed some onions with garlic and butter, but them on whole wheat bread with Gruyere cheese and then grilled the sandwich. It was really good --- all 4 times I made it!

Now I'm off to the triathlon! My goal: to finish.

Bike Rides and Pie Crusts

2009-05-25T17:47:00.001-07:00

In preperation for the Black Bear Tri, I've actually started biking outside. I did two rides this weekend -- granted they were fairly flat, but it was still better than nothing. One involved doing loops of Haines Points -- which is not as scenic since they moved The Awakening and the other was the Mount Vernon Trail (which I rode with SM and KM). I still don't enjoy the biking portion of the tri, but I think I'm getting better at shifting gears and not getting as tired out going uphill. We meant to go all the way to Mt. Vernon (which would have been nice since I've not been) but we lost the trail in Old Town. I had read it was tricky, and I don't think having this handy map would have helped. But on our way back to Theodore Roosevelt Island (which was our starting point) we stopped in Old Town for a snack and watched a guy playing glasses. (Yes, crystal glasses filled with different amounts of water to effect tones). It was really fun -- especially watching him "tune" the glasses by pouring increasing amounts of water into the glass until it hit the right tone. We also got to ride under a plane as it approached the landing strip at National Airport!

So, to celebrate all the biking, I bought two whoopie pies from Whole Foods --they were yummy!!! I really want to try making them. On Sunday, I did a 4 mile, hilly run which ended at the Dupont Circle farmers market. I picked up some ricotta cheese, eggs, and first-pick squash. All of these went into a quiche tart that I made for dinner. It was quite good, if I do say so myself!

Post Hunt 2009

2009-05-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the Post Hunt 2009 and LC, ML, LT and I participated! The short answer -- the Hunt is a "quirky urban brainteaser" that had us going around downtown Washington, DC solving clues that would get us to the end. Here's the boring answer: In The Washington Post Magazine there were several number "answers" but only 5 correct ones. We had to go to 5 spots where we'd be given clues and from those clues we'd fine the 5 correct number answer. At 3pm they give you the final clue and from there you have to know where to go, be the first to solve the puzzle, get to the right spot and hand in a cellphone number. Needless to say, we weren't the winners, but we had fun trying.

Some of the clues were fairly straight forward. Statues: a Ghost next to a Canon, a vacuum cleaner, eyes and an hourglass translated to Boo-Canon or our 15th President Buchanan, for the Brits out there -- the Hoover was a reference to our 31st President Herbert Hoover, and lastly Eyes and Hour-glass (minus the glass, of course) was #34 President Dwight D. Eisenhower. While I'd love to be able to see we new what president was what number, we were aided by a president pencil that had all the presidents in order and that were found in our Hunt goodie bag. (That plus an ice-scraper. I'm still puzzling about that one.)

The hardest one was the Statues. There were two human "statues" dressed in togas and striking poses and volunteers who were handing out a clue. The clue was "According to ancient Native America legend the earth was pooped out an an Eagle PLUS It is believed to be the world's largest freestanding Polyp MINUS Little Alice loved hanging out with Uncle Henry, but she kept a sledge hammer ready in case he got frisky." This was the puzzle that really stumped us. The clue just told use it was going to be an equation of some sort. The key was the statutes. On the Hunt map there were 9 statues and if you went to all the statues there was someone with a number. You had to figure out which numbers to use. We got to the right answer, but not by going to all the statues. The final clue gave us a number to call -- and it told us an important message followed the fours. Three of the answers contained "4" or "for" or "fore" so the message was "cinematic poster next to toy" the problem was we forget the 4 in the 3rd answer which would have given us let. The final clue was "cinematic poster next to toilet" which was on the Post Hunt Map. At that location was a Star Wars poster with R2D2 and CE-P0 -- map coordinates that led to a boxer. You then had to go to that location and look for a boxer -- in this case a volunteer walking a boxer dog. So while we were going to the toys on the map, other teams won 00 and in under 30 mins. It was really quite impressive!

Still, there's always next year for Team Elphor (yes, we need to come up with a better name)!

Pretty Scar

2009-05-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

If you've had the misfortune to see or talk to me in the last week, I've probably told you/shown you my burn scar. I love this scar! It's my first -- but not my last -- baking burn scar. I was baking salty oat, brown sugar, bittersweet, semi-sweet brown cookies and accidently hit the edge of the baking sheet with my right forearm. It didn't hurt at the time. The next day, it was there -- this slightly curved, maroon colored line that was slightly raised. I don't know why I love this injury so much. The shape -- like a tall stalk bending to a strong wind -- maybe? Or maybe because it was doing something a really enjoyed! My camera's not the greatest, but you get the point. It's fading now, though.

The Blue Duck Tavern

2009-05-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

It turns out my need to clean out the pantry was canceled. My work trip did not pan through, so I've been scrounging for food and also going out to eat. One restaurant that has been on my list for awhile is Blue Duck Tavern. Apparently, Bono ate there when he was in DC. I heard of it as farm to table place -- the menu lists where your food came from. My friend AL had heard that it was a place that did slow roasting meats, home cooking very well. Given my Year of the Veggie, AL's description wasn't a good sign for me. When I first got there, I noticed that there was an herb garden in a small patch of ground by near the door. The hostess said the chefs get there herbs from it. I thought that was cool. The service at the restaurant was great. The waiters were ready with suggestions. I started with a pea soup with a cuttlefish ravioli (from Path Valley, PA).

It was nice and light. The ravioli was really difficult to eat though.

For my main course I had the Kohlrabi Gratin (Path Valley) and Warm Swiss Chard, Pinenut and Raisin pie (also Pathy Valley).

My waiter was very keen on the Gratin, unfortunately, I was not a fan. I thought it was bland and could have used a lot of salt -- but there was none on the table. The pie on the other hand was great. Nice difference in textures and a good mix of the savory and sweet. When the manager came by and asked if I liked it -- I hesitated and apparently that was enough to get the gratin off the bill. I actually felt bad about that. I mean I didn't like it, but I did eat most of it. I don't know if I'll go back during my year of the veg. There really isn't a lot of veggie choices aside from a pot pie. I look forward to trying it again when I'm eating meat!

Emptying Out the Pantry

2009-05-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

In preparing for my temporary move, I’m cleaning out the cupboards and freezer. Last night, it was risotto. I love this dish. I actually learned how to make it in Bologna, Italy in a cooking class I took towards the end of the school year. It’s not a quick dish and I don’t make it as well as the Italian mama who taught us, but it has everything I love in it. – rice, onions, cheese and a veg of my choosing! I started simply enough, a little butter and chopped onions – sautéed until translucent. Then I added the Arborio rice and cooked it until it made this clack sound when it hit the side of the pan. Next, I added my wine – in this case I used some Cava that I had open in the frig. After that, I added some shitake mushrooms that I had rehydrated and some frozen artichoke I had in the freezer. I poured some of the water from the rehydrated mushrooms into the pot next. I stirred and as the liquid got absorbed and became creamy, I added more of the liquid, and stirred some more. I did this for about 20 minutes – when I ran out of the mushroom water, I used some left over vegetable stock. Lastly, I added some parmigiano-reggiano cheese and chopped button mushrooms I had. It was OK. I needed to add some salt and pepper. I made a lot of it and I’ve pretty much got lunch for the rest of the week set!

Potomac River Run

2009-05-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

This morning I ran the Potomac River Run Half Marathon with SM and JM. It was a fun run despite the weather -- rainy -- primarily because of the great river views. The course was a foot/bike path right along the river south of Old Town, VA and almost hitting Mt. Vernon. It was a small field and I think it made it all the better. The water stations were nicely spaced apart. I finished in about 2:23 and change. The timing chip recorder broke (we think because of the rain). It was a good time for me considering how hilly the course was. I still don't think it's as bad as Central Park, but they were gently rolling 20 to 30 foot rises and falls. I signed up for the NYC Half and a Mini 10k in NYC, as well. There's a 10k here in DC that also sounds like it would be a fun race to run. But the next up for me is the Black Bear Tri. So, I think it's time for me to focus more on biking and swimming for the next couple of weeks. But I did give myself a post-race treat -- Ciao Bella's Maple Ginger Snap gelato!

Blueberry Crumb Cake

2009-05-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to a healthy cooking class at Williams-Sonoma. A cookbook was passed around -- one that had a recipe for a Blueberry Walnut Crumb cake and I have not been able to get this out of my head. After search the wed, I found a Barefoot Contessa recipe for Blueberry Crumb cake and tested it out on my co-workers. It was fairly straightforward. First, I made the streusel topping: brown sugar, regular sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour mixed together and set aside. Then came the cake. Now that the stand mixer is in NJ, I had to cream the butter and sugar by hand. It took a bit longer, but I think the result was pretty good. I added vanilla, two eggs, and sour cream into the sugar. Then came the four, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt and lemon zest. It was mixed until it all came together and then I folded in about a 1.5 cups of fresh blueberries. I put the batter in a buttered cake pan and topped it with the streusel topping, and lastly baked it for 50 minutes. I have never been a fan of baked fruit dishes.

A blueberry cake I had on my hiking trip in Alaska changed my mind, at least about baked blueberry cake-like dishes. This cake was moist and sweet, but not too sweet. Another recipe I found called for buttermilk instead of sour cream. I think I'm going to try that recipe next.

Texas Flashback Part 2: Return of the Meat

2009-04-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

I downloaded the rest of my Austin, TX trip with JC and BC. Aside from some really good BBQ and crepes, my food-filled trip covered everything from cupcakes to grass-fed beef burgers. The highlights of the trip was Hut's Hamburgers. It's in downtown Austin and as BC explained it to me it was one of the few places that sells grass-fed beef in Austin. That's what he got. I got a buffalo chili burger and J got the veggie chili. BC has given up french fries -- he's did this long before I ever met him, and I have to say it impresses me. But since I didn't give up fries, we got one order plus an order of onion rings - the thickest cuts I've ever seen.

After Hut's we went to Whole Foods and wandered around. The one in TX has several food options including a chocolate fountain and a walk-in beer cooler. I love this place. They also had some funny cupcakes, considering it was a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.

The cupcakes might have been funny, but I did not taste them. Instead we got cupcakes from hey cupcake! which is based out of an airstream trailer. They looked great and tasted even better and it made an excellent post-half marathon treat.

Lastly, no trip to Austin would be complete without a meal at Kirby Lane, BC's favorite Austin eatery. Every time J and B have taken me there, the food has been good and filling. My breakfast before my flight out was no different.

I (Heart) New York

2009-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

I was in New York City this weekend to run the MORE half marathon with cousins GO and EH. My trip started with a ride to NYC with Vamoose Bus. It was the fastest trip from DC to NYC that I had taken in awhile. We left at 8am and I was off the bus headed to packet pick-up in Chelsea by 11:45am! Since I had some time, I thought I'd meander to 18th street between 6th and 7th Ave. I was trying to find 'wichcraft so I could have a sandwich. Instead, I stumbled on a Chelsea neighborhood fair.

My first stop food-wise was a Thai food stand's Fried Banana. After that I went and got a vegetable pancake from the Korean stand. I saved the best for last. A guacamole taco.

It was guacamole tortilla with guacamole, jalapeno, tomatoes, red onion and crispy duck skin. Since I'm still in my Year of Veggies, I had mine sans skin. Still it was quite tasty.
But it was the fact that they had everything from pickles

to Fried Oreos (Yes, Fried Oreos. You'll be surprised to hear that - while tempted -- I passed on that one. It was 5 for $6. I just wanted one.) and grilled meats of all kinds. There was one that spun around over an open flame.

The Half Marathon took place on Sunday morning. It was a hot Sunday morning. Hot enough for the race organizers to cancel the marathon and turn the half into a "fun run." I don't how anyone could refer to 13.1 miles as a fun run, but there it is. Basically, the course was not timed. They took our chips and the timing mats off the course. Still, they actually made it a bit more stressful because they were putting a time limit on the course of about 3 hours and telling people that if they couldn't do 7 miles in 1:40 that they should stop after one loop. I was pushing myself a bit harder than I think I would have otherwise. I finished in about 2:26 and some change. GO and EH also finished the full 13.1 miles and I'm just happy that they aren't suing me for cruel and unusual punishment!

Tapering Down

2009-04-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

The thing I enjoy the most about approaching races is the tapering down. That's when you cut back on your running/training. It's been fun and it happened to coincide with a somewhat normal work schedule. I had a chance to finally try a recipe from Michel Richard's Happy In The Kitchen. This books is food porn, as far as I'm concerned. A friend sent it to me while I was in Iraq. At the time it was like rubbing salt into the wound -- and anyone who's every eaten DFAC food knows what I mean. I tried an easy recipe, albeit with some changes because I didn't have an onion on hand and I forgot to put in the balsamic vinegar. With spring in full-swing, I stopped at the farmers market Sunday and they had fresh beets. I remembered that there was a beet puree recipe in the book. You can see a picture of it on the right. It's time consuming because you have to roast the beets for a little over an hour, but after that it's a breeze. I chopped the roasted beets and put it into the blender with some olive oil and salt until it was smooth. Then I set it aside to let it cool down a bit. What gives this recipe body is, I think, potatoes. Per the Richard's recipe, I boiled potatoes and then put it through the food mill. Over a double broiler, I mixed the potatoes into the beets. And voila! I used it as a base for some grilled scallops.

This week, I also tried the Chana Punjabi recipe again, only I didn't use the chickpeas (and yes, I know the name doesn't really apply anymore), but substituted it with eggplant and some peas. I didn't have a jalapeno, so I added some chili powder, but this time it lacked a good spicy kick. Still, it made for a good lunch two days this week.

Well, I tomorrow I head to NYC! I'm a little nervous about this race -- it's suppose to be a warm day and I convinced some family members to run it with me. I hope they have fun. I don't want to be known as the cousin who likes to torture her other cousins by making them run 13.1 miles on a hot, New York City day!

Comfort Food

2009-04-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

This has been my first week back on a normal work schedule. While I only ran twice (and short runs at that) I did get out and do things I normally wouldn't have been able to. For example, I saw Flight of The Conchords in concert with M, J, and M. It was a lot of fun. They did a lot of songs from the second season. And Jemaine is very funny. But I've always been in awe of people who can come up with quick come backs off the fly. It's a talent that I lack. "Mel" aka Kristen Schaal opened for them and she was hilarious. She did these skits, such as pretending to be a mattress and telling the mattress's life story that still make me laugh just thinking about it.

I also went to a cooking class at Zola Wine and Kitchen. I've taken a pie class and a cake decorating class there in the past. This time it was fish -- how to buy, store, and cook. I learned how to filet a fish and different methods to cook it, including how to do a salt crust. The salt crusted fish tasted sooooooo good.

In between all this, I've been looking for a new place to live. It's quite exhausting. So, I needed some comfort food this week. For me, this means going back to my Asian roots. There was this place in London that I use to go to all the time called Wagamama's -- noodles any way you can think of. The Japanese market - Hana - on U street just happened to have my favorite brand of ramen -- yes, I have a favorite -- it is the one I grew up with. So ramen stir-fry with veggies and tofu it was. (Granted the tofu was not something I would have eaten as a kid, but I have matured -- supposedly.)

The Beauty of Leftovers

2009-04-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

I really love the Chana Punjabi recipe from Tuesday. It's even better 2 days later.

Now I want to experiment with it -- only use one can of chickpeas and add potatoes or spinach to make up for the other can, maybe even some cauliflower. The mustard green dish went into the trash. Lastly, the pesto has been tasty! I used it as a dipping sauce for some fish and even made a whole wheat pesto and peas with it.

I really think it was the addition of the nuts that made it better. I've never made pesto this good before!

I haven't run today, but it is still early -- maybe after my farmer's market trip. Challah bread, here I come!

The good, the bad and the very pretty!

2009-04-07T08:17:00.001-07:00

I'm taking the week off and having a mini-vacation in DC. Today, I did a very short bike ride and will go swimming in the afternoon. However, yesterday and today I'm having a kitchen clean out of sorts.
MONDAY
I had some mustard greens in the fridge that looked like they were on the verge of going bad. Typically, I saute greens or blanche them. So fuss, no muss and usually very tasty. I had heard that mustard greens are stronger in flavor than kale or chard, so I searched the internet and found a recipe by a chef that I like and thought I'd try something different with the greens this time: Mustard Green Gratin. Not only would it require the greens, but the ricotta I had in the fridge. On paper, the recipe had everything I like -- a bit of kick and cheese. But I'm not sure if I cooked it too long or not enough but it came out dry. Part of me wants to try this recipe again, tweak it a bit so it comes out cheesy-er, hte other part of me says, "Don't waste tasty greens on this again!" The dessert came out better. This idea is courtsey of my co-worker KR. She brings in these cookies with a Peanut Butter Cup center. Needless to say, i can't limit myself to just 1 or 2. I used a basic chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, but stopped short of adding the chocolate chips. The dough went into a mini-muffin try, about 3/4 full and I cooked it longer than I would a cookie, about 13-15 mins. Once the muffin-shaped cookies were out of the oven, I pushed the peanut butter cups into the center. The only problem is getting the cookie out of the pan. I tended to smush some. I suggest letting them cool in the pan longer normal -- and if you use liners, like I did, they still manage to slide out.

TUESDAY
This morning I made a Chana Punjabi recipe I found, I think, on The Wednesday Chef blog. It was a great way for me to use up my dry herbs/spices and didn't require me to buy any more. Tomatoes, chickpeas, lots of dried spices in pot!

While I waited for the Chana Punjabi to simmer away, I used the rest of my fresh herbs and slivered almonds. I've had some good pestos, including a basil-walnut pesto. So, I figured what's wrong with a basil, parsley and almond pesto? I added a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, and fresh Parmesan cheese to the basil, parsley and almonds. The results?
This turned into that !

Lunch is served!

Cherry Blossoms!

2009-04-06T05:25:00.001-07:00

It is officially spring, as far as I'm concerned. The Cherry Blossoms in DC are in bloom --actually a lot of the trees are in bloom -- and Sunday, 5 April, I noticed green - that bright, young, pea green on the trees! Where did I notice this? Well on my 10 mile run, as part of the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I had a PR of 1:44:09! It helps that the course was flat for the most part. Definately not as hilly as last year's Baltimore 10-miler (although the post-race activities in Baltimore was better than Cherry Blossom). I ran most of the race with my running buddy SM.

But all this spring-thinking started creeping up on me earlier than the run. The Farmer's market during the winter had beautiful squash, eggs and meat (too bad I'm not eating the latter). Now, I'm seeing much more green and many more veggies! It should be a fun spring/summer of cooking and eating!

Tomato and Mozzarella Tart

2009-04-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

So, as part of my year of vegetarianism, I've been hunting for good, simple and tasty recipes to try. Today I made a Tart from a Cook's Illustrated recipe. It was nice. The crust was buttery, but not a soggy mess and drawing the water out of the tomatoes helped keep the crust firm. It called for puff pastry for the base of the tart and was probably better than any tart dough I could have made. I had to cook the base first and then I let it cool. Prepping the tomatoes was easy -- core them and slice them about 1/4in thick, place them on paper towels or a clean cloth and sprinkle with some salt and cover with paper towels/another cloth. Let it sit for about 20-30 mins. Also, mince some garlic (2 large cloves) and olive oil (2 Tablespoons) add a little salt and pepper and put to the side. After the puff pastry base has cooled, sprinkle mozzarella cheese in an even layer on the bottom. Top the cheese with the tomatoes and then lightly spoon the oil mixture over the tomatoes and put it back in the oven for 15 mins. When it's ready take it out and sprinkle with fresh basil (and I also added some parsley).

It was yummy and surprisingly light (and I have leftovers to take to work for lunch). The only thing I would change is adding some red pepper flake to the oil to give the meal a little kick.

She ran, she ran 8k away.....

2009-03-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Today was the St. Patrick's Day 8k in Washington, DC. It was gray, misty, and a bit chilly. But, there was a large crowd out -- over 5000 runners and walkers. Met up with ML - who has joined me in many a race - and T - who has been doing some long runs with me. The minuses - the course back-tracked on itself a couple of times. They didn't have miles or kilometers marked off, so it was hard to gauge my pace. I just ran as hard as I could, for as long as I could. There was no one to tell me where the water was. I was on the other side of the road when I realized there was water -- finally and it was one of those courses were you could see the finish line, but then the course veers away and then comes back. Lastly, the water - there was no one handing water out at the end of the course -- you had to walk a distance and cut through the crowd of people waiting for their runner to finish. The plus side -- I finished the 8k in 47:35 net and 49:30 clock time. My 5k was 30:02 which was also faster than the New Year's Day 5k I did. The question is .... will this bode well for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler?

Texas Flashback

2009-03-15T13:41:00.001-07:00

In November, I visited my friend J. and her husband B. in Austin, Tx. It's always a fun time at Casa Corman. My excuse for visiting was to run the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon with J. and her friends. The second reason I wanted to visit (the first being visiting with J. & B.) is the food. Whenever I go to Austin, they take me on a culinary feast!
This time, there was one place I really wanted to go: Flip Happy Crepes. It's a crepeier (is that even a word?) that serves its delicious creations out of an airstream trailer.
It was a sunny and windy Saturday morning when we went to Flip Happy and according to J. & B. we were lucky because there were only 4 or 5 people in line ahead of us. We ordered our crepes -- for me - the roasted chicken, carmalized onion and goat chesse and of course, a sweet crepe, that was nutella and banana (never mess with with the perfect crepe combo). J&B got a sweet crepe -- the Lemon and two special savory crepes of the day. To put it bluntly -- they were yummy! Worth sitting in the sunny, but cold and windy outdoor seating area that had folding chairs and tables. We did retreat to J.'s car when it got a bit too cold, though.

Overall, despite the cold, I think J, B and I had a great time!

Arugula, Kale and Chard, Oh My!

2009-03-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

The Farmer's Market has had a lot of greens these last couple of weeks. I bought and used Arugula for the first time. I made salads with shaved parm cheese or chevere, cooked it up like stir-fry. I made a gratin out of the chard and also used it as a filling in a quiche, where I also made the piecrust! Lastly, the kale was used in a Mushroom, Barley and Kale soup recipe that I saw in the NYTs.

This has been very good for me overall. I've enjoyed using foods that I have never really eaten before, let alone cooked before. I'm trying to use and cook food that I only buy at the Farmer's market. So, to that end, I've bought some yeast and this weekend will try my hand at baking bread again.
I'm wondering if I should try joining a CSA -- it is kind of like the organic veggie box I use to get working at KQED -- except back then, I wasn't as adventurous food-wise, as I am now.

My Year of Veggies

2009-02-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

As of midnight on 1 Jan 2009, I have not eaten any meat. No grass-fed beef, no chicken, no pork, no game, nothing. I've eaten fish and that's it. It's been hard -- much harder -- than I thought it would be. I crave a hamburger or bolognese sauce on my pasta, but this has allowed me a chance to broaden my vegetable horizon. Still, I thought I would share my New Year's Eve dinner -- spaghetti Bolognese sauce made from scratch (thanks to an Nigel Slater's recipe from The Kitchen Diaries) and using grass-fed beef -- YUM!

Of course, no meal would be complete without chocolate! These pots de choclate also come courtesy of The Kitchen Diaries.

I have to say, I have really enjoyed the recipes I've used from Slater's book -- my favorite being a yummy and filing Dal and Pumpkin soup that I made with my friend ME. It's a shame I won't be able to have it again until the fall.

Eating, Drinking, Running?

2008-11-13T18:14:00.001-08:00

I went to the Power Hour at the Corcoran Gallery this evening with ML and some of his friends. Basically, it is two glasses of wine, along with a combination cheese and hors d'oeuvres platter, and admission to the museum which had a Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power exhibit. The food, wine and company were great. The exhibit was interesting. It was weird seeing all these people from the 1970s who were in power then and who are still around in one capacity or another now. I wonder if they knew back then of the road they were embarking on. What was also interesting was he took a photo of then-state senator Barack Obama circa 2004. Talk about wondering about the road he was about to embark on....

Well, I'm headed to Texas to run a half. Hopefully I'll finish under 2:25:00 but I'm not convinced considering I haven't run in two weeks. This will be an interesting half.

Election Day!

2008-11-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

It's election day. I voted. Hopefully, my candidate will win and then my presidential bad luck will finally end!!!!!

How far will I run for a Tiffany's Keychain?

2008-10-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

The answer is: 13.1 miles -- or actually 14.12, as was the case this morning. I did the Virtual San Francisco Half Marathon -- basically you run a half marathon anywhere and record it with the Nike Plus band. For your troubles, you get a finisher's shirt and Tiffany keychain (via the mail). Using my Nike Plus, I ran 14.12 miles. I wasn't sure if the Nike Plus was accurately recording the distance (yes, I have a weird distrust of using technology while I run). Lately, it's been saying a run faster than I think I actually am, so I padded the run, just in case. Turns out time wise it was typically what I run for a half -- actually a little more. Starting at the apartment, I ran past the National Cathedral, down Mass Ave to R street, took R to 16th Street, made a right and ran to the White House where I made a left to 15th and then down to the mall which I lapped almost 2 times and then ran to 13th and F where I caught the metro back home. It wasn't too bad, all in all. I logged my run on the website. It's been a fairly active weekend. Now I only have the San Antonio Half and a barnburner run. But first, pumpkin soup!

Biking Hell

2008-10-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I went to the Shenandoah Fall Foliage Bike Festival in Staunton, VA, birthplace of Woodrow Wilson. I went on a 34.4 mile bike ride -- which was described as gently rolling hills. I feel like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. I stupidly believe that the hills really a gently rolling -- to me that means not very steep and not that many. The course was hilly -- steep hills or long low grade hills. The last 5 miles, I pretty much had to walk up all the hills because me legs couldn't take any more! Still, the scenery was beautiful. Incidently, what the photo doesn't show it the 50 foot dip between the two hill tops or the wind that seemed to kick up every time I had to go uphill. It was freezing. Next time, I'm going to bring gloves.

Staunton, VA did have a very cool drive-in -- Wright's Dairy-rite. It was very 1950s with curbside service. Loved it and had a very nice chocolate shake to boot.

YUMMY!

Running, Running and More Running

2008-10-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of September I went up to the Hamptons with Michelle and Michelle for the Hamptons Half Marathon. We rented a cute little cottage in Sag Harbor and drove around the different Hamptons (west, south and east). Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. It poured the morning of the run! Still, a-running I went. It wasn't too bad -- there were moments where the rain stopped. But towards the end, I noticed some white stuff on the knee of my running pants. It was curious because I hadn't gone through any fields of white fluffy stuff -- turns out it was suds! I think when I do my laundry, rinsing twice might be a good thing. Still finishing was fun -- and I still managed it in under 2:30. And afterwards I celebrated with some good seafood -- the best fish I'd had at a place called Cherrystone's, beer, wine and chocolate. Let's face it, that's why I run.

I have another race this weekend. It's a virtual half, but I haven't been training as much as I should be. I'm beginning to get tired of all the running. Cross-training is something I really need to start doing.

chard

2008-09-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try chard and finally at the farmers market I bought some this weekend. Dark green leaves with pink veins leading to the pink stem. Well, I learned you cook the stem and leaves separately and that's what I did. The leaves were cooked down with some oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The stems I chopped up and parboiled. After that I tossed with some olive oil, covered in parmesan cheese and baked. Not surprisingly, I liked the baked dish better. It was a nice meal after my 6 mile run.

Running and Burgers

2008-09-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

I'm preparing for the Hamptons Half Marathon next weekend. My training schedule has been a bit off due to my vacation, but I've started up again -- on Monday it was 3 miles, today I ran outside for 46 minutes. I'm slowly building up time. Still, my back has been acting up. I'm thinking of doing something like acupuncture to deal with the pain or maybe pilates to help strengthen my back muscles. We'll see.

Last night I went to Good Stuff Eatery again. I had the fries, declined on the shake, and tried the Barn Buger which has pickled radish, carrots and cilantro for an asian theme. It was interesting, but frankly there is something wrong about a carrot on a burger.

Holiday's Over or What I Did Over Summer Vacation

2008-09-14T02:28:00.000-07:00

Two weeks off from work went by quite quickly. I feel like I spent a lot of time in airports (of which the Singapore airport is officially my favorite airport ever) but it was a nice trip to Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok. Didn't do much running and frankly my training schedule is off, but did do a lot of walking -- granted to various food places.

The food in Singapore and Bangkok was great! Stephanie's friend Adrian took us Americans to a great Malaysian hole in the wall restaurant. The food was cheap, spicy and YUMMY! We basically went up to the counter and pointed out things you wanted to try -- typically you could get about 3 or 4 of the dishes that the people would put on a plate of rice -- curries, stir-fires, fish balls, this really spicy tofu and potato dish that I ordered because it didn't look spicy. Lesson: looks can be deceiving. I also tried chicken rice which is apparently famous in Singapore -- rice cooked in chicken broth and served with cooked chicken and some greens. And a trip to Singapore would not be complete if I didn't go to the Hawker market -- I went to Maxwell Road Hawker market in Chinatown where steamed buns, curry rice, chicken rice, sugar cane juice and other tasty treats awaited.

I just wish the camera battery had not died, otherwise you'd see all the things I ate -- perhaps this is actually a good thing.

The one thing that I didn't get to try was Mister Donut's Tofu donut in Seoul. We walked past the sign on our way to dinner. I had hoped to go back and try it for dessert but that didn't work out. Later I tried to find the shop again but was unsuccessful. Next time!

I did check out Singapore's Asian Civilisations museum. In the China exhibit there different words or theme highlighted -- one of which is filial piety. I got a kick out of it because -- let's face it -- I tend to follow the opposite!

Travel and Food

2008-08-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Travel and Food are two things I love and I think that will be the focus of this blog. Where I eat and where go to explore. Well, at least that's one thing I can cross off my to do list.

My First Post

2008-07-14T17:57:00.001-07:00

I thought I would try blogging. I don't know what I'll be writing about or how often, but the time has come.