i think today might qualify as my 2 year running anniversary. i actually started in the spring of 2006, but didn’t decide to do a race and train for something until a july 4th picnic that year which made it fitting that i ran my last race before the move today. the course sucked for running (super hilly and the 10k looped the same course twice - yuck) but it was really great to run around downtown one last time before the move. lots of great views. i know i’ll be back for some races, but its different when its not your hometown.

i’ve discovered over the past few years that i must have music to run. if i run along and can hear myself breathing and my feet hitting the pavement, my brain takes over and i end up feeling exhausted. but find a good song, i can zone out and i’m set. found a new one today, luckily just about a quarter mile into the 6.2 mile jaunt. if you run, its a great tempo, and the lyrics were - well, all too appropriate. i actually put this song on repeat and listened to it for the entire hour and seven minutes of the race. try it on your running playlist:

hello stranger - “her in these lights”

Back then when we were young
Who thought this day would ever come?
After all this time

Some dreams are coming true
Some of us just can’t get through
After all this time

And all my friends are trying to reach some end
Trying to pretend that we’re alright now
I see her in these lights as the setting night

There you and I are standing still
The years dissolving into stronger will
After all this time

Everything we’ve torn apart
We’ve built back with stronger hearts
I’m so afraid of how long I’ve made you stay,
The choices we made but In the end, dear
Who cares who did it right if only we had survived

The things I’ve seen so far away
Are getting closer everyday
After all this time

And all I want when this is done
To say I tried, say we had fun
After all this time

Nothing will be the same
We keep playing the game

Here comes a girl her eyes like stars now
She’s given me a fearless heart
After all this time

last week i went to seattle for a few days, got a cold, flew back in on friday night and got up early saturday to run a half marathon in the pouring rain which has resulted in 1. me spending 2:30:23 perfecting the art of snot rocketing 2. two disfigured toes 3. being able to cross half marathon off my to do list for 08.

no, that is not me trying to do a “cute pose”. i do not participate in such frivolity. i’m standing that way because i thought i had bloodied my foot in such a way that i was physically unable to put it on the ground at that point. and yet, the idea of doing this all over again in just six short weeks has actually crossed my mind. {enter interventionist}

and, contrary to popular belief and photo histories, there are instances when i’m running and both my feet leave the ground. yes, i passed both of those girls, as well as a few others on the homestretch, and i gloated. on the inside, of course. say what you will about height not having anything to do with running speed, but my stride is like 3x as long as those girls’ and in the end, big femurs won. just sayin.

as part of my plan to cook meals from different parts of the world this year, i made a hungarian meal for a couple of friends this week. i managed to get the stamp of approval from chris, whose dad is from hungary. not too shabby for my first attempt, i suppose. i made goulash (which, contrary to popular belief is not actually macaroni, ground beef and spaghetti sauce - that’s actually beef-a-roni, people), chicken paprikash, some viennese cucumbers (ok, so it was an austro-hungarian meal) and a linzertorte. some things i learned along the way:

1. hungarians have the highest suicide rate in the world
2. hungarian wine is like $50 a bottle
3. you can buy a large amount of paprika in bulk at whole foods for 2.99
4. if you buy one large amount of paprika, then forget you have it and buy another large amount of paprika, then you just have a whole ton of paprika
5. goulash can be a soup or a stew and the recipe actually calls for 1-5 cups of liquid. quite a variance.
6. many hungarian chefs refuse to put tomatoes in their goulash. we used tomoato paste. the color comes from the massive quantity of paprkia.
7. this pot is awesome, tested as well as all-clad and le creuset (according to cook’s illustrated) and is super fantastic if you get it at half off like i did
8. linzertorte is the oldest known cake in the world
9. there is a crust that is harder to work with than my pie crust - linzertorte crust. in order to get the lattice effect, you had to freeze it for a while, then use two icing spatulas to lay it on top of the tart. i did learn a new method to make lattice top pies look like they’re woven, when they really aren’t. there was no way you could have woven this crust.
10. hungarian sausage livens up any party. unfortunately, we had none.

in the works - february will be italian. been dying to try homemade ravioli and tiramisu. march will be irish - shepherd’s pie? stew, maybe? its more about the accompanying beverage in ireland anyway, right?

i’ve recently started reading cook’s illustrated magazine. holy crap. it’s like alton brown meets chow.com and reads like the finest novel ever written. once i start reading an article, i can’t put it down. they’ll take a recipe, like chocolate butter crisp cookies and try every possible variation - 2 whole eggs vs. 2 yolks 1 white vs. 2 whites vs. 2 whites 1 yolk; baking at 350, 375, 400, 425; hershey chocolate vs. nestle vs. dutch processed - (you get the picture) until their tasters deem it “perfect”. until now, i’ve just been swiping cooks illustrated recipes from various food blogs when i get lucky enough to find them. but then i purchased an issue to read during christmas travels and now i am not sure i can continue to live if i miss even one spectacular bi-monthly* issue. last issue was holiday baking (i have at least seven recipes to try from this one) and this month - soups and stews. its possible that i got a little misty eyed when i saw it there on the magazine rack in books a million. i love soups and stews. and just in time for national soup swap day. (yes, we are having a soup swap this year, and yes, you are invited. better start thinking about it.) thank you, cooks illustrated!

anyway, back to the point. last issue had a recipe for homemade waffle batter. i guess all waffle batter is “homemade” to some extent. so i guess its homemade (non bisquick) waffle batter. it has yeast in it, and you let it rise in the fridge over night, and what resulted will change your life (or maybe just your breakfast palate) forever. i got all crazy and used a raspberry sauce that went in between layers of a big cake i made last year as a topping and it was sooooooooo good. watch out, pancake pantry. we don’t need you anymore.

YEASTED WAFFLES
From Cook’s Illustrated, Dec 2007

The batter must be made 12 to 24 hours in advance. We prefer the texture of the waffles made in a classic waffle iron, but a Belgian waffle iron will work, though it will make fewer waffles. The waffles are best served fresh from the iron but can be held in an oven until all of the batter is used. As you make the waffles, place them on a wire rack set above a baking sheet, cover them with a clean kitchen towel, and place the baking sheet in a 200-degree oven. When the final waffle is in the iron, remove the towel to allow the waffles to crisp for a few minutes. These waffles are quite rich; buttering them before eating is not compulsory and, to some, may even be superfluous.

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups whole milk , or low-fat milk, or skim milk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 8 pieces
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat milk and butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter is melted, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool milk/butter mixture until warm to touch. Meanwhile, whisk flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in large bowl to combine. Gradually whisk warm milk/butter mixture into flour mixture; continue to whisk until batter is smooth. In small bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla until combined, then add egg mixture to batter and whisk until incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 12 and up to 24 hours.

2. Following manufacturer’s instructions, heat waffle iron; remove waffle batter from refrigerator when waffle iron is hot (batter will be foamy and doubled in size). Whisk batter to recombine (batter will deflate). Bake waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions (use about ½ cup for 7-inch round iron and about 1 cup for 9-inch square iron). Serve waffles immediately or hold in low temperature oven (see above note).

RASPBERRY TOPPING
(i think i stole it from smitten kitchen)

10 oz frozen raspberries
1/4 c sugar
1 tbsp corn startch

thaw then puree the raspberries. heat raspberries, sugar and corn starch over medium heat until it thickens. pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the seeds. use a spoon to press mixture through the strainer.

*did you know bi-monthly can me 2x a month or every other month. what a stupid system. the magazine is published 6x a year.

i get really angry when recipes don’t work the way they should. its mostly because deep down, i know it was my fault and i did something wrong, but i’d rather blame the recipe. anyway, after i found chow’s recipes for homemade halloween candy a few weeks ago, i decided that would be my next cooking challenge. i opted to go for the home made twix. after reading through the recipe, i was feeling ok about my chances of succeeding in this. its a three part recipe: first, shortbread. easy, i thought, as i’ve made these a time or two and had no problems creating shortbread. second, caramel. again, i’ve made caramel on numerous occasions, including the aforementioned recipe. and third, tempering chocolate. this was new for me, and frankly scared me a little. you have to melt the chocloate, get it to 118 degrees (if it gets to 120 its ruined), drop it to 80 degrees, then raise it again to 85-87 degrees while you’re dipping and if you get out of that range, it won’t work. whew. worst case scenario: i’d have delicious shortbread and caramel with some messed up chocolate. i didn’t think i’d get too many complaints about that, so decided to give it a go.

whole foods actually carried the el rey 41% milk chocolate bars that i needed, and at a much better price than what i was finding online. still, the chocolate was $15, but i figured that was a small price to pay for an afternoon of cooking adventures. now there was even more pressure to make this work - $15 is a lot to spend on chocolate.

i started friday afternoon with the shortbread. this is where the disaster ensued. i screwed up the shortbread by using butter that was a little too cool. that’s right, i messed up this 18 step recipe just between steps two and three. needless to say, i was not happy about this and did not have enough time (or butter) to try it again friday.

however, i do have good news to report. after taking some time away from the kitchen (unless you count the delicious mulled cider i made friday night) i was determined to put my pricey chocolate to good use. my second attempt turned out much better, and we actually manage to correctly temper the chocolate - they really look and taste like candy bars! i must admit, in the rush to dip them all and keep the chocolate in the proper temperature range, we did get sloppy, so they might not be the prettiest candy bars, but i think they’ll be better next time, now that i’m not so frightened of tempering chocolate. and, now i know how not to make shortbread.

philip ran the indianapolis marathon this morning, and was allowed to finish, had plenty of fluids available along the race course and didn’t walk once. pretty awesome. we decided to call it day early on friday and head up there to watch. it was a great race for spectators, we got to see him pass by 5-6 times along the course and had time for coffee and lunch in between sightings. brian and i are also beet red as a result of our lack of sunscreen. seriously - worst sunburn i’ve had in a few years. ouch! but certainly not as painful as how philip probably feels right now. way to go!

ok, so i only hope this is the best running playlist of all time, and will carry me to a sub 30 minute 5k on saturday. yeah, i know that’s slow. i never claimed to be any good at running. yet i continue doing it. this is perplexing.

stars: soft revolution
at the drive-in: one-armed scissor
jimmy eat world: bleed american
mutemath: chaos
jimmy eat world: a praise chorus
muse: the fine print
jimmy eat world: lucky denver mint
the postal service: such great heights
thrice: the artist in the ambulance
bloc party: banquet
john mark mcmillan: make you move
bloc party: helicopter
finch: perfection through silence
minus the bear: drilling
minus the bear: hooray
stars: ageless beauty
stars: what i’m trying to say

yep, lots of music from the same bands. i don’t listen to a lot of peppy music, and i’ve found that i can’t run to the music by most of my favorite bands, so i’ve had to branch out. anyway, i’ve been getting lots of google search traffic from people looking for running music, and i’m all about giving the people what they want. so there you have it.

speaking of running, i’ve decided to do a half marathon. that’s 13.1 miles. going to start working on it sunday, and should be ready by the first of the year. i have no idea why i am doing this. if you feel there needs to be a running intervention, any night but mondays works for me.

for those who are unaware, i am hopelessly addicted to food/recipe/craft blogs. my enslavement doesn’t really limit itself to blogs, i guess, but expands into the realm of any food/recipe/craft site that has commenting functionality. see, i want to know how to make things, but i want someone else to try it first, and tell me if it sucks, or how i can do it better.

lately, almost everything i cook or bake comes from blogs (not martha and smitten kitchen are the main culprits, closely followed by chow and epicurious) home made oreos, no knead bread, cinnamon bundt cake, and chicken salad have been some of the delicious results. with every new blog post, my to do list and my grocery list get longer and longer. i have roughly 12 recipes in queue right now.

but i have to draw the line somewhere. and today, the line has been drawn, with home made bagels via smitten kitchen. 12 steps, each about a paragraph long, five after-notes and 1,199 words. she started friday and finished the bagels saturday. yes, they sound delicious. but i cannot possibly make them and risk spending all that time, looking high and low for the perfect ingredients to end up possibly messing them up and wasting all that time and effort. i just can’t bring myself to do it. did i mention there were 12 steps??

i went out on a limb the other day, and started cooking some stuff out of magazines, you know, the good old fashioned way, with no print button and no user reviews. so far i’ve gotten 2 batches of the best roasted veggies i’ve ever had, and the most disgusting thing to ever come out of my kitchen. this stuff is sitting in my stomach right now, and i’m feeling a little nauseous thinking about it, but i did learn something: stay away from rice noodles. unless i seriously jacked things up, i don’t ever want to see rice noodles again, as long as i live. think clear gummy worms with no flavor. i guess there are a lot of varieties of rice noodles, so maybe some of the others are good, but i seriously could not stomach what i made for dinner tonight. (rice sticks..part way down the page)

and now i am off to make replacement dinner. but the only things that sound good are peanut butter fudge or pumpkin pie. hmmm…

running is a strange sport. 10 weeks ago i ran 7 miles, and was disappointed my run ended so early. i really think i could have easily done at least 2 more miles after the first 7. since then i’ve tapered off a bit and taken some time off, due to random aches and pains and partly due to the heat. i went out this morning, aiming for 2 and only got through 1. it wasn’t my legs or my lungs, it was my head. i’m under the firm belief that the only thing stopping most people from running long distances is their own brain.

i’m not much for resolutions. seems like a set up for failure to me. however, it just so happens that i’ve been doing a few things pretty regularly lately:

1. baking
2. running

so since i’m already doing these things, i figured i’d formalize them into resolution format
thus, in perhaps the only photoset of its kind on flickr, i present:

cakes and races of 2007

www.flickr.com

that’s right. one organized race, and one cake (baked from scratch) every month this year.
so far i’m thinking:

month	race	cake
january	resolution run 5k	cookies and cream cake
february	nashville predators 5k	chocolate stout cake
march	tom king 5k	bailey’s irish creme cake
april	richland creek 5 mile run	tbd
may	i run for cinco de mayo	tbd
june	tbd	tbd
july	i run for 4th of july	tbd
august	i run for the party	tbd
september	tbd	tbd
october	oktoberfest 5k	tbd
november	tbd	tbd
december	tbd	tbd

as you can see, the cake schedule is wide open, so suggestions are welcome.

wait, i just thought of another resolution: construct more meaningless html tables.