Getting closer

I’m ready for Thanksgiving! Bring on the running, family and food. Woot woot!

Can I come too??

This is a 'just because'. It's from the Big Peach fashion show a few weeks ago.

In no particular order

1. Rosemary Garlic Adjustable Grinder – This has been a staple in my pantry for the past 8 months. Working in retail guarantees 4 days a week of 10 hours shifts. I’ve used the grinder to provide an easy addition of flavor for sauteed spinach and fish for some time now. I’ve recently found a greater love for the grinder when using it with olive oil and french bread for an appetizer and with sweet potatoes. Love it.

2. Hungry City – I have hijacked this book from Brennan as he works on White Flight. I finally finished An Omnivore’s Dilemma (Despite the implication, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. More so, I read the book this summer, had 25 pages to finish and took way too long to sit down and read them.) I’m quite excited to get into the new book. Carolyn steel writes about the relationship of food  and cities to highlight the impact of food production on our lives. Below is a quote from the first few pages:

The modern food industry has done strange things to us. By suppling us with cheap and plentiful food at little apparent cost, it has satisfied our our basic needs, while making those needs appear inconsequential. That applies not just to meat, but to every type of food. Potatoes and cabbages, oranges and lemons, sardines and kippers; whatever we eat, the scale and complexity of the process of getting to us in considerable. By the time it reaches us, our food has often travelled thousands of miles through airports and docksides, warehouses and factory kitchens and been touched by dozens of unseen hands. Yet most of us live in ignorance of the effort it takes to feed us.

3. Running apparel and rainy runs – Today was 44 degrees and cold, angled rain. The weather was a prime example that quality running wear can be highly useful. Some pieces do a better job than others.

4. Brickstore Pub – Each time I’ve gone, I’ve enjoyed it more and more. Tonight I tried the Lagunitas Brown Shugga while Brennan tried the Stone Old Guardian. Their special of risotto with chicken, fuji apples, arugula and winter squash was incredibly tasty!

5. Recipes – I tried a new one this week that came out ‘ok’. If anything, it taught me to avoid the overly thick chicken breasts at Publix. I do love Publix for a supermarket, but the cut is too thick and I feel that I come out with chewy chicken that is overcooked on the outside despite my efforts. From now on, I think I’ll spend more on organic/local options. With that, I made the cookies again this week. The are still fabulous. And gone …

Tea

I was never a sweet tea kind of girl ( yes, I am from Georgia) but have come to love hot tea. [As an aside, while in college, my taste buds did a 180 on me. I learned to appreciate foods such as: watermelon, salmon, okra and a plethora in between.] I am by no means a tea connoisseur, but have developed a taste for Rooibos tea. Apparently some traditional medicinal uses of rooibos in South Africa include alleviating infantile colic, allergies, asthma and dermatological problems. Despite these claims, my asthma and dermatological issues still persist. I can hope right?

On another note, out and about today and saw the below … very disappointed to see mid-November.

Terrible …

Me and blogging that is. This blog was created as an exercise to post up recipes and take more pictures. And while I’m certainly eating and taking pictures … not so good with taking the time to post. So, here’s what’s been going on …

Running: I’m running the 1/2 marathon on Thanksgiving. It was the first 1/2 marathon I completed and I’m looking forward to doing it again. The 1/2 fails to be the most scenic course of all times, but serves you give you a solid caloric deficit to take on the day of food. My last 1/2 was the ING in March. I used the 1/2 as apart of a 21 mile training run for Boston. It was a PR for me with 8 more miles to run post 1/2. Ideally, this will go even better. It will by no means be incredibly upsetting if it does not; however, I’ve gotten a few 14 mile runs under my belt in my training and it’s safe to say that I haven’t done that for other events.

Work: Work is work … but going well. Staying busy with the Social Media sites on the side.

Life: Brennan’s birthday was last Thursday. He’s put in a lot of hours with some recent store projects, so homemade pizza served to be the birthday night dinner. [Kari - it's so good!] We also celebrated with his mom at The Iberian Pig, a new restaurant in Decatur. Meat heavy for me … but it was well done.

Recipes: Below are a few from this week. The pizza is one I came across in a Runner’s World issue. The cookies were made for the boys at Big Peach working on inventory on their off day.

Caramelized Onion and Fig Pizza

• Pizza dough for 1 pizza
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup arugula leaves, packed
• 6 dried figs, sliced
• 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Roll out dough to fit baking pan. Preheat oven to 450 F degrees. Heat oil and sauté onions with salt until brown. Add sugar and balsamic vinegar. Cook for 10 minutes. Spread onion mixture over dough, leaving an edge for the crust. Top with arugula, figs, and crumbled cheese. Place in oven for 15 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove from oven. Drizzle balsamic vinegar on top. Slice into sixths and serve.

Double Chocolate-Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk-chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium speed and add the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until fully incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
2. Form the dough into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
3. Bake until the centers are just set, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Corn Chowder

I can’t take credit for this recipe at all. It comes from the Mayo Clinic cookbook my mother bestowed upon me last year. As many of you know, the weather in Atlanta has been rainy, a lot. And with fall leaves a damp air, this soup fit the bill quite well!

Ingredients

2 poblano or Anaheim chilies, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 or 3 Yukon gold or red-skinned potatoes, about 1 pound total weight, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 4 ears corn) or frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 cups vegetable stock or broth
1 cup 1 percent low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (fresh coriander)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions

Preheat a gas grill or broiler (grill). Position the cooking rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.

Arrange the chilies skin-side down on the grill rack, or skin-side up on a broiler pan lined with aluminum foil. Grill or broil until the skins begin to blacken, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let steam until the skins loosen, about 10 minutes. Peel the chilies, discarding the blackened skin, and chop coarsely. Set aside.

Put the potatoes in a saucepan, add water to cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a small bowl. With a potato masher, partially mash the potatoes and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and saute until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and cook for 3 to 4 minutes longer. Stir in the roasted chilies and the partially mashed potatoes. Add the corn, vegetable stock, milk, pepper and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Simmer uncovered until the soup thickens, 25 to 30 minutes.

Ladle into warmed bowls and sprinkle with the cilantro and oregano. Serve immediately.

Interesting

A few days ago I noticed some mold growing on the back of Butter when I came home from work. I knew it would need to be addressed, but did not care at that moment to toss the decaying pumpkin into the woods. Well, once mold gets going, it really takes over. I mean really.

Just a bit.

The smell was a bit overpowering as well. It reaches a point where you don’t want to do anything with it … but you know it is only going to get worse.

Poor thing.

The only thing missing was a video of the process that was taking Butter to the woods. Found a pair of Pearl Izumi socks in the garage to use as my gloves. Grabbed a plastic bag and put it over his head. The volume of fluid in the pumpkin was nothing short of shocking. Naturally, Butter started to fall apart as I tried to flip him into the bag. Joe came out to help shovel the bottom into the bag. Took what felt like a 30lb bag of deceased pumpkin to the woods for its final resting place.

You were cute.

On another note. Brennan and I ate at Brick Store Pub. We both had the Bell’s Expedition Stout. It was excellent. I’m not always a fan of stouts, but this one was one that I will enjoy again. For an appetizer, a meat and cheese plate. The prosciutto was paired well with a Midnight Moon gouda, dried apricot and a mustard. I had their Hungarian goulash and a salad while Brennan enjoyed their Pierogi Primavera.

Lastly, Jackson competed in a Halloween costume contest. Here is the amazing costume my mom made.

Ranger Doug

If anyone is interested in the prints that I shared in the previous post … they can be found on Ranger Doug’s site. He does replications of WPA National Park posters.

Weekend of Running

I took last weekend off from work to participate in a few events around metro-Atl. Such a nice break that I completely welcomed! Retail can be extremely draining…

Saturday morning I competed in our Big Peach Fall 5 Miler road race in East Cobb. It’s been a little while since I tried to run a bit faster so I was pleased with the effort. I finished 3rd in my age group and even won a little gift card to … Big Peach. Ha! But I’ll take it! The event went well, especially considering winter took it’s first strike that morning with chilly temperatures and a nice headwind for, what felt like, the whole race.

Followed the race up with Decatur Beer Fest in downtown Decatur. The weather attempted to put a damper on the event with drizzle, overcast and lower than ideal temperatures, but it failed to do so completely. I really enjoyed it because I am no beer connoisseur  and it proved to be a great opportunity for me to try a number of beers that I have never tasted. They also gave us a great little nugget glass for our tasting.

On Sunday morning the Big Peach team headed out to Conyers International Horse Park for a Trail Ekiden 40K put on by Dirty Spokes. Still a bit chilly, but the sun was out and the course was great. Some hamburgers and giant cupcakes topped the afternoon off.

I also picked up a few of my favorite prints that I got framed at Michael’s and I love them. Only took me 3 years to frame …

Happy Halloween!

An obscene amount of money can be spent on crafts, but they can be quite cute.

Butter

Tis the season for pumpkin carving. I had a strong desire to carve a pumpkin this year. Trying to slow down a bit to enjoy the change of season. I was never a huge Halloween fan. Coming up with a costume was a process that I really didn’t care for … more due to the fact that I underrated my ability to come up with a creative/non-seductive/etc. costume that wasn’t too expensive. But, I do love the change of color in the leaves. I have a soft spot (or abyss) for nature and fall presents itself so nicely during this time. So … to Kroger Brennan and I went to grab a pumpkin after work yesterday. I don’t really remember how Butter came about, but that is his name. Below is the photo story.

Cleaning the pumpkin.

I'm gripping the knife a bit too tightly.

Brennan's idea for the pumpkin.

Hopefully one of us with the masterpiece soon enough!