Fall Food

I just read through a bunch of blogs and noticed that people are cooking galore. I think maybe it's fall that makes people want to stay in and cook rather than going out. Who knows? We've been doing a lot of experimenting lately and it's turned out well, mostly. Here's the goodness we've been enjoying lately.

Couscous Stuffed Acorn Squash

Citrus Fennel Salad

Cannellini Spinach Dip (Giada recipe)

Cucumber Carpaccio

Fritto Misto (another Giada recipe)

Lettuce Wraps

Baked Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato Chips

Mommy and Me

This weekend was exactly what I needed. Shopping, relaxaing, eating good food, and catching up with my mom. It's hard for me knowing that the rest of my immediate family is all living in the same house (including my older brother's family) right now and doing everything together. So it was so nice to have my mom come see me so I wasn't quite so homesick.

We started it out with a delicious dinner Friday night at a Japanese steakhouse. I really want to know what they put in Japanese fried rice; there just isn't anything like it. Maybe it's the yummy sauce.

Then Saturday I went out to Vienna and ran the 5K with a bunch of my good friends. We all finished and had a great time, but I realized that I need to learn how to run fast. I've got the distance thing down, now I just need to work on speed. Oh and I told my friend I'd run a marathon with her in March but more about that tomorrow.

After the 5K, my mom an dI went down to Potomac Mills and shopped until we couldn't walk anymore, literally. My mom's shoes fell apart, and my feet were killing me by the end. But it was worth it. Check out the goods.

Pink sweater from Banana Republic and brown pants from Ann Taylor

Orange and red wrap top and black pencil skirt from Ann Taylor

(I’ve been looking for one forever!!!)

Gray sweater from Espirit (with a hoodie type pouch)

And shopping wouldn’t be complete without boots.

And then we had dinner at Famous Daves, and I figured out the perfect order at Famous Daves. Chicken tender appetizer with a bun, bacon, and buffalo sauce on the side = delicious crispy chicken sandwich. Sunday we went to church then played games. My mom beat me by five points in Scrabble on the word Helix. Then we went and visited a good family friend who lives in Great Falls and had a delicious dinner of steak and strawberry salad.

And then the weekend ended way too quickly and my mom had to go home. But luckily I'll see her (and the rest of my family) in Ohio for Thanksgiving. But overall, a great weekend! I love you mom.

Running + Mom + Outlets = Perfect Weekend

My mom flies in today as my birthday present from my parents. I saw her over Labor Day weekend, but it's been a while since she's been out to visit me. Before I started my new job and moved into my new apartment. I even cleaned the entire apartment last night so it looks like we're real adults :)

She and I have both been working really hard the past few months so this will be a nice break for both of us. Especially when all I have planned is the Wolf Trap 5K tomorrow morning, pedicures after that, and then shopping at Potomac Mills. And that's it. Maybe a little food in there here and there and some sleep, but I'm going to try and keep it as relaxing and stress free as possible. Oh and did I mention that my mom is amazing and I can't wait to see her?

Blogging is Killing My Brain Cells

They say that multitasking makes you dumber. It literally kills brain cells. I don't really know how to explain what I'm thinking right now. All I can come up with is that my life feels like a big multitasking mess where I don't ever get anything completely done. Or if I do get something done, it's not anywhere near as well as it should have been. Even though most of the things I'm doing are good things and things I want to do, I just can't do it all and do it well. There are things like working, exercising, eating, and sleeping that just have to be done. And things like watching TV, reading/reviewing books, couponing are just extra things that take up my time right now.

Sadly, blogging is beginning to fall into that multitasking category for me. It's one of those things that I love, but sometimes I do because I feel like I should. It's just something else that fills up my time right now. And that being said, if I'm not around quite as much the next couple of months, it's because I'm trying to finish up some of the things that I've started but never got around to finishing this year. I'm hoping that maybe by writing this post, I'll take some of the pressure off of myself to post daily. Or every other day.

Don't worry, I'm not going on a complete blogging hiatus, just slowing down a little. Taking life one thing at a time rather than trying to do it all at once. And hopefully by not multitasking my life away, I'll actually get something done and enjoy the process. Or maybe I'll gain back those brain cells I lost multitasking for the last five years.

Halloween Tricks and Treats

We're co-hosting a Halloween party this year with some friends, and I'm in charge of bringing an appetizer and dessert. I wanted to do something cute and Halloweeny so I started looking on the internet for ideas. And thanks to the internet, I now have two many ideas. How am I supposed to decide between all of these things?

Spider cookies

Ice Scream Sandwiches

Almond Brownie Coffins

Ghoulish Petit Fours

Crescent Mummies Dogs

Heaven in Four Words

Fried.Bacon.Wrapped.Dates.

Add that to potato covered chorizo, mashed potato and chicken croquettes, and a chocolate hazelnut torte and I couldn't ask for more in a meal.

Just another reason I love being young and married- I always have a date and still have a little money to go out to eat every once in a while.

Baltimore Race Recap

I ran my first non-family half marathon this weekend. I ran it with my friend Emily and her husband Richard, and it went much better than I was expecting. Emily pulled her hamstring a couple of weeks ago so I was expecting to walk a good amount of the race because of her injury. But we ended up only walking about .25 miles, once right after mile 7 and once right after mile 10. Other than that we ran the whole thing, and it actually felt great.

Until the next morning when neither of us could walk without hobbling. Overall though, this was one of the best and worst half-marathons for me.

Pros:

• Spectators were amazing. They were on the sidelines throughout every inch of the course handing out everything from gummy bears to mardi gras beads. I wasn't bored once.
• Pretending like I was "motivating/pacing" my friend. Definitely helped motivate myself.
• Hotel Monaco- my friend got a great deal so we stayed about 1/2 mile from the race start. Amazing pillows and a short walk to the starting line.
• It rained a little during the race so it made me feel like a real runner.
• Finishing another race and picking out the next one.
• The race gear- very nice Under Armor tech shirts and a cute crab medal.

Cons:

• Support stations on the course weren't great. The good stuff like bananas were gone by the time we got to the stations, and they were giving out things like whole oranges. Have you ever tried to peel an orange while running?
• The pickup/expo was organized, but they made up walk to one side of the expo for step 1, the other side for step 2, and back to the first side for step 3. Apparently they didn't think 13.1 miles was quite enough.
• We ran up a hill. We ran down a hill. Repeat. I've never been so sore after a race. I think I'm going to stick to only running races with "flat and fast" in the description.
• It was my running shoes' last race. Say hello to their pink sister.

Simple Sunday Brunch

We have church from 8-11 on Sundays so by the time we get home it's almost too late for breakfast but not quite time for lunch. Which means we typically end up with some type of Sunday brunch. Richie likes meat and I like bread so bacon pancakes was a perfect combination for us. I know it sounds weird, but they were actually very tasty.

Bacon and Walnut Pancakes (based on Giada's Pancetta and Cinnamon Waffles)

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
2 cups Bisquick (we used heart healthy)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (depends on how much cinnamon you want)
8 slices of bacon, crisped (we used Hormel pre-cooked), diced
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup maple syrup (we used bottled lite syrup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread chopped walnuts on a baking sheet. Toast in oven 8-10 mins.
3. Mix Bisquick, milk, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla together in mixing bowl.
4. Stir crisped pieces of bacon into batter.
5. Pour batter onto hot griddle (or pan) and cook 1-2 mins on each side.
6. Top pancakes with toasted walnuts and syrup.

Race Weekend

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately. My counterpart at work is out for 2 ½ weeks while he gets married and goes on his honeymoon, so it’s been a busy week. I’ll be back to normal blogging (and living hopefully) by the end of the month.

This weekend should be a fun one. I’m driving up to Baltimore for the half-marathon tomorrow. I’ll finish the race, but I vow never to run two half-marathons so close together. I had no motivation whatsoever to start the last month of training (8-10 mile long runs) again right after I finished the last month of training. I think three months is the closest I’ll put them so I can start the easy part of training again and then build up.

So I’m off to add medal and t-shirt #6 to my collection. And knock Maryland off my quest to run half-marathons in every state.

Homemade Donuts = A Delicious Mess

So last night, I had a bunch of my girl friends come over to make donuts. I've never made homemade donuts before but was pretty excited to try. And thanks to the help of a number of good friends (who also turned out to be good donut makers), we ended up with a big mess and probably a hundred delicious donuts. Oh and we may have beaten a number of songs on RockBand as well.

All of our husbands came over after the donuts were done to eat the goods and play games. I may have eaten ten too many donuts, but it was worth it. We made original glazed, orange glazed, chocolate glazed, chocolate with sprinkles, chocolate with almonds, and chocolate with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Krispy Kreme watch out. I think DC may need a homemade donut shop.

Step 1: Make donut dough. I used this recipe. And this chocolate glaze.

Step 2: Roll out donuts.

Step 3: Cut out donuts using a glass (don't twist, just press down). Cut out donut hole in center with the cap of a water bottle.

Step 4: Let donuts rise.

Step 5: Fry donuts. Chopsticks work great for flipping the donuts and taking them out of the water without poking holes in the actual donut. Let dry on a paper towel to absorb the grease.

Step 6: Dip in glaze, cinnamon sugar, etc.

Step 7: Top with whatever sounds good.

Step 8: Repeat.

Step 9: Enjoy.

No Buts About It

I read a book this week that I really enjoyed. There was one thing that really stuck out to me called the but statement (or something like that). It's simple but really powerful. When you say anything with a but in it try switching the positive and negative statements that you're joining. It makes a big difference. Watch.

"I went to the gym today but I gained ten pounds," becomes...
"...I gained ten pounds, but I went to the gym today."

And, "I had a good day at work, but my boss yelled at me,"
"...My boss yelled at me, but I had a good day at work."

"I'll see my husband this weekend, but he has been gone all week,"
"...My husband has been gone all week, but I'll see him this weekend.

And, "I love watching Grey's Anatomy, but it makes me cry,"
"...Grey's Anatomy makes me cry, but I love watching it."

Try it out. It's amazing how just a small switch can make a big difference. Happy Friday.