Eleuthera-Here I come!!

I am grossly overpacked and I’ve checked and re-checked my packing list to be sure that nothing important will be left behind.  I didn’t sleep well last night from both excitement and nervousness.  I don’t really like to fly, especially not alone.  This girl’s feet belong planted firmly on the ground, preferably next to tomatoes and carrots.  I’m planning to leave for the airport in about two hours, and with nothing left to do, the nervous ball of energy in my stomach is sure to grow.   So, to get my mind off of the airplane and so I don’t keep thinking about being away from Mike and the beans for more than a week, I’d like to tell you about Eleuthera.

It is practically paradise.  I’m not a Vegas vacation sort of girl, I like to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle that regular life brings.  Eleuthera is an undeveloped Bahamian Out Island about 100 miles long and only 2 miles wide.  It is tiny!!

If you drive (or run!!) south from Northern Eleuthera, you will come to the narrowest part of the island, known as the Glass Window Bridge.  It is famous for its spectacular views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, if you stand (or lay I guess) on the bridge you can almost (but not quite!) put your toes in the Atlantic and dip the tips of your fingers in the Sea.  The color contrast of the waters are strikingly beautiful.

Eleuthera was the site of the first successful European settlement in the Bahamas, it has picturesque pink sand beaches, New England style fishing villages, and is known for growing the sweetest pineapples in the world.  When I was there in 2010, I tried desperately to get my hands on some local pineapple, but it was not quite the right season and this is as close as I got-

I always thought pineapple grew on trees. Not so! Only one fruit per plant.

Since the US stopped importing pineapple from Eleuthera in the 1980s, most of the pineapple plantations along with the island’s prosperous economy, have disappeared.

I am fortunate enough to have been invited to spend a whole week of Bahamian sun and sand with my Aunt.  We have plans of kayaking, deep-sea fishing, snorkeling, shelling, touring the sustainable island school, geo caching, spear fishing and we are even going to try to catch our own lobster!

View from the house.

Me in Eleuthera 2010

Worst photo EVER!! But I caught a tuna and got to eat it raw within 20 minutes of pulling it from the ocean:)

Chickens on the beach? Yes please!!!

It is going to be a fantastic adventure and I’m ready to soak it all in.  There will be wi-fi at the house and I’m hoping to post some of my favorite things and pics throughout the week.  CLE, you’ve been lovely this week but Eleuthera, here I come!!!

 

Will run for green beer

Wow.  What a day!  And it’s only 5 p.m.  I love St. Patrick’s Day even though I’m not even close to being Irish.  But we’re all Irish today, right? Especially in CLE:)

I wanted to get my long run in on Saturday this week since I’m leaving for Eleuthera in the morning.  Hal said I had to run 16 miles this weekend which is my farthest distance to date.  My sister’s schedule called for 18, and since 16 and 18 are pretty much the same thing we decided to run them together.  Mike, Kir, and I trekked out to the Westside’s Rocky River Reservation with a few close friends to pound the crap out of that pavement.  I felt great for the first 15, then my right hip started giving me some grief.  We worked it out though, my hip and I, and only walked for about 1/4 of a mile to finish the 18 at a 9:54 pace.  My weekday running buddy told me that this is too fast because my long runs should be 1-2 minutes slower than my planned race pace.  Since I have no clue what my marathon race pace is, it seems reasonable to just run at a comfortable speed.  Thoughts?  Advice?

Smiling after 18 sunshine-y miles.

Anyway, it was an amazing group of people and we made the most of our distance by laughing and joking the entire time.  Then, since it is St. Patty’s day, we made our way to the West End Tavern where we planned on eating brunch.  The menu looked fantastic with corned beef omelets and eggs Mcbenedict, but we had terrible service and ended up leaving after only a drink.  Next on our mini Lakewood pub crawl was Around The Corner.  They were very accommodating with their green beer and vegetarian reuben sandwiches.

No need to shower, just start drinking!

I had meat on mine of course but Kir is veg and several people in our party were observing lent.  After our delicious lunch we made one last stop at Harry Buffalo for green-ish martinis.  YUM.

This weekend was also a CSA pick up week and Fresh Fork did not disappoint with a taco salad themed bag-

Winter CSA Wk 11:

1 pack pork loin chops

1 bag corn crackers

2 lb black turtle beans

1 pint salsa

1 bag mixed salad greens

1 pint sorghum syrup

1 dozen eggs

1 lb assorted sausage

1 lb sweet corn

1 lb kale, bunched

We received sorghum syrup in a bag last summer and used it to sweeten applesauce for freezing.  It is a slightly more bitter version of molasses.  Molasses is made from cane sugar, and since that doesn’t grow in Ohio, we can’t get it locally.  Sorghum is a type of wheat.  It has several advantages to the farmer.  First, it is a good source of protein for animal feed, particularly chicken feed. The top, or sorghum berries, are harvested for feed. The roots are deep and strong and tend to break up heavy soils.  And the stalk can be pulped and boiled to make sorghum syrup.  A win-win situation for all involved:)

When I picked up the bags, Trevor asked if I could deliver a large box ‘o meat to the Grovewood Tavern for him in exchange for a growler of beer.  I’ve told Trevor in the past that I will work for food, apparently I also work for beer:)  The Grovewood is on my way home from work so it was really no trouble at all, the beer (Hibernation Ale) was a nice treat and it was delish.

I’m trying to talk Mike into heading out for a corned beef dinner tonight as well since I burned a good 1600 calories today.  I don’t think it’s fair that you burn more calories if you weigh more, our friend Jason burned almost 3000 for the same run!  I might have to write a letter to somebody about that.  I’m not sure who I would address it to though, St. Patrick or maybe Santa perhaps?

I hope you had a festive and fun St. Patrick’s day and that it included at least one glass (or plastic cup) of terrible green beer:)

Next post- prologue to Eleuthera.

Silly Spring Chickens

The first day of Spring is still 6 days away, but it is definitely in the air!  Today in NE Ohio we’re enjoying brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine, and 60 degree temps.  That groundhog is supposed to be an expert, but boy did he miss the mark this year.  I think February should switch animals, chickens are much better at predicting the changes of the seasons than that old rodent!  Our hens are spending a lot more time outside and because of the increasingly longer days, they’ve started laying again:)  I spotted plenty of wild chives on my long (15 miles woohoo!!) run through North Chagrin Reservation on Sunday, and spent a good part of yesterday afternoon spring cleaning the chicken coop.  I let them into the garden while I worked so they could scratch up the dirt and feast on all the juicy worms and bugs.  The ladies must have been happy with my efforts because one of the girls left this for me today-

It is huge!!!  Much bigger and a bit lighter in color than the local eggs we’ve been purchasing recently.  The only problem is she didn’t leave it in the coop, she laid the egg in a little hole she dug under a bush nearby.  I hope that the raccoon incident hasn’t scared the ladies so much that they are going to neglect their cozy nest boxes in favor of a hole in the ground!  We used to have a fake egg in one side of the nest box to encourage them to lay there, but it was missing yesterday when I cleaned.  I wonder if it accidentally made its way into the compost bin along with the poop?  I’ll probably find it in a week or two when I spread the compost into the garden.

Guess which one is home-grown?

With all the stores in full Easter mode, it shouldn’t be hard to find a new egg decoy.  I filled in the nest-hole with dirt but they have already started digging it out again so I’ll cover it with a board or some rocks later today.  Silly chickens:)

What is your favorite sign that Spring has sprung?  Mine are peas and rhubarb.

Getting Ready to Raise Chickens Workshop

Wednesday evening we piled all the beans into the car and headed to the Westside to attend a chicken keeping workshop that was being offered by the Cuyahoga County Ohio State University Extension.  Since we already have a few feathered friends, I expected to hear a lot of info that I already knew, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I learned about raising brand new chicks.  We are hoping to order some peeps in the next few weeks and since our hens were hand-me-down layers, we know nothing about taking care of the tiny fuzzy babies.

Not this kind of peep!!!!

Andrew Hudak a Program Specialist for the OSU Extension’s Urban Agriculture program gave the slide show presentation with enthusiasm.  He was extremely knowledgable and also passionate about sharing his chicken-y knowledge.  I loved listening to him answer questions and he didn’t mind that a lot of the questions quickly turned into discussions in the packed classroom.  I also loved that the slide show included a lot of pics of his beans snuggling chickens of different ages:)  He brought along different feeders, waterers, and even set up a small habitat with everything the day old chicks need to be healthy and happy.  Then toward the end of the class he brought out a box of these guys, I mean gals-

That's the kind of peeps I'm talking about!

Somehow our three kids had managed to behave themselves for an hour and a half.  Not only behave, but listen, take pictures, and notes even!  They are so excited to get their hands on their own fuzzy babies.  Andrew let the kids come up and put the peeps into their temporary new home.  I’m not going to go into details about all the information from the class, but I will share his Powerpoint presentation as soon as I get the email.

I don't know which one I want to snuggle more!

These chicks are two days old and I could already see some of their yellow fuzz being replaced by actual feathers.  The babies have to live inside for 5-7 weeks while you gradually reduce the temperature in their box, until it is equal to the temperatures outside at night.  By that time all their feathers will be in and they’ll be ready to be introduced to their coop, new feathered family, and the big wide world.

3 cute chicks!

Now is the time to get peeps, we’re just trying to decide on the breeds.  I’m guessing we are going to get five chicks, five different varieties.  I want an Easter Egger for her green and blue eggs, Conner wants a German chicken since he learned that is where his ancestors are from.  Lucky for us, both are extremely cold tolerant breeds which is a must for chickens in CLE!  If we start our chicks in the next few weeks, they should be adding to our omelet supply sometime in August.

Peep love:)

The OSU Extension has a whole line up of Urban Agriculture Workshops like Organic Pest Control, Starting a Compost Pile, and Disease Prevention.  The best part is they are FREE, so there is no reason not to get out there and learn something!  Here is the 2012 schedule.  There is no need to register, just note that some classes are held outside and you’ll need to dress for the weather.  I was happy to learn that they also offer a Master Gardener Hotline 216-429-8235 or email mgdiagnostics_cuya@ag.osu.edu .  Now you can call with all your burning tomato, bean, and okra growing questions on Mondays and Thursdays from 10-1.  You know I am totally going to add that puppy to speed dial!

Kudos to Cleveland for recently adopting new urban farming regulations.  They are one of the only large cities in the U.S. to actually encourage chicken and bee keeping!  Lakewood is making progress in their fight for their right to PARTY!!! keep backyard hens by finally getting approval to start a pilot program this year.  Goooooo Lakewood!!!!!   Here is an interesting article about their struggle.  The Lakewood Public Library is hosting a screening of the documentary Mad City Chickens on Thursday, March 15th.  All the info is here (on pg 14 but holy Hell they have some good programs at that library!), maybe I’ll see you there!

What do you think about backyard chickens?  Would you like to have your own?  How would you feel if your neighbor started raising hens?

Random Shtuff

I finally got called out for neglecting my blog.  I’m so happy that somebody missed me:)  I’ve been meaning to blog and I’ve had about 14 bazillion things to write about, but life got in the way and mine has been filled with things that I wasn’t willing to give up for an hour at my desk.

So here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of what I’ve been planning on blogging about-

Race #1 -The Dirty Trail Series’ Dirty Love was more like Snowy Love because the one snowstorm we’ve had this month happened the night before the race.  It was still lots of fun tromping through the snow in my pink tutu and the coffee mug swag was a welcomed change from the normal shirt.  I wasn’t worried about my finishing time which is good since it wasn’t particularly great.

Race #2-The Chili Bowl Classic is definitely worthy of it’s own post but I’m going to keep it short and sweet just like the race was.  An out and back 5K (short) starting at Tower city passing my 9-3 weekday hangout, The Rock Hall, continuing out the Marginal a short distance before heading back the slight uphill to the finish line behind TC.  There was lots of sweet about this race! Free parking at the RH, vegan chili, our VIP storage area and private bathroom thanks to a friend who works for RTA, and a PR!!!  I think my fastest 5K time was 27-ish.  I don’t pay much attention to my times and I think last year my Chili Bowl time was over 30.  My plan this year was to have my hubby pace me and keep me at just under a 9 minute mile which would have been a PR and a great time for me.  I run sans gadgets and don’t like to be bothered with worrying about my pace.  He let me do my own thing and stayed next to or just behind me the entire time, yelling “Don’t listen!!!” as the guy called out times at mile 1.  I finished in 24:10 which is CRAZY fast for me and I was both shocked and thrilled.  I think running the trails so often makes road running seem a little easier.

My 2011 Chili Classic finish. Freezing and sloooooow!

2011 chili eating pose

2012 finish. What a difference in time and attire! See Mike looking all cute and checking on me:)

2012 Chili eating pose. I'm a creature of habit:)

Road Rash-You’d think that running the trails would also make me a bit less clumsy, not so!  I bit it hard right outside of Browns Stadium on my Thursday run this week.  I narrowly missed hitting my head on a giant concrete planter, but was happy that the blood wasn’t gushing and I was still able to get in my 4 miles.  I’m not sure if I was distracted by the beautiful Cleveland sun or if my mouth was just running faster than my feet, but luckily I only ended up with some scrapes on my right side and on my pride.

Cholesterol-Have you had yours checked lately?  I never have until last week.  Apparently you are supposed to have this done regularly starting at the age of 20, so make an appointment!!!!!  My Dr. told me that the standard age to start cholesterol screenings is getting lower and lower.  It saddens me that it is starting to be common for 11 year olds to be screened due to their sedentary lifestyles and fast food diets.  11!!!  I get a little down just thinking about that.  Mine is right where it should be and now I know that I need to keep tabs on it since I’m a few years past my 20th birthday:)

Week um........9?

Winter CSA-I’ve missed telling you about two stellar CSA bags.  Last Saturday (week 10)  we got cabbage!!  I don’t know when I started getting so excited about this vegetable that I used to dread.  Cabbage and noodles has quickly become one of my favorite dinners to eat and to prepare.  With or without bacon:)  Summer CSA sign ups have begun.  Check out Fresh Fork Market’s website for more info or for a calendar of events.  They have some fun happy hours coming up if you’d like to get the whole scoop on eating local, along with an ice cream social and a cheese making class.

My new kicks

New Shoes-I’m right on track with my marathon training and after my long run on Sunday, I’ll have 30 miles in this week.  That is a lot for me!  I’ve been having some shin pain and realized that it was time for some new road shoes.  I love my Saucony Peregrine minimalist trail shoes and wanted something comparable for the roads.  I ended up with the Kinvara 2.  I’m not in love with the color but I am really happy with the way the shoes feel.  A year ago I was running in a support shoe but I think these are a better fit for me.  It is really hard to know if you’re going to like a shoe until you run in them a few times.  The pain is gone now so I must have picked a winner.

RIP Princess

And then there were two-On a sad note, we are down a chicken.  Princess met her end this week at the hands of a giant sneaky raccoon:(  We have taken measures to ensure that it can’t shouldn’t happen again.  Conner was a little upset since she was his hen, I was just disapointed that she didn’t make it to the soup pot.  Seems like a waste.  We are thinking about getting 5 peeps in a week or two, it’s just so hard to decide on the breeds!

Early March Garden-Garlic shoots are up along with some daffodils.  I may or may not have purchased my first seed packets and have received 5 seed catalogs in the mail.  I was quite temped to plant peas and spinach today even though it is still a bit early.  I will wait until St. Patty’s day as suggested by a friend.

Well, I think that’s about it for tonight.  I can’t wait to tell you about my upcoming Bahamian vacation, the Rock Hall’s March green drive, and about the chicken keeping class we attended last night.  Stay tuned for more frequent posts:)

Things that made me happy this week 2/13

• Running for Sherry

I was really hoping to add some new running friends to the ever-growing list of runners I’ve creepily met on the internet, while running in honor of Sherry Arnold this weekend.  Sherry was kidnapped and murdered while running a mile away from her home.  If you haven’t heard her story, read about it here from her cousin Beth.  So sad and tragic.  I can’t help but think about her kids and how she probably left her house silently, trying not to wake them.  Not saying goodbye because she expected to see them in an hour or so.    I’m getting all choked up thinking about it.  Excuse me for a moment while I smooch my sleeping beans……..

Any way, I was supposed to meet up with a group of gals who organized a CLE Run for Sherry at the Rocky River Reservation.  It was snowing like crazy when I got up Saturday morning so I left extra early and the drive that should take about 40 minutes took 65.  I got there safe and sound only to find out that the run was cancelled due to the weather.  I was disappointed but still wanted to get my miles in so I called my Westside running buddy Kathryn, and we braved the wind and snow for  6 1/2 miles.  I kept Sherry’s bib close to my heart and vowed never to run, or let my friends run alone.  At least not without pepper spray!

• Drugs with a sense of humor

I needed to replenish the stash of pain relievers in my desk at work and I found these at Target.  Damn it!!  Where else am I going to get my supply of artificial red dye?  They probably could have colored them red with beets instead.  Then I would have bought lots more.

• Early Valentine’s Day presents from my hubby.

He bought me a running hat with a pony tail hole.  The sweetest thing about this is that he made sure to get the one with the pink trim so it would match my Dirty Love outfit.

• Dirty Love 10k trail race outfits!

I’ll tell you all about the race in my next post.  For now you can just enjoy our twin adorableness.  Yes, adorableness is a word no matter what spell check says.

• Cute metal mouth beans.

I hate inflicting this kind of torture on the tiniest bean, but I am so glad that we are able to fix his teeth for him before they become a huge problem.  I’m hoping he’ll thank me when he’s 30 or so.

• Healthy snack Valentines.

Every year we purchase those store-bought cards which end up in the garbage.  I decided to try something different this year.  They may not be local, but they are waste free and way better for you than a blow pop.  I let the kids personalize them with markers and I think they turned out great.

What made you happy this weekend?

Have a great week and a happy V-day!!!

Oodles and oodles of yummy noodles

How cute is this guy?

Noodlecat on Euclid Ave near E. 4th, is the baby sister of Cleveland’s Chef Jonathan Sawyer’s Greenhouse Tavern.  I know I say that every restaurant is my fav, but The Greenhouse really is.  Really.  They are Ohio’s first “green” restaurant, as certified by the Green Restaurant Association, have an impressive mission statement, and I love their “Sustainability Initiatives” document detailing actual green practices taking place in the restaurant.  They serve amazingly creative and drool worthy local food, and also helped jumpstart my passion for beets.  I can’t help but be drawn back to a place that will serve me raw heirloom radishes, hand ground beef tartar, chicken schmaltz on country bread, and house made fromage blanc as appetizers.  And don’t even get me started on this-

THE most tender and flavorful BBQ pork I have ever tasted.  Yum.  If there is a pig’s face on your menu, you can bet that I will be devoted customer for life.

Anyway, I think I promised to give you my take on Noodlecat when we went last Fall before the Rock Hall’s American Music Masters tribute to Aretha Franklin.  I enjoyed it immensely but never got around to telling you about it.  Slacker.

I still wanted to post about it, but figured it wasn’t fair to you if I blogged about memories from such a long time ago, and since Greenhouse does not have lunch service on Saturday, I talked Mike into taking me to Noodlecat after my 10 mile run with the CIG.  Before we walked in I warned him that I would be eating a lot.  I did not lie:)

It was kind of late for lunch and early for dinner so the restaurant was not crowded.  We had our adorable server all to ourselves and she told us the specials, and about the sweet 16 surprise party they had catered the prior evening complete with Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebble Pot de Cremes.  Her mind must have still been at the party because she accidentally brought Mike the wrong special.  It looked tasty and we offered to eat it, but she had already instructed the kitchen to make the correct entrée and let us keep the wrong one as well.  We made sure to tip her accordingly.  Gotta love a girl who apologizes for giving you extra food!

I started my 2 million calorie binge with a Bloody Jerry-Watershed Vodka, lime, and house made Japanese style bloody Jerry mix $8.  It was just spicy enough and had a salty, familiar fishy taste that I couldn’t quite place but thoroughly enjoyed.

We ordered 2 appetizers to share, the Tsukemono Pickle Sampler $4, which I ate too fast to snap a picture of because there were beets involved, and Grilled Chicken & Beer Yakitori w/sesame and spinach $3.50.  I would order both again in a second.

We had 3 entrées consisting of the accidental Vegetarian Stir Fry special-

The Ohio Beef Brisket and Matzo Ramen “Yudaya-Jin” w/Matzoball, brisket, chicken broth dashi, carrot & dill $13

And the other special for the day which was a breakfast style ramen complete with fried eggs and cheddar fried rice ball-

I’m not sure what the specials were priced but all the noodle bowls on the menu range from  $9-15 and boy are they worth it!  They are large portions of fresh ingredients including Ohio City Pasta’s noodles.  The vegetarian special was our favorite of the trio, it had a sweet teriyaki style sauce and I really enjoyed the thick chewy Udon noodles and crisp snap peas.  We liked the brisket the least, the matzo balls were fantastic, but the broth paled in comparison to the flavorful vegetarian special.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still some damn fine eats!

And last but not least, dessert-

Mike was full but I still ordered like we were sharing:)  Shhhhh.  Don’t tell my thighs or My Fitness Pal.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Steam Bun served with a shot of milk $3.5, Caramel Pot de Creme $3.5, and a Vanilla Bean Toddy which consisted of Kraken Rum & Vanilla Bean Tea, Topped with honey whipped cream $7.  They were heavenly, and I ate them all.

I’ve seen (and by seen I obviously mean creeped on) Chef Sawyer and his family at a few Rock Hall events, read his wife’s blog, The Chef’s Widow, and I was crazy excited enough to turn on the tv and watch him battle Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian last month.  I’ve never met him, but I feel pretty darn lucky to live and eat (a lot) in the city that he calls home.

Have you ever been to Noodlecat?  How about Greenhouse?  What is your fav CLE restaurant?

Obviously I am not a food critic (if I was I’m sure I’d use more than 3 adjectives) this post is my own opinion and I did not receive anything for the ass kissing contained in it.  I loved the noodles and hope that you’ll support our local CLE food scene by giving them a try!

Winter CSA-Week 8 and a BBQ recipe

Thank goodness it’s Friday!!  I know that I work barely 6 hour days at one of the coolest spots in CLE, but I still love to get out of there for the weekend  just like everybody else.  Maybe more so because every other Friday I hop on over to Fresh Fork’s warehouse and pick up the CSA bags for the way-East siders.  You know how I lub my CSA!!!  There are only 6 subscribers at our stop but that will change once Summer rolls around again.

Here is what was in the bags today-

Winter CSA Wk 8:

1 stewing chicken, approximately 2.5 lbs

1 bag dried egg noodles

1 pint fig vinegar roasted cherry tomatoes

1 lb egg linguini

1 lb bacon

1 bag spinach or mixed greens

1 8-oz piece of cheese

1 dozen eggs

2 lbs cornmeal

1 quarter peck apples

3 lbs sweet potatoes (please keep refrigerated)

Everyone was supposed to have spinach but the farmer didn’t get the harvest that he had hoped for, so some people got mixed greens.  My bag sure looks like baby spinach which is terrific because I’ve been trying to buy some every Saturday at the market, but it’s always sold out before I get there.  Damn you early birds!!!   Sometimes the baby greens are a little weedy for our taste, but the chickens love them!  I’ll use it in smoothies, omelets, and chicken soup this week.

The stewing chicken is very small, but don’t be fooled by her size!  She is a spent hen, one who is older and no longer laying.  Since they are older, they have way more chicken-y flavor and make an excellent stock for soup.  Not much by the way of meat but we have several more hens in the freezer to add to the stock pot this week.  Our hens will probably have one more season laying before they are considered “spent” and we can turn them into a slurpable warm broth for next winter.  Enjoy the weather ladies, your days are numbered!!

I snuggled them today:)

Unfortunately, only 4 of the 6 bags I picked up had the bacon in them and I have to do the right thing and let the other customers have mine instead of shorting them.  It’s way easier for me to square up with Trevor and he doesn’t really have to worry about keeping me happy, I’m a customer for life.

Goodbye sweet bacon:(

These are my favs of the week-

Another lovely Clark Pope product, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.  These are packed in fig vinegar with herbs and a hint of lemon.  Last time I chopped them up and used them in meatloaf.  I think this time I’ll pair them with pasta, and use them to top a spinach and apple salad.

Next up Siberian Night beer cheese from Mayfield Road creamery.  It is a young, nutty cheese with a very firm texture.  It is similar to tomme.  The rind has been brushed in Thirsty Dog’s Siberian Night IPA from Akron, which gives it a sweet and malty flavor.

And bacon.  The best bacon ever.    I assure you I will get over this sad, sad loss of bacon.  Eventually.

Remember the BBQ sauce I raved about from the last bag?  This is what I did with it.

BBQ Beef and Corn Quesadillas

They were yummy-tasty and really easy!  I put a 1.5 lb grassfed beef roast in my trusty crock pot along with roughly 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and 2 diced shallots, turned it on low and went to work.  When I got home the house smelled fantastic!  I shredded the beef with a fork, added enough sauce to make it juicy, and the rest of our frozen sweet corn, about 1 cup.  Then while the mixture heated through, I shredded half a small head of cabbage and some Mayfield Rd Creamery havarti.  The only non-local ingredient in this dinner was the store-bought tortillas.  I’d love to try my hand at making them homemade sometime soon, but this was supposed to be an easy weeknight dinner.   I tossed a tortilla in a pan on medium heat, spread on a generous amount of the BBQ beef mix, topped with cheese and cabbage and a second tortilla.   It took about a minute till the tortilla was golden and the cheese melty, then I flipped.

We topped them with green onions that are still weathering the cold (?) out in the garden and Velvet View plain yogurt.  Yum.

The kids weren’t as thrilled about the plain cabbage as I was, next time I’ll make a simple dressing and turn it into coleslaw before layering it on.  If you can’t get your hands on Pope’s sauce, try out this homemade Rhubarb BBQ Sauce recipe from my fellow Fresh Forker friend, Lyn.

I’m not the greatest at recipes, but I hope to share some other easy dinner ideas with you soon.  What are your go to weeknight meals?

This little piggy is running

I have not been feeling well at all this week and I skipped all my (cough!marathoncough!) training runs and 3 kickboxing classes, including a cool 80s themed one where this fabulousness happened-

I missed you this week you crazy ladies!!!

You know I must be feeling super crappy to miss out on an opportunity to wear leg warmers, a side pony tail, and awful blue eyeshadow while getting my sweat on!

I don’t get sick often so for all I know it’s just a plain old cold, but it’s an evil one that brought a sore throat, plugged up ears, and the rare pleasure of feeling my heartbeat in my sinus cavity.  Blech.

I am sad to say that I also skipped out on the Dirty Snowflake prediction race this morning.  Remember that cool 8k trail race I told you about, where the winner is the closest to predicting their time, and there are arm warmers for swag?  If only I had predicted 00:00:00 or DNR, I could have won!  It was a perfect trail running day too; cold, snowy, and muddy.  Oh well, such is life.  I listened to my body like a good runner should, and it told me to stay in my warm cozy bed a few extra hours instead.

After bailing on my running buddies and snoozing until the beside clock read a delicious 9:20, I had the whole day to do something fun with the beans.  We went out for breakfast, played ski ball at Chuck E Cheese, shopped (for some reason I bought a $9 piece of cheese), and ended up and Grandma at Grandpa’s house for some Xbox 360 Kinect fun.  Well, I moped on the couch while Grandma and Grandpa kicked the kids’ butts at track, bowling, and football.  The kids dominated at Just Dance 3, probably because they play it in gym class.  I’m not normally a video game person.  In fact I kind of hate them. And I’m not saying we are ever going to own an Xbox, (sorry Mike!) but they really worked up a sweat today playing virtual sports with the Grandparents!  It was pretty cool watching and listening to them have that much fun together while still being active.

I may have missed out on a race that I paid to enter, but my quality time with the beans today was worth way more than that.  There is still Dirty Love to look forward to, and I still got my sweet arm warmers:)

So to cheer myself up and as motivation to throw off the laziness that comes with being sick, I planned an 8 a.m. trail run tomorrow with my long-legged friend Eric.  I also signed up for two (free!) evening yoga classes at Harmony‘s new location.  AND as if that wasn’t enough, I did this-

I registered for my first marathon!!!!  It will be a fun girly road trip down to Cinci, with a pasta dinner and expo on Saturday night and the race on Sunday.  I already know there are 3 awesome runner girls joining me.  This will happen-

Pink team sparkle running skirt which might also make its way into the next themed kickboxing night.

And so will this-

Pig ears and tail that I just so happen to already own from Halloweeny!

I can’t wait!!  I’m using Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 plan, and week 5 of training starts Monday.  Hal and I are old friends, we go all the way back to 5k.  The plan calls for 9 miles tomorrow, evil cold or not.  I’ve got a date with a flying pig to get ready for and no silly snotty nose is going to keep me from it.

Have you ever run the pig?  Are you planning to this year?

Michael: Regis recap — warning, long winded

Just to warn you — I didn’t upload a bunch of photos to this.  There are plenty available in my wife’s post and Kirsten’s, BMO’s, and Kali’s…

So, I’m the last of my Regis runner family to post my thoughts on the run….

I was so stoked about training for this run. Miles were logged, trails were traversed, training devoured two pairs of running shoes, I felt great! I set a new PR for my 5 mile time (39:24), a new PR for my half marathon time (1hr52min), and then it happened……
The kids were in their swim lessons at the Y, so I decided to hit the treadmill. It started out feeling pretty good and since I only had a little while, I decided to set another PR; my 5k PR. I completed it (21:50) but at the expense of injuring my leg. All of my following runs there was some pain in my left leg; sciatic, pinched nerve, joint problem….. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it, all I knew it hurt to run. I have three things that work totally against me — (1) I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, so when I hurt, I know it must really hurt, (2) I’m sort of a closet hypocondriac and (3) Normally it takes close to an act of God to get my butt to see a doctor. So after sucking it up, dealing with it medicine free to ensure I could tell when enough was enough, and obtaining a new life insurance policy — j/k (not really, I really did – thanks Kellie G) I made an appointment to see my PT (may not have been my Dr. but at least I went to see someone, right). I worked with him on stretching and endurance exercises to strengthen my left leg and got the “OK” to take tylenol before and during the race without fear of doing any permanent damage.  OK — enough of THAT crap! ON TO THE RUN!!!
BMO and I ran this race last year and DNF’d it —- It was 4deg, I was freezing, I trained for the distance not the cold.. blah blah blah.. excuses, excuses…. Others finished – we could have too I’m sure of it. From the time we left CVNP last year I kicked myself for not digging deeper and getting it done. Yes, I am proud of how I did (19miles), but at the same time I was kinda pissed at myself for not going the distance. This year – we would not fail.

It started out AMAZING. How could it not? I was running with Kelly-the woman I love, her fabulous sister Kirsten, our rockin’ friend Brian and a great new running friend Kali. The first 5+ mile loop consisted of lots of hooting, hollering, singing, laughing, and chatting. We all stuck together — well except for Brian, he was giddy as a school girl and kept running ahead. After about 4 miles it was a quick stop at the aid station, downing some water/heed, fig newtons and thanking the incredible volunteers then heading for the last mile leg to the ledges shelter again (start/finish). It was like a 5 mile warmup run!

Off to loop two! Our pace was steady and there was still quite a bit of conversation and pictures taking place. Everyone was still feeling great! So much so that my garmin beeped and Kelly asked what it was for — she was in disbelieve when I told her it was mile 10 and she started toying with the notion of running a third loop (she was running the half marathon). We arrived back at the start/finish shelter — Kelly completed her first trail half marathon and everyone was still happy and excited!

Back to the 5+ mile loop for the second time… This one I was more focused than ever. Last year during this portion of the race I did A LOT of walking and whining in my head. I made it a point to do no such thing on this loop. So I stepped it up a bit and ran ahead of our group for a little. There was such a huge difference between how I felt last year and now. The distance between myself and our group would increase which allowed me to slow down some and “rest” before picking back up. I freakin rocked this loop! Once I finished this it was like a whole new race!

Starting off on the 8+ mile loop for the second time felt just like that; a whole new race. I was now about 19 miles into the race and I couldn’t have felt better! I have no idea why I felt so good. I picked up my pace again this time thinking to myself that BMO and Kir ran most of their training runs together and were comfortable with their current pace. Kali also seemed quite content with their pace, so I figured they wouldn’t mind if I pressed on. I started catching up to, and passing, several people that had passed quite a while earlier. It was almost surreal. Here I was coming up on the 23 mile mark and still not feeling any real ill effects?? Back to the start finish line, a quick photo op from one of the camera guys and a sweet smooch from my hawt wife

UNBELIEVABLE – LAST LAP!!! More of the same, running/feeling good/having fun! I wanted to keep up the pace I’ve been running so I started watching my heart rate closer. I knew during training runs that I could maintain a nice steady pace around 160bpm, so that is what my goal was. When my HR was above 164bpm/165bpm I slowed my pace and breathed deep till I got it back down to upper 130′s/low 140′s (which only took a couple mins.) then pressed on again. This was it. I was nearing the end and feeling amazing! I ended up crossing the start finish line in a time of 7hr22min! According to my Garmin, my actual running time was only 6hr41min giving me an average pace of a little over a 10min/mile!