Run Jean Run

To change things up a little...

2010-05-02T11:40:00.003-05:00

It has been four years since I started this blog, and it is time to freshen things up. I am in the process of starting up a new blog with a running, cooking, and food focus (which mine kinda was already - I just wanted to give it a new look and theme that will reflect this!).

So, I am taking a little break from blogging while I work on the new site and migrate all of my old posts over there, so none of my drivel from this blog will be lost. I won't be gone too long (heck, I have a marathon next weekend that I will need to report on!), and no doubt I will be commenting on the blogs that I read regularly.

Stay tuned...I will let you know when things are up and running! :)

Until next time,

Jean

Belated food post

2010-04-26T18:20:00.005-05:00

I haven't talked much about food lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking! Here are some recent creations from my kitchen:

These cookies are from a couple of Saturdays ago. They are chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies with cinnamon. The recipe was loosely based on this one, but eliminating the toffee and going with all chips, and with a teaspoon of cinnamon added to the flour. There was something of a happy accident in that I added too many chips, so the cookies stayed big and chunky instead of flattening out. And I am really liking the addition of cinnamon to a lot of my cookie recipes. Yum!

Chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies with cinnamon

Made a tasty pizza last Thursday - black and green olives, fresh Mozzarella, Trugole cheese, and Grana Padano cheese, and home-cured Canadian bacon (still had a little bit left in the freezer!).

Mmmmmmm....pizza!

Another cookie recipe - this is from the "sounds really strange, but is actually really good" files. I found this recipe in Bon Appetit for soft chocolate cookies with grapefruit and star anise and wanted to give it a try. Soft in texture with a rich chocolate flavor, the star anise adds a licorice note, and the grapefruit zest lends a pleasant citrus burst. Probably not a cookie for everyone, but I found them interesting, unique, and quite flavorful.

Exotic tasting cookies

Saturday night's dinner was shrimp in yellow curry. This is a Thai-style coconut curry dish I found in Mark Bittman's cookbook, The Minimalist Cooks at Home. (You might remember Bittman as one of the lucky guys who got to eat and drink his way around Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols) His recipe is here - but I changed a few things. I added lemongrass and roasted chile paste to the aromatics, reduced the amount of shrimp to a pound and included some veggies (red bell pepper, water chestnuts), and used all of a 14 1/2 oz. can of coconut milk (the recipe called for a cup, but I figured why waste the rest?). Even had some of my homemade curry powder on hand. You create an extremely flavorful sauce and basically poach the shrimp until just cooked through. This dish was outstanding.

Shrimp in yellow curry

Sunday was a crummy day weather wise, so I stayed in for most of the day and made pork and black bean enchiladas. It started with a homemade guajillo chile salsa, which would serve as my enchilada sauce. I also made a tangy and smoky tomatillo-chipotle salsa. A small hunk of pork butt was seasoned with a variety of spices and braised in beer, chicken stock, and some of the tomatillo-chipotle salsa until tender. I shredded the pork and mixed it with a can of black beans. The braising liquid was defatted and reduced to about a half cup worth of intensely flavored and spicy glaze, and this was mixed into the pork and beans. The pork and beans were rolled up in tortillas, topped with guajillo chile salsa, Monterrey Jack, and sharp cheddar cheeses and baked until golden brown and bubbly on top.

Hot out of the oven

Labor intensive? Yes. But absolutely worth the effort? You bet! The enchiladas came out of the oven smelling amazing, and tasting even better. Topped off with a little bit of both of my salsas and some sour cream, and I had a delightful south-of-the-border feast.

Plated up, with extra guajillo chile and tomatillo-chipotle salsas!

There, I am caught up!

Jean

Nature's surround sound

2010-04-24T13:12:00.005-05:00

Saturday morning arrived with cloudy skies and temps in the low 50's. Looked like we had received a little rain overnight, and a quick check of the radar indicated my area was in a dry slot with most of the rain was in southern MN. I headed out for my run.

Everything was going just fine until around mile 7 when a few raindrops started to fall. I could see the southern skies darkening, and I started to hear some claps of distant thunder.

A couple of miles later, the heavens opened up. It started with some large raindrops intermingling with...pea-sized hail? Good grief! This is the first time I have ever been caught in hail on a run (it stings). The hail subsided quickly enough, but heavy rain continued, along with more thunder and lightning.

In no time, I was drenched. Large puddles quickly appeared along the trails. Gutters along the side streets became small rivers. We received a tremendous amount of rain in a very short period of time.

(Nice morning for the Get In Gear, by they way! I will be interested in reading some race reports.)

I will say this much - there are few things cooler than being able to hear thunder when you are outside. It is just an amazing sound. The rumbling can not only be heard, but also felt. This vast, expansive sound makes you feel small. Mother Nature's surround sound system absolutely rocks!

I actually met another runner during the worst of it. We exchanged "Good mornings" with a little bit of a laughter in our voices, both keenly aware that we didn't do a very good job of interpreting the local weather forecast.

Clothing completely saturated? Check. Shoes waterlogged? Check. Chafing badly because every article of clothing was clinging to my body? Really big check. Good times!

Can you believe I ran 20 miles in this crap? This was the weekend for my "long run" in preparation for my marathon in a couple weeks! In spite of the conditions, I ran OK. But never have I been so happy to take a hot shower and put on some dry clothes.

So, with that, let the taper begin! :)

A couple of random notes:

1. This morning I noticed two different flowers. The marsh marigolds are in full bloom in one of the local parks I passed. The swamp was just a sea of yellow flowers. And, I saw some lilacs along the trail that are just starting to bloom. This is, I believe, the earliest I have ever seen both. In fact, I know a couple of years ago during a cool spring, the lilacs were not out until Memorial Day weekend.

2. Here are a couple of belated action shots of me from last weekend's Trail Mix 25k - My friend Jon was there with his family, and his daughter was kind enough to snap a few photos of me. It is kind of rare that I get any photos of me actually running in a race, so these were fun to receive.

Yours truly, completing the first lap

And, here I am at the finish

I like Minnesota in the springtime

2010-04-20T18:16:00.010-05:00

What a spectacular week. Running has been excellent, with pleasant, dry days in the high 60's and low 70's. Just delightful. And the warmer days have caused the vegetation to explode. Lots of wildflowers are emerging, and the flowering trees are starting to blossom. It is looking gorgeous around here.

Spotted a few new birds this week, all on Sunday. I was very happy to see the warblers have started to return. I found numerous yellow-rumped "Myrtle" warblers, and located a solitary palm warbler. These two species are usually amongst the first of the warblers to arrive, so they were right on cue. I also discovered a few blue-winged teal on one of the lakes, field sparrows (in a field, appropriately enough), and encountered a very chatty brown thrasher. It is so great to see the spring migrants moving through.

Forget Paris. I will gladly take Minnesota in the springtime any day! :) A few images from this week:

Leaves filling in nicely along the trails

This happy cardinal was singing from the treetops

A blossoming apple tree

A closeup of the apple blossoms

The yellow-rumped warblers (a.k.a., "Myrtle" or "Butterbutt") have arrived

Blue-winged teal floating on the lake

A flowering crab apple tree outside of my place - these are blossoming at least a couple of weeks earlier than normal

Trail Mix 25k

2010-04-17T19:12:00.002-05:00

Yours truly at the Hyland Lake Park Reserve, ready for Trail Mix

Fueled by last night's pre-race pizza consisting of arugula, pine nuts, three cheeses, and prosciutto two ways (cooked on the pizza itself, and a couple of slices draped over the top post-cooking), I headed down to Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington to join Minnesota's trail running enthusiasts for the 19th running of the Trail Mix Races.

Love those pre-races meals...

The morning was cloudless and beautiful, with a rather cool start. And Hyland Lake Park looked stunning. With our relatively early spring, many leaves have started to sprout, so the green color was everywhere. A great day to be a runner, and everyone seemed positively giddy with the way the day had turned out. I would be partaking in the 25k, but there were a good number of folks tackling the 50k ultra.

Start of the 50k race

My goal today was not to have any goals. :) Didn't even wear my watch. I was really just intending on treating this as a long, steady training run, which is what I did.

The trails were quite nice and scenic, taking you through the woods, fields, and past lakes and ponds. The 25k race consisted of two laps around the park on a mix of grass, dirt, and wood chip trails. The terrain was rolling and hilly; lots of gradual ups and downs, with a couple of longer, steeper hills, but nothing overly difficult. Trails were wide (I believe they serve as ski trails in the winter months) and not at all technical. This would be a great introductory trail race for anyone looking to try some longer distances.

Birds were everywhere. Before the race, I chased a rather loquacious ruby-crowned kinglet around the picnic grounds, and I saw my first chipping sparrow of the season in the same area. During the race, we passed an osprey nesting platform where mama and papa osprey were busy constructing their nest. I also heard numerous robins, cardinals, wood ducks, red-bellied woodpeckers, and also the familiar cackle of the pileated woodpecker. The feathered friends were enjoying this day as much as the runners.

By the second loop, the day had really warmed up. From our start at around 40, the temperature quickly shot up into the upper 50's. I was feeling overdressed with my long-sleeved shirt, but was probably faring better than those who decided to wear jackets and long pants!

I was really enjoying myself during this race. The park was spectacular (it is impressive that people had the foresight to protect areas like this, since the park is truly surrounded by the metro area - heck, the infamous Mall Of America is only a few miles east of here!), runners were having fun, and aid stations were enthusiastic and on the ball.

Overall, I was pleased with my run. I ran how I wanted to and didn't overdo anything, finishing in 2 hours, 17 minutes, and change (official results forthcoming). Actually, this is a new PR (I have only done one 25k before, and that was at the Superior Trail Races - anyone who has run that knows that isn't exactly a PR kind of course!).

I had a great time today at Trail Mix and saw several folks I know. I got to chat with Wildknits before and after the race, which was a lot of fun. I ran into Ed, an old colleague from my previous job, so I got to talk to him. And, I also saw our family friend Jon after the race, so I got to catch up with him and his family as well. Fun stuff!

The rest of my day involved a little bit of shopping, baking a batch of chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies, and the semi-regular post-race tradition of take-out for dinner. I am now sipping on a Boulder Beer Co. "Mojo" I.P.A. as I type this.

A beautiful Sunday in Minnesota

2010-04-12T18:19:00.008-05:00

No run on Sunday after the 19 miler. Instead, I took a two hour hike up at the local park on an absolutely gorgeous spring day. I hadn't been out here since last fall, so I wanted to check out what was going on.

Lots of new bird arrivals - got to see my first trumpeter swans, double-crested cormorants, ruby-crowned kinglets, and brown-headed cowbirds of the season. There were plenty of other feathered friends as well, including song sparrows, eastern phoebes, northern flickers, cardinals, American goldfinches, killdeer, and wood ducks.

Trees are getting greener by the day, and the forest floor is coming to life. Bloodroots are starting to bloom, and all sorts of vegetation is beginning to sprout.

Some images from Sunday:

Gray squirrel finding snacks in the treetops

Bloodroots blooming on the forest floor

Trails getting greener

Trumpeter swans inspecting a possible nesting site

As you can see, it is a great time to be in Minnesota right now.

A quick food note - Saturday's dinner was pretty good; linguine carbonara with apple-cinnamon bacon.

Pasta with bacon and eggs - it's not just for breakfast anymore!

This was very loosely based on a Giada recipe where she worked with some pancetta dusted with cinnamon. I bought some wonderful apple-cinnamon bacon from Old World Meats when I drove through Duluth last week, so I used that instead. It is not a traditional carbonara in any sense of the word, but it was really delicious and quick to put together. The cinnamon adds an earthy and unexpected warmth and sweetness to the dish that was quite tasty. A simple dish, slightly exotic, and really good stuff.

Until next time,

Jean

19 on a pretty day

2010-04-10T15:45:00.003-05:00

Sunrise over Fish Lake on Saturday morning

Gorgeous day down here on Saturday. 44 degrees when I woke up. I ran 19 miles today. It was a decent run - better than last weekend's 16 miler, anyhow! Just a nice, steady pace. Skies were slightly overcast, and breezes were gentle, making for ideal running conditions. A lot of fun to run today.

I was treated to symphony of bird songs. The woods was positively alive today. Lots of leaves are popping out and hints of green are showing up everywhere. Also, the Dutchman's breeches are in full bloom on the forest floor. By my assessment, they are 2 1/2 weeks earlier than last year. It is really getting beautiful down here.

Getting green along the trails

Dutchman's breeches - some of the first wildflowers of the season

New bird arrivals this week:

On Wednesday, I noticed the tree swallows and northern flickers were back in my neighborhood. I also found a pied-billed grebe swimming in a local pond

Today I saw my first osprey of the season. He took flight as I rounded the corner along the edge of a lake. I also saw a pair of Coopers hawks. And, a couple of eastern bluebirds were busy selecting a home in the meadow.

Until next time,

Jean

Easter 2010, and the arrival of spring in MN

2010-04-07T18:12:00.010-05:00

Buds popping on the hazelnut shrubs - spring arrives in northern MN!

Spring is arriving on the North Shore! It was a pleasure to take it in over a long Easter weekend with the family.

I went on three runs; a 16 miler and a couple of 5 milers, all done on a mix of quiet dirt roads with a little bit of trail thrown in for good measure. The long run was exceptionally difficult for the last 6 miles, as I was running directly into a very strong wind, and the last few miles didn't so much represent actual running as it did simply surviving! The 5 milers were both really good, however, feeling both speedy and spry.

Weekend food was good as always - Dad's burgers on the grill one night, Mom's homemade lasagna another. Mom and I also went into town to have lunch as My Sister's Place, where I got an additional burger fix with the "Trail Center's Bull Moose" burger, and Mom had a veggie calzone (which I also got to try...yum!). Never any shortage of good chow when visiting the folks.

Good burgers at My Sister's Place

Easter Sunday was fun. It started with Sunday church service where I was recruited to sing in the church choir! They were a little short-handed with some of the usual folks being out of town, the choir is somewhat informal, and I can at least carry a tune, so it all worked out in the end. We capped the day off with and Easter ham dinner and my nephew's 1st birthday party, which was a blast - mainly for us. The little guy doesn't quite understand the whole premise of gift opening yet, but he will figure that out soon enough! We all enjoyed his delicious Easter-themed birthday cake, made by Grandma Susie.

A festive cake for a special birthday

Lots of good birds have started to arrive on the North Shore - golden-crowned kinglet, yellow-bellied sapsucker, eastern phoebe, northern flicker, Merlin, red-tailed hawk, and the turkey vulture were new arrivals while I was there. The Compton's tortoiseshell and mourning cloak butterflies have emerged from hibernation. Of course, the resident chickadees and nuthatches (a.k.a., "Dad's birds") were a treat, as always. And various plants are coming to life, such as the pretty little flowers on the hazelnut shrubs pictured above. It is enjoyable to see the gradual arrival of spring.

Mourning cloak butterfly from our Monday hike

A friendly chickadee enjoying a handout

Dad with a feathered friend

I had a couple specific birding highlight that were memorable learning experiences:

1. A male pileated woodpecker was busy excavating a hole in an old dead birch tree. We watched from afar with binoculars (so as not to disturb the nesting site) for more than an hour. The woodpecker was busy hammering away on the inside, occasionally sweeping out the debris. The damage he can impart in a short period of time is remarkable, and it looked as if he was using a broom as a large cloud of wood chips and sawdust would fly out of the hole. It was an amazing sight to see.

2. While walking in the woods on a quiet afternoon, I had the attention of a solitary red-breasted nuthatch who followed me around. He would take a seed from my hand, fly to a tree, and embed it in the crevasses of the bark (nuthatches will do this to store a cache of seeds for later - there must be thousands upon thousands of seeds in the sides of trees!). While I have seen this countless times before, what I had never noticed was a very fast and subtle move. Once the seed was packed into the bark, the nuthatch would quickly flake off a small piece of bark and pack it on top of the seed to effectively hide it from view. Clever little nuthatch. What fantastic camouflage!

With both birds, I was struck by their work ethic, creativity, and tireless efforts to build a nest or store food. They are constantly on the move and work so hard to make a life for themselves, and their perseverance and determination can only be admired. There truly are no deadbeats in the bird kingdom!

So that was the weekend in a long-winded nutshell. I returned to the Cities to find leaves popping out on the trees, even more new bird arrivals, and some wildflowers starting to bloom. More on that later!

Until next time,

Jean

A belated Happy Easter!

2010-04-06T17:49:00.003-05:00

Easter Dinner 2010

I just returned from an extended weekend in the North Country. Lots of fun with friends and family, a few runs (including an exceedingly difficult 16 miler), plenty of great food, an abundance of wildlife, and I even was recruited at the last minute to sing in the church choir at the Sunday Easter service!

More to come - just wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared!

To all who celebrate Easter, I hope you had a wonderful and memorable holiday weekend.

Jean

Smokin'

2010-03-31T18:37:00.005-05:00

Gorgeous day today - 75 and sunny, with a decent breeze. March was snowless here in the Twin Cities, which is rare. And March came in, and is going out, like a lamb.

Tonight's 5 mile run was nice. It is fun to break out the summer running gear again. One new bird arrival to report - the eastern phoebe. She was busy characteristically flipping her little tail while sitting in a small tree. We had a big south wind yesterday, so I am expecting that should push more birds up here!

A funny thing happened as I was heading home. I always pass this assisted living apartment complex. Today being nice outside, there were several folks out and about. Two elderly ladies were sitting out at the picnic table on the lawn, and they were chain smoking.

As I passed on by, one of the ladies expelled a huge plume of smoke. In a voice resembling that of Selma Bouvier from "The Simpson's," she shouted:

"Run for me too, will ya?"

Fair Juliet took another huge drag off of her Pall Mall as I chuckled and just kept on running. That is right - I was heckled by a senior citizen! She was just being funny, of course, but it would be fun to have her e-mail so I could send her the following video... ;-)

Until next time,

Jean

Ice out

2010-03-30T17:50:00.005-05:00

The ice is completely gone from my local lake. Friday, there was a thin film of slush still floating on the surface, but today's 73 degrees and a strong south wind pretty much decimated what was left. Unreal - an ice out before April! Fantastic to see the water again.

Open water is a wonderful sight to see

I am feeling good a couple days after the Human Race. There is a little bit of stiffness in my thighs and calves after the extra effort on Sunday, but I am no worse for wear. I took in an easy 5 miler around the neighborhood today, happy to be running in shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt.

New spring bird arrivals: yesterday I spotted my first great blue heron of the season (flew right by my office window), and today, four wood ducks in a pond along the trail. The wood ducks' timing could not have been better. I was specifically looking for them at this pond, as they love to hang out here, and I figured they should be back soon. At that moment, I actually heard them before I saw them. Almost on cue, their familiar whistle echoed across the water as they flew over my head and coasted into the pond. It was uncanny. They are such gorgeous birds! Great to have them back

A belated recap of my Saturday night prerace meal - Spicy lamb and Italian sausage ragu! I made this in the style of a Bolognese sauce with all sorts of aromatics - carrots, celery, fennel, onion, garlic, fresh rosemary and thyme, lots of crushed red pepper, and a small amount of dried cumin and coriander (a little trick I learned in the "Urban Italian" cookbook) - along with tomatoes, red wine, tomato paste, and beef stock. The Italian sausage was the last of my homemade stuff (need to make more). I served it over fusilli. A very good effort, and the leftovers have been making for some fantastic lunches this week. Perhaps this is the reason for my new 8k PR? :)

Until next time,

Jean

Records falling at the Human Race

2010-03-28T19:43:00.004-05:00

Sunday marked my 6th consecutive St. Patrick's Day Human Race (which, curiously, was held a full week and a half after St. Patrick's Day?!?). It is the first organized race I even ran, so this one is kind of special and will always be on my schedule. And, at least here in MN, it sort of represents winter being behind us and marking the start of the racing season for all of us. I look forward to this event every year.

Still feeling a wee bit Irish, even if it is almost April - the 2010 shirt design

Yours truly on the St. Thomas University Campus

A completely random note about races to those of you who race frequently - is the little change compartment in the console of your car filled with safety pins that were once used to attach your bib numbers to your race clothes? Yeah, mine too.

I arrived early just to mill around and take in the day, which was pretty darn nice. Low 50's and not a cloud in the sky, but a fairly stiff breeze coming out of the north. But really, couldn't ask for much more. Most years I have needed a stocking cap, gloves, and full length running pants.

They have a shoe drive at this event, and runners are encouraged to bring in their used running shoes. They get donated to a local free clothing store. I brought in a sack full of my old sneakers, and they were positively delighted to see me, as I wear size 13's (a.k.a., "water skis"). Apparently, they don't get nearly as many contributions in the larger sizes, so I was happy my big feet allowed me to do my part!

The pre-race crowd

Start of the 5k race

The 8k race is an out and back down Summit Ave, same as always. A lot of the heavy hitters from the local running scene show up for this. It is a well attended race, and it is the start of a season team long points race, so there are many local running teams in the lineup as well. Lots of talented runners here.

The race started, and I settled into my pace. A funny thing happened around mile 1. A runner pulled up to me on the right and said "Jean?" It was Wildknits, a local running blogger. We have been reading each others blogs for quite some time, but had never met until now. How funny that we met in the middle of a race! We chatted briefly and would catch up at the finish.

I was feeling surprisingly good. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting much since I ran 14 miles on Saturday. But at mile 2, I was at a shade over 14 minutes. Not bad.

Between miles 2 and 3 is the turnaround point where we run a loop around the William Mitchell College of Law. Following the race, I got a message from another blogger buddy, Natalie (she was racing too), saying that she saw me and shouted out to me around this area, but I somehow missed that. So sorry, Natalie! I need to pay closer attention out there! :)

I came through mile 3 just past 21 minute, darn near on my 5k PR pace. Where was this coming from? Mile 3 to 4 is the toughest part of the course, if there is such a thing. This section is an ever so slightly uphill grade that, while not difficult, wears on you. And now is as good a time as any to mention that the north wind felt like it was in our faces during the entire race. Weird. Anyhow, I felt like I was slowing down here, but I passed through mile 4 at just over 28 minutes. Looking good.

From mile 4 on home, we are rewarded with a flat to gradually downhill stretch of road. You can see the finish line tents from quite a ways out. I managed to hold my pace and keep it together to cross the finish line in 35:12 (results here). Not only a new personal best for the Human Race course, but a new 8k PR as well!

Depending upon whether or not the now defunct Easy Does It Race in Plymouth was an 8k or a 5 miler (I have 2 shirts from this race - one called 8k, the other 5 miles), I improved my PR by either 1 second or 30 seconds! Any local running historian know the answer? Steve?

I caught up with Wildknits after the race to chat some more, talk running, discuss upcoming races, and whatnot, which was a lot of fun. It was a pleasure to meet you, Wildknits, and I will see you at Trail Mix!

Post-race photo with Wildknits

So, it was quite a day. An unexpected PR, and a nice way to kick of my 2010 race season. The semi-regular post-race tradition of Chinese takeout for dinner (hot & spicy chicken, and beef with Chinese black mushrooms) really hit the spot. And a celebratory glass of Dark Horse "Double Crooked Tree I.P.A." is tasting mighty good as I type this.

Disclaimer: Through the course of editing, I have moved on to a second beverage of my choosing - a celebratory glass of Dark Horse "Plead the 5th" Imperial Stout. I no longer take responsibility for any grammatical errors... ;-)

Jean's Dark Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookies with Toffee

2010-03-28T08:38:00.004-05:00

Saturday afternoon it was time again to bake some cookies. My supply was running dangerously low, so I needed to stock up!

I ended up creating a recipe of my own. Nothing groundbreaking or very original - it is simply based on the principles of a basic chocolate chip drop cookie, but with a few customized tweaks of the ingredients and amounts. I wanted to make a cookie with a variety of chips and toffee bits. And, I read that using molasses not only helps your cookies to stay chewy longer, but it also heightens the brown sugar flavor. The end result was a batch of dark chocolate chip, butterscotch chip, and English toffee cookies.

The cookies turned out really nice. They are soft, chewy, and very tasty, and I love the combination of the dark chocolate chips with the butterscotch. The toffee bits add a nice textural contrast with a crunchy and sweet surprise every once in while. I took care not to overbake them and found that 10 to 11 minutes worked perfectly for my oven. Here is what I did:

Jean's Dark Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookies with Toffee
Makes 28 cookies - at least the way I portioned them it did! ;-)

-2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)
-1/2 c. granulated white sugar
-1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs
-1 T. molasses
-1 t. pure vanilla extract
-4 oz. Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chip*
-4 oz. Nestle Toll House Butterscotch Chips*
-4 oz. Heath Milk Chocolate English Toffee Bits* (or equal amount finely chopped Heath Bars...same thing)

*Note: if you don's have a kitchen scale, go with approximately 1/3 bag of the Ghirardelli (11.5 oz. bag), 1/3 bag of the Nestle butterscotch chips (11 oz. bag), and 1/2 of the 8 oz. bag of the Heath toffee bits - a little more or less won't hurt anything!

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla extract, and continue beating until it is well mixed. Add the flour mixture, and beat until the flour is just incorporated and you no longer see any white streaks. Add the chocolate and the butterscotch chips, along with the toffee bits. Turn on the stand mixer one more time just to let the paddle gently stir in the chips and toffee until they are nicely distributed.

On parchment lined baking sheets, drop rounded tablespoons of dough (perhaps ping pong ball sized). Bake in the oven for 10-11 minutes, or until slightly brown on top. After removing from the oven, allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks and allow to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container for a few days, or frozen in zip-top freezer bags for longer term storage.

Enjoy!

14 miles and a turkey

2010-03-27T15:54:00.007-05:00

I woke up to 41 degrees with a faint drizzle today - warm enough to wear shorts on the run, anyhow! I put in a shade over 14 miles.

A pretty easy pace for the most part, and it ended up being kind of a pleasant morning for running, even if it was damp and overcast. A fairly strong southeast wind was blowing. But after about the fifth mile, I had the wind helping me on the way home. Not surprising, there were few runners out this morning.

Yesterday on my run, I saw my first common loon of the season out on my lake (the MN State Bird has returned!).

Lots of birds on today's long run, but no new arrivals. Dark-eyed juncos are moving through in great numbers, and the common grackles are plentiful. Lots of cardinals, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, red-tailed hawks, mallards, Canada geese, and I even heard a few ring-necked pheasants crowing. The red-winged blackbirds are all over the place - just the males, though. They arrive first, stake out some suitable territory, and wait for a girlfriend to show up and express interest in them (they make it look so easy).

After my run, I was preparing to head out to run some errands. Pulling open the shades of my living room window, I saw something that seemed out of place. This guy was running around in the yard below me. I quickly grabbed my camera and sneaked out onto my deck.

Gobble, gobble!

The wild turkey was only here for a few minutes. Had I not opened the shades when I did, I would have completely missed seeing him. He did a lap around the yard and got a little nervous when he saw me on the deck. They are really quite pretty birds, and they are becoming an increasingly common sight here. However, I have never had one in my yard before, so this was a treat!

Another humorous nature note - I have gray squirrels that nest in a hole in a large maple tree outside my window. Clearly, they are not home, because as I type this, I have been watching a female white-breasted nuthatch repeatedly entering the squirrel nest and pilfering seeds! The 'hatch has been emerging with all kinds of goodies in her beak. The squirrels ain't gonna be happy about this! :)

Gorgeous week

2010-03-24T18:17:00.005-05:00

Just a quick post - my afternoon runs this week over the last three days:

Monday - 56 degrees
Tuesday - 60 degrees
Wednesday - 55 degrees

This is some pretty spectacular weather for the month of March in Minnesota. Running has been absolutely wonderful this week.

Yours truly, enjoying this afternoon's run immensely

Saw a new bird today as well - the song sparrow. These little guys love nesting around my local lake, and they are usually some of the first spring birds to arrive and are some of the last to leave. I look forward to seeing them on my runs all the way through the fall.

Also, I am fairly certain it was a pair of mourning cloak butterflies that cruised past my office window today. I was not able to confirm it as they disappeared rather quickly. However, this is the time of year they start showing up, and I am not sure what else they would have been.

So glad spring is here!

Jean

Hanging with the Mergansers

2010-03-22T17:24:00.011-05:00

Sunday was a day off from running, but I managed to put in several miles of hiking around my neighborhood. I needed to check out the open water on my lake again. I actually walked out there twice, once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. Again, there were numerous birds gathering here, mostly from the merganser family, and it was a beautiful 50 degree and sunny day to watch them.

I got to witness one of the coolest things - the hooded merganser courtship. In all my years of watching birds, I have never seen this in person. The males puff up their crests, throw their heads back, and make this funny, frog-like croaking sound in an attempt to woo the females. Lots of posturing going on, kind of like the bird equivalent of a college bar on a Saturday night. The male mergansers were busy putting on a show and chasing each other around while the females looked on, seemingly unimpressed. Spectacular! What a treat to be able to see this.

New arrivals on Sunday included a solitary bufflehead (he was hanging out with the hooded mergansers), a flock of tundra swans flying overhead (a couple dozen in a perfect "V" formation), and of course, the common grackle (easily overlooked, but cute in their own right).

A few photos from yesterday's bird hike - no pictures of outstanding quality, but you can at least tell what they are.

Hooded mergansers swimming in the open water near the ice shelf

A pair of mallards

"RETREAT!!!" ;-)

The resident eagles frolicking on the osprey nesting platform - they have pretty much claimed this spot as their hangout

Today was gorgeous, 56 degrees and sunny. Running was awesome. I did the normal weekday 5 miler and loved every second of it. This is about the perfect temperature for running. No new birds, and there were way fewer birds on the lake today. Most of the ducks had moved on, so I am thankful for yesterday's opportunity.

Until next time,

Jean

Duck soup

2010-03-20T18:41:00.003-05:00

The first day of spring required winter running gear in the morning! A balmy 26 degrees, and coupled with a brisk wind out if the northwest, that brought the wind chill down to 18.

In spite of the chilly conditions, I had a good long run, just a shade over 16 miles today. Some of my favorite trails are finally free of snow and ice (these don't get plowed in the winter), so I got to run on my preferred routes. Nice to be back on my summer stomping grounds!

No new bird sightings on the run - however, I did walk back out to my lake in the afternoon. There is an approximately 300 yard long swath of open water where all the mergansers were the other day, and that is the only open water on the lake.

This afternoon, there were even more mergansers. Joining the common mergansers were their cousins the red-breasted and the hooded. Two new bird arrivals for the spring list! It was a huge duck party! I counted at least 70 birds, most of them the common, with a dozen hooded (6 males, 6 females), and approximately a dozen red-breasted. So fun to see some new birds returning.

Tonight's dinner - Giada's pork chops with fennel and caper sauce. A delicious dish. I did everything by the book, except I added garlic and crushed red pepper. Why? Because that is how I roll. :)

Giada's recipe rock!

I served it over some orzo pasta, but the sauce is a little runny, so next time I think I might do this over something that will sop it up better. Perhaps this would have been the time to try polenta? In any case, I will make this again!

Until next time,

Jean

Don't put away the stocking cap

2010-03-19T18:48:00.009-05:00

Yesterday - official high of 64 degrees. I took a walk around my neighborhood in shorts and a t-shirt.

Today - cut that number in half. When I went running this afternoon, it was 32 with a wind chill of 18 (a rather crisp north wind...brrrr!). This is why I don't put away the winter running gear until May... ;-)

Yours truly, bundled up on today's run - what a difference a day makes

In spite of the cold snap, I had a very nice 5 mile run. I didn't see a soul today and had the trails to myself. I did, however, add a new spring bird arrival to my list. I counted a flock of 32 common mergansers congregating in the open water of my local lake. It is wonderful to see some of the waterbirds returning.

Even more exciting, I found a northern shrike along the trail near my favorite meadow, sitting on top of a small tree. Known as the "Butcherbird," they feast on insects and other small birds, often impaling them on twigs or barbed wire for a later snack. I stopped running was no more than 20 feet away. The shrike did not fly and stayed put for well over a minute. It was my best ever look at this somewhat local and not very often seen bird. This is not actually a spring migrant, however. The northern shrike comes down here for the winter. They breed in the northern areas of Canada. Such a cool bird, and a great find.

Needless to say, there was not a songbird to be seen anywhere near the shrike. The little birds know what the shrike is all about!

Until next time,

Jean

Blackbirds, chips, and tonight's dinner

2010-03-18T18:18:00.011-05:00

It was a day off from running, so three quick non-running related notes...

1. The red-winged blackbirds have returned to my neighborhood. I was driving home from work with the sunroof open, and I swore I heard their familiar piercing yodel as I passed a marsh. A quick hike around some of the marshy areas in my neighborhood confirmed it. They are indeed here, and in great numbers. This is truly an exciting sign of spring! These guys are actually a day behind schedule - last year, they arrived on St. Patrick's Day.

2. As a follow up to an earlier post, the "All Nighter Cheeseburger" flavor of Doritos is decent. They are definitely unique. The predominant taste I notice is that of yellow ballpark mustard, accompanied by secondary notes of ketchup, pickle, American cheese, and something I will simply call "grill flavor." Not so much a flavor of beef - rather, it is a sort of smoky, charred flavor element (good grief, I feel like I am writing a twisted version of a wine tasting note!). Darned if they don't taste like a cheeseburger that you would cook up on your grill during the summer! I would probably buy these again if they were on sale, but the taco flavor is my favorite of this series so far.

3. Here is a quick dinner I threw together tonight. Aside from actually raising the chicken that laid the egg, everything on the plate is from scratch - homemade caraway rye bread, and homemade sausage gravy prepared with my homemade ginger & sage breakfast sausage! Great stuff.

Not exactly your garden variety "S.O.S." :)

Until next time,

Jean

Ice going bye bye

2010-03-17T17:58:00.003-05:00

Here is a shot of my local lake this afternoon. The ice is starting to melt big time. This is the area where the creek flows into the lake. Quite a sight to see for mid March!

A good 5 miler this afternoon at a positively balmy 56 degrees. Lovely weather for running. The nice days have brought out every fair weather walker, runner, dog walker, biker, and outdoor enthusiast (I even had a couple on one of those goofy tandem bikes blow by me), so the trails were much more crowded than normal. But you can't blame anyone for wanting to get out on a day like this! I'm loving it.

Until next time,

Jean

Sunny days, lasagna, and chips

2010-03-15T18:05:00.003-05:00

Sunny Days

On Sunday, I took a walk around my neighborhood. The sun was shining for the first time in nearly a week, and the temperature rose to 64 degrees. Gorgeous!

Flooding has been a concern in many areas of Minnesota due to the sheer amount of snow we received over the winter, coupled with the rapid melting in recent weeks. The creek that flows into my local lake is well over its banks. Nobody's home is in danger here, which is good, but this is still quite a sight. The ice you see in the picture is the actual creek and depicts its normal width.

Water, water, everywhere

I also encountered a popple tree that is starting to bud. Quite a sight to see in the middle of March! Spring seems to be arriving early this year, which is fine by me. It makes me wonder if I will be seeing some early arriving migratory birds soon.

Buds breaking on the trees

What fun to be able to spend some time outside without having to bundle up. And weather like this makes all of us in the upper Midwest a little goofy, too. I can't tell you how many complete strangers greeted me with an enthusiastic "Hello!" or "What a day, huh?" It is nice to live in that kind of world. However, it is a striking difference from the middle of winter when everyone is hunched over and nobody you encounter outside wants to talk!

Today's run - an easy 5 miles, 59 degrees, sunshine, and a nice breeze. Sweet.

"Lasagna"

Sunday I also made lasagna. OK, so it was not traditional. Diced chicken, homemade guajillo chile sauce, sour cream, Monterrey jack, sharp cheddar, and cojita cheeses, with lasagna noodles - sort of a chicken enchilada dish in the style of lasagna! The green stuff is a rather spicy serrano pepper salsa. It was good. Really good.

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna!

Chips

Some time ago I wrote about a new Doritos chip. It was this new "Late Night" series of chips called "Tacos at Midnight." They were good. Doritos managed to capture the nuances of a fast food taco, right down to the lettuce, all the while conjuring up images of late night college exploits that occasionally ended with taco subs or chili-cheese nachos at a gas station.

At the grocery store this weekend, I noticed they added a new flavor to the lineup - "All Nighter Cheeseburger," which brought back additional memories of trying to get to McDonald's before it closed for a completely necessary evening snack consisting of the #2 cheeseburger value meal. The brain says, "No, no! No, no!", but the stomach says "Yes! Yes! Oh, baby, yes!" Everything about it just seems so unbelievably wrong on a multitude of levels.

Absolutely, I bought a bag.

Until next time,

Jean

Spring ahead

2010-03-13T18:44:00.005-06:00

The skies have been cloudy and overcast since Tuesday, so why should I expect anything less on Saturday? :) I woke up to 38 degrees, cloudy skies, a strong wind out of the north, along with clammy and humid conditions. Not bad for running, but I could have done without the wind.

I put in 16 miles on the trails. Overall, a pretty good run, although I did get a little tired towards the end. To be expected as I am building up my mileage again, I suppose.

With the exception of one of my favorite trails that don't get plowed in the winter, everything else is cleared off. We have lost so much snow over the past week and a half or so with the intense melting. Here are a couple comparison shots to show how far we have come.

One of my local trails - January 19, 2010

Same location - March 13, 2010

In the last week, we have become inundated with ducks and geese. I noticed great numbers of them on my run. I also heard some rooster ring-necked pheasants doing their crowning from nearby fields, another sign of spring. Otherwise, it was my usual suspects; cardinals, chickadees, blue jays, and red-bellied woodpeckers, happily singing away, biding their time until the "tourists" arrive.

Tonight's dinner was old school, and from school - tater tot hot dish! Love this stuff, as it reminds me of elementary school, only my rendition is much better with the use of fresh herbs, ground chuck, crimini mushrooms, and artisan extra-sharp cheddar cheese. Lunchlady Doris would be jealous.

School lunch kicked up a notch, as Emeril would say!

Remember to set those clocks ahead, those who observe daylight savings time. Looking forward to the sun setting after 7 PM!

Jean

This week in the kitchen

2010-03-12T18:52:00.000-06:00

A belated note on some recent kitchen creations...

Here is a dish I made last weekend, which made for sensational leftovers for my lunches this week. I whipped up some meatballs and red sauce with whole-wheat spaghetti. The red sauce was made from scratch, and the meatballs were a combination of ground beef and some of my homemade spicy Italian sausage that I had in my freezer.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This was the best tasting spaghetti and meatballs I have ever made. The meatballs were so tender and flavorful, and the sauce was a nice balance of sweet, spicy and tangy. I like to think I am a somewhat modest person, but this was so darn good that I was half expecting Bobby Flay to knock on my door and issue me a "spaghetti and meatballs throwdown." :)

Also this week, I baked an experimental loaf of bread that turned out to be fairly successful. It is a porter beer and caraway rye bread.

I used the basic proportions and most of the ingredients from my cinnamon swirl bread recipe (leaving out the egg wash, cinnamon sugar, the rolling, optional raisins, etc). For the 2 1/4 c. of total flour, I ended up going with 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour and 3/4 c. rye flour. Instead of the 1/2 c. of water in the recipe, I used porter beer (this year's edition of Schell's "Snowstorm" winter brew - a Baltic porter). And, I sprinkled in a couple of teaspoons of caraway seeds.

Porter beer & caraway rye bread

As the dough was kneading, I found it required some additional flour, as the dough was really quite wet (perhaps this was because the rye flour was somewhat coarse). So I gradually added small amounts of all-purpose flour until the dough came together better. After the first rise, I was thinking this might be a failure. But after I punched it down and shaped it in the loaf pan, it rose nicely on the second rise.

Really tasty bread - dense, but not heavy, there is a distinct rich and tangy dark beer taste, and it has a good rye flavor with just a hint of caraway. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, but I will continue to tweak the recipe, possibly use higher proportion of all-purpose flour, more caraway, or maybe drink more beer while baking. ;-) In any case, this was good for an experiment, and it will be fun to try this again utilizing some other ideas.

And I say when life gives you rye bread, it is a sign that you must make Reubens...

Reuben sandwich on my homemade bread

TGIF,

Jean

Rainy days and Mondays

2010-03-10T18:20:00.009-06:00

What an amazing transformation over the last week. Temperatures have been in the 40's, and over the last couple of nights, it has been above freezing.

Nearly all of our snow has disappeared. Couple that with the fact that it has been raining for the past two days, and looks to continue raining for the next two, we will have no virtually snow left by Friday, which is fine by me. But it is dreary as hell out right now.

We miss your voice, Karen...

Yesterday and today were the same - a nice 5 miler in the drizzle. Since all of the trails are just about free of ice and snow, I am much faster now that I have traction! Running has been a lot of fun this week, and this has me excited for spring. Even if things are a little wet right now.

Until next time,

Jean

Cinnamon swirl bread

2010-03-08T17:32:00.008-06:00

Pizza dough excluded, I haven't baked bread in ages. Saturday I decided it was time to revive an old favorite - cinnamon swirl bread.

The recipe is something I adapted from my Mom's whole-wheat bread recipe, and I have sort of played with it over the years. Sometimes I make this with raisins, but this time I made it without. It is good stuff either way. You basically let the dough rise, punch it down, roll it out, apply the cinnamon sugar, roll it up, let it rise again, and bake. The results are really kind of pretty, and the bread is quite tasty.

Jean's Cinnamon Swirl Bread
-makes 1 loaf

-1/4 c. milk
-1/2 c. water
-3 T. honey
-2 T. molasses
-1 1/2 t. instant yeast
-1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
-3/4 c. whole-wheat flour
-1 t. salt
-2 T. butter, diced into small cubes
-1/2 cup raisins (optional)
-1 egg, lightly beaten
-3 T. sugar
-1 T. cinnamon
-Extra butter for the loaf pan and for brushing the loaf

Mix the milk, water, honey, and molasses together. Warm in the microwave to about 100 degrees F. Add to the bowl of the stand mixture. Sprinkle in the yeast and allow yeast to get foamy, 5 - 10 minutes.

Add both the flours, salt, and butter (I just add the little cubes of solid butter and let them get worked in during the kneading) to the wet ingredients. With the dough hook attachment, knead for 10 minutes or until the dough comes together with a smooth surface. If using raisins, add them now directly to the dough and knead to incorporate.

Place the dough in a lightly buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In a warm, draft free place, allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. (I turn my oven on for only 1 minute, quickly turn it off, and then place the bowl of dough inside the oven to rise, which creates a barely warm, draft free environment - a little trick Mom taught me!)

Prepare the egg wash. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

Punch down the dough and place on a lightly floured board. Roll into a long rectangle shape about 1/2 inch thick, keeping it no more than 8 inches wide so it will fit in the pan when you roll it up. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash, which helps the layers from separating. Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture (using as little or as much as you like - you may not need all of the cinnamon sugar, but you do need to be a little heavy handed with it to get the distinct lines to appear).

Roll up the dough like a jelly roll and tuck the ends under. Transfer to an 8 1/2 inch buttered loaf pan, placing the dough seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again until doubled in size (perhaps an hour or so).

Carefully brush a little melted butter over the top. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove from the loaf pan, brush the top with extra melted butter if desired, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

The cinnamon swirl bread comes out of the oven looking like any other loaf of bread...

...but it looks pretty darn cool once you slice it!

It is great simply toasted with butter. And, believe it or not, this bread makes for a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich, especially with some bacon or ham (or both) and tomato slices (trust me on this, it is true - even if you use raisins in the bread!). But I would be lying if I said I made this for any other reason than to have some cinnamon french toast, along side my homemade ginger and sage breakfast sausage, topped with real Minnesota maple syrup... ;-)

A cinnamon-laced breakfast of champions

Saturday 15

2010-03-06T18:40:00.003-06:00

I woke up to a cool 21 degree morning. The rain originally predicted for today stayed away, and it only starting to enter the metro this evening as I type. So I was treated to a pleasant and sunny morning.

Today's run was little over 15 miles at a relatively easy pace. Some of the trails had icy spots from the overnight freeze, so I had to tiptoe through those areas. They were few and far between, however.

This morning I ran my southern route, a route I had not run since training for Des Moines last fall. I like to run this way for my longer runs so I don't have to do loops around the neighborhood. It takes me down an honest to goodness dirt road that still exists in the suburbs, through a wooded area, back through a park, and eventually around my lake. Depending on how I mix it up, I can do anywhere between 13 and 21 miles without running the same path twice.

Somewhere near mile 11, with minimal frost buildup on the beard... :)

Birds were active this morning. Red-bellied woodpeckers seem to have come out of the woodwork. They are everywhere, which is strange since I don't see them much in the winter. Yet, they are non-migratory and really don't go anywhere. Perhaps they are just more talkative now so I am noticing them? Blue jays were also making all kinds of crazy sounds. And I saw some Canada geese overhead, so they are making their way back.

And, aside from a small block of ice, most of my Gatorade stayed in liquid form for the entire run. This, too, signifies a change of seasons. :)

Tonight's dinner - a hot and spicy Thai-inspired chicken stir-fry. Chicken and veggies with red chile flakes, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chile-garlic sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, roasted chile paste, white wine, and fresh basil. I had a perhaps a scant two cups of black sweet Thai rice on hand, so I used the last of it (this is the most beautiful rice in the world, by the way - even if it does stain your rice cooker and just about everything it comes into contact with). Yum! A great meal to refuel with after my morning run.

Spicy and colorful!

I also baked some cool bread this afternoon, but I will save that for another post!

Until next time,

Jean

What has two thumbs and likes running outside in shorts?

2010-03-05T20:31:00.004-06:00

This guy! :)

First run of the year in shorts (outdoors, that is). I am sure I blinded several passers-by with my pasty white legs, but it was 46 degrees today! What was I supposed to do? ;-)

More weather like this, please...

The big thaw, scheduling conundrums, and roasting chicken

2010-03-03T17:36:00.011-06:00

This is more like it! I am totally digging this springlike weather.

No stocking cap needed. Yours truly, enjoying yesterday's 45 degree run!

Running has been really good this week. Temperatures have been in the low to mid 40's, so this has felt like a heatwave. Birds are singing loudly. Yesterday I saw my resident eagles, and I even flushed a large red-tailed hawk from its perch in the woods. Today I saw another mourning dove. Spring is inching closer and closer.

Historically, this is the last section of the trail to clear off, but the snow is melting fast

The melting has been rapid, and the trails are clearing off nicely. We have lost a huge amount of snow in the past three days. There are only a few tricky places where the sun doesn't hit that have not melted yet, but there is a lot of dry pavement to run on. This is a wonderful thing to see after a difficult winter.

I am struggling to find races that fit into my spring calendar. All I have on the schedule is the St. Patrick's Day Human Race 8k, which I love and always do (curiously, this year it is being held a week and a half after St. Patty's Day?!?), and then I have the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon the second weekend in May. That's it so far.

I have been looking for a race in April, but nothing really works, nothing really excites me, and there isn't all that much choose from this early in the season. The first weekend in April is out, as that is Easter. Next weekend is the Fetzer 20k in Rochester, a nice race I have done before - but I should really be logging more miles than that. There is Trail Mix on the 17th, a 25k trail race - but I want to put in at least 20 on that day, as that should be my big run before my marathon taper (and I ain't ready to do the 50k option!) A 20 miler is taking place in St. Cloud (about an hour from me) the same day - but the packet pickup situation is kind of inconvenient. The Get In Gear race in Minneapolis offers a half marathon on the 24th, which might be a nice distance during my taper - but that race is also something of a logistical pain in the ass in that thousands of people run in this, packet pickup is the day before, and the race registration with online processing fee costs...almost $60 to enter?!? Good grief, my marathon in May was only $45!

So, who knows? I am not going to worry about it too much, since there will be an endless amount of races to choose from in the summer. It is probably best that I simply log miles on training runs during April like I did last year. I am just getting excited to do some races, and there are not a lot of options that are working out this early in the spring.

Sunday I prepared a dish that I had not made in quite some time - a "Moroccan-spiced" roasted chicken. Using a variation on this Tyler Florence recipe, I gave the spice grinder a workout once again, buzzing up a fragrant blend of cinnamon, coriander, cumin, clove, paprika, and cayenne, along with some salt, black peppercorns, and brown sugar.

My local meat market sells these beautiful farm raised chickens (a 4 lb. bird was a mere $6 and change), so I picked one up on Saturday. The chicken gets liberally coated with the spice mixture and extra virgin olive oil. The cavity of the chicken is stuffed with fresh cilantro, garlic, red onion, and lemon wedges. After roasting in the oven, I ended up with this nicely browned and crispy skinned bird. This smells absolutely fantastic coming out of the oven.

Just out of the oven...

I also made some ginger-cilantro couscous as a side dish - couscous cooking in chicken stock with fresh ginger and red pepper flakes, with some roasted red and yellow peppers, carrots, garlic, peas, and fresh cilantro folded in. And I whipped up a pan gravy with the drippings (talk about an exotic tasting gravy!). A great Sunday meal. Some nice comfort food to dine on while watching the Olympic closing ceremonies.

Dinner is served!

Until next time,

Jean

A messy 40, and the Cookie Monster

2010-03-01T18:23:00.006-06:00

40 degrees today! Unbelievable. This is the warmest it has been in months. No need for the stocking cap and gloves. It felt great on my run this afternoon.

I did just over 5 miles. The trails have cleared up quite a bit, as the snow is melting rapidly. However, there are still plenty of areas that receive little sunlight where there is a lot of snow and ice yet to melt.

About a mile into my run, I stepped on what I thought was solid ice only to crash through into a three inch deep puddle, effectively filling the toe area of my new shoes with ice cold water. Thankfully, the mesh uppers at least do a nice job of filtering out the ice chunks. :) So that was unpleasant. But those areas were few and far between. Nice to run on dry pavement again.

And I saw my first mourning dove of the season. I am really looking forward to the return of the various migratory birds over the next few months.

In cooking news, I've been on a total cookie baking kick lately. I think I am turning into the Cookie Monster.

On Sunday, I tried a new recipe. It was based one of Martha's, but I put my own spin on it. I am not a coffee drinker, however I love coffee flavors, especially in desserts (coffee-flavored ice cream is the best!). I took the proportions of the recipe and added some espresso powder to the dry ingredients. Also, I had some cappuccino-flavored chips in my pantry. So instead of 12 oz. of chocolate chips, I weighed out 5 oz. of the cappuccino chips, 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips, and 2 oz. of some little Heath Bar bits for good measure. Anyhow, here is what I did:

Double Chocolate Coffee Toffee Cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

2/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 t. espresso powder
8 oz. Green & Black's 70% cacao dark chocolate, broken up
4 T. unsalted butter
2 eggs
3/4 c. light-brown sugar, packed
1 t. pure vanilla extract
5 oz. Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
5 oz. E. Guittard cappuccino flavored chips
2 oz. Heath English Toffee bits

Heat oven to 350 F.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder to a bowl. Mix together to combine. Set aside.

Add the chocolate and butter to a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring each time, until melted and smooth.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on a high speed until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low. Slowly pour the melted chocolate into the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla mixture. Mix until the chocolate is just incorporated.

Add the flour mixture. Stir until just combined and you no longer see white streaks of flour. Fold in the chocolate chips, cappuccino chips, and Heath bar bits.

On parchment lined baking sheets, drop rounded tablespoons of the mixture, approximately 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 minute. The cookies should have a cracked and somewhat shiny appearance. Allow to set on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, and then transfer to a cookie sheet to cool completely. Enjoy. Share with coworkers. Impress your friends. Or keep 'em for yourself...I ain't gonna tell on you. :)

Really good stuff, with rich chocolate and coffee flavors. When I do this again, I might adjust the chip/Heath bar ratio to include more Heath bar. The little crunchy bits of toffee are a nice surprise and offer a welcome textural contrast to an otherwise soft, moist cookie. I look forward to making these again. Soon.

Until next time,

Jean

Curry up!

2010-02-28T12:11:00.005-06:00

No running today, so let's talk cooking...

As noted in an earlier post, I made some of my own curry powder this past weekend. The recipe I used was this one from Tyler Florence (scroll down on the page for the recipe - it also appears in his cookbook, "Eat This Book").

I took whole spices - coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard, cloves, cardamom, black peppercorns, and a few dried red chilies (I added more than the recipe called for), toasted the spices in a skillet, and whizzed them up in my electric spice grinder. Once everything was finely ground into a powder, I added the ground turmeric and gave it a final zap to incorporate. There is nothing like the smell of freshly toasted and ground spices, and the aroma of this exotic spice blend was amazing.

Freshly ground curry powder

Let's cook!

I used my fresh curry powder in an Asian-style noodle stir-fry, fashioned very loosely after a Singapore fried rice noodle recipe in Nina Simonds', "Asian Noodles" cookbook. An assortment of veggies stir-fried with garlic, ginger, and curry powder, along with some twice-cooked five spice pork tenderloin (ground my own five spice powder for that, too - I can discuss that another time!), shrimp, and rice stick noodles, with a light, thin sauce consisting of chicken stock and soy sauce.

Stir-fried rice stick noodles with curry, twice-cooked pork, and shrimp

Delicious. And spicy! I loved the blend of curry powder. Such an interesting flavor. And what a difference it makes when the powder if fresh. So much brighter and livelier. It was a tasty and light Saturday night meal with plump shrimp and yummy bits of roasted pork.

Be warned - the noodles, when coated with a light layer of this spicy yellow sauce, will stain the hell of of anything they touch, as my kitchen towels will attest to. :)

Until next time,

Jean

14 at 13

2010-02-27T13:29:00.004-06:00

I ran early this morning. 14 miles at a balmy 13 degrees. It was rather crisp to start, but after a beautiful sunrise, things warmed slightly to all of 19 by the time I finished.

The run was decent. I am still trying to shake off some of the winter rust. This was my longest run since last October at least, so I am slowly trying to build up the miles again.

As noted, the sun was shining brightly this morning, and the birds responded in kind. Chickadees and cardinals were happily singing. The nasal sound of the white-breasted nuthatch echoed in the woods. And I stopped for a minute or so to watch a red-bellied woodpecker working away on a tree. Nice morning.

Now, back to the Olympics, as well as some cooking. There will be a food-related post if what I am working on turns out!

Until next time,

Jean

Come on, spring!

2010-02-26T19:01:00.005-06:00

I am very excited that March begins on Monday. That means spring is only a few weeks away. That means we are roughly six weeks away from the first warblers of the season to start migrating through. That means I will hopefully be able to start wearing shorts again sometime in the very near future.

Then again, we always run the chance of snow through late April and some of our lakes might not thaw until mid May, so perhaps I should contain my excitement for a few more weeks. :)

This has been my most challenging winter for running. In late December, we got dumped on with snow, then everything froze solid. The trails have never really gotten completely cleared off. Now, with the sun being higher in the sky, a lot of melting is occurring, creating ice slicks on parts of the trails. The last few months have been frustrating, and a few days have even driven me (a guy who loves winter running) indoors.

Tonight was a very slow, tentative 5 miler. Here's to warmer days ahead. Bring on spring!

The Olympics will be missed when they are finished this Sunday. I have really been enjoying the games and have decided that cross country skiing might be the prettiest sport to watch on TV. The colorful uniforms against the white and green backdrop of the mountains - wow! And the racing has been excellent.

I actually caught myself shouting at the TV during the late stages of the Nordic combined on Thursday when the American skiers pulled away from the Austrian and went 1-2, capturing their first gold medal ever in this event (by the way, big week for Billy Demong). Anyhow, despite some bellyaching about the weather, I thought the Olympic games have been fun. Good show, Vancouver.

Tonight's dinner was a homemade pizza Margherita. Pizza with tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. So simple, yet so yummy.

Mama mia!

Until next time,

Jean

Laff-A-Lympics

2010-02-25T18:39:00.002-06:00

Today was a day off from running. All I am doing this evening is making some pizza dough to have on hand, and then I am getting ready to watch the Olympics.

And since I have really been getting into the Olympic spirit, how about an Olympic-themed blast from the past that you might remember from your Saturday morning cartoons? (That is, if you are old like me!)

It the Laff-A-Lympics!

I loved these cartoons!

Deep freeze, and what a performance

2010-02-24T18:10:00.005-06:00

The last three nights, five miles each. The runs were challenging, as the trails have become skating rinks again thanks to some recent thawing. But we now have dipped back into the deep freeze with some overnight temperatures in the single digits below zero, so the trails are frozen solid. This afternoon was 19 degrees with a wind chill of 11. But it didn't feel too bad. The sun was out, and the sun felt kind of warm. That being said, I am still ready for spring.

I am not a fan of figure skating. But, the performance by this young Canadian skater at the Olympics last night was nothing short of incredible. How she managed to hold it together, especially under such difficult circumstances, is beyond me. I hope she wins it all.

Apparently you can't embed the actual performance, but NBC's link to the video is found here.

Norwegian sporting influence, and weekend cooking

2010-02-22T18:11:00.007-06:00

The Vancouver Olympics have been fantastic to watch. On Sunday, I caught men's 15k biathlon - a peculiar sport that, in part, traces its roots back to an 1800's military training exercise for Norwegian soldiers and involves a curious mix of cross country skiing and gunplay. (Speaking as a person of Norse ancestry, you are right to be wary of things devised by the Norwegians - after all, we are the ones who gave you lutefisk!) The winner covered the 15k in 35:35 while stopping four times to shoot out five small targets at 50 meters. And he had zero misses. Wow!

I am not a skier, and I joked to some of my friends that I wondered if there was any sort of running/marksmanship equivalent. After some quick research, it turns out there is! There are variants to the sport, some involving archery, and another called a "primitive biathlon" involving...snowshoes and muzzleloaders?!? Good grief. But they actually do have summer biathlons where a cross country run takes place instead of the skiing.

As a runner, and a person who finished 2nd in the marksmanship portion of his MN Department of Natural Resources firearms safety training class back in the 5th grade (I lost to a girl), this sounds like fun to me. There are a couple of problems, though. One, there aren't many of these summer biathlons around here in the US (most appear to be out east, and they are few and far between). And two, I have nowhere to train for such an event. Running around my neighborhood with a biathlon rifle strapped to my back would certainly raise eyebrows and potentially land me an appearance on "COPS" as the perpetrator du jour getting tasered by the local PD.

In any case, I love the idea that this sport exists. It is still no Snøkåathlaan, but then again, what is?

As Sunday was a day off from running, in addition to watching sports, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Here is the rundown:

-I baked cookies. I found a recipe at the Running Foodie's blog for "Peanut Butter Volt Cookies" - peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, peanuts, and coffee, which sounded incredibly interesting. And they were! A delicious, chewy cookie, and the flavors worked very well together. The only deviation from the recipe was the use of dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips, because that is how I roll. I brought a bunch of them to the office today to share with my coworkers and they were gone before lunchtime. A new cookie for my repertoire. Great stuff!

Peanut butter cookies with a blast of caffeine!

-I found a really nice chuck roast at the meat market, so I made a beef stew with Zinfandel. I love stew this time of year! Herbage included fresh rosemary, thyme, and parsley, along with a few bay leaves and some dried herbes de Provence. There were lots of carrots, onions, mushrooms, and garlic, with a rich braising liquid consisting of Zinfandel, beef stock, and tomato paste. Served with pureed root vegetables (rutabaga, turnip, Yukon gold potato, and carrots), I had myself a mighty fine Sunday dinner.

Stew is good food

-I also broke out the spice grinder and made my own homemade curry powder. But I will save those details for when I actually use it in a dish! :)

Until next time,

Jean

A half marathon, a few pound, and some soup

2010-02-20T18:20:00.004-06:00

This morning I ran my own half marathon. A shade over 13 miles today, and it was a nice morning to run.

The temperature was around 19 degrees when I started, but winds were relatively calm, and the skies, which started fairly clear, became overcast. Cardinals and chickadees were singing like crazy, and I heard an exuberant red-bellied woodpecker doing his "kwirrrr!" vocalization (first time I have heard that since fall). All in all, a pleasant day on the trails.

There were a lot more runners out today. It would seem that some training groups were starting up, as I met a group of five women doing laps around the local lake. And I met several other seasoned runners who looked as if they were preparing for something. We are all getting pretty excited for spring in these parts!

I don't obsess about my weight, but I typically gain a few pounds in the winter. Some of this is because of running fewer miles this time of year (subsequently burning fewer calories), and some is because of eating heartier winter dishes, too.

About a month ago, I made a simple change - I quit snacking at work. No more getting the bagel for breakfast in the cafeteria, or heading down to the office gift shop for a candy bar, and no more keeping bags of Jelly Belly jellybeans in my desk. The only thing I eat at work is the lunch that I brought. Breakfast and dinner are at home.

I figure this is saving anywhere from 600 to 800 calories a day, depending on what kind of Jelly Belly bender I went on. I am already at my summer running weight, so I am feeling pretty good about that. Maybe this will make me faster as the racing season approaches? We will see!

Speaking of heartier winter dishes...tonight's homemade split pea soup with ham. :) My recipe is here.

Winter comfort food. Yum!

Until next time,

Jean

Snøkåathlaan

2010-02-19T20:21:00.004-06:00

I've had a busy week and don't have much to report. A nice 5 mile run this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day in the low 30's - what a week. I did see some dark-eyed juncos my running route, the first I have seen since fall, so perhaps they are on the move? That's about all I've got.

I will say that I am enjoying the Olympic winter games immensely. However, I do wish the Snøkåathlaan was a real event. Good grief, so many rules... :)

Will run for chocolate

2010-02-16T18:00:00.003-06:00

I didn't run yesterday. So I baked brownies instead. :)

They were a huge hit at the office today, and our receptionist insisted I give her the recipe (which can be found here). They turned out really nice - rich and chocolatey, but with a somewhat fluffy, velvety texture. The only deviation from the original recipe is that instead of the 4 egg whites, I used 2 whole eggs plus 2 egg whites. For chocolate, I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder, and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bars with 70% cacao. The brownies tasted great along side of some caramel macchiato-flavored ice cream last night for desert.

Ice cream and brownies...mmmmm!

To burn off some of the chocolately calories, I did go running today! And what a day it was. Sunny, temps in the mid 30's, and freshly plowed trails. There was a decent breeze, but it was hard to complain. I put in a brisk 5 miles and enjoyed my run immensely.

Now if you will excuse me, there are some leftover brownies on my counter with my name on them (you didn't think I was going to bring all of them to share at work, did you?!?).

"Well, isn't that special?"

2010-02-15T21:40:00.004-06:00

With any homecoming week, there is always a multitude of "spirit building" activities. During my junior year of high school, there was a skit competition held at the homecoming pep fest. I was entered with a friend.

We performed a skit based on Dana Carvey's old "Church Chat with the Church Lady" talk show bit (I am really dating myself here, but this was a popular recurring SNL sketch at the time).

I was dressed to the nines in an old lady outfit, and I conducted a "Church Chat" interview with my buddy. Some of our skit was scripted out, but a portion of it had to be improvised, as I also ended up dragging my Dad (a teacher at the school) out of the crowd to be subjected to some grilling from the Church Lady. We thought we were pretty clever.

Time for Church Chat...

We ended up finishing in second place behind some football players who performed as the California Raisins - "claymation" figures made popular by TV commercials that were something of a pop culture phenomenon at the time. All these guys did was dress in black Hefty garbage bags, wear sunglasses, and dance around to the song, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

Remember the Raisins' Christmas Special?

I remember being quite disappointed because of the effort we put into our production. All those hours of study hall completely wasted (shhhh...don't tell) with our planning, crafting, writing and rewriting of our skit, only to finish second to guys merely dancing around as giant raisins, an act they threw together in minutes. There is a better than average chance that we just really sucked and weren't nearly as funny as we thought we were. But still - giant raisins?

Lessons were most certainly learned from this experience. I learned that entertainment is a tough business, and that an audience can be difficult to please. But also, I learned that aspiring to mediocrity is never a good thing.

(Sorry...I caught about 30 seconds of the sitcom "Accidentally on Purpose" tonight, and all of these memories came flooding back...) ;-)

Since this is a occasionally a running blog...no run today, but Sunday was a nice morning. The temperature was around 8 degrees, but the sun was shining, and it was not quite as frosty as Saturday. I put in a good 7 miles on the trails. A great weekend of running. Here is to getting in some quality miles!

Until next time,

Jean

Horfrost in Minnesota

2010-02-13T09:48:00.006-06:00

We had dense fog and cold temps in the Twin Cities overnight. All the trees had a thick layer of horfrost clinging to the branches. Here are some images from my neighborhood this morning. It is a winter wonderland!

No doubt, this helped to make for a gorgeous run this morning. 8 degrees, relatively calm, and occasional periods of the fluffiest snow falling. Stunning!

I did 11 1/2 miles today. My cold is completely gone, and I had a really nice run. The trails were in good shape, so the footing was solid. And hardly anyone was out yet, so I had the trails largely to myself. It felt great to put in some miles on such a pretty day.

More and more chickadees are singing their "fee-bee" song, and I head cardinals doing their "what-CHEER!" call, which I almost never hear in the dead of winter. I am taking these as signs of spring. Come on, spring! :)

Until next time,

Jean

Getting Better

2010-02-11T18:07:00.004-06:00

I have defeated my cold! Even though I didn't have Penny from "Big Bang Theory" to sing "Soft Kitty" to aid in my recovery, I am feeling infinitely better than I did on Tuesday. All hail the healing powers of chile peppers and chicken noodle soup!

I've been well enough that I went running the last two days. I took the lame route and ran indoors at the Plymouth dome. It was a very nice day today, but it was also nice to run at a warm 55 degree temperature...and in shorts! Today's run was particularly good. I am no longer congested, and I felt fairly energized. Good to be rid of that miserable stuff!

I am a bit behind on my food posts. Here is one of the meals from the weekend that took two days to prepare. On day one, I made a pork shoulder braised in red wine and tomato sauce with mushrooms. On day two I shredded the meat and used the some of the braising liquid combined with a traditional red sauce to make lasagna.

Braised pork and mushroom lasagna

The pork got ridiculously tender, the sauce was rich and tasty, and it was a pretty successful dish. The side dish is Brussels sprouts with bits of my home cured bacon. Yum.

Until next time,

Jean

Still sniffing

2010-02-09T18:04:00.002-06:00

The snow started on Sunday night and finally tapered off on Tuesday morning. I think my neighborhood was in the 7 inch range. Not exactly the storm of the century, but it turned the last few commutes into absolute nightmares. I have never seen so many cars in the ditch. And not just spinouts - we are talking rollovers, too. It was absolutely crazy.

Adding to the misery, I still have my cold. Monday was actually the worst of it. I was so stuffed up and coughing, and I felt awful. I did something that I haven't done in over 5 years - took a couple hours of sick time and went home early. I do seem to be improving somewhat, although I am still congested and my voice resembles that of Patty or Selma on "The Simpson's."

Haven't had a cold like this in years. This sucks. And unfortunately, I don't have Sheldon's neighbor to nurse me back to health...

No run yesterday or today. Need to get better first.

Until next time,

Jean

Frigid 5

2010-02-07T13:59:00.005-06:00

As I have been typing this over the course of the afternoon, there is endless Super Bowl pregame coverage and chatter on the TV. It is obvious they are already in "time filler" mode, as I saw Chef Emeril Lagasse talking Creole cuisine on "Sunday NFL Countdown." Also, you learn the most amazing facts. I heard ESPN's Suzy Kolber utter the phrase, "Dwight Freeney heals like a wolverine!" I like to think I know a thing or two about wildlife, but I was previously unaware of the healing abilities that a wolverine possesses. Thanks, Suzy! :)

Anyhow, earlier on Super Bowl Sunday, I found myself in St. Paul on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds to partake in my first race of 2010, the Frigid 5.

I have been fighting a cold all weekend, so needless to say I was not feeling my best. Before I left for the race, I wasn't terribly excited about going. But once I got there, that all changed. I had not been to a race since before Thanksgiving, so it felt good to be at a race again! A great running atmosphere, lots of runners milling around, and I was even greeted by the infamous Running Bear. Spirits were instantly lifted!

Running Bear - the Frigid 5 mascot!

The morning was actually quite pleasant, too. Temps in the mid 20, a slight breeze, and some sun trying to peek through the hazy clouds. A nice reprieve from the snowstorm that is supposed to hit us later today and into Monday.

Setting up for the race at the State Fairgrounds

The 5k race is a couple of laps around the State Fairground which starts and finishes at the hockey arena. In my condition, I started out slow and didn't want to exert myself all that much. I just settled in to a brisk but easy pace and tried not to labor too much.

The State Fairgrounds is a strange place in the winter. It is configured like a bunch of city streets with buildings for businesses, radio and TV stations, food stands, and whatnot. In the winter, the place is desolate, and there are no people around at all. It looks eerie, kind of like a scene from a horror movie or something - which makes me want to run faster for fear of some chainsaw wielding maniac in a hockey mask chasing after me! ;-)

Making it through the first lap in 12:04, I was feeling better than I thought I would, so I increased my effort slightly on the second lap. To heck with feeling bad! The streets were in really good shape, free and clear of ice, so it was a treat to actually have some traction. I ended up passing a few folks in the last half mile on the ever-so-slight downhill to the finish. I ended up finishing in 23:28.

Not a very speedy 5k for me, especially on a fast, flat course. But, no worries. I really don't care so much about the time. I was just running for the super cool cap. :)

The 2010 Frigid 5 stocking cap design. Go Vikings! Oh, wait...

Race #1 of 2010 in in the books. On to the next...

Jean

Pictures of Matchstick Men

2010-02-06T18:21:00.003-06:00

Saturday morning I did an easy 8 miler. It was a nice morning. Overcast, low 20's, not bad at all. I am still dealing with my cold, which has evolved into the runny nose and coughing up phlegm variety. So I really didn't want to push anything.

I sure have been having a tough time getting in some longer runs on weekends. First I dealt with all the snow from December, the bitter cold days, and the terrible trail conditions. Now that the trails are nice and smooth, I have a damned cold. And tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be the start of a significant snowstorm that promises to dump anywhere from 6 inches to a foot or more of snow (depending upon which weather forecaster you trust) and linger in the region through Tuesday. Yikes.

Following some errands today, I stopped at my local Culver's for lunch, which is often a Saturday ritual. Love their burgers! They always have some sort of 50's music playing inside the restaurant. Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, stuff like that - sort of your quintessential, nostalgic burger joint music.

As I was eating my lunch, a new song starts up. I instantly recognized the violin intro. Surprised, I said to myself, "This is Camper Van Beethoven!"

CVB was an alternative rock band from my college days. And yes indeed, it was "Pictures of Matchstick Men," their cover of a Status Quo song, and their most successful hit. This song was from 1989. It was so out of place here.

Yet, I was loving the fact that it was playing. Who is the wonderful person that slipped this song into the lineup? Happily, I ate my burger and fries, humming along to the lyrics...

"Pictures of matchstick men and you,
Images of matchstick men and you
Alls I ever see is them and you"

Once the song finished, it was right back to the oldies with a succession of 50's music. It was uncanny, as if they played that song just for me. An unexpected treat to go along with my Butter Burger.

Thanks, Culver's!

This week in Minnesota

2010-02-05T18:43:00.005-06:00

Here is sort of a rundown of this week for me...

I've had several absolutely miserable commutes this week. Freezing rain, sleet, snow, you name it. The snow was so heavy and greasy this morning that I could barely make it up a not-very-steep hill with my car.

There is a good chance of snow all the way through Tuesday of next week, including a possible doozy of a snowstorm Sunday night into Monday, but the forecasters are holding their cards close to the vest.

I have a minor cold or something (scratchy, rattly throat with dry sinuses), so I am not entirely feeling like myself. I did go running this afternoon when I got home from work, but it was slow going and not a lot of fun (and the trails were probably in the best shape they have been in since before Christmas).

And, nothing to do with anything, but the guy I picked for my fantasy golf league this week (Robert Allenby) is playing mediocre at best.

In other words, it has been a less than exciting week here in the great state of Minnesota!

Whenever I feel a cold coming on, I reach for some spicy food because I like to think that a lot of chile peppers can kill just about any bug. So I whipped up some tacos for dinner tonight with my chorizo sausage, refried beans, Monterrey jack cheese, and two kinds of salsa - guajillo chile salsa, and a serrano salsa verde. Now that got the old sinuses running!

Friday night is taco night

And I don't really keep any "official" cold medicines at my place. In lieu of that, a homemade remedy that has worked from time to time involves a certain Scottish liquid with the words "Cask Strength" on the label. Similar to the chile theory, the belief is that anything rated at 116.4 proof should be able stop a cold bug dead in its tracks. :)

Take THAT, nasty cold!

Until next time,

Jean

Day of the Dogs

2010-02-03T17:49:00.004-06:00

I have this newer 5.3 mile loop that I have been running fairly regularly in recent weeks. It is fairly rolling with a few hills, but nothing dramatic. Today I decided to mix it up and run it in reverse. For some reason, it felt like there was a tremendous amount of uphill running going this way! How strange. The elevation gain and loss has to be the same, so it is funny how that works. Perception is everything? Anyhow, it was a good run and a nice afternoon.

Today was also a day for the dogs. During the course of my run, I encountered another runner with a golden retriever (by all accounts, a very nice breed) that barked and snarled at me. The apologetic owner stopped and reigned in the dog so I could go by. But then the dog got away from her and came after me again, continuing to growl! Wow, this pooch didn't like me much!

Not to be outdone, a half mile down the trail, I was closing in on a guy walking an excitable black lab who was meeting a lady walking three even more excitable pointers. Chaos ensued as a WWE-style "royal rumble" took place in the middle of the trail between the four playful puppies. I had to stop completely and pass through a snowbank on the trail's edge to get by while the owners tried to play an unsuccessful zone defense in an attempt to separate the happy hounds.

The topper, however, was this:

Every year my folks check out the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon up on the North Shore. This race is has an interesting history in that it is based on an old sled dog mail route from the late 1800's where the mail was delivered by the legendary John Beargrease. They have this deal where you can get a commemorative stamped envelope that was actually carried during the race and signed by one of the sled dog mushers before being circulated into the regular mail. This letter from my Mom was in my mailbox tonight.

That's right, folks. The mail still arrives by sled dog in these parts! And, believe it or not, their delivery time was better than some online retailers. :)

Until next time,

Jean

Fresh snow

2010-02-02T17:52:00.007-06:00

From this afternoon's run, a gorgeous February day

At least, this afternoon was gorgeous, that is.

Yesterday afternoon and this morning treated us to some "nuisance snow" - barely three inches, but just enough to really screw everything up. Last night's and this morning's commutes were nothing short of slow and horrendous.

But, the mini-storm blew out of here, leaving us with a gorgeous, sunny Groundhog Day. Light winds, temps in the low 20s, and everything is coated with fresh snow. And they even got out there and plowed the trails for me. Thanks guys! The running was just fantastic tonight. Nice to be outside again! :)

Now, if you will excuse me, it is time to mentally prepare myself for the new season of "Lost" starting tonight. First, I have to remember what the heck happened last season... :)

Until next time,

Jean

Same 'ol, same 'ol...

2010-01-31T17:58:00.001-06:00

I ran on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at the dome in Plymouth. Friday included 53 laps for a shade over 10 miles. It was actually kind of nice because there were very few people on the track, so I had plenty of space and didn't have to navigate through a sea of walkers. It is nice to have the indoor option.

Saturday was a day off, and I ran a short 5 miles this morning...outdoors, even! It was 4 degrees with a slight breeze, but that didn't feel all that chilly. The trails and sidewalks are still slick in places, but I found some routes that were pretty well cleared off, so that was OK for running. We could supposedly get a dusting of snow Monday. I am actually hoping we do, because that will give the trails a coating for some additional traction.

This weekend has been fairly uneventful, and actually, kind of boring. There is nothing on for sports right now, and it is still pretty cold out. So I might as well spend more time in the kitchen.

Saturday I made a pizza yesterday with a Summit Winter Ale pizza dough, topped with homemade chorizo sausage, a chipotle-tomato sauce, red bell peppers, roasted tomatoes, black olives, red onions, and a combination of smoked cheddar and pepper jack cheeses. Sort of a "south of the border" pizza twist!

Spicy, smoky pizza

Sunday was cold with a high of 16 degrees. So, it was a chili kind of day. I spent the better part of the morning with prep work, including grinding my own chilies and spices (and let me tell you, if you have never ground your own chilies to make powder, be prepared for a lot of sneezing!). I made a nice and spicy batch of beef and chorizo chili to warm me up on this chilly January day.

I also baked honey cornbread muffins to accompany the chili. I used this recipe. The two darker muffins in the front were dusted with ancho chile powder for a tasty little experiment. Good stuff.

Chili and cornbread...mmmm!

Until next time,

Jean

I wore shorts in January

2010-01-27T18:17:00.004-06:00

It was all of 9 degrees tonight with a wind chill of -10, but I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to go running in shorts!

(OK, so I did my running indoors...)

I checked out the Plymouth Fieldhouse dome tonight. I had heard rumors of its existence for awhile now - a small track that goes around the outside of an indoor athletic field, opened up to runners in the winter, and free of charge, even. Sounds too good to be true, right? My trail conditions suck so bad right now that I was willing to try anything.

I am embarrassed to say I had no idea where this place was until today. Turns out it was practically right on my way home. I found it no problem, and the rumors were true! I ended up having a great run in a comfortable 55 degree environment.

It wasn't too crowded on the track - just a handful of runners when I was there, and perhaps four times as many walkers. There were some soccer, rugby, and lacrosse practices going on in the center (I am a country boy - those sports are completely foreign to me!), so a loose ball occasionally squirted onto the track, but otherwise it was a pleasant experience.

Able to free myself from the shackles of winter running gear, I felt speedy and nimble. While not ideal (no birds to watch, scenery never changes, having to remember what lap I am on), at least I didn't have any ice to contend with. I did 33 laps around the track (1 mile = roughly 5 1/4 laps), good for about a 10k. I will be utilizing this place more often on crappy days in the winter.

There is something about a place that opens its doors to people so they can run inside during the bitter cold winter months that strikes me as being very Minnesotan. I love it!

Digging the shorts in January,

Jean

No run scheduled today...

2010-01-26T17:43:00.002-06:00

...but the trails and sidewalks remain icy and look as awful as they did yesterday. Still, more cheesy, bacony, tomatoey goodness was required to try and lift my spirits until warmer weather arrives... ;-)

Mac and cheese with smoked cheddar, Emmentaler, roasted tomatoes, my homemade porchetta bacon, and radiatore pasta

Still dreaming of spring,

Jean

Nowhere to run to

2010-01-25T17:57:00.005-06:00

With the temperature dropping rapidly to around 20 degrees this afternoon, the trails that were slushy yesterday have now frozen solid. It would have been smart to plow off the trails yesterday when everything was melting, but that didn't happen. This means everything is all rutted up once again from all of us who were stomping through the slush.

Adding to the misery, most of the sidewalks are sheets of ice from the weekend thaw. Not even the inch or so of snow we got today did anything to cover them us because the 30+ MPH wind gusts blew the snow right off. It is just terrible running right now. And temperatures are supposed to dip into the below zero range later this week, so this stuff is here to stay for awhile.

I love winter running, but this absolutely sucks. I ran possibly my slowest 5 miles ever. There are no good places to run outside right now. And I am going to be bitching and moaning about this for some time now, just to forewarn you.

A grilled cheese sandwich with oven-roasted tomatoes and my super porchetta bacon cheered me up a little, but I am still kind of pissed off about the running conditions... ;)

Cheesy, bacony, tomatoey goodness

Declaring myself ready for spring,

Jean

Slushy Sunday

2010-01-25T06:35:00.002-06:00

After raining for much of the day Saturday, and with overnight temps right around freezing, the trails have become a sloppy mess. The previous base of a couple inches of hard packed snow has turned into a couple of inches of slush. Just awful running this morning. I put in a slow 5 miles, and that was about all I could stand.

I had thought about running some errands on Sunday, but with wet streets and somewhat foggy conditions, the roads had a bit of a glaze on them. I even saw a car lock up its brakes and slide through a stoplight. That ended my thoughts about running some errands.

So I stayed put. And then I watched the Vikings blow their chance to go to the Super Bowl in the evening. As I heard on the radio this morning:

"Go Vikings! And take the Twins, Wild, and Gophers with you!" :) Tough day to be a Minnesota sports fan.

Ugh...

Jean

Rainy day in...January?

2010-01-23T18:00:00.001-06:00

Today is a positively miserable day. It was 36 and rainy. How is that for January in Minnesota?

In anticipation of the rain (and possible freezing rain), I did my "long" run after work on Friday. I managed 9 1/2 miles. The trails were in terrible shape from some mist and drizzle earlier in the day, making the trails slushy with a thin, slick coating on top of that slush. Not much fun running. In fact, this has probably been the worst outdoor winter running I have experienced. Ick!

I did see a red fox on my run, so that was fun and took my mind off of the awful trails. I actually saw him a couple of times, both out and back. I whistled to him while he was sitting out in the meadow, causing him to crouch down, and then he just looked at me curiously. Funny and beautiful animals, those red foxes are.

As for today, since it was too yucky to do anything outside, it made for a good excuse to hang out in the kitchen and do a little experiment. I had a smaller slab of pork belly in my freezer, too small to be turned into slab bacon, anyhow. In one of my cookbooks, Gennaro Contaldo's "Passione," he makes a porchetta-style roast using a rolled and tied pork belly. I thought I would give this a shot, put my own little twist on it, and make bacon this way.

Since I have plenty of dry cure on hand (you remember Ruhlman's recipe?), I applied some of the cure to the pork belly, along with brown sugar, minced garlic, fresh thyme, and a mix of freshly ground fennel seeds, black pepper, and crushed red pepper, and let it sit for a couple of days in the fridge.

Today I removed the belly from the cure, rinsed and dried it, and covered it with a mix of fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic, along with some additional crushed red pepper, black pepper, and a few more fennel seeds.

A well seasoned cured pork belly

I rolled and tied it, similar to pancetta, and roasted it in a 225 F degree oven until it hit an internal temperature of 150 F.

Here is what it looked like coming out of the oven

And here is a shot of the finished product - my homemade "Porchetta Bacon"

A culinary triumph, and ridiculously good! Sweet, savory, salty, wonderful flavor of herbs, garlic, and a little heat from the red pepper. Mmmmmm...this was a winner! I just made a sandwich with some of the bacon and did it in the style of a Reuben. I would have posted a picture, but it got kind of messy. I think I still have some thousand island dressing on my chin... :)

Until next time,

Jean

Frosty

2010-01-19T17:56:00.004-06:00

Just a quick post to share a photo from tonight's run. The trees were frosty and pretty!

Winter wonderland

The weather is still relatively decent as well with a balmy 26 degrees today. I am enjoying this January heatwave!

On frozen pond

2010-01-17T17:20:00.001-06:00

Today was a day off from running. And since it is that time of year again, I headed to Medicine Lake to check out the Art Shanty Projects, some of the most creative ice fishing houses you will ever see.

Some really cool fish houses dotting Medicine Lake

The Art Post Shanty - a Post Office on ice!

The Nordic Immersion Village Art Shanty, complete with a goat on the roof

The Write Me Up Shanty - a giant chalkboard

The Tiny Shanty - I thought this was cool because of perspective. It is only about 10 feet tall, but looks much larger in the photo!

The "I'd Rather Be..." - A "Staycation" Shanty - that's one big suitcase!

Do Minnesotans know how to have fun in the winter or what? Always great to see creativity in action when it comes to ice fishing! :)

Until next time,

Jean

Slushy Saturday

2010-01-16T18:52:00.002-06:00

What a different a week makes. Last Saturday, I ran at -15 below zero. Today, 21 above. And the high temperature today in my neighborhood was 37! Everything is melting, the streets are all wet, and it looks teasingly like March.

I put in 11 miles today, and it was a somewhat difficult run. With all of the freezing and thawing, a lot of the side streets and trails have a texture resembling that of snow cones. Things are getting kind of slushy, and it feels like you are running in sand. Tough going, but a good workout for certain!

I have numerous American robins in my neighborhood. This is always a strange sight, as everyone always looks forward to seeing the first robin arrive in the spring. But as long as they have abundant food and access to water, they will stick around. Many of the decorative crab apple trees are still thick with fruit, and the robins have been feasting on those.

Also, I heard some confused chickadees today making their "fee-bee" call. This is most often heard in the spring and fall, but occasionally they break out this song in the winter to mix things up. Maybe they are hoping for spring like the rest of us?

Tonight's dinner - homemade pizza with homemade spicy Italian sausage, oven-roasted tomatoes, green olives, and mushrooms, with a blend of fresh mozzarella, fontina, and Grana Padano cheeses, on top of my pale ale-infused pizza crust. Hardly traditional, but pretty darn good.

Pizza, pizza!

Until next time,

Jean

Born in a small town

2010-01-13T18:38:00.005-06:00

One of the highly underrated aspects of growing up in a tiny rural town was that you had the opportunity to participate in a multitude of school activities. This wasn't like the big city schools where there were tryouts and cuts, and there was no such thing as making the "traveling squad." If you wanted to play a sport, you were on the team. If you were interested in joining a club, you were in. You really could do and become whatever you wanted.

I would have rivaled Rachel in "Glee" with the number of different activities I was involved in. Anyone who was any kind of student took advantage. So not only was I on the basketball team, but I also happened to be in the school choir, and, during my junior year, a five guy singing quintet. We called ourselves "The Polyesters," named after our horrible blue, school-owned, polyester sport coats, as well as the fact that we weren't The Nylons!

The Polyesters, circa 1987 - yours truly, second guy on the right

There was a week during my junior year when all the winter sports teams hosted their annual "parents' night." Always occurring late in the season, this was a special evening that served as an opportunity to honor our moms and dads. Normally a very positive occasion, this particular year featured some bizarre incidents of highly questionable sportsmanship at each event.

The wrestlers had their matches on a Thursday night. One of our wrestlers was getting heckled mercilessly by a fan from the opposing school. Our guy ended up pinning his opponent. After the ref declared him the winner, he turned to the crowd and, in front of all the parents, gave a two-handed "middle finger salute" to the heckler. The only person in the gym who didn't see this was the ref!

Friday night, the girls and boys basketball teams played a double-header. During the earlier girls game, one of our players committed a flagrant foul. And by "flagrant foul," I mean "tackled another girl in a fashion that would make a Vikings linebacker proud." She was subsequently ejected from the game. Again, I remind you this was on parents' night.

Since it was a special night, The Polyesters made an appearance and performed our a cappella rendition of the National Anthem between the two games, much to the delight of the crowd. I had to sing in my basketball warm-ups since I was playing in the game immediately following the song.

In our game, we got our demolished by a team that eventually represented our conference at the State Tournament (because we were so far behind, this was a rare occasion where I got to play quite a bit!). Not to be outdone by the middle finger incident at the wresting match or the ejection in the girls game, the varsity boys coach (a hothead who didn't really care much for me - he had a contentious relationship with the choir director and, consequently, disliked the choir people) managed to rack up three technical fouls and was tossed from the game!

The third and final "T" came when we were down by 30+ points and the coach decided to argue a three-second lane violation called on one of the third string players. On top of that, a heated argument ensued in the locker room after the game (the refs used the coaching office to store their things and shower up), and the coach and the refs had to be separated.

Once the dust settled from the melee in the office, the coach lost it. He ended up wandering around the locker room in tears, approaching each individual player, apologizing, trying to impart words of wisdom and encouragement, telling everyone how hard they fought, how valiantly they played, etc. When he got to me, searching for something to say, he uttered the following:

"Jean...that was some really nice singing out there tonight."

Even though more than two decades have passed, I still find this hilarious. There was not even a tepid "way to hang in there" after getting pushed around by their 6-foot, 8-inch center for much of the game. The coach said the best thing I did on the basketball court that night was sing.

Undoubtedly, the singing was likely one of the more positive things that happened during this week of parents' night activities. And...well, maybe he was right! I ended up receiving more accolades for music than I ever did for athletics. I didn't go on to play any sports in college, but I was in the choir. Perhaps I wasn't good at basketball; but at least I got to find out.

I loved the chance to be in the choir, various music ensembles including The Polyesters, plays and musicals, the basketball and golf teams, student government, the yearbook staff editor, a teachers' aide, as well as a student reporter/photographer for the town newspaper. I wouldn't have had those chances at a bigger school. Opportunities to discover your unique talents abounded, and I wouldn't have traded anything for these experiences (or the stories!).

The one activity that did escape me? We were such a small school that we could not fund a track or cross country team. But maybe that is why I enjoy running so much now?

A heatwave

2010-01-12T18:09:00.004-06:00

Tonight's run...26 degrees.

That is a whopping 41 degrees warmer than my Saturday morning run. And it is still below the freezing mark!

Yours truly on tonight's run

I am almost not even sure how to dress on days like this. It seems so long since we have had a mild day. All I know is this is the first run in some time where I have not had to wear a face mask or a balaklava!

With the warmer temperature, some of the snow on the side streets is starting to melt (it is warm enough now that the road salt is finally kicking in), and the trails are starting to soften. More weather like this is expected into the weekend, so I suspect things are going to get a wee bit sloppy down here.

Snow-packed trails

I will enjoy this while it lasts. Winter is far from over!

Until next time,

Jean

Sub zero Saturday

2010-01-09T17:49:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning treated me to another sub zero run. It was -15 degrees when I left and warmed to all of -10 by the time I finished. I managed 8 1/2 miles. And believe it or not, it was not terribly uncomfortable!

I was planning to go much shorter due to the temperature. But the saving grace was that there was not a breath of wind. It was perfectly calm. I cannot tell you what a huge difference this makes. Dressed appropriately in multiple layers, and since they plowed the trails again after Thursday's dusting of snow, creating a fast surface with good footing, I kept on going and got in a decent run on a chilly day.

The only sign of life, aside from the chickadees, cardinals, and blue jays, was a lone runner. She was dressed in the same kind of attire as me. We exchanged a muffled "Good morning" through our face masks. At least, that is what I think she said... :)

The rest of the day has been spent in the warmth of the kitchen with some sports on in the background. I found some pork shoulder butt on sale, so it was necessary to make some homemade spicy Italian sausage (to be used in tomorrow's dish). And for dinner, I was craving something spicy and flavorful, so I made shrimp pad Thai.

Pad Thai on a chilly January night

I love pad Thai! I break with tradition and use the thin rice stick noodles instead of the wider, flatter variety. I just prefer the angel hair-like texture. In any case, it was a delicious, spicy, and colorful dish to warm me up on yet another chilly Minnesota evening!

Staying warm,

Jean

Knowing your distances

2010-01-08T17:28:00.002-06:00

Yesterday's run was kind of interesting. We had received a little bit of snow overnight and earlier in the day. Not much at all, perhaps no more than an inch. But then the northwest winds cranked up. The temperature during my run was a crisp 8 degrees with a wind chill of -9.

The trails had been plowed the previous day, but thanks to the wind, some drifting was occurring in the open areas. There were a few places where I busted though drifts of fluffy snow that were close to a foot deep. It was a wild winter run!

On days like this, I hardly ever see any people on the trails. Once again this was true, and I only encountered two other folks. One was a guy trying to cross country ski on the trail's edge - there is no grooming that happens here, so he was having a difficult time.

The other person I saw was a lady who was running, and she actually flagged me down to ask a question.

"Excuse me, but do you know how far it is around the lake?"

(Do I know how far it is around the lake? Does Giada De Laurentiis make some mean Italian food?)

"Yes I do!" I exclaimed in a muffled voice through my full face mask. "It is exactly 3.7 miles around if you follow the trail closest to the edge of the lake."

"Oh, OK," she replied. "How about the trail that takes me back to the main road?"

"You mean the one that goes under the bridge?" I asked. "That is another .5 to the road."

"Oh...great, thanks very much!"

Did she ask the right person or what? ;-)

With a look that combined appreciation for the information with a quizzical "Who is this nerd?" expression, she was on her way. I thought about warning her of the snow drifts that were about .7 mile in the direction she was heading, but that might have been too over the top.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jean

Mr. Plow

2010-01-06T18:42:00.003-06:00

Hallelujah!

My running trails have been plowed for the first time since the Christmas snowstorm! They managed to get some heavy equipment in there and scrape everything down. Tonight I was back to running on a nice, flat layer of hard-packed, crunchy snow with tons of grip. I felt downright speedy! Thank you, Mr. Plow!

And just in time for another 2 inches of snow tonight...

Chilly

2010-01-03T17:15:00.003-06:00

2010 is off to a brisk start. It has been a very cold weekend here in Minnesota.

My car thought it was kind of cold this weekend

Sunday morning I ran 5 miles at -16 below zero (air temperature, not wind chill). Actually, it wasn't so bad, relatively speaking, as there was no wind. Days like this are always interesting to run in because your entire face mask and hat frost over, and your eyelashes also freeze and develop a frost buildup. And then as soon as you walk indoors, everything melts almost instantly!

My neighborhood is still an absolute mess from the Christmas snowstorm. I've been having to map out new routes because they still have not plowed some of my usual bike paths and sidewalks. They didn't get out there fast enough after the storm to clean off the trails, and now everything is a frozen blanket of ice. Some of these areas are completely screwed up until we get some melting going on - and that might happen by June. ;-) Could be a challenging winter of running.

When I returned to my building, there was a guy outside letting his dogs do their thing. I greeted him with a "good morning." He took a look at this completely frosted over runner, laughed and said:

"You're nuts!"

I've heard this so many times now that it has really lost all meaning... ;-)

Tonight's dinner needed to be something to warm me up. How about some spicy tangerine chicken stir-fry? Recipe is loosely based on this one, substituting chicken for beef, adding some julienned carrots, snow peas, and red bell pepper, along with some water chestnuts (I increased the chili sauce and added a lot of crushed red pepper as well). Good stuff, and spicy enough to get the nose running!

A spicy stir-fry on a cold weekend

In looking at the long range weather forecast, the warmest temperature I see over the next week is a high of 15 degrees (next Sunday!). More below zero overnight temps as well. Welcome to Minnesota in January.

Until next time,

Jean

HNY

2009-12-31T17:51:00.003-06:00

Last run of 2009 tonight, an easy 5 miles at 11 degrees on the as-of-yet unplowed and snow-packed trails.

1752 miles for the year - a new personal best.

Bring on 2K10!

Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T18:12:00.008-06:00

Christmas was a lot of fun in the North Country this year. It ended up being a very white Christmas, but not as white as it could have been.

The National Weather Circus had initially predicted...gulp...20+ inches of snow for Mom and Dad's area. The combination of this huge storm system (some were comparing the setup to the infamous '91 Halloween blizzard, for those you in the Midwest who remember), along with strong east winds causing lake effect snow off of Superior, was supposed to absolutely dump on us.

While the predictions of 20+ inches rang true in the Duluth area, my Mom and Dad's zone was spared. Dad, a snow spotter who reports official snow amounts, was getting regular updates from his buddies at the Duluth office. Apparently the computer models were predicting much colder upper air temperatures, and that turned out to be incorrect for most of the Arrowhead. It was just too warm, and even rained a little bit Friday into Saturday.

Snow falling the day after Christmas

I don't think we got more than 6 inches total, even though some areas quite close to us, but slightly higher in elevation, got between 12-15! Some of that melted early Saturday due to the rain, and we got two inches of snow after the storm warning expired! So, we spent the whole weekend bracing for the storm that never really got going where we were at. But that was OK! The snow/rain combo created quite a slushy mess, and another foot or more on top of that would have been really interesting.

I went running three times, just some easy 5 milers. The weather was not especially pleasant on any of the runs, as I was battling strong east winds, drizzle, and snow most of the time. Saturday's run was the worst, as the trails had turned to slush, and the county roads became sheets of ice, making running almost impossible. But the important thing is that I got out there and ran!

Finishing up a run as the snow was beginning!

The meals were great, as always. Highlights included the traditional Christmas Eve meal of roast pork and Norwegian polse sausage, double-smoked ham for Christmas Day, and even a day-after-Christmas roasted goose. Mom and I made our traditional batch of lefse as well. No shortage of good eats over the holidays.

Christmas Eve dinner

This year we decided not to give gifts - which of course meant than Mom and Dad went out and bought (or made) gifts for everyone! I came home with some nice clothes, books, and flannel pillowcases that Mom quilted for me. Beautiful! And it was fun watching my little nephew learn how to tear into the gifts (we suspect he will be much more proficient next year). Mom also made an awesome quilt for the little tyke!

Mom's handiwork

So it was a fantastic weekend with the family. And I returned home to more than a foot of snow in my own neighborhood. As of Tuesday night, they still haven't really plowed the sidewalks and running trails. Running has been challenging, to say the least. Could be a long winter if this keeps up!

I hope you all had a fun, safe, and memorable holiday season!

Until next time,

Jean

A belated Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T17:10:00.004-06:00

A snow-covered Christmas tree in Mom and Dad's yard

A belated Merry Christmas to all! I apologize for not extending these wishes sooner, but the weekend sort of sneaked up on me!

I have returned from a fun holiday weekend up north. We ate well, I did a little bit of running, and we braced ourselves for the 20+ inches of snow that was promised, but never really came (at least in the area we were at). Additional details forthcoming.

I hope you all had a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Jean

Lit up

2009-12-20T17:53:00.002-06:00

The overhead lights in my kitchen burned out yesterday right after I got done making my pizza for dinner. I am not the handiest guy in the world, but I successfully removed the light fixture cover without everything crashing down. Both of the bulbs were shot. They were those really long, 48-inch "T8" bulbs, which I have never purchased or installed before, and they have prongs instead of threading.

After figuring out the confusing method of turning the bulbs just right so the prongs align with a notch (I felt a little like Nicolas Cage trying to access a secret passage in "National Treasure"), I successfully removed the bulbs. Not wanting to cook in darkness today, I found my way over to Home Depot this morning and located the bulbs I needed. I returned home, unwrapped the bulbs, got the prongs aligned correctly, turned the bulbs just so, flipped the switch, and presto...let there be light! I even got the cover back onto the light fixture successfully.

So how many running/cooking enthusiasts does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, baby.

It was a day off from running, however, so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I finished making my chipotle pepper beef jerky on the dehydrator today (tasty and spicy!). And, I made meat loaf with a chipotle-ketchup glaze, fire roasted tomato sauce, and homemade smoked cheddar macaroni and cheese. I was happy to have light so I could see what I was doing! :)

Sunday comfort food on a December day in Minnesota

Until next time,

Jean

When bunnies attack

2009-12-19T18:12:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning greeted me with a mild day, 23 degrees and overcast. A great day to run. I was out before sunup and put in 11 miles. Both of the resident eagles were roosting near their nest, and their chunky silhouettes could be seen agains the clouds. Lots of cardinals were out and about this morning as well. I only saw three other people; a runner, a walker, and another walker walking what appeared to be a wolf (it was the biggest, fuzziest Alaskan Malamute I have ever seen...an awesome dog!).

A funny thing happened as I entered the trails. It was still fairly dark, but you could see well with the lights of the city reflecting off the low hanging clouds. I startled a cottontail rabbit that was sitting in a yard next to the trail. The bunny took off like a shot. In a moment of confusion, it ran right for me in its bid to escape, making a sharp 90 degree turn at the last second, and just barely missing me. That is right - I nearly got run into by a rabbit! That would have been a first.

My run was excellent today. I felt really strong and had a spring in my step this morning. Apparently the beef and bean burrito I had at El Azteca for lunch yesterday is my equivalent of Underdog's "super energy pill?" Who can say for sure? All I know is that it was a lot of fun running today!

This does beg the question; was Underdog taking performance enhancing drugs? :)

I spent the rest of today in the kitchen. I made my little chocolate covered peanut butter crisps, as we are having a cookie party at work on Monday. I also started marinating some beef to make jerky. The day in the kitchen was capped off with pizza for dinner. Four cheeses, fresh basil, and little bits of my homemade bacon, to be exact. The dough was also made with some excellent whole wheat flour from southern MN wheat (my Mom gets this stuff milled fresh for her - I am happy to have my Mom as my connection for really good flour!). Mmmmm, I love pizza...

Pizza, pizza!

Until next time,

Jean

Memories of Y2K

2009-12-16T17:32:00.004-06:00

Call me slow, but I looked at my calendar today, and it just dawned on me that we are entering a new decade in a couple of weeks.

Exactly ten years ago, I was working a lowly production support job helping to save my company from the dreaded "Y2K" bug. If you believed any of the news footage at the time, you might remember this was supposed to cripple the entire planet. Ultimately, all it really did was make a lot of consultants a lot of money. :)

So I got to spend my 1999 New Year's Eve at work, ensuring that none of our computer systems crashed when the clock struck midnight. I remembered earlier that day watching some TV, and they were showing various countries around the world ringing in the new millennium. The lights were still on in Bangladesh, so I figured the odds were pretty good that we would be fine here in Minnesota.

Of course, midnight passed and nothing out of the ordinary happened. That night was spent alternating time between my cubicle and the server room until about 2:30 in the morning (had to wait to see if the West Coast was fine, you know). I drank sparkling grape juice (nobody could have sneaked in the real stuff?!?) with co-workers who would all rather have been somewhere else with someone else. Good times!

I personally encountered only one Y2K glitch (two if you count the fact that my local grocery store was sold out of fresh mushrooms on New Year's Eve day due to hoards of people stockpiling food, so I had none to go along with my steak dinner that night!). At my local gas station, the pay-at-the-pump receipt printed the date as "1/1/100." Everything was charged to my account correctly and without issue; it was just that the year on the printer rolled over from 99 to 100. I thought that was really funny and kept the receipt as a souvenir of my millennium experience. I might still have it somewhere.

A little "Y2K" humor...with a running theme, no less! :)

Anyhow, hard to believe that was ten years ago!

A little nicer running tonight. The temperature was 11 degrees, and there was very little wind, so it was not quite as brisk as it was yesterday. Once again, I encountered no other humans on the trails. Didn't see much else, but the sunset was gorgeous.

I did surpass a milestone of sorts. Tonight's run put me over 1700 miles for the year. I have long since surpassed my previous best of 1616 miles in a year, and I still have a couple of weeks to go, so every step adds to a new record! A pretty good year for me, so I am quite pleased.

Until next time,

Jean

Cool running, and corned beef

2009-12-15T18:01:00.010-06:00

Who is that masked runner?

The picture above is from this evening before my run. I was bundled up for the 0 degree temperature with a -15 wind chill to go along with it. The run was good, and I did not see a soul on the trails (which were already beautifully plowed from the 4 inches of snow we got the previous day). Didn't see much of anything except for a huge flock of Canada geese flying in their "V" formation. It was chilly, but I was nice and toasty. Six more days until winter officially begins... ;-)

Over the weekend, I tried a little experiment. I had read a post by Michael Ruhlman where he suggested one could theoretically make a quicker version of corned beef by using a dry cure. Corned beef is traditionally made with brisket, and it is normally brined. But with a smaller cut of meat and by using the dry cure method, it could be accomplished in far less time. I thought I would give it a whirl.

Dry cure and pickling spice applied to the beef

I bought a cheap cut of top sirloin, dredged it in my dry cure (recipe for the cure is at the Ruhlman link above), and rubbed on some pickling spices. After about 3 1/2 hours in the fridge, I rinsed off all of the cure and spices and added the beef to a pot of water with some additional pickling spices. I brought the beef to a boil and then simmered it for about a half an hour (no need to cook very long for such a small cut).

My homemade corned beef

And darned if it didn't look and taste like corned beef! Through the process of cooking, the meat turned pink, indicating it had successfully cured thanks to the sodium nitrite. The flavor was really good - not too salty, and nicely seasoned. The only thing I would do differently is use a cut of beef with a little more fat (or maybe just try the brining process with an actual brisket sometime!). But because this was so lean, the bits of corned beef crisped up beautifully in my homemade corned beef hash for breakfast the following morning!

Corned beef hash

Breakfast is served!

Until next time,

Jean

Saturday run

2009-12-12T17:34:00.001-06:00

I ran 11 miles this morning. The temperature was around 7 degrees with a wind chill of -2. Actually, it felt a lot nicer than it did a couple of days earlier this week! It wasn't a very speedy run, as it is kind of tough to run when you are so bundled up. But it was pleasant out there, and I never felt cold.

I only encountered one other runner, and two walkers during my entire journey. This is the time of year when people start to hibernate, so thus begins the season of having the trails mostly to myself!

In nature notes, I saw two red foxes in different locations out on the ice of my local lake. They are the most beautiful creatures. One of the foxes had procured himself some gray squirrel for breakfast, and was strutting proudly across the ice with his snack. Always fun to see the foxes.

Unexpectedly, the temperature got into the upper 20's today, so the road salt finally started to kick in on some of the snow-packed side streets, turning them into a sloppy, slushy mess. I am happy that some of my local roads are finally clearing off after Wednesday's storm! ;-)

Tonight's dinner was a Thai chicken and lemongrass stir-fry with rice stick noodles. I used lots of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and a ton of red chile flakes and chile-garlic sauce. It was delicious and spicy. In fact, my nose is still running from the heat as I type this. Yeehaw!

Spicy stir-fry on a Saturday night

Until next time,

Jean

Winter in fall

2009-12-10T18:13:00.003-06:00

It was all of 4 degrees for tonight's run. Add the wind chill and it felt like -9. I keep reminding myself that it is 11 days until winter officially starts! :)

The only people I saw on my run tonight were a couple of kids snow blowing a pond to make their hockey rink. The trails were all plowed, the the crews got after it in a hurry. I encountered no other runners, no pedestrians, just a couple of deer and a beautiful red fox that rapidly scampered into the woods when he saw me.

Please enjoy this slideshow of our recent snowstorm. We only ended up with a few inches in my neighborhood, but southeastern Minnesota got clobbered, some areas with upwards of 16 inches!

The long range forecast shows a possible high of 20 on Sunday. That is the warmest temperature predicted for the next week. Might be awhile until I run in shorts again!

Staying close to the fireplace tonight,

Jean

The meadow

2009-12-09T17:43:00.012-06:00

It is 6 degrees with a wind chill of -11 as I type this (25 MPH wind gusts will do that!). Driving was not much fun this morning, but was somewhat better in the afternoon. Today was a day off from running, so instead I will give an update on the tree planting project in the meadow of my local park.

Over the last couple of weeks, I had conversations with Three Rivers Park District officials, including the public affairs coordinator, as well as the Commissioner who represents my district. They put me in touch with the forestry manager overseeing the project. I learned more about what is going on, and feel much better as a result.

A shot of the meadow in a nicer season

Upon further review, they decided to leave a large section of the meadow as is out of respect for some of the species currently living here - most notably the resident eagles. Input was sought from their wildlife staff before planting the whole area, and they collectively decided to scale back the planting significantly, not wishing to disturb their nesting site. Also, this will leave a nice vista overlooking the pond area. No further planting will occur south and west of the area currently planted, which is the location I was most concerned about. So this is great news, and a huge section of this land will remain as excellent habitat for the sedge wrens, as well as eastern bluebirds, tree swallows, ring-necked pheasants, and the like.

From last winter - pheasant tracks on the trail in the meadow

It still isn’t clear to me if they were entirely aware of the sedge wrens and the other species that were out there (from my numerous conversations, they certainly are now!), or when the decision was made to scale back. It does seem like this was reconsidered after the project had started, otherwise there would have been no reason to mow as much as they did. The important thing is that they brought in the right people to discuss and made decisions based on that input before moving forward. So, all is well that ends well. The birds I was concerned about will still have a nice habitat to call home. Plus, through the conversation with the forestry manager, I did learn how this planting could help enhance the area and strike a balance to benefit other species, as well as those species currently living there (apparently, these “big woods” conservation efforts help to create the greatest amount of biodiversity, which is also good).

Also of note, everyone I spoke with at the Three Rivers Park District was great. All of the people I had contact with were knowledgeable, professional, thoughtful, and helpful. And they expressed genuine interest in, and appreciation for, my concerns. Not something you generally expect from a government funded entity, so that was refreshing! And they really do maintain a beautiful park system. If you are even in the Twin Cities, I would highly encourage you to check out their parks and trails.

Of course, I am looking at drifting snow in my yard, but I am already looking forward to my birds coming home in the spring! And I am thankful that they still will have a place to come home to.

Until next time,

Jean

A Winter Storm Warning run

2009-12-08T17:55:00.006-06:00

Last week on Tuesday I was running in 44 degrees. Today it was 18 degrees, a wind chill of 4, and the first official Winter Storm Warning of the season. What a difference a week makes!

Not too much snow during the run, but 4 to 7 inches is on the way tonight!

The drive home was not much fun. There was perhaps only an inch of snow, but the intersections were horrible, and it was slow going.

I went for a 5 mile run when I got home. Not very much accumulation at this point, but the trails were coated, and the wind is starting to pick up. The snow was very fine and it was stinging my face! The weather gurus are calling for 4 to 7 inches in my neighborhood, with much more to the south and east, along with possible blizzard conditions. Wow, it isn't even winter yet, but we are starting it off with a bang!

I saw both my eagles, a few deer, and strangely enough, more runners today than I saw in the previous two days (including the speedy dude I occasionally meet who runs in his winter coat and blue jeans...he must have been cold today!). In any case, it was fun to run in the elements, but it felt good to get back inside, and it could be an interesting storm tonight.

Now if you'll excuse me, it is time to sit in front of the fireplace and watch the "Charlie Brown Christmas Special!" ;-) What a perfect night for it!

Staying warm,

Jean

Chilly Sunday

2009-12-06T17:34:00.002-06:00

I went for an easy 5 mile run on Sunday morning. The temperature was only 11 degrees, but winds were calm, and my new running suit kept me warm.

Once again, I was out before the sun had risen. One of the resident eagles was roosting close to the nest, so I could see his/her silhouette. And, as I made my way through the wooded area, I saw three deer sleeping on the forest floor. That's right, I was awake before the eagle and the deer this morning. :)

In fact, I only saw two other people the entire time, so the wildlife outnumbered humans. The sun just started to peek above the horizon as I was finishing up. A gorgeous, chilly Sunday.

And a good day for soup! Today I made a batch of my chicken noodle soup. The recipe is a little time-consuming, but it is worth it. And I am loving it that the temperatures are colder now because it makes de-fatting a stock so much easier when you have access to a walk-in freezer (my balcony, that is!).

Chicken noodle soup with two kinds of noodles

I made this with two different kinds of small pasta - capellini spezzati (tiny little bits of angel hair pasta) and farfalline (tiny little butterfly-shaped pasta). This made for a nice textural contrast, and the soup was yummy to eat while watching football!

And, so much for that nice weather we were having less than a week ago - a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for my area Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday with possible blizzard conditions. It isn't even officially winter yet! ;-) Stay tuned...

Bundling up,

Jean

Suit up

2009-12-05T17:24:00.002-06:00

What a difference a few days make. Tuesday I was running in 44 degrees. Friday it was 19 with snow flurries. This morning was 15 with a wind chill of 9. Winter has finally started to show up. And it is giving me a chance to try out my snazzy new winter running suit!

Ready for winter running

This morning I did 11 miles before sunup. Despite the chill, it was a gorgeous morning. Some areas of the trails were dusted with a layer of snow, so it was my first chance to get my "winter legs" back. Skies were clear with many stars, and the bright light of a waning gibbous moon lit the way for me. A layer of ice has started to form on my local lake. On the north end, where there were still some pockets of open water, hundreds of geese and ducks were congregated. Quite a sight! And a fun morning to run. My new winter running suit is awesome, both warm and breathable. It should serve me well in the coming months.

Aside from a few errands, today is devoted mostly to watching college football, which has been on nonstop since I got home. However, I did make it into the kitchen to prepare some chocolate-covered peanut butter crisp squares this afternoon (recipe here). They are like mini Rice Krispie bars covered in chocolate. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used dark chocolate chips, and I used chunky peanut butter, because that is how I roll (I don't do the creamy stuff!). Fun and easy to make, and quite yummy. I am glad I used dark chocolate, too. Mmmmmm....

Chocolatey, crispy, peanut buttery goodness...

Dinner was easy. I roasted a Swedish potato sausage that I bought at Thielen's in Pierz some time ago. Yum, I love Swedish potato sausage. Even if I am mostly Norwegian. :)

Swedish potato sausage

Until next time,

Jean

Déjà vu all over again

2009-12-03T18:00:00.002-06:00

A couple of days ago, I got stuck behind this old, dilapidated Pontiac Fiero on my drive home from work. This car had a bad exhaust and muffler system, as I could hear it over my car stereo, and it would practically stall every time the driver would shift. We absolutely crawled away from stoplights, and progress was incredibly slow. I followed this car for miles, too (I take the back roads, so there is no getting around anyone). He would happen to be going the exact same route as me! The crowning blow occurred when we were lallygagging along and approaching one of my last stoplights (a really long one) when the light turned yellow. The Fiero gunned it and, with a sputtering gasp of the engine, made it through. Of course, I had to stop. Argh! What a frustrating and slow drive home.

In the strangest of coincidences, the very next day I got stuck behind the same Fiero at the exact same intersection! I felt like I was Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." Adding to how strange this was, I even left work at a different time. Bizarre! So, again we begin the long, slow procession north, listening to the drone of the loud muffler as the car poked along. Not wanting to deal with this for two days in a row, I took a chance and peeled off of the normal route, taking a winding shortcut through a residential area. This almost never works out, because while this shortcut is shorter, the stoplight here is ridiculously long, and you invariably end up waiting minutes for the light to change. But not this time. I hit the light perfectly, and got ahead of the Fiero. Victory is mine! Take that, slow Fiero! It was clear sailing the rest of the way home.

That story really has no point. I just thought it was weird. And I did not see the Fiero tonight, which is probably good! :)

I am starting to get back into the swing of things after the week long vacation (regular routine, normal eating habits). Running has felt good this week with a series of 5 milers on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It was in the low 40's earlier in the week, followed by temps right around freezing yesterday, and today we got a dusting of snow. Not much, but it is always strange to see snow when we have gone so long with none. I am still regularly seeing the resident deer coming out for their evening grazing, as well as the local eagles hanging out by their nest.

Until next time,

Jean

Thanksgiving week

2009-11-30T19:17:00.001-06:00

Following the Turkey Run, I headed up to Mom and Dad's for a whole week. What a treat! I have not had a full week off in about three years, so that was a very nice break.

I ran four times up there. Nothing crazy, just a bunch of 5 milers to burn off some of the calories. I am not really training for anything at the moment, so I decided to forgo doing a usual weekend "long" run. The weather ranged from low 40's to low 20's, from fog, to rain, to overcast, to partly sunny (we actually only saw the sun briefly on Saturday and Sunday!). Good running weather.

As per usual, I spent a lot of time in the woods. The mountain ash trees are loaded with berries, so they will no doubt serve as treats for the birds over the winter months. The wildlife is not as diverse at it is in the summer, but I saw some of the year round residents, including deer, grouse, chickadees, nuthatches, numerous woodpeckers, blue jays, ravens, and eagles. My parent's neighbors, along with some of their family members, also joined us for a hike to see "Dad's birds" as they are becoming known, which was most enjoyable.

Hanging out with Dad's birds

A few squirrels enjoyed my company in the woods as well

I did add a new bird to my life list - the white-winged crossbill. Approximately four dozen of them flew in to raid the pine cones at the top of a large spruce. They were beautiful, and my glimpse was only fleeting, as they departed rapidly. But what a thrill! These guys have eluded me for many years.

Of course, food plays a special part of any trip home, but even more so at Thanksgiving. Mom and I always make homemade lefse at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This batch turned out excellent. In fact, I boldly proclaimed that not even Pearl Johnson (author of our recipe that has been used for three generations) could make these as thin and fluffy as we did! A little lefse making with Christmas music playing in the background - what could be better? Good stuff.

The lefse makers

Yours truly, turning out some lefse (notice I am even using an official lefse stick!)

Our Thanksgiving dinner has one tradition - that is, it is never traditional! We always have the turkey and fixings at some point over the weekend, just never on Thanksgiving Day. This year, we had some wild pheasants from Nebraska, grouse, and polse sausage from near my Dad's hometown (it is something of a traditional Norwegian ring sausage). Yum! It was a legendary meal. I also did some cooking over and made my recipe for Hungarian pörkölt one night, which everyone enjoyed. Other items included Mom's homemade pizza, Dad's seafood chowder (a day-before-Thanksgiving tradition), turkey on Saturday, and we even hit 2 for 1 burger night at Moguls up on the ski hill. Needless to say, I did not come home hungry.

Thanksgiving dinner

Of course, there was turkey as well... :)

Otherwise, I didn't do much of anything, which was great! We watched an endless amount of football, Mom and I made a trip into Grand Marais on "Black Friday" to bum around and do a little shopping, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with Mom, Dad, my brother and sister-in-law, and my nephew, who is becoming quite personable. I think he likes his uncle, which is good, since I am the only one he's got! :)

Grand Marais harbor on a cloudy day

A wonderful week. It was something of a shock to return to the real world, but isn't it always? In any case, Christmas is only a few weeks away, and I am looking forward to my return trip home!

Until next time,

Jean

Turkey Run 2009

2009-11-29T14:49:00.007-06:00

What better way to kick off a week long vacation than with a nice little 5k! Last Sunday, I participated in the Turkey Run over in St. Paul. This is my 5th consecutive running of this event, so it has become something of a tradition.

A shot of Lake Como. The race runs all the way around this. In years past, the lake has been frozen over.

Yours truly, ready to do the Turkey Run!

I don't have too much to say about this race that I haven't said before. I will say that the weather was unseasonably warm - 50 and overcast! This is the first time I have ever done the Turkey Run in shorts! A nice change of pace, considering I remember a crisp 19 degree day a few years ago.

I pretty much ran my typical Turkey Run. I've raced on this exact same course for five Turkey Runs and a couple of other events that used the same route. It is extremely flat and fast, and I usually finish in the high 21 minute to low 22 minute range. I finished this year in 22:26 (results here), making this my slowest showing on this course. However, I had to stop during the race to untangle a shoelace and tie my shoe! That cost me precious seconds. Amazingly enough, nobody passed me during my pit stop, and I cruised the rest of the way home.

It was a great race and lots of fun, as it always is. And it wraps up my 2009 racing season. Time to set some new goals and figure out where I want to race and what I want to do!

With that, I raced home, showered up, and headed to Mom and Dad's for a week on the North Shore. A mega-huge Thanksgiving blog post will no doubt be coming soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Gobble, gobble...

Jean

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-21T07:59:00.002-06:00

Bring on the turkey!

Just finished 12 miles on a cool, frosty, slightly foggy morning. It was beautiful. Got to see the sun coming up over the pond, and I even heard a couple of great horned owls in the wooded areas around the swamp bottoms. A great start to the day!

With that, I am now officially on vacation for the week. This is the first time in about three years that I have had an entire week off, so I am going to enjoy it. I am doing the Turkey Run in St. Paul tomorrow morning, and then I am heading up to the North Shore to spend the rest of the time with the family. Should be an excellent week, and I am really looking forward to it.

I want to wish all of my readers and fellow running bloggers a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Safe travels to those of you going places, and I hope you have fun and memorable times with your families and friends. Enjoy, and I will talk to you next week!

Until next time,

Jean

Failing the birds

2009-11-20T17:31:00.013-06:00

I never thought I would be upset about trees being planted.

I mentioned earlier that some sapling trees were being planted along a portion of my running trails. These trails are beautiful, and the reason this place hasn't been turned into a subdivision or a shopping mall is because it was purchased through a land and water conservation grant. This land is maintained by the local park district, and it never would be developed.

They were planting in a small area nestled between an existing wooded grove, and it was nicely done. However, I recently noticed an ever expanding section of the neighboring meadow being mowed down to facilitate even more planting. The area in question is a unique mix of grassy, open meadow that borders some marshland and a pond, home to many interesting birds, plants, and wildflowers. And the size of the area they cut down was enormous.

This place is home to ring-necked pheasants that enjoy the cover provided by the tall grasses. Eastern bluebirds and tree swallows nest here - they even have nesting boxes set up for them. I have found eastern kingbirds nesting here as well. Common yellowthroats skulk around in these tall grasses in the summer. All are birds that prefer these open environments.

Of special concern, this spot was a nesting ground for great numbers of sedge wrens over the summer. You might recall me raving about these encounters in earlier posts. While not an endangered bird, the sedge wren is somewhat scarce, secretive, nomadic, and not very well understood, especially in terms of their migration patterns. They nest in the grasses near marshes and swamps, and they were a joy to watch and learn about. Several nesting pairs made their home here, right in the grassy meadow that has since been cut down. This was an ideal habitat for them.

Today my Dad sent me a scanned copy of an article from the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union journal, "The Loon." This arrived in their mail today and was rather timely. In the Conservation Column by Tom Will, he speaks about the golden-winged warbler, but the second paragraph illustrated my concern. He cited that Minnesota is the breeding ground for 32% of the total population of sedge wrens. Good habitat in Minnesota is key to a healthy population of this species.

Here is a photo showing the meadow after it had been mowed. This used to be filled with tall grasses, and this particular area is where I observed the highest concentration of sedge wrens. You can't really see them, but there are bluebird and tree swallow houses towards the back of this meadow as well.

This map, with my sloppy artist's rendering, shows the approximate size of the areas that were mowed for planting. The red lines represent the areas that were mowed down. On the far left, the red circle within a circle represents a doughnut-shaped swath where the grasses on the interior are intact. The other two red areas were cut down in their entirety. The above photo was taken at the northernmost point of the center area. The left and center locations below represented the areas where I saw the most sedge wrens.

I wrote to everyone I could think of who would listen (park district, park board commissioners) to try and find out what was going on, to let them know the errors I saw them making, and to see if this could be reconsidered or stopped. Through a friend at the park district, I was finally able to get through to the Public Affairs Coordinator. The plan is indeed to plant this area over with native hardwood trees and have it become forested. She acknowledged this would change the landscape significantly, but that some open areas would remain (mainly because they were too wet to plant anything). Apparently the effect on the land was considered, but they were cool with that. It was a nice, cordial note, and I thanked her for the information. But I also respectfully disagreed in that I saw nothing that was broken and in need of fixing.

As it turns out, I can thank the resident eagles for the fact that more of the meadow wasn't plowed under. She explained that they did not want to disturb the nesting site, which I really appreciated. So the area closest to the eagles was left alone, thereby leaving some of the southern section intact. In my reply, I asked them to be mindful of the nearby vacant osprey nesting platform (which the park district mowed around to plant trees). I happen to know the eagles actually spend as much time hanging out there as they do at the nesting site. :)

I am certain that behind this project, there were nothing but good intentions (then again, the road to hell is reportedly paved with them). While it is hard to argue that planting a small forest is a bad thing, it will no doubt have a huge impact. Transforming this area from meadow to forest is a rather drastic change of habitat, so much that it risks displacing some of the species that currently thrive here.

Here is a shot illustrating the planting in progress as of Wednesday. Again, this area is right on top of the sedge wren habitat. And if you look really close, way back in the center of the photo you can see an osprey nesting platform - the little speck is the eagle sitting on it!

This was marvelous meadow/marsh habitat that has now been forever changed. Is it actually a change for the better? I suppose that is subjective and debatable. I mean, in an age where "going green" has become a commercialized buzz phrase used to sell cars and other wares, who is going to argue with people wanting to plant trees? It certainly could be much worse, and there will definitely be other species of plants and wildlife that will benefit. All I know if any sedge wrens, bluebirds, tree swallows, and the others do return, it won't be anywhere near the numbers, because a huge chunk of their nesting ground was cut down to be planted over. And that still bothers me.

Part of me feels like I have failed the birds. I couldn't even help to protect a small piece of land that was already being protected. But I still think there is a chance to learn something from this. And I am still waiting to hear from the commissioner. So maybe we can do some things differently? Time will tell. And I would like to help however I can.

Toga! Toga!

2009-11-18T18:25:00.008-06:00

Talking golf for a moment, I enjoyed this story about Michelle Wie winning her first professional tournament. What I particularly loved was this quote describing the celebration after the win:

"Just seeing them come out and pour beer all over me, it was a great feeling," Wie said. "I've always seen it on TV and I've always wanted people to pour beer on me. It was as great as I thought it was."

It is worth noting that Michelle is only 20, so not quite of legal drinking age yet. I also feel as if that quote was stolen from me, as I am relatively certain that I said the exact same thing after one of the annual "toga parties" back in college. :)

Taking a trip down memory lane - One of my college classmates recently mentioned on Facebook that this past October was 20 years since the toga party of our freshman year. This fraternity had two annual parties - a "toga party" in the fall and a "beach party" in the spring. It was the exact same party, but with different attire. Everyone got driven out to an old roller skating rink on the outskirts of town in rickety old school buses (I am talking complete junkers that could only be called "buses" in the sense that they were long, had tires, and held a bunch of people). There was no pesky "21 or older rule" - if you could hand $5 to the bus driver, you were good to go.

At the roller rink, they had a huge beer truck parked outside the building with taps built right into the side, so you could just help yourself. Local law enforcement seemed to tolerate this, as it was really no secret what was going on. Police officers would wander through the party every so often, more or less turning away from the action as if they were professional wrestling referees. I never heard of anyone being ticketed or arrested, and I am guessing they were just there to make sure everyone was safe. I also think the only reason they let everything slide was because nobody was driving. These parties were fun, and always made for some interesting stories afterward. One year, a couple of the guys came back to the dorm with a souvenir; the emergency door from one of the buses! I am guessing in this day and age, these parties have gone the way of the dinosaur. Still, they were good times!

Of course, I might have been of questionable legality in terms of drinking age for a few of these, so perhaps I should give Michelle a pass. Never mind. And Mom, please ignore the previous two paragraphs. These are vicious rumors only... ;-)

Anyhow, on to running - There is a massive tree planting project along my trails that has me kind of steamed. It sounds absurd to be upset about anyone wanting to plant trees, but it was poorly planned and executed. I will explain at some point, but I need to get some more information.

Aside from that, it was a nice evening for running once again. 50 degrees, clear, and sunny. I was treated to a gorgeous sunset. And I got to see one of my resident eagles, which is always a treat. I am really enjoying these fall days.

A blurry sunset through the trees on tonight's run

Another shot of the eagle's nest at dusk. Can you find "Sam" in this picture? :)

Until next time,

Jean

More fun with dry cure

2009-11-16T18:49:00.003-06:00

Sunday morning was a crisp 29 degrees with a heavy layer of frost covering the grasses and weeds, even the wooden bridge decks on the trails. I went for a 5 mile run just as the sun was coming up. Very nice day, relatively calm winds, and the skies fairly clear. I took it kind of easy today after the 11 miler Saturday. The one nature note I have is that I scared up a red fox on the trail. He scuttled off into the frosty weeds near the pond as he saw me coming!

Today was a glorious 48 degrees and sunny. What a great day! I went running after work, once again in shorts - not bad for mid November! I saw a couple of yellow-bellied sapsuckers chasing each other from tree to tree (those two better be heading south soon!). My deer came out to greet me again, including the forkhorn buck. The tree planting project along my trails that I was previously excited about now has me deeply concerned, as the scope appears significantly larger than originally thought (I will say more when I find out some additional details, and by then my comments will likely have morphed into a full blown hissy fit). Anyhow, nice day, nice run, lots of fun.

Saturday I made another recipe from the "Charcuterie" book; tasso ham. Tasso is a quickly cured and heavily spiced Cajun-style ham.

Using my dry cure, I dredged a couple of slabs of pork shoulder and allowed to cure in the fridge for four hours. I then rinsed off all of the cure and salt. Traditionally it is smoked, but as I do not have a smoker, I would be cooking this in a low oven. To compensate for the lack of smoke, I did apply a scant amount of liquid smoke to the meat, and I used smoked paprika in my spice rub (along with sweet paprika, cayenne, onion and garlic powder, black pepper, thyme, sage, allspice, mace, marjoram, unsalted Cajun seasoning, and brown sugar) which I used to liberally season the cured pork.

After cooking in a 200 degree F oven until the internal temperature hit 150, this is what I ended up with:

Two slabs of heavily spiced tasso ham!

You can see that, after curing, the tasso takes on some of the color and texture of ham

The tasso turned out to be very tasty and flavorful. My only regret is that I do not have a smoker, because this would really be something smoked. But it was good. Real good.

Tasso isn't something you eat on its own; rather, it is used in small amounts and serves as more of a seasoning to accent a dish. You will often see this used in gumbo or jambalaya. But there are other applications as well. Could you include some bits of tasso in your morning omelette? Absolutely! Can small chunks of tasso (along with some of my homemade bacon!) find their way into your yellow split pea soup for some added zip? Bring it on! Is it possible to add diced tasso to you New Orleans style BBQ shrimp and serve it over a fire-roasted tomato couscous? Yes it is!

Yellow split pea soup with tasso and homemade bacon

My New Orleans style BBQ shrimp (basically shrimp scampi with some Worcestershire sauce added!) with diced tasso over fire-roasted tomato couscous

Until next time,

Jean

2010 Races

2009-11-15T18:56:00.013-06:00

Below are links to my 2010 Races:

February 7, 2010 - Frigid 5 - St. Paul, MN

March 28, 2010 - St. Patrick's Day Human Race 8k - St. Paul, MN

April 17, 2010 - Trail Mix 25k - Bloomington, MN

May 8, 2010 - Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon - St. Joseph, MN

June 5, 2010 - Dam To Dam 20K - Des Moines, IA

Decking the halls

2009-11-14T17:50:00.005-06:00

I put my Christmas lights in my window this week - nothing too fancy, just a strand to decorate the window sill. It is the earliest I have ever done so, but I noticed some of my neighbors had a fully decorated tree glimmering away, so I thought I would join the party. With the beautiful Santa quilt that Mom gave me hanging on my wall, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Jean's place!

'Tis the season

We are entering my favorite time of year. Fall is the best season, and I think when most people say that, they are referring to early fall, when the leaves are at their brilliance and you still have some warmer days. I absolutely love the later part of fall in November and December.

While the leaves are gone, the days grow shorter, and the temperatures start to drop, there is still something really neat about it. With colder days, we are now entering the best months for hearty stews, soups, and other comfort foods. Football season is really heating up. Perhaps it is because it is such an exciting, drastic change of season where we go from gorgeous leaves to a stark landscape with an impending chance of snow in such a short period of time? It certainly doesn't hurt that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Christmas not long after that. Nice!

I ran 11 miles this morning. It was about 43 degrees, overcast, not much wind, and an occasional light mist. Still, it was warm enough that I could wear shorts! Not too bad for November 14th. The run was good. I hoofed it around my neighborhood and only encountered two people the entire time (a guy walking a dog, and another runner). Didn't see a lot in the way of wildlife, however I did hear a great horned owl hooting from down in the creek bottoms as the sun was coming up. And that alone was worth the price of admission.

Until next time,

Jean

Same place on the trail as yesterday...

2009-11-11T18:06:00.002-06:00

...with a slightly different sunset tonight! The clouds made for some interesting effects this evening. No eagle this time, however.

Another gorgeous day, around 57 degrees and partly cloudy. Unbelievable weather! The run was really nice. I saw six of my resident deer coming out of the woods to snack on some of the grasses in the meadow. I also discovered that the park service is planting a whole grove of trees long one of my running trails. That should be pretty nice once that is done.

Until next time,

Jean

Reminiscing at the microwave, and a nice fall day

2009-11-10T18:08:00.010-06:00

I was microwaving some lasagna today for lunch, and I remembered a story from a couple of jobs ago.

My department relocated me to another floor due to space issues. I was surrounded by people from a different department, and my cubicle was near an older lady who was the admin for this group.

I barely had my computer set up when she stopped by. Without so much as an introduction or a hello, she launched into this diatribe explaining that if I was going to share the same printer as their group, we would have to work out some sort of billing arrangements between our departments (ink cartridges were expensive, they shouldn't have to absorb all the costs, blah, blah, blah). I kindly explained to her that:

A.) This was for someone other than me to figure out, and...
B.) I really didn't care. :)

Anyhow, that was a hell of a first impression, and I found her to be quite unpleasant. She would never say hello and would only really talk to you if she needed something, so I generally went out of my way to avoid having any interaction with her.

Most people who know me know that I like to make food from scratch whenever possible, especially pasta dishes. I invariably prepare my own red sauce, and even make my own fresh pasta from time to time.

So there I was in the break room heating up some of my lasagna, and my buddy was in there as well. Out of nowhere, she happened to ask what I was making. I told her "lasagna," and she got uncharacteristically animated and excited.

She exclaimed and declared, "Oooh, lasagna! I love lasagna! And I make gooooood lasagna! Is yours homemade?"

"Yes, it is homemade," I replied. "I love to cook, and I think I can make a pretty good lasagna as well."

Letting my guard down a little bit, I figured that she might have been a fellow cooking enthusiast. Maybe she was going to let me know about a family cooking secret for lasagna, such as a red sauce that was handed down from generation to generation, a new technique, or some special ingredients? Perhaps this broke the ice and I had found some common ground with her?

"Really?" she responded. "Do you use Prego, too?"

Or, maybe not. ;-)

(For the record, Prego is a fine and tasty product, and I heartily endorse its use! I like Prego, have purchased it countless times, and I subsisted on the stuff in college. It was just that given her enthusiasm for the dish, I was expecting a very different response and it completely cracked me up! Anyhow, that is what I thought of today while warming up my lasagna...)

A quick note on running - What a day this was! 61 degrees and sunny, on November 10th? Are you kidding me?!? Any day like this, this late in the year, is a bonus.

Running was a treat tonight. I put in my normal weekday 5 miler, and it was oh, so comfortable. I love running in weather like this. Here are a couple of images from tonight's run:

The lake with the sun setting behind me - you can sort of see that we have no leaves left

Tonight's sunset through the trees. See the blob to the left of the nest? That is one of my resident eagles.

Until next time,

Jean

Rocky! Rocky!

2009-11-08T18:18:00.003-06:00

U of M flag flying proudly at the starting line of Rocky's Run. Other Big 10 Conference schools were represented in the background.

Fueled by my homemade bacon and some eggs for breakfast, I was ready to run on Sunday! I had the pleasure of joining nearly a couple hundred cross country running enthusiasts at this year's Rocky's Run 5k.

This race is held in memory of Rocky Racette, one of the all time great University of Minnesota runners. It is run on the U of M Les Bolstad golf course, and it serves as a fundraiser for the Rocky Racette scholarship fund. This is the fourth time I have participated in this event.

Yours truly, milling around before the race

We were blessed with a glorious fall day for the race. In fact, every year I have done this, the weather has been good. Early November in Minnesota can be kind of interesting and unpredictable, so I will take temperatures in the mid 50's with some sun trying to peek through mostly overcast skies!

A view of the Minneapolis skyline from the U of M golf course

As per usual, the U of M women's cross country team was well represented. I am always in awe of how fast they are. This race also draws a lot of current and former cross country runners, so for a small little cross country race, there is an awful lot of talent.

Runners warming up prior to the start; U of M team in maroon and gold warming up on the right

The race starts, and we all take off down the driving range. It never fails, but every year I always forget one thing when I come to this race:

This course is more hilly than I remember!

In fact, there is very little flat ground of any kind on the course. The terrain is rolling and is constantly going up, down, and even sideways. This is a challenging little track to run!

Despite the hills, I was feeling pretty good today. I didn't wear my watch and had no idea how I was doing, so I just ran.

Given the nice temperatures, I was surprised to see a number of cold weather running outfits. Lots of tights, long pants, and even gloves. I passed one person wearing pants, some sort of polar fleece shirt, gloves, AND one of those earmuff/headband things that skiers wear. I was hot just looking at this runner!

I felt pretty strong, trying my best to maintain my pace on the uphills, keep my balance on the sidehills, and take advantage of the downhills. I passed a number of folks over the last couple of kilometers. Having come off of a marathon, it is remarkable how quickly these 5k's get over with! I crossed the finish line in 23:59 (results here), so this was my fastest Rocky's Run time ever. For what it is worth, my previous times at this race are 24:10, 24:14, and 24:15, so I am also a model of consistency. ;-)

This year's Rocky's Run shirt

So, with that, another Rocky's Run is in the books, and we are close to completing yet another race season here in Minnesota. It was a great day to be a runner.

There was an 8k race following the 5k. I usually stick around to watch a little, but didn't this time. There was lasagna to be made... ;-)

Lasagna with Italian sausage, mushrooms, and homemade red sauce...mama mia!

Until next time,

Jean

It took a week, but it was worth it

2009-11-07T18:24:00.013-06:00

Saturday was the most gorgeous of fall days. I ran 11 miles in the morning in a crisp, but comfortable, 47 degrees with clear skies.

A delightful run. Got to see the sun rising over the lake, and I encountered a few remaining fall migrants, including a northern flicker, a pair of northern shovelers, and several beautiful hooded mergansers. All of our leaves are gone, so there are really no fall colors that remain, but a great day to be a runner nonetheless.

But enough about that. I am here to talk about bacon - because I made some of my own.

This is a project that actually started a week ago Friday (longer if you count the ordering process). My local meat market procured me a really nice fresh pork belly, five pounds worth. My objective was to make the "Fresh Bacon" recipe from Ruhlman's and Polcyn's book, Charcuterie.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not an expert at curing meats. If you want to attempt this, please do your research. I would highly recommend you read "Charcuterie," or seek out other books on curing meats for more information before starting any project. It is important to do this so you know what you need, and what you are doing!

To make the bacon recipe, I also needed curing salt commonly called "pink salt." I ordered this from Butcher-Packer, and it was dirt cheap. From there, I made my dry cure with kosher salt, sugar, and the pink salt. (See Ruhlman's recipe for dry cure here, as well as a nice overview of curing)

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: It can be confusing, as "pink salt" often is called by different product names, such as "Prague powder #1," "DQ Curing Salt," and others. What this is referring to is a curing salt with a 6.25% sodium nitrite concentration, and it is tinted pink to set it apart and prevent accidental usage. It can be harmful if ingested in quantity, so follow any recipes that use pink salt precisely, and keep it away from the kids. Again, read "Charcuterie," or another authority on meat curing, so you know exactly what product you are using!

Some dry cure was spread all over the pork belly, along with brown sugar and maple syrup, as I wanted to make the sweeter variation from the book. The pork belly is tossed into a huge ziplock bag and placed in the fridge for a week. A lot of liquid is released during curing, and I turned it every day to distribute the cure evenly.

Pork belly on Day 1 - coated with dry cure, brown sugar, and maple syrup, ready for the fridge

After seven days, I removed the pork belly. It was rinsed under cold water to remove any excess cure. After patting it dry, I placed it in my roasting pan on a rack and ground some fresh cracked black pepper over the top on the bacon, just because bacon and black pepper is awesome. Since this is a fresh bacon recipe that wasn't going to be smoked, I also took a page from Stumptown Savoury and used a scant amount of liquid smoke (and I mean "scant," like less than a teaspoon - that is powerful stuff!). However, I applied my liquid smoke before roasting as opposed to after when the meat cools.

Cured pork belly on Day 7, ready for the oven

It went into a 200 degree (F) oven to slow roast. I inserted a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the cured belly and set it to go off when it hit 150 degrees. When it finished, this is what I had:

Bacon out of the oven after roasting

I removed the rind while the bacon was still hot, and then allowed to cool on a rack. Once cooled down, I cut it into large chunks suitable for slicing later.

You can see the meat is uniformly pink throughout, so the cure did its job

I fried up a few slices to go along with an omelette for my dinner. The slices were so long that they wouldn't fit in my pan, so I cut a section in half to make smaller slices!

Bacon in the pan

The great thing about any kind of artisan bacon is that it doesn't wither away to nothing when cooked. It remains dense and meaty. I am not one for ultra crispy bacon, so I fried these up just to get a little color on them. The aroma was fantastic! You could definitely smell the sweetness from the maple and brown sugar, and that aided in the browning as well.

The finished product - homemade bacon and eggs!

The taste? Oh, baby! You can definitely tasty the maple sweetness, and there is a tiny hint of smoke. The bacon was slightly salty, but what can you expect for something cured in salt? :) It has a great chewiness, and the sweetness mixed with the richness of the pork fat was really, really yummy.

So was it worth it to take a week to make my own bacon? Heck yeah! Other than taking a lot of time, it was ridiculously easy. This recipe only cost me about $12 and change to make, and I now have a few pounds of delicious homemade bacon in my freezer.

Alright, enough about bacon. Back to running tomorrow! :)

Who likes homemade bacon? Jean likes homemade bacon!

Until next time,

Jean

V

2009-11-04T18:18:00.012-06:00

Last night I watched the premiere "V" on ABC. I am old enough to remember the "V" miniseries from the early 80's that this new show is "reimagined" from (exact word used on my cable guide - apparently "reimagined" sounds better than "borrowed," "lifted," or "we had no new ideas"). I seem to remember the miniseries being kind of a big deal. Of course, we only had three channels back then, so it was kind of hard to avoid the hype! :)

One of the things that has always bothered me about sci-fi shows/movies featuring spaceships the size of cities is that they would be seemingly implausible to build. Can you imagine the manufacturing facility needed to create a craft of this magnitude? It would have to be larger than an entire metro area, and this could never happen.

And even if it could happen, the fuel needed to propel such a craft would be off the charts, right? I get 35 MPG at best with my little Silver Hornet. Imagine the mileage "The Visitors" get with those beastly ships! I can't see how you would have enough fuel to make it to earth from a galaxy far, far away, and I am assuming the Milky Way is not dotted with Kwik Trip gas stations at every off ramp. As an aside - this also make me wonder - would an alien government ever offer some sort of rebate program to trade in your spaceship on a more fuel efficient model? "Sawbucks for Spaceships," perhaps? ;-)

Despite these quibbles, I am capable of suspending my disbelief. And I think I will keep watching because:

"Anna," the leader of The Visitors, is hot

The actress who plays "Juliet" on the TV series "Lost" also stars in "V" - she, too, is hot

(Apparently I have some rather relaxed criteria for selecting my TV shows)

Yesterday's run was performed in 38 degrees and pouring down rain. I don't mind running in the rain, but the ice cold raindrops on my face made things feel rather chilly! Of note, I saw a double-crested cormorant on the lake, so some stragglers are still heading south. And I encountered seven deer. The deer, all does, were standing together eating the freshly mowed weeds and grasses in the meadow of the park. They barely moved as I ran by.

Darrell has suggested posting the "after" photo of the pretty yellow tree that no longer has leaves. I remembered the camera on today's run, so here we go. What a different a week makes... :)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 (these leaves were actually gone by Nov 1st!)

As you can see, it officially looks like November!

The weather was slightly nicer on today's run. 42, no rain, overcast, and still kind of breezy. I saw a pair of horned grebes on my local pond, so that was a good find. Oh, and four of those seven deer came out to greet me. Three of them made the photo.

One of the deer snorted at me and stomped her hoof when the flash went off! But, they never moved.

Until next time,

Jean

Goodbye to fall

2009-11-02T17:35:00.006-06:00

Something I noticed on my run yesterday - this tree that I photographed on Wednesday...

...does not have a single leaf left on it! In fact, most of our leaves are gone. And the last of of migrating birds are working their way through. On Saturday, I saw hundreds of American coots on Medicine Lake in Plymouth. They are always some of the last to leave. Fall is all but out of here!

Aside from my morning 5 mile run on Sunday, I never left my home. A perfect excuse to make a little comfort food, if I do say so myself. And some beef and Guinness stew fit the bill oh, so nicely.

Beef and Guinness Stew - feeling a wee bit Irish!

Until next time,

Jean

Sausage!

2009-11-01T22:37:00.004-06:00

One of my projects this weekend was making some homemade breakfast sausage. I have not made homemade sausage in a long time, and I just got some casings, so it was good excuse to spend some time in the kitchen.

I made the breakfast sausage recipe from Ruhlman's and Polcyn's book, Charcuterie. It consists of pork shoulder butt loaded with fresh sage, fresh ginger, a little garlic, salt and pepper. I added crushed red pepper, just because I am a wild man, and just about anything is better with crushed red pepper. :)

I ground everything together with the KitchenAid meat grinder, hooked up the sausage stuffer attachment and stuffed everything into my small sized casings, twisted them into 4-inch links, and viola!

The finished product; breakfast sausage links

It takes some time to do all of this (especially when you are doing it by yourself), and it is definitely a project. But it is totally worth it, and the results would put Jimmy Dean out of business if everyone did this. These sausages have great flavor, with the sage and fresh ginger really shining through.

Fresh breakfast sausage along side of some fresh grated hash brown potatoes and a poorly turned French omelette!

The only thing I will do differently next time is use a coarser grind. The recipe said to use the small die on the grinder, which produced a sausage with a very soft texture. I would prefer it a little firmer to the bite. But these were very tasty nonetheless. And I have a a few pounds of these in my freezer for future breakfasts, which, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.

Until next time,

Jean

The last of fall

2009-10-31T13:22:00.001-05:00

So I was at the dentist yesterday to have a cavity filled. First one in 5 years. Strange enough, it was on the back of one of my front upper teeth, which you would think is about the easiest place to keep clean. I am blaming my energy gels and Clif Shot Bloks! :)

We are starting to see the last signs of fall around my area. The leaves are way past their peak brilliance, and many leaves have already fallen. These pictures were taken on my Wednesday run. The rain and wind over the last couple of days have taken most everything down. It is starting to look like November!

The forest floor along the trail

Yellow leaves, still hanging in there as of Wednesday

This Saturday, I was supposed to do a short cross country race, however it was canceled a couple of days ago apparently due to some logistical issues. So I did a 10 mile run this morning instead. It was 37 and overcast with a fairly stiff west wind. That being said, I had an excellent run and felt very speedy.

Good luck to my blog readers who are running in the Monster Dash and Surf the Murph. I probably should have come out to cheer people on since my race plans got bagged. However, this is the first weekend in the last three that I have been home, so I have a few cooking projects going on in the kitchen! More to come...

Until next time,

Jean

October weekend on the North Shore

2009-10-28T18:22:00.002-05:00

I drove up to the North Shore on Friday, and it was rainy and windy the entire way.

When I got to Duluth, there was a strong NE wind, and the waves were absolutely rolling into the shore. It was enough to bring the surfers out by the Lester River. The parking lot by the river was filled with vehicles that had surfboards on top, and several people were in the water riding the huge waves. Yes, people surf on Lake Superior - in 38 degrees and rain, even. Minnesotans are die hards!

Snow on Saturday

That sort of set the tone for the weather over the weekend. While Saturday was very nice (sunny, mid 40's, and even a dusting of snow in the morning), Sunday and Monday were drizzly and overcast. Still, I managed to have a fun weekend with the family.

I went running on Saturday and Sunday (8.5 miles and 5 miles respectively). Both runs were rather nice with temps in the low to mid 30's. I saw one person over the course of both days, so I pretty much had the roads and trails to myself! Always great to go running in the North Country.

On my Saturday run

Mom and Dad fed me extremely well. Dishes included fish cakes (made with fresh Lake Superior whitefish...yum!), grilled ribeye steaks, and Dad's applewood smoked ribs.

Fish cakes with homemade tartar sauce, along side some carrots and parmesan-herb crusted new potatoes

We did make it out into the woods a couple of times. Most of the leaves have dropped, and there is a winter like appearance that is starting to settle in. The resident chickadees, nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers were out in full force. Many of the arctic birds have moved into the area, including scores of dark-eyed juncos, Lapland longspurs, and some of the first snow buntings showed up this week as well.

The birds are always happy to see me when I visit - photo courtesy of Dad!

The family was great, and my little nephew is really cool. He even sat with me and, for the first time, didn't start crying! One of the funnier moments of the weekend came at dinner when my Dad was cutting my brother's steak at the dinner table while my brother was trying to eat and hold his son at the same time. Welcome to parenthood, Brett!

Mom also sent me home with an unexpected gift. She is a wonderful quilter and made this beautiful Christmas wall hanging for me! How cool is that? Mom really does beautiful work, and I am thrilled to have this. Thanks Mom!

'Tis the season!

This was a fairly short weekend, but it was good to go home. I will be spending some extended time up here at Thanksgiving, which I am already looking forward to. :)

Until next time,

Jean

Back from the North

2009-10-26T16:10:00.004-05:00

A Saturday morning dusting of snow in the North Country

I have returned from a long weekend up at Mom and Dad's. The weather wasn't the best (Saturday morning was at least pretty, as seen above), but we had a fantastic time, I got to bond with my nephew, and Mom and Dad fed me way too much awesome food.

Just letting you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! I will post more later!

Until next time,

Jean

Iowa trip notes

2009-10-21T18:50:00.005-05:00

Iowa always makes me feel somewhat nostalgic. Part of the reason is because I went to school down here. Another reason is because countless family trips have always taken us through Iowa. Here are a few random trip notes from my Des Moines Marathon weekend:

I stopped at the "Primary Iowa Welcome Center" (exact words on the highway sign) just across the border on my way down. It was a really nice center fashioned like an old red barn. It made me wonder if there was a "Secondary Iowa Welcome Center" and what that might be like. :)

Welcome to Iowa!

On both my trip down and back, I had the iPod plugged into the car stereo playing on shuffle mode (which is different from the "shuffle mode" that sometimes happens when running a long race!). This almost instinctively played a pleasing mix containing a ton of Son Volt, The Jayhawks, Gear Daddies, Shooter Jennings, and Wilco (including numerous selections from the "Mermaid Avenue" vol. 1 & 2 collaboration with Billy Bragg), which was so incredibly appropriate for a trip across the rural heartland of America. I was beginning to think the iPod had a GPS that synched with the shuffle mode.

I also stopped at a rest area that was extremely close to the hometown of a girl I knew in college. I was interested in dating her, but my overtures were met with a metaphoric stiff arm closely resembling the "Heisman Trophy pose." I wondered what ever happened to her, and if she realizes she could have potentially landed a slender, studly marathoner? :)

My historic hotel

As I said in my previous post, I stayed at the Renaissance Savery Hotel in downtown Des Moines. It was the host hotel for the event, and it is a beautiful facility that is actually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The great thing about these hotels during marathon weekends - everyone is on the same schedule and goes to bed early! The hotel was almost eerily quiet.

My pre-race dinner in Des Moines was at the Court Avenue Brewing Company, which was only a couple blocks from my hotel. The "Pesto Chicken Pasta" came highly recommended from my server who resembled the adorable Daisy character on the TV show "Bones." She didn't lie - the dish was delicious. It consisted of grilled chicken in a pesto cream sauce with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and pine nuts over farfalle pasta. Their beer sounded good too, but, you know, I had a marathon in the morning! So I settled on their homemade root beer, which was excellent. A classy pub atmosphere, and a very tasty dinner.

Welcome to Swaledale!

My family and I always loved the name of the town of Swaledale and remarked about it every time we drove by. It just kind of flows off the tongue, don't you think? Best of all, the tiny little town has a wonderful sense of humor. Only a mile off the Interstate, they have a sign on nearly every telephone pole leading into town - cute little signs that say things like: "Looking for Swaledale?" "Well, here it is!" "Next 7 Exits." Great stuff. There was also a sign referencing polka being an Iowa state law. And, apparently there have been some good ghost sightings in the area. I love this town!

Until next time,

Jean

Crashing through the wall at the Des Moines Marathon

2009-10-20T06:32:00.008-05:00

Personalized bib numbers; always a nice touch!

I woke up to 37 degrees the morning of the Des Moines Marathon. I know this because I went out to my car and checked the thermometer. You know how The Weather Channel has their "Local on the 8's" where you get the weather forecast for your area? My parents who live in the boonies get this segment with a forecast tailored for them. Apparently Des Moines (or at least the cable provider for my hotel) does not. Instead I got the temperatures for various cities across the country, Des Moines not included! In any case, it looked like it was going to be a good day for running.

The hotel I stayed at was ideal. The Renaissance Savery was the host hotel, and it was right at the start and finish line. Stumble out the door and you are on the race course. The lobby was absolutely jammed with people trying to stay warm before the start of the race! I wandered out to the start line with about 20 minutes to spare.

Yours truly at the marathon start (thanks to the nice lady who offered to take my picture!)

At 8 AM, we were off like a herd of turtles. The first few miles were shared by the full and half marathoners on narrow city streets, so the quarter were a little cramped. We ran past the beautiful gold domed Capital building and made our way through the downtown area.

After three miles, the half marathoners split off to the left, which freed things up considerably. Miles 3 through 8 threw a surprising number of hills at us (and here you thought Iowa was flat!). This was the rather upscale section of Des Moines, home to the Governor's Manison and other expensive residences. While nothing was incredibly steep, the hills were lengthy and gradual. At one location I looked off to my left and took in a rather nice view of the river valley. We must have been on top of "Mount Des Moines!"

The course leveled out significantly after that. Around the 9 mile mark, I saw one of the leaders coming back in the other direction. He was past mile 15. Of course, he and others were eventually stopped by a train near the finish, so that would allow me to make up some ground on him! :)

Mile 12 provided one of the coolest parts of the race - we entered the Drake University campus (gorgeous, by the way...the trees on campus were the prettiest along the route, displaying spectacular shades of orange and red) and got to do a lap around the track, home of the famous Drake Relays. This was especially fun, since my Dad was here decades ago competing with his college track team. A great experience for any runner to get to run on the blue track!

Also, I saw a digital thermometer on/near the campus that said 42 degrees. The temperature was staying perfect!

I crossed the half way mark in a hair over 2 hours and 1 minute. That was almost 4 minutes slower than the midway point of my Fargo race. I figure those early hill had an effect, but I was also trying to pace myself better so I had something left at the end. I was feeling very good and liked the pace I was keeping, so I tried to stay within that comfort zone.

I actually made the background of one of the photos in the Des Moines Register slideshow!

Spectators and aid station volunteers were great all the way around. I heard lots of personal words of encouragement being directed at me with several folks shouting "Go blue!" in reference to my shirt. There were even some guys having an early morning happy hour near the 14 mile mark with a couple of bottles of hard liquor on their table! Aid stations were on the ball, well staffed, and quite enthusiastic.

Best sign I saw on the course from a spectator was around mile 15 - "Janet, run like there is a yarn sale!"

Miles 16 through 18 - beautiful. Here were left the residential areas and entered a trail that would lead us into the Water Works Park. The trees were turning pretty shades of yellow and orange, and we ran along side of a river. It reminded me a lot of my trails that run by the creek near my place.

In the open area of the park, the south wind was raging between miles 19 and 20. But after mile 20, we turned to head back to the city, so for the most part it would be helping us back to town.

I was still feeling remarkably good. I had been popping two Clif Shot Bloks every 4 miles, and I took water or Gatorade at every aid station except for the first one, and I was feeling like I had something left in the tank. Miles 21 and 22 came and went, and we started the counterclockwise lap around Grays Lake. This is where I started passing a lot of people. Several folks were in full on "shuffle mode," and I felt like I was clipping along.

Around the lake and heading for home, we crossed the George Washington Carver bridge over the Raccoon River and made our way into the downtown area. I passed the 25 mile mark and was still doing well. I felt like I crashed through the proverbial "wall" like a clumsy party guest. I was maintaining the pace I wanted, I didn't crap out, and I was feeling great about how my race was going. In fact, as I was passing some folks down the home stretch, another runner (a gentleman with a very thick foreign accent) shouted to me enthusiastically, "Looking good, buddy! You are running strong!"

We turned north on 4th Street and headed to the finish, which was only a few blocks away. Always nice to see the finish line in sight! I ran past lots of cheering folks, (as well as the big Templeton Rye party bus that was parked downtown!) and I crossed the line in 4:07:26. (Results here)

My time was over three minutes slower than my marathon PR, but in some cases this was a little more gratifying just because I managed myself so well. I felt good the whole way around. I finished strong. My stomach didn't feel like crap afterward. I was quite happy with my performance and time. And aside from some minor stiffness in my legs, overall I came through this in good shape.

The race is well organized (anyone who got held up by the train might disagree, but that wasn't the fault of the race!). Aside from being windy, you couldn't have asked for a nicer day. And the course was really quite gorgeous with fall colors busting out everywhere. As I have said before, anyone who thinks Des Moines in not pretty has never been there.

A fun event, a successful race, and a nice way to cap off another season.

Loving this marathon stuff,

Jean

Des Moines Marathon Verification Testing Results

2009-10-18T19:41:00.007-05:00

Picking up where I left off on the validation plan, I need to finish off my testing results:

VERIFICATION TESTING RESULTS:

Using the downtown Des Moines testing environment:

1. Chose proper attire based on Sunday morning weather, suiting up in shorts, long sleeved top, and a light top over that. Gloves also came in handy for the 37 degrees at the start
2. Tied shoes, ensured laces are tight - additional regression testing included ensuring timing chip was properly affixed
3. Applied liberal amounts of anti-chafing stick
4. Carried enough gels in waist pack
5. Lined up at 8:00 AM in downtown Des Moines on Sunday, October 18
6. Ran, ran, ran, managing race well and actually had a strong finish
7. Finished the 2009 Des Moines Marathon in 4:07:26

Testing PASSED. Marking as VERIFIED. :)

Thanks to all for your well wishes and kind remarks leading up to the event. I really appreciated it. I will be posting more details soon (without the techno-babble!). Bbut in short, I had a really good race. It was not my fastest marathon, but it was my best one in terms of management, pacing, and finishing strong.

More to come....now if you will excuse me, I am off to my recliner with a cold beverage! ;-)

Jean

Des Moines Marathon Validation Plan

2009-10-15T18:04:00.006-05:00

I'm going to write this post using some of my work-related lingo. Only developers and QA types will probably find it amusing. It is sort of like Steve Martin from his early stand-up days when he geared one of his jokes towards a convention of plumbers supposedly in the audience, only not nearly as funny...

DESCRIPTION:

2009 Des Moines Marathon Validation Plan

IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

Preliminary weather forecast appears to be sunny and in the low 30's at the start with a high around 60 later in the day. Should make for an ideal day of running, even though it might create something of a wardrobe conundrum at the start.

UNIT TEST:

Runner had a good, solid summer of training. A few medium distance races and a 20 miler for tuneups, and weekend long runs between 17 and 21 miles over the course of August and September.

CODE REVIEW:

Review suggests runner is prepared and has trained within the established standard operating procedures. Runner is also armed with a new enough pair shoes that are properly broken in, a varied wardrobe for any conditions, plenty of gels, and is taking adequate anti-chafing measures.

TEST PLAN TO VERIFY:

In the downtown Des Moines testing environment:

1. Choose proper attire based on Sunday morning weather
2. Tie shoes, ensuring laces are tight
3. Apply anti-chafing measures
4. Carry enough gels in waist pack
5. Line up at 8:00 AM in downtown Des Moines on Sunday, October 18
6. Run, run, run
7. Successfully finish the 2009 Des Moines Marathon

My VERIFICATION TESTING RESULTS will be recorded upon my return. :)

Iowa State Capital building from my trip in 2006

Onward to Des Moines! Good luck to all of you running this weekend, and I will speak to you when I get back on Sunday!

Until next time,

Jean

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2009-10-12T18:42:00.003-05:00

The first two photographs were taken outside of my office. You might think this was from last winter, but the pictures were actually taken shortly after 8 AM this morning, October 12th. Good golly! The local news also reported that the snow on Saturday was the earliest measurable snowfall the Twin Cities has received in 24 years!

Snow on October 12, 2009

Snow clinging to the trees

I know we still have two months to go before winter actually starts, but this is already shaping up to be one of "those" winters. You know, the kind where we get snow every month from now through the opening of walleye fishing season in May. And here I had been seeing many woolly bear caterpillars with lots of brown on them. As I have discussed previously, according to the Farmer's Almanac, the more brown color on the woolies, the milder the winter. The woolly bear theory is turning out to be pure hogwash thus far! :)

It snowed most of the day, but thankfully it was warm enough that none of it stuck to the roads. The temperature was 37 degrees, and I had a great run when I got home. With the exception of two other runners and a lady walking a ferocious beagle who wanted a piece of me, I had the trails largely to myself. The sights along the way were quite remarkable with our strange early season snow. Here are a few images from today's journey:

Snow on the edge of the trails, mixed with some fall colors - very strange to see snow AND leaves!

About the only place on the trails where snow was accumulating was on the wooden bridges

Yours truly, from this afternoon's run

Let's switch gears and talk food! Saturday night I conducted a little experiment. People make bread with beer used as the liquid ingredient. Why not try making pizza dough with beer? There were dozens of recipes on the Internet, but I decided to improvise with my old standby - Alton Brown's pizza dough recipe, substituting beer in place of the water.

I follow the amounts in his recipe pretty much to the letter, but I typically use unbleached all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and I cut down on the sugar and salt as he recommends. I also follow a slightly different process in that I warm the water (in this case, beer), add it to the bowl of my stand mixer, and sprinkle in the yeast to wake it up. Then I add all of my dry ingredients and the olive oil and mix away. I've had more consistent results this way. I also find it really only takes about 10 minutes of kneading in the mixer with the dough hook for everything to come together and produce a smooth, elastic dough.

The results were delicious! The use of beer gives a fantastic yeasty aroma when it bakes, and adds a somewhat tangy, sourdough-like flavor to the crust. I will be doing this variation on the recipe quite often. For my toppings, I figured what would go better with a beer crust than some sliced bratwurst and sauerkraut? Yum. Cheeses included an eclectic mix of small amounts of baby Swiss, Emmentaler, Gouda (from Wisconsin - not the real deal, but still good!), and smoked cheddar.

Pizza with bratwurst and sauerkraut on a Red Hook "Long Hammer IPA" pizza crust

The bratwurst sliced were browned first before adding to the pizza. And sauerkraut is a vastly underrated and underutilized pizza topping. Just be sure to drain the kraut, rinse, and squeeze as dry as you possibly can for the best results.

Anything with bratwurst and sauerkraut needs some good mustard!

See if you can get THAT at Pizza Hut! :)

Jean

Hazy shade of winter

2009-10-10T12:47:00.002-05:00

Why is Jean bundled up? Read on...

I woke up this morning and took a look outside. It was dark, but I could see that a blanket of white was coating the trees and ground.

SNOW! The first of the season.

What a difference a couple of days makes. Wednesday was 64 degrees and I was running in shorts and a light top. This morning (25 degrees and breezy, making for a wind chill of 16!) required running pants, a winter base layer running shirt, jacket, balaklava, stocking cap, and my beloved winter choppers to keep my hands toasty!

Snow mixed with fall colors

The trails were in good shape. The snow did not really cling to the pavement. Some did stick in the grassy areas and on wooden bridge decks. I would estimate we got about a half an inch, but it will all melt today (in fact, most of it is gone already). Predictably, a few of the local homeowners associations that border some of the trails left their automatic lawn sprinklers on, so not only did they water their snowy lawns, but they also created skating rinks on parts of the trails! My winter running skills were tested in places, but traction was generally good.

Gorgeous fall colors along the lake this morning

This was arguably the prettiest run I have done, ever. The blanket of snow mixed with the fall colors was astonishingly beautiful. The snow was clinging to branches and leaves, effectively creating a winter wonderland (even though winter is officially more than two months away!).

Snow clinging to the trees along the trail

I did just over 12 miles, my last "long" run before Des Moines. All in all, it was a nice day to be running, even if the nozzle on my water bottle froze up, and I had to turn on my fireplace for the first time this season to warm up when I got home. :) I know it sounds silly, but I love running in the winter!

That being said, I have finished running errands and I think I will be in for the day. The wind is still blowing, and the high temperature isn't supposed to top 40 today. A great excuse to stay indoors, watch a lot of sports, and make some homemade pizza for dinner (I am trying something new again - a bit of an experiment, so I will let you know if it turns out).

Stay warm!

Jean