With A Cherry On Top!
As you know, last Friday The Boston Shaker opened in its new, solo location in Davis Square! As a cocktail aficionado and dedicated customer of this store I’m really excited, because while the old location, in a corner of Grand, was great, it was also in Union Square – not far from my house, but not a particularly convenient spot due to being completely inaccessible to any transportation other than bike or bus. (That said, a part of me will miss being able to browse the very cool housewares of Grand at the same time as I shop for bitters.)
The new location, in addition to providing more space for product and a wonderful demonstration area (which came with the promise of new classes – possibly one on egg drinks!), is very convenient (dangerously convenient?) to my house, as it’s directly on my path home from work. I’ll need to restrain myself, lest I end up with the largest private bitters collection in Boston.
In any case, of course I made sure to visit the shop on the first day it opened. In addition to the demonstration area, I was most enchanted with the floors – gorgeous hardwood unearthed when they ripped up the old carpeting that was all the more lovely for being a bit weathered. My friends Dan and Elise accompanied me – they’d never been to the old store but were suitably impressed with the new one. They really were on a hunt to expand their bitters collection, and bought an amazing duo of cherry and chocolate that I think would be amazing with some Gosling’s rum, as well as a set of my favorite ice cube trays and the best jigger ever.
I myself bought another set of those ice cube trays – they’re far more convenient and stackable than our old blue plastic ones, besides providing the sheer joy of a perfect cube in the glass. I also bought a jar of Luxardo marasca cherries. I’ve been coveting these dusky little jewels for some time, because unlike the atomic neon cherries of my youth these are a gorgeous purple and taste truly, deeply of concentrated cherry.
Obviously, once I had them there was nothing for it but to make a Manhattan this weekend! Alas, I’d failed to recall that I was completely out of sweet vermouth thanks a spate of mulled wine making at Christmas. Fortunately, all was not lost! For in the refrigerator I still had some Punt e Mes, that delightfully bitter Italian vermouth. Balanced with a bit of Luxardo maraschino liqueur it was a perfectly acceptable substitute for the sweet vermouth; possibly even an improvement due to the fact that I was using a bourbon that was heavily vanilla-accented. Garnished with the Luxardo cherry it made a fitting toast to the wonderful new shop in our neighborhood!
A Pirate’s Life For Me!
Ok, I’m not really a pirate. But I felt a bit like one on my long run this week.
This week we were actually meant to run 15 miles, and this time I was able to do it with my stalwart companions: Nandi, Jess, and Kelly. Todd was supposed to accompany us, but due to a late start and a failed meeting (for which the only logical explanation is that either he or we fell through a wormhole, but we’re unsure which) he did not manage to join our merry crew. Nandi planned a terrific route, one that took us from Simmons down the Charles to the Fresh Pond Reservoir and back. It was a great run, but chock-full of weirdness, from our inability to meet Todd to the VERY unpleasant man who told us to “Run that fat off” on the Mass Avenue bridge. Never in my life have I more wanted to dump someone into the drink.
It was also very, very cold, which might explain the strange sensation from which I take today’s post title. About 5 miles into the run, my right leg went…dead. It just sort of became numb, as though it were made of wood. I could continue running just fine, but it was quite annoying to have this wooden leg. It lasted for quite some time, at least another 5 miles. After that I was in some sort of other zone altogether where neither of my legs felt entirely real, but at least they were even again.
Despite these odd feelings, we finished the run in decent time and in good spirits. In any run of this length there are points in which my brain has little arguments with itself, in which I am tired and have legs of wood and the asthma kicks in and feels like I’m breathing through a straw, and the whiny brain wants to just give up and stop running. The other part of my brain, however, the luckily more dominant side, is the tenacious part (or stubborn, if you are feeling less charitable.) The part that will not allow me to stop, simply because this is what I’ve set out to do, today. I think all of my teammates are blessed with a similar sort of brain. Not only did we finish 15 miles, we all rushed off to do other things after – I had to grocery shop, Nandi was going to see a favorite comedienne, Jess was going out dancing, for goodness sakes! This marathon business can take up a lot of time and energy, so I think I’m most proud of being able to keep having a life on top of it. Even if it is the life of a pirate, with a little wooden leg.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
Today I have a few exciting announcements! They’re largely applicable to those of you who live in the Boston area, but even if you’re not local it’s all worth knowing.
Let’s start with the one that’s actually happening today – the long-awaited opening of The Boston Shaker’s standalone store in Davis Square! You may remember from my bar tools post that the Boston Shaker is my go-to spot for the latest and greatest in bar tools, books, and bitters. Until today, I had to schlep out to Union Square on my bike or the bus – but no longer! Adam’s beautiful shop is within walking distance of my house, and right on my commute home. If you are not so blessed, visit the online shop at thebostonshaker.com. You’ll be glad that you did!
Next up, even though it is not Sunday Run Day, I have a marathon announcement – the next big fundraiser! This is a joint effort between those teammates who work in the Boston Partners in Education office (of whom I am one, which you should be aware of if you read this blog ever.) We are hosting a trivia night at the Crossroads Pub in the Back Bay on February 19th, at 6 pm. Tickets are $10 each, but if you put together a team of 4-6 and pre-pay, you’ll get $5 off! We’re going to have some fantastic prizes, so come out, have some fun, and support us at the same time. Contact me to pre-buy tickets or for more information. Space is limited to 100 people, so don’t delay!
Finally, I would like to announce to all of the amateur cooks out there that the Boston Lamb Takedown is coming up on February 28th! The Takedowns, the brainchild of Matt Timms, are basically big ol’ cook-offs – but a bit hipper than your average Pillsbury Bake-Off. I’d really love to enter, as I’ve got some interesting ideas (they involve dried fruit, ala Katniss’ favorite meal in The Hunger Games) but I think it’s a little too much to put on my proverbial plate at this point in my training. Next time, Mr. Timms, NEXT TIME! If you all have time, you should show off your skills. In any event, tickets to simply eat the fantastic creations are only $15, so even if you’re not confident in your lamb-cooking prowess you can still join in the fun! It’s at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, and you’ll be able to purchase your tickets through them. Oh, and if you DO enter, let me know!
I hope to see you at any and all of these exciting events – it’s going to be an amazing February, and how often do you get to say that?
The Greatest Beef Stew There Is
I will begin this post by saying that regretfully, there are no pictures of the fabulous meal that I concocted after my run on Saturday. My only excuse is that beef stew, no matter how delicious, is not the most photogenic of foodstuffs. However, stew may be the greatest cold weather food possible. It’s hot, it’s
hearty, and it manages to cram a variety of vegetables into one meal. Given that the weather was beyond bitter this weekend, how could I resist?
Here’s the recipe, adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. Keep in mind that these are just my preferences and that I got great results simply by using the ingredients I had on hand. I’m sure you will too!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp neutral oil
2-3 lbs stew meat
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 large onions, roughly chopped
3 tbsps flour
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups homemade chicken stock
Bay leaf
Thyme to taste
4 large carrots cut into 1 inch chunks
4 large potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks
1 can French cut green beans
1 tbsp minced garlic
The first thing you’re going to do is brown the meat. Yes, it’s an extra step, and yes, it’s a little messy (watch out for spitting oil when you do this!) but it’s totally worth it. Your stew meat will be flavorful and tender instead of flabby boiled chunks. So heat up your stew pot on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, then put in the oil and the garlic clove. Let the garlic flavor pervade the oil for about 1 minute, then take it out or you‘ll have a little garlic charcoal at the bottom of your pan, which isn’t so tasty.
Next, throw in the meat. You might have to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pot – I did. Brown the meat on all sides, then take it out of the pan with a slotted spoon, setting it aside for the moment. If you’ve created a lot of extra grease at the bottom of your pot, remove it, although I honestly don’t seem to have this problem. You’ll need to leave a couple of tablespoons for the next step. Lower the heat to medium and toss in your onions, cooking them until they’re softened.
Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, fully incorporating it with your onions. Once that’s done, add your liquids. We had about one cup of a fairly nice bottle of wine leftover, and I do think the quality made a bit of a difference. I’m not saying you should drop $15 on a bottle just to use it in a stew, but if you happen to have some to spare it seems to be worth doing. I can also not stress enough that your stock should be homemade, but you’ve all heard that lecture before. If I haven’t indoctrinated you into my stock cult by now, it’s not happening. I used chicken stock because that’s what I generally make. I always have the parts for it on hand, since we eat a fair amount of chicken. Since most of our beef is sans bone, making beef stock is a project that, while worth doing, requires forethought. One of these days I’m sure I’ll get around to it, but in the meantime the chicken is utterly acceptable, because the stew meat will impart the appropriate beefiness. Toss in the beef and herbs, lower the heat and cover the pot. Simmer for half an hour.
Now toss in your veggies – the carrots, potatoes, and any other hard winter produce you think would be good in your stew – perhaps some turnips or parsnips? I’d probably skip beets unless you don’t mind a rather funky color. Let all of that simmer together for another half hour to an hour, or until the meat and vegetables have reached the desired tenderness. Once that’s been reached it’s time to add the minced garlic and the green beans or whatever soft vegetable strikes your fancy. Simmer for five more minutes to heat these additions through, and you’re done!
Now, obviously this stew will taste better the next day, when the flavors have had a bit more time to get comfortable with one another. But let’s not fool ourselves. I didn’t wait, and you shouldn’t either. Ladle up a bowlful with some good crusty bread and have at it – it still tastes pretty great, and only whets your appetite for how great it’s going to be. Best served with a glass of dry red wine and someone with whom to toast the fact that you are warm, secure, and full of stew.
Going The Distance
Or as it turns out, slightly over the distance. But we’ll get to that in a moment. It’s been a heck of a week of training, folks!
For starters, while we’ve already run half of the marathon distance, this week marks the end of the first half of training! We’re all very excited to get onto page two of our training calendars – it means the marathon is in sight!
Secondly, the weather this week was absolutely bananas, as those of you who are in New England know full well. We managed to ride the thermometer all the way from the high 50’s on Monday to the depths of the 20’s on Saturday. There was also just about every kind of precipitation you can think of, short of a rain of frogs, and as a result I actually ran for the first and last time of this training on a treadmill. Funnily, it was not sub-zero wind chills and sleet that did me in, but rather that 55° day and the buckets of rain that accompanied it. I had already had several slushy runs that filled my sneakers with water and couldn’t bear the idea of wet feet again. Since it was only a 3 mile run that day, I trotted off to the gym. Within 5 minutes of being there, I remembered why I’d been avoiding it so assiduously. The treadmill is hot, bouncy, and worst of all, hideously boring. I watched the miles tick away on the machine, which didn’t help the situation at all. The saddest thing was that the rain pretty much stopped completely not long after I arrived at the gym, meaning I could have just run outside after all. Lesson learned, I suppose.
Tuesday’s run was uneventful, but Thursday’s was a fine example of the need for mental toughness and fortitude when training in the winter. The day started off with light snow, but it wasn’t sticking and had abated by the time I left for my run with Nandi. So far, so good! Nandi had planned what turned out to be a really great and challenging 6 mile route with some decent hills, and despite some residual iciness from the morning’s snow all was going well. As we reached about mile 3, however, a few flakes began to float to the ground. No problem, thought we, we’ve certainly run in worse! And then, as we reached the bottom of a hill, it struck. A sudden, near-complete whiteout. We found ourselves running in a souvenir snowglobe, completely blinded. I suddenly gained appreciation for what the term snow squall truly means. Luckily it ended after about 10 minutes or so, and we finished the rest of the run uneventfully, but there was a definitive air of grueling about the entire experience. I’d like to try the route again sans nutty weather!
All of this, however, distracts from the main event – Saturday. The day we were due to run 14 miles, the farthest I’ve ever run in my life. And for the first time in quite a while, I needed to run it alone. The rest of the team was headed to a coalition run in the morning, but due to other commitments I couldn’t go out before the afternoon. In deference to this I decided to utilize the Minuteman bike path near my house – a straight shot with only occasional intersections to worry about. I plotted what seemed like a fool-proof route and headed on my way.
Since I was running the relatively safe bike path I decided to bring my i-pod – while not a replacement for my teammates it definitely helped prevent boredom and provided some extra energy when needed. I listened to some This American Life and what turned out to be the greatest running soundtrack ever (for me anyway) – the Ettes, Look at Life Again Soon. Here’s my appropriately named theme song for training:
The Ettes – Marathon from Alexandro Silver Duran on Vimeo.
The whole album is super-catchy and sets a good pace for how I run. Check it out!
Now, the bike path slopes up toward Lexington, where I was headed, and is a downhill slope back to Arlington, so I wasn’t too concerned about my time as I chugged along. I was pretty sure I could make it up on the way back. However, as I passed Lexington Center and started looking for the playground that was my indicator to turn around, I started getting a little concerned. My time was egregiously bad. Finally, I hit the highway at 1.5 hours and decided that had to be close enough. After all I wanted to be home before dark!
Well, you can probably guess what happened. The play area, as it turns out, is not as close to the bike path as it seems on the map. Add to that the fact that the last road before the turnaround is NOT marked as Bedford Road, and I overshot. Not by much, but enough that rather than 14, I have now run my greatest distance with 15 miles! So I guess I’m ready for next week. And my time, while not exactly on fire, wasn’t too bad.
I know I’ve been a bit long-winded, but I must also mention that I think I’ve found a really good on-the-run food! I brought some dried cherries on this adventure and they were perfect! Loads of sugar for energy, compact, not at all messy, and soft enough to feel like I’m not going to choke. I ate a few handfuls every 45 minutes or so and felt great!
Finally, today’s my big fundraiser. Wish me luck!
Recipe-phone
Sometimes cooking is like a game of telephone. Recipes are passed down from one person to another, and as they travel they mutate – someone adds nuts where none were before, or the teaspoon of vanilla becomes a splash of bourbon somehow. Changes come from personal taste, necessity, and honest mistakes in transcription. The more degrees of separation there are between the originator and any given cook, the more the recipe will vary.
Now that the internet can provide us with recipes at a finger-tip, this phenomenon has only increased. You might think it went the other way – no handwriting to decipher, after all, and hard to find ingredients can be ordered on the same machine you used to find the recipe. Yet there’s something about online recipes that demands innovation and change. Popular sites like allrecipes.com even have sections for customizing recipes built right into them (although I see they’ve turned this into a subscriber-only feature). I think it might be that when something’s in a recipe book, it feels a bit more permanent, locked-in. The changes mostly happen when it’s transcribed on a little card and set free into the world. Online recipes, on the other hand, are virtual, with no weight or substance. It feels perfectly acceptable to bend them to our will and create something else entirely.
Take, for example, the lovely side dish I made last weekend. I found it whilst bumming around on one of my favorite catch-all craft-food-design sites, Not Martha. The link will take you to the whole post, which was an entire meal, but I was drawn to the side dish, some roasted carrots. I’d planned to make a roast chicken, we’ve always got carrots in the house (these and celery are pretty much staple foods in the Menace household – carrots, celery and onions being the basis of pretty much all of existence in cooking.) What intrigued me about the recipe is that Megan herself had winged it out of this recipe. The end result was less adherence to either previous iteration, but using them as a leaping-off point went in a new direction. A direction that once again involved beets! As I’d been contemplating this side dish I realized I had uncooked beets in the fridge and given the similarity between the two root vegetables, why not throw them in? Besides, before I cooked them they looked amazing together, like something out of a jewel box:
(Note the stick of butter lurking in the background!)
I decided I liked the basic concept of both recipes, but since Mister doesn’t care for overly spicy tastes or coriander, I decided to omit both it and the cayenne. I made a mix of what were essentially baking spices – ginger, cardamom, a wee bit of cinnamon, even a bit of nutmeg, and some ground black pepper and tossed the vegetables with them and a good quantity of olive oil. Lacking in fresh herbs I forwent them entirely, but still finished, in the French style, with the butter. The end result was a heavenly match for the lemon-roasted chicken.
Was it Spicy Roasted Baby Carrots? It was not…and yet…they were spicy, in a warm way, and they were roasted, and they were certainly carrots, though not of the baby variety. So what if there were beets at the party, and no fresh herbs? Maybe sometimes the game of telephone is necessary; perhaps we hear the message that’s meant just for us.
Taking It To The Next Level
Last week I talked about the tools that anyone who wants to make cocktails at home should have in their arsenal, the items without which it’s pretty impossible to make even the simplest drink. This week I’d like to get into the tools you might want if you decided to stretch your wings a bit – either for slightly more complicated drinks or that, while not essential, look cool and are fun to have around the house.
First up is an ice crusher. There’s a multitude of ways in which one can crush ice, ranging from the extremely simple (a hammer and a bag) to the very mechanical (think blender). What you want to do with said ice will help you determine which route makes the most sense for you. For example, if you want to make really slushy frozen margaritas in a hurry, a blender really is the best way to go (that is in fact why they are referred to as blender drinks!). On the other hand, if all you’re looking to do is to pulverize your ice a bit for shaking, or don’t mind crushed ice with a little character, then one of the more retro methods is not only fine, it will give you more control over the finished product. And if you’re a bit of a design nerd and a true fan of the vintage, as I am, I don’t think you can find a finer ice crushing machine than this beauty:
This is my very minty blue Dazey rocket ice crusher, a Christmas gift from the fantastic and perceptive Mr. Menace, who knew that I’d been longing for such a machine for quite some time. It even came with all of the bits to be wall-mounted, which is essential with this design. Those little fins don’t allow for enough torque otherwise!
Dazey made quite a few ice crushers, including one that is square and can sit on the counter top if the wall-mounted thing isn’t your jam. (Also many, many butter churns, if you’re into that.) But just look at the sweet Atomic Age rocket styling! What’s not to love? It has three ice-crushing settings ranging from coarse to fine. Admittedly it’s version of fine isn’t exactly powder. If that’s what you’re looking for I’d aim for the blender or even the hammer (it’s a great workout!). But it gets the job done for less detailed work, and it looks as cool as hell on the bar.
Next up we have a tool that some would argue is essential – provided you are making your cocktails with 100% real ingredients and not some bogus mix (you aren’t using the bogus mix, are you?). I didn’t include it in the must-have posts, however, because it’s conceivable, though unlikely, that you’re making cocktails that require no fruit or herbs at all, ever. I’m referring, of course, to muddler.
It looks like the pestle portion of a mortar and pestle, and serves the same function – to crush fruit, herbs, or spices to release their aromatic oils. You don’t need the mortar bit because your mixing glass serves that function. Muddlers can be made of metal or wood – this is one I picked up for a song at a flea market. Eventually I may invest in a nicer model, but this one does the trick.
The last tool I’m going to talk about today is in many ways the least necessary, but also the nearest and dearest to my heart. Less functional, more decorative, but in that way to me very emblematic of cocktail as art, I present the humble swizzle stick:
Named for a tropical drink called the Rum Swizzle, these sticks are primarily used to stir drinks, though some have little spears on the end for decorative fruit. The reason I say they’re particularly inessential is that usually by the time someone’s been given a drink, it’s already been stirred or shaken – no need to do your own mixing. But just look at them – they’re beautiful!
Though often made from plastic, glass swizzle sticks are my personal favorites. My grandmother had a variety that I was fascinated by, remnants, I believe, of the beach house bar my father had built for my grandfather when they used to summer in Hull.
I can’t resist showing off two more favorite photos:
These are clear, hollow tubes with advertisements stuck in them – I have some that advertise hotels as well as the whiskey shown above.
Plastic, but adorably whimsical! What’s not to love?
While this is far from a comprehensive list of bar tools, it’s a good start for a very beginner bar. In the next installment I plan to cover basic glasses – hold on to your hats! And hey, this segment still needs a name – suggestions welcomed in the comments!
What’s Gonna Work? Teamwork!
If you get the title of today’s post you probably either have small children or spend a lot of time with them. I have no idea what my excuse is.
Anyway, this is it folks – this was the last week that the long run was a distance I’ve gone before. After this it’s all officially the farthest I have ever run. I’m a little nervous, but the way our training is set up it’s not so bad – every week is just one more mile. I can always just run one more mile, right?
Also helping to make it all possible are my incredible teammates. I know I’ve given them some props before, but I’m dedicating this entire post to all of them, because they really make the running much more fun! Yesterday I did the long run of 13 miles with two of the other folks from the office who are running, Todd and Jess. We were running from Comm Ave to part of Heartbreak Hill and back, and at one point along the way, I looked at my watch and realized we’d already been running for an hour – but it felt like no time at all had passed. When you’re running by yourself (as I think I might have to next week – the FARTHEST I’VE EVER RUN, GUYS) you really notice every mile. You’re acutely aware of how long it’s taking you to accomplish this task. Running with the team, while I try to stay focused on my form and breathing, I’m also happily distracted by talking to these folks who know exactly how I feel about this one facet of our lives. It’s pretty great.
I know that most of them feel the same way. At least two people have mentioned to me how much they enjoy the larger coalition runs, and Kelly wrote a great blog post about how, in addition to providing happy distraction, running with others offers a little bit of healthy competition – which is sometimes needed to spur us on the difficult task we’ve set for ourselves. While I’m not very competitive in the running arena (there are a few people I’d like to beat, but I’m rarely willing to kill myself to do it), I do find myself getting worked up about our fundraising! I was holding the number two spot on the team for a long time (beaten only by my oldest and dearest running buddy, Nandi, so that was ok) but recently I’ve fallen to number four and I’ll admit that it’s providing some impetus to really kick it up a notch as we move into February!
I’ll take that as an excuse to remind you all of a few donation opportunities, as well as to announce a new one!
1. You can always donate to my Firstgiving page! It’s easy, you get your tax-deductible letter almost immediately, and you can use a credit card.
2. Buy raffle tickets! This month’s raffle is for any baked good you like! Popular choices are chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, banana bread, and my chocolate chip cookies, but really, whatever you want! Tickets are $1 each, $5 for six, and you can buy them from the Firstgiving page or me directly. January’s raffle is over on the 31st, so get on it while you can!
3. Speaking of the 31st, I’m having an awesome event. Email me for the details!
Finally, the office team is planning a trivia night that’s going to rock your socks off, so stay tuned for details on that!
Thank you to Kelly, Jess, Todd, Nandi, and all of the rest of my teammates for joining me on this crazy adventure. I can’t wait to cross the finish line with you in April!
The Vegetable Therapist – Something Will Turnip
Ok, it was never my intention for the Vegetable Therapist posts to be a source of terrible, terrible puns, but as it happens, vegetables lend themselves to them too well to resist. Rather than continue to apologize, I’ve decided to revel in it.
Additionally, you may have noticed that you get not one, but TWO installments of VT this month. I figured that since we missed December, we’d cram some additional vegetables into January. There’s also the not-so-secret fact that winter vegetables are some of my favorites, and I’d like to make these posts as seasonal as possible. So you get two roots for the price of one!
Speaking of which, turnips, like many of their Brassica family brethren, provide two vegetables for the price of one – the root, which is what we are most likely to think of, and the leaves, which are a lovely, peppery green similar to mustard greens in taste. They’re also highly nutritious, so if you happen into some whole turnips, don’t throw those tops away! Use them in your favorite greens recipe – I’m personally a big fan of simply sauteed until tender with some garlic and a good amount of salt and pepper, but get as fancy as you like.
However, the person who asked for help in liking turnip was, I believe, referring to the roots, and it’s easy to understand why. Turnips are often treated like a lesser potato – usually boiled and mashed and served with some butter and boring, boring, boring. What flavor they do have can take some getting used to – a faint pungency similar to that of its cousins horseradish and mustard. However, they’re worth learning to love – low-calorie, high-fiber, and packed with vitamin C and smaller amounts of folate, calcium, and potassium. Cooked they lose that whiff of sulfur and become a nice addition to your root vegetable repertoire.
I wanted to find a recipe that went beyond boiling and mashing. Here’s a recipe for turnip gratin that sounds intriguing, but wasn’t quite what I wanted. For one, it’s still turnip as a stand-in for potato, for another, the amount of cheese and heavy cream rather negates the health benefits and seems like cheating – what couldn’t you eat if I slathered it in cheese sauce first? My mind was already wandering in the direction of braised and glazed when I came across this! The braising and glazing renders them sweet and tender, while the vinaigrette plays nicely with that mustardy taste, turning it into an asset as opposed to a detriment.
Aren’t the little poppy seeds cute? They’re the only ingredient in the recipe you might not have just lying around the house, but I recommend getting them – they add a little pop and crunch that shouldn’t be missed.
Per Chow’s suggestion, I did serve these with corned beef, though I did not corn it myself. (This time.)
Look at that – so New England!
One last fun turnip fact – while the rutabaga is very closely related, it is not precisely turnip, but a cross between a turnip and a cabbage! I personally find them a bit sweeter and less sulfurous. They are popularly used as jack-o-lanterns in Britain and Ireland, and when I was a wee kid, I was obsessed with Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories, a totally amazing book of “American fairy-tales” that had some rather haunting ideas. You can download them here, if you’re curious about the stories that shaped my childhood. They may explain a lot.
Nearly Half-Way There!
In terms of actual running, that is. This week’s long run was 12 miles, just shy of the half-marathon mark. In terms of fund raising, thanks to the generosity of office mates Hillary Chazen and Faye Pantazopolous, I have just cleared half of my goal – $2,020 down, $1,980 to go! A bit more about how I plan to reach that goal in a moment.
For now though, can I tell you all that for the first time in training, this week was hard? For some reason I was just not feeling it, gang. Oh, I went out and did my runs, but not without quite a bit of whining and complaining, as poor teammate Nandi learned to her chagrin. Thankfully by Saturday’s long run I managed to turn the tide and be in better spirits and have a pretty good run. I’m not entirely sure what the problem was, although I have a few theories:
1. 11 Mile Run Needed More Fuel: Like Jess, I was feeling pretty delirious at the end of last week’s 11 miler. I think this set the tone for the rest of the week and made me cranky and resentful of my workouts. On the 12-miler I carried a banana and ate half of it when I reached the six-mile mark – while messy, it seemed to work!
2. Need More Sleep: This is pretty much a chronic problem of mine – I feel like I want to stay up and spend time with people, or get just one more thing done, or read just a few more pages of my book. This isn’t really too much of a problem in real life, but in marathon life I don’t think it’s quite as reasonable. I’m going to need to train myself to sleep on a more steady schedule.
3. Winter is Depressing: I’ve actually done quite well (probably thanks to all of the exercise) at staving off the winter blues, but this week it caught up with me a little bit. Dodging ice-slicks and breathing frost-laden air just didn’t seem like fun anymore.
What saved the long run and helped me to turn the tide, besides the banana, was that this week was Boston Partners in Education’s turn to run the water stop! That meant that our Executive Director, Pamela Civins, along with one of our volunteers and our intrepid Americorps Ambassador of Mentoring, Miki Leach, came out to stand next to the Charles River for two hours to hand out water and gummy bears to all of the runners. She also talked briefly about who we are, what we do, and why what the team is doing is so important to our organization. It’s very motivating to have your cause showcased and to have your co-workers come out to show their support. So thanks, folks!
A thank you also is in order to the fine folks at Gaslight! Gaslight is a terrific brasserie in the South End – their bar steak and frites is one of the best I’ve ever had. They have generously donated a $100 gift certificate for two to the special fund raising event I will be hosting on January 31st! You may have already received an email regarding this event – if you haven’t and would like to, please email me at frightfullyclever*at*gmaildotcom and I will send you the details!
With all of the wonderful generous people and local businesses supporting me in this endeavor, how can I stay grouchy? My goal is to stay positive and healthy through April 19th – thank you again to all of you who help me meet that and all of my goals!
