Running on Shoesday!

It's back!  It's Tuesday Shoesday! 

It's still "toasty warm" around town, so these fun shoes are cool and comfy!  I've gotten lots of compliments on my shoes, even from my students - so they must be cool!

Thanks for stopping by today - enjoy your Shoesday Tuesday!!

Running with Julia!

Our theme dinners with the Mr. & Mrs. Wine Guru have been going along deliciously!!  One of our summer dinner themes was recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (by none other than...Julia Child).

We choose recipes that we could actually pronounce...well almost...

Our dinner was set for 6:30, and preparations began the day before.  The Wine Gurus spent the day before searching and scavenging, making friends with butchers, and driving around town!

Hubby and I didn't have to run around too much, but we started preparing at 10:00 am - a full 8 hours before our dinner!

Here's everything we used...half the day was spent cleaning up!!

So, lets translate...Coquilles St. Jacques, better known as scallops (we thought ham and cheese sandwich at first...wrong!)

Braise Aux Choux Rouges...braised red cabbage.

Stuffed Beef Rollup - amazing how it sounds the same in English - no, I forgot the French name.

Reine de Saba - Chocolate Almond cake.

We began the evening with name tags, in French of course.  Google translate is the best...amazing how wonderful "bite me", "shut the #$#$ up", "my cat is crazy", and "I am a ham sandwich", all sound in French!!

Braised red cabbage

Stuffed Beef Roll-up!

By the time we were all done cooking, here's what the cookbook looked like!  Don't you love that look...a well-used cookbook!

Our assessment of the evening was:

1)  Scallops (the one thing I didn't get a picture of) were fantastic and worth the time.  These we would make again.

2)  Stuffed Beef Roll-ups - not so much...meat stuffed with more meat...not worth all the time.

3)  Braised red cabbage - uh...just ok...not worth the 4 hours of braising.

4)  Chocolate Almond Cake - oh yeah!! Totally worth the 30 minutes of beating, and the 2 different kinds of chocolate being melted over a double boiler, and the slicing of each tiny almond (not really).  This is a phenomenal cake - very spongy, not too sweet, really, really, good!

Here's to you Wine Gurus (aka The Evil Ones)!  We always have a fabulous time with you!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're having fun cooking this season as well!

Running with Shadows!

I love my kitties!  They give me such simple joy.  When our last kitty died in November, we lived 6 weeks without a little 4-footed friend in the house.  It was lonely.  The cats have always greeted me at the door when I come home.  Don't get me wrong - I love my kids and hubby.  But, there's just something special about a pet.

So, for Shadowshot Sunday, I present to you...Sophie and Jack.  They love to look out the backyard slider...and dream of chasing a bird or a butterfly!  I love the morning shadows on the lawn and patio.  Wow, I wish I could have sat there all morning and enjoyed a mocha...sigh... Hope you enjoy this picture as much as I do.  (It took all my self-control not to turn this black and white!)

Don't forget to head over to Hey Harriet and check out the other shadows this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today!  And, yes, an explanation for my month-long absence will be forthcoming!

Running the Golden Gate!

Hubby and I got out of town -  just the 2 of us (very exciting).  We spent 3 days in San Francisco.  The weather was -- fantastic!  Usually it's foggy and cold, but we had 3 gorgeous, sunny days - what a treat!

We spent our days walking, riding the trolley car, eating, and looking at art that we can't afford!!  It was lots of fun!

At the end of the line, the conductors actually turn the cars by hand!

This one pushed with his back - not sure which one is easier?

 

I dreamed about steamed crab all the way to SF!

 

It's practically a crime not to get ice cream at Ghirardelli!

But the best part, (don't tell this to hubby) was running on the Golden Gate Bridge!!  

This foggy morning quickly turned sunny!

 I absolutely love running out of town.  Monterey is my favorite place to run.  I can put in 4 miles right along Fisherman's Wharf and the ocean - love it!  I've walked the bridge before, but running it was fun...kinda!  Just the idea was exciting - running above the ocean.  

My shoes have more than 400 miles on them!  (Yes, I know, I do need a new pair!)        And no, that's not blood on the ground - they were painting the bridge!

But the reality is...trucks and cars skidding past you at 50 miles an hour...5 feet away from you...and exhaust...lots of exhaust...

The bridge is almost 4 miles round trip, and it has a gentle slope that I didn't really notice until I had to turn around and run the incline...gentle slopes are killers I tell you!!

So, tell me...do you run when you're on vacation?  What are your favorite out of town trails?

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Running with Shadows!

My favorite part of summer is a trip to the beach.  I taught summer school this year, so my school year was longer, and all I could think of was...ahhh...the ocean.  So, on the last day of summer school, my kids came to help out and 10 minutes after saying good-bye to the last little 1st grader - we took off!!

I love taking beach shots of my kids.  Today I'm hooking up with Hey Harriet for Shadowshot Sunday!

Here are my kids and I at the Carmel Beach in California.  It's a gorgeous stretch of cool, white sand.  It's also a very inviting place for dogs - notice the little doggy paw prints!

  

It's usually overcast and foggy in the summertime, but we picked a beautiful day for a visit!

Hope you've been able to get away this summer!  I'd love to hear about your favorite beach!

Thanks for visiting today - and don't forget to check out the other lovely "Shadowshots" with Hey Harriet!

Running with Bacon!

The night:  A balmy, summer evening...

The event:  Dinner with the Wine Gurus... 

The food:  Bacon, bacon, and more bacon!

Our monthly dinner with the Evil Ones Wine Gurus was designed around...bacon!  Bacon everything!!  Bacon drinks, bacon appetizers, bacon entrees, and even bacon dessert!!  Bacon - it's the food that never stops being...delicious!!  It's unbelievable what you can do with bacon...smoked bacon, Canadian bacon, slab bacon, bacon syrup!!  

Our evening started with a Bacon Bourbon Sour!  Torani makes a Bacon Syrup for drinks!  Combine 1 oz each of bacon syrup, and fresh lemon juice, add 2 oz bourbon, ice, and shake!!  It was actually pretty delicious!

Along with our Bacon Bourbon Sours we snacked on some Bacon Tiki Snack Mix!  Bacon (of course), peanuts, pineapple - delicious! 

Next, we made individual pizzas with apple butter, Canadian bacon, apple slices, sweet onions, and mozzarella cheese.  So easy and delicious!

We used slab bacon to make a romaine, bacon, blue cheese skewer - it was the closest we could come to bringing in a vegetable with bacon!  Please, we do eat healthy!!

 Finally, we grilled bacon wrapped shrimp with a barbecue chipotle sauce - the sauce was "to die for"...smoky, spicy, yummy!!

  

For dessert, the Wine Gurus brought Chocolate Chip-Bacon cookies.  The chocolate and bacon were tasty together, but the bacon was mostly tasted at the end of the bite.  Yummy!!

So, here are the plans for our summer dinners:

July - Julia Child Night - Mastering the Art of French Cooking - mais bien sur!!

August - Nepenthe Dinner.  (Nepenthe is a delightful restaurant near Big Sur.  It has breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, and a wonderful cookbook!)

Now, I need some ideas for the upcoming months.  Here's a few we've been tossing around - deep fry dinner, raw food night...

Help, we need some inspiration!  I'd love to hear your ideas for dinner themes!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Running...back...again!

Well, I did it again...took too much time off from blogging!  It's a vicious cycle...I don't blog...I feel bad about it...I feel so bad that I don't blog...I feel bad...

Anyway, I'm back!  So here's a quick update for my first day back!! 

When last we met, I had 2 weeks till my last half marathon.  It was quite a run!!  It was a fantastic run!!  My trainer, Kyle, predicted that I would shave off 10 - 12 minutes off my best previous time!  Amazingly, I really did take 13 minutes off my best time!  I ran the California Classic in 2:05:11.  My best half marathon has been 2:18!  Wow!!  I was pretty thrilled!

The secret, you may ask, is speed workouts!  That was the difference in preparing for this race.  Running 400s and tempo runs!  What a difference!

Hope your runs have been going well...I got hubby out for a run today.  I'm hoping I can keep him going out with me.  He even mentioned running a half marathon with me in November!  I'll keep you posted on his progress - keep good thoughts for me!  (His past experience with running was in the Army - not the  most pleasant memories!)

I'm almost at 40 followers - I'm excited!  When I reach 40, I'm going to hold my first giveaway - so keep checking back!  

And, here's a little preview of my next post...BACON!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy 4th of July!!