Minneapolis Taste Buds

Mark overcame a knee injury during marathon training and finished the Las Vegas Marathon in 3:36. AMAZING! I also finished, but he had to wait quite a while for me! He greeted me with a huge bear hug at the finish. Neither of us knew if I'd make it through this one as I acquired some injuries a few weeks before the marathon. My left IT band was hurting from mile 3 on but I somehow made it through. I met a very nice woman named Lynn and we finished the last 7 miles together. I thank God I met her as I didn't think I could finish alone. She was amazing! This was her 7th marathon and she'd just had surgery in August. Very tough and inspiring. It was great having our friends there with us this year to cheer us on and celebrate afterwards. Mark and I hobbled around Vegas the rest of the trip, but still had a great time. The holidays have already passed us by and we're here in Iowa celebrating with Mark's family. We celebrated Christmas Eve at my sister's and Christma

I must admit I'm a bit jealous of my boss and her husband who are vacationing in Italy-my very favorite place to visit. She writes, "I thought you’d like to know that this is the usual order for a truly Italian dinner. The surprising part is that the salad FOLLOWS the entrée! 1. Appetizers: Bruschetta and Beans and greens and onion 2. Soup dish (more like a stew actually) 3. Pasta dish 4. Pasta dish 5. Beef slices 6. Salad 7. Lemon dessert 8. Espresso . . . don’t forget the wine!" I asked her about her favorites so far. "Tonight we had a fabulous lemon chiffon type pie that was served on top of a ¼ inch yellow cake base. Very light after a heavy meal of so many courses. The prosciutto seems to be different than in the U.S., much lighter. Every place in Florence charges a cover charge of 2-3 Euro per person, even for lunch. Seems strange to me because there is no music provided. I have yet to figure out what the cover charge is supposed to cover. The waiter tells us

Hubby and I finally tried Ristorante Luci last night. We used to live about 5 minutes away (now we're only 10 minutes away) and drive by it all the time. Turns out Thursday night was a great time to visit - they offered a Perzzo Fisso, a four course taster's dinner, that was fantastic and only $20/person if we both ordered it! It started with a large scallop with a tomato/ red pepper puree, followed by a creamy mushroom soup for me and a nice cesare salad for the husband. Next was a homemade pasta with a slice of pork (the only thing we weren't crazy about - pork was dry / pasta didn't have much flavor). The entree was salmon and risotto with aioli, and we added a tiramisu cheesecake for dessert. A great bottle of wine + a fantastic server and great cozy ambiance - we'll definitely go back for more. Online reservations for Ristorante Luci at Open Table .

Opening the mail just isn't as fun as it once was . . . bills, credit card offers that fill my shredder, newspaper ads from stores I never visit. I remember being at Iowa State and getting that little slip of paper in my mailbox every so often telling me to stop by and pick up a package-a much needed box from little Laurie. My mom always knew just what I needed - unexpected little goodies: Mac & Cheese, Rice Crispy Treats Holiday decorations for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day Basically stocking stuffers for any occasion. She even sent Mark care packages while he was in Rome for a semester. At this time of year I always think a lot about college. Good times . . . but I'd never go back! Most appreciated care package items for college students (or anyone): Stamps Quarters for Laundry Recipes (family favorites) + some of the ingredients Coffee or hot chocolate packets (& marshmallows) Lined pads of paper with magnets to stick on the fridge Chip clips Post-it Not

My dad bought me a fancy Cuisinart Food Processor . Very exciting! Tonight I made the basil pesto recipe out of the manual to try something different and it's fantastic! I froze it in 4 containers to use later. My second Cuisinart attempt was to grind the flax seed I accidentally bought whole. I normally buy Bob's Red Mill Organic Flaxseed Meal & mix it in with my yogurt, but must not have been paying attention at Target. Failure on the grinding. It just wouldn't cut through the little guys. I did a some reading online about ground vs. whole, but couldn't seem to find reliable sources to answer these questions: What's the best way to grind flax seed? Is ground flax better than whole? Or, Is there value in eating both versions?

Subtle signs of Fall are all around this week . . . The Minnesota State Fair is here already. It's a little bit darker each morning when I run before work and the morning temps are perfect. I can actually turn the A/C off and get a good night's sleep. The sedum and morning glories are blooming and my basil plants are enormous. Every August I start frantically planning recipes that revolve around using my herbs-knowing that the convenience of having an herb garden will disappear sooner than I'd like with the first frost. Today I'll start making basil pesto (basil, pine nuts, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, lots of garlic, water ), to stock the freezer for the winter. Saturday night we made grilled corn on the cob with chive butter, mushroom and cherry tomato kabobs with olive oil & basil, and Cooking Light's Rosemary Shrimp Scampi Skewers . Yesterday I stopped at the St. Paul Farmers' Market and stocked up on eggplant, zucchini, squash, bread, and cilantro (if

After a little over a month off (sort of) since Grandma's Marathon, we've reserved our flights, hotel, and registered online for the December 7 Las Vegas Marathon! I'm actually looking forward to getting back into a regular training program. I've been running sporadically a few times per week since Grandma's and Mark's been running about once per week. We did the Boston Scientific 10K on Saturday. It was a great race and we both set PR's for the distance (my time even included a sprint to the porta pottie at mile 4 - mental note: arrive earlier to next race to avoid bladder emergencies). We're hoping to recruit some of our friends to come run with us or to cheer us on and celebrate afterwards. Hopefully they can make it! 20,000 runners - 250,000+ spectators - There couldn't possibly be anything this exciting happening in Minneapolis in early December.

We had a great, relaxing trip up to Two Harbors on Friday. We checked in at the Americinn and made our way back down to Duluth to the DECC to get our race info. We got rock star parking, got our packets, had our spaghetti dinner, and were back at the hotel by 8 ish . We watched Karate Kid and Caddy Shack (what better motivators??) and were sleeping soundly by 11. We got up (who knew it was light out at 4:30 am?) and had our bagels and went out to catch the bus to the starting line. One very long porta pottie line and an orange Gu later and we found ourselves in our starting line spots - Mark in the 3:20 zone (cripes, he's fast), and I, realist that I am, parked myself in the 5:00 region. I'd been estimating a 4:30 - 5:00 finish time based on my long training runs and the RunnersWorld .com pace calculator. Starting line The weather at start time was fantastic - in the low 50's. I started out well and flew through the first 10K. Then all the advice from every marathon-fi

Just 2 more weeks of tapering to go. I had a really good 10-mile long-run along the river and the creek. A friend joined me for part of it and that made the run fly by. I felt great despite the humidity. My 20-miler last week, however, was not so pleasant. The first humid run of the season did not treat me well. The water belt was bugging me from the start as was an odd case of nausea . It took an embarrassing number of hours to finish, but I'm glad I didn't skip the last lap around Nokomis as I so desperately wanted to. It was a very off day, but I am still feeling confident about the marathon. It's amazing how many little details we're thinking about like where do you put all of your Gus and shot blocks? Which water stops do we stop at? Do we carry our own water so we can keep running if we don't feel like stopping at the water stops? Where the heck will our family find us? How long after Mark finishes will I finally make my way to the finish? How can I possibly

We did our 16-mile training run on Saturday. Holy wind. I was cursing mother nature, especially around 14.5 miles when the backs of my legs started screaming at me. I drank a lot of water & Ultima Replenisher , but it wasn't nearly enough. I checked the label when I got home, "Cripes! There are only 3 g carbs per serving!" So, I'm looking for some advice on what to eat during the rest of my very long, long runs and during Grandma's Marathon . I'd like something, preferably not in GU form (it's a texture thing), that won't upset the stomach. Someone at Yoga suggested Clif Shot Blocks , which I'm open to. Gummy, fruity - what could be better? But I'm confused on which one to try - caffeinated or decaf. Who knew there were so many options? GUs, performance drinks, chewy things, jelly beans - I'm officially overwhelmed.

My friend is finishing up her first year of law school and is in the midst of finals. I'm having her over for Sunday brunch to give her a break from studying and to feed her some fresh Springy food. What's on tap? Well, probably not alcohol for her, but I suppose I could have meself a mimosa . . . Scrambled Eggs with Chives from my garden Rosemary Potatoes with rosemary from my garden that I froze last year Spinach Salad with Strawberries & Blue Cheese English Muffins with Orange Marmalade Unless Sister Beth is willing to hand over her fabulous whole wheat and honey bread recipe she made for us on Sunday with her amazing Lamb dinner - Note to Beth: Why aren't you blogging about that dinner? It was amazing! I just tried calling her on my new Bluetooth thingy, which I'm embarassed to say I had to have hubby physically put on my ear because I cannot seem to follow the visual instructions that came with it. Cripes.

Recently my dad told me about a documentary he saw on PBS about non-runners training for a marathon. It's called the NOVA Marathon Challenge & you can watch it online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/marathon/program.html

The Get in Gear was a very fun, yet blustery race this year. The results are in , photos are coming soon - Hubby and I both clocked our best times ever despite having to wear 13 layers to stay warm. He ran a 7:14 and I ran a 9:02, which for me is incredibly fast. We added some distance to our run by sprinting to the car to get out of the wind after the race. I'm heading out now for my lunchtime 60-minute training run. Are we skipping Spring this year? I hope the sun comes back very soon.

The Get in Gear 10K is this Saturday at Minnehaha Park. We're looking forward to running this race for the second year in a row, but the weather looks less than Springy. When I picked up my race packet at lunch today, one one of the other Sea Salt customers told me there could be snow on the ground! Guess we'll bundle up for one more run this year. It will be a great race no matter the weather though as it runs north along the river on West River Parkway and south on East River Blvd. A very pretty course.

Anonymous recently asked for the Boeuf Bourguignon recipe from the Crock-Pot recipe book. This is a family favorite. Enjoy! Boef Bourguignon Recipe 6 strips bacon cut in 1/2" pieces 3 lbs beef rump or chuck, cut in 1.5" cubes 1 large carrot peeled and sliced 1 medium onion, sliced 3 T flour 1 10 oz can condensed beef broth 1 T tomato paste 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp whole thyme 1 bay leaf 1/2 lb. white pearl onions, peeled 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced 1/2 c. Burgundy wine Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove & drain. Add beef cubes & brown well. Place browned beef cubes in Crock-Pot. Brown carrot & onion. Season with 1.5 tsp salt & 1/8 tsp pepper, stir in flour. Add broth, mix well & add to Crock-Pot. Add cooked bacon, thyme, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, and onions. Cover & cook on Low 8-10 hours. Saute mushrooms in 2 T butter and add to Crock-Pot with wine about 1 hour before serving. To Thicken Gravy: Turn Crock-Pot to High. Cream 1

I'm certainly slacking with this blog lately and it seems to have turned into a running blog rather than a food blog over the past several posts. I'm hoping to get back into writing more about each as they've both become so important to me. We did eventually make it to Las Vegas for the half-marathon and it was a blast! We were delayed (very delayed) and I had a cold by the time we arrived, but somehow I managed to run a great race. I shaved 12 minutes off my October half-marathon time. My voice was 7 octaves higher than the day before due to my cold, but I was so excited when I finished the race. I've never had that same feeling before. Now Mark and I are heading to Duluth in June to run Grandma's! I had no intention of ever running a full marathan, that is, until my great race in Vegas. That's the thing about running. You start out, never really knowing where it may lead. Then all of a sudden you're into it. You buy the right shoes for your curiously flat

Mark insisted I talk about last night's dinner. We originally planned to try Meritage downtown St. Paul for Valentine's Day, but decided we'd better not stray from marathon training. We'll head to Meritage tomorrow instead. After an easy 40-minute run at the Y in Eagan, we headed home, cleaned up, and started up the grill. Ah, winter grilling. Only serious Minnesotans go out in 5 degree weather to prep their favorite cut of meat. Mark brushed the snow off the grill, added some extra briquettes for good measure, and grilled us a great ribeye. I sliced up some Yukon Golds over my lunch break with butter and rosemary I had in the freezer from last summer's garden. We also baked some ciabatta rolls from New French Bakery. And then, we arrived at dessert . . . a last-minute addition to the meal. I found a box of Baker's bittersweet chocolate in the cupboard. One of those ingredients I bought for a specific recipe that I never ended up making. I opened the box and