Minneapolis Taste Buds

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 ...