Minneapolis Taste Buds

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 ...

We're leaving Minneapolis tomorrow to run the Las Vegas Half-Marathon on December 2, assuming we get out of here before the snow arrives. I've been running my long runs each week with much success and have enjoyed some really nice Fall weather. My run on Monday when it was 5 degrees and windy was the only exception. My left foot is starting to hurt again though, even when I'm just sitting here. I'm hoping my body lets me finish this race and then I can cut my mileage way back to fully recover before picking a race to run in the Spring. Everything else is feeling great. The folks at Run 'N Fun in St. Paul helped me find the right knee-saving shoes for my rediculously flat little feet. The lungs feel fantastic . . . just that darn foot that is worrying me. I ran 6 miles at the Y on Wednesday and it wasn't bad. Just getting the laces tied comfortably is tricky. I've done more non-running activities this week to stay active, but to give the foot a rest. This sho...