a life beyond running shoes.

lost in a good book by jasper fforde sequel. meta-fiction....not sure i know what that means. having just read a jane eyre book, i went back to this author whose first book was the eyre affair .  he transposed reality and fiction.... well, it is all fiction but includes time travel, adventure, extinct animals, fictional characters interacting with the characters of the novel.....and a character called jack schitt.  funny.  it is entertaining. i realized i had to let go of trying to figure out the time looping stuff and just ride the book for what it was worth. since i own the third book in the series, i might give it a go but wouldn't if it wasn't already on my shelf.  yes, chef   by marcus samuelsson can i fall in love with food any more.... yes, yes, i can.  ethiopian orphan, adopted in sweden, world travelled via the kitchen of restaurants, hotels, and cruise ships and immigrated to new york city where he was one of the first black chefs in...

    then again. by diane keaton i do love her.... her hat wearing, idiosyncratic personhood.  i also loved that i must have said out loud, "i didn't know that" about a million times about her and her life. AND.... oh the men she dated. woody. warren. al.  and the way she writes tribute to her mom.... giving her mom a voice from the journals she wrote that diane discovered after her mother died.   she is personal and candid. it feels very much like diane keaton..... lovable and enjoyable. perhaps not the best memoir i have read.....but it did make me want to go back and see some of her movies from the last thirty years.....including annie hall which i can hardly remember seeing the first time. loud and clear. by anna quindlen i told you i would get around to more of her.  this is a collection of her essays originally published in newsweek and the new york times .  it covers parenting, social issues, politics, 9/11. i love her voic...

if you know me, you  know i will find a topic and then read a few things about it: barefoot running eating locally and now...... olive oil. got this book for christmas which of course, lead me to other books. extra virginity: the sublime and scandalous world of olive oil by tom mueller frankly, i just love the subtitle. it was a fascinating read. the history of olive oil, the parallels to the wine industry, the scandals that have changed the italian wine industry and how little has changed in the olive oil industry. i loved learning about something that has such beneficial properties, but have almost none when diluted or marketed as something it is not..... like extra virgin.  it has lead me to explore some local olive producers and even gone taste testing here in northern california.  second book: the passionate olive: 101 things to do with olive oil by carol firenze oh....she gets creative.  but first she almost summarizes what i read in the ...

and we have success! 1. homemade granola bars add peanut butter and more chocolate chips! okay... so, i am still eating more of them than my children but at least they didn't turn up their noses right away. peanut actually ate his in his lunch and little bit ate one on the bus home from a long morning. (desperation just might breed consumption!) recipe: (adapted from ina garten - the barefoot contessa) 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal 1/2 cup of puffed rice cereal 1/2 cup sliced almonds 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 2/3 cup honey 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed 1/4 cup of peanut butter 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup dried cranberries Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper. Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and puffed rice cereal together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the...

my first attempt at homemade yogurt. it failed..... i tried a recipe i found using a crock pot.... silly me! will try again after easter. i'll keep you posted. my first attempt at homemade granola bars. they were really yummy....but the critics did not agree. my kiddos were not as thrilled as i was by the attempt. apparently they are not as motivated by the lack of corn syrup or lack of trash in my brilliant creation.... perhaps i can just wear them down. i mean, if this is all there is.... perhaps desperation will breed consumption.

so i made my own laundry soap. my husband made his own beer. his is more fun....tastes better.....and easier to photograph. my idea came from my mother-in-law. tried my own.... a bit skeptical of my success. (i only have about 5 gallons of it to figure out if it worked) got the recipe here . he got a gift-certificate from my dad. there is actually a place locally that sells all the stuff you need. first batch was started just after new years.... and we have been enjoying the spoils for about a week. i can honestly say..... not bad! second batch is just waiting to be bottled.... guess we got some drinking to do to empty out those bottles!!!

frankly, i could not resist. melanie rehak takes time to work in the kitchen of applewood restaurant in park slope, brooklyn (where she lives) and makes observations between choice and compromise all while taking the time to follow the chain of food before it gets to the restaurant. applewood is my all time favorite restaurant. it is where part of my journey of seasonal, local eating began. rehak has read wendell berry and michael pollan. again, how could i resist?! and i think she (and the owners of applewood) strike a balance between eating with convictions (local, sustainable, seasonal) and personal reality (a picky eater that will only eat bananas for breakfast - which in ny this is not local....in case you didn't know that about the northeast). the wrestling with convictions and compromise. and i loved her adventures with the fisherman and vegetable farmers. she learned a lot and still let her child eat cheerios. that is a lady i could be friends with. it did remind me of he...

i know that no matter where you live, everyone loves outdoor space. everyone wants a nice backyard..... but here in new york it is especially desirable. when we lived in a 625 square foot apartment, it was close to doubling our space. we ate meals, played, relaxed, entertained, lived out there. in this house, we did not use our backyard until a month ago. it was concrete rumble. it was a mud pit. it was a failed vegetable garden. it was a mosquito haven. now, it is usable. we are living out there. we had two dinner engagements this week marking summer. our final community group for the summer.... pork burgers (thank you mark bittman), orzo, three philospophers beer, and apple crisp plus good conversation, laughing, and the first firefly..... then we had a nigerian, anglican pastor over for dinner. we got to hear about his nigerian tribal princess wife, his grandfather who was friends with winston churchill, and about his experience of living here in brooklyn for the past two months. ...

but i finally finished our latest book club book. albeit, two weeks late..... but the conversation of the book was not really about the book. it was about food. which the book is about. thanks to mary...... for an amazing meal. fresh pasta..... and that is just where my palate memory begins. heat - an amateur's adventure as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a dante-quoting butcher in tuscany. bill buford. how can you not want to read this. well..... mario batali makes more than just a few cameo appearances. buford works in his kitchen. learns what it looks like on that side of the order. fascinating. daunting. intimidating. then he travels to italy to learn pasta and butchering. mario takes a back seat and the book loses its flare. could mario's robust, obnoxious, foul-mouthed presence have made the book more interesting? possibly. i work my way to the end and then in the last section..... nuggets: "it's not in the breed but the breeding" ...

snow: three inches cancelled our training run this weekend..... but it afforded lots of fun. sports: geaux saints! food: barley soup with kale, dill, fennel and lemon (bon appetit page 89 ) perfect thin crust home-made pizza (cook's illustrated website) chunky cheese bread (passion for baking page 44) note: as 3 peas has said , it is worth the price of book. kids: rocking out to super bowl commercial:

home cooking . i am not sure. i'm glad i read it. i found her to be interesting. i loved reading her recipes. i liked how she was not exact: heat the meat. add salt. saute until browned. i won't keep it although perhaps if i did i might use it. book of vignettes about cooking. some funny things. loved the chapter about being alone in the kitchen with an eggplant. but her writing is not captivating. but then again, perhaps it didn't need to be. she is not father capon (my favorite book of 2009) but she does refer to him which made her far more endearing and credible. read if you choose.... you won't be wasting your time.

i sign-up for the race i have started training for. it is a pretty cool thing. i will let you know when i get my fundraising website up and running. it is half-marathon (13.1 miles) here in NYC that benefits the work of world vision in africa. i have been a runner (catch that - i am a runner) for seven years (with three significant breaks in there....named peanut, little bit, and sweet pea). i have run one full marathon, three halfs and other 5Ks in there. this is the first time i have been aware of that a christian organization if the main recipient of the fundraising. i think that is pretty cool. stef and i did our tempo run this morning. it is amazing how much 34 degrees feels different than 24 which is what we have been running in all week. i prefer 34. and there are a lot more people out. it is fun to realize that in the fours years we have been running together that we have gotten faster! so cool. i also made double chocolate-fudge cookies this week. they are not helping my...

day 19: activity. chuck e. cheese (birthday boy got to pick outing - birthday is tomorrow) mommy's activity: make birthday cake. (funny thing about my boys wanting superhero cakes - they don't really know who spiderman (peanut's 4th b-day) and batman are.... i mean, they do have those jammies, but they have never seen a show, read a book, or had an action figure for either of these guys... and yet, that is the cake they wanted). so be it. pics of the birthday boy tomorrow!

with the idea of not using a flash. watching my friend, made in brooklyn , take some really beautiful shots, i decided to try my hand. while i am not her in photographic skills or baking skills...... i made our first apple pie of the season. yum. with apples we picked. i love the north east. we've come a long way in two years....two years ago i threw out my first attempt at home-made apple pie. version #2 of that year was not much better.... this was much better.

a way to spend a dreary, wet day inside.... we baked cookies. peanut butter chocolate chip. played with the bungo (which we have never had for any other children). she looks so funny sitting up so erect..... and the boys like trying to sit in it just as much. played on the bed and tried not to destroy all the laundry i had just folded. this is how she sleeps - with her head cocked upward... funny girl.

our first snow.... how they got to church.... (in the snow) nursing colds..... practicing indoor soccer.... decorating xmas tree.... killing time...... our first vegan rice krispie treats......

this is how i like my men..... for thanksgiving day, the boys made pumpkin scones. okay. not great. then on monday, the boys tried their hand at cinnamon scones. scrumptious!! i found a recipe that called for 2T of milk and sour cream.... and since we have an organic market in our neighborhood, i spotted tofutti sour cream. so with a bit of shortening, soy milk, and tofutti cream cheese.... we had scones that our first born could eat. and we enjoyed them as well. next time i think a few cinnamon chips would put them over the edge to being dynamite.

we had such a fun time. it was a bit chaotic trying to get all the side dishes heated, biscuits baked, and turkey sliced in a one-butt kitchen.... but it all worked out. we tried our hand at our first free-range turkey.... i think it would have been scrumptious if we had fried it. we pretty much eat the turkey to justify the sides..... which included: sweet potato souffle traditional dressing very fancy, yummy dressing green bean casserole baked acorn squash with maple glaze homemade cranberry sauce garlic, cheese biscuits pecan pie pumpkin pie apple pie AND a chocolate fountain with fruit (thus the chocolate face photo) and ample wine just so you don't think i pulled off this feast, it was a potluck with our small group. we even played a round of scene it (movie trivia game).

about my fist interval training run this morning.....but i won't. it was hard and no fun....especially with a jog stroller. so, i will share about my first home baked apple pie.....done twice. this first one looks so much prettier than the second one ..... too bad it wasn't edible. i read the recipe wrong.... what might you say would indicate that...... the smoke alarm? that perhaps might indicate recipe gone bad! so we tried round two..... yum! fresh picked apples from our fall retreat..... homemade crust..... even tastier with caramel swirled ice cream. it was such a shame that neither of my children really liked it. more for me!

one thought i had for our meal week is to do homemade pizza on friday nights. in our old neighborhood, i could find pizza dough for $2.50. in our new neighborhood, rent may be cheaper but the pizza dough ain't. SO.....i made my own. it actually got twice as big as this. we made BBQ chicken pizza (without cheese for our older son). his cheese allergy is what prompted this "at home pizza." we can't do take out pizza on a whim. that has its perks & pitfalls. one - it is easy for a meal. the other hand - it saves me from greasy pizza which helps the waist line. anyway.... we had pasture raised chicken roasted from monday night left over, so we smothered it in bbq sauce with red onions & cheese...yummy! this morning we hit the farmers market again. the egg lady was not there nor was the milk guy. argh! i did pick up a flyer about pasture-raised dairy & meat... here are some fun facts: pasture-raised beef are grown in less crowded & stressful condition...