Weekend Report: The Electric Run, Boston

On Friday night a few classmates and I did the Electric Run, and it was so much fun! It's one of those running(ish) experiences -- not a race at all, just thousands of people dressed in neon and splattered in day-glo on a lighted 5K course. 

We all registered in the first couple weeks of school (me: new friends! running! I'm in!). But then fast-forward to this past Friday (holy bejeezes it's already October!), and I was just not in the mood. It was gray and rainy and the venue (Gillette Stadium) is far from Boston. But as I left school, composing my "I'm out, have fun" email in my head, I ran into a couple of the other runners and was talked into going. 

Long story short: I am so glad I went! 

The un-timed "run" was 5K of mostly walking, which was a-ok with me. The course wound around the stadium and would have been completely boring in the daytime, but was surreal and awesome at night.

We ran through a glowing forest, a tunnel of overhead neon lights, and a ceiling of light-up umbrellas, all alongside thousands of people dressed in day-glo, decked out in glowing accessories, smeared in body paint, and splattered with whatever the chemical is inside glow sticks. 

The course ended in the stadium and turned into an epic rave-esque dance party. Electronic music isn't usually my thing, but I do love dancing and neon things -- aka it was so much fun!

For the rest of the weekend, I adopted new grad school weekend strategy: work all day, and then DO NOT WORK. So I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at my dining room table, staring at various books, articles, and websites, writing a paper, and learning calculus. I know. Ick. 

But then, by 7:30 pm each day I was done (academically at least), and on my way to fun things with interesting people! Saturday night a house of students hosted a pizza party, aka they provided the dough and sauce, everyone else brought toppings. Yummmm. And Sunday night I went to a formal(ish) sit-down dinner party with grad students from other schools: fancy 3-course meal, a set table, everyone dressed nice, and a host-directed mandate: you will have interesting conversation. (Sometimes I feel like I'm playing adult...but I guess technically I am an adult.) 

Anywho, back to work now for me. Or, to be completely honest, yoga, lunch, then back to work. Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Post-Marathon Eating

So what happens after you run a marathon? You eat all of the things!!!

After struggling to consume a gu and two packs of jelly beans mid-race, I pretty much never want to see a sports “substance” (it’s not real food) again. But food that looks like food and doesn’t have the consistency of jelly or the taste of pure sugar? Yes please. 

After finishing the race I immediately drank a water bottle, followed by a big yellow Gatorade (I told you I was dehydrated). There were bagels and apples and bananas in the finish area but I was having none of that...I grabbed a little bag of potato chips, which seemed like it could be a terrible idea until I started eating them while waiting in an ungodly bag check line, and they were the best. Thing. Ever.

I walked (very slowly) home, showered, and laid on my bed responding to text messages until all of a sudden around 2pm it hit – FOOD NOW!!!

So SpeedyKate and I walked (again veeeerrrrryyyy slowly) over to Eastern Market to get all of the things. For me that meant a pupusa and a tamale from Tortilla Cafe, and a red velvet cupcake and mini chocolate chip cookie from the bakery inside the Market. We took our treats home, settled onto the couch (my feet in ice), and happily watched West Wing for a while.

Pork and cheese pupusa. YUM.

Then before I knew it, it was dinner time! So we went to H &  Pizza and split a “Farmer’s Daughter” (Spicy Tomato, Housemade Mozzarella, Hot Sausage, Farm Eggs, Spinach, Parmesan Reggiano, Red Pepper Chili Oil) on traditional crust. YUM.

The next morning was when the real eating began. Within days of registering for the marathon, I’d made a brunch reservation at Masa 14, because if I’m running a race there WILL be brunch.

One of these fine people just ran his HUNDREDTH marathon!!! (Hint: gray shirt and not SpeedyKate.)

And this, as my first marathon, was a big and special race, so a big and special celebration brunch was in order! We had a group of 6, all runners, so clearly we sat there for hours and ate everything. It’s all-you-can-eat small plates Latin/Asian fusion food. I’ve been twice before (1 and 2), and time #3 did not disappoint!

Since this time I went with boys, there was a lot of meat ordering going on – I think as a table we had at least 5 flank steaks and all of the burgers at least once.

Adobo-Marinated Flank Steak - roasted peppers / fried egg / black beans

Pan Dulce - ancho whipped cream / roasted pineapple syrup

I love the breakfast pizza, the pan dulce, the cheese grits, and, well, everything actually. If you go (which you should), go hungry, go with a group, go after running a marathon, and order it all!

Now I'm returning to normalcy, eating-wise and soreness-wise...which is probably for the best. But it was such a great weekend!!!

Weekend Report: Pancakes and Pizza in NYC

On Saturday, Christine, Jess and I re-convened à la my sophomore year of college. But instead of Boston, it was NYC...and instead of their Student Village apartment, it was Christine's new home in the Flatiron District...and instead of the three of us, there was one new addition who integrated seamlessly into our trio - Christine's husband Phil! 

But other than that, some things will always be the same. We worked out, then lazed around, talked excessively, baked something, and went out to eat. The perfect way to spend an absolutely disgusting day (it sleeted - ugh). 

We are all Food Network-watching, Serious Eats-reading, blog-following foodies, so the opportunity to eat in NYC was an occasion for extensive planning.

First up, the best pancakes in NYC at Clinton St. Baking Company on the Lower East Side. Serious Eats aptly describes them as "Thick but crazily light, with buttery, crisp edges...but really, it's the maple butter that makes 'em."  I can't put my finger on it, but there's something almost donut-y about the flavor. Brunch starts at 9 am. We thought we could beat the crowds by arriving at 9:15, but there was still a 45 minute wait! I guess after beating Bobby Flay in Throwdown Blueberry Pancakes a place will always be crowded.

But once we sat down it was totally worth it. Service was quick but not rushed, and they were great about re-filling my coffee.  Clearly I went for the Blueberry Pancakes. The maple butter that comes with the pancakes is like a cross between maple syrup and maple glaze. It is divine. And another great discovery -- each table has a pot of fresh raspberry jam. Fresh like you can see (and taste) the chunks of raspberries. Yummm!

For dinner we went to another super-popular NYC restaurant: Co. Pizzeria. Much like Clinton St. Baking Company this place is usually line-around-the-block crowded, but since we went early (6:30 pm) and the weather was terrible, we walked right in! 

The restaurant is known for its pizza crust, which bakes to a chewy crusty perfection in a 700 degree oven. 

We skipped the salads and soups and went straight for the important stuff, easily consuming 6 pizzas between the four of us. We started with the Pizza Bianca with coarse sea salt and olive oil. 

The salt was so faint that we had to request more, which was totally fine. We also asked for Parmesan cheese. The only thing they wouldn't/couldn't give us was a side of extra sauce. The waitress explained that their sauce is literally fresh  crushed tomatoes, so it's not something they can scoop into a bowl for a side. 

After that nice warm-up, we all split a traditional Margherita Pizza. In my opinion it needed more sauce and a bit more basil. 

Then we each ordered our own personal pies. Christine and Jess both went for the Stracciatella, which has crushed tomato, stracciatella (a cheese softer and creamier then mozzarella), arugula, and black pepper. 

Phil got the Meatball Pizza with tomato, mozzarella, veal meatballs, caramelized onions, olives, aged pecorino, and oregano. We all agreed that it was an excellent rendition of a for-a-party normal type of pizza. 

I felt adventurous and opted for the Shiitake Pie with caramelized onion-walnut puree, olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt. It was like an umami explosion! I think I'm going to try to re-create the onion/walnut puree - it was fantastic.  Look at all those mushrooms!

Read the Co. Pizzeria's full menu here. 

Clearly we ate a lot, but much more importantly, we had a lot of fun! With Jess in Boston and me in DC, it's perfect that Christine and Phil now live mid-way between us! I'm looking forward to more NYC food days in the future...

Another Pizza Party

Remember the first Perfect Pizza Party?

Well it was so good that we just had to do it again. And this time, things got fancier. Carmelized onions...pesto...smoked gouda cheese - yum yum and yummmmm!I don't usually like cooking with other people, but in the case of pizza decorating, I enlisted one of my roommates to toss on a splash of this and a dash of that.Lessons learned from the first time: sometimes rolling out the dough can be tricky! It wants to stay in a ball, but I want it flat as a pancake (or as pizza...duh!). So I rolled it out. Then weighed it down. That's what I call resourceful! Like last time, I bought ready-made pizza dough from Trader Joe's. I like the whole wheat crust best - it's so easy to just buy it and start rolling!

We made 3 pizzas:
Pizza #1 - Smoked Gouda Half-and-Half Pizza
This was a 2-part pizza:
- Whole wheat crust
- Red sauce
- Pesto Sauce (See my recipe here. I froze the extras from when I made it the first time, and de-frosted it for the pizzas!)
- Smoked gouda cheese
- Caramelized onions
- Cherry tomatoes
- Olives
- Mushrooms
- Spinach

Pizza #2 - Chicken Everything Pizza - was the same as #1, except that we used mozarella cheese, and added sliced chicken meatballs for the carnivores of the group. Have you tried the chicken meatballs from Trader Joes? They're so good! Pizza #3 was a Pesto-Less Pizza (because maybe some people don't like pesto???):
- Regular crust
- Red sauce
- Mozarella cheese
- Red bell peppers
- Olives
- Mushrooms
- Caramelized Onions
- A sprinkling of spinach
- Half of it had chicken meatballs

It was, again, a perfect pizza party!

I hope you all have a fantastic 4th of July weekend! Maybe make some pizza on the grill? I mean, what's more American than pizza? (I realize the ridiculousness of that statement...but I stand by it. Pizza to Italy as hamburgers are to Germany...aka Americans have kinda sorta taken them over!)

Perfect Pizza Party

You know what you should make Mollie? Pizza! suggested one of my roommates. (Oh boys. What is it about them not liking cake?)
Bahahahaha! Funny joke, my friend. Funny joke. I make a cake of the week. Occasionally I branch out to make cookies, and on a very rare day I go for a pie. But a pizza pie? I'm not so sure about that.BUT, I never back down from a challenge. So in yoga one night I started thinking...and pondering...and planning the possibilities...(the teacher is always telling us to "meditate" - as if that's even possible!). Yes I will do it. I will make pizza.

Though I really can't claim to be a pizza "maker." I bought dough, sauce, and toppings. I've made pizza crust before, but the Trader Joe's kind is really good, and cheap...so why bother?And toppings, well, not a whole lot of "making" going on there. Can o'olives, package of pepperoni, pre-shredded cheese, assorted veggies...yep, I'm that lazy.

So a pizza maker? No. I like to think of myself as more of a pizza decorator! Because that's how the process felt. 

I rolled out my four rounds of dough: 3 on cookie sheets, and the last on my one pizza pan. 

Then a dash of this, a sprinkle of that, and voila! Pizzas!

The best thing about making your own pizza is that you can completely control the toppings and the thickness of the crust. Everyone has their pizza particulars. I'm a whole wheat, thin crust, extra red sauce, light on the cheese, heavy on the toppings kind of person. (My dad is the complete opposite: thick crust, no sauce, lots of meat. My sister is a cheese cheese and more cheese, nothing crazy, nothing fancy, kind of girl. And my mama just eats whatever you put in front of her.)

So this particular pizza party was for a house dinner occasion. (You didn't think I was making four pizzas for myself, did you?)

First I made a traditional Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza to accommodate my less-adventurous guests. Mozzarella cheese, red sauce, all things good.Then I made a Mexican Pizza:
I mixed a spoonful of sauce with a cup of pico de gaillo salsa and spread it on a plain crust.
Then I sprinkled it with a Mexican shredded cheese blend.
Toppings: Pre-cooked grilled chicken (holler Trader Joe's!), sliced yellow peppers, chopped onion, and black olives.And ta-da! my piece de resistence...the pizza that required 3 yoga poses to work through in my mind...Gorgonzola Pear Pizza! Whole wheat crust, tomato sauce, a layer of fresh spinach, sprinkled with gorgonzola and a little bit of mozarella cheese, then topped with chopped onion, artichoke hearts, and a sliced pear. Yep. That happened. And the fourth pizza, we'll call it Everything Pizza, on an herb crust, was just a mix of all the leftover toppings.

I'd say that the challenge was met, and my pizza party was a great success!

What's your pizza preference?