Did you vote yet?

This morning I channeled my inner Leslie Knope,* braved a 90-minute line in the freezing cold, AND VOTED!!!

I may or may not have lost some toes to frostbite in the process, but oh hai democracy! 



Checking the boxes is fun! Kinda like a re-visit to standardized testing...oh wait that's not fun. How about: fun like participating in the democratic process?

Go wait in line! Fill in the little bubbles! Vote for the people and the things! Bring hot coffee with you!

If you're in DC and don't know who to vote for, this guide is really helpful in comparing candidates (especially on the local stuff).

*For those of you who don’t watch Parks and Recreation, Leslie Knope looooooves local government.

Four Firemen Save Me From Roasted Garlic

Last night I got home from yoga and started cooking dinner (like you do). I was making a recipe that required roasting garlic, which takes waaaaay more time than my post-yoga hunger would allow, so I decided to try something new (mistake #1) and took my advice from the internet (mistake #2).

In my defense, I’ve seen quite a few recipes online for roasting garlic in the microwave. It takes an eighth of the time, and allegedly works. So I pulled out my Mini MacBook (yes, it is still 2005 in my life), googled “roasting garlic in the microwave” and was off to the proverbial races!

I followed the recipe exactly – garlic, olive oil, water, covered microwave-safe container, 7 minutes.

All was going well until about 6 minutes in smoke started pouring from the vents on the side of the microwave. Uhoh!  I stopped it immediately and opened the window. Don’t worry Kate! I’ve got this under control! I called to my roommate.

And then the alarm went off. We have some sort of fancy alarm/security system that requires a passcode to make it stop (I’ve set off the “security” part before when I opened our front window). Obviously, we had no idea what the passcode was.

I frantically flailed a Runner’s World in an attempt to fan the smoke out the window, while SpeedyKate ransacked her room in search of our passcode. She finally found it and sprinted up the stairs shouting XXXX! XXXX! 

Alarm disabled, we settled into a moment of silence...until my phone started ringing. It was a call from the alarm system company --  Hello? Yes. Yes, sorry everything is fine. You’re sending a firetruck????? Oh no! I’m SO sorry! That’s really not necessary! Can you make it stop???

Apparently the answer is no. We heard the sirens approaching and collapsed into a fit of incredulous giggles. Is this seriously happening right now?

We met the firemen outside.

Everything’s fine! Really! Sorry you had to come out!

But firemen take these things seriously (as they should). I smell smoke. We need to come in and check this out. 

Umm ok Mr. Serious-face. I explained my cooking disaster as we walked into my apartment, and by the end (once they’d confirmed that we’d opened the window, and in fact are not arsonists), all four firemen were laughing at our pajama-clad panic.

Just call us when the food's done. We'll come over for dinner! they said. Umm really??? Do you smell what I just “cooked”???

Lessons learned:

1. Next time roast garlic in the oven like a normal person.
2. Know the passcode. 
3. Firemen are amused when you take pictures of them.

Cake of the Week: Parfait (My New Favorite GIF)

My guess of the layers is: vanilla pudding, cake, another pudding (maybe orange?), jello, orange chocolate macaroons, and whipped cream! Though really, your guess is as good as mine.

Either way, YES PLEASE!

Back on My Feet: Growing the Running Community, One Step at a Time

Well guess who loves seeing her name in print?

I just wrote this Charity Profile for the July/August Washington Running Report (a local print and online magazine).  It's about Back On My Feet, a super-cool local running charity that works with homeless and underserved populations. Empowerment through running= enius!!!

If you're in DC you can pick up a copy in one of the local running stores. Otherwise you can read it online (you have to create an account - free - then go to page 18). 

Eat Run Read on Pinterest

Everyone is talking about Pinterest – it’s 2012 and our attention spans have never been shorter! Give us appealing formatted visuals and as few words as possible! We need simple and user-friendly way to sort and store our recipes, reading lists, and of course those super-cute new dresses for spring! 

 

All snarkiness aside, I actually really like Pinterest and think it’s incredibly useful. Instead of having a million bookmarked pages on your browser, or trying to remember where you saw xyz, you can just "pin" things then access them from anywhere.

So a couple weeks ago I created boards for all my recipe categories (Cakes, Cookies and Bars, etc.) to serve you as a visual recipe index. I also did a “Food I Want” board, so if you saw something on my sidebar but I switched it out before you bookmarked the recipe, it’ll be on that board forever. Or at least until the next internet trend takes over…

If you’re on Pinterest, follow my boards!

Halloween Corgis and Decorative Gourds

Alas, I am again too busy saving the world to blog today. I hope you have a fantastic pre-Halloween weekend! What are you dressing up as? I still haven't thought of anything good...sad face...

 

Want to see more adorable corgis in costume? Go here. But be warned, death by corgi cuteness is entirely possible.

Also, read the oh-so-seasonal classic "It's Decorative Gourd Season M************!" It will make your day. 

\

This is the last time I recommend it, I promise. Read!

Happy (almost) Halloween!!!

GRE Vocabulary Words

I’ve been a bit of a negligent literary blogger…sorry! I’m reading a bit of hefty Russian literature…Crime and Punishment to be exact. (And no, reading it is not actually any kind of punishment. It's for book club.)

It’s a lot of pages long…but so far I’m enjoying it. The writing style is similar to Anna Karenina, but the subject matter is heavier. Anna K. was about marriage and romance and political intrigue, Crime and Punishment lives up to its title. But score for C&P – unlike Anna K., there aren’t any random chapters about the condition of Russian workers/peasants (so far at least).  

And I’m doing something else a wee bit crazy – studying for the GREs! For those of you lucky enough to have no idea what I’m talking about, the GREs are the invidious* standardized test required by grad schools in the US. The scores are good for 5 years, and I most likely will want a masters degree within the next half-decade. So here I am, a dilettante* in the test-taking sphere, memorizing words and looking at math (ick!).

One of the most notorious aspects of this test is the vocabulary. I thought, no problem! I have a bombastic* vocabulary! But it turns out, GRE-style vocab is all about words no normal human has ever encountered or would ever use (mostly because no one else would know what they’re talking about).

In light of this, let’s all learn something together. Every blog post between now and July 23^rd (GRE-day) will include at least one GRE word. They will be in bold with a *, and at the end of the post I will give the definition. Sound good?

(No, it doesn’t.  I’ll tell you what sounds good – a prestigious grad school saying, “Mollie, you seem awesome. Please come to school here. And by the way, we’d like to pay your tuition too.” Hah! A girl can dream…)

I promise I’ll be more fun and less educational tomorrow! 

*Invidious-adj. calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful

*Dilettante – n. a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.

*Bombastic –adj. (of speech, writing, etc.) high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious.

.

Fair Pay Day

Humor me while I climb up onto my soap box...some things are more important than eating, running, and reading...

Did you know that women, on average, are paid 23 percent less than men? 

Yesterday was Equal Pay Day, a public awareness event started in 1996. It happens on a Tuesday to represent how far into the work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week. (So women must work 1 week and 2 days to make as much money as men who work 1 week in the same job.) This year it fell on April 12, “the symbolic point at which the average woman's salary finally catches up to the average man's earnings from the previous year.” That means that women take nearly 16 months to earn what men earn in 12 months.

Readers, did you know this? It blows my mind and is not talked about enough. I remember learning in college that the women's’ faculty salaries are lower than the mens’ -- my brain almost exploded. As a young woman entering the work world this just hurts. Dear World, Sometimes you disgust me. It’s 2011, get with the freaking program!

Of course, everyone has the right to make his or her own work/life balance decisions. It is true that women sometimes take lower paying jobs because they value spending time with their families more. And that’s great. But I’m talking about the women who do the exact same thing as their male counterparts and are paid less for it. I know that life isn’t always fair…but come on!

I don’t usually get super political here at Eat Run Read, but some things are truly rant-worthy and this is one of them. 

There’s legislation in the works, go here and find out if your senator voted for the Paycheck Fairness Act, and tell them that you want them to support fair pay!

Japanese Earthquake

Considering that I’m spending my morning researching and following the news about the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, I don’t really feel a Best of the Week post is appropriate.

I didn’t even know that the earthquake (8.9 according to USGS!) occurred until I got to work (since it happened too late to make it into today’s newspaper). Clearly I’m no earthquake expert but here are a few quick facts:

• An 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred at 2:46 am (DST) off the Japanese coast, about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo.
• The quake caused 33-foot waves to strike the coast of Japan, washing away cars and buildings and overturning large ships
• Aftershocks (the highest of which was 7.4) continue to shake the island.
• Tsunami warnings have been issued across the Pacific Ocean, but so far nothing dramatic has occurred.
• Power is out in about 4 million homes in and around Tokyo.
• Transportation (bullet trains, airports, etc.) is shut down.
• The Japanese government evacuated the area around one of its nuclear power plants as a precaution because the water levels of the plant were malfunctioning due to the quake. Now, the World Nuclear Association has said it understands the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is "under control", and that water is now being pumped into its cooling system.
• Death tolls are in the hundreds...but so far very inconclusive. 

For more info, I recommend checking out the BBC (source of the infographics), they seem to have things pretty well covered. 

On the lighter side, my most popular post this week was the Banana Nut Nutella Cinnamon Rolls (again!), so thanks for reading! 

And this weekend I'm heading to Boston to hang with Jess! Yay!

Heirloom Tomato Variety or Serial Killer Nickname?

One afternoon about a month ago I was approaching that critical moment. You all know what I’m talking about: it happens between 2 and 4pm every day. That moment when my brain is fried and all I can think to do is lie down and nap under my desk (alas sub-desk napping is not exactly “appropriate” worker conduct, so I tend to opt for an afternoon cup of coffee instead). This is the time when my fuzzy mind makes its best and worst decisions. I count the following list among my best.

It was going to be my 15-minutes of fame! My first real publication! Alas, McSweeny’s rejected it with a very polite email:

Hi, Mollie -

Thanks for the read, but I'm afraid I'm going to pass on this one.

Best,

Chris

Like a tomato to the face, the rejection splattered all over me. I seriously considered responding (Dear Chris, Are you sure???) but I restrained myself and saved the list for Eat Run Read-ers.

So without further ado, here it is – embrace its awesomeness, or wonder about my late-afternoon sanity…and many thanks to 6x6 for the serial killer idea!

Heirloom Tomato Variety or Serial Killer Nickname?

By Mollie

1. Money Maker
2. The Candy Man
3. Arkansas Traveler
4. The Giggling Granny
5. Tartar from Mongolstan
6. Hillbilly
7. Son of Sam
8. Green Zebra
9. Buttermilk Bluebeard
10. Jersey Devil
11. Hank
12. Deacon Jim
13. Black Seaman

1.  

Heirloom Tomato Variety: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14,

Serial Killer Nickname: 2, 4, 7, 9, 12

Both: 11


Tomato pictures from C'est La Vegan and Unfussy Fare.

A Shout-Out for SHELTER

[This is a Guest-Blog by Ex-Co-Worker-Megan. Enjoy!]

Mollie is a cool cat.  For my birthday she made what is arguably the best homemade cake I've ever eaten.  She has also provided work-related moral support, biking moral support (how many people manage to stay patient when their idiot friend arrives for a bike ride to Mt. Vernon but doesn't know how to use the bike pump?), and running moral support.  My "Capitol Hill Classic" run was easily one of my worst ever. So let's hope this upcoming half marathon venture goes well, and this century bike ride around Tahoe goes even better! 

Speaking of Tahoe, I spent a recent weekend skiing. There are few things better then sliding down the slopes (albeit, sometimes badly), and being tucked into a mountain cabin with friends. Especially when the group has a great rapport, likes beer, and enjoys discussing random, childhood-related topics (did anyone else really want braces and glasses after reading the Babysitters Club series?  Or silently curse their genetics while reading Sweet Valley High? I, for one, could never relate to Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, with their blue-green eyes, and "perfect 5'6 and size 6." This is probably because at 16 I was already 5'11. And being of Italian and Syrian background doesn't really bode well for a future of blond hair and blue-green eyes. Thank you, Francine Pascal, for your anti-feminist tracts. I'll be sure to unsuccessfully hide them from any future daughters.).

Anyway, let me get back to the point. Mollie's not allowing me to guest blogjust so I can wax poetic about Jessica Wakefield and her flings with Bruce Pattman. I'm actually "penning a blog" to talk about a documentary I've been working on since saying sayonara to DC and moving to the Bay Area - SHELTER.  The documentary, which is being produced by Lee Schneider and Richard Neil, focuses on architects and designers who are designing innovative, sustainable housing for post-disaster relief and recovery, and devising solutions to homelessness that may help avoid Skid Row situations. It's a thoughtful film, being made by thoughtful people.  And, before you sigh and recoil from "good cause" saturation (and your skepticism is understandable), let me continue.  

This film is meant to inspire, not to make you feel bad. As more and more young architects and designers come onto the scene, as the world becomes more populated, as cities continue to expand, and as our approach towards urban design and landscape evolves, bright and creative minds are necessary in order to facilitate the creation of socially responsible design.  

Working on SHELTER has really made me stop and take the time to think about my surroundings.  How many of you are tired of (and demoralized by) 6-lane highways, shopping mall monstrosities, and generally bad design? (let's pay homage to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous words - "you know it when you see it.")  

It's interesting how much of an effect one's aesthetic environment can have on people's morale. Mollie, one of your latest blogs seems to (unintentionally) touch upon this.  You like the National Art Gallery's atriums?  Someone designed them, and they probably hoped it would delight you, not make you want to take your book down the street to a Starbucks. And Readers, if you think "socially conscious design" is merely a trendy idea, see what a talented young architect has to say about this very issue in this interview.  Or perhaps get acquainted with the work being done by UVA students participating in a cutting-edge architectural program, Initiative reCOVER.

If you think you have a stake in the state of SHELTER in the world, check out the links.  And, if you like seeing good films get made - this ain't your "Sex and the City 2" folks! - consider donating to our efforts.  We're in the process of fundraising through Indiegogo, but our donation appeal, which is run through the San Francisco Film Society, ends on March 12th.  We hope to raise as much money as possible through "grassroots" donations.  The funds will go toward filming in Haiti, and toward domestic shoots. On top of that, an angel donor has come forth, and the donor is willing to match all contributions up to $2500. Pretty cool stuff. And if you're on our donation appeal site, be sure to check out the clip reel, as well.

In the meantime, Washingtonians and Readers of this most excellent blog, thank you for hearing me out.  A few words of advice, before I depart:  

1.  Nutella and stir-fry do not make a breakfast. [Editor's note: Stick to the banana bread Megan!]

2.  If you're a beginner skier, consider renting shorter skis. 

3.  Make an attempt to avoid most books by Francine Pascal.

4.  Take a good look at your surroundings, and figure out what makes you tick.  Does Tyson's Corner drive you nuts?  Does the Portrait Gallery make you giddy?  Get invested.

[For more of Megan's writing, check out her blog - Talk Suds To Me]

Silliness Regarding Frosting, Running, and Biking

Last night was the second time I had a mid-run frosting incident. (What? Who am I? Oh wait…myself.) I was running back from Arlington, and happened to have my phone on me. It rang, so I answered, and it was my friend Rachel. Rachel is making a birthday cake for her boyfriend and called to ask me if a hand mixer would be ok even if the recipe called for a stand mixer (answer: yes!). We briefly discussed frosting-making, and then hung up (Me: Rachel, I’m actually mid-run right now…).

It was relatively unremarkable, except that, like I said, that was my second frosting incident. The first was a few months ago. I was on a running date situation (GAH. I know. Laugh accordingly.) and we were running along the Towpath. We passed 6x6 (doing her own run), and said hi. 

Then she stopped and yelled, Oh wait, Mollie, do you still have all that frosting in your fridge right now?

Me: Ummm, actually no! Sorry!

Any hope I had of projecting normalcy was immediately dashed. I then proceeded to explain to my unsuspecting running date the problem of making too much frosting, then having leftovers, then making something to use the leftovers, then having too much extra again, etc. etc. etc. TMI? Probably.

Not surprisingly there was no second date.

And while we’re on the subject of ridiculous things, let me tell you a story about a bike ride. I was at home in Petaluma one afternoon, so I decided that biking would be a good idea (boredom is the only thing that inspires me to partake in this activity).

So I pulled on my mama’s awkwardly padded bike shorts (I thought I outgrew diapers 21 years ago…but apparently not), strapped on her way-too-small-for-me biking shoes, and unearthed her bike in the garage. (Why is it that every time I bike I'm woefully unprepared?)

My mama has a really nice road bike - the kind with the shoes that click onto the pedals. (Which, ironically, are called Clipless Pedals. Can someone please explain this to me? Am I missing something?) I’ve ridden it once before (last year), and it wasn’t hard to click in and out, so I assumed I’d be fine and just started riding, hoping for the best.

About 4 blocks from my house I approached a red stoplight. I slowed, thinking turn green turn green turn green! But it wasn’t turning green, so once my bike was at a complete stop, I tried to click out of my pedals. But they were stuck! In what felt like slow motion (nooooooooo!) I tipped over and hit the pavement. Like a tree falling in the woods, I just slowly toppled to the side whaaa-bam.

Luckily I bounce, and was up in half a second. Unluckily two nice Petaluma ranchers in pickups pulled over to see if I needed assistance. Me (blushing): Oh no, I’m fine! Thanks! I just, you know, got stuck in my pedals!