Weekend Report: Mama and Mollie, Eating Our Way Through NYC

I’ve blogged before about tourism with my mama (catch up on her first DC visit, and her second). When we get together, things are inevitably intense. This weekend for example, we headed to NYC with very minimal plans…and somehow managed to walk a gazillion miles and see everything in a day and a half. I don’t mind – I’m happy to do it all!

We stayed at the Newbie’s apartment in Harlem, and she and I went for a 6-miler (the long run in her 25 days to a 10-Miler plan) on Saturday morning. Then my mama and I went museum-ing. We visited the Cooper-Hewitt, a design museum in Andrew Carnegie’s mansion on the Upper East Side. 

The special exhibition was “Set in Style, The Jewelry of Van Cleef and Arpels” – we learned about jewelry innovations and saw many many gorgeous pieces. I really liked the zip necklace/bracelets (which we later saw in a window on 5^th Avenue).

[Sidenote: Have you seen The Devil Wears Prada? You know the part where the assistant, Emily, says, “I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese.”? Well tourism for us is kind of like that. We go and go and go and go until we’re about to faint, and then we eat. But that’s where the similarity ends – “Emily’s” cube of cheese is my mama’s and my piece of pie with ice cream, hamburger, chocolate chip cookie, etc. We needed fuel for all our activity!]

After the Cooper-Hewitt we were off to the Museum of the City of New York. But first I needed food. STAT. So we stopped in at El Museo del Barrio to take advantage of their South/Central American cafeteria fare. With plantains and chicken in my tummy I was ready to go once again.

I really liked the Museum of the City of New York – their main exhibition on “How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment” was interesting, but I liked the smaller exhibits even more. “Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Cart Program” was a beautiful photo exhibit of street vendors in NYC. And “Denis Wortman Rediscovered” showed cartoons of New Yorkers 1930-1953.

We ended with “Timescapes: A Multimedia Portrait of New York” – a film tracing the entire history of NYC. Twenty-two minutes of warm dark movie time was exactly what we needed to rest our feet.

By the time we reemirged into the spring sunlight it was late afternoon and we needed food and coffee. We wandered down Madison Avenue and stumbled into Nectar of 82nd Street. Pie and ice cream and coffee? Done and done and done. It was homemade and delicious. I got cherry and my mama went for the blueberry.

Then we wandered through Central Park and down 5^th Avenue, eventually making our way to meet the Newbie at Social Eatz, Angelo (from Top Chef)’s new restaurant. It was very good! And cheap! Mama got the Charred Bibimbap Burger (Korean for "mixed meal", it's ground beef with a slow cooked egg, covered in lettuce and served with pickled carrot and cucumber - $12):

Newbie went for the Hanoi Burger (ground beef with mint, lemongrass, cilantro and red onion topped with lettuce and served with a chili-mayo and a sweet onion jam - $10), and I got the Chicken Corn & Coconut Tacos (organic chicken, sweet corn, tender coconut relish in lime, cumin, and chipotle - $7). The food was delicious and the atmosphere was fun - nicer than fast food, but not too fancy or expensive – Social Eatz would be a great place to meet friends for a casual dinner. (The portions were good for the price, but be warned, the tacos are literally just two tacos, so you may want to order a side or an appetizer too!)

On Sunday we walked a ton (again). We retraced LLC’s and my best-eating-day-ever steps: Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies and Elephant and Castle brunch. This time I took pictures – I got the Eggs’n Apples Benedict on Brioche French Toast with maple syrup (picture above), and my mama got the Canyonland Poached Eggs with balsamic jus, fresh tarragon, tomatoes, avocado and wild mushrooms, and toasted english muffin. Yummmmm.

(Evidence shows we're good eaters, right?)

And it’s not a trip to NYC without some cake! We got a slice of Magnolia Bakery’s Caramel Cake, and a slice of Billy Bakery’s Coconut Cake (both to bring back to DC with us - we can eat a lot in one afternoon...but two pieces of cake would have put us over the top).

The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and our NYC weekend was (per usual) absolutely exhausting but altogether fun!

Best of the Week #12

Sorry for the no-post Thursday. I’m back. I’m alive. And I’m bringing you the Best of the Week!

The most popular post on Eat Run Read this week was Banana Nut Nutella Cinnamon Rolls.

Last Friday I gave you facts on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The top 3 stories in the NYT today are about the potential nuclear reactor crisis in Japan; however, this article reminds us, “in the United States and European Union, what’s happening at the power plant is receiving more attention, and generating more anxiety, than thousands of innocents crushed or drowned.” It goes on to describe the actual and imagined dangers of nuclear power…an interesting perspective on how it’s easy to create buzz and fear with cinematic images, even though the real danger can come from things less visible. (source)

A team of NatGeo engineers and scientists launched a 16' X 16' X 18' tall house into the air using 300, 8', multi colored weather balloons! (source)

This clever/semi-ridiculous idea amused me. An NPR blogger is trying to make Americans aware that less than 1% of our budget goes to foreign aid, “I've shamelessly done my part by working Charlie Sheen, the federal budget and foreign aid into the same post.” Read the article here. 

Sometimes we all have this kind of day. Well, “we all” or maybe just me? Maybe someday I'll tell you a funny story about that...(source)

I wouldn't buy a banana no matter what, but this is just too absurd! Del Monte, who posted a nearly 10 million dollar fourth-quarter loss, sending the stock tumbling, has decided to package and sell individual bananas for $1 each in a Del Monte Banana Plastic Wrap, marketed under the slogan “Natural Energy Snack on the Go”. (source)

Need some running inspiration? Check out 95-year-old Ida Keeling setting a world record in the 60 meters, running 29.86 seconds! 

How happy is the place you live? Find out on Gallup's Map of the Nation's Well-Being. DC scored a 69, Boston got a 68, and Petaluma won with 71!

And finally, creative use of food. These pictures always amuse me!

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Places I've Run: "Marky Mark" (Boston, MA)

Four years of college cross country, indoor, and outdoor track mean that I’ve probably run more miles in Boston than anywhere else. Every day at 3:30 my team met at the TTC (Track and Tennis Center) to go for a run. Some days we piled into one of BU’s big red 15-passenger vans and our coach drove us to a park, or trails, or a reservoir. But mostly we ran from the TTC. The routes were passed down to me by the previous generation of BU Track girls and they all have names: River, Jamaica, City, Riverway, Science Figure-8, GC Sans GC, Fresh Pond, Res to Res, and my personal favorite: Marky Mark.

This run is named for the actor Mark Wahlberg (who started his career as a rapper: Marky Mark). Allegedly he has a house on Sargent Street in Brookline, thus this run is named for him (so the story goes). I like it because it’s one big loop, has minimal stoplights, and is a nice combination of streets and trails and dirt and ponds. The shortest version (mapped below) is 6.6 miles. This version starts and ends at the BU TTC (100 Ashford Street, Boston, MA). Of course you could start/end anywhere along the loop! 

You can add on by running around Jamaica Pond, and/or around the Brookline Reservoir (1500m around). When I was in Niger, sweating to death running around Le Stade, I imagined myself running Marky Mark. And when I’m on a treadmill I often picture this run. Why do I love it so much? I have no idea…if you’re ever in Boston you should try it and see for yourself!

If you can't see the map, click here.

My Favorite Spring Recipes

It’s feeling distinctly springy here on the east coast. Boston last weekend was surprisingly balmy for mid-March, and as I ran through Rock Creek Park this morning I noticed a few ambitious buds beginning to appear on the trees. And it's finally light when I leave work - daylight savings you annoy me...but simultaneously delight me!

In light of the season change, I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite spring recipes. Spring food is usually light, lemony, fruity, and colorful – all things good in the realm of food! If it’s getting warm where you are, or if you just want to eat something that reminds you that spring will eventually come, try one these. 

Pea Pesto Pasta - Peas and asparagus scream spring, and smoked salmon is always a good idea. Instead of oil, pine nuts, and basil, this pesto is made out of peas, almonds, and mint - it's healthier and different and really really delicious!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake - I've been seeing strawberries on sale, and everyone knows that strawberries = spring, pound cake = yum, and cream cheese icing = sweet and tangy fabulousness!

Mint Chocolate Pound-ish Cake - I called this a "pound-ish" cake because it's much lighter than a traditional pound cake. If an angel food cake married a pound cake, and they went on their honeymoon to the island of York Mints, this is the baby they would have 9 months later.

Sweet Potato Frittata - This recipe is one of the most-googled on Eat Run Read! I made it in June, but to me the combination of eggs and asparagus say easter and spring. And yes, that is a layer of bacon-y sweet potatoes on the bottom. :)

Choco-Coconut Peanut Butter Bars - I can't come up for a good reason why these are springy...but I was reminded of them as I sifted through past recipes, and they were sooooo good! 

Ginger Vanilla Pound Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce - It appears that I went on a pound-cake kick last spring and didn't realize it until now. This is a traditional pound cake with a flavorful twist (i.e. the ginger). Rhubarb has a brief season in spring, so test out this unique sour but sweet veggie-fruit while you can.

Happy spring cooking/baking! What's your favorite spring recipe? Feel free to share a link in the comments!

Weekend Report: Flying to Boston

I am fastidiously punctual in all areas of life…except when it comes to flying. Then I’m late. Late late late. For some reason I always cut it way too close. Case in point: Saturday morning saw me running down 19th street - backpack on and purse in hand - towards the Farragut Metro Station in an attempt to catch an earlier train to make my flight. That time it worked, with just a couple minutes to spare I bought coffee and a muffin and was soon sitting on a chair in the sky flying to Boston.

This morning I was not so lucky. Similar situation – I left just a tad too late to get to the airport. And then the shuttle bus broke down. GAH. Are you freaking kidding me??? The bus driver wouldn’t let us off mid-street (yes, I was prepared to run along the highway to make my flight), so I had to sit and wait (my least favorite thing ever) as the minutes to my flight tick-tick-ticked away, and were gone. Another bus finally came to pick us up and drive us the 5 minutes to the terminal. 

I missed my flight, had to go standby on the next one, and of course arrived egregiously late to work. Why do I do this to myself? Why does flying always need to involve the panic and anxiety that running late gives me? (Answer: It doesn’t. I should just leave earlier. I know.)

Anyway, transportation tardiness aside, I had a fantastic and all-too-short weekend in Boston. My mama was graduating from a nursing program, so I went to play “proud parent” – I clapped, snapped pictures, and chit-chatted with people at the reception. Yay for Mama! 

And of course I crammed all-things-Boston into an afternoon. Mama and I walked through the city: Haymarket, the North End, the Commons, Newbury and Boylston Streets. It was surprisingly springy for March in Massachusetts, but you could still ice skate on the Frog Pond.

I stayed chez Jess, and on Saturday night we went out near Fenway with Erin and met up with my ski team friends. It was like Costa Rica all over again…minus the infinity pool…basically these kids can make a good time out of anything!

Sunday morning I did my favorite Boston run: “Marky Mark” (named for Mark Whahlberg’s house along the route). Then, in true Jess and Zac fashion, we went to Indian buffet in Jamaica Plains. Best Indian buffet EVER. Yummmmmm! Naan and curry and tandori and rice and daal. Soooo good! The rest of the day was graduation, followed by lazing around on Jess’ couch. Awwwww Boston! Always a good time...and isn't it pretty?

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!

6 Books that Changed My Life

I have read so many good books, it’s impossible to choose one favorite (or two or five or ten). It depends on my mood, what I was doing in life when I read the book, etc. etc.

And everything I have read, from the silliest to the most intensely tedious, has affected me somehow. On the most superficial level books amuse us, but they can also educate us, expand our thinking, and elevate and intensify our perceptions of the world in which we live.

The following 6 books have been instigators in the narrative of my life. They have affected me, they have changed me in some way, they have caused me to do something and/or made me the person I am now.* What are your top 6? (Ok, so I started out with a list of 5...but then had to bump it up to 6...I am not good at making decisions.)

1. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder – This is my favorite book from the Little House on the Prairie series. Wilder’s books were the first real chapter books my mama read to Sister1 and I (starting when I was in preschool or kindergarten?) and I attribute my life long love of reading to the hours and hours and hours she spent reading aloud every night before putting us to bed. (Wilder’s series was followed by The Boxcar Children, The Harvey Boys, Little Women, everything by Brian Jaques, and many many many more.) My parents read to me until I was in about 4^th grade, by which time they read too slow and not enough to keep up with my voracious literary appetite.

2. Going Solo by Roald Dahl – This is my all-time most-read book (read my review here). Even though it’s by a British guy, Going Solo was the first book to get me intrigued by Africa. (An interest that has clearly escalated to a rather abnormally extreme degree.)

3. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth – Depending on how you count, this is the longest (or top-5 longest) book in the English language. I read it one summer in high school and it definitely gets a place on my all-time favorites list because it has everything. Really – the entire human experience is encapsulated in Seth’s 591,552 words. And I consider it life-changing because A Suitable Boy started my minor obsession with India and Indian authors. I was planning on going to India long before Niger came into the picture (it might finally happen this summer!), and I have read so many books by Indian authors (Rohinton Mistry, Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Amitav Gosh, Arundhati Roy, etc.).

4. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch -  I impulse-bought this book at the BU bookstore just before Christmas break freshman year of college. It's the true story of the Rwandan genocide and is so powerful. (Have you seen Hotel Rwanda? Think of that movie, in book form.) This book got me interested in human rights and international responses to mass atrocities.

5. The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs – I read this book for a college sociology course, piquing my interest in international development and shaping the rest of my college experience. Now that I know more about development/international relations/etc., I can’t say that I agree with Sachs on all his development theories, but I do give him credit for starting me thinking about them in the first place.

6. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi – I loved this book (read my review here) – the writing style, the subjects, the combination of politics and people and experiences. This book inspires me to write - someday I want to write as well as Nafisi. 

*Note: religious books excluded.

25 days to a 10-Miler Workout Plan

Here’s a hypothetical scenario for you: The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run is happening on April 3, just 25 days away. Actually, I lied. This is not hypothetical for the Newbie right now, this is a scary-real scenario. 

The interwebs offer plenty of 10-weeks to a 5k/10k/15k programs…but we need the 3 ½ weeks version. Since I can’t find anything along those lines, looks like I’ll be creating one myself!

So here we go, I’ll do my best! [Disclaimer: I am not a running coach. I am a runner, and my parents are coaches/runners, so I do have quite a bit of personal experience to back this up. If you want a real coach, ask George.]

• The Challenge: Get ready for a 15k in 3 ½ weeks!
• Subject: The Newbie
• Exercise Background: Swam competitively through high school, ran NY Half Marathon 2010. Recently has been running on and off once or twice a week, no more than 4 miles. 
• Time Commitment: 3-4 runs a week
• Cross Training: Probably not going to happen.
• The Goal: To finish Cherry Blossom in as little pain and misery as possible.

The Plan: (I've separated it by week, but numbered the days in a 25-day count. This plan is flexible: runs and off days can be switched as needed. Be sure to stretch after runs and especially after workouts!)

1. Run 3 miles.

2. Off.

3. Workout: Warm up 1 mile, run 4x800m at a comfortably hard pace with 400m recovery, cool down 1 mile (5 miles total)

4. Off.

5. Run 4 miles.

6. Run 3 miles.

7. Off.

8. Run 3 miles.

9. Off.

10. Long run: Run 6 miles, after 4 miles run/walk (2 minute run/1 minute walk) as necessary.

11. Off.

12. Run 4 miles.

13. Run 3 miles.

14. Off.

15. Run 4 miles.

16. Off.

17. Workout: Warm up 1 mile, run 4x800m at a comfortably hard pace with 400m recovery, cool down 2 miles (6 miles total)

18. Off.

19. Run 5 miles.

20. Run 3 miles.

21. Off.

22. Run 4 miles.

23. Off.

24. Run 2 miles.

25. RACE DAY!

The Results: TBD. I will keep you posted, and maybe the Newbie will be back with a post-race guest post! 

Cake of the Week: Salty Oatmeal Cookies

The salty sweetness of these cookies has earned them a cultish following. 

When those in the know hear that I bake and live in Dupont Circle they get this crazy glint in their eyes and ask in hushed tones, Oooohhh, have you tried the salty oatmeal cookies at Teaism??? like they are God’s gift to humanity. And maybe they are (who am I to say?).

I have tried them, and I though I wouldn’t consider myself a salty oatmeal cult-member, I do think they are pretty uniquely delicious. This isn’t your standard oatmeal cookie sprinkled in rock salt. No no. The Teasim cookies are bigger, simultaneously dense and flaky, kinda dry but also chewy…difficult to describe but definitely an experience worth having!

The problem is, Teasim keeps their cookie recipe top secret. “Ok, so there's this snooty little high-priced Asian-esque eatery in Washington, DC, where they serve a lot of tea. Some folks love it. I hate it,” says Melissa Gray (author of All Cakes Considered). But luckily she loves the Salty Oatmeal Cookies, and put her baking expertise to work to develop an almost perfect imitation recipe.

[Sidenote: Dear NPR, I love you for three reasons: 1) the Moth, 2) Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, 3) the All Cakes Considered cookbook. Love, Mollie]

Don’t expect traditional oatmeal cookies out of this recipe. They actually use butter flavored shortening instead of butter – this creates the light and slightly crumbly texture. And you will need rice flour (I found it at Harris Teeter), which is used in the Teasim cookies (it says so on the wrapper’s ingredient list).

Boss #3 is the Teasim devotee who first introduced me to the Salty Oatmeal Cookies, and she says that mine are better. Wow. I attribute that to my addition of allspice – it wasn’t in the recipe, but I feel that this spice is an absolute must in all oatmeal cookies.

Salty Oatmeal Cookies

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT quick-cooking)

3/4 cup butter flavored Crisco shortening

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 3/4 cup rice flour

1 cup raisins

Kosher or Sea Salt for sprinkling

1/2 cup water

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in oats. Set aside.

2. With a mixer, beat shortening on medium or high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugars gradually, beating until mixed.

3. Add in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice and beat until incorporated.

4. Add the eggs, vanilla, coconut, beating until blended.

5. Add in the oatmeal and rice flour (you may need to hand-stir at this point) and beat until just incorporated. Add the raisins. My dough was really dry, so I added water as needed (about 1/2 cup). Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. 

6. Preheat your oven to 375* and spray your cookie sheets (or cover them in parchment paper).

7. Form dough into balls the size of golf balls and place on the baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Flatten the balls slightly and sprinkle generously with Kosher or Sea Salt. 

8. Bake one sheet of cookie at a time for 15 minutes, or until they are puffed and starting to brown.

9. With a spatula carefully remove cookies (mine were a little crumbly) and transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

These cookies are so oaty and actually not too sweet. In my mind this fully justifies them as a “healthy breakfast cookie” (for self-delusion purposes we’re disregarding the shortening here…).

Make them. Enjoy them. Bring them to work. Photograph them on your roof. It’s what all the cool kids do with plates of cookies.

Weekend Report: Rainy Sunday

On Sunday I awoke to a gray and wet day (but warm - holler spring!). After a late Saturday night, preceded by back-to-back 7-milers Friday and Saturday, I was hungry.

What's a DCist to do? Text friends. Go to brunch. STAT. LLC met me at the The Front Page at 1 o'clock for their brunch buffet (I had a coupon, so it was only $10 each). After a bit of a wait they seated us and we proceeded to fill our plates with eggs and smoked salmon and salad and fruit and hash browns and waffles and whipped cream for the next 2 hours. It was soooo good!

At 3:30 we emerged into a rainy afternoon, slightly dazed from our respective food comas. LLC headed home to nap, but I needed to be outside. Weather does not stop me - raincoat on and umbrella in hand I headed to the Mall. The nicest thing about being out in inclement weather in DC is that there are no tourists. (They melt in the rain. It is a fact.)

I had the Mall almost to myself - I walked for an hour and a half, singing along with my ipod and enjoying my daydreams. 

I got back home at 5:40, just in time for 6 pm yoga. A bit ambitious, but I decided to go for it.

There are two sides to the post-brunch-buffet yoga coin:

Side A) I just consumed my body weight in smoked salmon and strawberry whipped cream waffles...thus exercise of any kind is probably be a good idea.

Side B) Bikram yoga is hot, and therefore a scantily clad activity. Shorts/sports bra + room-o-mirrors + buffet belly = not so good for my self-esteem. Nor were the upside-down postures...I may or may not have skipped doing pada-hasthasana in the interest of not throwing up. 

I managed to make it through the 90-minute class, and feel slightly better about myself for doing it. It was still raining by the time I went home...so much rain that my kitchen flooded! (Ah the joys of living in the basement...)