Eat, Run, Read

Monday, March 12, 2012

Weekend Report: Cousin Time and St. Patrick's Day 8K

This weekend was all about the cousins. LLC lives here, and she and I hang out all the time, but now Heather is visiting from Arizona, completing the trinity of third generation representation of our family, and ensuring that from her home in California, Grammy Jean is soooo psyched right now. There’s no need to get into my family’s socio-geographic stuff, but let’s just say that three cousins (daughters of three sisters), independently hanging out, has never happened before.

Heather is spring break-ing in DC for the week and arrived Friday night. We kicked things off big with a walking night tour of the monuments (myself as the fun-fact-full tour guide).

We started Saturday with a morning movie in Georgetown. The Lorax was super-silly and actually really good! We then lunched at the Museum of the American Indian Cafe. We split an “Indian Taco,” which is Navajo fry bread (omg yum) topped with buffalo chili and taco toppings, as well as a “Plate of Many Colors,” i.e. sides of mashed parsnips, wild rice and watercress salad, three bean salad, and red cabbage slaw.

None of us is actually interested in seeing that museum, so after lunch we moseyed on over to the National Gallery. We saw the new Picasso's Drawings Exhibit (very good). The Chester Dale Exhibit has finally been disassembled, and its art redistributed throughout the museum. This means they’ve re-done the impressionist wing – my favorite!

By late afternoon I was pretty tired, and not sure if I wanted to walk up the stairs to the Modern Art Wing Tower, but we did it anyways and the Mel Bochner exhibit of thesaurus-inspired colorful art was totally worth it.

After such a big day we spent the evening couching (it’s a verb), in preparation for our race -- the St. Patrick's Day 8K -- the next morning…

St. Patrick's Day 8K - Race Report

Ok, so here’s the thing, when I’m preparing for a race, I don’t even try to hide the crazy. My unnecessary worry and anxiety was probably tangible Saturday night, but luckily we’re all family and they can’t really hold it against me. But because I freak out in advance, by the time Sunday morning rolls around I have everything planned to the minute and am ready to just get on with the actual racing part.

The race was big, over six thousand entrants, but incredibly well-managed! The start wasn’t over-crowded at all, and I met up with my team just before the “go.”

I’m happy with how it went. I ran pretty evenly, and accomplished my goal from way back in November of running under 33 minutes. My only "issue" is that I finished and felt totally fine. I felt tired while running (as in, I was definitely trying hard), but once I crossed the line it felt like no big deal. The good news is that means I can run faster, the bad news is that I don’t like having anything left at the end of a race.

My splits were:

Mile: 6:20
5K 19:50
Net time: 31:51
Gun time: 31:54 (that's 5:25 pace)
Then team time - GO CAPITAL AREA RUNNERS!!!

Racing out of the way, we headed to our next DC activity: brunch.

We went to Ted’s Bulletin on the Hill, the place with the most amazing breakfast combination ever: pancakes and eggs and hash browns. The food, once we got to that part was delicious. The two hour wait, however, was not so good. I recommend getting a reservation, but know that you need to make it like 2 weeks in advance. Heather and LLC split the Caramel Macchiato Milkshake (possibly the best milkshake flavor ever), and we all split a homemade strawberry pop-tart. YUM!

Well-fueled, we walked over to the Botanical Gardens to see the Orchids Exhibit. I spent a lot of time at various flower shows, exhibits, nursery’s, etc. as a child and hated it, so I give myself some serious adult-points for voluntarily go to and enjoying an orchid show!

The day was clear and the weather was gorgeous, so post-flowers we stopped by the Post Office Tower to get a sweeping view of all of DC.

Then we were exhausted, and aggressively couched for the rest of the evening. What a weekend!!!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Best of the Week #51

It has been quite the week over here in Mollie-world. It started with a bang on Monday morning. At work we (i.e. the Satellite Sentinel Project) launched a website re-design and it’s beautiful!

Before:

After:

See what I mean???
But more importantly, it’s informative. I suggest you read everything, specifically the Documenting the Crisis section. (I may or may not have written ALL the content on the entire site.)

And then KONY 2012 took over the interwebs. (As a sometimes LRA blogger, how can I not comment?). Love or hate, you’ve gotta admit the video did go viral and now thousands (billions?) more people know/care about an ongoing human rights catastrophe in central Africa than did a week ago. And all the criticism has sparked some great debate on effective advocacy and international policy, things DC nerds talk about a lot but I think most of the world has no concept of…so overall I’d say it’s a net win.

No matter how you feel about IC, they’ve clearly succeeded in their mission of making Kony famous, and finally igniting a dialogue on the internet with greater significance than Kim Kardashian’s sex life, for example.
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant” (from the source of all hard-hitting news).

So whether you're pro- or anti-IC, please learn more about the issue - What is the Lord’s Resistance Army? and The LRA and the most popular Africa legislation in recent US history.

And then yesterday was International Women’s Day. In honor of that, Kiva, a micro-lending site, is offering free $25 loans. You get to choose a small business or cooperative to support and then they progressively pay you back. It’s fun! I am currently lending to a group of four women in Benin who sell food products and charcoal in their local market.

Anywho, now on to the usual Best of the Week silliness.

How fast do you read? Take the quiz! I got 558 words per minute, which makes me 123% faster than the national average. And I’ve read 15 out of the 21 books they offer as examples…so that’s fun. Seriously, take it and let me know what you got!

Self-portrait with cakes. Oh to be at that photo shoot... (source)

To quote LLC, the provider or many of my Best of the Week articles, “#winning?”
D.C.’s single ladies are nation’s happiest, survey finds

The findings, published in the April issue of Glamour, are based on a survey of 5,000 unmarried men and women, 21 and older, living in the nation's 10 largest metro areas.

Wait hold-up. The article also says that, “Arlington has been called the nation’s most romantic city.” Seriously? Am I missing something here?

I have read everything ever written by Jack London, and thereby feel like I know about dog sled racing. The Iditarod started last Saturday is going on right now.

The social justice theory of Harry Potter – this actually kinda ties into the Kony 2012 movement…looking at how and why young people care.

Dumbledore may be a fictional character, but that does not prevent him from functioning as a social justice leader for the Millennials. A social justice leader is a role model, a principal who does not merely preside over the tidings of a school day but also empowers youth.
The metaphorical issues of race, class, ability, and achievement that J.K. Rowling constructs in the world of Harry Potter carry little or no importance for Dumbledore. In this way, Dumbledore expresses to youth and adults alike that what society perceives of them is of no matter as long as they are fighting for or doing what is right and good.

This week was Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colors, to celebrate the arrival of spring. I love this photo slideshow – so colorful!

I hope your boss doesn’t do this (mine doesn’t!) – “How to completely, utterly destroy an employee’s work life.”

Recall your worst day at work, when events of the day left you frustrated, unmotivated by the job, and brimming with disdain for your boss and your organization. That day is probably unforgettable. But do you know exactly how your boss was able to make it so horrible for you? Our research provides insight into the precise levers you can use to re-create that sort of memorable experience for your own underlings.
Over the past 15 years, we have studied what makes people happy and engaged at work. In discovering the answer, we also learned a lot about misery at work.

Listen to a song "More Beautiful Thank Silence" on NPR by a Somali-Canadian.

Mathematical Translations of Popular Refrains. (source)

x = +/- 1 “Meh.”
sqrt(-1) = i "Fake it 'til you make it."

My mind is too hamster-on-speed to meditate, but we all know I drink coffee. (source)

Conflict diamonds, conflict minerals, and now Conflitc Quinoa? Oh no!

Bolivian authorities say at least 30 people have been injured in a fight between two communities over land for growing quinoa, the Andean "supergrain" whose popularity with worldwide foodies has caused its price to soar.

I love Maoz for the very reasons in this article (i.e. salad bar!!!) and was close to tears when the one in DC closed. (And now I want falafel. Someone bring me please?)

I am a country music fan, but am also very liberal and I imagine would score high on an “openness” test…so according to this interesting article, I am an anomaly. Country Music, Openness to Experience, and the Psychology of Culture War.

As you can see, country is the most "upbeat and conventional" genre of music. A preference for "upbeat and conventional" music is negatively correlated with "openness" and positively correlated with "conscientiousness," and so, as you would then expect, self-described conservatives tend to like "upbeat and conventional" music (more than any other kind), while self-described liberals tend to like everything else better.

And finally, a toast stenogram. I can’t make this work. Can you?

Happy Friday!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Literary Bite: Cutting for Stone

If you want a really good book to read, look no further. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is a rare find in terms of its artful combination of subject, character development, race, setting, and drama. (I've already mentioned how awesome Indian authors always are!) The one-sentence summary: it’s about a family of Indian surgeons, twin boys born attached at the head, at a convent in Ethiopia who eventually move to America.

The title itself is a double-entendre. “I will not cut for stone,” runs the text of the Hippocratic oath, “even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.”

“Stone” is also the last name of Marion the narrator, his twin brother, Shiva, and their absent father and master-surgeon, Thomas Stone.

Throughout the book there is a lot about the art of surgery – something I know absolutely nothing about. Verghese (the author) is a medical professor at Stanford, and was astonishingly able to translate his passion for surgery into plain enough language for someone like me to appreciate. Parts are a bit overly graphic, but I promise they’re short, push through and you’ll love the book!

I love this reviewer’s characterization of Verghese’s prose:

There is no doubt about it; Verghese is a lyricist whose way with words rivals his mastery of the scalpel—though I cannot attest to this as I have never had the opportunity to be operated on by him. Indeed, he is a prose poet whose manipulation of words makes every minutia an event of Biblical and lyrical proportions. It is the sanctity of his syntax, the deliberate and precise choice of words and their order in the sentences in which they appear that sets his novel apart, forcing even the least interested reader to continue turning pages, trancelike and mystified.

There’s also some great historical context –the twin brothers grow up in the political turmoil of 1970s Ethiopia, until Marion flees to New York and Boston (I always appreciate a literary Boston reference!). In many ways this book is about the difficulty of immigrants and the challenges of fitting into a new culture and community. The Stone brothers, though born in Ethiopia, were "outsiders" due to their Indian heritage. And in America, Marion faces assimilation into an even more complicated mix of culture.

While Marion tries to follow in the medical school-focused footsteps of their absent father, Shiva instead turns to the needs of their community in Ethiopia. He specializes in fistula operations, learning the skill from their adopted Indian mother.

The bottom line is, Cutting for Stone is a great book and I definitely recommend it!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Light Mediterranean Dip

This is health food. And the best part is that it doesn't taste like "health food." When I served it to my calorie-conscious friends, they asked, "Ugh, Molllie, do we even want to know what's in this?" YES!

There’s protein from the white beans, and calcium and essential bacteria from the Greek yogurt. Serve it with veggies and you’re golden! I love it!

Sometimes I depart from my usual frosting-coated creations and make real food. And often, believe it or not, that real food is healthy! This Light Mediterranean Dip is a pure Mollie-creation. I pulled out my food processor, mixed up some ingredients that sounded yummy, and voilà!

As I perused the grocery store, contemplating my herb options, I came across this Mediterranean herb and spice blend (in the refrigerated section). Hmmm, sounds good. And this convenient herb-y blend means you don’t have to separately purchase all the herbs you want. Convenient! I’m in!

I made this delicious dip to serve with carrots and celery, but it would also make a great sandwich spread, or go well with some salty potato chips. You could also add more yogurt, or even some water, to thin it and use as salad dressing.

Light Mediterranean Dip (printable recipe)
8 very generous servings, 60 calories per serving

Ingredients:

1 can white beans (cannellini), drained and rinsed
½ cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup light cream cheese
1 teaspoon Mediterranean herb and spice blend
1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Put all ingredients into a food processor.
Puree until smooth.

That’s it! So freaking easy!
(printable recipe)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Cake of the Week: Green Tea Cake with Vanilla Glaze

I bet that right now, in your pantry and fridge, you have everything you need to make this pretty little cake. It’s a Green Tea Cake, but there are no powders or potions required – just a few tea bags! And bonus points for those of you looking to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in a semi-classy way, because with just a few drops of food coloring, this tea-flavored cake becomes super-seasonal.

I used Zen green tea, which is infused with lemongrass and spearmint. The resulting cake was lightly minty-fresh-tasting and not too sweet. The frosting balanced it out nicely and added some necessary sweetness.

A lot of people seem to think that as a cake-blogger, things in the kitchen always go well for me. This is sooo far from the truth! One of the best things about baking is getting creative and experimenting…which inevitably results in some super-successes, but also some major baking-fails. This cake was almost a baking fail, but one that I managed to salvage into awesomeness.

Let me tell you how things went down: I envisioned a green tea layer cake, with a light and sweet marshmallow frosting, so I doubled the cake recipe to make two layers. Then I started on the frosting. It takes a long time to get the sugar to soft-ball temperature, so I waited and watched and waited and watched…until I kinda forgot to watch and it got too hot and started to caramelize! I poured it into the egg whites anyways, hoping it would work. It didn’t. What was supposed to be light and fluffy marshmallowy goodness turned into an off-white sticky mess. Bah. I tried to salvage it, but finally wrote it off as a total waste, and to my dismay had to dump it all and start over.

Round 2 of the frosting I decided to stick to simplicity and just make a vanilla glaze. Though the cake didn’t turn out as I had originally envisioned, it did turn out delicious.

Green Tea Cake with Vanilla Glaze (printable recipe)

For the Cake:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons green tea leaves (about 2 tea bags)
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Green food coloring and green sprinkles (optional)

For the Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons as needed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch baking pan.
With an electric mixer, or by hand, cream together butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pinch of salt, and green tea. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is slightly coarse and sandy. This takes about 5 minutes.
Add in milk, egg, and vanilla extract. And beat until incorporated and the batter is smooth. Drop in food coloring until the batter reaches your desired green-ness (keep in mind that color tends to dull in baking, so if the batter looks a bit too bright you’re probably ok).
Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 22 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to cool completely before frosting.
To make the glaze: Beat sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until it reaches a glaze-ish consistency. Spread the frosting on top of the cake and decorate with sprinkles if you’re using them.

(printable recipe)

Monday, March 5, 2012

Weekend Report: The Law of Exercise and Rock Climbing

I believe in the Law of Exercise – if you do it often enough and try hard enough, it will get better/easier/you will improve at it. (This law keeps me going through multiple loooooong and arduous comebacks.) More (/smart) training leads to improvement. Times get faster and runs get easier and your PRs get faster, etc. etc.

I did another long run on Saturday. Bad news: the 14 miles FELT like 14 miles (despite the perfect weather it was a bit of a slog); Good news: I did not feel verge-of-death-tired all day afterwards…so I’ll count it as a net win and move on.

The Law of Exercise applies to things other than running too! Specifically this weekend: rock climbing. I’m getting better at it!

You may remember that I started climbing again in October. I don’t go often enough – just once every week or two – so my progress has been relatively slow. But last week I did two days: Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon. And I’m happy to report that I am improving! The nice thing about climbing is that improvement is so obvious – either you make it to the top or you don’t. Climbing routes I couldn’t do a month ago are easy for me now, and I can consistently climb 5.9s! (This is not a climbing blog, so I won’t get into too much detail, but basically there’s a grading system rating each route, 5.0-5.14.) Climbing is a nice change of pace from running. It’s mentally and physically challenging, and works your whole body: arms, core, back, and legs.

Besides running and climbing, I did a few other things this weekend (I may be a mildly obsessive exerciser, but I try to keep some semblance of a social life going too!). Friday night was a going-away party for my friend and Swahili teacher and her husband at Stoney's (best wings I've ever had). Like all international-focused DC couples, the time has come for them to go abroad. Her husband is moving to Nigeria in 2 weeks, and she will follow in May! I want to go visit…

Saturday afternoon 6x6 came over for some much-needed baking time. We made two things, both of which I thought were major baking fails, but actually turned out ok. Check back tomorrow for some St. Patrick’s Day green food, and probably next week for the most unreal bars I’ve ever encountered in my entire life (good thing they were a gift…otherwise I’d be 10 lbs heavier by now…).

Saturday night I met up with a friend for Ethiopian at Meskerem in Adam’s Morgan. We ordered:

Bozena Shurro (Meskerem's highly seasoned milled chick peas (Shurro) is simmered in berbere sauce with cubes of lean beef.), Misir Azifa (Pureed lentis are served next to a rare combination of finely chopped onions and green chillies mixed in vinaigrette sauce.), and Gomen Watt (Chopped collard greens simmered in our unique, hot and spicy berber sauce.)

It was delicious! The Misir Azifa is surprisingly cold and tangy and probably my favorite. (Ha, previous blogs tell me that I've ordered it before!) If you haven’t had Ethiopian food, I strongly suggest you do so ASAP!

Sunday was dominated by refugees (preposition practice time!), the aforementioned rock climbing, and dessert delivery.

And now it’s Monday…can I have another day of weekend please?

Friday, March 2, 2012

Best of the Week #50

Sorry about the no-post Thursday! I was too busy corroborating and finding evidence of and things consistent with other things and the miscellaneous apparent _____. (I apologize – that joke is probably only funny to a very select few of my co-workers). But seriously, I’m excited for work on Monday! So a) that’s weird, and b) you’ll see it when we launch!!!

My most popular post this week was a flashback – Banana Nut Nutella Cinnamon Rolls. Yummm those were delish!

And now a few links to get you through your Friday.

"A Surplus Washington Could Do Without: A Capital Park’s Rapacious Deer"
I’m not opposed to “thinning the herd with sharpshooters.” BUT as a Rock Creek Park runner, this is the part that concerns me:

“But the park’s location in the middle of a city —the nation’s capital, at that — presents delicate considerations about safety and strategy, not to mention public relations.”

If I have to start wearing hunter’s orange on my runs I’m going to be UPSET.

Awesome video of a blind surfer from Brazil. (source)

The March/April Washington Running Report is out and guess who wrote a profile? (Hint: me. Hint: page 56.)

AFRICOM (i.e. US Africa Command, as in “one of six of the U.S. Defense Department’s regional military headquarters, with administrative responsibility for U.S. military support to U.S. government policy in Africa, to include military-to-military relationships with more than 50 African nations.”) has a blog, which is odd…but also kinda cute. They posted this AFRICOM Reading List. I’ve only read one of the books! Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

Smithsonian Magazine just announced the 50 finalists for their annual photo contest. (see more)

I have a visitor coming soon (Hi Heather!!!) and if you’re in DC perhaps you do too. It is almost Cherry Blossom season…A Washington sightseeing guide: Help your visitors get into these top attractions.

This infographic – Do people still trust the news during election season?

And I'll end with a brief foray into insane cuteness - 5 Little Pembroke Welsh Corgi Puppies. (source)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Running Resources

Let me take today to call your attention to a new Eat Run Read feature – “Running Resources.” Its permanent home is on the top left menu bar (look up!).

On this page I have compiled a comprehensive list of all things running on this blog. Yes. Be afraid. I realize “resources” may be a slightly inaccurate and overly-generous name…it’s more like All Things I’ve Said About Running In The Past 2.5 Years. But that title is too long, so Running Resources it is.

This list includes some very useful things: tips, workouts, injury prevention and treatment, and running routes...Some very non-useful but amusing things: rants, stories about my family, and inspiration...And a few that fall somewhere in between: The Places I’ve Run, races, and guest posts.

My main lesson learned from compiling this list is that I have written a lot about running. A LOT. And that’s not even including my DC Running Examiner blog (which you should definitely explore).

But seriously, I hope this page will help you find blog posts that interest and amuse you here on Eat Run Read. It’s a work in progress, so comments and suggestions are welcome!

Here it is, as of now. And as I said, its permanent home is in the top left menu bar.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Post are listed from newest to oldest within each category (for the most part).

Tips and Musings

How to Create and Keep a Running Log

Running Safety

Running Goal Setting

Power Lacing for Runners

Track Etiquette

Lunchtime Running

Countdown to Race Day

Running vs. Jogging

Running with Podcasts

Tips for Winter Running