For Runners: Strengthen and Activate Your Glutes

Well I’m still trying to run.

Recently my piriformis has been very very verrrrryyy tight and painful. I stretch it, and then it tightens up again. I foam roll it, and next day I’m back to square one of ickiness, relegating me to long lonely pool workouts or short painful run attempts (not advisable).

Turns out, this is most likely a new iteration of an old problem: when running, my glutes don’t engage (translation: I have a lazy a**). They are strong, but they just don’t “fire” at the right times, putting all the strain of my stride on my small overworked pitiful piriformis muscles.

This is actually a really common problem for people who sit at desks all day, and/or if you have tight hamstrings and hip flexors (which applies to most runners).

The good news is that I’ve fixed this problem before and I will do it again! The secret is to do these exercises before running or pooling or whatever you’re doing. It’s a reminder to your muscles that they need to work now!

How to strengthen your glutes:

(Shout out to Dr. John!)

The Quadruped Hip Extension

1. Start on your hands and knees, making sure everything is square and lined up.
2. Tighten your core and contract your abs to stabilize the spine.
3. Focus on contracting the left glute (you must focus on contracting before you lift your leg!). You may need to place your hand on your glute to be sure it contracts.
4. Slowly lift the left leg up while keeping a 90-degree bend at the knee.
5. The left thigh should be nearly parallel with the ground.
6. Slowly lower to the start position and repeat 10 reps per side.

The Bridge Exercise

1. Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are under your knees.
2. Tighten your abdominal and glute muscles.
3. Raise your hips up to create a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.
4. Squeeze your core and try to pull your belly button back toward your spine. Focus on keeping your hamstrings relaxed. The goal is to maintain a straight line from your shoulders to your knees and hold for 20 to 30 seconds.

The Single Leg Bridge Exercise (more advanced)

1. Lay on your back with your knees bent and your feet are under your knees.
2. Tighten your abdominal and glute muscles and slowly lift your hips up to create a straight line from your knees to shoulders.
3. Slowly raise and extend one leg while keeping your pelvis raised and level. If your hips sag or drop, place the leg back on the floor and do a double leg bridge until you become stronger.
4. Hold to position for 10 seconds and lower. Repeat with the opposite leg.

Do these exercise in combination with the Hip Flexor and Piriformis Stretching and Strengthening that I blogged a few weeks ago.  It’s really not very much – just 8 things total – but if you’re going to prioritize, I suggest focusing on stretching your hip flexor and piriformis and the quadruped hip extension (above) before and after every workout.  

Chobani Greek Yogurt Dinner at The Federalist

I received an unexpected surprise in my inbox a couple weeks ago – an invitation to a dinner at The Federalist with dishes specially prepared with Chobani Greek Yogurt. Umm hello yes please! It was scheduled for our moving day, so SpeedyKate came along for the ride, and what a ride it was. We arrived at a very fancy restaurant in The Madison Hotel, a place I often walk past but have never been inside.

The décor is really cool – and by that I mean, our private room was lined with red built-in bookshelves!!! Swoon. (Further inspection determined that the old artistic-looking books were in Swedish, so that’s weird.)

Anywho, I met an assortment of DC food bloggers (8 of us total) and spent a lovely evening chatting about blogging, cooking, the DC food scene, and Greek yogurt of course! Chobani worked with the chef to develop a menu that incorporated Greek yogurt in every dish and wow it was fancy and delicious. 

We started with a cornbread basket that contained the best cornbread I’ve ever had. Cornbread is often dry and requires a lot of butter, but this was suuuuuper moist just the right amount of corny sweetness. 

Next came the soup, which I think was the most creative and most delicious course. Our menus described it as White Gazpacho: Poached Laughing Bird Shrimp, Minted Yogurt. That nebulous description does not do it justice. It was thick and creamy (but the waiter said no cream) and the top was speckled with sliced green grapes, slivered almonds, tiny croutons, olive oil, and a dollop of Greek yogurt. 

Every course the chef presented was accompanied by a flurry of shameless food photography - gotta love food bloggers! (I was the only one without a fancy camera...maybe someday I'll invest? But for now you'll just have to compromise with my point-and-shoot images, eloquent descriptions, and your own foodie imagination.)

For my entrée I chose the Yogurt Poached Alaskan Halibut: Rose Finn Potatoes, Fava Beans, Globe Artichokes, Yogurt Emulsion. Clearly I was drawn to all the extra stuff. The fish itself was ok but not amazing, I think poaching is not my favorite way to cook things – it results in a one-note texture that is fine but not extraordinary. I think the artichokes and potatoes were the best part. 

SpeedyKate got the Slow Cooked Spring Lamb: Gin Soaked Cucumber, Spring Herb Salad, Espelette-Yogurt Emulsion that was prepared two ways and was allegedly fantastic. (Fyi, Google tells me that espelette is a variety of chili pepper.)

They also brought us two yogurt-less sides for the table: Fricassee of Wild Mushrooms, and Roasted Heirloom Cauliflower. Both were good, probably because I suspect they were marinated, roasted, and subsequently drenched in olive oil.

And dessert, oh dessert! It was a Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta: Strawberry Preserves, Shortbread Cookie, Long Pepper Syrup. I realize this is an excessively gushy post, and I apologize for that, but every part of the dessert was divine. Panna Cotta is almost like cheesecake, the cookie was just the right amount of crumbly and almost a little salty. The contrast of the sweet strawberry sauce and peppery syrup was super-sweet but balanced everything out quite well. 

My brand-new roommate and I called it a night around 10:30, bellies full, tastebuds happy, and generally post-move exhausted. What a win! 

And Emily and Lindsey, the Chobani representatives, said they would send around the recipes the chef developed…so White Gazpacho and Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta are very real possibilities in my future! 

(Though I don't think I'll ever be able to make it look this pretty...maybe? Fancy dinner party in the new apartment?)

Weekend Report: Moving In!

I am happy to report that Operation M.O.V.E. was a resounding success.

On Saturday morning LLC’s bus rolled up at 7:45 am and I greeted her with a large cup of coffee and an apartment full of boxes, bags, and uncategorized miscellaneous stuff. The weather was perfect and I wore my happiest outfit (shorts made out of chicken-printed African fabric) to deflect any drama. It worked!

I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say that by 11:15 am we’d taken two trips across the city and one to a clothing donation box, and by 11:40 we were happily nestled into a corner of Le Pain Quotidian, enjoying celebratory omelets, bread (umm hello praline spread) and more coffee with my new roommate (!) SpeedyKate. If there were such thing as moving goddesses, we would be them.

Next stop was FedEx to pick up our new rug (shipped by SpeedyKate's parents). Judging by all the laughs and comments we got, the three of us looked ridiculous walking like a rug-carrying train down the street to take the 10-foot 60-lb roll of Turkish prettiness home. And the day didn’t end there – next SpeedyKate and I drove out to Ikea to get pictureframes and household odds and ends (moral of that story: I am NOT good at navigating via phone app).

After such a looonnnggg and productive day, we were rewarded with an amazing dinner for food bloggers sponsored by Chobani Greek Yogurt at The Federalist. That extreme deliciousness merits its own post - I promise more details tomorrow.  But for now, Gretchen posted first - look how pretty her picture is! (AND how delish that soup looks!)

A Mollie in motion remains in motion, so Sunday I continued to do things (so many verbs this weekend!). In the morning I went to see my refugees in Silver Spring for some long-overdue English tutoring (Scatagories = best ESL game ever!).

When I returned to the District, I embraced my new neighborhood -  I met up with LOTR-Emily and friends for coffee, then I went to my new incredibly close neighborhood pool for a workout.

An hour of pool running alone reminded me that 1) I am out of shape for that level of boredom, but 2) I feel soooo much more human after exercising.

The day ended with some serious unpacking. Right now I’d say that the kitchen looks great, the library is awesome, the living room is in progress, and my room is terrifying. So far, so good!

Best of the Week #58

On the one hand, TGIF. On the other, Operation M.O.V.E. commences in a verrryyyy short 19 hours…eek!

My most popular post this week was Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. Coincidentally I made them last night for a co-workers bachelorette party tonight. Alas, it was a bit of a baking fail – be warned: “soft chew” caramels do not melt the same as the normal kind. :(

Do you remember The Newbie? Well since her guest blogging days, she moved from NYC back to CA. And now she’s going to Pakistan to establish a peer to peer youth leadership program that empowers youth to make change in their communities. This program sounds really cool, and I know that The Newbie is passionate, dedicated, and smart – consider supporting her? I did!

And now for your super-enjoyable Friday Best of the Week links:

How to apply a color wheel to your food photography:

Nobody likes a language snob. 

• But here’s the thing about language snobs: They are oddly egalitarian. While language snobs might giggle at people who choose the wrong words or who make grammatical mistakes, their underlying premise is that there are universal rules for language. Learning to use those rules is the ultimate ladder to success, integration, and acceptance.

This video is hilarious, mostly for the tagline: Ain't no party like a Pyongyang party, 'cause a Pyongyang party is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY.




I feel strongly about this: "3 Questions You Should Never Answer with I Don’t Know."

• “What Do You Want To Eat?” This one is my personal favorite because it’s asked by several different types of people several times a week and frequently followed by little more than a “meh.” You realize that when we ask you this question, we don’t want a specific restaurant and food item on that menu right? We just want general guidelines like “sushi” or “let’s sit on a patio” or “Venice.”  We can take it from there and offer several suggestions, but we need a funnel for our thoughts. It also doesn’t help if you say something like “I don’t know somewhere casual but not formal, somewhere not too pricey but not too cheap.” Die in a fire.

It could be the end of the road for Parks and Rec…but the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness will live on. (See it bigger.)

I'm pretty sure most readers of this blog enjoy looking at beautiful pictures of food. ("Food porn" if you will...) Why it is awesome.

• I have no regrets. I know that as much as people are allowed to spend their spare time watching strangers have sex on video, playing fantasy football with their dudebros, or watching their life slip away to a computer game — I am allowed to stare at food.

I am getting suuuuuper-psyched for the Olympics and all the inspirational advertising that comes with it. And I am a HUGE Lopez Lomong fan. This is a great video.

Exercise makes you smarter! (source)

• “Only one thing had mattered,” Rhodes says, “and that’s whether they had a running wheel.” Animals that exercised, whether or not they had any other enrichments in their cages, had healthier brains and performed significantly better on cognitive tests than the other mice. Animals that didn’t run, no matter how enriched their world was otherwise, did not improve their brainpower in the complex, lasting ways that Rhodes’s team was studying. “They loved the toys,” Rhodes says, and the mice rarely ventured into the empty, quieter portions of their cages. But unless they also exercised, they did not become smarter.

When anxiety strikes (moving related or otherwise), just hit up the Calming Manatee. And if one isn't enough, you can always summon another! 

African Men. Hollywood Steereotypes. (source)

• They said, “If people believed only what they saw in movies, they would think we are all warlords who love violence.” They, like Mama Hope, are tired of the over-sensationalized, one-dimensional depictions of African men and the white savior messaging that permeates our media. They wanted to tell their own stories instead, so we handed them the mic and they made this video.

Are bananas as bad for you as cookies? An infographic that maps what foods you should eat to keep you full (the graphic is a lot longer...go here for the full thing.)

Speaking of bananas...Bite-sized brunch. Yes please! This could be a fun brunch party theme!

I want one of these. A lot.

Where your consumer goods come from. Another infographic!

Love this! "On mincirait mieux si c'etait plus fun." = We would lose more weight if it were more fun.




And I will leave you with that. Have a great weekend!

Why Moving is Hard...

I'm moving to a new apartment across the city. My current apartment looks like Hurricane Mollie just struck and I am dubiously optimistic about Operation M.O.V.E.'s potential for success this Saturday. LLC (the more calm/stable half of the Operation) claims to be pumped, but that may be because she hasn't yet seen the massive pile of things that I own...Bear with me here, this is a bit of a rant.

Why Moving is Hard...

• Physically – LLC and I will be hefting boxes for who knows how long on Saturday morning. Things that are heavy and I have too many of: books. 
• Creatively – I have to decorate??? What do I buy? Where does it go? I realize some people like this. I do not. 
• Financially – A mattress costs what? Do I have to? (Yes.)
• Timewise – I spent 4 hours sitting on the floor of an unfurnished apartment Wednesday morning with no internet waiting for the gas man to come. Their scheduling window is 7am-12. Blerg.
• Emotionally – Leaving a home is sad. It just is. It’s becoming more and more real to me that the place I’ve called home for 3 years won’t be ever again. Like, this isn’t a temporary vacation, it’s for permanent.
• Logistically – Borrow a car. Schedule movers. Coordinate times friends are willing/able to help.

How about this? Let’s just cue the moving montage with some upbeat music and call it a day? #Iwish


And I’m only moving to a new neighborhood!!! (I fully realize this could be so so SOOO much worse and that I am a super-whinypants.) Maybe in a couple weeks I’ll blog about why moving is awesome? Let’s hope…

Literary Bite: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Faidman

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman is a story about the Hmong people, from their political history to cultural customs, told through the lens of one family’s experience with the American medical system in Merced, CA. 


The book centers on Lia Lee, a Hmong child who suffers from epilepsy (called “the spirit catches you and you fall down” in the Hmong language).  The book alternates chapters following the Lee’s  story in and out of hospitals from Lia’s birth – a tragic case of cultural miscommunications again and again and again – with chapters on Hmong history, cultural practices, and refugee experiences in the US. 

• "The doctors can fix some sicknesses that involve the body and blood, but for us Hmong, some people get sick because of their soul, so they need spiritual things,” says Lia Lee’s father. “With Lia it was good to do a little medicine and a little neeb, but not too much medicine because the medicine cuts the neeb’s effect. If we did a little of each she didn’t get sick as much, but the doctors wouldn’t let us give just a little medicine because they didn't understand about the soul."

The cultural anthropology aspects of this book were fascinating. I love how understanding the history of a people informs their actions and can help foreigners understand how to work with them. I also have some personal connections to the subject because of my work with refugees (my refugees have been Congolese and Haitian, so not quite as different as the Hmong, but very different nonetheless). There’s sooo much more to deal with than a language barrier; language barriers can be overcome, it’s the cultural barriers that will get you.

• "The history of the Hmong yields several lessons that anyone who deals with them might do well to remember. Among the most obvious of these are that the Hmong do not like to take orders; that they do not like to lose; that they would rather flee, fight, or die than surrender; that they are not intimidated by being outnumbered; that they are rarely persuaded that the customs of other cultures, even those more powerful than their own, are superior; and that they are capable of getting very angry. Whether you find these traits infuriating or admirable depends largely on whether or not you are trying to make a Hmong do something that he or she would prefer not to do. Those who have tried to defeat, deceive, govern, regulate, constrain, assimilate, intimidate, or patronize the Hmong have, as a rule, disliked them intensely."

The Hmong left China when the government became too oppressive, and eventually settled in Laos until the CIA-run “Quiet War” (post-Vietnam), led over 300 thousand people to flee to refugee camps in Thailand and eventually emigrate.  My favorite parts were probably about the Lee family’s experiences becoming refugees – their flight from Laos is harrowing and fascinating. It’s often easy to forget that refugees in America have gone through a lot to get here. 

• “You go from the north of Laos and then you go across the Mekong, and when the Pathet Lao soldiers fire, you do not think about your family, just yourself only. When you are on the other side, you will not be like what you were before ou get through the Mekong. On the other side you cannot say to your wife, I love you more than my life. She saw! You cannot say that anymore! And when you try to restick this thing together is is like putting glue on a broken glass.” 

The author’s “literary journalism” is impressive, interesting, and a great read. Faidman definitely did her research – she talked to all of Lia’s doctors, as well as many members of the Lee family, Merced Hmong community, and Hmong scholars in general. She attempts (and I think succeeds) at giving a relatively unbiased narrative, recognizing when and where each “side” was in the wrong, but overall drawing the conclusion that there really is no black-and-white right and wrong when it comes to how a family chooses to take care of itself within the context of cultural differences. 


Read it - I highly recommend this book! 

Cake of the Week: Ginger Vanilla Pound Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

Well this is awkward. It’s Tuesday. Cake of the Week time. And I want to blog about something delicious…but I don’t have any new recipes/pictures up my proverbial sleeves! Blogger-fail, I’m so sorry!

LLC and I are currently gchatting about how much we wish we had chocolate cake for breakfast. That, and the incredibly depressing fact that despite the superabundance of rhubarb recipes currently taking the interwebs by storm, there is literally NO rhubarb here in DC. (Does anyone know where all the rhubarb has gone?)

In a fit of rhubarb nostalgia, I perused some of my previous posts. Ginger Vanilla Pound Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce. I totally forgot about this recipe, which means you probably did too, which means it’s ripe for a re-post! Here we go, let’s have a rhubarb party like it’s June 2010!

Rhubarb is a curious vegetable (actually, the US classifies it as a fruit for tax reasons. Weird!). The leaves of the rhubarb plant are toxic, but the stalks are edible. It's very tart, which is why it tends to be paired with sweet strawberries. What a fabulous combination, strawberries and rhubarb are match made in heaven, if you ask me!

Though strawberry rhubarb pie is a delicious classic, I'm not too fond of the crust-making process. But cake, now that's more my thing. I decided to go for a pound cake, and to spice things up a bit, I made it a ginger pound cake. Then I topped it with strawberry rhubarb sauce (technically it's a compote, but I've been told that "compote" is too close to "compost" and just doesn't do justice to the yummiliciousness that this boiled mixture really is).

This was my first rhubarb cooking adventure. Even though the rhubarb seems tough, it actually cooks pretty quickly. I guess it just depends on the texture you're going for. Mine ended up almost jam-ish, but in the future I think I'll cook it less so the rhubarb retains some bite. You could also cook half the rhubarb, and then add the other half later in the cooking process to get different textures in your finished sauce (and the same principles go for the strawberries).

Ginger Vanilla Pound Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

(Printable recipe.)
For the cake:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
2. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with milk and vanilla. Do not over-mix. 
3. Pour batter into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 325° for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

For the Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce:

• 1/2 lb strawberries
• 1 lb rhubarb
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Dice rhubarb and strawberries into similar sized 1/2 inch pieces. 
2. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. 
3. Simmer for 10-20 minutes (depending on what texture you want). 
4. Remove from heat and cool at least 2 hours. Store sealed in the refrigerator.

(Printable recipe.)

If you live somewhere with rhubarb, please make this recipe for those of us who can't!!!

Weekend Report: Parents, Founding Farmers, and Embassy Tours

What a week/weekend! My parents were visiting last Monday-Sunday, which meant excellent food, the usual tourism, and fun family-time activities. My mama has been to DC twice already, but this was my dad’s first visit. I’m pretty sure his favorite part was our Segway tour on Friday (since it meant he didn’t have to walk).

Here’s a rundown of the highlights:
Our most excellent dinner was at Founding Farmers, a restaurant where you have to plan in advance for a reservation, or show up at 5:30 to get your name in before the dinner rush. We started with the Devil-ish Egg appetizer (the only context in which I will gladly eat mayonnaise). 

Then Mama went for Chicken and Waffles (when in the kinda-sort-almost-South…right?), Dad got Black Pepper Gnocchi and Sausage, and I got Skirt Steak and Enchilada. Everything was delicious, the enchiladas were chicken/spinach/cheese and would have made a solid meal on their own, and the fried chicken was fantastically chicken-y! 

So. Much. Food. Clearly we ate it all – my family takes dinner seriously.

Plus we needed the fuel for our evening Monuments walk. DC brought the humidity for my parents’ visit, but by dark-time it was pleasant enough walking around the Lincoln, MLK, and the WWI Memorials. 

The next morning the Segways happened, as you may recall.

My dad left long before the crack of dawn on Saturday, but Mama stayed for another day. We started by splitting the Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes at Market Lunch in Eastern Market. 

Then we metro’d up to Van Ness for Passport DC’s Around the World Embassy Tour day. I’ve done this a few times (last year, and the year before), but only the embassies near Dupont, which are always  sooooo crowded. 

Van Ness is further out though, meaning there were absolutely no lines – we walked right into South Africa, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Ghana, Turkey, Nigeria, and Egypt. 

(The staircase is in the Ghanaian embassy, the mural is from Nigeria, and the other pictures are from Egypt, obviously.)

Sunday morning my Mama left, ending my staycation and leaving me to handle my life – aka go to Ikea, buy a bed (which SpeedyKate and I successfully tied to the roof of her car, transported back to DC, and carried up and then downstairs into my new bedroom! #winning), and start packing up my apartment for the big move next weekend. 

Hope you had a great week/weekend too!

Bike and Roll Segway Tour

After living in DC for three full years (plus an intern summer), I finally did it. I went on a Segway tour. Yes, Segways, those semi-ridiculous looking tourist-mobiles that you see around the monuments and on the Mall. 

Mama and Dad were visiting for the week, and after soooo much walking – in and out of museums, up and down the Mall, to and from Dupont Circle again and again and again – even my athletic parents needed a break (I have come to realize that no one walks like my friends and I walk)

And I’m happy to report that it was awesome. Seriously. So. Much. Fun! We did the inaugural Bike and Roll Segway Tour. (This company has been leading bike tours for a while now, but the Segway thing is new for them.)

We arrived at their office at the Post Office Pavilion and were immediately suited up with helmets, headphones/radio-ish things to hear the tour, and Segways. After watching an intro video, Charlie-and-Rachel-the-tour-guides gave us a brief tutorial on how to ride and steer (surprisingly not difficult at all!). 

Mama was worried she’d run down some unsuspecting pedestrian, but I assured her that in my three years of DC life I’ve never seen a Segway accident. (I optimistically like to think of us as smarter than the average tourist…if they can master Segways, so can we!)

And then we were off, Segway-ing down the bike lane in the middle of Pennsylvania toward the Capitol. Charlie spouted fun facts along the way (looove me some fun facts!), about the buildings, DC history, monument symbolism, etc. etc. etc. 

As we rode up Capitol Hill, bypassing tired walking school groups, my dad, with the biggest smile I’ve seen since he’s been there, announced, “I LOVE this! These things are great!!!”

Our route went down Pennsylvania, around the Capitol, along the Mall, and then up past the White House. We made a few stops – at the Canadian Embassy, the Capitol “Summer House,” and at key photo-op locales. The tour provides water and a granola bar, which made for a pleasant mid-morning snack! (Haha, not that we were exactly exercising...but Segway-ing requires a bit more effort than it looks!) Our tour finished 2 ½ hours later back at the Post Office Pavilion, just before a rain storm hit. 

Ridiculous as they may look, Segways are actually a great way to get around and see a lot in a short amount of time. Plus they’re fun to ride and the tour guides were interesting and informative. Judge me accordingly, but I’m officially pro.  

The votes are in and it’s official: the morning was undoubtedly a super Segway success.