5k Glow Run

Between my injured finger and traveling to San Francisco for work, the last few weeks have been crazy.  This is now a bit belated - but I'd be totally remiss if I failed to document the amazing experience I had a little while back.

A few weeks ago I had a perfect Friday night.  Along with some girlfriends from work, we did the Living Social 5k Dance Party - a.k.a. the Glow in the Dark Run.  It was a blast - I only wish the pictures did it justice!

With our powers combined...

It was a great way to blow off some steam at the end of a long work week and to bond with my coworkers in a totally new way.  I love my friends but all too often I feel like I'm choosing between my social life and getting a workout in (because c'mon, dancing the night away doesn't really count).

Winning

You can't necessarily have your cake, eat it too, and still fit in your skinny jeans - but its nice to know that you can have your friends. your workout, and some sweet glow accessories!  The free Mich Ultra and Kind bars at the after party were a nice touch too!

Words of Wisdom

In college I had a great friend/roommate/rugby teammate.  While we were living it up like typical 19 year olds - staying up to late, eating the wrong foods, and beating ourselves opponents up on the rugby pitch, her Dad gave us some advice that has stuck with me:

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.

It strikes the right balance of dry wit and truth - and provides some useful perspective to put my mishaps in perspective.

Thanks Dad for the awesome 1st aid!

Over Thanksgiving, and on my 28th birthday no less, I had to be tough (long story short, I was slicing butternut squash with a mandolin, and my fingertip got in the way).  Looks like I'm going into my 28th year with a new set of fingerprints!

Needless to say, my right hand is a little out of commission, so I'll be watching Law and Order SVU marathons resting and rehabbing my poor pointer.  Between that and getting ready to go to San Fran for work next week, it'll be a little bleak around here!

Down the Pinterest Rabbit Hole

I love Pinterest.  I may even be a Pinterest addict.  Pinterest has given me a new world of favorite recipes, enabled me to be much more creative in my attire, and helped me better organize my life.

All in all though, my Pinterest is largely idealized.  Pinterest is well known for being a general repository or catch all for dreams that may never come to fruition, desserts which will never be baked, and crafts which will never even be started let alone completed.

Take today, when I found myself eating ramen noodles at my desk for lunch, while pinning a delicious looking fall butternut squash salad.  Grownup fail.  I haven't looked at all the stats - but it seems by far my most popular, or most often re-pinned Pin, is a chocolate cake I have never even made.  

But I did do one thing today that I learned on Pinterest - Vick's socks!  Ohhh yeah.

Vick's Socks - its a glamorous life

For anyone that knows me, I absolutely cannot stand socks. When socks are a must, I wear footie socks (even with galoshes!) and as soon as my shoes come off, so do my socks.  No socks in bed is a cardinal rule in my home.

I had a great long Veterans' Day weekend with some family out in the country, but came back with a cold.  I've been congested and a little bit sniffly and sneezy, but I read on Pinterest that Vick's works just as well on the bottom of your feet (without all the smell near your face!).

I can't say that Vick's is a miracle cure for a cold on the feet - but it never has been for me on my chest either.  It seems to help as much probably, and feels way less gross!  Now perhaps I should move onto that super popular chocolate cake... 

Pumpkin Blondies

When you find yourself in the midst of a hurricane, surrounded by a flood of Facebook posts about delicious treats, it eventually becomes inevitable that the flour, butter, and chocolate will come out, and the mixer will be put to use.  There may also have been videochatting with my cat and my coworker (and her cat); as it turns out, the kitties were not so impressed.

My hurricane buddy

Unfortunately, my last minute trip to the store for my weekly shopping trip coincided with many people's trip to stock up for hurricane supplies, and my grocery store was entirely out of eggs!   (They were also out of bananas - is this how DC preps?)

So when the inevitable happened, and I found myself searching through the pantry for something sweet to bake, it was the eggless caveat in mind.  I don't mind substituting for one egg in a pinch, but beyond that you can't gamble too fast and loose wtih baking.

I stumbled upon a blondie recipe at Smitten Kitchen - and with only one egg I figured I could make it work.  I subbed about 1/3 cup canned pumpkin for the egg and also added 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice.  With some chopped almonds and chocolate chips, these were definitely what the doctor ordered!

Pumpkin Blondie with Almonds and Chocolate Chips

Riding Out the Storm

Oh Sandy!!

Call it Frankenstorm, call it a blizzicane - either way Sandy has been wreaking havoc across the eastern seaboard since yesterday.  Here in the DC area, that means that Metro has been closed and nearly everyone seems to be off work.

Metro Remains closed through Tuesday AM

I'm lucky living downtown in that my power seems to be relatively reliable.  Cross my fingers, but I haven't lost power in the city yet (Take that Irene, derecho, and Sandy)! I know there will be some cleanup, but it feels good to be prepared.  Going about the prep in my little 1 bedroom made me feel grown-up in a way -  the plants had to come in off the balcony and be cordoned off from the cat, filled up water jugs, and had flash lights, lanterns, and candles at the ready.  Even though I'm nearly 30, I sometimes am surprised by my reaction: oh! I can do this myself, and I don't even need my parents!  Actually, I think my parents may have been a little disappointed that I didn't need them, since they called throughout the day just to check up on me (they're the best!).

The internet has really changed the way we deal with Mother Nature.  Facebook is entirely taken up with Frankenstorm posts - and mostly with my female friends posting about cleaning their apartments and baking.  All that inspiration and a little dose of restlessness left me hungry!  So off to Pinterest to finally try out some of those recipes I've pinned ages ago.  A blizzicane obviously calls for warm comforting soup - so I made a white bean and roasted garlic soup based on this recipe from Pease Pudding.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup

I used canned white cannellini beans, and roasted my own garlic.  There is nothing like the delicious rich smell of roasted garlic infusing the air in your apartment to instill a sense of calm while a hurricane rages outside.  I roasted mine in foil packets with a tiny bit of olive oil (and sopped up that oil with some bread after roasting!) I also included some of the thyme from my newly relocated plants.  Comforting, delicious, and pretty dang easy.  This will definitely go into the rotation.

Oven Roasted Garlic

Sprouted

I love the internet.  Before the internet, where did we watch videos of exotic baby animals and learn about up to second breaking news celebrity gossip?  Need to prove to your friend the obvious answer of who would win in a match between a giant mantis and a spiny leaf insect? Youtube has your answer: Monster Bug Wars (awesome show!).

The internet has a lot of awesome, useful things.  I love to cook, and I'm always looking to make something new.  So low and behold, having mastered dry beans, I realize that you can sprout beans.  Yes - bean sprouts, like you buy in the store, you can make that at home and its pretty much the easiest thing ever.  I'm talking 5 minutes of effort, and no special equipment.

I followed this website: eHow - Sprouting Garbanzo Beans - and simply used a large metal bowl and a paper towel.  You can soak them anywhere from 36-72 hours.

Day 2 - Delicious!

After a day, the sprouts had tails about 1/4 inch long.  Personally, at this stage I thought they were still too crunchy.  By day 2 I was AMAZED at how much the sprouts had grown - the tails were closer to an inch (see above)!  To see things in my garden take weeks or months to produce, sprouts are like instant gratification.  At the end of the 2nd day, I found them to be more to my liking for not only putting in other dishes like mung bean spouts, but also straight on salads.

Hooray for sprouts!!

Killer Cacti!

Watch out for those Killer Cacti!

There have been a lot of changes around here.  Well... perhaps not in the blog world since I have been consistently absent.  The rest of life, though, seems to be constantly in flux, and seems to be especially crowded as of late.  Changes at work, and at home, can make the little things feel even bigger.

I went through an administrative change at work - same job, same clients, different company paying me - and the administrative changes are so frustrating.  New insurance, new 401k, new administrative procedures. Woof.

The manfriend, Mr. Lincoln, went off to Arizona to go to grad school, and I've be working to reestablish a routine as a (geographically) single woman in the City.

I spent last weekend in Arizona (my first trip!) and we got in some quality time. We drove up to Sedona, taking in the desert vistas from our rental convertible and a perfectly relaxed night watching the moon rise from our hotel balcony with pizza and champagne.  It doesn't get much sweeter than that.

Moonrise from the balcony

Its a tough change, and a big adjustment, but I always find the old adage is true: distance makes the heart grow fonder.  Its a great reminder to cherish the time we spend together and to slow down and enjoy each others company.

Brunch at Ken's Creekside