June

The husband is back (and a graduated optometrist!), and with him my desire to cook. The last few months it seemed so much easier to grab something on the way home than to actually cook for myself. I will spare you the excuses and get to the food.

Starting with the delicious out to eat food. Craigie on Main, Kathleen and I had a steak bigger than our heads for dinner and it was really wonderful. Thanks to Anthony Bourdain for the suggestion! Myers+Chang, I cannot wait to go back. Then the usual places that I take visitors, which I’ve had quite a few of in the last 3 months! pomodoro in the North End is the best Italian I’ve had. Barking Crab is always a good time and I tried my first raw oyster (not for me), Zaftig’s for my favorite reuben, Bon Chon for delicious Korean fried chicken, Pizzeria Regina, Dorado, the list goes on but I think I got my favorites!

If you haven’t gathered from that list, I really should be running more.

Last night I made bibimbap…

Vegetable goodness

Which, from what I understand is a fairly traditional Korean dish that I hope I didn’t bastardize too much. The flavor combination is unbelievable and it’s so filling.

There’s been a lot of knitting,

Baby blanket for our upcoming niece

and SOME running (I’m finished with PT and it actually feels good!). I am doing a summer series of 5 5ks to see if I can beat my high school time! Last week was 22:09 post 2 beers so, since my PR was 20:30, I think I can do it! Then later in the summer I will get back into training for some fall halfs.

I’ve read some good books, like The Marriage Plot, and am working on reading Game of Thrones (watched season 1 of the show already, good stuff).

Snow White and the Huntsman was the best movie I’ve seen in awhile and that about catches it up for now!

 

Where’s the snow?

I really don’t understand why it’s raining. Why it’s 61 degrees on December 6th. Why there’s a Christmas tree in my living room when I can wear shorts to run.

Anyways, I’m pretending it’s winter.

I’m squirreling away cookies and cookie dough in my freezer like it’s my job. (Which it’s not, I haven’t forgotten about this real job and the very real committee meeting coming up in January).

I’m attending holiday parties (in horrifyingly festive sweatshirts).

I’m curling up on the couch reading my kindle (instead of reading the stack of papers currently in my excellent wicker basket).

Lucy is playing dreidel, flights to go home are booked, presents are purchased…WHY IS IT RAINING!?

Anyway…

Real Simple’s pot roast was really too easy to be so good. Have I mentioned how much I love my slow cooker?

This magazine, 99% of the time stands by its name and produces recipes that are easy to create and excellent to eat. Flavorful and hearty.

The lime and soy-glazed chicken from October’s issue was also awesomely simple and a seriously modified slaw made for a balanced dinner.

And David Lebovitz’s recipe turned leftover dulce de leche into a fudgey, need to go running immediately kind of brownie.

Mindy Kaling’s book was really funny and then, on an opposite note, I started Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale yesterday. Very weird and intense but I am loving it.

And as a parting note, here’s hoping that tomorrow’s sports massage takes care of this, the third month of the unstretchable knot in my hamstring. It is really ruining my ability to run hills and wear flats.

Pseudovegetarian

All I can say about my vegetarian journey is that it’s a process. I am cooking a lot less meat, and when I cook it, I’ve found that there are plenty of places to get grass fed beef! Chicken is harder, turkey is nearly impossible (besides Applegate Farms lunchmeat) and pork, being something that is absolutely the worst for the environment and possibly the cruelest to the animal, pork is out. The hardest part of that has been bacon and pepperoni! Anyways, these are my latest vegetarian adventures.

Quality Ingredients

+ a cute apron

=spectacular eggplant parmesan

I am so glad that I didn’t let the 2 hour preparation scare me out of making this delectable dish. Some of the best things, like Mama’s brisket recipe, take 2+ hours.

On the other hand, there’s this.

Fall is here.

The absolute best part about this is that that super unnatural looking cheesy color is nothing unnatural at all! It’s butternut squash! Thank you to Kathleen and Rachael Ray for bringing this into my life. And even with the world’s least helpful sous chef (who insists on watching if there’s anything boiling at all)

This is for me, right?

this recipe is a piece of cake.

In less vegetarian news, well, there was the brisket, and then chipotle lime grilled chicken thighs from Gourmet. And I’m sorry to sound like a snob, but organic chicken just tastes better. You’ll have to trust me because my food blogger photographs have been outweighed by my half marathon training appetite.

Generally life is excellent. Science is working, Cutting for Stone is a great book so far, running is going well, 2 fall half marathon’s coming up, and I always get excited when school starts again, even though I’m not in class :). I’m a dork like that. The chill in the air means one thing to my tomorrow morning…pumpkin spice lattes, it’s been too long :).