Unsung Heroes: Wilma Rudolph. Awesome blog post about a female runner I’d never heard of.
Month: May 2011 (page 4 of 8)
Gripe
Oh good grief. The goddamn New York Times has an article about “yarn-bombing,” aka “graffiti knitting,” aka that annoying “movement” I ranted about two years ago. I thought it had jumped the shark back then, but here we are still taking about it in the most famous newspaper in the world. VOMIT. I also like how a “movement” that is supposedly so DIY and subversive and anti-consumerist is now being officially sponsored by Toyota and Smart Car. The founder of the movement has quit her job to make a full-time career out of this. She doesn’t even knit the stuff by hand anymore; she has five assistants and uses looms. I guess this gives me yet another reason for not taking part in any “yarn-bombing” projects: they get sold as some sort of community-minded art project, when in reality you’re just helping promote somebody’s made-up trend that’s now used to sell cars and surfboards.
Shared today on Google Reader:
- The most awesome, the most incredible marriage proposal EVAR! Video goes viral – Awww. Yeah, I feel like this has been done before, but it was still very sweet.
- Hamburger battle: Five Guys v Shake Shack v In-N-Out
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Shared today on Google Reader:
- Android Leaking Authentication Tokens in Clear Text
- All Plastics Are Bad for Your Body, New Study Finds | Rodale News – The Snook already hassles me for microwaving things in plastic. I guess we’ll be on the lookout for glass containers now…
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Well, this sucks. Just saw on Michael’s blog that the Duck & Swan is closing. That’s our favourite local pub. That’s where we went to celebrate moving into our house. The new owners are English and – reading between the lines – they sound like jerks.
Shared today on Google Reader:
- Transplant Recipients of Julio Garcia´s Organs Gather in Thanks – NYTimes.com – Lovely story about the lives saved through organ donation.
- How-To: Easy Knit Clock Frame
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Shared today on Google Reader:
- The Lazarus File | MetaFilter – Fascinating story.
- How good are your requirements specifications?
- Self-flagellation geek style
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Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #15: Kinda Sausage Cassoulet
This is our 15th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals… and the FIRST ONE we actually managed in UNDER 30 MINUTES! It’s “Kinda Sausage Cassoulet, Warm Broccoli Salad, and Meringues.” We picked it because we had the episode; it seemed like a good wintery choice; and we had a lot of the ingredients on hand. I was also carb-loading for my long run, so BEANS YAY.
Substitutions: We used a can of tomatoes rather than passata. (Jamie suggested that substitution on the show.) The Snook doesn’t like broccolini, so we used regular broccoli instead. For the dessert, we had mini meringues instead of big ones, and we used frozen raspberries instead of fresh. Everything else was as-written.
Quick verdict: Woohoo, 28:52! It helped that the cassoulet was basically a one-pot dish and the dessert is just assembly. But still, this is by far the fastest meal we’ve found in the book. Also, it’s pretty tasty and it makes HEAPS of leftovers. We were surprised how good the cassoulet turned out given how little cooking time it has. The “dressing” on the broccoli seemed weird when I was making it, but it’s actually really nice and I can see myself using it again. Overall we both rated it 9 out of 10! Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. We also needed the food processor for this one. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The oven was turned on to 220C and the kettle was boiled. We had a big roasting tray for the cassoulet, a saucepan for the broccoli, and an oven-safe frying pan for the sausages.
First up are the ingredients for the cassoulet: smoked bacon, red onions, rosemary, sage, bay leaves, leeks, chipolata sausages, bread, garlic, tomatoes, butter beans, and cannellini beans.
Just a few things for the broccoli salad: broccoli, red onion, garlic, tomatoes, lemon.
Lastly the dessert ingredients: raspberries, honey, Greek yoghurt, meringues, and lemon curd.
Pots and pans, ready to go. The big roasting pan is on the heat for the cassoulet. The frying pan is for the sausages, and the saucepan is for the broccoli.
The food processor is fitted with the chopping blade to turn the bread into bread crumbs.
Here we go! Step one is to chop up your bacon and fry it with some oil in the roasting pan. Note: It pays to get really nice bacon for this dish, since it provides a lot of the flavour. We got the stupidly expensive $8 bacon at Harris Farm but we both agreed it was worth it in the end.
I put the chipolatas in the hot frying pan with oil to start colouring them.
Next the Snook chops red onions…
…before adding them to the bacon.
The browned sausages go into the oven for 8 minutes to finish cooking. (The handle is oven-safe metal, but we put foil on it to remind us that it’s hot so we don’t grab it by accident.)
Now Snookums chops the leeks.
The leeks go into the roasting pan as well.
For bread, we used the leftover end from a seed loaf the Snook had baked the day before. It goes into the food processor with salt, pepper, oil, sage, and garlic.
Meanwhile, I’ve started the dessert by mushing up some raspberries with honey and yogurt. That goes into the fridge.
The meringues go into glasses with lemon curd on top, with final preparations to be done right before eating.
Snookums whizzes his breadcrumbs.
I start the weird broccoli salad dressing by grating part of a red onion into the serving bowl.
Back to the cassoulet, the Snook adds the canned beans.
The alarm goes off to indicate the sausages are cooked! They come out of the oven.
Tomatoes and herbs have been added to the cassoulet.
Now for the weird part of the dressing: I’m grating tomato flesh and turning it into tomato “slush.” The skin and seeds get discarded.
The cassoulet veg is done cooking, so it’s time for the final steps. The Snook lays down a layer of breadcrumbs.
The sausages get nestled on top.
The rest of the breadcrumbs get sprinkled over.
Oiled sage leaves are put on top, and the whole thing goes into the oven. (This is where I noticed an unfortunate resemblance to the Kitty Litter Cake. Oh well.)
Lemon juice gets added to the dressing. (We obeyed our new rule of only using half as much lemon as Jamie says. It worked out a lot better.)
Raw garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper are mixed in to make the finished dressing.
Time to cook the broccoli. I cut it into long spears to mimic the broccolini used in the book.
It doesn’t cook very long, then it gets drained.
The broccoli then gets tossed with the dressing. And now that’s done!
The cassoulet has come out of the oven and is now finished.
Here’s the completed meal of Kinda Sausage Cassoulet with Warm Broccoli Salad.
To finish the dessert, we topped the meringue and lemon curd with the raspberry yogurt, honey, and extra raspberries to garnish.
Tasting notes: The cassoulet was excellent. Definitely don’t skimp on the bacon though; the smokiness really made it special. It also makes HUGE portions and we’ve got lots of leftovers for lunch. The warm broccoli salad was a nice accompaniment. We normally just eat it steamed with a little olive oil, so this made for a refreshing change. I’ll remember that trick. The dessert was a little sweet for the Snook’s taste, but it was tasty. I also like that it looks special despite only taking like 3 minutes of actual work. Overall we both rated this meal highly – 9/10 – and we’re still high-fiving over finishing in under 30 minutes. This one’s a winner!
Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals!
I ran a marathon today.
Seriously. I DID IT. This was my last training run before next month’s Macleay River Marathon. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet. I did 1:1 intervals the whole way. And I did this one all on my own, without any running partners (other than the Snook for the last 3K). BABY I’M A FIREWORK! (Run data: part 1 / part 2)
I was pretty well-prepared for this one. You should see the checklist I made the day before! Everything was ready. As I’ve done on all my long ones, I used a mix of Endura and Hammer gels and took one every 45 minutes along the way. I also used Endurolytes to mitigate cramping; 2 at the start and then 2 every hour. I put Body Glide everywhere I thought I might chafe, and I slathered Neurofen gel everywhere that felt sore. I also made sure to take a Zyrtec the night before, and I had some paracetamol and Tums before I started. (Stress gives me acid reflux.)
Okay! So that’s the OCD stuff out of the way. I got up at 5am (only a few hours’ sleep, of course) and had a coffee and some oatmeal for breakfast. I was dressed and out on the road exactly at 6am. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and it was COLD. I headed up Broadway to Glebe, passing runners headed to the SMH Half. I wished all of them good luck as I ran by. I was deliberately going really slowly, trying to keep my pace down while I warmed up. My fingers were like ice. I ran around Blackwattle Bay and then headed up Victoria Road. I became aware of needing to pee. This is unusual; I rarely need to make pitstops on my runs. But I guess I overhydrated, so I had to stop at a gas station and use the facilities. I got to Iron Cove Bridge at about 6:45, just as the sun was finally coming up over the city. My pace started to pick up.
I did two laps around the Bay Run. It was quiet at first, but gradually the number of runners started to increase. I became aware that there was actually a race on that day (“The Memory Run/Walk” to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s, I think) but it didn’t start til 9am. I felt good! My pace was picking up. My right foot was hurting – I’d taped it since my injury isn’t quite 100% yet – but I told myself that dealing with pain is part of the marathon challenge. I had to pee AGAIN, so I used the toilet near the Leichhardt Oval. I was doing well with my nutrition, but I wasn’t drinking much. (I was so cold that it took a good hour before I started sweating noticeably.)
I stopped to fill my water bottles a final time before heading towards home. Unfortunately I fumbled with the iPhone and somehow managed to stop my run. D’oh! So I had to start a new one. I headed back up Victoria Road. My pace dropped a little on the uphill sections, but I picked it up on the downhills. When I got to the fish markets, I realised I was actually a little ahead of my mental schedule so I added an extra bit by running up Bridge Road to Glebe.
I was feeling good when I got to the house. The Snook helped refill my water, Endurolytes, and gels while I used the bathroom and changed my shirt. I took a couple more paracetamol and slathered on some more Neurofen gel. I was smiling, but I could tell my legs were feeling tired. But 20-30K is when I get my second wind, and I knew I was going to enjoy heading to Centennial Park.
I had a big smile on my face when I got to Centennial. My pace was still great! I did 2.5 laps, staying mostly on the inner track (which is grass and dirt – I thought it would be easier on my legs). The day had turned absolutely beautiful by that point, and the park was full of families, sporting teams, and picnickers. My feet were still sore, but they’d passed through pain into comfortable numbness, to be honest.
Once I hit the 30K mark, things started to SUCK. My left calf suddenly started hurting. I’ve never had pain there before! (I think maybe because I was compensating for my sore right foot by pushing off more with my left?) Then both of my quads started feeling quaky and tentative. I took an extra walk break and tried to regroup. I kept looking at my WWBD? bracelet and telling myself “Keep it together.” I suddenly remembered that Galloway recommends going into a “shuffle” when your legs are tired or hurting. I tried it out. It worked! The less I lifted my feet, the less it hurt. I morphed into a new superhero: THE AMAZING SHUFFLER, whose ability is to skim the ground while barely touching it. The idea of it made me laugh.
By that point all the podcasts I’d queued up were finished, so I switched over to music. At the 23 mile mark, Katy Perry’s “Firework” came on and I NEARLY LOST IT. I’d been too preoccupied with the pain and my nutrition and just all the logistics to really deal with the emotional side of what I was doing, but the music just opened me right up. (Seriously? That is a REALLY GOOD song to listen to when you’re doing something difficult.) I actually had to tell myself to calm down, to not start celebrating the accomplishment when I still had 5K to go! The music did help me focus on the fun rather than the pain and tiredness though.
I left the park and headed towards home. I knew the Snook was heading towards me. I met him near the tennis courts on Cleveland Street, and he ran with me the last 3K to home. The nicest part of these runs has been being with him when I meet my goals! We abandoned the strict intervals then, just running/shuffling as much as I could and walking when I needed a break. (He thought my superhero idea was pretty funny, referring to me as “Captain Shuffle” at one point.) We had to add on a little extra around Prince Alfred Park to meet the distance. And then suddenly… we were done! It was actually pretty anticlimactic. Surprisingly, I didn’t have an emotional freakout like I thought I would. I guess I got that out of my system 5K earlier, huh? 🙂
Clock time was 6:36, but that included a couple toilet breaks, water refills, stop lights, etc. My actual “chip time” was 5:55:36, so I actually met my goal of breaking 6 hours! (I just hope I can do it on the day.) I never hit the glycogen wall. Yeah, my legs got real sore in the last 6 miles, but my pace remained pretty consistent and I never felt like I lacked the energy to run. (I LOVE the 1:1 intervals.) Back at home, I had a couple protein drinks and sat in an ice bath while the Snook cooked me a monster steak with fries. BEST POST-RUN TREATMENT EVER. My lower legs are still really sore, especially that left calf. But I’ve got 4 weeks of taper now to heal everything up before my big run.
YOU GUYS, I CAN TOTALLY RUN A MARATHON!
Shared today on Google Reader:
- Deciding about fertility
- Inigo Montoya Card by rakkadeer on Etsy – This is pretty brilliant.
- The original design of Mount Rushmore
- 3D ASCII Animated GIF
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