Celebrate Good Times

Sometime in the past few weeks someone said to me, “I haven’t visited your blog lately. What have you been cooking?” All I could do was laugh. Food-wise, I haven’t been cooking, at least nothing “blog-worthy”, whatever that means. My standing Tuesday night plans with Joe involve the treadmill, a BodyPump class, and a black bean and rice salad from Calypso Café.

Life-wise, things have been cooking.

1. Joe’s Residency Graduation
It’s hard to believe that four short-but-long years ago, Joe and I embarked on a journey when we a) got married b) Joe started his anesthesia residency and c) I started seminary. So we celebrated with family and friends and lots of food including this cake from Dulce Desserts, the same bakery that made our wedding cake. And if you ever get asked if you would like edible glitter on that, the answer is always, “Yes.” It was hard to get TOO excited about Joe graduating from residency seeing as he starts his critical care fellowship on July 1 with a month of night shifts. *sad trombone*

2. Abby and John’s Engagement Party in Memphis
In the midst of Joe’s graduation, my mom and I skipped town to head west for Abby and John’s engagement party. It was so good to see them again so soon after my ordination and meet some of John’s family about whom I had only heard stories. Additionally, I ended up knowing a few of John’s old neighbors through Episcopal circles. Also, no one really believed that I was going to perform their wedding.

3. Streaking
For the second time, I’m participating in a Runner’s World Run Streak, running at least one mile per day from Memorial Day to July 4th. It’s also really hot outside. This streak has been more successful than the last one, though. I’ve had minimal aches and pains, and it’s been nice to start nearly every day with a run. So far, I’ve run 112.5 miles in 29 days, which is close to an average of 4 miles a day. Pretty cool.

4. Miscellaneous
Hanging out with the Vanderbilt Commodore at the hospital, training CPE interns, preaching, meetings and e-mails and phone calls about exciting things that I can’t tell you about yet, finally watching the season finale of Mad Men, wine with friends, and my CPE Consultation Committee.

What are you celebrating lately?

Willamette Valley/Portland Vacation Part 2

Part 1 of our vacation can be found here.

We wrapped up our time in the Willamette Valley with dinner at the famous Joel Palmer House. Normally, it would’ve been a little rich for our blood, but they had a three-course special for the month of April. Joel Palmer House specializes in mushrooms – all kinds of mushrooms. Local mushrooms and local wine were right up our alley.

A sample of the mushroom risotto with truffle shavings arrived as an amuse bouche. I followed it up with the mushroom tart with truffle “snow”. Joe ordered the wild mushroom soup that had the shape of a mushroom drizzled on top with cream. For my entrée, I picked the marinated sturgeon over quinoa with a mushroom duxelle and cayenne aioli. The presentation and flavors and textures all complemented one another beautifully. I couldn’t turn down the trio of sorbets, though now I can’t remember what they were… I believe the one on the left was candycap mushroom and one of them involved basil. I’m always a fan of a restaurant where the chef is actually back in the kitchen and occasionally circulates around the dining room to check on how everyone is enjoying the food. Neither Joe nor I could believe just how incredible this meal was.

The next morning we left the Willamette Valley to explore the Portland area. I requested a trip to the Columbia River Gorge, and I was not disappointed. After an initial mix-up that involved us hiking to nothing in the drizzly rain and mud, not being able to see from an overlook, and me getting grumpy, we found what we were looking for – waterfalls!

 

We spent quite a while hiking around Latourell Falls. We crossed a log bridge and got ourselves out onto a point overlooking the the top of the falls, which was very scary and very cool. Then we continued on to Bridal Veil Falls and Multnomah Falls. By the time we arrived at The Governor Hotel, we were a little embarrassed to waltz through the fancy lobby in our muddy clothes and shoes. The travel gods were smiling on us this trip, and we were upgraded to a room with a huge balcony where Joe Mad Men-ed it up with some Pacific Northwest coffee.

We were thirsty after all that hiking, so we cleaned up and walked to Deschutes Brewery for some beers and hockey. Somehow we scored two seats at the bar and watched the choreography of bartenders as they satiated the thirsty crowd that constantly demanded their attention. After a few beers, we strolled over to dinner at Gruner. Out of all the restaurants that I looked at, Joe was most intrigued by Gruner’s take on traditional German/Austrian cuisine since he lived in Milwaukee for several years, and he was not disappointed.

We started with the beet-pickled deviled eggs (top left corner) and a venison terrine with fiddlehead ferns (bottom right). Side note: sometimes I eat meat when it’s a special trip or cuisine. My entrée is no longer on the spring menu, but I believe it involved quail and soft-boiled quail eggs on a salad of wilted greens. We opted out of dessert in order to hit as many locations as possible in one evening, and our check was brought to us in a German-language copy of  Eduard Morik’s Der Alte Turmhahn.

A couple of friends had recommended Andina to us, but it was very difficult to get a reservation, so we tried to get in for dessert and after-dinner drinks with success. It was definitely the place to be since it was still busy late at night. I don’t remember much about what we ordered except that it was good, very good, and I was extremely full. From the menu, I’m pretty sure I had the Melones con Aji to drink – “Hendrick's gin shaken with lime juice, sugar and agua de melón (fresh cantaloupe juice), served on the rocks with a float of agua de pepino (cucumber water), lime zest and ají en polvo (ground hot peppers)”. Yeah, that thing.

Somehow, the next morning, we rolled out of bed, ran the only 3 miles I ran all week just to end up at Voodoo Doughnut. There was no way that Joe was leaving Portland without a maple-bacon doughnut. Those doughnuts are HUGE, and I didn’t have my phone or camera with me, so no pictures.

As we were at the rental car place returning the car, the sun came out to wish us safe travels back to Nashville!

No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake

I love summer. Despite the heat and the humidity, it’s my favorite season of the year. Sure, my running slows down (not that I’m blazing fast to begin with), and my mornings start early, but no season is perfect. Summer is fresh vegetables, farmer’s markets, and grilling out with friends. Summer is also BUSY, but busy in a fun road-tripping-on-the-weekends-for-big-occasions kind of way. Last weekend, my parents and I traveled to Charlottesville, VA to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday.

This past week, Joe and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, and this weekend, Joe has his graduation from residency. One of his classmates, sensing the impending scattering of the people they have worked with closely for the last four years hosted a cook-out this past weekend. I’m sure there will be plenty more “bring a side or dessert” kinds of gatherings this summer, and this cake is a great one to bring. Light and sweet with fruit, you don’t even have to turn on the oven. I’m not one for overly sweet desserts, and having forgotten to add the confectioners’ sugar, I didn’t even miss it. It was so easy, even Joe assisted with slicing strawberries and requested to add the chocolate ganache drizzle.

No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
source: The Kitchn via So, How’s it Taste?

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed
3 1/4 cups whipping cream, divided
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
21 graham crackers
2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

Preparation

Take out a few of the best-looking strawberries and set them aside for the garnish. Hull the remainder of the strawberries and slice each berry into thin slices.

With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 3 cups of cream until it just holds stiff peaks. Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla, and whip to combine.

Spread a small spoonful of whipped cream on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan, or a similarly-sized platter. Lay down seven graham crackers. Lightly cover the top of the graham crackers with more whipped cream, and then a single layer of strawberries. Repeat until you have three layers of graham crackers. Spread the last of the whipped cream over the top and swirl it lightly with a spoon. Add a few more strawberries.

To make the ganache, heat the cream until bubbles form around the edges, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a few minutes, then whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy. Drizzle this over the layered dessert with a spoon, or transfer to a squeeze bottle and use that to drizzle.

Refrigerate for at least four hours, or until the crackers have softened completely. Garnish with additional berries.

Willamette Valley Vacation Part 1

I really like to travel, but when someone says “vacation,” I have particular requirements: relaxation, no agenda, sleeping in, and no pressure to see certain things. It’s why I haven’t been to Europe since I was 16. When Joe and I were planning our spring vacation, we struggled with location/price. Looking up random destinations on Southwest and Expedia just to cringe at ticket prices wasn’t very effective. Somehow we settled on Portland and the Willamette Valley. I’d never been further northwest than the Russian River Valley, and it seemed like a place where we could drink wine (check), eat good food (check), and enjoy beautiful scenery (check). Sounds like a good vacation to me!

We flew over snow-covered mountains on our descent into Salt Lake City where we drank some locally-brewed, extremely low-alcohol beer. The flavor was good, but it tasted weak. We arrived in Portland, picked up our car (upgraded due to a mistake!), and headed to Newberg where we were staying in a VRBO. Along the way, we picked up our Dundee Hills AVA Passports that I had ordered. For $15 each in the month of April, the passports provided us with discounts and extra tastings all around the Dundee Hills AVA. It was a great deal and helped us organize our tasting room visits.

After dropping off our luggage, we jumped back in the car to hit our first tasting room of the trip: Alexana Winery. The wine was good, and the tasting room was beautiful. The woman pouring sent us on our way to Black Walnut Inn & Vineyard to soak in some views and taste some more wine. They were incredibly hospitable, and the views were stunning. We headed back into town to get something to eat since our internal clocks were off. Red Hills Market came highly recommended, so we split a cheese plate, a margherita pizza, and a 375 ml bottle of, what else, Pinot Noir!

We took the opportunity the next day to really break in our passports starting with Archery Summit Vineyards. Archery Summit had some of the best wine we tasted all trip, but the prices were a little on the steep side for our budget. Next we headed to De Ponte Cellars where we tried a white, Melon de Bourgogne, that I’d never had before. As proof that I should’ve taken better notes, we hit a few other places that I can’t remember. Our least favorite place of the trip was Stoller vineyards. I was excited about their LEED certified building, but when I asked the woman working about it, she could hardly tell me anything. We ended our day at Four Graces, a cozy little place right outside of downtown Dundee. Several people had recommended it to us and with good reason.

Some friends of ours came down from Portland for dinner at Subterra in Newberg. It was wonderful to catch up with them, and the food was reasonably priced and quite good. However, the service was lacking. Both Joe’s and my soup could’ve stood to be warmer. Fortunately, our company was enjoyable because our dinner dragged on and on!

Based on a recommendation from our friends, we headed down the road a ways to the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Personally, this was my favorite day of our trip. Cristom, St. Innocent, Bethel Heights, and Left Coast all welcomed us with relaxed atmospheres, incredible wines, and stunning scenery. Left Coast even has a little bistro with sandwiches and other food for sale along with wine by the glass. It didn’t hurt that the sun came out, so we enjoyed our hummus plate outside!

We closed our the wine portion of our day at Youngberg Hill Vineyards, which is also an inn. The person working there invited us to relax on their balcony and take our time with our wine, even pouring us a little extra of the one we enjoyed the most.

Joe caught me playing on my phone instead of enjoying the view.

Winding up the wine portion of our day, we headed back into McMinnville for dinner, though we both decided we weren’t hungry. Fortunately we stumbled onto a bar with good local beers and free pool where we played nine-ball until we got hungry and ate at McMenamins.

We woke up the next morning to nearly impenetrable fog, which made winding our way up the gravel roads to the wineries a little touch-and-go at times. Bergstrom and White Rose were the highlights of the day, both with finely crafted Pinot. We took the tour at Domaine Drouhin, where they grow and produce wine exactly as they do in Burgundy – the only difference being terroir.

Up next: Dinner at Joel Palmer House, Columbia River Gorge, and a night out in Portland

Flying Pig Marathon Race Recap

Last spring I had the thought that I just might be ready for a full marathon the next spring. The women’s forum (the LLR) on the running website I use was planning a meet-up for Flying Pig in 2012, and I posited that perhaps that could be my first full marathon. Training started on January 1st, 2012, and on May 6th, I started and completed 26.2 miles.

To start at the very beginning, Joe and I arrived in Cincinnati (well, across the river in Kentucky) late Friday night. The next morning, my mom and I went for a 2.5 mile jog across the river and back to shake out our legs. I felt good and strong, better than I had all week. I was raring to go…to the expo!

Where I got a little hyper at the Finish Swine, nabbed our very nice race swag, and took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a few items. Then we met up with the LLR ladies for lunch and headed back to the hotel to rest before an early pizza dinner with the LLR group followed by Graeter’s ice cream. I laid out my stuff, set the alarm for 4:15 am, and slept decently well given my adrenaline.

Early to rise for the 6:30 am start in order to let the coffee, water, and bagel with peanut butter provided by the Hampton Inn settle. Mom drove Joe, his friend Angela who was running the half with him, and me to the free carpool parking lot (one of the very few non-ideal race-related organizational things). We waited to get on a bus and shuttled to the start line where there were lots of other half-awake, half-jittery runners mulling about. We checked our bags easily and quickly, hit the bathrooms, and found our corral AKA our “pigpen”. Luckily, we ran into the other LLR gals and hung out for a while before the start.

The support of these ladies is phenomenal. I don’t know who was more excited about how my first marathon – me or them! We crossed the start line a short 8 minutes after the official start, and I settled into a comfortable pace up and over the first several bridges, into Kentucky, and back into Ohio before we turned to head through downtown. I cannot say enough about the crowd support for this race. We could hear the crowds along Seventh before we got there, and the cheering didn’t stop there. After we left downtown, we began “the climb”, 3 miles of elevation gain leading up to an overlook. I was thankful for doing a lot of my training on hills. We slowed our pace a little, but I never felt my legs or lungs really hurt.

My dad rode his bike around the course and snapped this picture of us after mile 7. I was looking and feeling good but had to make a short bathroom stop once we reached the top. The half marathoners split off shortly after the climb, and we continued on our way, ticking off the miles. Somewhere between 8 and 10, I took a swig of Gatorade and almost immediately felt it hit my stomach. That began a series of off and on stomach issues that resulted in a total of 6 stops. Fortunately, there were a LOT of aid stations and bathrooms along the course. Besides the bathroom time lost, our pace was right on target through the halfway point.

Then the temperature started to noticeably rise as the sun got higher in the sky. It was going to be a warm one, and we had a lot of time left out on the course. Crowd support got me to mile 18, and then we hit a long expanse of highway with no shade in sight. I remember thinking to myself, “Okay, this is about to get REAL.” I took a vanilla bean GU and tried to think about grinding out the last 8 miles. Our walk breaks became more frequent. Everything hurt. The sun was beating down on us. My mom looked at me and said, “One goal: get to the finish line.”

Somewhere, there was a group of girls with Frisbees full of ice chips, and I grabbed a handful and shoved them in my sports bra, thanks to a tip from Kelly. Along the way, after 20 miles, another group had cold towels. I ran through every sprinkler and dumped water on my head and neck, just trying to stay cool. We turned the bend and could see downtown Cincinnati in the distance, and it looked So. Far. Away.

The mile markers seemed to stretch out as our pace slowed, and I had to make a few more bathroom stops. Even with two miles left to go, I wasn’t sure I could make it. The 5:00 pacer passed us with no one in tow. I had really wanted to finish in under 5:00, and my mom asked if I wanted to go with her or keep walking. I shook my head and let her go by. One goal: Finish.

Around mile 25, I realized that I just might actually finish this thing. It helped that everyone around us looked just as bad as we did or maybe worse. At every aid station, people told us how strong we looked, how awesome we were, and shouted out our names from our bibs. “C’mon, Kira! You can do this!” We walked up a final hill and began the descent to the finish line. Spectators still lined the white fencing, and I saw Joe, Angela, and my dad cheering for us. My mom and I grabbed hands as we crossed the finish line and stopped our watches. 5:06:39, unofficial. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want anyone to think I needed medical attention. An LLR friend was in the chute and gave us a sweaty hug while we got water. Food-wise, NOTHING sounded good, but I grabbed a granola bar for later.

I tried to walk around a little bit, but all I wanted to do was sit down shortly after we found Dad, Joe, and Angela. Joe & Angela had a great race and really enjoyed it. When we got back to the hotel, the front desk staff saw our medals and clapped and cheered for us. I teared up all over again! Changing into my swimsuit to head down to the pool, I inspected the damage: a giant blister on my left second toe, a bad sunburn on my back left shoulder, chafing around my waist from my SpiBelt, and a digestive system that was not feeling good. The next morning, everything was sore including my back and abdominal muscles.

Running a marathon is physically the hardest thing I have ever done, but mentally, I never gave up, even when it really hurt. The crowd support in Cincinnati was unreal. For a city that I haven’t spent much time in, I loved what I saw – fun neighborhoods, great scenery, and intergenerational support ranging from seniors sitting out in front of assisted living homes to little kids passing out high fives and Twizzlers. There were very few logistical glitches that I saw – one being the whole free carpool shuttle thing (not enough shuttles, waiting too long, uninformed bus drivers) and the other being the Port-a-Potties right near the entrance to the corral creating a major traffic jam. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone wanting to run their first marathon.

Thank you Flying Pig, Cincinnati, LLR Ladies, Joe, Angela, Dad, and especially my mom for getting me through my first marathon! Next time, sub-5:00 for sure!