Currently: November

I'm still trying to rediscover my blogging voice and carve out time for this little writing space, so I thought I would do a currently post.

Current Netflix/TV Obsession: For the past few weeks I've felt an emptiness as the world waits for more episodes of Orange of the New Black (so fracking good). In the meantime, we have been watching the series Whitechapel. However, some of my students told me that I should start watching the David Tennant Casanova ASAP.

Current Running Revelation: When you are trying to rebuild your fitness back from nothing, the most important thing is just trying to get back out there with some level of consistency. My goal for the month is to run at least 3 times each week and to add 5-10 minutes each week to at least one of those runs.

Current Weight Watchers' Progress: After losing about 10 pounds between March and June, I gained them back in July and August by not following the plan at all. In September and October, I lost and gained the same 3 pounds over and over again. This month I'm hitting reset. I joined an accountability group with some Friends and Friends of Friends on Facebook, and I'm committed to tracking everything.

Currently Looking Forward To: I'm really looking forward to seeing family over the holidays. I can't wait to meet my new niece, Lily, and to see the rest of my family!

Current Book: I'm currently reading Nada by Carmen Laforet in Spanish. I've also recently been reading some of the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels, which are a lot of fun. If you like Downton and/or Sherlock, I highly recommend these.

Current Drink: Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. It's that time of the semester. What can I say?

Current Excitement: Last week I welcomed a new niece to the world! It's pretty thrilling to be an aunty again.

Current Fashion Trend: I love that red, plaids, and houndstooth are in right now. I have quite a few pieces already in my closet, so it's nice to bust them out and feel on-trend.

Current Love: It's pretty dorky, but I'm really lovin' working on my book right now. I'm trying to spend at least 30 minutes most days on it for the rest of this semester since I have a couple of other projects that are still on my desk. I hope I can increase that in the spring, and I can't wait for the summer when I can devote most of my mental energies to it.

Current Food: Pumpkin! My friend has made me delicious pumpkin soups for lunch a couple of times in the past month, and I made a delicious pumpkin seed, parsley, and cilantro pesto the other night. And of course there is the clichéd but always delicious PSL.

Current Indulgence: Painting my nails. I don't always really have the time to do it, but I do it a few times a week anyway.

Currently Pondering: Article revisions and book manuscript revisions. Everywhere I look there are revisions to be done.

Current Mood: Responsible. This afternoon I have an appointment with my financial advisor. Tomorrow I have an appointment to (hopefully) get my treadmill repaired. I'm also setting a goal to make some other appointments that I should have quite some time ago, including an annual exam and a physical.

Current New Find: My happy lamp. After several friends recommended that I get one, I purchased a happy lamp a few weeks ago. Maybe it's placebo effect, but it does seem to be helping my mood and internal clock even as we start moving into the times of much darkness here.

Current Outfit: I'll show you.

Current Peeve: Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age, but I don't have any new peeves to add right now.

Current Song: Since Lou Reed's death, I've been revisiting a lot of my favorite Velvet Undergrounds tunes like "Beginning to See the Light" and "Pale Blue Eyes."

Current Triumph: Returning to yoga. I hadn't been to a class for about a month, and I made it to a nice Yin class last night with a couple of friends.

Current Wish-List: If my treadmill cannot be easily or relatively expensively fixed, a new one will top my wish-list. With the shrinking hours of light, it is just so much more convenient to get in weekday runs on the treadmill, and it's a challenge to fit the gym in more days of the week because of work and car-sharing.

Currently Delaying: Grading.

What are you currently up to? What's currently on your wish-list? What's currently exciting you?

Currently: March

I love the currently posts that my friend Kyria does each month on her excellent blog, so I decided to do one of these again but to add a couple of categories of my own. (Mine are the first four listed.)

Current Netflix Obsession: After blazing through both series of The Hour (damn you, BBC, for not making a 3rd series!!!) earlier this month, I have been watching MI-5. It's amazing to watch episodes from 2002 and note not only how topical they were but also how much things like cellphone and computer technology have changed since then.

Current Running Revelation: I may be able to push through and have an alright run when I have a cold, but if my stomach is bothering me I pretty much turn into a complete mess. I cut two runs short this past week due to some tummy troubles that left me feeling not only a wobbliness in my gut but a bit of lightheadedness as well.

Current Weight Watchers' Progress: My first week was a success. The scale went down a couple of pounds, and I stayed within my points allowance. Admittedly, it probably helped that I wasn't feeling 100% so I didn't feel like eating all that much over part of the weekend.

Currently Looking Forward To: Getting a massage this coming weekend. Also I'm looking forward to finding out about a grant here soon so that I can start making more substantial summer research/travel plans.

Current Book: I just started Roberto Bolaño's 2666. But since I'm reading it in Spanish and it is long and thus it might be 2666 before I finish it, I'm also reading Aphra Behn's Oorinoko.

Current Drink: Lately I've been even more into cognac than usual, and in the afternoons I have been drinking Earl Grey Tea like I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard. (Just file this away under gratuitously nerdy.)

Source

Current Excitement: I'm still pretty excited that my sister is having another baby. I love being an aunt!

Current Fashion Trend: I'm loving some of the interesting floral prints that are trendy this spring. While I probably won't make many purchases due to the limited season here, I love looking at them in magazines and on style blogs.

Current Favorite Blog/Website: I love so many so it's always hard to pinpoint just one, but for this month I'll say that no site has brought me more amusement in the past few days than Undergraduate History Illustrated. Having graded more than a few Western Civ essays and exams, I've seen a few of these and similar kinds of errors myself -- just never so hilariously rendered.

Current Love: My silly-ass dog. She almost never fails to make me laugh with her hijinks, but here lately I've found them especially amusing and endearing.

Current Food: In terms of grocery store produce, this is one of my favorite times of year because Cara Cara navel oranges come back into my life. I love them and could eat them every day!

Current Indulgence: Dark chocolate with sea salt. A little goes a long way for me, and it is so, so good.

Currently Pondering: While I don't want to be deliberately and annoyingly opaque, I also don't want to over-share about other people's concerns so I'll just say that some decisions and their consequences that impact my immediate family are causing my brow to furrow a bit here lately.

Current Mood: Grateful. I'm feeling really lucky right now to have a job that I love and to have colleagues who are willing to read drafts of my work before I send them out into the wider world.

Current New Find: The Waze App. Since Mark and I share a car, it's been great for helping to coordinate pick-ups with less waiting and calling and texting.

Current Outfit: I'll show you, if you'll excuse the bad bathroom mirror shot.

Current Peeve: It drives me crazy when people talk on their phone or text at what I view as inappropriate times -- in class, at the dinner table, while ordering a latte at the coffee shop, while driving   in traffic, etc.

Current Song: I've been feeling some love for The Lumineer's "Ho Hey" here lately.

Current Triumph: Getting my copy of an academic journal with an article that I wrote in it! It's always nice to see tangible progress toward tenure.

Current Wish-List: I wouldn't mind having my own pair of snowshoes.

Currently Delaying: Anything that requires me to go back out into the snow -- at least without new snowshoes. We got an inch or two over the weekend, several inches last night, and it's continuing to fall steadily this morning.

What running revelations have you had lately? What are you currently reading?

The Plan for the Vancouver Half

I'm just under seven weeks away from the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon. I feel really good about my decision to switch to the half, especially as it will help me more fully enjoy the trip to Vancouver as a break at the end of the semester and as some time with Mark before I hit the road for some substantial research trips this summer.

Looking forward to being back in NYC!

This is my plan for the next few weeks:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	30 m walk +/ yoga	3 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	10 mi LSD
2	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	12 mi LSD
3	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	5 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	13 mi LSD
4	30 m walk +/ yoga	5 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	12 mi LSD
5	30 m walk +/ yoga	5 mi	Rest	5 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	15 mi LSD
6	30 m walk +/ yoga	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	3 mi	30 m walk +/ yoga	9 mi LSD
7	30 m walk +/ yoga	3 mi	Rest	3 mi	Rest	Rest	Vancouver Half- Marathon

Again, I plan to work in speedwork on Thursdays and to hopefully run outside at least once a week if possible. Right now it's particularly treacherous as we've been having daily melting and refreezing so a lot of surfaces are slicker than glass right now, so I'm erring on the side of caution. I'd prefer to avoid breaking a leg or bruising my ass if possible.

In other, semi-related news I have decided to quit using the online journaling system I was (not actually recently) using and to join a friend of mine in her quest to lose some weight with Weight Watchers Online. I joined it on Monday. I had been considering doing this for a few weeks in spite of my feelings about the antifeminist tendencies of dieting and the dieting industry. And to be honest I don't really care about the number on the scale -- although it is higher than it has been in years, even higher than right after I'd finished my dissertation -- so much, but I am really bummed that I have found that I can't fit into most of my pants and some of my skirts right now or at least not comfortably. I'd like to remedy that. I'd also like to feel a little lighter on my feet while I'm running as I think that might help me to speed back up to my PR times from 2009.

Without asking you to become the food police, readers, what are your thoughts on keeping myself accountable with the program here?

On the Table: Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

This past weekend, Mark and I went to a cookie exchange party hosted by some friends of ours here in town. While our hosts did not require us to bring cookies -- though we were threatened with serious evil eye if not actual bodily harm if we did not take cookies home with us from the party -- I wanted to make some holiday favorites that I discovered pretty recently thanks to my friend Heather. With the exception of the type of chips and the sugar specifications, this recipe, which makes about 3 dozen cookies, is courtesy of her.

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups (12-oz. package) mint chips or mint chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. In the meantime, combine butter (at room temperature), brown sugar, water, and vanilla in large bowl and beat on medium speed until they are well blended. Add the eggs and beat well. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, beating on low speed until just blended. Stir or gently blend in the mint chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until the cookies appear set. The cookies should still appear soft and moist. Remove from oven and cool on the pan for another 2-3 minutes; remove from cookies from sheet and let them finish cooling on a wire rack. Wear cookie pants, increase mileage, give utensils covered in dough to less metabolically challenged love one, share at a cookie exchange party or all of the above to prevent massively expanding waistline.
,

As you can see, there was no shortage of cookies at the party. (There were actually even more cookies that didn't make it to the table.) It was a great time, and we left with almost as many cookies as we brought with us. The dangerous thing is that my mother has requested that I make the chocolate mint chocolate chip cookies when I visit her over the break.... It's a good thing that I'm gearing up to start marathon training in just under a month....

What are your favorite Christmas cookies to make? Have you ever been to or hosted a cookie exchange party?

Over the Long Weekend: Feasting and Streaking

Over the past few days I have indulged. I've slept in. I've lounged in pjs. I've consumed extra cups of coffee in the morning and beers with friends in the afternoons and evenings. M. and I have had two Thanksgiving dinners. The first was a delicious meal hosted by some friends. There were about twenty people there, including our two closest friends in Anchorage. My friend and I were both attired in outfits that involved oxblood, as you can sort of see from the photo below. It was a fun evening spent chatting and eating. There was an array of dishes: ham, turkey, mushroom and rice dressing, cranberry ambrosia, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, and roasted root vegetables. My contribution was a sweet potato casserole. The selection of desserts was also impressive with pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheese cake, almond cake, a caramel tart, sweet potato ice cream with candied pecans, and chocolates. I tried a little of everything, including the dreaded brussel sprouts. I found out that roasting them is definitely the way to go. While I don't see them becoming a staple in our household, as M. doesn't like them, I enjoyed them and was able to cross an item off my 32 in 32 list.

Thanksgiving Dinner Take 1

I also wanted to make my own dinner since I knew that some of the dishes that I associate with Thanksgiving would not be on the table at dinner on Thursday evening. We had initially thought about doing our second meal on Friday, but we decided to meet up with some friends at Midnight Sun Brewery for a late lunch and a couple of beers and then to acquire our Christmas tree instead. So on Saturday I cooked a smaller scale meal at home including my favorite cornbread dressing as well as green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and some more sweet potato casserole.

Thanksgiving Dinner Take 2

Tree 2012

Although I've been indulging more than usual, I've also been continuing to hit my yoga mat and logging the miles. I have practiced yoga for 25 consecutive days now, and I have noticed that I'm making some gains in upper body strength. I'm still not as strong as I would like to be, but I can hold plank for a bit longer now and downward facing dog is becoming less intense for me -- though it is still not the resting pose that it is for more advanced practitioners. I've also noticed some minor gains in flexibility and that I'm becoming a little less Monty Burns-ish in my posture. A friend back in the Midwest convinced me to attempt the 2012 Holiday Running Streak that Runner's World is challenging readers to do from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Initially I wasn't sure about starting a running streak while in the middle of attempting to maintain a daily yoga practice for a whole month, but at four days into running at least a mile a day I'm feeling relatively optimistic.

Are you participating in the holiday running streak? What is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving?

To the Ballet

One of the things that I love bout being in a large metropolitan area is a chance to soak up culture and the arts. I love spending an afternoon at a museum or an evening at the theater or the opera. However, I can't even remember the last time I went to the ballet. (Maybe I've never gone besides a random recital?) Last night I remedied that by attending a performance of Giselle by the Paris Opera Ballet at the Lincoln Center with a friend. I met up with A., a friend of mine who moved to Manhattan a few months back, for a delicious (if rather pricey) meal at Sapphire, and Indian restaurant on Broadway. After stuffing ourselves with tasty dishes and having a couple of drink, we made our way the couple of blocks over to the Albert Koch Theater to find our seats.

We snapped a few photos on our phones before the start of the performance, but then were chastised. I felt like one of my students who gets busted texting. I may or may not have felt even more like that after I snapped a photo when the ballet had ended, too.

It was an utterly lovely rendition. The athleticism and grace of the dancers were absolutely awe-inspiring -- so much so that I didn't even mind that my nose was running (thank you, allergies) during both acts. The scenery and use of props added perfectly to the story and atmosphere. You could hear the gasps of surprise when the white shrouds of the spirits of jilted women were quickly spirited away.

This trip to NYC is winding down for me. Today is my last day in the archives and tomorrow I'm running a local 5K race and meeting up with a friend from HS days. What are your plans for this weekend? Have you been to the ballet lately?

Greetings from NYC

I arrived in New York yesterday evening after a very fun weekend in Madison to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend. I found my "B&B" (which is a very cute room in an apartment in Harlem) and got settled in without difficulty. I went out and grabbed a slice of pizza for dinner and walked around for a little bit, but I was tired and sweaty from a day of traveling after a pretty late night the night before so I didn't stay out for long.

Because the archives are closed on Mondays, I slept in a little bit this morning and then headed out for a run in Central Park. It was around 8:00 but it was a cooler day today and the temperature was quite pleasant compared to the oppressive heat of last week in the Midwest. There were quite a few other runners out in the park, but it wasn't yet crowded with much tourist traffic. It made for a very enjoyable easy 2.5 miles. As this was my first run in over a week, I kept the pace slow and threw in a couple of walk breaks to take a few photos with my phone. I was thrilled that my neck and shoulder felt back to normal  both before and after the run. It's both a relief and a luxury that I can now plan on running a few times a week while I'm here.

After my run, I got cleaned up, had some coffee, and headed out to do a bit of exploring. I ate an early lunch of a sandwich and a banana in the Conservatory Garden since I hadn't made it there on my run. Then I went to the Guggenheim Museum. I had actually planned to go to either the Cloisters or the Museo del Barrio but realized that they, like many of the museums here, are closed on Mondays. I hadn't been to the Guggenheim previously (at least not the one in New York), though, and, while abstract expressionism isn't my favorite, it was well worth the trip. After a couple of hours in the museum, I decided I needed a snack and headed to Magnolia Bakery for a treat.

I've had sushi for dinner and am back in my B&B with a novel on my kindle for the evening as I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow. If you have any (relatively economical) restaurant recommendations for NYC, I'd love for you to leave them in the comments.

April Goals

April is the last month of classes at my current institution, and I have an oral surgery scheduled for this month. (I guess I'll get to cross #12 of my 32 in 32 bucket list.) Knowing that I have a lot going on, including final papers to grade, and that I will need a few days of taking things easy to recover from having my wisdom teeth cut out, I'm trying to be realistic in my goal setting this month.

Writing/Professional Goals

1. Finish modernizing the other primary source text. For reals. This needs to be off my desk before I leave on my research trip to Madrid. 

2. Make an archival to-do list. I've already started this, but I need to finish this so that I go to Madrid with a solid research plan for making the best use of my four weeks in the archives there. 

3. Make progress on my book proposal. I hope to finish my chapter outlines this month (since I didn't last month) and begin working on revising a sample chapter to send out to presses with the proposal. 

Fitness/Health Goals

1. Maintain my food journal every day during the month of April. Grading often leads to mindless snacking for me. I want to make sure I'm encouraging myself to snack on more fruit and on less cheese and crackers. 

2. Run 70 miles. I will need to take a few days off from running after my surgery, but I'm hoping to make running a few miles a priority and a means of relieving stress during these final weeks of the term. A few speed workouts are also in order during the first part of the month. 

3. Do at least three 45-90 minute yoga practices. Because I'll be gone much of the summer and am moving, I'm canceling my gym membership during the second half of this month. That should give me some extra time for stretching out on my mat and meditating. 

Miscellaneous Goals

1. Take a photo every day for my 365 project and make a collage at the end of the month. I really want to get back on the wagon with this so that I can justify buying a zoom lens at some point this summer.
2. I'd like to try my hand at making my own bagels this month. Mainly, I want to do some baking before it gets so hot that I'd rather the oven not be turned on.

Have you ever made your own bagels? If so, I'd love you to share your recipe or a link to it in the comments! What are your goals for April? 

Eight Goals for 2012

Happy New Year to all of my readers! I hope that you had a wonderful time ringing it in! We spent the evening making and eating a delicious meal, drinking wine and cava, watching a favorite film, and dancing.

I'm sure lots of people are setting twelve goals for 2012 or setting goals to run 12 races in '12, but I decided that I needed to set fewer long term goals this year and use my monthly goal-setting in a more focused way in order to achieve some big things this year. As usual, I have divided my goals up into categories.

Running and Health Goals
1. Run 800 miles in 2012. I came very close to meeting this same mileage goal in 2011, and I have increased my annual mileage each year since 2008. I'm planning on focusing on half-marathons and 10Ks this year, so rather than increasing my goal mileage I'm holding it steady because I want to . . .

2. Get faster. More specifically I want a 10K and a half-marathon PR in 2012. I'm planning on running 3 half-marathons and a couple of 10Ks over the course of the year, and I want to work on getting my legs stronger and more capable of speed at those medium distances.

3. Continue my home yoga practice and take some classes at a studio (or studios). I looked at taking some classes at the Y, but at least during the semester their offerings are not going to work with my teaching schedule. There are a couple of possibilities that might work with my schedule at another local studio, though, so I'm going to drop in for a class or two and see if I like it. If I do, I'll buy a 10-class pass and use it through the winter and spring. I'm also hoping that there will be some visits to my beloved Kundalini studio in Madrid this summer. Those days that I don't do yoga, I still want to spend at least a few minutes being still and meditating.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire year. I did okay with this in 2011, but I definitely could have done better. I'll be employing the sticker calendar system again. I also read a fascinating and sobering article on maintaining weight loss in the NYT recently, so I think continuing awareness of making healthful choices is something that I need to be diligent about doing.

Writing and Professional Goals
5. Write or Revise a minimum of 3 pages/week of academic writing for the entire year.  There is some research that shows that writers who log their writing and hold themselves accountable to others by checking in write almost 10 times as much annually as those who don't. I hope to do quite a bit more than 3 pages most weeks, but my goal is to maintain a consistent habit of writing even when I have way too much other shit going on. The projects I will be mainly working on under this objective are:
A) Submit at least two articles to journals for publication. While I can't completely control what reviewers and editors will decide regarding my submissions, I can do more research and writing and get things out the door.
B) Send my book proposal to publishers, get a book contract, finish writing the manuscript itself. The book proposal is a carry-over from last year, and I'm determined to achieve it this year. I will also continue to write/revise book chapters.
C) Apply for grants that will enable me to do more research. I'm hoping that I can find some funding sources that will allow me to make trips to archives in Spain and Mexico and to use the resources of other libraries and collections over the next year or so.

6. Look into doing service for a professional organization. I'm a member of several professional associations, and I'm interested in doing something in terms of service - sitting on an awards committee, helping with newsletter publication, something along those lines.

Personal Goals
7. Keep a wine and beer journal. I would like to visit some wineries, as well. But for now I'll focus on documenting what I buy, drink, and enjoy (or alternatively think is swill). I'd like to try at least one new wine each month instead of buying the same 5 bottles because I know that I enjoy them.

8. Learn to be a better photographer. In order to do this, I will participate in the 365 project this year. (Should it be the 366 project since it's a leap year?) I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've owned my DSLR for almost as long as I've had this blog, and I still don't know all of its settings. The other day I went to take some shots and realized that I still take some pretty crappy photographs with a good camera. So I want to improve this. Also my mom bought me a tripod and remote for my last birthday, and I want to make better use of the.

A lot of my 2012 goals are focused on establishing daily habits. Some of them seem a little daunting, but most will only take a few minutes a day (like meditating, jotting down my food intake, and taking at least one daily photograph), and some of the others only need half an hour or so here and there in order for me to make progress. A 20 minute yoga practice while coffee is brewing or between teaching and an hour or so of writing is better than no yoga practice at all. Similarly, I need to start approaching writing with a bit more flexibility. While I like having several hours in a day to devote to writing so that I can really  get into a zone, I also need to be better about using those 30-60 minute blocks of time that emerge here and there during teaching days.

Did you set any goals for 2012? If you posted about them, I'd love for you to link up here so that I can read all about them!

The Year in Yoga, Journaling, and Writing

In addition to feasting and relaxing over the past few days I have also spent some time reflecting on where this year has taken me and how I did with the goals that I set for the year. I have already recapped how I did with my 2011 running goals and my year on GAAD. My other goals for the year were related to various aspects of my fitness, career, and maintaining my Spanish. Let's see how I did with them....

Other Fitness Goals
Reestablish my home yoga practice. I would say that I have done quite well with this one. While some months and weeks have been a bit more consistent than others, for the most part, I have pulled out my yoga mat or my mysore rug and spent some quality time doing physical asanas and meditating at least twice a week. Plenty of my practices have been short 20 minute vinyasa sessions after runs, and I'd like to keep this up over the next year.

Maintain a food journal for the entire year. There were months when I kept my journal every single day and there were months when I did not. Overall, I did better in the second half of the year than I did during the first part of 2011. I still have a ways to go before this truly becomes second nature, though.

Professional/Writing Goals
Present research at at least one conference. I presented research papers at two conferences this year, so I can happily say that I accomplished this goal.

Publish. In terms of articles, I have made progress on this goal, but it will definitely be a continuing objective in the new year. I revised and resubmitted an article, but need to finish revising and resubmitting it to another journal after it was rejected by my first choice. I feel good about aiming high and coming close (although I would have felt much better if this piece had been accepted, of course). I'm hoping to get this article back out the door in early January and turn to other projects. I've made some progress on another article, but I'm not ready to send it out yet.

Nail down a book contract. I have made some progress on making decisions about framework for my book manuscript and I have talked to a couple of publishers informally. However, I sadly cannot say that I accomplished this goal in 2011. However, I have been working on a basic proposal and chapter outlines and plan to send them out to several presses early in the coming year. I'm very grateful to reader AL and my friend JC who have very graciously passed along their successful proposals for me to look at. I'm very hopeful that I can accomplish this in 2012.

Organize my files. If I had done my recap at Thanksgiving, I think I could have declared this goal accomplished. However, I have stacks of final exams and papers that came in during December that need to be organized and put away, and I let the desk in my campus office get into a state of disarray during the last week or so of the term. Overall, I have definitely made progress in organizing and keeping things organized in 2011, though.

Misc. Goals
Do more with my Spanish. This goal has been hit or miss. Sometimes I read El Pais. Sometimes I read a journal article in Spanish. Sometimes I converse in Spanish with a friend and colleague and write emails to friends back in Madrid, but I could have done more and been a lot more consistent with this goal.

Of my 11 goals for 2011, I would say that I accomplished five of them, came very close to accomplishing two of them, made significant strides toward accomplishing another two of them, and really fell short with two of them. I'm looking forward to setting more goals and making more progress with writing, running, and some other projects in 2012. How did you do with your 2011 goals?

On the Table: Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Banana Bread

Saturday I spent the day in relatively domestic fashion. I did start my day off with a run and spent some time attending to some work-related tasks, but I also did a little bit of cleaning, helped my partner winterize some of our windows, and did some baking. While I watched football and made a ppt for a lecture, my breadmaker kneaded up some tasty pizza dough to be rolled out and topped with a bit of sauce, cheese, and veggies for an easy Saturday evening meal. I also baked some banana bread.

My spouse is not a fan of bananas, but he will eat banana bread so long as the flavor of the bananas is largely masked by chocolate chips. I also had some blueberries from the local co-op that I had frozen and that were taking up space in the freezer. Inspired by the fact that blueberries are the only M-friendly berry and the idea of my local co-op's raspberry chocolate chip cookies, I decided to make blueberry, chocolate chip, banana bread.

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas - mashed
2 eggs - lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar - packed
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil - you could easily substitute apple sauce here
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup blueberries - fresh or thawed frozen berries
1 cup chocolate chips - or to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Mash bananas, add lightly beaten eggs, and whisk them together. Add all other wet ingredients and sugar. Mix to blend. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in blueberries and chocolate chips. Pour batter into a lightly greased loaf pan or pyrex baking dish. Bake for 60-80 minutes.

Ultimately, the bread turned out more like a coffee cake, and the amount of chocolate chips that I put in for my banana-loathing spouse made this pretty rich and decadent. This is not your standard banana bread. In my opinion, this kitchen creation is seemingly made for accompanying a strong cup of coffee. I'm not a huge fan of sweets for breakfast, but I have plans for a piece with a cup of joe this afternoon.

What did you do this weekend? Any races? Any baking? Any delicious brunches? Any frantic preliminary house cleaning in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks?

On the Table: Autumnal Butternut Squash, Chickpea, and Quinoa Salad

The other day Rose-Anne posted about her intention to make this recipe for Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad from Orangette. I had a butternut squash on hand and had been pondering what to do with it since M. is in the anti-squash camp. When M. suggested just having salads for dinner last night, I decided that I would make a variation of this salad and have it for dinner (while M. had his own salad) and take the leftovers for lunches this week.

Ingredients for the salad:
One butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cans of chickpeas
2Tbsp of olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
1 cup of quinoa

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425F. While the oven is preheating, peel, deseed, and cube the squash. Place it on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil, toss to coat.  Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Prepare the quinoa according to package directions. I used my rice cooker to make it and used one cup of the dried grain and 2 cups of water.

Finely chop the onion. 

Open and drain the chickpeas. 

Mix all of these ingredients in a large bowl. 

Ingredients for the dressing: 

2 Tbsp of tahini (stir well)

2 cloves of minced garlic (you can use less - I like garlic)

3 Tbsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of mustard (I used a fancy mustard my mother-in-law brought me back from a trip to France)

1 tsp of honey

1/2 tsp of ground ginger

2 Tbsp of water

3 Tbsp of olive oil (I could have managed with just 2 but I got a bit zealous)

1/2 tsp of sea salt (more or less - to taste)

Directions: 

Add each ingredient, stirring with each addition. Then dress the salad, stirring until the dressing coats all of the salad more or less evenly.

I really like this combination and will definitely be making this again. The butternut squash adds a lovely hint of autumn to the salad, and it was easy to make and very filling.  If I'd had fresh parsley and/or feta on hand, those might have made lovely additions to this dish.

Are you a fan of butternut squash? What's your favorite way to eat it? Are there any foods that are fall favorites for you?

Race Report: Women Run the Cities 10 Mile

This weekend M. and I headed to the Twin Cities for dinner, a night at the opera to see Cosi Fan Tutti, and so that I could participate in the Women Run the Cities 10 Miler. I had registered for this race several months ago and had envisioned it as a fun way to do a taper run heading into the countdown for Chicago. Regular readers know that due to the issues with my IT band, though, I won't be running the Chicago Marathon. The past week or so I've been struggling to come to terms with the fact that this 10 mile race was going to be my last of the fall and have been bouncing back and forth between acceptance and frustrated negativity. I have to admit that part of me secretly hoped that I would line up on race day and nail 10 pain-free miles and that I would be able to put Chicago back on the table. However, that was not the case.

Yesterday morning I woke up after a few hours of sleep, dressed, and downed a cup of coffee and some breakfast. M. and I headed down to Minnehaha Park, where I met up with Lisa of Lisa's Yarns and Kyria of Travel Spot. It was so nice to meet both of these awesome ladies. After a photo op, we lined up to start. A few weeks ago, Lisa and I had discussed running the first couple of miles together, but she has been smoking up the pavement lately and I am obviously not in top form. Kyria is also speedy, so we all wished each other luck and took off to run our separate races.

With Kyria and Lisa before the race

Hundreds of awesome women, ready to run

My hip felt tight from the start and had a dull ache going by mile 2. By mile 5, my hip was cramping. Knowing that I could finish the last 5 miles - having finished several long runs with similar hip pain - and knowing that this was my last race of the fall, I gutted this one out. I was mentally in the zone and, while I did do some walking and stretching to try to shake the hip out and reduce the cramping at various points, my conditioning and overall ability to run by feel are definitely positives to take away from this training season. I don't know what my splits were because my Garmin died earlier this week (RIP, old friend.), but I ran with the 10:30 pacer for a couple of miles and stayed ahead of the 11:00 min/mile pacer the entire time. My official time was 1:45:45, averaging out to a 10:34 min/mile.

With my arms raised in victory, but sadly mostly obscured by another runner

The course was beautiful - starting in Minnehaha Park, winding up to the Franklin Avenue Bridge, and coming back down the East River Parkway, before finishing back in the park. The sun was shining, the leaves were just beginning to change colors; it was cool but not too cold; and it was just an amazing experience to run 10 miles with over a thousand other women. The course had a few challenging inclines, but it felt very fast to me.  There was a beautiful view of the Minneapolis skyline from one of the bridges, and I wished that I had been able to snap a picture of it. Maybe it's because it was my first 10 mile race, maybe it was because I wasn't constantly checking my Garmin, but the miles just ticked by even with the hip pain. Probably, though, it was because the energy on the course was awesome. There weren't many spectators, but the volunteers were fantastic (no fingers in cups here!) and there was a lot of camaraderie among the participants, as a number of teams were running and many friends were running together and chatting away the miles. I would love to do this race again next year!

After the race, I felt good about my time but was hurting pretty badly. I spent a few minutes stretching and drank a bottle of water. Then, M. and I headed out to meet back up with Lisa and Kyria at Victor's 1959 Cafe for a delicious brunch. I refueled on the Cuban scramble and split a mango pancake with my husband. We chatted about running, jobs, travel, and languages. Not surprisingly, I failed to take any photos at brunch, but it was a great time. Afterwards, we headed our separate ways, and I came home to do some class prep for the week and some other work that I needed to get done.

How was your weekend? Any races? Any fantastic meals?

Apple Picking With the In-Laws

M's parents were in town this week, and we decided to go a nearby orchard for some apple picking. I was happy when M. mentioned to me that it was something that they wanted to do because I had hoped to go apple picking last fall but we never got around to it. So Friday we drove up to a local orchard. Upon our arrival, we sampled a number of the different types of apples that were ready for the picking and decided that we would go for the Cortlands. I'm glad that we did because the ones that we picked are delicious - juicy and crisp.

We hopped a tractor ride out to the appropriate part of the orchard, and then spent some time filling up our bag and eating some of our apple-y plunder.

After we had picked our peck and eaten our apples, we meandered through a corn maize (something I hadn't done since I was a kid) and enjoyed the chilly air and the sunshine. It was a wonderful way to spend part of an afternoon.

My in-laws took a few apples with them when they left on Saturday. But we still have plenty to take in our lunches over the next week, and I sense an apple crisp or a pie will be in my baking future.

Have you ever been apple picking? What are some of your favorite autumnal outdoor activities?

On the Table: Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Although I don't tend to read them on a daily basis, every now and then, I'll peruse food blogs for a while and book mark some recipes that I'd like to try out on a lazy Saturday or Sunday.  This recipe for Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes from Annie's Eats was just one such recipe that I'd had bookmarked for a few weeks.  I had a ton of blueberries in my fridge over the holiday weekend, and I decided to put my standing mixer to use.  Please forgive the quality of my food photos.  I don't take them with any consistency, so they still aren't very good.

I didn't have any cake flour on hand so I used 1.5 cups of all purpose flour instead.  This did cause the cupcakes to have a slightly more muffin-like texture.  They were still delicious, though.

My husband is fruit-challenged, and this saddens me to no end.  He will eat cantaloupe, apples and oranges and likes lemon cake and lemon bars, but he is not a fan of berries.  Blueberries are the one exception to this, and, while he doesn't seek them out, he will eat the occasional blueberry pancake or blueberry scone.  Knowing his low fruit ceiling, I dotted my cupcakes with some fresh berries and left his without any garnish.

They tasted gloriously summery and we devoured the batch of 16 in less than a week.  I meant to take some to my neighbor, but I didn't have the will-power.

What are some of your favorite summer-time desserts and treats? Do you have a loved one who is fruit-challenged? How do you cope with it?

Travels: Montreal

First off, while I was in Montreal, the awesome Jodi featured me on her blog, so go check out my interview with her!

After several days with my husband's family in Toronto, we took the train to Montreal to spend a day and a half there.  M. had been several times, but this was my first trip to Montreal.  It wasn't nearly long enough to explore such a truly excellent city.  Although I am very partial to Chicago, Puebla, New York, and Toronto, on first impressions, I would put Montreal up there as one of the best cities in North America.  It had an incredibly cosmopolitan kind of vibe and almost everyone that I saw of all genders, races, sizes, and ages was incredibly stylish.  If McGill wanted to hire me, I wouldn't hesitate to go.

At the quays

M. and I packed as much as we could into our time there.  Once we arrived and got checked into our hotel, we immediately set off to explore.  We walked around the quays of the Old Port, saw some street theater in the city's historic district, and had a delicious dinner at one of the many restaurants on Rue St. Denis, followed by dessert at Juliette & Chocolat, and a couple of microbrews on a bar patio.  I had the Dieu du Ciel Rosée d'Hibiscus, which was a lovely wheat beer with a very floral nose on it.

Street theater in the old city

M's brownie at Juliette & Chocolat

Tasty Microbrews

I had wanted to run in Montreal, but the weather forecast for the second day we were there was threatening thunderstorms.  I decided to forgo my run in order to head out earlier in the day and hopefully beat the rain for a hike up the mountain with M.  The views of the city from the mountain were incredible and well worth the trek.  I saw lots of runners out and felt a little bit guilty for having skipped my run.  I think I got in some decent exercise, though.  By the time M. and I made it down from Mont Royal, it was lunchtime and we were starving.  In order to be fair and scientific we decided to sample bagels from both Fairmount Bagel and St. Viateur Bagel.  Both were delicious, but I'm going to give St. Viateur a slight edge.  We spend the afternoon museum-ing and doing some shopping as the rain poured down.  In the evening we got all gussied up and went to a light show at the Basilica. Unfortunately, it was still raining so I didn't get any pictures.  Also it was a shame that the light show turned out to be mainly cheesy historical reenactments of important events in the building of Notre Dame and it was pretty underwhelming.  Our dinner made up for it, though.  We had an incredible meal at a restaurant in the old part of the city, called Aix Cuisine du Terroir.

From Mont-Royal

I would have loved to have spent another day in Montreal, but we were due in Boston on Friday evening so we woke up early the next day and picked up our rental car to drive to make our way down.

That's all for now.  I have a recap of my time in Boston and a race report to post soon.  I'm hoping to catch up on everyone's blogs later today and tomorrow.  We just got home from our vacation last night (delayed for a few extra hours due to the discovery of a leaky front tire while still in the airport parking garage), and I had to be up and on campus early this morning for a MA defense, as I was sitting on the committee.

What is your favorite city in North America?  What do you love about it?

On the Table: Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Stew

It's been a while since I posted a recipe.  In part this is because M. and I had been in a bit of a food rut for the last month or so of the semester, eating lots of pasta and roasted veggies and big salads and having pizza or Mexican take out every Thursday evening.  However, over the past couple of weeks we've made an effort to make some things that aren't in our usual rotation.  This Moroccan- inspired chicken dish is one of them.  It could easily be made vegetarian by eliminating the chicken and using vegetable stock instead of chicken broth.





Ingredients
2-3 boneless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 clove of garlic
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
2 carrots
2 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 potatoes, cubed
12 oz garbanzo beans
12 oz of chicken broth or vegetable stock
1 can of stewed tomatoes
2 tsp tumeric
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice (or wedges of lemon)
Couscous

Directions
Quick boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes in adequate water.  Meanwhile, in a large pan, saute vegetables, and garlic in 2 Tbsp of olive oil on medium heat, add chicken, and half of the spices and cook until the chicken is browned.  When done, place the contents of the pan in the crockpot.  Drain the potatoes, and add them as well as the garbanzos, tomatoes, chicken broth, lemon juice, and the remainder of the spices to the slow cooker.  Stir.  Cook on High for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.  Close to meal time, prepare the couscous according to package directions.  Serve stew on a bed of couscous and with lemon wedges if desired.

Have you tried any new recipes lately that you would recommend?  What's been on your dinner table lately?

April Vegeta(b)les Part I

M. and I made a pact this month to eat at least one serving of veggies every night at dinner.  So here is a list of the vegetables that we ate at at dinner for the first third of April.  (And isn't it kind of frightening that the month is already almost half-way gone?)

1. Cauliflower and peas (in a potato curry)

2. Mixed greens, tomatoes, red onion, carrot (in a salad)

3. Cauliflower and peas (in a potato curry)

4. Peas (in risotto) and broccoli

5. Spinach, tomatoes, and mushroom (yes, I know the 'shroom is technically not a vegetable...)

6. Mixed greens, tomatoes, red onion (in a salad)

7. Spinach and green olives (on a pizza)

8. Carrots and asparagus

9. Peppers, carrots, onions, and tomatoes

10. Green beans

It will be another month before our local farmer's market opens back up, so we have been limited to getting our produce from the grocery store.  I'm really looking forward to making a trip to the market part of my Saturday morning routine again.  What veggies have you been enjoying lately?

April Goals

March wasn't the best of months for accomplishing my goals, but that's not going to stop me from setting goals in April.  I know that April is going to be a busy month: my university is in the last few weeks of the spring semester, I have a couple of convocations to attend, I'm running a half-marathon mid-month, and I have two professional reports due.

Source

Fitness/Health Goals
- M. and I have made a pact to eat at least one vegetable with dinner every night.  Typically we are good about this, but sometimes we fall into bad habits.  Hopefully this will prevent us from eating like eleven year olds once or twice a week. Report on April 15th on how this is going.
- Concentrate on distance this month.  With my back feeling mostly better but still a little twingy, I've decided to take the emphasis off of trying to get faster for a month and focus on running the distances on my training schedule.  This will put me at just over 100 miles in April.  I'll report mid-month where I'm at on my mileage goal.
- Keep track of everything that I eat in my journal.  Additionally, make notes to see how particular foods seem to impact how I feel during runs and my general feelings of heath and mood. Report mid-month on progress.

Writing Goals
-Write reports.  Maybe it's not fair to put something that has to be done on my list of goals, but, since these reports are going to take up a good amount of time, I'm doing it.  I'm going to try to finish both of these by the middle of the month.
- Look into starting or joining an academic writing group for the summer.  Even a virtual word count club would be helpful in pressuring me to write a couple hundred words on something closer to a daily basis.  I'll make sure to send out some inquiries by April 15th.
- Book Proposal.  Write an outline of the proposal and get a start on this.  April has 30 days in it, so write 3000 words in the month of April to get this book proposal started.  Report mid-month on my word count progress.
- Clean and reorganize my campus office and writing desk.  I also plan to at least partially reclaim my actual desk from spouse and/or work out a rotating schedule for days of use.  I will take a picture of all three mid-month to make a note of progress and maintenance of having spaces in which I can actually do work.
- Get materials necessary to revise and resubmit an article.  Get organized for this task.  Report mid-month on progress.

What are your goals for the month of April?  Is spring giving you new motivation?  Any April races?

On the Table: Potato Leek Soup

Potato soup is one of my favorite winter meals.  This hearty soup is so good for cold days that I've made it twice this month.  Both times I served it with a generous hunk of bread and some wine.

While peeling potatoes isn't my favorite activity in the world, all the other prep work is easy and done in a flash.

Ingredients:
3 leeks
2 cloves of garlic
7-10 potatoes
basil - several leaves
3/4tsp rosemary
3/4tsp thyme
2 T olive oil
pepper - to taste
vegetable stock (or organic chicken broth)
water (optional)
half & half (optional)

Chop the leeks and garlic and peel the potatoes and cut them into your preferred size of chunk.  In a large pot, combine the leeks, garlic, and olive oil and saute, stirring frequently, until the leeks are fragrant and tender (about 5 minutes).  The second time I made the soup, I also added two chopped carrots.  Add the basil and other spices and cook for another minute or so.  Add the stock and water and the potatoes.  Bring to a boil.  Once the soup reaches a roaring boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 30-40 minutes.  If you want a creamier soup, add cream or half & half and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Serve while still hot.

What's your favorite soup to make? What's your favorite soup to eat?