my parents, Debbie and Eddie (Ted’s sister and husband)

We all had a wonderful dinner at Perugia’s.

No food photo’s.  I didn’t want to stop everyone from diving into their delicious meals so I could do photo shoots. Nothing more annoying than that when you’re starving.  Then I learned that Margaret loves to take photos of food. Who knew?! 

There was strange visitor at work yesterday afternoon. I put the camera on Anti-Blur Motion for this shot:

What was I thinking? It’s a SNAIL for peat’s sake. What motion?!!!!

I thought it was cool how the black top came out in the picture.  The snail, well…that’s a little slimy looking and there was no way I was touching it. But he (or she?) did take a nice pic.

This morning Shane went for a walk with Ted and I was feeling especially energized so I ran 8.4 miles.  What a great week. It was so different from last week when every step was a chore. This week, running was fun and I had heaps of energy.  It amazed me that I had so much energy and NO aches and pains even after yesterday’s long run of 17. 

I was about 1/4 mile short of my goal for the week which was 55 miles. Total weekly miles resulted in 54.72 miles.  I’ll take it.  

Did someone say CRAB CAKES???

Go back to Thursday with me. Mum and Dad arrived home Thursday afternoon and, although my father will eat anything put in front of him, my mother is quite picky.  She will not eat a lot of fish but does enjoy crab cakes.  Hence: The menu for their Thursday night homecoming was CRAB CAKES.  Made with REAL MAYONNAISE.   Not the way I like them but the way the other three at the table prefer them.

Here is the recipe I used. Basically, it’s Chicken of the Sea’s recipe. Makes 6 patties

• 16 oz crab meat
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 TBS Mayonnaise
• 1 TBS prepared yellow mustard
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp hot and spicy cocktail sauce
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 TBS olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Form into 6 patties.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan.  When the oil is hot, fry crab cakes about 4 minutes per side on medium to medium high heat.

Serve with crusty buns and assorted toppings such as mixed field greens, sweet onion slices, sharp cheddar cheese, and sliced tomatoes.

This was Ted’s crab cake that he allowed me to assemble for a picture. Wouldn’t you think I’d know better than to assemble the thing UPSIDE DOWN!

I really have to learn to check my buns before taking pictures.

Ted also added a little A LOT of mustard to his crabby sammy…

Everyone loved these crab cakes, except me.  I swear I could detect the mayonnaise.  Next time, I’ll make them the Apple Crumbles way.

What’s your favorite crab cake recipe. Can you provide a link?

Joanne

In attendance:  Ted and myself, young Teddy, Angela and Nicholas, and Richard

We enjoyed a fresh mixed green salad with sliced granny smith apples, walnuts, oil, vinegar with crumbly bleu cheese.

I think I spied the Cajun Crab Cake in front of Richard but he didn’t say a word.  Obviously it was way too good to share.

The restaurant was busy with several tables of 4 or more and a large table of 10 or 12.  The usual wait staff was on hand, hustling and bustling and not missing a beat.  In fact, when Nicholas decided he needed to stretch his legs, a little toy on wheels was brought out so he could zip around from the table to the door.  Luckily, there were no traffic accidents and Angela enjoyed a little exercise with her meal.

The bread was brought out and quickly inhaled by everyone at the table.  Assorted rolls of multi grain, sourdough, onion or olive loaf…all so fresh and good.

Richard and I had the pan seared salmon with dill crème fraise.

The salmon was grilled to perfection.  The crème fraise, fresh, light, and dilly.  The potatoes, barely crisp, soft inside with subtle seasoning and nicely salted.  Fresh broccolini with substance.

Ted, Teddy, and Angela had the Penne DiLorenzo with Chicken

Ted’s review of his dish was that the chicken was tender and moist. The seasonings and sauce not over done with a hint of red crushed pepper.  Noodles al dente.  There wasn’t a noodle left on either of the Ted’s plate. 

Only one of us had room for dessert.  The guy that stands 6’4” and weights 180 – TEDDY!

I was able to snag the Ande’s mint off the top of this divine dessert: The Ande’s Candies Mousse.

Even Nicholas was dipping his fork in for a taste or two.  So good!

So attentive. So conscientious that every bite meets your expectations.  The chef, the waitress, the host all work together to make dining at Perugia’s a memorable experience whether in celebration or simply just a night out.  Mary Jo, I HAVE to meet your son because I have a lot to learn about cooking from him.  Such a great chef.   When is class? 

Scheduling

The work out week. It must be planned. It has to be light.  Every day is one day closer to my first half.  I’ve worked hard and this is to reward myself of that hard work.  The half is my way of testing the waters to see if I really want to go the distance to the next level: The Marathon.

Let’s not jump the gun.  Trying to focus on next Sunday and establish a really good workout schedule for the week was tough.  I think it’s going to be something like this:

I’m going back and forth with what days to do what and I’ll continue to make adjustments depending on how I feel but that is the tentative schedule.  Total running miles last week = 34.34 miles.

More scheduling…

Since I ordered my NEW ROAD BIKE last Friday, I will be calling to get fitted for my bike this week.  Sometime after Tuesday. Ted will be ordering his this week as well.  Mine is a Specialized Dolce Sport. 

So Excited!  It’s white with berry trim. 

Do you have a bike?  What do you like / dislike about it?

Joanne

We went for a 2 mile slow paced warm up.  I got hot and decided I would run the “Beer & Chili Run” at 10 o’clock in something even lighter, my violet Spring/Fall running jacket.  I realized the start would be cold but hoped the lighter jacket would allow me to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the run. 

Ted decided to accompany me with Shane on this adventure and we left the house at 9:00 a.m.  I had a banana with peanut butter as we walked out the door.  It would take us just under 30 minutes to get to Newport, New York and then I would take an Everlast Energy Shot.

The night before the run, we had a delicious meal at Perugia’s.  First, I sampled all the different breads in the bread basket and even made an apple sandwich.  The apple slices came on my fresh greens salad with walnuts and sliced green apples.

When I was about 8 years old, my mother would put slices of apple between two pieces of buttered bread. It was my favorite!

A delicious shrimp cocktail with Grand Marnier cocktail sauce (sweeter and less horseradish flavor than typical cocktail sauce).

We were served a rose sorbet to cleanse our palates. The taste was bursting in our mouths. It was so fresh and so clean tasting. I’d never enjoyed a sorbet quite so much.

Dinner was served but that was after I enjoyed a glass of red wine and went through 2 glasses of water. 

Dinner presented the sweetest tasting scallops served with endive, over couscous.   A brilliant meal.

Ted was kind enough to leave Shane a sampling of his salmon and the server wrapped it up just too nicely for us.

When we arrived home and I was walking Shane for his late night romp, thoughts on running popped into my head. 

• “I love the way my legs carry me and they just fall mindlessly one in front of the other. How blessed”.
• “I like running when the streets are empty and the quietness of the morning is “loud”. 
• “I’d never wear head phones when running with Shane.  I know he can’t hold a conversation but he doesn’t deserve to be ignored”.
• “It’s odd that I’m not nervous about the run in the morning.  I hope that lack of nervousness continues through tomorrow”.

Those were my thoughts as we walked along the dark, quiet street.  What are some of your thoughts the night before a run?

Saturday’s run: The Beer and Chili Run

I picked up my shirt and stood in the long line for the toilet.  I overheard the guys talking about the challenging hill facing the 10K runners.  “It’s not a nice hill.”  “It’s tough but I’m going to try to get over it”.   That didn’t make me feel good.  I thought to myself, “if I get to the 3K turn around and don’t feel good, I’ll just make it a 5K race instead of a 10K”.   I think I knew that wouldn’t happen.  I’d have to go for the challenge.  How hard was this hill anyway?

We met up with Richard Cohen, his father and now him have been my lawyer on a  personal and business level for years. Good thing we took this photo of Richard and me because……DRUM ROLL PLEASE…… RICHARD WON THE 10K!

Does that make me a star as well?!!!

The walk to the starting line was cold and negative thoughts were leaving my head because there was no backing out now. 

The whistle blew. The run began.   It wasn’t even before completing the first mile that I was thinking “I’m tired”.   That wasn’t good.

I saw Ted and Shane pass us in the car.  That was something to look forward to because I knew he would stop somewhere up ahead.

The 5K runners were turning around at their turn point. Should I keep going?  It didn’t look so bad ahead. Go for it.

The hill.  The hill wasn’t good.  I had to walk 20 paces, run 20 paces about 4 times to make it up. It was long and steep.  I needed Shane to pull me up it.  i wondered if there was a person behind me with a cell phone to call 911 if I dropped.  Finally, at the top, I thought it has to be all down hill. Well, it was for the most part but then at 3 miles, when I saw people turning, they kept us going straight. I wanted to turn!  We had to go PAST the turn to the 3.1 mile point then back track.  The worst part?  It was down hill about .1 mile so I had to run back up the hill.  Not very long you say, but at this point, any hill, no matter how long, how steep, looked painful.

In front of me, an older gent. stopped to relieve in the woods.  I took the opportunity to walk a few steps.  As he immerged from the bushes, I began running again.  It was all down hill or flat at this point. 

I don’t do well on down hills.  I don’t let myself go.  I tried…but my feet were slamming so hard on the pavement, it was painful.  I slowed it down.

At 6 miles, there was Ted again and he took my gloves from me. My hands were too sweaty to wear them.  I even had thoughts about getting into the car at that point instead of finishing.

The finish line in sight.  My final time:  55:36.  Pace:  8.56.  I was pleased with that since I really thought that hill was going to put me over an hour. 

Ted and I enjoyed the chili and beer.  They had vegetarian chili as well as a meat version. Lots of rice and Ted liked the beer.  No photo because we forgot the camera in the car.  Sorry. But just picture a paper bowl of chili covering a heaping  half a cup of white rice, sprinkled with extra hot sauce.  A cool, foam topped beer on the side. 

First 10K of the season down.  Not sure I want to think about the next one quite yet.

Joanne