Friday Night Repast

East meets West this evening in the G's household. 5 pee em saw the smiling exit of Mrs. which left RTP Jr. and I to fend for ourselves in the culinary world. 

After a digging episode in the garden which can only be described as 'brown', we cleaned up and began the inventory of available edibles in the kitchen. Foregoing matronal advice to 'please eat some of the leftovers', we narrowed our choices down to three: leftovers, re-grilled leftovers, and carb loading for tomorrow's 9 miler. It's a sure bet whenever taters are involved and from there we set forth.

The food network dot commies suggest baking in the oven for almost two hours at a temperature that would cause the sun to flinch. Out of the question! Smiling like a mongoloid, I vaguely remembered a time or two during my undergrad days when we would prepare potatoes in our dorm room coffee pot, and once or twice in the RA's microwave oven. Hell, we have a microwave oven right there, and it even has a potato button. Jackpot! "Say you're once..... twice...... three tiiiiiiiiiiimes a potato, and I loooooooove you!" If one spud is good, three will be better. So, fork poke all three and into the microparticulator. Potato button once --not done. Two times --not done. Three times..... tasty fish!!

Now to split, top, and present. And here is where I honestly made an effort to use leftovers, but not the stew she had in mind. What goes good on a nightshade tuber? About anything it turns out. A whack of butter each, a generous pinch of sodium chloride each, and what have we here? Prepared horseradish... hmmmm sounds spicy, so take it easy with amounts---oops. Now here is something interesting hiding behind the ketchup bottles! Mango chutney. Looks like jelly with stuff in it and not a lot left in the jar. Damn the torpedos --all of it!!!! I'm eating leftovers!!! A little dancing in the kitchen with my boy. What kind of funky monkey cocaine is this here in the spice rack?? Garam Marsala?? WTF???!??? WTF indeed.. on it goes, and it comes out of the jar faster than I thought it would. Now a little knife smearing and a blog photo op. And the moment you have been waiting for...

It was .... different. Not bad, a little harsh on the tummy here about 15 minutes later which may also be caused by the forced switch of TV programming. HJG just has to watch that little bald-headed Canadian ef'er named Caillou. Watch yourselves parents to be. This program will make you want to claw your eyes out and stuff them into your earholes. 

The sweetness in the chutney harmonized well with the horseradish bite, and was together a nice counterpoint to the Indian spice. The underlying creamy butter made a valiant attempt to pacify the battlefield, but, severely out-gunned, surrendered before the meal was halfway consumed. My developing gastro-distress brings to mind the punchline to an apropos old joke: "C'mon ice cream!!"

Actually, I think it's time now for a little Father Brioschi. Then some ice cream. Vanilla in a bowl with a spoon. Nighty night!

$100 Fitness giveaway contest on SUAR

Eff You Atkins!

After reading 52 Loaves, by William Alexander, I decided to try my hand at baking bread for the family.

Alexander urges all of us to bake bread with a wild yeast levain, otherwise known as a starter or sourdough. It's French so go with it. I did, and I'm very happy with the result.

Slasher

This device measures miles run in the last week.

Today, I was finally able to put together the time needed to gather up all my old meth lab equipment make Pain de l'abbaye Saint-Wandrille. This is the recipe he used to get the monks at that abbey baking bread for themselves and the local villagers - a craft they had put aside for the last bunch of years. Read the book if you want to learn more.

The whole process takes a while, but there are hours of slack time while chemical processes take place and families sleep.

The Blob

It took about 1/2 hour last night, then about 2 hours of work today to make two really nice loaves.

The recipe will make 6 loaves, but then the title for this post would have to be "Eff You Atkins, I'll Dig You Up, Chop Your Head Off, Then Re-bury You Because I'm a Bread Eater, In Fact, I Eat Flour Right Out of the Bag So Sit and Spin!!" So I did some calculations on my cell phone and got it down to two ginormous loaves.

I promise a running post very soon with a giveaway contest that will make you drooool!

And there is some whispering of an upcoming open-water swim/triathlon with a boring runner and an Engineer. Stay tuned!

Thirty-Something

RTP now has 30 followers. Welcome to the latest few and brave little Kelsey who stepped up to the line to become #30. Welcome!!

Kelsey is training for her first marathon and will race for 26.2 this coming January here in Phoenix at the RnR. I'm looking forward to reading about your training Kelsey and hopefully you will be joining the rest of us Phx-based blogging/running nerds for a pre-race orgy meet up.

I read 52 Loaves last week and have been busy building a levain, researching recipes, and emailing the author. Not too much running, but a really nice swim session with Runlaur and..........

-------------------------spoiler alert------------------------

Bikram Yoga this evening with Adam and Runalur!! I'm very excited, but also apprehensive because I have heard some horror stories from people about their first experience with 'hotroom' yoga. But as they say in Hell and Bakersfield, 'everyone into the fire'. I'll report out in the next day or so pending survival.

52 Loaves, by William Alexander, is a chronological self-rising journey of one year in the life of an amateur turned-pro-bread-maker and his family. If you have read anything by Alexander, you know he is anything but amateur in what ever he pursues. The author seeks to recreate the perfect bread and vows to bake at least one loaf per week for one year in pursuit of the pain de perfect. He describes the processes for making yeast and also the chemical reactions in each stage. He travels to France, North Africa, and to production-grade flour mills to better understand and perfect the craft. Hard to believe, but he actually plants a small plot of wheat in his garden and , a year later, harvests, threshes, winnows, and grinds (some by hand) the grain to make flour which he uses to make some kick-ass bread. In the final stages of his journey, he spends several weeks living in an abbey in France teaching the monks how to bake bread and revitalizing their tradition of bread-making and also has a profound and lasting spiritual experience.

I have taken his lead and am now in the final day of a six day process to build a levain (starter dough) that can be used to bake some of the best breads on the planet. There are plenty of informative websites and blogs for this topic, and I fear that I may have left my family behind. No worries from them, as I have promised home-made breads and muffins starting sometime in the next week, and food always trumps in this family. I needed some information about the levain and some other baking topics, so I emailed the author, and he replied with two separate emails within a day. Not to be too self-assured, but I knew he would. He just seems like that kind of guy.

52 Loves gets an overall RTP rating of 'Cake'. I'll have to increase my mileage, or I'll get an overall rating of cake-eater. 30 suckers followers. Who knew??

Random Saturday Stuff

Worked in the garden yesterday. Actually, I worked on the perimeter of the garden, Phoenix-proofing. The sun takes a heavy toll, so shade structures are a must for most plants.

This fabric will block out UV, but the birds and bugs need a more NATO type approach. Trying to avoid chemicals, but probably some netting and or natural/organic prevention. We have harvested tomatoes, zucchini, and the eggplants may be ready but they seem small. Not sure about that. Overall, the garden is doing well and we have plans for improving for next year and also for our fall planting.

Getting some burn spots on the peppers, hopefully, the shade will solve that.

Has spicy shrimp for fathers day. Mmmmm, one of my favorites. Thaw 1.5 pounds of shrimp, leave peels, legs, (and heads if possible) on the shrimp. Tons of flavor in these, through you of course throw them away at the dinner table. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbls. olive oil and a whack of butter, add in some red chile flakes (to taste) and the shrimp. When they look pink on one side, add the juice of 1/2 lemon and also just throw the squeezed lemon half in the skillet too--wtf. Turn the shrimp and get ready, they are seconds away from being done. Hold the phone!! Add about 1 Tbsp. of Old Bay seasoning (more or less depending on your taste. and you won't need salt or pepper). Stir well and serve over rice, noodles, or just with some sourdough bread. Mmmmm.

And lastly, because I couldn't resist, a return to the garden.

Sometimes, they just grow that way. Have a great weekend, and enjoy your races if you are racing!

Back to Random Unreality

Why did vacation have to end?? "Because you need to go back to work" say the Power ball lottery officials.
That was nice --one more photo of 55 degree bliss (I'm wearing a jacket and still shivering):

We went to some park in Paso Robles and I clonked my head on an overhead beam in a kids play house. Here is me smiling ear to ear with an "I'm concussed!" smile. Harrison thought it was the funniest thing ever. I have a giant scab across my scalp.

We went to We Olive, which is the Walmart of Olive Oils in Central Cali. We drank way too much olive oil and aged balsamic. What a wild time it was!! My fav was the blood orange olive oil and the 15 year balsamic. They drink it like wine over there!! It does taste pretty darn good.

Thought my toes were improving but there has been a delayed onset of blackening and peeling. I shot this out of focus because I was repulsed. The other foot isn't much better. Maybe time to research shoes with a bigger toebox? Lauren?

And lastly, our garden is taking off nicely. We have mucho tomatoes and more zucchini than we know what to do with. Eggplant is coming in nicely too. Peppers are burning or something else is wrong. Need to consult the experts.

That' Harrison's sunflower in the foreground which is growing about 6 inches per day (take it Adam, it's all yours)

Cherry, yellow pear, and Green Zebra, and cinnamon basil. Chill. Cut each into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with large grain sea salt and a tiny bit of black pepper, chop and mix in basil, drizzle with nice olive oil and a bit of balsamic. Serve with crusty bread. Yummy.

This weekend marks my official return to hot weather running. I'd like feedback on salt, electrolyte, mineral replacements. What do you do to replace? What brands do you prefer.

I'm reading Murakami's What I Think About When I Think About Running, and will review sometime early next week. Have a splendid weekend!!

Orange Juice

I'd like to invite all my followers (6 of you now!) and their friends to come over and take away some of the best juicing oranges ever. We have a tree that produces a huge crop every year. These are perfectly ripe right now through February. These oranges are guaranteed to improve your running, and keep away winter colds.

They are difficult to peel and have lots of seeds, so they aren't much fun to eat, but the juice is unbelievable. You can pick up a cheap juicer at about any store these days. We got ours at Ace Hardware a few years ago.

If you have family visiting or friends coming into town,  or just want to juice for your Phoenix family, send me an email (jgeyer66 at cox dot net). We live very close to 32nd street and Indian School. I'm off of work for the next couple of weeks, and we are being attacked by family from back East and Colorado, so I'll pretty much be staying put.

We usually end up giving bags of these away. Trust me, we have plenty. Take care followers!

Been a while

I've been running off and on, mostly on for the past year and am gearing up for the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon followed by the PF Chang 1/2 marathon. A goal is to run the San Deigo full marathon on June 6 next summer which is my 44th birthday. I've been running with Scottsdale Running Company group runs but now our pace leader is jumping ship to go work for Runners Den. I guess it'll be me and my Garmin for a while. These posts of mine are so lame but I'll try to do better.

Post-Run Recovery Fuel:

Half of one red onion, small portion of left over red pepper, olive oil, 2 fennel and cheese chicken sausages, 3 eggs, tortillas. Heat olive oil in saute pan, add sliced onion and sliced red pepper. Saute for ten minutes or so until veggies are a bit cooked. Add sliced sausage and cook together until sausage is hot (it's pre-cooked), add eggs and scramble adding random spices and condiments from your spouse's collection. Turn off heat. Flame tortillas over stovetop flame flipping frequently with tongs until toasty and hot. Wrap egg/sausage mixture in tortillas and enjoy! Drink recommendation: water, chocolate milk.