Wonderful Weekend in Waverly

On an invitation from our friends Kim and Birdie and joined by Mike, Anita and Patti Mayonnaise, Sharon and I made it to Waverly, MN to spend a weekend and fight cabin fever.

That last things we did well, if the goal was not to spend time indoors, we did a pretty good job, as the pictures at the right will attest.

Upon arrival, we (and by we I mean Kim) used a chainsaw to cut a pretty perfect rectangle in the frozen lake. We then jumped from the very hot sauna to the lake.

If this was not enough to get your blood flowing, one of or trips was used to do some quick Yoga poses in knee-deep snow (in the picture we are doing a semi-successful warrior one).

This was my first time in a bathing suit while outdoors in December and all and all I have to say that it was not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be.

The water was definitely cold, but we were able to stay there for 20 to 30 seconds at a time (all three times). More surprising was that getting outside from the very hot sauna was no shock at all. We were told our bodies were steaming :-)

If that wasn't a good serving a outdoors, the next day Kim treated me to a ride in their snowmobile. You need to understand, I was born in Spain. Winters in Madrid get down to 30 degrees at the coldest of the day and while you see some snow (more so recently), there is nothing like Minnesota.

We rode over the lake an then through some trails. At one point we crossed a cocker spaniel who was able to run along with us for a pretty good stretch. Later on, we saw a whole family of deer. We really could not have planned a better ending for the trip.

My only mistake was getting as many clothes and I got on. Fearing being cold, I put on my winter running clothes, then some other layers and finished off with the thick coat and pants you see in the picture. It might have been 12 to 15 degrees and we may have reached up to 40 MPH, but I was definitely warm.

But this is a food blog. So let me tell you what we ate. Two things I remember from that weekend. The morning after jumping in the lake we went to Waverly Cafe for breakfast and I had my first serving ever of stuffed hash-browns. I am sorry to say I forgot to take a picture, even though I had my iPhone on the table ready to do so. They were beautifully cooked. Crispy and golden on the outside and soft and gooey with cheese, ham and bacon on the inside.

My favorite, though, was dinner the first night. Following all kinds of appetizers (including a brie loaded with a cranberry salsa that Patti Mayonnaise made), Kim treated us to a green curry that they learn how to make in a trip some years ago. Particularly interesting was the green curry itself, which Kim made from scratch and that had the perfect amount of heat.

The chicken, often overcooked was perfectly tender and juicy. The veggies had the nice crunch you want to add texture to the dish. The sauce was sweet and spicy but still allowed all the flavors from the coconut mild and the green-ness of the green curry to come through. To top it off, hot peppers and Thai basil. What a treat!

Thanks, Kim and Birdie for a wonderful weekend all around.

Turkey Meatballs with Saffron

For the last few years I have been perfecting an old recipe for meatballs that I brought in a cookbook from Spain.

After making them several times (20+), the recipe no longer looks like the original (in the least). I have changed de meat (from a mix of pork, veal and beef to just ground turkey) and over time I have added other ingredients (like saffron, wine, herbs and San Marzano tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes).

The result (if I may say) is pretty exceptional. Definitely one of the best dishes coming out of my kitchen. They are good over pasta, but in a pinch you can just stick them in a french baguette for a quick dinner. Just make sure you have lots of napkins.

For the sauce I start with lots of onion in olive oil and later add some garlic. When they start turning a nice brown color, I add the San Marzano tomatoes (broken down between my fingers to start making a sauce). I then cook the mix for 20 to 30 minutes with salt, pepper, oregano thyme and saffron and later add some red wine and cook for another 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, I start making the meatballs. I like mine small, about the size of an egg yolk. Fr teh ingredients I use ground turkey, mixed in with some of the cooked onions and garlic (before the tomatoes were added), an egg, Panko breadcrumbs, salt pepper and more saffron. I roll them in flour and fry them in olive oil before adding them to the sauce, where they cook for another 10 or 15 minutes.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. If you could marry a meatball, this would be most definitely the one to choose.

Kobe at Home

Left alone for Christmas Eve, I decided to treat myself. On my last visit to Coastal Seafoods, the day before, I decided to fork in a few bucks and head for the meat case and buy a Kobe beef rib-eye. As I have indicated before in this blog, I am not much of a meat eater, but now and then I enjoy a steak, and Kobe beef is just the one that can easily make it into an exception. You can see in the picture at the right, how beautifully marbled it was.

I know just how to cook it. Kobe beef should never be put on a grill. It has too much fat (the good kind) and the drippings will result in flames that make it char too fast. Kobe beef is best cooked on a very hot flat surface, like a cast iron pan. My biggest problem was figuring out what to serve with it.

I knew what to have for dessert. That was easy. As I was coming home from the store the day before, Nancy, one of our neighbors, had left some home-made macaroons (left), one of my favorite pastries. But still, the vegetable and starch were escaping me.

Lately I have been developing a strong taste for wilted greens. More particularly the sturdy ones like Swiss chard. So I opted for making that with some very smokey bacon, garlic and olive oil. For the starch, I decided to make smashed potatoes (which have already appeared in this blog due to their deliciousness). These are basically boiled potatoes that are then smashed and cooked in a hot oven with plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper until they get crispy on the outside. Those came out perfect.

To top the potatoes, I added some home-made preserve-lemon and garlic mayonnaise that I made a few days before. Served with a glass of Cabernet, I have to say, I had little to complaint. Being alone, I ate in front of the TV where I watched a good ol' classic movie via Roku (courtesy of Netflix): Serpico.

A New Milestone

Running 5 times a week, you are likely to hit milestones with a certain frequency. Last Saturday I hit 4,000 miles (about 6,400 KM) since I started recording my miles (which is almost to say the same as since I started running). As a reference, that is a little short of the distance between Madrid, Spain and Chicago, IL as the bird flies. The total (consecutive) time it took to run that distance? 25 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 38 seconds.

More interesting is the fact that this is the fastest 1,000 miles I have ever reached. It took me 567 days (basically 18 months) to hit the first 1K. In 434 days I reached 2K. I brought that number down again to reach 3K miles in just 357 day (first under 12 months, even if just by a bit). The last thousand miles were reached in exactly 300 days. A tad under 10 months. That is over 8 months faster than the first thousand!

The increase is probably due to the number of marathons completed in 2010 (4) and the associated training. More so, I have learned enough about my own body to learn when not to push and as a result I have been running injury free for the last two years, reducing my downtime.

I don't expect for a significant change from this point, though. Largely because last year I was very disciplined about running regularly and following my training schedule, which is unlikely to change. Still, I bet I can bring it down by another couple of weeks. Game on!

23 on the treadmill

Tomorrow I have my last long run before the January 9 indoor Marathon Zoom! Yah! Yah!

The schedule calls for 23 miles and I have made up my mind to run them on a treadmill, to build tolerance for running indoors. I am both looking forward and dreading it. It is a good feeling, I think.

My only worry is to hog one of only two treadmills at the building for at least three and a half hours. I hope not too many people come around at the time looking for some time on the treadmill. I will start running early to minimize that risk.

Gardens of Salonica with my Phoenix friends

Note: This post is dedicated to Rosemary (not the herb :-), who insisted I had to write a snippet about this place and post the picture below.

Last Wednesday we had a condo homeowners association board meeting (no, I am not a member of the board, all residents are invited) where we got to elect new board members. These meetings go long enough and by the time it ends you can really use a glass of wine and the company of friends.

Weather was cold, but we have plenty of places in walking distance around our building. Our choice for the night was Gardens of Salonica, a New Greek and Deli Cafe.

There must have been about 12 of us. Food is always terrific. The warm pita is a great starter. I had one of the specials, lamb en papillote (although they didn't call it that way). This was lamb cooked in parchment paper with lots of veggies and a few roasted potatoes. The picture at the right shows the waitress opening the goodness package.

The dish was made large enough for two to share, so Mel (a neighbor and member of the building's running club) and I shared the contents. My favorite part was the eggplant, which had taken (and given) a lot of flavor from the other veggies and the lamb. I will definitely have to try something like this at home. I don't eat enough lamb, which is definitely my favorite red meat (although I am not much of a meat eater).

My only complaint about the place (as it has been in the past) is the wine. Greek wine may be a peculiar thing to have, but there is a reason why they are not really big at the local wine shop. Still, the quality of the food and the company where sufficient to bring some warmth to that very cold night otherwise.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Last weekend I did one of my favorite things in the kitchen: roasted tomatoes. I simply take the core out, cut them in half and put then in a hot oven with some thyme, oregano and extra virgin olive oil.

Two things happen in the oven. First, some of the water evaporates and thus concentrates the favor on the tomatoes, making them somewhat deeper and even adds some caramelization with the sugar on the tomato. Second, since tomatoes have so much water, the only part that really chars is the skin, reason why I don't peel them or discard the skin afterwards. In the skin is the only place where the char flavor resides.

With the tomatoes, I then made a three soups.

• A vegan roasted tomato soup to be eaten with Roquefort and cayenne-spiced walnuts (which I made myself as well). This one is very smooth and velvety.

• A rustic roasted tomato soup with soem sheep yogurt to be eaten with home-made croutons (made with aged sheep cheese).

• Roasted tomato Manhattan clam chowder (pictured). For this I used some of that awesome hardwood smoked bacon from Minette and Buzz. This was was particularly delicious and last night's dinner.

Good bye Nirvana, Hello Nirvana - A new Retirement Run

Yesterday I run my last four miles with my pair of Mizuno Wave Nirvanas. Following my tradition, I put 400 miles on every pair of shoes and then retire them. My last retirement was September 15th (a pair of Kayanos). That doesn't mean I have run 400 miles since that date. I rotate 4 or 5 pairs of shoes and these ones were well on their way.

For some reason I used to consider my Nirvana's trainers and didn't get much race time. Still, they managed my last Rails to Trails Marathon and completed two of my three legs on the last Ragnar relay.

It didn't take long for them to disappear. Soon after their last run, I received the picture below from W Nirvana, left, who is enjoying the white sandy beaches of Hawaii. Right seems to be nowhere to be found, so it was either taking the picture, of they had a fallout.

The Nirvanas will be replaced in the rotation by a new pair of Nirvanas (6th generation), which have been patiently waiting in the box since the last big discount at Run n' Fun.

Servian at Dan and Holly's

Our neighbors and friends, Dan and Holly invited us for a night of Serbian food at their house. Holly's parents are Serbian and Croatian and she knows her stuff. Overall the night was great fun. We laughed like we have not for a long time.

After appetizers, the main portion of the meal started and it did so with a bang: kaimach. Kaimach is a very addictive mix of cream cheese, butter and just enough feta cheese to give it a little salt. You use it as you would butter on bread. We certainly did, devouring nearly two loafs of bread. The Kaimach was served with cranberries, which I will admit not trying. Never been a big fan, but looking at the picture now I regret.

For the entree we had Chicken Paprikash (pictured below). Not sure how long it cooked, but it was falling off the bone. The sauce was succulent and partly responsible for the quick disappearance of the bread. The chicken was accompanied with bell peppers and dumplings, which as we were told, in Serbian cuisine are more consistent (eggy was he word used) than they are in other areas.

Stealing the evening was one of our hosts, whose name I will not butcher (even though this is a food blog ;-), but that we dubbed Einstein because of the obvious resemblance.

Thanks Dan and Holly for the invitation, great conversation and finger-licking culinary trip to the former Yugoslavia.

Popcorn!

Kudos to Sharon for making the most awesome popcorn ever. Sharon's recipe is very simple: corn, extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt. The result is still outstanding.

Using good olive oil is crucial. My favorite kind is something like hojiblanca. It has a nice green and slightly bitter taste. One of those olive oils that do taste like olives.

The occasion for the popcorn was movie night at the Phoenix, a BYOP event (the last P standing for popcorn). The movie? Home for the Holidays. A classic for Thanksgiving day that opens with an awesome version of Santana's Evil Ways performed by Rusty Nails.

A terrible meal at Manny's

Disclaimer: I am not really a meat eater. Whenever we go out to eat to a nice place (or even a middle of the road kind of place) I make a point to order always seafood. Whenever I have broken that rule, I am always disappointed.

Counterdisclaimer: Even with the disclaimer above, I have to say I am not a vegetarian. I eat pork, lamb, chicken and I CAN enjoy a beef steak (or the occasional burger). In fact, one of my favorite restaurants is Capital Grille, where the few times I go there I will order a steak tartare for an appetizer and for the entree one of their specialties, the porcini rubbed Delmonico, a dry aged, bone-in ribeye that is a piece of heaven.

Both points made, let me start this post.... Last Saturday we went to Manny's, a fairly famous steak house right at the heart of downtown Minneapolis (at the bottom of the W hotel in the Foshay tower). I will admit I was't going with the greatest of expectations, (see disclaimer above), but given their reputation I was willing to make the best of it and even enjoy a steak (see counterdisclaimer above).

After a round of cocktails/martinis, we ordered a couple of appetizers to share. The Scallops Benedict, came sheared over bacon on top of a piece of brioche and covered in Hollandaise sauce (see picture above). I was not impressed. I felt the Scallops didn't have a nice char and the brioche was greasy.

The House Made Chips (below) weren't much better. I thought they were too thin, a tad overcooked and the plate was way too big. The latter was an obvious attempt to be able to charge $7.95 for potato chips. A corollary that would repeat time after time during our meal.

Our waitress came with a cart with sample of their steaks (and a cool live lobster). Immediately it was obvious nobody would go home hungry (perhaps disappointed, but no hungry). I will spare you all the descriptions, but the Porterhouse would not fit in a family sedan and the bone-in ribeye was three pounds for a single serving. The latter was dubbed the Bludgeon of Beef (this is not a joke, check out the menu online, that is the name). Ordering that entry (no sides) will set you back $75.95.

At that point I remembered that the protein portion of your plate is supposed to be the size of a deck of cards. Not at Manny's, where the food pyramid was perpetually inverted. This is no joke, the plate of steamed broccoli the four of us shared was about the same size in volume than the single serving rib-eye we were being shown.

Still I was there to play ball, so I ordered a rib-eye (not the ridiculous 3 lbs. one, but a more sensible one that still dug a $49.95 in our collective wallet. Please know that I don't usually make a point to complain about the price of a meal. But in this case, the disparity of price to service and quality was so large that I felt cheated and offended. Even embarrassed.

John ordered the same steak that I did. Sharon and Clark ordered Salmon and Halibut. For sized we ordered hash-browns and steamed broccoli.

Here are the results. The two fish entrees had to be sent TWICE back because they were overcooked and as a result dry. At that point they had eaten enough of the entrees and our steaks that they decided not to ask for a third attempt from the kitchen, which was unlikely to be a charm.

The hash-browns where unevenly cooked but I guess they weren't terrible, though not worth the $11.95. The rib-eyes were just OK, but depicted my main complaint against steakhouses. You spend $49.95 for a steak at a nice steakhouse and what do you get? A steak. At least at Capital Grille they rub some porcini on the outside to give it great color an flavor. Mine had some tough parts running through it, but I won't complain much more, since it ended up feeding more than just me.

The broccoli was fine. A tough one to screw up, I guess.

To compensate for the fish being sent back twice, dessert was on the house. Not that we got to select it. They instead brought an obscene brownie. If they were trying to redeem themselves, that was the wrong messenger. To show you the stupid size of the portion, I took a picture with a dollar bill behind it.

The brownie was covered in no less than a half a pound of ice-cram and whipped cream and loaded with fudge, caramel and nuts.

It may sound good, but it felt like the rest of the meal. Too large and not good enough for the reputation of the place. We had a few bites and called it a night.

The final bill (which did not include two of the entrees or the dessert) exceeded $300 for the four of us before the tip. My general feeling is that the quality, portion sizes and prices were just not in lockstep with a reality of the times in which frugality has become hip. Don't get me wrong, I am not particularly frugal, but after that meal, I felt embarrassed.

One thing is clear. That was my only first and last time at Manny's. It will also be some time before I visit another steakhouse.

Squeezing a last one outside

Last weekend I had to log 14 miles and the weather was just on the brink of cold. With a high of 27, I thought it was a last opportunity to squeeze a last run out in my shorts.

Fourteen miles call for a run around lake Calhoun. From home that is just under 13 miles. If I add a detour on the way back, I can easily make it 14.

It was a great run. With little effort I managed to average 8:39 per mile. I run a cross a few other runners (some still in shorts, like me). It was a good way to say goodbye to outdoor running. At least until my next (indoor) marathon.

So from this point on, it's all indoors. The dreaded treadmill will be my friend to help me develop the thick skin and tolerance for misery I will need to run 26.2 at St Olaf College.

The first small test is this weekend which calls for 8 miles. The next weekend I will have to do 23 on the treadmill. My last long run before the January 9 marathon.

Gotta go to work. Safe trails!