Out

Out of breath from a recent cold I haven't quite shaken off
Out of shape from not having run for a week
Out of time having spent half my morning on the net and having all kinds of thing to do
Out of my mind, since I have a 1/2 marathon in a week and the NY Marathon in two and I should be tapering
Out of excuses...
Out the door because I am a runner

And the result paid off with a nice PR.  13.1 miles in 1:40:43 (7:41 min/mile).  Nope, this wash;t a 1/2 marathon just a 12 mile training run that I thought I'd stretch to 13.1 for the fun of it.  And boy am I glad I did.

Tapas at Home - Redux

Tapas at home again.  This time to welcome Ros and David to the Phoenix.  Also invited were Nancy, Pat, Hugh and Mary.  The menu is almost a repeat of last week's, but this time my camera was ready, so a took a few shots to document it for the blog.  Al around a great evening, if I may say. 

Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers

Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey

Fresh Figs Baked with Prosciutto and Clover Honey

Red Pepper Scallop Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO
and Red Jalapeño Ice

Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots and Lemony Aioli

Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and
Sweet Barnea EVOO-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Turkey Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce 

Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper
and Spanish Chorizo

Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp and Brava Sauce

Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, Fennel,
Asparagus and Goat Gouda

Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry

Same as previous... this picture illustrates the way
to eat this dessert.  The sherry is poured over the
ice cream to give it a sweet toasted caramel  flavor.

Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse with Smith Woodhouse Port

Patti Mayonnaise, Sharon and Thomas end the evening with a singing performance

2011 Big Woods Run - Race Report

Yesterday was race day at Fairbault, MN.  The event is the Big Woods Run 1/2 Marathon.  This is a trail race that starts on a road (about 1.5 miles), then moves to flat trails and around mile 4 or 5, starts a hilly terrain.  Not quite what I saw at the Afton Trail Run in 2011 (which that year because of the MN State shutdown had to be moved from a State Park to a ski park and had brutal hills), but certainly hilly.

The day was windy and cold at the start, but the sun was up and as soon as you got in the woods, the wind was barely noticeable and the temperature seem to raise a bit (probably the running).  The route is full of turns, and it is a beautiful trail, but my eyes were kept right on the ground.  More so after seeing two of the runners kiss the floor after tripping on a root.



I also enjoyed the fact that the first 1.5 miles (and thus the last) are on the road.  This allows you (if you have the energy at the end, and I did) to pick a few runners and pass them on the final stretch.  That forces me to pick it up and push through on the last mile.

This is a terrific run, fun, not too big (about 300 people) and well organized.  I do have, hover a major complaint.  While the race is a ChampionChip Timed, it appears they only use the chip for the crossing of the finish line and not the start.  As a result, if you are towards the back of the pack when you cross the start line, you get a few seconds added from the time the gun goes off (or a siren in this case), to the time you finally cross the start run and start running.  Since we were all the way in the back, for us it was about 50 to 55 seconds.

I confirmed this using both my GPS and Mike's watch.  His was 55 seconds off and mine was 50.  Here is a link to my results.  You may notice that the start and end do not coincide.  But that's because I could not get a satellite signal on time to get a position with the GPS.  That, however, doe snot affect the time, since it does not need a satellite to know the time.

So my official (incorrect) final time is 1:54:05, but my actual (correct) time as measured by my GPS is 1:53:16.  This small difference is important because my time last year was 1:53:33, so with my time this year was 17 seconds faster.

All and all it was a very nice race.  After the race we opted to stay for the soup, bread and cookies which warmed my belly and felt great.  I honestly only signed up this year because Mike suggested it.  And while the town where it is hold is a tad far (just over an hour south of the cities), I think it is worth the drive.  I would definitely do it again next year and perhaps try to shave another 17 seconds :-)  

Tapas at Home

Sharon and I had some friends over for dinner last night to welcome a couple into the building.  We took the day off to prepare and really spent it cooking non-stop for one of our (slowly becoming legendary) tapas party.  I am sorry to say that I completely spaced out and did not take a single picture, you my readers will have to take my word for it.  Everything listed below was cooked and looked (and tasted) great.

The menu started as a copy of one tapas party had for Tim and Joy a few months back, but quickly evolved and we ended up with something almost entirely different.

• Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Sweet Barnea EVOO and Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers - Sharon makes these and they are terrific.  Slowly becoming a regular item to open our tapas parties.

• Fresh Figs Baked with Mangalica Jamón and Clover Honey - These came out great.  The jamon was a last minute addition when I say it at Surdyk's, where it was retailing for $78 a pound.  The seven very thin sliced I got were $7.  Ridiculous, but terrific. 

• Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey - A copy of 112 Eatery's, where they make it with ricotta instead of goat cheese.  This is such a simple and great dish.

• Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots, Jalapeño, Pancetta, and Lemony-Grain Mustard Aioli - A truly last minute addition as recommended by my dentist the morning of the party as I was having my teeth cleaned and she commented on a dish her husband made for her birthday 4 days ago.

• Red Pepper Scallops Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO and Jalapeño Ice

• Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Truffle Oil-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette  - These tomatoes were in the over for 4 hours at 250 degrees with garlic, olive oil and salt.  They came out sweet and delicious.

• Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper, Palacios Chorizo and Pomodoro Sauce - This was the type of dish that I should have photographed for the blog.  It looked pretty awesome.

• Turkey Thigh Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce and Saffron Home-made Crackers - A staple at our house.  Sharon makes the crackers and we can never have enough of them.

• Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp, Cumin, Fennel and Santo Domingo Pimentón over Brava Sauce - Probably my least favorite, but not bad.  Presentation was incredible with the brava sauce splattered over the top, but the meat was a little tough.

• Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, fennel, Asparagus and Goat Gouda - In both Sharon's and my opinion, the best dish by far.  Loosely based on a recipe I found online, but greatly modified (enhanced?) with the goat gouda, fennel and cream instead of milk.  I also doubled a couple of the ingredients to kick it a a few notches.  We will be making this again for sure.

• Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry - The Sherry is poured over the ice cream to get great dessert that sort of reminds you of a creme brûlée.  This was a pairing we saw at a wine tasting that stuck with us. 

• Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse servers with Smith Woodhouse Port - A recipe from Alton Brown that is entirely out of this world good.

Again, sorry I forgot t take any pics.  I even had the camera out, just never remembered...

Rosa Mexicano

Last night Birdie and I went to an art show at a law firm that was showing works by Mat Ollig (an artist friend of Birdie and really worth checking out).  Following the show, we headed to try the new kid on the block, Rosa Mexicano, on the corner of Hennepin and 6th.  

The place looks great, very open, bright and certainly a happening environment.  We had a reservation but had to wait a little at the bar, where we had a drink while waiting and gave Mat time to join us.  I was surprised by a rather short wine list, but the pino noir I had was excellent.

We agreed to seat outside to shorten the wait. That proved to be a good choice, it was a great night.  Warm and with a nice breeze.  The waitstaff was friendly and attentive, but the star of the night was the food (good thing at a restaurant ;-)  

We started with a hamachi tartar with watermelon, cucumber and jicama served with a tomato habanero sauce and jalapeño ice.  The fish was sufficiently fresh but the best part f the dish, in my opinion was the jalapeño ice (a little bit of what felt like spicy pepper sorbet).

We followed the tartar with Tuetanos Rostizados (roasted bone marrow) served with garlic toast and a chipotle-piloncillo sauce.  The bone marrow was smooth and silky (as it usually is, no much merit on that), the sauce was sweet and spicy and helped cut the fatty flavor of the marrow.  Overall a successful dish.  

And as the picture shows, I even convinced Birdie to try it (I can't believe that married to Kim, the man that will eat anything,  she never had before).  She enjoyed, as did Mat.

The best dish came after that, the Chamorro (pork shank) was large enough to feed two people.  Served with rice on the side, the shank had jalapeños and beans (and I think mushrooms).  The pork had a crispy exterior and a nice juicy and very flavorful interior, almost as tender as carnitas.  Really a terrific dish.

The second entree we shared was Chile Rellenos (stuffed chiles).  These are dried peppers that are rehydrated, stuffed with meat and roasted.  Overall not bad, but I would have enjoyed them with a little bit less meat inside and perhaps something else like rice or some veggies.

Overall a good start for an area of Hennepin that needs a little revitalizing.  The price point was higher than I expected, but low enough to allow them to fill up a restaurant of their size.  Very much worth visiting again.  Hopefully next time with Sharon when she is back from San Francisco.

In mourning....

Apple store in San Francisco

2011 TCM mini-report

Just finished my 5th Twin Cities Marathon (15th overall) with an official chip time of 4:09:01.  Very much within my range lately.  I was very happy with the time.  While the weather was not too warm the sun was out for nearly the entire race and that tends to slow me down.  It does not seem it had much effect this time around.

I set my Garmin's virtual partner to a 9:00 min/mile pace and expected to fall behind not to late after the 1/2.  Instead I was able to stay ahead of that pace until mile 21.  Very much a surprise.  Then the Summit hill, the sun and overall exertion took over and I slowed down consideranly breaking into more than a few mini walks.  The overall pace was 9:30.  Again, I am happy overall.

Thanks go to Tim and Joy who gave me encouragement twice during the race (I am sure than more than that, I just didn't see them) and to Hugh and Mary, who were at the Franklin bridge (mile 19) and took the picture below.

Celebrating Joy's Birthday at Saffron

Sharon and I got together last night with Mike, Anita, Tim and Joy to celebrate Joy's one of many annual birthdays at Saffron.  She has an in with the owner and chef and arranged for a tasting menu with wine pairings that truly dazzled our palates.

The pictures below show each of the eight courses,  but make no justice to the flavors and the impeccable wine pairings that chef Sameh Wadi selected for the meal.  They also leave out the very friendly and professional staff (including Alberto and Horatio) and front-of-the-house man (and chef's brother) Shahid Wadi, who visited our table frequently to add to the evening's delight with his affable personality and good humor.

It was also interesting to learn that Saffron will be visited today (Saturday Oct 1), by Al Jazeera, the Arabic news network to record a special on this very fine establishment and purveyor of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine.

One last comment before getting to the menu... What really pleased me most about the evening (aside from the terrific company, which was very much expected), was the masterful progression of dishes that brought to the table an unparalleled crescendo of flavor and complexity.  We've had the opportunity to enjoy a number of tasting menus over the years and even on those that we enjoyed, we haven't always felt that the whole was as harmonic as it was last evening.  Our host had clearly put thought in crafting this menu.

And finally... the menu (my apologies for the quality of the pictures, I was using my iPhone and the flash did not trigger until later in the evening when the lights were dimmed in the dining room):

Amuse bouche: Crab salad over compressed  cucumber with radish and a jalapeño sauce

Salad: Heirloom tomato confit with fried goat cheese and truffle vinaigrette reduction

Soup: Garlic yogurt with smoked paprika,  corn, figs, kikos and a corn  cream poured at the table 

Fish: Monkfish with a jalapeño-tomato sauce, fingerling potatoes and golden raisins 

Poultry: Lamb sausage stuffed quail over farro tabouli and pirripirri sauce

Meat: Lamb belly with lamb bacon and a lamb reduction (that's three time lamb!) with chickpeas 

Apple caramel parfait

Chocolate ganache with caramel ice cream 

Take that Portland!

For some time now I have been trying to run Portland Ave from beginning to end.  On every training run, each longer than the previous, I would take on Portland, right from its start at the Stone Arch Bridge and run half the distance planned for my run and not having reached the end, i'd turn around.  Every time I wondered how close I was to the end.

About a month ago, I went for a 21 mile run and still did not make to to the end by the time I had to turn around.  So as soon as I got home, I went onto Google Maps and got the answer I had been searching.  Running from home to the end of Portland and back would take 24 and 1/2 miles.

So on my next long run, I enlisted my friend Mike (after some negotiation on distance and route) and we decided to tackle the challenge.  We left at 4:00AM and reached the end of Portland by mile 12.27.

I couldn't help it.  At that point I said out loud: Take that Portland!  That line had been in the works for months.

We made the entire run in 3:49:15 at a comfortable 9:33 min/mile pace.  Not only that, but we made it at a very, very consistent pace.  I aways get a kick out of that.

Gold Medal Challenge

Well, I didn't make it this year to the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Marathon.  This is the very fun and very fast indoor Marathon that is held at St Olaf College in Northfield, MN.  There are only 44 spots and a lottery is used to draw up runners.  Not only I didn't make it, but I got spot 20 of 21 runners in the wait list.  Pretty much no chance of running it this year.  Pitty...

My friend Scott was trying to convince me to run the Sandbox Indoor Trail Marathon on February 13.  I am just not sure that it will be held...  Their website is still showing data for last year and the race director did not reply to my email regarding next year registration.

So looking for alternatives I stunbled across the Gold Medal Challenge.  This event included a 1/2 marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday (Jan 21-22).  Both are held at the  Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.  Seems like a good replacement for Zoom! Yah! Yah!

It will also be good training in preparation for the Milano City Marathon in Milan, Italy, for which I already signed up and around which Sharon and I will be building our vacation next year.

I was disappointed about not making the list for the Zoom! Yah! Yah!, but it seems are already looking up!