Food, Books, Travel, Love...What else is there?

Carly got tagged this week and then she tagged the Internets... I have no running of note to blog about, and this tag had lots of questions about food...so I'll play.

1. If you could eat anything without any health repercussions, what would it be?
That's a tough one, because I really like good food. Fast food? Meh... I can leave it. But put a really perfectly aged and grilled filet mignon in a béarnaise sauce, in front of me? And I'm in heaven. I make a really mean bread pudding that has a bourbon sauce that is just to die for. I also make some kick-ass gumbo. I don't make these things very often because both are heart-attacks waiting to happen.

BTW...I've only been to the south twice. Why I love southern cooking so much is a bit of a mystery to me.

2. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
I'd love to meet Jon Stewart (living) and Mark Twain (dead) because they are/were brilliant satirists. I'd just want to sit and listen and learn.

3. Why did you start blogging and what did you expect when you started?
I've written about this a lot on this blog and elsewhere. I started blogging to capture the adventures of the herd when we training for our first (and only) marathon, but I'd actually been thinking about starting a blog for awhile. I didn't want to start a mommy blog (not that there's anything wrong with that). I thought about starting a blog about adolescent literacy since I have LOTS of opinions about that topic or about teaching, a job with LOTS of stories to tell. Then, when I dropped my first iPhone in a toilet after a training run, I googled "dropped iPhone in toilet" to see if I could salvage it and came across this blog. I thought it was the funniest damn thing I'd read. I loved the voice, the pacing, the meta-commentary, and started to model some of my points after Amalah's style. I've never met her, and she's never (as far as I know) ever read my blog, but I am somewhat indebted to her.

What did I expect? At first, I expected to entertain my friends, although I expected that I'd start blogging and be able to quit my day job and just write all the time. That hasn't really happened yet.

4. What is the one book you could read over and over again?
I teach English, so there are plenty of books I've read over and over again. One of the books that I've taught that I actually enjoyed reading more than once is Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees, just because the main character is a smart ass, and I like that about her.

As for non-teaching book? You are about to discover what a complete and utter geek I am... I've read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy more times than I can tell you about.

5. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
One day, I'll travel through Europe...Italy actually. I'd love nothing more than to drink wine, eat pasta, sit in a piazza and people watch people, see great art, and drink wine...for the rest of my life.

6. If you could have a TV show on the food network, what would it be?
I'd love to have a TV show where The Herd and I travel around the country, run some, then eat breakfast and have mimosas at different restaurants, and then let the TV sensors beep out 1/2 of what we actually end up talking and laughing about...

OK...it wouldn't be great TV, but I'd have fun!

7. What was the best meal you've ever had?
There are two reasons why any meal is "the best meal." One would be because of the person you're with, and the other would be about the food. In my case, it's both. One of the best meals I've ever had was at a restaurant in downtown San Diego called Croce's (it's owned by Ingrid Croce, the late Jim Croce's wife). Walter and I went there for dinner one night. I can't remember now if we were still dating or if we'd just gotten married, but the truth is that we ended up there without a reservation on a Saturday night and somehow they squeezed us in. We ordered mussels and they were just exquisit. We've both claimed, ever since then, that they were the best we'd ever had. In retrospect, I think that we were young, in love, and feeling very lucky that the maitre' de sat us on a busy Saturday night and all THAT is what made the damn mussels so very good because they've never been equaled.

8. Who has been the greatest influence on your love for food and learning to cook?
My mom would occasionally try to get me to learn to cook when I was young, but I just had no interest in it, at all. I mean, I was happy to eat whatever she cooked, but had no interest in cooking it myself. When I first moved out on my own, I once called my mother to ask her how to bake a potato. I remembered that I'd seen her stab it with a fork, but I had no idea why, nor did I have any idea how long, or what temperature, and this was well before the Internet when I could just look it up.

One of my first jobs out of college was at a hotel, and at one point I started working in the catering department (answering phones, handing out menus). There were SO MANY THINGS on the menu that I'd never heard of...bearnaisse sauces, petit fours, pates, filet this, grilled that. We'd have tastings and I decided that I really LIKED food.

Anyway, it was working in those hotels, and learning from a couple of the chefs, when I started becoming more interested in food and cooking. I would watch what they did and think, "I could do that!"

OK...so that's it...in true Carly fashion. I tag the rest of the Internet who hasn't already been tagged by Carly (as if that's anyone...she's got, like, a gazillion followers)

Not Doing What I Should Be Doing

Yeah...it's been another crazy-busy week. It's that time of year, and I've got loads of papers to grade, which I don't mind. I mean I'm an English teacher. It IS part of what I signed up for, but I'm sorta guilty of not grading some papers that I should have done about a week ago, so the pile has increased and now I've got lots...it'll take me about 4 or 5 hours to get through all of it...GAH!

Also...I really don't have any interesting running stories to write about this week. I went to the SDTC track workout on Tuesday with Elsie and ran, wondrously, 6x800 repeats WITH NO PAIN! Although since then I've been noticing some pain around the Achilles...no, not in the right foot (which is the PF foot), but in the OTHER ONE...WTF????

Got the La Jolla 1/2 this weekend, so I'm taking it easy. I'll get in a short run this afternoon. Expo tomorrow. Race on Sunday. For today, I'm hanging with Turbo and his BF. They did an overnight field trip on the Californian, so I picked them up this morning, fed them lots of food at Denny's and now they're vegging on the sofa, playing video games. And since today is NikeMom's Foto Friday, I thought I'd add this to the mix...

Boyz chillin'

FOB (fresh off the bus...do they LOOK like they're gonna crash this afternoon?...yeah, I didn't think so either)

Video game zone

Also, last week Rookie on the Run tagged me with this...and since I've got nada else today, it's a good day to answer a tag. Here are the rules: I get to throw out one question, add a new one, and tag a few peeps to do the same.

1. What are your current obsessions?

Currently I'm obsessing about when the next '80s band concert is playing. So far, the only local concert I see is Depeche Mode in August. I'm sure my brief backstage visit has ruined me for life...

2. Which item from your closet are you wearing most often?
Old Levi Jeans...they're so old and worn that there are holes in them. Today I discovered a hole in the, shall we say, crotch region...yep, I wore them anyway cuz they're just so comfy. I'll just sit with my knees together like my mama taught me...

3. Last thing you bought for yourself?
A Cliff Bar, for breakfast on Sunday...how sad is that? but it is the last thing I bought for me. Actually, it was the second one I bought for me, but DramaGirl ate the first one.

4. What’s for dinner?
It's a Rachel Ray recipe for a shrimp bread soup...only I gotta go to Trader Joes to get some frozen shrimp. It's really yummy.

5. Say something about the person who tagged you:
I can't wait until Rookie on the Run and I get to meet in person...I love reading her blog and about her adventures training for the marathon. So much of what she's going through (injuries and all) are like my experiences last year.

6. What is one item you could not live without?
My laptop. It's got everything on it...although the iPhone is coming in a close second. As soon as I can MMS with the thing, it'll be the PERFECT toy!

7. Vacation spots you must visit before you die?
I want to go to Europe, specifically Italy and see the house where my mom was born.

8. Three things to do before you die?
Having earned a doctorate and run a marathon, and by raising two pretty amazing kids...I'm pretty satisfied with my life and I really don't have much of a "bucket list," but I do want to do a tri at some point (not a full...maybe a 1/2...certainly a sprint). Before I die, I'd also like to see our property fully landscaped (we have almost an acre and it's about 1/3 done. Have I mentioned that we've lived here almost 8 years?)...Oh and that light bulb over the dining room table. I'd like to see that changed before I die too...

9. What are you reading right now?
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It's about why some people are successful. I love how he takes what appear to be sorta random incidents and shows how they are interrelated.

10. What is the last movie you saw and enjoyed?
I don't see too many movies. I can't even remember the last grownup movie I saw in a movie theater. The last movie I remember enjoying in a theater was probably Harry Potter...whatever the last one was.

11. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Blogging

12. What’s your favorite smell?
Fresh baked bread

13.If cost wasn't an issue and you could run any race in the world, what would it be?
I'd take the herd to run a race in Hawaii...ultimate race road trip.

14. Do you have a goal that you are trying accomplish before 2009 is over?
Yeah...the San Diego Triple Crown (Carlsbad 1/2, La Jolla 1/2, Americas Finest City 1/2)

15. Describe one of your happiest moments.
Well, there's the obvious one about giving birth...although to be honest, while I was ecstatic about meeting both the kiddos, I was mostly happy to just not be pregnant any more. I wasn't very good at being pregnant. I was nauseous the whole time. I gained too much weight, so I was uncomfortable. The day after Turbo was born (via c-section), I was up and walking around. People who saw me were surprised that I was so energetic. I was just happy that I didn't feel like puking any more...

(yeah, I removed question 16...but I am too lazy to renumber the whole thing...)

17. What do you have an addiction to?
Fresh baked sourdough bread with real butter (yum...I could eat a loaf of it. Forget chocolate and sweets, I'm all about the bread).

18. What do you do that you would be embarrassed for others to know about?
Well...I'm too embarrassed to say, so I won't...but it's NOT related to 21 (see below).

19. What is one totally irrational fear you have?
All of my fears are completely rational.

20. Do you have a favorite training tip?
Ice...the miracle cure. If you're sore after a run, ice, ice packs, ice baths, cold pools are wondrous...who knew?

21. What's your most embarrassing moment?
Recently? OK...that would be yesterday...I share an office with another instructor. We have a cubical wall divider between us, so we can't see each other unless one of us stands up and goes around the wall. Yesterday afternoon, I was on my side and walking over to his, and I tripped over my briefcase. I knew I was going to fall, and had this moment of clarity in which I knew that if I tried to stop the fall, I might hurt myself, so I just decided to go with it, and I literally did a ski-roll into his side of the office.

I wish I had a photo to capture the look on his face as I was lying on the floor (really...I rolled on my side, and ended up on my back)...it must have looked like I was doing a side-roll, summersault or something like that. He just looked at me and said

"Oh my...are you OK?"

I just stood up pretty quickly and said something like "oh yeah. I'm fine." Then I think I said something about being pretty clumsy at times, and that I'd probably do THAT again some day, so stay tuned."

Class and elegance...that's me...

22. What is your dream job?
Anything where I don't have to walk (JK). Seriously, wouldn't it be great if I could get paid to blog? But then again, if I got paid to do this, then maybe it would become a job, and a chore, and then I might not enjoy it so much...but one day, I'd like to write a book...or at least I'd like to have time to sit down and write every day, something that would end up in a book.

23. What should you be doing right now besides answering these questions?

Grading papers...yeah, the stack is not getting any smaller.

24. (The question I added) What's the last song you added to your running playlist?
Mad World - Tears for Fears...I saw that Adam-guy do his rendition of the song on American Idol (which is DramaGirls latest obsession...) and I thought...what a great running song! So I downloaded it and added it. Yep, another 80's tune for the list.

So...I'm tagging whoever wants to play...I love these things! I hope that all of ya play along.

Fabu, Fabu

I've been tagged twice in the last week, but I've been so busy moaning about my life that I haven't responded. In all honesty, I'm sorta sick of hearing myself whine about my sorry  hip. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

And thanks to Anne and Lisa for tagging me with the "Your Blog is Fabulous" Award. I'm really quite flattered. It's a very sweet honor and I love both of their blogs as well (so I guess I'm fabu, fabu this week).

So, here's my list of five things I'm currently addicted to:

1. Blogging and reading all your blogs. - I took an online quiz that said I was only 61% addicted, but I think it was being generous. Let my kids and hubby tell you how much time I spend doing this....it's baaaaaad.

2. Running (duh) - I've never felt my addiction so genuinely as this week when I couldn't run and I've been going through DTs all week (medical lingo from my mom for withdrawal symptoms. I think its some kind of latin for delirium tempors....or the shakes).

3. Ciabatta bread - I keep trying and trying to give up some carbs...especially what I call the "white foods" (white bread, sugar, white rice, potatoes). I do really well until I'm in Trader Joes and I see the loaf of Ciabatta...there's something about that airy, almost sourdough taste that makes me buy it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I could eat a whole loaf, I swear it.

4.  Real Housewives of Orange County - I know, it's hard to admit it publicly, but I am absolutely addicted to this train-wreck of a show. It's like slowing down to look at a car accident. I know I shouldn't look, but I can't help myself.

5. Coffee - Absolutely addicted to this. I know it's wrong, but I just can't get my day started without it.

So I'm tagging (although it was difficult, because I think almost everyone's been tagged...and I think all your blogs are fabu, fabu, but just in case. Here's some shout outs to a couple who haven't blogged about being fabulous yet.

Yas - Who is running the Carlsbad 1/2 marathon tomorrow morning too...and I hope we finally get a face to face meeting.

Reluctant Runner - Who was my first blog-friend, since we ran our first marathons within a week of one another.

Al - because no matter what, she makes me laugh at her running adventures...and her dog named Guiness.

Vickie - She saved my life this week with her awesome stretching advice. My hip is sooooo much better thanks to her advice.

RBR - I'm pretty sure she's been tagged already too, but I just love her blog, and that fact that I can always see that she's online on a Friday night...such is the life of a teacher, and I know that's the first time all week she's really had to go online.

Looking forward to tomorrow's Carlsbad 1/2 and running into (haha) Penny, Yas, & Lisa.

Unrelated to my addictions, I thought I'd post one photo of the shwag picked up from the expo...I've never gotten a loaf of bread before!

Woot! Woot! Woot!