100 Mile Challenge! + The Girl and the Goat

I completed the 100 mile challenge!

My first day of the challenge was July 23rd, which made the ending/31st day August 24th. In those 31 days, I ran a total of 100.8 miles.

Here's a graph summing up my weekly runs. It does not completely reflect the 31-day window because the graph's weeks start before the first day and extend after the last day of my running "month." But it's close enough. Huzzah!

I know some (crazy-ass) runners easily get up to 100 miles in a week, but for me, 100 in 31 was sufficiently challenging. Even though my runs took only 30 minutes on average, it took some planning to find that time and to make sure I also had ample time to warm up, cool down, stretch, and shower each day. About once a week I gave myself a break day and would compensate for those lost miles through longer runs on subsequent days.

The results of the 31 days of running? My pace overall became faster, easier, and more enjoyable. My face stopped resembling a beet after every run. My sexy feet blisters metamorphosed into sexier feet callouses. And after everything, I felt pretty darn good about how my legs looked when I put on a dress for my 100-in-31 dinner with the boy, heh.

As I'd mentioned a few posts ago, the celebration dinner took place at The Girl and the Goat. TG&TG is somewhat of a rising star in the Chicago food scene - mention you're going there and chances are some foodie in the vicinity will light up and gasp, "You have to try the pig face!"

It is also our city's most Yelped-about restaurant - and as such, notoriously difficult to get into. The boy made our reservations two and a half months ago. Two and a half months of talking to others who'd been, of poring over the menu, and of dreaming of this evening with vast quantities of drool gathering about us. It was with great trepidation and very high expectations that I stepped into the restaurant, my legs wobbly from a combination of soreness, excitement, and being in high heels (a rarity these days).

For being such a raved-about place, TG&TG was surprisingly down to earth. I immediately felt comfortable, like I had walked into a close friend's home (well, a close friend with really good taste). Wooden table tops, charred walls, high ceilings, solid utensils, and simple decor made it easy to focus on the food and the company. The waitstaff were all incredibly on point. Our waitress was a total badass/sweetheart who had no problem answering our questions about the menu or providing her opinions about the dishes. All with a genuine smile, as if she was truly happy to be engaging in conversation with us restaurant-goers.

She suggested a total of four small plates for us - but we couldn't pick (#firstworldproblem), so we loosened the notches in our belts and set about with five.

First came the grilled baby octopus with guanciale in a lemon-pistachio vinaigrette. The octopus was delightfully chewy, the veggies just the right amount of sour, and the bacon added a surprise salty element that worked with the combination.

Next came pan-fried shishito peppers with a generous heaping of parmesan. Actually, the whole thing was quite a large portion - we found ourselves munching on the soft peppers our entire meal whereas everything else was consumed in linear succession. Despite being perfectly delicious, this was perhaps my least favorite item on the menu, which really speaks to how much I loved everything else.

Our third dish and my and the boy's favorite was the fried goat belly served with buttery lobster, crab, and fennel. With ingredients like that, how could it taste anything but absolutely delicious? I think we scarfed this down in record time. I didn't even stop to take a picture of it on my plate, it was so damn good.

Fourth came my second favorite, the kalbi beef ribs. While the ribs were perfectly sumptuous, it was the corn on the cob that left me at a loss for words. I have never eaten such perfectly cooked corn. And I likely never shall again. Every kernel was an intense, magical mouthgasm of juicy, buttery goodness. I know I'm starting to sound like a crazy corn lady. But truly, there are no other words for how good it was. This dish has forever set the corn bar at now unachievable levels.

And last but not least, the grand finale of pig face. PIG FACE!!! So far all the dishes had surprised us, and this was no exception. I'm not really sure what I expected - a flat piggy face oinking back at me, maybe. What we received was an artfully composed tower of what looked like meat patty, hash browns, and an egg fried to perfection nestled delicately on top.

This dish was about as decadent as it got. With every bite, I could practically feel my body undoing all its hard work and melting into an oozing blob of fatty fat fat. It was a glorious and outrageous journey - I think I came out of it a changed person.

By the time we'd managed our last bite of pig face (let's just take a second and reflect on how this sentence began) I wanted nothing more than to keel over and face plant into a nice, long snooze. But instead we got up and walked around to lighten up a bit.

All in all, 'twas a startlingly satisfying meal and a delightful way to celebrate achieving a personal goal. And in the grand scheme of things, it was not incredibly expensive either - our bill came to just under $100 before tip. We'd each ordered a drink as well.

I think my favorite part was how pleasantly surprised I was by each dish. The composition of flavors and presentation were just plain fun. For being one of the hottest restaurants in town, it wasn't pretentious, it wasn't overpriced, and it didn't take itself too seriously. I mean - how could they? Their piece de resistance is a pig face. I definitely would come back to try the other items on the menu - though I'd definitely be tempted to order the goat belly and the ribs again (that CORN!)

If you're saving up for a nice meal in the city or if you have a friend/family coming to town in a few months who you'd like to impress in a fun, laid-back-but-still-trendy atmosphere, take them to The Girl and the Goat. Just remember to wear stretchy bottoms, take deep breaths between mouthfuls, and enjoy the hell out of it.

Healthy hotel dinner

On my weekdays here in Dallas I stay at a Residence Inn. I choose to stay here over much more luxurious accommodations because of one reason only: the kitchen. It's a humble kitchen - two stovetop burners, a microwave, a basic set of pots/pans/utensils, a sink, and a fridge - but it's trusty and it keeps me from stuffing my face with Chipotle every night.

Over the months I've been playing around with different recipes for dinner. But sooner or later I always come back to this one - it's definitely become my default and favorite meal. And if I can make it after a long day of work in my little kitchen, I bet you can too!

The players: egg, quinoa, chicken broth, kale, brussel sprouts, tilapia, s+p, evoo, sriracha, and sesame oil.

In an ideal world I'd get fresh veggies and fish every day, but frozen and bagged varieties are a bit more realistic for my schedule and also keep longer.

Start by thawing your tilapia - I leave mine in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes. Get the quinoa going in a saucepan. I use about 2 parts chicken broth and 1 part water for mine.

Now that your fish and your quinoa are heating up in their respective vessels, it's time to face the veggies. Chop up your sprouts and place them in a pan with some evoo. I like to have the bottoms of mine nice and crispy, so I arrange them "face" down. I give them about 5 minutes of alone time in the pan because they can take a while to cook through.

Next up: kale. The Cinderella of vegetables. Not really glamorous when left neglected and undressed. But give it some water, some sriracha, some fairy dust (ok, sesame oil) and throw it in the pan - and something magical happens: it becomes delicious.

At this point your fish should have de-thawed. Since both of my burners are occupied, I continue to use my veggie pan by making some space in the middle and placing my filet there.

Tilapia and her entourage of vegetables.

Some seasoning and nimble flipping and voila, a nicely cooked chunk of fish. By this time your quinoa should be looking pretty fluffy and ready for consumption too. At this point I plate the veggies, quinoa and fish, cover them, and rest the contraption on top of my steaming saucepan to keep it nice and warm while I tackle the last hurdle: one teeny egg. Time to whip out the teeny egg pan!

I should patent this strategy.

Hold me closer, teeny pans-a.

This thing is pretty awesome. I bought it on a whim at Kroger for $4.00 and it has revolutionized the way I cook eggs. Not only does it prevent them from running all over the place as they tend to in normal-sized pans, it also has a fabulously non-sticky coating, which means gone are the days when I'm the sucker left scraping egg remnants off my pans! I highly recommend getting one especially if you find yourself cooking foreveralone a lot of the time.

Let the pan do its heat-distribution magic while you give the egg some s+p love. Then, assemble it with the rest of your goodies, et voila. You are done my friend.

I love this meal because it's simple, filling, nutritious and offers plenty of opportunity to customize or change up the ingredients. The quinoa and veggies also keep well - I usually make extra to bring for lunch the next day or to repurpose for tomorrow's dinner, when I'll make the egg and fish anew.

So there you go - a classic recipe from ole Granny Rose's cookbook. I hope this post has sparked interest in trying this meal. Or at the very least made you want to get a teeny egg pan. Because if there's only one take away from this post, it's that you should invest in a teeny egg pan. Huzzah!

Attack the Mack(inac)!

Two weekends ago, I joined the boy and his family on a vacation to Mackinac Island, Michigan.

Fun facts about Mackinac Island:

• It is located between the northernmost point of Michigan's "hand" and the southernmost point of the Upper Peninsula (where the "yoopers" live)
• Spelling withstanding, it is actually pronounced "Mackinaw" island (though I found myself accidentally pronouncing the "c" ending a few times! It just felt so wrong otherwise.)
• On the main land nearby there is an actual Mackinaw City, pronounced the same way. Go figure.
• There are no cars on the island
• The island is famous for fudge
• There are a lot of horses on the island
• And subsequently, a lot of horse poop
• The horse poop is constantly being scooped/cleaned up from the street every night...
• ...and every morning fresh new batches of Mackinac's famous fudge appears in the sweets stores...

Just kidding - the horse poop is used for compost. Or so we were told.

Much of our first day was spent in transit to actually get to the island. To do so, we parked our car, took a ferry to the island, and then hailed a "taxi" (horse-drawn carriage) to our condo. The taxi ride felt magical. I spend so much time in rapid, stressful transit - cars, planes, trains - that it was wonderfully absurd to find myself being pulled along at a whopping four miles per hour through winding trails in the woods. The horses' slow, steady clip-clopping was a relief from the sounds of engines revving, their languid gait a welcome respite from rage-inducing inter-city commuting.

A typical taxi.

The boy, his brother and I were the last to arrive; upon doing so, we received our vacation t-shirts (an annual tradition). This year's featured a nippled, lazy-eyed, big-of-belly horse licking an ice cream cone in front of the Mackinaw bridge, all mapped upon lush blue cotton, courtesy of Ann Arbor Tshirt Company. A triumphant piece that will stay in style for many seasons to come.

Once we'd settled in and finished exploring our (very cool) condo, we headed outside to play before the sun set while a tasty salmon filet sizzled on the grill.

We approve of the condo!

Blue-shirted volleyball

Oberon and salmon, a very Michigan meal indeed.

After dinner, we celebrated the boy's 27th birthday by opening up presents and singing Sto Lat! Does 27 make him too old to be called the boy on this blog?

Happy birthday, cutie.

Mustache glass complimentary of yours truly.

The next day we slept in, had breakfast, and set out for kayaking. It should be noted that almost all of our commuting here on out was on foot as our condo was two miles away from the downtown area. I really enjoyed walking; not only did it provide an opportune time for conversation, we also enjoyed some beautiful homes and views throughout our languid strolls to and fro.

A quirky back yard we passed by on our way downtown.

$10M lakefront mansions.

Goofing around in front of the West Bluffs viewpoint.

Entourage.

We went kayaking along the coast of the island, which offered some stupendous views of the water and shores. Perhaps more stupendous though was the arm workout I got.

In the afternoon we spent some time in the downtown area, which was very touristy (think fudge shops, ice cream and souvenir stores that sell t-shirts with jokes on them). We also popped by the one and only grocery store to grab ingredients for dinner, which was a grand affair of a guacamole brushetta starter, shrimp pasta, summer vegetables, and fresh berries for dessert. And champagne, of course.

We also pulled out one of the boy's new presents, Bocce Ball, and gave it a whirl in the yard:

Bocce ball was only a warm-up though for the real competition that was before us: the J family games! We competed in a series of mini challenges, including see which duo could throw/catch an unboiled egg the farthest distance, who could toss a frisbee into a designated area, who could mark the most of our 48 continental states on an empty map of the US, and who could score the most in a very random game of trivia.

Despite not getting any frisbees in the landing zone (no motor skills ever), I managed to win the egg toss with the boy as my partner in crime, tie his brother in naming 41 of the 48 states correctly  (my strategy for the ones that stumped me in the midwest was to label them all as Kansas), and win the trivia game, culminating in me becoming the ultimate champion of this year's 2013 J family vacation games and recipient of a highly-envied Starbucks gift card - huzzah!

Though I think we should've celebrated my championship with Cristal and EDM blasting into the wee hours of the morning, we hit the hay early that night as the next day required an early start. On our agenda were parasailing, lunch at the illustrious Grand Hotel, bike riding, and dinner at The Woods, an aptly-named restaurant just a few minutes from the condo.

I'd never gone parasailing before, so I took my camera and recorded some footage, most of which was comprised of me waving my piggies in the air whilst singing Justin Bieber.

Seeing the other members of the J family parasail was quite the photo opportunity. A big, colorful billowing kite with two tiny people attached to it against the big blue-and-grey sky.

Parasailing turned out to be a really fun and surprisingly relaxing activity - I'd definitely do it again. It's the closest sensation to flying that I've felt to date.

All of our airborne excitement had worked up some pretty grand appetites, so it was only fitting that we lunched at the historic Grand Hotel. The Grand is well known for its old-school grandeur and for its impressive suite of political and historical visitors. It was beautifully decorated and the service was immaculate. The lunch buffet was good, but not anything to write home (or in a blog) about.

After lunch, we strolled around the Grand's balcony and enjoyed the sunshine before walking back and grabbing some bikes to get a tour of the island.

Biking gave me a whole new perspective on Mackinac. Gone were the fudge and the cacophony of tourism; in their place, just empty, smooth trails, perfect for our bikes. I loved seeing the beautiful shorelines sprinkled with cairns. And I got a leg workout that rivaled the arm one I'd gotten earlier that day.

After a two-hour ride, we returned the bikes near the condo, happy and exhausted. The evening ended with dinner at The Woods, a restaurant located in its namesake. The dark ambience and rustic, old-school hunting theme reminded me of my experience at Next's "The Hunt" menu.

After scarfing down our thoroughly delicious meals, we walked back to the condo, settled into the comfy couches, and put on Somewhere in Time, an old Christopher Reeve film that was shot in the Grand Hotel. It was eerily familiar to see the scenes on the balcony and in the dining rooms where we had just been hours before. And in a classic Rose move, I fell asleep about fifteen minutes in the movie - I even beat the boy's brother, a sleep-deprived surgeon, to snoozeland!

As the saying goes, all good things have to come to an end. The next morning we packed up all our things, got on the ferry, and bid adieu to Mackinac. I think three days was the perfect amount of time to spend on the island. We got real lucky with the gorgeous weather, the wonderful condo, and the fact that everyone could be together to spend some time in this beautiful place. While I think I'd go crazy and grow startlingly obese if I lived on the island full-time, I'd definitely go back for another getaway (getaway).