2012 Recap

This year...

January

-Ran our first marathon in Charleston, SC
-Brad turned 30
-Became a BMX Bandit
-Went bobsledding for the first time ever in Lake Placid
-Went dogsledding
-Giants won the Superbowl!

February
-went snowboarding in Lake Placid and built jumps in the backyard of Honeycut Cabin

March
-epic St. Patrick's Day Party which ended with Miles Austin at the Boathouse

April
-went to Ireland
-had a birthday in the town my great-grandparents are from: Killaloe, Ireland
-got engaged to my favorite person in Doolin overlooking the Cliffs of Moher
-went to my first Irish Rugby Match

May
-Finished P90X
-Mamie passed away. XOXO

June
-Finished my last year teaching in NYC
-Wedding Planning

July
-got a new job at Howell High School so we can move down the Shore
-Shea is psyched to have central air conditioning and a yard in her future

August
-went to epic Alaska

September
-moved to NJ officially
-closed on our first house in Oceanport at the Jersey Shore!

October
-Hurricane Sandy devastates the Jersey Shore and New York
-had my Afternoon Tea bridal shower
-had my awesome bachelorette party

November
-had our wedding blown away by Hurricane Sandy
-got a NJ state license
-built a farmhouse dining room table and benches
-became crafty

December
-had our first party at our new house
-cooked my first Christmas Eve meal for two families
-painted, bought furniture and decorated our house
-finally organized blog into categories

Can't wait to see what 2013 brings! Happy New Year everyone!

My Grandmother's Southern Caramel Squares

These are my grandmother's famous caramel squares. They could be the best dessert you'll ever eat. I made them for Christmas this year, and they were a huge hit. I managed to procure the recipe the last time I was in Charleston, SC. My grandmother has passed on, but her legacy lives on.

I used light evaporated milk and they tasted exactly as I remembered from many happy Christmas experiences as a little kid. I also make them sans nuts because I'm not a huge fan. My grandmother used to send them up to me in the Bronx in a tin. They were my favorite part of Christmas. Enjoy!

3 Miles and Painting Cross Training

So, after a hiatus, we are officially back to running. Our training plan for the marathon starts on New Year's Day (How's that for a resolution?!?) and we couldn't be more bummed excited.

So what have we been doing in the meantime? Holiday parties, IKEA shopping (I now own a huge stock in Sweden), decorating, and painting. Perfect cross training activities.

To be honest, I am excited about the marathon. Running in the cold is not fun. My throat hurts, I feel like I can't breathe as easily (or I'm just out of shape from all the caramel squares and peanut butter balls), and I can never figure out the right attire--I'm either too hot or too cold. But, the payoff will be great, because running the Charleston marathon last January was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Personal satisfaction level was VERY high, and I feel as though a marathon that literally leaves from my doorstep (Monmouth Race Track is just a few blocks away, and that's the starting line) will be awesome. Seven President's Park, where it ends, is just 3 miles away. And this time, I'll probably be able to enjoy the after party a bit more. And maybe even eat another pineapple ham pizza all by myself. :)

Yes. That Mellow Mushroom pizza was delicious. And that's the reason I run marathons :)

Doggie Biscuits: Merry Christmas, Puppies in Kind

Brad's sister got us a doggie biscuit making kit, so I decided that Shea deserved a treat on Christmas, and I whipped up some peanut butter doggie biscuits. Voila! Merry Christmas to all, including puppies. :)

Tomorrow, we'll run. Today, we eat. Here's wishing you a very merry and joyful Christmas!

XOXO
~Jamie

Christmas Eve Feast

Read this post with the Charlie Brown Christmas music playing in the background.

I've been channeling both of my grandmother's these past few days in an attempt to create a feast. I think I have succeeded. Here's what I have created for the first ever Cositore-Stinson Christmas Eve Extravaganza!

1. Cheese. Obviously. Provolone and beer cheddar. For the Italian and secret cheese-can lovers in us all.

Followed by: Some Mamie channeling. Two types of Lasagna (one sausage, one spinach) and Braciole. The braciole is really for Papa, but it looks SOOOO good, I wish I had more flank steak and could have made more.

Then, a taste of what else is to come. I'm making bacon green beans, roasted potatoes, and ham. Here are the roasted potatoes, pre-oven.

And, for dessert, I'm channeling Mamama, and made peanut butter balls and caramel squares, and then, I have a surprise southern upside down chocolate cake! Shhhh... I haven't made the cake yet, as it is something that has to be done last minute, but I've never had it and heard it used to be one of my mom's favorites. We'll see if I can pull it off!

And finally, I braved the Christmas Eve chaos to procure these plates and making my table look awesome! Notice the Layer Cake Malbec: Laura gave this to me at my bachelorette party, and it was phenomenal.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Home Sweet Home!

I had the revelation that this will be our first Christmas as fiances. We weren't supposed to have a Christmas as fiances, so this is actually kind of exciting! I will show off my ring and tell people we're engaged for the next week and a half. It will be great!

And I have the best fiance ever! I came home from a terrible day of work (World was supposed to end, transformer blew before classes started because of the excessive wind and rain, smoke everywhere and no power and a bunch of HS students who didn't want to be there anyway thinking the Apocalypse was coming... and then finding out later in the day that Brick HS (poor Melissa!) had its own awful events with a potential gunman getting arrested... which didn't help)... anyway, I came home from work, to find this:

Notice the bow on the door. Yes, he even bought a big bow so I could "open" my gift. He painted it (awesome color, called winter surf), bought all of the furniture (2 desks, 2 awesome chairs, 2 tall bookshelves, and 1 small cubed bookshelf with baskets), put the furniture together, and organized it. And he used my aesthetic that I had talked about when we hashed out what we might do with the space. PERFECT! I couldn't ask for a more thoughtful present. Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary. Seems so much longer, in a good way. :)

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup, Italian Flag Appetizers, and Chicken

Ladies and gentlemen.

I have accomplished a lot by 6:00 PM tonight. Still waiting for B-Rad to come home so we can go for a run, but...

I Christmas shopped for Secret Santa.

I made some crafty Christmas presents.

I made Italian Flag Appetizers for lunch tomorrow. I never go to lunch, but the people who are off the period I am are having a mini-festive party, so I figured I'd go, meet some new people, and mingle. So I made these:

Don't they look incredible???

Then, I made a chicken. See the little guy roasting so nicely in the oven?

Then I bought a huge butternut squash, sliced it up, roasted it, and proceeded to make a coconut curry butternut squash soup that's healthy and delicious. No cream. Totally awesome.

1 1/2 cups of cooked butternut squash (I used more... I like the soup a bit thicker and more squash-y)

I used 1 cup of light coconut milk because I used more squash. They said 1/2 cup.

I used 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth. They said 3/4 cup

I used 2 tsp. curry. They said 1

I used 1/2 tsp salt. They said 1/4 tsp.

Then, I blended it all together with my awesome immersion blender. Voila! Tasty morsel served with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Truth

As a former NYC public school teacher, and a present NJ suburban teacher, let me just say, unless you're a teacher, you have NO idea.

Amazing Eggplant and Roasted Pepper Soup

This was awesome. It's from the Food for Thought cookbook, so of course it is. And soooo easy!

1. Stick a fork in an eggplant about 6 times so it can release steam. Brush the whole thing with olive oil. Place on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Cut 2 red peppers (I used yellow because they were cheaper) in half. Take the seeds out. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Also put on the baking tray.

3. Add 11 oz of tomatoes (I figured 2 tomatoes.) Brush each whole tomato with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add to the baking tray.

Now, put all that in the oven at 400 F. Leave for about 30-35 minutes, or until the eggplant begins to collapse.

In the meantime, chop up an onion, celery, and garlic finely. Add to a pot with a little bit of olive oil and 1 tsp paprika. Cook until soft. Once soft, add 3 dessert spoons of tomato paste and 2 cups of vegetable stock. (This is actually vegan, too.) Let simmer.

When the veggies are baked, peel the skin off the peppers and tomatoes. Roughly chop and add to the pot.

Scoop the meat out of the eggplant. Add to the pot.

Immersion blender it all, baby! I love my immersion blender.

Bring it back to a boil. Then add salt and pepper, put it in a bowl, sprinkle fresh chopped basil on top, and voila! Extremely healthy, simple, and tasty eggplant soup. I served it with Italian bread. Perfect winter meal.

Rainy July Christmas

Woke up this morning at 7:30. Finished my lesson plans by 8:45. Wrote a recommendation for a student in the Bronx by 9:15. Got dressed into my running gear, ate breakfast, played with the puppy, and was out the door around 10:30. In the rain. Awful rain. And wind. But at least it wasn't that cold...

Ran down through Oceanport, into Monmouth Beach, up to the ocean in Long Branch, and back to Oceanport. All in all, around 7.5 miles. Going pretty slow due to the wind, and because I've been training a bit more than Brad, and I didn't want to get him injured. Which was nice. I actually enjoyed the run, with the salt water on my skin and the light precipitation cooling me down. Now, I need to get my lessons for tomorrow ready, and I need to grade some papers, but what I really want to do is watch football. Haha. Oh well. Such is life. Until I figure out a Plan B.

This week will involve a lot of Jamie cooking. I need to bring food into work twice this week and procure a Secret Santa gift. Sigh. But, at least I'll have some vacation time in the future to paint, make some desks and bookshelves, and deal with Christmas. Still haven't had a second to buy any Christmas gifts... But I did get the run in! :-D

JSRC: Re-Up, Asbury Park Runapalooza!

So, now that I really live in NJ, license plates and all, I decided to re-up my JSRC membership. And with that, why not enter the Asbury Park Half Marathon as part of the Runapalooza weekend!

1. It's a Saturday
2. According to my marathon training schedule, I'm supposed to run 12 miles that day anyway
3. They are giving proceeds to the Hurricane Relief Fund
4. For a half marathon, it's not overly expensive
5. It's local
6. It's going to be a great time!

So... registered! But, I am going for slow, casual, as I will have run 20 miles the weekend before, and have a marathon on May 5th. So, don't expect any awesome times, I certainly will NOT be racing this one. But, I will be running it :-D

Join me! (And Brad, and Laura) http://www.runapalooza.org/

3 Snowman Snowballs

We (Brad, Jamie, and Shea-dog) ran 3 miles tonight, even though I am concerned that I could potentially have warning signs of the flu that's been going around school. I can't seem to stay awake, I'm exhausted all the time. I just feel run-down. As for the run...

I came home a frozen snowball.

But, we ran much slower, only 9 minute miles, and the pace made it almost enjoyable, besides the fact that I can't feel my ears right now.

Happy Holidays! <3 your neighborhood Snowgirl.

Running on Empthai

So tonight I was uninspired. Did not want to run. Was exhausted from work. Waking up when it's dark and getting home when it's dark is not pleasant. As I was making dinner, I began to feel sad that I couldn't get motivated. My hands were freezing, my eyes were heavy, and the couch was so much more comfortable, especially with a puppy all curled around me.

But, as I flipped the chicken over, I thought, NO. I don't want to be this person. I can't let work and exhaustion get in my way.

So, I told Brad to go put on his running gear, I strapped on my Newtons, and we headed out the door for a quick 5k.

I felt like we were flying. My gps paused by accident, so I don't know how fast we went, but my lungs were burning, my calves were burning, and my head wasn't right. But, we did it, and we saw lots of pretty, classy Christmas lights along the way.

Sometimes life is tiring. But, I guess you gotta get out the door anyway. Even when the only thing you want to do is pour a huge glass of wine and cuddle with your fiance in sweats.

Speaking of which...

But, before I do that, I was inspired to make Thai food for dinner tonight. And it's healthy! So, here's the recipe for my coconut-rice chicken

1 cup white rice (I used brown jasmine rice to make it extra awesome)
1 can thai light coconut milk
1 can water (fill the can with water)
1 large sweet potato, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2-3 jalapeno peppers, chopped

Add coconut milk, water, and vegetables. Bring to a boil. Add rice. Then turn to a simmer and cover until rice cooks as per directions on box/bag (mine was about 20 minutes). Meanwhile, cook some chicken up. Add chicken, and voila! Awesome, healthy thai food.

I wish I could explain to you how amazing my house smells right now from this dinner. It's wonderful.

Goal Crazy

Periodically, the same thought crosses my mind: goals are bad.

Let me explain.

Society has created this concept of success and failure. And people feel like there is a bare minimum they need to achieve. You know, the whole American dream thing: house, spouse, kids, minivan. And to not achieve that is to fail. Hence, the goal is to prove your success to the world and procure the caravan. And then get public recognition via facebook about how awesome your house, spouse, kids, and minivan are.

Well, this also translates into exercise. If you run five minutes and are out of breath, we think that society calls that failure. Maybe even epic failure. And people, as a general rule, don't like to fail. Failing doesn't make anyone feel good. So people stop. They concede. They acquiesce. They give in. And that's not right. Because in reality, 5 minutes is better than zero. And eventually, five minutes becomes five and a half. And six. And seven. And maybe even ten. And even if it doesn't, five is still better than zero.

Goals are bad. People feel the need to achieve them. I mean, look at the Great Gatsby. Or even your own neighborhoods. People you know. Flaunting their "wealth", whether it be material or not, in other people's faces to feel good. Stop it, society! You're teaching all the wrong lessons to the youth of America. Success comes when you FEEL successful, not when someone else tells you that you are!

So go out and do something, and realize that doing anything is a success all in itself.

8 Miles and Winter Rum Punch

Party was a success!

And I ran 8 miles. At around 8:40 average pace. Not bad for just getting back in the running game... Finished the whole thing in less than 1:10. Which was good, because I had a lot to do to get ready for the party.

Overall, quality performance.

2 more weeks 'til vacation. That's 10 school days. Very much looking forward to relaxing. And sleeping. And running, obviously! :-D

Winter Rum Punch: Awesomeness

16 cups of apple cider
4 cups of rum
2 apples sliced thinly
2 oranges sliced thinly
4 cinnamon sticks
2 one inch slices of ginger

Combine everything EXCEPT for the rum (you don't want it to cook out, do you?)

Bring to a boil.

Turn down to a simmer.

You can leave it like this for up to 2 hours to let the flavors marry.

When you're ready to serve, remove from heat and stir in rum. Then play the "Natty or Nice" Christmas soca soundtrack on Songza and pretend you're at a beach.

Deckin' Da Halls

So I got my "festive" sweater for the party tomorrow. Spent a pretty penny on food. I'm waking up at 4:30 AM to deal with the meat. And I'm excited to dance around tomorrow with my broom and my mop and make everything sparkle like Cinderella did.

I have been so pumped for this party since October! In fact, the invitation says that we would be married by the time of the party. Sigh. Kinda makes me sad. But, such is life. We have been preparing for weeks. Literally. I'm excited to show my grandfather and Joe and Vera and big Dawson and Dawsie our new house!

Maybe I can get a run in in the morning between preparations. That'd be nice. A long run. To the beach and down a stretch of ocean. It'd relieve some of my stress! I'd like that.

Winter Sunburn

I ran a 5k tonight, and my cheeks are now chapped! It was soooo cold! But, I got out there and did my thing, so there's my positive thought for the day.

Work is exhausting. I used to think my Thanksgiving plate was massive. But this brings plate full to a whole new level. Sigh. But, I'm helping my students, so there's my other positive thought for the day.

Black Bean Soup

Fat Busting Black Bean Soup

This is a tasty morsel that sheds the pounds and provides a protein punch. Another Runner's World recipe. Perfect for after a run on a cold winter's night. I ran 3.14 miles tonight in 25 minutes and change. Legs were exhausted after yesterday. Took Shea with me, as Brad is working late. Wanted to tucker her out. She's now curled around me, passed out as I write this :-D Mission accomplished!

Burn some fat, shed those holiday pounds, make this awesome dish tonight!

Heat 2 tsp. canola oil (yay healthy oil!)
Add one onion and one sliced carrot. Let mingle for 5 minutes.
Add 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 15 oz cans of drained black beans (Go Goya!)
1 cup of sliced red pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp. chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
1 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper

Let this marry for 20 minutes on a nice simmer.

Add zest of one orange (I used tangerine) and 1 tbsp. thyme. Serve with avocado. Voila! Burn some fat, and have an easy, healthy meal :-D

December Night Scamper

Sometimes you just have to make time. Out of thin air. And that's what I did this weekend. I managed to grade a million papers (or so it felt), finish my report cards, lesson plan for next week (that alone took over four hours this morning and drove me to tears), decorate the house for Christmas, have Brad's parents come up, go to lunch with Brad's parents, and go for a 7.22 mile run with Brad up to the beach in Long Branch, down to 7 Presidents' Park, and back.

Patting myself on the back. :-D

This is going to be a lonely week. Brad has to stay in NY Thursday and Friday night because he has inventory at work, which means he'll be working minimum of twelve hour days. But, I'll be busy cooking, getting ready for the party, and line dancing in South Jersey Friday night with his sister Kris!

Just hope I can keep all this running up. Gotta get in "pre-marathon" training shape! Marathon training will start before I know it!

812 calories. That's like, one and a half slices of pecan pie. Haha.

Natty and Nice Christmas Curry

Ok, so spicy food reminds me of the Caribbean and there's this great station on Songza called Natty and Nice. It features hits like "Christmas in Jamaica" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Dreadlocks" to name a few. Awesomeness. I love steel drums.

So, I was inspired, also by my high-stress weekend of grading, lesson planning, and report cards, and this meal is supposed to relieve stress, to make a coconut-curry dish. It's supposed to be salmon, but surprisingly by the beach it is very difficult to find Alaskan salmon and I didn't want to go all the way to Wegmans as I have a not-so-fun headcold/allergy thing going on. So, this is what I concocted:

1. Heat 2 tsp of canola oil (So much better for you!)

2. Chop 2 garlic cloves and 2 shallots. Brown for 2 minutes

3. Add 2 cups chicken broth (I use light), 1 14oz can of light coconut milk (I couldn't find it so I used full fat. Oh well...) 2 tbsp. of tomato paste, 2 cubed sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 tablespoon curry, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp salt, pepper, and if you're up for it cayenne pepper.

4. Let all of this boil. When it starts to boil, lower the temp and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Add 1 lb of cubed salmon (or in my case, chicken) and 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and the juice of one lime. Let it mingle for about 5 minutes ('til salmon or chicken is cooked.) Top with cilantro if you desire, and voila!

I did see mommy kissing dreadlocks. I did, I did! Or maybe it's the cayenne pepper going to my congested head!

Running with Scarves

Tonight, Brad and I ran a 5K in less than 25 minutes. In the cold. And I was wearing gloves and a scarf. It's freezing out there! But as soon as we started running, I felt good, and we knocked it out fast.

Totally feeling accomplished and much better about Thanksgiving leftovers Part four. :-D

Zucchini Bread

So we had a ton of zucchini left over that went unused at Thanksgiving. I found the following recipe at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/

Original recipe makes 2 loaves (I halved it!)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans. Still have pecans!)

Directions

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

This recipe was delicious! The first time I mentioned zucchini bread to Brad, he turned green (punny!). So when I whipped this up, he was outside doing yard work. He came in just as it was coming out of the oven, piping hot, and smelling delicious. I think he thought it was banana bread. He gave it a whirl, said it was good. I then told him it was zucchini bread. Surprise! :)

Anyway, Thanksgiving is over. Onward and upward. Still trying to get a base for marathon training, which is getting harder and harder as it gets windy and cold. But, I'm working on it. Baby steps!

Vegan Energy Bars

This is a recipe from Runner's World that I pilfed. Ok, so it was free, but I finally decided to try it out today. After Wednesday and Thursday, and knowing I have to cook all Saturday morning, it felt weird not to cook today. So I whipped up a batch of these, and threw them in the oven.

Yes, the are vegan. Which in Jamie-terms means that you can eat the raw batter (no eggs.) Not that raw eggs in a batter has stopped me from brownie dough or cookie dough, but I guess I do think about it. Now, no guilt at all! Plus, no butter, and you could probably substitute some, or all, of the sugar with a substitute. I was tempted to try maple syrup, but I need it for some Thanksgiving Part Deux Recipes.

Plus, they are energy bars, so eat one, and go for a beautiful crisp-fall-day-run. That's my intention! Go Run in the Fresh Air!

As for this recipe, I used pumpkin pie spice instead of nutmeg because I don't like nutmeg. Also, I didn't have baking soda, but they came out fine. And I used pecans instead of walnuts because I made pecan pie and had some left over.

What you’ll need:
2 very overripe bananas
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup unbleached sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup rolled oats
¾ cup unbleached flour (up to ½ cup of which can be whole wheat flour)
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup toasted chopped walnuts
¾ cup dried cranberries
(Use your choice of nuts and dried fruit as substitutes)

How to make it:
1. Preheat oven to 350, grease 8x9’’ baking pan
2. In a mixing bowl, mash bananas. Mix with sugar, oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and oats.
4. Add banana mixture to oat mixture, mix until just combined.
5. Fold in walnuts and cranberries, careful not to overmix.
6. Pour mixture into baking pan, and spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

2nd Image and Recipe C/O: http://www.runnersworld.com/recipes/make-your-own-energy-bars

Dining Room Farmhouse Table. 1/8th Price of Pottery Barn

Promised Project Reveal! If you're going to eat healthy to fuel your runs, you might as well do it on a lovely dining room table :-D But what if you can't afford an awesome, 90 inch long, 45 inch wide farmhouse extravaganza? Well, you make your own. Obviously.

(Image Care of Pottery Barn Website)

Brad and I made a dining room table. It sort of looks like this Pottery Barn farmhouse inspired, "Benchwright Table & Grayson Chair Set - Rustic Mahogany stain
$3,593.00 – $5,692.00" table.

This is our table:

Which one do you like better?

P.S. Ours cost less than $200. We used Premium Douglas Fir wood from Home Depot, a bunch of brackets and nails, Kona Wood Stain by Rustoleum, and Polyurethane. Voila! Thoughts?

Almost Vegan Dinner

So after reading some of Jurek's book "Eat and Run" last night, I decided to give a vegan recipe a whirl. And not just any recipe. Mashed potatoes. Because, seriously, if someone can make mashed potatoes taste delicious without cream and butter, I have to know. Impossible.

Ok. I've been schooled. These mashed potatoes are INCREDIBLE. As in, oh my goodness, I am going to crave these, and if I never have traditional mashed potatoes again, I'll be okay. That good.

So here's the recipe. I played with it a little bit, so I'll give you my version, but still vegan.

First I made rice milk. This consisted of me making a cup of brown rice like you would normally make rice. (You can make white rice, we just don't have white rice in our household.) I then added 4 cups of water, 1/8 tsp. of salt, and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil (he called for sunflower, I didn't have it, same omega 6 fat burning goodness though). I then used my immersion blender to make it smooth and stuck it in the fridge. Any blender would work here.

Tonight, I took 2 sweet potatoes and 2 regular white baking potatoes and boiled them for about 40 minutes. (Put the potatoes in the water so they are covered, bring it to a boil, and let it sit for 30-45 minutes.) I had to leave them on the stove longer because my sweet potatoes were massive. I then mashed them up with a fork 'cause I'm Bronx like that. I added 2 tbsp. of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. As I was mashing, I stirred in 1 cup of my rice milk. When it was mashed all pretty, I slapped it on some plates and I dusted my portion with paprika.

Unbelievable. Sooooo good. And no butter or cream, so crazy-uber healthy. The sesame oil gives it such an amazing flavor. I'm so impressed. Great job Jurek! I swear, if I were Oprah, I would totally go vegetarian, especially after all the reading I've done about nutrition over the past two years. Antibiotics and steroids and bacteria... Ugh.

Also, in my picture, you see some delicious acorn squash. I was going orange tonight I suppose.

I chopped an acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds (looks like a pumpkin!), filled the cavity with apples, pecans, craisins, brown sugar, and smart balance butter substitute (I think this last ingredient makes my dinner "almost vegan" though I don't know what smart balance butter is made out of--I only included it so it wouldn't get dried out). I let all of this bake for 45 minutes at 400, and voila! Vegetarian dinner. And while the squash is awesome and caramelized and incredible, these mashed potatoes really impressed me. I love me some mashed potatoes! And I'm a tough critic.

Lampshades, Edgar's, Jurek, & Luther

1. Lampshades

On Sunday, I went to Michael's Craft Store. At Michael's, I purchased 6 pieces of glittery, snow-flake laden scrapbook paper on thick card stock. Because I splurged for the sparkly good stuff, it came out to about $12. I then went home, covered my chandelier shades with the card stock, glued it together, added some clips to keep the seams tight, and let them sit overnight to dry. I trimmed them, and returned the card stock covered shades to the chandelier. Voila! Christmas-y, relatively inexpensive (especially if I had gone for the 59 cent paper as opposed to the $1.99), and so much better than the antiquated beige original! Take a gander:

2. Edgar's Pub

Just wanted to mention: Edgar's Pub in Sea Girt is making a FREE Thanksgiving meal for anyone who is displaced due to the Hurricane, or those super-cool utility workers who have left their families behind and traveled to us to get the lights back on in our towns. Awesome. Check it out at edgarsnj.com or read more at: http://www.app.com/viewart/20121114/NJNEWS/311140075/Free-Thanksgiving-dinners-Sandy-survivors

3. Jurek

I am currently reading 'Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness' by Scott Jurek. He is an ultramarathoner (races over 26.2, but he specializes in 50, 100, and up to 150 mile races) and a vegan. His book talks about his life and also includes some pretty interesting and eclectic vegan recipes. So far, I'm really enjoying it, but I am a sucker for any book about ultramarathon running (I've read all of Dean Karnazes' books, and I LOVED Born to Run by Christopher Mcdougall. I love them mostly because they inspire me to put my under armour cold leggings on and get out the door, even when sweats and some mulled cider seem more inviting. (I also subscribe to Runner's World for the same reason...) I like Jurek's because he includes recipes, and that's one of my favorite aspects of Runner's World. I have become such a sucker for non-fiction when it deals with nutrition and health and fitness. I just find it absolutely fascinating. I wish I knew this about myself when I was in college... Just another argument as to why one should not blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on an education until one is older (or lucky, and sure of what they want to do at a younger age.) I know when I was in college, I had no clue! Now, I want to take woodshop and food chemistry classes... Eh, maybe one day I will.

4. Which brings me to my forth and final point of the day. Check out LamonLuther.com my new heroes. If that story doesn't move you, then you need to reevaluate your life. Plus, I wish I were half as talented. Don't worry, the final reveal of Jamie and Brad's Excellent Hurricane Projected that I mentioned in an earlier post is coming soon! Get excited! Anticipation should be building! (Hehe, secret play on words!) Don't worry, I promise the wait will be worth it :-D

Jurek Novel picture: http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/ci_20805471/scott-jureks-eat-run-going-distance-ultramaratho