Springing Forward

We celebrated springing forward by cleaning off the trampoline and piling in the back yard with some food, friends and beverages.

Shamrock Run

Friday I ran the annual Shamrock Run. It is a 5K run which benefits the March of Dimes. I'd say there were approximately 1400 runners in downtown Savannah Friday evening. Race time was at 6pm and the course wound its way through the squares downtown both starting and ending in City Market. I ran the Bridge Run back in December with minimal training and finished in a fairly respectable 36 minutes considering the first half of the course is uphill. I have been running a few times a week since then and was excited to run again. My goal was 34 minutes. I wanted to shave 2 minutes off my run. I was excited when I crossed the finish line at 32 minutes and even more excited when I checked the race results online and my chip time was actually just under 30 minutes!! I was, needless to say, quite excited with the result. I convinced Heidi to try the 5k - her first and she had a respectable finish as well and Suzanne registered at the last minute since she was off and she did well also. We wanted a before and after picture but so far, we only have the before - the after was taken by the race photographers so that will come later.



In the meantime - it is turning to spring here in Savannah. We walked around downtown Savannah today in shorts! whoop. More of that to come for sure. Tomorrow we are breaking in the trampoline and springing forward with a vengeance. More pictures to come!!

Getting ready for spring/summer eating

It has been a long winter of proteins that aren't from the sea. As spring approaches, that is beginning to come to an end. While this does mean that oysters are going out of season, it also means lots of other treasures: I have been remiss in keeping the food blog updated so I am going to double post this one - forgive. Here are a variety of seafood treats I have had of late.

Talapia - breaded with Parmesan, bread crumbs, and garlic, fresh veggies with feta:


Sauteed shrimp, wilted spinach, roasted new potato:


Crab cakes, baked potato, (cesar salad not picture):

Diane's Day of Love

On this Valentine's Day I have celebrated the love by running a 5K in just over 30 minutes (its fast for me); completing and filing my taxes; grocery shopping; cleaning out my purse; making my bed; cleaning the bathroom; and using all my tiles in a game of Scrabble. It is not even 4:00 and I really don't know what more I could possibly do to celebrate this most bogus holiday on the calendar! Happy Valentines to all you people snuggled up with your loved ones - you may remind me of my cynism if I ever meet the man of my dreams; in the meantime I think I will find another joyous task to fill my day.

Cheers

Wii night

Went to the crazy house up the street and had a night in. We made a batch of my famous (famous to about 10 people anyway) fried shrimp; veggies and wine and beer - then settled in for a night of Wii fit. I managed to oust Adam from the ski jump record, which I am sure he has already gotten up an managed to beat this morning - and we all hand our had at bowling - check out the form - its most excellent. Now I get to start the week again - finish up my lectures for next week and start the crazy rat race all over again!

Beignets and Book Club

Beignets
Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Monday night was book club and we read Elegance of the Hedgehog. The book takes place in an upscale condo building in France. The two main characters are the buildings concierge and a twelve year old girl. Both characters are hiding their intelligence from others. It’s a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed every ounce of it; I would place it high on my recommendation list. It also urged me to try something new. In the book the main character Renee is always having pastries with one of the house keepers in the building. Well, I am not a baker, but I did think I could hand beignets so…that’s what I made. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow me to take them to book club while they were still hot, but they were none-the-less pretty darned tasty for a first attempt. If you are looking for something new to do, make a batch of beignets and hunker down with this book. (Madelines would be much more appropriate, but I don’t have that kind of time or a Madeline pan, so…)

Fried Chicken

So - this is hard to believe since I am a born and raised southern girl..but this was my first attempt at fried chicken. I don't know why, but I had a craving for it. I soaked the chicken for a few hours in milk and when I was ready to cook it - I put about 1/2 inch of oil in a cast iron skillet. I tossed the chicken with flour, salt, pepper and paparika then fried the chicken for about 10 minutes per side or until done (poultry needs to reach 180 degrees).



I served this along side another first of a sort, though I had no reason to believe it wouldn't work. I made a mixture of russet and sweet potato mash with a bit of chipolte and cheddar cheese - it was pretty yummy. Unfortunately the picture is fuzzy, but it tasted pretty darn good.