Brunch at 8:30?

When you are a rower, brunch at 8:30 doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Considering how many people are still sleeping at this time, I guess technically this was still breakfast. The rowing club held a get together this morning after practice. I made Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins. I wish the pics had turned out better. There was no natural light (this is what happens when you are baking muffins at 9:00 at night):

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins via chattycha on flickr

I used my new silicone muffin “tins” and they worked fabulously. I spritzed the tins with Pam and a few minutes after coming out of the oven the muffins nearly popped themselves out of the tin. Little to no manual labor was needed to get them cleaned (and I had done an impressive job getting batter all over those tins.). Highly recommended. I just wish I knew what to call them. They really aren’t tins anymore, now are they.

Man, I’ve made pumpkin stuff before, but adding chocolate chips brings it up a notch like you wouldn’t believe. It makes it all the more special, I tell you!

Most of the rowers also brought muffins and other carb-heavy, sweet treats:

Robyn’s Banana Muffins:

robyn's banana muffins via chattycha on flickr

Niki’s Blueberry Coffee Cake (not really sure what the name of it is, but it was good. I had two pieces):

niki's blueberry coffee cake via chattycha on flickr

Lori brought the protein, an Egg Strata. Delicious, and it was nearly devoured by the time I got around to taking a photo.

lori's egg strata via chattycha on flickr

Yay, Potluck!

Pair

For my birthday, which isn’t for another two days, the husband took me to Pair. Hooray! At long last. We have been meaning to go since it opened … two or more years ago. Each time we planned to go it just didn’t seem right. Today was right. Beautiful weather all day, with highs in the 70s (The Weather Bug on our desktop is now telling me it’s 80 but I can’t believe it).

The restaurant is closed Sundays and Mondays (thus celebrating the birthday two days early). We arrived soon after it opened at 5 p.m., the first customers of the evening. At first I was a bit embarrased to be the early bird, but as we walked out an hour and a half later, I was glad we arrived when we did, as the restaurant, with room for about 10 tables (including 2 – 3 tables of 6), was packed with a line quickly forming. Pair does not take reservations for parties less than 6, so arriving early will never be an embarrassment for me again.

Pair serves delicate small plates and has a robust wine list to choose from. We both planned to have just one glass, and based on the waitress’ suggestion, I tried the Forgeron (it was a cabernet blend) from Walla Walla. I’m not a wine fanatic, but this one was a great pick. Incredibly smooth. Even the husband was impressed (his palate is a bit more refined than mine, so to me that means a lot).

So, the small plates. We started with a Cambozola Fondue, served with crostini and thinly sliced apple.

Pair Restaurant, via chattycha on flickr

Nice surprise here. The cheese was smooth and rich, and just the right temperature (don’t you hate extra hot fondue burning your tongue). A great mix of flavors, the apple and blue cheese (it’s a blue cheese, right? Sure tasted like one).

Next up, Spot Prawn Beignets with a spicy mayo sauce:

Pair Restaurant, via chattycha on flickr

Before I could take a photo we were nearly done! Incredibly light and fluffy considering they’ve deep fried the dough. What a fun take on the beignet. What an inventive way to make it their own. I’m getting this one again.

Our next two dishes came together: The evening’s special, Beef Bourguignon with Porcini Gnocchi:

pair restaurant via chattycha on flickr

and this greens dish whose name I can’t remember:

pair restaurant via chattycha on flickr

The beef dish was cooked to perfection. The husband commented that they must have been cooking that beef all day. It was so tender and smooth. Had there been a bone, the beef would have falled off it. The gnocchi a great complement, not too overpowering, but absorbed the right flavors, of the porcini mushrooms as well as the amazingly cooked beef. The greens dish was also impressive. I’m not used to hazelnuts being sprinkled on my vegetables, but this worked. In addition to a salty pork, tiny currants also decorated the plate, leaving your mouth with a salty-sweet combination to ponder.

Finally, as it was my birthday, I demanded that we should order dessert. A staff favorite was chosen, the Banana Bread Pudding:

pair restaurant via chattycha on flickr

Decadent presentation! The pudding was “drizzled” in caramel sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. Lightly toasted walnuts was the final touch. The familiar taste of banana bread, combined with the texture of a bread pudding made this unique dish a new favorite. “I love toasted walnuts in caramel sauce,” I told the husband, as if I had experienced it before. Perhaps I had but this evening’s dish was created to perfection and made it seem entirely new to me.

I think that was the theme of the evening. Each dish was cooked to perfection. No complaints here.

If you didn’t get the hints throughout this post, we’ll be back at Pair soon enough. I already know a few of the dishes I plan to try: the duck, the potato and cauliflower gratin, and of course the famous mac and cheese.

The agony of …

I’ve delayed doing a post on the blog because I’ve been wanting to write about our loss at San Diego, but for a while it was actually painful to think about. It’s heartbreaking and only a couple of days ago did I finally start getting over it. Pretty ridiculous, huh.

I recall how bummed I was when UCONN got knocked out of the NCAA tournament after a thrilling overtime loss to USD.

I was bummed and angry when Tom Brady and my Patriots lost in the final minutes of the Super Bowl (damn that Eli Manning).

In these two cases, I assumed the best team would win. I was wrong.

For all you Giants and USD fans out there, quit yer whining. I don’t want to hear ANY reason why you think your team is better. They aren’t. Except that when it counted, when it really came down to it, my teams failed and your teams won.

That is heartache.

And so it was with the San Diego race. The Womens Master B (final only). Nevermind that actually, we beat five crews quite handily. We were .5 seconds away from first place. See the decimal there? That’s half-a-second. In the time it took me to type this comma, we lost the trophy, the gold medal, the rights to say that we are number one.

In the same vein that I believe Tom is a better quarterback than Eli, that UCONN was better than USD, so did I come to believe that we were the better crew. The fastest crew. The winning crew. What hurts is I was ready. We were ready. We were hungry and we wanted it.

One of the things that helped me get over it (other than friends and family looking at me funny wondering why I was so pissed off to place second in such a competitive event … which, personally, I don’t get. What, you think Derek Jeter WANTS to miss the World Series? Please.) was to watch the video. My mom purchased the DVD of the race and I finally got around to watching it as I was trying to figure out how to upload it to YouTube (which I still can’t figure out. I work where? I do what? And you want me to figure out video file conversion?). I thought I’d never want to watch that thing. Why should I … I know how it ends.

But I watched that finish and for a split-second I thought we won. I showed it to the husband, and he thought we won. The frikkin video editor, who, following the end of the race, showed only our boat and not the “winning” boat, must have thought we won as well.

It took the judges quite a while to determine a winner, 10 or more minutes, which to me sounds vaguely like those yahoos in Florida reviewing a hanging chad during the 2000 Presidential Election. In a sport where it is all about times and absolutes and yeses and nos, this very well could have been a maybe.

No, I don’t have a medal. This year. But I’m feeling better. Looking forward to cheering my teammates on Opening Day. Looking forward to new adventures and new races.

No guts, no glory.

No pain, no gain.

No guts, no glory

SDCC

My last post before heading down to San Diego. While down there, I may try to post remotely. Will have to see how it turns out. I’ve decided that a rock playlist is the way to go in terms of iTunes Playlists. It worked well for the Big Climb, and why mess with a good thing?

Beyond that, I’m focussing on “getting mean”. At the request demand of the coach, it’s time to get f-ing pissed. Or, as the coach would say, PISSED. So, I’m putting my insecurities and doubts away. I’m looking for aggression and fierceness. Saving it for Sunday, when I lay it all out on the water. This is my mantra. Get mad and get pissed. This isn’t just about me, it’s about eight other women, so it’s now or never.

No guts, no glory.

With that I’m ditching my pop playlist. “Road to San Diego” will keep me company instead. I tested it on the erg at lunch today — (2) 15-minute steady state pieces — and it worked well. On top of “69 Floors of Rock“, add to it:

This should tide me over for now.

I’ll see you in SD.

Oatmeal Raisin, to go

My coach is hitting the road, and will meet us in San Diego later on this week. We send him off with treats and snacks for the trip.

oatmeal raisin cookies via chattycha on flickrAt the request of the coach’s sister, I am attempting a ‘healthy’ cookie here … oatmeal raisin. Made mostly from organic ingredients, I also slightly lowered the sugar content which one can hardly notice. Fresh out of the oven, there is a ‘cake-like’ texture to the small bite, which perhaps is due to the whole wheat flour / white flour combo I used. After they had cooled the cookie hardened slightly, making it a bit crunchier, though not exactly “hard”. My taste-tester, the husband, apparently “doesn’t eat cookies with raisins”. But I thought they came out pretty tasty.

I baked half the batch and put the rest of the dough in the fridge to bake tomorrow. Keep these suckers as fresh as possible for the road trip.

oatmeal raisin cookies via chattycha on flickr

I See’s the Light

Thank goodness Easter season is over. We get overwhelmed with candy and it’s just too much to handle. Now I can relax in a candy-free home until Halloween or so. (OK, I do still have a nearly full bag of the best easter candy ever in my hiding spot, but I am so over candy I may not dig into it for another month).

This is where the trouble all started. A pound (or more) of See’s candies, courtesy of the husband’s parents. Mmmmm.

See's candies via chattycha on flickr

Pizza

Catching up on some posts here. A couple of weeks back I drove to work. For most people this is an everyday occurence but when you are in a vanpool it becomes more of an event. I drove in an attempt to leave early to make the Kettle Bells Training session that my teammates do on Thursday nights. Long story short, I left work at 4:40, texted Kate at 5:30 that I wouldn’t be making it to KBs, and finally got home at 6:35. Yes. Two hours I was in traffic. It’s painful, but I think especially painful when one has become accustomed of the heavenly HOV lane.

Anyway, I tell you all this to report that the husband had made pizza that night. By the time I got home, though, it was sliced up and in foil in the fridge. Just now I noticed he took pics before slicing it. Sweet!

Pizza via chattycha on flickr

Fresh tomatoes and mozzarella; sauteed onions, bits of proscuitto with an olive-oil base. Everybody knows that the sign of a good pizza is when it tastes better cold. This tasted pretty darn good cold, so I can only guess that it was frikkin’ amazing out of the oven. Sigh.