Running Wild

As anyone from my grade 9 gym class can attest, I am not a natural born runner. But as the Kingston days got longer (and sunnier!) the appeal of going into an indoor gym decreased and all I wanted to do was run free and get some vitamin D! I have managed to avoid buying any cute running swag up until this week, but there were a couple of things I just couldn't resist!

I thought my bargain, 5 year old running shoes were decent enough until I tried on these babies. My first real pair of running shoes!



I may have bought the Nike Pegasus 26 because they were pink. Or because they have a compartment for the Nike Plus chip which should be arriving in the mail tomorrow! One of my biggest issues with outdoor running is that I couldn't really track how far I'd gone and my analog watch is somewhat cumbersome to time things with. Another awesome feature is that when you hold down the middle button of your ipod, your pre-programmed power song plays. When you hit your personal bests (in time or distance) Lance Armstrong himself comes on to congratulate you! Awesome!

This of course had led to dreaming of other sweet running gear.

lululemon astro crops

Pink pull over top from the Running Room

Hydration belt (also from the Running Room)

Ok, so that last one might not be so attractive, but girlfriend gets thirsty out there.

Off to go test out these new shoes!

How Martha Ruined my Sunday

I love cookbooks that have big pictures beside the recipe to remind me that its worth the effort to make whatever I'm making. This was the main reason why I bought Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook on Christmas break.

I typically don't bake cookies since I live alone and end up eating them all, but this rainy Sunday I decided to pull out the book and try to bake chocolate-black pepper cookies.

1. Sift together flour, cocoa power, salt, and cinnamon into a large bowl.

This is where I started to realize that there was a reason I hadn't cooked any cookies from this book yet. I'm sorry Martha, but the Food Basics doesn't carry Dutch-process cocoa powder. Martha said that this was vital to the recipe since Dutch-process powder is treated with alkali to help neutralize the cocoa's natural acidity. I made a judgement call and used No Name cocoa powder.

2. Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add in flour mixture.

If I had Martha's money and kitchen size, I would own the Kitchen Aid mixer that she described above. Since I don't have either, I busted out the Huntington Beach two beater hand mixer.

Things were still looking good at this point. Here's what my mixture looked like along with the picture that I still optimistically thought would be my final product.



3. Turn out dough onto a piece of parchment paper and roll into a 2 inch diameter log. Roll log in parchment paper. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Here's where things got really dicey. Really, Martha? You want me to roll dough that looks like this into a log?



Once I managed to get something that could be called a log together on the parchment paper, actually rolling it up was a mess. It reminded me of the time Evan convinced me that buying coin rollers would cut into our profits too much, except this time I couldn't sit back and watch Hell's Kitchen while he figured it out. No Name cocoa flavoured butter was spilling everywhere out the sides of the parchment.



4. Preheat oven to 350F. Remove log from parchment. Roll log in sanding sugar and slice into 1/4" thick rounds.

Complete mayhem.



5.Bake cookies for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through. Makes about 4 dozen.

Maybe this makes 4 dozen in Martha-land. Here in Erin-world it made 10 balls and 3 clumps.



Next time, Martha. Next time....

Wander Lust

The last couple of weeks I have been setting up my travel plans for the summer, both for work and for vacation. Now that my exams are over and I have time on my hands this has inevitably led to some fantasy travelling. We all have those places that we dream of going and here are a few places I would love to go if I had infinite time, money, and (in some cases) athletic ability.

Tour D'Afrique



There was a great article about this in the Globe and Mail this week. The idea behind this tour (check out their website ) is to bike from Cairo to Cape Town over a period of 4 months. I have this mental image of quietly peddling down a rural African road with the wind in my face and zebras running beside me. Evan pointed out last night that if this actually happened it would be terrifying because zebras are huge, but in my fantasy they don't want to trample me to death.


Morocco



Another African country I would love to visit is Morocco. From wandering the bustling streets full of fragrant spices in Marrakesh to having a drink in Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, Morocco has many good fantasy travelling activities.


Peru



A coworker of mine hiked the Inca Trail last year and it sounded life changing. The entire Inca Trail is 45 km of mountainous jungle hiking ending at the ruins of Machu Picchu. Along the way, it is possible to spot over 450 species of orchids and the nearly extinct spectacled bear.

Arctic



Here's my dream arctic cruise courtesy of Gap Adventures. The blurb promises the opportunity to see walruses, seals, narwhals and polar bears. Am I the only one who thought narwhals were fictitious?

Anyways, time to get back to the real world in Kingston!