Feet of Clay

Helene Fischer photo credit.

Unformed thoughts are the clay surrounding the part-time writer's feet. There is one thought that's gradually making its way out of the earth, coagulating into something vaguely worthwhile, and it's this: the envelope. I think we daters and searchers for the one have an envelope problem.

Aviation types talk about the envelope quite a bit. The envelope is the closed line drawn on a piece of paper that defines the capabilities of an aeroplane - airplane for you North American types. Stay within the line, and you remain within the parameters of what the plane can do. It includes everything from the stresses of speed and g-force to the range on a given amount of fuel. The envelope corrals the machine. Importantly, every machine has its own defining characteristics creating a distinctive-looking envelope.

So the unformed thought is that every individual has a life envelope too. Some parts of life we all know - eating, drinking, breathing - but there are tons of specific experiences that define who we are. Lots of these, along with their combination, go a long way to telling others just who we are. And maybe, just maybe, we should look for someone with a similar envelope.

Perhaps finding someone with a similar envelope is a better way to find someone compatible. That's all.



Bottoms Up, Adventurers.

Catlyst

I'm not usually one to visit restaurants right when they open, but a chance to dine at Catalyst with some fellow bloggers made me think twice.  Why?  Chef/owner William Kovel was aiming to create a modern space where simple, delicious food is made from the best ingredients from local farms and food producers.  Sign me up!

Located in Kendall Square, Catalyst occupies a huge space with a dining room, bar, outdoor patio, fireplace, and even areas for private parties.  A fan of simple, modern design, I thought the space was beautiful.

photo courtesy of Daisy

Elizabeth, Emily, Megan, Bianca, Daisy and Bridget were welcomed by Chef William and treated to a sampling of the menu.  Appetizers and entrees were brought out to share, and then once we were full, individual dessert platters came out to make sure we left sufficiently stuffed!

The rosemary potato foccacia was deliciously salty and I couldn't keep myself from a piece.  Ok, two.  And then the appetizers started coming out...

(L) grilled scallions (R) hiramasa  (courtesy of Daisy & Megan)

The grilled scallions were dressed in a walnut pesto, and were a favorite of the table.  The seared spice crusted hiramasa was served with a cucumber radish salad and an orange-yuzu syrup.  The citrus was a good pairing to the fatty, mild fish.

(L) veggie salad (R) quail  (courtesy of Daisy)

I was a little underwhelmed by the farmer's market vegetable salad with peppercress and crispy onion.  The vegetables were solid, it was just described as pickled vegetables to us and I was left wanting more bite (barely detected vinegar).  I've never tried quail before (at least that I recall), but I did get a small, tasty bite of crispy quail, served with black mission fig, gastique, mizuna and autumn berry jam.

(L) sunchoke soup (R) chicken liver mousse (courtesy of Daisy)

The Jerusalem "Sunchoke" Artichoke Soup we tried was served without the lobster that normally accompanies it, but it was still delicious and creamy.  Not a huge fan of liver, the grainy mustard served with the chicken liver mousse seemed like a great accompaniment to cut the richness of the liver.

(L) garganelli w/chicken oysters (R) mushroom ravioli

We started our pasta tasting with garganelli (a ridged egg pasta) that was served with chicken oysters, bacon and finished with black truffle butter.  The pasta was cooked perfectly and chicken oysters tender and tasty.  The mushroom ravioli were another winner, served with hen of the woods mushrooms and a rich sauce.

While all of the pasta dishes were good, the Georgia candy roaster squash tortellini were my personal favorite.  The only thing I didn't like on the plate was the braised escarole, as it was drowning in butter.  A lighter hand with the butter would've been appreciated so one could actually taste the greens.

Secretly wishing we were done, I quietly let out a sigh as the entrees made their way out to the table.  First up was the chilled pork.  I can't recall all the components here, but there was the smoothest of apple purees underneath some room temperature pork that was perfectly cooked.  On top was an apple cilantro slaw of sorts.  Very well executed, I was happy to take home leftovers!

For the last savory dish of the evening, we tried the lemon sole, served with roasted baby fennel, creamed leeks and lobster vermouth butter.  At this point I mustered a small bite of the sole, which was cooked well and had notes of lemon, but I had to save room for dessert, right?

(clockwise from top L) pear cake, creamsicle ice cream bar, butterscotch pudding, cantaloupe sorbet
(courtesy of Daisy and Megan)

So glad I did  :)  I don't even know where to start...  The cantaloupe sorbet (served with hazelnut butter) was delicious and light, a great palate cleanser.  The one dessert I thought fell short was the ice cream sundae...  the creamsicle ice cream was so mildly flavor it couldn't stand up to the chocolate "magic shell".  I really enjoyed the Bosc pear tart, simple and unassuming.  And then there was the butterscotch pudding.  Rather, butterscotch and passion fruit pudding with a warm pound cake crouton.  Holy heck.  I didnt' think I liked butterscotch pudding, but I cleaned out this little cup!!  Absolutely amazing.

(courtesy of Daisy)

And with that our night at Catalyst ended.  I can envision another visit, perhaps sitting by the fireplace with a bowl of caramelized onion soup!  And pudding, definitely won't be leaving that out :)

Thanks to Elizabeth for organizing, Daisy and Megan for letting me use some of their photos, and for Chef William for the meal!  To see what everyone else thought, be sure to check out their reviews (linked above)!

Disclaimer:  While the meal was complimentary, the opinions are all mine.

Beet Crostini

When I read about Jen's Power of Pink Challenge to promote breast cancer awareness, I knew I'd have to participate.  It's amazing how much this movement has evolved-- I can't say I ever expected to see NFL players sporting pink apparel!

Whether you walk, run, or support those who do, it is certainly important to be well-fueled :)  These beet crostini provide a great way to do that- chock full of antioxidants, folates, vitamins, minerals and calcium.  Plus the beet puree came out a gorgeous magenta color that you can't help but love!

Beet Crostini
Recipe by Shannon
Serves a crowd

The beets can be roasted ahead of time and refrigerated until you're ready to prepare the crostini.  Alternatively, the puree can be prepared ahead of time and kept cold until you're ready to serve.

1.5lb beets
5.5oz ricotta
1.5oz goat cheese, plus more for topping if desired
1T fresh thyme leaves
1 clove garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper
clover honey
chopped walnuts
1 lg baguette

Preheat oven to 400deg.

Cut off beet greens and scrub beets.  Wrap in a piece of aluminum foil and place in the oven.  Roast for ~45min (will depend on the size of your beets), until the beets are tender and easily pierced with a knife.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, peel and roughly chop.  Add beets, ricotta, goat cheese, thyme and garlic to the bowl of a food processor or blender.  Process until pretty smooth and all ingredients are well incorporated.

Cut the baguette into thin slices (~1/2" thick) and set on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Place in oven until the edges start to brown.  Flip the slices over and return to the oven until toasted and crispy.

Transfer toasts to serving dish and top with 1-2T of beet puree.  Drizzle with honey and top with a little more goat cheese (if desired) and chopped walnuts.  Serve!

Man 1.0

Photo credit. 

Civilization depends in large part upon men curbing their instincts. Restraint, self-discipline, filtering, gratification denial; call it what you like, it's all about out-thinking the first reaction.

In a monogamous relationship, it's natural for a woman to want to see a little (or, umm, a lot?) of the unrestricted male. I don't mean violence, of course. That's where trust comes in. But for everyone's benefit, raising the gate on a few more basic instincts leads to a happier experience. How many times have I heard women ask:

How do you really feel?

or

Just let go!

or variations thereof.

Not so easy. Curtailing the civilization software and (temporarily) re-installing Man 1.0 requires practice and understanding. My practice and your understanding.

Now. Where are those 5 1/4" floppy disks?



Bottoms Up, Coders.

Corn on the Cob Gets Dressed Up For Dinner

We celebrate summer with grilled meats and boiled corn, the golden ears arriving at the table, resting in silky pools of melted butter, ready for a dusting of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper.

Many people hunger so much for corn they eat it every chance they can to such an extent that, sooner or later, familiarity breeds disinterest and even a little disdain. 

Where it seemed so celebratory at the beginning of summer, by August they turn away when a platter of corn is placed on the table. 

That's pretty much the way it's been for me.

On my last trip to our local farmers market, I hadn't planned on buying corn until I noticed that very few farmers were selling corn and those that were had very little to sell. Arriving late, the corn was almost sold out. 

Talking with a farmer, I learned that local corn will disappear from the market in a couple of weeks. After that, no more corn until the spring.

I bought half a dozen ears, deciding we should have a farewell to corn dinner. Preparing the ears by grilling or boiling would still be great, but I wanted to do something different. 

At Cuban restaurants in New York, corn on the cob is served with butter, mayonnaise and grated cheese. The sweet chewy corn kernels benefit from those added flavors.

I liked the idea of a topping on the corn but decided on a different direction. 

Corn on the Cob with Garlic-Onion Crisps

Serves 4

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 ears corn, husks and silks removed, washed and dried

1 tablespoon sweet butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, ends and skin removed, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, skins removed, finely chopped

1/4 cup Italian parsley, leaves only, left whole or finely chopped

Sea salt and pepper

Directions

The corn can either be grilled or boiled. To grill, lightly drizzle each ear with a small amount of olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Place on a hot grill and turn frequently until lightly browned.  If boiled, place the ears of corn in a large pot of water, turn the heat on high, turn the corn frequently and remove when the water boils. Keep warm.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan. On a medium high flame, sauté the onions, garlic and parsley until lightly browned and crispy.

Cut the corn into 2" long sections, place on a serving platter. Sprinkle the onion-garlic-parsley crisps over the corn and serve.

Variations

Add heat to the sauté with 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder.

After topping the corn with the sauté, dust the corn with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Spinach Basil Pesto

Just when I thought summer produce was pretty much done, I came home with a bag full of basil, spinach, eggplant and a tomato from my CSA!  To celebrate I whipped up a batch of spinach basil pesto.

Short on nuts, I used some ground almonds, but you should feel free to use whatever you have on hand (pinenuts, walnuts, hazelnuts...).  While it would have gone well with pasta, my spinach basil pesto found different fates.  Quite a few grilled cheeses were made with pesto and tomato jam- a heavenly combination if you ask me :)

Grilled cheese with spinach basil pesto and tomato jam, roasted green beans on the side

Another tasty use was in a side dish of some roasted eggplant and fresh tomato slices.  Layered with spinach basil pesto and topped with some Parmesan, an elegant side dish was thrown together easily!  Layer in some mozzarella, and you've got a more substantial appetizer/side.

Spinach Basil Pesto
Recipe by Shannon
Yield ~1c

1c packed basil
2c packed baby spinach
1-2 garlic cloves
juice of 1 lemon
2-3T almond meal
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Add all ingredients (basil through almond meal) to a blender or food processor and with the motor running, drizzle in olive oil until it's well combined  (you'll probably use 1/4-1/2c).  Scrape down the sides as needed, and season to taste with salt and pepper.


What's your favorite use for pesto??

Wingmaniac

Thinking you're a good Wingman and exhibiting good Wingman skills aren't the same thing. A useful Wingman should...well, just what constitutes a good Wingman?


A competent Wingman or Wingwoman should:

-> Act in the interests of the Leader at all times

-> Put themselves second in the pursuit of a mate (deferring to the Leader)

-> Do whatever works in attracting likely love interests (for the Leader)

-> Give honest and accurate feedback to the Leader

Wingmanship is all about unselfishness and reflecting of one's ability to attract (however small) back onto the other guy. It's like being a birdfeeder next to a cat's hiding place. Here birdie, look at the tasty sunflower seeds.

But when my Leader said the following, he needed to hear the truth:

Okay, Wombat. When Stephanie comes in, I want you to find a way to let her know that I'm interested, but I need to know she's not just being touchy-feely, and really wants to be touchy-feely.

Hmmm. This sounds bad. Male uncertainty resolves only rarely in his favour. And, as expected, Stephanie arrived in a wave of perfume and hugs...for everyone. She did reserve special attention for my Leader, but the energy shouted "amused interest" rather than "take me now". Although I have to say there was a spark of something there, to which my buddy had assigned sexual possibility.




So I invoked Wingman's Responsibility #4. He needed to know that while Steph was certainly worthy of his exploration, the green lights he saw where faux. His instinct was telling him this, hence my involvement.


When she's really interested, you'll be in no doubt, I advised. Oh. And when she's over her ex. 






Bottoms Up, Wingpeople.

For an Armenian Feast, Try Adana Restaurant in Glendale

One of my favorite restaurants isn't close to where we live.

Adana is forty-five minutes away in Glendale.

The light and airy dining room suggests a banquet hall in an elegant European boutique hotel. There are white tablecloths on all the tables, pastel landscape murals on the walls and delicate wrought iron framing the windows facing busy San Fernando Road. 

I would enjoy the food at Adana at any price, but with large entrees costing from $6.50 to $10.95, there's a special pleasure in being served an affordable, well-prepared meal. 

Even though there are 15 kababs on the menu, I mostly stick with the dark meat chicken kabob, the lamb chops and baby back ribs. A friend who joins me on the trek likes the lamb chops kabob. They are all delicious.

Waiting for our entrees, we have an Armenian coffee, share a large plate of tabouli and catch up about family, work and movies.

Serge, the waiter, or Edward Khechemyan, the owner and chef, brings a basket of lavash or pita (I prefer lavash) and a dish of sweet butter.

We eat the tabouli and lavash with relish. The freshly chopped Italian parsley, tossed with bits of tomato, scallions, olive oil and lemon juice, has a touch of heat. We talk as we eat and sip the strong coffee.

Armenia is sandwiched between Turkey and countries previously aligned with the Soviet Union. Their national dishes borrow from neighboring cuisines, with the strongest influence coming from the Middle East.

The dishes arrive beautifully platted.  The pieces of deboned chicken meat are lined up like pillows resting on a bed of rice. My buddy's lamb chops come with the same generous helping of rice as my grilled chicken. The lamb doesn't look like a kabob. The fat chops give off a fragrant, aromatic sweetness that is intoxicating.

We had both selected the same side dishes: homemade hummus and a brightly colored Persian salad of roughly chopped ripe tomatoes, red onions, Italian parsley and unpeeled Iranian cucumbers.

My friend attacks the lamb chops. Holding the bare bone in his hand, he alternates bites of succulent, sweet meat with fork fulls of rice flavored with scoops of humus and the tomato-cucumber salad.

I eat with more deliberation, savoring each bite by spreading butter and hummus on a piece of lavash, adding a spoonfull of rice, Persian salad and slices of the moist, dark chicken meat to create a bite sized packet of aromatic flavors and complimentary textures. I construct the next packet—and the next—until I have eaten every last piece of chicken and grain of rice.

Working in a closet-sized kitchen, Khechemyan could cut corners but won't. Even though the prices are little more than you would pay at a fast food restaurant, the food is prepared-to-order using the freshest ingredients. He insists on working with quality food and the proof is in each bite. Khechemyan and his fellow chef, Sonik Nazaryan, are masters of layering flavors.

For a small restaurant, the menu has a good variety of dishes, including familiar American classics, including Philly cheese steak sandwiches, hamburgers and chicken breast sandwiches to name a few. Adana also offers many salads, thick, spicy lentil and barley soups and traditional Armenian stews. Finally, there are many popular Middle Eastern appetizers such as domeh, hummus, yogurt and cucumber dip. 

The combination of textues and flavors is such a pleasure. Any foodie in search of umami has to make the trek to Adana. That's what's at work here. All your taste buds are in play—salty, sour, sweet and bitter. 


My friend and I finish our meal with a second cup of Armenian coffee. We are completely satisfied and happy. Even though Adana is far from home, I go back as often as I can. It's that good.

Chile Chocolate Tart

I recently received a random package from Marx Foods.  The package itself wasn't unexpected, but the contents surely was!

Dried chilies, dried black trumpet mushrooms, dried marrow beans and coconut sugar filled my box...  two of which I needed to use to create a recipe for the Random Recipe Challenge!  My first thoughts involved mushrooms and beans, but then I recalled a treat I've made at least four times in the past month and still haven't shared with you ;)

I morphed the chocolate avocado pudding I've been making into this mexican chocolate tart, incorporating both types of dried chilies as well as coconut sugar.  I'd highly recommend giving this chocolate pudding a try if you haven't already, with or without the crust, and with or without the chilies!

Chile Chocolate Tart

For a completely no-bake version, you could make a nut & date-based crust!  The choice is yours on how spicy to make this-  1 or 2 New Mexico chilies add more flavor than heat, while 1 Japones chile will kick things up a bit ;)

For the crust:
1/4c Trader Joe's ginger cats crumbs (or any other gingersnaps)
1/2c pecan halves
3/4c rolled oats
1/2c white whole wheat flour
pinch salt
1/4c canola oil
3T maple syrup

For the filling:
2 ripe avocadoes
1/2c nut butter
1/4c coconut sugar
1/4c agave nectar (or more coconut sugar)
4-6T cocoa powder (depends on how intense you want it, I used 5)
1/8t sea salt
2T vanilla extract (or the seeds from one vanilla bean)
1-2 dried chilies (I used 1 New Mexico chile & 1 Japones chile)
1t ground cinnamon
1/4c strong brewed coffee or water

Preheat oven to 375deg.

To make the crust add dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse until the nuts and oats are pulverized, the mixture resembling coarse sand.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil and maple syrup.  Add dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until well combined.  Transfer crust to a tart pan or pie plate and press into dish.  Bake for 20min, then set aside to cool.

Grind the chilies in a spice/coffee grinder and pick out any large pieces left behind, you want as close to a powder consistency as you can get.  Add all ingredients for the filling to a blender or food processor and blend until well combined.  Add a little extra water if you need to thin it out any more, you're looking for a thick, but spreadable consistency.  Add filling to the cooled crust and   Refrigerate 1-2hrs or overnight before serving (this will help it firm up and make it easier to cut).

Disclaimer:  The coconut sugar and dried chilies used in the creation of this recipe were free samples provided by Marx Foods.

I'm also submitting this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend and Go Ahead Honey's October Event!

Three Minute Gazpacho

Made a trip to Andy's and got some beautiful little cucumbers I've never seen before. They had a bumpy, leathery skin and firm flesh, almost like a zucchini, but small, inoffensive seeds. About half the size of a salad cucumber, they tasted great and were much less watery than the waxy green dildos normally available. I sat down to watch a baseball game and ponder what to do with them. When Heather summoned me and claimed to be near death from hunger, it gave me a perfect opportunity to try my hand at a gazpacho, provided I could complete the task in three minutes*, the length of a commercial break.**

I peeled two stout little fellows, cut them into segments and put them in the carafe of the blender. Their tiny, feeble little pips saved me the trouble of de-seeding them, a task that may have taken several seconds. To the cucumbers I added a smashed clove of garlic, a small purple heirloom tomato, half a small sweet onion, a cigar-butt-sized hunk of ginger and the flesh of both a fresh jalapeno and a little red cherry pepper, all cut into pieces. The peppers came from the alley. Way to go alley. I pulsed the vegetables for a bit to break them up, then added salt, pepper, Sriracha, olive and sesame oil, the juice of a lime and a glug of spicy V8.

Before juicing the lime I grated the zest and reserved it for later. Grating the zest off a lime has the same effect as massaging the pulp, which makes the lime give up more of its juice. If you're not using zest for anything you can just roll the lime on the countertop and crush it a little. Also, get one of those little lime squeezer things from the Mexican supermercado. They cost a buck or two and are super efficient at getting lime juice out of limes. Liquefying raw vegetables works best if there are smallish pieces in a wet medium rather than trying to turn big hunks directly into liquid. That usually just results in the blade whirring past the bigger pieces while punishing the puree, resulting in unpalatable chunks surrounded by overworked paste, so it's worth it to do the puree in two stages, first to coarsely chop the pieces, then with a little added liquid to make it smooth.

Another trick for pulsing larger batches, especially in a food processor rather than a blender, is to add some crushed ice with the vegetables at the beginning of the process. The ice pieces act as auxiliary blades to help break up the vegetables while preventing the soup from getting hot from the friction of the blade and motor. Keeping the vegetables cool is critical in a gazpacho, otherwise the cells break down and the soup separates into ugly layers of water and fibrous matter. Gazpacho needs to retain some hint of its constituent ingredients in the body of the soup, otherwise it's just salty Jamba Juice. I didn't bother with ice this time because it was a small batch and I was determined not to spend too long on it.

I finished processing the soup and poured it into a bowl on top of some finely-sliced scallions and the reserved lime zest. There was very little foam, but I skimmed off what there was and tasted the soup. It was bright and complex and satisfying, and the oil made the flavors linger a little on the palate while providing body. I was happy with it as it was, but in future iterations I may try adding a little fish sauce to see if that makes the flavors hang around even more. Tasting the gazpacho gave me the idea that this would be really good as a savory sorbet, so I need to get some into Tim Mydhuiette's hands before everything goes out of season.

The alley bounty provided me with an assortment of peppers to dice for garnish, so I made a tiny brunoise of green jalapeno, orange serrano and red cherry pepper and sprinkled them on the gazpacho along with some chopped tarragon from the alley. I finished the garnish with a little dollop of Greek Yogurt and a sprig of mint.

And I made it back in time to see the Yankees dump one.

(vg) (v) without yogurt

** Overheard re: Bishop and actress.
** We have TiVo but I like a challenge.

Savory Cheesecake!

By now you've had some time to make tomato jam, right?  Or is that this weekends' plan?  :)  Perhaps you're going to a gathering and need something to bring?   Perfect!  You'll be making a savory cheesecake with tomato jam.  I made it for a get together at Elina's and couldn't get enough, it's such a great vehicle for tomato jam!

Savory Cheesecake with Tomato Jam
Recipe by Shannon

I'm sure you could halve the recipe and bake it in a smaller 4" springform, but I didn't have one so I scaled up!

8oz 1/3rd less cream cheese, RT
8oz ricotta, RT
7oz goat cheese, RT
6T chopped fresh basil
2T chopped fresh parsley
1/3t sea salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 eggs, RT
tomato jam

Preheat oven to 330deg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the three cheeses.  Add herbs, salt and pepper and mix until well combined.  Add eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.  Pour batter into a 9" springform pan sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake at 330deg for 15min, then lower temperature to 300deg and bake for 30min.  Turn oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1hr.  Then remove and cool.  If making ahead of time, cover and refrigerate.  Remove from fridge an hour or two before serving.

To serve, top with tomato jam and provide crackers, pita chips, or your favorite dipper!


Have I sold you on tomato jam yet?  It's sweet and spicy, and has some texture...  more complex than ketchup (since Ricki asked).  I'll be making my third batch this weekend, and giving canning a shot...  wish me luck!

Top Ten Lies Heard On a First Date

+ Wow. That's fascinating!

+ Abstinence works for me.

+ Teacup chihuahua - my favourite dog.

+ I agree. Mini-breaks at romantic bed and breakfasts are FUN.

+ Tell me again about how you found your shoes.

+ I want to settle down too.

+ I've always wanted to learn all about fantasy football.

+ You're right: Love is everything.

+ Of course. I'm having a great time.

+ I'm wondering why I haven't met you before.






Bottoms Up, Honest Injuns.

Duxbury Beach Tri 2011

Location:  Duxbury, MA
Distance: Sprint (.5mi s, 13mi b, 3.1mi r)
Time:  9am start
Weather:  mid-70s(?) and  humid
Participants:  535

A couple of Saturdays ago I headed to Duxbury for my last tri of the year.  Only two weeks after my first Oly (instead of the planned month), I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  Recovery from Lobsterman was a little rough and I hadn't exactly been sleeping so well with the move/unpacking/adjusting to a new sleep schedule.  No time expectations here, just the goal to have fun and push based on how I was feeling.

View across the bay

I got there pretty early, so I had plenty of time to figure out where to go, set up my stuff, then trek back to the car for my inhaler, find my parents and some friends, get in the water and acclimate...  and gosh knows what else.  Luckily the weather cleared and we had a dry (albeit humid) race!

Swim
We had to walk the 1/2mi across the bay to the swim start (it was a point-to-point), and then run a fair bit to/through transition... not ideal for someone who has been dealing with alignment issues and normally wears orthotics.  The water in Duxbury Bay wasn't bad, my guess would be close to 68, comfortable in a wetsuit.  There were definitely some swells (I could feel myself bobbing a bit), but there was plenty of room to swim (no turns!).  I came out of the water in 11:46 and headed to transition.

Coming out of the water, I'm in the middle, front 

Bike
The bike starts and ends on Powder Point Bridge, where no passing is allowed.  Starting in the third wave, in the midst of plenty of people, both slower and faster, this can be a little frustrating.  In fact, the woman behind me was complaining about losing the lead she had out of the water.  But we're all in the same boat, and there's not much you can do except loosen up your legs and get ready to work!

Heading out on the bike (towards the right)

Winding through historic Duxbury, the bike course has some rolling hills, but no major climbs.  My legs weren't complaining and it was a nice ride.  Towards the end I started playing a game of cat and mouse with three other women in my AG, and while I may have come in behind them at 41:18 (18.9mph), I kept them in my sights as we came back into transition!

Run
The run was pretty flat and I felt good throughout, keeping a decent pace (from what I could tell) and picking people off!  I was smiling to myself as I debated whether I like passing men or women in my AG more :)  Those three women from the bike?  Caught them and never looked back!  Ended up with a 25:04 run (8:05min/mi).

Off and running!

Overall time:  1hr 24min 15sec  (6/21 in my AG)

Final Thoughts:  Although it wasn't my fastest sprint tri, I enjoyed the race and was reminded of how much I love triathlon.  I could stand to work on my transitions (a couple more races in a wetsuit and a second pair of orthotics should help), but I was definitely happy at the end of the day.  Duxbury was definitely a great end to the season as well, and maybe next year men and women can get the same color tee ;)


What will next year bring??  That's a good question!

Party Time Insanity

At a recent Saturday night party...

Wombat: You said you hadn't been out much in three years.

Meredith: Yeah. Bad divorce. I only felt like being alone.

Wombat: Shit. That must have sent you nuts. Just staying at home, that is.

Meredith: Oh, for sure.

Wombat (jocularly): On a scale of one to ten, how crazy are you, Meredith?

Meredith (matter-of-factly): I'd say...around fifty-six or -seven.

Wombat (with fading smile) : * crickets *

...



Bottoms Up, Fellow Crazies.