it's a new england thing

while massachusetts and texas are only a couple thousand miles apart they might as well be two different worlds.

besides the obvious socio-political differences and the disparity in weather (it was thirty when i went running this morning and i'm sure it is at least twice that in arlington) things are just done differently.

for example, in texas if i want coffee i go to starbucks and they hand me a cup of black coffee. if i wanted milk in it (which i don't) i would ask them to leave room, walk to the bar and add my milk. here, people go to dunkin donuts where a "regular" coffee comes with cream and sugar and you have to special order to have it black. often times people order "extra extra" which means extra cream and extra sugar. and then they place a napkin over the lid, their finger over the opening, and turn it upside down and shake it.

side note: this coffee phenomena kind of surprises me because food in general up here is considered healthier than texas due to the fact that they don't deep fry everything and slather it in butter or gravy.

the other thing i've found slightly difficult to get used to is what they call things. i'm not simply talking about the incredibly annoying accent where they put an "er" instead of an "a" (e.g. mander and idear) and an "a" instead if an "er" (e.g. silva) and words aren't pronounced as they're spelled (e.g. worcester). no, they have completely different words. here is what i've learned: a water fountain is called a bubbler; jeans are dungarees; a liquor store is a packi; milkshake is a frappe; sprinkles are jimmies...

and, the one i learned yesterday: "so do i" is "so don't i" or "so am i" is "so aren't i".

26 days 'til texas where we eat meat, fry our food, wear shorts in the winter, and talk normal!

i have been blessed

Psalm 100:3-5 (New International Version)

³ Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

When you get caught up in the daily beat down of life and overwhelmed by circumstances that are beyond your control take a step back and remember that God is God, He has it all under control, and His provision is always enough.

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

count your blessings. name them one by one. count your blessings. see what God has done.

Tufts 10K

"i didn't win and i didn't tie, but i didn't walk and i didn't die..."

and, i did beat my time of 1:14:27 from last year.

According to my Garmin, here are my splits for today's race:

Split Time Distance Avg. Pace

1 06:18 1.00 06:18

2 06:31 1.00 06:31

3 06: 36 1.00 06: 36

4 06:38 1.00 06:38

5 06: 34 1.00 06: 34

6 06: 24 1.00 06: 24

7 01:47 0.29 06:12

Sum: 40:50 6.29 06:29

My official Results:

Time: 40:51 (so i either started or stopped my watch a second off)

Pace: 06:35 (10K is officially 6.2 miles)

Overall: 64th out of 8200

Age: 37th out of 1595

I am pleased with my results. This was a national championship race so the USA Track and Field team was there competing along with some other pretty great athletes -- I don't mind losing when it is to people like Molly Huddle, Genoveva Kigen, Jen Rhines, and Katie McGregor.

And, Joan Benoit Samuelson shook my hand! Yes, THE Joan Benoit Samuelson who won the gold medal in the 1984 summer games making her the first ever women's olympic marathon champion.

No pictures from the race, though i will take one to post of my new headband that says "I run so I can eat." I do wish i had a picture of my bloody shirt (I got a bloody nose about half a mile into the race). Or one of everyone else in panty bottoms and bras with me in my knee length spandex shorts and t-shirt.

just call me betty crocker

i'm not gonna lie, that is one good looking pie! <-- meaning it looks tasty, not that it is particularly aesthetic.

(side note: the "A" is for apple, not amanda)

greatness

yesterday was stormy and gross. definitely a comfort food kind of day. as a result i was in an autumn mood when i went to the grocery store last night and ended up buying some acorn squash from BJs thinking I'd make some soup. However, today isn't a stormy soup kind of day and I still have plenty of apples left from my race last weekend (wow! was that only a week ago?!?!). so, i did what any normal person would do and googled "squash apple recipe". the first recipe that popped up was the winner since it also included another one of my favorites, cranberries, and is super simple to make.

Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake from Simply Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (i bought mine pre peeled and pre cut)
• 2 large tart cooking apples cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (i used craisins)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter (i used unsalted)
• 1 Tbsp flour (i used whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon salt (i used reduced sodium salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace (can substitute ground nutmeg) (i used 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cloves)

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice and peel squash and apples.

2 Put squash cubes in ungreased 7x11-inch baking dish. Place apples on top and then cranberries. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and mace and sprinkle on top. Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes.

i loved it! the pictures don't do justice to the taste. it's pretty delicious.

the other thing i made today was pancakes. keep in mind, i don't typically like pancakes therefore i do not make pancakes. however, they are great for athletes to eat as pre-workout fuel due to the rate at which the complex carbs break down (no, i won't bore you with the science lesson) not to mention they're easy to freeze and pull out in a hurry.

The following is a recipe from Playtri.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Make this ahead of time! The dry ingredients can be mixed and stored for later use. Just add the buttermilk, eggs and butter. High in protein and low in fat!

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup instant nonfat dry powdered milk
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp packed brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cups lowfat buttermilk (i used the powdered and only did a cup and half -- since i've not made pancakes i don't really know how thin the mixture should be so mine was maybe too thick)
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup light unsalted butter

Preparation
1. Pulse oats in food processor 5 to 6 times until ground.
2. Combine ground oats, wheat flour, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and butter; stir into oat mixture.
3. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn and cook other side.

Makes 10 servings (1 serving = 2 pancakes) -- mine only made 12 (probably because of the buttermilk)

Per serving : 183 Calories; 9g Protein; 26g Carbohydrates; 5g Fat; 256mg Sodium

The batter:

for all you people who make pancakes on a regular basis, having your pancakes form a circle isn't a big deal. for a novice like me, a circle is a minor miracle.

it isn't burnt, just crispy (it took me a couple to learn that i needed to turn my burner down a little).
overall, i'm pretty impressed with how my pancakes turned out. granted when i go to eat them i may not be as pleased. but i can always blame it on freezer burn...

Apple Pie

As a last minute decision angela decided to use some of the apples i won from the race (see previous post to see how huge the basket is) to make some apple pie to give to the sawyers (our small group leaders who are moving back to south carolina).

Ready to begin:

However, we ran into a few "issues" when she went to make it. first, her crust recipe called for milk. i don't drink milk therefore i don't own milk. so, we decided to do her pie filling with my crust. sure, no problem i thought. however, i forgot that i made dave (allison's husband) an apple cake on thursday as a thank you for letting allison come to new hampshire with me and i had used almost all of my white flour. so, i ended up making the bottom crust with white flour and the top crust was a mixture of whole wheat flour and white flour and the filling has whole wheat flour. we were worried about how it would taste (i'm not a huge fan of baking with whole wheat flour because i think it tends to make things too heavy) and were hesitant about claiming it as our pie and giving it as a gift. but then, since we got a late start making it and used a whole lot of apples it didn't finish baking before we had to leave so we left it baking in the oven and i'll take it to work tomorrow. those people with eat anything, even apple pie made with whole wheat flour.

it isn't burnt, that is cinnamon on the top

Update: people at work gave the pie rave reviews. i give all the credit to angela being fabulous

Birthday

When I got back from New Hampshire on Saturday my friend, Angela, had left me a rose, a balloon, and some chocolate. So sweet! p.s. this is why we give friends keys to our apartments :)

rachel and randall (a.k.a. "the fernandez family") gave me a watermelon (i love how well they know me) as well as the most perfect card ever (the front says "after a certain age, women face an increased risk while jogging" and the inside says "specifically, getting slapped in the face by their own boobs"). bahahahaha

and, then, trupti gave me a super wonderful birthday surprise on Sunday

she invited my friends from church over. tim, randall, brad
lalo and ben
juliann, rachel, angela
and then she made me all my favorite foods.

mini bananas and candy from the chinese store

cheese and bread with homemade butter

"guacamole" but it is a mix of avocado and bleu cheese
lettuce wraps and thai chicken
not pictured, "experimental" lemon grass chicken and stir fried rice.

we had root beer floats for dessert because last friday we went to red robin for brad's birthday and lalo and randall each had three root beer floats but due to race training i did not get to drink one. hahahaha.