a perfect wednesday afternoon

Today was pretty much the perfect day.  Weather was gorgeous, got some stuff done for work, snuck in a great run & walk with the pup, ate a delicious dinner and experimented on dessert.  My only problem is that it's already 10:30PM (now 11:15!!) and I am still up!  Looks like I'll be skipping my morning run in favor of an afternoon run tomorrow!

My Run::
On the schedule was 4 miles.  I decided to do the same route as last Wednesday's 4 miler (an out and back) and was determined to come out with negative splits - like last Wednesday as well.

Stats:
mile 1 - 7:53
mile 2 - 7:35
mile 3 - 7:27
mile 4 - 7:19
cool down (.41) - 7:10 <----walking
Total distance: 4:41 miles
Total time: 37:23
Average pace: 8:29

Whoop!  Pretty much rocked that one out!  After seeing my two mile split, I wasn't sure if I could manage the negative splits...so I focused and channeled my inner high school athlete-self, along with two people who have had huge roles in my running "career" - bff Nancy and high school track coach, Gorham.

Yup, I for sure imagined them standing somewhere in the corn fields yelling at me and telling me to run faster. :)  Totally worked.  Now if I could only get the two of them down to Oklahoma for my marathon in November I have no doubt I would qualify for Boston...

Our Walk::
After my glorious run, the hubs and I took the pup for a walk and continued our discussion on all the stuff in our house that we want to get rid of.  I think by the end of our Fall cleaning, we will be able fit all of our possessions into a shoebox! :)

Dinner::
Before heading out for my run, I threw dinner in the oven. On the menu for tonight was the Pioneer Woman's Beer Braised Beef with Onions.  I made a few alterations, but nothing life-changing.  Holy delicious!  The meat literally melted in your mouth.

We served this up with a side of coconut oil & thyme roasted carrots and potatoes.  Also delicious.

Dessert::
I picked up some cute little, almost local, apples today at Hy-Vee and the cooler temps were urging me to make apple pie.  We don't keep any form of butter in the house (or we rarely have it) so I was forced/inspired to come up with a butterless crust on my own.

For the crust I used:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup oats that have been pulsed in the food processor about 10 times
1/2 t salt
1 T packed brown sugar (could have been 1 t - can't read my writing!)
4 T coconut oil
5 T iced water

To make the crust, mix the first five ingredients. Cut in the coconut oil (the temps here are cool enough where my coconut oil was pretty much solid) and then stir in, one tablespoon at a time, the iced water until dough forms into a ball.  Chill in fridge while you get the apples ready.

For the "innards" I used:
3 small apples - thinly sliced
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1 T cornstarch
1 T maple syrup

Mix the first 4 ingredients and stir in maple syrup.

In a greased glass 1 quart serving dish, push 3/4 of the dough around the bottom and edges to form a crust.  Fill with apples and somehow manage to create a top with the rest of the dough...

Bake at 350 for 1+ hours.



Results - the pie was really actually quite good!  The apples were perfectly seasoned and cooked.  The crust was a bit on the crumbly side, which I knew before I baked it, but had good flavor.  The recipe for sure needs some tweaking and with apple season upon us, I am sure I'll have ample opportunity to do just that. Next time I will for sure add a few more tablespoons of water, a bit more sugar (or maple syrup?) and maybe some cinnamon to the dough.





Hmmm....now that it is already 11:15PM, I must hit the hay and catch some Zzzzzs, after reading a few pages of the eery book, The Passage.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from Barnes & Noble)

One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Known World is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winning Edward P. Jones.

The Known World tells that story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia.  Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affiars with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from Barnes and Noble)

In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders even as he was dodging shootouts with feuding Afghan warlords and surviving an eight-day armed abduction by the Taliban. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women—all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

Since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson has traveled across the U.S. and the world to share his vision with hundreds of thousands of people. He has met with heads of state, top military officials, and leading politicians who all seek his advice and insight. The continued phenomenal success of Three Cups of Tea proves that there is an eager and committed audience for Mortenson’s work and message.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from bn.com)

Shortly before turning 50, TV cooking show personality Augusta "Gus" Simpson discovers that the network wants to boost her ratings by teaming her with a beautiful, young new co-host. But Gus isn't going without a fight-whether it's off-set with her two demanding daughters, on-camera with the ambitious new diva herself, or after-hours with Oliver, the new culinary producer who's raising Gus's temperature beyond the comfort zone. Now, in pursuit of higher ratings and culinary delights, Gus might be able to rejuvenate more than just her career.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from Amazon.com)
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory.

Eugenides weaves together a kaleidoscopic narrative spanning 80 years of a stained family history, from a fateful incestuous union in a small town in early 1920s Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit; from the early days of Ford Motors to the heated 1967 race riots; from the tony suburbs of Grosse Pointe and a confusing, aching adolescent love story to modern-day Berlin. Eugenides's command of the narrative is astonishing. He balances Cal/Callie's shifting voices convincingly, spinning this strange and often unsettling story with intelligence, insight, and generous amounts of humor:

Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." … I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever.

what i (kier) am reading

So, The Girl Who Played with Fire - AMAZING page turner.  You should read it.  I finished it in less than a week.  I've decided on a more light-hearted book for my next read - John Grisham's Skipping Christmas.

I think this sounds like a plan for Nic and I this year!  We've already decided not to exchange gifts this year with anyone and we are hunkering down and celebrating Christmas, just the two of us, in Washington - so maybe we could go on a cruise!

(c&p from wikipedia)

The story focuses on how Luther and Nora Krank try to avoid the frenzy traditionally experienced during the Christmas holiday. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the two bring their daughter Blair to the airport, where she departs for a year-long assignment in a remote area of Peru with thePeace Corps. Nora bemoans the fact the upcoming Christmas will be their first time they are separated as a family, prompting her husband to calculate how much they spent celebrating the holidays the prior year. When he realizes they have little to show for the $6,100 they invested in decorations, gifts, and entertaining, he decides to skip all the hubbub at home and surprise Nora by booking a ten-day Caribbean cruise aboard theIsland Princess.

It doesn't take long for Nora to adjust to the idea of no Christmas shopping, no Christmas tree, and no Christmas Eve party they host every year. To the couple's amazement, their neighbors on Hemlock Street strongly object to their decision to boycott the holiday, because their decision not to decorate their home will jeopardize their winning the coveted prize for best decorated block in the neighborhood. The local Boy Scout troop is dismayed when the Kranks refuse to support them by purchasing a tree, the police are angered when they decline to buy a calendar, and the stationer is upset when he loses their annual order of engraved greeting cards. Luther and Nora find themselves the objects of derision and anxiously await their departure on Christmas Day.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from wikipedia)

Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practices of establishment Swedish figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and those in high office who abuse underage girls, Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation.

He’s had no contact with tattoed wild-child and computer hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander since they risked their lives on a terrifying hunt for a serial killer last year (see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). But unknown to Blomkvist, Salander has had contact with him – or at least, with his computer hard drive, which she has cloned and is monitoring from the vast new apartment she has bought with her fraudulently obtained fortune.

Repeatedly abused while young, Salander is a traumatized survivor of the care system in Sweden – but she’s no helpless victim. A punk avenging angel with boxing skills, a photographic memory and pathologically focussed on seeking out and punishing violent misogynists, Salander is drawn to the investigation on Blomkvist’s computer. So while Blomkvist and his fellow Millennium idealists research the sex industry according to the rules of good journalism, Salander – spurred on by the appalling case studies of teenage prostitution she finds on Blomkvists computer – takes matters into her own hands. She plots punishment for the traffickers, but before she can carry out her own brand of justice, she is accused of three murders, all connected to the sex trafficking exposé about to be published in Millennium.

To avoid capture by the police, Salander vanishes. While the tabloids go wild at the idea of a “psychotic lesbian SM Satanist” on the run, Blomkvist tries despairingly to clear her name, though he can’t find her anywhere. When he does eventually make contact, it is to discover that Salander is more embroiled in his investigation than he could have thought possible. It turns out that for Salander, the trail of guilt leads shockingly close to home.

water for elephants

I just finished reading Water For Elephants last night.  Now it's your turn!  It was an amazing book!

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from wikipedia)
Set during the Great Depression, Water for Elephants tells the story of a young man who leaves his life as a Cornell University veterinary student after losing both his parents in a car accident, and jumps onto a train that happens to house the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After a short confrontation with Blackie, a bouncer that stops stowaways, and Camel (a limp old worker) promising him a job and an audience with Uncle Al (The Ringmaster) Jacob decides to stay aboard the train. Since his parents have died in an automobile accident, and he has not a home to call his own, he decides to remain with the circus. Jacob is employed as the show’s veterinarian and he faces a number of challenges in dealing with the head trainer, August, while also learning how to function in the hierarchy of the circus and falling in love with August's wife, Marlena.

what i (kier) am reading

(c&p from Wikipedia)

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is a 2006 memoir by American author and memoirist Elizabeth Gilbert. The memoir chronicles the author's trip around the world after her divorce, and what she discovered during her travels.

At 32 years old, Gilbert was educated, had a home and a husband, and successful career as a writer. However, she was not happy; she was depressed with her marriage, often spending the night crying on her bathroom floor. She divorced her husband and entered into a relationship with another man, but this relationship did not work out either. She decided that she needed a change. She spent the next year traveling the world. She spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life (Eat). She spent four months in India, trying to find her spirituality (Pray). She ended the year in Bali, Indonesia, looking for "balance" of the two, and love (Love).

Paramount Pictures purchased the movie rights for the memoir and will produce a film version under the same title set to be released in 2011. American actress Julia Roberts is planned to star in the film

what i (kier) am reading

Don't judge me...

After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the man-made horror of the explosion at the vampire Summit, Sookie Stackhouse is safe but dazed, yearning for things to get back to normal; but her friend Quinn is among the missing.

Through an arranged meeting, she meets her great-grandfather and Fairy relative, Niall Brigant. Sookie is drawn into mysterious deaths among the local Were community. Her status as a 'Friend Of The Pack', forces her to mediate between two warring factions, where an even bigger plot and betrayal is discovered. The end result leaves one side decimated and her friend Alcide Herveaux the new Pack Leader.

It is soon discovered that the Vegas vampires are taking over Louisiana from injured Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq, and Sookie dives into the middle of it, determined to help her "Supe" friends. Through a very thorough "ambush" Felipe de Castro, King of Nevada, becomes the new King of Louisiana and Arkansas. All of Louisiana's sheriffs are dead except Eric Northman, who surrenders and accepts Felipe's new regime.

what i (kier) am reading

(introduction from wikipedia)

An epic tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents, the novel takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family. Through its main character, it also references classic forbears of the crime thriller genre while stylistically follows and mixes aspects of the sub-genres. There are mentions of Astrid Lindgren, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie andDorothy L. Sayers; as well as Sue Grafton, Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky and several other key figures in the history of the detective novel. As a journalist and magazine editor in Stockholm until his death, Larsson reveals a knowledge and enjoyment of both English and American crime fiction. He declared that he wrote his opus in the evening after work for his own pleasure.

The towns mentioned are real, with exception for Hedestad, and the Millennium magazine featured in the books parallels Larsson's own Expomagazine in the real world, which also had financial difficulties and where he was journalist and editor.