Happy National Running Day!!

Yes, today is officially National Running Day! A very exciting day for us runners.  Although I am not quite sure why it is a Wednesday.  Not the easiest day in the world to fit in a run on, especially after my four mile trail run last night left me with tired legs.  However, it is day four of my #runstreak, so I have to fit in at least a mile, regardless!

Olive Oil!!!

Yesterday we had a very heavy box waiting for us in the mail.  I think I squealed out loud in excitement when I saw the label on the outside though!  Nudo, our Italian olive oil, had arrived at last.  Billy and I are both very hard to buy gifts for, but this year, for Christmas, my mother was very innovative.  She and my father "adopted" an olive tree for us in Italy, through a company called Nudo.  It's a great gift idea, and I highly recommend it.  We are able to log on to the Nudo website and see photos of our tree, read details  etc.  And in the spring, we receive a shipment of olive oil from the grove where our tree resides (they specify that it is not from our exact tree!).  You can have shipments sent every quarter, I believe, but there were some delays with the spring shipment so I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival.  We received three tins of the oil, which, as we learnt in Italy, is the best way to store olive oil.  Of course, we had to open one and try it.  It was  rich golden color and had a deliciously spicy afterbite. This oil is not for cooking with, but is definitely for pouring on fresh pasta, green salads, or just drinking from a spoon, as we did last night!  Yum!  

Thanks Mum and Dad!!

The box of goodies...

One of the tins of deliciousness

Three tins

E.V.O.O.

Pouring the first spoonful of deliciousness.

Yummy!

Kimba the white lion!

Our office in South Beach doesn't have a lot of people, technology or toys, but it does have the best puppy in the world.  Meet...Kimba.  He is named after Kimba the white lion and with his new haircut, he looks like a little lion.  He is hungry today so he has been barking a little, but usually he is the most quiet, well-behaved dog you could ask to be around.  So, I dedicate this post to Kimba, who has stolen a little piece of my heart! :)

The best spaghetti with clam sauce - ever!

Since I was still encountering technical difficulties uploading these photos, I decided to post this from my phone and then add in the text.  And wouldn't you know it, the photos uploaded in almost exactly the right order.  Yahoo!  Here's my attempt at a cooking photo shoot! :)

Step One - Assemble the ingredients. 

Wash the clams thoroughly - you want to avoid cooking any dirt into your cooking juices because you will use it later in the sauce!

Step Two - saute some shallots in olive oil.  Add fresh garlic.  When you smell the garlic, add liquid, quickly.  In this case, a cup or two of La Crema Chardonnay.  Only feed your clams wine you would want to drink yourself, according to Chef JP!

Then, add the clams!  I had to do this in two batches as I didn't have a pan that was big enough for all of the clams at once.  you want to do a single layer, so they can open up and absorb the juices!

Before they opened up... 

Step Three: Remove the clam meat and chop finely.  Reserve the cooking liquid - strained well to remove any grains of sand etc.

Step Four:  Okay, so I forgot to take step-by-step photos of making the sauce, but it followed the same basic steps - saute the shallots, add garlic, add wine, then let it all cook down.  Then you add chicken stock, WHITE worcestershire sauce (who even knew!), cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice.  Then add some of the reserved clam juice (although the recipe forgets to mention this!) and the heavy cream.  Let the sauce reduce and thicken and when ready, add the clams to the mixture, along with some fresh parsley and the cooked spaghetti.  Mix it all together and serve, topped with parmesan cheese and any extra parsley you may have  (I ALWAYS seem to have a ton of extra parsley when I cook with it!). 

And if you are lucky enough to have any left, serve with a glass of cold chardonnay!  Delicious.  You really should try this at home.  I have never been a huge fan of spaghetti in clam sauce, but this one is amazing.  And I am sure you could make it with a tin of clams if you had to, but I recommend trying the fresh ones.  I had never cooked with them before and it was surprisingly easy.  Plus the flavour was out of this world!!  Enjoy! 

Oh, and for anyone who IS interested in trying this at home, here is the recipe.  I doubled it as we meant to freeze some of the sauce, but it was so good, we ate it for the next few days and devoured it all!  Apologies for the sauce stains on the photograph and the terrible shadow!!

Nike Women's Half Marathon D.C.

Standing in line at packet pick-up for the Nike Women's inaugural half marathon in Washington D.C.  I thought I might be there awhile....

Luckily, Nike is very efficient and it took less than twenty minutes to get through the line and pick up my packet.  Unfortunately, the expo was too crowded and didn't seem to have a lot to offer - the dangers of having one title sponsor I guess. So no cool new running gear for me.  Definitely better for my wallet,although I was disappointed to miss out on the Tiffany blue Nike Free shoes again. :-(


I walked up to the Niketown Georgetown and found my name on the wall but again, the store was chaotic so I left without any purchases. I am just not patient enough to deal with the crowds and the long lines.  I am my mother's daughter! (Hi Mum!)

The best part of the day was the message wall at the expo with messages of hope and support for Boston. I had hoped to be able to buy something to wear in support, as I saw people with ribbons in the Boston Athletics Association colours etc. but I never found anyone selling them.  But Boston, D.C. runs for you tomorrow.

If you are losing faith in human nature today...

What happened yesterday in Boston was a horrible tragedy and it will take a long time for this to be fully absorbed and understood, if such an event can ever be understood.  There is a lot of information missing still and a lot of confusion about the investigation itself.  And yet, even in the midst of this horrific act, there are also some wonderful stories to read.  There have been many posts about how after the first blast, people ran away from the bomb site, but the EMT's, firemen, police and BAA officials all ran towards it.  Think of the bravery that takes, to run into the face of known danger.  In addition, runners and bystanders alike did what they could to help the wounded, or to help those who couldn't help themselves.  Ordinary men and women doing extraordinary things.  Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley was quoted as saying: "Moments like this and our response to them define who we are,"  Those who were present and helped in Boston yesterday were heroes.  As Howard Fineman wrote in an OpEd piece on the Huffington Post "In the end, the terrorists will fail because Bostonians did not turn from their fellow men -- they turned toward them"  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-fineman/boston-marathon-patriots-day_b_3088070.html

I'd like to share a couple of other articles with you that talk about this much more clearly than I could.  First, from the title of this post, here is a fantastic article in The Washington Post about why people run marathons and why this won't stop runners:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/15/if-you-are-losing-faith-in-human-nature-go-out-and-watch-a-marathon/

"If you are losing faith in human nature today, watch what happens in the aftermath of an attack on the Boston Marathon. The flood of donations crashed the Red Cross’s Web site. The organization tweeted that its blood supplies are already full. People are lining up outside of Tufts Medical Center to try and help. Runners are already vowing to be at marathons in the coming weeks and months. This won’t be the last time the squeakers run Boston. This won’t be the last time we gather at the finish line to marvel how much more we can take than anyone ever thought possible."

And for those of you who are derisive about today's social media driven world, - it can be used for the power of good as well: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/16/177443006/social-media-helped-find-loved-ones-after-marathon-bombing.  and http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/04/15/boston-marathon-blast-help/2086273/

I personally was overwhelmed with the phonecalls, text messages and FB posts I received from friends who were checking in on me.  Even though I have never been lucky enough to run Boston, friends wanted to make sure I was safe.  And I love you all for that.  If I ever do get lucky (i.e. fast) enough to qualify for Boston, I will absolutely be there, lined up at the start, because I won't let terrorists ruin the sport I love.  In the NY Times editorial, the Editorial Board writes "The simple joy of a 26.2-mile run was shattered on Monday. But the marathon will be back next year, no matter how much security is required, and the crowds should yell twice as loudly. No act of terrorism is strong enough to shatter a tradition that belongs to American history."

Hear, hear.

Prayers for Boston

My thoughts and prayers to everyone injured at the Boston Marathon today.  #bostonmarathon.  There are no words.

Goodbye to New Zealand Part 2

On Sunday, we gained our hour, thanks to Daylight Savings (ending, I think Gavin assured me!).  We packed up all our stuff and checked out of the hotel, leaving our bags in reception for one last walk along the path into town.

Here are some photos of the walk so you can see how beautiful it was.  About 20 minutes of it were on the Queenstown trail, and the last 10-15 into town were along the waterfront and past the Queenstown Gardens peninsula.

The trail from outside our hotel

Kids out sailing on a beautiful fall day!

Across the bay you can see the Town Center

Some parts reminded me so much of England!!

It is definitely fall and the leaves are slowly changing

We had big plan to buy souvenirs, but that never quite worked out.  Even the Starbucks was sold out of the New Zealand mug we had wanted to buy - drats!! Apparently a popular item.  Instead, we had brunch at Halo and wandered around town, sending some postcards and taking photos of our favourite spots.  And the Cookie Monster.  :)

Who can resist the Cookie Monster?

The outside of the Eichardts Hotel

The statue of William Rees

 Then we decided to walk back to the hotel because after all, we were about to sit on a plane for about a day and a half, so we needed the exercise!!  Plus, it was another perfect Queentown day with cool temperatures and bright blue skies.

Walking back to the hotel 

Goodbye Queenstown!

Our plane was a cool black one, but I got told off for taking photos.  Drats!

 We flew from Queentown to Auckland in just over an hour and a half, then spent a few hours at Auckland airport before catching our plane back to LA.  The return leg wasn't quite as comfy, (don't get me started on the lack of leg rest on the premium economy seats!) and unfortunately, Billy didn't really sleep but at least it was quicker flying in that direction - less than 12 hours and we were there.

I can't believe it has been a whole week already since we left, but we have lots of great memories and photographs and if I get too sad, I will come back and read this blog to remember the stories.  Thanks for following along, everyone!! 

Horse-riding in Lord of the Rings Country (Goodbye to New Zealand Part 1)

Sorry for the delay in posting this last update, as it has now been a week since we left New Zealand (sob, sob).  However, I haven't been at my computer since Thursday and I didn't have the photos on my phone to post from that!  Ahh, technology.  How we rely on it now!

When I last wrote about NZ, we had spent Saturday morning sea kayaking and had a delicious lunch in Queenstown. At 1pm, Billy and I walked up to the visitor's center area and he joined me on the High Country Horses bus to Glenorchy, about 45 - 50 minutes outside of Queenstown.  There ended up being 5 other people heading out for the afternoon horse riding trip with me, but luckily there was still enough space for Billy to come on the bus, even though he wouldn't be riding.  We sat in the front row with a girl from Holland who is travelling for 6 months.  Love it.  

I rode a horse named Keg and had a great 2.5 hour ride.  There were 6 guests and 2 guides - a good group.  Two of the girls had a lot of experience and four of us were "beginner/ intermediate".  Two Brits, a Canuck, an Aussie, a Dutch girl and a Bahamian.  Quite the mix!  Unfortunately, quite early on, the girl from Canada, who had only ridden once before, was thrown from her horse when he was spooked by a wasp.  She was fine, but shaken up although she got back on and finished the ride.  As a result though, the intermediate group only did about three short trotting sessions, when the Canadian girl could be taken a different way with one of the guides.  The two experienced riders did quite a few canters off on their own, which looked like fun.  By the second trot, I had remembered the motion and how to control it etc and we even turned it (inadvertently), into a bit of a canter at the end.  Otherwise, the ride was a bit slow although the scenery was beautiful.  Glenorchy is Lord of the Rings country and they pointed out different areas where scenes from the movies had been filmed.  Part of our ride was through the same area where Frodo rides to escape the Nazgul in the first movie, and is rescued by the elves etc.

We're in the country now...

These boots are serious business.

The paddock

Is it my turn yet?? 

May I introduce you to Keg?

Does this horse make my butt look big? :)

Billy hung out at the barns by himself, and I was quite worried about him, but as usual, he made friends. He met the owner of the ranch and spent some time chatting to him. He also made friends with his dog, Havoc, and the other farm animals! :)

Every good farm needs at least one cat and one dog. At least.

Havoc!!

Havoc is a bit camera-shy

The trail riders return

"How do I get down from this thing?"

I'll miss you, Keg!

The drive to and from Glenorchy was quite narrow and winding.  I was very glad we weren't driving ourselves, but our driver drove like a madwoman.  Apparently she has to do that trip two, sometimes three times a day, so she knew all the twists and turns like the back of her hand.  Which didn't make it any less hair-raising, but at least she knew what she was doing!

On the drive home

Goodbye Lothlorien!  I mean, Glenorchy!

Time for a hot shower and a good meal for our last night in Queenstown!  Sadly, this is how my fitbit met it's death, as I forgot to remove it from my smelly horse-riding pants before throwing them in the wash.  I was anxious to clean them so they wouldn't have to go in my suitcase dirty, but bad things happen when you rush!  Never mind.  Billy and I then took the shuttle into town and ended up at the Botswana Butchery for dinner.  We met some fun local girls at the bar, all dressed up in 70's disco outfits, as you do!  It was a good evening with a great meal, but we forgot out camera, so no photos, I am afraid!  Billy was probably relieved to be able to just eat his food, without a camera lens stuck in it first!

Last NZ post  to follow on our last morning. Sniff, sniff.  (How has it been a week already!?!?!)