Big training week

Conrad is off in Romania and not back until next week, so I'm eating simply at home, relatively speaking. Oh, heck, the South Miami Cuban Stew I made for a small group of us on Saturday was darn tasty, but I just wanted to dig in and eat rather than make everyone suffer a photoshoot.

My simple dining week goes hand in hand with my biggest week of running in the training cycle: 41 miles total. 5 tomorrow morning, 10 on Wednesday morning, 5 on Thursday morning, and 21 on Saturday. Fun! Actually, it is, kinda. Running that distance allows ample opportunity to think (or not to think). The city, the lakefront is yours (at least until the hordes of training teams start barreling up and down the path) to share with an occasional bunny or even raccoon. If the weather is cool, I hope to be in a blissful mental state, comfortable while chugging along.

The Royal Victoria Marathon is now only 27 days away. I registered last December, and it's felt like it would never arrive. A nice way to spend the Thanksgiving weekend back west. I say this is my last marathon, but look at me in these older shots. Pure elation. And that Marathon du Médoc still beckons....

2002 Chicago Marathon (with Bradley and Cliff)
Post-training run, September 2004
2005 Chicago Marathon

revisiting restaurants and other Vancouver stuff

Last post from the Vancouver weekend - I started this at my sister's this morning, but I'm finishing it sitting on the bed at home here in Chicago.R It's good to be home. I'm sorry to be home. Ah well.

I took advantage of the trip to revisit a couple of places from earlier this year and get another try of them. First up, Raincity Grill.

I'd been there for dinner back in January, but Conrad had never tried it, so we did a big long walk on Friday morning down to the West End and settled in for a good lunch. The shared appetizer of fried oysters was a good start.


From there we moved on to separate dishes.
Chicken for Conrad, served atop a nice couscouswhile I had a ham and Gruyere sandwich.BC wines capped the meal - I think we drank BC all weekend, in fact.

Saturday night was date night at O'Doul's. We'd been there in April, though the raging cold I had at the time meant I hardly noticed what the food and wine were like. It certainly has a prime location on Robson Street for people-watching, and the wine list is excellent. Conrad started with a salad of heirloom tomatoes - gee, that's a shocker!
I opted for the corn veloute with seared scallop - NIIIIIICE!
We each then had the chicken served in a natural jus with chanterelles and pine mushrooms. Yes, once again I eat mushrooms if they cost a little more.
Dessert was the star, and simple thing of beauty: pistachio and coconut panna cottas, layered and topped with a few berries. Wonderful.The wine pairing (we had pairings with each course) was not so successful, alas, and we finished the night with wine and cheese down at Bacchus instead.



But we ate elsewhere this weekend, I assure you. Saturday brunch - I managed to walk around some that afternoon, surprisingly! - was at Locus on Main. A little pokey in service, but nice. Good menu for brunch.




I was especially thrilled to see halibut cheeks on the menu, and so I ordered them.

We got around a bunch this weekend, seeing some familiar areas and new ones. It's always fun to see the sights of the city, like this along False Creek: the Time Top sculpture.Whoops, that's Conrad. Here's the top:



Another great piece was outside O'Doul's. Okay, maybe not superlative art, but a few families stopped by so the kids could clamber all over it.

Friday month we were headed back to Marie's with sushi and gelatto for dinner (not mixed together!) when we encountered the monthly Friday night bicycle protest - traffic clogged by those who want more bike lanes. Marie fretted, we found it amusing.


Vancouver is still abloom, too.If only I could blog how the scent of end-of-season blackberries on the seaside brambles was when I encountered it during my run.

eggball

One last post before bed - no, I'm not blogging this long weekend in Vancouver in order, I know.

After a very filling dinner of ViJ's frozen meals (no, really, they're pretty good) and some BC wines and blueberries, we took a break from our Scrabble game and wandered over into Chinatown to stroll about one of the last Night Market evenings of the year. Well, with the cool weather and it being a long weekend, Sunday night, pickings were slim, so to speak. Happily, there were eggballs.


What are eggballs? A waffle, I guess. A batter is poured into an iron and cooked. Once baked and removed, the waffle is fanned to crispen up.
It can then be broken apart easily and enjoyed as a bunch of warm, sweet, slightly eggy balls. Very airy, not at all dense.

The woman making them was altogether lovely to chat with as well, thoguh she did try to escape being in the thumbs-up photo.

In short, we've eaten well tonight. Too well. Amen for elasticized waistbands!

Vancouver sunset, last Thursday

Some views from our first night in Vancouver last Thursday, staying with my sister. She and Conrad enjoy the evening out on the balcony....

training run

I think I ran about 18-19 miles yesterday. I mapped out the route beforehand, but I'll go back and verify as best I can. All in all, not a bad run. I normally eschew running in full daylight, trying to get in as much before and around dawn as possible. It takes a lot to be this fishbelly white, you know! Still, Vancouver isn't as familiar to me as I'd like, and I felt a bit more secure running after sunrise.





Conrad took these photos from the spot on False Creek near the Burrard Bridge where he sat with a newspaper and coffee and bottles of water. So far as we could tell, the route I took had no water fountains. I did two out and back loops, hence the odd sequence of photos. Conrad used the time between to photograph the area nearby.


You know what, I have good calves, I think!