New York Trip - Friends, Food, Shopping, and a Fat Baby

I know, I've been really bad about keeping this blog updated!  I have a BarkBox post to upload (two actually, but one is so outdated I'll only do the September one) as well as some other posts to upload into my food blog, Grubbin Pugs.  As an intro back into Lil Smug Pug, here are some photos from a recent trip I took to NY to visit a friend.  Had a great time but of course am glad to be back with Sunny and Rosy!

First I dropped off my very sad pugs with my parents. They get treated so well here but of course they were still sad to see me go.  Rosy looks deceptively happy here but that's because she was doing some nervous panting after she frantically tried hurling herself into my arms. (I pick her up to put on her harness when we go out so whenever she wants to go somewhere she tries to jump up like she does when I pick her up - it melts my heart!). Look at Sunny's sad slumping!

 

My friend has a really cute and friendly cat nicknamed Fat Baby.  She looks fatter than she really is!  Even though they're pretty sure she didn't have kittens before they adopted her, she has that loose belly skin like how Sunny has (who had 5 litters by the time I got her!) and it swings side to side when she walks around.  Love it! She is more dog-like than a lot of other cats I've met and she kinda reminded me of Rosy at times, who has some weird cat-like mannerisms.  Look at her holding her paws up to show off her belly.

During my trip I was missing the girls a lot so I was totally bothering Fat Baby all the time. I think she must've thought I was a crazy needy freak. I often felt like Elmyra from Tiny Toons as I'd try to follow her and pet her. See, she doesn't look pleased.

I have another friend who lives in New Jersey so we met up for a fun day filled with food and shopping!  First stop was a late lunch at Bouley. The restaurant opens up with a beautiful room with apples in their walls, floor to ceiling. People are free to take an apple, which of course we did even though I don't like apples (unless they're in pie or similar dessert form).

We did the lunch tasting menu which is a really great deal for the restaurant.  Dinner can be pricy here so lunch is a great option because you get a ton of dishes! The restaurant was kinda house/mansion-like in the downstairs portion more than a restaurant. It was a little too quiet downstairs and we felt like we practically had to whisper at times!  The bread cart cracked me up because it looked like the breads were being held prisoner in this wooden cage. I will free you bread and into my belly!

First course was a tomato and basil kind of broth with crab. Look at how beautiful the plate was!

Next was big eye tuna and roe over an apple foam.

Followed by a porcini flan

And then my favorite part of the meal - the most tender beef cheeks ever with mini gnocchi.

Dessert was a bit disappointing as the menu listed something with peaches and donuts and so of course we got excited about the donuts. But we think they meant to say the dessert was donut peaches, so NO DONUTS.  Obviously we were devastated. Also this didn't really look very appetizing.

But luckily they redeemed themselves with a second dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream!

And then they gave us a random sampling of cookies which we were too stuffed to eat.

Next we did a lot of walking around and shopping. My friends know me so well that when we were in an Anthropologie (yes I know I can go to Anthropologie where I live but of course we had to pop in for a stop!) one of my friends beckoned me over to this wall to show me these creepy pug heads. Tsk tsk, she's touching the pug head even though the sign on the wall says not to!

And then somehow we magically had room for a waffle from the Wafels & Dinges truck (at least we shared one). We chose the soft kind of waffle with nutella and strawberries. Sooooo good!

We then ended the night with one of the best meals I've ever had at Annisa.  We chose the 5-course tasting menu and were blown away by the flavors on each plate!  First up was my favorite dish of the night, barbequed squid with thai basil and fresh peanuts. Sorry the lighting is so bad in these photos, we only had one dangerously open flame on the table (those gas lights made me very nervous!).

Followed by an amazing soup dumpling topped with seared foie gras. I think I would've liked this better if it had been slightly easier to eat as the soup spoon they gave us was so small the soup liquid poured out! That's precious deliciousness that's pouring onto my plate and not into my mouth! But so very good.

Another amazing dish was the Spanish mackerel with a Korean chili sauce. This isn't a Korean dish necessarily but when I smelled it and then tasted it, something about it reminds me of more traditional Korean food. I usually don't like mackerel for sushi, but I love it cooked because it's one of the few fish that my mom used to cook when I was younger so this reminded me a lot of my mom's dish even if they are still very different dishes.

The next entree dish was probably my least favorite of the savory dishes although it was still amazing.  It was lamb with chickpeas, harissa, and black sesame. The tagine had mini lamb meatballs and a delicious salty broth of some sort. My friend was obsessed with the mini tagine because it was so cute when it came with its own little mini lid.

They then brought us three different desserts to share among ourselves - a bread pudding with meyer lemon sauce, a strawberry parfait with tofu, and pumpkin beignets with some kind of icy bourbon dessert (my favorite of the three).

The next day my friend and I went for a jog around the reservoir to burn off a tiny smidgen of the massive amount of calories we had consumed and were about to consume. Then we headed over to Madison Square Eats for a sampling of delicious foods outdoors!  It was a struggle finding an open table but once we landed one we started stuffing our faces. And it was awesome.

We had (in order of deliciousness): short rib grilled cheese, coconut curry chicken empanada, wasabi potato salad, banh mi hot dog, Korean chicken wings, sausage and broccoli rabe rice ball, and a bulgogi taco. We also chased all that down with some beer and then got some Momofuku cookies, chocolates, and macarons to go (and for my family).

I spotted an adorable lil French bulldog going to town on all the crumbs people were dropping! I hope he didn't eat any of the spicy foods! As you can tell I was really missing the girls by this point since I was now taking photos of a stranger dog. Not even a pug! Although French bulldogs are somewhat similar and very cute.

Afterwards it was time to pack up and say bye to Fat Baby. I think she didn't want me to leave (or at least that's what my deluded Elmyra brain was telling me).

After taking the train back to DC I quickly drove over to my parents to pick up the girls. I was tired but of course I didn't want to wait until morning to pick them up! It's really weird entering my apartment without them there. When my mom opened the door the two were sitting curled up together in one bed (even though there was a second bed right next to them!) and just stared at me for five seconds. I think they couldn't comprehend that it was me and that I was back. And then they went bananas and were jumping, licking my face and legs, and making those heart-melting whimpering sounds. And then because they were so excited they ran off to do their favorite activities - Sunny sucking on her toy and Rosy attacking Sunny's drumstick.

I am glad to be back home but I had a great trip and will miss New York (and Fat Baby).

Second Half Marathon - Philly

When I first started running at the end of 2011 I got really excited and signed up for two half marathons one month apart.  After I finished my first half marathon (Baltimore), I really regretted having signed up for a second so close.  I had planned to run at Philly with my sister and brother-in-law but we almost didn't go.  We were all feeling tired from running and the thought of traveling and then running a race was almost too much for us.  I wasn't sure whether we were going to run it until about a week before the race.  We decided to just go ahead and do it and I'm really glad we did since it was a great and fun race in my old school town, I PR-ed, and we had an awesome post-race meal of cheesesteaks and fries (that was the main reason why I decided to run this race in the end).

So first stop when we arrived in Philly was picking up our race packets and then stopping by Reading Terminal Market for some awesome coffee (iced for me of course) and coconut macaroons.

We ended up staying in a hotel in Jersey so to give us enough time to race prep, drive over and find parking, and then make our way to the starting line, we had to wake up at 4am.  That's right.  Four freakin AM.  I was not a happy camper.  It was pitch black and very cold as we made our way from our pee stop at a nearby hotel to the starting area.  At that point I was wishing I hadn't decided to run Philly.  But that soon passed once we got to the starting area, it got lighter, and my excitement started to build.

Because Philly is such a big race and I'm a slowpoke, I spent a long time in the corrals and then slowly inching our way to the starting line.

Inch, inch, inch.  This is one of the things I love/hate about races.  I hate crowds and all these people bumping into you but having so many runners nearby is really inspiring and helps to build the excitement.

The course was awesome because I hadn't been back to Philly in several years and it was great to run through familiar spots, like South Street (felt so weird to see it totally empty and to just run down the street!).  I have become a pro at taking photos with my phone while running.  When the lighting is just right, then I get a pretty clear photo even though I'm bouncing while taking it.

This was the first race I'd run by myself because my sister ran the full marathon and my brother-in-law is much faster than me and so we didn't run together.  It was nice to run by myself but I had a hard time pacing myself.  Once I realized I could PR, I ended up pushing myself and was really sore afterwards.  I was also surprised to find that the end of the course had a huge hill because I had heard that Philly was a flat course.

Good thing I had an awesome cheesesteak and fries (from Pat's of course) to help me recover!  This was the best post-run meal ever!

I don't know when I'll run Philly again, but I'm so glad I did it last year! 

My First Half Marathon - Baltimore 2012

So I've kinda always hated running.  With a passion.  I still have "fond" memories of being forced to run laps in junior high P.E. in a field filled with geese poop and wheezing my way through a mile.  I've only run one race and that was a 5k when I was in high school.  I was unprepared, forgot to pack any running clothes, and ended up wheezing my way to the end silently cursing at the crowd near the finish line cheering me on to keep running when what I really wanted to do was lay down on the curb.  At some point in the past year I picked up running (or I should say walking/slow running).  It started with my sister's running.  She began running a couple years back and from the point of her first marathon last year she's since run several more marathons, a bunch of half marathons, and a 200 mile relay.  I also read Born to Run, and while I can never do any of those ultramarathon races, the idea of running just for the joy of running, and not with any time goal or pressure, appealed to me.  My sister also started running with a local running club filled with people who love to run and run in whatever way that works for them, whether that's a walk/run combo or a weekend only training plan.  

I had always thought of running as an all or nothing extreme sport filled with pain and pressure.  There's still a lot about running that I don't like or makes me uncomfortable - safety concerns for a woman running outside alone, blisters, calf cramps, chafing, bad runs, weird tan lines, porta potties - but there's a lot that I really enjoy - stress release, time to decompress and brainstorm, post-run meals, feeling of accomplishment, improved health and fitness.  

A good long run outside can feel amazing, but it took a long time to even reach that point.  I started off doing a run/walk combo and I struggled to run for even a couple consecutive minutes.  It's been over a year since I started really running regularly and I still struggle with it.  I barely manage to squeeze in any weekday runs (I'm not a morning person and after work I'm wiped), I don't handle heat and humidity in outdoor runs well, and I've had a bunch of really bad, discouraging runs.  And yet, this past weekend I finished my first half marathon.  

After watching my sister and brother-in-law run a bunch of races last year, I was kind of intrigued but still a little wary of races.  I hate crowds, pressure, and having to pee in porta potties.  But somehow my sister managed to convince me to sign up for not one but three half marathons!  My first one was Baltimore this past weekend.  I was warned that this course is super hilly, but the race is fairly close by and well-organized, there's great gear, and we could work around my peeing in porta potties issue (I actually took this into consideration in picking all three of my races!).  I also figured that if I could run Baltimore, then my next race would feel like a breeze since it would be a much flatter course.

So on Friday my sister and I went up to Baltimore and picked up our bibs.  I was hesitant to buy too much since I hadn't even run a half marathon before, but I did pick up this cute cup.  I also took anything and everything that was offered for free.

Then my sister and I had a super early dinner by the harbor and called it an early night so that we would be well rested for the race.

I was awakened before 6:30am (for a 9:45 race start) by my giddy/hyper/bubbly/energetic/morning person sister.  I mumbled at her that it was too early and she just hovered over me as she slathered on sunscreen until I got up.  I finally got up and admired the view of the stadium and Camden Yards from our window as the sun came up.

And before I knew it we were at the start for the race and I nervously waited to begin running.  Like everyone says, the adrenaline and crowd really carries you in the beginning and even though the course started with a couple hills I was speeding through.  It's really hard to gauge your pace because everyone is going so fast!  Luckily, I had my human garmin with me (aka my sister with her garmin watch) and she pulled me back when I was going too fast and let me know when we hit mile markers.  While my sister focused on pacing me, I focused on taking photos with my phone while running.

The elevation course map said there'd be a couple small hills in the beginning and then a bigger one near the end.  Lies.  It was hilly throughout!  Small hills, medium hills, large hills, extra large hills!

Because it was so hilly and this was my first race, we generally walked up the hills and then ran down hills and when it was flat.  There was only one point where the race was flat for a bit and that was around the water.  That was so awesome in its flatness.

I kinda loved and hated running in a race.  I loved seeing runners of all shapes and sizes, running at all different paces and styles.  And running in a crowd really helps to carry you along.  You almost feel like you're all running together in a Hunger Games like environment.  But I really hated the people constantly bumping into me and squeezing through tight spots to surge ahead.  And while the runners and the cheering crowds helped to push me to run more and faster than I usually do, I miss the ease and comfort in my long runs when I do whatever I feel like.

I was feeling great for the most part and running at a steady pace.  My sister and I even had a tiny shot of beer being handed out at around mile 9.5.  But around mile 10-11 I got the first twinge of a calf cramp.  Damn.  I had one bad calf cramp experience in a late summer long run that started with a slight twinge that I pushed through and ended with a horrific cramp where my calf looked like it had an alien inside it trying to break free.  As my calf went into all sorts of geometric shapes I fell to the ground on the side of the trail as I tried to massage it.  I ended up hobbling back home and had a sore calf for days after.  So as soon as I felt that first twinge, I knew that a larger calf cramp could come at any moment.  I had to scale back my pace a bit and had a few almost cramps hit me for the last couple miles.  As we neared the finish that felt like it would never end I saw the finish line and just as I raised my arms in celebration and my mind stopped focusing on my calf, another cramp hit me and I ended up half cheering with my arm up, half crouching in pain, with a strange grimace/smile on my face.  That finishing photo will be horrible/hilarious.

The finishing area of the race kinda sucked and we had to abruptly stop to pick up our medal which made my legs go crazy.  As my sister and I waited in yet another line for food, with my legs in pain and calves on the verge of cramping, surrounded by porta potties (combining so many things about racing I don't like), we decided it wasn't worth it and just headed back to our hotel.  After walking almost a mile back to the hotel, my legs felt much better as the walk helped shake things out and cool me down.  Finishing area is totally overrated.  Although the free beer would've been nice if there hadn't been such a long line.

And so with all the highs and lows, I finished my first half marathon!  Woohoo!  I love my medal and shirt.  In case you can't see, the bottom of the medal says, "What hills don't kill you make you stronger."  Love it!

Afterwards I put on my compression sleeves and napped.

And then refueled, beginning with a nice, tall beer.

The next day I hobbled around the harbor area with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, and was forced into riding one of those dragon boats (luckily I didn't have to do any of the pedaling).

It was a beautiful day, which helped dull the soreness in my legs a bit.

I am so happy to be done with my first race!  I don't know if I'll do it again next year (damn those hills!), but if I keep up with my running and training, and figure out a game plan for preventing calf cramps, then I may just have to sign up for the Baltimore half marathon again!