MC versus M and C

So today was the Marketing Mac & Cheese Cook-Off!

Our department has cook-offs from time to time, the last one being a chili cook-off. (I made corn bread.) When I received an email notifying the department of this weeks' cook-off I was instantly horrified. Mac & Cheese? Nothing but Mac & Cheese? What am I supposed to eat? I hate cheese! I felt mildly insulted when I read this and only felt a little bit better to see the "Sorry Monika" at the bottom of the email at least acknowledging that someone remembered that I hated cheese.

Wait? You hate cheese??

Okay, for anyone who might not know that I hate cheese, yes, I hate cheese! Let's now answer all of the common questions that must be racing through your head.

You: How can you hate cheese? Are you lactose intolerant?

Me: No, I just hate cheese. I hate the taste and smell of it. It tastes terrible to me.

You: I don't know anyone who doesn't like cheese. Do you hate all kinds of cheese? What about cream cheese? Or cheesecake?

Me: Yes, I hate all cheeses. I even hate things that remind me of cheese like sour cream and mayonnaise. I do like cheese chips and crackers though like Cheeze-Its!

You: That's not real cheese.

Me: I know, that's probably why I don't mind it.

You: Maybe you haven't tried enough kinds of cheese. Are you sure you hate cheese?

Me: Yes, my mom used to force feed me all kinds of cheese as a kid. I've always hated cheese.

You: So what about pizza?

Me: I scrape the cheese off and just eat the crust.

You: Ewww.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Silence~~~~~~~~~~~~

You: (If you are female) I wish I didn't like cheese, I'd lose so much weight!

Me: Well, I like a lot of other things. It all evens out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the contest... so I was looking around for "the" winning Mac & Cheese recipe and came across a picture that one of my co-workers had posted of a Mac & Cheese recipe she had made. It looked pretty fancy (and better than my dad's recipe with tuna.. sorry dad) so I asked her for the recipe. It turned out to be Rachel Ray's Fancy Manchego Mac with Chorizo! Thanks Lori!

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipes/rachael-ray-30-minute-meals/Fancy-Manchego-Mac-with-Chorizo

I made a list of ingredients and then headed to the grocery store this past Sunday. Here is what I needed:

INGREDIENTS:

• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound cavatappi (hollow corkscrew) or other short-cut pasta
• Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
• 1/2 pound raw chorizo sausage, casings discarded, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup dry sherry
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup whole milk or half-and-half
• 2 cups shredded manchego cheese
• 2 cups frozen peas, thawed
• 1/4 cup chopped jarred pimiento peppers
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

The list seemed doable enough. I was a bit worried that I couldn't find the Manchego cheese at my local grocery store, but figured worst case I'd be able to find it at Whole Food's extensive (and smelly) gourmet cheese counter. Well .... little did I know I was about to have trouble finding just about everything!

Here were my problems:

• corkscrew pasta - what does that mean? Fusilli or Rotini? I spent about 5 minutes trying to decide what "corkscrew" meant since it wasn't a type that the noodles were actually labeled by.
• chorizo - pork or beef? I didn't realize there were two kinds! I ended up getting the pork since it "only" had 21g of fat per serving versus 30g. OMG!!
• shallots - what is a shallot? Was that a green onion? Or were those scallions? Or were scallions something else? I ended up googling a picture on my blackberry and realized they were in fact *not* green onions, but small brown bulbous onions.
• sherry - sherry is a liquor right? Then why couldn't I find it over by the wine? I called my dad and he didn't answer and ended up texting my boss who is a great chef. He directed me over to the vinegar aisle where if found it.
• whole milk or half & half - Hmm... wait. I can choose? Should I pick whole milk since it has less fat? Or does that not even matter at this point after all the cheese and chorizo? Would it not taste as good with milk? Hmm.. Oh who cares. I'm getting milk. I don't want cream around.
• manchego cheese - okay, I can read labels. This should be easy to look for. And wow! My local Ralph's chain grocery store had it! But wait, the recipe called for 2 cups of shredded cheese. They sold this cheese in wedges cut from a wheel. How did that equate? Luckily there was a lady nearby that I could ask. After giving me a snide look as if I was the stupidest person buying cheese in the whole world, she told me two blocks should be good. Um, each block was $8! I couldn't believe i was about to buy $16 of cheese. Hmph!

Manchego Cheese - Spanish Sheep Cheese- El baaaa!

• frozen peas - are you serious? Veto!
• pimentos - what is a pimento? I know they're in olives but do they sell them alone? I went over to the olive section to look for them. Nope. No pimentos. Then I thought maybe "pimento" was a name for a different vegetable like red pepper? Nope. I finally found them by the jarred pesto over by the pasta sauce. Whew!
• parsley - that's easy right? Wrong! There were three choices! At this point I was mentally exhausted so I just chose the cheapest one. Who likes parsley anyways?

Mac & Cheese Ingredients!
(Brought to you by the letter R for Ralph's!)

So come last night it was time to whip all of these ingredients together into a winning Mac & Cheese! According to Rachel Ray this would take 15 minutes of prep and 15 minutes to cook. Um yeah, OKAY. It took me about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish! I was sweating too! Grating cheese is hard!

Ingredients Prepped and Ready to Go!

Pork Chorizo "Crisping"

Shallots & Garlic "Tenderizing"

The Cheese Sauce!

Noodles & Sauce United

Introducing:
Fancy Manchego Mac with Chorizo!

And um, someone should have warned a cheese hater that wheels of cheese are dipped in wax and you should cut the edges off before grating the cheese. It wasn't until I started grating a piece of label that I realized I should probably pick out the brown pieces of "toasted" cheese edges... aka WAX! If this was the Iron Chef, the secret ingredient would have been .... WAX!! Oh well, at least it's not toxic. Right? So I make my Mac & Cheese and also make "Virgin" Mac & Cheese, aka Pasta Salad. At least this way I'll have some thing to eat too!

The next day at work (today) the Mac & Cheese dishes start rolling in! There were six of us total who were entering the contest. There was discussion earlier in the week as to how we'd keep the dishes warm, and my boss had come up with the great idea of warming them up on the BBQ out back. Yep, we have a BBQ pit and tables out back in our parking lot. Very California, I love it!

Behind the Building BBQ Area

Susan Warming Up the Entries

After the dishes were warm they were laid out in the main conference room with the other dishes that people made. They were labeled A-F and everyone was given a ballot. It was pretty funny to see people fill up their plates with "wedges" of Mac & Cheese with the letters A-F written around the edge of the plate. Everyone finished their plates, raved about how good they all were, and then cast their vote.

Contestant A: Elbow Mac, Cheese, Croutons

Contestant B: Elbow Mac, Cheddar Cheese, Cheeze-Its

Contestant C: Penne, Gruyere, Black Forest Ham

Contestant C: Bowtie Pasta, Gruyere, Pancetta

Contestant E: Fusilli, Manchego, Chorizo

(Pick me! Pick me!)

Contestant F: Elbow Mac, Pepper Jack, Red Peppers & Onions

And the winner is........?

First Place: Entry C

Second Place: Entry D

Third Place: Entry B

It wasn't me. :o( I didn't even come in with the top three. :o( I was entry "E" for EXCELLENT! I did win an Honorable Mention for "Spiciest Mac & Cheese" though for my addition of chorizo. Oh well, I'm not too disappointed I didn't win. I've never cooked Mac & Cheese before nor could I even taste the recipe as I was making it. (yuck!) The winning recipe was made by Susan! Our department admin assistant and - wait a minute! The organizer of the contest! This contest was rigged! I should have known! jk As it turns out the best Mac & Cheese must be made with Gruyere cheese. The top two dishes which almost tied had that in it.

Susan (Organizer & Winner of the Cook-Off) & Me

After everyone had eaten about two plates of Mac & Cheese (ewww) it was time for desert. Our HR Manager had made Carrot Cake! Mmmm!! I love carrot cake! But wait, this wasn't any old carrot cake. This recipe had FOUR STICKS OF BUTTER. What?? How do you even get four sticks of butter into such a tiny 10" cake? I passed on that grass and decided to go have a peach instead. I kind of wish I had tasted it but was too horrified by what I heard was inside.

Overall the contest today was fun. I entered with the hopes of winning the contest so I could gloat that the department cheese hater won the Mac & Cheese competition! But alas, someone who had never cooked cheese did not prepare the best cheese date. Amazing isn't it? :o) Oh well, next time!

Dentistry Meets Marathoning

Wow, the two things I'm most interested in on a daily basis, dentistry AND marathoning. In one? How?

Well, it all started when a friend of mine in the dental industry (uber Prosthodontist from Florida, I will leave him nameless until his big announcement next month) emailed several people (including me) a continuing education article that he contributed to that will be published next month in a professional dental magazine.

The focus of the supplement was a new category of dental products:

Performance Enhancing Mouthwear

You're probably wondering what that is, and I was too! Basically its an oral appliance that enhances human performance, decreases stress, and improves strength. As I read more about this, I thought, "I want one of these to help with my running!" Luckily I am shamelessly never afraid to ask for someone to give me something, and as luck would have it my dental friend was willing to have a complimentary guard made for me. Score!

I went in for my 6-month exam at my dentist's this past Tuesday and had impressions made while I was there. On Wednesday I FedEx'ed the impressions to the Bite Tech lab, and on Friday a package arrived for me at work containing my new mouthwear. Wow that was fast! It felt like my birthday all over again! I love it when my birthday lasts all month. :o)

Edge Sports Performance Mouthwear

Two Mouthwear Styles Included

When I opened the package and saw the two cases inside, I assumed one was for upper and one was for lower, especially since they looked a bit different. One had full coverage of the lingual and buccal (tongue/cheek) surfaces of the teeth and the other was missing the center lingual portion. It turns out they are both lower appliances and I'm assuming that the one with the missing central lingual area is designed for occasions where you want to be able to engage in a conversation without lisping like Cindy from the Brady Bunch. This version is the one that I decided to try out for my morning run today.

I put it in and it felt similar to the night guard I wear to sleep. I noticed when I tried to bite down though that its wedge shape kept my mouth "open" a bit differently. As far as running goes the angle and opening was perfect for mouth breathing while running. (I'm guilty of being a chronic mouth breather! Years of growing up with allergies have created that bad habit. I kind of huff and puff like a choo-choo train. Oh well...)

Close-up Of the Mouthwear

Anyways, I did a quick 3 mile run and felt great during the run, but it was hard to discern if there was a marked improvement from the appliance on such a short workout. I think the best test of this new piece of gear will be my next track workout on Tuesday and my subsequent long runs coming up in the next several weeks as I start to ramp my mileage back up to prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Do I Look Faster Yet?

Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
(If it works for him it should work for me right?)

A random but cool thing that was also include with my mouthwear was a "Dream Capsule". The box included a small metal tin with a capsule on a chain and the following instructions: "Write your dream, wear your dream, live your dream." I thought that this was a pretty neat little extra to include with the package, so I of course wrote down my dream! (Well, my running dream.) I wrote it down on the slip of paper that was included, rolled it up, and sealed it in my mini capsule. Hopefully in the next few years it will come true.

Dream Capsule

Anyways, if you want to find out more about this cool new dental and sports innovation, you can find out more on the Edge Sports website: http://www.edgesports.com.

Thanks again Dr. B for hooking me up!

Next Up: Marine Corps Marathon

It has now been almost two weeks since my last marathon. Aside from a few spots on my feet (gotta love blood blisters) I think I'm 100% recovered. I actually felt fine by the third day after the race and David and I went on a run on the fourth day and I've run a few times since then. I've done mostly easy 3 mile runs which are a nice break .... but I can't seem to remember to eat less now that I'm not logging 35 miles of running a week so I'm anxious to get back on a training program before I turn into a chubbster. Oink!

So the next marathon coming up for me is the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25, 2009 in Arlington, VA. I am extremely excited for this race since I will be running it with David and it will be his first full marathon! I've gotten him and a couple others to train for a half before, but he will be the first person I've been able to encourage to do a full. I'm so excited! Did I mention that already? :o) This race is extremely popular and sells out within the first week that registration is open. We registered on the first day that you could and I heard that by the second day the race was already 70% full! It then sold out a few days after. Whew, glad we made the cut!

I put together a training schedule on Tuesday that David and I are going to follow based on a combination of Hal Higdon's Intermediate II http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/inter2.html and Advanced II http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/advanced2/advancedII.htm schedules. It's a fairly challenging schedule with three 20-mile training runs.

We've decided to log our miles online at www.dailymile.com.

http://www.dailymile.com/challenges/52-david-vs-monika-marine-corps-marathon

You will notice my dailymile widgets over on the right side of my blog which will show a countdown to the race along with my recent training progress. Our schedule has us start training on Monday June 22nd! (Somewhat inconvenient for me since I will be in France that week, but I'll find a way to get my runs in.)

Our goal is to finish in 3 hours and 50 minutes! Stay tuned for updates on our 18 weeks of

training!

A Week of K.A. in CA

Over the past week I have enjoyed the company of David and his brother Ken here in sunny San Diego! This was Ken's first visit to California so we tried to pack it with as many exciting activities as possible, the most exciting one of course being my marathon. ;o)

Ken arrived late Saturday evening before my marathon. David and I picked him up from the airport and quickly whisked him off to Little Italy in San Diego for a nice carbo-loading pre-marathon meal. It was getting late and I was tired and hungry and needed to get to bed early, so we were basically looking for any restaurant that would seat us immediately. After four unsuccessful attempts, we finally found a winner! The name of the place? Hmm, I can't remember, but I'd go there again if I could find it. Dinner was great and I felt that I had succeeded in consuming my body weight in bread and pasta. Hey - I *had* to carbo load! It wasn't just because I wanted to!

The Allen Boys' 1st San Diego Photo

After dinner we all headed to bed early, and then the next day was consumed with the marathon. (Please see previous blog entry for details on that great event!)

The next stop on our So Cal tour for Ken was a trip to LA.

The plan: to walk around Venice Beach to check out the freaks, have lunch, go see the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to then go to Universal Studios.

The reality: a walk around Venice Beach, an overpriced and poorly made lunch, a walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and then the long drive back to SD to enjoy a home cooked meal by yours truly. We ran out of time for Universal Studios and due to the cost of the ticket it wasn't really worth going just for a couple hours. Sorry Ken! Next visit I promise!

Allen Boys at Venice Beach

David & Monika at the Chinese Mann Theater

Almost forgot! While we were walking down the Walk of Fame we noticed that the movie "The Proposal" was having its premier across the street! We were in the area for about an hour but not long enough to catch a glimpse of Sandra Bullock and my future husband Ryan Reynolds. Oh well!

The Proposal Premier Near Hollywood & Highland

During the next few days of the week (while I was at work) the boys entertained themselves during the day and I tried to have something planned for the evening. On Tuesday night we went to the Padres/Phillies game at Petco Park. Sadly for my Padres (well, not that I'm really a Padres fan) the game was a total spanking and they lost 0-8 against the Phillies. It was still a pretty good game though and we had good seats, good concessions, and good company.

Ken & David Oozing Enthusiasm at the Padres Game

The next night (or did I miss a night? Maybe it was Thursday night..?) we went over to Coronado Island after I got off work and took the dogs with us to let them explore a new area.

As we walked around the beach we noticed that there was a dog beach at the end of the path by the military base. It was an unfenced area and I (of course) was extremely nervous to allow my crazy furballs to run free for their first time in an open area. They rarely leave my side in the fenced in dog park I normally take them to, but I was still paranoid of the "what if" factor posed by having no fence around the place. David talked me into giving the girls some freedom .... so the leashes and harnesses came off! And then .... disaster struck!!! No, I'm kidding. David was right, nothing bad happened. The girls loved running around in the sand and were bouncing around all over the place and never strayed too far from our side. Big sigh of relief!

Mika & Kona Chasing David Down the Beach

Ken Ignoring the Beautiful Beach & Texting - Tsk Tsk!

On Friday the So Cal tour was about to end and was going to switch to the Nor Cal tour. Friday morning we left San Diego around 9:30am, only 1/2 hour behind schedule. Pretty good for Monika time! For the first time in a while I decided to leave the dogs behind even though we would be driving and they could have come in the car with us. We had a lot going on Saturday and Sunday and they would have ended up being home alone anyways, so they got to stay behind with their favorite pet sitter Jodie. They told me upon our return that they had a great weekend and got to spend much more time at the dog park than they get to when I take them. ;o)

We took the long way up to San Francisco via the 101 instead of the 5 and stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch. It was fun to show the boys around my old alma matter and I was really excited to have lunch at my favorite eatery in Isla Vista - Silvergreens!! I think David and Ken thought I was being silly about making such a big deal about having lunch at Silvergreens, but I recieved a flurry of emails, texts, and facebook replies about Silvergreens (vs Freebirds - next time Freebirds!) after telling my fellow Gauchos that we were stopping in IV for lunch.

To answer everyones questions - Silvergreens is bigger now, has an expanded menu, but still has our staple favorites the Chicken Ranch sandwich, Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich, and the El Capitan salad. Oh Silvergreens! I miss you!

I forgot to take pictures while we were there (I was too overcome with excitement about lunch!) but we had a nice view of the main street and watched all of the Gauchos bike by to and from school. After leaving SB we hopped back on the 101 and headed North to make it to San Francisco by dinner time. We made it into town around 8:30pm and went to my favorite Japanese restaurant - Kitaro's! Mmm... fast service, great prices, and great food! (As I re-read this post to proof it, I noticed a food theme in my blog. Are you thinking I'm a pig? So I like to eat!! I run alot, don't judge me!)

The next morning it was Birthday BBQ preparation time! My dad and I share the same birthday (June 10th!) and were having a joint birthday celebration in Golden Gate park. To get ready we needed to hit Costco, the grocery store, set-up the site, pick up my dad, and make this all happen in the two hours we had left after waking up and having breakfast. It didn't quite happen as planned or as scheduled, but in the end everything worked out. Whew! For being such an organized person I felt like a flustered mess all morning!

The BBQ spot at Speedway Meadows was a little hard to find and not marked by name, so a number of people showed up late after circling the park lost and confused for a while. Luckily everyone managed to find us in the end! We also got really lucky with the weather! There was rain all over California earlier in the week and the early forecasts were showing showers for Saturday. Noooo! As the week progressed though the forecast for Saturday went from showers, to mostly cloudy, to partially cloudy, and then finally on the morning of Saturday we saw sunshine! By late Saturday afternoon we had full sunshine. Yipee! This was great for the BBQ .... but unfortunate for Ken's sensitive East Coast skin. Not everyone can bronze like sugar melting in a pan the way I do. ;o)

Another Smiling Portrait of the Allen Boys

Well, One Allen Always Smiles With ME

After moving to Arizona back in 2002 my visits home to SF were few and far between. Whenever I did finally make it home, it was always hard to find the time in a two-day period to catch up with everyone. Since moving to San Diego early last year I've been able to come home a lot more often since SF is "only" a 500 mile drive away, but I still haven't been able to keep up with all of my friends the way I've wanted to. Luckily for this weekend I was able to see friends from high school, college, and beyond!

Lowell Girls Class of '94 (&Logan - future Lowellite!)

More Lowell Girls & Wee Ones

I was also very excited that Tamara (my friend from my first job out of college at Silma) and her beautiful daughter were able to make it up to the city! I don't want to age us by counting how many years it has been since we worked together and last saw each other, but its been a while! Tamara also ran the Rock 'n' Roll marathon last weekend for Team in Training and not only completed her first full marathon, but raised a ton of money while training for it! Go Tamara! She also already has her sight set on her next race. I love it! Another marathon adictee!

Silmite Alumni

UCSB Girls - Go Gauchos!

Gaucho Girls in the Sun (And David's Legs)

One of the great things about sharing my birthday with my father is that I get to hear each year how I'm "the best birthday gift a father could have". I mean really, who can tire of hearing that? :o) My dad took on Master Griller duties this past weekend in the park and guess what his reward was? His name with mine on a Hello Kitty cake! I'm sure it was his first (and favorite) Hello Kitty cake after all of these birthdays. My first HK cake too actually! Thanks Christina!

Me & My Dad (And our cake!)

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Did you notice that Hello Kitty is actually a marathon runner? She's busting through the finish line, barely breaking a sweat. Must be that cute sweatband she's wearing!

After the BBQ we went back to Christina's to rest for a bit and then guess what we did? We ate again! What else would we do? Are you scrolling back up to pictures of me now to see if I've gained 10 lbs since you last saw me? haha. David, Ken and I met Jenny for some yummy Thai food and then went to a strange bear lodge for drinks. A discussion ensued at one point about the validity of the jackelope race. Is it real or not? Huh Jenny? Can't say the energy level was too high among the group after a long day in the sun so we didn't exactly close the place down.

The next morning was another sunny day and the last few things on the list were: a run in Golden Gate Park, a quick (and I mean QUICK!) tour of San Francisco for Ken, and then the A's/Orioles game with my dad.

We only had an hour to cram in all that is wonderful about San Francisco (totally not enough time!), so I made the executive decision to cut the tour down to two notable San Francisco locations: the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard street.

David & Ken "Smiling" at the Golden Gate Bridge

David Cracking a Smile for Me

After seeing GG Bridge and then driving down Lombard Street, we went to pick up my dad to go to the A's/Orioles game at the Oakland Collesium. The drive should have only taken about 20 minutes, but for some reason there was really bad Bay Bridge traffic and it took us almost 1 1/2 hours! Ahh! I turned the game on in my car and we listened to the innings tick away as part of the fastest game in history! So frustrating! By the time we got to the game there were only two innings left. The good part: parking was free, easy, and we had great seats. The bad part? Did I mention we just drove for an hour and a half only to see 30 minutes of the game in person? Oh well...

Oakland ended up winning 3-0 and all three runs were made in the first inning, so all we really missed out on were 6 innings of strikes anyways. Yeah, I'm going to keep telling myself that. :o( Boo.

Support for the A's, Orioles, & Red Sox - Wait, Red Sox?

The baseball game was basically the end of the fun for the weekend. We dropped Ken off at the airport, dropped my dad off at home, and then David and I hit the road to drive back down to San Diego.

Overall it was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully Ken did too! California Rules!