A Week in Paris

Silver Flats: 7 Ways in 7 Days

For my “29^th” birthday my mom offered to fly me out to Paris to visit her. This would be my third trip to Paris, but probably the first that I’d really remember since I was so young the first two times. I only had a week of vacation left for the year and wasn’t sure if that would be enough time, but heck, an offer for a trip to Paris no matter how short it would be was something I couldn’t pass up. Thanks mom!!

First order of business: dog care. I usually leave my dogs with my petsitter for short trips, but for longer trips I’m usually fortunate enough to leave my dogs with my friend Diane in Phoenix. I’ll drive the dogs out to Phoenix, and then fly in/out of there. This works out great since the dogs get to visit with their Westie cousins at “camp”, and I can fly direct to my destination because Phoenix is the main hub for my favorite airline (via Gold Elite handcuffs) US Airways.

Second order of business: footwear. I had already been warned by my mom and countless people that my signature footwear (3-4” heels) would not bode well in Paris. The problem? I don’t own any flat shoes besides flip-flops and tennis shoes. The first are my staple weekend wear in sunny San Diego, but a quick review of a “What to Wear in Paris” site labeled them a fashion no-no. As far as tennis shoes go, for me they are made for running. They do not get to be on my feet for a moment longer! I decided to go out and buy …. My first pair of flats. I was looking for a cute, versatile black pair, but somehow ended up with something totally different. Silver satin ballet flats with bows! I know, not very versatile… or are they? As you’ll soon see, I was able to find seven outfits that went with these (foreign-to-me) flat little shoes. Yay!

Day 0 (Saturday)

On Saturday afternoon I drove out to Phoenix from San Diego with my dogs to have a little pre-trip party with Diane and her husband Bob, and Jenna and her husband Paul. Appetizers, drinks, small dogs, good company, and Jenga! Overall it was a great night. This was my second time ever playing Jenga. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m not much better the second time than I was the first. Oh well!

Jenga Party at Diane's

Day 1 (Sunday)

Outfit: Grey shirt, jeans, silver flats.

Sunday morning I bid farewell to my little furry loves and headed to the Phoenix airport. The itinerary was Phoenix to Charlotte, and Charlotte to Paris. Several days earlier I had been notified that I hadn’t been upgraded on the first leg of the flight. :o( Right before the flight from PHX – CLT took off though, a flight attendant came and got me and upgraded me at the last second to First Class! :o) Someone must have missed the flight. Their loss, my win. Yay! My plan for the flight was to sleep the whole way in my oversized First Class seat. I did sleep for about an hour, but then began an activity that I would blame three days of jetlag on. I started reading Twilight. And continued reading it on the next flight from CLT – CDG. All I can say is OMG! My cousin Donna raved about this series to me and how great it is. Part of me was curious about it, but more of me was doubtful. All I have to say is that everything she said was true. Twilight was great! I can’t wait to read the next three books.

I finished Twilight halfway through the flight to Paris, stared out the window day dreaming about it for another hour or so (pathetic), and then started watching DVDs. For some reason I wasn’t tired. I blame the vampires!

Day 2 (Monday)

Outfit: Grey sweater, black shorts, silver flats.

I arrived in Paris at 6:40am local time. That was 9:40pm PST. My Uncle Thuy picked me up and drove me to my mom’s where we all had breakfast. Shortly after breakfast I realized how tired I was and lay down for a “few minutes”. Those few minutes turned into a little over three hours!

Breakfast Upon Arrival in Paris

Jetlag Hits a Few Hours Later

The day was now half over and I was anxious to start my vacation, so we headed out. First stop, the Eiffel Tower of course! We walked around the area of the Eiffel Tower and took pictures from several view points. The line to go up was really long and I was starting to lose steam, so we decided not to try. After the Eiffel Tower we headed over to Notre Dame.

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

The area around Notre Dame was really pretty and we walked down the narrow streets lined with tourist shops and sidewalk cafes and restaurants. You’re probably thinking that we had a nice French dinner to start off my vacation? Wrong! I’m partial to Asian food and fearful of cheese so we ended up having Korean BBQ. I liked it, my mom and step-father George weren’t too impressed. After having dinner I looked at my watch and realized it was almost 10 pm … and it was still light out! I was amazed! It looked as light at 10pm in Paris as it is at 7pm in California. We walked around a bit after that and finally headed home close to midnight.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Outfit: Black t-shirt, jeans, silver flats.

The primary plan for Tuesday was to sightsee, and then prepare to have my Uncle Thuy and his wife Alice over for a home cooked Vietnamese dinner. The next stop on my Paris checklist was the Louvre. Oddly, the Louvre was closed on Tuesdays. In between discussions regarding what we should do for the day, I decided to lie down for a “few minutes” again. Um, guess who ended up napping for hours again? Yep! Me!

My uncle wasn’t going to be coming over until 7pm, but the meal that my mom was cooking was quite elaborate, so the rest of the afternoon was spent grocery shopping and preparing for dinner. The dinner was wonderful! I was a bit embarrassed to have spent my second day in Paris doing nothing of note, but what could I do. Jetlag had hit me pretty hard.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch … my dogs were enjoying a great time at Camp. Diane sent me the cutest pictures I’ve ever seen of my dogs and her dogs floating around in a little raft in her pool. I couldn’t stop thinking of the “I’m on a Boat” song while smiling at the pictures. Kona would be T-Pain of course. ;o) What? One of the four had to be!

My Dogs & Their Westie Cousins

Enjoying the Good Life at Camp

Day 4 (Wednesday)

Outfit: Black linen dress, silver flats.

On Wednesday morning when I woke up I felt more refreshed and was convinced that jetlag was a thing of the past! The plan for the day was a matinee movie and then the Louvre. We went to the movie theater that played American movies in English with French subtitles and watched the Hangover. Hilarious!

Afterwards, we headed over to the Louvre. My mom and George had been to the Louvre several times but had never made it to see the Mona Lisa. Our primary goal in this visit was to see the Mona Lisa, and other works of art along the way. When we got to the Louvre I couldn’t help but think about the Da Vinci code! I was also amazed by how enormous the Louvre was! It took us over an hour to navigate to the room that housed the Mona Lisa.

The Louvre

When we walked into the room I was shocked at how small (or should I say normally sized) the painting was. For some reason I had always pictured a huge, grand masterpiece. The painting was actual a normal size. It was on a wall of its own, protected in heavy glass, and roped off by about five feet.

The Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa Up-Close

The Wedding Feast Painting

After we left the Louvre we went back to the area near Notre Dame to have dinner. This time we agreed to try authentic French food, and chose one of the many sidewalk restaurants. The food was incredible! I had mussels, salmon, and chocolate mousse. My mom had escargot (eww), Coq a Vin (yum! though I swear it was beef and not chicken), and crème brulee. George had French Onion Soup (or would that just be “onion soup”?), beef, and an apple tart. The dinner was great and cheese free. My stomach was happy.

Day 5 (Thursday)

Outfit: Black sleeveless blouse, silver and black skirt, silver flats.

At Chateau Versailles

On Thursday my Uncle Thuy picked us up early and drove us to Versailles, home of the French King. Versailles was amazing! The house and the gardens were so beautiful! It’s incredible to think that this sprawling palace was what someone considered to be “home”. I need to find my way into royalty somehow. Hmmm….

The Gardens at Chateau Versailles

After touring Versailles (for hours!) my uncle then took us to the financial district of Paris. We had lunch at the shopping center there among all of the high rises.

After lunch he then took us on a driving tour of the city. After walking around for days I was happy to have the break and to get to sit and relax on a tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah so I run marathons! That doesn’t mean that walking around for hours each day is easy. Even in comfortable shoes I find walking to be a chore. Maybe I should have just worn my Nike’s and done a power tour of the museums.. hmm… maybe next time.

L'Arc de Triomphe

Day 6 (Friday)

Outfit: Black cotton dress, silver flats.

Friday was an exciting day. I got to drive in Paris! My mom recently purchased a Microcar, which was “une voiture sans permis”. That means it’s a car that you can drive without a driver’s license. HUH? Apparently in Paris its near impossible to get a driver’s license if you are foreign. My mom found out though about the cars that don’t require a license, and went out and bought one. The main difference between these cars and real cars is that these cars only go at a maximum of 50 km/hr (that’s about 30 mph) and they are not allowed on the freeway. I’m still not quite clear on how the government decided that driving under 50km/hr was deemed acceptable without any type of driving test or license, but okay!

Me & the Microcar

I was really excited to drive the car, but a bit nervous to be out on the street with all of the maniacs I had seen driving. After being in the car for only about 5 minutes, I was even more nervous. The car rumbled and shook like a lawnmower, and it had no power steering! It was like driving a fun center go cart! This in itself would be okay in a normal city, but people zip and fly around like speeding maniacs in Paris! I have to admit I said a prayer before heading out on the streets, and then we were off!

In Paris new drivers are required to have a standard issued "A" sticker placed on their car for the first two years. My mom made me a homemade "A" sign. She also added her own "1er Jour" sign which meant "1st day". People were staring, but somewhat left me alone on the road. Whew!

Homemade "A" on Left,
Standard "A" on Right

We were headed first to the Mussee de Picasso and then the Mussee d’Orsay. Both were high recommended by my world traveling friend Beth from college. The Picasso museum was pretty neat. It was a small and funky museum which went well with Picasso’s funky art.

After Picasso we then went to the Musee d’Orsay which was a fairly large museum. The layout of this building was very open, and it appeared that most of the building was lit with natural light.

Musee d'Orsay

I had made plans with my cousin Laura to meet for dinner after she got off of work. She took me to a neighborhood whose name I can’t remember, and we ate at a restaurant known for its Southern French food. At this dinner I had my first taste of French wine for the week. Ahh! It was amusing to me to see how small the wine glasses were. They were little bulbous glasses that held maybe 3 oz of wine. For dinner I had mussels (again, I know. Hey, nothing wrong with sticking with a winner!), duck, and … chocolate mousse again! The chocolate mousse at this place was amazing! It was home made and to die for!

Best Chocolate Mousse Ever!

The server would walk around with a wood bowl of it, and would dole it out until you told her to stop. During dinner we talked about the shopping in Paris and Laura mentioned that I had come at a great time because of all of the sales. All around the city I had seen the sale signs (SOLDES) and had noticed that these sales were running from June 24 – July 28, and virtually every single retail store was participating. We agreed to check out the sales tomorrow and to then head over to an adventure park that I had seen pictures of on my other cousin’s facebook page.

Day 7 (Saturday)

Outfit 1: White wrap shirt, black shorts, silver flats.
Intermediate outfit: Tank top, shorts, and Pumas for ziplining.
Outfit 2: Black, silver, and gold dress, silver flats.

Laura picked me up early Saturday morning and we headed over to the big department store Lafayette. My other cousin Laurent explained to me later that this was basically the Bloomingdale’s of Paris. There were three separate buildings for this store. Men’s, Women’s, and Home. Similar to Macy’s concept but much, much nicer. This store was amazing! Designers galore! This place had designer everything, even designer baby wear. And not just a small collection of designer baby wear, collections of baby wear! I couldn’t believe the Baby Dior sandals and Burberry onesies. Ridiculous! But admittedly, cute. I was surprised to see that this store even had designer Hello Kitty clothing and baby wear. Wow, HK is sure moving up in the world!

Lafayette Store

After getting gifts for a few people on my list we then headed over to go zip-lining. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting an adventure park! Wait, before seeing the adventure park I didn’t even know what one was! I had seen pictures of my cousin Emmanuel’s kids zip-lining and had assumed it was a park with one zip-line. Instead it was a huge park with picnic areas, a lake, and an adventure course. There were several types of activities you could choose (we almost did the huge plastic hamster ball that you run in), but we ending up choosing to only do the adventure course with the zip-lines for two hours.

Me & My Cousin Laura
(Pre-Adventureing)

Being the risk-averse wimp that I am, I was sooo scared to go down my first zip-line! And it was only about 20 feet long and maybe 8 feet off the ground. The way the course worked was that you’d pick a starting point and then travel from zip-line to zip-line through various crossings. Think Real World/Road Rules Gauntlet challenges in a way.

Tightrope Between Platforms

First Zip-Line Ride!

As we went further on the course the zip-lines got longer and longer. Luckily I was getting less and less scared. Finally we made our way to the ultimate zip-line! It started on top of a hill and flew over a lake. It looked terrifying but amazingly fun. I was pretty nervous climbing up the tower to the zip-line and thought back to last summer when I took trapeze lessons. Lesson learned: the longer you stand on the platform and think about jumping, the worse the first few seconds are.

View from the Top

So I kept that in mind and as soon as we’d climbed up and latched on, we went! Wow, it was amazing! The descent wasn’t as fast as I thought and it was so fun to be flying down a hill and then over a lake. At the bottom you hit a bungee cord which bounced you back several times before you could get off. That’s pretty fun to. We did this tall one three times before calling it a day.

Video: Aerial View Flying Down

That night my mom had planned a family get-together to serve as a bon voyage and belated birthday party. The rest of my extended family that I hadn’t seen yet in Paris came out for this dinner. We met at a Vietnamese café near my mom’s place. It was a nice night out and we were able to snag several tables outside. The food was great, I got to catch up with my cousins who I hadn’t seen in 10-15 years, and I also got to meet more extended family. Ten million pictures and several great dishes of Vietnamese food later, it was time to call it a night, pack up my stuff, and prepare for my vacation to end.

Family Farewell Dinner

Day 8 (Sunday) Return to Reality

On Sunday I would be flying back from Paris to Charlotte, and Charlotte to Phoenix. Since my flight was scheduled to get in at 7pm and the drive back to San Diego was 5 hours, I decided to spend the night in Phoenix at Diane’s house before driving back to San Diego with my dog’s. I’m actually typing this blog right now on my flight from Charlotte to Phoenix. I figure I’ll be too tired once I get there, and I’ll be too busy tomorrow after driving and then trying to catch up on work after a week out of the office.

Looking back at the week it was a great trip! Jetlag hit me worse than I could have imagined and I lost a lot of time napping, but I still got to see a lot of Paris in a short, week-long trip. I also managed to get through the week walking all over the city and around huge museums with happy and rested feet thanks to my dutiful silver flats. Hopefully the next time I come to Paris I’ll be able to stay longer. Thanks again mom for the trip!

I Was Mistaken For an American Gladiator

Yes, I was actually mixed up with an American Gladiator, kind of.

It all started a week ago. I received a message through Facebook from a woman who worked at a an organization called Girls Inc. Here is part of the message:

"The reason I am contacting you is that we are having a summer day camp at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside Ca. Here at Girls Inc, we inspire all girls to be, "Strong, Smart, and Bold." That is the name of our camp as well. For the "Strong" part of the camp I will be teaching the girls about sports and nutrition. We are looking for inspirational women to come and speak to our girls one day for maybe about an hour and share their story. I was researching marathon runners and I found you. When I read your profile, I thought you would be a perfect fit for our organization. If you are interested in maybe coming and speaking, that would be great. I am sure you are pretty busy but if you have some extra time, we would love to have you."

Wow! I read this and was incredibly flattered that someone thought that I was an "inspirational" woman! I just run so much so I can eat all the time! No, I'm kidding. But still, this really surprised me that someone would find me online and draw from what public information that they found on me, that I could be someone who could inspire young girls. I was totally interested!

I went to the organization website she provided in her email to find out more about them. What was I immediately met with? WEBSENSE! For the category of "sex"? Are you kidding me? We have the craziest (most annoying) web blocking system ever in the office! I sent the message to David and he looked at the site (not kiddie p*rn) and said it looked legitimate and that it seemed like a great organization. I was finally able to check out the site when I got home.

About Girls Inc:

Girls Incorporated is a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. With roots dating to 1864, Girls Inc has provided vital educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Today, innovative programs help girls confront subtle societal messages about their value and potential, and prepare them to lead successful, independent, and fulfilling lives.

The next day I called the number that the woman gave in her message and also emailed her, and heard back from her earlier this week. Here is where the humor starts. We started talking about marathon running and my background, and she was asking me how I started running, how long I had been running, if I did any other sports. And then she said "Well this will be so great for the girls to hear you talk, and its great that you're a mother too".

HUH?

I said "Um, I'm not a mother. I don't have any kids. I do have two dogs, but no children." And she said "You aren't? But what about those pictures of you with kids?" I was thinking huh? Was she talking about facebook? (Which would be weird because if we aren't facebook friends she can't see anything but my profile picture, which hasn't been one holding a baby in months!) I said "If you saw me with a kid it was probably my best friend's, but not mine." So then we talk a bit more and then she told me how they will be teaching the girls about nutrition, and how it was great that I was a fitness model.

HUH?

Ha ha! Me? A fitness model? I haven't touched a weight in 3 years since I gave up on my personal trainer! Suddenly I realized something. I wonder if she was mixing me up with MoniCa Carlson, fitness model, mother.... and AMERICAN GLADIATOR by the name of Jet!

American Gladiator JET

As this hit me, I was suddenly deflated. I thought oh, she didn't find me and think that *I* was inspiring, she wanted this other lady. I said "Wait, I think you have me mixed up with Monica with a C Carlson, she's a fitness model and American Gladiator." The girl seemed confused and asked if that other lady lived here in San Diego. I did a quick google search and said no, she lives in Oregon. She was confused and silent again. She said "But I found your profile on Athlinks and it said you live in San Diego". I said "Okay, well if you found me on Athlinks that is me, but when you searched more about "me" I think you got me mixed up at some point with the American Gladiator!"

Luckily as it turns out, she was originally looking for me and did want me! (whew, ego unbruised) Somewhere along the line though during her web research, she did end up start mixing up me and Jet though. That's okay. I suppose we do look a little bit alike. From the neck up! Hey, at least I wasn't mistaken for the other American Gladiator HELLGA! Ha ha!

American Gladiator Hellga

So the two week session on "Strength" was running this week and next week. Since I will be in Paris next week, we agreed that I'd come in yesterday (Friday). I was excited for this honor and opportunity but was suddenly nervous about giving a speech. What should I say? How much should I say? What will the girls find interesting? How will I be inspiring? How do I not end up being boring? I thought about everything for a bit and then decided to just sit down and write my "story". Why do I run, how did I get started, and what does it mean to me?

Well, as you can tell from my blogs, I am not short with words. I ended up telling my story over the course of five pages. Single spaced. Wow. As I typed it and reread it, I really started getting emotional. Running has been something that I've discovered not all that long ago, and in that short period of time it has had the most profound affect on my life and not only has improved my health, but it has improved my self confidence, happiness, and given me more of a purpose in life. I love running, and marathon running is something that means even more to me.

So I read my story a few times and practiced telling it. I then realized that I might bore the girls to tears talking so much so I started gathering things I had that would go along with my story. I pulled down some of my medals from my medal rack, I pulled out my scrapbook of race numbers and pictures, I found some of my running food and running gear. I put it all in a bag to bring for the talk and hoped that it would be well received.

I think part of the reason that I was so nervous was that I didn't know my audience. I don't know anyone who has kids between 6-12. Well okay I know two people, but I'd say I've probably spent less than 5 minutes in the past 10 years interacting with a girl that age. I had no idea what they were like! I wasn't sure how to talk to them and put things in a state that would mean anything to them. Well, fingers crossed right?

So the next morning it was time to go talk! As I drove up to the camp I kept going over the talk in my head. It was a 45 minute drive so I had a lot of time. Upon getting there I called the girl who had contacted me and she met me outside. She showed me the room where we'd be meeting and brought me in and started introducing me to the girls. OMG they were so cute! They were all friendly and outgoing and were all excited to introduce themselves. I'm around children so infrequently that I forget how energetic and happy the are. I'm sure that sounds stupid...

Anyways I pulled out some of the goodies for show and tell, introduced myself, and then started my speech. And then... about 10 seconds into it I got interrupted with questions and comments. So I talked with the girls a bit, and then continued. Only to be interrupted again 10 seconds later. I suddenly realized that I wasn't going to have to stand in front of them and lecture for 30 minutes as I thought, this was going to be more of an interactive story telling and sharing session. Suddenly I was so at ease. With each thing I said the girls would stop and ask questions and then tell me something about them or their lives that related. Have I mentioned yet how cute I thought this was?

So I talked about running and racing and me and things I like and things I've done. During this they told me about them, their friends, their family, activities they do, things they like, and often random unrelated stories. :o)

When the show and tell started it got even funnier. I decided to first show them my collection of medals. I brought several medals from my collection that I thought were the prettiest or most interesting. I started passing them around the room for everyone to look at. The funny questions started.

Wow! Did you get these because you won?

Have you won any marathons?

Oh wow! Is this one real gold?

Hey this one is my birthday! This has my birthday on it! Look!

I like this one best! It says San Francisco! I used to live in San Francisco!

How come a bunch of these say Rock N Roll?

Some of My Race Medals

The Medal Everyone Thought Was Real Gold

One of the Favorites - The Iron Girl Medal
(Girls only race with a mother/daughter race option)

So after I passed around the medals I also passed around my race scrapbook, aka a binder with all of my race numbers and race pictures. They flipped through that and I giggled a bit when one girl warned the next as she passed it along "Its REALLY long!" I lost count of how many races I've run, but since my first race in 2002 I've done dozens of races. 5ks, 10ks, 6 half marathons, 10 full marathons, and a number of odd-lengthed races in between.

"Scrapbook" of Race Numbers & Pictures

I also brought a race picture that wasn't a real road race, but I thought the girls would like it. It was a picture from a dog walk that my friend Jenna and I had done. It was a 5K walk that we had to turn into a 1 mile walk because both of our unsocialized dogs were freaking out the whole time. Yes, my little 8lb Pekepoo Kona and Jenna's Pitbull Mix Bailey were both scared. Poor dogs. The girls loved this picture! As they passed this around they all shared stories about their dogs and other pets.

Dog Walk with Jenna

The next thing I talked about and passed around was my race fuel. I showed them the water belt I wear and then held up the packets of Gu and bags of Cliff Shot Bloks that I eat during a race. To my surprised, several girls immediately asked "Can we try it?!" What? Eww! I was taken back a bit and said Sure! Here you go! So I passed a chocolate Gu one way, a vanilla Gu another way, and then opened up the back of Bloks to pass those out as well. The girls loved the Gu and Bloks. eww! I mean they don't taste horrible but they taste worse to me than normal food! They're a necessity, not something I enjoy.

Chocolate Gu Energy Gel

Cliff Shot Bloks - Energy Gummies

After they finished off the Gu and Bloks and washed their hands, I then passed around my newspaper cover from when I was featured in the Living section of the Arizona Republic a few years ago. One girl immediately raised her hand and told me about how she had made it into the newspaper for her soccer team winning a competition. I asked her if she had saved the newspaper. She said no. I laughed and said that she should have! I went out and bought around 10 copies of my newspaper debut! I even sent copies out to several people in my family!

My Newspaper Debut

I had also brought my Foot Locker jersey, but hadn't passed that around yet because it didn't seem as interesting in comparison, but then the girl closest to me pointed to it and ask if I could pass that around too. They all liked looking at that too.

After talking about my running I also talked a bit about those close to me who have started running too, and who have run with me. I made sure to virtually embarrass my friend Kris by pointing out our race picture from a half marathon where we high-fived at each mile. At mile 10 we were caught on camera and he looks like a psycho killer while I laugh at him. HAHA.

Team HIGH FIVE!

I also told them about how David and I ran my last half marathon together and how we'll be running a full marathon together in October. I told them that we were tracking our training progress online so we could see who had run more so far, and as of today, I was winning! They loved that. One girl then told me that she was the only girl in her class to run a mile at her school track meet. Another girl told me how she can run faster than the fastest boy in her class. So cute, melted my heart.

So after a full hour of talking and answering questions and listening to stories and passing stuff around, it was time for the girls to have their snack break and for me to head back to work. I wish I could have stayed all day! The girl in charge walked me out and thanked me. I thanked her more in return. Being with those girls and seeing their excitement and energy and inquisitive nature was a pure joy. I suddenly realized how much fun and how rewarding it must be for people who work with kids. I thought back to my job and everyday life at work, and realized how totally different things were in comparison. I really love my job and what I do, but on a daily basis its a bit tense and people get stressed and down and angry and frustrated. Never at work have I seen the pure happiness that I saw with these kids. It was such a blessing to get to spend this time wtih them and I went back to work with the hugest smile.

I hope these girls enjoyed the visit half as much as I do. I'm so grateful for having been able to share the experience with them.

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!