What a Half-Wit looks like

Feast

Noah and I had a lot of fun shopping at the Great Barrington farmers market and the Guido's and figuring out how to make new things in an unfamiliar kitchen.

Noah made this beets and tomatoes salad. He roasted the beets in the oven himself. This created a red mess in the kitchen, but the dish was well worth the trouble.

I was not terribly creative with desserts, but couldn't pass up the peaches at the farmers market. The only thing new to me is that for all the cobblers and crumbles I've made, I've never made a crisp before. So, I wound up making a peaches and berries crisp.  It was tasty and perhaps a little too sweet for me.  It also broke the household record for eating desserts - it took us 3 days to finish it!

I made this "grilled shrimp tapas" on the cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil, salt, and garlic. Yum!

Noah made these stuffed squash blossoms and pappardelle pasta. These squash blossoms are now my favorite thing. They are stuffed with mushrooms, onions, bread crumbs and gruyere cheese and baked.

Broad Street Run 2010

I didn't PR, but I ran as well as I could given the conditions, which was hot, humid, and facing a headwind. If I had been more strategic or been a little tougher, maybe I'd have been a little faster. But I ran my heart and lungs out. After a decent first half where I felt good (31:47), the wheels fell off in South Philly. The air was so thick and it got to me.  By the time I reached the gates to enter the Navy Yard, a quarter mile before the finish, I was lightheaded, gasping for air, and breathing loudly. But I kicked, passed more people, and wound up with 1:05:54. This was good for 3rd AG!

Here's a picture of the finish - I'm the person in white and blue with the arms driving across my chest.

Highlights:

• My hamstrings and hips behaved during the race.
• Thanks to relentless efforts by Noah to suppress my activity during the week, I tapered well for this race.
• I started in the second wave and got to pass people the whole way, even when I was fading.
• Running the hardest miles with Noah.

Challenges:

• Heat, humidity, headwind
• Running behind a woman who had pooped in her shorts, not recognizing that and not passing her until mile 9
• Such negative thinking during the race
• Cramping up big time after the race

My race by the numbers:

Instead of a dog, we got an oven

No, there will not be a race report on the Philadelphia Distance Run. We ran, we finished, we got best times by a few minutes. Moving on. Noah's training for a marathon, and I seem to be stuck rehabbing a minor injury that refuses to heal completely. At least I still get to run.

Other than running and working, we have been indulging in our other love: eating. You see, we got our kitchen redone over the summer, and now we have two ovens. Our new toy is a 24 inch electric oven with convection function made by the Spanish company Fagor (known for pressure cookers), and it's a gift from my mom's brother and sister. They are very cool!

Here it is, posing with some strawberry peach crumble:

More examples of the oven's good deeds:

Nutella-swirl Vanilla cupcakes (before icing)


Peach Upside Down Cake


Pizza

Our game faces, apparently

I looked like I was suffering, but I was enjoying the race very much at that very moment.

I look tall in the Broad Street pictures

I'm right-legged

Here's a brief update on my formerly strained left hamstring.

Glass half full update: I'm back on the roads and trails.

Glass half empty update: My left leg is not really running, still.

Thanks for everyone's concern... it seems like this will take some more time to heal completely.

MacLehose Trail (continued)

Section 5: Where Monkeys Roam

When we got to the end of section four, we were glad we had chosen to do section five as well. The end of that section, well, there's nothing there. Aside from a very small road that comes in, it's mostly distinguished by a few signs. One announced that there were a lot of military ruins along the trail; there was a map, which we took a lot of photos of in case things got misleading again; and then there was one amusing sign that we took a picture of while chuckling to ourselves (see left).

At the start of section five, things were pretty mellow. The views were still spectacular, but things were somewhat flatter and we were able to run more at the start. The first major thing that happened was that we got to a detour. That we weren't counting on. One section was closed off due to a landslide, so we had to go around. This was discouraging at the time, but turned out to be kind of interesting. We were running on little village roads and trails, which made me wonder just how much of that there is in the New Territories. The biggest issue was that we weren't really sure if we were going the right way or not. The first big clue was when we saw a GU package littered on the trail; sad normally, but it showed us we were going the right way. Then luckily a runner coming the other way confirmed that we were heading the right way, and we returned the favor. We were all figuring it out.

The nicest thing, though, was that the detour got us into the Lion's Rock Country Park, which not only had some vending machines, but also had a little store/café. We bought a bottle of water, and then gladly abandoned the 'bread-and-water' idea in favor of some of the tastiest iced tea we've ever had – a home-brewed mixture in plain plastic bottles that might have been the best drink we had during the whole time in Hong Kong.

We headed out from the café and then soon got to the Kowloon pass. This was a kind of neat spot – the lowest spot in the ridge, although that was still pretty high. From there, we realized we had the option of going down the hill and into Kowloon, and getting some other form of public transportation from there. We decided against this, opting to complete the route we'd chosen from the start. It was at around this point that we saw our first monkeys – two monkeys up in a tree. That was pretty cute. We wanted to take pictures, but didn't, because of the sign earlier saying not to stare at them.

At this point, we thought things were good – there'd been a “beware of monkeys” sign, we saw the monkeys, and that was that. Right?

Un-unh. We only had a few miles left to run, but the main thing we remember from those miles is Lots. More. Monkeys. Those two in the tree? No big deal. But soon after that we were going through a really big pack of monkeys. There were two big ones; the rest were little, but we had no idea how many of them there were. And the thing with monkeys – you don't know what they know. They might be really really smart, they might not be. But you don't know. So we crept our way through, and luckily no monkeys attacked us. We were calm, they were calm.

There was a decent stretch after that, when we were able to keep a good pace going. But it turned out we weren't done with the monkeys yet. Within a half mile or so of the end of the trail, we came to another section of them! This time, things were much less calm. We were walking along on the trail, and then one of them started walking on the trail towards us. So we just turned around and started heading back. Then one of the little ones starts running towards us! It didn't come all the way – it veered off to the side before getting to us – and we got out of there. But then what? We were almost at the end of the trail. There was a road behind us that we could go back to, but didn't really want to. We figured we'd wait a few minutes and see if the monkeys were still there. Then a group of people came by. Helen told them about the monkeys and they just shrugged. So we tucked in behind them and went through. Some of the most heart-stopping minutes of our lives! Noah forgot about not staring, and one of them hissed at him!

We made it safely, though. And then kind of sauntered to the end of the trail, with our figurative tails between our legs.

What to make of the MacLehose trail? We're pretty set on *not* doing the monkey sections again, but definitely want to check out more of the trail. It does seem like a hiking trail, though, as opposed to a trail-running trail.
It's great to have that sort of thing in an urban area. Sleep at home, go off into the mountains, then eat wherever you want. Point-to-point runs become easier, because of how much public transportation there is. But our main thought, when we think about the trail, and about trail running in Hong Kong in general, is that we've only barely scratched the surface.

Running in Hong Kong II: The MacLehose Trail

After a week of eating and seeing people around Hong Kong, the city, we thought it’d be fun to spend a day running in the mountains and subsisting on just bread and water.

After consulting Helen's uncle and various guides and maps, and turning down an opportunity to do a 50K with her cousin, we finally decided that our major expedition would be on the Maclehose Trail in the New Territories. There are 10 sections of the 100 km long Maclehose Trail, and we set out to do sections 4 and 5, which go through Ma On Shan, a mountain 2300 feet tall.

Section 4: Beautiful Views

Helen's parents drove us to the start of section four on Saturday morning. The first part of the run was a long, hard climb to the top of Ma On Shan. The terrain was mixed – some parts were paved road, some parts were trail, some parts were stone steps, some were odd concrete steps. The terrain would stay like this through the whole route.

Because it was a Saturday and we’re in Hong Kong after all, the trail was crowded. It seemed to us that a lot of people were going to do the first half of section four, and then headed back. We were glad about this, because while we try not to be too snobby, we'd really had plenty of crowds during our Hong Kong stay.

Good thing we weren't going very fast anyway because we repeatedly stopped to take pictures of the fantastic views from Ma On Shan. Here’s Helen’s favorite:

Once we were past Ma On Shan, we were able to keep a better pace going. Overall, though, this was as much a hike as it was a trail run. We guessed that, of the 12 miles or so, we ran around 40%; 30% we were climbing; and the other 30% we were walking/hiking. Some of the downhills were just too steep to run, and the footing – either because it was rocky, or because it was a series of awkwardly long steps – didn't lend itself to keeping up a steady pace.

While section four was rated as “strenuous” and the estimated time for hiking it was listed at 5 hours, we finished it around three hours. Around five minutes from the end of the section, the signage suddenly got confusing. In general, the Maclehose Trail is very well marked, so it was surprising when it became misleading.

(to be continued)

I say Coffee, you say Cake

Courtesy of Helen, this is what I came back to today, at the end of a way-harder-than-it-should-be 35 mile bike ride today.



We do a lot of cooking in our little house. I can honestly say that this is the best the house has ever smelled.





(Coffee… CAKE! Coffee… CAKE!)

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Eating in Hong Kong - Ranking the Dinners

So, nine nights in Hong Kong. Nine dinners, six ranked – we excluded the one home-cooked meal, and the meal we got in on the first night we arrived. We also decided to not include the one night where we didn't go out for Chinese food – a yummy Sushi dinner that we just don't know where to rank. (Oh, and 'night' is a relative term, of course, because for many of these meals our stomachs still thought it was mid-day the next day, or maybe the day before).
And one thing to make clear right off the bat: all of these were good meals. Helen's family was scoping these places out actively for weeks before we got there, making use of years of eating out in Hong Kong. This is not an easy list to get onto!

So, here we go:

The Pacific Club. Kowloon/Tsim Sha Tsui.
Rankings: Helen:1, Noah:1


What to say? Everything here was really, really good. IIRC, this was our third night. A banquet-style meal, with a steamed fish and duck. Overall, a really high level. In some ways it's a shame to rank this at the top, as it was the most western-influenced place we went (the food was Chinese, but the place had an old English men's club feel to it). But this is a food ranking, and everything here was good. They even had good desserts! And although Helen found the presence of pickled shallots on the table as pretty typical, I thought they were great. Pickled shallots – who'd have thought?

Seafood Place. New Territories/Sai Kung.
Rankings: H:2, N:2.



This place was a lot of fun. A TON of seafood. A more festive atmosphere, perhaps, than the full-on-family dinner of the Pacific Club. Two steamed fish, along with a ton of other kinds of seafood. (And a tofu dish, for some reason – perhaps there was a vegetarian there?). In the states, we debate about how to tell if fish is fresh. Looks grey? Smells fishy? In Hong Kong, deciding if something is fresh or not is much more straightforward: fresh=living.


Rice Pot place. New Territories/Tai Po
Rankings: H:3, N:4

Here, we're getting into the more obscure HK places. While Sai Kung is a touristy region with a big ex-pat community, this was just a local restaurant. No Way I would have found this place had I come on my own. It looked pretty obscure, just a corner place in the New Territories. We ordered a variety of things, but the best were the rice pots, super hot clay pots with rice and a choice of meats. You pour in this non-salty soy sauce and it chars the rice, kind of like the soccarat in a paella. Huge lines. Oh, and I'd have been so SOL without Helen and her family. No pretense of having an English menu.


"Canteen A" Hot Pot: Kowloon/Lok Fu
Rankings: H:4,N:5

This was our last HK meal, at the same restaurant as our first full meal. (My understanding is "Canteen A" is Helen's family's nickname for the place, not its real name). Basically, there's a bunch of boiling broth in the middle of the table, and a bunch of meats, seafood, veggies. You take the meat/veggies in your chopsticks (!) and hold it in the broth until it's cooked. This was a good last meal, as Helen got to see more of her family. I liked it, although I'd really like to do it at a smaller table!

Din Tai Fung (Shanghai food): Kowloon/Tsim Shai Tsui.
Rankings: H:5, N:3



I ranked this higher than Helen. I really, really, really liked the dumplings. I liked the other stuff, too, but mostly I liked the dumplings. This was also the restaurant where Helen's dad suggested I eat the fish bones. This set back the 'trust Helen's family' cause quite a bit. But they did choose the place. It's not a place I would have chosen – a chain restaurant in a mall. But the rules are different there.



"Canteen A" first meal: Kowloon/Lok Fu
Rankings: H:6, N:6

Mostly, I was trying to stay awake this meal. Not doing so well. Most of the food was good –really tasty shrimp, steamed fish. There was a roast baby pig, or something like that, that was kind of fatty. But don't let the last-place finish fool you. This was still an excellent meal.


I've been craving a lot of this stuff since getting back. Not like Helen has, I'm sure, but still…
Yes, Chinese food in China is different. Hard to explain how, exactly – it's fresher, less sauce. A lot of sections on menus here – 'lo mein,' 'fried rice' – tend to get their own restaurants there. But really, it's worth a trip for the food. Preferably a trip where you can go with someone who can read the menu!

Running in Hong Kong, part I

When we planned our trip to Hong Kong, my first though wasn’t “awesome! We can go hiking and trail running!”

It was more, “oh my god, that flight is long!”

And I was right, it was long. But Hong Kong isn’t really what I expected. Or at least, what I expected – an insanely busy city filled with Chinese people – is only part of Hong Kong.



It helps to realize that Hong Kong is a region, not a city. And in that region, there are three main parts – Hong Kong Island (the most famous part, and the commercial center); Kowloon (where Helen’s parents live); and the New Territories, which make up the most area in Hong Kong, and where there are still some very remote sections.

Of these three, only Kowloon is mostly flat and inhabited. Even on Hong Kong Island, huge sections are mountainous, with either no habitation or relatively sparse habitation. Don’t get me wrong – the parts that are inhabited are super-densely inhabited, with block after block of 30-40 story apartment buildings. But there are also some really nice roads up in the mountains, where you can either run relatively flat routes parallel to the ridge, or really really steep routes up and down the mountain. (To give some sense of the pitch, near Helen’s uncle’s apartment there is an office building where the front doors are on the first and third floors, but the back door is on the seventeenth).

On Hong Kong Island, we had one nice run and one nice walk. The walk was fairly traditional tourist stuff – we took the ‘peak tram’ up to top of the ridge and walked up to the high point on the ridge. It’s ‘sparsely populated’ there, which really means than many of the people who can afford to live up there can afford to have major land around their mansion as well.


We also went running on Bowen Road, which seems to be the main running road in HK. It’s a 4-km stretch of road, not completely closed to traffic but so narrow, out-of-the-way, and filled with speed bumps, that no one really drives there. The nicest part, though, is the views that you get from the road. It looks down onto HK’s city-scape, not quite as high as our walk on the Peak but far more accommodating to runners. Given the number of other runners we saw there, it seems to be HK’s equivalent to running in Central Park or on the Drives. Not nearly as long, but with a far better view. We figured that, if we lived on Hong Kong Island, we’d probably get tired of it. But for a one-time run it was spectacular.


Running near Helen’s parents’ apartment was more of a challenge. One morning we even did the unthinkable, and ran on the treadmills! There are options around the apartment – on three other days, we managed to go for short runs in Kowloon – but they’re limited. Most of the sidewalks in Kowloon are insanely crowded; the ones right by where we were staying had the benefit of being relatively empty, and providing loops of maybe 1/3 of a mile without traffic lights. Ok, as things go – but it was surprising to see that these routes actually got a decent amount of Jogging traffic, despite their hard sidewalks and limited options. Things might improve in the future, as we did go on one run around a mile away, where they're putting in a little park with a running route along the waterfront. We're curious to see how that develops.

Overall, though, running in Kowloon is interesting but difficult. Running on Hong Kong Island was more interesting, although the non-mountain running options seemed limited. I'm curious to see just how much trail running there is on Hong Kong Island – possibly quite a bit, but I'm not sure how much of what they call their trails is actually paved. Some clearly aren't – when we were up on the Peak we had a view of what looked like an awesome dirt trail a bit further down. With one day set aside for a long trail run, we thought a lot about going and exploring that trail, or else other trails on the island. Finally, though, we chose to do a portion of the Maclehose trail – a 100 km trail in the New Territories, home of some of the most spectacular views in the region, as well as some of the most surprising wildlife I've seen anywhere.

Nutrition: The Carbohydrates Edition

It's about time we blog about our runners' diet.

First, there's Noah's creation: Tomatoes with Pasta Sauce.

We're also big rice fans. Here's his paella:

And his no-knead bread

For dessert tonight: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Bread and Butter pics - part II

Part II of the pics of my ride.
Incidentally, I'm told that the interesting part of my ride starts in "Lansdale" and not "Landsdale," which seems believable.

On to the pics.

Barndt road. This is from a stretch on the shorter of the two loops.

This is a section of "Lonely Road" - truth be told, it's no lonelier than most roads out there.
The street sign. No, I don't think it's "that" Ridge road. Which is an avenue, anyway, maybe a pike. And well south of there.

I blew it on this next pic, I'm way too far. The road sign says "gameland road," and the larger sign says something like, "welcome to state game lands, hunt safely." This is on the longer loop, and it's the scariest part of the ride. I sometimes sing aloud on this section, making up songs about how I'm not game:


Another nervous part of my ride, and another blown pic. The road sign there says "gun club road." I do hear shots, although I suspect they know what they're doing. This is on White's Mill Road, I believe. From the shorter loop:
Another section of White's Mill Road:


This last pic is Swamp Creek Road. Hard to capture what a pretty road this is, or how fun it is to ride on it, but I like the Dali-esque feel to the photo.


Well, that's that. Right now it's all covered with snow, but I'm hoping soon to be back out there.