No recipe for you today, but rather a special announcement. Today I am donating one customizable batch of my Pumpkin Granola to a great cause. Veronica, of Veronica’s Cornucopia, has graciously dreamed up, organized, and is conducting an online bake sale, today, November 2nd, for Suzie, a fellow friend and blogger who fell ill at the beginning of October and needs help paying her medical bills. [You can read more about Suzie’s situation here.] I invite you to come check it out here and bid on my granola or one of the other delicious items until 10 pm CST.
Hello! This week I’ll be taking a blogging break. Instead of cooking and baking fun treats and sharing them here, I’ll be spending the week writing, writing, and writing some more. Gotta get this thesis done! Have a good week and see you next week. 🙂
In high school cross country, my team did something every season called Secret Pals. If you were in team sports, especially as girls, you know the drill. A team captain divvies up names to every girl on the team, and before each meet, you’re supposed to give your secret pal a little gift like a bottle of Gatorade, some granola bars, maybe a pretty hair tie, and some encouragement in the form of a note of well wishes. These gifts were typically packaged in brown paper bags and decorated with magic markers. At the end of the season, the secret pals revealed themselves to each other and it was a fun time to thank a teammate for the encouragement they provided over the season.
My cross country team placing 5th at the state meet, 2002. I'm on the first row, far right.
Not to pick a favorite secret pal or anything–because all of mine were great–but my most favorite secret pals were the girls who took time to decorate their bags with quotes I loved reading quotes about running and saved many of them, later transcribing them into a Word document on my computer. My coach also frequently put quotes on the bottom of our workout or pre-meet information sheets, so I always had a plethora around me to learn from and soak up.
Today as I type this, less than 48 hours before the start of my third[!] marathon and my husband’s first, I can’t help but think of those days of high school cross country, secret pals, and the heartfelt encouragement and camaraderie we shared.
While I wasn’t forward thinking enough to be my husband’s official secret pal with treats and all for Sunday’s Columbus Marathon, I have been thinking this afternoon about some encouragement for him. So, here’s to Ben’s race on Sunday, secret pal meets the 21st century style! I love you! You can do it!!
“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.”- Steve Prefontaine
“A runners creed: I will win; if I cannot win, I shall be second; if I cannot be second, I shall be third; if I cannot place at all, I shall still do my best.” – Ken Doherty
“I don’t think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don’t think about the mile I’m on right now, I don’t think about the miles I’ve already covered. I think about what I’m doing right now, just being lost in the moment.” – Ryan Hall
Ready or not, 26.2 is a-coming, and I need to be a-going. Happy weekend!
P.S. We’re planning on running the race together. You can follow my times on Twitter.
PUMPKIN MONTH 2011! Well, at least in my little world. I hope you join in the fun.
Last year I had a week of pumpkin where I shared many of my favorite pumpkin recipes. Check them out here, and come back the rest of the month to see how my adventures with pumpkin in a variety of ways over the 31 days of pumpkin here at The Pajama Chef. We’ll be enjoying pumpkin:
in main dishes,
in snacks,
in desserts,
in decorating,
and in many, many other ways!
Don’t worry, non-pumpkin lovers… you’ll be converted soon! Or you can just enjoy the non-pumpkin posts of the month. I can’t wait for everything to begin on Monday! In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you about the best pumpkin dishes you’ve ever had–with recipes if possible. I’d love to have more ideas for this great month!
Since today is Wednesday, also known as CSA Day around here, I thought I’d share with you a snapshot of CSA goodness. For full disclosure, this was a few weeks ago so things have changed with the weather, but the lack of rain and intensity of heat has kept things like tomatoes and squash out of our baskets for now. Hopefully soon though! We’re supposed to get peppers today!
First up… the goodies. BTW this is the tarragon that made the salmon yesterday. Fantastic. And purple potatoes and kale are yet to come… be ready for it!!
In case you were wondering, we don’t eat the catnip. That’s for the kitty.
And then… a close up of garlic! Comparison with the iPhone for size, of course.
But a close up does no justice whatsoever to the sheer size of the entire stalk of garlic! Wowza! Can you believe the size of that thing?
It’s a good thing I like garlic…
…and as Ben says, quite obvious that I’m not a vampire. Good to know, honey, good to know.
So that’s a week in CSA-land. What do you think? Have you ever participated in CSA? If not, would you ever consider it?
The Pajama Chef 