Sydney Running Festival
The Snook and I staggered out into the early morning light today for a bit of running… along with 20,000 other people. We caught the train to Milsons Point and joined the crowd waiting for the start of our second 9K Bridge Run. (Last year’s blog post.) It was cool in the shade, but the sun was warm and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Soon we were off. We did pretty well getting up onto the bridge, and going downhill onto the Cahill Expressway is always fun. We hit the first drinks station at 3.5km, and that’s where I somehow lost the Snook. It was rather unbelievable really. I mean, we’re both giants and we were both wearing bright red baseball caps, but somehow he’d just vanished. I persevered onwards. I hit the 5K mark at about 33:00, so I was on track for the same pace as last year. Unfortunately that’s where the course veers into the Domain, and I ran into some serious trouble on those hills. It’s not just that my legs felt like rubber; for the first race ever, I was actually having some significant chafing issues. I’m pretty sure I wore the same shorts in the City 2 Surf, but today they were just KILLING ME. So I ended up walking a fair bit of the latter half of the course. Once I got back out onto the main road with a straight shot to the Opera House, I picked up the pace. My speed was also helped by the fact that I passed right by Julian from The Chaser standing at the side of the road with a bloke with a video camera, and nothing motivates like the fear of the entire nation seeing your chubby butt walking towards the finish line. I crossed the line at 62:00, which is about four minutes or so slower than last year. I can live with that. I found the Snook not long after, and we had a laugh at discovering that he’d only finished two minutes before me. We must’ve been within sight of each other the whole time yet somehow I never found him. I’m happy to report that the post-race organisation was much better this time, and it didn’t take us long to turn in our timing chips and receive our medals. Unfortunately none of the buses were running yet (because the marathon was still going) so we had to walk the whole way home. Dudes, my thighs KILL.
Month: September 2007 (page 2 of 7)
Sausage and Bean Stew
A couple years ago, my old Epson buddy Kiri invited me over to her place for a birthday party. One of dishes she had was a sort of gourmet beanie-weenies. “Mmm, what’s the magic ingredient in this?” I asked. “Fennel,” she replied. My jaw dropped. Fennel, you see, is also called “aniseed,” and it’s basically the stuff that gives licorice its taste. I hate licorice. But evidently cooking fennel reduces that strong medicinal taste. It was yummy! I asked for and was granted the recipe, which I’ve made a few times since… most notably last night. Recipe after the jump for those who want it.Sausage and Bean Stew
4 thick Italian style sausages (I used 6 thin ones)
2 T olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large bulb of fennel, trimmed and finely chopped (I whizzed mine in the food processor)
1/2 t. dried chili flakes
1 T tomato paste
400g tin chopped tomatoes
440g tin canellini beans, drained and rinsed (which I am incapable of referring to as anything but “cannelloni” beans)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1 small sprig rosemary
2 T. chopped flat leaf parsley
shaved parmesan
Place sausages in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for two minutes, then drain well. When cool, cut on the diagonal into 2cm pieces.
Heat olive oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole. Add sausage pieces and cook over medium-high heat until browned, then drain on absorbent paper. Reduce heat to low-medium, then add onion, garlic, fennel and chili to pan and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until soft. Then stir in tomato paste and cook for another five minutes. Add tomato, beans, stock, and rosemary, then cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Stir in sausage pieces and parsley and season to taste. (Pull out the rosemary.) Serve topped with parmesan with a crusty bread on the side.
Hooray! Mary-Helen finally got her invite to the party. Any other Aussies finally get their invites?
I just found out that Gleebooks is hosting a talk this coming Tuesday with Nikki Greenberg about her new graphic novel adaptation of The Great Gatsby. “At this event, Nicki will use projector and screen to take us through the process of creating a graphic novel. A must for artists and graphic novel devotees.” Sounds pretty cool, huh? Tickets are $10. Let me know if you’re interested in going!
Home Inspection Nightmares. Yikes. My favorite is the tobaccy tin.
EEP! Sometime in the night, Ravelry announced a “limited edition beta run” of T-shirts! (You have to click on the home page to get the link, which is why I almost didn’t see it.) I know I should’ve waited to combine postage with other people, but I couldn’t resist making an order straight away.
Hmm. Any of you know how to interpret a Strata Inspection Report?
No, I did not talk like a pirate at any time yesterday. However I will admit to chuckling at the “Pirate Sale” sign in the window of our local Student Flights: “If it be on the sea, it be on sale!”
Two thoughts on the whole “Pumpkin” thing:
- Man, you couldn’t make this stuff up. If they catch this guy, it’s going to be the Australian criminal case of this century.
- I bet Pumpkin Patch are loving this free – albeit sordid – publicity.
I wonder if the US cops will catch him…