Aunt Vickie's Mexican stew

I grew up loving my aunt Vickie's Mexican stew, so when I got married, she gave me the recipe and the pot to cook it in.

After a year of delaying, I made it last weekend. It had been such a long time since I made a new recipe, so I felt good about treating Ben and my cousin, Stef, to something different.

The prep work for the stew went well -- this was a good sign since I usually muck up something, whether it's forgetting to buy everything at the store or adding ingredients too early or splattering the kitchen with food.

But within minutes (Ben helped cut the 2-plus pounds of round steak), I had the steak sauteing in garlic and onions. And a few minutes later, the stew was on, ready to soak for two hours.

Soaking it did. Two hours later, we piled the stew onto rice and loaded it with sour cream and cheese.

But at first bite, it didn't have that kick I remembered when my aunt made it. And Stef laughed to get through her first bites. She wasn't a fan and said the stew was bland. Ben, on the other hand, will eat anything and cleaned up Stef's plate, even though he, too, admitted it lacked pizazz.
I evaluated and know I followed the recipe. I didn't forget an ingredient and, in fact, put more chili spice in the stew than required.

This stew won't defeat me. When it gets colder, I'm going to make it again. I'll let the stew sit longer -- maybe three or four hours so the meat really absorbs the juices. I'm going to use hot salsa versus mild. Heck, my family can take the heat -- I'll experiment with a dash of Tabasco sauce. I may cut up a few jalapeños and throw them in there, too. And maybe I'll sauté the steak with green peppers, too.

Cool factiod of the day

This is way cooler to me than it is to you. But I have to say it:

I ran 121.9 miles in August, despite the week-long vacation in California that month. I ran maybe three times -- and not for more than 45 minutes at a time -- while I was there. I noticed the monthly summary when I entered tonight's run into my training log on Runners' World.

I don't expect any pat on the back except from, maybe, myself:)

I'm a tease

I've been absent from the blogosphere way too long. I went home for Labor Day weekend, then worked Labor Day and 12-hour days last week covering the RNC. This week is much slower, but I have a 20-mile training race on Saturday.

So soon, after I run Saturday and get a quality nap in, I will post. And I have a post that actually relates to the purpose of this blog. Here's a teaser: I made Mexican stew last weekend. I did everything right, but..........



You'll have to stay tuned to find out.

Striving for gold

Most friends think I'm crazy to run as much as I do. They should read the weekly profiles of "regular" runners online at Runners' World. Those folks log maybe 60-plus miles a week. My 38-mile week earlier this month doesn't compare.

I plan to celebrate Labor Day weekend at home for Box Car Days. Before I can pound back glasses of MGD in the beer tent, I have to run 20 miles. You read that right -- 20 miles.

I think I've convinced my sister to rollerblade the entire route with me, which is such a blessing. When you're alone running on a hot day, anything over mile 10 seems grueling and the mind can start to do funny things. You want to quit.

I told my mom tonight that, yes, I actually have to train and do seemingly foolish things like run 20 miles on the weekend. I explained to her that the Twin Cities Marathon is like the Olympics for mortals. Only instead of training for four years, it's more like four months. And we mortals don't want to half-ass it during training. You try for 110 percent because on the big day -- in my case, the marathon -- you want to be victorious. Whether that's first place and a $20,000 purse, or a medal and a T-shirt for finishing.

Nine lives

When we went to California for a weeklong trip recently, I didn't ask anyone to water my plants. I doubted my cousin or Ben's brother, who both live in Northeast, would be interested in making the 20-minute drive for plants. And I didn't think about asking a neighbor until about 10 p.m. the night before we left.

So when we returned home I wasn't surprised to see that all five plants had kicked the bucket. I didn't feel all that bad -- the fact that the plants had lived almost three months was a huge feat.

For fun, though, I watered them a day after we got home. And by the next day, they had all perked up and bloomed.

These plants have multiple lives.

On the trail again.

I just mapped out an 18-mile route I will run tomorrow in preparation for the Twin Cities Marathon.

I'm excited to run the marathon -- I get the same sensation when I'm looking forward to a wedding, seeing family or going on a mini-vacation. But I have to put in the work to get there.

I'm blessed that I have a good friend who is going to run a large portion of tomorrow's route with me. Otherwise, it'd be a lonely and quiet 18 miles.

Two people, one GPS device and a California highway

When I first started writing this post, I detailed every pit stop during our trip to California. I've since decided to bore you only with the highlights.

We....

-- watched six different baseball teams play in four stadiums.
--put about 1,000 miles over a week on the PT Cruiser we rented.
--visited three different graduate schools.
--drove along scenic Highway 1.
--hiked in Big Sur, and I almost cried (OK, I shed a tear or two) because I'm afraid of heights.
--stopped at four wine tasting rooms, where we drank probably 20 different wines. I got buzzed.
--paid about $10 to travel along the 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach. Not sure if I'd pay to drive along the beach again.
--barked along with the seals.
--stayed near San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey and San Francisco.
--ran on rocky cliffs along the ocean.
--realized that a properly-working GPS device and a pact to get along mean we won't have to suffer through hours of couples' therapy.

***Photos to come soon. Ben saved them to his computer.