Springfield, IL specialty dish: the "Horseshoe"

I haven't done a proper food post in a while, but this experience was just too special not to share!

Last weekend my husband and I flew out to Illinois for a whirlwind weekend celebrating my youngest brother's medical school graduation and recent marriage.  We had a mini-adventure getting to Springfield, Illinois on Friday night, involving a dead sprint through the Chicago O'Hare airport, but we made our connection, our luggage (miraculously) also made it, and all was well.  Upon arrival, my family (minus my mom and C., who came up on Saturday) decided we needed a snack, and that this snack MUST be a "horseshoe," which is a Springfield specialty.  See here for the Wikipedia page, confirming its status as "a local Illinois delicacy."  A horseshoe consists of a piece of Texas toast, covered in meat, covered in fries, smothered in cheese sauce.  It is a Midwesterner's dream.

Now, you can get a horseshoe at any number of Springfield establishments, but we wanted to go to D'Arcy's Pint.  The kitchen was going to close at 11PM, so we raced there from the airport, making it in the nick of time.

I ordered a "pony shoe," which is a half portion, with buffalo chicken and bleu cheese on the side.  It was incredible.  Considering that now both of my brothers have graduated from the S.I.U. School of Medicine, we all probably won't be going back to Springfield, I'm glad we had the chance to eat a horseshoe.

Behold:

The next morning, I ran 6 miles with my dad (necessary after the horseshoe calorie bomb), then we all went to the graduation.  Here is a picture of John and me in our graduation finest:

After that, we drove down to my parents' house in Harrisburg for the big wedding reception, where it was great to see lots of friends and family.  We danced and had a great time, and then Sunday afternoon we flew home to New York.  A quick trip, but absolutely fantastic.  Now I just have to get through a few more work days before we take off for a week-long vacation in South Carolina!  

Read: The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman

I did NOT LIKE THIS NOVEL.

Quick summary: couple living on a remote lighthouse island cannot have children, live baby with dead father wash up in a boat, lighthouse people keep the baby.  You can see what is going to happen here - the baby's real family show up, and much has to be worked out.

I am not going to say much else right now because I'm holding it in for my book club discussion, but I will say that I thought the two main characters were poorly established; their courtship and marriage did not make sense to me, and it seemed as though they hardly knew each other the entire time.  Also, the slooooooooow build-up at the beginning of the novel was not made worthwhile by any twist or interesting plot point - nothing of note ever happened.  So much about this book bugged me that I was happy when it was over.  Moving on.

Running is frustrating, but I'm still doing it

I have had a bunch of running setbacks since I ran the half-marathon in Newport, RI last fall.  I had plantar fasciitis for a huge part of last year, and it never really went away until last December/January when I took several weeks completely off from running.  I live in fear that it will come back if I start really running again, so I have been going to weekly Bikram yoga classes and see a chiropractor occasionally--my hips get out of whack, and then give me grief when I start to run a lot.  The plantar fasciitis was probably a result of that, not to mention my butt pain way back during the marathon in 2011.

After running occasionally and irregularly in January and February, in March I finally started getting in the mood to train again, and promptly took a nasty fall down the stairs in my parents' house, resulting in an enormous, painful butt bruise.  I had to take a few more weeks off.

I guess I sort of committing to training again around April 1st.  I signed up for NYRR's Mini 10K, which will be in June.  It is a race I have run a bunch of times (2012, 2011, and also 2010 but I must not have written about it) and have always enjoyed.  I thought I would be ready to run a decent race considering I had more than 8 weeks to train.  I thought I had enough base fitness to run three times a week, adding hills and tempo workouts, and that I could get to a place where I would be able to run a 10K in an hour.  My 10K personal record is 57:50, which isn't even that speedy, but I didn't think was attainable when I registered.  Now that I've been running consistently for a few weeks, I REALLY don't think it is.

At this point, even minimal goals seem too lofty.  I don't even know if I will be able to break 1:08, which is 11 minutes per mile.  All of my runs lately have felt difficult; I struggle even on the weekday three-milers.  Last Monday I went out for a 3-mile run after work, felt as though I was working really hard and killing it, and looked at my watch when it was over to see 33:10.  Saturday I went out for a planned six miles, but only made it four...and that was even after walking a lot.  I don't even know what happened.  I just couldn't go anymore, so I called it in.

In addition to the Mini 10K, I thought about registering for NYCRuns' "first foray" into Van Cortlandt Park (my home territory), an 8K in early June.  The cross-country course in Van Cortlandt is notoriously hilly, and every time I run there, including on Saturday, my confidence is destroyed.  So, I am going to see how the next few weeks go and make a game-time decision on that race.  Meanwhile, speaking of the Van Cortland cross-country course, the Van Cortland Track Club does this summer 5K series on Thursday nights, and I may try it.  I figure a weekly hilly speed workout will be good for me, and a good way to try to improve on a tough course.

I am not planning to run the ING NYC Marathon this year.  I have guaranteed entry because I did 9+1 last year, but my current plan is to register, then cancel, so I can roll over my entry into 2014.  I'll have to pay twice, but after last year's Hurricane Sandy debacle and all of the security changes there are sure to be in response to what happened in Boston, I think this year's race may be a big fat mess.  If my summer running goes well, I'll probably do the NYRR Bronx 10-Mile, and in October I may run the inaugural Shawnee Half-Marathon, which is a new race near my hometown!  I don't think a marathon is in the cards for me this year, but I may change my mind.

Starting from scratch has been tough, but all I can do is keep at it.  Tonight I'm going out for a little run: three miles, four if I don't feel like I am going to die, so we'll see how it goes.

Read: Vampires in the Lemon Grove

by Karen Russell

This collection of short stories has been well-reviewed in the Times and pretty much everywhere else, so I put it on my reading list radar despite the fact that I do not enjoy short stories.  I like longer-length works; I like getting immersed in a story over time, and I just never think short stories are very satisfying.

So, while the reviews that the stories in this collection are creepy and inventive and beautifully-crafted are true, I didn't like it.  In fact, I found myself skimming a bit through the ends of some of the stories, just to find out what happened and get the whole experience over with.

Not for me.

Read: I Know This Much Is True

by Wally Lamb

This paperback has been sitting on my bookshelf FOREVER.  I don't remember when I bought it.

I Know This Much Is True was published in 1998, so it is possible I have had it since I lived in Nashville in college.  If we go with the premise that I purchased it before 2000, that means I have packed it up and moved it, unread, seven times: Nashville to my parents' house in Harrisburg (after graduation in 2000); Harrisburg to Chicago (later in 2000); Chicago to 81st Street in NYC (2001); 81st Street to 13th Street (2002); 13th Street to 87th Street (2005); 87th Street to York Avenue (2009); and York Avenue to Riverdale (2012).

I'm not even sure why I never read it.  At over 900 pages, it is a tome, but I don't really mind a long novel as long as it is a good one.  Anyway, the other day I found myself in between reads and though, "ENOUGH! I will read that."

Several of the customer reviews on Amazon mentioned they thought the ending was too pat, but I didn't mind.  I thought it was fine, and rather expected it after all of the emotional roller-coasting I went through reading this story; parts are over-dramatic, for sure.  I mean, it is a story of twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic.  Two characters suffer amputations and one takes a life-threatening fall off a ladder.  Two, NO, THREE, characters have HIV scares or AIDS.  Babies die.  Children are molested and exploited.  People are raped.  No one could catch a break the entire time, so I was fine with the ending wrapping up neatly.  After all that, the characters deserved it!

Admittedly, I skimmed the "story within a story" of Dominic's grandfather, because I truly didn't care about it.  But, the main plot is good, and I would recommend it for readers who can stick with long novels.  I thought it was worthwhile.

Books I've Read: The Road

by Cormac McCarthy

I finally got down to figuring out how to check out e-books from the New York Public Library, and I put myself on several hold lists for books I want to read.  This was the first one to come through.  I have been meaning to read Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel for a while, an intention that was recently renewed after reading Fahrenheit 451.

I very much enjoyed it.  Of course, it is a stark, savage read, but I loved the simple poetry of the writing style, and the details of the setting.  Read it.

I probably won't see the movie because I already have the whole thing pictured in my mind, and I think the film might give me nightmares.

Books I've Read: Sweet Tooth

by Ian McEwan

I looked back through my blog archives to see if I had written about it when I read it, but couldn't find anything about how much I absolutely hated Atonement.  I hated that little girl for lying, hated the ending.

So, when this book was chosen for my book club, I was dubious, but in the end I kind of liked it!

Very basic plot:  The main character, Serena Frome (which evidently rhymes with "plume"? Why not "home"? weird), is recruited in the 1970's for England's MI5.  She is assigned the operation "Sweet Tooth," and ends up in love with the target guy, a writer.

For whatever reason--maybe age has mellowed me--I was amused by a little trick at the end, instead of annoyed.  And, all the things I disliked about the protagonist character were sort of twisted in hindsight, in a good way, and I decided I thought that was clever of the author.  If you have read it, or do read it in the future, you will know what I mean, but I'm not giving up anything else.

Knitted: Feather and Fan Baby Blanket for J.

I almost always have one knitting project or another going on, but in the past I haven't written about them all that much.  (There are some old posts here and here.)  I'm trying to be a little more active on Ravelry, so I'm changing that, and plan to post about my completed projects.  Lucky you.  If I every have time I may go back and post about some past projects, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Now, I taught myself to knit in 2009, and right now my skills in this area are still pretty much limited to rectangular things.  Scarves, blankets, etc.  I did knit a baby sweater, only once, and don't you know I wish I had evidence photographs somewhere because I struggled for weeks learning how to knit those tiny tubular arms using double-pointed needles.  So, I can knit round things, I just haven't had much practice.

One of the reasons I haven't had much practice is my friends keep procreating, so I am always working on a baby blanket!  It seems as though I finish one, and another dear friend announces her pregnancy, so I start all over again.  The only reason I even tried the sweater in the first place was because it was for one of my friends' second children, and she already had a blanket for the first one.

I started this one back in January, for some friends and their baby boy, due in May.  They are doing a darling preppy, nautical theme in their nursery, so I thought a blue and cream feather-and-fan pattern would fit right in.  I also considered a chevron pattern, but this seemed lighter and more open. I think he'll be able to use it in the stroller (and on their boat!) all summer.

In progress. 

Finished and folded.

J. opening it at her baby shower last weekend!

I used the "Favourite Feather and Fan Baby Blanket" pattern by Suzanne Smart.  (Here is the Ravelry link.)  I think I changed the width a bit; I can't remember, but I know I sized up on the recommended needle size.  As for the yarn, I can't remember the exact yarn I used, but I'm pretty sure it was something by Madeleine Tosh.  I probably followed the recommendation and used a DK weight, and the colors were a denim-like blue and cream/natural.  It turned out beautifully.

For my next project, I promise I will keep better records about the yarn used and changes to the pattern!  I also plan to go through my [large] stash of yarn and work on making some new things.

Books I've Read: The Interpretation of Murder

by Jed Rubenfeld

A friend of mine lent me her paperback copy of this book, telling me little other than it is a mystery novel involving Sigmund Freud set here in New York around the turn of the century.  She said she enjoyed it, and I was just off my long involvement with Wolf Hall, so I wanted a sure thing.  I read it right away.

I liked pieces of it, most notably the historical descriptions.  The author depicts the time period well, and I particularly enjoyed picturing in my head the modern locations of areas described in the novel: a luxurious apartment building on the Upper West Side based on the Ansonia, Gramercy Park, etc.  This is always my favorite part about reading stories set here.

But, I thought the mystery part was just so-so.  It was muddled by a bunch of very unnecessary story lines that did nothing to advance the plot or character development.  The worst of these was one about an undercover conspiracy to threaten Freud and stop him from lecturing at a university, which was dull, pointless, and (according to something I read later), not even based in fact.

I'm always up for a novel set in New York City, but this one didn't thrill me.

Books I've Read: Little Bee

By Chris Cleave

"He sniffed, and put on a pair of sunglasses, and waved his hand at the street. 'I mean look,' he said. 'There's eight million people here pretending the others aren't getting on their nerves. I believe it's called civilization.'"

Yep, this is how it is in New York, that's for sure.

This paperback was lying around my office for YEARS, and finally I took it home and picked it up not long ago when I didn't have anything immediately in mind to read.  It is a story of a Nigerian refugee who fatefully crosses paths with a British couple.

I thought it was beautifully written and enjoyed how it unfolded, but it is a sad book about sadness.  The ending very much knocked the wind out of me.

Books I've Read: Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel

This historical fiction account of the events surrounding Henry VIII's rejection of the church's power, separation from Katherine of Aragon, and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn is long, but worthwhile.  I liked that this version is told from Thomas Cromwell's businesslike point of view, but I had no idea that this 600-page novel, a novel of incredible scope and breadth, covered so little ground!  I also didn't realize that Mantel's project is meant to be a trilogy - I knew about the sequel, Bringing Up Bodies, but I just read today that it will not end there.

I assumed Wolf Hall would include Anne's eventual fall, as well as Cromwell's, but it does not; when it ends, Anne is still alive and well!

I liked this novel, but I didn't love it.  Patterns in the dialogue, particularly the willy-nilly use of quotation marks, made it difficult to follow who was speaking, which made a tough read seem even longer.

I'll read the sequel, but am taking a break for a while first.  In the meantime, I decided that since John is already in the throes of baseball season (he's been watching the Yankees spring training games on TV at night), I would watch Showtime's version of this same story: its The Tudors series. I got through a few episodes of the first season over the weekend, and my current impression is that it is much pornier than I expected!

Also, it is really bugging me that they wrote out one of Henry VIII's sisters, or else maybe I just haven't met that character yet?  Or else maybe Charles Brandon isn't going to make it and this sister will eventually get married off to Scotland?  Because if she doesn't go to Scotland, doesn't that mean that there will never be a Mary Queen of Scots, or any Stuarts at all?  I have many questions about the historical repercussions of Showtime's interpretation.

Not running, no yoga

Last weekend John and I traveled out to my hometown in southern Illinois to see my family.

It was fantastic to have everyone together, and we got to spend some time with my grandparents and the cute babies in the family.  I went running with my dad and took John for a little walk around Garden of the Gods, one of the best places in the Shawnee National Forest.

Garden of the Gods

Mountaintop bow pose.  I promise I kicked my leg out further and got my upper body parallel to the ground, but John took the picture while I was in motion.

Kissing Camel Rock

Lots of good times, but one major downer (literally).

As I was coming down the hardwood stairs in my parents' house, my feet (in socks) slipped out from under me and I fell down the entire flight.  I bruised up my arm and calf, but the fleshy part of my rear end took most of the fall.  This is good in that I have no broken bones, but it is bad, very, very bad, in that my butt is completely black, blue, and extremely, deeply sore.  The black bruise is swollen and covers my entire left butt cheek, and hurts when touched, when sitting, when walking, etc.  It hurts all the time, and it still swollen five days after the injury.  I would post a picture, but...no, I wouldn't.  I don't want that out on the Internet for all time.

There is absolutely no way I can run.  I tried the tiniest of jogs yesterday morning, and the minimal bouncing almost made my cry, it hurt so badly.  For now, I also don't think I can do yoga, because much of my class is sitting on the floor and even that sounds painful.  There is pain deep down in my glute, so any use of the muscle feels bad.  Just sitting in my chair at work, or lying in my bed at night, is uncomfortable.

It certainly could have been worse, and I'll recover, but I am disappointed.  I was just getting back into the mood to train again, and have been thinking of a spring half-marathon, but now I will wait a while to register.  I have also been enjoying my weekly Bikram yoga class, and was planning to up that to twice a week, but I must put that off for a little while, as well.  Believe me, I wouldn't do any of this if my butt didn't really, REALLY hurt.  I thought after a few days it would be getting better, but it is not, at least not yet.

Books I've Read: Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

My book club wanted to read a classic this time, so we all picked one and submitted it for voting.  My suggestion was Washington Square, both because it is relatively short and set here in my home city, New York.  I learned a tough lesson about classics back when another book club of mine chose D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love and I wanted to throw it out the window.  Also, I have been trying to get through Bleak House  for about 8 years (not an exaggeration  I started it when I started law school...in 2005).  Short is key.

My pick didn't win, but Fahrenheit 451 is even shorter!  Only about 150 pages!

Now, I was convinced that I had read this thing in high school, back when I read Brave New World and 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale and whatever other dystopian novels are on those lists.  But then, once I got started I realized that I had not read it at all.

My thoughts are as follows: I had always assumed it was meant to be about government censorship, but as I was reading I thought more and more that it was about how TV rots your brain and an underlying fear that visual entertainment would displace reading and other quieter, intellectual pursuits.  My impression was that the government in Fahrenheit 451 was destroying books as a reaction to the public's changing tastes; in the novel, as TV consumption increases, readership decreases, to the point that people weren't reading anymore and began to distrust what they no longer knew.  Only at this point did the firemen begin to burn books, presumably to keep people "happy" and eliminate the confusion and angst brought on, evidently, by reading and thinking too much.

Then, once I finished, a quick search sent me to this article, in which Bradbury describes his "fear in 1953 that television would kill books...."  The author himself insists it isn't a novel about censorship.  What I think is interesting is that this argument presumes TV is bad and books are good.  Those of us who have seen excellent, thoughtful TV shows or read terrible books (Fifty Shades of Grey, I'm looking at you) know, of course, this is not true.  Brain rot can result from any sort of thing.

Moreover, even in 1953 when the novel was first published, sure, TV was new, but not EVERYONE read Shakespeare all the time.  There have always been trashy novels; when I read The Woman in White (published in 1860) I remember reading somewhere than when it was published, it was quite sensational.  Different folks, having different preferences, might be readers, watchers, or game players.  Also, one category of entertainment doesn't necessarily have to displace another; the same person can (and does) read, watch TV, go to the movies, play sports, play videogames, etc.  

That's not to say that I don't take Bradbury's point, though.  In this day and age of the Kardashians and The Bachelor and all the garbage out there for the watching, not to mention the distractions of the Internet, some people are certainly choosing those over reading, and I can't imagine anyone is better off as a result.

Anyway, if a good novel is one that ignites this sort of conversation with myself, by that measure, Fahrenheit 451 is great.  I very much enjoyed reading it and thinking about it, and am looking forward to my book club.  

Books I've Read: Blood, Bones & Butter

by Gabrielle Hamilton

I had been wanting to read this memoir for ages and ages, and then when John took me to Prune, which is the author's tiny, lovely little restaurant down in the East Village, for my 35th birthday, I decided to READ IT.

The beginning is wonderful!  I loved the stories of Gabrielle Hamilton's growing up in rural Pennsylvania and the description of her family and the parties her father threw.  Her tales of beginning in the restaurant industry, first in her hometown and later in New York and at an upstate summer camp, were also worth the read.

But.

But, later in the book, after her marriage, her tone turns angry and whiny; it is a complete reversal and a distracting shift.  Although her love for her children and her Italian in-laws is clear, I never understood her rage at her mother or her husband.  The atmospheric detail and good nature she shows when she writes about food-related subjects is not there when she writes about family or travel.  In fact, during the second half of the book she comes off as rather mean-spirited and spoiled.

Chef Gabrielle Hamilton's memoir didn't thrill me, but eating at Prune did; I cannot wait to go back for her roasted marrow bones and a good cocktail.  The dessert we had there, the butter cake, was also absolutely fantastic.

Books I've Read: Another Insane Devotion: On the Love of Cats andPersons

by Peter Trachtenberg

The New York Times review made me interested in reading this "meowmoir."  I regret it, and I LOVE cats.

This memoir is completely scattered, and no one in my book club (including me) liked it.  There are some poignant moments and I enjoyed some of his descriptions of the lives of his cats, but overall I just couldn't get on board with his digressions on the philosophies of love.