As part of my current work, I do some career advising to first-year students who are seeking public interest jobs for their 1L summers. I realized yesterday as I was reviewing a student's profile in our career database system that he was born AFTER I graduated college. In an alternate universe, I could have a kid in law school. Oy.
Author: Laren
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Booze You Can Use: Purple Drank
Last week's favorite invented cocktail at Chez Laren – Purple Drank: Concord grapes, simple, lemon, aged genever, Dolin blanc, lemon bitters.
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Comfort Food
The other night, in need of some comfort (both physically and emotionally), I made myself one of my all-time favorite comfort food dishes — carbonara. I know, I know — I'm sure we could dive into why I seek comfort in food, but let's not go there right now.What is it that I love so much about this dish? It's creamy, hearty, salty, and can generally be made with ingredients I have around the house. I do add one unorthodox ingredient (no, not cream): sauteed onions. I cook a few slices of bacon and then saute the onions in a bit of the rendered bacon fat. Onions and the bit of fat get mixed into the hot pasta along with egg and parmesan or pecorino cheese and just enough pasta water to make it all the right consistency.
Coincidentally, this comforting dish has also fueled most of my triathlons — it's my go-to dish the night before a race.
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Grillin’ and Chillin’
Had a wonderfully relaxing end of summer weekend on Fire Island, complete with a Saturday night dinner on the grill. If only I had a grill in NYC. . .
The menu:
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Miracle of Miracles
I went to a 7 am pilates class this morning. I haven't gone to an exercise class that early since 2000, which I was training for my first AIDS Ride — I was so terrified that I went to two spin classes and a body sculpt class at 6:30 am three days a week. Let's see if I can build up to a somewhat more modified version of that . . .
And Shana Tova everyone!!
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Respect Yourself
I did my first triathlon in 2007 — a sprint distance tri in West Point. Since then, I have completed one triathlon per year (with the exception of 2013): the NYC Triathlon, which is an Olympic distance — twice as long as a sprint. I completed my 8th triathlon this weekend in Jersey City. I had the option of either a sprint or Olympic distance, and I agonized a bit about which to do, ultimately settling on the sprint. I hadn't been training super-hard and really didn't feel like I had it in me to do the Olympic. Moral of the story? I'm glad I listened to my body. It was just the right level of challenge for the time I had to train, and I felt good at the end.
Comparing the two sprints is pretty interesting and shows that I'm generally pretty consistent. Reading my post from the West Point Tri, there was consensus that the swim was short. My time this year is about what I expected based on swimming 1/2 mile in a pool. The long T1 for this year's tri was due to a 1/4 mile barefoot run back to transition, which makes sense. The bike and the run are pretty similar — not bad for a span of 8 years!
2015 Swim 21:25 T1 7:29 Bike 55:04 T2 2:10 Run 33:57 TOTAL 2:00:07
2007 Swim 11:59 T1 4:14 Bike 53:16 T2: 2:42 Run 30:42 TOTAL 1:42:52
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Tri, Tri Again
This year has been a bit of a break for me on the triathlon front. I went to a wedding in California the weekend of the NY Triathlon so had to defer (see you in the Hudson in 2016!), but knew that I'd do another triathlon on another weekend instead. Here's the thing — triathlons, especially non-local ones, can be quite expensive. I originally signed up for the Orange County Triathlon, but didn't feel quite ready and got suddenly overwhelmed by the logistical aspects (transportation, lodging, blah, blah), so deferred (guess I'll see the Hudson twice next year!). Instead, I'm doing the Jersey City Triathlon on Sunday. Aside from the slight annoyance of taking the PATH at 5 am with my bike and all my gear (I think I'll take the ferry home), it should be fairly simple. It's also a sprint — half the distance of the NYC Tri — so despite not being in tip-top shape, I'll be okay with the training I've done.
If you are in Jersey City and feel like coming out to cheer me on — please do! 2016 training starts next week. . .
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Yay Maine
Sad to be heading back to reality today. Sigh.
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My Everything
I, like many, have strong feelings about everything bagels. I had one yesterday from Absolute Bagels that, in my opinion, was the perfect specimen. Given the many everything bagels I've had over the years, I've noticed a few things — first, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion, and garlic seem to be non-negotiable. The two elements that tend to vary are salt and caraway seeds. For me, the salt should be there and makes for a superior bagel. The caraway, however, has no place whatsoever — it takes over and ruins the whole thing.
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Awareness
I've been playing in a shuffleboard league at Royal Palms the past few months (in Gowanus — yes, I'm a hipster). It has been quite fun, and we did okay — we won some and we lost some. I've met new people and re-connected with others I know who happened to be in the league, and all and all I've enjoyed it. Last night, as I was playing, I noticed that one of the guys on the other team would always make a comment when he missed a shot, and that more often than not, it involved calling the biscuit (the puck-like thing) a name — a misogynistic name, like "bitch" and "whore." "Travel, you whore!" The guy seemed fairly nice and friendly otherwise. At the end of the match, as we were all shaking hands, I said to him, "hey, you might want to tone down the misogynistic comments when you miss a shot." He was honestly apologetic. "You're right — I didn't realize I was even doing that. What if my little sister was here?! Thanks."
Spreading awareness, one dude at a time.
