Sad day in the life of a runner...

Well....I haven't posted much about my running or condition lately but I have been resting for the last week due to some foot pain. It was caused by a mixture or trying to run to far in new shoes and also running far in general. Also it is the foot that I had a stress fracture on a few years ago. So, sadly today, I tried to run again after a week of rest and it still was slightly painful. Instead of paying for an xray that was going to tell me to rest for a while and the possibility of a stress fracture, I decided that I would "call it" myself and take 6 weeks of rest from running to let it heal. Very sad but in good spirits and going to try be motivated to do lots of yoga and weight training. Still hard cause I do enjoy my running, my running buddies, and my stress release. Life goes on and things could be worse. No marathon for me unless I decide to walk. hmmmm....

Preserved Egg

Oh mano! I am really glad I didn't read this before I ate lunch today. I THOUGHT THE CHUNKS WERE MUSHROOMS!!! My stomach is still churning a little bit tonight... Totally worth it though ;)

WIKIPEDIA:

Century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, and millennium egg, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulfur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The Real Action Hero

Loosin up and toast

Ready to go!

The camera-girl

"Testing" on my mini mic

Lunch Menu

Here I go....and...

YUMMY!

Fun day today doing a little filming and messing around in Chinatown. Sari and I started the day with a little toast and ceremonial shot before grabbing the camera, hooking up the mic and hitting the streets. We checked out the cool architecture and walked around looking for good spots to stop and talk about the area. We stopped in a few places along the way and attempted to chat people up but talking to the locals was a little difficult as many didn’t speak English. I still tried with a couple though. It was a little disappointing and surprising that a few of the places wouldn’t let us film inside. We did sneak in a little bit before they asked us to stop. The highlight of the day was lunch. We went to a little café in the square that posted “Authentic Hong Kong Style Restaurant” and had a variety of items on the menu. In order to make things a little interesting I decided to order a little exotic: Preserved Egg and Pork Congee and Pork Stomach and Intestine with Pickled Vegetables. I did manage to take down a little bit of it, for the sake of the show, but ended up eating the traditional Chinese meal of a bowl white rice and a huge glass of water. The Congee was a soup made with rice and broth that turns creamy from the starch in the rice, sort of like the texture of instant oatmeal. I didn’t realize that the black and brown chunks in it weren’t mushrooms but they were the eggs until AFTER I ate a few. I then asked the waitress what preserved eggs are and she proceeded to tell me that a couple years ago they were probably put aside and preserved. DUH, Becky…PRESERVED! Hmmmmmm….not sure that she gave the best explanation but she caught my attention after saying A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO!! Overall the soup wasn’t too bad but quite rich and I couldn’t stomach more than a half of a cup. Then it was on to the intestine. In order to do a few different “shots” for filming I needed to eat a few pieces. The flavor was that of the sauce it was in which was sort of a bean oyster sauce, not very good so it did NOT help. It was pretty chewy and fatty and took a little while to break down. There was no way I was going to sit there and continue to chew for 10 minutes on one piece so swallowing was the alternative. I made it through! I think the busboy was a little surprised to see that our plates were still pretty full except our rice bowls and we didn’t need a to-go box when we left. After that we were pretty exhausted and a little out of sorts so we called it a “wrap.” I would say it was successful first go at it.

Oh Brother...

Me and my bro Zach and I and the Tatum crew

Had a good weekend! My big bro Zach came out on a spur of the moment visit on his way back to Montana from South Carolina. He came on Saturday morning after I did my 18 mile training run for the marathon coming up. Let me tell ya...I was one tired girl that day. AND between the rain, my clothes, and the mileage I managed to rub about a 1/3 of my skin off. Not fun walking around and sweating the rest of the day. Chaffing is deadly. I hit the road the road that morning in the pouring rain at 5am and met up with my friend Meg for part of it. The rain stopped after about 45 minutes but my clothes remained stuck to my body the rest of the almost 3 hour run. Actually felt pretty successful afterward.

Zach arrived right after and we walked around the city a bit, checked out Wrigley Field, had a little Chicago pizza (without passing out beforehand in need of food), and then hung out at the condo. It was so great to spend time with him since I don't get to very often. We ended the evening with a little wine and visit with Sari after having dinner at the little Tapas resturant in our building. Sunday we met our cousins out in the suburbs for church and a picnic. I love spending time with them and they were excited to meet Zach and visit most of the day. It was all to short but fun before I had to drop him off at the Airport that night. And another week of work began.

Lil catchup

Man, I'm getting a little behind on here. Mostly been working alot including a fun weekend day at Lollapalooza, a big Music Festival with headliners such as Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Soundgarden. It was pretty crazy of course with tens of thousands of people and lots of alcohol and drugs around. Not my scene too much but was cool to be in the VIP lounge for work handing out snacks to the Artists and their guests. I wasn't there when some of the big artists were there but it was still nice to have access to all the good places. One crazy thing is that I did run into two girls that I worked with last summer at summer camp. So unbelievable considering that many people in a HUGE park with 7 or 8 stages all around. It was great to visit with them.
Other news.....
I am once again signed up for the Chicago Marathon so have been spending alot of time running. On Saturdays I have been going to my cousins and hanging out and spending the night so I can run with Shelli. It has been so awesome to become such close friends with her and her family.
My brother is coming here on Saturday for a night so I am really excited about that and will update the blog from that.
I am working on my plans for the end of the year including my trip to Germany and possibly more travel.
Still moving with my big project venture which will take more shape next week.

Now you should be a little more caught up but expect to hear some big things coming up :)
Talk to you soon!

Taste of the Nation

Last Thursday night Sari and I used my free VIP tickets that I had for the Taste of the Nation. A huge culinary and drink mixing night to benefit for childhood hunger that my company sponsored. We got valet, special seating, free food and drinks and a goodie bag. Good food, good drinks but REALLY hot. The venue wasn't air conditioned which isn't a good thing to cram 1000 people into a huge ballroom with food cooking going on. So unfortunately we only lasted about and hour and half before becoming so uncomfortable sweaty that we had to leave. The night was still young but our tummies were full so we went to the beach and walked in the sand and water with a beautiful view of the city. It was still 80+ degrees out so gorgeous outside.

Sushi-rama

Adam debating on fish

Our Japanese shopping cart
Japanese candy girl

The Hull House Garden

Yummy Tomatillos

Sunflowers in the garden

Harvesting some greens

Awesome homemade pesto

Adam's Sushi rice demo - I'm fanning the rice which apparently is very important

Serious business

The Sushi table

Dinner time - a little toast with Sake

Tuesday was an eventful day starting with my 6 mile run, dentist appointment and pointless work meeting all before 9:30am. It was suppose to be a day off for me but had to run in for about an hour to meet up with some corporates. Then the fun began. My friend Adam really wanted to cook up some sushi since it is his favorite and he lived in Japan for a few years so I had offered to have a little dinner party at my house. He and I made a day of it. First we went to a huge Japanese market up north and ate lunch and shopped around. He is just like me in a grocery store. We were kids in a candy store. After alot of fish and sushi stuff we headed back into the city and stopped at a community garden that his roommate takes care of. I have been wanting to see it so we dropped by and picked some tomatoes and lettuce before heading back to my place. It was soooo cool. I would love to learn to garden and have a big one of my own some day. Back at the house we did some cooking of whatever we had in the fridge and needed to get cooked up on our day off.....we made awesome pesto, I made a lentil soup for my work week, and we prepped some of the sushi stuff. Finally we just chilled out and watched a movie before a couple of friends came by. We had a few cancellations so it ended up just being 5 of us. Still fun though. I even threw on my new Kimono robe that Sari brought me back from Thailand, for the occasion. Next dinner party.....hmmmmm.....maybe I will treat with a little German food.

Weekend in the city with the girls

This weekend was a fun weekend with my cousins' daughter's Lex and Chelsea. They both graduated from high school this year so I told them for there grad present they should come into the city and we can shop, eat, visit and hang out some weekend. They came in on Friday and had a busy great time. We hit up a couple second hand shops before going to lunch at a cute little coffee shop deli outside of downtown. It's really nice to sometimes get away from the touristy downtown and see the more casual beautiful part of the city. We had a great time checking things out, taking pictures, and shopping at some other little shops in Lincoln Park after lunch. Next was a cool used bookshop and another clothing store before heading to dinner. Without much of a plan and with being pretty hunger we hit up a place on the way back home to sit outside and enjoy the weather. Thankfully we were able to sit under the awning since it decided to rain a little bit. After a long day we went back to the condo to welcome home Sari as she just returned back from her 3 week stint in SouthAsia. We visited a while and then crashed for the night. Saturday was a good morning of sleeping in until 9, getting a little coffee and walking downtown. Ugggghhh....the walking around downtown was really crowded of course but the company made it worth it. We shopped around, took some pics, grab a late lunch before heading back out the burbs. They are still filming the Transformers 3 movie so we passed more of the set while walking around and caught a glimpse of a scene with Shia Lebuff from a distance. I brought the girls back home and had dinner at Tobi and Shelli's and spent the night. Shelli and I got up for an early run before I made my sad way back into the city and off to work. I really enjoy there company and only wish they lived a little bit closer. Can't believe it is August. Now that Sari is back it is time to hunker down on our project and make it happen.