We've been talking and strategizing about running the length of the Shawangunk Ridge for years. We've run all over the ridge, but never from one end to the other. But, on Sunday morning, the opportunity to check this off the list presented itself and we couldn't pass it up. The opportunity was in the form of a car shuttle & drop off, one of the logistical steps that had steered us away from this challenge...that and the 18+ miles of running. We basically ran from the left side to the right side of the photo below.
A victory in the Bronx!! On Sunday December 11, Laurel won the Pete McArdle 15k Cross Country Classic. The race consisted of THREE LOOPS of the infamous Van Cortland Park cross country course. One time around that course is hard, but THREE?? Brutal! Laurel was not going to let the hills -- she says the downs were worse than the ups -- stop her from winning her first ever New York Road Runners Club race
Every year I pick an intricate recipe to make on Christmas Eve with my mother-in-law. The day before Christmas we have all the time in the world and are usually eager for an excuse to avoid the frigid Toronto weather. As a former scientist (McGill Chemistry class of '51), Mrs H is a precise and unflappable cook. Recipes with a page-long list of ingredients and three pages of instructions don’t deter her. Neither do steps— such as “use a candy thermometer” and "beat eggs until strong peaks form"—that make me turn the page.
Last year we made the cookies featured on the back cover of the Martha Stewart Living holiday issue. They called for peppermint extract, which Mrs. H. happened to have on hand. When I asked about the price tag—25¢—she said something about using the oil for a recipe about 40 years ago!
