Epicurious Runner

Finish Him!

Yesterday was filled with too many of these.

We had a good crowd over for our Mortal Kombat/Derek’s Birthday party. Mortal Kombat was on all night while everyone ate lots of pizza, carrots, pretzels and cupcakes and drank tons of beer and rum!

I also had a rum & coke with an iceberg sized piece of ice.

My skills at Mortal Kombat are progressing! My favorite character is Kitana, I am trying to master all of her moves. I still can’t beat Derek though. I woke up today feeling pretty good considering how much I drank throughout the day yesterday. I usually can’t handle more than 3 beers.

I got the Fish Tacos, which were really good! I’m glad I finally tried these, but the serving is a little on the smaller side, which was okay for today, but I’m not sure if I will ever order these if I am really hungry. They were really good, but not worth the $13.50 that I spent on them. I also got a Salted Caramel milkshake to go, I drank half and I still have the other half waiting for me in the refrigerator.

I did get that run in, but after 3 miles my food caught up with me and my stomach was extremely unsettled. A 10 mile run turned into a 7 mile run, which isn’t terrible, but I really have to step up my running if I want to PR in the Brooklyn Half.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Easter Sunday!

I Have Returned From The Dead

Oh my god, I have my life back! I haven’t been home on a Wednesday night since December. Green Eyes is over and it was a smashing success! We were all ready for it to be done by the last week, but the demand for the show was certainly exceeding the supply of tickets. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show was back, VERY soon.

Seriously, that play pretty much took over my life for the month of January. I didn’t even get to write about my amazing birthday. Since it seems like it was so long ago, here are the things I remember.

• I got sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to, 3 times! Once at work, once at home with Derek and my friends and once with everyone from ‘Green Eyes’.
• A ton of my friends came out to celebrate at Rattle ‘N’ Hum and we all drank delicious craft beer.
• I ate a HUGE cupcake cake from Crumbs.
• My parents wished me a Happy Birthday from Punta Cana.
• My dad is fixing my car for me as a birthday gift, best present ever!
• Derek gave me the new Kirby Epic Yarn game for the Wii and I love it!
• I ate the best burger ever at Shake Shack!
• I signed up for this Women’s Half Marathon.

I am trying very, very had to get back on the wagon when it comes to running. I need to get my butt back in shape, the Half Marathon is only 8 weeks away. Today I had an unexpected burst of motivation and I feel strongly that I will be doing better with exercise and running in these next few months. I’m also trying to get into shape for the wedding, it’s coming up so fast.

I ran 3 miles outside last week and died. I was out of breath, my lungs hurt and my body was not cooperating. It’s much easier to run inside on the treadmill, but that generally means I have to wake up super early to go to the gym.

Anyway, I’m done boring you. Happy Groundhog Day! Phil did not see his shadow, so let’s hope his prediction of an early spring is correct!

Random Date Night

****Don’t forget to donate to my TNT fund, all proceeds to go the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!****

I have less than 2 months to raise $1300, please HELP ME OUT!

Steph’s Fundraising Page

Derek and I randomly decided to go to the Blind Tiger Ale house to get some wings and beer! I have been craving chicken wings for like 2 weeks now and I could not wait go. We stayed for a couple hours and ended up getting 3 beers each and two appetizers. An order of hot wings and a quesadilla. For beer, I got a

• Brew Dog Dogma, which is a Spiced Ale
• Victory Harvest Pils – German Pilsner
• Mc Neills Blonde Bombshell.

I have decided that this is my favorite bar in the city. Okay yes, I have not been to many bars at all, but this places is seriously amazing and any other bar I got to has a lot to live up to. The food there is always so good and they are all about the quality and taste. The hot wings were spectacular and totally exceeded my expectations.  The quesadilla was also surprisingly good an I was surprised with how much I enjoyed everything there. I also wrote about the Blind Tiger at Mapcidy and IReallyLikeFood (dot) com.

This happened a few days ago, but I got offered two free tickets to see “The Miracle Worker” on Broadway. All I have to do is write a review. I’m so excited, especially because it will be my first show on Broadway. Derek and I are going on the night of February 18th.

Magnolia Bakery is right down the street from Blind Tiger so we of course had to stop there on the way home. We were going to get cupcakes, but we changed our minds and ended up getting two mini cheesecakes to split. We brought them home and enjoyed them here.

Caramel Pecan and Pumpkin Cheesecake. Yum!

Falafel – Ohh Soo Good!

Today has literally flew by! I can’t believe it is already 4 o’clock. I woke up late this morning, I didn’t get to bed until after 1 am last night. Got up and did some great Strength Training. It was one of the best sessions I’ve had in a long time. I felt strong and I feel like I really worked my muscles. I’ve decided that after my Half Marathon is over I want to focus a lot on strength training, well more than I have been. I want to aim to do it 3 times a week because I know it will help with my running and I long for awesome muscles!

I did some writing for a few hours, but ended up taking a break in the middle because I was REALLY craving falafel! I was actually writing an article on it and I couldn’t stand it anymore so I left and took a walk down to the street vendor, The King of Falafel. Ohhh it was soo good and satisfying! Sorry, no picture, I had to eat it on the go. The guy from the shop called me and told me my car was ready to be picked up. So I left from the falafel stand and headed over to auto place.

Yeah, um my oil change cost me $105!!! I’m pretty sure it’s because my car has a diesel engine so it’s way more expensive for the oil and it also takes more oil than an average car. Oh well, what’s good about diesel cars is that I don’t need another oil change now for another 10,000 miles.

I came home and wrote for another hour and now I am enjoying a little snack because it’s that time of the day where I definitely need a pick-me-up. A nice hot coffee and a delicious cupcake : )

Headed over to Kelly’s house in a little while for a fun girls night with her and Erin. Can’t stay out too late though, I have a long 9 miler planned for Central Park in the morning.

Celebrating a Quarter Century with a 10 Mile Run

I had a wonderful weekend. I went to Central Park bright and early Saturday morning for a Team in Training group run. I had a 9 miler scheduled, but the groups were running 10-12 miles so I opted just to go ahead and do a 10 mile run instead. It was a beautiful day out and it ended up being a really great run. It was probably 38 or 39 degrees and sunny.

• Distance: 10 Miles
• Duration: 97:14
• Pace: 9:43
• Calories Burned: 1,029

I was STARVING by the time I got home and I could not wait to eat my breakfast cookie that I had prepared the night before. I didn’t eat enough before my run either and was pretty hungry during my whole run, which sucked A LOT! But, I’ve definitely learned my lesson and I need to make sure I eat before my long runs.

My sister and Scott arrived on Saturday afternoon. We left shortly after for the King of Falafel and enjoyed some of the best falafel around. We hit up a great bar just a few blocks over called Sunswick, which is at the corner of 35th ave and 35th street. They have a huge selection of draft beer and it’s one of the best bars in Astoria.

Saturday night we had a party, a pizza party to be exact. We had 3 or 4 different homemade pizzas that were all incredibly delicious. There was even a dessert pizza made by Megan.

This was the pizza I made, I was really craving a veggie loaded pizza. I will have to make it again though, I don’t think I really ate enough to appreciate it.

These were Kelly’s mini pizzas.

This was the BEST thing of the night! Seriously this was amazingly delicious. I can not express enough how good this was. It was the best pizza there in my opinion.

We went to this really great bar called the Blind Tiger yesterday. I just got done writing an article / review about it on I Really Like Food, so keep an eye out for it tomorrow.

Today we hit up Pronto Pizza in Times Square, then went for a cupcake at Magnolia and a beer at the Heartland Brewery. Overall it was a great weekend and I’m so glad that Kerri and Scott finally got a chance to come down. They are great company and I really do miss hanging out with them as much as we used to.

I have a goal / career oriented post coming up tomorrow. Things have really changed for me within these past couple months and I have a lot on my mind. I’m ready to display and act upon new directions in my life.

Stay tuned.

A Wonderful Surprise

Last night I was just hanging out with the usual 46th street crowd, Derek, our roommate Matt and the two boys from downstairs, Dave and Ryan. Then all of a sudden cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery were all up in my face! Every cupcake had a lighted candle and I couldn’t have been more surprised. I was so happy and grateful, that was by far the best Birthday ‘cake’ I’ve ever received.

Yum! These are the BEST cupcakes ever! They are perfect and I had 12 to choose from! Chocolate, Vanilla, Red Velvet, and Banana Bread. There were three of each.

I chose the the chocolate one with chocolate jimmies. Ahhh it was soooo good! I obviously shared with everyone, but the rest are mine and Derek’s : )    So much for the cupcakes I bought at the store yesterday. Those will have to be saved for the party on Saturday.

Derek also gave me the sweetest card ever, I had to fight back some tears because it was so sappy, but very meaningful. It was a great 25th birthday!

This morning I did a scheduled Strength Training workout, but I felt very weak during the whole thing. It was very unfortunate. I feel really lazy and unmotivated to do much today. I need to get back to my To Do lists because I was doing so well with them before.

I am really craving a sandwich, I’m going to hit up the grocery store to pick up some lunch meat and all the other necessary ingredients.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, it’s my birthday and I am having a way better day than yesterday. I woke up feeling pretty great : )    I had a 5 mile tempo run scheduled for today and wow was it hard! These tempo runs are definitely going to be the hardest part of my training. I look forward to seeing progress by the end though.

It was supposed to be 5 miles at mid tempo pace, which is 8:45 min/mile

Here are my stats:

• Distance: 5 Miles
• Duration: 46:20
• Pace: 9:15
• Calories Burned: 502

Miles Splits:

1. 8:56
2. 9:01
3. 9:11
4. 9:32
5. 9:38

I could not wait to be done by mile 5! It was rough and I didn’t really do too well with staying even relatively close to 8:45. I think I was all over the place with my pacing in the first mile and I burnt myself out. I would rather start out slow and finish fast and strong. Oh well though, I’m still figuring out my pacing and there is always next week.

I got home and realized I was missing one of my gloves, I was so sad and couldn’t find it anywhere in my apartment. I was headed out to the Natural Market anyway so I figured I would retrace the last steps in my run. I went to the market, picked up my favorite sandwich, some chips, and a smoothie and continued walking to where I had just ran. I couldn’t believe it when I actually found it! I was so happy, I had just got those gloves for Christmas and I would’ve been really bummed if I lost one. I’m glad I went out and looked!

I got home and ate the best birthday lunch ever!

A Turkey and Cheese sandwich on Rosemary bread with a side of Kettle Salt and Pepper Chips and a Super Detox Smoothie. It was perfect and satisfying.

I came back and wrote a few articles for I Really Like Food and Health Kicker that were on Football Party Foods and In Season Produce. After that I took a little nap with my cat and then went grocery shopping. I’m currently marinating some chicken in the refrigerator that will be made once Derek gets home. We are having Chipotle Pepper seasoned chicken with roasted asparagus and peppers. I am starving and can not wait to eat. I also bought myself some cupcakes from the grocery store to enjoy for my birthday.

It’s been a good day and I look forward to my celebration on Saturday night with all my friends and I am super excited because my sister Kerri and my brother in law Scott are coming down to visit!

Flowers and Cupcakes

That is what I woke up to on Saturday morning! Oh and also a pile of clif bars, what more could a girl ask for? It was so nice and surprising. Derek didn’t actually ‘buy’ me all those things, but the was able to take them from the set of the movie he was working on. Apparently they were Uma Thurman’s flowers and cupcakes and she just didn’t want them. How nice to Derek to bring them home for me! : ) He actually said that they were all mine and I could decide who to share them with.

As you can see we already broke into that chocolate one that is half eaten. I’ve recently decided that I LOVE cupcakes. A lot of people don’t like them, but seriously I can’t get enough. Last night we ate 1/3 of that chocolate one, which had chocolate ganache in the center and it was so moist and delicious!

This was so decadent and gooey, I can’t wait to eat the other chocolate, chocolate one!

Yesterday I helped do some set work for a play that is opening in two weeks. I pretty much painted a bunch of trees all day. It went well I suppose. I came home and hung out with Derek for a bit and then went over to Cory and Kelly’s house to watch a few movies that Cory has been working on. I also saw Brit and Kendel, which was nice because I miss them so much.

Oh I forgot to mention that Derek also brought home all kinds of leftover Indian food, so I had some of that when I got back. Sorry no picture, I was starving and very focused on eating. After that Derek and I split a cupcake. This time it was some kind of crazy apple cinnamon cupcake. I was so surprised when I saw the filling! This must mean this is a filling in all of them. Yum, I can’ t wait to try them all.

These cupcakes are huge! They are definitely meant to be split. Now, it’s a battle between Crumbs Bakery and Magnolia Bakery. I am really enjoying these cupcakes from Crumbs because they are so decadent and they have filling, but Magnolia’s frosting is absolutely amazing and I kind of like how they are on the smaller side, at least when compared to these.

PS. I’ve been trying to take all of my pictures with out a flash whenever possible, but I am having trouble keeping the focus. A lot of the time I have to take the pictures 10 times because it keep coming out blurry. So please bear with me and hopefully there won’t be many more blurry pictures.

Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery is amazing! Really, that is all I have to say. I have heard many many good things about this place and it sure does live up the hype. They are known for their delicious cupcakes and I not only ate 1, but 2 of them today. Unfortunately I only have a picture of the second. I ate a vanilla cupcake with green vanilla frosting and white jimmies.

The second was a red velvet cupcake with vanilla frosting.

YUM!