kbecker57

Butterfinger cookies

Chopping Butterfingers

I know it may seem like all I do lately is run and bake cookies. It’s not entirely untrue, but I will hopefully get back to some regularly scheduled programming (aka cooking) in the near future. I do have to come up with something interesting for an Olympics potluck this weekend…any ideas?

Folding in the chopped candy

Claire and I made these for the fundraiser that we planned for the UNC-Duke game that was not meant to be, in addition to Valentine M&M cookies and Nika cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip pecan). We made 1.5 times the recipe in order to have enough to fill all of the Valentine treat bags, but I decided to include the original recipe here…because math is hard.

I got to use Claire’s fancy new meat mallet to chop the Butterfingers. I might need to invest in one of those – it had more surface area for “chopping” than my hammer!

Butterfinger cookies
Source: Sally’s Baking Addition via Pinterest
Makes: about 3 dozen Kara-sized cookies

Ingredients
1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Delicious finished product!

3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg (use 2 if dough seems too dry)
8 fun size Butterfinger candy bars, chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl and set aside. In a medium or large bowl, mix together sugar and butter until creamy. Beat in egg until just combined.

3. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in Butterfinger pieces. The dough will be very thick. Drop by slightly rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and wire rack and enjoy! (I bet it will be hard to resist sneaking a warm cookie…)

Boston Marathon training – Week 11

Mission moment

On Saturday the American Liver Foundation and Children’s Hospital joined forces to organize a 16-mile “Love Your Liver” run on the Boston Marathon course. We met at the Riverside T station, dropped off our bags and got on a bus to Natick Common. Then it was up to us to get ourselves to Boylston Street. There were about 150 Liver team members out on the course, along with a big group from Children’s and many many others.

It was a great run, thanks to an inspiring mission moment on the bus, the support of the volunteers at the five water stops we had along the way, Coach Jorge driving by with music blasting, a post-run shower at Boston Sports Club, and a post-run beer and $1 egg sandwich at McGreevy’s. Bob Rice, this run was for you!

In other news, the UNC-Duke game last Wednesday was cancelled due to the snowstorm. I didn’t find out until just *after* we finished packaging individual Valentine treat bags with almost 200 homemade cookies and candy. It was a bummer to not be able to carry out our fundraiser, but an acceptable Plan B involved checking out Michael Scelfo’s new digs (Alden & Harlow). Corn pancakes…’nuff said. And we donated the cookies to our team after the run on Saturday.

Go Liver!

Total distance covered
30 miles

Donors of the week
Julie McGee
Alan Drabkin

Goals for next week
Hyannis half, which may or may not be hilly, and may or may not come with a medal and a t-shirt for finishing

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 10

Pre-long run smoothie ingredients

And just like that, we’ve made it to the halfway point! This week the training plan also upped the ante to running four days a week (from the previous three days)…which is no joke.

Never leave home without your burrito card

Instead of my usual Saturday morning long run, I decided to head out on Sunday for a burrito run. For those of you who are not familiar with this (which is probably most, since I’m pretty sure we made it up), it’s a run organized to finish at a burrito spot, preferably El Pelon. It just so happens that one of their locations is by BC which makes it super convenient to tackle Heartbreak Hill…which is super good practice for marathon day. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. It is fun and motivating to know that there are friends (and yummy burritos) waiting for me at the end of the run.

After the run on Sunday, my friend (and fellow Liver teammate) and I baked more cookies for the 50:50 raffle we’ll be holding at the UNC-Duke game this Wednesday (9 PM at the Baseball Tavern). We baked Valentine M&M cookies and Butterfinger cookies – and don’t worry, I did some quality control to make sure they were acceptable.

Post-run feasting

Total distance covered
28 miles

Donors of the week
Adam and Aimee Kensky
Pam Brooks
Melanie Maletta

Goals for next week
Show some liver love on the team run (for real this time) – I’m getting on a bus and running to the finish line. I may even wear some Valentine’s Day socks.

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Nika cookies

Apparently I like to bake during storms that occur in February and start with the letter “N”…last year Nemo, this year Nika, a slightly different version of a previous Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve made. If you’re curious about the rest of this winter’s storm names, check out the list on the Weather Channel.

Nika (NEE-ka): From Greek mythology; the goddess who personified winning or victory.

View of the storm from my place

I was pretty excited that I actually cooked something…baking = cooking, right? It was a toss up between cookies and a red lentil soup recipe that I saw on Pinterest. Cookies won since I had all of the ingredients on hand (we definitely overbought for our post-Christmas cookie bake-a-thon as I still have two more pounds of butter in my freezer). Speaking of the Christmas cookiefest, these cookies were my almost favorite this year…M&M cookies will always be the favorite favorite. I think it was the substitution of the pecans for walnuts that gave them the silver medal over Martha’s sugar cookies and Sofra’s molasses cookies.

If you want to try these for yourself, I’ll be giving them away, in addition to Valentine M&M cookies, next week (2/12) at the UNC-Dook game watch event at the Baseball Tavern…in exchange for participating in a 50:50 fundraiser raffle to support my Boston Marathon fundraising efforts. I guess that’s what some people call bribing…you say potato, I say potato. Feel free to stop by, as long as you’re not rooting for the Dookies!

Oatmeal chocolate chip pecan cookies
Source: AllRecipes
Makes 6-7 dozen (depending on how big you like ’em)

This is how I chop pecans

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Just add milk

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the oats, pecans, and chocolate chips.

4. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I line mine with parchment paper).

5. Bake 9-11 minutes or until light golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Boston Marathon training – Week 9

This week I had my first (and hopefully only) wipeout…tripped on the sidewalk on a very early morning run, resulting in a bruised elbow, knee, and ego. But thankfully no major injuries, open wounds, or ripped clothing. Phew!

Running in circles

I was in Baltimore this weekend, staying at the Aloft hotel in Arundel Mills. I asked the guy at the front desk for suggestions on a route and he didn’t understand why I would want to go out running in “this weather”. It was 24 degrees and sunny, tropical compared to some of those wicked cold January runs. One of his suggestions was to run laps in the mall with the mall walkers. I can’t imagine how many laps I would have had to do! So off I went, blindly, and this is what 15 miles of “I don’t know where I’m going” looks like. It turned out to be a bit hilly too – it’s definitely unnerving to feel yourself running downhill, knowing that you will have to run back up the hill to get back!

Total distance covered
26 miles

Donors of the week
Trudy Jewett – who got me over the 3K mark!
Kathy Kelley
Tawnya and Mike Lopez
FM Global Matching Gifts Program (my first corporate match, via Christian Sonneville)

Goals for next week
Enjoy the fact that we’re almost halfway there!

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

January RC – Society on High

C’s vs. Raptors

A special thank you to guest blogger Mark Douglass for writing this month’s RC post! I couldn’t make it this month because I was recovering from going to the Celtics game the previous night, and since I have no photos of RC to share, I am sharing my fabulous view of the game from one of the executive suites. I also have attempted (and failed) to go to Society on High — the bar was full and the restaurant was hosting a private event the night I went. It doesn’t sound like I need to keep this restaurant “on my list” of places to check out.

Sonia Shah, RC’s newest member, was charged with selecting a dining location for the month of January. Not even open for a year, Sonia’s sights were set on Society on High in Boston’s financial district. Society is among several new more upscale restaurants that are popping up in the typically quieter area of the city. Although the after-work crowd has kept Society buzzing for the past several months, its been a rocky road for the former owners of Les Zygomates, who have struggled to draw in a dinner crowd.

Society has the look and feel of an expansive, open space with tall ceilings, large floor to ceiling windows throughout, and a huge wrap-around bar that is the centerpiece for the restaurant. In fact, much of the restaurant seating is encompassed within the bar area. With classic yet contemporary furnishings, good music, and a comfortable level of noise dampening, the six of us were comfortably seated at a high-top booth in the lounge.

Of course it wouldn’t be RC without drinks, the beer/wine menu was decent but lacked creativity, missing the boat on local craft beer drafts, or even seasonal beer options. The wine menu was basic, a good offering of both reds and whites. There were about 6-8 specialty cocktails to choose from, somewhat diverse in their base liquors but nothing that appealed to our group, so we stuck with beer/wine.

Since we were all starving, we lunged for the bar menu. After getting recommendations from the owner on the 15 items on the bar menu, we settled the tuna tartare, firecracker shrimp, and oysters. The tuna tartare, served in a triangular tortilla shell was easy to eat like a taco and was accompanied by a spicy aioli, wasabi, and pickled ginger. It was a hit with all of us. The firecracker shrimp was a spicy, wonton-wrapped fried app that was accompanied by a creamy cashew dipping sauce, which was runny and slightly unimpressive. The oysters were large, clean, and a hit (with those that prefer them). Bar menu prices were reasonable, averaging $12.

Since we indulged in the bar menu apps, we skipped the apps on the main menu and went straight for the entrees. Their entrée selection was relatively small, with only seven options to choose from. As a lover of all things Bolognese, I gravitated to this dish and wasn’t disappointed: a hearty portion, it was simply stick to your ribs pork/beef/veal yumminess, and also the cheapest at $19. Kendrin and Jimmy ordered the pan roasted chicken statler in pan au jus, accompanied by mushroom fricassee and faro risotto. Overall, the chicken was decent, was a little dry, and the portion size was slightly small. The risotto was good, but nothing spectacular. Kim ordered the braised stuffed veal breast, with swiss chard, chanterelles, and Parmesan. Not your typical veal entrée, it was full of flavor (read: somewhat fatty), but was also a bit dry/over-braised. Sonia and Karen decided to share a big bowl of risotto, standard risotto, cooked well, and nicely flavored. Prices were on the higher side (but cheaper than their initial opening menu), between $19-$28.

We all know that it just wouldn’t be RC without dessert. Well, we didn’t order dessert, probably for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps it was because we were told that there wasn’t a dessert menu, or maybe it was because the server said the pastry chef was on vacation. Or, just maybe he thought he might persuade us to order dessert by saying that there were “a few slices of French silk pie left”. Strange? Bizarre? Yes to both, and no dessert.

Overall, another nice RC dining experience. Not sure if Society will survive without making a few more changes, right now, its niche is more of an after-work happy hour, bar menu destination.

The damage

$390 ($65/per person)

The rundown

Society on High

99 High Street, Boston

Boston Marathon training – Week 8

Week 8 is in the books and I’ve officially made it to the second page of my training schedule.

New sneaks

I got new sneakers this week (or maybe they arrived last week and I finally opened the package this week…I’ll never tell). And yes, they look exactly like my old ones! I found the old (aka my current) model on Amazon for a pretty good price…$75 instead of the usual $100ish price tag. I usually go to Marathon Sports and use a 15% coupon. I always have a coupon, either from a previous race or there is one at the bottom of the monthly email newsletter they send out. It was a lucky find since I can’t normally order my shoes online due to the sort of atypical size I wear, a whole size bigger than my normal shoes in a narrow width (size 8 2A). I have been super happy with this model and I get to continue the Wendy Davis shoe craze for a little bit longer, say another 350-500 miles or so.

Why hello Newton

This week I also signed up for the BAA distance medley, which includes the 5K on marathon weekend, the 10K in June, and the half-marathon in October. Though I’m not convinced I’m actually in since I haven’t received a confirmation email about my entry. I do show up on the searchable entry list on their web site, so hopefully that is a good sign. Last year I tried to sign up for the half-marathon and it filled up in about 12.2 minutes. Running, especially in Boston, is super popular these days! It seems like 2014 will be the year of BAA races for me – if I get in to the medley, I’ll be completing the quadrilogy or the hat trick +1. For those of you who are wondering, I thought I might have made up a cool word (quadrilogy), but I didn’t…if it’s on Urban Dictionary, it must be a real word, right?

The frozen Charles + Instagram, from the BU bridge

Saturday’s long run was a slight step-back in distance, from 14 miles to 12 miles. I had to be up and out early, earlier than the team run, so I could go meet another favorite pint-sized cheerleader. Since I was on my own, I decided to head out on the course and take on some of those infamous hills. Out and back on Comm Ave meant that I hit the hills in both Brighton and Newton. The first time I ran a course like this, my friend Kendrin was with me and she called me Gilly (from SNL) because I didn’t tell her the route would take us to Heartbreak Hill. Ignorance is bliss…or so they say. It was great to see lots of runners on the course, including the Project Hope team who looked super snazzy in their matching marathon jackets. It was pretty chilly and my Camelbak straw, skittles (a new addition to the trail mix), and phone all froze at certain times during the run.

Total distance covered

23 miles

Donors of the week
Morgan Battenfeld

Lance Battenfeld

Vanessa and Michael Alves

Jean and Mark Handley

Laurie Manzo

Goals for next week
Take my new sneakers for a spin

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 7

I joined the “Meg’s Miles” event on Facebook and dedicated this week’s long run to Meg Cross Menzies, and ran it from Chantilly, VA where I was visiting some friends (who turned out to be huge heroes for me this weekend too).

Meg Cross Menzies was tragically killed by a drunk driver while out for her morning run on January 13, 2014. As an avid runner, member of the Richmond Road Runners Club, and Boston marathoner, she was a member of the running family nationwide. In her honor, our hope is to raise awareness of drunk driving, texting and driving, and overall safety of runners and cyclists everywhere.

This Saturday, January 18, 2014, no matter what your distance, no matter where you live, run for Meg. Take in the fresh air, be aware of your surroundings, keep your headphones on low, feel the heaviness in your lungs, the soreness in your legs, and be grateful for it–for all of it. The sweat, the pain, the wind, the cold…everything. Be grateful for that moment.

Feel free to post pictures of yourself pre-run or post-run, post your distance, post your thoughts, prayers, condolences with the hashtag #megsmiles. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Let all runners unite together and remember the loss of a beautiful spirit. It’s not a coincidence the hashtag reads either “Meg’s Miles” or “Meg Smiles.” She will be smiling on all of us forevermore.

Directions!

I thought Virginia is supposed to be warmer than Boston! It was pretty cold and super windy, and my friend Julie had to go old school when planning out a route for me to run (aka, paper and pen). I still managed to get a bit turned around, but I did make it back to her house. I also enjoyed some quality time with two pint-sized cheerleaders who love Nemo, sharks, puzzles, indoor camping, and playing hide and seek.

I’ll be honest, I did miss a pretty long run this week (7 miles). It was a trade-off, and I made the right decision because I got to spend time with my cousins and go to the Celtics-Pacers game.

I will leave you this week with some wisdom from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Post-run fun with Julie McGee

Total distance covered

19 miles (was supposed to be 26)

Donors of the week
Kristen McCauley
Helen Segelke
Rob and Emily Menzel
Aaron Hefez
Suzi Melotti and Patty Ma
Scott and Sarah Faust
The Douglass Family

Goals for next week
Join the team run on Saturday!

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 6

Two of the cities in the four city 10-miler

As of today, there are 98 days until the marathon! I know, that’s not quite as catchy as being able to say “100 days until the marathon!”, but that milestone has already passed…and I only knew about it because Coach Jorge posted it to the team Facebook page on Friday.

Sapporo and soju for the table

Anyway, what a difference a week makes…from 3 degrees last weekend to a balmy 50-something degree day yesterday. I dubbed yesterday’s long run the Four City Kara and Claire 10-miler. My friend Claire planned a route that took us through Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, and Cambridge. I will admit that sometimes I had no idea where I was…actually…most of the time. It was a little wet out, but I’m super glad we finished before the real rain (and thunder and lightning) started.

I must confess that my pre-long run meal on Friday night involved Korean bbq, Sapporo, and shots (yes that’s plural) of soju. It was delicious and totally worth it, but also part of the reason I decided to skip the 8 AM team run (yet again)! The other reasons were of course getting to run with Claire and enjoying a post-run adult “haute” chocolate and lunch at Not Your Average Joe’s.

Korean bbq

On a slightly more nutritious note, I’ve been experimenting with mid-run snacks. I’m not a fan of GU, and my stomach’s not a fan of a lot of the other energy products on the market. Lately I’ve been putting together a combination of M&M’s, dried cranberries, and the honey stinger chew things and so far so good. I think I need to add something salty, probably goldfish or pretzels…or perhaps pretzel goldfish! Perhaps I should market this as Kara’s running trail mix. On a side note, if you’re a GU fan, Claire gave two thumbs up to the salted caramel GU flavor yesterday.

Total distance covered

23 miles

Donors of the week
Anonymous Anonymous (super curious about this one – anyone want to step forward?)
Daniella Argueta
Daniel Bahcheli
Suzanne and Fred Battenfeld
Mickee Brocato
Etienne Ratte-Delorme
Jill Kurtz
Andy Soares
Ellen Farren

Goals for next week
Take my long run out (way out) of Boston!

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 5

Three degrees!

Well I spoke too soon…that Christmas cold caught up with me this week. I skipped my Tuesday run and Wednesday cross-training per my training plan. And I didn’t quite make it to midnight on NYE, though I wished 2013 farewell before I crashed. But things are looking up as I’ve successfully weaned myself off NyQuil! Getting off the cough medicine is next.

Hercules (still not sure how I feel about naming snowstorms) arrived with a vengeance on Thursday and Friday. I am going to count shoveling snow as a workout – it exists as one on MyFitnessPal!

With the snow and the wicked cold temperatures on Saturday, the team run was cancelled. I decided to venture out anyway, but planned to attempt half outside and finish the other half at the gym – which felt more tolerable than two hours on a treadmill! It was three degrees when I headed out the door, which called for lots of layers. In the sun, it didn’t feel too cold and I managed to run the first two-thirds outside.

Lots of colorful layers

The worst part of the run was what happened to my poor sneakers. I do need to get a new pair, but these were fun because they were the same ones that Wendy Davis wore for her marathon filibuster. They’ve become much more popular since then. But for what it’s worth, I’ve been wearing Mizuno Wave Riders since I bought my first pair of “real” running shoes.

In other news, I am so honored to be almost 50% to my fundraising goal, thanks to all of you!

Total distance covered

19.5 miles (though it was supposed to be 22)

Hercules carnage on the Mizunos

Donors of the week

Mom and Dad Becker

Duanne and Christian Sonneville

MaryAnn and Anthony Conforti

Jerry and Jean Holwell

Alice Zimmer

Ray and Maureen Haag

Melissa Godet

Poonhar Poon

Sara Usilton

Valerie and Andy Cleverdon

Dylan Bui

HRH Eric Shipley

Goals for next week

Wean myself off cough medicine!