Downton Abbey Sundays

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Sunday is usually my rest day, plus it's farmer's market day and generally an all-around "me day." I sleep in, have breakfast or brunch out, go to the market, do my other food shopping, run errands, get a manicure, visit with friends. It's always a pretty fabulous day. But when Downton Abbey season three began, Sundays went up a notch. We drank wine, had great food and watched Downton. Does it get any better?

Some menu highlights have included 40 cloves of garlic and a chicken, salmon with shallots and grapefruit, and grass-fed beef chili and cornbread. Last night, for the final Downton Abbey Sunday this year, I braised a pork shank in white wine. The shank was from my favorite local pork purveyor, Flying Pigs Farm and the recipe incredibly simple, yet the outcome so divine.

The shank is rubbed with a mixture of crushed garlic, fresh minced rosemary and olive oil, then placed in a dutch oven with butter and a mixture of carrots, onion and celery. I used some beautiful yellow carrots from the farmers market.

After slightly browning, the temp is lowered, wine is added, and three magical hours later you have the most incredible pork you could imagine.

The wine line-up paired beautifully: Joel Gott Pinot Gris 2010 for braising and sipping; Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino 2007 with the pork. 

The meal was outstanding. The finale of Downton Abbey, however, was not. I'm still in denial. I'm also in denial that Downton Abbey Sundays will have to wait until January 2014. In the meantime, I'll continue my other Sunday MyDay traditions.

Training
On the training front, things continue to progress after a major stress, exhaustion, work, life-change setback. Thankfully after missing most workouts for two weeks, I had a structured rest week and nailed almost all of it. It's still a juggling act, but as I phase off my consulting work, more time is freed up for training. I also have a new motivation - more to come on that this week!

Are you a Downton Abbey fan? What did you think about the finale?

Not a Bad Week

After a massive foot setback, I approached last week with hesitation and took it easy. After getting a fresh new pair of Brooks Ghosts and a couple easy test runs of five miles or so I was feeling more confident and ended up logging just over 28 pain-free miles. Whatever happened to my foot seems to have been a one-time thing, but I'll be paying close attention to every twinge from now on.

The past week was solid. It marked my return to the pool, really consistent running and some fun culinary adventures.

I have had the great fortune of a hand-me-down CSA allocation the past two weeks which means I'm eating more fruits and veggies than ever. A regular haul looks like this and you have to use it up pretty quickly since it's super fresh and at peak ripeness.


The corn is so amazing I just strip it from the cob raw and toss it with tomato, basil and olive oil. It's divine.


This week was short since I'm headed to Michigan for Steelhead 70.3 where I'll be racing on a relay team. I'm doing the swim (hence my two big trips to the pool) and run. I had several pounds of gorgeous tomatoes and only one day to enjoy them so I spent hours making tomato sauce to freeze for winter. I started by blanching and peeling.


Then an hour of simmering to perfection.


I'll be so happy to thaw this out and taste fresh summer tomatoes when they are long gone for the season.


In other culinary fun we took a pizza making class at Pizza a Casa in Manhattan. It was my first time and I loved it!


I've never eaten so much pizza in my life.


And we got to take tons home. Talk about a perfect night.