2012 Pajama 5K Recap

The Pajama Run  has is my favorite race in Charleston, and this year was my third year to run. The race fundraises for cancers below the waist: colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, etc. It starts at The Joe Riley stadium, loops around Hampton Park, and then ends with a pajama party.

This year we were sponsored by The Charleston Pickle Company! Amanda, Nikki, Kaye, Ashley, and Nikki’s baby Liam all donned CPC shirts for the run:

So many pickles and pickle juice shots for recovery.

This year’s race was special not only because of our awesome sponsorship, but because I really wanted to beat my PR. Last year I PR’d and got 2nd place in my age group with a time of 24:54. Since I have been running so much more lately, I was absolutely determined to shave off at least a minute.

Amanda and I started off pretty fast – much faster than I anticipated to run my first mile, but the energy of the crowd really helped. We both use the Nike + app that lets us know as we pass each mile. When we hit mile 1, we both looked at each other, smiled, and then suddenly our mouths just dropped. We had run it in 7:36, which is pretty damn fast for us. We sped up a tiny bit for the next 2.1 miles and BOTH finished with a new PR – 22:52 for me and 22:55 for her. We were psyched.

Even better, we won 2nd and 3rd place in our age group. Yay for medals!

DJ Natty Heavy also made his 3rd appearance at the Pajama Run after party. Look at that smile!

After the race, we were glowing with pride…and starving. To refuel, Amanda and I went to Sesame for lunch. Of course we started our meal with a celebratory drink. I had a Mandrin Mule: absolut mandrin, goslings ginger beer and fresh squeezed lime.

We split The Napa Valley chicken sandwich (fig & bacon jam, blue cheese, red wine reduction) and the Southwestern black bean burger (guacamole and chipotle sour cream). Sesame has a really great black bean burger and it’s huge!

The race was a lot of fun, I got to run with my best friends, and I’m so excited about my new PR. Great day all around!

**Huge thanks to Nathan/The Charleston Pickle Company for sponsoring us. We love your pickles and your support!!**

What’s your favorite race that you’ve run?

Are you signed up for any upcoming races? I’m currently signed up to for the Charleston 1/2 Marathon in January, the Color Me Rad Run in March, and will soon sign up for the Cooper River Bridge Run in April.

Shrimp Risotto with Sweet Peas and Goat Cheese

Thin girls eat pasta too! God bless carbohydrates.

After work, I met Amanda and Mariah at the gym for Body Attack. It was Mariah’s first time taking the class and she did so well. She handled it so much better than I did at my first class. I was just an embarrassment to society. She really liked the workout and said that it pushed her much more than if she had worked out alone. I completely agree – all the Les Mills classes provide such an energy surge.

Even though I live about 2 minutes from the gym, I couldn’t get home faster. I had already planned to make risotto for dinner, and knowing how long it can take, I zoomed across the street faster than Jimmie Johnson. Babe!!

Did you guys know that I’ve been to a Nascar race? Ridiculous. I redeemed myself by wearing J. Crew head to toe.

Back on today’s topic: risotto. It may be a laborious task, but the end product is well worth it. Plus, it’s a bicep workout! Bis for the guys…am I right?


Shrimp Risotto with Sweet Peas and Goat Cheese, serves 4




Ingredients:

• 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 4 cups chicken fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup fresh sweet peas
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 oz. goat cheese

Preparation:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute, remove from pan, and set aside.
2. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine and cook until nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
3. Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed before adding the next. When adding the final 1/2 cup of broth, add shrimp, peas, lemon juice, and goat cheese. Serve immediately.

With a glass of white wine, this was the perfect reward after my calorie-torching workout. Risotto is creamy and nutty. The peas add a light sweetness to the dish while the goat cheese lends a savory flavor. It’s comforting, satisfying, and worth all the stirring!

For another delicious recipe, see my Shrimp, Spinach, and Goat Cheese Risotto.


Have you made risotto?


What are you favorite risotto ingredients?


Side note: This Friday, O’Brion’s Pub & Grille of James Island is hosting a Breast Cancer Benefit for Integrative Cancer Care. Charleston Pickle Company is donating a ton of pickles for *free* fried pickles for all attending and 3 canisters of pickles to be raffled off! There will be a pasta buffet for $8 as well as drink specials and live music. Support the boobies!

Sunday Funday

In case you missed it, I had quite the blog failure of a weekend. Sunday was a much better day. I slept in later than normal, but woke up just in time to get ready for church. We had a very special speaker today. Tim Scott!

That was a nice surprise. He was quite the animated speaker and it was nice to have a Charleston celebrity in the house. Tim seems like such a great man and I was impressed that he has been with the church for over 14 years.

After church, Matt insisted that we go to See Wee restaurant, an old shack of a place that I had never been to. See Wee is pretty deep in Mt. Pleasant, on the way to Awendaw. It’s right off 17 – you can’t miss it.

The inside of the front room looks a bit like an old convenient store with candy, fresh pies, and glass soda bottles. We ate in the back room where everyone else was and were immediately served fresh hush puppies. Yum. They were piping hot and delicious. If they weren’t just a ball of fried goodness, I would have eaten them all. My arteries were happy sampling one and a half.They serve strictly Southern food, most of which is not healthy. I was relieved to see that grilled chicken and steamed vegetables were an option on a menu full of fried food. Along with my grilled chicken, steamed squash, and butter beans (love!), I could not resist a side of fried pickles.

Believe it or not, their fried pickles were just as good as Midtown’s, which are my very favorite! The pickles tasted very similar to Charleston Pickle Company’s pickles.

Matt had a very traditional southern meal: fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, fried eggplant, and butter beans. His poor arteries.

I wasn’t in love with this restaurant, but mostly because it’s not my favorite cuisine. The service was excellent though! We were checked on multiple times by the very friendly staff. I also love that they had fresh homemade pies. The sign out front makes me laugh too, “Y’all come!” Oh, South Carolina.

Our next stop was at Marshall’s to check out some home stuff. I was ecstatic to find this plastic cup. It looks just like my blog header!! Totally meant to be.

I also snagged this salmon pink & grey blouse. The picture doesn’t do it justice – it’s adorable and I can’t wait for cooler weather so I can wear it.

Well, I’m off to a booze cruise with some friends. Matt’s trying to recreate the cocktail we had at Biggie’s, and then we’re taking the boat out to watch fireworks. 

Happy Labor Day my friends!

Pickle Dog Tasting at The Joe!

As a birthday present—Good Lord, I’m still celebrating?—Charleston Pickle Company set up a very exciting pickle tasting event for my pickle crew and me. The Charleston RiverDogs baseball park is the only place in Charleston whose menu features a pickle dog. What’s a pickle dog?

A hot dog inside of a pickle.

Yup.

Amanda, Jess, and I (the original frickle tasters), along with my friend Nancy, went to The Joseph P. Riley park for some food fun. Honestly, we went in thinking that we were just there to try the pickle dogs and watch the game. It actually turned into a food extravaganza. Josh Gilkey, Director of Food & Beverage at The Joe, led us around the park to show us the many food options.

We started here:

Josh showed us that the park serves typical game food, but also healthier options like black bean burgers, pretzels & hummus, and veggie trays. He told us to sit tight while he went to gather some food. Look at the amazing view from the back of the park!

A few minutes later, a ridiculous amount of food was presented in front of us. We tried The Charleston Dog with coleslaw and okra.

The Dixie: a hot dog with coleslaw and pimiento cheese.

The Yankee: a hot dog with chow chow and spicy mustard.

The Elvis: a bun filled with a banana, peanut butter, and honey.

And the Pickle Dogs!!!

Ohhhhhhhhhh my gosh, we were in heaven. People walking by must have thought we were insane for standing around with all this food. We ended up sharing with some tourists from California – they loved The Elvis as much as we did. We also tried the black bean burger and everyone was very impressed with it. We’d all order this the next time we come back for a game.

Here’s Jess with The Dixie:

And Nancy with The Yankee:

Our second stop was The Nacho House where we tried two different types of nachos. The Vegetarian Nachos are topped with a Southwest bean mix, queso, sweet chili sauce, and pico de gallo.

The Chipotle Chicken Nachos are topped with chicken, a Southwest bean mix, queso, pico de gallo, and sweet chili sauce. I might be obsessed with these.

The last thing we tried was the Pig On A Stick. This is a foot long bacon-wrapped corn dog, or maybe we should call it a heart attack. Whatever the damage we did to our arteries was worth it.

After gorging ourselves with food, we played with the baseball cut out signs.

The amount of food we sampled was painful, but delicious. On the way home, Amanda texted me, “I feel like I need to throw up and die, but I would do it again in a second!!!”

And yes, we will be doing it all again. Stay tuned for Part II of The Charleston RiverDogs menu tasting…Burgers and DESSERT!!!

If there’s a pickle anywhere near ice cream, I’m going to lose it.

In a good way!

Humongous thanks to the Charleston Pickle Company for setting this up!!

Major thanks to Josh for showing us around and killing our diets!!

I <3 pickles too much.

Reasons To Love Charleston

It took me quite a while to admit that I would never move back “home” to Massachusetts. Half of my family lives there, but after 14 years of living in the South, I know it’s where I belong. Charleston, specifically, is a wonderful city to live in for many reasons.

1. The weather. Although hot and humid, we have beautiful summers. We can go to the beach more than half the year and our winters are very mild. It was so nice this afternoon that Matt and I decided to walk the Ravenel Bridge. Say hello to Matt. I’m sure you remember him from previous posts.

While walking the bridge, he noticed an interesting rule for users of the bicycle and pedestrian lane: “No jumping, bungee-jumping, base-jumping, catapulting, or any like act from the bridge.” Um, what? Catapulting?

2. Local vendors! One of my new favorite products are these pickles from Charleston Pickle Company. I picked up two jars last week and I couldn’t get home soon enough to eat them. I tried to open them in the car but they were sealed too tight! :( As soon as I walked in, I opened a jar and started eating them with a fork.

3. Charleston is called “The Holy City” because we have so many churches. I am not a member of one in particular, but would like to be, so Matt and I decided we’re church hopping to find one we like. It sounds like we are married. Having both attended East Cooper Baptist before, we decided to try Seacoast’s contemporary service. We both enjoyed the experience but want to go back to one of their traditional services.

4. Restaurants open all the time. The new Triangle Char & Bar opened up in Mt. Pleasant, so a few of us went after church. I had the Classic Cuban: ham, pork loin, Swiss, Cuban mustard, pickle, on pressed bread with “sweet sticks.” Sadly, there were only 3 pickle slices on the whole thing. Next time I will ask for extra extra pickles.

5. The people. It is incredibly easy to make friends here because everyone is so friendly. I always chuckle when I visit my family in Massachusetts because the majority of the people really aren’t interested in who you are/what you have to say. Last fall, a survey conducted by Travel + Leisure magazine concluded that Charleston has the most attractive people. I’d like to think that’s true – I have some pretty friends!

6. Just last week Travel & Leisure magazine also ranked Charleston as the #2 U.S. city to live in! This is pretty big, considering New York City is #1 and Chicago is #3. See the rest of the list here.

7. Trader Joe’s is opening in Mt. Pleasant on July 29th! I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited. Yes, that excited. Here is the progress as of last week.

8. Last but not least, I have some exciting news. I have begun writing a weekly blog post on the new Mt. Pleasant Patch, a site dedicated to covering news, events, and more. You can find my introductory post with healthy living tips here. Stop by and say hello!