Settlers of Catan Carrot Cake

While I’m writing this up I’m listening to the Philip Glass violin concerto.  I got so excited when I heard it on the radio awhile ago that I went home and bought immediately.  He just has that trademark sound so I knew it was his composition; I didn’t even know he had written any concertos. 

Now let’s make some cake and eat it too…After seeing some pictures of Catan cakes online TJ had it on his brain months ago that I would be a nice enough wife to make one for him.  It turns out he’s right :).  Once I figured out a way that I could make it without too much frustration I went for it for TJ’s birthday party last night.  There were some frustrating times, like when I realized that I had forgotten to make any sheep, doh!  If you’ve never worked with royal icing, it’s rather fun!  Just to give you an idea, it has the consistency of Elmer’s glue and it dries with a matte finish.

Royal icing:

16 oz powdered sugar

3 pasteurized egg whites (to pasteurize bring water to 150°, take it off the burner, and then put in the whole eggs for 5 minutes – slowly pour in cold water to bring down the temperature again)

1 tsp vanilla

Separate the eggs and use just the whites.  Using a mixer, beat all the ingredients until smooth and glossy; this will take a few minutes.

                                                                          °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°  

First I used a template to make the outlines with my handy bottle.  You could use a piping bag, but the bottle was so much easier. I think I paid $1 for it.

After the outlines dried I mixed up the different colors and added just a little bit of water so the frosting could “flood” the empty spaces.  I mostly used a toothpick to add some details and swirl in different colors.

The number tiles took FOREVER because the black gel frosting thing I had bought had a tip that was much too big, so I had to resort to using a toothpick again to paint on the details.

I had made extras, but thankfully none of the tiles broke besides the first one (don’t worry, I used an ugly one for the tester) after I figured out a method of taking the dried tiles off the wax paper.

The candy toppings included a gummy bear robber named Yogi and some Twizzler roads and settlements.  Watch out, red almost has longest road!

The cake itself was a deliciously moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Blue frosting on a carrot cake kind of threw me off, but it tasted heavenly.

We had a terrific party with great friends, and I’m so glad that I got to share this cake with people!  We still have a bunch left so if you randomly stop by my house in the next two days expect to be fed carrot cake.

Weird meat I ate this week

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a hard time passing up the opportunity to try new or adventurous food and this week I happened to get a few different opportunities.  On Monday TJ and I went to the rodeo and had a great time seeing the baby farm animals, watch the bull riding and other rodeo events, and of course at the Styx concert.  Among the other food we ate we decided to try the fried gator on a stick.

Fried gator on a stick with optional innocent bystander on the side

In the arena watching the rodeo

We’re still not sure it wasn’t just an expensive chicken strip, but it sure was tasty!

Friday night before my symphony concert we went to dinner with some friends (shout out to those who came and supported me, it was a fun concert!).  It was this little hole-in-the-wall Jamaican restaurant, Caribbean Cuisine, in a sketchy part of town.  But the food was delicious!

Here is a quick picture of our plate.  We shared the combo and chose curried goat, jerk chicken, and oxtail for our meats.  Before this we ate some meat and veggie pies that were quite yummy.  They were similar to empanadas.

Next week’s menu is going to seem downright boring compared to this week!

I’m a Marathoner!!!

I came, I saw, I conquered.  After 6 months of training, two days of being a nervous wreck, and over 4 hours of racing, I finished my first marathon.  I’m sure everyone who ran on Saturday had a different experience, but here is my story.

Stats:

Chip time finish:  4:32

Age group # 21/45, Overall by gender #169/324

Temperature during race between 38 and 54 degrees: sunny with no rain, and windy

Total number of participants (in the full/half/5k/2k) about 7500

Course: two 13.1 mile loops, slightly hilly

The night before the race TJ and I stayed at my cousin’s house (a big thank you to them for their hospitality!).  It was only a 20 minute drive from their house, instead of an hour and a half from ours, and I had to pick up my packet there the night before the race anyway.  I tried to go to bed early but I just couldn’t calm down.  I woke up at 3:30 from nightmares about missing the start of the race because I was stuck in the men’s bathroom, and ended up only getting about 4 ½ hours of sleep.

All ready to go!

After forcing down a bagel with peanut butter we were out the door at 6am.  It was so crowded with the 7500 runners that I had a hard time finding the bag drop off.  Because it took me so long I had to ditch the plan of going to the bathroom again so I didn’t miss the starting gun, so let’s just say I paid for that later.

The excitement in the air was phenomenal.  It made me ignore how cold it was.  Runners are generally cool people so it was fun to chat with the runners I was sardined in the corral with and hear their goals.  It always takes a few minutes to actually start moving after the gun goes off (unless you’re at the front of course), but by mile 2 I was pretty well warmed up and was keeping good time with the 4:30 pace runner.  I did well with how I carried my fuel, but next time I will make some adjustments.  Throughout the race I felt good about the timing and amount of fuel and hydration I was consuming.

I saw TJ at mile 9 and he was a great cheerleader.  It always is such a boost when someone you know is cheering for you!  The crowds were pretty good, especially for the first loop.  Once the half-marathoners left the crowds thinned significantly so I had to kick the mental games up a bit.

Besides the aforementioned bathroom issues, I felt strong up through mile 15.  At that point we were treated with gusty head winds during an uphill stretch.  It got so cold that my hands felt like they had the functionality of mittens while I was getting food out of my pockets.  And I got an unexpected cramp, which I ignored.  I chatted with a couple from Utah which helped pass the time.  It all soon passed and by mile 19 I felt fine, albeit tired.

I am thankful to say that I never hit the wall or bonked.  At mile 20 I got to see TJ again!  I made all sorts of poses for him to take pictures of while running passed him and I smiled and said “I hope you got some of that!”  The dude next to TJ joked, “She still has a sense of humor at mile 20!”  My plan from the beginning was to split the race into three parts: the first 10 miles, the second 10 miles, and then the last 10k (6.2 miles).  So when I saw TJ at mile 20 and I felt good enough to kick the pace up a notch I was ecstatic.  Mile 21 I said a prayer of thanksgiving for all the opportunities I have been given, the wonderful support I have, and that I have the health to complete a marathon. 

Mile 20

By mile 22 I could feel the effects of running faster.  I kept the strong pace but it was definitely more difficult.  Quitting was never an option, because then the last 6 months of training would have been for naught.  Pretty soon I could see the turn up ahead where the finish line chute began.  The crowd was great there, shouting out my name (which was printed on the bib) and being very encouraging.  I crossed the finish line beaming!  Then I got a little teary eyed and started hyperventilating and walking like a drunk, but TJ was there to help me.  My body ached.  And my internal organs were not too happy with me either, causing cramping.  It's a good thing the clip of me crossing the finish line ended where it did or you would have had to see all that :).

I felt better after a bit of stretching and of course when I got some more food and liquids in me.  This race had a massage tent afterwards too, which was a life-saver.  It hurt so good.  I got shivery once I stopped running so I was glad I had packed some extra clothes in my bag, including my compression socks, that I could put on over my shorts and singlet.

I know I did something right when I was thinking during the race as well as after that I would want to do another marathon.  Not today, but sometime in the near future.  Somewhere during the last 6 months of training I felt the mental shift where I could readily say that I am an athlete.  As others have inspired me to complete this goal, I hope you too are inspired to be more active so that you can reap  the benefits of health.