I know I promised. Promised to be a good bloggie and post lots of fantastic recipes to have you zooming around the roads and trails and in life. And smacking your lips and rubbing your belly saying, yummmm that was good. But well, I was busy. Busy sitting on that beach in sunny, warm, beautiful Hawaii. I was there for HURT pacing duties for nearly two weeks and it was fantastic. We enjoyed some seriously good eats. Before the race, we cooked a bunch and discovered an absolutely awesome new staple. I can take, well, 0.0% credit for the dish as the Baker made it and I merely prepared it a few times. Coconut Rice. After eating it once with a beautiful piece of fresh fish (one of the many varieties I have never heard or seen before), I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more in the world.

Coconut Rice ingredients:

1 cup white rice

2 Hawaiian medium sweet potatoes or 1 large (regular sweet potatoes will do, I guess…if we must)

2 carrots

2-3 jalepenos

1 medium onion

1 can organic thai coconut milk + 1 can water

Coconut Rice directions:

Cut veggies up to bite size pieces. Your choice, not too small though. In a large pot with a lid, bring the coconut milk+ water and vegetables to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is cooked and veggies are tender. If you want to get really wild and crazy, do it in a cast iron skillet and after it boils, bake it in the oven until the rice is cooked. You will get good crispy bits on the bottom this way. And we all know the crispy bits are the best.

We enjoyed this meal a lot. It was that good. Hawaiian food is notoriously un-Devon friendly (i.e. gluten, eggs, etc) and not really know for it’s healthiness. Before the race, we made the above meal because it was good for ultrarunners stomachs and for its awesome nutritional profile. But after the race…… well that is a different story!

There were fantastic burgers at Kua Aina on the North Shore. I was with 3 post-HURT runners and I don’t think there was even a crumb left on the table. They had amazing looking burgers and even though I didn’t get a burger, my grilled chicken salad really rocked. I just loved that they put an entire half of avocado on the burgers.

There was also a second trip to Matsumoto Shave Ice on the North Shore. We went on my first full day on the island and got Hawaiian Style shave ice with adzuki beans. So delicious. And we got shrimp and rice from a truck.

After the race we also tried out Morio’s Sushi in Wakiki. This sushi place is a natural food grocery by day and a flying under the radar out of this world sushi restaurant by night. It may not be much to look (ok, it is downright ragged looking building) at but the man, Morio himself, was throwing down some amazing food for us. We went 2 times and both times the stuff that was coming over the counter from Morio was amazing and even adventurous (including whole sardines and a natto hand roll). The fish was pretty much straight out of the ocean and every bite was incredible. He was giving hitting us with supreme sushi, brilliant tofu, crab legs! Seriously. It was an experience. Thanks to Gary for the recommendation! Morio’s is BYOB and we brought beer, but we could tell we had made it on to his good side when he was giving us shots (ok the bottle) of Shochu. On our second trip, we made sure we brought a case of Morio’s beer of choice, which we quickly discovered that all the regulars did. We spent 3-4 hours there each time, chatting, drinking, eating amazing food, digesting, then diving in to more great food. And the price, you just can’t beat it.

A final worth mentioning meal was at Helena’s Hawaiian Food. I feel that I am always in for a authentic experience when a local waiting for a table next to you ask, “how did you guys find out about this place, we don’t get many tourists here?” And it was true, the building was no where near anything touristy and not much to look at. But the food was out of this world. We had Kalua Pig, Laulau, Poi (which I didn’t much like), Opihi (on the recommendation of the aforementioned local), Short ribs Pipikaula Style and my personal favorite, Haupia- a delicious coconut milk dessert.

Hmmmmmm, well there you go. A brief recap. Tons of fun in the sun, delicious eats and well, now I have worked up quite the appetite so I am going to throw down some grub!

The perfect bite: date, blue cheese and truffle honey

I have been absent. I know. I apologize. It was necessary.

Breaking in the new kitchen: Buffalo Runner Bean Chili & Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread (GF!)

You see I have been taking care of one of my goals, a necessary thing to go forward with my life: finding a place to call home. For the majority of this year I have bounced around, having with me only enough stuff (including my knife roll!!!) to cover the bare minimum. Everything else was stashed in storage. I have been all over the world this year, spent copious amounts of time in Seattle, San Francisco and Colorado. This whole time however, I have circled and circled the same central issue when trying to tackle other goals in my life: lack of roots, absence of home, no place to provide routine, consistency and roots. Over the summer and early fall, I really focused on deciding where I want to be and came to the answer I have known for a long time but was unwilling or able to accept: my heart is in San Francisco. The food, the trails, the people, the family, the vibe, the weather, everything is just me. It makes me happy. And so over these past couple of weeks, I have been in a fever pitch trying to get moved. My sister and I found a place in the City and we went in to go mode in order to get the place sorted before Christmas. I have been to Seattle and gotten all of my things out of storage, unpacked box after box and even managed to sneak in a few phenomenal meals cooked in my new kitchen, which is absolutely fabulous. And I have been good about snapping pictures with my Nikon camera, I have loads of shots of drool inducing food (included here, a sample).

GF Ginger Molasses Cookies and Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

One of the things that has not been able to be a priority is a weekly (or three) post. I wish that was not the case, but on the list of dire necessity it does not rank highly, maybe at some point in the future when I am a famous writer, but not right now. I often wonder if I would even be missed in the massive blog-iverse. Probably not, but I’d still like to believe that my voice matters, to someone.

A Thanksgiving Salad

If you’ve had a chance to read my Delicious Journey, you’d know that I have a clear goal of making this blog into something. And I am more resolved than ever to do so. Starting with the new year. So awesome reader(s) enjoy your holidays and happy new year! May you have a safe, beautiful, delicious holiday! Cheers!

Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey Mole on handmade tortillas.

Wow. Where did the last 10 days go? I feel like I was just revealing in my Lithia Loop run and here I am now post-JFK 50 mile run (read all about it here). Before and after the race, I ate some amazing things. It’s funny sometimes to think about what an awesome foodie life I have. I live in a place where even simple meals, such as “Sunday supper”(which was really a week ago Saturday), of broccoli, rice, butternut squash and scallops are profound because of the fresh, local ingredients. I really feel like I could just spend my time only running, cooking, eating and writing it and I still wouldn’t be able to keep up. Case in point, the last 10-ish days! I knocked out 4 of the 7×7 100 Things to Eat and Drink Before You Die, which I have been using as inspiration and for uncovering all sorts of tasty foods in SF. It’s fun! I also had several stand out homecooked meals like “sunday supper” as well as spending 4 days on the east coast and eating nothing noteworthy! While in Maryland, I went to two Japanese restaurants for basic foods like steak and rice. I had to “eat safe” the days before the race. But I definitely made up for it afterwards!

Delfina Dinner Date

Gnocchi al Ragu- divine little pillows at Delfina

On Friday night, November 13 I took my sister out for a fun sister date. I got us VIP tickets to the Save the Waves Film Festival and we started off the evening with a reservation at Delfina to check the Pork Sugo with Pappardelle off our 100 list. I manged to get us a 5:30 reservation and we were among the first seated for the evening, however the place was packed within minutes. The waiter told us that the Pork Sugo went quickly, so we ordered it the moment we sat down, along with Pomegranate Bellinis. We got a Insalata di Campo with bitter greens, pancetta, walnuts, Parmigiano and balsamic vinaigrette, a half order of the gnocchi al ragu and (my favorite) Brussels Sprouts with pancetta soffritto and horseradish. We had a nice glass of red wine with dinner and everything was fantastic. Even though we had come for the Pork Sugo with Pappardelle, I actually like the gnocchi much better. The gnocchi were light, the sauce complex and the cheese the perfect note. The film fest was great and I even managed to be in bed before 11pm, so I could get enough sleep before my Saturday morning 7 am long run.

Insalata di Campo at Delfina

Saturday “Sunday” or something in between

Giant bowl of broccoli + giant bowl of cheese= yum!

Saturday the 14th was an awesome day all around. I got to get out for a great run with friends, see more friends running around doing the PCTR race in the Headlands and then spend the afternoon enjoying amazing and at times curious food. After the run we headed to Cafe Del Sol in Mill Valley for salads and wraps. The Baker and I were going to make “Sunday” supper together that night, so we headed to Rainbow for supplies and brainstorming. It is a fascinating and fun thing to collaborate with someone who has (more) food knowledge and tons of creative ideas. We came up with a very simple menu to highlight some of our cravings. Broccoli with cheese, rice with broccoli stems & carrots, roasted peri-peri butternut squash and scallops cooked in butter/evoo. And of course, wine. Even though it was a week out from a big race, wine is such a beautiful compliment to a meal when paired well.

But while shopping we both hit the wall and needed an afternoon snack. We were wandering around Rainbow co-op, our blood sugar plummeting and wandered past some prepared tofu sloppy joes that sounded amazing. We agreed that was a good start, I wandered off to see if I could find some gluten free buns to put it on, to no avail. But then I thought, as weird as it sounded, that the sloppy joes would do well on Primavera corn tortillas. I suggested it to the Baker and he said, ohhhh yeah. And then suggested we top it with Sauerkraut. Ohhhh yeah, I said. And how about avocado, we practically said in unison. And I thought that this weird food combination would only sound good to me. And it was sooo good. We devoured it before I had to go see an apartment. Then we got cooking in the Sausalito kitchen preparing our delicious dinner.

Throw it all together, why not! It works!

Melty cheese and broccoli

Onward to race week

Sunday breakfast was Udi’s gluten free bread toasted with Maranatha Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter spread and banana. Wow it was good. Like dessert for breakfast.

Amazing Grass shipment for being part of the Amazing Athlete program!

The rest of the past week has been a whirlwind of amazing food. Monday we made a giant meat salad. What that means is we made a huge salad and then topped it with pretty rare marinated flank steak (my iron has been low). I wasn’t feeling very well on Tuesday and so my dinner at L’ardoise with my friends Marshall and Suzanne consisted of only a simple iceberg wedge and a very small squash soup. Pretty simple for my upset stomach. Midweek I received my shipment of Amazing Grass products. I have just been accepted into their Amazing Athlete program. I am super stoked to have them sponsoring me because I love their products. I make a Green SuperFood drink every morning and usually have an Amazing Meal smoothie after most morning runs! And their bars are absolutely delicious!

Once I flew off to the East Coast the food fun was curtailed for a bit in the pursuit of running greatness. I try to eat bland foods before a race and stuck to mostly salads for lunch and basic Japanese foods for dinner including steak, rice and seaweed salad for dinner. I guess the combination worked! After the race we went to Bulls & Bears in downtown Hagerstown and I had a nice plate of fries and a spicy chicken breast salad. Not awesome, but I knew that I had a special post race treat waiting for me when I returned!

On Sunday I flew back to San Francisco and I was treated to a nice cup of Four Barrel Coffee. I had been up since midnight west coast time, since I flew out of DC at 7am. About 1pm in the afternoon I realized I hadn’t eaten since 2am and should probably eat something considering I had ran 50 miles the day before and not exactly chowed down (I ate the meal at Bulls and Bears and that was pretty much it!). I was eagerly anticipating my “real” post-50 mile dinner which was Pizzeria Delfina, followed byt Bi-Rite Ice Cream (both of which had items on the 7×7 List). I had thought about pizza for the last 10 miles of my race since I had decided before the race I would eat some “real” not gluten free pizza post race. It was well worth it.

At Delfina, we procured a small table in the corner and had a round of sparkling wine. We then tucked into the Erbette Chard w/ garum and pinenuts in lieu of our desired appetizer which was not on the menu currently which was spicy cauliflower. We decided on two pizzas (Delfina is only thin crust): Pizza Margherita (the pizza on the 7×7 list) and then a Broccoli Rabe pie with pepperoni added. Both were great. We got a side of sauce, which was terrifically garlicy. I had had a hard time deciding if I wanted to go to Little Star pizza and get a Brass Monkey, deep dish pie or if I wanted thin crust. I generally prefer thin crispy crust but like the amount of sauce a thick crust can hold. The solution (genius!) I figured out was to go to Delfina for thin crust and get a side of sauce. Not exactly original (or genius) since it is listed on the menu as an option. Oh well, I will give myself credit for at least figuring out what I wanted! After dinner we went across the street to tick another on the list which was the salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite. It was sweet, more sweet than I usually like but after such a savory meal, it was just right. I also got a small scoop of the cinnamon snicker-doodle ice cream. The whole evening was absolute dining bliss.

A perfect monday lunch

The Sentinel for Corn beef sandwich

Monday I spent in the city before my massage appointment at 1:30pm. I nearly was able to get another 7×7 item at Dynamo Donuts but they were closed on Mondays. I was perfectly okay with this since I had a nice cup of coffee from Philz, a gluten free flax carrot muffin and a smoothie in my belly. I saved the 7×7-ing for lunch!

Around mid-day, I decided I would go to Outerlands for soup and toast, but after driving all the way out there found my plan thwarted as they are closed on Mondays. And Trouble Coffee was closed too for construction. Curses! I hightailed it all the way back to SOMA and headed to The Sentinel where I had toyed with going at the same time I decided to go to Outerlands. The Sentinel’s Corn Beef Sandwich with Gruyere is on the 7×7 list and after one bite I knew why. The meat was hugely flavorful, the condiments understated and the bread very light. It was 2.5 seconds to my stomach, while sitting in my parked car. I followed it with a cup of Sight Glass coffee which Dave at Outerlands had recommended, as he was using the beans at Outerlands, but we didn’t try any. It was great and the stamp on the cup was even better.

Viola Swamp is WATCHING YOU (SightGlass Coffee)

I am looking forward to a delicious meal tonight (7×7 again!) at Ducca, going after the aranicini. And then before I know it, Turkey Day! The Baker and I are having Turkey Mole. We are working on it currently. I just finished making a batch of gluten free peanut butter chip brownies. The kitchen smells spicy (the massive amounts of roast chilis) and fragrant (all the herbs in the turkey stock). I am super stoked! Happy eating everyone!