time to play catch up

There have been times in the past where I have kept right up to date with all that is going on in the fashion world. My younger sister, the budding fashion designer, is a great resource, letting me know what check out on style.com when I am in need of a little runway recap. She is really on top of her game and I have definitely fallen behind, almost entirely missing the recent Spring 2009 Runway Collections. Cathy Horyn’s New York Times Runway Reviews are another fabulous resource I resort to often. She is not afraid to bash the usual favorite fashion houses. A few weeks ago she wrote on two of my ultimate favorites, Dries Van Noten and Jil Sander. In order to read up on the New York Times website, I recommend getting a free online account. Be sure to check out T Magazine, the style guide. The videos are just too good to be true and feature some of my favorite men: the actor Matthew Goode, Lanvin’s designer Alber Elbaz, and Third Rock From the Sun’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I am also always a fan of Tara Parke-Pope’s Well blog and Mark Bittman’s Bitten blog.

But no worries, I will be sure to write up a fashion post sometime in the near future.

Looking through my iphoto earlier, a little nostalgia came to surface when I saw that this rather silly photo taken of me exactly two years ago from today. Oh how I miss living in the Netherlands…

As you see, I am an avid water drinker, especially while at the bar between glasses of wine. The little light weight in me knows how to make it through a night of drinking.

Another Amsterdam photo where I am in one of my favorite seasonal hats. The expression on my sister’s face is priceless. This was when my family came to visit me for Thanksgiving.

When it was finally time to say goodbye to my parents, my mother almost got stuck on the train with me as she gave me one last hug. She had a few tears streaming down her cheeks and it was a beautiful moment in my life. She didn’t want to leave me!

Some other things that I have been of interest recently from the foodie world:

The New York Times finally reviewed Candle 79, but I feel more compelled to listen to the reader reviews.

I have been eating a lot of these ravioli,  the Spinach Florentine and Garlic & Roasted Veggies version to be more specific. One other vegan variety I have yet to try is the Mediterranean Garlic & Herb. One day I will make the Sweet Potato Ravioli with Tofu Ricotta from one of my favorite new blogs, Method.

Part of me is waiting until I graduate to venture into new food areas such as baking bread, even if it can be as simple as this.

There has always been a soft spot in my heart for Williams-Sonoma. It was one of the catalogs I never wanted my mother throw out growing up, and I would read through it creating a mental checklist of all the items I hoped to someday possess. Fall is the perfect time to head over to the store and I did on Thursday. A panini press will be on my Christmas list this year. After reading about the love for Pumpkin butter on multiple blogs, I had to buy my own. Although I was planning on heading over to Trader Joe’s for a less costly one, I couldn’t help but snatch this up the second I saw it. The Pecan Pumpkin butter was fabulous mixed with some greek yogurt, kashi golean, and almond butter for breakfast. Next I will try it with oats or simply as a spread on my favorite hearty ezekiel english muffins.

Another Williams-Sonoma food item I aim to recreate myself is the Apple Orange Cranberry Relish. It can’t be too difficult, right?

Sunday is dedicated to apple picking (and studies) and probably apple chips.

I must admit I always felt that Cook’s Illustrated looked a little too old fashioned for my taste, however. recipes like the Creamy Creamless Tomato Soup make me want to get a subscription immediately, or maybe just an online one.

Tomorrow I have a personal training appointment and I told the trainer that I like to be sore after I worked out muscles I’ve been accidentally avoiding working out. It shall be interesting to see how tough she is on me. With running races out of the picture recently, I am a little antsy with my workouts. If the plan she makes me is of interest to anyone, I will be sure to post it. The core is probably one of my favorite areas to work out (apart from running) and I could definitely add new moves into my current strength regimen. I am also hoping to go to a heated yoga class tomorrow afternoon for a relaxing Saturday cardio session and some time off of the elliptical. This is only if I am not already completely fatigued from personal training. We shall see. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

*Sorry for not including new photos, I cannot find my camera charger. I think it may be in storage. Oh, no!

autumn produce with some running inspiration…

Every time I take my usual stroll to the farmer’s market I come up with an exciting plan of bringing home elaborate produce I have not yet tried. Of course I have to still remember that I am a college student with not only a budget, but also without any real space for more food in my miniscule refrigerator. After an attack of fruit flies, I had to force all my apples and bananas into the fridge as well. Often I joke about how it is a maze to find things in this fridge, but that is actually true. This current apartment was thought to be temporary stay of 2-3 weeks and I am now realizing that I may have to invest in an additional fridge because this college dorm-like mini fridge is a huge damper on my usual investment in fresh fruits and veggies.

This week’s trip to the farmer’s market was rather uneventful in terms of purchases but I caught sight of some fall beauties…

I am ashamed to admit that I have never had this variety of kale. Usually sticking with the curly kale, this dinosaur kale is rather enticing…

Another moment of excitement on Friday was when I went to one of my favorite stores, Marathon Sports. Now I will use a little bit of runner’s lingo to tell you about some recent shoe/injury drama. Considering how injury-prone I have been throughout my entire running career, I am often quite hesitant when buying new shoes. The last news I heard when I went to this store was that I had been wearing the wrong type of shoes for my high arched feet for over 4 years. My left foot has a bone that is a tiny bit higher on top than the right and my mother calls it the “cavanaugh bump” (family name).  Although I still get that bump confused with one on many of my family member’s nose also considered a family bump (I don’t think I have that one). In the last few weeks leading up to my Cross Country season I was feeling pain on the top part of my foot that I kept confusing with pain from shoes being tied to tight. After numerous times of undoing the laces throughout one run, I consulted my coach who informed me I had something that sounded like extensor tendonitis. To minimize risk of more injury I took the usual few days off to cross train and went to Marathon Sports where they told me that the Asic 21 series of shoes I had been buying since my sophomore year of high school were causing my foot to roll farther out than it already did naturally. Basically, my high arches cause my feet to supinate or underpronate, especially on my left. I needed shoes to help fix this problem and I switched to Adidas. As a loyal Asics supporter over the last 7-8  years, I was truly sad to stop wearing them.

Ironically I was sore for the first week or so of training in my Adidas but my foot injury as since faded. The calves were getting more stress than they had before because all the weight of my running was going to my shins and feet (bones!) instead of the muscles that should of been absorbing the shock more than the bones. Most people don’t realize that their feet change over the years as well as their form and stride so it is important to continue asking people at specialty running stores to help you find the perfect pair of shoes for you.

The newest shoe drama was when I tried to compete over a week ago in a Cross Country 5K race but had to stop because of increasing pain in my shin. This injury is nothing new to anyone who has run and I have had my fair share of them. I don’t like to admit when I have shin splints because I always thought they were the new runner’s injury but they can be caused by simply overtraining, not only training too much too fast. The new Nike Spikes I was wearing were making my nagging pain considerably worse throughout the race. I was going fast but my feet were yet again rolling outwards and the shins were shocked…tears were coming down my face when I stopped at only 7 minutes at about 1.2 miles. Another return to Marathon Sports and another pair of shoes later, I am trying out these racing flats: Mizuno’s that only weigh 6 oz! If you live near or in Boston, I recommend going to Marathon Sports where they care about how you feel in your running shoes. They took back my racing spikes after I wore them in dirt and mud, although they will probably never be able to sell them again (don’t worry I asked-they recycle the shoes!) and I only had to pay a small difference in price of the two pairs. A student discount doesn’t hurt either…

Lastly, today was the Tufts 10K for women and I was amazed by all the women running from ages 10-90. I stuck around for the awards as saw a lady getting a medal at age 82. It was truly inspirational. The Olympic Marathon champion, Joan Benoit Samuelson, also ran and spoke as the spokesperson of the race. These women are true athletes and I can only wish to continue running as long as they have.

I have practice at 7am so I will try out the new racing flats with some speedwork and report back about how they feel. Good night everyone. I hope you all had a fabulous Columbus day!

a walk down blueberry trail

An evening walk down the path known as “blueberry trail” is not one I will forgo when I make my way to the small island of Martha’s Vineyard. On the mile long dirt road where we live there are a few ways of making it to the sea. I cannot recall the year the man-made sandy path was converted into the supported platform walkway that exists today. All I do know is that this year I missed the blueberries but still convinced my Mother and Bessie (neither truly needed much convincing) to head out before sunset and the Dille family’s night festivities.

Here are a few (okay…many) shots for your viewing pleasure.

This sign has been there for as long as I can remember…shhh.

And here we go…

Where the blueberries generally hide.

Not too comfortable barefoot…

Bessie and my mother graciously waited for me as I finished taking photos although we were already running late for cocktail hour.

My father, sister, cousin, and I opted for the famous Black Dog Tavern’s pancakes the next morning. Knowing that the wait would be quite lengthy, I decided to prolong my hunger in order to truly savor the blueberry filled pancakes.

The menu’s copious assortment of pancakes weren’t going to sway me. The first time I had eaten non-vegan all summer was this breakfast of blueberry pancakes. Of course I imagined that these were fresh blueberries I picked and it made it all worth it. The next day I left the island to return to Boston and haven’t felt as at home as I did during that short break I spent with my family in August.

A blurry shot of my pancakes will be followed by my beautiful cousin Julia’s “George of the Jungle Pancakes”…

Next summer I will be venturing back to my old stomping grounds, The Black Dog Cafe, where my sister and I have often shared a gigantic muffin and sipped coffees…. truly scrumptious. Oh, and the sourdough bread is not bad either. My one exception to a nice grainy bread is a classic loaf of sourdough.

On another note, I finished Flaubert’s Madame Bovary today in the Boston Common and the fall leavcs were almost too distracting.

Goodnight…or good morning.

i hope it is not too late…

The extreme shame I had been developing due to my lack of blogging resulted in a fear of returning to A Fresh Dille. It still amazes me that some food bloggers can post about everything they eat in a day. Kath from Katheats and Jenna from Eat, Live, Run are just two who fall into that category with extreme schedules of their own each day and a limited amount of time to blog, however they do, and quite well. I knew from the start that I was not going to be blogging to that extent and not even necessarily focusing on food each post. Still, I read blogs pretty regularly, even if it is a quick blackberry read on the walk to class from a 7am cross country practice. I try to make it happen.

Making promises to post is not the way to go for me. I have realized this recently and therefore will probably begin posting away again because I don’t have the same “blogger’s quilt” I expressed in my last post.

Here are some photos I took at my summer home on Martha’s Vineyard at the end of August.

Alpaca’s from Island Alpaca who were hanging out at the Farmer’s Market.

Some squash and a “squash blossom” which will always remind me of my mother and her small obsession with them throughout my first trip to Italy at 16.

Garlic is just too beautiful in a basket.

These will always be “vineyard flowers” to me.

This is how I would have spent my time with my sister and cousins while my parents hit up the West Tisbury Farmer’s Market 15 years ago.

After the market, we headed to the small flea market. I was less than impressed this year and saddened that the location was moved the the local high school’s parking lot. In any case, I saw some beautiful bottles that deserved a photo or two.

The next stop was Chilmark Pottery.

Looking at the food photographs I took over the few days I was there this summer, I can say that they are less than stellar. I ate a fair share of fresh fruits with oats for breakfast and even tried my first pluot. (YUM!)

Now I see why they are all also called “dinasour eggs.”

The backpack that appears to be glowing was the last purchase I made before returning to Boston for my last semester of college. I have gone 4 years without one but I felt it was needed for the cross country season. I was right and use it almost everyday. Although I have always been a purse or bag girl, I guess the adventurer side of me has shown through this semester.

Fall is full force in Boston right now and I love every day of it. Yesterday, I was walking through the Boston Common, which I call the Central Park of Boston, when I heard two girls complaining about how cold they were. I couldn’t fathom it. I love it. I can’t imagine anything more fresh than walking outside in the perfectly crisp air. My apple picking plans had to be put on the back burner on Sunday after an exhausting cross country race on Saturday but I plan on seeking one out this coming weekend. I hope this scattered post will bring back some readers and maybe I can even get some new ones. My commenting will resume as well. Off to go running, have a wonderful Tuesday.