Vegetarian For A Night (12.22.2008)

I cant believe I haven't written in 3 days! Where did the time go? I guess I was busy doing lots of Christmas shopping, sushi eating, wedding going, race spectating, waffle eating, and Nutcracker watching.

Instead of doing a huge recap, I just want to highlight one weekend event - the Celtic Solstice 5 miler!

Unfortunately, I didn't run in the race because I didn't want to re-injure my "not-fully-healed" hamstring from the pressure of being in a race. I did go cheer on my dad, sister, and others. It was freezing, but the fun part about this race is that a bunch of people wear kilts - my dad included. :)

My dad and sister, before the race. I had runner's envy.Kevin and I brought Oscar and decided to run around Druid Hill Lake until the front runners from the race caught up to us. That was fun to see because I have never in my life been up with those folks. I liked this sign at the start/finish line. We kept running through the park and saw a long line of runners looping through the park - there were around 2,600 people in the race. I figure that we ran about 4 miles.

My dad's co-worker (Becky) lives about 5 mins from the finish line and her husband has been making waffles for everyone afterwards the past few years. The coolest part? He makes them in an antique cast iron waffle maker!That huge batch of batter was flavored with cinnamon, pecans, and walnuts. It was served with butter and hot syrup. mmm. Kevin and I decided to split one of these, but I ended up eating 3/4 of it. It was incredible.Had to throw in a picture of Becky's two sweet Chihuahuas with my sister's friend Terri, who said that she reads the blog.HI TERRI.

Tonight's dinner was a vegetarian feast. Kevin whipped up a vinaigrette for the salad:

• 1 T canola oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1⁄4 tsp salt
• 1⁄8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• drizzle of agave nectar

This tart and refreshing salad included green leaf lettuce, toasted pecans, goat cheese crumbles, and the mustardy vinaigrette. It really woke up my taste buds.Steamed edamame, sprinkled with coarse sea salt.Baked tofu bites using the following recipe which can be found here. I will definitely be making this tofu again. The marinade was the best I have tried yet.
It was a pretty random dinner and we actually ate each dish about 5 mins apart because we did not practice good time management.

My sweet tooth is now screaming at me. I was lucky enough to pick up a pie from a former co-worker of mine today. Her mother makes the best sweet potato pie I have ever tasted. The problem is that I am supposed to bring this for Christmas Day.
No one should mind if I take my slice a few days early, right? Maybe I will just blame it on someone else...Muuuuaaaaahhhahaha.