I had an early wake-up call on Saturday – 5:28am to be exact. Yikes. I didn’t actually get out of bed until 6 o’clock though. I stumbled to the kitchen to make coffee and discovered that I was out of coffee filters. And milk. $%^&!! Hmph. I settled on some green tea instead. I thought about having a chocolate-fig vita top, but was worried that the fiber would make my run unpleasant, so I saved it for afterwards.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what to wear when the weather gets colder. I’m going to do a separate post about this soon, but until then, I took a photo of what I wore for my run yesterday. The weather was windy, dry, and about 40 degrees.

I wore: 3/4 length spandex tights, a tank top, half-zip running pullover, and gloves. Whenever I dress for a Autumn/Winter run I plan on being a bit chilly for the first mile or so. Once I get going, I always warm up, so I try not to overdress.

When I left for my run it was still dark out, so I stuck to well-lit paths for the first few miles. Once the sun started to rise, I headed to the reservoir for a while. I think I only saw one other person on the whole 1.5 mile loop. That’s pretty rare for New York City! I guess that’s what happens when you go running at 6:30am on a Saturday morning…

I really focused on picking up the pace for the last 15 minutes or so of my run and finished the 6 miles in 49:10 (about 8:10/mile pace).

I ended my run at the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts for a latte lite…

I stopped at my apartment for about 5 minutes and then hightailed it to Port Authority. With about 4 minutes to spare, I made the 8:30am bus headed to my hometown in Pennsylvania.

Breakfast was some leftover apple crisp (last bit!) and a vanilla chobani greek yogurt.

Snack on the bus – 1/2 olympic granola bar. Love the super short ingredient list and crunchy flax seeds in this!

Once I arrived in Pennsylvania, look who was waiting for me!!

Don’t front like you don’t like hugs, Kiwi.

Lunch was kind of random: super ripe banana with peanut butter and jelly

And a cupcake with a cup of milk. Yes, I am a real person. Sometimes I eat cupcakes instead of vegetables

Mom and I did some errands and when we returned around 3pm, I was ready for another snack (more random-ness): cottage cheese, pineapple, and teddy grahams

After a bit of a nap, I woke up with some time to spare before dinner. The weather was a bit chilly, but perfectly Autumn-ish. I thought about going for a walk, but the crisp air just begged for a run. I ran an easy 4 miles around the neighborhood and admired all the creative Halloween decorations. One house parked a real hearse in their drive way and decorated the yard with strobe lights and cob webs. P.S. my hamstring/IT band felt AWESOME on both runs today. Yay!

Next up: I cooked dinner for the fam. Shhh, don’t tell them it was healthy!

Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

• Ronzoni Smart Taste elbow macaroni, 1 box
• 15 oz canned pumpkin
• 6 oz reduced fat cheddar (I used Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar)
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup reduced fat cottage cheese
• 2 cups reduced fat milk
• 2 Tbs bread crumbs
• 1 tsp canola or olive oil
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a 9″x13″ baking dish
• Prepare the macaroni in a large cooking pot, according to package directions
• While the pasta is cooking, combine pumpkin and milk in a small saucepan until simmering
• Remove pumpkin mixture from heat and add shredded cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir until combined.
• Combine the cooked macaroni and pumpkin-cheese mixture together in large pot and then pour in to the baking dish
• In a small bowl, combine the tsp of oil, breadcrumbs, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Sprinkle this on top of the macaroni dish.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is crispy. Makes about 8 servings.

My family couldn’t guess that the secret ingredient was pumpkin! The orange veggie adds a healthy dose of fiber and vitamin A without compromising the taste of the ooey-gooey mac ‘n cheese.

I had some of my pumpkin mac and cheese with a side of stewed tomatoes.

Later on in the evening, I headed to my friend Mark’s house for a little get together. Back in high school, we used to go to Mark’s after cross-country practice for snacks and swimming.

Now that we’re all grown up we partake in wine and cupcakes

I had a glass of Chardonnay and some caramel covered Granny Smith apple slices. It was necessary – I hadn’t had any green fruits or veggies yet today!

I returned home around midnight and may have had a small slice of Caramel Apple Walnut Pie from the local Sanitary Bakery. Ahh. This crust is so flaky that it melts in your mouth. I’m sure it’s full of shortening and trans fat, but.I.don’t.care.because.it.is.so.delicious!!

What a lovely day. Two runs + Kiwi the cat + dessert all day long + wine with friends.

What is your favorite type of dessert? Obviously, I love them all. Well, except for cream pies. I don’t care for those.

Unlike the night before, I had made reservations for graduation dinner months in advance. The location: Rae, a chic, contemporary new restaurant in the chic, contemporary new Cira Centre.

Occupying about a third of the ground floor of this busy skyscraper, Rae seems to be designed for the hip, rich after-work crowd.

Though not exactly a parental utopia in terms of atmosphere, our group was more than pleasantly surprised by Rae’s quality of food. In short, dinner was spectacular.

After ordering a bottle of wine for the table (a duty that somehow fell to me, though I wasn’t paying and my sommelier skills are somewhat questionable), we looked over the sparse but intriguing menu.

A full two-thirds of our party ordered the Caesar Salad to start and were quite happy with their selection. I took a different route, straying as far away from vegetables as possible with the Risotto Fingers. These little bundles of fun resembled mozzarella sticks in their shape and tater tots in their consistency. They were the perfect match of crispy, crunchy outside and tender but creamy inside. Rich enough by themselves, they were also served with a truffle/soy sauce that was richer still.

As good as the apps were, this place is all about the entrees. Again, half of the table overlapped each other with the Salmon (asparagus and dill). I heard several compliments of the dish, which I managed to verify through a small taste of my dad’s fish.

Although I initially ordered the Spring Chicken (fava and chanterelle), I went back to the drawing board after the waitress informed us that the chickens had flown the coop. As a remplacement, I chose the Beef Tenderloin (Rae bearnaise and red wine). It was a medium-rare masterpiece of meat, which I almost finished despite my stomach’s signals to stop halfway through.

More adventurous (and more representative of the playful inventiveness that chef Daniel Stern’s honed at Gayle) was my wife’s dish: Horseradish Tuna. Its preparation was undeniably unique. First, the tuna was just barely seared on the outside, leaving the vast majority of the fish raw and cold. The tuna was then wrapped in what looked to be phyllo dough, heated to brown the crust and fuse it to the meat, and then chilled again.

The tuna was then sliced into geometric sections and served cold alongside a cup of horseradish ice cream. Yes, horseradish ice cream.

I managed to coax a taste from my wife’s dish and the “hot” cold sensation was one of the weirdest I’ve ever experienced. It was certainly the winning dish in terms of adventure.

Buoyed by good wine, good conversation and good food, the whole table continued to dessert. The popular choice for this course was the Caramel Apple Walnut Pie. The ‘rents raved about every aspect of this sweet fruit treat, from the crispy crust, to the chunky, gooey innards. My mom and I, chocoholics to the core, went with Variations of Chocolate, which is exactly what it sounds like: a cornucopia of petite chocolate desserts. Coming off the high from the last night’s simple chocolate mousse, however, I was a little disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, any chocolate is good chocolate, but the cookies, pastries and beverage that made up this plate didn’t seem to gel in the flavor department. It was a bit too complex and overwhelming.

Despite this minor setback, we exited our celebration happier than we entered… which is saying a lot considering the smiles of relief, pride and joy that we walked in with.