Cooking with Coolio - My New Favorite Show

So, I went to the Iowa State Fair on Monday, and Coolio was playing on one of the free stages. Yes, that Coolio. Interestingly enough, the theatre I'm working at now performed one of their kids shows on the same stage earlier that afternoon. So you had this at 1:

















And this around 9:



And yes, the stage does say "Ridiculously High Standards" on it.

But thrilled as we all were to hear Gangsta's Paradise, there was one question on everyone's mind - Coolio is playing the free stage at the Iowa State Fair? Huh?

Well, my favorite cross-dressing cow seemed to stumble upon the answer for us - Tommy discovered that Coolio is coming out with a cookbook. Not only that, but he's been hosting his own cooking show - Cooking with Coolio - online.

So here, friends, is what is labeled "Cooking With Coolio #1 - Coolio Caprese Salad. I dare you to not be enthralled, because I certainly was. In fact, my words fail me right about here.


I can't even decide what my favorite part of this is. The repetition of the ingredients behind him, the packets he carries his salt, pepper and herbs in, the catch phrases, the massive knife he uses, or the fact that I totally want to eat that salad.

Shaka Zulu, indeed, Coolio. Now please excuse me while I go watch Cooking with Coolio #2 - Coolio Fork Steak and pre-order my book on Amazon.

You call that a zucchini?

People, I have grown the Biggest. Zucchini. Ever. Seriously. It is bigger than a bottle of beer! Bigger than my shoe! Bigger than a breadbox! (Assuming said bread box is under 13 inches long.) And what are my gardening secrets, you ask? How did I grow such a mammoth zucchini? Good topsoil, some compost, a nice spot, and lots of positive thinking. From inside the house. I weeded twice, which did about nothing. Sometimes I remembered to water the plants when it didn't rain for a few days. And when the Big Daddy Zucchini was just a baby zucchini, I looked at it and said "awwww." I guess that was all the motivation it needed.

I didn't even know that my zucchini were ready for harvest, but I walked by my little garden patch today and wham! There it was. Now, I don't know if a zucchini that big is still good eats or if I let it grow too long. It feels like a fine zucchini. But if anyone out there does know about these things, I'd appreciate your input. Also, your zucchini recipes, because that was just my first one and I have three zucchini plants.

Baby's First 5K

I know all (three) of you have been waiting breathlessly to hear about the 5K. So, let me explain...no, let me sum up - it was totally awesome.

Okay, first of all, check out all the free stuff I got in the pre-race package:

Yeah, that's right, I got free socks! No one else I have consulted with who have previously run marathons (Tafee and Will) have EVER gotten free socks! Plus my free shirt is all green and shamrocky, plus it's TECHNICAL and MOISTURE WICKING. And little sample packets of icy-hot and sunscreen. Plus some coupons for area merchants. But mostly, FREE SOCKS.

The morning of the race dawned, no, wait, we were totally up pre-freaking-dawn because they plan these races for un-Godly hours. So the race day pre-dawned cold and raining. It was somewhere between 40 degrees and 45. And did I mention it was raining? So we both dressed in layers.

Look, I'm all ready to go!

So we eat our piece of bread with peanut butter (it's Tafee's pre-race ritual) and walk down to the center of Atlantic Station, where everyone is meeting in the underground parking garage because of the rain. The rain! There were all sorts of fellow crazy people jogging around, warming up, stretching. Plus kids and parents with strollers and dogs and men in kilts, which is really how all 5Ks should be, in my opinion. Plus tables full of bananas and bagels for when we were done! And an Irish band setting up. And then it was time to start.

The run itself was, well, cold and wet and had a distinct lack of running on my part. I mean, yeah, I broke out into a jog here and there, but there was a kid that completely out paced me. My outer pair of pants (I was wearing two) were cotton and too long for me and got completely soaked at the bottom, so much so that one leg ended up completely engulfing my shoe. So about half way through, when I was warmer and the rain had lessened up a bit, I pulled over to the side to strip my pants off, getting a joking admonishment from the nearby traffic cop. Yes, I stripped in the middle of my first 5K. That's how I roll.

I have to give a big ol' thanks to the water station people, who not only gave us water, but constant encouragement, and there was a group of people with cowbells cheering us on! 'Cause we all got a fever for some more cowbell in our lives!

I ended up finishing 416 out of 494, with a total time of 45:02 and a pace time of 14:32, which was exactly where I wanted to be, so I was happy. And not only did I get my free banana afterwards, but:
That's right! A free Waffle House water bottle! Damn, free socks AND a Waffle House water bottle?! Best. 5K. Ever.

And here is the obligatory action shot (pre-pants stripping)
We're looking to run another 5K in St. Louis in April!

This dream is up for interpretation

I had a rough night sleeping last night. It seemed that the first four hours were spent almost falling asleep, having some brief disturbing dream, and waking up. Then, when I finally did fall asleep for reals, this is what I dreamt:

I'm downstairs at some restaurant and about to leave to meet my ride upstairs, when who should I almost literally bump into but B-Side! Having obsessed about him as he obsessed about celebrities, I recognize him immediately, despite the fact that he had frosted his hair and looked like the love child of Jay Manuel and Susan Powter. You know, if they were the the last people on Earth. And got really drunk. And used artificial insemination. Anyway:
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=

(Sorry, my photoshop skills are rudimentary at best, but I couldn't allow this image* to live in my head alone. And my apologies, B-Side, for taking liberties with the color/pattern of your wall, but I had to make the hair show up! (Because if you google your name as much as I hope you do, you may actually read this post some day.))

Anyway, I immediately gasp and say "you're B-Side!" And he sneers at me. Yup, SNEERS. One would hope he wouldn't actually do that in real life, but maybe I caught him on an off day. So he sits down at a table with his friends and ignores me, and because I'm overwhelmed but not wanting to be too obnoxious, I tell him how much I love him and that I'm sorry to have bothered him and I will take my leave. But then one of his friends (who looked a lot like Seth Green, but wasn't actually Seth Green) starts asking me questions and basically invites me to hang out and join them. (B-Side doesn't appear too pleased by this development. What up, Dream B-Side? You don't know me! Maybe I'm that friend you always longed for in your heart but didn't realize why your life felt so empty.) And though I long to, I explain that I was actually about to leave on a tour and the bus was waiting upstairs for me. And then I say "I can't believe I've been here for three months, hoping to see you, and I run into you on my last day here!" And where was the "here" that for some reason not only was I spending three months there but the B-Side was supposed to be for a length of time also?

New Jersey.

Yeah, I definitely don't get that part, either.

*For those of you only reading this as an imported note in the Facebook, you can see the pics if you visit my blog proper. Plus then it would give StatCounter something to log other than people clicking pictures of marmots.

Countdown to the 5K

Okay, peeps, my Very First 5K is in 4 days! I'm very excited and slightly nervous. Tomorrow Tafee and I are going to pick up our event packets which will include a Technical Moisture Wicking t-shirt! I am quite excited by that. I'm also excited about carbing up the night before the run, although Tafee has already vetoed my plan, which included several Krispy Kreme donuts. (sad horns) And to allay some of my nervousness, I looked up the results from last year to make sure I wouldn't be THE slowest runner there. It looks hopeful for me that I might finish ahead of some of the 10 year olds!

I have discovered in the past couple of days that visualization does nothing for me - trying to amp myself up to run by picturing myself running only makes me tired and want to skip to the after-run refreshment. And imagining Others right behind me does not help me sprint the last 20 feet before the corner. Yesterday when I ran, it was really hot and sunny, and so I ran a little slower than usual and not as far as I have before, which meant I got no encouragement from either Lance Armstrong or Joan Benoit Samuelson on my iPod. It was pretty disappointing. But I did pass one lady who said something to me that I couldn't make out (as I had my tunes on, like you do) but I imagined it was something to the effect of "you're running so well!" (Though it was more likely "crazy white girl, put on some sunscreen!") So, dear readers, do me one favor, and if you're out and about on your errands, and you see someone jogging past, be sure to smile and maybe say "you're doing great!" to them. Even if they can't hear you over their iPod, it will brighten their entire workout.

I've become one of Those people

Let me start by saying that I love graphs. Graphs, charts, spreadsheets...templates get me all a twitter! I'm a stage manager, I organize, it's what I do. True, I mostly use spreadsheets and templates, not much call for graphing in my line of business, but there is a time in everyone's life where a good graph just puts things into perspective.

So that's what this is all about, really, the graphs.

Okay, I've starting Running. Or, at this early point, walking a lot and occasionally breaking into a jog for a short period of time before slowing down and gasping a lot. I've always been in the "you should never run unless you're being chased by a psycho" school of thought, but I've been lured over to the dark side. Because of a graph.

This all began with the Nike+iPod thingamajig. See, it tracks your runs, gives you encouragement via the voices of Lance Armstrong and other athletes, and then logs onto the Nike+ website for you and GRAPHS YOUR RUNS! In fact, you may now see my graphs as well, over to the right there.

The downside is, like all runners will tell you, it is actually addictive. I'm actually enjoying the being outside and running part (gag) now! And, with the help and encouragement of one of my actresses, I'm training for a 5K in Atlanta in March. (It's the ShamROCK N ROLL 5K. I'm hoping they'll have Guinness at the finish line.)

Anyway, for those of you interested, the Nike+ thing is pretty freaking awesome. I don't have Nike+ shoes, but I did get a little pouch to attach to my shoelaces from target.com. I've even figured out how to listen to podcasts during my runs instead of music.

And though all this running nonsense initially started while I was in Fort Lauderdale (and who doesn't want to be outside when it's sunny and 70 degrees in January?!) today I found myself jogging in Atlanta with the temperature in the 30's and ice on portions of the sidewalk.

I hope you'll be understanding, and that we can still be friends.