in which I set a new goal.

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Hey gang. How is everyone doing? Enjoying going on my bar trip a month or so after the fact? Offf course you are! I am almost done with the bar trip updates and next week I’m heading back east for a much need trip to Boston. It’s been over a year since my last trip so this 5 day excursion to the land of sticky buns and gin drinks is necessary.

But for now let’s talk about running.

Say hello to the new Saucony Triumph 9’s. True to their name, my recent runs have been triumphant.

I believe the last thing I wrote about running I had taken a bit of a break. You may or may not remember that back in April I was half heartedly training for a May half. At the end of a 10 mile run I felt this awful tightness in my hip. Not wanting to injure myself I took a hiatus from running. Last May I started studying for the bar exam and decided to take a break from running to focus on yoga which served me well during my bar exam preparations. Yoga forced me to take structured breaks and calmed my mind. I ran every other week during bar prep but I continued to endure hip stiffness. To make matters worse, I was sitting for around 12 hours a day studying. This is not help matters. I actually would sit on the floor of my apartment attempting to contort my hips to make them pop. Overall it was totally blah. I thought taking a break would help matters and it didn’t seem to make any difference.

I started trying to run more after the bar but my hip continued to be an issue. I also was in desperate need of new shoes. Because I hadn’t done that much running (compared to, say the amount of running I did in 2011) I didn’t think I needed new shoes.

Well, I was clearly wrong. I used some birthday cash to pick up the Triumphs photographed above. For the past few weeks I’ve been logging all my runs on Daily Mile and attempting to get my mileage back up. Basically, I want to rebuild my cardio base as it essentially died over the summer.

10, 13, 15, 20. These miles make me want to do my happy dance. I fail at inserting gifs so just Google “Carlton Banks Dancing” and use your imagination.

The best news? No hip pain. I feel like a new woman!

Clearly, I’m trying to ease back in because I haven’t run much recently and I also don’t want to re-injure myself. However, my past few runs have felt like total domination compared to what I was doing last winter and spring. I’m still a bit slow and I’m still taking walk breaks but I can feel my legs getting stronger and I have a bit of my runners swagger back.

I desperately want to run another marathon in the upcoming year. The desire to run long is returning to me and I have the marathon bug again. At this point, I’m going to hold off on making any definitive marathon plans until after I get my bar examination results in November. I’m still coming back from injury and am trying to build up my based. I don’t want to take on too much too soon. Once I get the bar results I can think about the time frame for running my next marathon. I want to be able to commit to training and, no secrets here; I want to trounce my marathon PR. I think I have it in me.

In the meantime, I have had a long standing goal of running a sub 2 hour half marathon and I think it’s time to get serious. My current PR is 2:02, which was set with minimal training, so this feels like an attainable goal. I know, I know, you’ve heard this before. After the marathon in Chicago I had a lot of enthusiasm for running but I was on running burnout. It happens. This time I actually feel excited about the prospect of training. I’m not distracted by end of 3L festivities or the bar exam and let’s face it, I need a new goal. A goal that I have relatively more control over compared to the bar exam results and job application waiting game. The Runner’s World Sub 2 Hr 10 week training plan is on my fridge. I picked out a race in early January and I can start a full training routine after I get back from Boston. I plan to keep going to yoga as cross training and maybe work in some other types of workouts so I don’t get too bored from running.

The overall goal is to look like this again.

I was reminded today on a two mile shake out run (my legs are still sore from going to SoulCycle for the first time- more on that later) how good it feels when the weather is right and a good song is on your ipod and your charging up the final uphill. I’m excited to channel some energy into a new running goal. This is going to be reflected on the blog. I want to go back to posting weekly training recaps. I’ll likely write a bit more about fitness. Hopefully it will keep me on track towards my goal.

Tartine

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When I travel I don’t really do much sightseeing. Mostly I like to wander from restaurant to restaurant or bakery to bakery. What can I say? I like food and usually I see some sites along the way.

There is also a growing list of restaurants and bakeries that I cannot enter without losing all restraint. Tartine in San Francisco is definitely on that list. Like when I go to Flour in Boston, the moment I enter Tartine I have the overwhelming compulsion to purchase everything in sight and horde treats for later.

Obviously I told my dad that one of the big things I wanted to do while in San Francisco was go to Tartine. We ended up marching though the mission at 8:30 am on a Sunday morning and then standing in a line before the bakery opened. I’m pretty sure my dad’s internal monologue was something along the lines of “this better not suck” and “why and I in this line for a pastry”. Thankfully Tartine did not disappoint (I knew it wouldn’t!) and we were able to snag a table so we could sit down and enjoy our treats.

I did not get the chocolate hazelnut tart. Next time.

Because I have an utter lack of self control I got a sweet breakfast item, a savory breakfast item and snack for later.

Oh and this latte which was served in a bowl. I love a coffee beverage that is too big to fit into a conventional mug.

The lattes at Tartine are delicious. For me they are up there with Blue Bottle with the rich and smooth flavor. I almost tried to get another to go but I didn’t want to stand in a line which continuously snaked out the front door.

I also got a morning bun fresh out of the oven.

Sweet, orangey, gooey and delicious. I wish I’d ordered 12.

Food porn at its finest.

I made the executive decision that a mere morning bun would not sustain me on the ride to Healdsburg so I also ordered quiche.

It’s been a while because I am woefully behind on my blogging but I believe this quiche had local yellow tomatoes and bacon and some form of cheese. It was delicious. The crust was well cooked and a little less flakey than the quiche crust at Flour but good nonetheless.

Oh, and I got a chocolate chip cookie for the road. Can you blame me?

Slanted Door

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The first time I went to San Francisco my good friend Chrissy took me to Slanted Door in the Ferry Building for cocktails and appetizers. The prices on the menu were a little outside the reach of my law student budget, not to mention the restaurant was totally jammed so we were in and out pretty quickly. This time I was back with my Dad to bank roll the dinner. What we didn’t expect (and duh probably should have) is that you need to lock down your table at Slanted Door about a month in advance. Whoops. I needed to get out on a run so I put Dad in charge of figuring that one out.

When I got back he said we could probably get a table if we were there when it opened at 5:30. Yeah, it was the early bird special but it was worth it.

We got to sit outside and had this impressive view…

I was so excited to rip open the menus.

I cannot remember what I had to drink the first time I went to Slanted Door. This time the choice was easy. I ordered a French 75: dudognon reserve cognac and prosecco, lemon; on rocks.

It was so good I ordered two.

As you can tell, we wasted no time establishing that we needed appetizers and entrees and dessert. This is why I like meals out with dad, there are always multiple courses.

We quickly ordered the slanted door spring rolls with pork, mint, shrimp and peanut sauce.

So fresh and so delicious. I love the huge shrimps with the mint.

We also decided to order two entrees and share them. I interrogated the waiter about what the best food on the menu was.

The theme of the food on this trip was seafood. Dad basically had clam fest the first several days of the trip. The waiter recommended the caramelized wild gulf shrimp with garlic, yellow onion and caramel chili sauce and Dad quickly called dibs on it.

Don’t worry I made him share. It was sweet and not too spicy which is good. Totally mouth watering.

I ordered the cellophane noodles with green onion, crab and sesame. What can I say? I was feeling the need for carbs.

Again, so fresh. The ingredients here are just the best. I love the food in San Francisco. Plus, I haven’t had good cellophane noodles in a long time.

The entrees at Slanted Door seem simple but they were both so delicious. The ingredients are fresh and the blend of seasonings is perfect. Nothing was over sauced (ick) or bland.

We tore through BOTH entrees and decided that we needed some sort of dessert. After a big dinner I wanted something light.

Poached peaches with crème fraiche.

This dessert had me a crème fraiche. It was light and delicious and summery. Perfect end to a perfect meal.

After dinner we went on a long walk to digest. I had a massive food baby after all this food. I highly recommend Slanted Door. It was one of the best meals that we had while traveling. If you can’t get in for a meal, try to check out the bar and order at least an appetizer.

Reflections on Marathon Running and Bar Examination Taking.

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Graduation, May 2012. One of the happiest days of my life, which was promptly followed by two of the most intense months of my life.

A little over a month ago I spent 18 hours in a ballroom in Century City completing the California Bar Exam. The exam capped off two months of intense studying. The bar exam is a unique experience. I took a prep class to prepare and get me ready for 18 hours of testing. My law school experience helped as well. Especially after my grueling finals schedule last winter (4 exams and a 40 page paper in less than 3 weeks), I knew I could handle the studying portion of the bar exam. I blogged back in early July that I actually felt pretty good about where I was with preparing for the exam and staying positive. Obviously there were some low moments (like calling my Mom at 6 pm on a Tuesday to ask for permission to take a break. Adulthood fail.) Overall I felt good about the bar prep.

The exam itself was an intense three days. Three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon were devoted to the test. I was really intense about protecting my sanity and sticking to a routine that I was comfortable with. I don’t get my results until November so who knows how successful I actually was. Yes, that is your disclaimer to take everything I’m about to write with a small grain of salt.

Beyond the “marathon” three day exam there were many aspects of studying that tested my mental endurance. Sitting in class listening to lectures for several hours then coming home to 5-8 hours of additional homework. Writing practice essay after practice essay. Sitting though all day simulated exams. Studying day in and day out, feeling like I wasn’t making very much real progress. Waiting to see scores increase on multiple choice sections and then seeing them plummet again. Hearing and seeing social media updates from well meaning classmates berating themselves for “low” scores (I refuse to believe that they were all low. Remember, law students generally perfectionists). Going back to barbri day after day and thinking “dear god no, not more material for me to internalize”. Constant monitoring of my mood, food and caffeine intake and sleep to make sure I was OK. Oh and dealing with everyday life. I learned this summer that the bar exam does not exist in a vacuum. Life is still happening and you still have to deal with it.

Source

Wash, rinse, repeat over and over for two months. That is what preparing for the bar exam is all about.

***

By far the best thing I did to prepare for the bar (besides going to law school) was running the Chicago Marathon last fall. Hands down.

When I first got the marathon itch I knew that I wanted to complete it before the end of law school for several reasons. The main reason was that it’s easier to work a training schedule around being a student. However, it was also critical in my mind that I hit my marathon goal before embarking on the bar exam process. I knew that the bar exam was going to be the most challenging academic task of my career to date. The bar exam was my academic Everest.

The thing about running for me is that it has the power to remind me what I’m capable of, even in the midst of self doubt. Running for me is largely mind over matter. If I tell myself “you can finish this mile, race, etc”, I do. Finishing my first half marathon was a big ah-ha moment for me in that respect. I believe that most people can do anything they put their minds to and finishing half marathons, setting new personal bests, and completing the marathon is a reminder that I can do anything I want to do.

So I set out last October to run a marathon.

And I did.

***

Over the weekend while lazing around my apartment, half writing this post and half trying to decide what to put on my grocery list for this week (priorities), I decided to re-watch Spirit of the Marathon. I had watched it several times while I was training for Chicago to pump myself up but I hadn’t watched it since the race. During my re-watching several quotes from the movie rang truer than ever: “the marathon gives you an extra layer” “it reminds you that anything is possible” “when you cross the finish line, no matter how fast or how slow, it changes you forever”.

I also went back and read several blog posts that I wrote around the time of the marathon and found this from my marathon recap: “I’m proud that I finished but I’m even more proud of myself for never doubting my ability to finish and staying strong. I know that I will take that into everything I do in the future.”

While preparing for the bar exam, there were moments where I hit the mental wall. I distinctly remember one awful day in June where I cracked my crown eating sushi (HOW? This stuff only happens to me) and promptly panicked about maybe having to go to the dentist. I had a brief melted down and then put on my shoes and went out for a run as I typically do when anxiety hits. While running I thought back to how I felt running the marathon and I remembered how proud I was of myself for going into the race KNOWING I was going to finish. I had been so confident. I remember telling myself that no matter how tired I was I wanted to look strong when I saw my family and friends along the course. Through wanting to look strong, I became strong. The marathon, like the bar exam, came down to a mental game.


Not Mine.

Throughout the rest of the bar exam, I approached the preparation as if I was training for Chicago again. I even compared test preparation as if I was running the marathon course again. I walked into the full day multiple choice simulated exam with calmness and confidence. I listened to my favorite running anthems on the drive to the testing facility. Half way through the first set I went to the bathroom, splashed water on my face and said to myself: “ok you’re at mile 8. Remember mile 8? You were in Boystown. There were ROTC cadets out. There were Lady Gaga impersonators. You felt so good you clapped and cheered on their performances from the course”. I went back out there and kept working. Towards the end of that simulated exam I was mentally exhausted and just did not care anymore. Again, I took a short break to reinvigorate and said to myself: “you’re at mile 23. Brenna and Claire and about to jump in with you. It’s time to finish strong. You can do this”. Total cornball move but, you know what, it worked! I went back to the exam feeling much better and looking back, I got more right in that section of the exam than I did in any other.

On test day I drove myself to the test listening to my favorite running songs. When the exam was about to start I had adrenaline was coursing through my system like it had before the marathon began. I thought to myself “You ran a marathon. How hard can this be?” and was off.

Here’s the thing: when it comes to the bar exam, you need to put in the work. And you know what? If you worked hard enough to graduate from law school, you WILL put in the work. It’s just who you are. Putting in the work isn’t the hardest aspect of the bar exam in my mind. The hardest thing is staying positive and knowing that you are capable of passing. The best tool I had to help me stay positive, outside of my network of family and friends, was the knowledge that when I want to do something I’m generally able to do it. Like finishing a marathon.

California Love

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If you did not gather from my last, teaser post I was lucky enough to spend the past week and a half exploring California. Despite living in Cali for a little over 3 years I haven’t actually spent that much time exploring my adopted home state. I’ve taken a couple trips to Palm Springs and I’ve been to San Francisco and San Diego but there was so much more of the state that I wanted to see.

My Dad flew into LA on my birthday, we rented a car and hit the road.

We went to Santa Barbara.

Cambria and Hearst Castle.

Traveled up the 1 through Big Sur.

Carmel.

San Francisco.

Healdsburg and Wine Country.

and San Los Obispo.

This trip has completely reaffirmed my love for California. I feel so lucky to live in a state with such geographic diversity and beauty. Big Sur was especially breathtaking and I really want to go back. This trip was planned over the summer so major credit goes to my mom. I basically said “I’m busy, just plan it for me” and she did a really good job. We had great hotels where we stayed with locations that were walking distance from the downtown areas.

We only had one night in Santa Barbara, Cambria, and SLO. I really liked Santa Barbara and spent plenty of time on the main shopping drag through town. Same with SLO. It was the end of the trip and I was pretty tired but we stayed at a really cute little hotel that felt super homey and I managed to get some shopping time in too.

I ate at some amazing restaurants and I documented about half of the meals I ate. I plan to do separate posts detailing those meals. I was a huge fan of the dinner I had at Slanted Door, lunch at Chez Panisse, the baked goods at Tartine (might give my beloved Flour a run for its money as my favorite bakery), and Baci and Scopa in Healdsburg. I definitely came home with a food baby. Always the sign of a good vacation!

Malibu-ing

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Thursday was a pretty sad day. For the past few months many of my friends have been filtering out of the city. Several of my close friends left the city right after graduation. Immediately after graduation I missed them but I was so preoccupied all summer with the bar exam that I didn’t notice their absence immediately. Now that the bar is over more people are leaving the city. One of those people is my friend Eric who has been on the blog numerous times. With his leaving, our core law school group has been smashed. He’s only going to be in Orange County but still, I cannot run, literally, to his house for whiskey or absinthe or wine or beer.

I know so sad.

Luckily we had a plan to counteract the impending sadness. Wine, food, trolling each other incessantly and frolicking.

The afternoon started with me arriving at Eric’s, us opening a bottle and toasting our friendship, the end of the bar and my upcoming birthday!

Check the wine he had:

Flip Flop: Left Coast. In honor of the blog!

Shortly thereafter Phil and Jessica arrived in Phil’s bitchin’ 80’s red BMW convertible. We hit the 10 and drove north on the 1, top down. It was a truly stunning day.

Hey dudes.

On the way north we stopped for provisions before pulling into Solstice Canyon in Malibu. Solstice Canyon is an awesome hiking trail with a water fall and a stream.

We walked down the path to a picnic area that was shaded and really mellow. It was pretty hot on Thursday but it was nice and cool in the shade.

We even inherited a table with a table cloth on it from some other people who were leaving and we set out our picnic.

Keeping it classy with twist off top wine we bought at the gas station.

Brie, flat bread, pate, and hot flaming cheetos. Some of these things are not like the others.

We mostly just hung out, reminisced about law school and just messed around. Later our friend Haylee joined us and we celebrated her recent engagement.

Picnics always ftw.

We also harassed Eric about his inability to open the bear safe trash can.

We can graduate from law school but cannot open bear safe trash cans. Can’t win them all.

Eventually we extracted ourselves from the picnic area and made a quick pit stop by the beach for some light frolicking.

I love Malibu. I love the beach. I’m never leaving LA.

Overall, it was a great day. I miss my friends who have left but I’m glad for all the good times we’ve had.

Bru Haus: So Close and Yet So Far.

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Brentwood is known for many things but a happening night life scene is not one of them. Despite this there are a handful of bars along Wilshire my friends and I like to frequent occasionally. So when my friend Gwen suggested dinner at Bru Haus before going out Saturday night I was excited to check it out.

source

If you follow me on twitter, or read this blog or have talked to me for more than 1 hour you know that there are two things I feel very passionate about: tater tots and sweet potatoes.

Thus, when I opened up the menu and saw sweet potato tots I nearly broke out into my Carlton Banks happy dance.

I also easily decided to order an IPA: Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale.

I will give Bru Haus credit for having a killer beer list. Probably the best beer list in all of Brentwood (really, it isn’t a competition). I choose this one from the IPA section of the menu. Honestly, I mostly chose it because it was the cheapest option. It was just OK. It wasn’t that hoppy- kind of a letdown. However, it was $6 and I drank 2 so clearly it wasn’t that awful.

The major disappointment though?

When the sweet potato tots arrived I asked for ketchup. However I was told there was no ketchup. Only “Beet-chup”.

OK. Let’s break this down for a second.

I consider myself to be down with food snobbery. It’s not like I live for it or love it. I can be happy with fast food, at a greasy spoon or at Tavern. When I go to Father’s Office I do not care one lick that they don’t have ketchup because they have the most awesome aioli ever. I’m generally a roll with the punches kind of girl. I like food. I’m not too picky. I actually love beets. I have been known to roast a beet in my day.

However, this beet-ketchup is an abomination. Not to be dramatic, but it really wasn’t my favorite and I didn’t feel like any of the aiolis made up for it. It kind of ruined the sweet potato tots for me.

Overall: Great beer list (but didn’t love the Widmer Brothers), sweet potato tots (but maybe sneak in some ketchup packets from the Mc Donald’s across the street?), and great outside seating. I will probably make another appearance at Bru Haus. I mean, you can’t go to Cabo Cantina every night I suppose. But I would choose a different beer and have to figure out how to better negotiate the ketchup situation.

Ok blog readers: Beet Ketchup. What say you about beet ketchup?

Fig Lime Jam

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Remember two summers ago when I first discovered figs?

It was the first summer I started going to the farmers market in LA and taking advantage of all the amazing produce that southern California has to offer. I was so swept off my feet by figs I started coming up with plays on the word like “un figgen believable” and “figgen good”. I’m a fan of figs.

Figs are not loved the world over though. I mentioned fig jam to my dad last week and I could visualize the side eye he was throwing me via email. However, I feel this jam has the power to change minds.

Studying for the bar exam threw my world a little upside down this summer. Weekly trips to the farmers market have been a ritual for me since 2010, yet this summer I just never really made it out. The week before the exam I wandered into the Wednesday Santa Monica market. I was kind of sad I hadn’t made it there sooner this summer. The tomatoes, peaches, berries, melon and figs smelled so good. Luckily when my mom was in town she invested in a massive number of figs for me. I made the easy decision to make jam with them.

Why jam? Because saying “I’m making jam” makes you sound vaguely like Martha Stewart. But really making jam is simple. There is very little effort that actually goes into it and very few ingredients. Also, I really like figs but I feel like they go bad fast. Unlike a giant bag of cherries that I can demolish in under an hour, I never really sit and eat a large number of figs. Plus I have a jam recipe from 2010 that I’ve wanted to make foreva.

Plus, once you have jam there tons of ways to use it –> stay tuned for that.

Ingredients:

2 lbs figs (I used Brown Turkey)

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup lime juice

Instructions:

Take the figs and chop them up. I took my 2 lbs of figs and chopped them into quarters.

Juice two limes to get 1/4 cup of lime juice.

Combine the sugar, lime and figs. Mash and combine all of the ingredients. The recipe called for use of a potato masher but I don’t have a potato masher. I used the edge of a rolling pin. Mix and mash the figs, sugar and lime until they are mostly liquid. There were some chunks left from the figs. This is completely acceptable.

Cover the jam and let sit for at least 2 hours. You can let it sit over night.

After two hours heat the jam over medium heat for 30 mins, stirring occasionally. The jam will bubble and reduce down in the process of cooking.

After 30 mins remove from the heat and let it cool. Then refrigerate.

I have to say, this jam is pretty damn good. Plus, it looks pretty and isn’t that equally important?

The jam is sweet but not too sweet. I think the tartness of the lime juice cuts the sweet a bit. Also cooking this will make your apartment smell like heaven.

I have so much jam in my apartment right now (like more than I can just use on toast). Stay tuned next week for ways to use jam. One of them involves pancetta and we know pancetta is always amazing.

this week

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This week is for:

Sunday New York Times

Favorite reads this week include

  • the Sunday Style cover story on Tavi Gevinson who was a better blogger at 11 than I will be in my entire life. I want to read Rookie even though I am about 10 years too old for it.
  • Vacationing like a Candidate in the Travel section. Not the part about New Hampshire, but the part about the Obama’s not going to Martha’s Vineyard. Barry and I have both shopped in the same book store and like fried sea food. Now I want to go to the East Coast.
  • Which Mother for Isabella? The article is about the Miller Jenkins family which we talked about extensively in my LGBT Family Law class last fall. In a nutshell: a lesbian couple met, married, and had a kid. One of the partners later became super religious and renounced her lesbianism. Since then they have been in a massive custody battle moving between two jurisdictions (one that allows gay marriage and one who doesn’t). Oh, and the partner who renounced her lesbianism up and moved to Nicaragua with the kid to avoid the custody order. Needless to say, a fascinating read.

Plotting total kitchen domination

My kitchen has been dormant since at least the bar but lets be really honest, since about 6 months ago. When was the last time I broke out the Flour cookbook? I can’t tell you. It is on this week.

Yoga-ing 

Its been over a week since I went to yoga. The need for a solid chaturanga cannot be over stated.

Cocktail with an umbrella sipping with friends

Because life is about balance right? Also FRIENDS! I’ve missed them.

But for now, I’m off to make magic with some figs. 

It’s good to be back.