Friends, Family, Ups and Downs

Wow, what a weekend I had. I considered that I had taken on a bit much, but it was all so fun somehow it seemed worth it.

My weekend started with a girls night away in Wisconsin. What happened the next morning however was not as glamorous as a "girls night away" might sound. We gathered at a friend's house in Lake Geneva for a 13.1 mile run on Saturday morning. I was not at all concerned about the run as I have done a number of half marathons over the years and I actually felt like I was ready. I was wrong! The race was 13 miles of hills. Up and down for 13 miles. It was brutal. There were times that I was moving so slow up the hills I literally felt like I was running in place. And based on my time, I may very well have been. I finished but not without tears, regret and a sense of "how did this happen?". But the Ups and Downs soon were masked by a big fat lunch, lots of laughs and a road trip back to Chicago. Here we are after...ugh!

Saturday night -- Bob Newhart. Sold out. Yes, Sold Out Bob Newhart. The excitement of it proved to be better than the actual show, but I must say it did bring back memories of sitcoms and funny lines and the evening as a whole was fun.

And then Sunday. Tricia and her kids came to town on Saturday night so that she and I could record a demo for a radio show. Too funny. I suspect this effort will end up like our dreams of going on the road playing guitar (we both dropped out of our lessons). We had a blast. We recorded a segment on our Battle for the month -- the parsnip. And yucked it up the whole way through with my friend Jamie who was our producer, guide and engineer.

Following that, Jamie, Tricia, our cousin Jaime and I all started cooking. We made a meal with parsnips (Tricia do you have pics?):

Parsnip, leek and apple soup
Smashed potato and parsnip with fresh thyme
Parsnip Cake AND

We were lucky enough (through the generosity and talent of some friends) to also serve Bacon Sausage. You heard me...bacon sausage. Talk about delicious. One of my neighbors is the chef, and inventor of this amazing food. His company is called Big Fork. And he has a number of bacon sausages that are as wonderful as they sound...Aged Cheddar, Cracked Black Pepper and Maple & Brown Sugar, and the original which we devoured, Hickory & Applewood. Look him up, get yourself some of this wonderfulness. And tell him I sent you. www.bigforkbrands.com

Whew. What an amazing weekend. The friends and family being the highlight. The Ups and Downs causing me great physical and emotional damage.

What did I learn? Cooking is fun. Friends make it better. Hills are bad.