Oh yes, dear readers. The holiday feasting season! It's a wonderful time, filled with family, friends, and food. The atmosphere is cozy, and the meals are warm and delicious. On the other hand, it's a time of year when distance athletes everywhere shake in their calorie-counting boots. And if the temptation of a single huge meal isn't enough, I was blessed enough to be invited to two of these suckers. Oh, the fear. Fortunately, I made it through without any overeating, which will be a relief come race-day next weekend. The food was SOOOOOOOO GOOD.


The first Thanksgiving was a dinner put together by our landlord, Peter. He invited Leif and me to come to his new house where he and his girlfriend Elisa had cooked a fantastic, all-from-scratch meal, including the turkey pictured above.


We started the night snaking on some nice lean pork that had been cooking all day, to which Peter added a nice reduced sauce he had made from the juices. He's quite the Iron Chef.


While that was happening, Elisa and Helene worked on the cobbler desert that I ended up being too weak-willed to resist. It was very very good, especially combined with a heaping scoop of Haagen Daaz.


The evening was just plain classy, all around. The extra food ended up being good fuel for the 20-mile run I did the next morning. I thought that it was going to be my only Thanksgiving, but at the last minute, I figured I could spare the weekend, and booked a ticket to Denver. Last minute really means last minute; I booked the ticket three hours before the plane took off! It was a quick hop on the BART, a jump in the air, and touchdown in Denver just a couple hours later. WHAT A BLESSING to be home with family. And OUR Thanksgiving was just plain awesome.


Scott did an expert job of cutting the turkey, and I caught Mom red-handed, sneaking bites.


The spread. Drool.


Scott's fine handiwork with the bird.


The prompt was "make a face, Owen!"


Then he decided to do some yoga for me.


The good ole kids' table. May I never be too old to sit here.


Cousin James decides he really loves chocolate-covered almonds.


Lincoln, on the other hand, loves cranberries. A lot.


Later on, Mom and Owen were doing a puzzle and I got this shot. It was too cute not to post.


We took my grandma out for dinner a couple nights later, to keep her company. Mamaita raises her glass in a toast. Here's to our beloved departed Grandpa Ken. We miss him.


The BEST part of the weekend was seeing Dad on a road bike. He has been riding with Mom, accompanying her for her long runs, but has been doing so on a mountain bike. He wanted to get something lighter, so he could join her when she herself is riding rather than running. He took me to the bike shop, and we found him a GREAT cyclocross-style bike that will let him go on the trails or the roads in style. Look at those drops bars! What a stud!


Mom is fit, fast, and fun to be around. She's such a cute grandma. Funny though, how all three of us put on headphones while working out together.


Dad relaxing after a nice 14-mile outing. The Salazar "Badass Division" just got a new member. Welcome to the club, Dad.

Signing off, as always, with my love to all.

The Tuxedo Strikes Back! This weekend was the world famous Cal Triteam Prom, to which I was invited by the very beautiful Lauren Selman. She promised that we'd dress to the nines and rock the joint; who could refuse?


The very classy event began at Chevy's Fresh Mex restaurant down in Emeryville, where about 40 triathletes filled the tables and chowed down on some very tasty comida mexicana. Afterwards, it was off to Jacob Hooker's house, set up in fine style with a full bar and a dance floor primed for action.


Lauren and Sasha wasted no time gettin' their dance on.


Dwight, someone I don't know, and Christi pose like the tri-gangsters they are.


Lauren (left) and Erin oblige me with the obligatory self-photo. The night was a lot of fun, especially for Lauren, who may have sparked a romance that evening with another triathlete. I leave the details, dear readers, to your imagination.


Merlin! He hasn't made an apearance on here for a while, and it was about time he did. He's quite an odd fellow, much like his keeper. Look at that face. He seems to be saying, "You lookin' at me?" No action poses for Merlin, just curious neck-creening. He kept me company this morning after my long run which, by the way, was absolutely awesome. Twenty miles of brutal pain followed by a divine half hour of relaxing and blogging. I have been making a very cool recovery drink for after the long workouts, which seems to be pretty effective. Without further adieu, I give you ...

Judge Nick's Berry Good Recovery Smoothie:
1 Danon "Light n Fit" smoothie (any flavor; today was Mixed Berry)
1 cup skim milk
1 cup Crystal Light Lemonade
2 Tbsp Fat Free Nestle Cocoa Powder

Stir all ingredients vigorously; enjoy smoothie bliss. It's about 200 calories, and contains a good bit of refined sugars, which is what they recommend for post-workout recovery. Very tasty. Sometimes I add a banana, but I didn't have one today. Anyway, I'm really quite salty right now, and I need a shower. So, I'll bid you good day, and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Until next time, dear readers. I love you all.

My friends, I have discovered the most amazing thing. Once you have experienced this spectacular item, you too will wonder how ever you lived without it. The magic of which I speak is the amazing, incomparable ... actually, I'll just let the story unfold, and you can read for yourself. Can you feel the suspense?!?!


The usual Boalt gang, enjoying some Quizno's after class on Monday. They were supposed to be doing an action shot, but their delayed response to that request resulted in the very nice candid pose you see here. Anyway, these are some great people, and were very supportive of the partying which was about to happen. But is Quizno's the 8th Wonder? Nope. It's pretty good, but not good enough for the adjectives used above.

Thursday night, Cocktails & Breakbeats: Berkeley Edition went off without a hitch. Leif and Xavier were here first, to help kick off the madness, followed shortly by the usual gang of Brian, Brien, Jason, Megan, and Nate. While the trusty w800i takes great pictures for the rest of this blog, it got shelved for the evening due to its uselessness in low-light situations, so no pics :-( But rest assured, we partied like wild animals until the wee hours. No neighbors complained, however, and it was a success all around. But partying is not the 8th Wonder.

The next morning, I went out to get some groceries, and on a whim, bought some oatmeal. Dear God, it's so good. As I type this, I'm eating Quaker Oats "Banana Breat" oatmeal in the "Weight Control" variety; it has 1g sugar, 6g fiber, and tastes like heaven. I threw in some dry cereal to up the calories a bit, but if ever you just want a sweet-tasting snack, the oatmeal alone delivers 160cal of very healthy high-glycemic carbs. Mmmmmmm. SO good. But not the 8th Wonder. Maybe it's Wonder 7.5 though.


After breakfasting (the morning after C&B), I headed out on the TT bike for a little spin. On a cooler, overcast day, my new Cannondale jacket made the ride an absolute pleasure. I use that jacket for everything now. It's stylish, form-fitting, warm in the wind -- but cool enough while sweating, waterproof, and converts into a vest. I had worn the vest with a sleeveless shirt during C&B to look slick, and kept it as a vest for the ride. It's the most perfect garment ever. It's not the Eighth Eonder I mentioned above, but very very close. It might be a tie. Hell, this jacket might be the Ninth Wonder. Yeah, let's call it the Ninth Wonder. I think everyone should own one.


After the ride, some fresh ground turkey meat was calling my name from the fridge, so I stir-fried a good lot of it with some mushrooms, peppers, and broccoli, all in a nice BBQ-Teriyaki sauce. Yum. Pretty good, but not Wonderous.


Time to let the cat out of the bag. What you see above is, without a doubt, the most amazing discovery of Man. That's right, the world's Eighth Wonder is, unquestionably, the Butternut Squash. I picked this sucker up while doing groceries last week, only because I was curious as to what the hell a butternut squash IS. Leif guessed that it would taste like a pumpkin.


When you cut the thing open, it does smell like a pumpkin, and has pumpkin-like seeds. Merlin tried out the seeds, but wasn't a huge fan, and mostly just stared at me while I cooked the thing, seeming to ask, "when are you gonna feed me some cheese?" What's really neat about the squash is that the seed pod is bowl-shaped, and looked like the perfect recepticle for some good stir-fry. So I whipped some up, and voila:


Don't it look scrumptious? Turkey, mushrooms, and sweet mini bell peppers in a mustard-lime-vinegarette sauce.


The squash tastes AMAZING. It has such a wonderful soft texture, and is quite sweet. The whole thing is edible, skin and all, and the natural bowl-shape makes the dish very attractive. I think the sauce was a bit too strong; it overwhelmed the natural sweetness of the squash, which might be better complemented by something mild like cottage cheese. Later on that evening, I cooked up some more squash and didn't add anything but cottage cheese (with a little more of that sauce on the side for occasional dipping). It was splendid. When I come home for Christmas, I will have perfected some kind of squash dish, and will treat the fam to its magnificence. Until then, I leave you to ponder what a vegetable with such a lengthy blog treatment could possibly taste like.

Until next time, dear readers. I love you all.

Just a couple quick pics from the weekend. The BLF masquerade was a ton of fun, though I didn't stay long. As usual, I was sleepy early, having just finished a 16-mile run at race pace.


The nice view off the 8th-floor balcony. I bid on a poker night with my IP professor, but doubt I won it.


Mom and Dad sent me an early Birthday present -- new cycling kit! Hooray! The Black Rider strikes again. Damn, this is some sweet lycra.


I mean seriously, can you do any better than this? It's so clean, sharp, and matching! I love it.


P.S. It's been raining in Berkeley. I look forward to those long, wet rides with a nice hot shower at the end.

That's all for now. Love to all.