Possibly My New Favorite Cookie...

... and of course it contains PUMPKIN! My friend Caitlin sent me this recipe from the blog My Life as a Mrs.

I made these treats last week to bring to work on Friday and they were a hit! They've got the perfect amount of pumpkin (which can sometimes be a little overwhelming in dessert) and a delicious blend of cinnamon and spices. I'd recommend eating them warm with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream and dash of cinnamon on top :)

Courtesy of My Life as a Mrs.

Courtesy of My Life as a Mrs.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for a recipe for my most recent creation - spicy broccoli and baked potato quiche - coming later this week!

Baltimore Half Marathon

When Anthony and I went to the Baltimore Health and Fitness Expo on Friday afternoon to pick up our race bibs we saw a great quote: "I run the half marathon because I'm only half crazy."

Looking back on our run Saturday I now agree that you have to have some bit of crazy somewhere in you to do a marathon.

But all in all, it was a great experience. There's something about running alongside thousands of other people all working towards the same goal that is inspiring. And although everyone runs together, it seems like each individual has their own reason for acting on their 'crazy' desire to participate. I did it for me - because I wanted to conquer a challenge that I never thought I could take on. Others did it for a cause - a friend with cancer, in memory of a loved one. Regardless of your reason for being there, we all had the same goal: own 13.1 miles.

Interestingly enough, even after living in Baltimore for 4 years, I had no idea the city has so many hills. Anthony and I had trained along the Hoboken/weehawken waterfront which is very flat, so the inclines got to be a bit tricky after a while. Luckily we 'ran' into a few friends from Loyola on the way (which was a good distraction) and before we knew it we had reached the last mile. Thanks to some awesome strangers standing on the sidelines cheering us on, we trucked through to the finish line with a time of two hours and 24 minutes, right around our set goal.

So for now, I'll be taking a nice break from training, but I think I've caught marathon fever and will be signing up for the Long Branch Half Marathon in May! Who's on board?

Holey Cream

Tonight Ant and I landed at a dessert joint in Hell's Kitchen called Holey Cream, located on 9th Avenue between 52nd and 53rd.  While they sell many tasty treats - cookies, cupcakes, homemade ice cream, etc. - their signature item is the 'Famous Original Donut Ice Cream Sandwich' (a.k.a. definitely something I SHOULD NOT be eating 3 days before the half marathon... oh well).

Here's a picture:

Step one: slice the donut

Step two: pick your three scoops of ice cream (we went with birthday cake, cookies and cream and moose tracks)

Step three: pick your icing to go on top of the donut (chocolate of course)

Step four: pick your topping (our choice was a sprinkling of graham cracker)

Put them all together and VOILA! You have one HUGE dessert!

I'd definitely recommend stopping by if you're in the area... only thing I'd suggest is that they serve the donut warm (perhaps even fresh) rather than room temperature, but it was still so worth it!

#51241

Only four days until Anthony and I run the Carefirst Bluecross Blueshield Half Marathon in Baltimore! On Sunday we completed a 10.5 mile run and today we received our registration numbers in the mail (hence the 51241 title of today's post), so I guess we're all ready to go!

Stay tuned for an update on Saturday after the race to see how we did!