week one done!

Happy Tuesday!
I can now say I successfully made it through one whole week of training (only 14 to go!) The long run this week proved to be one of the most difficult runs I've done in a long time. I chose a nice flat 6 mile course down Riverside park on the West Side ending at 42nd street, because who doesn't love walking through a bunch of tourists in time square when sweaty and tired.  This is usually my favorite place to do my long runs due to it being flat and usually there is a nice breeze from the water to keep you cool. Unfortunately this time that wasn't the case. Instead I was blessed with 80% humidity to match the 80 degree temperature. While starting the run late at 10:30AM was my own fault because I stayed out too late the night before (but without drinking might I add!) I did not expect it to be so painful. After two miles my legs did not want to move and not long after my lungs seemed to refuse to let much air in. At the 5 mile mark I was spent, I even stopped the run making the excuse that it was too hot and that should be good enough. But then I started thinking...I have 15 weeks to get ready to run 26.2 miles and stopping during my runs is not going to help me, the reason I chose the timing for the training was so I'd have no slack time and allowance to make excuses. So I made myself run/power walk the rest of the mile. By the end my body literally had given everything I was going to get out of it that day but I can say I gave 100% which I'm really proud of. Since moving to the city two years ago its been a struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle while enjoying the city and dealing with all the stressors of the "real world" which resulted ultimately in me getting out of shape which as people know for me is not something I like to be. Running in the park you see hundreds of people out on their runs pushing themselves and they have just as many and maybe even more excuses than I might have. What I was really hoping to gain from this training is that sense of  pride in what I can accomplish by working hard and knowing that I am capable of pushing myself farther than I think I can. I can tell even after a week I've started to feel better and have even lost 2lbs by watching what I eat better (although that fell apart during the weekend). Made it through my 3mi on Monday and the humidity was down to 40% and my run went by so much faster and easier hopefully more good weather is to come for this weeks long run where I will be tackling NYC Summer Streets where they shut down Park Ave for 7mi....should be interesting.

Also here is just a snippet of my workout playlist I'm working on perfecting:
Taio Cruz- Fast Car
Imagine Dragons- On Top of the World
Kris Allen- Fighters
The Fray- Run For Your Life
Miike Snow- Silvia
Neon Trees- Everybody Talks
Temper Trap- Rabbit Hole
Eric Church- Springsteen (and pretty much every other one of his songs)
Gym Class Heroes- The Fighter (notice a trend??)
Karmin- Brokenhearted
....more to come as I find them.

That's all for now!

Two down..I don't want to count how many to go

Just finished run #2 for training. Turns out the New York City humidity is back which was a nice addition to the run. After a week in California I had forgotten how much harder it is to run in the heat. Leaving work the weather said 84 degrees and 64% humidity which to me did not seem too bad....wrong....it felt like I was running through water, each step taking 10x more effort than the last. I was able to get the 4mi in that I need to but at a 10min/mi pace and with lots of breaks. So here are some tips I came up with on how to survive these last few weeks of summer in NYC running

1. Just avoid going outside to run (not a very reasonable option)

2. accept the run is going to be slow and require water and walking stops until later in training

3. get a good playlist

4. when all else fails find a hot guy to distract you or a skinny girl you wanna beat..works everytime

At least I made it through this one and for now I can enjoy my nice cold glass of chocolate milk for a reward!

Time to play catch up

I must begin and apologize for my extreme slacking on the blog here! It turns out as summer got more exciting I forgot to keep writing about it, my apologies. This week marks my 2 year anniversary in New York City and I'm still amazed to keep finding new things to do here. So my new promise to you all will be to try and keep you posted on my continuing adventures here! 

A few months ago I was training for a half marathon which I could not complete due to me breaking my elbow during a training run :( So in an impromptu decision I decided since I was halfway there I should just sign up for a full marathon this fall. (I know this is not a normal impulse buy...what can I say I'm crazy) This week marks the beginning of my 15 week training for my marathon on November 18th when I will tackle Brooklyn through a nice and easy 26.2 mile run. Since my longest distance the past few months of running has been 6 miles I think I'm underestimating the task at hand....Following in my fathers footsteps I decided to add a new aspect and use this blog as an outlet for logging my fitness and nutrition as well. I usually use blogs found on Pinterest to motivate me and give me great ideas for workouts so I figure why not use my own blog to motivate myself and others. Now I can stop using the "camera adds 10lbs" excuse after vacations and a summer of relaxing and get back in shape. Hopefully as work picks up this will help me keep the stress down, but don't worry I will try to throw in some fun :)

Ill leave you with a pic from a run I took a couple weeks ago on the UWS.....this is why I love running in New York

Bier

In honor of the upcoming 3 day weekend and a hard week of work a few labmates and I decided to take a little walk up to Bier international in Harlem this past Friday. Located at 114th and 8th this little beer garden turned out to be the perfect happy hour spot. Your reward for the mile walk from the UES....2 for 1 happy hour! Meaning 2 drinks for at the most 8$ and were not talking Bud Light.  

My selections for happy hour were to start a Weihenstephan Hefeweizen followed by something I've never tried before, strawberry beer! The Hefeweizen was a great start, usually one of my favorites it was light and crisp perfect after the walk and came in a nice hefe-ty glass. After our first beer we all decided to get a bite to eat as well so we indulged in Bier's signature truffle oil french fries topped with parmesan and chipotle mayo as well as a thier chips with mango-habanero guacamole. Both were excellent choices. I have to say the best part of the fries was the chipotle mayo, on top of the truffle oil and parmesan it added just the right kick to fight off all the heavy grease. The guac was also delish, but warning be careful how much you eat. The habanero quickly comes and catches up with you if you consume this too fast, I found out the hard way.  Luckily my second beer came just in time to cool me off. Something I never go for is fruity beer but it was a nice day and I figured it would be a good way to get the fried food taste out of my mouth. Definitely a good choice. Unlike cider which for me just seems a little too sweet Fruli seemed to have just the right balance of strawberry flavor without forgetting it was a beer. Leaving very happy after our happy hour I'd say this wont be a one time trip to Bier. 

mixmaster kathryn

When it comes to drinking I am a self-declared beer girl. At the bar my go-to is usually a nice cold blue moon and I always enjoy finding places in the city where I can try new and exciting beers. One thing I am not as adventurous with is cocktails. I have my standard favorites if I'm going to spend a night drinking hard liquor. There's the always reliable margarita or mojito good for any occasion, mainly because they're like vacation in a glass instantly transporting me from the city to some sunny beach. For the night's I want to act classy I go with a dirty vodka martini, funny since I am not a big vodka fan that I would choose the drink with the most vodka posible but somehow the olive juice makes it bearable. Most of the time though I know and trust beer more. I know what I like and what I don't when it comes to beer and unless were talking porter's I've never really had a beer I truly hated. However I can't say the same for cocktails. I don't do well with too many choices and so the wall of liquor behind bars usually intimidates me. Not to mention there is a lot more risk of a bad drink with liquor, theres a fine balance to be reached by the bartender with mixed drinks. A drink can be too strong, too weak, too expensive, etc. I decided to take matters into my own hands however and become my bartender.

 A few weeks back I mentioned Urban Girl Squad in a post for kickboxing class. For my second event with them I chose a mixology class hosted at the Top of The Strand hotel. After three days of rain the sun had come back just in time for a little rooftop drinking. The Strand is located on 37th between 5th and 6th ave which results in an amazing view from the roof (as you an see in the picture!) looking right at the empire state building. We were given the whole roof area all to ourselves to enjoy for a few hours at the event. After meeting up with my friends K and K we settled down at some comfy couches in the corner to enjoy our first taste of one of the cocktails we were going to be learning to make. Following a little bit of catching up and chatting our lesson began.

The first cocktail we enjoyed was a strawberry gimlet. With 4 simple ingredient this turned out to be the one drink of the evening I could probably make again for myself. The gimlet includes:

1 part lime juice
1 part simple syrup
1 part vodka
1 muddled strawberry

As our bartender informed us most cocktails are usually set up in a manner similar to this where you have an acid, a sweet and your liquor. If you ever feel like being adventurous and inventing your own cocktail he told us this simple rule usually results in a winning combo. The gimlet was probably the biggest crowd pleaser of the three drinks we learned to make. You could barely taste the vodka which was nice and what's nice is depending on your tastes you could make it a little sweeter by adding more strawberry (which would be my preference) or if you like a more sour taste increase the lime juice.

Looking back on how the tasting was set up they seemed to progress us through the evening to a more how shall I put it....pungent cocktail I guess. Next in the lineup was my least favorite liquor in the world...gin. The Fitzgerald as it was called includes:

2oz Bulldog Gin
.75oz simple syrup
.75oz lemon juice
.5oz St. Germain
2 dash Rhubarb Bitters

A combo I would never make up on my own. It was nice to have the St. Germain in to add a subtle sweetness to the lime, rhubarb and bitter. After enjoying a nice sweet gimlet this was a surprise to my tastebuds. Knowing gin was involved automatically put in my mind that I wasn't going to enjoy this one (but im also not one to turn down a drink). Overtime I must say it grew on me. The lemon with St. Germain was a good balance to the Gin. Not a drink I could have more than one of or that I can drink very fast but I think that could be considered a good thing.

The last and final drink of the evening involved one of my favorites...Tequila! My good ol friend had returned to save me from the Gin. This drink invented by the bartender was called The Antidote and included:

2oz Repasado Tequila
1oz grapefruit juice
1oz cardamom cayenne syrup
splash fresh lime

At first all I tasted was straight tequila which is a surprise when you're expecting a cocktail, someone should have just told me to take this one as a shot. I was soon pleasantly surprised by the kick from the cayenne syrup though. Interestingly, the name of the drink actually comes from the fact that cardamom used to be used as an antidote for spider bites (keeping that fact for trivia one day!). We also learned Repasado Tequila means that it has been aged less than 6 months which I guess unlike wine, less time is better for aging tequila and makes for a smoother and lighter tequila unlike darker types like say the always enjoyable Cuervo (*sarcasm*). Again like the last drink I would recommend nursing this one for a while as well. A trick for this that we learned for the bartender is to use large square ice cubes in your drink. It keeps the ice from melting compared to a smaller rounder ice cube so your drink remains cold without being diluted by melting ice. This is why many bars use if for their cocktails and many times when you drink things like whiskey on the rocks bigger ice cubes are used.

I can't say I'm going to be dropping out of school anytime soon to pursue bar tending anytime soon (although I'm sure I'd get more in tips here in NYC than I make for grad school) but it was nice to spend an evening outdoors, learning new things and meeting some new people. If you're ever in the mood to be adventurous in your drinking I hope you enjoy these unique drink recipes like I did and if you find yourself in the city I would highly recommend heading up to the Top of the Strand for a great city view.

2 for 1

So its been a while since I last posted but the past 48hr were filled with great food I must share! These food adventures began Wednesday night at Enoteca Otto Pizzeria. As a treat for my friend K's birthday 4 of us ventured to this pizzeria which is one of the many restaurants in the Mario Batali franchise here in NY. (including one of my favs Eataly!) What I enjoy about his restaurants is their decor. As my friend J pointed out its just like sitting at home at one of your kitchen tables. It seems to be a common theme to the two restaurants I've been to of his of these big and homey wooden tables. The restaurant itself is quite large and even on a Wednesday night full but set up so you're not crammed right next to another table. Being a celebration we began the evening with some wine. Upon opening the menu however you find an extensive wine list of well over I would say 200 bottles to choose from, and these are not the usual 10$ bottles I look at. We opted to ask the waiter how to navigate through this list to suggest a red wine to use narrowing down the list to maybe 100 now..I then threw out the idea of a Chianti knowing I've had it before with Italian and it seemed to pair well. (again, I'm definitely not a wine expert!) He suggested their most popular bottle, a Castello Di Meleto 2007 which at a fair price tasted great to all of us. For a main course we decided to split 4 pizzas. We chose 2 Margherita D.O.P's, an asparagus and goat cheese pizza and then quatro stagioni. All of the pizzas were made NYC style with a super thin crunchy crust. The Margherita D.O.P was topped with tomato, basil and bufula mozzarella. From now on I am switching my mozzarella to bufula mozzarella for these kinds of pizza. It added a nice almost smokey flavor to the pizza but the tomato sauce used was quite sweet so its created a good balance of flavors. My favorite was the asparagus and goat cheese pizza. Since goat cheese is slowly becoming one of my favorite cheeses this pizza was perfect for me. The pizza was just a layer of goat cheese with pieces of asparagus thrown on. Very simply but very delicious! The last pizza was the quatro stagioni which was tomato sauce, regular mozzarella and then 4 sections each with a different topping including mushrooms, peppers, asparagus and cotto (similar prosciuttio). Not my favorite of the pizzas but it had a surprising spicy kick due to the peppers which was nice for those of us that like a little spice. It was also good for sharing so everyone could try a different topping. Me and K also split an Otto chopped salad to get some of our greens for the day which I would say to skip next time. For 10$ they simply chopped up some radishes and lettuce, threw in garbonzos and salami and topped it with a creamy italian. Im not sure what lettuce they used though or if it was the radishes but it had a very bitter taste to it that couldn't be hidden by the dressing that wasn't very enjoyable. Finally comes the best part of the meal, dessert. I went for the coconut merenga which was COCONUT FANTASIA GELATO, WARM TOASTED MERINGUE, CACAO NIB, CANDIED KUMQUATS (yes i copied that from online). It was soooo good. The meringue with the coconut gelato was a great mixture of textures and flavors. Together it all tasted almost like a samoa girl scout cookie in gelato form! On the bottom you also have the nice suprise of the candied kumquats which were a nice crunch to add.  Overall it was a great meal spent with great people. 

My next venture was a midday macaron break to Laduree on the UES. After sitting at my computer working on a presentation all day it was perfect timing when my friend A texted asking if I wanted to sneak out for a macaron! Originating in Paris Laduree is known for their "le macaron". While there are many places to find macarons here in the city, I dont know many that fly their macarons in every morning from Paris! When you want to be authentic there is so competition with Laduree. I chose a pack of 8 for 21$ (gotta pay for them to fly first class I guess). They offer about 20 different flavors to please anyone ranging from more rich and chocolaty to sweet and fruity. For my 8 I chose the pistachio, blackberry and violet, chocolate, lemon, coconut, salted carmel, almond and vanilla. Feeling guilty for skipping out on lab I brought back 4 for my fellow lab mates to enjoy but I had a chance to try the blackberry, lemon, vanilla, and salted carmel. By far my favorite was the salted carmel. The cakes are all as light and fluffy as they look so to me the filling is what made the macaron and you can't beat salted carmel. My second choice would then have to be the lemon. It tasted just like eating a lemon square but not as heavy. Then I tried vanilla. What can I say about vanilla...it tasted like vanilla, not impressed but not sad I ate it. My least favorite was the Blackberry and violet which was the one I was most curious about. Thier filling however was just too sweet for me. It tasted a lot like eating a very very sweet jam in the middle maybe due to the violet it had a perfume taste to it as well, probably not one of my choices next time but I am usually not a super sweet kind of person, give me chocolate or caramel any day. They were definitely worth the midday excursion however, so if you find yourself around Madison and 71st check out Laduree!

The Three Amigos

Any single person in NYC (or anywhere else for that matter) will tell you the hardest thing is meeting people. Usually after getting dolled up for a night out with the hope of finally meeting that special someone you step into the bar just to realize its the same scene as always. Turns out to be just a sea of faces, never knowing who is actually available, who's looking for a one night stand etc...As a result many of us turn to online dating. Being a graduate student I can't justify spending the little money I have on a dating site so I've tried OkCupid. I will admit I have had a few dates that have turned out ok, take last weeks post for example. A majority of the time however, you end up with someone who most likely was really good at using photoshop based on their pictures vs the real thing and/or conversation is usually forced while both of you hope to make each other that special someone, when most likely they're not. That is if you make it to a date after sorting through a mass of creepers and their "hey baby" messages. Having a couple of these experiences I was turned off of online dating it was time to just go back to the real world and hope to serendipitously meet someone. That was until my friend J told me about a new site called Grouper.

The concept of Grouper seems strange at first. You sign up by giving them your name, email and then link it to your Facebook profile. Once in the "social club" as they call it, you receive an invite for a date. You're given a choice of pretty much any weeknight for the date. Grouper will then set up a reservation at a nice bar somewhere in the city. For 20$ you get this set up as well as a free round of drinks during the date. After selecting your date you select 2 wing women for the date. The three of you then go and meet another guy and his 2 friends at the bar. According to the site they claim to match the two Grouper clients based on Facebook profiles in order to get a good match of personalities within the group, who knows if this is really true. J, A, B and I all decided to give it a try and I was the first selected for the date. Turns out Grouper may be onto something.

Since only three people can go A, B and I went on the first Grouper. The location was a nice tequileria down by Ludlow called Viktor and Spoils. A nice selection by Grouper since I love a good margarita. (and the bar did not disappoint with their watermelon margarita!) Being a Wednesday night it also wasn't very crowded or loud making conversation easier. Running a little late we arrived after the guys. We were sitting in the back of the bar with a whole booth area to ourselves which was great. From past experience I've learned normally within the first 5 minutes you can tell how a date is going to go. These boys definitely passed the 5 minute test. Upon sitting down we did the usual introductions, names, jobs, where were from etc. Turns out it was their first Grouper experience as well so we were all in the same boat. What was great though was they seemed just as excited about it as we were. Everyone seemed to get along and embrace the situation of trying something new. The guys were energetic, sarcastic and outgoing which was a great match for A, B and I so we avoided having lots of awkward silences. Whats great was there was no pressure. There was no specific couple being set up, it was just a group of people seeing if they get along. The pressure of forcing something was gone and you could relax and have fun, if a match comes out of that then great and if not you still get a fun night out. We ended up staying for a little over 3 hours and I honestly haven't had that much fun in a while just laughing and talking and meeting new people. I enjoyed a nice watermelon margarita to start which tasted pretty much like tequila with a hint of watermelon (no complaints with that!) followed by the Anejo Smash which tasted a lot like a mojito but with tequila. After a while it seemed like just a group of friends getting together to hang out. I dont know if any matches were made but we all seemed to be open to hang out again so even new friends is a great thing to get out of any evening. Even if that doesn't happen it at least at night Hump Day treat.

For now I give you a thumbs up Grouper. It will be interesting to see if we try it again how the groups differ. We may have gotten lucky this time with a good set of guys. These seemed like genuinely nice guys just looking to get out and meet people and I'm excited to see if there are more out there. The site actually claims to not be an online dating site at all so even if its just for new friends, Grouper helps make this big city a little more manageable and what more can you ask for from an online "social club".

The Tighten Method

After enduring countless years of winter lasting at least until April, this year New York has surprised us all by giving us an early spring! Flowers have been blooming, the sun is shining and people are emerging from their winter hibernation. There could not be a happier time in the city. However with this nice weather comes the looming threat of shorts, tank tops.....and BIKINIS! In the never ending battle of having to face wearing a two piece this summer, as well as prep for my upcoming half marathon, I decided to try mixing up my workouts for some fun. To do this I thought I would give kickboxing a try. My friend J and I signed up through the Urban Girl Squad last Saturday to take one of these classes at an Equinox gym here in the city. Urban Girl Squad works to organize events in the city for women as a chance to meet and get to know each other. Seemed like a Saturday afternoon kickboxing class would be fun. It was brutal. To add to the hour of endless punching and kicking a punching bag while holding weighted gloves I had the added bonus of fighting off the previous night's hangover (my own fault I guess). Luckily after an hour of some serious sweating  we were rewarded with a lovely goody bag from the gym including a pass for a free 3 day trial membership. While we were tired, the workout felt great so we decided to go this weekend for 3 days straight and check out all the gym has to offer.

Our first day at the gym began at 6:30AM Thursday morning. Since kickboxing was so fun the first time we figured we'd give another class a try. The class was led by a different instructor this time and titled "cardio kickboxing" rather thank only kickboxing, but that can't make much of a difference right?....Wrong. Maybe because it was 6:30AM everything seemed harder, but this class required a lot more coordination than I had remembered. Instructions were being yelled at us of different combinations such as "jab, jab, duck, punch, jab, uppercut, kick, kick, kick etc" which were all to be done at a pretty fast tempo and for a good 5 minute interval. My heart rate was definitely up but half the time my limbs were flailing around trying to get my body to move as fast as he was saying. Needless to say it was certainly good at waking someone up. Thanks to our instructors demand for non girly push-ups though I can say I was feeling it the next day, and felt I totally deserved my egg and cheese bagel that morning.

For the second day we tried out the gym's facilities. Me on the treadmill and J on the elliptical we powered through another solid workout. As a reward for two days in a row of working out we chose a nice dinner of sushi and some very strong beers (by strong I'm talking 9% which post workout it pretty much doubled). In addition, as with any good dinner there  must be desert, so we decided for the always delicious choice of brownies. After a tough workout though we couldn't just make any brownie....Thanks to Chef J these "reward brownies" included a layer of graham cracker crust, a layer of brownie, and a peanut butter swirl and crushed oreo topping. If you choose to make them at home really what it involves is looking in your cupboard and asking how much of this can I put into a brownie?

Finally the last day of our three-day trial had arrived. I chose to attend a different class led by our first kickboxing instructor. This time the class was titled "The Titan Method." Having "Titan" in the title should have been my first warning this was not going to be a nice early Saturday morning class. Instead it turned out to be probably one of the hardest classes I've ever taken, and I didn't even do all of the exercises the whole time. The class works in 5 minute intervals with 30 sec rest in between. Each 5 minutes is then broken into 5 different exercises you do for 1 minute each. Sounds ok......that is until you are doing burpies, crunches, push ups and many other forms or torture for a full minute each. I guess it works a lot like P90X with muscle confusion but to me it just brought back flashbacks of pre-season for high school swimming...not a good time.

While its been a painful three days its also been oddly invigorating, and while it was sad to leave Equinox (my gym heaven) it was fun while it lasted. Looks like its back to the Y and Central Park for now!

First post, first review!

Happy Friday! For my first entry I wanted to share a review for those looking for a new bar to try up here in the Upper East Side. As those who have lived in the upper 90's know the past year has shown some major improvements in the bar scene thanks to the owners of Earl's Beer and Cheese, ABV, Vinyl and Kaia. Each specializing in their own drink types, Earl's being the place for beer and ABV, Vinyl and Kaia all for wine, the one piece missing was a cocktail place. Well thanks to The Guthrie Inn we now have a cocktail place and it is conveniently located right next to Earl's. For those of us at Mt. Sinai this may be a reason to never leave "the bubble".

I'm going to preface this post by saying this venture was for a first date so I may be missing some details of the place as I was trying to not embarrass myself more than assess my surroundings. Walking into The Guthrie Inn it looks like a classy version of Earl's. My favorite deer wallpaper (the same one as in Parks and Rec intro!) is missing, and instead of a deer's head hanging on the wall you have a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. You are no longer cramped into long benches for tables but big booths and instead of a kitchen in the back there is additional seating in the form of large U shaped booth (may get tricky once it starts to get crowded).The original plan for the evening had been to go grab beers at Earl's since both of us agreed we were beer people, but as usual it was too busy. Upon approaching the bar we were handed a long list of cocktails ranging from classic drinks like Sidecars and Moscow Mules to some of their own concoctions like a "Stirred and Boozy". Being in the mood for beer still we chose to stick with their bottled beers. The only have 2 available being a cocktail place so it made our decision fairly easy. Being in date mode I can't remember the specific name of the beer but we started with their "farmers ale". Still being new and somewhat unheard of there was actually room to sit and so we grabbed the booth in the back. Luckily we were able to have the whole booth to ourselves the for the whole time. The lighting was a little dim (maybe a good thing for a date) and music slightly loud but overall it was a nice place to sit and talk for a while. Following the first round of beer we gave the other bottle a try, this one was a belgium ale that tasted a lot like a light version of Guinness, my favorite of the two and recommendation if you are going to drink the beer here. The date was going well up to this point so we decided to get one more round but this time venture into cocktails. I chose a moscow mule knowing it is one of my new favorite drinks and my date followed my lead and had one as well. I will definitely be returning for these! The drink only consists of three ingredients, ginger beer, vodka and lime juice but they are delish! I'm so glad there is finally a place close by to have a good Mule.

I've learned after three drinks its probably best to end a first date here so we ended the evening before too many cocktails were consumed, after all it was only Thursday. I must say though after looking at the menu I will definitely be returning here. Being across the street from me I have no excuse, but even those who do not live in the UES I recommend trekking up here to check it out. Ive added a link to the Time Out NY review as well.http://www.timeout.com/newyork/the-feed-blog/the-feed-first-look-the-guthrie-inn Cheers!