My first marathon! (still months off)

Since running cross country in high school, I've wanted to run a marathon, but it's always been a far-off idea, something that I'd do someday, but just not yet. I don't know what made me start thinking of it seriously recently, but I've registered for the Chicago marthon on October 11, 2009. I have just under 200 days to train, but Madison has finally thawed out from winter (with the exception of the 3 inches of snow we got last night), so I've already been running outside. Since the 200-days-till-race mark, I've run 17 miles, 9 of which were on a distance run through the snow and slush this morning. I'm pretty intimidated by whole thing, but also really excited for finally doing something that I've wanted to do for more than ten years.

Mmmmm cookies

I've recently been on a baking kick, brought on by a few dinners over at other people's houses, and my department's Cakes for a Cause, where people baked cakes and cookies, sold them by the slice to other hungry people in the department, and donated the money to a local food pantry. Most people baked geology-themed cakes, but I decided to show a little Wisconsin pride and bake a cheese cake. And by cheese cake I mean a lemon cake made up to look like cheese.


Tomorrow prospective grad students are visiting the department, and then on to dinner at one of the professor's houses. So I baked cookies, showing similar Wisconsin pride:While I can't properly explain how to make the W (or the M for Madison, whichever you like), I can give the recipe for the dough. I made two batches and added two heaping teaspoons of cocoa powder with the flour to one of them for the chocolate part.

Icebox Cookies
from Joy of Cooking

1 1/4 sticks butter (add 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter)
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in egg, vanilla, and zest. Mix in flour and baking powder in three portions. Roll the dough into a cylinder, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least two hours, up to a month. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°. Cut the cylinder of dough (still frozen!) into slices slightly thinner than 1/4 of an inch, and place slices at least and inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake about 9 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen cookies roughly 2 inches in diameter.