I spoke too soon

Remember how I said the running was going well? It seems I spoke too soon.

Last week, I did something to my Achilles tendon and then stupidly tried to stretch it out. I've since learned that this is the opposite of what you do.

I tried to run again yesterday for the first time in a week, only to bring the pain back.

It's almost November, and the marathon is November 15. I have 2 more weeks to train. My plan right now is to rest my tendon til next week. No more running til then, only aerobics and weights. No stretching it.

Then, next weekend, I'm gonna try to do 10 miles. I want to do 10 miles one more time before the marathon, to be ready.

Shouldn't be that bad, right?

Restaurant Insignia at the Fairmount

So we went to Jason Dady's newest restaurant, Restaurant Insignia at The Fairmount Hotel downtown. Because John and I like to take our friends to eat bone marrow with us, we asked Kate and Sam to come, and newlyweds Jarret and Casey, who have not eaten at home for more than a week. Kate and Sam's friend Faith was in town and staying around the corner from Insignia, so she joined us.

I forgot to get pictures of Luke, the Fairmount dog. Luke is enormous! And, as Kate said, like a grandpa. He lets you rub his tummy while he sleeps. He opened his rheumy, red eyes to look at us and immediately go back to sleep. He was slayed out on his back and was easily the size of a small pony. Oh, Luke, never change.

Now, on to Insignia!

The menus are in file folders, like a doctor's office. Sam and I discussed our ailments: intense hunger and extreme lack of bacon. RX: Insignia.

We had some fun with the decor. At Tre Trattoria and Insignia, they put wine bottles of water on your table. We all had a silent moment of panic when Sam poured himself some water, because we thought the bottle was filled with wine.

Cocktails! Insignia has a whole page of signature cocktails. This is Jarret's coconut drink and Casey's cherry soda. I had the soda too, which was fruity and sugary and delicious. I could drink many more of those. Faith and Kate split a bourbon drink with egg whites (interesting) and Sam had a pear cocktail. It smelled exactly like a pear and tasted like one too.

Cornbread is merely a receptacle for butter, right? I mean, you eat it because you want to eat some of that whipped, creamy butter, but society forbids you from just eating it with a spoon. So you eat it on cornbread. Obviously.

OK, so this is where the food gets freaky-deaky. Bone marrow pudding, shredded beef and brioche. Freaky, but delicious. Seriously, so good. Just don't talk about bone marrow until AFTER you eat it. We learned that lesson.

I dared Sam to eat the marrow by itself, and he did. Which surprises none of you, I'm sure.

The San Antonio pizza, with avocado and barbacoa. So good! We were starting to get full at this point, so I didn't eat as much of it.

Chef Jason Dady everyone! We also saw his daughters when we came in. They are adorable. He is our new best friend, in that we try to be best friends with him by going to his restaurants and he perhaps finds us a bit stalkerish. That's OK though - we ARE a bit stalkerish. But in a good way. We just like food, OK?

Pork chop with grits and mustards. One of the best pork chops I've ever had. I was so full, I had to keep stuffing myself with food. The perfect bite was pork chop, the onions, grits and mustards all together. Seriously delicious and tangy and sweet all at once.

Chicken and waffles! Haha! I've only ever had chicken and waffles at Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffle House in LA, and it was not as good as this fried chicken. This was good fried chicken, y'all. Jarret says it's the best fried chicken he's ever had.

Desserts! As if we weren't full enough, out came the desserts. We ate them all, like greedy, glutinous animals. This is the key lime pie in a glass. You'll see it again later in this post.

Nutella mousse and dark chocolate cake with jam. It's like the one at The Lodge, but with jam. I feel about jam like I feel about bacon and butter - when in doubt, add more.

Crostada! Kate loves the crostada at Tre Trattoria, so of course we had to have this one too. Flaky and hot inside, mmmmmm. Tastes like autumn.

The tres leches cheesecake was my favorite dessert. I love tres leches and it was even better and tangier in cheesecake form.

I could not bear to let the key lime pie go to waste. I don't like wasting delicious food, and I deeply love pie. So I tried to chug the pie, with mixed (read: messy) results. A cook watched me, seemingly disgusted. This happens to me a lot. People being disgusted, I mean.

It was a great, delicious, fun night! I had a great time trying all of the food. It was one of those nights that remind me of how much I love San Antonio: it's an easy city to get around, where I can actually try all of the different restaurants and meet the chefs. I can go to a nice restaurant like this one in jeans and get chicken and waffles. San Antonio is fun and low-key and small in a good way. There's enough kookiness that it never gets old.

It helps that Insignia is here now too. Go try it! Also, they'll validate your valet parking at the hotel if you spend more than $25. Which you will, because you will want to eat everything on the menu.

How's the running going, Lauren?

Not bad, I reply. Sure, my knee is a little wonky, particularly when I go down the stairs. And my new running shoes blister the inside of the bottom of my feet something awful, but the blister on blister on blister thing is finally forming into a callous. Plus, thanks to the cooler weather, I've been running faster. I can usually get 5 miles in less than an hour now. I'm down to a 10-11 minute mile, depending on the day and how I'm feeling. I definitely need to buy some new music to listen to.

The Rock n Roll Marathon is on Sunday, November 15. Which means I have 3.5 weeks left. It's coming up fast. I haven't attempted 10 miles since I last blogged about it, but I've been doing at least 5 miles every time I run, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. I'll be OK.

If you're in South Texas, the marathon is gonna be pretty fun. It might be too late to register now, but there are lots of bands to see and cheering sections and a huge concert featuring Los Lonely Boys at the finish. Plus, I get a beer at the finish line! And a medal

Jarret and Casey got married!

Or you could say, Casey got Raim-ed. But I don't, because I'm a LADY.

Jarret and Casey got married on Saturday. I knew a lot about their wedding going in, because Jarret and Casey are1) our friends
2) in Dinner Club
3) Dogsitters for Buster and dog leavers of Zoidberg (their dog)

So we see them all the time and hang out together and watch our dogs run around in circles, blabbedy bloo blee. Yeah. So I knew a lot about their wedding. Also, I had volunteered to be Casey's wedding day coordinator because I know how stressful wedding planning is, and I know at some point you look at everything that needs to get done ON YOUR WEDDING DAY, and you say, oh shit, who the shit is gonna DO all that? I have to get my hair and nails and makeup done and take photos and put on a big white dress and I don't have time to make sure the buffet is set up! SHIT! So I volunteered to do that for Casey and was happy to.

The wedding extravaganza started on Friday with the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

See how Sam, Jon Stern, Roger and John aren't paying attention? This will be a running theme.

After the rehearsal dinner, the guys had to go write their toast and the wives went to go get some frozen yogurt while they wrote.

We told approximately 753 poop jokes. I'm pretty sure we grossed out the staff.

The next morning, I was tasked with getting flowers for the brunch at the Magnolia Pancake Haus. This unnerved me, having so much responsibility. So I asked Kate to help. Look what a good job we did!
I don't think I have to tell you how much we congratulated ourselves on our flower-choosing abilities. We rock!

The Magnolia Pancake Haus has some amazing, huge breakfasts. It seems like it'd be a great hangover breakfast place.

Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. Brides have to start getting ready early.

But groomsmen do not take getting ready very seriously.

But brides do, because they know that after all the nails and makeup and hair and Spanx and jewelry and a big white dress, they'll look like this:

BEAUTIFUL!

Then there were some bridal party photos, where we say our wedding photographers, Jenn and Kaylinn at Bend the Light. They're awesome, y'all. Who else would come up with this photo?
And now, there ceremony! Casey's stepfather officiated and other family gave readings. All of the readings were great.

At the cocktail hour, I failed to take pictures of the awesome appetizers: duck quesadillas, bacon-wrapped chicken, and spanakopita. So good! I also forgot to take pictures of when we opened the window and waved at all the people leaving the show at the Majestic.

But John did take some pictures of Kate and I singing our hearts out to "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith. There other photos, but they are very embarrassing.

And then there was some dancing and some great toasts. It was all very personal and fun and great, just like Jarret and Casey. This is when I stopped taking photos and just danced until midnight. It was great. Congratulations, Jarret and Casey!

The Lodge at Castle Hills

On Saturday, John and I went to The Lodge at Castle Hills. The Lodge is Jason Dady's first restaurant. It's in an old mansion, just like the name implies. The Lodge is more about tasting menus and New American food.

We started with a bottle of wine, of course. We got there a little early and drank some wine. Right after we sat down, we saw our old DUK friend, Josh, who had been our waiter for DUK. We said hello and asked him a bit about Insignia, the next Jason Dady restaurant in The Fairmount. I've never been to The Fairmount, but I follow them on Twitter (twitter.com/TheFairmount) just to see photos of their resident dog, Luke. Once Insignia opens, I can go eat and see Luke! That may not seem like a good time to you, but I love both food and dogs, together (though not together on a plate).

Anyway. Where was I?

Oh yes. The Lodge. Hey, don't you like our new haircuts? We both got our hairs cut on Saturday. We felt especially good-looking on Saturday. Hopefully that comes through in the photo.

Crap, I have to stop with the tangents. OK, The Lodge. We got a bottle of Shiraz because we love bold red wines. The evening started with a palate cleanser cocktail, strawberry and basil with fennel seeds on the rim. Nice and refreshing. Then there was salmon and pumpernickel, which tasted like lox and cream cheese. In a good way.

(I forgot to take photos of the first half of this meal, so please just envision the food in your head.)

Bread!

Then came a scallop on brioche. I love buttery brioche and scallops. John and I discussed how it is the scallop's fate to always be on the menu, because they are one of the few seafoods that are both delicious and headless. Poor, poor scallop.

Next was a turnip and yukon gold bisque with a dollop of marscapone in it. Creamy and velvety, this bisque was delicious and had a nice tartness from the turnips.

Then, duck confit with oriechette and parmesan. Oriechette is John's favorite pasta. I like it too, even though it reminds me of tiny diaphragms. Or tiny sailor hats. We;ll go with sailor hats. This pasta was surprisingly light, given the duck. I love confits of any kind.


OK, here's where I finally started to take some photos. Doesn't this look good? Foie gras with strawberries and basil, dots of balsamic vinegar and more brioche for spreading. So creamy and delicious! I could eat this every day, diets be damned.

Dark shot of rabbit wrapped in bacon, surrounded by mushrooms and carrots. The waitress explained that the carrots and mushrooms are there because that's what rabbits eat. How clever is that? I tried not to think too much about the idea of an animal being surrounded by everything it eats. I only hope that rabbit was satisfied with being united with carrots and mushrooms in my stomach. This dish tasted like autumn to me, because of the meaty, warm flavors.

Quail with salsa on a bed of "farrotto," which is farro cooked like risotto. See, this is why I like Jason Dady's food. He's always experimenting with foods, offering different menus, trying out different flavors, challenging his customer's palates. Would you have thought to cook farro like risotto? I wouldn't.

The farrotto was cooked with bleu cheese. I love all cheese and bleu cheese in particular. Some people don't like the way bleu cheese punches you in the face with the flavor and pungency, but I love it. So I was surprised at how subtle the bleu cheese flavor was. Delightfully subtle.

Dessert of nutella and dark chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse. John and I were quite full at this point, but could you pass this up?

Oh, and then a macademia nut chocolate truffle. Because we needed more food. Obviously.

All in all, it was a delightful meal and a delightful way to spend a Saturday night. The Lodge has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in San Antonio, and it's easy to see why with the small dining rooms, cozy accents, and lots of wine.

After all this food, I had to go lay on my couch and moan.

Thanks to our waiter Todd for keeping us wined and dined, Josh for saying hello, all of the other staff for doing what they do, all of the kitchen staff for the delicious food, and Chef Jason Dady for letting us explore our palates!

Julie and Dan got married!

The day after Erin's party, Julie Ta got married. Julie Ta is someone I've known since the 6th grade, but we didn't really start hanging out until after high school. Why do I discover awesome people after I graduate? What is that?Anyway. Julie. Julie met Dan, and that was that. Dan tells an awesome story about my wedding, which involves a bathroom and vomit (not his) and dancing out of awkward situations. The punchline goes like this: "It was like you are cooking and you reach into the fridge for a stick of butter, but instead you grab a beaver." Maybe you have to know the whole story, but trust me, this is hilarious. And Dan is hilarious.

So Julie and Dan got married at the Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas. It's a nice collection. John and I stayed with Angela and Rob (who are getting married in December) and when we got to the museum, we spotted the wedding party taking photos.

Isn't Julie sassy? That's pretty much how she is in real life too.

We were ushered up to the second floor to the ceremony site, which you got to by going through a glass passageway. The passageway had origami butterflies on strings. The butterflies were made by kids in schools in Dallas.

After the ceremony, John, Angela, Rob, Marie and I had appetizers and drinks while Julie and Dan circulated. John used his ninja skills to score us both some delicious appetizers (bacon wrapped dates and shrimp on crostini) and find the happy couple to take photos with us.
You may notice that in the picture at the top, Julie is not wearing her wedding dress. That's because she wore 3 different dresses: her wedding dress, a red Chinese silk dress, and a chartreuse evening gown. She looked spectacular in all of them. I don't have pictures of the green one because that one was for dancing, and we were dancing.

Julie and Dan danced their first dance to "Billie Jean" and served cherry pie and put us bad kids near the bar, cuz she knows us, and served 2 meats and had their wedding with a bunch of origami butterflies. Who else can do that? No one. Only Julie and Dan.

Bon voyage, Erin!

I know. I KNOW. I've been gone for awhile. Stuff happened, you know? Every time I started a blog post, I had nothing to write about. But now I have lots to write about, because lots has happened in the past couple of weeks.

Beginning with, Erin. Erin left! She works for the State Department and is now posted in Beirut. That is crazy to me, that Erin is in Beirut.

I know Erin because she was my RA in college. She was a pretty cool RA. But I really got to know her after I graduated, when Erin was living and working in SA when I was. And then she left to go to grad school and then DC, but before she left, we got to hang out a lot. Here's our most famous conversation:

Erin (handing a pea pod): Taste this pea pod, it has a funny after taste, a taste that comes after.
Lauren (staring at Erin): I know what an aftertaste is.
[beat]
Erin (laughing and spitting out her pea pod): You made me spit out my pea pod, you bitch!

How could you not be friends with Erin after that?

As one last hurray, Erin came back to San Antonio last Friday. Alexis, Lyla and Stephen came, and we all trucked out to Erin's family's house in New Braunfels. On the way, Alexis and I tried to find a Beirut wine at HEB, but (shockingly) they didn't have any.
Erin's parents, sister and brother-in-law were there. Erin's mom cooked a delicious meal and we all brought wine. And drank that wine. It was a lot of wine.

I probably made a damn fool out of myself in my drunkenness, but I had a lot of fun. I was sad to leave at midnight.I will miss Erin, for her crazy, explosive laughter, excellent fashion sense, rambling stories, hyperbolic descriptions ("he's the funniest/best/most awesome guy EVER!") and food. Beirut is lucky to have her. And they better return her, because we miss her already.