Eating with Oprah.

Every year, my mom gives me a subscription to The Oprah Magazine for Christmas. This is awesome because I get to read it without the shame of having actually purchased it. The food section is always filled with things that look amazing, but I find that the recipes often involve rare and expensive ingredients, crazy complicated techniques, and/or tools that only some professional have access to. I think Oprah forgets that we don't all have personal chefs.

Earlier this week, I was flipping through the latest issue and found a story on cooking with peaches. All of the pictures looked so delicious that I immediately called my roommate Katie over to look. The first photo featured a grilled pizza, which was fortuitous, because Katie has recently gotten way into grilling pizza. We were intrigued.

Katie and I have been roommates for a year, but for most of that time we've been entirely consumed by work: Katie as a veterinary resident, me as a counseling intern. For many months, we both worked 12+ hours days, on opposite schedules, which means we often went days without even seeing one another. Its a real shame, because Katie is one of the best roommates I've ever had and we actually enjoy one another's company at those times when our paths cross. My internship ended in May and Katie finished her residency at the end of June, so now we have about 6 weeks of actual interaction before Katie moves on to a new job in Hawaii (happy for her, sad for me). We are spending the majority of that time working out and cooking.

Katie and I are a good match in both of these areas. She's a million times more experienced and talented as an athlete, and I'm a bit more knowledgable in the kitchen. So, we can push each other. Plus, its much less intimidating to set out on a hard run or embark on a big culinary project if you know you have help. The pizza pictured above was a perfect collboration. I wrote the shopping list, made the dough, and assembled the toppings; Katie shaped the dough and figured out how to get it on the grill. The end results were DELICIOUS. Yay teamwork.

(I would post the recipe, but I can't find it online, so instead I will implore you to buy, borrow, or steal a copy of this month's Oprah magazine. Whatever you pay will be worth it. If you're curious, the crust is made from corn meal and bread flour, and the toppings are olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, peaches, pancetta, goat cheese, toasted almonds, arugula, and a little more olive oil and salt.)

In other news, I did my first short run on the ankle this morning as part of boot camp class, and everything seems fine! I think I'm going to shave a few miles off the long run this weekend, but hopefully I'll be back on track within a few weeks. Thanks for all of your concern and supportive messages!