Race Review: Reindeer Run & Romp (Delaware Special Olympics)

Living in Newark, DE for five years, one of my favorite things every year was their annual Winterfest.  Held on the beloved Main Street of this college town, it was a simple event where Santa would arrive via fire truck, light the big Christmas tree, and hear children's wishes.  Chestnuts were roasted, ice was carved, cookies were served, and Christmas carols were sung.  And every year, just down the street, hundreds of people would run around town raising money for Delaware's Special Olympics program.

I was never into running while we lived there, but I always watched the participants in the Reindeer Run & Romp with a little big of envy.  Their reindeer ears and bells on their shoes, and the glow they had after finishing their race were something I watched in awe.  I had NEVER been a distance runner (despite my three best friends all signing up for cross country in 5th grade without me).  And despite running track 6th through 8th grades, I was never really any kind of runner.  I ran the 400 meter most races and was almost always last.  (I was okay at shot-put and discus, and placed a few times in those field events, but was required to run at least one race).  But after I picked it up last year as part of my weight loss goals, I knew this was one race I wanted to try.

Unfortunately, despite having excellent weather the last five times we attended the event, it was a bit drizzly and rainy this year.  But, it was a light rain and we were prepared for it (our stroller rain cover is  a life saver).  We arrived in time to pick up our race packet, grab some slices of pizza for dinner, see Santa roll in and light the tree, and watch a block of ice become an Olaf statue.

While the boys romped (walked) behind, I ran ahead on my own, and decided to go without music, which always makes running a little more difficult for me, but I wanted to hear the sounds and people around me.  It was very emotional to run through our old town, where I have such vivid memories of being pregnant twice and welcoming both of our boys into the world.  As their first home, Newark will always have a special place in my heart.  The course itself took us right near where Brian used to work, and along the James F. Hall Trail where we used to walk and take the boys to a nearby park.  It was a nice flat course, as you can see in the map below.

I had hoped to pace myself to have progressively quicker split times each mile, but I never seem to manage that in training so I shouldn't have expected to.  But, I had a pretty consistent pace and ended up with each mile being between 10:26 and 10:50 minutes (adjusted for the starting line delay).  When I finally came to the finish line, it was getting close to 35 minutes which was just the motivation I needed to push and sprint to the finish.  I knew I wanted to be under 35.  However, since this race had a large amount of people, I didn't actually cross the starting line until about 60 seconds into the official race time.  The race was chip timed and I ended up with an official time of 34:17!  And while that's by no means a fast time, it is a respectable one and my best time ever running 3.1 (though I think the course was a little longer) miles without stopping.  (Oh, and I forgot to mention I overdid it in a circuit training class the day before, and was very stiff and sore before the race even started, so I was very impressed with how I held on.) 

The race is in its 8th year and was very well managed.  It started at 7:00pm on the dot, and had a lot of great volunteers.  Over $50,000 was raised by the event, and I think a great time was had by all despite the rain.

Old posts on Winterfest 2008 (ha, I actually said we thought about running the race the next year), 2009, 2010.

2011:

2012:

Claymont Steak Shop: Newark, DE Restaurant Week

While we would have loved to try several more new places on Main St, we limited ourselves to one tried and true restaurant (Café Gelato) and one newbie.  For that we chose Claymont Steak Shop.  Technically, it is on South Main St. (newly named), but it is pretty close and was participating in restaurant week as well.  This place is a DE original, and this is their second location.  They haven't been in Newark too long, and their original location is in northern DE almost at the PA line.

While you order at the counter, they do make food to order and they call your name from the counter when it is ready (think Panera Bread).

Waiting on our order.

 Restaurant Week Special:  "2 Large Cheese Steaks that are prepared with our classic fresh cut rib-eye and your choice of toppings Plus an order of Supreme fries that are smothered in melted cheddar, bacon, ranch and topped with freshly grated mozzarella cheese and finished in the oven."

Brian ordered his with peppers and fried onions.

 

 We didn't really look at their menu, since we were planning on getting the special for r.w.  Since they were voted best cheesesteaks in the state for 2012, we were expecting perfection.  They were pretty good, good buns and fried onions and meat.  However, there just wasn't quite enough cheese on the sandwiches to make it the perfect cheesesteak.  They were pretty good though.  The fries were pretty great-you know if you need a fork to eat them they are going to be tasty. 

Father-Son bonding:  How to properly eat a cheese steak.

 Theo had a 1/4 or so of my large sandwich, and of course loved the fries.  It wasn't hard to get him to eat here, but it would have been hard to change him had we needed it-there are no changing tables in the restroom.  Luckily, he's been a lot more interested in potty training this week, so we didn't need a changing table.  And Eli slept through most of the meal.  He woke up at the very end.

Can we come back once I'm eating table foods?

Caffe Gelato: Newark, DE restaurant week

So, one of our favorite times of year around here is restaurant week.  While most of the college students are still away, Newark entices us to leave our warm houses to try out new specials at Newark's best restaurants.  Today we visited one of our favorites for a cheap-er lunch than usual-well, it would have been if we had skipped dessert.

I first mentioned Caffe Gelato on my blog over four years ago as the first restaurant we ever visited on Newark's Main Street.  Their specials today for restaurant week were:

French Onion Soup au gratin

or

Roasted Cauliflower Bisque with aged Vermont Cheddar garnished with crisp pancetta

and

House-crafted sun dried tomato gnocchi ‘gratinati’ with caramelized onions, radicchio, roasted garlic béchamel and smoked mozzarella 

or

Prosciutto Panino with sliced apples, Manchego, fig jam, arugula and caramelized onions

I had the cauliflower bisque and gnocchi, while Brian enjoyed the French onion soup and panino.  All four courses were delicious.  My dishes were both very fragrant and delicately seasoned, and perfect on this cold January day.

 Their children's menu is pretty typical, but Theo enjoyed his sweet potato fries and chicken tenders. 

He was just being good the whole time to get his gelato at the end.  He immediately picked out his Strawberry flavored dessert when we walked in and were waiting to be seated, since the gelato selections are right inside the door.  He almost went for "green" (mint chocolate chip), but decided he "doesn't like" chocolate chips-which is the biggest lie I've ever heard.  Two year olds...

Cheeburger Cheeburger (Newark, DE)

After having the Chuckbox as our go-to-burger-place in Tempe, we were quite spoiled when it came to finding the perfect burger.  Chuckbox is absolutely the perfect place for college students to get a burger, beer and onion rings (or fried zucchini in my case).  This one-of-a-kind (and location) restaurant cooks the burgers to order on their huge fire pit, and lets you dress it yourself at the fixin's bar.  We pretty much took everyone who ever came to visit us there.

(couldn't find a pic of us there, but here's my brother-in-law and sister-in-law there)

There is really no comparison to it here in Delaware.  And the first few years we were here there were really no burger places at all on Main St. (though there is a Jake's just out of town).  But, as luck would have it, when we crossed the line from needing a college joint to a family atmosphere, Cheeburger Cheeburger came to Main St.  This is a chain restaurant, that seems mostly to be in our area and some of the south.  Some random airports across the country also have a location.  With a 50s décor, their shtick is to have you "invent" whatever you would like to eat.  Their menu boasts over 1.285 million milkshake combinations, and there are about 30 different toppings to choose from for your burger (I like the black olives!).  They have regular French fries, sweet potato fries, and really thin delicious onion rings. 

We took Brian's parents there last weekend, and it was probably our third visit to the new restaurant.  We have yet to be disappointed. 

You get your picture on the wall with this burger if you eat their big burger in one sitting.

Theo loves the car that his meal comes in, it keeps him occupied for a while. 

 Even Eli had a good time!

Activities for 18 month olds in Newark, Delaware

So lately, I've been wanting to get the little one into some more regularly schedule activities now that the year is started.  We had a blast during the summer going to the Brandywine Zoo, swimming pool, Milburn Orchard, Kilby Creamery, down to the beach, and playing at the park-but now mama's going back to work and needs a little more help in keeping activities going.

I started researching and little by little, found the following list of activities.  I think we're going to pick out about four of these to try.
Toddler Tales:  At the Newark Free Public Library.  Story time for 18-35 month olds.
Swim Lessons:  We are thinking of becoming Y-members, (Sept. there is no joiner fee!), and if we do we may put T. in the Perch class!  19 months-3 years. 
Swim Lessons 2:  A little farther away in Elkton, there are also swim lessons available here.
Itty Bitty Fall Sports:  At the Kirkwood soccer club.  An athletic activity for 18-35 months.
First State Gymnastics:  Just a couple miles from us (within biking distance) is this facility.  They offer classes, or just open gym time. 
Nature Babies:  Local program at a White Clay Creek State Park, looks promising.  Once  a month on Saturday mornings. 
We Kids Rock:  Music classes, mostly held in Wilmington but there is a Newark class.
Yoga:  This says they are starting baby classes this fall.  Crawlers-4 years.
Delaware Nature Society:  More classes for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 year olds.
Roller Skating: and Figure Skating:  Not sure when T. will be ready for this class, but it looks fun!
Gymboree: and The Little Gym:  Have all sorts of classes for pre-schoolers, located up in Wilmington.  I'm not sure about the prices though, these may be expensive.

I'll be sure to update which ones we try, and what we think of them.  Most are accepting registrations now and start SOON!

Newark, Delaware Fall Festivals and 5k runs (2011)

I have this idea that I might want to get interested in walking/running 5ks this year.  Maybe... we'll see.  I found a few around here, and some other festivals for the Newark area. 

Sept. 18:  Stroller through the Park (5k walk, and visit to the Please Touch Museum)
Oct 1:  Main Street Mile (not a full 5K, just a one mile race down Newark's main street)
Nov. 19:  Newark's Turkey Trot (10k and 5k races)

Dec. 2:  Reindeer Run (or romp, which is what we'll probably be doing.  This is on the night of Newark's Winterfest)

Other Festivals:
Sept. 17:  Day for Kids in Wilmington
Sept. 18:  Newark Community Day
Oct. 2: Coast Day
Oct. 30:  Halloween Parade and Main Street Trick or Treat
Nov. 5-7: Punkin Chunkin (quadratics in action, this festival is featured in both of my math textbook series)

Newark Area Restaurants

In the last few months, we have been cutting back on eating out, but do have a few places to recommend, all of them on the ever changing Main Street of Newark.

Ali Baba- We went here during restaurant week a few months ago. We've always wanted to go here, but their hours have made it hard for us to make it in here. The outside of the restaurant is not very appealing, but inside you forget you are on Main Street with the low tables, couches, and Middle Eastern decor. We had lots of spicy food, and Theodore even joined in eating the rice, pitas, and Moroccan carrot salad (Carrots, garlic, onion, parsley, white vinegar, olive oil, & special spices). I had a delicious kabob, and Brian enjoyed their specialty, the Moroccan chicken.

Catherine Rooney's- I was very excited when we saw signs go up for a new Irish place in town. The food was about average for an Irish place, but the atmosphere was a lot more family friendly than the other Irish place in town, so we had a really nice time. The owner even seated us in a private booth area, and Theodore stayed asleep for a majority of the night, but woke up for dessert.


Peace a Pizza- We finally tried this pizza place in February when Brian's parents were out here for Theodore's birthday. The slices were pretty tasty, and we found the music played to be humorous, so we had a pretty good time. The tiny restaurant is a little cramped, but for a date night sans Theo it was fine!

Cheeburger Cheeburger- This place has been under construction FOREVER, and was supposed to open last summer and just now opened this spring. We tried it, and it was a pretty good burger place. Their onion rings, were much better than their fries, and they had a pretty nice atmosphere. Their menu was full of all their "options" for sandwiches, dips, salads, and shakes. It makes a math teacher like me a little excited to think about all the combinations and permutations.

Finally, Chipotle also opened out of the blue. I didn't even know they were coming, and all the sudden they were open. We loved eating there in Arizona, so now we've got another quick, cheap place to grab a bite in Newark.


ALSO: OFF MAIN STREET
Middletown- I have enjoyed a few lunch time meals from Caruso's in Middletown, and finally dragged Brian down here one night for dinner. I love their Penne with Vodka sauce!

Winter has arrived on the East Coast

We were having a hard time getting into the Advent season this year, but we finally received our dose of Christmas weather this week. On Thursday, I was down in Dover for a training when we got our first "real" snow of the season, which was still only an inch or two. It took quite a while to get home that afternoon, as many were unprepared and uncomfortable driving in the snow. They called a two-hour delay for school on Friday... pretty silly when the roads were perfectly fine the next morning, but that's Delaware. Our first glimpse of snow was actually last Friday, Dec. 10 (during last period, which was my homeroom-they were beyond excited).

The first week of Dec. we did get to see Santa arrive in Newark at the Winterfest. Theodore found the event a little strange, but not too frightening.

Last weekend Theodore picked out the Christmas tree with Brian and we set it up. Baby has yet to really bother the tree too much... we'll see if that can be said once we start putting wrapped presents underneath.

And finally, this Saturday we made our second NYC at Christmas time trip. This time we actually braved the traffic and drove right up to Central Park and parked right near FAO Schwartz (with a coupon for the garage!) with less than three hours from our door to theirs. We learned Brian quickly can pick up on taxi driver's techniques after being on the city streets just a few minutes.
There is just something so great about the city at Christmas... I am so glad we dragged our weary, tired selves there and had a great day. Theodore was great, other than being scared for a brief second when he found himself on the middle of 5th Avenue. It was quite a wake-up after his nap in the car. We headed through Central Park (stopping for Theodore's first carousel ride) to the Museum of Natural History. We could have spent a lot longer there, but it was closing around 6 and we didn't get there as early as we would have liked. We had to speed tour a lot of the museum.
Then we walked back through a very calm and quiet Central Park, viewing all of the city lights on our romantic stroll as Theodore napped. Finally, we stepped into FAO Schwartz and entertained Theodore with all the great toys there. It was a great day, and I got to see the Rockefeller tree at night this time, which is definitely the way to go.

Penske List

Lately we have been taking our eating out a little more seriously. Since we are trying to cut back on how often we eat out, every time we do we want to really take advantage of it. We keep talking about places we haven't tried, and decided we should make a "bucket list" of all the places we still want to try. Brian decided a better name for it would be a "Penske" list, since it is everywhere we need to try if/before we move. Both of these places made that list:

Pure Bread: Since its location is right beside Babies R Us we see this cafe often and have talked about going for a while. We finally did, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it is very similar to Panera Bread. Their soup is not as good, but their sandwiches definitely give PB a run for their money. It does seem a little weird to order a "Doberman" or a "Chihuahua", but we like it. We've already made a repeat visit.

Gyro Kabob House: This little shack is only a few minutes from our house, and is unfortunately right next to a dingy looking liquor store. However, my love for gyros and Mediterranean food lured us there. Though the service was ridiculously slow, and they forgot the pitas and hummus appetizer that Brian ordered, I still can't complain about them because their food was pretty tasty. We will be sure to order ahead next time, and check that everything is in the bag before leaving the place, but we will return.

Blueberry Adventures (and Other Produce Pursuits)

So this summer, two of our main sources of entertainment have been going to farmer's markets and orchards. Two things I never really did in my own childhood. Since I lived on a farm there was no reason. We could get fresh eggs from an aunt or pick strawberries from my grandmother's patch. We didn't need a market or an orchard to help us connect to our own food supply. But out here in Delaware, we need to.

We've been up to Wilmington for a small farmers market in Little Italy (Saturdays, 9-1, 8th & Bancroft Parkway), headed over to U of D's own market on campus at Mentors' Circle (11-2 on Thursdays), and found the best selection at Newark's own farmer's market that operates every Sunday (10-2, 280 East Main Street) where we can easily head to after church. Among other things, we've gotten a lot of green beans, some rhubarb (made my first strawberry-rhubarb pie-it was fantastic), fresh herbs, and of course baked goods for Brian.

Theodore at the UD Farmer's Market.

Milburn Orchard has also been a favorite destination of ours this summer, and for the first time in well over a decade, my blueberry feign of a husband got to go blueberry picking. It was the orchard's first year for blueberries, and they had three different varieties to choose from. The first variety is probably the reason I mistakenly thought I didn't like blueberries. They just don't hit my taste buds right. But in the following rows, I finally realized that blueberries might not be so bad after all. For years I have baked blueberry pies without tasting them, skipped the blueberry sauce on waffles, and picked blueberries out of fruit salads. I just thought they were not the berry for me. However, by that night around 9:30 pm I had a piece of blueberry pie that made me seriously doubt my behavior. IT was delicious! I can understand now why Brian is always begging me to make this pie for him.

Since we the perfect fresh blueberries to use, I went all out and even made the pie crust from scratch, and watched the blueberries go from this:

We had a fun time at the orchard, though we are still riding this East coast heat wave to the fullest. Theodore and I ended up back in the car in the air conditioning while Brian was still picking. He would have probably stayed out there until his basket was full if I let him.

I've also kind of fell in love with my mother-in-law's garden this summer. I love to see things growing, and her garden has so much variety. She brought us out a bunch of peppers and eggplant and kohlrabi among other things. It's even better than a farmer's market.