Post-marathon laze-about

I've fallen into a degenerate state of sloth. In the two weeks since the marathon, I've had more to drink and eat than I did during the whole of training (exaggeration, I hope). This weekend was no exception.

During my birthday celebration last weekend, me and some marathon buddies pinky-swore to spend an afternoon and evening in Sonoma. This plan was made many, many times during marathon training and never happened, so we were all surprised to show up in Sonoma on Saturday afternoon. Upon arriving at Rob's fiancee's grandpa's house, we set out on a major shopping trip to Sonoma Market. We spent outrageous sums on groceries, and then trucked it all back to the house. Josh and I made a pitcher of white sangria in preparation for several hours by the pool.

Having never used a high-tech juicer before (the kind that can juice an entire peach, let's say), I assumed that the juice would fall into the clear container on the side. Instead, the pulp fell into that container, and the juice streamed out of the spigot. That I had not noticed until that point. A good start to the afternoon.

Post-swim, we started to prepare the feast. Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with feta, caprese salad, five varieties of stinky cheese with baguette, garlic olives, crackers with smoked salmon and creme fraiche, and the piece de resistance, courtesy of food-magician Josh: Georgian chicken. I think this is something of his own creation. A chicken, stuffed with carmelized onions, brown rice, cherries, pine nuts, and fennel, barbecued until crispy while being basted with cherry butter. Yes, barbecued. It was amazing.

I will also say that the zucchini flowers were better than expected. I had never made or eaten them before, but I found some at the farmer's market on Saturday morning. They are quite simple to prepare, and oh how delicious! I will be making them more often.