Chocolate chess pie

I just had a huge plate of leftovers (including some extra side dishes we didn't even have on Thursday), the chocolate pies are ready and I can see a few Christmas lights on the porch peeking through the blinds. All in all, things are pretty good today. I remember my father arguing that chocolate chess pie wasn't a pretty pie and so we shouldn't take it to parties or holiday dinners. I'm not sure if he still feels that way, but as a kid it was always one of my favorite desserts my mother would make. It's also ridiculously easy to make, so long as you take care to add the egg slowly and not overcook it.

1 pie crust (regular - not deep dish) 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1 cup sugar 1 oz. package of liquid chocolate (Nestle sells it in a yellow box. The liquid is way better than block for this.) 2 eggs, unbeaten

Melt the stick of butter on low heat. Add the sugar and chocolate to make a fudge mixture. Slowly add the egg and continue stirring to keep the egg from cooking once it touches the hot chocolate. I generally add about half of the chocolate mix to the egg and then all of that back into the rest of the chocolate mix.

Be careful not to stir the mixture too much (which I always do) or it will try to fluff up. Pour the mix into the pie shell and cook at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

30 minutes of perspective three times a week

I just finished my first workout for Week Two of the Couch to 5K program and contrary to what I would have thought, I did not fall over dead at Mile 2. I highly recommend making a new route each week to help mark the time passing and keep the workouts fresh. Breathing has been my biggest challenge so far. My legs and joints all feel great, but my right lung always feels like it's about to collapse about halfway through. In previous running experiments I would have just quit or turned it into a fast paced walk for forever. But since Robert keeps pushing me onward and telling me how great I'm doing I'm having to come up with alternate coping skills.

I'm breathing deeper, paying attention to my posture and as hokey as it sounds trying to stay positive about the whole thing. I'm pleased to say on my run today I didn't want to perform an emergency lung-ectomy right there on the sidewalk.

I was chatting with Megan about this whole running lark of mine and she said it was too boring for her liking. We also commiserated on how the emptiness of running would leave the door open for 30 minutes of fretting about all the things we should be doing besides running. Amazingly, though, that hasn't been happening for me this time. I spend most of my energy focused on the run itself. While I'm running I'm listening to my body (and that damn right lung) and when I'm walking I am planning for the next run. The biggest distraction I had this morning was when a chihuahua tried to chase me for a bit, but I think I had him beat in strides.

As I work on my five minute cool down walk, I'm amazed each time at just how refreshing the whole run has been. My mind feels much more clear, I feel less stressed and spending 30 minutes expending all my energy on breathing and moving helps me keep the rest of the day in perspective.

I'm becoming one of them

I am in the throes of a fascinating conversation with Kim and Jack in our living room about blogging and social circles and I have a thousand ideas all whirling around in my head, but time is running short so I wanted to at least touch base before the end of the day. I put up Christmas lights on our front porch this afternoon. We even went to two Home Depot stores so I could get enough lights (here's a tip: always buy twice the number of lights you think you'll need). I can remember years past where we were I was constantly stressing about all kinds of things and Christmas seemed a million miles away. But all of a sudden I'm one of those people out there on the day after Thanksgiving stringing up lights. Who would have thought?

Just yesterday morning, I was telling Rich I couldn't understand those people who have finished all their Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. What do they do all Christmas season? Talk smugly about how they've already finished their shopping to stress me out for the next 26 days? We then arrived at his parents' house and at some point his mother proudly proclaimed that she had finished all her shopping and I said, "We were just talking about you this morning! That's great!"

So no, I'm not one of those people but I'm definitely more squared away than I have been in the past. It feels pretty good to be able to spare a few moments today and revel in "the holiday spirit" (whether that holiday is Hallowsgivingmas of this last quarter of the year or only Christmas). I hope you all are having a festive season!