– I won’t be able to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, and I’ll miss seeing my Frankfurt friends and reading German magazines and visiting the Palmengarten and eating a LOT of baked goods. To ease my pain (just a little), I baked up a batch of Brezelbrötchen — pretzel rolls. I wish they had turned out a little smoother and glossier (I think I should only boil one or two at a time, because I get flustered and — I think — leave them in the water too long), but they’re very tasty. And if you’re a fan of Trader Joe’s peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites, just imagine a warm Brezel roll with almond butter. Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine. Amazing.
– I had the almond butter Brezel roll for dinner before heading out for my second Team Challenge run. I promise I’ll write more about Team Challenge tomorrow or Friday, but for now I’ll just say that I’ve really enjoyed the training runs. I’m not a super speedy runner, but I am more conditioned than several of my teammates, and being a strong runner in the pack is a nice change! July was a really rough running month for me, but I got my mojo back in August and am more in love with it than ever.
– The cats are lovable and annoying in (almost) equal measure. That’s averaging over both cats. Beany is probably 80% lovable, 20% annoying (and that goes to about 95%/5% as long as she stays indoors), while Birdy is… well, the opposite? But she’s only seven months, and Beany wasn’t the most charming when she was young, either. Birdy’s sort of a jealous cat and doesn’t like it when I give Beany a lot of attention. But it’s not what you’d think — she’ll come over and try to steal Beany away from me. How dare Beany cuddle with me and not her!
