My Mom Could Kick Your Mom's Butt

This weekend we went out to my parent's house to watch my mother compete in the Danksin triathlon on Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (also known as Webster Lake).
My mom totally kicked butt! I'm so proud of her! My aunt and uncle who live in Mexico were also staying at my parent's house for the weekend. The night before the race we had a big meal of pre-race fuel. No carbo loading - my mother wanted a healthy meal of fish and veggies.

I made a big salad with greens, radishes, blueberries, gorgonzola, and pecans.

We served this with grilled striper (still left from the boy's fishing trip), grilled corn, and roasted broccoli.

For dessert I used some peaches grown right over in Sutton, the town next to my parent's.

I made this Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie from Smitten Kitchen (who got the recipe from Martha Stewart - gotta love Martha).

I used the other half of my vodka pie crust as the base, and the peaches are covered with a crumb topping and dotted with creme fraiche.



We watched the sunset on the lake while we enjoyed dessert.

The next morning we all got up early to head over to the other side of the lake and watch my my mom compete. The tri started with a 1/2 mile swim.

Then she sprinted to the transition area to hop on her bike for the 12 mile ride - and she was off!

She did so well on the bike, we were hardly paying attention when she came back for the run. We thought we had another 15 minutes before we'd see her again! She threw on her sneakers and headed out for the final 3 mile run.

And she finished strong!

Her goal was to finish in 2 hours - and she completed the race in 1:40! She finished 4th in her age class! We were all SO proud of her.

Seeing my mom working so hard to complete this challenge totally put me to shame! I told her I would compete in the triathlon with her next year. So now I just have to learn to swim and ride a bike :) But first, I'm planning on completing a half marathon on October. The 8 mile race was the longest I've ever run, but 5 more miles - that's nothing!

After the race we had a late breakfast and then took a tour of the lake on my father's new (old) boat. We were going to head home in the afternoon, but ended up hanging around until dinner. I fed the goldfish in my parent's pond.

While the boys looked on...

Then we had another big spread for dinner.

Tomato and mozzarella salad, curried carrots, grilled shrimp, salad made with celery and endive in an anchovy dressing, and there's some grilled steak back there - but you don't need to see that.

Last night I was inspired by another Martha recipe. I've been talking about making ratatouille lately, which is basically a French vegetable stew made with zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes and lots of herbs. My mother had pulled a recipe from Living that had ratatouille on grilled bread topped with a poached egg. Last night's dinner was a variation on that. I didn't make a full ratatouille - I'm waiting until all the veggies are in season and I still haven't gotten eggplant from my CSA. And I wanted to use the grill as much as I could because its just too hot and humid to turn the oven on right now.

I halved some zucchini and summer squash and cut half an onion into big chunks. I brushed them and some pieces of baguette with olive oil and grilled it all lightly. I also wrapped half a head of garlic in foil and let that roast on the grill as well.


Then I chopped up the grilled veggies and tossed them with some chopped tomatoes, chives, fennel fronds, and EVOO and red wine vinegar.

I smashed the roasted garlic onto the grilled bread, which had become very soft and sweet. Then topped the bread with the veggies and a fried egg. With a runny yolk, of course - I love a runny yolk on just about anything!

Topped with a little grated parmesan this was the perfect light summertime meal.