Will you pretty please vote for me?

My recipe is up! And I am up against some people with much better salesmanship and photography skills than I have...so I need you guys to help me out!

http://www.iledefrancecheese.com/blog/?p=504

Go there, and scroll down to "Kristi's Brie and Cherry Kolaches" and rate my recipe! You can give it anywhere from 1 to 5 stars and then the recipe with the highest rating wins. I'm not expecting to win first place but it does go all the way to fourth place, so I'd love it if you would help me have a shot!

Brie and Cherry Kolaches

Before I moved to Texas, I didn't know anything about Czechoslovakian culture. Luckily, it just so happens that West, Texas, which is about 20 minutes north of Waco, is full of people with Czech heritage. People even speak Czech there frequently, and they have a big Czech celebration every year called Westfest where people dance polka and drink "pivo" (beer).

Beyond Westfest, West is most known for their famous pastries called kolaches. These are delicious treats that all use the same yeast, sweet bread, and the fillings range from fruit, to cream cheese, to sausage! You can get sweet or savory, but either way, they are still called kolaches. Anyone who is from Texas knows to stop by Czechstop as they are driving up I-35 and the line is usually out the door to get homemade kolaches.

This story has a point, I promise! I was given some Ile de France Brie cheese to enter their recipe contest. I was stumped about what to make with it that would be different than what everyone else is making, when I thought of it - Kolaches! Of course!

Hence, I looked around online until I found a satisfactory recipe for the dough, and then of course I adapted it to my own needs. But all credit goes to Homesick Texan for the base dough recipe. created some Brie and Cherry Kolaches. And they were delicious. I want you to try these right now and tell me you don't love them. Dan was nervous about the concept at first, but he gave them two strong thumbs up after trying them and has since eaten most of them. We also took them to Thanksgiving to snack on before the meal, and they were declared a success there as well.

I'm going to enter the Ile de France competition with these, so at some point I might be asking you to vote for me if you like this idea! I'm sure that there will be people with way cooler and fancier recipes, but hey, it's worth a shot, right?

Here I am, putting the jam on each of them.

This recipe isn't hard, but it does take time for all the different risings. I would recommend making these on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I would also recommend making them smaller than I did, particularly if you want them for appetizers. They rise more than you think they will in the oven!

Ingredients:

1 package (or 2.25 teaspoons) yeast

1 cup warm milk (I used 1%)

1/4 cup sugar

4 cups flour (or more)

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 round Brie Cheese (I used Ile de France)

1 jar cherry preserves

Combine the yeast, milk, sugar, and 1 cup flour in a small bowl. Cover and let this rise until it's about doubled, maybe 20-30 minutes. While it's rising, beat together the eggs, 1/2 cup butter, and salt. Combine this mixture with the yeast mixture and beat again.

If you have a stand mixer, now is the time to use it. Stir in 2-3 cups of flour, while stirring continuously if you have a mixer. If not, add it about 1/2 cup at a time and then stir. You want the dough to be soft and pliable, but not too sticky. You should be able to knead it a bit without it being super sticky all over your fingers. If it's too sticky, add more flour. I used quite a bit, but a lot of it depends on the weather and humidity where you're cooking. I think I used about 4.5 cups of flour total. But don't freak out if you need to use a lot less than that, or even more - it's okay! Then knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or let your mixer do the needing for you. Let it rise, covered, for about an hour.

Once it's about doubled in size, punch the dough down. Grease two cookie sheets and start pulling off little balls of dough! I would recommend making these about the size of a small cookie. Roll each piece around in your hands a little until it's round, and then smoosh it down so it's a little flattened. Set them on the cookie sheet. You can put them kind of close to each other - traditionally, the kolaches are close together and end up shaped into sort of squares because they bump up against each other. Also, don't forget they will rise even bigger.

Next, use a spoon (or your fingers, whatever) and make an an indentation in the middle of each dough. You want to make this as wide as possible to fit in maximum possible toppings. Make it as deep as you can, but obviously not too deep, because you still need enough dough underneath to hold everything together.

Next, put in the Brie! Cut off a slice of cheese and press it into the indented part of the dough. Don't stress about how big or small it is...it really doesn't matter. All I can tell you is the more cheese, the better it tastes. I tried to fit about a 1/4 inch thick piece in each kolache, and just tore them to be the correct length. Next, top it off with the cherry preserves! Add about a tablespoon of this to each kolache. Of course, you can try other flavors of preserves or jams...we tried grape, but everyone voted that cherry was way better. I think fig would be delicious too.

You're almost done! Bake the kolaches in an oven at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes, maybe a little longer, until they look done and are a little browned on top. They might be a little messy, as you can see from the pictures below. That's okay. And you can also add more preserves once they've baked if too much slides off during baking. Just reheat for 15 seconds in the microwave and no one will be the wiser. Obviously, mine were super messy and you're also seeing the lack of photography skills I have. Oh well - I guess you'll have to try them yourself!

A Weekend in NYC

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! We will be celebrating with friends in Waco this year. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends that we get to share the holidays with. I hope you all have a restful, blessed Thanksgiving.

I went to New York last weekend for the conference. It was actually pretty fun - I got to talk to a lot of people about my research, and learn some new things about therapy too!

Here is a picture right in Times Square. See the big Kodak sign on the left side? Underneath that was the entrance to the hotel where the conference was. We were right in the middle of things!

The first night, we went to a hot dog stand and then got pizza - we wanted to get the full New York City experience.

The next day, Saturday, I presented my poster. Here is a more-than-slightly-awkward picture of me in front of it, before everyone else got in there.

And that was it! One more night in the big city and then it was back to Waco. Goodbye, New York!

Update

I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow! It's going to be quite the short trip, because I'm not getting there until tomorrow afternoon and I'm leaving early Sunday morning. I'm going to the ABCT convention to present my research poster on Saturday. I wish I could figure out how to link the abstract here, but I can't. If you're interested, though, go to the site and click on Plan My Itinerary and then search for "Fogle" under presenters. My project should come up. It's very exciting but sort of a bad weekend...I have another test in my neuropsychology class on Tuesday, so there will be lots of studying on the plane for me.

In other news, Dan graduated wine tasting last night. He has taken four "semesters" over two years with his friend Matthew. Their final test was a blind tasting of four wines. Over the past years, only one person has ever gotten all four correct. Well, Dan became the second person to do so! (And another guy in his class did as well, so I don't know if that makes Dan the 2nd or 3rd, but whatever.) He tasted four wines and, not knowing anything about them, identified them as 1. Chardonnay 2. Riesling 3. Cabernet Sauvignon and 4. Pinot Noir. I know, right, there is no way in a million years I could get all those. Maybe if it were matching? So the next time Dan tries to downplay his supertaster abilities or his wine knowledge, don't trust him, because he is legit!

For Thanksgiving, we're staying in Waco and spending the day with Camden and Matthew. It should be fun although of course I'll miss spending the day with family, and all the fun that comes with it such as Left Right Center and Catchphrase. The four of us might even go spend a couple days in Hill Country though at a friend's cabin...so I'm sure it will be a nice relaxing couple of days off.

I'll have my M.A. after this semester's over...you can just call me Master.

Dan will still be closer to his final graduation than I am however. (He'll have 1.5 years, I'll have 2.5 years.)

How's this for a random stream of consciousness post?

Best Birthday Present EVER

Sammie turned two last week. Yep....you missed it! Again, for the second year in a row, she got no presents from any extended friends or family.

Except one.

Oh, and was it an amazing present.

Dad and Diane picked out something special for the Saminator.

And technically they didn't even know it was her birthday, they just thought it was cute, but that's okay too, because we saved it and gave it to her on her birthday.

Are you ready for this?

She got A SNUGGIE!!

And now it's keeping her nice and warm here in...err...Texas. Well, it has been getting a little chilly at night!

And that's all for tonight...

Columbus Marathon 2009 - Complete!

We had a great weekend at home, including Rachel and Ryan's wedding, time with family, and seeing the beautiful fall trees that I haven't really gotten to experience in three years! But I want to take this post and just give you all my marathon recap. So feel free to read carefully (Scott) or skim through this (everyone else), depending on your level of interest...

Saturday night, we had pasta and bread for dinner at Dan's parents' house. We ate kind of early, around 6:30, and then went back to my dad's where we were staying. I got all ready for Sunday morning, laid out my clothes, packed my backpack, and set my alarm for 5:30! I also drank approximately 17 glasses of water during this hour because I hadn't been doing the best job of staying hydrated all day. I read for a little bit and about 9:30, decided to try to go to bed. I had some trouble falling asleep but it wasn't too bad, and I think by 10:30 I was passed out. I woke up a couple of times to go to the bathroom (hmmm, probably why I shouldn't drink so much water right before bed, but oh well) and each time got nervous that I wasn't going to wake up for my alarm. But I was tired and so I fell back asleep, and next thing I know my alarm went off! I jumped out of bed and got ready in about 8 minutes. Julie was already downstairs making breakfast. I grabbed a Gatorade for the car ride and we were off! We drove to her apartment parking lot and met Diana, Ashley, Nan, and Morgan. We piled in one car and were off downtown.

We parked in the Nationwide parking lot and got to get ready in the locker room there. It was so nice and so warm. I ate my Clif Bar, attached my bib, put on the Vaseline...you know, all the fun stuff before a big race! We finally went outside and it was cold! I think it was in the 30's and it warmed up to the 40's or 50's during the rest of the race. I thought this would be way too cold for me but it felt sooo perfect! Training in Texas's heat and humidity has its advantages, because I felt so great in the cool weather. Anyway, as soon as we got into the big group of runners waiting to start, we all warmed up because we were packed in like sardines. Apparently 14,000 people ran the marathon and we were all packed into like two blocks of downtown Columbus. The race was supposed to start at 7:30 but we just inched forward for about 15 minutes. Actually, we officially crossed the start line at 7:44. And we were off!

It was really crowded at first and so we were having a hard time staying together. We were constantly having to dart in between people and around others in order to keep a good pace and stay together. But the crowd thinned out after the first mile or two, and we were able to stay together pretty easily. We saw some of the front runners of the race looping back for their mile 7 when we were on mile 2 - wow! They were probably running faster than my sprint, and they were on mile 7 of the marathon. But we still were passing lots of people so it didn't ruin my confidence. :)

We saw Dan and the rest of his family at mile 2! They cheered us on. Mom and Grandma were there too but somehow we missed them. It was still decently crowded at this point so I guess none of us were looking in the right direction at the right time. We saw them all again when we looped back around though at mile 7. We were running about a 10:20 pace at this point and I felt good. I was getting water or Gatorade at every stop so I wouldn't get dehydrated. I only took a sip or two each time but it helped. We also started taking Gu breaks at around mile 6. I think I had three Gu's throughout the marathon. I would have liked to have had at least one more but my stomach said no way.

Julie decided to take a Port-A-Potty break at around mile 7 or 8. We all slowed down but kept running so that she could catch up to us. I got really nervous that she wasn't going to find us - I think it was my big sister conscience kicking in! It probably took her like 10 minutes to catch up but she finally did! We started running faster again and then did the same thing later when other people had to take breaks. At around mile 15 I started getting ready for it to get hard. We were all having so much fun running, and we were talking, laughing, even singing! I remembered my last marathon and how much harder the last eight miles were than the first 18. But we just kept running and I kept feeling good! It never really got to that point, even in miles 20-26 I kept feeling like the mile markers were coming pretty fast. The last marathon, they seemed to take forever to appear at this point, but here it really didn't feel like it at all.

We had people cheering for us almost every couple miles; it was amazing! The Fogles and Julie's roommate, Megan, were probably our biggest supporters - we saw each of them I think four different times throughout the course! Donna and Carl also cheered and brought signs that had all of our names on them, and we saw them several times too. Ashley's family was there, my cousin Josh was there, my dad was there twice and Diane was there at the finish, and my mom and Grandma, and Nancy... Nan and Diana also knew a lot of spectators and they cheered for us too. Basically, just about every mile someone was there for us. It made it SO fun! We were constantly watching to find someone we knew and then we got extra bursts of energy when we saw them.

There were also lots of bands playing, and random people cheering us on, and lots of cute dogs out on the course. We saw a little kid in his driveway playing his drum set for us. There was some lady playing a trumpet. We ran by Governor Strickland and Diana yelled "Hi Ted!" to him. When we went by Anthony Thomas' house, they were handing out buckeyes. I thought I would throw up if I even got close to one, so I didn't take one, but Diana luckily grabbed me an extra one and I ate it on the plane ride home.

At about mile 20, Ashley decided to put on her MP3 player and run a little faster because she was feeling pretty good. Julie and I were running together at this point, and we somehow got a little ahead of Nan, Morgan, and Diana. We didn't really want to slow down but they were right behind us for a mile or two. Then we looked back and they were gone! We had somehow gotten ahead of them, so we decided that rather than stopping and waiting for them, we would just go out on our own and even pick up the pace a little. If we had stopped at that point, I really don't think I would have been able to start running again. My legs were like concrete, but concrete machines that were on autopilot and just kept running. Also, I was completely amazed that I hadn't walked so far and I didn't want to break the streak now since we were within a couple miles of the finish. I still can't believe I did that. On my training runs, I even stopped and walked on 6 mile runs. But yet here I was running the entire marathon. Who even knows, I guess it was the combination of being so energized and ready as well as the weather.

So we kept going! At about mile 24 I started feeling like I was going to throw up. But I just kept going. It was a weird feeling of, oh well, I might throw up, but who even cares, I just need to keep going. Julie was still singing at this point, so she was feeling fine, but I sort of stopped and zoned out to try to my nausea under control. I even skipped the last few Gatorade stops because I didn't think I could put anything else in my stomach. I think we passed probably 100 people in these last two miles. I guess we were speeding up when everyone else was giving out. At about mile 25.75 the finish line "tunnel" began! SO many people were crowded around and cheering for us. They had loud music playing and an announcer giving the names of everyone as they crossed the finish line. Julie and I sprinted down the end. We passed several people right at the end too and finished together in 4:33:11! That's a 10:24 pace. Ashley had finished about 10 minutes ahead of us and she was waiting for us at the finish line. We got our blankets and medals and then waited for Nan and Diana and Morgan. My teeth started chattering right away, I was freezing! Luckily I never did throw up. I ate a half of a banana and drank some water and began feeling better. We ended up by taking some pictures and then we all went back to the locker room, showered, and went out to lunch.

What a crazy surreal feeling of running 26.2 miles. I was pretty sore on the plane back to Waco. Dan had to walk in front of me on all the stairs so that I could lean on him. I had the most trouble with ramps...for some reason, my legs would not work right on a downhill ramp. My legs also kept giving out randomly - needless to say we walked very slowly through the airports. I wore my medal the whole time and got lots of congratulations. On the flight to Houston, there were three other marathon runners wearing their shirts and/or medals. We all congratulated each other and shared our experiences - I felt like I was part of some club or something. Overall, this marathon was really just about perfect. Although my time was slower than my first one, I expected that, and I'm so proud that we ran the whole thing! I also had so much fun with everyone we ran with, and all our spectators.

If you are interested in seeing pictures, go to marathonfoto.com, select the Columbus marathon, and type in my last name and bib number (1321). I know some people took pictures but I don't have any of those yet so unfortunately none for the blog yet! I will post them if I get some.

Today I woke up and I was pretty sore, but mostly just really tired. I went to work and wondered why I decided it was a good idea to work a full day today. I seriously was so tired I almost felt sick. At lunch time, I grabbed a pillow and blanket, shut the door to my office, turned out the lights, and PASSED OUT. I slept for the entire hour. The kind of sleep where you wake up and you have no idea where you are or what's going on. (Or maybe that feeling just came from the fact that I was sleeping on the floor of my office...) But that helped a lot because the afternoon felt much better. Everyone teased me for sleeping on the floor but I really don't think I would have made it the rest of the day if I hadn't done that!

Marathon #2, complete!

It's over! Next up - the marathon!

Well, that week is over. You know that week, think back to college days. It's the week that somehow seems to happen every semester, no matter which classes you're taking. Where each professor decides that specific week would be a good one to give huge exams, and then somehow it always coincides with everything else ever in your life.

Last week, Dan and I pretty much hunkered down and studied all week. We didn't go to our church small group, we didn't go on walks with Sammie every night...instead, my time was split between being in front of my neuroscience book studying drugs and the brain, and being in front of my computer typing out answers to a take-home test for psychodynamic psychology. Dan was working on a group project and studying for a test in Organizational Behavior, and he also took a trip to Dallas on Friday to visit Baylor Medical Center.

But - it all came to an end! It's over! I took my neuroscience test, turned in my twelve page single spaced take home test, and finished the discussion section to my research paper for my lab. Dan finished his stuff, went to Dallas, and last night we celebrated being done with that week with a dinner out at Carino's - yum!

And next week at this time, I'll be running the Columbus Marathon!! Crazy! I looked at the weather earlier and there's a 40 percent chance of showers, so hopefully that will go away within the next week. We're coming home Thursday night, going to Rachel and Ryan's wedding on Friday, relaxing on Saturday, running a marathon (me) and coming home to Waco (both of us) on Sunday, and returning to work/school on Monday! Yeah, it's going to be a little tiring but I'm so excited. I barely have any running to do this week; I'm already a little stir crazy because today is supposed to be a 'rest' day - I hate those! Okay, normally I don' t hate those, but I've had way too many rest days the past week and I'm feeling the need to RUN! I guess that's a good sign, I think that's how you're supposed to feel your last week of tapering. But ugh - I honestly feel like I'm going to have to control myself from not sneaking out the door and running around the Bear Trail. This training experience has been a little different for me than last time - I am feeling much slower and way less prepared - but it's good to know that tapering still has the same effects, it makes me feel like I must have been training right anyway.

Stay tuned! T - 7 days until the marathon! T - 4 days until we're back in Westerville for the first time since last Christmas!