The Art of Eating In

The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove by Cathy Erway

While I was browsing the library for new cookbooks, this book caught my attention. One of my goals for the next 2 1/2 years is not eat out for 1 week. The author of this book didn't eat out for 2 years.

The book starts with an introduction of the author and gives her reason for deciding not to eat at restaurants. Her main reason is that it is expensive to live in New York City and she realizes she is not saving any money for the future. Thinking about all the money she spends on eating out, she decides to she decides she will prepare all her own meals.

The book is a collection of stories describing how not eating out affects her life and relationships. It is well written, humorous, and touching. She shares many descriptions of meals she prepared which are descriptive enough to make you interested in trying them. Unfortunately, only a few of the recipes she describes are given in the book and the recipes that are presented seem very labor intensive and highbrow.

The author also shares her food-related adventures, including a trash tour of bakeries and groceries after they close for the night, foraging tours in city parks, underground super clubs, and food competitions. She also discusses other ways not eating out influenced her, such as developing more concern for where food comes from. The book ends with her decision to end the eating out ban after 2 years.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to those who like to read about other peoples adventures with food and cooking.

Run Less, Run Faster

I love reading and usually have at least 2 books going at a time. Since I started my new job (almost a year ago) I haven't done a good job of documenting what I've read and I want to change that. I just finished Run Less, Run Faster by Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss and wanted to share my thoughts.

The premise behind the book is that by running less miles at a higher intensity and cross-training, you can improve your running performances. Most of the book focuses on marathon training because the program was originally developed for marathoners. However, it also includes training plans for 5K, 10K, and half-marathon and a chapter on starting running. The topics of cross-training, nutrition, strength-training, and stretching are covered as well.

This is an easy book to read, but probably not that useful for runners that are looking to improve on very slow times (like me). The slowest runs are based on a 30 minute 5K which is a far off dream for me. That said, it did validate my belief that I can run 3 days per week and cross-train while continue to improve my pace. I will probably incorporate some aspects of the plan as I develop my training schedule for next year.

Good information, lacks practicality if you can't run a mile in 10 minutes or less.

I'm a member of One Book One Month Challenge and post reviews there also. It's a great site to check out if you're looking for your next book to read.