Fruit Pizza

This is one tasty treat. I used to make this a lot back in the Omaha days for dessert for a big group. Every time I make it people go crazy. But for some reason, this recipe sat in my recipe box unused for years. And I mean a lot of years!

When we had a wedding reception at our house a few weeks ago, we had this for dessert. I told the bride to skip the cake, because nobody really likes cake anyway, and every wedding I have been to ends up with tons of leftover cake. Sure, people take a piece of wedding cake, but it seems to me that most take a few bites just because it is there, and not because it is amazingly delicious. And then the families each take home a whole layer of cake that they can't eat, and it ends up getting thrown out, or put in the freezer to be thrown out later when it is pulled out and tastes like freezer-burned cake. We opted for this beautiful and tasty dessert instead of gross cake. For the non-fruity bunch, we also had some mint brownies (next blog post).

It also is the new favorite of my Young Womens group at church. Getting teenagers to eat fruit is a good thing--even if it means they eat it on top of a giant sugar cookie.

Fruit Pizza:

Crust: 1 cup butter

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

Cream together all ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Roll the dough out into either 2 9x13 pans or a large rimmed cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

Filling: 1/2 c sugar

8 oz cream cheese

2 TBSP fruit juice

Cream these ingredients together and spread over the baked and cooled crust. Then decorate the pizza with cut up fruit. Strawberries, bananas, kiwi, grapes, peaches, apples, canteloupe, pineapple, etc.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Great Expectations

Mark took the above picture from the deck of our hotel room last weekend. If you are ever going to Newport, Oregon, it is the best place to stay in town. I always have anxiety when reserving a hotel room. Sometimes you show up and despite all of your research on hotels, you walk into your room and say, "YUCK!" Other times, you think you have a mediocre place, and you are pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and layout of the room. This was one of those occasions where it was even better than I expected.

We drove to Newport Thursday night. When we stopped in McMinnville at Starbucks for some hot cocoa and high-carb treats for Mark, the barista asked us our favorite question, "Are you a runner? You look like runners." Great compliment. Just when I was ready to tip the guy, Mark was telling him that he was running the Newport marathon the following morning and the guy then asked our least favorite question, "How far is your marathon?" It is lucky I did not have my drink yet, because I honestly would have spit it out on him as I choked on his question. You probably remember this post. No tip for that guy, even though he told me I looked like a runner.

Friday morning I went for a short run over the bridge in Newport. We had breakfast and went to pick up Mark's race packet. We then went back to the hotel, where Mark wanted to stay and keep his feet up to save them for the race the following morning. I, however, was not going to sit in a hotel room and listen to and watch the ocean when I could actually be on the beach with my feet in the water. I sat out in my chair and read "Great Expectations." It is one Dickens book I have never made it around to reading. I am in love with it thus far, and wish I had more time to just sit down and tear through it.

Saturday morning Mark's race started at 7 AM. I needed to get in a run that morning as well, so when Mark got up at 4:30 to eat his pre-race breakfast, I also got up and put on my running gear. While I was out running, I got a lot of strange looks from people who couldn't figure out why I was wasting all of my energy before the race began. I had to explain that I wasn't racing that morning. My favorite part of this run (running along the coast is amazing) was running over the Yaquina Bay bridge and watching all the fishing boats heading out of the bay into the ocean. It was rush hour for boats, and it was so cool to watch.

Back at the hotel, I shuttled Mark to the starting line about 1/2 mile from the hotel, and showered and packed up our stuff while he started the race. Then I headed to the finish line with the camera to wait for him to arrive. It was a beautiful sight to see him come over the hill and down to the finish line.

Mark has recovered more quickly this time than either of his past 2 marathons last year. After Seattle last year, he couldn't get up out of a chair without help or pushing up on a table or desk for a week. After Vegas, it was several days before he could walk almost normally. But this time, he is sore, but not handicapped. He came home from work Monday and couldn't wait to show me how he could sit in a chair and just stand right up on his own. Not only is he faster than previous races, but also he is stronger, too.

It has been very odd this week to get up at 5:30 to run while he sleeps in. He didn't miss a training run at all this past go-round. 6 days a week, he was out there following his program of 70 miles a week. Now he has a full week of prescribed "no running." Then next week it starts all over as he begins a 4-week recovery before heading into his training for Hartford.

A Major Award

We all love this scene from "A Christmas Story." The dad wins "a major award," and repeats this phrase over and over. It always makes me laugh.

Last night, the Newport Marathon posted results from Mark's race. Mark was just hoping to have made the top 50. I was sure he had done better than that, and we were eagerly waiting for the official results to be available. His official time was 3:13:27. I was sure he had placed higher than 50, because I had watched all the runners cross the finish line and I didn't think more than about 30 had finished before he did.

It turns out that Mark placed 32nd overall, and was 3rd in his age group. He won a major award! "It's a major award!" We keep saying that and laughing about it. We had not hung around Newport for the awards ceremony, so they are mailing us his engraved plaque. We could have stuck around, but we didn't think it was necessary. Mark had qualified for Boston, and that was his goal. He never dreamed of winning "a major award" and placing in his age group.

I'm so proud of Mark. Not just because of his "major award" that will soon be hanging on his office wall, but because of how far he has come with his running. In 18 months, he has gone from barely able to jog 3 miles, to dropping 30 pounds and qualifying for Boston with 7 minutes to spare!

My hero

The stats are in from Mark's race. There were 676 finishers. Mark was number 32 overall. He was 3rd in his age group (40-45) and his final time was 3:13:27. His average pace was 7:23, for those of you who know how stinkin' fast that is and how hard that is to carry for 26.2 miles.

The Boston Marathon is the 3rd Monday of April every year. Mark had to run 3:20 to qualify for Boston, but he beat that BQ by 7 minutes. Next up for Mark is a marathon in Hartford, CT in October, and then it will be Boston in 2011. I can't imagine how fast he will be by then.

Going to Boston

Mark finished the marathon in 3:13 today, which is 7 minutes faster than what he needed to qualify for Boston.