dog days

and then there were three.

on wednesday, we welcomed this handsome guy into our lives. his name is duke.

hi, I'm duke.

he's a wirehaired pointer-lab mix, and just over a year old. he's a fifty pound ball of energy. I mean, this puppy LOVES to play.

he's figured out that if he piles up all the toys together, he doesn't have to pick just one to gnaw on at a time

he's fully housebroken. he's good in the car. he likes other dogs, other cats, and other humans. he comes when he's called. he knows (and mostly responds to) the sit command. sometimes he nails it on the first try, other times take a considerable amount of urging. 

sit?

yikes. sorry. how did that picture get in here?! I was totally talking about the dog.

reminds me of this dog

he's a very smart and loving boy, but he's been living in a partial shelter/partial foster arrangement for the past several months, which means his training has been inconsistent and his overall obedience is a work in progress. we are hard at work on his preferred wake-up time (5:50am). kind of reminds me of the dog from the movie up. "I'M A DOG! I'M AWAKE! YOU'RE MY MASTER AND I LOVE YOU!" please go back to sleep, dog! yawn.

he's got the crazy in his eyes

lucky for duke, we found him and we love him.

finally, raised beds!

I think my camera has been drunk lately. none of these pictures are in focus. lo siento.

great news: the raised beds are built and ready for planting! this project took up all of last weekend, but I'm so glad that it's finally done.

after months of waiting for t to get home, planning the raised beds, staking the raised beds, battling the fire ants...we got it done.

the truth is that (ants aside), I was somewhat biding my time until he got home because I am strong but I am not strong enough to haul 40 cubic feet of soil from lowe's to the truck bed to the backyard by myself in the broiling summer heat. I'm GREAT at helping t do all of those things, though. so that's what we did. teamwork wins.

next, there was this. this doesn't look like much, just some broken up dirt without any grass on it. easy peasy. except not. this took 2+ hours of my slave labor. the soil here is clay, and correct me if I'm wrong, but: when clay is moist and then is exposed to extreme heat, it turns into pottery. and then I had to rip that and the horrible, vine-laden grass that's cemented into it out of the ground, and till it into something that will drain nicely when wet. misery.

meanwhile, in the garage, t was putting the beds together. sawing, drilling, hammering, staple-gunning. the next day he spent a few hours laboring to break up the grass for the second bed, and even though he was smart and did it in the morning, it was just as tough.

the finished products are lovely. we filled one with soil before we realized that we (a) didn't buy any seeds yet and (b) all those seeds that we don't own yet are still seeds, not quite baby plants that can be planted. so we left the second bed empty for now.

the first bed, finished and full of dirt

we bought basil, tomatoes, beets, carrots, broccoli, rainbow chard, and rosemary. they've all been planted in a starter greenhouse and the first of them are just now starting to sprout up. the beet sprouts are going crazy!

seeds!

seeds, planted!

the growing season down south (we straddle zones 7-8) is much longer than what we're used to from our new england upbringings, which means that it's a little iffy but definitely not too late to try for tomatoes and basil. we're pretty much guaranteed success on the rest of what we've chosen. we plan on adding leeks and maybe some other winter veggies (I'm gunning for brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes), too. it's no secret that I'm a veggie-holic, and I'm looking forward to eating our harvest! 

check it out!

look who I found! if you can't tell by my obnoxiously big smile, I am quite excited to have him home!

this handsome stud landed safely in the usa just after midnight on thursday. the wife of one of his crewmates brought me onto the base to pick him up. I'd never done this before and it's quite the production: all the families stand in the big open hangar (behind us in the picture) and wait for the jet to land. then all the waiting excited happy people walk out on the jetway and play find-your-loved-one. if you're me, you're looking for a tall handsome guy with a GIANT MUSTACHE. then you wait another hour for them to bring out the baggage, and all the returnees play find-your-bag (it-looks-just-like-everyone-else's). that part is less fun, but it's ok. still exciting. there were lots of puppies waiting in the hangar. they were a good distraction and made me less nervous. plus, the only thing cuter than a returning soldier greeting his or her kids is a returning soldier greeting his or her dogs. pups get so excited to see their people.

t would like me to tell you that his enormous mustache looks awesome. so while I will concede that the mustache is quite impressive, I must also report that it is now gone. thank goodness.

129 - wednesday

hi! guess what today is?

today is the day that t comes home from deployment!

of course, I had a lot of things to do today to prepare for his arrival. make the bed for the first time in weeks? check. paint my nails so I don't nibble them all day in a fit of t's-coming-home anxiety? check. mow the lawn so that he thinks, damn my yard looks good? check. sweep the bathroom so he doesn't realize how much I shed? check. swap the pajamas all day look for real clothes? sigh. check.

it's not that I'm putting on airs for the man - we've lived together before - it's just that, for the past two months, I have been at home alone. I like putting real clothes on and I like painting my nails. but I've had no one to look nice for in a while, so I'm going for it tonight. oh. and did I mention I haven't seen him since MARCH? yeah. it's a special occasion. he deserves me looking my best.  (ps - for all those friends who like to whine via facebook/twitter status about their significant other going away on 2-7 day business trips? suck it up, buttercup.)

so since I've been running around like crazy all day, trying not to freak out (the #1 item on my to-do list today is "remain calm"), I haven't really eaten anything. I had a bowl of cereal this morning, but I'm not really hungry. I'm too excited to be hungry. this is the opposite of stressed. when I'm stressed I eat EVERYTHING (eat almost an entire bag of almond hershey kisses and only hershey kisses for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while frantically typing out final papers? peanut butter by the spoonful? that's me!).

I realized it was almost 7pm and that I really should probably eat something, so I made greek nachos. they were delicious. I think you should make some, too. here is the super complicated recipe.

greek nachos. serves: me.

• 9 triscuits (I used reduced fat)
• oregano
• black pepper
• olive oil
• feta cheese...as much as you want. I won't tell, I promise. feta addicts anonymous.

(1) preheat broiler on high. line up triscuits on a baking sheet. I like to pack mine in tightly so the cheese stays on the cracker.

(2) using a spoon, sprinkle feta all over the crackers. make sure the cheese is evenly distributed to all edges - if you concentrate it in the middle, your outer crackers will be sad.

(3) add a few generous shakes of oregano and black pepper. it should look like one awesome, mega-triscuit covered in cheese and herbs.

(4) drizzle all over with olive oil. feta really likes to be drizzled with olive oil; so do triscuits. they drink it up. use as much as you want. again, your secret's safe with me.

(5) gently (so the mega-triscuit stays intact) transfer baking sheet to the oven. let broil for 6-8 minutes, checking occasionally to prevent exposed cracker from burning.

delicious nom on its way to get eaten

aaand enjoy! now I have something to nibble on instead of my very nice looking manicure. excellent. 

see you tomorrow! with this guy! 

128 - tuesday

yesterday, t and I registered for the atlanta 13.1 series half marathon on october 2. we're running it as a training race for the savannah rock n'roll marathon on november 5.

here's the elevation chart for savannah:

easy peasy. about as flat as they come. I like the part where we're 10 feet below sea level.

now here's the elevation chart for atlanta:

HOLY HILLS, BATMAN.

just to make this clear: the elevation range for savannah is about 75 feet, from -10 to 62. for atlanta? two hundred feet: 850-1050. I guess it's time to start taking hill workouts seriously again. 

127 - monday

I went grocery shopping today. I spent so much money (but really just what a normal person spends on groceries for two people for 2+ weeks) that my bank sent me a fraud alert email to make sure it was really me. apparently, the abrupt change from living on peanut butter and ramen noodles to buying fancy things like fruits and vegetables tipped them off that something was up. something IS up, bank! t is coming home AND I'm dying for some real nutrients = double your people, double your veggie intake, double your grocery bill.

anyway. it was pretty dire around here today before I made it to the store. I was out of everything. no, really. everything. I didn't even have any cans of chickpeas left, and those are my usual go-to, no-food-but-at-least-I-have-chickpeas savior.

now look me in the eye and tell me that isn't the saddest inside of a refrigerator you've ever seen. fast forward a few hours and many dollars later: ta-da!

sing it with me: VEGETABLESSSSS!!!!!! I'm so happy to have healthy food in the house again. I couldn't take another meal of ramen or peanut butter toast.

126 - sunday

one month of marathon training done, three to go! let's review july, shall we?

JULY

• total miles run: 93.6
• time spent lifting weights: 3 hours 20 minutes
• loaves of bread consumed: 3
• jars of peanut butter consumed: 1.5
• cross-training days: 2 
• new pairs of shoes: 1
• number of workouts skipped or changed: 12/25
• lbs lost: 2

I'm excited about some things that went really well, like...
I did a great job this past week adhering to my training plan, but that means I did more work this week than I have in the past three. my body is sore and tired. I'm going to need to make better use of mondays and wednesdays as cross-training/easy days, and be smarter about getting my key workouts done when I'm supposed to.
I did a great job of adding weight lifting into my schedule. in preparation for previous races, lifting has been a hastily cobbled-together afterthought that I try desperately to include once I'm already into the bulk of my training. as soon as my schedule gets overwhelming, it's the first thing to go. by incorporating strength training into my plan from the get-go, I've been consistent with it and I'm actually starting to enjoy it.

...but there's still room for improvement. 
I did a TERRIBLE job this month adhering to my training plan. almost half of my workouts got nixed or shuffled. I'm all for flexibility, but I can't go playing it fast and loose with the four important runs I have scheduled each week. moving forward, I will try my best not to sacrifice the tuesday tempo and thursday drill workouts, and the weekend mid- and long-distance runs. the easy low-mileage workouts on mondays and wednesdays are disposable/easily replaced with cross-training. 
I will stretch. my hamstrings have been tight from sitting in my desk chair after not stretching enough (or at all) after a run. sometimes when I get back from a run, I'm so sweaty that I'm literally dripping on the floor and furniture and the thought of lying down on my yoga mat to stretch just seems so...slippery. so I shower instead and tell myself that I'll stretch when I get out (but I never do). on a similar note...
I will be smarter about ramping up my distance. I missed my long run last weekend because I was sick, and then I hit all my scheduled workouts this week. jumping from 22mi to 35mi in one week is a lot. my shins are feeling naggy after today's double-session long run, so I'm RICE-ing them tonight and tomorrow will definitely be a cross-train day.
I will cross train. I had a one-month free gym membership in june that was great, but I've been dragging my feet for no good reason about getting in there to buy an actual membership. the gym has a decent class schedule and nice equipment. bikes and ellipticals and pilates are my cross-training friends. I refuse to get injured as a result of not training smart. cross-training is critical to keeping my injury-prone body in good shape.
I won't let marathon training get in the way of fun. t comes home in three days (squeeeeeeeeeal), and we have a mini-vacation planned for two weekends from now that involves a LOT of food and a LOT of drink (botanical garden cocktail party! bbq & beer fest!). luckily, we're both training for the savannah rock n' roll marathon, so we can motivate each other to get our workouts done. but I haven't seen the man since march, and if I want to have more to eat and drink for dinner than I should the night before a run, I will. if I want to sleep in instead of dragging myself to make coffee in a dark kitchen at 5:30am, I will. and I won't complain when that means I'm running for miles on the treadmill because I couldn't get my butt out the door early enough to beat the heat. there are going to be plenty of days when we're both up and running to get ourselves ready for november. there aren't going to be too many times when he's just come home from deployment and has some time off to spend with me.

july recap complete. now let's talk about that double-session long run. runner's world ran a piece last issue about the benefits of double sessions in improving speed and overall fitness. they suggested adding doubles into your training plan slowly: at first, one double a week, both runs done at an easy pace, gradually building to two or three a week, with some done at a higher intensity. I decided rather unscientifically that I'm a good candidate for doubles because it is so mother effing hot where we live. even if I get out the door by 6 or 6:30am (sunrise is around 6:45am these days), my long runs can take 2-3 hours and put me in direct sunlight, with temperatures in the high 80's and humidity in the 85-95% range. at the end of a long run, I want to be able to maintain good running form, not feel like I'm going to pass out from dangerous heat exhaustion. RW suggested breaking up the long run using this formula: in the morning, run 75% of the scheduled distance (today I had 13mi on the calendar, so 9.75mi). in the evening, run 50% of the scheduled distance (6.5mi). I was up and dressed by 5:30 but my stomach decided to take its sweet time, so I got out around 7:15am and ran just over 10 miles in 1:43:xx. by the time I finished it was hot. could I have run another 3 miles? yes. but was I happier to be done than still running? you bet.

my camelbak charm is the only way I survive my disgusting sweat rate of 55 oz/hour

this evening I went out for my second session. my legs felt like lead. from the minute I laced up the mizunos, I knew I was in for a sufferfest. I made it just under 4.5 miles in 42:xx, which was faster than this morning but much more painful even though my legs loosened up once I got going. I also cut the prescribed distance by 2 miles because I was so exhausted. doubling up WAS a great way to beat the heat, but it's going to take some getting used to. the mileage is only going to increase from here, so I need to figure out some strategy for getting it done.

I'm excited for august and to see how I do standing up to my training goals!

125 - saturday

guess what?

in FOUR DAYS, the looooongest deployment in the history of ever will be over, and this guy gets to come home to me and all the crap I moved into his house while he was gone.

still one of my favorite pics of us. paris, 2003. high school! babies! 

isn't he handsome?! I am so excited. I am so so so so so freaking excited.

124 - friday

I weeded the front beds and backyard today. the backyard was a jungle. until we landscape it, I see no point in frequent weeding: pulling the weeds just makes room for new ones to grow. so, I've been mowing (cringe) some of the weeds and keeping up with the ones that sprout up around the few things we do have planted. this morning I tended to the area around the plantings and also pulled up the really big stuff. two and a half hours later, the yard looks better but my back is absolutely torched. my lower back/butt/hamstrings are going to feel great on my 6- and 13-mile runs this weekend. not.

check out this little guy that I found in one of the front beds! stick bug!!

 evolution is amazing. what a bizarre looking critter! 

I'm pretty sure stick bugs didn't evolve to blend in with my candystriped gardening gloves, though, so I put it back where I found it.

I wish all my garden pests looked more like cool stick insects and less like giant bloodthirsty spiders. although, a quick wiki search reveals I probably should have offed the stick bug, or put it to work in the weed-riddled backyard instead of on my snapdragons. they eat plants! (they also have sex for the longest amount of time of all the insects. you go, glen coco.)

123 - thursday

I stood at my front door tonight like an excited puppy, waiting for a GIANT thunderstorm to blow through so I could do my hill workout. once things finally seemed to be letting up, I made a run for it (ha ha ha). outfit: check. shoes: check. ipod: check. I've had too many runs where my garmin dies a few miles in (because I'm lazy and always forget to charge it), so lately I've been diligent about checking battery level before I head out. tonight was no different. battery was at 83%. garmin: check. go time.

hello, giant thunderstorm

I wore this really ugly but really bright orange shirt to make sure no cars hit me, since the thunderhead was blocking the sunset and it was pretty dark out there (and yet I still brought my sunglasses? sometimes I make no sense to me). I had a close encounter with a car driving way too fast yesterday. I was running along the shoulder and yet the jerk still made a point of honking at me as he sped by. so rude. what I'm saying is...visibility was key tonight. 

the workout was 1.5 mile warmup, 4 hill repeats with jogging back to start, 1.5 mile cooldown. easy peasy. the thunderstorm had cooled off the air and taken away some of the humidity, and I felt like I was flying during my warmup. about a mile in, I glanced down to check my pace and see if I needed to pull back, but all I saw was a blank screen. my stupid garmin was dead.

no pace or distance data for this girl! womp, womp. 

the hill I ran is steeper towards the top than at the bottom, so I focused on keeping good form during the repeats. high knees, elbows in, shoulders relaxed, slight forward lean, making sure my knees/ankles didn't go flying across the midline. all that good stuff. I can't help but be annoyed about my garmin. I have no idea why the battery crashed, and I was really looking forward to my data. drill workouts (tempo runs, track intervals, hill repeats) are my favorite to monitor over a marathon training cycle, because I like seeing how I've improved week to week. but now, I'm almost a month into this cycle without a baseline hill workout. not cool, garmin. 

anyone know what could make the battery die suddenly? I don't want this to happen again! 

122 - wednesday

hey t, guess what I learned how to do today?

it took an inordinate amount of lawn mower wrangling/straddling/hugging to take this picture. thank me later. 

turns out it was just stuck shut. all fixed, just in time for you to come home and mow the lawn! six more days!

121 - tuesday

do you ever think you've told someone something, but when you mention it to them down the road they have no idea what you're talking about? I do it to t more often than I care to admit. I remember something I need to tell him, I have the conversation in my mind, and the message doesn't get conveyed until I'm so annoyed with him for not remembering (a thing I never told him). how great am I?

this morning (wednesday) I got an e-mail from my mom, wondering if I was ok because I didn't post on the blog yesterday. wait, I didn't? (also, really mom, that's your only litmus test for whether or not I'm still alive and well? but I digress.) I took the pictures, I drafted the post in my head, and then I...oh yeah, got majorly distracted thinking about how AWESOME it would be to live in a house that was one part ina garten's cooking barn, one part amazing living/entertaining space complete with state of the art gym. more bedrooms upstairs. a short walk to the beach. "my kitchen counter is 18 feet long so that my assistant and I can work side by side without bumping into each other." yadda yadda yadda. this is the third time I've attempted to write this post.

alas. apparently the technology for "if you think it, it will write itself" is still a few years out, so my blog post never made it to the internet. oops.

it's now after 7:30pm on wednesday, and I keep getting distracted by ina garten's cooking barn. ohmygaaaahhhhhhh. before this gets any more out of hand: THIS is what I did yesterday.

I hung up pictures in the guest bathroom. ta-da!

black and white and red (...all over. badump-chh! newspaper riddle, anyone?). nautical accents to remind us of home sweet new england. red lantern from the army-navy surplus in newport, seagrass candle (I HATE scented candles, but this one will never get lit and adds a very subtle scent to the room. at least it's not a god-awful yankee candle abomination) from a well-wishing neighbor at my going away party, and the pictures.

I took these pictures on new year's day in 2006. I had spent the fall semester off from college. I was starting at brown in a few weeks, and the living at home with my parents and working full-time without any friends to hang out with in the area was starting to get under my skin. the first day of 2006 was unusually warm, so I took my beloved slr down to point judith and walked alone around the deserted fishing town, snapping pictures. these are two of my favorites from that day. 

nothing special. but they're mine, and I love them.

(and I think they would look equally badass in ina garten's cooking barn's bathroom, too.)

120 - monday

last night, when my stomach issues had mostly resolved and I was feeling a little better but angry about my failed attempt to exercise, I decided to do the next best thing to getting my sweat on: bake chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. because NOT running 8 miles definitely earns you the right to butter, sugar, and chocolate chips.

a true lady never confesses the number of cookies she's shoveled down her pie-hole, but it was more than one and I still had more than two dozen left over.

I knew they had to go. I sent a text to one of t's friends who works on base, hoping she'd be able to pawn the extras off on her coworkers. no response from her, so I had more than one for breakfast this morning. and another one after lunch.

but this afternoon, said friend's husband sent me a text asking if he could borrow t's truck. I had found my in. boys love cookies - there's no way he could say no! he came over to get the truck, and I met him at the door with these. he feigned mock resistance, but I could tell that he was happy to walk away with a big bag of cookies.

sayonara, delicious treats! true story: I kept the half dozen in the mini-bag for myself. 

now that the sweet craving has been satisfied but the cookies are out of the house, I can get back to eating the real food in my fridge (two whole heads of romaine lettuce. guess what I'm having for lunch the rest of the week). 

sweet success! 

119 - sunday

I woke up at 3am feeling pretty junky (that's the edited description) and spent the whole morning trying to decide if sleeping on the bathroom floor was better than sleeping in the bed.

8 mile run? cancelled. church? the thought of blow-drying my hair and smiling at other nice ladies without vomiting on someone only increased my nausea. cancelled. lie on the couch in my pj's, sipping gatorade and watching final stage the tour de france? okay.

in the fine state of georgia, lots of things don't happen on sundays.

 sunday means no delicious chicken sandwiches with a side of waffle fries and lemonade.

sunday means no booze for sale.

but you know what I learned the hard way today? I learned that sunday means that, even after your gut-wrenching morning ends and you feel ok by evening and get dressed and pack a waterbottle and drive 15 minutes to the gym to get your scheduled 8-mile run in (on the treadmill, ugh!), the gym is CLOSED. because now you live in the deep south, and everything down here comes to a standstill, just because sunday is for praying. 

I swear, just when I think I've got a handle on the social norms of this place, they come back and smack me straight across my yankee face. 

118 - saturday

the checkout boy at the grocery store tonight asked me if I was "waiting for someone." what, someone else inside the store to swoop in and put my purchases in context? er, no, just me tonight. but thanks for calling my solo status out, kid.

I think he might have asked me because what I bought looks like it belongs to a twenty-something male bachelor.

apparently a girl buying beer + milk + pb + tp is the female equivalent of a man walking up to the checkout counter with a box of tampons. who knew?

117 - friday

I'm not a very adventurous cook. I'll make the same thing a dozen times and a dozen ways to perfect it (cakes! cookies!), but I rarely try making something totally new, even if it's just a new flavor combination on an old tried-and-true staple, if I've never had it before. I'm an adventurous restaurant diner, though. I'll try almost* anything if someone else is preparing it for me. but where making the investment in ingredients and time and the potential for dinner to suck if I don't like my new taste experiment are concerned, I am conservative.

back when t was home (and he will be again SO SOON! TWELVE DAYS!!!) and I was a semi-regular presence in the house, we used to make risotto on friday nights. this spring, when t was gone and I was back in providence, I spent several saturday nights at my mom's making risotto for her. these were weekly rituals I looked forward to. I love risotto. I don't really like pasta, so risotto is my go-to carbo-loading food when I'm in training. because it takes so much time, it's perfectly suited to weekend evening, labor-of-love cooking.

I made risotto tonight. but I took a HUGE (for me) cooking risk and went all-in on a flavor profile that, I have to admit, had me skeptical even as I stood over the pot, adding stock and stirring diligently: broccoli. here's the recipe, peppered excessively with my unsolicited opinions.

broccoli risotto
(adapted, barely, from the new york times)

• 6c stock, such as chicken or vegetable (I used a combination of beef and chicken, because I had leftover beef stock to use up in the fridge. I use organic, sodium-free stock, so depending on what you're using you might need to season your risotto with much more or less salt)
• 2T extra virgin olive oil (I'm inexplicably all out of olive oil, so I used 1T canola + 1T butter. mmm, butter.)
• 1c chopped onion
• 1 1/2 c arborio rice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 c dry white wine at room temperature ($3 mini-box of grocery store pinot grigio ftw!)
• 1 lb broccoli (2 good-size stalks - don't buy just the crowns! - I know it sounds like a lot of trees, but it works. trust me), stems peeled and cut into small dice, florets thinly sliced (I think they look like MRI brain slices. maybe I've been watching too much house)
• 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese (or if you're me, the shredded shit you bought at the grocery store almost two months ago that you've convinced yourself is still good)
• 2T fresh italian parsley, minced (I have an irrational, incontrovertible hatred of parsley. I think it sucks and is unnecessary and included frequently where it doesn't belong. so I left it out.)
• salt and black pepper to taste

side note: lots of risotto recipes say to simmer the stock on the stove in a separate saucepan, adding it by the ladleful to the rice as it cooks. I think that's a crock of shit. I've made a lot of near-perfect risotto (and my mom says it's better than my professional chef brother's risotto, but she might just be egging me on), and on the few occasions that I've dirtied the extra pan, it's come out no differently. my mom heats up the stock by the half-cupful in the microwave before adding it to her risottos, but even this is too much effort for me. straight out of the box into the pot is how I roll. the stock I use comes in cartons that I store in my room-temperature pantry; I see no defensible reason to heat it up and no discernible difference in results.

how indignant am I tonight? eesh.

1. heat the oil over the low side of medium heat in a large stockpot. if using oil + butter, wait for the butter to foam and melt completely. (I use a 5qt enameled cast-iron dutch oven that I love because it conducts heat so evenly that I can get away with medium-low heat. you're looking for an even simmer throughout the duration of cooking; adjust accordingly.) 
2. add onions and saute until translucent but not browned, about 3-5 minutes. stir often.
3. add rice and garlic together; stir well to coat rice in oil. rice will turn translucent with a white bead in the center of the grain and begin to crackle, and the garlic will become fragrant. add wine slowly and stir continuously until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.
4. add stock by the half-cupful, waiting between additions until almost all the liquid has been absorbed, stirring frequently but not constantly. after ten minutes or so, add the diced broccoli stems - you should have about two cups. fold the diced broccoli into the rice. you may have to add extra stock with this step, as the broccoli significantly increases the volume of stuff in the pot. you'll also now have to stir more frequently, because the raw broccoli is more prone to stick to the bottom of the pot than the oil-, wine-, and broth-drunk rice grains. after another ten-ish minutes, add the broccoli florets. by now you have a lot of stuff in the pot, and folding them in will be tricky. you'll definitely have to add more stock, and taste the rice - it should be almost done. 
5. when the rice is tender and creamy-looking but still toothsome, add a final half cupful of stock and remove the pan from the heat. adjust seasonings. stir in parmesan and let rest a few minutes. give a final stir before serving with extra parmesan cheese and a glass of however much terrible boxed grocery store wine is left over.

BOOM. pleasantly pleasant broccoli risotto.

I didn't let it rest long enough because I was hungry. all that extra stock had been absorbed by the time I was halfway through eating.

this recipe makes A LOT of food. even if t were home, we would have still had plenty of leftovers.

  another dinner + two lunches

maybe I should try new stuff more often? admittedly, this had a high probability of success since I am a broccoli FIEND, but I was still wary about the final product of what looked in the pot like italian stir-fry. I'm glad I took the chance.

*raw oysters. I won't eat raw oysters. I don't care if brad pitt shucks them for me. I ate my first ones ever two weeks ago in RI, and they were the real deal, (allegedly) some of the best ones you can get. I had two and they tasted like eating giant ocean boogers. so gross/never again.