Fun Monday

Wow, last week zipped by like a boy racer on a straight clear road. I can't believe it's time once again for Fun Monday.

This week's gracious hostess is Mariposa and she has given us a delightful double challenge:
(1) Please share to us how the NAME of your BLOG was made? I can't wait to hear interesting funny stories!

(2) Please share to us (in words or photo, though a combination of both will be a bonus!) your favorite/ most common dish!

(1) The name of my blog
Three years ago, I started this blog because my dad started one. He's a career counselor at a university and part of his job is being down with the latest online job search tools. He chose "CareerGuy" as the name in his blog address and then used the clever tag line "Your Life's Work" in his blog header. (Although he subsequently changed that to "My Life's Work" as the blog became more about him than about work and job searching.)

When I created my blog, I was following my dad's style and thought that you had to have a different name in your header than in your blog address. I had just decided I was going to train for another marathon and so I wanted to be RunnerGirl. But that was taken. I tried several different variations before the phrase "For the Long Run" popped into my head. I liked it because it had a sort of double-meaning to me. As a marathon trainer, you do many, many long runs. But it also reminded me of planning and the future, like "in the long run, you're better off..."

For my header tag line, I chose a remarkably pretentious and long name. I'm nearly embarrassed to tell you what it was. But I will: Of Marathons and Other High Intensity Endeavors. The first part of that is obvious, the second part is just me - I am a bit intense and high energy sometimes. I have a habit of throwing myself whole heartedly into things. I value motion and activity and I'm not at all good at relaxing.

Two years ago, I told Middle Brother, who is a talented graphic designer, that all I wanted for my birthday was a nifty blog header. I don't think we ever specifically discussed jettisoning the pretentious tag line, it just sort of happened. It didn't really match the blog anymore. For the Long Run became the more prominent title and the phrase "Ah sure, it'll be grand" was added.

(2) This is a tough one. How to narrow it down to one? The criteria I'm going to use is my favourite dish that I've made in the last month. That makes it easy. The run-away winner is Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes, and Basil, from Cooking Light. I love risotto and this one has the perfect mix of tastes. Some people find making risotto tedious because of all the standing around and stirring. I find the stirring relaxing (this is very me - I can only relax by doing something) and a good time to think. I set up all the ingredients beforehand (like a cooking show, I always tell Peter) and just really enjoy the process. If you decide to try out the recipe, just know that you can make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken. You can also use cherry tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes, which can be tricky to find over here out of season.

Before you go running off to make risotto and visit the other participants, I'd like to invite you to enter my blog contest. There are even prizes. Really. There is even a category for Most Humorous, so if you don't feel like looking for the answers, you can just make stuff up.

Thanks and have a fun Monday.