My little cousin (aka my best friend that I spent every summer with growing up) came home from PERU yesterday and spent 6 hours in the kitchen making us an authentic Peruvian meal for dinner!

She was in Peru all summer doing humanitarian work and lived in Spain last year so she speaks fluent Spanish…..although, Peru and Spain’s Spanish are quite different she said:)

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That fried thingee was delicious…..Potatoe Relleno.  She made mashed potatoes and made them into a ball, stuffed with meat/peppers/onions etc. and covered them in bread crumbs and fried it.  She also made plantains and delicious lime rice.

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Where’s Janae?  That is me behind that ginormous hand on the far left.  I guess my family doesn’t agree with my no shower unless it is an emergency policy.

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Peru, it is official, I can and will visit you someday now that I know you have delicious desserts.  Yes, that is the one and only factor determining my choice on where to vacation next.   For a more realistic dessert plate of what I actually ate just add 42 of those chocolate covered marshmellow carmel things.

PPS I think that you could put anything on top of a graham cracker crust and it would be delicious!

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Side Note:  My aunt is getting married THIS SATURDAY (there will be a gelato bar and a candy bar) and she also ran the Park City MARATHON yesterday.  She is doing the Utah Grand Slam Circuit which involves doing 4 marathons in Utah within about 6 months.

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Here’s a sneak peak at the elevation map for the Park City Marathon.  First 20 miles uphill?  The winning time was a male in 3:02…….yeah, just a little tough!

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I have some exciting news to share with you later on today and it doesn’t involve babies, candy (well kind of) or work.  I can’t wait to tell you!

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What was the toughest (hills) race course that you have ever run?

-The first part of Utah Valley marathon had some rolling hills but that is it and the rest was smooth sailing.

Do you speak another language?

-I can somewhat understand a teeny bit of Spanish but that is it.  Billy speaks Russian fluently, he lived in Ukraine for TWO years!

What was the best wedding food you have ever had?  Favorite type of wedding desserts?

-My favorite is when there is a candy bar obviously but we had a crepe bar at our open house and it was pretty amazing.  I was not one of those brides that didn’t eat the whole time, I enjoyed everything we had and just talked with my mouth full ha!

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73 comments

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My grandparents are legit Italians so I know how to speak to them!! I’m not perfect, but they can totally understand what I’m saying :D

I also love candy bars! I went to a wedding a couple of years ago and I saw one there for the first time ever. I pretty much skipped dinner and just stood at the candy bar all night. I told Dean I want self-serve froyo and a topping bar at our wedding!! So much fun!

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Yay for exciting news! Can’t wait to hear it.

My hilliest race was probably my first (and only, so far) marathon – Cincinnati Flying Pig.

We had a candy buffet at my wedding! I loved it so much. We did a theme of brown & green candies. (Those were our wedding colors.) Although we were eating root beer barrels for months… apparently that is one candy that people don’t really care for.

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I speak Spanish too cause I lived in both South America and Spain–clearly your cousin and I would get along!!

I just went to a friend’s wedding and they had miniature cupcakes instead of cake, but there were so many different kinds and they were deeeeeeeeeelicious!

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I took Spanish from the first grade through my sophomore year of high school. I can still understand it pretty well, but speaking doesn’t come as easily. That peruvian food looks awesome!

Your aunt is hard core! I like it.

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your Aunt is a rockstar! I grew up in Florida and thought I had a pretty good grasp on Spanish, then I left for college in Colorado and forgot everything I knew. It is NOT like riding a bike :(

I hope the best dessert at a wedding is going to be the cake at my wedding coming up – I’m so excited to eat that cake! It has champagne buttercream frosting and lots of it!

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I’m about to begin wedding planning so I’m interested to hear everyone’s favorite wedding foods! The most interesting one I’ve seen is a mashed potato station- stocked with mashed russet potatoes and sweet potatoes, cheese, sour cream, bacon, scallions, etc.

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The toughest elevation, or just plain old race, for me was the Six Tunnels to Hoover Dam half marathon. But I think it was the constant headwind that made it so tough. We are considering redemption this coming March.
I do not speak a foreign language but I do have Rosetta Stone Spanish sitting here, yelling at me (in Spanish of course) to get going.
Wedding dessert: anything that includes a chocolate fountain!

The Kidless Kronicles

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I wish I spoke another language! That would be awesome…..I the best wedding food I’ve had was the bread…it was sunflower seed crusted with maple cream….YUM :)

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That photo is funny! HAHA!!!! toughest race def was my half Iron man. Nope I don’t really speak another language, very small tidbits of german maybe :)

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what a fun night you had!

my brother is deaf (not 100% deaf), so normally it’s just either to sign with him rather than having to repeat myself over & over :) so i’m not fluent in sign language…mainly b/c he decided only to teach me to the bad words – but he’s learned that unless he DOES teach me the signs, i will fingerspell EVERYTHING…& he doesn’t have the patience for that :)

we had cupcakes for our wedding cake – so i’m a HUGE fan of those! they were delish. i still have dreams about them.

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I love the medal that your aunt earned! Congratulations and good luck to her!

My toughest course was the Fueled By Fine Wine 1/2 in Oregon. I was told beforehand that it was “hilly.” Hilly for Oregon is not the same as for Wisconsin! Beautiful, beautiful run and of course I had more time to enjoy it because of the hills. :) Closer to home, I run a 4 mile race every year that has 4 crazy hills in it. It’s a Marine training course, and it’s tough (but I go back and do it every year).

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my cuz is off to peru this week I believe. It’s on my list of places I want to go before I die. After seeing those fried potato-thingys I want to go now! I’ve heard it’s a very spiritual place?? although I don’t know from experience.

I IMMEDIATELY thought babies! lol can’t wait

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ohh that Peruvian food does look simply scumptious! :)

Congrats to your aunt! :)

Can’t wait to hear the exciting news! :)

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I’m fluent in portuguese!!!! That peruvian meal looks awesome!! If you come visit us, I’ll make you some of this: http://www.guiadicas.com/guiadicasgratisfotos/2009/05/receita-de-pudim-de-leite-condensado-super-facil.jpg (condensed milk pudding)
and this:
http://allannacarvalho.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/brigadeiro_-8005.jpg (little chocolate bites!)! :D

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That is AWESOME!!! Okay, I am holding you to making me those amazingly delicious looking things….no backing out!

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wow that peruvian food looks sooo good! :)) I’m fluent in American Sign Language. 4 marathons in 6 months??? Wow!!

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Ohh…exciting news? How Fun!
My husbands mom made like 20 angel food cakes and picked strawberries from their farm and made homemade whipped cream for our engagement party…angel food, starwberries and whipped cream – YUM! It was a hit!

xoxo from Trinidad

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That pic with the hand in front of your face is hilarious…classic family photo, a framer for sure!

Can’t wait to hear the exciting news!

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Wowww that marathon looks really tough. You have some major running talent in your family!

I completely agree about the graham cracker crust— makes anything taste SO GOOD.

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I love that you have to warn people that your exciting news doesn’t involve babies. You guys must be to that awesome point in your marriage when you get The Question.
I love your aunt – so inspirational. I can’t imaging running uphill for 20 miles.
Best wedding food = cake
My friend spent two years in Spain and the Mexicans where we live make fun of his Spanish.

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I went to a wedding this weekend that had an icecream sundae (complete with warm gooey brownies and reese’s pieces!) It was phenomenal and great fuel for a mega dance party post dessert….

Congrats to your Aunt, that is crazy – is that marathon time a new best? It beat the guy in Boston, didnt it?!

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I think it is hilarious that you clarified your surprise has nothing to do with babies. When someone says the have sometime special to share – I always thing that.

I did a 5-miler one time that was like, COMPLETELY up hill. I’m talkin’ like, I my knees hated me for WEEKS afterwards.

Fav wedding desserts? I have to stick to cake. Though, my hubs and I love ice cream so much that we served ice cream WITH our cake ♥♥ There was enough left over that we sat in our hotel room after our reception and had seconds ♥♥ And then thirds the next day at my parents going away party (we moved from PA to TX two days later) ♥♥

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I only did two races, but the half marathon I did had a KILLER hill at the end of the race. Literally, mile 12. I was like, Oh come on! But I actually picked up my pace for it :-)

I took Spanish/German in high school so I pretty much only remember the basics or funny words we learned.

I don’t really remember the food I had at a wedding reception, so nothing exciting (obviously). I would love to have a candy/cupcake bar, though. And a CREPE bar… Uhm, yum!

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One of my good friends is Peruvian. I think will send him this post and see what he thinks! :)

I feel like every married person who answers the last question is going to say their own! We had a bread bowl at ours!!! (And thought it was so cool, obviously.) To be honest, though, I don’t know what my favorite was…

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OMG I love fried plantains!! I think they’re also called Maduros?? My bf is half Cuban and his family lives in Miami – they speak fluent Spanish and I’m learning, my favorite words to learn are all food vocabulary though haha so I can order delicious thingS!!!

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Wow, Billy lived in Russia?! How cool is that! :-D And awesome that he speaks Russian. Seriously, impressed!
Can you believe it but I can’t remember the last wedding I went to – no idea when it was but it must have been a looooong long time ago. So I cannot contribute on the food question unfortunately! Boo! :-( I would like to eat lots of salmon and roasted veggies, and a vegan sponge cake, though, if I could choose. Vanilla, chocoalte and coconut marbled sponge. Yeeeaaah :-P
Cannot wait to hear your news…hurry up and spill, please! :-D xyx

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Gelato bar AND a candy bar? Your aunt is a smart lady.
The toughest hills race I did was the Georgia marathon. At one point the woman next to me said “not another bleeping hill!” only she used another word for bleeping. Yikes.

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BAHAHA dang, that sounds KILLER!!!!

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You MUST go to Peru. I went in February and the food is great, the views are gorgeous, and there is so much to see and do. GO GO GO!!!

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AHHHH THAT IS SO SO COOL that you went to Peru….you have convinced me now that I NEED to go!

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Most of my family and close friends speak Croatian, unfortunately I am not fluent but I understand a lot. I am sure if I actually paid attention it wouldn’t be hard to learn but I’d rather go for a run instead. I have been to a ton of weddings. Candy and cookie bars are awesome. I went to one that had a dessert room. Yes and entire room of dessert, it was amazing! Hot chocolate bar for a winter wedding. Pop Corn bar, i love pop corn but am a very messy pop corn eater. and the last wedding I was at had a gelato cart walking around

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I can speak Spanish and German and I understand Dutch too because my family all live in Holland.
I am super impressed that Billy is fluent in Russian. That is a really difficult language to master!

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WOW!!! You are my hero girl, I want to be just like you!

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That food looks amazing! We have a great Cuban restaurant about an hour from my house that has “potato balls” that are the same kind of thing, but nothing beats home made food. Now I want to go to Peru just from looking at those pics.

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I’ve been trying to make a trip out to hike the Inca trail up to Macchu Pichu for years! Last time we tried to go, it was flooded and closed :( My old roommate was Peruvian, however, and the only thing she ever cooked me was spaghetti and instant coffee…..

My husband and I both speak French and Spanish. I’m jealous because he also speaks Flemish, a good amount of Russian, and some Japanese. Those talented Europeans, *sigh*

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Ahhhh, the suspense!

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I can’t handle the suspense!! I try to make people give me my birthday presents early, it’s just that bad. :)

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The dessert looked heavenly. I am in a wedding this Friday night. The bride decided on a candy bar too. Pure genius!!!!!! Plus, wedding cake. Love will be everywhere. Including my tummy :)

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You’re family is too cute! That dinner and desert looks fantastic :)

I can understand Spanish and Italian. I can speak both but not well!

I loved the food at my wedding. Some of my favorite wedding deserts are:
candy bar and ice cream! I went to a wedding that had a soft serve bar!! OMGosh it was awesome!! Soft serve and a ton of toppings. Who needs dinner when you can eat as many sundaes as you like?!?!?!

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A SOFT SERVE BAR….that sounds like HEAVEN!!! I need to wedding crash a wedding with that ha! That is awesome that you know both Spanish and Italian!

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That’s SO awesome your Aunt’s getting married this Saturday, I’m getting married this Sunday!! I will be having jars of Werthers candy at the guest book table mmmmm lol :)

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AHHH MELISSA!! CONGRATULATIONS!! I better get to see some wedding photos somehow! You are going to be the most gorgeous bride and I LOVE the Werthers candy idea!

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Ah you are SOO Sweet!! Thank you!!! When we have pictures I will send them your way :)! Yeah our colors are Purple and green (although mostly purple it seems lol) and for our centerpieces we are doing dried wheat in those old fashioned 1L wine carafes and alternating gold/purple ribbons so we thought the gold werthers would look nice too :)

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I am SOOOOOO impressed that she made all of that food!! That is awesome and it all looks delicious! I would love to visit Peru. It looks like a beautiful country.

That elevation map looks insane!! I would never be able to handle that. I’m a wuss.

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My husband and I did missions work in the Republic of Macedonia for 8 months, so I speak a tiny bit of Macedonian which is a Slavic language, and I still remember remnants of French classes from high school and college :)

The toughest hills race I ever did was a trail race called “Hell’s Hills” – the name kind of gave it away. It was the hardest race ever and the only race I’ve ever stopped to walk in. Every mile felt like an eternity!

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Your aunt is awesome! Running 4 marathons in 6 months is such a great achievement!

The best dessert I ever had at a wedding was my own wedding. I’m not a cake person, so decided to do a dessert bar instead. We had a caramel mocha cheesecake, key lime pie, molten chocolate cake, fruit cobbler, and two others that I can’t remember. It was AMAZING!

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I can’t wait to hear the exciting news!!! &those foods look really yummy. :D

(btw, blogs back up and running, thank goodness! :D )

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I can speak a teeny bit of Spanish, and a teeny bit more of German…but that’s about it. I’m in awe of people who are fluent in multiple languages! The best wedding food I’ve had was at my own wedding (muahahaha!) and we had an ice cream sundae bar instead of cake!

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Oh Janae, I always love the questions you ask!!

1. I’m a flat course lover so I avoid hilly races at all costs. Earlier this year I signed up for a trail run in my college town. I was visiting for an alumni event and thought – oh perfect – a race the same weekend! Welp, it was a 10K mountain run! It was so tough!!

2. I only speak a little of spanish, but my sister and I made up our own sign language when we were younger and we’re both fluent in that!

3. best wedding food: I haven’t been to that many weddings, but I have vivid memories of the french onion soup served at my uncle Tony’s wedding 7 years ago! My cousin JUST had a candy bar at her wedding and I DEMOLISHED it haha… I didn’t even know it was there until my boyfriend brought me a little cup of peanut butter m&m’s … I was like “wha? where did you? WOAHHH!”

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Your family is adorable and food looks delicious. Your cousin is gorgeous and your outfit is so so cute! The hilliest race I have ever done would have to be Ragnar’s. I need to train hills more because they really do make you stronger.

I am dying to hear your news. I really should get a life. ha ha! Love you so much friend!!!

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I love a good candy bar at a wedding :)

Peruvian food can be super tasty, that is for sure!

I speak German and English fluently–I lived in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria for a combined 3 years :)

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The only races I’ve ever done were cross country in high school. They weren’t very hilly though.
I’m fluent in Russian, I used to be able to kinda understand Hebrew (so sad I forgot it!) and I can sort of read French. I have plans to take a couple French courses in university, so hopefully that’ll help!

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1. The Austin half had a couple of doozies! There was a 3(ish?) mile stretch at a steady incline, but the real killer was the steep hill at mile 11! This fall I’ll be doing San Francisco– I’m expecting something tough there!

2. I can understand a little bit of Spanish, but I can’t speak it.

3. I can honestly say, I’ve never really had memorable wedding food. :(

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That meal looks great! :)

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SHUT UP BILLY LIVED IN THE UKRAINE?!! where!! i am ukranian! my mom is first generation and both my grandparents are from there!!!
ps um dinner looks DELICIOUS!!!!!!
and your aunt is AMAZING i want to be herrrr!

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That family photo is HILARIOUS haha Glad you posted it! And that Peruvian meal looks awesome… what a wonderful gesture of your Cousin to make that meal :)

20 miles uphill = my hell. That is Crazy! You’re Aunt Rocks! How did she do????

A gelato bar at a wedding is an awesome idea!

I don’t speak any other language besides English fluently but my German isn’t so bad. I did an opera apprenticeship program in Germany and just love the language. I went to college for classical vocal performing and you have to take foreign language diction classes and there are more strict language requirements. I can ‘fake’ just about any major language out there! haha

The biggest and most challenging hill I have encountered is actually right in my neighbourhood! It is insane and I only chose that route when I want to torture myself haha

When I was in college I worked for an upscale catering company. We did million dollar weddings , the NFL draft and the Fox 25 News party! It was super fun and I got to try sooooooo much delicious wedding food :) The mashed potato bar was pretty awesome! Mashed potatoes served in martini glasses… too cute.

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You always post food that looks too delish. Now I am gonna eat some dessert I suppose. I’d love to visit Peru. I actually took Russian in high school…. my favorite wedding dessert is chocolate cake. As long as it tastes delicious. But I like to have a variety as well so I can snack on whatever.

Go check out my giveaway lady!

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Toughest hills race I’ve run so far was the Wasatch Back Marathon Relay (not to be confused with Ragnar!). The gain in that full race is insane. Although, this year I ran the Guardsman for the Ragnar and that was super duper tough as well- especially on dead legs and no sleep.

Random of all randoms- I’m certain that I saw your sister at the Provo temple on Saturday night! I didn’t say anything to her because technically I’m not stalking her, I’m only stalking you :). It made me laugh- such a small world.

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OH MY GOODNESS!! That was totally her!! She met us for dinner right after!! Girl, WE NEED TO MEET PRETTY PLEASE!

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What an awesome meal! I understand and can speak some Spanish, but it’s one of my goals to be fluent. It helps that Billy is! I love weddings with candy bars – jelly belly jelly beans, please. And hot tamales.

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gelato bar?! A.Mazing.

the hilliest race I did was sponsored by my college…the Bearathon. It was my first half marathon and I didn’t know until a week before that it is the toughest half in Texas because of the crazy hills

Cant wait to hear your news!

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A gelato and a candy bar??? Oh my goodness! I wish I would have known about this when I was planning my wedding!! haha

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Congrats to you aunt! :)

I love when weddings have candy bars or chocolate fountains…soo good! I also enjoy any type of appetizer food, such as dips and cheeses. The open bar doesn’t hurt either ;)

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OOoo! I would love to visit Peru. I speak decent Spanish since I spent the past three years in the Dominican Republic teaching. I didn’t take formal classes, but I learned the ghetto street version. Haha.

The DR is big on plantains too. They have these fried things called tostones that I know you would love. Other than that I wasn’t a big fan of Dominican food.

I loved my wedding food too! We made these pesto salads in mason jars that we labeled “shake me!” It was so fun!

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I speak Spanish. I get a little rusty if I don’t use it.

Hardest hills were San Fran for sure. My legs hurt for DAYS after that race. The only hills we have around here in South FL are bridges!

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Janae what advice do you have for me…. I don’t seem to have any energy to workout after work especially in the heat and I can’t seem to get up at 4:30am to do it either!?!? I imagine you are an energizer bunny and thought you might help me!

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The toughest is a hard call – the 7 miler I did yesterday had tons of hills. It felt like every time I turned a corner, it was another hill. None of them were awful though, and I think if my foot hadn’t been fractured (ha) I would’ve enjoyed them for the variation. My first half marathon had some BRUTAL hills, though, and they were all after mile 9. It was rolling hills up till 9 then it was just some that you looked at and went “wait, what?” Awful!

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Wow! The food looks amazing! I have only done a 5k and I walked/jogged it; it was in Houston so flat as can be! ;) I speak Vietnamese also.

I think Asian weddings are the best, as they are usually an eight-course meal. Yum! ;) The cakes usually aren’t my cup of tea, though. They have alcohol in them.

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Janae, Can your cousin post the recipe for the potato ball, its sounds so interesting!!! Thanks! Love your blog!!

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I speak French. The best wedding food I’ve had was at my own wedding. It was a low-key wedding where my mom and I made everything ourselves. Checkered tablecloths, daisies (my little cousin picked), and picnic fare for about 75 people.

My hilliest race is going to be on Sunday. I’m running a 50K and it’s got about 5,000 ft of elevation GAIN (and equal loss).

Park City looks tough…especially since the whole thing is at above 6,000 ft. Elevation runs are killer.

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AHHHH WOW!! Good luck on your 50k with a gain of 5,000 feet….YOU ARE MY HERO!

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Yummmm, is that a chocolate covered marshmallow? I want about a hundred of those right now, plz!!!

I speak French pretty fluently, and studied in Paris my junior year. Le sigh. I have such an itch to go back, and to travel actually EVERYWHERE now!!! Your cousin is a smart girl ;)

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I ran the Mad Marathon in Vermont in July. There was 2100′ of elevation gain total! It was insane!

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