I’m quite happy with how this one turned out, so I though I’d share. It was Mrs. Blocletters’ idea to use the coconut cream, and it makes for a rich finished product. I think the rum made it softer (that is, not frozen solid); I may cut back to 1 T. next time.

.5 C. coconut milk
1 C. coconut cream
1.5 C. half and half
.5 C. sugar
1 T. vanilla
2 T. light rum
.5 C. fine grated Mexican cocoa (used Abuelito)
.5 C. grated coconut

Combine all ingredients but cocoa and coconut in large bowl and whisk until sugar dissolves. Transfer to ice cream maker. Spin for 20 minutes, until it begins to solidify, then add cocoa and coconut. Process for another 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to freezer container and freeze to firm up.

Went for a six-mile-and-change run today. The goal: practice Chi Running technique. I picked up a copy Danny Dreyer’s book last fall and have worked through about two-thirds of it (interrupted for several weeks by the Millennium trilogy).

As a tinkerer, I spend a lot of time tweaking just about everything I do. It’s all about riding the curve toward perfection. The concept of Chi Running interests me because, of course, I’m a runner, but also because I spent several years learning tai chi. Using tai chi principles to make running more effortless makes sense.

Without going into too much detail, Chi Running means: leaning into your run, lifting your feet up behind you instead of stretching them out in front of you, and maintaining a strength and centering in your core to make the whole gait work. If done right, according to the book, the cadence remains about 170-180 steps per minute, but speed increases and decreases as you lean into our out of the run.

I have no problem staying conscious of my posture or my lean. The footwork I find a challenge. Dreyer likens it to Wile E. Coyote’s run: He pitches forward with feet spinning wildly as if he were riding a bicycle. Unlike Mr. Coyote, I’m used to stepping up and forward, not lifting up and back.

It’s going to take lots of practice.

Until the muscle memory kicks in, I’ll use visualization. As I worked through today’s run, I imagined my heels connected by elastic bands to my butt. As I stepped down, the elastic would quickly pull my heels up behind me. Hey, don’t knock it; it seems to work as long as I pay attention. And, until the technique’s second nature, it’ll have to do.

Today’s snow pushed us into the books as the second snowiest February on record. The piles on either side of the foot of our driveway must hit five feet. You could say I’m ready for spring.

I look forward to running again outside without several layers. I can’t wait to see girlie play in the backyard on the slide her grandmother bought. Soon, Saturday mornings can begin with a walk around the neighborhood with the wife.

Grilling out. Sitting on the porch. Strolling downtown Royal Oak. What are you looking forward to?

Why yes, I was planning to throw a fit.

I suck at blogging anymore. What can I say? Being a dad, husband, runner, etc. takes time. That’s not to say I don’t take those responsibilities seriously, just that time spent on them crowds out less pressing activities.

Anyway, here’s what’s up.

I just finished the Millennium trilogy. Lisbeth Salander ranks high among the most original characters I’ve seen put to paper. The level of detail Stieg Larsson put into the three books reminds me of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I consider myself fiction shy and Larsson not only got me reading, but had me losing sleep.

In high rotation: “Love,” the Beatles remix soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name.

Mrs. Blocletters and watched “The Social Network” on On Demand, adding another Oscar contender to our list of seen-its. Ho-hum. I enjoyed it. But I walked out of “Black Swan” thinking “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” and I had no such feeling for the Facebook movie. I honestly don’t understand the Oscar buzz for it I heard this fall before “The King’s Speech” caught fire.

Things, a to-do manager I bought ages ago for my iPhone, gets a reprieve. The slow-as-all-get-out developer finally added repeating tasks, making the app actually useful. I had given up on it, but came back with the update because I paid $10 for the damn software and need to get my money’s worth.

I gave up on a spring marathon. Back pain kept me from the start of training for the inaugural Kalamazoo Marathon. Inertia got the best of me after the back pain went away. I want to run a marathon just for the hell of it (i.e., not a formal race) in the first half of this year, but we’ll see. I can still run seven or eight miles without too much complaint from the body, so the baseline remains.

Oh, and this weekend’s Coolest. Thing. Ever: Using a hack from YouTube, I made an iPhone stylus from a piece of a telescoping antenna and a bit of conductive foam. I stuffed a piece of foam, packing material for a $2 transistor I bought at Radio Shack, into the end of a length of antenna, also from the Shack, and voila, touch-screen love.

And our toddler is growing into a little girl faster than I can brace for it.