Wow, what a Wonderful day.
I knew it was going to snow - so I slept in, had a schweet menegerie of dreams, was kinda wild. The kinds of dreams that y ou know you are getting some quality sleep. Finally got out of bed after noon, grabbed some coffee and something to eat. Read the paper and pondered exactly what to do. Spent a while doing some domestic crap, then turned on the tv to watch the Race Across America documentary - my gosh, these people are nuts . I'm more than fascinated. I now aspire to do this before I turn 40.
Afterwards, I geared up to go out and and shovel snow (pictured to come) - we got about 4 inches of snow, more tomorrow. I brushed all the snow off my car and shovelled the driveway, was a nice small workout. It was silent outside, except the distant shovellers and plows.
I finished up that task, came inside - had a cup of coffee and then geared down into my bike shorts and a summer jersey, headed down to the basement where I had my bike on my trainer set up. Hopped on it and biked for over an hour sweating like a mo fo - the thing about a trainer and biking indoors is that there is no coasting, meaning you bike or stop, there is no coasting - the other is that there is no wind - so you just sweat and it drips off ya - no wind to cool you off. But it was a nice training ride - I listened to some jazz and let my mind wander.
Afterwards, took a quick shower and then cooked a great dinner - Spicy Lime Breaded Catfish with some broccoli and herbed polenta. (recipe posted on my cookblog).
After dinner, I retired into the livingroom and watched a Ken Burns documentary, Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson about Jack Johnson, the famed black boxer from the begining of the 1900s - an amazing portrayal of the challanges of a boxer in a super-racialized nation. It was his fight in Australia in the first years of 1900 in Australia the day after Christmas which created Boxing Day.
Tomorrow, I'll still be somewhat snowed in, so a lot of cooking will ensue. So I've begun preparations to make some homemade French Onion Soup for dinner tomorrow (another recipe to follow).
Spicy Lime Breaded Catfish
3 medium catfish filets, washed & patted dry
1 lime, cut in half - one half sliced
1 large egg
1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or regular bread cumbs, just add a sprinkle of dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, onion and celery powder)
1 tbsp of McCormick's Season All (or the following: 1/4 tbsp chili powder, 1/4 tbsp paprika powder, 1/4 tbsp ground black pepper, 1/4 tbsp course salt)
1 tsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium caserole dish, wipe inside with olive oil, set aside.
In small bowl, beat egg with fork, set aside. In a medium bowl, add the bread crumbs and seasoning. Take each catfish filet and dredge (dip thoroughly) into the egg and then transfer to seasoned breadcrumbs - then place into the oiled baking dish. Sprinkle left over seasoned bread crumbs over fillets then drizzle lime juice (of 1/2 lime) over fish, then place a slice of lime over top of each filet - put dish in oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from oven, plate with baked lime slices (to be pinched) - great paired with steamed brocolli and herbed polenta.
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Afterwards, I geared up to go out and and shovel snow (pictured to come) - we got about 4 inches of snow, more tomorrow. I brushed all the snow off my car and shovelled the driveway, was a nice small workout. It was silent outside, except the distant shovellers and plows.
I finished up that task, came inside - had a cup of coffee and then geared down into my bike shorts and a summer jersey, headed down to the basement where I had my bike on my trainer set up. Hopped on it and biked for over an hour sweating like a mo fo - the thing about a trainer and biking indoors is that there is no coasting, meaning you bike or stop, there is no coasting - the other is that there is no wind - so you just sweat and it drips off ya - no wind to cool you off. But it was a nice training ride - I listened to some jazz and let my mind wander.
Afterwards, took a quick shower and then cooked a great dinner - Spicy Lime Breaded Catfish with some broccoli and herbed polenta. (recipe posted on my cookblog).
After dinner, I retired into the livingroom and watched a Ken Burns documentary, Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson about Jack Johnson, the famed black boxer from the begining of the 1900s - an amazing portrayal of the challanges of a boxer in a super-racialized nation. It was his fight in Australia in the first years of 1900 in Australia the day after Christmas which created Boxing Day.
Tomorrow, I'll still be somewhat snowed in, so a lot of cooking will ensue. So I've begun preparations to make some homemade French Onion Soup for dinner tomorrow (another recipe to follow).
Spicy Lime Breaded Catfish
3 medium catfish filets, washed & patted dry
1 lime, cut in half - one half sliced
1 large egg
1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or regular bread cumbs, just add a sprinkle of dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, onion and celery powder)
1 tbsp of McCormick's Season All (or the following: 1/4 tbsp chili powder, 1/4 tbsp paprika powder, 1/4 tbsp ground black pepper, 1/4 tbsp course salt)
1 tsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium caserole dish, wipe inside with olive oil, set aside.
In small bowl, beat egg with fork, set aside. In a medium bowl, add the bread crumbs and seasoning. Take each catfish filet and dredge (dip thoroughly) into the egg and then transfer to seasoned breadcrumbs - then place into the oiled baking dish. Sprinkle left over seasoned bread crumbs over fillets then drizzle lime juice (of 1/2 lime) over fish, then place a slice of lime over top of each filet - put dish in oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from oven, plate with baked lime slices (to be pinched) - great paired with steamed brocolli and herbed polenta.
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Today was wonderful...very busy, yet relaxing. And thank goodness it's Friday! The weather was actually cooperative, on the frigid side - but no snow/ice. Tomorrow is going to be interesting - well, the weekend. It's suppesed to snow all day tomorrow, and on sunday (8+ inches). I'm not looking forward to this - it means no outdoor biking (unless on packed snow on my Mt Bike). It dropped from 32 to 22 degrees between 3-6pm this afternoon - I was worried how cold my ride was going to be. I decided to break out my "Hot Hands" (pictured) - open them, shake them up, stuff them in my gloves...then go on my ride, then upon return, start up car, put Hot Hands in my shoes for the drive home...while I'm putting all my shit away - my shoes and car is getting warm. Good stuff. Only did 25 miles tonight - just way too cold (was 18 degrees when I got back to my car - keep in mind, wind chill is horrible when you are on a bike going about 20+ miles per hour)
I'm prepared for the snow with my indoor routine tomorrow - my liquid trainer is all set up, and even have a great documentary on tv lined up to watch while I work out for 3 hours. I stumbled across this documentary of the Race Across America while doing research on some challenging biking events to do this next cycling season. In the process, I found this amazing woman, Anna "Cat" Berg who is one of the people on the roster - she has an amazing cycling (and academic) resume, then I discovered the Furnace Creek 508, The Terrible Two, Markleeville Death Ride, Davis Double CenturyClimb to Kaiser, and a whole gamut of other extreme/ultra marathon cycling.
Holy crap - i think I know where my obsession is heading.
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Just a quick note. Today was busy at work - with doing interior design. Needless to say - the office is getting an overhaul. Hopefully it will all look good, afterall - perception is everything.
All the snow (from yesterday) melted. Now everything is dirty looking with salt and sand residue. It warmed up a little, and was safe to actually take a bike ride. I did 6 laps on my "safe" route, only 28 miles. It was nice to get out some miles, albeit cold.
Gotta get back to planning my biking activities for the spring/summer/winter season. (note: photo to left is a silly animation illustrating my "scary" biking glasses - the mirrored [dark] are for biking in heavy sunlight, the amber is for biking in mixed/rain/cloud light, the clear lenses are for biking at night)
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"Let it snow, let it snow...let it snow...." (I know the holidays are over, but it's actually snowing out there - all day, off and on). Woke up to a frigid 13 degree weather - with a threat to snow (only a few inches - chump change). Problem is that the people around here, are not typically from around here - and have zero concept as to how to handle/drive in snow. So it's widespread panic. Pandamonium. I don't like snow because it's one of the things that don't allow me to go out on a bike ride, that combined with idiotic snow drivers and traffic as a result are an explosive match to trim my already short fuse.
So it started to snow at about 10am, just the light wispy stuff...going sideways...then it started to dump, less than 3 inches in 2 hours - then sorta stopped. No biggie - looked purdy n stuff. I did know that I was not going to be biking tonight. I planned to come home and shovel snow.
Work was a wild day - fast deliverable due, and had to finish. Then later in the afternoon, to my suprise - our boss realized that he should probably send us home (it was already a horrible commute with the snow and now trecherous ice, they closed all the schools and the Federal government in the area, idiots in my office do NOT have a contingency plan [see related complaint above]). I left the office at 4pm. I got home at 7pm. Took me three fricken hours to drive 17 miles. I could have walked that. I was soo pissed off by the time I got home, I spent an hour shovelling the driveway and sidewalks to just cool off. I fucking hate traffic in the Washington DC area.
Ate dinner, watched a little West Wing on tv, sheesh it's already almost midnight. Tommorrow's commute is going to be horrific - i may go into the office late.
Everytime I go to www.blogger.com to log in to update this silly blog, I see this advertisment at the bottom of the page (pictured right), I swear - it's a spitting image of one of my x-girlfriends, who happens to have the same name (to those who have seen her, think of the video of her verifying bank statement on computer...over and over and over and over)
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I had a horrible yet amusing dream last night...about how I won a request to be on a reality tv show to have extreme (drug induced delusional) dream makeover...where I won ..and they fabricated via plastic surgery and invasive ocular surgery it possible for me to have nipple rings on my corneas... (hence illustration above)
Buzy, Cold, Blurry, Blah, Blah Blah, Blase' kinda day. Little to really write about. Was cold as shit this morning - was 13 degrees when I went out this morning to warm up my car, work sped by - just busy, productive, even tolerable.
Was 21 degrees when I got off work, went on a short 4 lap bike ride - just shy of 19 miles. Froze my ass off. When I got back to my car, same ordeal - started it up, let her warm up, then about the time I finally got home (40 minutes later) the car was finally warm.
Did a few domestic chores, ate dinner - now sorting thru stuff, trying to keep on the tasks at hand, avoiding watching tv.
Another day, another dollah'
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Cold cold Cold cold! Wow, it was suprizingly frigid today. It was forecast to be cold, but not this cold. SPent 20 minutes warming my car up - it was still frozen. Traffic was light, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Federal holiday) = light traffic. Busy day in the office, but sped by.
I was almost dreading going on a bike ride, almost didn't go at all. It was about 21 degrees when I left the office with a huge wind chill thingie - I decided, what the hell..I'll do a few laps - if I get real frozen, I'll just finish a lap...or turn around. I was about 3 and a half laps (5 miles per lap) into it when it hit me - better get back to the car (I had remembered that yes, in fact my car was a nice warm haven...but shit...I have to warm it up first..which will take 15 minutes). That in mind, I booked back to my car, started it (thank goodness it did), put the heat on high and started putting my bike n crap into my car, I was frozen solid, my goatee was a solid block of porcupine icicles, couldn't feel my fingers nor toes. Finally got car warmed up, but was after I got home, at dinner, did a few domestic tasks that I began to feel my toes. I won't do that tomorrow night (will be the same temps). If it's less than 20 degrees, I won't go - I have a trainer at home (boooring). I'm crazy, but not stupid.
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Today was a very nice day - cold as hell, but nice. It was one of those Sunday mornings where ya don't want to get out of bed - because you don't have to. I had a few things that I needed to catch up on in bed - reading the paper, sleeping. I didn't get out of bet unlil around 1pm. Sluffed around, put on some clothes to do some minor errands and packed up to head out for a really frigid bike ride.
Headed out to Vienna - and boy oh boy, twas cold. But not as cold as the weather people claimed it was going to be. Suited up in the community center, then assembled my bike - I was almost frozen in the 8 minutes it took me to assemble my bike, put on gloves, et al. I set out towards Reston - as only going to do a short stretch, maybe 20-25 miles. A I get into the groove, I came across one of my buddies from the bike club I belong to, and his Girlfriend - both of whom are amature racing celebrities in the local circuit. We pacelined it on out to Sterling and back - it was nice to see them. Dinner party is in order. We said farewell, I came home and cooked an amazing meal (added to my cookblog):
Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Garlic, Shitake Mushroom and Spinach Stuffed Peppers
6 Bell Peppers (Capsicums - variety of colors, 2 red, 2 orange, 2 yellow), top sliced off, cored of seeds
6 medium links Spicy (hot) Italian Sausage, cubed
1/2 cup re-hydrated shitake mushrooms (in warm chicken broth, reserve broth)
large 1lb bag fresh leaf spinach
6 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
1 large vidalia onion, minced
1/4 cup romano/pecorino cheese, grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated (separated into 1/2 cup portions)
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven 375 degrees. Lightly oil a high edged casserole dish.
In a large saucepan over high heat, add olive oil - heat until glassy then toss in garlic, onion and shitake mushrooms - saute for about three minutes until onions become transparent, then throw in cubed sausage chunks, stir quickly - until nicely browned. Add reserved chicken broth that shitake mushrooms were in. Spoon scrape brown from bottom of pan into sauce while folding in all elements. Add salt and pepper, add a handfull of spinach over top and cover, let steam for a minute, take off lid, add another handfull, repeat until all spinach is added. Remove lid and cook until most liquid has evaporated.
Put this cooked mixture into a bowl to slightly cool while you add the bread crumbs stirring quickly and then 1/2 cup pecorino and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheeses. Stir liberally until everything is thoroughly mixed.
Spoon in this mixture into the peppers and place into the oiled casserole dish, then use the rest of the mozzarella to cover the top. Place in preheated oven uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove and enjoy! Great served with polenta.
Headed out to Vienna - and boy oh boy, twas cold. But not as cold as the weather people claimed it was going to be. Suited up in the community center, then assembled my bike - I was almost frozen in the 8 minutes it took me to assemble my bike, put on gloves, et al. I set out towards Reston - as only going to do a short stretch, maybe 20-25 miles. A I get into the groove, I came across one of my buddies from the bike club I belong to, and his Girlfriend - both of whom are amature racing celebrities in the local circuit. We pacelined it on out to Sterling and back - it was nice to see them. Dinner party is in order. We said farewell, I came home and cooked an amazing meal (added to my cookblog):
 Photo credit: d. scott gregory |
6 Bell Peppers (Capsicums - variety of colors, 2 red, 2 orange, 2 yellow), top sliced off, cored of seeds
6 medium links Spicy (hot) Italian Sausage, cubed
1/2 cup re-hydrated shitake mushrooms (in warm chicken broth, reserve broth)
large 1lb bag fresh leaf spinach
6 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
1 large vidalia onion, minced
1/4 cup romano/pecorino cheese, grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated (separated into 1/2 cup portions)
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven 375 degrees. Lightly oil a high edged casserole dish.
In a large saucepan over high heat, add olive oil - heat until glassy then toss in garlic, onion and shitake mushrooms - saute for about three minutes until onions become transparent, then throw in cubed sausage chunks, stir quickly - until nicely browned. Add reserved chicken broth that shitake mushrooms were in. Spoon scrape brown from bottom of pan into sauce while folding in all elements. Add salt and pepper, add a handfull of spinach over top and cover, let steam for a minute, take off lid, add another handfull, repeat until all spinach is added. Remove lid and cook until most liquid has evaporated.
Put this cooked mixture into a bowl to slightly cool while you add the bread crumbs stirring quickly and then 1/2 cup pecorino and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheeses. Stir liberally until everything is thoroughly mixed.
Spoon in this mixture into the peppers and place into the oiled casserole dish, then use the rest of the mozzarella to cover the top. Place in preheated oven uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove and enjoy! Great served with polenta.
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(Under development, I'm bashful)