It was absolutely a wonderful day and weekend! Was a little tired this morning after staying up half the night doing fun chores and relaxing - I decided to go on a semi-misty raining morning out on a long ass training ride out towards Harpers Ferry and into West Virginia. I was exhausted, but I wanted to get a jump on the ride (pictured, not a very happy face - but I was smiling inside). The ride itself was somewhat uneventful other than a few rednecks trying to run my fat ass off the road.
Came home and took a shower and a long nap. Woke up in the early evening to do a few more Spring-like chores and then headed out to get some things for my deck garden. I picked up some petunias, gardenias and marigolds. I cracked open a beer and put on my iPod while listening to Gardening at Night by REM while I planted my window boxes in my deck garden (pictured).
I will spend the rest of the Spring evening doing laundry, cleaning and such in preparation for my parents to visit next weekend for a dinner party of sorts. I'm going to make Roasted Leg of Lamb, with Cauliflower and possibly some Borscht (cold beet soup). Relaxation is paramount for this weekend, after such a shitty week.
Tomorrow is Easter, I have no plans (I never have really celebrated it, since I was maybe 10 years old). Will be doing another long ass training ride - if the weather cooperates.
Life is Fantastic.
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Came home and took a shower and a long nap. Woke up in the early evening to do a few more Spring-like chores and then headed out to get some things for my deck garden. I picked up some petunias, gardenias and marigolds. I cracked open a beer and put on my iPod while listening to Gardening at Night by REM while I planted my window boxes in my deck garden (pictured).
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I will spend the rest of the Spring evening doing laundry, cleaning and such in preparation for my parents to visit next weekend for a dinner party of sorts. I'm going to make Roasted Leg of Lamb, with Cauliflower and possibly some Borscht (cold beet soup). Relaxation is paramount for this weekend, after such a shitty week.
Tomorrow is Easter, I have no plans (I never have really celebrated it, since I was maybe 10 years old). Will be doing another long ass training ride - if the weather cooperates.
Life is Fantastic.
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(posted late Friday night, Saturday morn 04/15/2006)
It must be tax day. Well, something is always taxing my mind. Regardless, as promised, I have finally put together this recipe: (included in my cookblog)
Macadamia Nut, Rosemary & Lime Encrusted Salmon on a bed of Squash Compote and Fried Bean Threads
Ingredients:
For the salmon:
2 10oz filets fresh salmon
1/2 cup crushed macadamia nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
handfull of fresh rosemary sprigs, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup flour, sifted for dredging
1 egg, fork wisked for dredging
2 tbsp Half & Half
salt & pepper to taste
1 lime, juiced
For the spaghetti squash compote:
1 small spaghetti squash, peeled, and diced
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 cup red onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or minced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup chicken broth (fat free)
salt & pepper to taste
For the fried bean thread vermicelli:
4 small clumps bean thread vermicelli, separated
3-4 cups canola oil, in small deep fryer (or small deep pot) at 375 degrees
paper towels, for drainage
Preparation:
For the salmon:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a medium baking dish with olive oil.
In a medium sized bowl, combine macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, ground ginger, curry powder, salt & pepper and set aside. In a small flat bowl, wisk egg with Half & Half and set aside. Put flour in a small flat bowl and set aside. To dredge the salmon, wash the salmon and pat dry with paper towels, then lay into the flour, and pat flour into all the crevices then transfer to the egg mixture, coating completely. Last step is to drop the dredged salmon into the macadamia & rosemary mixture and completely cover - then to lay the encrusted filets into the baking dish. Drizzle lime juice over filets and then cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
For the spaghetti squash compote:
In a large sautee pan over high heat, melt the butter and sautee the combination of shallot, onion, garlic & ginger, then add the squash, cumin and salt & pepper. Continue to turn and cook for 3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and slowly add the chicken broth. Allow to brown while pan fry. Set aside once all is cooked.
For the fried bean thread vermicelli:
Put several paper towel sheets onto a plate, set aside. In a small deep fryer or in a medium deep pot, bring oil to 375 degree F temperature. Caution: the bean threads will expand rapidly in fryer oil. Test the oil temperature with a single thread of the bean thread. Gently lay in the bean thread nests into the oil - they will quickly poof up. Once turned white, using a fry spoon, scoop out the lightly fried been threads onto the plate and allow to drain, set aside for presentation.
To plate:
Place fried bean thread nest onto center of plate. Spoon squash compote into a shallow Ramekin-like dish, and press down to make a mold. Use a knife to ease the compote out of the ramekin mold and release the squash compote ontop of the fried bean threads. Spatula the encrusted salmon atop the squash compote and garnish with lime slices. Suggestion: coconut curry lime sauce can be drizzled over entire entree.
(posted late Friday night, Saturday morn 04/15/2006)
It must be tax day. Well, something is always taxing my mind. Regardless, as promised, I have finally put together this recipe: (included in my cookblog)
Macadamia Nut, Rosemary & Lime Encrusted Salmon on a bed of Squash Compote and Fried Bean Threads
Ingredients:
For the salmon:
2 10oz filets fresh salmon
1/2 cup crushed macadamia nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
handfull of fresh rosemary sprigs, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup flour, sifted for dredging
1 egg, fork wisked for dredging
2 tbsp Half & Half
salt & pepper to taste
1 lime, juiced
For the spaghetti squash compote:
1 small spaghetti squash, peeled, and diced
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 cup red onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or minced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup chicken broth (fat free)
salt & pepper to taste
For the fried bean thread vermicelli:
4 small clumps bean thread vermicelli, separated
3-4 cups canola oil, in small deep fryer (or small deep pot) at 375 degrees
paper towels, for drainage
Preparation:
For the salmon:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a medium baking dish with olive oil.
In a medium sized bowl, combine macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, ground ginger, curry powder, salt & pepper and set aside. In a small flat bowl, wisk egg with Half & Half and set aside. Put flour in a small flat bowl and set aside. To dredge the salmon, wash the salmon and pat dry with paper towels, then lay into the flour, and pat flour into all the crevices then transfer to the egg mixture, coating completely. Last step is to drop the dredged salmon into the macadamia & rosemary mixture and completely cover - then to lay the encrusted filets into the baking dish. Drizzle lime juice over filets and then cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
For the spaghetti squash compote:
In a large sautee pan over high heat, melt the butter and sautee the combination of shallot, onion, garlic & ginger, then add the squash, cumin and salt & pepper. Continue to turn and cook for 3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and slowly add the chicken broth. Allow to brown while pan fry. Set aside once all is cooked.
For the fried bean thread vermicelli:
Put several paper towel sheets onto a plate, set aside. In a small deep fryer or in a medium deep pot, bring oil to 375 degree F temperature. Caution: the bean threads will expand rapidly in fryer oil. Test the oil temperature with a single thread of the bean thread. Gently lay in the bean thread nests into the oil - they will quickly poof up. Once turned white, using a fry spoon, scoop out the lightly fried been threads onto the plate and allow to drain, set aside for presentation.
To plate:
Place fried bean thread nest onto center of plate. Spoon squash compote into a shallow Ramekin-like dish, and press down to make a mold. Use a knife to ease the compote out of the ramekin mold and release the squash compote ontop of the fried bean threads. Spatula the encrusted salmon atop the squash compote and garnish with lime slices. Suggestion: coconut curry lime sauce can be drizzled over entire entree.
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Thank goodness it's Friday. Especially after such a shitty week (at work). The weather was yet again farkin' wonderful today - in the high 70s, and slightly dramatic with a few passing thundershowers. Work itself was a typical excersize in frustration (dealing with ABBA). I put his punk ass in his place, when I point out his stupidity and lack of respect - I act as his barometer for his asshole meter, even though I'm the crap buffer for the folks that I work with. Must be the middle child thang - diplomat.
So I was rearing to get out of there - and biked out to Purcellville, a mere relaxing 44 miles - it was just charmingly beautiful, albeit a little windy with a storm front coming in. I banked on that the storm was coming in from the West, so I knew it would blow me home - twas a relaxing spinner type ride on the way back with the tailwind. As soon as I got to my car it began to rain.
I ran a few quick errands after my ride, picked up some provisions to cook for my parents at my place next weekend - will make a roasted Leg of Lamb (rosemary & garlic, et al). I also picked up a few gardening things for my deck garden and was excited to come home to begin preparing my window boxes to plant this week. I took the effort to uproot all the old spent things from last fall, till and add new ground soil & potting soil. Then I planted 2 rosemary plants in a tin planter that I picked up (pictured below).
Finished that fun task and then planned my evening around after watching Derailed which was a fun farked up paranoid thriller of not much to mention. To embark now on a late night evening of updating some blogs - including my cookblog where I need to add last weekend's entry/recipe, pay some bills, reorganize a few thangs, prepare for the rainy ride I have tomorrow afternoon, and clean/tidy for my parents to be here next weekend (not that I'm a slob...just been too busy this week).
Life is good.
So I was rearing to get out of there - and biked out to Purcellville, a mere relaxing 44 miles - it was just charmingly beautiful, albeit a little windy with a storm front coming in. I banked on that the storm was coming in from the West, so I knew it would blow me home - twas a relaxing spinner type ride on the way back with the tailwind. As soon as I got to my car it began to rain.
I ran a few quick errands after my ride, picked up some provisions to cook for my parents at my place next weekend - will make a roasted Leg of Lamb (rosemary & garlic, et al). I also picked up a few gardening things for my deck garden and was excited to come home to begin preparing my window boxes to plant this week. I took the effort to uproot all the old spent things from last fall, till and add new ground soil & potting soil. Then I planted 2 rosemary plants in a tin planter that I picked up (pictured below).
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Finished that fun task and then planned my evening around after watching Derailed which was a fun farked up paranoid thriller of not much to mention. To embark now on a late night evening of updating some blogs - including my cookblog where I need to add last weekend's entry/recipe, pay some bills, reorganize a few thangs, prepare for the rainy ride I have tomorrow afternoon, and clean/tidy for my parents to be here next weekend (not that I'm a slob...just been too busy this week).
Life is good.
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Crazy crazy day. Unsure how to put it into perspective. The only thing close to clarity is to concentrate on the wonderment of the amazing Spring weather we are having this week. Besides that, the rest all seems to be paradoxically indexed into chunkets of drama and fucked up levels of crisis management. I'm speaking of work...not my home life.
Typical ABBA being a drama queen attention whore who walks the walk of a stereotypical ADHD toad who crushes the spirit of anything - he embodies the type of person who just focuses on failure as a sport. His concept of "when you go into a store to buy a suit...and you finally found that PERFECT suit...and it fits well...but it has a missing button...you end up looking at that suit completely tarnished...forever" has become his mantra of sorts. He lacks the imagination that when you buy a suit at a store....you are a customer...and the customer is ALWAYS right...if there is a missing button...you trust that the tailor will replace the button if you tell them. Maybe even get a discount. Simple as that. But he trusts no one. What a lack of insight.
To further talk about this ABBA person, his lack of insight, management tequiniques and personality skills - any effort that he rudely perceives of his contributions in his business has been recieved as pure bunk. He has zero respect from his clients, peers, colleagues, suborninates, and even his own family (some of which have multi-roles in the matrix). His lack of insight has bankrupted the morale of the company that he (on his high classic Napolean Complex horse) delusionarilly perceives is "normal". I pity the foo
Anyhoo, kicks out the faux leadership royalty legs of ABBA and hops on my bike - and yalps "I will not lose in this game".
So off to the wild yonder of cycling, allergies, sweating my ass off, domesticity, the epicuriousness of my cooking persuits, and more writing about this... Oh the Drama. I bet Shakespear had a nemesis, or even a freekish doppleganger who he disliked.
Whatevvah. Tomorrow is Friday - I plan to spend the thunderstormy weekend doing much ado about nothing (except some hard core Spring cleaning/re-organization). No Easter Eggs to be found unless they need to be shredded when I go thru my old filing cabinet.
Life is Hoppity.
Typical ABBA being a drama queen attention whore who walks the walk of a stereotypical ADHD toad who crushes the spirit of anything - he embodies the type of person who just focuses on failure as a sport. His concept of "when you go into a store to buy a suit...and you finally found that PERFECT suit...and it fits well...but it has a missing button...you end up looking at that suit completely tarnished...forever" has become his mantra of sorts. He lacks the imagination that when you buy a suit at a store....you are a customer...and the customer is ALWAYS right...if there is a missing button...you trust that the tailor will replace the button if you tell them. Maybe even get a discount. Simple as that. But he trusts no one. What a lack of insight.
To further talk about this ABBA person, his lack of insight, management tequiniques and personality skills - any effort that he rudely perceives of his contributions in his business has been recieved as pure bunk. He has zero respect from his clients, peers, colleagues, suborninates, and even his own family (some of which have multi-roles in the matrix). His lack of insight has bankrupted the morale of the company that he (on his high classic Napolean Complex horse) delusionarilly perceives is "normal". I pity the foo
Anyhoo, kicks out the faux leadership royalty legs of ABBA and hops on my bike - and yalps "I will not lose in this game".
So off to the wild yonder of cycling, allergies, sweating my ass off, domesticity, the epicuriousness of my cooking persuits, and more writing about this... Oh the Drama. I bet Shakespear had a nemesis, or even a freekish doppleganger who he disliked.
Whatevvah. Tomorrow is Friday - I plan to spend the thunderstormy weekend doing much ado about nothing (except some hard core Spring cleaning/re-organization). No Easter Eggs to be found unless they need to be shredded when I go thru my old filing cabinet.
Life is Hoppity.
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By far this has been a wonderful Spring - great weather and full blown excuses to be outside and enjoy the training weather. I had an amazing ride yesterday, and it made me sore as hell today - so I decided today after work to elect to become the perfect masochist that I am and bike for an hour and then go to the gym for an intense advanced spinner class that lasted close to 2 hours. I was fuckin' tuckered out afterwards. It was a little windy out - but nice and warm in the mid 70s, with the threat of thunderboomers (more thunderboomers tomorrow).
Work was a wild mess of corporate drama mostly inspired by the 4 year old logic temper-tantrums of my ABBA boss. He's a fuckling dick. Not much more to report beyond that.
Tomorrow I have an all day meeting with a client that will be intense - and then I'll follow that up with joining my cycling club for one of our first Spring training rides - will be intense. I hope I can keep up. (I hope I'm not overtraining).
Life is just farkin swell.
Work was a wild mess of corporate drama mostly inspired by the 4 year old logic temper-tantrums of my ABBA boss. He's a fuckling dick. Not much more to report beyond that.
Tomorrow I have an all day meeting with a client that will be intense - and then I'll follow that up with joining my cycling club for one of our first Spring training rides - will be intense. I hope I can keep up. (I hope I'm not overtraining).
Life is just farkin swell.
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Oh sooo sore and sunburned. Today was a very busy day at work, and such a picture perfect Spring day. I left the office at promptly 4:30 and biked out to Purcellville. I joined up with a cycling buddy of mine, Franz who is a pro-triathalete and a Category 2 AA rider - he brutally kicked my ass. But I struggled and kept up without getting dropped for the entire 46 miles. Man I was wiped out afterwards. Got back to my car and put all my cycling stuff away and I was on the way to the store when I realized that my entire face was crusted with salt - from sweating (and from not hydrating enough). I had salt deposits all over my cycling outfit. I was almost delerious.
Tomorrow will be a brutal day at the office...followed with a brutal training ride at my spinner class - 2.5 hours...hill training. But I love it.
Life is Hilly
Tomorrow will be a brutal day at the office...followed with a brutal training ride at my spinner class - 2.5 hours...hill training. But I love it.
Life is Hilly
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I must becoming a walking stereotype of myself. Day in, day out - I wake up, work hard at the office, then go on my training rides/spinner classes, come home and flop into an evening of cooking, domestic stuff, writing...then go to bed to do it all over again. Weekends are the only difference when I stay up late to embark on some kind of elaborate project, whether it be cooking (for my cookbook), an all night movie marathon, a date, or a new writing/art project..... This will all change in a few weeks when the Centuries begin to occupy all my time.
That being said - one can assume that I worked today, then went on an hour training ride, followed by a 1 1/2 hour spinner class, came home and blah blah blah...
The weather is fantastic - and will get better all week. More of the same, blahh. But it was a great day, the highlight was my spinner class. I felt sooo energized afterwards - then had a crash on the couch at about 10pm, wore me out.
Life is/and can be repetitive.
That being said - one can assume that I worked today, then went on an hour training ride, followed by a 1 1/2 hour spinner class, came home and blah blah blah...
The weather is fantastic - and will get better all week. More of the same, blahh. But it was a great day, the highlight was my spinner class. I felt sooo energized afterwards - then had a crash on the couch at about 10pm, wore me out.
Life is/and can be repetitive.
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What a relaxing weekend. Overall, with much rest, cooking, cycling - I feel fresh for the workweek ahead. Stress management is the theater in the round that I need to keep in perspective.
Today, I slept in and then embarked on a leisurely mountain bike ride out on the Heritage Trail - a new weekend diversion from the norm. It was pretty, albeit chilly. Came home and took a long bath then a nap which I woke up in the early evening, ate some leftovers and watched a little tv while I cleaned my place, payed bills & prepared for the work week. Same ol same ol...
Time to tally this week's cycling mileage (so far 3,596 miles this year), and document the recipe & post from the Salmon dish I created over the weekend.
Life is Delicious.
Today, I slept in and then embarked on a leisurely mountain bike ride out on the Heritage Trail - a new weekend diversion from the norm. It was pretty, albeit chilly. Came home and took a long bath then a nap which I woke up in the early evening, ate some leftovers and watched a little tv while I cleaned my place, payed bills & prepared for the work week. Same ol same ol...
Time to tally this week's cycling mileage (so far 3,596 miles this year), and document the recipe & post from the Salmon dish I created over the weekend.
Life is Delicious.
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(Under development, I'm bashful)