When is it okay to have two desserts? When isn’t it?

Posted on September 1, 2007 by chatty

Another so-so dinner, capped by a much more enjoyable dessert. Or two.

Do you sometimes have a craving for something but perhaps can’t get to it for days? For me, that craving has been ramen noodles. The good old-fashioned kind that my dad used to make many a Saturday or Sunday lunch growing up (it was either ramen or fried rice). A week or more ago Rick in the vanpool mentioned something about ramen noodles. Something about feeding it to his kids on a regular basis. I had to remind him that, actually, ramen noodles aren’t really good for you (fried, probably more than once. How else do you suppose you’re able to cook it in under three minutes?). Since that day (a week or longer ago), I’ve been thinking about ramen noodles.

I love ramen, but I don’t eat it on a regular basis. I used to. Used to always have a few packages around the house. But the fried-ness, and my attempt to stay healthy (disregard for a moment the numerous posts I’ve done on cookies). Maybe once every few months. Maybe.

I’m very particular about my ramen. Manchurian? No, thanks. Top Ramen? Uh-uh. There are only certain kinds that I’ll purchase. I don’t know the name brands (one might be “Nissan”). Just the packaging, because usually they are in an Asian language. Lucky for me, the QFC carries the brands I want. Unlucky for me, I was standing in the Market, and all they had was Manchurian and Top Ramen. Huh? The Market? The one with the ridiculously pricey cookies from Italy? Expensive fig bread from Spain? Highfalutin everything? Nope. Couldn’t be bothered with a $0.59 package of ramen.

So the alternative was going home and making soba noodles from the pantry. Decent, but not the same. You know how you’re craving something…the alternative, no matter what it is, is never as good. You taste it hoping for one thing and it’s just not it.

BTW, I make REALLY good ramen noodles. I know, it’s nothing fancy, but if you’re going to do it you’ve got to do it right. Maybe it’s an Asian thing, but there is WAY more to ramen noodles than the silver packet of ‘spices’ that it comes with. I’ll take a trip to the Asian market this weekend to pick some up, and will post my special recipe then.

Ambrosetti Luna di Miele. Look for the woman on the tag Anyway, on to dessert. This morning, at PCC, I picked up another packet of Ambrosetti cookies. They didn’t have the Occhi type that I was ga-ga over last week. They did carry the “Luna di Miele”, a biscotti-like cookie half dipped in yummy chocolate. Same flavors as the Occhi. Less chocolate, but nevertheless, delicious.

I had just finished taking photos of this cookie (not a great pic; why is it so hard to take a photo of a cookie?) when the husband returned home. He had stopped at Whole Foods and surprised me with my favorite, the Whole Foods mini-apple pie. I don’t know if they make it on the premise or get some generic company to bake them, but I love these little apple pies. The lattice topping is delicate, the filling more sweet than tart, the portion just right for two people (or one, if you are feeling selfish).

Apple Pie from Whole Foods

Anyway. I figured, with the disapointing noodle dinner, on top of having gone to the gym AND practice today, today was all right to have two desserts. So be it.

The debate against steady state

Posted on September 1, 2007 by chatty

So, after determining what my true steady state split on an erg should be (if you must, you can read the boring post about it here), today Kate advised me not to put too much emphasis on steady state in my workout schedule. (This stemmed from my question, ‘How do I get rid of that old-lady flab I’m seeing on my arms?’ Kate’s answer: Lift more. Yay). Actually, Kate advised that other cardio and aerobic workouts were better for me than steady state. The AT workouts I did (for example, 2 x 20′ at around a 2:15 spm) are far more efficient than an hour (or 2) of power. So, here I was all excited to begin doing some real steady state, and instead I’m just supposed to do what I’ve been doing.

Which is good and bad. Good, because I’ve been doing it. Arduously getting through it. Bad because I was looking forward to that comfortable rate. It’s not surprising, of course. You do the stuff you don’t necessarily like because it’s good for you. That’s what long AT pieces are. Hard to do, but good for you.

So there. I think I’ll head to the gym in a few.

PCC and Peet’s – Saturday tradition

Posted on September 1, 2007 by chatty

I always look forward to Saturday rowing. One, because I wake up at a reasonable hour, 5:35, instead of the unreasonable 4:35 a.m. on weekdays. Two, because I’m not racing back home to get ready and meet the vanpool (Practice is done between 6:45 and 7. It takes me 8 – 10 minutes to return home. Vanpool leaves for work at 7:30. Do the math.)

Three, because more often than not Saturday after practice we head to PCC (for a scone, pastry, or breakfast of choice), then meet and sit at Peet’s for coffee and conversation. Always good to hear the boathouse gossip and family/friend updates. Today’s buzz was the upcoming auction at the boathouse in an effort to raise funds for a new double. Now, I’m not a sculler by trade, but many of my friends are and I most definitely want to support what is best for them and the club. I like this club and it likes me.

Anyway, on to important stuff. Breakfast this morning was a cherry scone from PCC. I often go for the Scottish Oats, however Rachel, who was not here today, often raves about “red berries” and I thought it was time to give cherries a chance (you’ll recall I opted for the Cherry Almond Ginger Chew last night). It was delicious. Soft (and still warm), the dough was lighter than the usual dense scone. Sweet, but not too sweet. PCC means (generally) organic and/or natural ingredients. Always a good way to go. Mixed with a nonfat latte and good conversation, makes for a good morning.

Don’t even need to talk about practice, except to say that Conor told us to “break the riggers off”, and that I did this morning. Fun.

The spinning cutlery at PCC cherry scone from PCC

Peet's in Fremont

PCC Natural Markets: 600 N. 34th St.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea: 3401 Fremont Ave. N

Cookie and ice cream

Posted on August 31, 2007 by chatty

The last two evenings, dessert has been much more memorable than dinner. Tonight’s dessert included walking to the Market. I had expected to get another bag of Ambrossetti cookies (as I discussed in an earlier post), however to my surprise they had none. The woman at the bakery didn’t know what I was talking about and led me down the wrong aisle.

So instead I chose the Dancing Deer Baking Co.’s Cherry Almond Ginger Chew. The ginger is fresh, not like the traditional ginger snap flavor. It slightly overpowers the cherry and almond. If you’re not into ginger, you may want to pass. I added a scoop (or two) of Dreyer’s French Silk ice cream (Slow-churned, i.e. reduced fat. I don’t even know what full-fat ice cream tastes like anymore). For those of you on the East Coast, Dreyer’s is Edy’s. Get it? Edy’s is Dreyer’s.

Cherry Almond Ginger Chew with French Silk Ice Cream

Who is this Master Chief?

Posted on August 30, 2007 by chatty

I don’t have an Xbox 360. But working on a site like T&G makes me want to get one (one of many things I’d like but don’t need nor can afford right now). It makes me want to be good at games like Halo 3.

I love that Nathan Fillion loves his Xbox. I can’t actually confirm that he owns one, but it’s my guess based on this fantastic blog post, in addition to this awesome interview clip with sci-fi writer PJ Haarsma. Read the full interview.

In general, I love buzz. I love that the “I Love Bees” thing actually worked (If you don’t know what ILB is, refer to Wikipedia). When buzz works, it can bring out that crazy impulse in you to care about something you normally wouldn’t care about. Or, in my case, to want something I really have no use for (seriously, when am I going to find time to play and get really good at Halo?) Buzz can’t be duplicated, no matter how hard PR folks try.

All this talk about Halo 3 makes me want to buy the Xbox 360 but I know it’ll be a big mistake. Just like the last time, when I bought the Xbox and never played it. I complained because I missed my old N64. Then sold the Xbox to my good friend, only to later find out the game console at times almost led to the decline of her marriage (how would you like THAT hanging on your friendship until the end of time?).

There is too much pressure behind another Xbox purchase. Instead I will try to enjoy the buzz that the Halo 3 kids are trying to conjure (it’s ok, just slightly crazy impulsive). I’ll try to make sense of Master Chief and the Covenant, whatever that is. I’ll enjoy the buzz, but that’s it.

Related note: Overheard in the vanpool … BioShock is another game to lookout for.

An Italian chocolate cookie

Posted on August 30, 2007 by chatty

I’ve enjoyed reporting on my evening meals just about each night. Tonight’s highlight, as with each evening for the past four nights, has been the cookie. A good cookie can help me forget the majority of my problems on any given day (my life, it’s pretty simple). At Whole Foods on Monday night I had hoped to find my mini apple pie but there were none (out of season? not sure). As an alternative I picked up this lovely bag of cookies and haven’t regretted it at all. I’ve also seen these at Metropolitan Market. I will be getting them again.

Ambrossetti Occhi Cioccolato. Image from Ambrossetti.net Ambrossetti’s Occhi Cioccolato. A bag of five cookies cost $5.99. Each cookie has a rich chocolate patty sandwiched between two buttery biscotti cookies (like a biscotti with a shiny egg wash). So wonderful. And each cookie is sizeable enough that one is plenty (Abrossetti’s smaller cookie assortment are smaller and you want to eat many). Delicious!

Alas, the photo I took of the last cookie I had was not great. Add that to the fact that the top cookie was cracked. This image is from the Ambrossetti Web site.

All You Can Eat Freako-Shrimp

Posted on August 30, 2007 by chatty

Following up from my previous post on Shrimp, I’m happy to announce Prof. Levitt revealed the answers to his Shrimp Question Experiment. See the results. I mentioned in my previous post that I was comment #500, and having received over 1,000 replies, Levitt sampled only the first 500. Yee haw I made the cut! Sweet.

This, by the way, is the only blog I’ll comment on regularly (if by regular I mean 3 times). It’s fantastic and I’m slowly but surely getting used to its new home on the NYT Web site.

Row

Posted on August 30, 2007 by chatty

After cruising technorati for some popular rowing blogs, I realize now how bo-ring the topic is for everyone except me. And even for some of the blogs I found, they were boring to me, too. I will try to refrain from being that boring, though there may be times where I can’t help it. Like today. But I’ll just keep it short.

This morning I intended to scull, but because the batteries in my lights were DOA, I jumped into a sweep boat at the last minute (thanks, MST, for letting me). Practice: warm-up/drills down the Fremont canal to the Ballard Bridge. Then back up the canal doing one-minute each six…with 5 strokes pausing at half-slide to begin the minute. Back down the canal, rowing by sixes for one minute, then all eight for one minute, etc. Then back up the canal, full pressure.

Conor’s goal (and my guess is Frank’s goal) was “perfect matching”. Considering the particular 8 I was in, the delicate words of the husband came to mind: “You’re living in a fool’s paradise.” I imagine Frank called upon all of us to focus on matching because of the bow four of my boat, but can’t be certain, since I rarely saw the launch close up today. But I digress.

In my aforementioned technorati research this week, I did discover a gem. In addition to covering all sorts of rowing in the US, Sculler’s Deck also provides spectacular video of ‘the greatest races’. And, in July of this year, he did a swell post about rowing in Seattle, specifically Lake Washington & Lake Union, my ‘hood. He also calls out two special coaches, Frank & Bill. Nice work.

Behind the Scenes

Posted on August 30, 2007 by chatty

The “Blogging Best Practices” document from work tells me I’m not supposed to hide the fact that I work there, so I shall announce today that I work at Microsoft. So there.

Now that the unimportant announcement is out of the way, I want to share with you an article from the site I work on, MSN Tech & Gadgets.

We commissioned this super-fun story about throwing the ultimate party in your dorm, for our “Back to College” special. The guy who triggered the idea was a Microsoft intern, Mark, who will graduate from Carnegie Mellon this coming semester. Apparently the geeky schools, they really know how to party.

So, at first I wanted Mark to actually write the story. Loved the idea of having someone in college write about the parties in college, but he couldn’t manage it due to his workload of ‘real work’. Bummer.

I then turned to a great writer I use, especially on stuff related to audio/visual. Doug found another college kid, Zack, from MIT, who turned out to be the hook for the story. Watch the video he provided for us:

Video: MIDAS Party Mode

Funny thing is, we later found out that Zack is an intern at Google. Who’d a thunk it. It’s the interns at the geeky schools who know how to party.

So there it is for you, a little behind-the-scenes note from work. If this were a DVD I’d include this in the feature commentary (I wonder if movie directors these days think to themselves, “Oh, I have to remember this for the DVD commentary” or “This is sooo going into the bonus features”. Weirdos).

Mac & Cheese

Posted on August 29, 2007 by chatty

Hmmm. 70 minutes stuck in traffic thanks to a stalled car on the 520 bridge. Grrr… Luckily I came home to a dinner already cooked, thank to the husband. Chili mac with lemon-pancetta biscuits. Annie’s Shells and Cheddar, with Amy’s Organic Chili, combined with fresh cherry tomatoes (tomatoes from the side garden, of course). The husband also added in a little bit of pancetta, and, for kicks, some vegetarian brats. The biscuits are Heart Smart Bisquick with some lemon zest and a small slice of pancetta in the center as a surprise. The trick to fluffy biscuits …roll out the dough 1/2 inch thick, per the instructions. Fold the rolled-out dough over so it’s double the size, then cut out biscuits using a cutter. Otherwise the biscuits look kind of flat (For the surprise pancetta, you can add the slice in the fold).

Chili Mac Lemon-Pancetta biscuits

For years – years – I’ve been looking for the perfect Mac & Cheese recipe. I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for. I figure I’ll know it when I taste it. One hint, Cooking Light does not have the perfect recipe, and I was subscriber for a l-o-n-g time. Until then, I really enjoy Trader Joe’s Macaroni & Cheese (the classic, currently in a blue box). Annie’s is also tasty.

If you do have the recipe for the perfect Macaroni & Cheese, please share the love.