Month: August 2004

Breakfast was a bowl of cold cereal with banana slices, a glass of orange juice, and two cups of coffee. I weighed 157 pounds.

Lunch was zucchini pancakes and a bottle of Saranac Pale Ale.

We took a break from our yard work during the afternoon and had another bottle of Saranac Pale Ale.

Dinner was beef burgundy, country style snaps, and a garden salad, with two glasses of Bolla Cabernet Sauvignon.

Breakfast was a bowl of cold cereal with banana slices, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. I weighed 157 pounds.

I had another cup of coffee at the office.

I took the bus over to the HUB for lunch. I had Panda Express mandarin chicken with mixed vegetables on chow mein noodles with hot and sour soup, and a fortune cookie.

Wish you

a good health!

Lucky Numbers 1, 24, 30, 36, 38, 40

Dinner was grilled swordfish, grilled crook-neck squash, and country style snaps, and two bottles of Saranac Pale Ale.

Country Style Snaps (String Beans)

This recipe comes from the Southern Appalachian Mountain Cookbook: Rare Time-Tested Recipes From The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, by Ferne Shelton, 1964.

Break beans into short pieces and wash thoroughly. Cover with cold water; add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar. Cook with a small hunk of salt pork or bacon until dry. (Peel small white potatoes and cook on top of beans in covered pot, if desired.)

I went for a lower body workout at the MBNA Fitness Center tonight:

1. Treadmill: 5 minutes @ 4 MPH
2. Seated Leg Press: 12@205, 12@205
3. Prone Leg Curl: 12@4+1, 10@4+1
4. Seated Calf Extension: 12@8+1, 12@8+1
5. Seated Crunch: 12@4+1, 12@4+1
6. Back Extension: 12@125, 12@125
7. Treadmill: 5 minutes @ 4 MPH

I added the warm-up and cool-down back into my workout and did not get any leg cramps. The workout actually took 32 minutes, but was planned for 27. Good workout.

Tomato Recipes and Cooking Information

French botanist Tournefort provided the Latin botanical name, Lycopersicon esculentum, to the tomato. It translates to “wolfpeach” — peach because it was round and luscious and wolf because it was erroneously considered poisonous. The botanist mistakenly took the tomato for the wolfpeach referred to by Galen in his third century writings, ie., poison in a palatable package which was used to destroy wolves. The English word tomato comes from the Spanish tomatl, first appearing in print in 1595. A member of the deadly nightshade family, tomatoes were erroneously thought to be poisonous (although the leaves are poisonous) by Europeans who were suspicious of their bright, shiny fruit. Native versions were small, like cherry tomatoes, and most likely yellow rather than red.

Japanese Teppanyaki Recipes — yakiniku sauce

Japanese BBQ is known as teppan-yaki. Teppan-yaki is a way of cooking as teppan indicates an iron pan, and yaki indicates grilling in Japanese. The best part of teppan-yaki is that cooking and eating are done in the same place.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes Recipes and Cooking Information

Although prices have come down in recent years, it’s still worthwhile to make your own [sun-dried tomatoes] at home, particularly if you have a tomato garden. The basic process is easy enough. Most prefer to begin with Roma tomatoes, as there are less seeds and a higher ratio of flesh, but you can use any type of tomato, including cherry varieties. Choose tomatoes of a uniform size so they dry at the same rate.

Simply slice tomatoes in half, place on a raised screen, lightly sprinkle with salt and optional herbs, and place in the hot sun until dry. Depending on your weather conditions, this could take anywhere from four days to two weeks. You’ll want to cover them with cheesecloth, raised so it does not touch the tomatoes, to keep out any critters and provide proper ventilation. You will also need to bring them in during the night, lest the evening dew undo your drying process. Plan on 10 standard tomatoes to get one ounce of dried tomatoes.

Vegetarian = Vegan to United

I don’t fly often, but as I mentioned earlier, I’m headed to Seattle next week and that will require putting my fears aside and getting on a plane. On my flight there, I’ll be served a meal, so naturally, I wanted to get a meat-free meal. While I have no idea exactly what I’ll be served, I came across this page about vegetarian meal options on United’s site. Interestingly, if you specify that you’re a lacto-ovo vegetarian, you will be served a vegan meal! I guess that way, they figure everyone’s happy and it makes planning a little easier for them. United First and United Business passengers, however, are offered the option of dairy desserts and milk, should they so desire. I ordered a vegan meal, but was happy to see that even if they misread it or enter it into their system incorrectly, I’ll still get what I ordered.

Nabisco caters for calorie-counters

Nabisco, the US biscuit and snack maker, has launched a number of its most popular product lines in handy 100-calorie packs in a bid to make it easier for dieters to keep track of their intake.

A Little Local Difficulty

For me, the British pub is defined not by its decor, and certainly not by the quality of its meat pie or barmaid, but by its position at the heart of a community. And this goes for a pub in Brixton as much as it does for one in an idyllic rural setting. It used to be a place you could go and fraternise with a diverse mix of characters, each of whom were all, essentially, there for the same reason: to have a decent pint of beer or two and a chitchat.

Best of British

I had dinner tonight with two people who, although neither is from the US, have spent a fair bit of time living in America. We got to talking about things that strike us as uniquely American phenomenons — such as having a sitting room that contains “fancy” furniture, is pristine and sterile in every way, and that no one ever uses or is even, in some cases, allowed to enter. It’s the showroom within the home. It’s also an odd waste of space and luxury, but there you go.

French cheese library

An exhaustive french cheese library with all you want to know about french cheeses.

The Ultimate On Line Guitar Tutor

This tutorial is a structured program that you should work through methodically from start to finish. If you think you’re not the sort of person who has that kind of patience, or maybe you’re pushed for time you may do better by trying this tutorial instead.

Have I still got your attention?

Our big gain will be our loss

The findings of a [USA TODAY survey of 126 nutrition professionals with the American Dietetic Association, including sports nutritionists, cookbook and nutrition book authors, heads of hospital wellness programs, university weight-loss researchers and many dietitians in private practice] point to a number of reasons that people don’t lose weight:

• They don’t have a realistic idea of portion sizes. Restaurants often contribute to the problem with portions that are at least twice the recommended serving size.
• They don’t change their eating habits for good. Instead, they choose fad diets that they can’t adhere to over the long term.
• They aren’t exercising. People consider exercise drudgery, the dietitians say, and they feel they don’t have time to do it.
• People don’t want to try to change their eating habits because they’re afraid they’ll have to give up their favorite foods.

Breakfast was a bowl of cold cereal with banana slices, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. I weighed 157 pounds.

Somebody at the office brought in donuts, so I had a kruller and a cup of coffee.

I walked downtown and got my hair cut over lunch. On the way back I stopped at Irving’s and had a Sonoma Turkey Sandwich — smoked turkey breast, fresh avocado spread, Monterey jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a dab of Russian dressing, all served up on an everything bagel with cole slaw and a dill pickle spear on the side. I would guess the walk was about 3½ miles.

Dinner was lo mein with two bottles of Saranac Pale Ale.

Previously, I had said that I think Alton is a great guy. Well, it turns out that he also looks pretty good in a speedo.