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Month: October 2011

  • RunningBlog: Week 43

    The work stress has relented, but my legs haven’t figured it out yet. They feel tired and creaky and worn out. My left Achilles has been bothering me a little, and my chronic right lower back issue has been flaring up. It’s annoying. I’m not doing nearly as much mileage as I was in the early part of the year, so why am I having all these issues now? Ugh. Anyway, on Saturday the Snook and I went for a long, slow 9km run around Blackwattle Bay. Monday I was feeling too crappy to go to Spudds but I did manage to walk home from work. Tuesday I went for a lunchtime run in the rain. Wednesday I walked to work and then went to a Spudds class at lunchtime. And today I did an easy solo run in the Domain by myself.

    Oct. 22: 9.08km
    Oct. 24: 2.70km (walking)
    Oct. 25: 4.40km
    Oct. 26: 2.82km (walking)
    Oct. 28: 5.27km
    Total this week: 18.75km (11.7mi)
    Total in 2011: 931.1km (581.9mi)

    To meet my (adjusted) goal of running 1100km in 2011, I should be at 909.6km. Still on track!

  • Shared today on Twitter

    Why does Facebook change the sorting of my News Feed EVERY SINGLE DAY? Totally new UI for it AGAIN. PICK ONE YOU JACKASSES.

    @knitterjp Awesome! And yay, found out today that Lyn and Margarita are coming too! WE FINALLY WORE THEM DOWN. 😀

    @drkknits Oh! You just reminded me that we have a few of those. Yes, please! If it’s not too cumbersome.

    @drkknits Ah. I’m not sure we can cater to all the Royal Requirements, Queeny. You may just have to sit on the counch with everyone else! 🙂

    @Opheli8 Heh. I make those every year. But mine are green, because they’re Witches’ Fingers. 🙂

    Somebody’s a cuddle bug tonight! http://t.co/NI6gF1Xh

    @brown_note Hmm. I’ll keep that as a last resort then. 😛

    @witty_knitter @miss_reecie The reject shop at Broadway has some nice cheap masks. And the $2 shop at World Sq has LOTS of stuff!

    @Kat13v @witty_knitter @miss_reecie Amongst many other things… Pumpkin Pie Beer Floats, anyone? 🙂

    @eileenDCoE That sucks! Maybe just oily fish? I’ve been making an effort to eat more fish. We got frozen NZ fillets at Costco, very good.

    RT @crumpet: Things I love doing #231: making students take their feet off the train seat so I can sit down, despite two seats being fre …

    @Opheli8 Dough is chillin’ in the fridge right now, in fact! 🙂

  • Shared today on Google Reader

  • Molecular Gastronomy

    An Explosive Night of Molecular Gastronomy
    On Monday I was idly surfing Facebook when I saw a former colleague offering some free tickets to this event:

    Prepare your senses for a culinary adventure of foams, froths and frozen treats as the father of molecular gastronomy, Professor Hervé This demonstrates the science behind famous molecular gastronomy techniques. Acclaimed Sydney chef Martin Benn of Sepia restaurant will showcase his expertise in blurring the boundaries of conventional cooking in order to create extraordinary new textures and surprising taste sensations.

    A cocktail reception will follow the lecture where guests will have the opportunity to sample a variety of unique molecular gastronomy concoctions.

    Hello? Science + Food = WE ARE SO THERE. Plus it was being held at Sydney Uni, which is like 5 minutes walk from our house. So I contacted Simon and he was happy for us to have the tickets. We met him Tuesday night at the Great Hall and settled in for the talk.

    It was – well – underwhelming. I actually think the content was probably quite good. The problem was that the acoustics in the Hall were terrible, and Prof. This has a thick French accent. Basically, we couldn’t understand 90% of what he was saying. He seemed charming though, and very excited. He played around with egg whites and microwaves and liquid nitrogen, and we occasionally chuckled when we could figure out his point. Adam Spencer was the host for the evening, and he gamely tried to “translate” for us whenever he could. My favorite part was Martin Benn’s segment on the creation of his famous Japanese stones dessert. A video showed all the preparation for the fillings (which take two days to make!), and then he finished by actually making some of the stones live on stage. Then to our surprise, waiters started filing out into the hall to give us each our own stone to try! Mine had coconut filling, and it was lovely. It reminded me of an ice cream bar, but a lot fancier obviously. Prof. This continued to bop around the stage and expound in his charming, unintelligible way. He seemed to have hundreds of slides on the science of molecular gastronomy, but Adam was mostly able to get him to skip those (since we we were clearly not following much anyway). And then it was over! The main quad had been set up with several stands were you could see experiments and taste more wacky foods, but we were tired and hungry for our actual dinner so we headed home.

    I’ll definitely be wary of going to events in the Great Hall again!

  • Halloween

    Halloween
    My good friend (and Catholic priest) Fr. Stephen Koeth has written a lovely post in defense of celebrating Halloween. This time of year I often find myself defending Halloween too, mostly to people who see it as some sort of crass, commercial American export. Fr. Stephen strives to point out the symbolic meaning behind some of Halloween’s trappings, and how – despite it’s occasional excesses – the holiday isn’t necessarily as shallow as some would think.

    Now, to head home and start baking treats for all my friends!

  • RunningBlog: Lady Runners

    On Thanksgiving Day, Dr. Julia Chase-Brand will run the Manchester Road Race fifty years after being one of the first women to run it. Such a cool story. Makes me proud to carry on the tradition!

  • The Dark Tower

    Sweet. Looks like the oft-rumoured Dark Tower series and movie is back on again! And now it’s at HBO. That’ll be awesome if they pull it off.

  • Shared today on Twitter

    @heathergracious Thanks! Yeah, $4 is the cheapest I’ve seen. Might have to just suck it up at this point… 🙂

    @randomknits @gilmae TOTES. YOU MUST DO IT. Also, video footage on YouTube may be required as proof. 🙂

    @witty_knitter Yes. I should write a blog post. Bad acoustics + thick French accent made it very difficult to understand anything!

    @witty_knitter But we got to try a “Japanese Stone” from Sepia, which was fantastic. And see how they’re made. http://t.co/DFC3MuM5

    I have a familiar. When I look over my shoulder, I see this and giggle. http://t.co/aFYCJ54J

    Frocktober #18. My new Mad Men dress. http://t.co/7axZNsFr

    @zephyrama That’s the one! I need some retro-appropriate shape wear though. I am sucking everything in today! (I have cardy for warmth.)

    @RachaelElswyk Apple Pie Fashions on King St in Newtown. Lovely shop, and it was on sale! All nice retro-style dresses.

    @RachaelElswyk Aw, thanks! It seems I do look best in fitted vintage stuff. Far cry from my usual jeans and ironic t-shirt!

    @witty_knitter @knitterjp Interesting. Rodd and I have both had a subset of those symptoms this week too…

    @witty_knitter I had a day off last week to rest up. Rodd’s had two off this week. Sleepy lethargy is the worst part for me!

    Starting to get a little worried about having enough chairs on Saturday. Anybody have some extras they can loan us?

  • Photo Post

    I have a familiar. When I look over my shoulder, I see this and giggle.

    I have a familiar. When I look over my shoulder, I see this and giggle.

  • Shared today on Twitter

    @Illdrinn I dunno. I have a friend who went there in New York and loved it. Plus I have love for the Korean-Americans (since I am one). 🙂

    @Illdrinn Now you’re bumming me out. Should I pay $350 to find see if the Emperor has new clothes? Hmmm.

    Sweet, just got confirmation of my registration for Google Developer Day. Looking forward to it! Special thanks to @Illdrinn…

    At Sydney Uni for an evening of molecular gastronomy!

    Frocktober #17. Bright orange legs and Liza on a crappy grey day. http://t.co/LvnljwlG

    Look what Amazon brought me! Thanks to @knitterjp for the recommendation… http://t.co/2hu4SYUk

    @knitabulous @MissVicki79 You guys didn’t miss much. Bad acoustics + thick French accent = mostly incomprehensible. For 2 hours. 🙁