took my road bike out today because it’s 70 degrees and sunny in santa monica. this bike is hella fast. yes!!!
a few blocks into my ride, i found out i can’t shift my front derailleur (i.e., the bike is stuck on the largest front cog). after inspection, it appears the metal holding the spring broke. this is metal we are talking about. it *broke*. noooooooooooo!!!
(trip not as long as i would have liked…) 5.09 miles / 26.48 mins / 11.2 avg mph
i used the right amount of mushrooms this time, substituting baby bellas for shiitakes. i also used feta instead of gorgonzola and substituted whole grain mustard for dijon. the 2tbsp + 1 tsp of mustard was probably too much as it yielded a tart flavor that was vinegar-y at the start. i would say the feta wasn’t strong enough to match the leek and mushrooms. maybe i should try more cheese? i don’t want it to be overly cheesy. or return to gorgonzola and use less or increase the mushrooms. too few mushrooms was the culprit last time. either way, it is still tasty and i’m getting better at pastry dough. it’s mostly butter – how can you go wrong with that?
i still can’t make a round tart…(sigh) oh, well.
before:
after:
stage 1: put on bike tights that i bought when i was in high school (can you believe that s**t?!?) because it’s 62 degrees outside.
stage 2: bike to the west la farmers’ market so i can justify the chicken tamale and 5 waffles.
stage 3: carbo load before the ride home
stage 4: that northbound hill at texas and westgate is a killer – i deserve another waffle!
stage 5: hope that my high school tights still fit next week when i do it all over again.
outbound: 8.7 avg mph / 2.85 miles / 15 mins
(after walking around looking for bike racks: 10.7 / 3.05 / 20.32)
return: 10.7 avg mph / 2.87 miles / 16.03 mins
meteorologists were predicting bad storms this week and downpours yesterday. they were *way* off. it was gorgeous yesterday as we drank siphon coffee and surveyed the basketball court by our gym and drank more coffee and watched the world from la monarca’s window and finally walked down the promenade after a rich dinner at fraiche.
m says: “you know what a horrific storm is in los angeles…somebody farts and they think it’s thunder.”
on tasting table: “Chef Josiah Citrin is now serving a five-course, all-foie gras menu ($185 per person) nightly until California’s foie gras ban goes into effect on July 1.”
i’m not sure how i feel about this. that’s kind of like working kids overtime before new child labor laws go into effect. i may have to boycott melisse… i have principles.
“The rise of online tools has challenged designers’ sense of CONTROL in every discipline: the user has become a designer.” – Ellen Lupton, Thinking With Type
formosa martini
singapore sling
fujian cure
tea leaf salad
chicken pops
eggplant
whole branzino (thai style)
black rice (minus the sausage)
chiang mai noodles
complimentary dessert (what?!? who does that?!? sang yoon, evidently)
i am making bread today. it has been nearly a year since the last time i made bread. the water, the dough, the folding, the measuring, the setting of the timer. i really enjoy making bread, but perhaps i just enjoy the measuring and setting of the timer. :)
i’m reading meggs’ history of graphic design and am quite enjoying the primer. today, i came across this passage: “Even as a boy in Bloomington, Illinois, Frederic Goudy had a passionate love of letterforms. He later recalled cutting over three thousand letters from colored paper and turning the walls of the church he attended into a multicolored environment of Biblical passages.” awesome.
you know when you’re traveling and rain suddenly stops or starts? that’s what it was like today but with cold air.
when i left the house on my bike, it was overcast, windy and cold. i instantly regretted not wearing my helmet liner and more clothes. as soon as i reached 13th and san vicente, all i saw was blue sky and the ambient air was significantly warmer. on my return home, around 18th st, it became chilly again and all i saw was an overcast sky. boom! cold again!
don’t tell anyone, but i’m starting to think that santa monica is too cold for me. i’m thinking of moving inland. (shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone. and *whatever* you do, don’t. tell. m.)
10.65 miles / 47.55 minutes / 13.2 mph avg