i purposely drove in the middle lane of wilshire today so that i wouldn’t turn onto gayley. it actually felt weird to pull up to the traffic light at westwood. gayley is the new 405.
Category Archives: posts by j
amen!
posted by our friend “rogue” on facebook: “OK SO Charlie Sheen can make a “porn family”, Kelsey Grammer can end a 15 year marriage over the phone, Larry King & Liz Taylor can be on divorce 9, Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage, Jesse James and Tiger Woods, whilst married, were having sex with EVERYONE. Yet, same-sex marriage will destroy the institution of marriage? Really?
Tweet sunlight
I just left the house at 1830 and the sun was still above the horizon. Daylight savings time took me by surprise this year. I knew the sun had started setting later and my mood got better about 2 weeks ago, but sunlight at 1830 in march?!? What will the summer equinox be like?
Bike log: day 6
This post should actually be titled “from hip to heart.” now that i’m a bit more confident and comfortable on my bike, i’ve decided i should push myself a bit harder. You know, burning legs, heart throbbing, heavy breathing, sweating. I’m still talking about biking, what were you thinking about? Today, I biked 8.61 miles for 41.5 minutes and maintained an average speed of 12.3 mph. Then i came home and did my strength exercises. Tomorrow will tell me how i feel. Btw, i mistook my gearing in a previous post. I wasn’t in the third easiest gear. I was in the third easiest gear with the chain on the smallest front cog. I have never quite understood gearing (granted, i’ve never really taken the time to understand it), but i can assure you, this is about middle of the road for difficulty. Not that it really matters, my body went the speed it wanted to; it just so happens it was harder than i thought. Last but not least, i wore my new helmet liner on my ride today coupled with a long-sleeve jersey and bike shorts. I was a bit hot in the sun and a bit chilly in the shade/ wind but the liner was perfect. My ears stayed warm and i think it kept me from getting too cold. Remind me not to give these away the next time we move…
tweet goodness
i just inhaled an amandine choux pastry so quickly that i didn’t truly appreciate its greatness. all that cream. not too sweet. the little vanilla bean dots flecked throughout that pale yellow creamy goodness. but no worries. there’s another one in the fridge. even after sitting outside in the sun all morning at will rogers state park, they are delicious.
Gas
Today the price of gas is $3.859 at costco. According to my GPS, it cost me $1.50 to get home and another $1.50 to drive to westwood. Interestingly, i was stopped for 1/4 of the time it took me to drive from costco to home. The drive to westwood slowed me down so much that i averaged being stopped for one-third of the time. Looks like it would be better to drive to costco every day than to westwood even though the trip is 1.2 miles longer.
Tweet rant
People! When you park a shopping cart in a space designated for a car, you decrease the number of cars that can park at costco. Not to mention, it’s just plain rude and disrespectful. The world revolves around me, too! Sheesh…
Bike log: day 4
What a sunny warm day! I was so excited that i put the wheel on in reverse so the sensor didn’t log my trip.
bike log: day 3a and 3b
yesterday, m and i headed out on a bike ride together. no rain this time. sadly, we didn’t have our warm fuzzy helmet liners yet so we had ears that weren’t warm and fuzzy (we have them now! let’s go biking!). despite this, we biked a lovely loop to 6th street and back, circling once at 6th street to make sure someone was safe in their car. trip: 20.23 minutes / 7 mph average speed / 2.47 miles
today, i not only biked my loop but i also ran some errands. i picked up some fish from the market and quarters from the bank. just like old times. as you can see from my trip, i biked a bit faster and went a bit farther, even with walking my bike to cross the street a couple of times. trip: 32.51 minutes / 9.3 mph average speed / 5.10 miles
salmon takikomi gohan
i made salmon takikomi gohan tonight. it didn’t look quite like the dish at yabu, but i enjoyed the salmon immensely. i soaked kelp in water to make a broth then added soy sauce, rice, mirin and topped the bowl with seared salmon. the rice cooker did the rest. m sauteed the komatsuna and enoki mushrooms. i chopped some scallions. we piled all of it on our heaping bowls of salmon takikomi gohan. umami!
Serves: 3-4 Prep Time: 1 hour Cooking Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- 3 Cups of Japanese (short grain) Rice
- 3 Tablespoons of Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
- (see mirin below) 2 Tablespoons of Cooking Sake
- (see mirin below) 1 Tablespoon of Sugar
- (substitute cooking sake and sugar) 3 tablespoons of Mirin (Sweet Cooking Sake)
- 1 3″ x 3″ sheet of Hoshi-Konbu (dried kelp)
- 1 (or 2) Kirimi (cut) of Salmon
A cup of rice is measured using the measuring cup in the rice cooker. The water should be done in the same way. Imperial cups are much larger than the rice measuring cups.
A kirimi is a cut of salmon approximately the thickness of the forefinger and the middlefinger.
Take a bowl large enough to fit the sheet of kelp in. This may be the rice cooker bowl or the pot. Cut the sheet to fit if neccesary. Fill the bowl with 3 cups of water, the same amount the rice will be cooked in. Let the kelp be submersed. Let stand for 30 minutes. This will make the stock, and soften the kelp. DO NOT DISCARD WATER/STOCK.
Use a pair of scissors or a knife to slice the kelp into thin strips as thin as you have patience for, approximately 1″ long. Return kelp into the stock.
Wash the rice to be cooked. For questions on how to cook Japanese rice, refer to the Rice (Japanese) entry. Drain water from rice. Place rice into the cooking container, add kelp and soupstock. Add in soy sauce, cooking sake, and sugar. Mix thoroughly, using your hand to ensure an even mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes while doing the next step.
Grill the salmon at high heat to sear the surface. Cook only enough to color the surface and make it crispy. Alternately, use a frying pan to sear the surface of the salmon. Ideally, use no oil. The salmon need not be thoroughly be cooked. This step is intended to add texture to the salmon, and bring out some of its scent.
Place cooked salmon on top of rice. It needs only to sit on the top. Cover, and begin the cooking cycle on the rice cooker. No time modification needs to be made on an electric cooker.
When cooker is finished, let stand for 5-10 minutes. Take the Shamoji (rice paddle) and use the edge to “cut” the salmon into the rice. Break apart the salmon (steamed, it should do so readily) as you mix it throroughly. Do NOT use the flat side to squish the rice and turn it into a featureless mush.
salmon steams on top
mix it up!
final product with enoki, komatsuna, and green onion
side of king trumpet mushrooms