Training Log Archive: Yukon King

Snow!!
today we are going on a mom-&-daughter walk w/ Shelly.
have been considering lent next week - thought about sugar, thought about caffeine, then suddenly I thought I'd just do a classic no-meat-or-fowl Lent - and this way we can support this new fishmonger down the hill - just think, a fishmonger in this day of superstores....so I got out my SeaChoice list, looked at the number of lenten days not covered by tofu, beans, vegan pastas, & so on, and now I have a nice list of fish to discuss w/ them. Hope it works out. (Not utterly sure this constitutes a true abstinence, as in fact setting this challenge has enriched my life, maybe add a bit of daily thought or self-education about hunger/poverty?)

Sun!!

C • jfrommes suggestion about f... 2

fun walk W/ Shelly & Su-Jane & teeny Casper in the sun, over to the park & then back thru the Cortina area. Feet a lil sore from the two days in a row, but OK...

morning walk cuz D has early class. Met Tischa (she doesn't play), played w/ Coley, the Lab Twins, Happy, and twice w/ Freckles. Saw the golden crowned kinglets - they seem to forage much lower & slower in the mornings. Lotsa snow-digging, rolled in at least two excellently disgusting things. good time was had by all...

kofta was simply Disgusting to make (I am not a huge carnivore), pretty clearly very fatty, but pretty darn tasty - D like the veg version, I liked the spice version...meet in the middle?

downtown on the train - banking, tea w/ Steve. Bought cookbook - attracted like moth to flame - bright pink, entitled Cook This - Recipes for the Goodtime Girl, & 80% off (cant beat a $5 cookbook). Feel great, sunny, credit thang appears to be corralled.

afternoon walk, sunshine, played w/ Happy, Coby & Neo. A bit tired, not too bad. tea time, Disc Drive on CBC....

there are two recipes in the Potato Book for kofta (greek food? balls of lamb) so I've decided to make them both to taste-test against each other - one on the raisins-nuts-cinnamon axis, the other bulgur-veg-herbs, two different sauces (mint yogurt, & tomato-onion).

aaaa-aaahh!! got back from our walk (which was great, played w/ a puggle named Winsey, & Yolick from our bldg, & rescued several old rotting muffins from being buried in an avalanche) & got a msg from the credit card fraud squad - aaaahhh! someone harvested or synthesized my number, I think - classic gas-station trials, segue to Kmart, 7-11, pop clothing, on-line stuff... gah! But CIBC computers ID'ed the pattern pretty quick, & they've cancelled the card & they SAY they'll send me the transactions to sign off on & then I won't be charged....we'll see if that works out that nice... I hafta figure out if it was JUST this card, & it WAS just a number harvest/synthesis... how do I figure that out ? what else should I check? hmmmm.... time for some tea, definitely!

yay! its still snowing. G exhausted from AM walk. Cardamon-scented cafe au lait after watching Jagge's finnish runners on RG, very exciting! Have decided to celebrate our virtual Prius (NYTimes, Thx, R) by converting a beef recipe (onions, hoisin sauce etc, green peppers) to tofu, yum!

after donning Smartwools, Rockports, & Yaktrax (nothing like Branded Equipment to set an arthritic girl up for a trot in the snow!) we go out into the rain which is making for a serious slush-trudge, we both got pretty soggy. Down to parkway & across. terrorized two batches snow monkeys, barked at a snowman, played very nicely w/ tiny Casper the Yorkie puppy.
BENCHMARK - noticed yesterday & today that I came home tired, not hurting. track this. may be significant. Also, today was intensity two.
Time for tea.

C • Molasses??? 2

it's snowing !!! G's mom Shelly came over and visited last night... it was a whale of a success socially...

Gypsy: oooh!!!!! hi! yer a dog! I love dogs! welcome to my apartment!
Shelly: Grrrrrr....ggrrrrgrrr....this is MY apartment.
Gypsy: uh, OK.... wanna play?
Shelly: Grrrrrrr. grrrr...
Gypsy: uh, OK. I'll go over here. Lemme know if you wanna play.
Shelly: ggggrrrrrrr.....

G is such a nice, hopeful little dog...

out into the snow, about 8 inches out there, played w/ a white mop-dog w/ snowballs hanging off her all over, watched the attack mini-poodle brigade go by, then snorted & flailed our way down the bikepath, thru the woods to the midsection of stairmaster & back along parkway to bikepath to retrace our steps. Snow like lace on the forest, trunks of cedars looked like cinnamon sticks. ooh, it was nice!!!

C • Does G like the snow? 3

C • mmm, sometimes i find your ... 2

evening walk as well, snow still gorgeous, met Shelly who is even more disgusted than previously by her bouncey-hopeful progeny...

on the drive up Whidbey we stopped at Greenbank Farm for some nice quiches for lunch, a great latte, some OK cherry pie...then a fabulous dogwalk/gallop in their gigantic off-leash area; I peeled off presently & scouted the cheeses & the loganberry products (bought jelly & some wine, so fab retro to make wine out of BERRIES - if they had elderberry or dandelion I swear I'd have bought that too. It made me feel like a hobbit, all sort of turn-of-the-century british countryside...)

took G-dog out for afternoon walk along the super-pretty sea-side park below the bluff upon which Langley is situated - out, along the low-tide beach (rotting fish-heads, YUM!!!) , and back, along the very cute skinny grassy park. Then wandered the village for lunch & a bit of sightseeing. THEN... dinner at the Inn....
foie gras mousseline (reminded me of...butter, YUM!) in a wine-poached date crusted w/ lovely almond slivers for an amuse bouche, nice slightly
clove-scented butternut squash soup w/ bits of soft pear floating, slow-roasted salmon and local mussels on a bed of fennel, leek, & artichoke bits that had basically been softened in a broth/butter/cream mix... venison accompanied by shredded brussels spouts subjected to treatment similar to above vegies, & a pile of sweet potato fragments that had been finely chopped & then briefly roasted w/ some savory
yumminess on it, a cheese that was like a brie w/ candied ginger (this was the only teeny non-sequitur in my opinion, a bit too powerful, but I love ginger so I wolfed it down anyhow) & grapes that had been
very briefly roasted in butter (hmmm... Ok, says I, grapes? butter? yum!) and finally a nice vanilla pannacotta in a fab tart/sweet huckleberry compote, perfect contrast. Oh, & then locally made choc. truffles,
two of which apparently involved chile & curry (& gold foil) but to me they were just insanely perfect chocolate richnesses...
wow...