Category Archives: food
2020 RVA Open 1/19/2020
The Solid Sundays keep on rolling.
Last weekend I competed in the 2020 RVA Open, a weightlifting meet here in town. I was trying to get a competition total of 179kg, which would qualify me for competition at the 2020 American Open Series, which starts in March at The Arnold. I went a couple of years ago and it was a good time.
Here’s my last lift of the RVA Open:
This 105kg clean and jerk was a PR for me and secured a meet total of 183kg, more than enough to qualify for the Arnold.
As always, I have to give tremendous credit to my coaches, Chris and Maddie from The Weight Room (the best gym in RVA).
I copped this sweet medal:
Got a photo with these class gentlemen from my session:
And then rolled over to Banditos for food and cold ones with my family:
Like I said, solid.
Recording cocktail 1/14/2020
I went with a Man O’ War cocktail for last night’s podcast recording.
4 ounces good-quality bourbon or your favorite rye whiskey
2 ounces Cointreau or other orange liqueur
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Brandied cherries or lemon peel for garnish
This recipe makes two cocktails. Everything in a shaker and strained into a rocks glass. The tart/sweet balance is well done. I would have this again.
Friendsmas 2019 with my weightlifting friends
I’ve been a member at The Weight Room for over 5 years now. It’s been a great place for me because I like the lifting, but more than that, I like the people and community. I’m making a concerted effort to try to hang with those people in a social way when the opportunity arises.
So I sure as hell wasn’t going to pass on a Friendsmas with this guy.
Half-assed Shooter’s Sandwich
I bought a sourdough starter this month and I’m trying different things with the loaves. High on my list was a Shooter’s Sandwich. I’d made one before but it looks like that was before this install of WordPress, so I can’t link the post. I really do need to go get the old Movable Type posts and get them imported here (or somewhere).
I’m calling this iteration of the Sandwich “half-assed” because I didn’t grill up some steaks or sautee a bunch of mushrooms and onions for it. I used some leftover pot roast, American cheese and roasted turkey from the deli counter, and a few generous spoonfuls of muffuletta olive spread. It should be a fine sandwich, even if it’s not up to the Edwardian original.
It’s a precarious stack, but you really do need a lot of pressure to get things good and squished.
I wasn’t kidding about the precariousness and I was punished for my hubris. This scared the crap out of us when it toppled. The dumbbell hit the table, rolled off, and then hit the floor and rolled some more. It was a near-disaster.
First cut seems to suggest that the squishing was successful. The real test will be at lunch. My only real concern is about whether or not I should have gotten some mayo or mustard in there.
I was right, this one needed some mayo. Partly because the loaf was a few days too old, and partly because the muffuletta spread didn’t bring enough oil to the sandwich.
I can make this again, better. I still want to be able to do it with just cold cuts, which means a solid mayo application with a healthy dose of spicy brown mustard. I bet it would work as a club, with turkey and bacon and ham. Once I get the cold cut version down, I’ll take another swing with some steaks.
Guerrilla Filtering
This is what happens when an afternoon nap runs long and you miss the window to get to the coffee shop.
I am happy to report that a Bounty Select-A-Size folded into the Chemex cone shape was an effective filter.
It all worked out okay in the end. Thanks for your concern.
Sunday dinner
Made another great meatloaf this weekend. 2.25 pounds, half beef (50/50 chuck and sirloin) and then ~quarter pounds of pork, chicken, lamb, and turkey.
Also have minced onion/parsley/garlic/carrot(!) with the standard bread crumbs and grated parmesan.
Also enjoyed these great beers. I’ve been losing my taste for IPAs lately, but the 10% jam from Equilibrium was impossibly well-balance for all the booze. I’m sure having it with dinner helped the cause, but I really liked it.
The (thankfully) smaller in size and ABV beer from Maine Beer Company was a perfect after dinner glass. It was borderline refreshing after the Big Dinner Beer.
Our Cuisinart Kettle
This electric kettle is one of the smartest purchases we’ve made as a family. For real.
I was electric kettle shopping 5 years ago because I kept burning stovetop kettles by forgetting that I had put them on. Like, I would put on a kettle and then see a neighbor in the street and go chat for half an hour, only to come back to an empty, dry, glowing hot kettle on our electric range. Not good.
So I went to the Wirecutter, like a proper Interneter, and bought their top pick. It was the Cuisinart CPK-17. It has pre-programmed buttons from 160 degrees through boiling so you don’t have to pay much attention when you put water on for, say, a green tea (170 degrees) or a pot of pour-over coffee (200 degrees) or a packet of instant oatmeal (boiling, baby!). We’ve had this thing for 5+ years, I use it twice a day (tea for kids and coffee for me), and we’ve never had any trouble with it. The numbers on the buttons are mostly worn off, but the element inside keeps making the water very hot.
It’s also comforting to my min/maxers heart to learn that this is still the Wirecutter’s pick for best electric kettle.
I’m a smart shopper sometimes.
No Offseason
Stay stoked throughout the @MLB playoffs and beyond. #NoOffseason pic.twitter.com/QaaH44krSD
— Kingsford Charcoal (@Kingsford) September 26, 2018