Bento box for April 18, 2012. Rice with shichimi togarashi and white sesame seeds, edamame and cherry tomatoes, salad, mini babybels, chicken and soy sauce-sesame-rice vinegar dressing for the rice.
Bento box for April 16, 2012. Leftover sushi rice with shichimi togarashi and white sesame seeds, edamame and cherry tomatoes, salad, mini babybels, and chicken to put on the rice.
Bento box for April 13, 2012. Leftover pasta + sesame-rice vinegar dressing, edamame, salad, carrot sticks, and a couple babybels.
Apr
19
2012
As some of you may know, Virginia and I recently travelled to Japan, and we decided to bring back some bento boxes. I’ve set up a new tumblr to document the boxes we make, as well as anything bento-related that strikes our fancy.
Check it out at http://avalonbento.tumblr.com!
Mar
7
2012
This was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received about the use of a Jo in Aikido, and it came over this past weekend at a seminar lead by Claude Berthiaume Sensei and hosted by The Aikido Institute of Newfoundland.
It’s been about a year since I last attended an Aikido seminar (I was unwell when Yumi Nakamura Sensei visited MUN Aikido), so I knew that it would be a taxing weekend. While I was certainly tired by the end of the seminar, it was the best kind of tired – one that left me with a feeling of harmony with my own body.
On the first day, I think the most challenging thing for me was actually the warm-up. I’m not in the best shape, and Sensei had us doing push-ups and crunches early on. It felt like I was the loudest person on the mats, especially as we got to the end of the second set of crunches. Most of the taisabaki (standing techniques) were techniques executed from Shihonage. It wasn’t always easy, because there are differences in how CAF (Canadian Aikido Federation) and USAF (United States Aikido Federation) start shihonage – CAF executes the attack from the hand that is on the same side as the forward foot, whereas USAF normally executes the attack from the same side as the back foot while stepping that back foot forward. Clear as mud, right? All told, we did this about 3 and a half hours, then practiced Jo kata (both single and paired practice) for about an hour.
The second day started off with taisabaki from Ryote dori (the attacker grabs both wrists). We worked through Shihonage (four direction throw), Kotegaeshi (forearm return), and Iriminage (entering throw). I struggled with these quite a bit – it was like my brain had gone on vacation without me! Sensei was kind enough to come over and give me quite a bit of assistance with all three techniques- I guess it was pretty obvious that I was struggling. At the end, we tried something I’ve never done before – executing all 3 techniques in succession with a single attacker. Basically, the idea is that you execute a technique, hanging on to the attacker as they get up, and then execute the next technique to return them to the mat. It was pretty intense, but the three techniques finally started to work and I felt that familiar “flowing” that seems to materialize when a technique is executed correctly. We ended off with an hour of Jo kata, which is when Berthiaume Sensei gave us the excellent advice.
There’s another aikido seminar this coming weekend, with Donovan Waite Sensei, which I expect will be quite enlightening as well.
Jan
3
2012
Wow, 2011 was quite a year! Virginia and I closed on a house, travelled to Boston, and hosted several parties. Along the way, I grew a batch of garlic (despite terribly wet weather), a small crop of potatoes (which did ok despite my neglect), and went to a few Aikido seminars.
Much like Virginia, I’m not really in to resolutions. Goals are good, as long as they’re positive (ie. no guilt-driven goal setting). Here’s a review of my goals for 2011:
Read the rest of this entry »
Sep
19
2011
For those of you who have seen me after I haven’t shaved for a few days, you’ll know that I look quite silly with facial hair. In the interest of helping out Prostate Cancer Canada, I’ve decided to make myself look progressively more silly by growing a moustache for the month of November. Please check out my Movember page, and if you could spare a few dollars, I’d really appreciate it!
P.S. If you can’t spare any money, why not sign up yourself?
P.P.S. Guys, talk to your doctor about your risks for Prostate Cancer. Seriously. Do it. Now.
Aug
26
2011
Photo 
by mcclanahoochie
A couple of years ago, some co-workers and I were out for lunch, and someone asked me if I preferred Star Trek or Star Wars. I said “Both”, and then proceeded to hear from everyone else about how I had to choose one or the other.
This conversation has been on my mind lately, because I keep seeing the same issue over and over again. People are faced with decisions that are presented to them as binary all the time: Coke or Pepsi, Windows or Linux (or Windows or OS X), Left-Wing or Right-Wing. The problem I have is that the vast majority of these binary decisions (ie. you have to choose one or the other) is a load of crap.
More often than not, those that are presenting these decisions are advocating for their preference, and are trying to simplify the decision – you’re with us or against us. But what about other options? Going back to the conversation I had, I DO like both Star Trek and Star Wars – I appreciate that they are two different approaches to the same idea – looking at the human condition. That being said, there are those who prefer one approach or the other, those who disdain both attempts at storytelling but enjoy other Science Fiction stories, and yet others who disdain Science Fiction altogether.
While the Star Wars/Star Trek analogy may seem a bit silly, it illustrates that one CAN choose one or the other, but that choosing something other than one or the other is a perfectly valid option. This idea also hearkens back to Aikido, which teaches that self-defense does not have to mean the destruction of the person attacking you, and that there are other ways to deal with aggression.
The next time someone presents you with a one-or-the-other kind of decision, take a step back and ask yourself “what would happen if I chose something else?”
Cross posted from MyFolia journal
I’ve just started a weekly posting at a blog run by my local Food Security movement. The blog is called Root Cellars Rock, and my series is called “Pioneering in Paradise”. My wife came up with the name for the column, as I had struggled for weeks to come up with a catchy name for weekly blog posts about growing and eating locally.
If you’d like to check out my first post, go to Root Cellars Rock
Jan
18
2011
Warning: Introspective post
30. The big Three-Oh. Seems like a lot of people dread the coming of this particular milestone, and I suppose I understand why: your 20s are supposed to be the time you break out, do great things, make your mark, etc. I admit, I had a bit of a freak-out about 30, oddly enough when I was about to turn 28. It only lasted about a day or two, and it was so irrational that I stopped for a moment and realized “hey, it’s just a number. Plus, I’ve done all sorts of awesome stuff, but there’s still plenty more for me to do, so why sweat it?”
As I approach the beginning of my third decade on the third rock from our sun, my perspective hasn’t changed. My 20s started out a bit rough, but in total would be the most awesome decade yet for me. I figure, as long as I keep my wits about me, and stay true to myself, my 30s will probably kick even more ass on balance!
This isn’t to say bad things won’t happen – I have no doubt that they will. Life can’t be sunny all the time, but I think I’m better prepared to meet the challenges of my 30s than I was my 20s. Plus, I’ve got way too many fun things to do to get bogged down in worrying about a number, and a somewhat arbitrary milestone!
Dec
20
2010
2011 is fast approaching, so I thought I’d take a look at what I had hoped to get done in 2010:
2011 is shaping up to be another busy and exciting year. Bring it on!
Nov
26
2010
On the advice of my brewing guru, Phil, I added another 4 L of juice to my batch of cider. After some conversations with him, I realized that I made a mistake when doubling the original batch – I added twice the sugar called for! On the surface, this might not seem like a sensible idea, but when it comes to sugar, yeast, and alcohol, not everything is as it might seem. By adding double the sugar, I ended up setting myself up for a much more alcoholic cider than I had intended, since the yeast feeds on whatever sugar is there.
About 8 days after adding the 4 L of juice, the airlock had nearly stopped bubbling, so I took hydrometer readings. Turns out, my cider came out around 14%, when the recipe aims for 7%. However, based on taste tests of the samples, I decided to bottle soon. Perhaps fortunately, I came down with a cold around the time I had planned to bottle, which meant that the yeast had time to settle in the bottom of the carboy. By the time I got to bottling, the cider was actually very clear – no clarifying agent required!
I asked my friend Steve to assist with the bottling, and his Dad was kind enough to loan me a bit of hardware and some sterilizing solution. I added about a cup of apple juice to the carboy, with a packet of demerara sugar dissolved in it, to provide a littke bit of secondary fermentation. We expected the bottling process to take a long time, but managed to bottle 24 regular sized beer bottles and 4 1L bottles in less than an hour. So, the batch produced about 12 L of STRONG cider in 32 days, and cost less than $20 for the ingredients. Not a bad return on investment!
So far, no carbonation seems to have happened. I’ve cracked open a couple of bottles so far for family, and the general consensus is that it’s definitely tasty. I’m glad that I was delayed in bottling, as I think it helped both the clarity and taste. I’ve also given away 2 of the 1L bottles, as well as 4 of the beer bottles, and suggested that they not open it until at least Christmas, to make sure it has a chance to carbonate a little. Not sure if it’ll actually happen, but here’s hoping!
For my next batch, I think I’ll go half-and-half with Macintosh juice and Golden Delicious juice, as the one thing I don’t really have in this batch is bite. I also think that a larger batch is in order. Since Virginia and I are in the process of buying a house, I may hold off until after we move to get this batch rolling. I’m also going to do a larger batch – the carboy wasn’t nearly at capacity, but I wanted to avoid too much dissapointment if the first batch failed, but since it’s been such a resounding success, I think it’s time to ramp things up.
Nov
4
2010
Cross posted from MyFolia journal
Things have been fairly quiet on the planting front – getting settled in to our new jobs and all has been keeping us pretty busy. However, when I heard that there would be a conference on organic farming here in St. John’s, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity! (The conference was from Oct. 22-24, 2010)
Friday night was a dinner, social, and panel discussion. The meal was pretty much all local to the Avalon peninsula (that’s the chunk of Newfoundland that St. John’s sits on), tasty, and beautifully presented. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was quite hungry when the main course came out. I sat with several local farmers, including one of the proprietors of Growdat Farms, on the Northern Peninsula. I enjoyed the panel discussion, though a lot of the “questions” were more statements directed at the panel member representing the AgriFoods department from the province, and a lot of those statements boiled down to “you need to do more.” While I definitely understand their position, I have to say that the department here does a pretty good job of making the programs clear and accessible. I haven’t applied to any, so I can’t speak to the quality of the bureaucracy, but I think that the government is heading in the right direction.
Saturday was primarily focused on in-room sessions. I heard a lot of interesting speakers, but I think the real value for me was the discussions I had with people outside the sessions. In particular, I had a very interesting chat with Wayne Roberts, one of the special guests and author of The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food. He had some very interesting ideas, some of which I’ll write about later.
The best part for me was Sunday: on-farm sessions. I got a chance to see first-hand how these farms are run, and listen to some people with a LOT more experience share ideas. It got me thinking, there’s so much knowledge stored in the heads of local farmers here, and a lot of them seem willing to share at least some of it…there’s got to be a way of cataloging it, to help the younger generation. In particular, those who don’t come from an agricultural background could really benefit from what they’ve learned.
Back at my garden, I haven’t planted the garlic yet, as it’s been unseasonably warm, and I don’t want them to get too far along before the cold comes. I did obtain a couple of new additions to my gardening efforts: a couple packets of locally-raised Kale seeds, and a tri-colour pepper plant in a pot. I’ve been told the peppers from this plant are quite hot, so I’m looking forward to harvesting a couple to try.
9th sphere website design |
