Elkit in Wonderland

Ice Cream Girl

I bought an ice cream maker, and last night was its christening. It's pretty simple, just takes a little time - you freeze the bowl for at least a day, then you combine all the ingredients in the frozen bowl, let the machine do its thing for about 20, 25 minutes, and then you store the freshly made ice cream in the freezer for another 1-2 hours. What better to do in that time that prepare and eat dinner, I thought, so that's what we did.

I roasted a chicken, beer-can style. Sliced one of Sherri's fine Meyer lemons very thin and stuffed the slices under the chicken's skin. Rubbed it with salt and pepper, sat it on the beer can, and put it in the oven. Anna had a flat of portobello mushrooms, which she stuffed with sausage, onion, parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs, and baked in the oven. We had a salad of arugula, tomatoes, and cucumber on the side, and forgot all about the baguette and the potatoes.

My first attempt at ice cream turned out well. I figured I ought to start with plain vanilla, and used the recipe in the ice cream maker manual/recipe booklet:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• (I added: seeds from one vanilla bean)

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn the machine on, about 20 to 25 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

A fine meal and great time was had by all. For my next trick: strawberry ice cream.

On The Road To Find Out (21, 22/52)

Still on an Elmore Leonard roll, preparing for his new novel, Road Dogs. After finishing Riding the Rap, it was on to LaBrava and Cat Chaser. (Road Dogs puts a character from LaBrava in the center of the Road Dogs story.) I didn't remember how LaBrava ended from reading it three years ago, so I got myself another copy cheaply through paperbackswap.com for a re-read. And Cat Chaser just because it was also available, and I really liked the audiobook when I listened to that a couple of years ago.

So I read LaBrava, paying special attention to Cundo Rey, because he's the guy who will reappear in Road Dogs - only he ends up dead at the end of LaBrava. Ooooooh. Kaaaaaay. Let's see how Leonard will resolve that in the subsequent story. He's a smart writer; I'm sure he'll make it worth my while.

Anyway, I had a good time with both of these, and feel well prepared for the Road Dogs now. Take me there!

Inspirational Brother

Monday Music for you: George Michael and "Freeek", ending Gay Pride Month with a good dance workout. Turn it up!

Strange Overtones In The Music You Are Playing (9/2009)

Saw The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. I like both actors, and the film was cute, and just as preposterous as I expected from a romantic comedy. I enjoyed it well enough, and I wholeheartedly agree with Ealasaid - with her official review as well as with her rant about stupid romantic comedies. 

Go read those; she's a much more articulate writer than I am.

And I'm Searching For a Heart

Chris Messina tweets, "Oh sigh. Apparently my mom doesn't know what a browser is either. I have failed. (re: http://tr.im/browser_omg)"

What is a browser? was the question we (Google) asked over 50 passersby of different ages and backgrounds in the Times Square in New York. Watch the many responses people came up with.

A lot of people answered the "what is a browser?" question saying it was a search engine, or just even, "Google". But you know, unless you work in the techno-world, is that really such a wrong answer? For all your intents and purposes, your browser is how you find things online. If you don't look closely, it is not easily distinguished from a search engine.

Push It! Push It Real Good!

I work out with a personal trainer once a week. She puts me through my paces in circuit training - three rounds of six exercises each, using the props in our gym: hand weights, a step bench, a stability ball, resistance bands, and all that good stuff.

She's off on vacation next week, and then I have two weeks of vacation in July, but I don't want to lose all my hard-earned muscle tone, so I just asked her for homework that I can do without props at home or in a hotel room. Here's what she said (posting it here so I can access it from anywhere, because I will not be away from the interwebs):

For homework I would like you to walk 20 minutes (at least) each day come rain or shine - i don't mind where or when. Walk up all possible stairs also, and do 1 set of 10 calf raises each time you hit some stairs. (5 stairs minimum) no calf raises into Macys!!

In your room:

1. Lunges forwards sideways and backwards x 12 reps (2 rounds) (quads and cardio)
2. On all fours knee to elbow ( does back - upper and lower, butt, abs) x 10
3. bridge with 10 raises one leg raise 10 secs then other leg (butt and hams)
4. 12 Push ups man style (triceps and chest)
5. Plank with 1 leg raised for 30 secs and other leg other 30 secs - no cheating! (abs and whole body)
6. 1 Leg raised off floor or bed or ball, and lift bag of sugar 10 times repeat other side. (biceps, hip flexors, abs)

P.S.: for added variety, some more body weight exercises, like scissor kicks, sit-ups, boat pose, etc. Lots of photos that illustrate the exercises well.

And for stretches, let me try that quad stretch lying down. And here are some more lower body stretches, and some total body stretches.

Stand Up And Fight For Your Rights

Roger Cohen, from Tehran:

I looked up through the smoke and saw a poster of the stern visage of Khomeini above the words, “Islam is the religion of freedom.”

Speaking of that, here's Monday Music for you: The Tom Robinson Band with what's still one of the finest fighting songs, Power in the Darkness [click that link to listen to the song]. It talks of England, but it works just as well for what's going on with the government crackdown on protesters in Iran:

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

(Voice from The Other Side:) "Today, institutions fundamental to the British system of Government are under attack: the public schools, the house of Lords, the Church of England, the holy institution of Marriage, even our magnificent police force are no longer safe from those who would undermine our society, and it's about time we said 'enough is enough' and saw a return to the traditional British values of discipline, obedience, morality and FREEDOM.

Freedom from the reds and the blacks and the criminals
Prostitutes, pansies and punks
Football hooligans, juvenile delinquents
Lesbians and left wing scum
Freedom from the niggers and the Pakis and the unions
Freedom from the Gipsies and the Jews
Freedom from leftwing layabouts and liberals
Freedom from the likes of YOU!"

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

Green

Gone to Earth

The Raised Bed, originally uploaded by elkit.

The radishes are already poking their little leaves out of the soil. Squeee! Everything else is freshly mulched, and smells like chocolate.

Here's the whole spiel, updated:

Early Girl (early season)	German Red Strawberry (Oxheart)	Mexico (beefsteak)	Isis Candy (bicolor cherry)
Anna Russian (oxheart)	large lemon cuke	small lemon cuke	Stupice (early season)
basil	radishes!		arugula

Burning Down The House

It's June 20th. Which means it's the summer solstice, and it's also the beginning of Discardia, and the beginning of the second "Eat down the Fridge" challenge. And the day I picked to go back to low-carb eating, so I'll try to eat down all the low-carb friendly foods in the freezer, fridge and pantry, and ignore the sugary stuff until another time.

We'll see how I do on the no-shopping part of the Eating down the Fridge challenge. It bodes well to look at a list of foods that I am determined to eat this week: in the freezer, cooked shrimp, chicken breasts, teriyaki chicken strips, bacon, and three sets of sausages. Edamame, peas, roasted chestnuts, a four-veg mix, an organic greens mix, and chopped spinach. In the fridge, an avocado, two bell peppers, a bag of mâche, half a bag of arugula, 3 eight-ball squashes, a watermelon which I may ignore for its sugary sweetness, and two handfuls of cherry tomatoes. Several cheeses, blocks and grated, 10 eggs, a pack of smoked salmon, a pack and a half of prosciutto, a salami, a kielbasa, and an opened can of tuna. Oh, and two small cartons of whipping cream. In the pantry, chicken, veggie and beef broth, and beef jerky. A jar of pickles, a can of black beans, a can of tuna, a can of salmon, and a jar of pickled yellow and red bell peppers.

Oh, and I just made a batch of egg muffins for breakfast for the week ahead, and I have about a cup of chopped and sauteed veggies to add to my salad later - bell peppers, mushrooms, and eight-ball squash.

That should do me nicely, don't you think?