Oakland has some pretty good drinks. A few that I really like:
Haven’t really tried Numi tea, another Oakland company. We want to but just haven’t pulled the trigger we have so much tea in the house. I get tea from Teance in Berkeley, their ba bao chao and pu-erh teas and we also get tea from Republic of Tea, Ginseng peppermint and several other kinds. We’ve got a lot of tea. We’ll try Numi eventually.
I ran the Oakland Marathon last Sunday and I had a few notes:
- What a great event! A challenging “warts and all” route through Oakland — from City Hall to Rockridge to Montclair to the Mormon Temple to International Boulevard to Jack London Square to West Oakland to Lake Merritt and back to City Hall.
- Great crowd throughout the whole course. Very “homey/welcome” feeling, not like running the San Francisco marathon.
- There was no rain despite the threat of rain, it was pretty good running conditions. Hoping next year will be the same.
- I used the day as a “training day” if that makes any sense. I was strong through 20 miles, slowed down a little bit for the next two, and then put it into recovery mode. Starting a marathon on tired legs is definitely an interesting feeling.
- A marathon is still a marathon. I was hoping it was going to be easy but I was getting antsy around mile 17.
- The event was well run, some areas could be improved but not bad for their second time around.
- The Expo the day before was a little meager. Could use some more vendors but the ones that were there were pretty good.
- The medal is nice.
- The shirt, long sleeve again, could’ve been better. Needed a better graphic design and maybe a slightly higher quality shirt.
- The massage tent could have been managed better.
I’m hoping to get more people signed up for the race. I’ll likely going to do it again next year. It was definitely a lot of fun and it’s great to have a running event like this in Oakland.
These are the sites I visit almost everyday:
- Google News, Google Finance, WSJ.com, Economist.com, SFGate.com, NYTimes.com, ESPN, News.com (I open these all at once in a Tab, and I’ve been visiting these sites for years)
- The most interesting/entertaining: Facebook, Twitter, HuffingtonPost
- New to me: Groupon (group coupons), Pandora (web radio, w/ a great music recommendation engine, Oakland company) – knew about them but was hesitant to sign up
I access Gmail via Thunderbird so only go to Gmail every once in a while to check out new features.
The other sites I visit are only through a quick scan of their feeds, i.e. Lifehacker, Engadget, All Things Digital, Oakland North, Oakland Local, etc.
Would love recommendations on other sites to check out.
Power Dessert – Tofu w/ Chia Seeds and Maple Syrup
In a cup, add the following:
- 3 tablespoons of chia seeds (after soaked in water for 10 minutes)
- 2/3 cup of silken tofu (I like Hodo Soy’s from Berkeley Bowl)
- 2 – 3 tablespoons of maple syrup (real maple syrup not pancake syrup)
That’s it. I’ve been eating this a lot lately, instead of ice cream and other desserts.
Emergency Dessert – Castella
My other go to dessert is Castella or Kasutera, a simple slight honey flavored sponge cake brought to Japan from Portugal. They have these in the freezer section of Berkeley Bowl. I like to keep it in the freezer and I like it as an emergency dessert for myself (as in if we’ve got nothing else) or in case we have guests over. It’s good with tea, coffee, morning, afternoon, late evening.
For my reference, adapted from here. Easier than I thought
- 1 lb of fresh chow mein noodles
- 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- kosher salt
- 1/2 cup chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 lb of chicken thighs sliced or small cube (or breast or shrimp or pork)
- 1/2 cup of carrots, small dice
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger (out of tube or fresh)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 scallion white and green minced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced or 1 cup of leeks
- 10 shittake mushrooms
Directions
Boil/cook the noodles, pat them dry. Heat 1/4 cup of the peanut oil in a wok. Fry the noodles until they’re fried to your liking. Transfer noodles to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside. Discard any excess oil and wipe out the pan.
Mix the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar in a small bowl, and set aside. Season the chicken with the sesame oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside.
Heat the wok over high heat. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil until very hot. Add the ginger, garlic, and scallion and stir-fry, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry, until lightly browned, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, and mushrooms and stir-fry, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Spread the ingredients to the outside of the pan to form a well in the center. Pour the chicken broth mixture into the well, bring to a boil, and stir to coat the chow mein mixture. Season generously to taste with pepper.
Transfer chicken chow mein to a warm platter and top with the fried noodles. Serve immediately with rice.
For my reference (adapted from here). Turned out to be very easy.
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 lb of chicken thighs
- 1 to 1 1/2 cup quartered potatoes
- 3/4 to 1 cup of carrots large dice
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
- 2/3 cup coconut milk or chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons of butter
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until lightly browned. Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt. Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken pieces, potatoes, carrots, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf, and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes. Finish with butter.
My race schedule for next year:
I’d like to keep the Summer and Fall open for things other than races but may consider some races depending on who’s in.
My base workout locations are: my house in North Oakland near Children’s Hospital (bike/run), Temescal Pool, Sports Basement in San Francisco (bike/run), Mike’s Bikes Sausalito (bike/run), Tam High School (swim/bike/run), Lunardi’s (bike/run).
Will also be doing some trail runs in the East Bay hills (Skyline 50k routes) and in Marin (NorthFace 50k routes).
My fitness goals for 2011 are to maintain my fitness levels from last year, drop some weight, improve my core strength and flexibility, and become a stronger runner. I’d also like to reconnect with friends/training partners and just have some fun on the road.
Parlee Z5 stock
My dream bike is a Parlee Z5 — an all carbon fiber bike that can be built as a complete bike at around 13lbs. My current bike is not heavy at a little over 17lbs and bikes for racing have to weigh at a minimum 15lbs (thankfully I don’t race). Shaving 2 to 4lbs off a bike would be really great though. I could also just eat less and lose some weight.
Anyway, for the build I’d go with the SRAM Red group with ENVE seat post, stem, and bar, Fizik seat, Look pedals, and TRP brakes. I’d also go with the Dura Ace 7850 50cm wheels because they’re carbon wheels with an alloy braking surface, otherwise would go with Lightweight or ENVE clincher wheels.
If all goes well, maybe in 2012? I could use the time to think of a nice paint job, though will probably end up with something like the first picture above — a solid blue bike.
I’m in the camp of people believing that carbon fiber is the best material for road bikes. Carbon fiber just sucks up the bumpiness in roads that it makes for really comfortable riding. I’ve ridden maybe 10,000+ miles on my road bike and can’t complain — stiff, durable, comfortable, just solid riding.
Above Category bike shop in Mill Valley is teasing me with some of their current bike builds of the Parlee. Here, here, and here.
Picture above is from Above Category. The bike is a Moots RSL titanium road bike with SRAM Red and Lightweight wheels. If I had room and money for several bikes, a Moots titanium road, cross, or mountain bike would be one of those bikes. Titanium bikes are super light, durable, strong, and they’re considered lifetime bikes. They’re just pretty looking bikes.
There are lots of other bike companies that make titanium bikes like Lynskey, Litespeed, Seven, and Serotta. These companies sometimes mix titanium and carbon fiber parts into the frame, it’s a cool but a bit frankenstein-ish for my taste. In any case, if you’re shopping for a titanium road bike, this Moots RSL is what I would get. I’d actually get a mountain bike from Moots, I prefer carbon fiber for road bikes.
