Month: October 2011 (page 1 of 6)

Shared today on Google Reader

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Shared today on Google Reader

Shared today on Google Reader:

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from The Greatest American Hero and Wonder Woman!

Happy Halloween from The Greatest American Hero and Wonder Woman!

Shared today on Google Reader

Shared today on Google Reader:

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RunningBlog: Week 43

Week 43
The work stress has relented, but my legs haven’t figured it out yet. They feel tired and creaky and worn out. My left Achilles has been bothering me a little, and my chronic right lower back issue has been flaring up. It’s annoying. I’m not doing nearly as much mileage as I was in the early part of the year, so why am I having all these issues now? Ugh. Anyway, on Saturday the Snook and I went for a long, slow 9km run around Blackwattle Bay. Monday I was feeling too crappy to go to Spudds but I did manage to walk home from work. Tuesday I went for a lunchtime run in the rain. Wednesday I walked to work and then went to a Spudds class at lunchtime. And today I did an easy solo run in the Domain by myself.

Oct. 22: 9.08km
Oct. 24: 2.70km (walking)
Oct. 25: 4.40km
Oct. 26: 2.82km (walking)
Oct. 28: 5.27km
Total this week: 18.75km (11.7mi)
Total in 2011: 931.1km (581.9mi)

To meet my (adjusted) goal of running 1100km in 2011, I should be at 909.6km. Still on track!

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Molecular Gastronomy

An Explosive Night of Molecular Gastronomy
On Monday I was idly surfing Facebook when I saw a former colleague offering some free tickets to this event:

Prepare your senses for a culinary adventure of foams, froths and frozen treats as the father of molecular gastronomy, Professor Hervé This demonstrates the science behind famous molecular gastronomy techniques. Acclaimed Sydney chef Martin Benn of Sepia restaurant will showcase his expertise in blurring the boundaries of conventional cooking in order to create extraordinary new textures and surprising taste sensations.

A cocktail reception will follow the lecture where guests will have the opportunity to sample a variety of unique molecular gastronomy concoctions.

Hello? Science + Food = WE ARE SO THERE. Plus it was being held at Sydney Uni, which is like 5 minutes walk from our house. So I contacted Simon and he was happy for us to have the tickets. We met him Tuesday night at the Great Hall and settled in for the talk.

It was – well – underwhelming. I actually think the content was probably quite good. The problem was that the acoustics in the Hall were terrible, and Prof. This has a thick French accent. Basically, we couldn’t understand 90% of what he was saying. He seemed charming though, and very excited. He played around with egg whites and microwaves and liquid nitrogen, and we occasionally chuckled when we could figure out his point. Adam Spencer was the host for the evening, and he gamely tried to “translate” for us whenever he could. My favorite part was Martin Benn’s segment on the creation of his famous Japanese stones dessert. A video showed all the preparation for the fillings (which take two days to make!), and then he finished by actually making some of the stones live on stage. Then to our surprise, waiters started filing out into the hall to give us each our own stone to try! Mine had coconut filling, and it was lovely. It reminded me of an ice cream bar, but a lot fancier obviously. Prof. This continued to bop around the stage and expound in his charming, unintelligible way. He seemed to have hundreds of slides on the science of molecular gastronomy, but Adam was mostly able to get him to skip those (since we we were clearly not following much anyway). And then it was over! The main quad had been set up with several stands were you could see experiments and taste more wacky foods, but we were tired and hungry for our actual dinner so we headed home.

I’ll definitely be wary of going to events in the Great Hall again!

Halloween

Halloween
My good friend (and Catholic priest) Fr. Stephen Koeth has written a lovely post in defense of celebrating Halloween. This time of year I often find myself defending Halloween too, mostly to people who see it as some sort of crass, commercial American export. Fr. Stephen strives to point out the symbolic meaning behind some of Halloween’s trappings, and how – despite it’s occasional excesses – the holiday isn’t necessarily as shallow as some would think.

Now, to head home and start baking treats for all my friends!

RunningBlog: Lady Runners

On Thanksgiving Day, Dr. Julia Chase-Brand will run the Manchester Road Race fifty years after being one of the first women to run it. Such a cool story. Makes me proud to carry on the tradition!

The Dark Tower

Sweet. Looks like the oft-rumoured Dark Tower series and movie is back on again! And now it’s at HBO. That’ll be awesome if they pull it off.