Todd's Posterous

Seaweed Salad

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:51:58 -0700

I've been mixing things up a bit with my salads. Two types of seaweed and some funky sprouts.

Boston Snow Storm on 1.12.2011

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:55:35 -0800

Here's some images from wandering around the neighborhood with
neighbor Bob and his new dog Ella. Many trees fell down, taking power
out for nearly 10 hours. The emergency crews were busy on my street.

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Making some S.F. Texas-style Chili

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:52:00 -0800

I'm making chili today.

Samual Smith Oatmeal Stout
Kidney Beans
White Kidney Beans
Beef
Chipotle peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Spice mixutre of chili powder, cumin
Beef broth
Onions
Garlic
Red peppers

I'm expecting it to be delicious.

Enjoy the photos of the process.

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2010 Nothampton Cyclocross Seat Cam

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 03:25:00 -0800

After what was a pretty decent start, things fell apart for me. Starting with an inital tear of my shorts on a stake, followed by my torn shorts getting caught when dismounting for a runup causing further damage. At least I got good footage of half the racers.

Some highlights:

3:40ish a guy chasing me slaloms a tree, then eventually takes himself out by hitting my back wheel at 4:00.

At 10:00 I put some commentary with some highlights. Clean sand rides, etc…

Lots of battling with some Geekhouse guys as we swamped positions often.

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A Drive in Vermont

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:12:40 -0700

A couple weekends ago Amanda and I drove up to Vermont to visit her grandma. I took the following couple photos to try and capture the fall foliage. It wasn't very good, so I tweaked in software. Also tested out the new NIK HDR software, which isn't bad.

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Carbonada a la Criolla: an Argentine Stew

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:06:00 -0700

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A couple weeks ago, my neighbor made a stew and put it inside a baked pumpkin. Some people inquired to the recipe. Download the PDF file for the recipe of Carbonada a la Criolla. It's a delicious Argentinean stew. (The full recipe is embedded below.)

As a bonus, and because of the time of year, he served it in a pumpkin.

Here's some extra tips from him on cooking the pumpkin, etc...:

"The only suggestion is that before you brown the meat, you should blot it dry with paper towels. That way it browns better and faster. And really brown it.

I cooked the pumpkin by cutting the top off, scooping out the seeds and stringy stuff, rubbing the outside with oil, sprinkling the inside with salt and pepper and putting it in a preheated 375 oven for about 45 minutes. You test it by piercing the outside with a thin bladed knife. If it slides in easily, the pumpkin is done. As I said the other night, it's kind of a guessing game. You actually take it out when it's almost done and let the heat inside finish cooking it or else it will collapse in on itself.

I separated the seeds from the stringy stuff, salted them and roasted them at 325 for about 7 minutes, tossed them with a spatula and roasted them for another 7 minutes of so. They should be turning brown when done.

Also, you can take the left over pumpkin flesh, add honey and a little salt and roast it. It's delicious."

Carbonada a la Criolla.pdf Download this file

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Dessert Done Right

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:47:43 -0700

1) Amanda's home-made pumpkin frozen yorgurt in celebration of Halloween
2) Frozen yorgurt is topped with toasted and spiced pecans
3) A triangle of Taza Salt & Pepper chocoloate
4) Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Tawny Port

Pinch Me.

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Cooking with a Hunan Steamer

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:49:15 -0700

Amanda stopped in a Vermont-based pottery store and discovered the Hunan Steamer. It's a healthy way of cooking that dates way back in time to some location in China. This particular Hunan steamer was locally made in Vermont by some potterers.

The other night we finally broke it out and made a chicken/chard stir-fry thing.

It works on the premise of a double-boiler in that you set it on a bot with boiling water and basically steam your food, meat and all.

Turned out as you would expect, delicious.

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Providence Cyclocross Seat Cam

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:48:31 -0700

I finally got some decent footage out of my seat camera in the Men’s 35+, Cat 4 race in Providence, RI. I had huge plans for editing it. After realizing how long it takes to edit video, and my just learning to use Sony Vegas, I cut it short.

So not too much action other than typical first lap stuff. At about three minutes in, I cut to some of the finish stuff, like where John Plump, my teammate takes me on the line by inches.

At 3:12, you can watch John almost ride off the course

At 3:20, you can see how easily I’m closed on paved straights

At 3:27, you can see teammate John close me in the final sprint. Watch his 15 meter acceleration.

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Cyclocross Season is in Full Swing with The Night Weasels Cometh

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:50:00 -0700

Cyclocross season is in full swing. Last night was the first muddy cross race of the season: The Night Weasels Cometh. All races up to this point have been dry, grassy, and uneventful. It feels like CX season now with the wet and cold.

I've got a stinky bike loaded with mud and grass that needs to be washed and a carload of wet gear that still needs to be unloaded.

Here's a cool photo that my teammate Russ took of all of us after our Race, see more of his photos of the race here. You can see the satisfaction of a hard 40 minutes, and the cooling mud on our faces.

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Sucker Brook Cyclocross

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:14:00 -0700

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Enclosed are some photos that others took of me this past weekend racing at Sucker Brook cyclocross (thanks to Elaine and Abel).

It was a great course with a little of everything: technical loose turns, run-ups, power sections, a sprint on pavement into a head wind, and a sand pit!

My writeup on my team's website consisted of the following:

I rode the Matsers 35+ 3/4 race today. I couldn't believe people were lining up 30 minutes before the race. I decided with Scott it's best to keep warm and continued riding our bikes while people raced to get a decent starting positions. About 12 minutes before the race started, I got in a nice row with Paul, John, Scott, and myself near the back of the field. I didn't feel bad about starting far back because that's where I'm positioned next week in Gloucester and I wanted the practice the clip-in-under-pressure-and-pass-like-a-mad-man on the outside during the starting sprint. The only notable person behind me was Rob Bauer, where he should have stayed. But in classic Rob fashion, he rubbed his hands and cast a spell on me. He said, "I have two goals for today: 1) that Bungie does well in his race and had fun so I can continue to race CX this year....and #2) to beat Prekaski."

"Rob, you should make more realistic goals...like work on not getting lapped," I replied.

And then the whistle blew.

I met my first challenge of getting a decent clip in and having a solid start. Passed a bunch of people up the side and continued moving up until we hit the fisrt turns on the grass. I made my marks and slowly moved up the field. Scott Sweeny, John, Paul and I were all together in pretty decent position taking pulls, though I noticed that they had me lead into the head-wind starting stretch.

The race progressed and I was feeling strong for the first time in a couple of weeks. Scott and I kept swapping positions and taking spots working on up...

Then, after the sand pit pit, it happened. I jumped back on my bike on the off-camber remount and my tubular rolled off. "$@%%@$%^%#^^@^@$^!"

I picked up the bike and started running. Someone shouted that I should try rolling the tubular back on. I stopped running, and began fiddling with the tubular. Couldn't get it back on, so I let some air out. Then the tubular rolled back on but was now flat. I could here the bell-lap ringing in the distance. Dang, so close. I guess I'll get a wheel in the pit. So I rode slowly putting most my weight on the front wheel and while riding to the pit, Bauer passed me, spouting some unintelligble grunts. I got a wheel and finished the race as a small personal victory as I almost packed it in, calling it a day.

Still had a good time. Would of, could of, should of. At least it was a mechanical that took me out of this race...and Rob's voodoo.

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Vermont Apple Crisp Season

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:43:54 -0700

Spent the weekend bike racing in Vermont in beautiful, classing New
England fall sunshine. Stayed with friends who made apple crisp on
Friday night and naturally, I was inspired.

Burp.

Bike racing photos coming soon.

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2010 Quad Cross Cyclocross

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:38:06 -0700

I raced at Quad cross and finished 15th.

My full coverage is over at Double Hop, but here's my favorite photos that I took anyway. Posting here for the sake of posterity.

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Amanda's Garden Book Design Practice

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:47:59 -0700

I've been trying to learn Adobe Illustrator for awhile. This morning I followed some tutorials with a photo I took of flowers that Amanda grew in her garden.

Don't worry, none of this has been done at the expense of being outside on a beautiful day getting a bike ride in.

Now that I'm comfortable with the techniques found in this tutorial, I'm going to turn it really into a 60s psychedelic hippy piece.

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Beets

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:57:56 -0700

You like beets?

I'm not really a fan myself. But they grew in the garden, so that
makes me a poseur-fan.

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The Ultimate Breakfast Salad

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:44:25 -0700

Amanda made me a breakfast salad the other day. It was delicious.

This morning, I almost ran to the store because I didn't think I had
anything to eat for breakfast. Then I made another salad. Here's my
ultimate recipe (adapted from Amanda's the other day):

1) green mixed lettuce
2) cucumber
3) some red bell pepper
4) granny smith apple
5) pumpkin seeds
6) hard boiled egg
7) Dried cranberries (from Trader Joe's)
7) White Summer Peach Balsamic Vinegrette. This is the key
ingredient to make it really taste like a morning meal
8) Some olive oil -- makes the salad way more filling.

Enjoy.

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Weekend Painting Project

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:40:29 -0700

I wanted to do something that didn't involve technology. Usually,
most of my free-time is spent editing DIGITAL photos on my laptop. I
spend nearly 60 hours/week on my laptop. So when I had some free
time, and no bike rides scheduled, I thought I'd get back to low-tech
hobbies. I went to the art store, purchased some canvas, some
acrylics, and then went to it, with the idea of creating something to
hang on the bathroom walls.

The flowers on turquoise will probably work.

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