Seeing double

I'm a bad person. I'm supporting the destruction of the earth by Chinese manufacturers. But damn, they make cheap spectacles!

Recently I got hold of a deal that included an eye exam and a free pair of glasses at an Optometrist just down the road from my house. Obviously the free glasses available were from a limited selection, but when I say deal, I do mean deal, and it would have been ridiculous to not take advantage of it. $69 for the exam and the glasses, all in! Consider that I also get $60 of the exam covered by my health plan at the university, and it turns out the exam and glasses only cost me $9. Hells ya! Plus I did find some glasses with a slight fun factor, so it was all good.

So here are pics of my old glasses, which I still like and aren't that far off my new prescription:

And a picture of the glasses that were included in the deal. They are thin silver outlines around the eyes and have bright blue metallic arms. (Whoa, weird chin, Mego.)

Then I finally followed up on a tip that The Duchess gave me a year or more ago: China makes cheap glasses! I ordered from Zenni Optical, filled in my brand new prescription, and my PD which the optometrist measured for my new glasses and jotted down for me; I quickly had two more pairs of fun glasses winging through the post. Note, you can also measure your own PD (pupillary distance), as Marko did when he ordered from Clearly Contacts.

They arrived today! Super fast, barely over a week to arrive. One pair that are black outer with lime green interior, and a slight kind of horn rim.

And the most fun pair of all, slightly translucent (slightly unfortunately pink) and black checks in a more square frame. These babies will be pulled out for fun times and conference presentations, for sure. (Whoa, rabbit teeth, Mego.) I don't think they look this pink in person, more like light grey and black checks.

Apologies for the crappy photo quality, but photobooth is the simplest way to take and load pics quickly on my laptop. I've been wearing glasses part-time for many years now, and have had the luxury to take them off whenever I want without walking into open manhole covers. But lately I've been wondering if I shouldn't be wearing them all the time, because I can't read the number of the bus approaching, and because Rocco has to fill in the gaps for street signs and the like when we're out and about. So, moving into the world of constant glasses (and not prepared to try contacts yet), I wanted to have a supply of designs and colours that I can choose from day to day. Well, got 'em! And the out of pocket total for all three glasses (including the eye exam and shipping) came to $45! That's $9 for the local pair and $36 for two pairs plus shipping from Zenni Optical. Crazy. Now all I need is a nose tree to display them on at home when I'm choosing my specs each morning.

I heart CBC!

Friends,
On November 23rd, Stephen Harper’s secret plan for the CBC was revealed when the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage mused publicly about killing our public broadcaster! You can hear the audio for yourself here: http://www.friends.ca/news-item/9854

On Dec 6th, the matter of the government’s plan for the CBC was raised in Parliament. The Heritage Minister was asked to disavow his Parliamentary Secretary’s idea of cutting all funding to the CBC. Twice Minister Moore was asked to dismiss the notion that the government should kill public broadcasting. And, twice he refused to do so. You can see the exchange in the House of Commons here: http://www.friends.ca/news-item/9872

It's widely known that Prime Minister Harper exercises extremely tight control of his government’s messaging. None of his Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries or MPs speak out without prior approval from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The threat posed by Harper could be the most serious peril CBC has ever faced. Now is the time for all of us who love and depend on the CBC to stand up and be counted.

Please sign the petition at the link below or fill in the embedded petition in this blog post, and encourage all your friends to do the same:

http://www.friends.ca/ILoveCBC/

Thanks!

More quinoa baked goods

This is an invention, based loosely on time spent wandering the echoing hallways of cornbread and quinoa recipes online. If it doesn't suit you, maybe you'll be more interested in trying this one by Heidi Swanson, or a sprouted quinoa recipe over at Pattycake, or the simplest of simplest provided by Whole Foods.

Quinoa Cornbread II

0.75 cup quinoa, rinsed
1.5 cups hot water
pinch of salt

1 cup coarse cornmeal
1.25 cups milk
1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 cup whole wheat flour
0.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar (or less, to taste)

2 large eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp oil

0.3 cup corn kernels (frozen is fine)
0.3 cup chopped scallion
2 Tbsp butter

There are a couple prep steps to this recipe. First, cook the quinoa in the water, with a pinch of salt. This involves rinsing the quinoa for a couple minutes under running water. Then toast the rinsed quinoa in a hot saucepan until it smells nutty (only a couple minutes). Add hot water and salt, bring all to a boil, then cover, reduce to simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes.
While that's happening, mix the milk and vinegar, and pour over cornmeal in a bowl. Let this sit while you do the rest of the prep and the quinoa is cooking.

In a dry bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and sugar. In a second bowl, whisk eggs and oil together. Once all the prep is done and the quinoa is finished cooking, heat your skillet pan in the oven at 375F with the butter. While the butter is melting, mix all your various bowls together: dry ingredients, milky cornmeal, eggs, and corn and scallions. Pour into the hot skillet; the butter might sizzle and run up the sides around the mix - do not stir! Top with a couple grinds of pepper if you like, then pop it back in the hot oven for 30-45 minutes. I realize that's a big window, but all ovens are different and it's worth checking to make sure your bread is done perfectly. The edges should be brown and crispy, and the centre should be set.

We'll be eating this tonight with beer-glazed black beans and steamed rainbow chard on the side. Perfect meal for the blustery wintry night out there!

I like some squash in my blossom

This seasonal pasta recipe looks amazing! Published on the Globe and Mail online site, it features zucchini and zucchini blossoms in a light cream sauce, which would be updated to be a lemon cream sauce, or maybe even by adding a little thyme. Mostly I'm copying it here so I have it to hand when guests are coming over next week. I'm praying for zucchini in the CSA but can hit up a farmer's market if needs be.

Ingredients
6 ounces fresh fettuccine or dried spaghetti cooked al dente
12 baby zucchini with flower, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, chopped finely
1/2 clove garlic thinly sliced
1 tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 ounce butter
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
2. Warm enough olive oil to amply cover the bottom of a large lidded sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add shallot and, with the lid on, sweat them off (cook until translucent but not brown), stirring occasionally.
3. Add the zucchini rounds and, with the lid off, cook until somewhat soft, approximately 6 minutes, flipping the rounds halfway through.
4. Add the butter and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to the pan, stir it in and turn up the heat to medium to let it thicken into sauce.
5. When the salted water comes to a boil, and while the sauce is thickening, add the fettuccine to the pot and cook until it is al dente, according to the instructions on the package. It will not take long.
6. Once the fettuccine is cooking, add the zucchini flowers and a tablespoon or two of the pasta water to the sauce, and give it a stir. Season to taste.
7. Drain the cooked pasta, incorporate it into the sauce, and serve immediately.
8. Fall in love.

The amounts listed only serve 2 as an appetizer, so keep the ratios in mind when you scale up to feed more salivating mouths.

The Muffin Myth

Time to add a new food blog to your blog roll! My friend Katie has finally got her new blog project up and rolling. The Muffin Myth will dispel some of your false conceptions about healthy and not so healthy foods, and provide delicious recipes featuring fresh, seasonal, ripe produce. The first drool-worthy post is about her bran muffins which are more than famous around Vancouver, soon to be a staple in Stockholm and in your freezer! There's only the one post now but it will soon be updated with more and more slobbery delicious recipes and info. Go check it out! I've also added it to the right sidebar here for your convenience.

PS. I know the exciting news about The Muffin Myth threatens to take you away from Liminal Me immediately, but don't miss out on my Quinoa Bread post below!

Quinoa cornbread

I riffed on a basic cornbread recipe tonight to make it a bit healthier. Turns out that quinoa in bread makes an amazing crumb texture, and the bread stayed moist even with the changes in flour/grain. This makes me think you could use just about any flour at all (being careful to adjust the overall moisture level to account for denser flours), I just haven't been very adventurous that way in my baking or cooking before now.

Quinoa cornbread
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar (or 1 1/4 cups buttermilk)
2 eggs, beaten
(optional) 1/2 cup chopped green onion

1) Mix vinegar into milk and set aside to curdle
2) Preheat oven to 375F
3) In a food processor or blender, blend quinoa and millet until they are mostly flour. Some whole grains remaining is fine.
4) Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix only until combined. If you want to use it, stir in the green onion.
5) Put 2 Tbsp butter into a 9" cast iron skillet or pie plate, and put it in the oven until butter is bubbly.
6) Pour batter into melted butter, sling the whole thing into the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes. Edges should be brown and top should be fully set.

Let cool a few minutes before cutting. Serve with butter, although it was so moist that we didn't end up using any extra butter.

So Yum! And pretty damn healthy since quinoa is one of the fantastic foods of the nutrition world.

High tech running

After reading Dora's post about her new gadget (Go Gadget Go!), I thought I'd post a link to some of my run stats, which are available in a really fun form. My Garmin Forerunner 305 (a much earlier model than Dora's 110) has been my tried and true running companion for a few years now. I unfortunately have never used it to the full extent of its capabilities, like the "virtual running buddy" who has remained bench for the entire lifespan of my 305, and I can't even remember the last time I also strapped on the heart rate monitor. But I do use the built-in GPS obsessively on trail runs, and for most if not all of my road runs in the city. Today it came in extra handy when J and were lost on Cypress Mountain, somewhere in the vast trail network, since I was able to pull up the map feature and identify what direction we should be going in and an estimate of how far we had left to cover in order to get back to the car. Don't get me wrong, J and I agree that getting lost should be (and is!) a regular portion of every run since adventure is the stuff of life, but it was reassuring to get feedback that we're still on the same mountain we started out on, and that the car should probably be in sight if it weren't for all the fog getting in the way.

Blah blah blah, back to the run stats. Here's a link to the data gathered by the 305 during my trail race last weekend. I ran the Summer Solstice Half, which is actually 25.5km, on the North shore. The race starts at Cleveland Park near the Grouse Grind, winds along the Baden Powell trail a little bit, until it climbs an asshole of a trail straight up the blasted mountain called Skyline Trail. $#$^&$@* And that's all I have to say about the climb. The downhill portion was FUUUUUNNNN!!!! All technical, all awesome, super high-footing adrenaline grin-spreading FUN! Then there was some less fun but necessary terrain to cover to get back to the start/finish area. But enough from me, you can see it for yourselves on the Garmin Connect player here. Tips: Push the > play button then scroll down to view the whole map; choose Satellite in the top right corner of the map for the best view. I love how the steepest ascent of the race causes the speed graph to go off the chart since essentially the Garmin thought I was standing still rather than climbing about a foot a minute. The race took me and my friend D (a different D) 3:51:10 - trail running is soooo much sloooooower than road running, and I was pushing myself pretty hard, faster than I'm used to running trail.

Anyway, a bit of fun with gear. Have fun playing with the player! And Dora, good luck kicking that tech addiction!