synaesthesia

This site has photos of what portion sizes look like for 200 calories for a variety of items. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

Here you go.

Slice a pound of extra firm tofu into 6 slices and drain well before cutting into cubes.

Combine 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1 Tbs cornstarch, 2 Tbs shoyu, 1 Tbs oyster sauce and 2 tsp chili- garlic sauce.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook 4 oz ground pork. Add 1 Tbs minced ginger and 3 cloves minced garlic and stir about a minute. Add tofu and cook 4 until golden, stirring frequently. Add stock mixture and bring to a boil. Cook until thickens.

I'll often add asparagus or spinach as well.

Just from an Asian perspective... mix the cornstarch with the shoyu and add that to the pork first... and if you choose a little sesame oil. Pull that out when it's mostly cooked, but not cooked all the way. Then the pork doesn't overcook too much and the cornstarch adds a little tenderization to the pork.

Do the stock with the other stuff combined and cook the tofu up in that with the addition of scallions and cook the tofu for a few minutes and then add the pork back in. Sprinkle some more scallions on the top if you're going for some presentation.

Well this is another suggestion, which I've posted before in the other discussion started a while ago. It's the Rick Bradley program. That's linked to the WaPo article, but he also has a book. He used to work at DOT, which is how I know about it, and the article does discuss its effectiveness. The gist is it advocates regular, though not necessarily lengthy exercise. It's great since it doesn't demand a lot of time or exertion. You won't see the dramatic results you might with other lengthier more strenuous exercise, but it's a lifestyle change. It makes a lot of sense, otherwise if you overextend yourself it's easy to burn out and become demotivated.

Bonaire - maybe you could just keep some 5 lb. weights and do various curls. Lots of those exercise mags like Self and Shape have suggestions. The whole muscle mass building will help to burn more calories as well.

Wagamama is one of those places I feel good after I eat. It's very clean. Unlike say... a pack of shin ramyun. Although... mmm...

For online recipes. I've been starting to use the Google Notebook function. You can file things separately in folders, label things, etc. Plus you can choose to share notebooks and access them from anywhere.

Surviving RW Tips

11. Depending on how compassionate the waitstaff is to your preferences. You could ask to substitute a salad or something healthy of comparable value instead of dessert perhaps.

My friend and I stopped in at Dino's last night, forgetting that it was RW. We were so lucky though. Our waitress, Shannon, was wonderful and my friend has a little crush on her now. The food was fantastic. Prosciutto was great as always. My friend ordered the bruschetta (onions with balsamic and some kind of bleu cheese, some sort of tomatoey thing and white bean spread with mushrooms and pesto). I got to eat all of the bread from the bruschetta, since my friend is on a low-carb diet. That part was truly amazing. We both ordered the short rib special, which was magical. My friend was upset he couldn't eat more of the rich, creamy polenta. I personally do not want to know how much cream and butter went into that. The short rib meat was tender, mellow and rib-sticking. The flavors were balanced and fantastic. I had a blood orange cosmo, which was nice and yummy, but left me a bit tiddly. (I'm such a lightweight.)

We should find a way to petition Sietsema and Kliman to go review Dino's. I always enjoy myself there, and it's a treasure for the neighborhood.

I'm a big proponent of oyster sauce for flavor. 9 calories per tbsp. Heartier greens stand up very nicely to some oyster sauce thrown on and mixed in while still hot.

Hey I'll be joining you all too. Hopefully I should make it there in time. I am going to do some running beforehand from further up the trail. See y'all there.

Poor excuse!

I have an appointment with my own kitchen. It misses me.

I had the bigos hunter's stew at lunch. Chicken, kielbasa, sauerkraut with broth. Very hearty and filling. I liked the balance of flavors, and the sauerkraut was better than I anticipated. (Not a huge fan of sauerkraut.)

I just spoke to bjohn (the bartender at RK), cos I was there for lunch. He knows you're coming. Heh... have y'all noticed the plum-infused vodka way down at the end? Since I was just there, I'm obviously not going back. Have fun!

Enough dieting talk! Haha... it's good. But who wants to whim RK this week?

Potato Pancakes

Apple Chutney, Creme Fraiche, Fresh Slaw

Bigos

Hunter Stew with Stachowski Brand Kielbasa

Wild Mushroom Lasagna

Fontina, Braised Leeks

Roman Salad

Topped with Grilled Trout and Avocado

So Don (as added incentive) will you be physically at the June winners celebration? That might be added incentive for some of us whom consider you a myth?

Preferrably with the svelte self in a Richard Simmons costume.

I feel like Richard Simmons. Where are all the GUYS?

So where's the unitard and the profuse crying?

Well for anyone who is interested in the Pike's Peek 10K or just running training in general...

1. Register for the race at Pike's Peek. Pike's Peek is a big, popular race down Rockville Pike. The bigger they are the more fun, and less embarassing. It's also not very hilly. I sign up for races, because they really motivate me to train instead of putting it off.

2. Depending on your level look at these training programs... Novice or Beginner. If you do more than they suggest you're probably familiar with most of these things anyway.

3. If there's enough interest, I'll schedule some nice and easy training runs. Due to health reasons, I'm pretty slow so don't feel bad.

Back when I was training more, I was able to maintain my weight and eat pretty well. It's a satisfying goal, and it also gave me a stronger immune system. Blah blah blah, everything else a doctor would tell you about cholesterol, heart disease, etc.

I also know that a lot of folks tend to have knee problems from running. That might be attributable to the wrong sneakers. But I would encourage you to look into it.

Pike's Peek 10K, April 29, 2007. Who wants to go on that program?

I went with folks to Bob's noodle. Here are some pics: http://flickr.com/photos/synaesthesia/tags/bobsnoodle/

The place was hopping when we got there at 6:30PM.

Oyster pancakes - described as sweet potato powder pan-fried w/ egg, oyster and vegetable served with Chef's special sauce (I think oyster sauce) - good and juicy, more like an omelet than pajun, which we had originally thought

Deep-fried duck tongues with basil - unlike Dean we preferred these to Bob's Shabu Shabu version, the basil is bigger and stronger, also plated with cabbage and had some scallions

Coh loh (in Mandarin) or pork belly with mustard greens - This was only on their Chinese menu on the board. Pork belly with a nice strong sauce, ginger and mustard greens. My favorite.

Shrimp, chicken, pork noodle soup - thick noodles, flavorful broth, great cabbage

Ginger duck casserole - another special from the Mandarin board, duck with ginger in duck broth, very light and delicate, not very salty (which is the intention according to the waiter), we found it a little bland

Shaved ice with peanut, red bean, lemon jelly and lychee. Standard and a nice way to end the meal.

I'd be interested in giving it a shot.

The night we went, this place seemed like it was hopping, relatively. There were three large parties (about 7 each), and only 1.5 (.5=server helping) guys in the kitchen. Things took a pretty long time. But the food was okay. We ended up with a few dishes where the meat was cooked and then the sauce poured on top, rather than integrated together. In some cases, that was a good thing...

Ayam rica-rica (four spicy stars out of a three-star scale) was quite spicy and flavorful. It's the kind that builds until next thing you're red in the face. (I am sweating thinking about it.)

Sabang wok - mixed seafood with veg. in a chaffing dish was quite good with the sauce much more integrated into the food, so a bit better

Beef rendang - tasted pretty good, a little on the dry end, but I think better than Malaysia Kopitiam. Would be much better if it was a chicken option, and maybe a little more heavy on the coconut milk.

Bean sprouts and tofu - It is what it is.

Tongseng kambing - lamb with vegetables with sauce - small chunks of lamb not so impressive

Chicken dish, probably with coconut milk sauce - another sauce on top of meat combination - dry meat, good sauce

I guess I was hoping that things would be more like integrated curries, which was why I liked the sabang wok. I would like to go back and try some noodle dishes though and get warmed up with that spicy chicken dish.

I had lunch here the other day, and had the butternut squash soup and turkey burger with andouille. I'm not sure if it was because of the holiday, so they were working with a skeleton crew, but the whole vibe was on the bizarre end. Other people in the group had been before also mentioned it, and were disappointed.

Butternut squash soup was really good, not sweet, which is usually the case. When it's too sweet I feel like I should be eating it for dessert rather than entree. It had a few bits of shrimp, which were really nice.

The turkey burger with andouille and smoked cheddar was on the dry end. I guess, what do you expect for a turkey burger... but another person at the table said his regular beef burger was also dry. It also came with some weird sort of side sauce, which I think was maybe raspberry ketchup? It tasted a lot like they had put Fruit Roll-ups in a blender with some water. That DID NOT go on the burger.

Also... was sort of hoping to get some of the cotton candy (another sorta weird thing about this place), but alas...

More FYI from the NY Times... just because being Chinese I find this sort of natural fusion pretty fascinating:

Sep 21, 2005 - "Craving Hyphenated Chinese" by Julia Moskin on nytimes.com

I'll pencil it in too.

Ok, ok. It appears that I post a question on the board, and cheat instead of bothering to you know... do a Google search... apparently Minerva also has some dishes.

My sister told me that a coworker had mentioned that there are some Indian-style Chinese restaurants in the area. Anyone know anything?

* edit And just out of interest ... Carribean-Chinese.