The "Hound" and the Hat

My excellent friend, Dani, recently bought a puppy, a goldendoodle, (a poodle golden retriever mix) to be exact. I have watched this doggy grow over the last couple of months from a cute, sweet, sedate mass of golden curls to a woofing pony, with golden curls and the growing aint over yet.  I bet around now Dani is wishing she got the mini version.  I know Dani has posted about "Scout" in her most excellent blog DaniBP Mop Philosopher but I'm here to tell you the truth. While it is true that she is adorable and yes, quite styling-

Scout a la ascot- tres shi shi

and very friendly, the real truth is that she is a bit of a menace.  Her main hangout is in the BP kitchen, segregated from the rest of the house by means of a closed door on one side and a wooden security gate at the other doorway. When I come over for a catch-up and GOW (glass of wine) with Dani, Scout knows I'm there and within 30 seconds of my arrival, there is this loud pounding and thrashing at the kitchen door. She is hurling herself into the door and barking incessantly. Yeesh - take er easy Scout! Dani tells me I must go and say hello but frankly I'm a little ascared- cause when I walk around to the gate Scout is up on her hind legs, lunging at the gate in a frantic effort to get at me. Not to hurt me but just to lick and "welcome" me, all this, amidst non-stop barking, frenetic crashing at the gate, and energetic tail wagging. Hi Scout- errr- can you just pass out the wine? Oh well, she is a puppy. You know how puppies are. She reminds me of that wonderful comedian, Gilda Radner in her skit on SNL where she plays the young hyperactive child, Judy Miller upstairs in her bedroom and bored while her mom is playing bridge downstairs so she pretends she is a TV show host for her toy audience. The skit is hilarious for Radner portrayal of hyper activeness and includes several instances of her smashing into the door (see link below- the whole skit is pretty funny but the door thumping is at 3:38 minutes in)

https://screen.yahoo.com/judy-miller-show-000000950.html

So that is Scout in human terms.

Last week, while sharing a meal with the BPs I looked down to see Scout chowing down on a dinner of her own, my brand new Brora hat! Do you mind Scout! This is what the hat looked like before dinner:

And I look like this while wearing the hat

and this is what the hat looked like after dinner:

Those "crumbs" are the pompom

and this is what I now look like wearing the new "hobo" hat:

Man, I wish I had my brora hat back

A good hat can make a big difference.

Immediately and graciously, Dani offered to replace the hat, which I accepted- seeing as I didn't want to look like a hobo for this relentless cold spell and all next winter. That Scout - what a rascal- eh Dani?

PS I know, I know she is not a "hound" but I just liked that title.

The Kindness of Strangers

We picked up our 20 year old daughter, Eden, at the downtown Toronto bus station at noon on Saturday. She was hauling her boxed bike, panniers and hiking backpack, and was wearing a periwinkle blue colored tank top, a light grey jacket and her glorious strawberry blond hair braided to the side. She looked like a tree in blossom. Radiant. This, even though she had been on the bus from Washington overnight, having bussed to there the previous morning from Charlottesville.  I hugged her tightly and told her I was so happy she was home safely and she smiled shyly and said "I think I smell- I haven't had the chance to wash my clothes in the last couple of weeks". She smelled fine- more than fine- I couldn't smell her but I wouldn't have cared. I didn't realize how relieved I was that she was home and that nothing untoward had happened during her two week solo bike trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, U.S.A. Yes that's right- her "solo" bike trip. This was not the first time she had done this. Last summer she biked on her own from Kingston to Halifax, camping in peoples' backyards.

Here she is just starting out on a previous trip

She said she preferred to go on her own 'cause then she didn't have to answer to anybody or compromise at all. She could experience exactly what she wanted when she wanted. She admitted that it could be lonely but she was willing to pay that price and besides she said- it is good to get used to your own company and it is character-building. Both times she took her cell phone (and with my son-in-law Phil's stern corroboration that it was necessary to keep your cell phone charged- it wasn't even safe- thank-you Phil) and at my insistence, texted us at least once a day to let us know she was alright. I realize that this provided a false sense of security- that she could be fine the minute she texted us and hurt or kidnapped the next minute and we wouldn't know, but somehow it gave me comfort.

I have a lot of confidence in my daughter's abilities- it's not that at all- it's that she is 20, fiercely independent, doesn't like to ask for or take help from anybody, beautiful and travelling alone in mountain country. When I described her trip, many people grimaced or immediately started humming the banjo theme song from Deliverance- the movie that highlighted the type of folk who city slickers could run afoul of in mountain country- inbred,  depraved, sexually crazed, rifle carrying hillbillies or worse. Like who could be worse? Do you mind! This is not helpful.

And in fact she did get picked up by a couple. She was biking on the Skyline Trail and the temperature had been dropping rapidly until it had started to snow. She did not have any warm clothes and was hypothermic- shivering, teeth chattering, muscles twitching- the whole nine yards. She had stopped at one of the infrequent rest areas along the way and was spotted by a middle-aged couple who asked her if she needed a ride. They had a truck so tossed (not literally- Eden wouldn't take to tossing of "the precious") her bike in the back and transported her to a lodge where she wisely decided to spend the night rather than camp in the snow. This unnamed, compassionate couple bought her a hot meal and gave her the aforementioned jacket. Out of the kindness of their hearts. Thank you.  Thank you, benevolent strangers for seeing somebody in need and stepping up instead of just driving away. Thank you for buying her a meal. Thank you for giving her a jacket. I wish I knew more about you so I could send you some flowers, or a card or email even. But I know you don't care about that. You are good charitable people who saw a young woman who at that moment in time, needed some care, and you gave it to her.  Thank you for your kindness to my daughter.  I will pay it forward.

Spring in Southern Ontario

April 14, 2014 : 20 degrees Celsius or 68  degrees Fahrenheit

April 15, 2014:  Minus 2 degrees Celsius or 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit (yes that's correct almost 40 degrees difference) and this:



That's correct- SNOW SNOW SNOW!
 

DO YOU MIND!

Had to dig out my gloves, hat and hoodie to go for my HIT this morning in the blowing snow.
Runners and socks got soaking wet and very rough going- hard to go on an all out sprint when you are worried about killing yourself on the slushy and icy road. Yes both, but not in the same place.

Also due to the Heartbleed bug, CRA online closed down so have to hand deliver my source deduction payment due today, April 15, to the bank by trudging in the aforementioned snow.

On the upside, everyone I met outside today had a "what ya gonna do?" look on their faces and smiled when I said- "ya snow-but this is definitely IT."

We all really really hope so!



A HIT of A Different Kind

In the last 2 weeks of winter, frustrated with not being able to get a cardio workout (on account of the hideous outside conditions coupled with my abhorrence of gyms), I dusted off my ancient x-country skis and went out with my buddy, Jerry to our local x-country ski trail. Jerry is a guy who is in pretty good shape-- he thinks nothing of biking 65 kilometres for a leisurely afternoon ride. When I ride with him (well "with" is probably not the right word) I am waaaay behind-- he goes his pace, (I encourage that so he won't get bored and want to blow his brains out) and I struggle to keep up by going my speed and then giving it big bursts of energy. And guess what-- that is what x-country skiing was like... glide glide glide and then give it all you got so you wouldn't lose sight of Jerry. (He's really a decent and lovely man, and does wait for me, so I do have a chance to catch my breath from time to time). And I realized what I was doing, (inadvertently), was what is called High Intensity Interval Training or HIT.

                                              And now that spring has sprung,

 

Well at least my tulips have sprung

  

I have continued that idea into my running routine by brisk walking/jogging for a minute (ok maybe two, three tops) and then sprinting all out for say 15 seconds, then repeat over a 30 minute time span. And you know how when you buy a Camry say, and then you start seeing Camrys everywhere you look-- well in the last week I have seen three articles on HIT.  It's everywhere! According to Eric Sullivan of GQ magazine: "The concept behind HIT is simple: Exercise as hard as you can for a few minutes, recover just long enough to stop sucking wind, and repeat. This spikes your metabolism and builds muscle quickly".  It also apparently burns more calories and continues to burn calories for up to a 24 hour period.  (What if you are chowing down on a bag of Miss Vickies, during that 24 hours? Are you still burning calories, I wonder?)

In the article in the Globe and Mail, Margarete Webb writes about HIT-type workouts being a "powerful medicine for stalling aging". WHOA- what's that you say? It's true.  Apparently this type of exercise "prompts the body to secrete growth hormone-- often called youth hormone; it helps control body weight and rejuvenates the muscles and connective tissue...".  Say no more. I am there-- I want to be there, I will be there. You are supposed to, I have learned, do at least a minute on, a minute off.  But  do you mind, it is well, intense and really hard to go all out for even 15 seconds, at least for me.

Another tidbit I have learned is that  according to a McMaster University study a mere "18 minutes a week (excluding warm up and cool down) can deliver many of  the  health benefits of 5 hours of  sustained moderate exercise." Why have I been wasting my time? This HIT is definitely for me!

Postscript

I was lying in bed last night wide awake at 3:00 am thinking of coffee. Thinking how the espresso gadget makes a really good hit of coffee.  How it'll be really great when I get up and can have my morning cup.  How I love that it makes crema.  Was I up because of caffeine? Was it too early to get up and have an espresso? Is coffee evil? (I know that is anthropomorphizing and vilifying at the same time and that's really dumb, but I was pretty tired and often the things you ponder about in the middle of the night make no sense in the morning).  The truth is that since I've got my new machinery I have sometimes been having one more coffee a day- because its easy to make just one shot. I have two cups in the morning, one at 6:30 and one before 8:00 and now sometimes one at lunch around 1:30 pm, something I know I shouldn't do on account of my self diagnosed extreme reaction to caffeine. But it's only one shot. How much of a toxic dose can that give me? How can a 1:30 coffee affect my sleep after I've fallen asleep? It can't wake me up, can it? And it is so good. Really good. But I didn't have a third hit yesterday and I'm still up and wide awake. Do you mind!

Talk about anthropomorphizing

Espresso Express

(Continuation from previous post)

And so I "finally" (and by that I mean after obsessively cross referencing the number of reviews against the ratings, price, quality, yada yada yada and trying to determine if there were any deals to be had out there cause I love the discount, but then who doesn't) decided to purchase an open box Ascaso Mini in black ABS plastic.

C'mon, aint she a beaute

I purchased her online for $199 from idrinkcoffee, a fairly local "merchant" (they call themselves merchants- great word) free shipping included. That's a good deal- $40 off the regular price because of the open box. What is an open box you ask-or maybe you figured it out cause you 're smart but I asked. It means that a previous customer opened it and returned it cause they immediately decided they didn't like it, (why would they not like it on sight?- that's disturbing) or there was a minor problem which has been repaired and it is now in perfect working condition,(even more disturbing- but they say it is perfect now and are giving me the normal warranty so it must be perfect, right?)  I took the plunge notwithstanding my concerns. So I was pretty excited when a day after my order, I received a large package in the mail. Yes indeedy- it was my new grinder. Excellent coffee here we come.  Took er home and pulled er out of the box- she looked perfect. Ready to go when I am! Had seen a video on how to run er, so the next morning, plugged er in- put some beanos in the hopper, hit the grind button- she ground once, she ground twice and then stopped. Cold. Stopped cold. That's right.  Do you mind! This can not be, and yet it be. GRRRR. Ground the coffee in the magic bullet, dripped it through the drip maker- had an crappy coffee, dashed off an email to idrinkcoffee espressing (ya, that's a joke) my dismay, propped up a note in bold marker on the new grinder for Mr. L which read "DOES NOT WORK" and went for a run.  Mr. L had taken a look by the time I got back and said "Yup, it doesn't work- you're right." After a few emails back and forth with customer service at idrinkcoffee wherein they suggested possible but ultimately futile fixes I decided to speed up the process by returning the sucker in the flesh.

Because in the meantime, I had found a truly astounding deal at Whole Latte Love (cute yes? Whole Lotta Love- Led Zeplin, I get it- I wonder if they had to pay to use it) a Gaggia Classic espresso machine rated pretty highly by coffeegeek and discounted together with the use of a coupon to $329 about $270.00 off.

C'mon, aint she a beaute, too

I wasn't even going to get an espresso machine but could not pass up this deal. I bet I've spent thousands of unnecessary dollars on not passing up a deal- anybody who goes to Costco knows what I mean. Maybe one day I'll be able stop to that.

There's a whole lotta story about getting that machine here involving, Meg, Phil, border guards, a dancing bear and a clown, but the good news it that it was shipped and landed on my kitchen table within 2 days.  I gotta say the delivery for this coffee equipment is express.
In the intervening day, I had driven to idrinkcoffee (it's worth the drive to Milton- gorgeous store with gleaming and shiny eye candy, equipment wise, guaranteed to blow your mind), met Stawek the very knowledgeable & charming founder and CEO who calmed me down by preparing for me a fantastic espresso right there, appropriately apologizing about the open box fiasco, answering all my boring questions about grinders and giving me the $40 off a new polished steel Ascaso mini. (Good PR, Stawek but you had me at the espresso). So here is the upgrade:

C'mon it's worth the extra $50 to have matching equipment

I was on an upswing. So flash forward to Sunday morning-time for my espresso which I was going to have with French toast with real maple syrup to celebrate. The stakes were high and yet unbelievably but true there was another cafuffle with the grinder involving it getting clogged, Phil and Mr. L opening it up, some fiddling with a thingamabob, the guys closing it up- finding that the screw didn't catch, trying to find another screw, til finally (yes, for the love of Seymour, please, please let this woman have a cup of espresso) all was in readiness, the Spanish machine- Barcelona, (grinder) the Italian machine- Milan, (espresso) yours truly, (more than ready) and ta da!

Espresso Express :  a mere 20 easy steps!

So worth it!

MORNING CUP O JOE

How important is your morning cup of coffee? I mean really.  Well, I know for me its pretty darn important, so when I became thwarted in my attempt to have a decent cuppa- I knew this could not stand.

 *As a sidebar I have thought the thought " this is the talk of an out-of-touch, privileged  person living in the first world- get a life- try living in the Ukraine" and while it's all true, and enjoying a good cup of coffee simply is not that relevant, it's also true that our society gets all hepped up about this type of thing (just go to coffeegeek.com and you'll see just how intense people get about coffee and coffee paraphernalia)- and other creature comforts, luxuries and material items that maybe we shouldn't focus on so much....... but do.  Also, I like to think I am injecting a "shot"(espresso term) of  humour and irony into this issue. So having rationalized that it's ok, I'll continue.*

 I would go to sleep at night knowing I had something exciting and delicious to wake up to- (Mr. Lovely- well-yes, but  he tends to sleep in and I'm talking about) my morning cup of coffee. And even though I have been a lover of (Mr. L, well- yes, but I'm still talking about) the coffee for over 34 years, I was  pretty much low tech. We had a Cuisinart burr grinder which was 8 years old, and I had a Bialetti (I was on my 4th one), that I used on the stove top. So when my grinder started seriously jamming (it always has a bit, so that getting the coffee was always a bit of  a grind- ha!) and I had to attempt to clear it out with a shishkabob skewer and then press down with all my might on the plastic lever, which more often than not didn't even work, I started to get frustrated and then grumpy.  I began grinding my coffee in the magic bullet- which is not designed for grinding at all. It crunched the beans into large chunks and then smaller and smaller chunks. GRRR #1. Then my busted up Bialetti became glued together so that I could not unscrew the bottom. Do you mind! Sometimes Mr. L could unscrew it but sometimes not. Sometimes I forgot to ask him the night before (I get up a good hour before him and need that equipment to be available first thing.) Here is a picture of my Bialetti and the magic bullet:

Rough- don't I know it.

 GRRR #2. Out of desperation I began using Mr. L's drip coffee maker which quite frankly made inferior coffee. NOT GOOD. My morning ritual (of having a coffee and going for a run followed by another coffee) was becoming a drag and I did not look forward to it. It was difficult to be joyful about getting my sorry butt out of bed at 6:30, that's for sure.  And so commenced my search- for a new grinder.  I knew I could get a new Bialetti anywhere so I started with the grinder.  What a commotion. I went, obviously, to coffeegeek.com.  I think the name speaks for itself but here is their spiel from the FAQ:

"What's the deal with CoffeeGeek?

The deal is, we're a community of coffee and espresso lovers, and the CoffeeGeek website gives people, both consumers and folks in the coffee industry, a place to hang out, read, debate, write, or even ponder the finer aspects of coffee and espresso.  Our primary concern with CoffeeGeek is creating and maintaining the ultimate destination online or off for the coffee and espresso loving persion. (I think they mean person - give em a break).This includes industry people as well as your typical Joe Consumer looking to find out just a bit more about brewing a better cup.  We beat any industry publication or trade journal in terms of monthly readers, but we're never satisfied - we want the world to learn about better coffee. It's going to take some time."

Its founder is Canadian from Vancouver and I say bravo and thank you, Mark Prince. It is very detailed and informative, often humorous and so a pleasure to read and they sure had a LOT to say about grinders- first and foremost- don't skimp on one. The variables are enormous- (get ready for some coffee speak)- step vs stepless, doser vs doserless, espresso vs.french press and last but certainly not least how much moolah you want to lay out. Yikes! Ya, I can't pick a colour- how on earth can I pick a grinder? Three variables were helping narrow it down- my budget was under $300 ( which sounds like a fortune and is, but is actually an entry level price for coffee aficionados), I wanted it for espresso, and it needed to fit under my 15 inch kitchen cabinet. And so....