2011 Wine Selection for a Week on Kuaui
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Food, Travel, Wine on August 26, 2011
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St. Francis, 2007 Sonoma County, Old Vines Zinfandel $14.99 at Costco in Lihue, HI Paired with a chopped salad topped with grilled chicken |
Christmas Morning Frittata
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Food on December 25, 2010
Ready for the Oven
On non-workday mornings, I like to L3NT ( Learn Three New Things).
This morning I focused on:
1. Exploring the power of social-video in the evolution of dance
2. Comprehending the impact of Wiki-Leaks on Net Neutrality
3. Making a frittata
The first two lessons were fascinating and helped me work-up an appetite for the frittata.
I’m not sure where the urge to learn to make a frittata originated. I know I’ve tasted one before, but it wasn’t so memorable that I needed to move it to the top of my cooking lessons ranking. I also don’t remember seeing a frittata pictured on the cover of one of the few cooking magazines that are still in print. That type of subliminal messaging works on me. In this case, I’ll chalk it up to divine inspiration from the culinary universe. Read the rest of this entry »
Twists & Turns of Test Driving a New Car
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Shopping on December 2, 2010
Put a new car to the test on this track
My car lease expires the end of this month so I was doing one of the things I dislike the most — shopping for a new car. As with many of life’s anticipated drudgeries, this car shopping experience turned-out to be fun.
It was a cold, gray and blustery Chicago December day and I decided to head to Naperville where I knew two dealers had cars that I would consider leasing. I also invited (actually, she insisted on going), Chantalle my assistant, because the only thing she likes more than shopping for anything, is shopping for a Coach bag. This trip to Naperville’s new car showrooms was right up her alley especially since she was beginning to slip into clinical depression that always sets-in after Black Friday (yes, Chantalle was one of those who was standing in line outside a big-box store at 3:00 A.M. on the Friday after the U.S. Thanksgiving!). Anyway, Chantalle was only too eager to participate in my car shopping trip. It always scares me a little when Chantalle is “too eager” about anything, but that’s for another post or analyst’s couch. Read the rest of this entry »
Goats Do Roam
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Shopping, Wine on November 30, 2010
Have you noticed the growing trend toward cute and humorous wine names? I’ll bet the French regret ever introducing us to their fermented grape juice. We’ve broken all the rules!
Anyway, I was grazing through our local Metropolitan Market in West Seattle the other day and I spotted one of the best spoofs on French wine: Goats do Roam.
For newcomers to wine (I hate wine snobs who feel they have sole right to wine knowledge), this is a play on the wine growing region in France called, Côtes du Rhône. If you say, “Côtes du Rhône” fast with a French accent, it sounds like Goats do Roam.
Goats do Roam is a winery in South Africa and their sense of humor matches my South African friends’. The winery’s web site claims the name was inspired by roaming Saanen goats on the Fairview farm, but I think it was named to poke a little fun at the French. Anyway, it made me LOL and I felt like sharing.
Mobile Boarding Pass — Backup Required
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Travel on November 29, 2010
Almost as good as paper
In theory, the mobile boarding pass is a great time-saver and environmentally friendly. In theory, that is.
I’ve been using American Airlines mobile boarding passes for about two months and give AA high marks for their design and implementation of the feature. I receive an email from AA telling me that my flight is available for check-in. I launch AA’s iPhone app, which remembers who I am and automatically displays the flight that’s available for check-in. I touch the check-in button and within a few seconds the Boarding Pass button is illuminated and I’m ready to rock ‘n roll.
But, not so fast! TSA stands between me and the plane and the TSA bar code (that’s what that square transistor-looking like thing is in the image to the left) readers are not standardized from airport to airport and evidently not frequently used or tested.
From Pen & Paper to Cloud Filing
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Productivity on November 28, 2010
Mind-map Created in LiveScribe and Stored in Evernote
I’ve always wanted an efficient way to take hand-drawn mind maps and store them in the cloud so I could access them from anywhere using any computer, iPad or smart phone.
I’ve found the solution. It uses a smartpen and special dot paper from LiveScribe and Evernote running on Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and i Pad. In a word: sweet!
First, with respects to Simon Sinek’s, Start With Why
My “why” is that I’m a big believer in “pile” rather than “file” for storing information I want to retrieve at a later date.
Under the “pile” method, I dump all the stuff I want to find later in one big “pile.” I make sure the documents, photos, audio files, spreadsheets, mind-maps, etc. contain words in their file name or in the document’s content that will allow me to retrieve that information later using a global text search tool.
Pilates & The Pitiful Pupil
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Fitness on November 27, 2010
It seems too good to be true. I found a fitness framework called Pilates that doesn’t have to kick my butt to be effective.
I have my friends, Bob & Walter, to thank for urging me to try Pilates. Although when they wrote, “Wear some underpants underneath your exercise shorts to prevent embarrassing displays. Many of the exercises will have you upside down with your legs spread apart. But not in a fun way,” I was reconsidering their advice.
What I learned, however, was that Pilates focuses on the quality and form of specific muscle movements through their range. It doesn’t require enormous effort and good form is more important than speed.
It also promotes stopping each exercise after the exact number of prescribed repetitions rather than working a muscle until it is exhausted. A Pilates routine balances work among all of the main muscle groups so none of them gets tired.
Additionally, movements in Pilates are slower and shorter than aerobics, weight training or Xtreme mountain biking.
When the Theater Overshadows the Movie
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Entertainment on November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving time is movie time. Ever after seeing a queue of movie aficionados wrapped around Seattle’s Cinerama Theater on 4th Ave to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows during the theater’s grand-reopening about a week ago, I wanted to go . . . not so much to see the movie as to see what was inside Seattle’s Cinerama.
It’s a trip back in time. The original theater was built in 1963 and Paul Allen saved it from the wrecking ball in 1988. It is one of only three 70mm cineramas left in the world and is the only remaining super cinerama, which means it can run three split film projectors simultaneously on a larger screen. Read the rest of this entry »
Thanksgiving Gougères
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Food, Travel on November 25, 2010
My Gougères - compare to the photo at the bottom of this post
Travel, food and holidays frequently mash-up to create great spontaneous culinary experiences. Today’s experience originated with a French Country Waterways barge trip through Burgundy’s canals and the aromatic gougères (cheese puffs) that lead us most evenings to our dinner table.
Dorie Greenspan, in her latest cookbook, Around My French Table
Making gougères is relatively straight forward. First I brought some whole milk, water, butter (it’s French after all) and salt to a rapid boil. And then while stirring like crazy, I dumped a cup of all-purpose flour into the boiling butter milk. In short order the soup turns into a smooth, dry, yellow dough.
Shopping with the Chef
Posted by Scott Ahlsmith in Food, Travel on September 21, 2010
We cruised up the Garonne River early this morning and docked at Bordeaux, France at 08.00 hrs. Before docking we worked-out in the ship’s fitness center for 45 minutes (yes, Beth I did my Pilates!) to attempt to offset the pounds we added during last night’s dining experience in Tuscana, one of M/S Regatta’s fine dining restaurants.
At 08.30 hrs we descended the gangway to meet Executive Chef, Mickael Tocchetto and Oceania‘s President, Bob Binder for a trip to Marché des Capucins, Bordeaux’s produce market to shop for tomorrow night’s dinner. Read the rest of this entry »