late Saturday night

Even here in Vancouver it's late. Sunday, technically. To bed soon, though I do want to get photos from the day that was up into Flickr.

Three things:

• I'd forgotten how skunky an experience walking in Vancouver can be. The scent of regular cigarettes came as an oocasional relief.
• I've eaten far too much and far too badly, but isn't that the point of a birthday weekend?
• I think we'll cram more into this trip than we have on any other trip, including the one back in February for the Olympics. This is NOT a complaint.

OK, a few Vancouver shots from around the city today, off to work on the Flickr, and then some sleep before tomorrow's jaunt over to The Island!

two meals in

Between recent (and current) travel and dining out while in Chicago, we're not getting much chance to cook and dine in. That's not a bad thing - it's nice not to be too overheated in the apartment from the cooking. Summer has been a real summer this year in Chicago, unlike last year.

This past Monday and Tuesday I got myself back into the kitchen for a bit, however, and managed to cobble together two very similar meals. Side dishes were the same: a bit of salad (tossed with balsamic vinegar, white truffle oil, salt and pepper), and a bit of corn on the cob (the Swiss chard of summer 2010).

The main part varied (as did the beverage - martinis one night, white wine the next). Coho salmon on the Monday, simply pan fried. Pork tenderloin the next night, seared and then roasted in a hot toaster oven (yes, we've done our duty at converting the straights).

And for two consecutive nights, we sat out on the balcony and enjoyed a quiet evening there. Some berries macerated with chopped fresh lavender leaves, some yogurt, some Icelandic chocolate,
and we were well and truly content.

in Vancouver!

Folks, I am almost 40. Mere days away. Ah well.

We've come to Vancouver to celebrate the occasion here. And you know, in this very short blog post, I can only say that any trip that promises to be sunny, warm (NOT hot), and starts with a great run before 7 in the morning then moves on to coffee/breakfast at Safari Cafe HAS to be a good trip.



Free time for blogging in days ahead. I'm going to milk my last days of 39 as best I can!

;-)

reasons to love WF

I love my neighbourhood Whole Foods. Oh sure, there must be a ton of reasons to rail against them - they are a big company, I know.

But gosh darn it: soft licorice.



Peter = very happy.

Greg exists!

Wow, busy week. Lots of enjoyable evenings (topics for blogging ahead) and busy days at work (which is, after all, work, so I don't spend time there writing blog posts). And now we're at O'Hare, booked on a flight four hours from now and hoping to sneak aboard an earlier flight on standby. Time, then, to blog a bit and bring all four of you back up to speed on the super glamourous life of Peter as HE SPINS OUT THE LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE HE TURNS 40 AND LIFE CHANGES IRREVOCABLY.

(that was a hint for cards, gifts, meals out, beers after work)

I'm all over the place with these posts - the only thing not progressing chronologically it seems - so heck, I'll just jump back into blogging with this one. The topic? Greg.



I am, it should be noted, a frequent and deeply involved user of Facebook. Funnily enough, I resisted for a long time, up until about 2.5 years ago. And then? Blammo! Off and running! Conrad shakes his head and says he should get his own profile, but I tell him, why bother? I keep up with enough people on Facebook that he doesn't need to.

Facebook is, however, a great way to make connections to new people. In some cases I have used it to get to know better some of the people I see only at conferences - the best example of this is how it was a great tool for TK and me as we built up our close friendship we now enjoy. It's also a way to meet people, though. Friends of friends, common interests. Greg falls into this latter group, then. Someone I met online and just found easy to get along with. Months and months later and there I am, in his neighbourhood, more or less, and an opportunity to meet.

Greg has more hair than I thought he would.

He's a sweetheart. Conrad and I were down staying in Carmel near Indianapolis for a swim event, and Greg drove on over to meet us at our hotel. From there, a good dinner of seafood not far away, at Mitchell's Fish Market. A bit of wine (yes, Ruth, a bit of wine the night before my 10 km race - you must be utterly scandalized at all the things I did wrong!) and even some deep fried food (kung pao calamari, shared) before my steamed cod with rice and spinach. All of it tasty. And truly, good company.

We lingered nearby outside for photos on the fine evening.




If it's only every 15 months or so that I see Greg in person, then adequate documentation is needed!

But yes, Greg exists. If you see his name, "liking" things I post, you now know that he really is out there, he really is a very charming (Conrad enjoyed meeting him very much) and handsome guy. Which is my way of trying to fix him up with my single gay friends, I suppose - any takers?

;-)

IN swim: quick post

In among the leisurely evening Conrad and I are having out on the balcony (sushi is done, bottle of Huia Sauvignon Blanc is done, chocolate sits enticing us, laptops are running as we look at things for Hawaii next month), a quick post to say

I kicked some butt today.

Having said that, I should add that 21 people kicked my butt.

:-)

I'll update more tomorrow and next week (and do I really have a 10-mile run on the heels of today's 10 km swim????), but for now, your favourite #21 is pretty darn happy with his effort, pretty darn proud of Ruth's effort, and - above all - so grateful for the immediate support from Conrad along with the remote support from TK and Greg!

Kopp's

Wisconsinians (Wisconsinites?) agree: Kopp's rocks.

Take one warm summer day. Add flavour of the day: cherry amaretto cheesecake frozen custard. Feed to Peter.

Happy!

Lake Michigan

We spent some time on the recent long weekend driving to nearby parts of the UP I'd not seen before. A holiday Sunday, and fine weather. Out on the Garden Peninsula near Conrad's hometown we stopped to have a simple picnic-ish lunch we'd packed, admire the little cove where a few families had gathered to lunch and even to swim, and then drove on to a beach near Manistique. That was as far as we got, but gosh, was it lovely. A long narrow sandy beach and a mighty wind that the seagulls coasted on and struggled against.











Sometimes, amid the flat urban landscape of Chicago, it's very easy to forget just how remarkable it is to have such a huge lake within eyesight.

meals with friends in DC

Oh gosh, I am behind, aren't I? Shame on me! Ah well - a quiet evening here. Sipping some Torrontes, blogging while awaiting Conrad's return from his latest Honolulu work trip. Let's catch up.

My first night in DC for conference I barely had time to say hello to Martin in the room before he was out the door and I soon followed. Non-conference folk. Swimmers, in fact. Dinner with a few former teammates and spouses. How did so many Smelts end up in DC?

We ate at Againn. Interesting place: a seafood/British pub theme going. I wanted to like it a lot, especially given all the promising items on the menu. Some small problems:

• the ammonia stink of the raw bar near the entry. I was glad we got a table far from it.
• the waiter or the bartender or both didn't understand drinks. David wanted a SWEET cocktail. Both attempts weren't. I asked for a fairly common British beverage on a warm summer night, lager and lime. They didn't know how to handle that one either even with my explanation when the waiter came back to the table.

Not bad food, though, if not really great. I liked but didn't LOVE my pork belly, and the radishes, while fine, were not a $7 dish. Ah well.

It's all about the company, though, and it was great to see Geoff
again after our terrific spring visit, see Cheryl and Dave not long after their visit to Chicago, and see David (and meet his partner Scott) after a number of years. I'll be glad to visit DC again (not Againn), swim with the team, and get caught up with these friends over food and beverage.

The next night it was Ethiopian food in Adams-Morgan with CG and her colleague Terry, and with TK in tow and meeting them for the first time. Wow, filling dinner. Meskerem was where we ate, and judging by how packed it got, it's a popular choice. CG and Terry opted for red meat while TK and I shared the vegetarian sampler for two, all of it with copious bread. He and I came home and moaned on to Martin about having injera belly. Well worth it, though. And the walk back to the hotel? Not short, but certainly a smart idea, especially given that we stopped for ice cream, too!

magic foods

I was having a conversation with TK about this: the foodstuffs that just make me sit up and say, "YES!"

Conrad is easy: Pinot Noir, raspberries, chocolate (dark, please), salmon, plus cheeses of various sorts. I can build a special date night meal around those frequently. Come to think of it, I do.

;-)

Me? I have to be tricky. Seasonal items (asparagus, pomegranates). Pricier, specialty items (morels). Crap (Old Dutch dill pickle chips - I have them almost EVERY time we go to the UP).
The other problem with me is that I go through phases. For a season, a year, I'll be so into a particular thing. The list of past infatuations includes walnuts, radishes, and a French feta I was getting from Whole Foods. You know, just the things we all shop for, right?

I've figured out the two things for this year. For starters, I've been working through a bottle of white truffle oil and have totally reveled in its fragrance and flavour. Mmmmmm. The other thing? Strawberries.

That's kinda weird.

Usually the strawberries in the store - even Whole Foods - are gorgeous and smell heavenly and have no flavour or are sour as anything and get moldy all too fast. Strawberries are like the online hook up of the food world - they never are as good as their picture suggests. Bastards.

Somehow, though, we've had a good run of berries this season, and I've taken real delight in their perfume in the kitchen, especially when I've got them macerating in a bowl with some sugar and fresh lavender leaves. It's a play on an idea I stole from CG, and I've wheeled it out a few time this spring and summer.

When we were up in the UP for the long weekend, we caught the tail end of the strawberry season at the farmers market in town. A pint came home to Conrad's mother's place with us, and we snacked on them with breakfast while we were there. Sweet with an edge of tang, fragrant, a beautiful deep red. Lustful thoughts were mine: mixing them into a crisp with some rhubarb or turning them into an ice cream concoction. But really, they were best washed and popped into our mouths with no adornment. Just the flavour of real fruit.

I'll miss them now that the season is pretty much over. Happily for me, the cherries have been good lately, and the plum season is almost upon us. Upside down cake! Mmmmm....