As usual the Fest was great fun. Unlike previous Fests, I did my normal exercises every day. In addition, on Saturday I walked 7 miles and Sunday I walked around 8 miles. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop me from gaining 3 pounds. I always overeat when with groups. I’m not sure why but I can’t stop eating if people are around. Fortunately, Jaeger is an exception to this rule. Otherwise I’d be in big trouble

I was halfway expecting that I’d gain weight over the vacation so I wasn’t as distressed as I might otherwise have been. I’m disappointed but now that I’m back to my regular schedule I should be able to lose it again. Hopefully someday I’ll be able to control my eating in group situations. I’ll have plenty of opportunity to try. In fact, for the next couple of months I’ll have monthly tests on my eating skills in public:

• June – Washington DC trip for the ALA Conference
• July – visit my family
• August – visit Jaeger’s family
• September – potentially another Fest

Like I said, lots of practice. I’m sure at some point I’ll figure out a good abstaining solution.

Friday night I made my Boulder Veggie Bowl and Jaeger made beautiful sushi.

I went ahead and prepared the rice for him. As numerous books pointed out, the rice is one of the most important parts of sushi (which makes sense since apparently sushi means “vinegared rice”). Preparing the rice is a fairly involved process.

• Use a short grain Asian rice (don’t use the type of rice for risotto)
• Start by rinsing the rice well until the water is clear instead of cloudy
• Combine rice and water. I was surprised to learn that the proper ratio of rater to rice is 1:1 (I make normal brown rice with a water to rice ratio of 2:1).
• Let the rice soak in the water for 30 minutes
• Combine 6 tbs rice vinegar with 2 tbs sugar and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well until sugar and salt have disolved. Set aside (this is for about 3 cups of dry rice).
• Cover pan with lid, turn on the heat and bring the rice to boil
• Reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes
• Remove from heat and let sit for 15 minutes without removing the lid.
• Pour onto cookie sheet and spread out.
• While rice is still warm, pour vinegar on top and gently mix into rice (one book likened this to the same method used for folding in egg whites)
• Technically, while you stir in the vinegar you’re suppose to fan the rice at the same time to cool. However, I’m not coordinated enough to do this
• Give the rice ample time to cool. Once cool, it’s ready to be used for sushi. Note: multiple cookbooks state that you should never refrigerate sushi rice. However, if you have too much, you can freeze it.

For the sushi stuffing, Jaeger cut into shoestring pieces the following ingredients:

• dakion radish
• avocado
• cucumber
• carrots

For actual assembly and more information, see this website. Technically it should be served with wasabi and soy sauce mixed together on the side. Unfortunately, I neglected to acquire soy sauce so we did without.

The sushi turned out very well. I think Jaeger took pictures which he’ll probably post on her website at some point.

I just finished my morning exercises. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do a combination of pilates, toning, and abs (I mix and match so the combination is not more than 45 minutes). On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I do a step aerobic workout.

I really like the toning video I use. You choose how long you want to work out and then it randomly picks enough one minutes exercises to fill that time. However, in one way the instructor really annoys me. Almost all fitness instructors like doing exercises in multiples of four. Often one will do 8, 12 or 16 reps depending on the exercise. However, Lessig’s toning video doesn’t. Sometimes we’ll do 10 reps but sometimes it’s 11 or 22 or 19. This always throws me off balance. If I know at the beginning of the exercise how many reps I need to do, I can usually stick it out. However, without knowing sometimes I give up. Oh well, other than that it’s an excellent video.

We have a new cat in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, this cat has taken to taunting Cat5 at 5:00 each of the last three mornings. This results in Cat5 making sounds similar to what I imagine eternally damned souls might make. It’s truly an awful noise to wake up to. The first time I heard Cat5 make the noise, I was upstairs and immediately rushed downstairs expecting to see burglars skinning her alive. Yes, I have a vivid imagination but truly, this noise is terror inspiring.

I wish the new cat would either make it’s appearance earlier or later in the day. I usually get up around 5:30-5:45 each morning. Earlier would make it easier for me to fall back asleep and later would mean I’d probably already be up.

I’m contemplating shutting the cats in the basement for the next couple of nights in the hopes that the new cat will forget there are interesting cat like creatures at our house. However, it’s a hassle trying to remember to herd them into the basement every night. Now, what would be really useful is a motion detector that’s hooked up to a sprinkler system of some kind. It’d be great if the moment the cat sets foot on our porch it got deluged in water

I’ve always thought a place needed to have big trees, mountains and water (preferably ocean size but Lake Michigan works in a pinch) to be considered beautiful. You’ll note that Colorado only truly has the mountain part going for it. Thus, I wasn’t surprised when I moved out here to discover that I didn’t think Colorado was beautiful (much to the apparent consternation of everyone else that lives out here). However, recently I’ve come to the conclusion that what I really need to consider something beautiful is space. Trees, mountains and water are nice but space is essential.

I drove to one of our rural libraries today for a meeting. Even though Weld County has none of the things I traditionally consider beautiful, I love driving on the country roads. Life just seems better when there’s breathing space instead of row after row of houses. I don’t expect I’ll ever end up living in the country (Jaeger really enjoys civilization) but it’s nice to be able to drive through it and dream

I’ve located a sushi mat! I originally thought Bed, Bath and Beyond would have them but they don’t. Most places I looked suggested I go to an Asian food store but I couldn’t find any in Longmont (I’m sure they exist, I just couldn’t find them). Eventually, I thought to call Whole Foods (sometimes also referred to as “Whole Paycheck”) and they have them!

My next project was to find sushi recipes. I know there are lots of recipes on the Internet but there are also a lot of bad recipes on the Internet and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the good and the bad. So, I surveyed my surrounding libraries and discovered that Longmont seemed to have the best selection of sushi books. I decided to put three on hold:

• Sushi for Dummies (the reviews specifically say they contain vegetarian recipes)
• The Great Sushi and Sashimi Cookbook
• Sushi Taste and Techniques

I’m hoping at least on of these has a couple of good vegetarian recipes in them.

The library is a dangerous place to work. Every day I come home with at least 3-4 interesting looking books to add to my “To Be Read” pile. I don’t know why I keep bringing them home. There is no way I can actually read everything. However, the library is dangerous in another way. They offer staff a discount when we buy books through them. On most books we get a 40% discount off the retail price and don’t have to pay shipping. The downside is you don’t get immediate gratification. The books you order usually take a couple of weeks and sometimes a month to arrive. However, it’s very tempting to spend all one’s discretionary money on books when you can get a brand new hardback for around $16 and new paperbacks for $4.50.

I just got an email that two books I ordered have arrived. They are The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I originally checked out both of these books from the library and kept them for many months until I started to feel selfish (the library lets you renew an unlimited number of times unless someone else is waiting for them). Finally I decided that I really should buy them

I didn’t have nearly enough time to try out all the interesting King Arthur recipes so I’m excited by another opportunity.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some herbs from a nursery called The Flower Bin. I discovered them last year after being unable to find healthy looking basil anywhere else. They are amazing. They don’t just have basil, they have at least 6 different varieties of basil to choose from. This year, I started off by buying columnar basil, Thai basil, oregano and rosemary. It was occasionally still dropping below freezing outside so I kept them in our spare bedroom. Unfortunately, I was negligent one day and left the bedroom door open. Our cats discovered the plants and had great fun digging in the dirt. They completely uprooted the oregano and distressed the Thai basil and rosemary. The columnar basil was in another pot and seemed to survive the ordeal intact.

Today I decided it was time to move them outdoors. The rosemary and Thai basil still look distressed so I decided to go back to The Flower Bin today and pick up some more herbs. I originally intended only to get replacement rosemary, basil and oregano. However, it’s like a candy store in there Eventually, I bought rosemary, oregano, cinnamon basil (instead of the Thai), mint, coriander, lemon cucumbers and a tomato plant.

Last year my herbs did pretty well so I’m hoping they’ll grow this year too. I have a fabulous recipe that uses Thai basil so I hope it survives. Last year I also tried growing tomatoes and failed miserably. I’m going to try again this year but don’t have much hope. On the other hand, Jaeger now has a drip system in place so at least the tomatoes will be getting plenty of water

Today I made my second batch of bagels using a recipe from Rose Leky Beranbaum’s book The Bread Bible. The first time I tried to make bagels was more than 5 years ago and was a dismal failure. This time they turned out pretty decent. While Beranbaum’s recipes are fairly time consuming to make, they always seem to turn out well. If I were to make them again, I think I would boil them for a little less time (I boiled them for the maximum amount of time she suggested) and use tin foil instead of wax paper. In spite of my success with bagels this time, I probably won’t be making them again. Bagels at bakery shops are just as good (or better) than these and take much less time

My next experiment from Beranbaum’s book will be rye bread. I ended up with enough money last week to buy a couple of extra things that weren’t on my list. So, I went ahead and bought most of the ingredients for Veggie Reuben Sandwiches except for the rye bread. Assuming no great bread disasters, I’m planning to have Reubens for supper tomorrow night.

I recently started listening to the audio book You on a Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Managemnt by Michael F Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz. Previously, I had listened to another of the authors’ “You series”, You: The Owner’s Manual. It was interesting to listen to but it seemed like their answer to everything was to take another supplement. I do usually take a multi-vitamin and calcium supplement. However, in general I feel that most of my nutrients should be coming from food, not pills. So, I started listening to You on a Diet more for commute entertainment purposes than expecting any great insights into dieting.

Around 4:00 today I started to get hungry. By 5:00, I was starving. I left work and started listening to the audio book as I drove home. It practically drove me insane. The problem is that when you’re hungry, the audio book authors seem to go into excruciating detail describing the foods that people often crave. About mid-way through the drive home I turned off the audio book. I am too suggestible and their descriptions of food were making me so hungry I would have eaten anything edible in the car (fortunately, nothing existed).

I had put a casserole in the oven and set it to time bake before I left the house this morning. So, I was able to eat supper within twenty minutes of getting home. I don’t like to think about what sort of binge I would have gone on if I hadn’t had pre-approved food handy.

I think I’ll probably still finish the audio book but maybe I’ll just listen to it in the mornings when I’m not already feeling famished