It’s Marathon Day!

I’m sure you care.

I was determined this time to get some footage of the leader going by,  since I completely missed out last year.  I don’t even remember 2010.  I know we were here.  I just….don’t really remember.

Sucks when you lose your mind.

 

Anyway,  here is Haile Gebrselassie loping by.

And you have to understand,  for some reason or other,  there’s a flock of motorcycles that rumble on by first.   Then the news car,  and then this marathon “star” for lack of a better word.

Oh,  and by the way, this was the moment, as we watched the video together when Travelling Companion asked,  “What’s with the farting?”    I had to tell her those were Harleys.  My apologies to the Harley owners,  but they do have pipes for that.

 

 

I think he’s “drafting”  behind that news car,  don’t you?

Hopefully you have the bandwidth to watch these things.  Nothing I can do about that.  I could only deal with one camera at a time,  and I didn’t even want to to take along the Nikon.

 

So,  Paula Radcliffe started first,  with a lead of 7 minutes and 52 seconds. Then they released this group,  who were all “pros” or something to that effect,  and then at precisely 9:00 a.m. they let the other tens of thousands go.

This is a gratuitous photo of that group,  for those who can’t watch the YouTube offerings.

 

 

Haile caught up to her at km 14 and passed her at km16.

Here’s a link to the Gaurdian if you’re remotely interested.  Poor Paula didn’t do as well as she had hoped,  but she did have bronchitis for the last two weeks.  She just got off her anti-biotics a couple days ago, and then RAN A HALF MARATHON!   I mean,  seriously.  And she was all upset? 

 

 

She seems to be struggling,  but….she won. 

 

 

This is at kilometre 19 on Mariahilferstraße by the way,  and I noticed a lot of runners checking their time at that point.  That’s when I noticed the big sign with 19 on it? 

Pretty proud of myself that I figured that out.  Just thought I’d mention that.

There’s nothing on the map that really tells you where you are along the course.

I should also mention that (since you really care) there was a record number of entrants this year.  Something in the neighbourhood of 35,000.   That’s like having the entire population of Annapolis, Maryland going out for a run.  Well,  Annapolis is something like 38,000,  but you’d need some folks to do the job of officiating and stuff.   Don’t you love this useless sh*t?

Sure glad we didn’t have to find a hotel room this weekend.   My guess is everything would have been pretty much booked solid.

 

Not long after I had taken my token footage of the leaders,  my physical stamina for just watching the thing was coming to an end,  so I went home.

 

This is an hour later.  They’re still going by..

 

 

For reasons that remain lodged in my dim memory,  both Gebrselassie and Radcliffe were running the Half Marathon,  which comes in at around 14 miles.  Something to do with his age,  (and the fact that he wasn’t going to run any more, but agreed to come to Vienna one last time) and something to do with her training for the Olympics.

By the way,  Haile did the run in one hour and 52 seconds.   He’ll be 39 in a couple days.  Even though Radcliff was “disappointed”,  she still won with a time of 1:12:03.   Um ya,  you won and you’re upset?  OK then.

 

Oh,  and the woman who came in third for the Full Marathon?  Has FOUR CHILDREN!  She’s a ‘farm girl’ from Kenya.

 

OK,  I have to stop now,  the couch is spinning.  Can’t have that.  I might hurt myself.

Just do some Google searches for these people and you can be amazed.

 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sautéed Chicken Cakes.

 

There was a request for the recipe for the chicken cakes from yesterday’s little meal snippet.  I don’t think the requester quite realises the effort needed for this endeavour,  but I’m willing to oblige.

It’s this or nothing.  There was some shopping today,  but maybe I’ll touch on that tomorrow.   Brain too fuzzy.  Sorry.

I copied and pasted this monstrosity from another format over to Live Writer,  and now it looks like one of those foolscap essay attempts from about grade nine,  where the teacher wants the whole thing “double spaced”.  That’s usually so they have room to write snide comments to their heart’s content. Talk about having a hidden agenda.

Anyway,  if you’d like, you can certainly copy and paste this into a Pretty Damned Frustrating file if you wish.  Or Word or Open Office or whatever.  I don’t claim  to have any copy write on recipes,  photos or any of the other junk you find here.   Fill your boots.

 

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“Sautéed Chicken Cakes with Tomato and Sweet Pepper Sauce.

Flavourful Tomatoes are the key to a tasty sauce that enlivens the rounds of chicken. Fashion small patties for appetizers or make large ones for a main course.

Chicken Cakes:

4 boned skinned chicken breast halves.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter.

1 cup chopped red sweet pepper.

½ cup chopped celery

6 green onions, chopped

2 cups unseasoned fine dry bread crumbs, preferably made from French or Italian bread.

2 eggs, lightly beaten.

½ cup heavy cream or light cream (half and half)

2 tablespoons Dijon style mustard.

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

2 tablespoons minces fresh tarragon, or 2 teaspoons dried tarragon, finely crumbled.

Salt.

Freshly ground black pepper.

Tomato and sweet Pepper Sauce:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter.

2 shallots, minced.

1 red sweet pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped.

¼ cup dry white wine.

¼ cup minced fresh tarragon or parsley, or a combination.

Salt.

Ground cayenne pepper.

Vegetable Oil for sautéing.

Fresh tarragon or parsley springs for garnish.

To make the chicken cakes, finely chop the chicken breasts.

Set aside.

Heat the butter in a sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the sweet pepper, celery, and green onions and cook until the vegetables are tender,

about five or six minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the chicken, bread crumbs, eggs,

cream, mustard, parsley, tarragon and salt and pepper to taste.

Chill for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.

To make the sauce, heat the butter in a sauté pan or saucepan over medium heat.

Add the shallots and sweet pepper, and cook until tender, about five minutes.

Add the tomatoes and cook 6 to 8 minutes.

Stir in the wine and cook until the sauce is thick , about 15 minutes.

Add tarragon and/or parsley and salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Keep sauce warm, (If made ahead, reheat prior to serving.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

For appetizer-sized cakes, shape about 1 tablespoon of the chicken mixture into a round patty about ½ inch thick.

Use about 2 tablespoons for main dish sized patties.

Heat about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat, carefully add the fragile chicken patties, a few at a time, and sauté, turning once, until golden. About 3 to 4 minutes total cooking time.

Add oil as needed.

Transfer the patties to an oven proof dish and bake until done, about 6 minutes.

Drain well on paper towel before serving.

To serve, place 2 or 3 chicken cakes on individual plates with the tomato sauce along side. Garnish with tarragon or parsley sprigs.

Alternatively, spoon a dollop of the sauce on top of each appetizer-sized patty, garnish with a leaflet of tarragon or parsley, and pass on a tray.

Serves 8 to 12 as appetizer, or 4 to 6 as main course.”

 

 

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We don’t use tarragon.  Even if I could find it,  I don’t think we’d use it.   The bonus is,  you can double wrap these things in foil and freeze them.   From a rock hard frozen state to some semblance of ‘ready for the table’,  you’ll need a good hour (and more won’t hurt) at a moderate oven temp.  I’ve used 160°C to 170°C.   That’s what?  about 320°F?  You’re just thawing them out,  no need to cook them again.   Of course,  if you have a microwave,  which we do not,  then you’re on your own.  I think taking them out of the foil in that case might be advisable though.

Credit to my sister-in-law Ljuba for this one. 

 

Good night and Good Luck.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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Mind reading is my next trick.

Or that would be my guess,  since I went to the bank machine this morning as was able to use my card.  Still no call from the Bank Lady though, so I guess I was supposed to get the word “telepathically”?   Or something.  Or just keep trying the card?  Sure glad we’re not travelling.  That would be stressful.  Cripes!

I thought maybe the amount was the problem so I only took out €100,  which means I’ll have to go back at some point.  The amount shouldn’t be a problem though,  since I think our daily limit is something like 2000 bucks.  The only snag is,  the machine here will only deal out €400,  so we’re capped at that amount.  But two thousand bucks?  That’s kinda scary.  I don’t recall why we put it that high,  but there was something once upon a time about having to do a transfer of some sort.  Somebody who didn’t take Visa?  Long since forgotten.

 

I like to have a couple Euros hanging around on the weekends,  in case Travelling Companion gets any “ideas”.  No complaints though, neither of us really spend much,  since we seem to have enough “stuff”. 

 

For my part,  I decided to do a little shopping this morning.   (*ahem* speaking of stuff…)

Well,  besides at the butcher and the baker.   There was no “candle stick maker”,  but I did go to the other two.  Sometimes the butcher has a really nice looking tenderloin,  and he’ll lob off a couple steaks for me,  at whatever thickness I’d like.   It ain’t cheap,  but having a steak cut from the tenderloin like that means there’s absolutely no waste.  Plus,  I really don’t like to work too hard at eating a steak.  Cheap is good,  but not at the risk of cracking a molar.

 

Anyone who has a clue who lives north of the forty-ninth parallel knows about Lee Valley Tools. 

I suppose that’s sounds pretty harsh.  Possibly if you’re some high priced lawyer working on Bay street (isn’t that where they hang out?)  and have never had to do a stitch of manual work in your life,  you might never have heard of them,  but you’re going to be too busy to read some drivel on a blog anyway,  so I’m reasonably certain I’m not going to be upsetting anyone on that front. 

Considering that the last two digits of my six digit customer number is ‘86’,  you can get the idea that I’ve been shopping there for a while.  That’s what?  26 years?  Whoa.

 

The thing is,  since I’m way over here on the other side of the globe and have some silly need to feel connected in some way,  I have a few outfits that send me little email snippets from time to time.   Even got one from the local guy where I buy my good clothes.  Unfortunately taking advantage of his offer of a ‘second pair of trousers’ is a bit of a challenge.  That was their latest email offer.  There was more to it,  but it doesn’t really matter.  Besides,  I’m a little “full up” on the good clothes front.  Never hurts to look though.

Took me a couple minutes to root out these photos,  since they are on another drive,  but this place was also where my son-in-law got fitted out for his wedding.  OK, my daughter’s wedding.  Whatever.  Come to think of it,  it’s where I got fitted out for MY wedding too.  Hm.  I guess we’re what you would call loyal customers.

 

It’s the kind of place where,  they have all your information (used to be on a rolodex,  but now it’s on computer) and if I did need a couple ties,  or a shirt or whatever,  they already knew what I have on hand,  my size,  and what would go with it. 

Remember these things?

 

What that means for a guy like me is,  I can be in and out of there,  having bought a couple shirts or whatever (and a few hundred bucks poorer)  within a maximum of 20 minutes to a half hour.   More time spent shooting the breeze than anything else.

My kind of “shopping”,  really.

 

And here’s my brother Angus (that would be the fellow who has the hobby farm in rural Nova Scotia)  trying on a really spiffy jacket. 

That jacket was about 50 cents short of a thousand bucks.  I love my brother,  but I wasn’t buying him no freakin’ jacket!

Actually,  he was just trying it on,  to “see what that felt like”. 

 

So I got this note from Lee Valley yesterday I think it was:

I resisted for about a day,  but then I had to do it.   I heard tell of some sort of a “shoe buying maxim”  amongst the ladies where,  if you see a pair of shoes and you think about them for a week,  you need to buy them.   Of course,  with some of these special buys from Lee Valley,  if you don’t get on it within a fairly short period of time,  they may very well be sold out.  This I know.

Now,  I have a couple compressors and enough hose.  But I have the kind of hose you fight with in the cold temperatures.  Not fun.  So I splurged just a little. 

There was a period of a few years there,  when I was changing as many tires spring and fall as the average pit crew in a Formula One race.  Not quite as quickly though.  I’d do four cars in the fall,  and the same four in the spring.   Snows on,  snows off.   Ya,  we’re believers in snow tires.  You can have your “all season radials”.  Been there,  done that.  If you want anyone in your family who is not comfortable driving in snow to get over it,  (won’t mention any names….) they need snow tires.  It’s just that simple.

And it’s not just about the snow either,  it has to do with driving on cold surfaces,  from around plus 5°C. on down into sub zero temps.  Snow tires have a softer compound and give a better grip.

But,  that’s a whole other subject.  There are those who “get it”,  and those who never will.   Just as long as those who don’t “get it”,  stay the hell away from my rear bumper,  I could care less.  Trust me,  we’ve been rear ended by a couple in the “too cheap to buy snow tires” crowd.  Too bad they end up paying more for insurance.  Hm.  There’s a savings,  eh?

 

I’m getting a little long winded today,  but I guess I’m kind of “full of it”.   What’s that all about?

 

I almost forgot about this, but I tried something a little different for me last night in the dinner department.  I’m not much of a cook,  so new stuff is not really my thing.

We had some white asparagus left over from the weekend,  since Travelling Companion had boiled up enough for the two us,  but the package that we bought was just about twice as much as we could eat at one sitting.   These white variety of asparagus only come out once a year,  and in some restaurants for example,  they’ll add all kinds of dishes to their menu,  using white asparagus in a variety of different ways.

I thought I might like to try doing something on the grill,  and found a few ideas on the net.  Turns out it was Allrecipes.com,  where I’ve found a host of stuff in the past.  Good site by the way,  I recommend it.

 

 

I have this pan that goes on the grate for veggies.  Also recommended.  The “recipe”,  if I were to dare to call it that,  was “Bob” simple.  Just some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Put these guys in a plastic container with the liquids,  did that “shake and bake” thing to spread it all over,  and popped these little darlins on the hot grill.   Took about 20 minutes I would say.

 

And we were pleased.

They turned out a little crunchy, but not stringy.  I’m not a fan of “stringy”.  Just a texture issue.  Really tasty though.

The “cake” that you see there,  is a recipe from my sister-in-law called “Sautéed Chicken Cakes with Tomato and Sweet Pepper Sauce”.   They are also awesome,  but that’s a recipe that takes up a whole page.  I usually leave that level of expertise to T.C.,  since they can be frozen and heated up later.  Hey,  I’m no fool.

 

The only caveat is,  our freezer is about the size of the one we had in our long gone motorhome.  Sooo,  shopping decisions are usually directly influenced by just how much space I have available.   Life in Europe! Yay!

*he says with that painful look on his face*

 

It’s Friday the 13th,  so my guess is that there are at least a couple people I know who might be heading down to Port Dover.   It’s just one of those crazy Canadian things.  At least the weather might cooperate today.  Here’s hoping.

 

Have a fine weekend.

 

Thanks for coming on by.

 

 

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