Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Balsamic-glazed fish filets

Since I'm back to the Paleo thing, just discovered the concept of zucchini noodles. (Kinda like spaghetti squash, I believe..) Check out the recipe/instructions here on NomNomPaleo.

This recipe was pinched from the Washington Post website:

Here's a recipe that works equally well when made using a grill pan indoors or an outdoor grill. I've had fish that's balsamic-glazed or honey-glazed or mustard-glazed, but this recipe combines all three -- with garlic and lemon juice -- to great effect. No salt is needed.

The fish stays moist and easy to handle because it is cooked in 1-pound pieces instead of individual fillets. If you cook this on an outdoor grill, preheat to medium-high (400 degrees) and place the fillets over direct heat.

A slotted, flexible metal fish spatula with rounded edges is invaluable for handling large or small fillets. Any leftover fish would be great the next day, flaked over a green salad.

Serve with mashed skin-on fingerlings; the small potatoes take no more than 20 minutes to cook.


4 to 5 servings
Ingredients:

2 medium cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
2 tablespoons grainy Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Two 1-pound pieces skin-on salmon or halibut fillets, preferably center-cut and about 1 inch thick, pin bones removed

Directions:

Mince the garlic to yield about 2 teaspoons. Squeeze the lemon half to yield 1 tablespoon of juice.

Combine the oil and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes, until the garlic has softened.

Add the mustard, honey, lemon juice, vinegar and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, to form a slightly thickened sauce. Transfer to a wide, shallow dish and cool for 5 minutes, then place the fillets skin side up in the dish; let them sit for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, use nonstick cooking oil spray to grease a ridged grill pan. Heat over medium-high heat.

Place the fillets skin side down in the pan; use the sauce in the dish to evenly coat the top of the fish, making sure plenty of the garlic is there. Discard any remaining sauce.

Cook the fish without turning for about 10 minutes or until it is opaque and fairly firm to the touch. (Use the tip of a thin, sharp knife to make a slit in the center of the fish to check doneness, if necessary.) The skin will be quite crisp and dark.

Use a fish spatula to transfer to the fillets to a cutting board, divide them into equal portions and transfer to individual plates. Serve immediately.

360 calories per serving.

Sweepy-sweepy

Shaolin and Stephan Kesting--



Thanks, Afrorican, for reposting that!

Which reminded me of a question I get sometimes from newbs-- what do I do when we start from the knees? And Stephan has a good answer:



I just received Stephan Kesting's DVD on defending submissions the other day and I can't wait to watch it. I am grateful to have the "problem" of too many wonderful resources and not enough time!

Also a big thanks to Josh Lauber and Scott Reis, who taught me a sweep from halfguard that has been solid gold for me lately. It's basic fundamental stuff and I had to see it a couple times (which is why they both get credit) but I can pull it off more reliably than anything else, so I like it. I used it at lunch and dinner yesterday, yum. :)

Yesterday I rolled at noon open mat and tried out the Sao Paulo pass from Tony Pacenski's DVD. It's on my mind because I was watching his instructional during the cruise (with the intent of reviewing it here; I'm so behind on reviews it isn't even funny. Just learned how to do screen shots though so it's coming!) It's the same pass concept that Donald taught us against the sitting guard, so it was good review, and definitely good for me to see what I get and what I don't get yet. I can just hear Donald's voice telling me to try new stuff against smaller lighter less experienced people... but when I came to open mat, the options were limited-- a blackbelt, 4 browns, and two bigger whites (one of whom is going blue any day now)-- so I ended up trying it against the only person playing sitting guard (who was of course a very solid, technical and skilled brownbelt.) It became a good segue into a "lab" session where 3 browns sat around exchanging perspectives and techniques and I soaked in as much as I could.

Last night I had to work late as I constantly seem to have projects and impending deadlines... but I made it in time for some open mat at the end of the evening class. I was tooled by a super inspiring and technical guy who lost part of his arm in a car accident as a toddler. When I rolled with him the first time a few months ago I thought I would need to take it easy with him-- hahaha! Now I expect the same struggle to not be decimated that I experience with everyone else, and I have no compunction with grabbing the end of that cuff and tying down his partial arm, because he can do amazing things with it. You'd think having half an arm would be a disadvantage, but actually I think he's turned it to a benefit-- you can't armbar, americana, kimura, omoplata or triangle that side, and while he can't actually grip with it, he can fight your grips, block your hips, and even choke you with the stump in cross collars, forearm chokes, clocks, etc. It's sick and he's awesome.

I caught a cold on the ship, I think, and woke myself coughing at midnight. Now I'm still dopey with cold medicine which isn't good since I have a very busy day at work. I happily dropped 8 lbs since the cruise... yesterday I ate nothing but veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower) and lemonade (made with splenda) and I got 3 workouts in... today with this cold, I think I'll just do my conditioning class at noon since it doesn't require contact with other people. I skipped morning jits because the cold medicine really knocked me out but it's good not to share my illness. Sucks though because I want to lose some of the "fluff" as Megan calls it. I'm dedicated to being strictly Paleo though which will help even if I only get 1-2 workouts a day. With that in mind, I have a sack of cauliflower, carrots and green beans on my desk.

Have a great day!! :)

Monday, August 29, 2011

Hey! I'm back!

I'll post my thoughts on the cruise later. In short, I am fatter than ever, somewhat sunburnt, and we came within 200 miles of Hurricane Irene. Indeed, even the world's largest cruise ship moves a little when you have 18' seas to contend with. As a result, my office building seems to be swaying a fair bit. Ugh.


Four articles you should read:

Guns in the Senate

Hilarious comments by Judge Sam Sparks

Not another

Read our lips- no new Texans!

Oh, and my new hottest-guy-on-the-planet? Paul Rudd.





OK-- back to work, then jiu jitsu #2 of the day. Ciao y'all.

Friday, August 19, 2011

I'm leaving, on a cruise ship...

Hahaha now that song is stuck in your head... and if you were born after 1978 you're almost certainly wondering what the heck I'm talking about ...



Yeah, I'm out, leaving tomorrow. Be back in a week or so.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

How is Texas doing?

Texas is doing GREAT! We're first place in so many categories! Check it--

Environment

(50th=Lowest, 1st=Highest)

• Amount of Carbon Dioxide Emissions 1st
• Amount of Volatile Organic Compounds Released into Air 1st
• Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Water 1st
• Amount of Recognized Cancer-Causing Carcinogens Released into Air 1st
• Amount of Hazardous Waste Generated 1st
• Amount of Toxic Chemicals Released into Air 5th
• Amount of Recognized Cancer-Causing Carcinogens Released into Water 7th
• Number of Hazardous Waste Sites on National Priority List 7th
• Consumption of Energy per Capita 5th


The Texas story is not quite as glowing as Perry tells it. A quarter of Texans lack health-care coverage, the highest rate in the country. The state ranks 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending on public education and has the highest levels of toxic chemicals released into the water and carcinogens released into the air.

Just look at how women fare in this state:
Women’s Issues

(50th=Lowest, 1st=Highest)

• Overall Birth Rate 2nd
• Teenage Birth Rate 7th
• Births to Unmarried Mothers 17th
• Percent of Women with Pre-Term Birth 9th
• Percent of Non-Elderly Women with Health Insurance 50th
• Percent of Women Who have had a Dental Visit within the Past Year 45th
• Rate of Women Aged 40+ Who Receive Mammograms 40th
• Rate of Women Aged 18+ Who Receive Pap Smears 37th
• Breast Cancer Rate 42nd
• Cervical Cancer Rate 11th
• Percent of Women with High Blood Pressure 16th
• Family Planning 37th
• Percent of Pregnant Women Receiving Prenatal Care in First Trimester 50th
• Women’s Voter Registration 45th
• Women’s Voter Turnout 49th
• Percent of Women Living in Poverty 6th
• Percentage of Women with Four or More Years of College 30th
• Percent of Businesses Owned by Women 17th
• Percent of Median Income for Full Time Work 26th

"When Perry says Texas has less than 10 percent of the nation’s population but has created more than 40 percent of its jobs in the past two years, or that more jobs have been created in Texas in the past decade — that is, on his watch — than in all 49 other states combined, he’s not exaggerating. In an election that’s likely to be about jobs and the economy first and foremost, he has quite a record to run on. But there’s more to the story than those top-line statistics.

The unemployment rate in Texas, for instance, is 8.2 percent — less than the federal unemployment rate but worse than that of 25 other states, and it could move up a tick or two after Sept. 1, when budget cuts passed during the most recent legislative session will reduce the public employee rolls. Texas has more minimum-wage jobs than every state other than Mississippi, a superlative you brag about if you don’t care about what kind of jobs you create and are only trying to run up the numbers. And growth in public sector (i.e., government) jobs in Texas has been 19 percent over the past 10 years, vs. just 9 percent growth in private-sector jobs." from Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, published in the Washington Post.

For more information, check out the Texas Legislative Study Group report Texas On the Brink.

That's some made-up boolsheet....


“I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. I think we’re seeing it almost weekly or even daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change. Yes, our climates change. They’ve been changing ever since the earth was formed. But I do not buy into, that a group of scientists, who in some cases were found to be manipulating this data.”

— Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Aug. 17, 2011

Is this true? is this accurate? No. Fact-checked and found to be false!

By Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post:

"This is a pretty sweeping statement about global warming by the newly announced GOP candidate for president. Perry has long been a skeptic of the science behind global warming, having highlighted that stance in his book, “Fed Up!”

But these remarks, made in New Hampshire on Wednesday, seem to take his skepticism to a new level, with significant and specific allegations:

1. A substantial number of scientists have manipulated data so they will have dollars rolling into their projects.

2. Almost weekly or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.

How true is this?


The Facts

The question of whether humans have contributed to climate change in recent years has generated increasing skepticism among the American public, especially as proposals to deal with the problem, such as reducing carbon emissions, have come with high price tags. But Perry is wrong to suggest that that skepticism has gained strength among scientists.

To the contrary, various surveys of climate researchers suggest growing acceptance, with as many as 98 percent believing in the concept of man-made climate change. A 2010 study by the National Academy of Sciences, which surveyed 1,372 climate researchers, is an example of this consensus. After all, it was first established in 1896 that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could help create a “greenhouse effect.”

There have been similar studies by, among others, the United States Global Change Research Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Yes, there are a few skeptics in the field, but even they generally do not question that human activity is warming the climate. A collection of statements by various scientific societies that support the consensus on climate change can be found here.

In response to our queries, Perry spokesman Mark Miner sent us a link to something called the Petition Project, which claims to have collected the signatures of 31,487 “American scientists” on a petition that says there is “no convincing scientific evidence” that human release of greenhouse gasses will “cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the earth’s climate.” The petition is a bit old, having been started in opposition to the 1997 Kyoto agreement on global warming.

But this petition doesn’t back up Perry’s claim of a growing army of scientists opposed to the climate change theory.

Only 9,000 of the signers actually have PhDs, and the list of signers’ qualifications shows only a relatively small percentage with expertise on climate research. (One study estimated that under the petition’s rather expansive definition of a “scientist,” more than 10 million Americans would be qualified to sign it.) Judging from news reports, the number of signers has barely budged from 2008, further undercutting Perry’s claim of a groundswell of opposition.

Another Perry spokesman, Ray Sullivan, provided links to a number of recent articles that he said demonstrated skepticism in the scientific community. [Note: each of those words hyperlinks to a different article-- five in total. Check them out.] We reviewed the articles, and they are anecdotal in nature, not evidence of the groundswell of opposition suggested by Perry.

Despite our repeated requests, neither spokesman provided any evidence to back up Perry’s claim that “a substantial number of scientists … have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects” — perhaps because that particular scandal appears to be a figment of Perry’s imagination.

Perry appears to be referring to hundreds of e-mails that were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain and then disseminated on the Internet in 2009. One e-mail made references to adding a “trick” in the data, leading climate change skeptics to claim the data was manipulated.

But, although Perry claimed the scientists “were found to be manipulating this data,” five investigations have since been conducted into the allegations — and each one exonerated the half-dozen or so scientists involved.

So, in contrast to Perry’s statement, there have not been a “substantial number” of scientists who manipulated data. Instead, there were a handful — who were falsely accused.


The Pinocchio Test

Perry’s statement suggests that, on the climate change issue, the governor is willfully ignoring the facts and making false accusations based on little evidence. He has every right to be a skeptic — all scientific theories should be carefully scrutinized — but that does not give him carte blanche to simply make things up."


* * * * *

In an award-winning journalism career spanning nearly three decades, Glenn Kessler has covered foreign policy, economic policy, the White House, Congress, politics, airline safety and Wall Street. He was the Washington Post's chief State Department reporter for nine years, traveling around the world with three different Secretaries of State. Before that, he covered tax and budget policy for The Washington Post and also served as the newspaper's national business editor. Kessler has long specialized in digging beyond the conventional wisdom, such as when he earned a "laurel" from the Columbia Journalism Review for obtaining Federal Aviation Administration records that showed that then President Bill Clinton had not delayed any scheduled flights when he had a controversial haircut on an airport tarmac. Kessler helped pioneer the fact-checking of candidates' statements during the 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, when he was chief political correspondent for Newsday, and continued to do it during the last three presidential campaigns for The Post. In 2007, St. Martins Press published his widely acclaimed book on Condoleezza Rice, The Confidante. Kessler appears frequently on television and has lectured widely on U.S. foreign policy.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

mindbogglingly simple approach to topgame......

Check out this approach to top game by Christian Graugart!

His post has lots of photos and some video as well, but here's the cliff's notes he provided:



"Control points:
1. The head
2. The near side elbow
3. The near side knee
4. The far side knee
5. The far side shoulder

Ze Master Gameplan:
- Prevent opponent from turning into you by controlling at least one of the five control points. Preferably two or more.
- Be aware of the guard
- If opponent gets on his side, move 180 degrees around his head and control handles on opposite side right away.
- If opponent turns away from you, go to harness."

Illegal whaling.

Please watch this short video and then visit SanctionWhaling.org to fill out a quick email in protest against Iceland...

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

1,840

Great article on the Washington Post today about the humble burpee (aka squat thrust.) They have a video, too, showing proper form (and I learned that I cheat routinely.) When I go out of town for hearings, I usually try to knock out burpees in my hotel room in lieu of bringing workout clothes and exploring some dinky hotel gym. I will probably be doing burpees on this cruise coming up.

So what's 1,840 mean?

It's the Guinness World Record for most burpees performed in an hour, by Paddy Doyle in the United Kingdom on February 4, 1994.

I am deeply proud that it was an Irishman who attained this feat.

Also please note: today's deal at BJJHQ.com is the Tatami Zero G gi, in either male or female sizing. They're a competitor company "against" my sponsor Black Eagle, but see, I'm fair, I'm even-handed! And at only $100, that's a screaming good deal for a womens' fit gi. A2 and F2, F3 are sold out, so hurry if you're an F1, A1, or A3 and above..

Grumble.

I trained for about an hour last night after getting off work at 7pm. This is an exceptionally busy week for me having two deadlines plus preparing to leave on vacation on Saturday morning. Thank goodness for the stress relief of jiu jitsu!

Sadly, though, I wasn't super happy on the mats. I realize that I have kind of a pendulum thing going. The be-relaxed-go-with-the-flow thing is great, until I go in that direction too much, get lazy? or sloppy? and then it's not great. And last night it wasn't.

I rolled with two guys, both sweet, disciplined, mature people who I respect and enjoy training with. I guess the only way to put it is I was being sloppy and hoping/believing that it was just "flowing" and I'd pull something out of my butt at the right time. I didn't, I got swept over and over after muddling around with my ugly hybrid animal passes, got stuck on the bottom over and over, managed a sweep or a reversal eventually, but failed to capitalize on top position. And when I was on the bottom, I was trying for stuff and taking risks, which resulted in arms being out in all kinds of bad places. *grumble* At one point, I kind of "dove" for half guard, and tried to get my leg in front of his hip at the same time he was trying to beat me to it with his knee... his kneecap hit my quad in a weird spot and I had a hell of a charleyhorse. No bruise yet, but my leg is soooo sore right now.

Off topic: man, I am not happy Rick Perry is running for president. He's a buffoon. Here's an article I read which fact-checked his announcement speech. Only two pinocchios!

Did you hear Shawn Tompkins died? A friend texted me about it as I was coming out of a movie Sunday night. How sad.

BTW, if you haven't seen "The Help" or read it yet, do it.

And last-- do you ever get lost when watching high level grapplers? like, you don't know what to watch for or how best to use that time to your benefit? Then check out Liam's recent post on this topic on his excellent blog, The Part Time Grappler.

Monday, August 15, 2011

What happens when you take time off?

Work's bonkers lately but I'm still managing to train almost every day. I've been skipping out on my conditioning class at the regular gym though, which sucks because I'm not losing weight like I want to.

I wondered when I took time off of jiu jitsu if it would produce any benefits or result in any backtracking. I have heard from other people a range of effects all over the map. Here's what I have noticed so far, having been back to training about a month now...

1. I seem to have purged my short-term memory of all techniques "just learned." I think this is good, in that I'm not trying to make stuff happen. I know in the past, especially with takedowns and guard passes, that I'd come to a sparring session with a plan of "I wanna try this thing I just learned." And I'd endeavor to find - or force - an opportunity for that technique. *cough cough* *smirk*

The example which brought this lesson to mind happened last week-- started a roll on our feet, and just kind of messed around with the standup, watched what my opponent did, went with it instead of focusing on what I wanted... and got tangled up with our arms around our bodies for a while, almost not even realizing what a good position I was in for a hip toss. I think because I wasn't TRYING to get into position for a hiptoss, I didn't give those "grabby" sensations which would prompt instinctive reactions to counter it. Then, when I was IN position for it, the only thing left to do was DO it, and it was easy as pie. WHY CAN'T I DO THIS ALL THE TIME? (I think the answer is, I can, I just need more options so I cover all positions. Because surely, there is an option that is perfect for every position.)

2. My cardio didn't seem to diminish at all. My strength also seems relatively intact. My flexibility went to shit. I had to get a lot of myofascial massages on my hamstrings to loosen them up and break up some scar tissue. On the other hand, I'm not pushing as hard because it's over 100 degrees and humid, so who really knows what the cardio is like. I just don't feel any more winded or fatigued. Maybe my strength is down and I don't notice it because I'm easily up 10 lbs compared to the spring but whatever.

3. My guard passes hybridized to their detriment. I used to have some conception of 5-6 different guard passes. Not saying I could execute them well-- but I at least knew they were separate animals. But in the month or so off, they trooped into the Ark and started combining and recombining. They came out of the Ark as a herd of weird deformed hybrids. Now instead of a flying pass, a running pass, and a swimming pass, I have this gargoyle pass that can't fly, run, swim, or even crawl. It's like I smoothed out all the distinctions between everything and have this silly putty-like blob of everything all at once. It sucks.

4. My attitude while rolling has gotten way more mellow. I am trying so hard to ignore everything and just play guard from the start of each roll; I'm sitting back and being way more relaxed. I watch some of our purple belts and try to channel their vibe. They never seem to stress about anything except gripfighting, so I try to do the same. I am working on doing everything at the same pace and intensity as everything else. Grip break, move hips, establish my own grips, rinse, repeat.

Friday, August 05, 2011

The weaker sex.

Thanks Triin for posting this first one... there's some Gracie self defense techniques in all. (Of course, the same techniques are also taught in other arts, to be fair.)



then I started watching some of the others afterwards :)





Thursday, August 04, 2011

Choices

I washed my new Lucky gi in hot water and dried it in a hot dryer for an hour, but it didn't seem to shrink a whit. My fingers still don't even show out of the bottom of the sleeves.

I plan on writing as full a review as possible... but I also think I will return the gi and send the purchase price to UNICEF. Even if the gi had been out-of-the-box perfect, it doesn't matter.





Wednesday, August 03, 2011

The Horn of Africa needs your help.

While we were (or I was) all distracted with the debt-ceiling stuff, the more urgent issue of the Somalian famine was below my radar.

Tens of thousands of Somali children have already died from malnutrition, and more than half a million are on the brink. Please look at these fifteen amazing pictures made by Tyler Hicks
and send a donation to UNICEF or donate to the World Food Programme.

And not that I have anything remotely worthy of complaining about... but I wonder, is it possible to tweak your knee sitting in your kitchen on a barstool? If so, then that's what I did. I suppose it's possible that maybe I tweaked it doing squats yesterday; I did up the weight by 10 lbs, thereby ignoring the 10% rule... well, anyway, after sitting on the barstool for about 20 minutes this morning, I got up and my knee felt fat inside and a little hesitant, if that makes sense. So... I didn't train at lunch, and looks like I won't train tonight. Iced it, ibuprofen'd it, and confessing to the blog as penance.

Check out this post on BJJHacks.com yesterday, about competing and training in Brazil as a gringo. *sigh* I'd love to do it, but I'm hoping that we'll start a family soon, and that means Rio may have to wait till the sprouts are a little older.

I'm very excited food-wise today because I picked up a half-gallon of raw whole milk and it's so super-good and creamy, I can't wait to drink it. I want to make icecream with it, too. (Waiting till I get both raw milk and raw cream to do that though.) I am so lucky to live in America and have a good job, a good education, and a pantry full of food.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Stupid toe.

I'm trying to remember what I was doing to plow my toe into the mat yesterday-- maybe trying to recover guard or go inverted, and my partner had her hand on my ankle-- it was NOT her fault, but I'm trying to recreate it. In any case, it's really sore. I can walk, sort of, and ran sort of during lunch class at the gym. I'm heading to jits in a few minutes so we'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, some cool dubstep I found, of all places, on the Jiu Jitsu Forums. Give it a few seconds, you'll get scared at the beginning, but it will make you smile.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Big weekend!

Three fighters from our gym won their fights this weekend... Tim Kennedy beat Robbie Lawler in Strikeforce and Aaron Lanfranco and Daniel Jolly won their fights locally. Wooo!

I had a great time watching Miesha Tate's win over Marloes Coenen for the Strikeforce 135lb championship. Very technical match, and I liked the pillowchoke finish.

New blog (for me) out there-- Sam from Belgium just arrived in Rio and is living there for 5 months! Ahh living the life I'd love... anyway check out his blog, Mat Rat...

Saturday's class was excellent-- we did it Giberson style (though he's on vacation) which meant lots of positional sparring with different partners, plus lots of calisthenics and conditioning. We worked triangle defenses and 2 different triangle setups for the technique portion of class, and then open mat. I was plenty pooped after 2 hours and happy to have an excuse to leave an hour early.

Went home, cleaned up and went with hubby to our friends' baby shower. I ate two pieces of cake :( basically wiped out any benefit of the jiu jitsu class! Dammit! But it was great to see Yoli and her belly :)

Sunday, I was on my way to jiu jitsu.. I stopped at a light at a very big, busy intersection (the eastbound frontage of Hwy 71 and Lamar, for you locals) and I saw something odd on the curb. I had to jump out of my car, because it was a tiny baby bird! Stuck in the middle of a concrete ocean, in the blazing sun (even at 10am it was hot hot hot!) Poor little thing. I pulled all the kleenex out of a box in the backseat and shushed him into it, took him to the academy, and started making phone calls. Christy gave him drops of water with a straw and he peeped mightily out of a humpy-looking beak, convincing us that he was a baby vulture. Wildlife Rescue said they'd be open till 4pm, so I rolled with Christy for about an hour before heading there. Turns out he's a baby pigeon, not a vulture, but he has a safe home now and the folks at the Rescue will feed him up and set him free when he can fly.

For a snack after jiu jitsu, I made some sweet potato chips in the oven-- tossed the sliced potatoes in a bag with a teaspoon of olive oil, laid them on a cookie-cooling rack set on a baking sheet, and sprinkled each with a little taco seasoning, then 13 min at 425 degrees. YUM! Then we went to Alamo Drafthouse to watch Cowboys v. Aliens (great visuals, lame story, great casting except I just couldn't buy Olivia Wilde in her role..) where I ate the best pizza I've ever had in my life... thin crust, a little marinara, with red onion, bacon, roma tomatoes, spinach, garlic, mozzarella, and goat cheese.

Today I have open mat after crossfit, plus more myofascial massage (which has done wonderfully at getting my hamstring flexibility back.) Plus other errands, all after work. Dinner tonight, vegetarian due to hubby's gout attacks... roasted corn, squash and onions, with whole wheat spaghetti, fresh basil, parmesan and walnuts.

Recipe o' day: Fluffy biscuits.

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening (cold)
1/4 cup butter (cold) (or you can do just 1/2 cup butter instead and no shortening)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

Directions

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (6-8 pulses). Beat egg with milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead 4-5 times. Scoop dough with ice cream or cookie dough scoop. Place on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.


Side note: I'm so behind on reviews, I'm going to spend my Monday nights at home doing work to catch up on them. I might also use Wednesday nights for the same thing. I received a Lucky gi this weekend... the new bamboo material intrigued me. I'm not impressed so far-- the fabric feels AWESOME!!!! but it's HUGE for an A1, and the quality of the manufacture... well, that's all the teaser you get. I've taken photos and measurements and will shrink it (I hope!) and start wearing it soon. My Predator gi is working out wonderfully, so I'll be reviewing that soon. I think I'll review some DVDs and BJJ Style magazine first though so I get plenty of wear data on the gis.


And if you haven't seen this FLYING SUPLEX yet.... thanks to Liam at the Part Time Grappler, you can now...



p.s. Lunch open mat was great, but I stubbed the &*^#%$! out of my big toe :(