Food porn, winter, and stuff.

When I woke up this morning, it was 17 degrees in Atlanta. Woo whee! To warm it up a bit, here is some food porn.

K, recognize a couple ingredients? Concerned?

Here are the tofu steaks. And what is that goodness peeking in at the top?

That's right: ONIONS!

Brussels sprouts with red pepper flakes.

Home again

Ahhhh, Atlanta, the temperature might be half (literally) what it was in Honolulu, but I'm glad to be back. Weirdass posters advertising the state of Georgia's "Felon Search" on the MARTA notwithstanding.

What I particularly like about the poster is the graffiti. Just in case you can't read it in the picture, it says

Leave me alone and let me get a fucking job

Indeed.

And why in the fuck is the State of Georgia charging for this, anyway? Since when was access to public records a profit making venture for state government? Prison industrial complex, anyone?

Of redeyes and green faucets

This is the bathroom faucet in the little strip mall where we had surprisingly good sushi last night. Ick.

I hate redeyes. Even when I manage to sleep for most of the flight, as I did last night, I still feel zonked out on arrival. Awaiting my connection to ATL, which I plan to sleep for most of.

The crappy little terminal I'm in at SFO has no interesting breakfast options, so I'll probably just eat a clif bar on the plane. SFO would be an okay airport if it weren't so compartmentalized: there are literally three foods options, all mediocre, without leaving security. And I definitely don't have the energy for any of TSA's asinine security theater foolishness this morning.

Happy hour, part, uhhhhh... Six?

4:18, must be Tiji's, again. Delicious mai tai.

Walked most if the way out on the beach, and was amused to ignore the various hotels that have tried to privatize parts if the public beach.

Flying out tomorrow, after a delightful and much needed rest. Looking forward to a relatively calm December, even though a lot of work is ahead of me. Better drink up now!

Room service

Let me start by saying that I NEVER, EVER get room service. Literally: I'm pretty sure that in all the hotels I've stayed in, I've never actually ordered room service before.

But here at our:
ridiculously fancy hotel (this is the saltwater "Private Sunset Beach" lounging pool complete with a fake sand beach) J got a $25 gift card for her elite status, for use only for room service or the spa.

Not one to pass up mostly free beer (they were $9 each), I was quite pleased to see these three options on the room service menu. (See? Told you it's a fancy hotel. Thanks for paying your taxes: they're hard at work!)

Not the prettiest pour ever, nor a proper glass, but when Marriott is paying, I'm drinking.

Oh, and this is just a random shot of a happy hour Lava Flow from earlier in the day.

2011

I was inspired while reading this post on a blog I like to consider the year ahead.

Notably, the post is a fun read if you're any kind of a cyclist: this guy is a seriously obsessed gearhead cyclist. From what I can tell just from this post, he and his wife own about nine bikes between them. That would be one more than J and I owned at our peak in Alaska, but several of those were kids bikes from when we were fostering. He loves the high-tech expensive stuff, which I'm somewhat ambivalent about (like dyno hubs) but it's fun to read someone else's considered opinions even when I would never buy the stuff.

Anyway, on to 2011: some ideas, some plans, and some hopes for what I might do.

VERY LIKELY OR DEFINITE

• Continue my legal work with activist communities, including (already planned) trips to West Virginia, Nevada, and Columbus, GA.
  
• Do at least one lengthy bike tour: already have one in the planning stages from Atlanta to Richmond, Virginia, then on to West Virginia. And I'd love to do Adventure Cycling's Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, but I don't know if this is the year. More possible is the C&O Canal Towpath.
  
• Participate again in the Courage Classic. Fundraising appeal coming soon!
  
• Have a vacation with J. We're thinking about something outdoor rather than tourist travel. Maybe Colorado, maybe Alaska. See below.
  
• Continue and improve my short story writing. (Interested? You should be. Many of you are characters.)
  
• Some mountain biking. I've got that fancy new mountain bike, so I need to use it. Probably both some local stuff in Atlanta (which has some surprisingly fun trails intown) and also some in the mountains of north Georgia.
  

KINDA LIKELY

• Get better with linux, really dig in to my ubuntu installations, and understand more of what is going on under the hood. A, are you listening? I might want boot camp. I'll provide the beer.
• Speaking of beer, get back to regular homebrewing. As delicious as it is to have Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and Westy 12 and Hebrew Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA on tap, I'd like to have some of my own on tap again.
  
• And speaking some more of beer: every time I'm in a beer store with any kind of a legitimate selection (which gives me a pass on most of West Virginia) not buy a beer I've already had if there is something reasonably interesting to buy instead (or at least in addition to.) Notice the multiple qualifications. This is something I've been working on for the last couple years.
  

NOT VERY LIKELY BUT FUN POSSIBILITIES

• Hike the Chilkoot Trail. I definitely want to do this sometime, and Skagway is truly my favorite small Alaska town, but I'm just not sure it's feasible to have it on the agenda for this year.
• Get rid of our car, and go car-less, again. Primarily this is unlikely because we'd take an absolute bath on the value of the car: we tried to sell it in Alaska, with no luck, where people genuinely need 4x4, unlike Atlanta. As it is, we leave it parked for an average of 26 or 27 days every month. We'll continue working on this.
  

Happy hour, continued

3:28pm, must be stop #2 on my Waikiki happy hour crawl, and a DELICIOUS mai tai at Lulu's . Good times.

Happy happy hour!

2:45pm, must be happy hour at Tiki's Grill and Bar overlooking Waikiki Beach.

This is a stupidly strong Blue Hawaii: basically 85% hard liquor. Phew.

Have a portobello burger on the way to soak some of it up. Whoops, no: the great bartender just clarified with the kitchen that the bun for the portobello involves butter, so switching to a salad.

Vegan complications notwithstanding, vacation is fun.

More vegan Hawaii!

A bunch of random Hawaii vegan food porn and costs:

Vegan pupuu (appetizers) at Ryan's Grill, beer (Deschutes Jubel) and the first of two mai tais. Grand total at happy hour? Around $22 plus a hefty tip.

Our personal french press of 100% Kona coffee at Honolulu Coffee Company. A chain, but a smallish one, and entirely located in Hawaii and the Pacific islands (two locations in Guam.) Very good coffee, and I'm glad I got it once ($6.95) but I certainly wouldn't spend a ton of money on the beans.


This is our other dish at Ruffage Natural Foods, a vegan tofu scrambler. Fairly tasty, especially with a little hot sauce.

Finally, while it seemed like it would be the most exciting, this was the least flavorful and interesting dish of the bunch, a vegan "pork" type thing at Simple Joy. Not bad, just not... that interesting. A little bland, a little lacking of substance.

Island time

Here's the view from our hotel room window:

Yes, life is good. I'm going to spend much of the day exploring happy hours in Waikiki.

Since I'm five hours earlier than EST, I'm streaming one of my old public radio stations: KSKA. I was amused to hear the temperature forecast and current temp rundown for various locations in Anchoragua, none of them above 5 degrees fahrenheit, and 15 degrees below zero for East Anchorage. It's currently 81 in Honolulu.

Wonder how it is in the F-B-X... oh, -25! Maybe my friends are too busy huddled by the heater to e-mail or respond to text. Oh, btw, know that if any of you ever do text me, I have a new number I need you to use for texting (yay for google voice!) Email me for details.

Vegan buffalo wings: Hawaii Edition!

Not as amazing as City O City in Denver, but a close second for vegan buffalo wing deliciousness, and happy hour pricing ($5.50) to boot. with a shockingly vegan friendly menu, add a Rogue Double Chocolate Stout, and an Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary Imperial IPA, and Yard House Waikiki: you WIN.

GB edit

..

Vegan special chili

At Ruffage Natural Foods in Honolulu, this morning's breakfast. Delicious! The  tofu scrambler was also good, but not quite as good.

Traditional X-Giving Dinner!

Among other items in our Tofurky studded vegan X-Giving extravaganza dinner were

homemade hummus, baba ganoush, and pita. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking a picture until we'd eaten most of the delicious baba ganoush, directly from the mini food processor bowl.

And here are the roasted potatoes and red onions. Real tasty, lemme tell ya.

Here is a random shot of me doing mass production tofu prep. Note the yet-unopened packages of tofu int he background. I want to live near a store that sells bulk tofu.

Food porn!

Going back to my concern that J doesn't eat properly when I'm gone, here is a sampling of what I cooked up for her last time I left the house:

Clockwise from left, that's tofu with zucchini, flash fried asparagus, fried tofu, and sauteed kale with garlic.

Panorama!

A random evening panorama from my balcony:


Spent much of today screwing around with computers. Hawaii tomorrow. Hard to complain.

Genius

STAND BACK, FOLKS: I'M ON A ROLL HERE! Well, actually, I'm mostly done with the photos I just downloaded, so this MIGHT be the last post of the day. No promises, though.

I noticed something funny this morning when I went to make toast: the ziploc bag this was in on the kitchen counter, when I opened it, let out a noticeable puff of quite warm air. Ick. So I put it in the fridge.

Where did this delicious bread come from, you ask? Well, see, it's like this: J is a genius. Seriously. She not only is a rock star in her professional life, but she's a fantastic baker and cook.

This bread is from her 100% homemade sourdough culture (made mostly, as I understand it, from leaving it open with whatever random crap was blowing around in the kitchen air.)

ONIONPALOOZA!

Well, not really, but it's a hell of a good idea, no? Stay tuned!

I did caramelize a bunch of ONIONS last night:

Not great images, but rest assured, the ONIONS tasted WONDERFUL!

Cookin' em up, to go with:
Tofu, zucchini, and curried carrots (which were particularly tasty, fried with chipotle powder, garam masala, and salt.)

Kegerators

Kegerators are great, but they do need to occasionally be cleaned:

Those are actually just footprints from the bottoms of kegs, and the CO2 cylinder. (I used to have beautiful stainless cylinders, but had to exchange them for crappy steel ones at the shitass Airgas which is the only place reasonably close to me.)

Traveling extensively makes finding time for brewing tough, so, currently pouring: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A.. Life is good! Dear Readers: come and get some!

Arizona food porn!

Rest assured that I maintain my readership's addiction to food porn when I'm traveling. This is cooking with friends in Tucson:



And here are said friends prepping avocados and limes:
By this time in the day, J3 and I had eaten about ten avocados between us, mashed in to guacamole.

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of brussels sprouts. And here is a picture from the brussels sprouts Throwdown! that my sister-in-law and I did last Christmas.

We both used fresh brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt, and pepper. She cut hers in half and roasted them in the oven; I halved mine, then carefully removed the stems with a diagonal cut, which took about four times as long as her process.

I hate to brag, but: I won.

At least MARTA operators:

have a sense of humor:
This is the control panel in a light rail car I was riding in the other day to the airport...

Pharmaceutical reps, part II

Sitting in the Fuqua Heart Center at Piedmont Hospital, and just eavesdropped on two pharmaceutical reps talking, that apparently the doctor they had an appointment to harass is too busy with patients to see then this nothing. Yay!

Then the boss-looking of the two huffily stated they'd go see the head of cardiology, acting like "we'll clear all of THIS up." Except that he had to ask the receptionist where the head of cardiology's office was.

Basil!

My friends had let their bail bolt. Seriously bolt.  The pile on the ledge are flowers I pinched off.

Been a long time since I had meaningful gardening porn, no? I miss having a garden. Growing in five gallon buckets on the balcony just doesn't cut it.

Back to Atlanta today, then I don't have to fly anywhere again until the 27th - what a nice break!

Vegan hotel breakfast redux

Not amazing, but the banana is ripe, and my french press coffee from home better than the hotel coffee.

Tuscon is lovely.

Couldn't resist

here are a couple more bikes from Egypt. At least they're kinda like bikes.

This is a delivery vehicles for the fast-food chain Gad, in Alexandria. Though I disagree with review #2: it's actually quite easy to mess up fuul and falafel in Alexandria. Back to the bike, though: that rear wheel is even more bent than the image conveys. It's what we'd consider potato-chipped in the states. Check out those spokes!

And, uhhh, how do you ride this thing, anyway? In this case, the operator didn't: he pushed it along, muscling it into a vaguely forward line.


This is another bicycle-based delivery vehicle for a preposterously overpriced store for stupid expats in Aswan (which J and I found has even more hassle than Luxor, known as the "Hassle Capital of Egypt".)

Egypt & bicycles

I'm slowly going through the, cough, 489 pictures I took in Egypt. I feel like slogging through the post-processing is part of the deal of taking a huge amount of pictures. Otherwise, it'd just be crap to add to the, cough, 25,000+ images, totaling 53.4 GB, that I have (just on the desktop computer.)

People ride bikes all over Egypt, but they are especially prevalent in Cairo, and often used for transportation. Every bike I saw, and the ones J and I rented to ride to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, are singlespeed. Most are in mediocre to horrible repair, but nevertheless get people, and stuff, around.

This guy is carrying a big rack of aish, soft pita-like pillows of Egyptian bread, on his head down a moderately busy sidestreet near the Islamic Museum of Art:


And here he is cutting into a very busy intersection, weaving through traffic, and jockeying for position with cars and hand-drawn carts.

This guy is riding some recycling/re-use across the 26 July Bridge over the Nile in Cairo. It's vaguely reminiscent of my own approach to recycling, though he's carrying a lot more crap. But not in -15 Fahrenheit weather!

Many more wacky bicycle pictures to come, but probably not until I'm back from Arizona.

Vegan airplane food, homemade version!

Here is my lunch for today's flight to Tucson:


Wraps with last night's leftovers (tofu, caramelized onions, zucchini, and garlic), spinach salad with onions, sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar and oil, and sauteed kale with garlic.

Flying out in a couple hours, and inexplicably, decided to update the ubuntu version on the laptop I'm taking the morning of leaving. Which takes a looooooong time, even with a hard-wired internet connection. Oh, and screwing around with a corrupted SD card that I can't delete all the old image files from. Sigh. Technology.

Crappy photos

Hmmm... just confirming now that I'm on a real computer, without a clock ticking, that the HTC Incredible doesn't always like to play nice in uploading images to my blog. I'll try to fix some of those posts when I get back to ATL.

Vegan airport lounge breakfast!

Not amazing breakfast, but far better than the gross food on the long flight back from Cairo.

After some asinine security theater from TSA, we had lovely showers in the Delta lounge, and are now setting about killing the next five hours before continuing on to Atlanta.

Good to be back, and not worrying about whether we can drink the water and eat unpeeled vegetables. Tucson tomorrow. Woo!

Egypt updates

Okay, fixed one of my image upload problems. For this post, here is what I meant to upload:

Read the sentence below this image. Makes a lot more sense now, right?


This is the pleasant if undynamic breakfast I had two mornings at the pleasant if overpriced Philae Hotel in Aswan.

Egypt remains, uhhhh, pretty good. Aswan turned out to not actually be all that relaxing, despite what the consistently inaccurate Lonely Planet Egypt claimed. What it lacked in Luxor's sheer numbers of touts, hassle and bullshit, it more than made up for with quality bullshit and some petty thievery.

Leaving a restaurant called Emy's, on the Nile, where we'd paid the price requested by the server, which was already inflated, he tried to shake us down: "My friend, please give me ten pounds." (about USD$1.80) He was totally unable to tell us why, and started reciting the things we'd eaten. And paid for. And paid a service charge for, and tax, and left a tip. When I said I'd need to see a menu to look at prices, he responded with, "Okay, okay, go."

Then for a little business-as-usual corruption: you pay the entrance fee to get into a monument (in this case, the Tombs of the Nobles) then have to pay a "guide" to unlock the tombs, that the layabout tourist police hands you off to, so he can take his cut later. Ummm, so what did we pay for here? The privilege to pay more?

Now in Alexandria, which as a city is my favorite of the four places we've been in Egypt. A little less chaotic than Cairo, and far, far less bullshit than Luxor or Aswan. And a few restaurants that are actually nonsmoking inside (very, very rare in Egypt, where the smoking repulses me daily.) And the Mediterranean is lovely.

A couple more nights here, then back to Cairo for a night, then home. I'm ready.

Welllllll, yeah.

Image upload fixed. Here is the correct image:

And here is the previous upload:


To paraphrase someone I detest, but who said some pretty funny/useful shit, you don't go to a hotel room with the beer that you want, you go to a hotel room with the beer that you have .

And this is, by far, the best beer brewed in Egypt. Yikes.

Aswan tomorrow, which will be a relief after Luxor, the Hassle Capital of the Known Universe.

A little creepy

Kind of fun, but a pretty strange thing to find in your room, left by housekeeping, when you come back from breakfast.

They also brought a bigger receptacle for the air conditioning unit to drain in to than the 1.5 liter water bottle that hugely overflowed last night, leaving a big puddle that ran under the door and into our room, soaking a comforter.

Today: renting bikes, riding to the Valley of the Kings, and more of the Hassle Capital of Egypt.