Thinking Thoughts 22-10-2014

View from the hotel room

The following was written on a plane back to Toronto between 9PM and 10PM EST on 22-10-2014.

- I'm on a plane coming back from Austin Texas right now.

- Yes, again.

- It has been a long time since I've written anything for this blog or really anything other than emails at work.

- I really haven't been baking. Though I do have a few recipes that I want to post and hopefully will be posting soon.

- I was in Austin again for a conference, thankfully only four days this time, not two weeks like last.

- The food wasn't as good.

- I don't want to knock the people who worked hard to put the entire thing together, but when you're going to Texas for a conference people expect barbecue, not hamburgers one night and mini-hamburgers the next night.

- Myself and a few of my team had a barbecue fix this afternoon. We ate a lot. It was good. We were satisfied.

Thinking Thoughts 05-06-2014

- Drive-ins are still fantastic.

- Parents are being cautioned that if they want to purchase Frozen merchandise for Christmas they should start buying it now, which is both insane and terrifying at the same time.

- Christmas is only about six months away, also insane and terrifying.

- I was part of Color (sic) Me Rad last weekend. I was blowing Rainbows out of my nose until sometime on Monday.

- The people throwing the coloured cornstarch took way too much pleasure in pelting me in the side of the head.

- My girlfriend and her friend took way too much pleasure laughing at the purple cornstarch caked into my left ear and the orange cornstarch caked into my right ear.

- It was still fun

- Don’t tell anyone I said that.

Your Cheatin' Heart

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm having an affair with another breakfast place. When I wrote this post a few years ago I never thought I could love another breakfast place as much as I loved that one. Sure I had had some places on the side, but nothing serious. All that has changed.

My Don Draper-esque tryst of culinary infidelity started a few months ago. My last few visits to my usual place were a little lack luster; leaving my breakfast desires somewhat unfulfilled. So my eyes wondered, searching for another. I had a place a tad farther away that was a little less busy, who made banana pancakes with bananas baked in. True, the pancakes on their own weren't as good (still very good), but when I had a craving for banana pancakes, I had nowhere else to go. My earlier dissatisfaction coupled with stories of slower service and smaller pancakes means I haven't been back to Norval since late last year.

Winter Blues

I know it's a cliche, but I have found that, for me, a lack of creativity and drive is synonymous with this time of year. I’m not entirely sure that’s an excuse for the annual neglect of my blog; it is what it is. However, it definitely impacts my desire to write and bake.

I'm pretty sure the only thing I have baked this entire year is a giant heart shaped cookie for Valentine’s Day (I know, awwwww, right?). Last year ended with a bunch of stuff for our Christmas party and for Christmas. I tried out a new cinnamon roll and frosting recipe for New Years and I even wrote the post for it, (found it in my draft folder) but never edited it, never posted it.

2014? Nothin'.

Austin: The Return of the King

The following was written during my last days in Austin between October 23 and 25th.

And yes, I themed the titles of my posts after Lord of the Rings specifically so I could call this one The Return of the King :)

Monday was a work day for me. I dropped my cohorts off at training and spent the day working remotely from my hotel room. After work, I picked up my coworkers and listened to them tell stories about the day. It felt very much like picking up kids from school, and I amused myself with the thought :). At my suggestion we headed to a large antique store, more like a warehouse. I wanted some interesting stuff to bring home, but I ended empty handed again.

Austin: The Two Days (Week End)

The following was written during my last days in Austin between October 23 and 25th

Saturday was a late start and by late start I mean I didn't get out of bed until 1PM. After another 10km run (one of many during this trip) I sat in my hotel room and watched a marathon of Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I watched it from about 2:30 to 6:30, I could almost feel my brain liquifying. Yet, it kept me entertained during the day while I waited for what really was the most anticipated part of my trip: getting together for dinner with Anna Ginsberg, her husband Todd, and their daughter Emma.

I've been reading Anna's blog for a long time. A tonne of my recipes are adaptations of hers. She's a celebrity to me, but more than that, she's someone who inspires me to bake and continue to blog about it. Her recipes are always among my favourites and her site is always my first stop when I'm looking for something new to try. So, needless to say, I was excited to meet her :). For dinner we went to Bartlett's, a nice, cozy, dimly lit, steakhouse style restaurant, also one of their favourites.

Austin: The Fellowship of the Conference

The following was written during my last days in Austin between October 23 and 25th

Maybe I shouldn't start writing this while I'm a bit cranky, but if I don't start it now, I'm never going to start it :).

As of this writing I've been in Austin for eight days. I'm definitely ready to come home, but i have to say, I'm enjoying this trip much more than the previous one. Mostly because I'm sharing the experiences with people from work and we're all having fun together.

So without further Much Ado About Nothing, the dining room proudly presents... your dinner

Thinking Thoughts 25-10-2013 (and a little after)

The following was written on my plane home from my connecting flight in Chicago to Toronto

- Almost home, though I suppose by the time I get to post this I will be home.

- I have everything pretty much written up about my food adventures this trip but it needs to be edited.

- Plane was late taking off from Chicago because the co-pilot was late, because he was on a plane from San Antonia that was also late. Fun.

- Chicago is a stupid large airport.

- On the last flight there was a big guy waiting in line to use the washroom with both his gut and crotch in my face.

- I think I had Laffy Taffy for the first time during this trip.

- Laffy Taffy kind of looks like Silly Putty.

- But tastes great.

- Have I mentioned that I like Starbursts?

- 'Cause I do

Thinking Thoughts 15-10-2013

- The idea of being in Austin for ten days is far more depressing then it really should be. It's not that I don't want to go, it's that I don't want to leave, if that makes any sense.

- Why are airplanes so loud? I mean, I know why, but can't you have figured that out by now? TV has lied to me about this fact for years.

- This has been the most turbulent flight I've ever been on.

- That's the first time I've ever used the word turbulent in that context.

- Playing solitaire with one card draw is pretty much cheating. I'm sure 25 years ago there was a Game Genie code for that.

- Electronic solitaire now seems to be an exercise in tapping a card to see if it goes anywhere, rather than actually figuring out where it should go.

- The solitaire on my iPod is impossible. I have less than a 5% win rating.

Thanksgiving 2013

I am posting this from my awesome phone mostly because I can:-).

Not bad for only five hours right?

Carrot cake, Coconut macaroons, Pumpkin bread, banana brownies, and peanut butter cup bars. Recipes to come. Probably posted while I'm in Austin..... For ten days *frown*.

~Adam

Thinking Thoughts...

- I bought a "Smart Phone." The Google LG Nexus 4. My friends welcomed me to the 21st century. I thought that was a bit much

- It's a really nice phone and I'm actually happy that I didn't go with an iPhone.

- Setting up the phone through my company's corporate plan has been extremely painful. Even though I own the phone I will still be on contract. Dumb.

- I've had the phone in my possession since Tuesday; I can't use it as a phone yet.

- My brother's dog is nuts.

- The dog that lives in my house is nuts.

- I will be in Austin for almost two weeks in October. Crazy.

- I am not unhappy that the summer is almost gone.

- We got an Espresso machine at work. It cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of 900 dollars. Broken in two weeks.

- Breaking Bad is too good for words.

Let's go to the Ex!

I didn't end up doing any baking last weekend but I did go to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition or simply, "The Ex") with my brother. It was an insanely beautiful day and we had a lot of fun watching some shows, walking around and talking, but most importantly eating all the bad food we could fit into our gullets. After all, the Ex is an EXercise in EXcess :).

As a kid, we went to the Ex a few times but it was never a "thing" like it was for my parents (or Mom specifically), who mark the end of summer with the advertisements for the Ex popping up on TV. For those who don't know, the Ex is essentially a cross between a giant fair and a giant expo. Every year it runs the last two weeks of August, ending on Labour Day. There are rides, games, shows, art exhibits, tonnes to buy, and lots and lots of food. Fried food :).

Austin: Complete

Home

Thoughts: written between the hours of 8PM and 9PM EST.

- Free wireless internet should be mandatory at the airport. People are already tired and cranky from flying and/or waiting, why prevent them from connecting with family? Are you really that hard up for money?

- Not enough people said y'all in Austin. Now that I'm in Georgia, waiting for my connecting flight, I really want someone to call me sugar.

- I wish I was better at randomly striking up conversations with people.

- I waited over five hours for my flight today because I had nothing to do after my meetings. See the first note and the one directly above for more insight.

- I kinda just want to get home.

- When I went out for dinner on Wednesday night, I finally saw someone with a cowboy hat and boots.

- Wanting to see that probably makes me a jerk (the y'all, and sugar thing probably do too).

- Forest Gump is a fantastic movie, sometimes I forget that. It kept me company Monday night when I couldn't sleep.

- Why are jalapeños served with, in, or on-top of nearly everything I ordered in Austin?

- The washrooms in the building I had my training doesn't have automatic faucets, this lead to me standing in front of the sink wondering what was wrong with the water.

- Mary mentioned that I ordered a lot of cold weather food on Sunday despite being so hot. It occurred to me that seasonal food is not a concept for me. The two exceptions are my Grandmother's Italian Wedding soup, only served at Christmas; and eggnog (and that's a drink).

- Speaking of Christmas. A conversation with my instructor about Christmas music made me curious as to the quality of -Christmas dubstep. A quick search lead me to this. Awesome!

Austin: Day Four

Okay I think I'm done. I'm ready to go home. Need to get back to my house and some food that doesn't have jalapeños in it :).

The morning started as my instructor promised with a giant donut, some regular donuts and donuts with hotdogs in them...

What?

Austin: Day Three

Whew! If there was any day that was going to kill me, it was probably going to be today (though I am slightly terrified about tomorrow).

It's only myself and Lidia left in the class, and as relaxed as it was when there were four people, it's even more relaxed now. A bonus of there just being the three of us is that we were able to choose where we would order our lunch from and our instructor prioritized the day appropriately: determine lunch first, then start the lessons :).

We ended up deciding on Mother's Cafe and Garden. It's a vegetarian and vegan place, something i'd never thought I'd eat in Texas, but we all kind of felt like eating a little lighter.

Our menu for the day was spinach salad, a gorgonzola farfalle pasta, and a spinach lasagna (I suppose it's not that light). And to top it off our instructor's sweet tooth suggested that we order the Belgian Chocolate Chip Cake and Almond Mocha Torte. It's vegan food, that means it's super healthy right :)? Besides, we were going to share everything so we didn't need much convincing.

Austin: Day Two

Thoughts:

- Although it's really hot here, I find myself cold more often then not because the AC in our training room hovers somewhere around 0 celsius.

- Everyone that has a thick accent isn't from Texas.

- The downtown core of Austin feels like a real city. They should consider renaming the outskirts :).

- Despite being one of the least masculine straight males around, and relatively non-competitive, I still wanted to crank up the treadmill when another guy got on the one next to me. I didn't need to. He couldn't keep up to my 8 mph pace anyway.

- It's too humid outside.

- The water here smells like wasabi tastes.

- My hotel room has 35 TV channels, 4 of which are ESPN. That's 11 percent of my TV viewing choices dedicated to sports. Why?

- The hotel keeps giving me free mini tubes of toothpaste. I'm hoarding them. Is that wrong?

- I thought I had more thoughts than this, but it seems I've forgotten the rest. Onto food.

Austin: Day One

I woke up nice and early to make sure that I didn't inadvertently sleep though the first day of my training. Apparently it wasn't necessary as it took all of ten minutes to get to my destination. And even though there was enough time, I decided to skip the hotel breakfast, despite the fact that it seemed packed with cereal.

There are only three other people in the training class, everyone seemed quite nice, and my instructor is of the quirky-jokey type, which is good because the material can get kinda dry. To start the day there was some complimentary marble cake, but I passed to simply enjoy my morning coffee. The last thing I needed was that much sugar, not to mention I was still digesting last night's dinner :).

Lunch was provided by a local barbecue place, though I"m not entirely sure which one. For scientific reasons, I made sure to sample all of the offerings: brisket, turkey, sausage, beans, cole slaw, and potato salad. There is a picture of it on my instructors iPhone (because I forgot my camera) that I will try and post later.

Austin: Day Zero

I made it to Austin!

YYZ

Flights were okay, I slept, I read, I watched WALL-E. My quick stop in Detroit didn't allow time to sit down, but I can confirm that construction of Delta City has yet to begin.

Cab ride from the airport was uneventful, but it left me with the initial impression that everything in Austin is too far away with nothing in-between. Oh, and it's too hot.

Check-in at the hotel went easy, the room is nice, much better than the last hotel I stayed in (*cough* Circus Circus *cough*). I asked the girls at the front desk where to eat and they suggested North by Northwest, which lo and behold, Anna also recommended. After checking their menu I determined I was in the mood for meatloaf.

Texas Forever

As I said in my return post I'm being sent to Austin Texas to do some learnin' for my new job. I suppose what I failed to mention is that I am leaving tomorrow.

I'm leaving tomorrow (Sunday).

Maple Syrup News is the Sweetest News: New Grading Standards

While writing up yesterday’s post I came across some interesting information that I figured I’d share because I wasn't aware of it, which is shocking because it's maple syrup news; the only thing more important up here is hockey. Although, fashionable toques is a close third.

It appears that in 2012 the International Maple Syrup Institute (yes, there appears to be such a thing) is attempting to reclassify the grading system for Maple syrup for the 2014 production season. The new classification will unify the grading between Canada and the U.S. (who currently have two completely different systems) as well as take some of the stigma off of the No.1/Grade A vs No. 2/Grade B classification that makes the latter seem like an “inferior product”.

The recommendation is to have two grades of maple syrup: a consumer grade, Grade A, that runs the gamut from Golden to Very Dark and a processing grade, which cannot be sold at retail.