wankerville
March 29, 2011
Shot with the Harinezumi digital outside Walkerville Collegiate Institute, Windsor, Ontario. March 15 2011.
Posted by jodi on March 29, 2011 at 12.04pm
weekend workout update
March 27, 2011
Monday, March 21: Couch to 5K week one.
Tuesday, March 22: 20 minutes bike, hill profile level 11.
Weightless A routine, which is supposed to be 5 times through the following exercises but I only made it through 4:
-15 squats
-30 bicycle crunches
-12 push ups
-20 scissor kicks
-10 burpees
-20 seated abdominal twist (this is the first time since January that I’ve been able to do this exercise, as it involves sitting right on my busted-up tailbone. It’s painful but manageable: I’m on the mend!)
Cool-down, 10 minutes treadmill.
Wednesday, March 23: Couch to 5K week one.
Thursday, March 24: 20 minutes bike, hill profile level 11.
Kettlebells routine, twice through the following set of 9 exercises, with interstitial cardio sets (15 jumping jacks, 40 plank run, 20 plank run twist, 20 Spiderman plank twist) after every two exercises:
-25 swings (two-handed), 12kg
-12 each side 1-arm squat press, 8kg
-15 dead lift, 20kg
-15 sumo squat, 16kg
-15 each side Gaspari’s crunch, 12kg
-12 overhead extension, 12kg
-16 seated abdominal twist, 8kg (I can lift more weight than this but am trying to go easy on my injured tailbone, especially when I’ve already done this exercise once this week without weights)
-12 each arm bentover rows, 12kg
Cool-down, 10 minutes treadmill.
Friday, March 25: Couch to 5K week one.
Saturday, March 26: Saturdays are going to be my easy (and totally optional) day, so the routine will stay the same each week:
20 minutes bike, hill profile level 11.
Once around the circuit of 6 weight machines. I’ve recently increased my weights on all of these, and am shooting for 12 to 15 reps, increasing the weight by 5 once I’ve managed the 15.
-leg extension, 70lbs; 12 reps.
-leg curl, 80lbs; 12 reps.
-lateral pull down, 135lbs; 13 reps.
-chest fly, 80lbs; 12 reps.
-chest press, 80lbs; 12 reps.
-shoulder press, 40lbs; 12 reps. (this is another area where I have an injury, one that’s been recurring for more than a year now and flares up every couple of months)
Cool-down, 10 minutes treadmill.
Starting on Monday I’ll be doing the One Hundred Push Ups programme on the Couch to 5K days, right after my run. During my normal routines when I do push ups they’re from the knees with ankles crossed, look-at-me-I’m-Sandra-Dee style. But for this programme I’m going for the real thing. I did the test this week and was not surprised to find that I could only eke out seven push ups without losing my good form, which puts me low on the ability scale but in the middle of the pack in terms of starting level in the programme. But soon I’ll be doing 100! Running for 30 minutes and THEN doing 100. Holy crap.
Sunday is a day off, except for this:
Derby! At which I will undoubtedly stink. I can’t even skate, y’all.
Posted by jodi on March 27, 2011 at 12.53pm
green soup (or, the dang-we-need-groceries special)
March 22, 2011
An easy and delicious green curry soup thrown together on grocery night to use up what few vegetables we had. Use different vegetables, if you like, or tofu or cooked chicken or whatever. This is a quick meal, as it uses store bought green curry paste rather than going through the trouble of making it from scratch.
Amounts are approximations, as I don’t really measure when making stuff up.
The Cast, in Order of Appearance:
- olive oil
- one mid sized onion, chopped small, Jacques Pépin style
- a couple of cloves of garlic, pressed
- about a 5cm (2″) piece of fresh ginger, grated (about 1.5 tablespoons)
- two or three medium sized potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
- broccoli, cut into tiny florets (I’m guessing I used around 3/4 cup, which was all we had. My method is to hold the washed broccoli out over the pot and then skim off the florets into the pan with the knife, moving slowly from outside to inside to get it as tiny as possible. Mostly I just can’t stand cleaning up all of those tiny broccoli bits off the cutting board)
- about the same amount of cauliflower, also cut into very small bits (I actually used mostly cauliflower stems instead of the flower part, because that was all I had; normally those bits go into the freezer with the broccoli stems for making vegetable broth later on)
- 2-3 tablespoons of green curry paste (don’t skimp, green curry paste is much milder than the red stuff. I used Thai Kitchen brand because it’s easy to find and doesn’t contain fish sauce. If you’re a fish sauce kind of person, go ahead and throw some in, I won’t stop you)
- 5 cups vegetable broth (or chicken, if you roll that way)
- one can coconut milk
- a good handful of frozen green peas, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup. I actually wanted to use edamame but didn’t have any already shelled in the freezer and was too lazy to shell them. The peas turned out to be better anyway, I think.
- about a cup of finely shredded kale (or substitute some other sturdy green; collards would be great, or my current favourite green thing, thinly sliced Brussels sprouts)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- the juice of one lime
- a small handful of chopped fresh coriander (optional; I only had about 2 teaspoons’ worth that wasn’t wilted, and it wasn’t really noticeable in the finished soup in that quantity)
Warm up a good dollop of olive oil in your heavy bottomed soup pot on medium heat. Fry your onion for 3 to 5 minutes until translucent, then add the garlic and ginger and fry for about a minute more. Add your potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, toss to coat with the remaining oil, and cook them carefully for a few minutes just to brown the edges. Then throw in the green curry paste, vegetable broth and coconut milk and bring the whole thing to a boil. Add the frozen peas, reduce heat to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.
Simmer with the lid off until the potatoes are tender; it won’t take more than 15 or 20 minutes if you cut them small enough. About 5 minutes into the simmering stir in the kale or other greens (if you’re using something more tender like spinach then wait until you’re just about to serve the soup before adding it, giving it just enough time to get warm).
When the potatoes are cooked, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Stir in the lime juice and coriander. Now eat it.
If you want to add cubed firm tofu or precooked chicken, right when the peas go in would probably be the best time to do that. I probably would have put some tofu in but I was all out (grocery night, remember?).
Posted by jodi on March 22, 2011 at 7.01pm
workout update
March 21, 2011
Seriously, this is all about my workout, so feel free to skip it if you just don’t give a rat’s arse. I’m not offended.
Since our time in Boot Camp ended at the end of January, Peter and I have been working out together 5 mornings a week, using a routine and schedule that Peter put together to see him through from Boot Camp to the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. At which time he begins to set the alarm at 7:00 instead of 6:00 (shift your schedule instead of your body; avoid the pain of DST lag! It works!), ride his bike to work and go to the gym in the evenings, leaving me on my own in the morning. In order to stay motivated without a workout buddy, I need a finite goal to focus on, one where I get some kind of cookie at the end (even if the cookie is just the knowledge that I achieved a goal).
I also have another goal, although it’s starting to look like a fairly modest one:
And that goal is to be able to run all the way around that lake up there, without stopping, by August.
I’ve never been much of a runner; my ankles roll over easily and beside, I’m totally lazy, y’all. But last August when Pennsictime rolled around I was two months into a three month stint with a personal trainer, and I didn’t want to lose all that I’d gained (or gain back what I’d lost, har-de-har). Marco (formerly of Refine Fitness, our neighbourhood gym) gave me a couple of workout routines to do in camp, and Peter and I ran around the lake first thing in the morning before getting down to it. Now, for real runners this lake is a piece of cake, and I’m anticipating that getting around it once is only going to take around seven minutes (seriously, it’s tiny) but last year I couldn’t even make it a third of the way (for Pennsic folks, that’s from Wulf Den to Pandora’s Box) without stopping for a breather. Yeah, seriously out of shape.
So today I started the Couch to 5K programme, with the help of the lovely free podcast from the NHS. The plan was actually to start C25K and the One Hundred Push Ups programme at the same time, as the two together seem doable in a single workout, but I forgot to do the pushups test ahead of time (early fail!). So this week I’ll be working C25K into my regular 5 morning workouts, and starting next week the official plan will be thus:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Couch to 5K on the treadmill at the gym, then upstairs to do the 100 Pushups training, after which I probably won’t bother with any cooldown beyond stretching
Tuesday and Thursday: 20 minutes cardio on the bike or cross trainer, one of my 5 weight routines, then 10 minutes cooldown on the treadmill
Saturday: optional, probably light cardio and once through the weight machines circuit
Sunday: day off.
The 5 weight routines are the ones Peter and I have been doing together since February, which I’ll talk about in more detail in my week-end recaps (because this here is already enough reading about something that interests only me, am I right?). There’s one kettlebells routine, two that use mostly body weight working a mix of upper and lower body, a routine that’s mostly abdominals, and the Day 5 Grab Bag, which is where I just pick a half dozen or so free weight exercises, whatever I feel like doing (it usually involves those wide grip pulldowns and barbell rows, which are my all time faves). I’ll also be working on raising my weights, so I’ll be recording the weight here to track my progress.
Couch to 5K is a 9-week programme, 100 Pushups is 6 weeks; I expect it’ll take me longer than the six weeks to get to 100 pushups, and Week 1 of that will be starting when I’m already on Week 2 of C25K. So this plan should see me through the next nine weeks before I need to come up with another goal and another plan. And come Pennsic I’ll be running around that lake 3 times without stopping, just watch.
I’d like to insert a photo of rippling quads here, but my quads have a soft blanket of fat over them that’s quite becoming, really, but pretty much hides all muscular definition away from view. So instead, because a blog post loves a picture, here’s one of that lovely lake (which I may or may not have posted before) Shot with the Holga, hacked with foam and rubberbands to hold 35mm film.
again, for Pennsic people, this is from the back of House Redhair (across from Wulf Den), gazing across at an angle to Casa Barducci. Whoa, nerdy enough yet?
Posted by jodi on March 21, 2011 at 3.06pm
in progress
March 20, 2011
Posted by jodi on March 20, 2011 at 12.21pm
barbage*
March 18, 2011
Peter found this useful little object while spring cleaning some hard-to-get-to spots in the kitchen last weekend. It’s a miniature pink adjustable wrench with the words “LOVE ME” on the side and a rusty old jingle bell attached to the handle. It’s the strangest piece of Barbage we’ve found in a long time, and proof that after almost eight years there are still some crevices in this house we haven’t ventured into yet. Is that gross?
*”Barbage” is the term applied to all items left behind in our house by the previous owner, a single mom with five teenagers (including a set of triplets). Her name was Barb. That was obvious, probably.
Posted by jodi on March 18, 2011 at 11.24am
shop update!
March 17, 2011
The sun has finally come out, which means there’s good light in which to photograph the very large pile of new journals that were finished up a few weeks ago. I’ve uploaded some of them into my etsy shop, with more to be doled out over the next few days. And even better: spring is finally here! Which means it’s time to throw off the sweaters and grab a camera, sneakers and sunglasses, pocket a pencil and a sweet little notebook and get outside to have some fun! And, you know, take notes.
Posted by jodi on March 17, 2011 at 1.38pm
studio video!
March 11, 2011
Printing the big doily block for the first time, on pieces of jersey fabric for scarves (again, and still). Sorry about the shaky camera; it was poised atop some awkwardly stacked library books, on a table that’s clearly too wobbly to be used for printing. Goes along well with the frenetic energy of the printing session, during which I listened to all of my Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney and Le Tigre records (three, one, and two, respectively). Just making sure the right energy goes into these scarves, which are going to be for badass rock stars and proud sluts only.
Posted by jodi on March 11, 2011 at 5.17pm
diversity in the dairy case
March 5, 2011
Posted by jodi on March 5, 2011 at 11.38am
february handspun
March 2, 2011
I don’t know if this will become a thing, this having a new finished handspun yarn to show each month, but at least until La Liga‘s season ends I’m spending a few hours a week spinning upstairs in front of the television while watching football. Lemmy and I spin through all of FC Barcelona’s matches and the occasional Real Madrid match as well (although, when we watch Real Madrid, we’re always rooting for the opposite team).
Full disclosure: February’s handspun isn’t actually done done. BUT! It was actually started in January, and it’s a sweater’s worth, and there’s only 1.5 more bobbins of plying left to go and a Barca match from this afternoon waiting on the DVR, which we are going to watch tonight. While spinning. So by the end of the evening we’ll be close enough to call it, I think. A SWEATER’S WORTH, SERIOUSLY.
February’s handspun started with the top three of these fibres:
Top: black and white mixed Brown Sheep mill ends from Sheep Shed Studio.
Middle: blue wool roving I got ages and ages ago from Jacey at Insubordiknit. I don’t remember what kind of fibre this was, just that it’s cruelty-free and lovely to spin and beautifully dyed and I wish I’d bought a whole lot more of it.
Bottom (not the very bottom, just the bottom of the top three. Got it?): more Brown Sheep wool roving from Sheep Shed; this gray roving was given to me by a grad school chum as barter for spinning thread which she used to construct her thesis work. Which I would show you if I could find a picture of it anywhere on the internet. Maybe later. Anyway: spinning for fibre? I need to find more trades like that.
So I mixed those three fibres together in hopes of coming up with something subtle yet interesting with flecks of blue throughout, without a hope of having enough for a sweater but self deluded enough to try anyway. Starting out, the plan was to spin up all of the singles, numbering the bobbins as I went, then ply together bobbins from the beginning with bobbins from the end by a clever and complex system not-yet-devised so as to even out any changes in yarn weight over the course of the singles spinning. But halfway through I realized that the lovely blue wool from Jacey was pretty much disappearing into a homogenized gray. So was the black. A little panicked plying test yielded this sad little bundle:
Ugh. UGH. Want to know what I’m using this yarn for now? Bobbin leaders. That’s how dead this colour is.
So! Not to worry. There’s lots more of that Brown Sheep roving up in the attic, left over from my graduate school fibre binge. Remember that blue stuff I dyed a while ago? Here’s what it looks like mixed with the gray, in singles (on the right; gray singles on the left):
The two plied together: much better!
I also did some of the blue all on its own, enough for a colourwork yoke.
So! My predictions for tonight: Barca will win (the match is over already, NO SPOILERS!), and Lemmy will spin, and February’s handspun will be all done but for the washing. Now, what shall we spin in March?
Posted by jodi on March 2, 2011 at 5.36pm
