August 2010 Archives

We were supposed to go kayaking yesterday off of the Hillsboro Inlet with a Meetup group but skipped kayaking since our kayaking group wasn't meeting up until later in the morning and storms were expected to start around noon.

Naturally since we didn't go out it never started raining and would have been a beautiful day for kayaking but I guess if we had gone kayaking it would have started thunder and lightening as soon as we got all our equipment in the water.

So instead of kayaking we went tube snorkeling off of Vista Park since that requires almost not equipment and is right around the corner from our home.

Had an awesome time since the ocean was almost smooth as glass although the water was still kind of cloudy from the day before's storms and it was high tide so the water was rather deep for snorkeling.

We stayed out for a bit over two hours and saw some awesome stuff although with the water rather cloudy I couldn't get any really decent pics of anything despite seeing some really colorful Parrot fish and a small Stingray that I followed around trying to get decent pics of but was never able to.

I did get a really good shot of tis dead fish though.

Still dealing with leg issues.

My doctor gave me some bad news after getting an ultrasound of the arteries in my leg. The femoral artery graft that was put in my leg after getting shot back in the nineties is totality blocked. At least I know now why it has been giving me so much pain when trying to use it. Next step is to see a vascular surgeon which I've been trying to do for over a week now. I guess ascular surgeons are really in demand this days because the soonest I can get an appointment is over a month away. Hopefully it can somehow be opened back up without going through major surgery again.

I've really gotten into cooking and seem to be much healthier eating my own cooking, not to mention saving a lot of money by not eating out all the time.

This is a recipe that I found online and then modified to my own taste. It makes enough for dinner for two with enough leftovers for lunch for two the next day the next day and maybe even a late day snack.

I often eat it with rice and vegetables or chili. It also makes for good sandwiches.

3 pounds firm tofu, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into 3/8 inch thick slices.
18 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 ounce minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
5 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a blender mix all the ingredients for the marinade.
Pour the marinade into a baking pan
Slice the tofu into 3/8 inch thick slices and place in a single layer in a baking dish. Flip each piece of tofu over so that the marinade coats each side.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the marinade has been absorbed.

I've finally made chili sin carne completely from scratch using no oil or salt that tastes fantastic.

I took 1/2 lb black beans, 1/2 lb red beans and 1/2 lb pinto beans that I soaked in water over night. I then put them in a pressure cooker until the regulator weight fully levitates at which time the heat is turned off and the pressure cooker is allowed to cool off. This seems to give me perfectly cooked beans every time.

Next I made a very simple Tomato Puree. I took 4 lb of tomatoes that I cut in half and boiled for 5 minutes. Drained the water and put them in a blender with their skin and seeds to puree them. I then added this along with 1 cup of bosonic vinegar in a pan that I heated until it was reduced down to a thick texture.

Next I chopped a red onion and yellow onion that I added to a pan that I had browned some butter in and cooked the onions until they become translucent.

Next I added chopped red and green peppers to the onions and cooked the mixture until the peppers were tender at which time I added the chopped mushrooms, frozen corn, chopped celery and frozen sliced carrots and continued cooking everything until everything was tender.

While I was cooking the vegetables I was also roasting the garlic at 350 for 20 minutes. I then sliced the garlic and added this in as well.

At which time the vegetable bouillon that has been dissolved in 1 cup of water was added to the vegetables so now I have a delicious thick soup of vegetable ready to be used in the chili.

Finally the beans and tomato puree are added to a large sauce pan along with the cooked vegetable mix, oregano, cumin, pureed chipotles in adobo sauce, chili powder and enough water to give a thick soup like consistency. I then then brought to a boil and then simmered for about an hour.

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4 tablespons of butter
1 lb red peppers
1/2 lb green pepper
1 large yellow onion
1 large red onion
1/2 lb mushrooms
1/2 elephant garlic
1 lb celery
1 lb corn
1/2 sliced carrots
1/2 lb black beans
1/2 lb red beans
1/2 lb pinto beans
1/2 cup chipotles in adobo sauce pureed
4 tablespoons oregano
4 tablespoons cumin
3 cubes vegetable bouillon
4 tablespoons chili powder
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I'm still learning how to prepare beans from scratch so the other night I put two cups each of black beans, red beans and pinto beans to soak in water overnight for the new batch of chilli I made yesterday. OMG they grew into this huge pile that overflowed the bowl they were in when I opened the frig.

Even my biggest pot wouldn't hold all the chilli so I ended up cooking it in two woks which actually worked surprisingly well.

So after eating a whole lot of chilli we decided that getting out and kayaking was probably a really good idea.

We got up early this morning and got out before the weather turned nasty.

Only had less than 2 hours of paddling before the storms started moving in. Would have liked to have paddled to the north side of the lighthouse but the ocean went from being smooth as glass to three foot seas in less than 20 minutes.

Still it wasn't bad. Got some exercise in, mostly from having to load and unload the kayaks rather far from ocean and having to transport them across a wide stretch of beach. Did a little bit of snorkeling. The water wasn't all that clear but got to see a lot of fish and the coral was feeding which is always interesting to see.

I thought this sunset pic was a fitting for what has been a disastrous weekend.

The weather has been just pain nasty for the last few weeks so I haven't been doing a damn thing other than going to the gym and working.

So when the weather turned nice, nice being no rain, calm seas, but hot as hell, we had great expectations of getting out on the ocean and having some fun.

Saturday morning the seas were calm but we decided to wait until late in the afternoon to go out avoiding the hottest part of the day. By the time we got out the ocean had gotten rather rough but we stayed out until well after dark anyway. I guess because it was so dark that I couldn't see the horizon I got the worst case of sea sickness that I've ever gotten in my life. Almost passed out on the boat and puked all over the place including all over Christy's car door on the way home.

So we got up early to wash Christy's car door and then pack up all the kayaking gear so that we could meet with friends at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park and go snorkeling and kayaking. If it wasn't for us organizing this get together we would probably have just stayed in bed all day since both of us are sore as hell from wave hoping and I still felt like shit from the day before.

Today turned into pretty much of a disaster too.

I flipped my kayak which is normally not that big of a deal but I got careless and didn't have stuff properly secured. So I lost a pair of expensive sunglasses, but I didn't really like them anyway so it wasn't a big deal but I also lost my $50 kayaking hat. Plus I had my wallet and bunch of other things in the hatch of my kayaking which leaked so the battery pack for my iPhone got wet which ruined it so another $45 plus the spare battery for our camera got wet ruining it too. Right now my wallet and everything else that I had in my kayak bag is hanging in the garage drying.

Although I'm doing better then our kayaking friend is since his underwater camera leaked while he was underwater filming Christy so now he is out what is probably an expensive underwater camera.

Along with a new hat and iPhone battery pack I also ordered a dry bag to keep my stuff in so that this doesn't happen again.