Even Though Canada Looked Better With GWB In The White House

I’m thinking of going there.

Who Knows Anything About Winnipeg?
Other than the fact that it is in the province of Manitoba which sits directly North of Minnesota?

If I act quickly, hell if you act quickly, a round-trip flight from Atlanta to Winnipeg (with an inevitable layover in Chicago) can be had from United for $226. No shit.

I keep juggling my 2009 photography vacation plans and this just may be the (round) ticket. My only problem is that I really don’t know much about Winnipeg and am not sure how photogenic that part Canada is.

Anyone have information they are willing to share? Oh, I’d be considering going May/June so there might not be snow on the ground then.

Loaded And Locked
Yesterday I was unable to get the Jackmobile loaded up with goodies destined for Goodwill. In part I was hampered by an overflowing hamper-load of laundry including the coverings for my basement sofa.

Today is very different. Even though the weather forecast for later is sketchy (80% chance of rain), I’ll be driving over to Goodwill to dump off the first “good riddance” load of 2009. Damn it feels great to start purging stuff from my house.

ITP Flickr Pic
I often wonder why people bring fake flowers for grave sites.
Fake Flower For The Dead
They do make for easy photography however. It just may be my drugs, but the longer I stare at this the more 3D it becomes.

Thank You Necessity For Being The Mother Of Invention
Because I had loaded the Jackmobile full of crap I essentially sentenced myself to a night at home. Normally this wouldn’t be too bad, but my cupboards are nearly barren, and I am trying not to dirty many dishes.

With a boatload of white rice in the house I decided that steamed rice would be the main entree for the evening. But what is more bland than white rice? “Rice cakes.” Okay, good point.

Rummaging through my cupboards wasn’t providing much . I then stumbled upon a packet of A Taste of Thai Peanut Sauce Mix and decided to experiment.

Ingredients

  • 1 heaping cup of uncooked white rice
  • 2.5 cups of water
  • 1 packet of A Taste of Thai Peanut Sauce Mix
  • a pinch of kosher salt

Directions

  1. Place rice, salt, and peanut sauce mix into a large pan
  2. Pour water over rice and peanut sauce mix, stir to dissolve mix
  3. Heat over medium heat until water begins to boil
  4. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, cooked lidded for 16 minutes
  5. Turn heat off, without removing lid let pot stand for 10 minutes
  6. Take off lid and fluff rice with a fork
  7. Eat!

I had no idea if this experiment was going to work out. But Holy Jeebus did this make some delicious peanut-flavored rice! Before eating I stirred in some red curry paste to incorporate a little extra flavor.

No photos were taken of the dish because
a) It was just rice after all
b) I ate the rice out of a disposable paper bowl — not very photogenic

I Will Not Miss Top Chef! I Will Not Miss Top Chef!
I have been stewing about the fact that I missed last week’s “Restaurant Wars” episode of Top Chef. All week I’ve been checking the legal online sources — Hulu, DishONLINE, Joost, as well as Bravo‘s — to no avail. Damn I’ve been frustrated. Tonight is an All-New episode of Top Chef and I refuse to miss it.

I Am Chopping Chopped From My Viewing Schedule
Last night I attempted to enjoy Food Network‘s “Chopped.” Chopped is the hour-long (tv time) cooking competition during which four “chefs” vie for $10,000. I’ve seen two full episodes and fallen asleep during one. I am not enthralled and in an economy in which my free time is extremely limited have decided to repurpose that hour of my life.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good, oddly so because I am not losing weight, haven’t exercised in weeks, and have fallen way behind in my self-imposed training
Current Music – listening to the “This Week In Photography” podcast
Website Of The Day – Today I might look at CastTV to see if they have last week’s Top Chef.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – notta effen thing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 28 (28)
Vegetarian Days – 5
Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
– Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
– Lose no fewer than two pounds
– Run no fewer than 50 miles

– Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
– Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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19 Responses to Even Though Canada Looked Better With GWB In The White House

  1. sal says:

    The rice dish actually sounds pretty good! But what are you doing with all that WHITE rice?

    I think my friend and fellow GUTS member is from Manitoba….I’ll ask her about it.

  2. I understand white rice, and it is the base for meals like jambalaya. I do often buy brown, basmati, and jasmine but didn’t have any of those last night.

    And please do ask. I want to travel but need to use my resources wisely.

  3. Barb says:

    Winnipeg, interesting choice. I don’t think I’ve even ever had to shipped anything there. Have you sent the question to our all our fellow Canadian hashers to see what they know? Toothless Beaver is from Saskatchewan, not sure where Canucklehead & One Ball are from.

  4. I believe that One Ball is from Montreal.

    I’ve looked at a Google Map of Winnipeg and they have many railroad tracks. I know that Winnipeg used to have an NHL team (Winnipeg Jets) and have a Canadian Football team (Winnipeg Blue Bombers).

  5. Holy Shit!

    Looking at the Winnipeg Hash’s website they say that they are the host for 2009’s Canada Nash Hash in late June. Of course they also mention stocking up on mosquito spray. πŸ™

  6. Martha says:

    If Winnipeg/Manitoba is anything like Minnesota (and I guess it might be) those little buzzer (the bugs, not the annoying EAV folks) can carry you off. They only get a few weeks of warm weather and they make the best of it. Alaska, last summer, was the same, if it wasn’t raining the buggers were attacking.

    I’m going to hit George’s tonight, unless it is raining then I may just head straight home and run from there. Why, when it finally gets warm, does it have to start raining?

  7. Barb says:

    Oh I forgot to plug – bike maintenance night at Mango’s tonight – even if your bike doesn’t need work, you can come & socialize. Mango’s making some sort of pork bbq, I’ll come up with some sort of side, (as will hopefully some others), all you need to do bring some booze. If you haven’t seen their new patio, it is really nice.

    Yes, the 2 Canadian RRs both definitely ship thru there. (many delays in the winter time, I know that’s shocking). It’s just made me think this morning, I’ve shipped something to every other major city in Canada, I but I don’t remember any to Winnipeg.

  8. Martha says:

    Barb, after what I did to myself Saturday night, I still don’t feel like a drink… how sad is that.

  9. HAHAHA! HOW PERFECT!

    Check out a map of downtown Winnipeg. The 101 is also known as “Perimeter Hwy”

  10. Martha: I known BWanA is a ITP-Reader but doesn’t comment so I’ll say it for him… “I don’t know who you are any more!” πŸ˜›

  11. Barb says:

    Bring some soda, bring some juice, whatever. πŸ˜‰ You don’t HAVE to drink, we will try not to point & laugh.

  12. I’d show up but my bikes are still spotless and I have a lot of crap to do tonight.

  13. Sal says:

    I know this is a shocker…but I won’t be at George’s tonight, rain or shine! πŸ™‚

    Quarterly GUTS board meeting tonight so if any of you GUTS members want me to bring anything up….bring it on!

  14. Martha says:

    Speaking of GUTS, who is running Red Top next month?

    And, yes, I know, I’m totally lame right now, but everytime I do drink I forget two very important points, 1) I don’t drink as often as I use to 2) I don’t seem to have the “bulk” is use to have – thus I don’t have the tolerance I had come to depend on and I seem to end up hammered.

  15. brenan says:

    I’ll be a Red Top next month Martha. Should be fun and a good training run for ING to boot!

  16. I’ll be at Red Top, whether you call what I will be doing “running” is left up to the viewer to determine.

    Martha: You are in control of your own body. Your lack of drinking and loss of bulk are your doing. You are the only one who can correct those. ;P

  17. Martha says:

    You’re right Paulie, I got myself into this position and one day I’ll take responsibility for my actions, but for now I think I’ll continue to be lame and just go for a run πŸ˜‰

  18. Tasty Pie says:

    Top Chef – We’re without Cable in Charlotte and have been checking Hulu every week for Top Chef. Sadly it says that they only have an agreement with Bravo to show two episodes of Bravo’s choosing a month and Bravo gets to decide when to release then. Bah humbug. To get our fix last week we ended up having to buy the episode from iTunes for $1.99. Hope Hulu comes through for us this week, will have to check those other places you listed too. Thanks for last week’s warning about Bravo’s site, was able to happily avoid checking there for episodes and being annoyed with in your face spoilers. Cheers.

  19. Wow, the one place I didn’t look was iTunes. I’m watching the Restaurant Wars episode right now.

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