After reminding myself of the fact that has become today’s title I left the office on Saturday in pursuit of living. As I march toward the big 5-0 in fewer than three months I must guard my time and enjoy that which I have ahead of me.
On Friday night the boss and I went out for a six-mile walk after work. On this occasion we did not “ruin it” by going out for beer and dinner afterward.
Chores Are Exercise
With a newly-found day ahead of me I stopped into the Sage Hill Kroger and the headed home to do some chores. On the agenda were mowing the lawns and washing the M6. I’m pleased to say that both were accomplished on Saturday, though I have to admit that I did not get around to vacuuming the interior of the M6; this week perhaps.
Cooking For A Cause
One of my German homework assignments this week is to write a paragraph on what I purchased at the grocery store and what I cooked. Admittedly this does not have to be a factual account of my doings, but I took it as a challenge to cook so that I could write about it factually.
With ingredients in hand I started off making Saturday’s dinner of jambalaya. I was early in the process of making the jambalaya when I received an enticing message from ITP-Reader Betsy to join her at “May on May” the annual block-party thrown by the residents of May Ave in East Atlanta. I was tempted, but I was also already into the process of cooking my jambalaya so I had to pass. I won’t say that this batch of jambalaya was the best that I have ever prepared, but I felt proud that I had followed through on making it and now have at least one thing about which I can write.
On Sunday morning I popped a 3.5-pound pork butt in to a crockpot with intention of eating that for dinner, but you’ll read shortly why that was postponed. Suffice to say that I have a lot of pork to eat by Friday of this week.
A Good Ride
Knowing that I wasn’t going into the office on Sunday made the trip I made to Perimeter Mall for Caffeine And Octane seem a little weird, but I wanted to see the cars and had promised my coworker Darren that I’d meet him there. It was interesting to see all of the cars, and all of the people. When/If I return I’ll get there as it first opens to get better light for photography. Post Caffeine And Octane Darren and I went to Royal China for dim sum. I was okay with eating a lot because I knew that it would fuel the ride I was planning to take a few hours afterward.
And ride I did.
From the house I rode to Stone Mountain, did the short loop inside the park, and returned home. In total I road approximately 33.5 miles. The ride was really good, slower than I’d like but completely expected due to my lack of training and excess weight. The only real negative to occur happened three blocks from finishing as I had to stop riding up a short but steep incline and had leg cramps when I stopped. I considered my attempt a success and worthy of officially kicking off my two months of training for RAGBRAI.
Unexpected Beers And Dinner
I was no more than a mile from the ITP Estate when I received a text from the boss asking me if I’d be interested in meeting up for beer and dinner. Even through I knew I had a pork in the crockpot I did want to go out and celebrate my ride. However, I had to ensure that he was okay with waiting for at least ninety minutes to meet because I needed that long to recuperate and clean up with a nice epsom salt bath.
Given that I had just burned over 2000 calories on my 2:25:00 ride I was okay with “ruining it” yesterday.
I chose the location, Slice & Pint (whose website appears to be gone) in Emory Village, because it was approximately half-way between houses and I’ve liked the beer that they brew onsite. I had half of a meatball sub and an order of the S&P Tots for dinner and washed it down with a copious amount of water and three short-pours of beer.
It should come as no surprise to you that I crashed hard last night and slept like a log.
I hope that you all had a similarly rewarding weekend.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Good for you on getting out and riding!
This weekend we took the cub scout pack camping. We had roughly 50 people, 30 of them between the ages of 5 and 10. You can only imagine the melee that ensued. Great times though, we played games, we sang songs, the kids put on skits around the campfire, and smores were had. Fun times but Sunday morning I was both mentally and physically spent. When I got home I immediately grabbed my mtn bike and went for a ride. It was a much needed ride and put me right back in to my happy place.
Great job on the ride! I wanted to ride my road bike on Sunday, but didn’t have the energy. Saturday we did a nice mtn bike ride at Oak Mtn just outside B’ham, it was a gorgeous day & we went a little longer than I’d planned, but I survived. It ended up being an out and back, that luckily for me, it was more downhill on the way back.
We attended a seafood party at a friend’s over there Saturday evening, this guy named Bobby from New Orleans brought enough food for about 100 people, and I’d say there were only 30 people attending. I’ve never seen the whole process of a crawfish boil, so that was interesting, and we ate so many oysters. They also had a juge pot of shrimp & sausage corn chowder, some jambalaya, and god knows what else. So much food. Then we had to drive home, Allan had to work Sunday morning.
Thanks, and well done to you too.
I failed to mention that I considered going to Black Sheep yesterday and probably would have had it not been for RAGRAI looming in the near future. In the end I think that I made the right decision.
I’m considering a New Orleans trip in October. There a few cities I’ve not been to in too long, I’m going to try and rectify that this year.
Also this weekend I started researching bicycle tours in Germany and Ireland. 2016? Very likely.
Good on you for the ride! And what a lovely day for it too.
I had a couple brewery shifts and an annual Cinco de Mayo birthday party to go to. Overall lovely weekend, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary to report. By yesterday though I was *exhausted.* I’m not sure why! But I forced myself to walk to the brewery instead of drive so that I’d at least get a 5K walk in (round trip). Totally negated by a stop at Woody’s cheesesteaks on the way home, but that thing’s been calling my name for weeks now and finally gave in.
So…why do you have to eat all this pork by Friday of this week? I was expecting you to tell me you’re going vegetarian then or something. 😉
Will be turning vegetarian for the weekend. Discover why later this week.
I rode 27 Saturday afternoon, a section of which was some of the RoUgHeSt road around. Paved would be an overstatement, but I’m sure the county calls it that.
Our houseguest Terri (Sleazy Rider) managed to make me feel like a slacker however, by running 33 miles. I did ride mine much, much faster!! 🙂
The fox hust gathered to watch the Derby at the Barry estate (not said with tongue in cheek) and there were real mint julips.. tasty. We then circled back past the house to retrieve Terri and let her pay for her board in sushi!!
Sunday, while Debbie rode Gus, I cut grass and did chores, before loading up a spare headboard and matress and delivering it to Trish’s in Smyrna. Since we were so close, a visit to TC was necessary.
Roadwork traffic made us really appreciate living in the country. Wonder if they want to open a TC in Luthersville?
-FP
There are two things that I tried once in my life, never to try again:
1. Raw oysters
2. Mint Juleps
Both, taken seperately, are fine, but definitely not together.
Stacy, how is Woody’s? I could get a nice 2 mile walk with lunch in the middle.
Oh! Oh, I would eat raw oysters again and again and again. (And I do.) But I’m with you on the mint juleps. Nasty little suckers.
Steve, Woody’s is DELICIOUS. I just got the standard cheesesteak, but you can also add toppings like green peppers, mushrooms, etc. and they have great milkshakes and King of Pops is there which is always a nice end to a meal.
There’s also a Scoutmob for 50% off going on right now too if you use that app, of which I’m a big fan.
Oh, and Paulie I’d be happy to come take some pork off your hands! 😉
I personally like the oysters roasted (or steamed) as in throw the on the grill so they pop open a little so you can shuck easier. But – raw is ok – as long as they are good oysters. (and they were). The raw ones need to be on a cracker with some cocktail sauce & a little horseradish. AND – our hostess actually found a pearl in one of her oysters!
Mint Juleps – they grow on you…….. but they are definitely a sipping drink. And, you need to like bourbon.
My former neighbors & good friends that live in NJ had stopped by for a quick overnight yesterday, their flight back home was early this morning. They had to have some cheap mexican food, I guess that doesn’t really exist up there.
I take my oysters roasted with breadcrumbs and parmesean cheese, but raw are OK, too. We thought you had company, so didn’t call about the TC stop.
Woody’s will be on the menu once the diet ends- it started today. There was pasta Friday night, party food, liguor and sushi Saturday and TC yesterday.
Maybe I’ll fast for a few days… ugh.
in case you didn’t hear – the cyclist that got hit by a truck last week up in north fulton county(& died) – they actually are charging the driver with reckless driving and homicide by vehicle.
I was pissed when I heard he was just cited for a traffic violation, I guess when the cyclist died they upped the charges.
Something has to change, this is getting crazy.
I can’t figure out how the initial charges were so slight. It took a fatality to get a severe charge?
Is there a link for this story? I’m trying to find it.