Soirée Alsacienne

Last night was the annual Soirée Alsacienne at Le Crocodile, one of my favorite restaurants here in Vancouver.

The menu, a very reasonable $58 prix fixe, included the following:

Tarte à l'Oignon
Consommé de Volaille au Foie Gras
Salade Frisée aux Foie de Volailles
Choucroute Garnie au Riesling
Mirabelle Sorbet
Feuilleté a la Poire Glacée Vanille Chaud Caramel

The tart wasn’t actually on the menu, but was served as an amuse-bouche. Onion tart has to be one of my favorite dishes.

The soup was really splendid. A rich full body and the small pieces of foie gras floating amongst the brunoise vegetables were full of flavour.

The salad was a huge hit with me – three beautifully crisp yet tender chicken livers surrounded a mound of escarole with a perfectly poached egg on time, garnished with tomato compote and sauced and dressed to perfection.

The choucroute was a marvel too. We took more than half of it home, as there was more food on those plates than we could reasonably (or even unreasonably) eat. Six kinds of meat atop some of the most subtly flavored and delicate choucroute I’ve eaten, including a Straßbourg sausage, a knackwurst, a smoked pork chop, a portion of pork belly, a very thick slice of smoked bacon, and a piece of pork hock. Steamed potatoes rounded out the overflowing plate.

The Mirabelle sorbet was delicious and enhanced by a little Mirabelle eau de vie poured on top.

Dessert was also sublime and simple. Thin slices of pear over a puff pastry base in a caramel sauce that was subtle and delicate, topped with honey-vanilla ice cream.

All of the above was accompanied by a bottle of 2002 Zind Humbrecht Riesling (Turckheim), and ultimately followed with a Siggolsheim Poire Williams as a digestif.

Le Crocodile continues to be one of my favorite dining experiences here in Vancouver.

Cat Surgery

My cat is about fifteen years old, and for the past eight of them, has had a chronic constipation problem. a variety of medications and other nostrums have kept him more or less under control, but every eighteen months or so he needed to be taken to the vet to be, um, emptied.

It was a messy and expensive process, and as pleasant for the vet as it was for my wallet. However, the cat's a part of my family and whatever he needs, he gets.

Over the past ten weeks or so, he's been plugged up three times, the most recent being yesterday when I took him in again, and the vet and I agreed it was time - major surgery would be required, and a bowel resection was done on him to remove his colon.

The operation went well, the cat's in good shape, and he should be home tomorrow or Friday.

I can't help but think that if I were in a similar situation, I would probably have had to wait three months or more to get a similar surgery for myself given the state of waiting lists for surgical procedures. On the other hand, it also wouldn't cost around $3K...

Auction Fever

I'm a fan of the Comedian Harmonists. I own a number of CD's of their music, and probably have most of their repertoire in my collection.

I check eBay once in a while to browse and when I do, I always check if there's anything new under "comedian harmonists". Just recently, the autographed photo below was offered for sale.

Comedian Harmonists
(from left: Robert Biberti, Erich Collin, Erwin Bootz, Roman Cycowski, Harry Frommermann, Ari Leschnikoff)

The photo is well known - it's the one you'll find in Wiki for instance. An autographed copy would be very rare indeed. The photo was being sold through eBay's "Live Auctions" by a company in Ohio. They had a pre-auction estmate of $75-100 with an opening bid of $40, so I put in a modest bid (considering US$ exchange, shipping, my current budget for frivolous purchases, and the 22.5% buyers premium).

Apparently I need not have bothered to strain myself - the winning bid? $380.

Ouch.

Pedalling for MS

Last August, I rode in my first ever bike tour to sponsor multiple sclerosis. It was a 60km bicycle ride, and I did it in 2h49m.

It's an annual fundraiser for MS and I managed to raise just over $1,000.

This year, I've signed up again, and I want to beat both my time from last year, and also beat my fundraising total.

So, if you're willing to make a charitable donation (you get the tax receipt, I get the exercise) to MS, please click on this link to the the MS Bike Tour and consider donating $25 or more.

Thanks!

Appreciating Schoenberg

One of the books I bought as research material for my Kandinsky paper is called Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider, which is actually a catalog from a museum exhibit, but it includes five lengthy essays on the two men, plus a bonus CD that has performances of Schoenberg's music that was played at the 1911 concert that enraptured Kandinsky.

I knew very little of Schoenberg up to this point, but I did know that he had a reputation of having music that was cerebral - that is, if Mozart is pleasant and easy to listen to, Schoenberg is something you need to think about. A lot of his music was, at the time, highly experimental, atonal, and he also dabbled with a 12 note scale rather than the standard 8.

In short, I found his music remarkably likable. It is cerebral, but I quite enjoyed it. When I mentioned this to my wife, she expressed mild surprise but once she thought about it, "but then I forget that you really like [Tangerine Dream and other, mostly German, electronic/synthesiser composers like Klaus Schulze]".

And that's when the penny dropped - Schoenberg definitely fits into that mold in the musical continuum, in terms of cerebral sound.

At least for me.

Going from Gold to Silver

So the medico my doc sent me too runs something called a Met-Syn program - short for Metabolic Syndrome. My only risk factor is the weight, all my other indicators (bloodwork = excellent, blood pressure = perfectly normal, cardiovascular response = excellent, strength and coordination = fine, etc etc... I'm the fittest fat man I know...).

Their schtick is they have a very extensive assessment (at $250, thankfully fully billable to extended benefits, it had better be) and then they have you join "the program". Now, the program is, looking at it from a detached point of view, working out at their mini-gym three times a week while they put you through an all cardio workout and keep tabs of everything and monitor your progress with the assistance of a heart rate monitor.

One of the reasons I posted my little comment about time management myths the other day is that I don't see being able to get to the facility (only 10km away, but in about the most inconvenient place you could imagine relative to work, daycare, and my home) without either sucking up that 90 minutes of family time in the evening, or making it exceedingly awkward to get back home in time to take my daughter to her wonderful family daycare; said morning program is from 6:30-7:30am.

So, huzzah, there's a "silver" program that's only twice a week. I said I'd try it, and my first morning's tomorrow - but, and this is a big but, if all the workout at their facility turns out to be is a glorified cardio workout attuned to my key heart rate on ye olde heart rate monitor, then I'm not going to stick with it - I have a YWCA membership, and if all that I really need to do is go more often, then so be it.

After all, I know what all my key heart rate target zones are, I know my food plan works (restarted last week and lost 3lbs already) and my solution of brining lots of fruit to the office to nosh on instead of the endless parade of donuts, cookies, pizza etc works brilliantly.

It's not the money for the program - between my wife and I the extended health benefits will reimburse me for it - it's the time and aggravation to get there, especially when I can get to the Y, work out for an hour, and be home by 7:45am. I can't do that with the MetSyn program.

I'll go tomorrow, but if it doesn't work out in terms of getting me home on time, then I'll have to persuade them to either work out something with me where they can advise and monitor me via the heart rate monitor records and checking in regularly.

If not, oh well. It was still time and money well spent, and knowing what I need to do is more than half the battle. I also know what supports I need, and I can find those as needed (the YW has lots of personal trainers who can advise me, not as well as the MetSyn guys, but a good coach is a good coach).

Time Management Myths

I was comparing notes with my friend at work about so-called work-life balance. We're in similar situations - married, one child, both parents working.

Let me add also that one area that is always highlighted on my performance evaluations is time management, as in, I'm exceedingly good at it (or at least that's the perception my manager has).

So why is it that M and I are both perpetually feeling gassed? Well, I did a time inventory to see what my "time vampires" might be, and here's what it comes down to.

In my house, we get up around 6:30am (I get up at 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays to go to the Y). By the time we get everyone showered and fed and dressed to go, we're out the door by 8. I drop my daughter off with her wonderful family daycare people and get to the office around 8:30 most days. I'm here until about 5. I pick up my daughter on the way home and if we don't have a quick shopping stop we're home by 5:30. My wife gets in around the same time.

Then we have dinner (I do 99.44% of the cooking in our household), usually around 6:30, and then after dinner until 7:30-8:00ish is family time.

After family time, the bedtime routine starts - story, bath, pj's, more stories, sleep. My wife cuddles our daughter to sleep at night, and if she's lucky, she's out by 9:30. I usually catch up on email or zone out with internet surfing in the interim, although I try to make more productive use of that time (like, reading the Kandinsky-Schoenberg correspondences for my thesis paper).

So, between 9:30 and betime, usually 11pm unless we're really lucky, my darling wife and I are doing domestica - dishes, laundry, lunches for the next day, giving the cat his pills, etc...

I'd manage my free time much better - if I actually had any.

Plus ca change

Once upon a time, about December 2003, I developed what I called the R Food Plan. It worked. In 12 months I'd lost 56lbs. At the peak of its efficiency 14 months after I'd started, I'd lost 60lbs.

Well, I wish I could say that they'd stayed off.

Last week I went for a physical and my doctor read me the riot act. And, well, I deserved it. Of the 60 I'd taken off, 35 had come back in the past 24 months.

But at least I'm still 25 down from where I started. And quite frankly, given the stress of the past 24 months, I'm surprised I didn't put on more. See, when I'm under a lot of stress, I eat. And it's not that I eat more helpings of terrine de foie gras at Le Crocodile or twice as much roast chicken and vegetables at home - no, I reach to the common table behind my cubicle for some of the endless parade of bagels, cookies, doughnuts, pizza lunches and other junk.

Still, last week was a needed wake up call. I've always struggled with my weight, but sticking to my food plan means I keep my weight steady, and if I exercise more than the twice a week I always do, I actually lose weight.

So this is me saying that I plan to get the gut back off. My doctor sent me off to a medico who specializes in putting together programs; I can get professional advice and whatever additional support I need. Knowing what I need to do (stick to the RFP and exercise at least as much as I currently do if not more) is a good start, but nothing beats having a "coach" who can help you keep accountable to yourself.

I have a long ways to being as fit as I was when I moved to Vancouver in February of 1998 (the fittest I'd ever been, but I' was a total gym junkie at the time), but getting back to where I was 24 months ago would be a good start.

Aloha

Last week I was in Hawaii on a much needed vacation. My parents took me and my family on a cruise with them.

Hawaii was wonderful. I got a tan, the weather was gorgeously sunny (I'm obviously heliotropic).

My favorite island was Kauai - there are chickens everywhere - beautiful Bantams. It was very amusing to be splashing around in a lagoon full of beautiful tropical fish and then hearing cock-a-doodle-doo!

We were on a seven day cruise with Norweigan Cruise Lines. While I can't say I'm sold on the cruise experience, it was a fun way to see what Hawaii has to offer.

Applause for Steve Jobs

I love my iPod (the first piece of tech in years that I've been really excited about) and one complaint I've heard from people is tht they don't like them because they can only use an iPod for music they buy off iTunes.

Well, Steve Jobs writes a very interesting open letter on Apple's website on this very topic - here's the link: http://www.apple.com/ca/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

Mozart and Well Beyond

I recently ordered Mozart and Well Beyond from CD Baby.

There are a lot of classical discs out there spanning the entire continuum of bad to great, but much of the time you either get a greatest hits compilation or the insert-generic-orchestra-here plays insert-popular-symphony here.

This CD is splendid on several levels.

First, Sweeney is obviously a passionate devotee of his craft. His playing is rich and nuanced and really brings the emotions of his selected pieces to the fore.

Second, Sweeney really did his listeners a service by including some modern compositions along with his beautifully rendered Mozart piece.

Third, it's lovely to see a CD where the focus is on the bassoon; the bassoon has an unmistakable sound, but it's not very often the central instrument.

I would highly recommend this CD to two kinds of people: the first is the classical devotee looking for something different (bassoon Mozart); the second would be those who want to expand their listening experience beyond what is traditionally available (Sharman, Mozetich, Welsh).