super easy a olio

Made this before my 10k race 2 weeks ago - dang, its been 2 weeks since my dang race. Anyways, if you want a light, easy, superb pasta meal, heres whatcha need:
- de cecco fettucine, its like 3 bux for a 500g 'box', when i say box its cause it comes in spools, its the cheapest, best, dry pasta money can buy, typically at nicastro type italian grocs - below recipe uses about half a box
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic, coarsly chopped
- 3 spring onions, chopped, 2mm at the oniony part, 2 cm at the green part (for flare!!)
- a can or a bunch of oil soaked artichokes
- 15 cherry tomatos, halved
- holy crap fresh sweet basil too!!!, roughly chopped
- olive oil!
Then do this:
- fill a big pot with water, a bit o salt, start it to boil (not if you're lucky and have gas though, you could probably wait a bit)
- get your fry pan (large, or use a wok), put 2 tbl of oil in, heat it on medium
- toss in the chopped onions, saute for like 2 min
- then the garlic, in she goes
- saute for a bit, don't burn or really cook the garlic too long!
- then toss in the rest, and bring the heat down so as not to overmassively cook
- put the pasta in when ready, cook 5 min or so (it doesn't take al long to become dente)
- when its done, skoop it directly into the pan/wok, retaining some juices, but not too much
- mix up as best as can, add more oil if you want, serve immediatly with fresh parma and fresh pepper.
Yes, very tasty, my idea of a perfect meal really. This'll serve 2 for lunch, or me before a 10k race (i had a bit left, but only cause i didn't want to get over stuffed).

the pros and cons of my neighbourhood

On my way home tonite i saw something i haven't seen in a while. A pro and con of my hood. She was standing right outside the store i buy my cigs at, accross from where i do my laundry drop off, and dry cleaning. I don't think she's in either of those businesses. I had the urge to ask 'are you lost?', or 'whats going on?', but i didn't. I also had the urge to say 'get the hell outta my neighbourhood!!'. But i didn't do any of that. If she was on *my* street, i probably woulda been a bit more defensive. I remember a few years back when i lived a couple blocks away, me and my drunken friends yelling obscenities at these ladies that were trying to make an honest but perhaps unethical dime. Now, i feel like this is more of my home, and perhaps theres something i should be doing to protect it.

But then again, if she's not here, she'll be somewhere else, in someone elses neighbourhood. There must be a market after all, supply and demand and all that crap. Who's to say she isn't as much a part of my neighbourhood as i am. In fact she (or they) have been here much longer than i have. Gladstone is notorious. And she really doesn't bother me that much... its more the people she brings. The crackheads (thats what i call people that mostly bum change but occasionally bum change and are totally tweaked on something) would really piss me off if they hung out on my street, but when they're only surrounding the bars i hang out at on bank street its not such a "close to home" annoyance, and simply tolerated.

She's probably still standing there now... waiting for the con. Hopefully she has a good nite i guess. I of course would prefer her to have a sobering night, decide its time to quit, get some other income supplement, and never bait her hook in my, or anyone elses neighbourhood again. But that is wishful thinking. I remember amsterdam about 8 or 9 years ago. That was something. Girls in the windows with red lights over their heads. But even that amount of organization still concealed alleys and nooks and crannies filled with even more undesirables that didn't fit into the system. There will always be flaws, and always cracks in the system waiting to be filled if the desire is there. If humans developed their brains faster, we'd never of needed the pleasure aspect of sex to realize we needed to procreate to survive - we woulda known reproduction was the only means, and pleasure would of never been an issue. Just think of the things we could of accomplished... bah, we probably would've used our increased intellectual capacity to trick evoltion into blessing us with sex organs that gave us pleasure... damn we're smart. We live for sex, and because of sex we live on.

getting older

I realized something tonite. When you get older, you have a natural tendancy to feel people owe you respect. You (and by you, i really mean me, but i'm hoping this is a general phenomenon) become more and more sensitive to rudeness, and feel people should just act nicer to you, and give you more attention.

I attended "the islands" show tonite at babylon, which was quite an "old man" feat in itself as i was butt tired, my bones are sore, and its a long weekend which i really woulda liked to cap off with a quiet night in with food and a movie. But i went, and did enjoy. However, the lead singer came accross as an ass. Or at least i thought so. I would guess most of the early 20somthings didn't notice. When the band left the stage to go "wait" out back before their encore i was peeved as they just walked off like we weren't there. I was annoyed. I was like "c'mon, we're right frickin here!!! don't bother, this is rude, just play your silly encore, i only came to hear the swan song anyways". Then when they came back on, i affinized, and realized myself 5 years ago wouldn't of thought anything of it, and would have greeted them with more appreciation for having done so.

Blah blah, the moral is, i think i'll try to observe this tendancy towards sensitivity to what might be considered rudeness, and make mental notes on it. People aren't out to piss you off, they're just trying to build mystique if anything. And if they are, their true colours always come out in the wash. Acceptance is key, and judging never leads anywhere good, even if you're judging people you'll probably never talk to and have far to little to judge anyways.

working from home

Working from home rules. For lunch i bbq'ed some sausages and tossed some onions shrooms and garlic some dried basil and rosemary and a bunch of organic olive oil in a pan. Once the veggies were good to go in went 2 cans of too salty but good unico chopped tomatos. And some pepper and hot red peppers. Eventually the sausages were charred n juicy so they came off, and cooled, and then sliced and into the sauce which was simmer super bubbly like. O ya. Boiled some water and tossed in some whole wheat spaghetti. Once complete and all done i topped my meal with some parma. O baby. All the while i had my laptop poised in the kitchen and answered msn's and edited code wirelessly on the battery. Damn working from home rulez. Now its a long weekend and i'm feeling fine. Super kickass, time to get my framing on (tomorrow). But tonite, we drink and play cards and be merry!!!!!

i left my wallet on clemow ave.

So since i've been training now for this 10k i'm running in a few weeks, i've gotten quite used to running through the glebe in the evening. I just got back from a relatively eventful sprint run and thought i would share my delightful experience with y'all.

I run started like most others, slowly and with intent. However, the intent this eve was a sprint one, a 10x400m thingy where i run "as fast as i can" for 400m, 10 times. During this training i've only had to do this 2 times prior, and both times it was tuff. I had hopes of going to the track next to the school on glebe ave. near bronson. I got in, but after one lap some dude told me "if you stay in here you'll have to hop the fence to get out". This didn't seem too appealing. So i wussily left to roam the streets of the glebe and do approximated 400m.

You know whats sweet about running through the glebe in the spring in the eve? The smells. Damn, them rich glebe folk sure bbq some fine meats. I think i like the smell of meat more than the taste these days. I'd rather devour a pound of the table's avacado salad than a pound of any meats these days, a mix of veggies and spices is way more appealing than chewing thru fatty parts of a steak or having to cut through bone where you thought there shouldn't be any on a cheap cut of ribs. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy that, just not as much anymore...

I digress. From what? O ya, my run, not much happenned after that. Lots of people that walk on glebe ave just west of bank have mean looks on their faces. Everyone looks at you when you run, and i look at most people back. Some of the old dudes give me the feeling that "damn, no runners on my streets, i'm gonna raise this up at the next community council meeting that i'm on my way to right now". I'm probably just being over sensitive.


Then i got home and had a shower. Then i ate what you see beside this, the first half of my dinner (2nd half tbd). This is last nights spinach, red onion (soaked to sweeten), cuke, and grape tomato salad with a 5:1 rice vinager to olive oil dressing. Surprisingly, super kick ass!!! The milk, in bk's old lotr glasses, is so good's chocolate mixed with fat free. Its good shit too. Hot damn i'm getting old.

Thanks for reading this far, if you really did - with some local bloggers out of the country or the blogging scene altogether, there seems to be less inspirational reasons to blog, but recent comments have refeuled some fire. Or mabye thats my colon. Naw, its the comments, thanks for getting this far, and thanks to those that originally inspired me to babble endlessly to no one in particular about nothing in particular for what would seem to be no particular reason but no doubt is actually quite reasonable. Ahhhh, thats better.

lane misuse and interior framing

I've always had a serious problem with people who misuse lanes on the queensway. When i get off at kent, i like the fourth, rightmost lane to be all mine after bronson. I'll cruise along slightly faster than the rest of the snarly traffic, and should have an unobstructed path to kent street. But you get those days, where there'll be a dozen cars all left blinky blinky holdin me up, and it pisses me off. Sure, a couple coulda been from outta town and oblivious to the signs, but most are just making use of the real estate at other, more considerate drivers expenses.

Thats not really that bad though - worse, is the westbound conjunction of the 416 to the queensway. Damn this pisses me off somethin fierce. You get slowdowns every morning, sometimes as far back as the bayshore offramp (rare), and then low and behold, a new lane develops half a click before the moodie offramp!!! "This lane must be for me to pass all these people" says annoying assholes in hummer h2's and various other scorn worthy vehicles. They cross lines and pull out at the first sight of a clear chunk of pavement, nary a shouldercheck to look for incoming legitimate mergers they will be disguising themselves as 10 seconds later. Holy crap, something fierce, i hate that. Am i right in this? Or is this survival of the fittest? I think its selfish and uncanadian, and it pisses me off.

And don't get me started on march and campeau. Holy crap. Something equally fierce.

In other news, i think i'm going to reframe my back bedroom from the inside out. Theres only a few nails holding up the second story of my house so i'm gonna add some more support from the inside. The room is gutted now, ready for 2 by 4 action. First thing though, i need to decide if i want to replace the window. Its shite. I might replace a bunch of windows. And by me, i mean someone who knows what the fuck they're doing. Cause i don't think i should mess with windows... should i??

relaxation

I just realized i haven't sat down and relaxed without anything in the backdrop to do, for a very long time. Since i got my house, which is approaching 1 year ago, there has always been something that needed to get the pump done. Always something to look into, research, figure out, decide, buy, fanagle, shim, cut, or pry out just waiting for me to find the time. Tonite after a hard day of not turning my panel off when working on it (i think i will from now on), i decided to relax the pump out tonite. I've almost forgotten how?? But i did remember, and it has been kinda nice. Except i eat far too much when i'm relaxing.

Serious electrical work has been accomplished. I know can/have done junction boxes, know that that thing that home depot *doesn't* sell to connect wires to a box is a connector, have discovered crazy circuits, not gotten zapped, and have almost completely isolated the upstairs panel from the downstairs (only two outlets left, yippee!!!). The back room is also sans drywall, power, flooring and ceiling, its all ready to be applied to. It is my playground, and hopefully it will be completed in the next few months. Ahhh, fun stuff.

In other news i'm trying to train for this 10k race coming up at the end of may. It should be ok, the "training" is hard, mostly because i haven't given my body a rest from intoxicants like i should. Its tuff, trying to enjoy and partake in my lifestyle is not condusive to removal of certain seemingly important elements for long periods of time. But in the grand scheme, another 5 or 6 weeks is by no means long, and it really should be done.