Two Hours One Minute Two Seconds

"You'll be fine." - Everyone I Talked To About Doing A Triathlon
"Thousands of people do them every weekend." - Me, Trying To Convince Myself Swimming A Half Mile In The Ocean Was No. Big. Deal.

I've been a cyclist for twenty years.
I've been a runner for about three years (and was a runner before I started cycling).
Swimming? No.

"You'll be fine."

Back in February, my old HS buddy called to inform me, I would be competing in the Malibu Triathlon with him in September. Sure. No problem. I can ride. I can run. Wait ... what?

"Thousands of people do them every weekend."

I waited too long, but I did it. I went to the local Aquatic Center and joined the Masters swimming program. It was a struggle at first. I had no real experience swimming. Twenty-five meters was a challenge. A half mile is eight hundred meters. 

Eight.

Hundred.

Meters.

"You'll be fine."

I kept at it. Coach Laurie knew what my goal was and stayed on my ass. "You're going to thank me when you're out in the middle of that swim." Yeah. Well. Yeah. I worked hard. Swimming is hard work. My confidence grew. Stamina .. well, it got better. But it was NOT going to be easy. Doable. But not easy. 

"Thousands of people do them every weekend."

One week to go and my buddy and I decide to take a swim in the ocean to check ourselves out. Oh my goodness. That was a slap in the face. Have you ever actually gone for a swim in the ocean? I don't mean splashing around in the waves. I mean heading out past the waves and putting your head down and SWIMMING! I never had. It was ... unusual. 150 yards out seems a very long way. You can't see the bottom. You can't see much of anything. Confidence is nowhere to be found. I've read that even strong and experienced swimmers often experience anxiety swimming in open water. And there I was.

"You'll be fine."

I wasn't fine. Nope. I had anxiety. I swam the course. But it was NOT fun. Never have I been so glad to get out of the water. We did it two days in a row and the second day was no better than the first. Shit.

I mean SHIT!

So YouTube to the rescue. I watched many (many many many many) open water swimming tips. Found a few I liked and committed them to memory. My first chance to try them would be ... race day. Yup. So there I was. Standing with a group of like-minded idiots. We paid good money to torture ourselves in this manner. I looked down at the tattoo. "rule no. 5: harden the fuck up" .. time to put up or shut up son.

The cannon went off. Into the water we go. Over one hundred participants in our wave. That's a lot of splashing around. Getting out that 150 yards involves mostly survival. There isn't a whole lot of pretty free-style going on. I mean, first you're jumping over waves, then your're dodging your neighbor. Then you're trying to stay out of the current that's doing it's best to sweep you beyond the buoy. Once you get past it, it's time to put your head down. Engage YouTube tips. 

Well. 
I'll be darned.

I was fine. I was more than fine. I kind of enjoyed it.
Sure, it was hard. I was in pain.
But it was the good kind of pain.
I was glad to be there.

Swim: 21:11
Bike:   54:53
Run:    36:40
Total: 2:01:02
(Diff is transition times)

P.S. Thanks Coach Laurie

Pesto Risotto With Sundried Tomatoes and Sautéed Garlic Shrimp

Finally got to go to The Calori Kitchen (Italian) in DTLA last Friday night. Madeline and Halley split two dishes, one of which was a three mushroom risotto that was delish. I used to make risotto on a regular basis but haven't in a while. Started looking through my various recipes but couldn't get too excited. The interwebz saved the day as I stumbled across a recipe for Pesto Risotto with Sundried Tomatoes.

I decided to make fresh pesto utilizing a mortar and pestle, or in this case, a molcajete. Sure, a blender is quick and adequate. But hand grinding/crushing all of the ingredients in a simple classics basil pesto brings out the flavors like you cannot believe. So fresh, so much flavor.

The finished product has a slightly rougher texture than store bought or blender made pesto, but the aroma that wafts up from that molcajete is to die for.

Sautéed Garlic Shrimp to top things off sounds good, eh? Into a garlic, oil, butter, parsley & lemon juice marinade for a bit.

The final Mise en place for the risotto in order of addition: Onion, arborio rice, wine & salt, Sundried tomatoes, pesto and parmigiana regiano (and chicken stock of course!)

Addition of final ingredients after 20-30 minutes of slowly adding and absorbing the stock: pesto, pepper & parmigiana.

The shrimp was tossed into a hot cast iron skillet and sautéed for a few minutes on each side.

Buon Appetito!

Did Somebody Say Bacon?

Bacon & Cheese (inside) Omelette ..
With Bacon & Cheese on Top ..
And Bacon On The Side
... Bacon

Enchiladas Con Mole Rojo

Im half Italian and half...other stuff. Pretty sure no Spanish or Mexican genes. Not that there's anything WRONG with that! ;) At some point in my life since my parents made the move to Southern California, I fell in love with Mexican cooking. Initially my exposure was the typical "American" Mexican cooking ... lots of cheese, rice and beans. Not really Mexican .. not much cooking going on.

Eventually, something something .. Two Hot Tamales .. something something .. Mexican Cooking For Dummies .. Etc etc .. Hey! MEXICAN COOKING IS LESS ABOUT CHEESE AND MORE ABOUT FRESH INGREDIENTS AND SLOW COOKED FLAVOR!! I started simple with the crowd pleasers: Guacamole, various salsas combined with grilled fish tacos and some Mexican inspired salad type dishes. Good eats. Not that inspiring.

A year or two ago, I was watching the finals of Top Chef - Masters. Rick Bayless was in the final and made his signature Oaxacan Black Mole. He won and I was intrigued. I hauled out a Bayless cookbook that had been gathering dust (recipes were too complicated) and there it was. Something just short of 30 ingredients. After a visit to my local Vallarta and 5 hours of nearly non-stop roasting, blending, and pureeing .. I did it. And dang if it wasn't pretty darn good. Actually, it was a sublime. Such complex flavors all in one sauce. I was hooked. I've made it about 4 times and it gets better each time.

Oaxacan Black Mole is a special treat, and a major undertaking. When I'm in the mood for homemade Mole, I fall back on the Bayless Mole Rojo. "Only" 17 ingredients and less than half the cooking time, but still a ton of flavor. The usual suspects:

It all starts with roasting. Garlic, chiles...

Almonds, onions, raisins...

Two sets of ingredients go into separate blender runs:

The first puréed concoction goes into the pot with some hot oil for a little reduction:

Second brew gets added in and then some chicken stock:

While we're waiting for the Mole to cook down, how about some roasted corn and pepper salad?

Time to assemble, fresh corn tortillas, "fake" meat cooked with taco seasoning, Monterey Jack, Mole Rojo and Cotija cheese:

Dinnertime...Adios!

World Famous Veggie Burger

After a three day weekend in Palm Springs with the usual trips to Las Casuellas, Cheeky's and various snack and drink opportunities at The Ace, we packed up and headed for home. On the way, we got a call from Bree: "Are you gonna do something for dinner?" Translation: What is Dad making for dinner?

For some reason, I've had fried chicken on the brain lately. I've never made it, but I've been meaning to. This post is not the fried chicken post, as you may have noticed, so I decided to make some veggie burgers ... Yeah.

So anywho, I was in the mood to kick the doors off and really go for something epic. Some sautéed onions? With worste.. wurstech.. umm, that W sauce and hot pepper sauce for good measure.Yes:

For the meat-eater, some thick-cut bacon? Oh. Yes. Very yes:

Oh, and the other stuff: Homemade black bean veggie-burger, havarti cheese, mashed potatoes with kale and mascarpone cheese, the sautéed onions and on top, bacon. Oh, and all on a toasted wheat bun brushed with melted butter:

I need to get a bigger bun.

Cast Iron Corn Bread

 Mmmmmm. Savory. Just slightly sweet ... OR slightly spicy ...

If you're going to make cornbread, you need to make it from scratch. And if you're going to make it from scratch, you need to make it in a cast iron skillet. There are some pretty decent mixes out there. Certainly better than buying it ready made. But how can you make cornbread without fresh eggs? Without real sour cream? Without real butter?!

That skillet was my Grandmother's. It was a wedding present to her. That makes it about, oh, 100 years old or so. Yeah.

Heat the skillet on the burner to give it a nice brown crust ... then pop it in the oven for the cook. 20 minutes, give or take.

Oh yeah, that's fresh corn there ... Mmmmmm

Nestled in a bowl with some hot chile, topped with some freshly grated cheese.
OK, I gotta go now ..

French Toast .. It's Custard Dude

Simple.

Sometimes the best things are the simplest things. Sometimes you don't have to say very much at all. Bread, egg, milk, vanilla extract and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Oh, and butter. It's basically a quick custard. I love me some custard.