eG Foodblog: mizducky - The Tightwad Gourmand turns pro

[Domestic Goddess]

Hi Bruce--thanks for your kind words. I've actually succeeded in getting my knee to snap out of its weird state, so I figure that, after staying off of it as much as possible this evening, I should be good to go by tomorrow morning.

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MizDucky - my husband shares the same ailment you have, the bum knee. You described how it feels perfectly. He also finds a way to snap it into place and keep off it as much as he can.

Going back to your scrumptious ban chans, I never thought it would be great to have them solely as the main dish for a meal. Although I have been known to graze on the ban chans of our grilled korean barbeque meal, leaving the meat to my men while I stuff my face with the various veggie dishes.

[Jen Keenan]

Lovely blog, Ellen, I lived in Mission Hills for a few months many years ago, and it's amazing to see how much I did not get around to seeing.  Sigh, if only rolled tacos and tanos were on your diet.  I am learning much more this way - thanks!

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Now what are "tanos"? That's not an item I've run across yet. Always looking to learn more stuff ...

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On my first visit to San Diego my then-boyfriend made sure we went to Rubio's for fish tacos and to Mission Beach to get tanos - after a ride on the Giant Dipper of course. It's just flavored, shaved ice with a little ice cream surprise in the bottom of the cone. Probably not worth going out of your way and maybe not even still there? It's just memorable to me because it was my first taste of that west coast seaside magic

[judiu]

Miz Ducky, you're my hero! I lost a lot of weight after I found out I had type 2 diabetes, but now I'm sorta stuck. Have you tried La Croix canned seltzer? It's flovored, but totally unsweetened, so you have non of the chemical crap to deal with. I CANNOT tolerate any artificial sweeteners; the all taste vile to me, so this stuff is a gift! Here In Florida we can get plain, mountain berry, lemon and lime flavors. Lime is my fave, at the moment. Congratulations, and keep up the good life!

[mizducky]

Good morning all! I'm up way earlier than my usual, enjoying a really light breakfast of coffee and a bowl of my beansprout banchan, mainly because I'm preparing myself for a much higher-impact brunch--dim sum at one of San Diego's known dim sum places, Emerald in Kearny Mesa. I'll be declaring this meal an "official" splurge so that I don't have to worry about counting every danged dumpling that goes by . . . but having done this kind of thing before, I bet I don't go too far overboard. Over a year of re-training my habits has at least made some inroads in my tendency to Lizard out.

And then the fun continues this evening . . . remember, somewhere earlier in the blog, I was hinting that the Rockola guys might yet wind up making an appearance? Well, their appearance is tonight, at Humphrey's Backstage Lounge, so I'll be appearing there too! And this visit will be killing two birds with one, erm, rock, as I also intend to do my weekly Eats.It writeup on the bar menu at Humphrey's, which I've had ample Rockola gigs to sample and enjoy. So--busy day ahead! We'll see how well the knee holds up--so far this morning it seems to be cooperating.

In the meantime, I'm relaxing with my coffee and listening to my favorite weekend-morning wakeup companion: Melinda Lee's cookery talk show on Los Angeles-based radio station KNX-AM. (I believe there's a link on Melinda's website that will allow you all to listen to her show live over the Internet). And I'm catching up with a couple of posts:

Here in Central CA (Paso Robles) there are no good Asian food markets (San Jose--3 hours drive !)  but since hubby still lives in SD, I can send him on a treasure hunt to find some to bring next time he is up. I look forward to it---I miss having a noodle/rice type o' thing......

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Cool! When you send your husband hunting in the San Diego 99 Ranch, tell him to look in the chiller case in which they also keep all the tofu products -- if I'm remembering correctly, the konnyaku products are towards the middle-right of that long case, adjacent to the takuan and other pickled items. Or PM me when you get close to sending him on this expedition, and I'll remember to check so I can tell you more exactly.

Hi Bruce--thanks for your kind words. I've actually succeeded in getting my knee to snap out of its weird state, so I figure that, after staying off of it as much as possible this evening, I should be good to go by tomorrow morning.

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MizDucky - my husband shares the same ailment you have, the bum knee. You described how it feels perfectly. He also finds a way to snap it into place and keep off it as much as he can.

Going back to your scrumptious ban chans, I never thought it would be great to have them solely as the main dish for a meal. Although I have been known to graze on the ban chans of our grilled korean barbeque meal, leaving the meat to my men while I stuff my face with the various veggie dishes.

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Yeah--knees are definitely weird joints, aren't they? I've deduced that part of what I've got going on is a meniscus tear in my left knee joint--when the knee gets a little too stressed, some little flap of meniscus cartilage gets folded the wrong way, interfering with the joint, until things calm down enough in the surrounding tissues for the flap to slip back into proper alignment again. I don't know if the "click" sensation when that flap moves about is audible, but everytime it does that, it sure feels "loud" to me!

Re: the banchan--Yeah, I'm totally grooving on having them on their own, witness my breakfast this morning. It's like a whole new little universe of vegetable cooking to explore!

[mizducky]

Miz Ducky, you're my hero! I lost a lot of weight after I found out I had type 2 diabetes, but now I'm sorta stuck. Have you tried La Croix canned seltzer? It's flovored, but totally unsweetened, so you have non of the chemical crap to deal with. I CANNOT tolerate any artificial sweeteners; the all taste vile to me, so this stuff is a gift! Here In Florida we can get plain, mountain berry, lemon and lime flavors. Lime is my fave, at the moment. Congratulations, and keep up the good life!

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Thank you, judiu! I don't recall trying La Croix, but I do love the various brands of flavored seltzers I've tried. Schweppes has some great ones, and there's a Pacific Northwest brand I became very fond of when I lived in Seattle called Talking Rain. And recently the local Trader Joe's has been carrying flavored sparkling waters from Crystal Geyser which are really tasty. I've discovered to my chagrin that carbonated beverages don't work all that well for my hydration purposes, because all the bubbles take up so much room in my tummy that they limit how much of the stuff I can drink. But the flavored waters do work as a great occasional beverage for me.

[ghostrider]

3. Another part of my mental game: you may have noticed me occasionally joking here and there about The Lizard Brain. It's no joke, really: many brain scientists observe that we humans have a triune brain, consisting of three evolutionary layers: the neocortex, seat of rational thought and consciousness, is evolutionarily the newest; the limbic system, a.k.a. the "Dog Brain", is older, and tends to be involved in processing such emotional bonding behaviors as love and loyalty; and the oldest layer, the so-called Lizard Brain, is the seat of basic survival instincts such as lust, hunger, and territorial aggression. I love the way this article explains this, especially this quote:

Have you ever wondered why you reach for that pile of hot greasy fries while you tell yourself you are on a diet? The answer is that you have three brains, and the older brains were wired to put on weight long ago when food was scarce. Your old brains are not easily controlled by your fancy new brain hardware that reads diet books.

So--do NOT underestimate the Lizard Brain! 'Cause it'll gitcha when you're not paying attention! The best ways I've found to cope with it, is a combination of keeping close track of my food intake with all those lists and charts I mentioned previously, the better to prevent it convincing me to cheat; not letting myself get too hungry, tired, or emotionally upset--all conditions in which the rational brain is at a disadvantage and the Lizard Brain can rush in and say "ARRRRR! EATTTTT!!!"; and simply staying aware of my inner lizard, understanding its moods and its functions, so it can't sneak up on me.

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A lot of really good advice in this entire post. Hopefully I'll get better at putting into practice.

Jst wanted to add that, for those who may be interested, Carl Sagan's book The Dragons of Eden has a plethora of interesting (& layperson-accessible) material on the Lizard Brain.

Thanks Miz D for a captivating blog!

[ghostrider]

Ahhhh ... at the risk of really getting "Fish Heads" stuck in your head, let me point you to yet another Wikipedia article, this one about the creators of "Fish Heads," a duo known as Barnes and Barnes (one of whom was Bill Mumy, of "Lost in Space" fame). And to really grind it into everyone's brain, here is a YouTube clip of the video for "Fish Heads," a truly bizarre piece of film.

Heh. I was going to suggest some other song to get "Fish Heads" out of your head, but I can't think of any at the moment because now the Fish Heads are stuck in my head too.

I too have wondered about the popularity of naming urban streets after Euclid. There's one in Brooklyn too, if memory serves. Anybody got a clue about this?

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I remember seeing that Fish Heads film on TV in the early 1970s. I don't remember what show it was on. Who had the gall to put that out there to a national (or possibly local NYC) audience?

This Euclid business is interesting. It reminds me of Funky Funky Broadway ("Every town I go...."). There was one in St. Louis where I grew up. There's one in Montclair NJ where I now work. They're eveyrwhere.

[mizducky]

Okay, I'm off to dim sum! Y'all have a good time till I get back, hear?

[ludja]

Thank you for your wonderful and inspirational blog, mizducky, and I have to also give a big congratulations on your new journey with food and health!

Any comments on the Kasekrainer sausage at the Linkery? I've heard of this Austrian sausage but have never tasted one. I googled to get more info and acutally came quickly to this post from the Linkery blog: click

- Smoked Kasekrainer Sandwich. Yep, the sausage that was the inspiration for the Linkery, our signature link, is now a permanent fixture on our menu. Plus we’re bringing back the spike toaster for the rolls. The kasekrainer is an Austrian sausage made of pork, with plenty of black pepper, hot pepper, and garlic, and lots and lots of cheese. The plate also comes with malt vinegar potato salad and house made pickles. Now if we can only figure out the requests we get for mail-order kasekrainers, we’ll be set!

The Linkery looks like a pretty neat place overall. They have an extensive blog with updates on their sausages, food and other general food-related issues and a very detailed website. I think I'll check them out next time I'm in San Diego...

Here is some other info on their restaurant from the blog with reflections on some of their accomplishments on the occasion of their 2nd anniversary: click

Become the only place we know of west of the Mississippi to serve pastured, rare-breed Ossabaw pork

- Become (we think) the first San Diego establishment to offer always-available cask-conditioned ale from different local breweries

- Become the second restaurant in the country (that we know of) to completely eliminate tipping, in an project to raise the bar of professionalism at our own restaurant, to treat everyone equally, and to offer an alternative way to others in the industry

- Offer on our menu California grass fed beef from Old Creek Ranch, local emu from A&W Emu Ranch, and wild grass-eating kangaroo from Australia.

- Add many house cured meats to our menu

- Change our menu weekly based around what great stuff is available to us

- Increase our selection of local artisan products, including locally made wine from San Pasqual and Fallbrook wineries, and increasing our selection of hand crafted beers from our town, which is known as one of the world’s best brewing cities.

Edited March 24, 2007 by ludja (log)

[mizducky]

Hi--I'm back after a very enjoyable dim sum brunch. I'm just waiting on Doug to email me the photos he took, to help remind me of what-all we ate--it went by so fast! But in the meantime: more responses to posts:

Jst wanted to add that, for those who may be interested, Carl Sagan's book The  Dragons of  Eden has a plethora of interesting (& layperson-accessible) material on the Lizard Brain.

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Many thanks for that reference! I will definitely go track that book down for my own further information.

I remember seeing that Fish Heads film on TV in the early 1970s.  I don't remember what show it was on.  Who had the gall to put that out there to a national (or possibly local NYC) audience?

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Hmmmm ... according to the Internet Movie Database, the Fish Heads video was made in 1982, so you might be transposing your memories by a decade ... According to IMDB and various Googlings, the Fish Heads video was aired on Saturday Night Live, and was also in rotation on MTV and Nickelodeon back in the day. Oh yes--the early days of MTV, when they actually played music videos--and really strange wacky non-corporate videos at that! I remember one of Wendy O. Williams driving a school bus across the desert and through a wall of TVs ... but I digress.

Any comments on the Kasekrainer sausage at the Linkery?  I've heard of this Austrian sausage but have never tasted one.

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My impressions of the Kasekrainer that evening kinda got lost in the sea of other impressions, but I've had it on previous occasions and really dug it. It's got a modest hot-and-spicy kick to it that I really like. The Linkery regularly makes their sausages with a lower percentage of fat than is customary; for some folks this takes a little getting used to, as it does result in a dryer sausage than they may have been accustomed to. But I really dig it, not only because of my healthy-eating obsession but also because, at least for me, it actually seems to make the flavors shine through more clearly. I realize that might sound paradoxical to all of us who have learned the "fat carries flavor" mantra, but anyway that's how it strikes me.

Many thanks for posting all those additional links to The Linkery (heh--pun not intended). Obviously, I've become a big fan of the place--you can read my official Eats.It rec of The Linkery here.

[LindsayAnn]

I cannot wait to see pictures from your Dim Sum Bruch!

Mizducky I have been following your blog all week - love it. I love seafood and cook often but usually find myself eating seafood when I order/go out....my fiance (and roomate) doesnt like it...nor the spell of it cooking...kinda limits me. He is, err...picky....beyond picky actually. Oh well....love him tons anyway.

I have also read your other blogs (the one you did about a year back), read this months back....and I have been following your weight loss website.

I am going to repeat many others and sound like a broken record but I have to day it, congrats congrats congrats. I am so proud of you. My aunt (by marriage, she married by mom's brother) is in the hospital for weight issues and has been in there for about 4 months now. Lost 175 pounds. She has been overweight her whole life....and got to the point where her liver was falling (operating at only 10%). She couldnt walk, and they had a hard time getting her in the ambulence. My uncle is visiting her daily, working long shifts, and caring for their two sons while she is working on getting bettter. She is such a lovely lady, I love her tons, and I hope she continues getting better. She was well over 400 and is now at a healthier weight....I hope she can continue her progress once shes on her own.

Having said all that - your weight loss (that YOU did that all by yourself) is amazing and I am so thankful that you are living such a happy healthy life now while eating foods you love!

by the way, I love soups (and won ton soup is a favorite of mine, especially when there are hunnks o' pork floating around the wonton yumminess)....so I find your noodle/seafood soups mouth waterings...and you not only order them our but you make them yourself.....AWESOME!

I have had Shirataki noodles (whole foods here carries them) and I enjoy them. I am not low carb but they are yummy. I do find that even when cooked a bit they water down sauces...I have had them with marinara....so I liek the fact that you use them in soups...can't really water down a brothy soup...haha.

You rock mizducky....not only your weightloss and your food diversity, but you also seem like a FUN loving gal living life to its fullest....keep it up You're my kind of peeps!

Edited to fix my spelling and other errors due to thinking faster than I can type....I do EVERYTHING too fast....especially talking...."say what?"

Edited March 24, 2007 by LindsayAnn (log)

[mizducky]

Okay--we've got photos. Thanks, Doug!

This first shot was taken by me rather than Doug:

Emerald is located at the southernmost end of the Convoy Street Asian-restaurant enclave, inobtrusively tucked away on the ground floor of a quiet office building. (That jalopy with all the hippy bumper stickers in the disabled parking space is the Duckmobile. )

Behind the mirrored glass, Emerald has a sizeable and pleasantly decorated room. Dim sum service was already in full swing, with the usual assortment of couples and multi-generational families flagging down the cart ladies and having at the tasty tidbits.

I was joined for brunch by SanDiego.Eats.It owner Doug and his partner Laura; fellow Eats.It writer Candice; and Gayla, better known here on eGullet as kalypso, who very generously donated an Emerald gift certificate she had been saving up for just such a situation. Thanks, Gayla! And thanks also to Candice, who brought along a lovely bottle of Schramsberg sparkling wine whose light sweetness went great with our meal.

The carts started coming at us fast and furious, and Doug wasn't quite able to keep up with all the offerings (there was a key moment when his camera batteries died but we kept eating! ), so the following represents most of what we ate:

Here we have assorted dumplings: counterclockwise from the top are shu mai, chicken-filled steamed buns, har gow, and another type of shrimp dumplings whose name is escaping me right now.

Turnip cake (actually made with lo bak, a big Chinese radish related to daikon).

Calamari--looked like they had been dusted lightly with cornstarch before a quick deep-fry and salting. A hair on the dry side for my tastes, but the flavor and crispiness were great.

Stuffed crab claw with shrimp chips.

It took some skill to keep this chicken foot elevated for your viewing pleasure, but anything for eGullet! I loved these--they were melt-in-your-mouth tender.

After some intensive negotiations with the manager, Candice was able to procure us a little saucer of XO sauce to have with our dumplings. First time I ever tasted XO sauce--nice and rich with a low-key chile kick.

And of course we had to have daan taat (egg tarts) for dessert. These were great--still a little warm, nice flaky crust and eggy filling, not too sweet.

Not pictured: Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce on the side (gotta get those veggies in! ); taro dumplings (a personal favorite of mine--I've had better ones than Emerald's, but even an average taro dumpling is fine by me); glutinous rice balls; shrimp cheong fun (we loved the rice noodle wrappers, felt the shrimp were a tad overcooked); sliced roast duck (decent flavor, very tender); a beef-filled dumpling wrapped in a very nice flaky pastry whose name I'm also not recalling right now ... I think that was everything!

All in all an excellent meal with excellent company. Thanks, folks!

[markemorse]

I'll first add my tiny voice to the chorus of people congratulating you on overcoming (or at least learning how to coexist with) The Lizard Brain and getting serious about controlling the shape of your body ( )...as a co-battler I can back you up 100% that it's all about being mentally prepared...

And secondly, thanks for the great pictures of The Linkery...I've been on their email list for a long time even though I have no idea how I got on it and my chances of actually eating there are very slim at the moment...but still, great to finally see their food!

thanks for the great blog...

mem

[mizducky]

Thank you! And once again, thank you to everybody for your kind words and encouragement. It really means a huge amount to me.

Now I really have to make myself take a little nap before this evening's activities ... I'll try to at least stick my head back in here for a "hallo" before I hit the road again.

[Smithy]

It took some skill to keep this chicken foot elevated for your viewing pleasure, but anything for eGullet! I loved these--they were melt-in-your-mouth tender.

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Now that raises a brand-new question for me. What are chicken feet like? I'd assumed they were boney, but it now you have me wondering. Are they cartilege and muscle? Is there much meat there? What's the melt-in-your-mouth tender bit like, and how much is there?

I suppose you'll tell me that they taste like chicken.

[hzrt8w]

Here we have assorted dumplings: counterclockwise from the top are shu mai, chicken-filled steamed buns, har gow, and another type of shrimp dumplings whose name is escaping me right now.

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Re: The un-named dim sum dish... I didn't seem to see any dumpling wrapper. Would it be that they are minced shrimp stuffed into some fried tofu? Or minced shrimp stuffed in shittake mushrooms? Both are popular in dim sum restaurants.

Chicken feet taste very much like chicken... NOT!

[MarketStEl]

This Euclid business is interesting.  It reminds me of Funky Funky Broadway ("Every town I go....").  There was one in St. Louis where I grew up.  There's one in  Montclair NJ where I now work.  They're eveyrwhere.

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Camden, N.J., has a Broadway. Philadelphia does not. I guess they figured that Broad Street would suffice.

Ellen: That Arnie's Whole Beef Halves tagline (actually, the commercial is from "TV or Not TV," the duo effort by half the Firesigns, [Philip] Proctor & [Peter] Bergman) brings back memories of another product that take-out place carried. A beverage, to be more specific. Unfortunately, posting that part of the commercial would probably get this post yanked. Any fan of wordplay has to appreciate the Firesign Theater, who revel in it ("They told me to go to the same old place..." "...Oh, you must mean the old Same place.")

I'm glad we both have hung onto our warped senses of humor!

Question: What did you all have to do to obtain an Italian domain name for SanDiego.Eats.It?

[mizducky]

Hi folks--

I see some new posts have cropped up that I'd like to respond to, but I hope you'll forgive me if I postpone those responsed until my return. For now I've got to dash out the door ... or more like hobble out the door, because my knee is attempting to go out of alignment yet again. But sometimes, especially when one lives with a chronic problem like this, you just decide to go out and do your life even when the problem's acting up. So--I'm a-goin' anyway. And I'll be hopefully enjoying, and photographing, some good eats and drinks as well. Talk to you soon!

[christine007]

Miz, forgive me it this was already mentioned, by my mom suffers from joint pain and her Dr. steered her towards omega3 pills for relief, told her to take up to two a day. have you heard of that?

[dockhl]

Any fan of wordplay has to appreciate the Firesign Theater, who revel in it ("They told me to go to the same old place..."  "...Oh, you must mean the old Same place.")

Nick Danger is the same old story of deception, lust, crime, time travel, dwarf maples and a pickle...

Does this make the post food related?

And, hah hah about the Italian domain name

Blog on, ducky~

can't wait to hear about your night (hopefully with pix!)

Kathy

[mizducky]

Hello again, folks--

Well I did have a great evening ... in fact, I had so much fun that I'm pooped, and really should crash soon. I do have photos, but I think I may have to wait to post them until tomorrow morning when I'm a little more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

But I'll at least try to catch up with some responses to posts:

Now that raises a brand-new question for me.  What are chicken feet like?  I'd assumed they were boney, but it now you have me wondering.  Are they cartilege and muscle?  Is there much meat there?  What's the melt-in-your-mouth tender bit like, and how much is there?

I suppose you'll tell me that they taste like chicken. 

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Yes, chicken feet have lots and lots of little bones, and very little meat to speak of ... it's the skin over those bones that's the big draw, especially after long braising that breaks down the collagen so that the skin gets meltingly tender. These were done in a savory glaze with a slight sweetness to it, and the skin just melted in one's mouth. That's part of the reason why it was so hard to hold one up with chopsticks--it was wanting to fall apart and slip out between the sticks.

Re: The un-named dim sum dish... I didn't seem to see any dumpling wrapper.  Would it be that they are minced shrimp stuffed into some fried tofu?  Or minced shrimp stuffed in shittake mushrooms?  Both are popular in dim sum restaurants.

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You know what, now that you say that, I am thinking those items were fried tofu stuffed with a shrimp mixture. Thanks again, Ah Leung!

Question:  What did you all have to do to obtain an Italian domain name for SanDiego.Eats.It?

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I recall my boss saying that he had to go through an outfit in Italy to get it, but knew none of the details, so I checked in with Doug and this is what he said:

Different countries have different rules on doling out country-specific domain names. The Italians will let an EU citizen or a company with an EU address have their domains. Since we don't yet have a presence in the EU, we found a company in Belgium that is serving as our agent and holding the domain until we open an office on European soil. More details on the specific rules around each of the European top level domains (like .it and .uk) can be found at eurodns.com, a private company that serves as a registrar.

Even though we're pleased with eats.it, more than a few people have called the site "eats it dot com".  So, just to be safe, we also registered eatsit.com and SanDiegoeatsit.com-- these redirect to our eats.it domain.

Miz, forgive me it this was already mentioned, by my mom suffers from joint pain and her Dr. steered her towards omega3 pills for relief, told her to take up to two a day. have you heard of that?

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I did mention it, but way at the beginning of the blog, so no worries that you missed it. I do take daily supplements of omega-3 fatty acids both for my joints and for coronary health. I also take a daily supplement of glucosamine. Both of these supplements were actually recommended by my primary care physician, which I think was pretty cool, myself.

[MarketStEl]

I see your boss is a Penn grad. When did he attend? (I worked there from 1985 through 2004.)

[BarbaraY]

My eldest daughter, who lives with me, has a meniscus tear in her knee, too. Her Dr. shot it full of a gel-like substance. Since the last treatment was Wednesday, we're waiting to see if it works.

She shares the cooking with me. (Keeping it food related.) By the time she finished a very simple dish last evening, it was swollen and painful.

Edited March 25, 2007 by BarbaraY (log)

[ghostrider]

This Euclid business is interesting.  It reminds me of Funky Funky Broadway ("Every town I go....").  There was one in St. Louis where I grew up.  There's one in  Montclair NJ where I now work.  They're eveyrwhere.

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Camden, N.J., has a Broadway. Philadelphia does not. I guess they figured that Broad Street would suffice.

Ellen: That Arnie's Whole Beef Halves tagline (actually, the commercial is from "TV or Not TV," the duo effort by half the Firesigns, [Philip] Proctor & [Peter] Bergman) brings back memories of another product that take-out place carried. A beverage, to be more specific. Unfortunately, posting that part of the commercial would probably get this post yanked. Any fan of wordplay has to appreciate the Firesign Theater, who revel in it ("They told me to go to the same old place..." "...Oh, you must mean the old Same place.")

I'm glad we both have hung onto our warped senses of humor!

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The "Funky Broadway" reference was meant to indicate the ubiquity of Euclids ("Every town I go" - e.g., StL & Montclair).

And to bring food back into the picture: Groat Clusters!

[mizducky]

Good morning, all! On this last official day of my foodblog, you find me working on a cup of coffee, after my semi-usual breakfast of a couple of wedges of Laughing Cow Light cheese in a half a whole-wheat pita.

One of the lessons I learned from years of dealing with a cranky bod is to be prepared to revise and triage schedules based on physical energy level and condition. Well, I woke up after the late night I had last night, on top of all the running around I'd been doing this week (which has been more than my norm), and realized it was triage time. Sooooooo ... I am playing hooky from church this morning. SHHHHHHH! Don't tell, now ...

I will, however, be going out this afternoon to attend the regular weekly rehearsal of the community chorus I sing with, San Diego Women's Chorus -- depending on my energy level after that, I might immediately return home, or I might grab one last dinner out for your blog-viewing pleasure. But in the meantime, I'm going to have a mellow morning of blog catch-up and summarizing. And, oh yeah, putting the final touches on my weekly restaurant rec for Eats.It.

And one little low-impact cooking thing is going on right now in my kitchen: a pot of congee is currently working, and should be ready in time for a late lunch.

I've got photos from last night to show you all, but first, a couple more responses to posts:

I see your boss is a Penn grad.  When did he attend?  (I worked there from 1985 through 2004.)

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Doug informs me that he attended Penn from 1987 to 1991.

My eldest daughter, who lives with me, has a meniscus tear in her knee, too. Her Dr. shot it full of a gel-like substance. Since the last treatment was Wednesday, we're waiting to see if it works.

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Fascinating! I'd be very interested to hear how that works out for your daughter. I'd love to find a nice (relatively) simple solution for my knee that does not involve major surgery.