Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 4, 1.9 miles, 192 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@110 lbs.
I went out into the backyard on Sunday and found some dewberries ready for picking. I picked the obvious ones around the lemon tree and decided there weren't enough to do anything with. With a little more searching around the creek, I found enough to use the recipe below. It looks like I should be able to do the same thing over the next couple of weekends. The dewberry patch is pretty extensive.
I found this recipe at http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2009/05/dewberry-cobbler-is-your-reward.html
Dewberry Cobbler
Crust ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter (2 oz.)
1 cup of flour (6 oz.)
1/2 cup sugar (3 oz.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling ingredients
4 cups dewberries or blackberries
1/2 cup sugar (3 oz.)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place
the rinsed berries in a large cast-iron skillet or nine-inch round cake
pan, and toss the berries with the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and
lemon juice. Let them macerate for 20 minutes.
To make the crust,
melt the butter on low in a pan, and then add the other ingredients.
Dough will be slightly sticky, moist yet pliable.
Pat out the dough and place it over the berries.
Bake 40 minutes or until light brown and bubbling.
Serves six
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Mario
Ukemi:
Got in a full set. Watched over Dan and Mario
The Walk:
Twice as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Dan.
Techniques:
Dan and I worked on Ushiro-ate. We spent a lot of time at one-step distance and then did some work at 3-step. The entry is what is driving everyone crazy at the moment. There can't be a collision.
Troy and I did some work on Kogure's double-hand grabs for about an hour at the end of the afternoon. Lots of fun. We only made it about halfway through. Kote-gaeshi was the next one when we stopped.
Aftermath:
None
of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Gordita Aguascalientes
Aikido
Saturday:
Loaded up some stuff for a garage sale
Worked on fixing a freecycle printer
Aikido - long sessionWorked on a batch of Struan bread
Dinner with K, K, and B at El Centinela
Movies
Sunday:
Saw our visitors off
Worked on Struan and Irish Soda bread
Naps
Harvested a bunch of dewberries from the backyard
Dinner included stuff from our garden: potatoes, dewberries, tomatoes, turnips, greens
Crashed early
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Mario, Dennis
Ukemi:
Did not get any in. Watched over Dan, Dennis, and Mario
The Walk:
Twice as usual.
Releases:
I worked with Mario and Dennis on the releases. We got through the fifth release.
Techniques:
We did a little work on the footwork for Shomen-ate
Aftermath:
None
of note.
Lunch out today was at Gorditas Aguascalientes on Edgebrook. Nice, decent sized joint.
Gorditas Aguascalientes impressed me.
I
had the Tacos Al Carbon. The meat had a decent amount of flavor. Could of had more, but still good. The charro
beans were great. The chips were ok, but the salsas were good. The guac was good, as well.
The lunch menu had two prices: 5.95 and 6.95. Fajitas and the Tacos Al Carbon were 6.95, everything else was 5.95. I expect to be back.
Here's the score card
Atmosphere: 5
Green Salsa: 5
Red Salsa:4
Chips: 3
Rice:N/A
Beans (charro): 5
Tacos Al Carbon: 4
Margaritas: As it was lunch, I did not try a margarita
Aikido players: Troy, Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We spent the evening working on Dan's Ushiro-ate. The issue we have with most folks on Ushiro-ate is the entry. Everyone gets locked up on uke's arm just below the wrist bone. When that happens, the technique just stops. The two bodies have come together in a huge wave and the wave peaks where the two wrist bones meet.
Troy came up with a fabulous suggestion for Dan to avoid that collision. Try to get to uke's nose with the fat part of his palm below the pinky. The posture for the hand is very similar to that used in a number of the techniques in the release portion of Koryu Dai Yon No Kata.
This does several things:
1) Causes you to be pushing throughout the technique
2) You'll be pushing up, not down
3) You won't lock up on the wrist
We had several successful kuzushis with this approach.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.1 miles, 198 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@110 lbs.
It was the league tournament this week. We were in 3rd place, so we got a change to play a team we'd beaten handily earlier in the season. I think the scores were 21-7, 21-5, 15-10. The team did not look similar to the one we played earlier and we lost.
We won the first game 25-20 or so, and lost the next two.
Oh well, there's always next season.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.1 miles, 199 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
Friday:
Lunch at Boondoggle's
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Refresh sourdough starter
Went to the bank to correct some issues
Go to Friendswood Fig Festival - took some car pictures
Aikido - long session
Work on sourdough bread
Work on Italian bread
Dinner at Chili's in Alvin with K. - awful meal
Work on sourdough bread
Sunday:
Work on sourdough bread and Italian bread
Art Show and artfire work
Baked the sourdough and Italian bread
Napped
I made Italian bread, I think for the first time, this past weekend. From Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." It's a biga-based recipe. It turned out fairly well, even though I could not use my current steam trapper because the loaves were too big. I did alter the process a bit due to past experience working with a biga and the trouble I have mixing in a biga after everything is alerady mixed together.
Biga:
11.25 ounces Bread Flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
8 ounces Water
Mix. Knead.
Oil a bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2-4 hours. Degas slightly. Put back in bowl. Recover. Chill overnight.
Main Dough:
All of the Biga
11.25 ounces Bread flour
1-2/3 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces water
Process:
Remove the biga from the fridge, cut into 10 pieces, let them come to room temperature.
Mix the biga, water and olive oil together. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix until the dough is soft and slightly sticky.
Knead for about 10 minutes.
Bulk ferment for about 2 hours
Divide the dough into two pieces. Do an initial shaping of the loaves, degassing as little as possible. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
Do a final shaping, cover and proof until about 1-1/2 times the original size.
Prepare the oven for hearth baking. Preheat to 500 F.
Score the loaves, mist them and bake for about 20 minutes.
Cool for about 1 hours.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Mario, and Ramon
Ukemi:
Got
a full set in. It went well. Then watched over Mario. Marvin did some great air falls today.
The Walk:
Twice as usual and then I worked with Ramon on it for a while. We managed to make it through the walk with the hand motions. We'll see how much he remembers the next time he shows up.
Releases:
I workd with Ramon on the releases. We made it through the third release.
Techniques:
We ended the regular session. Troy, Dan, Marvin and I stuck around for some additional work.
We need to work on Dan's attacks as an uke, his committed and continuous attack.
Troy did a bunch of work. We had him run through all 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. A good portion of that with Dan as his ukse, occasionally with Marvin as his uke, and most of it with me as uke. So, he'd do a couple of reps with Dan on one technique, then I'd jump in. We'd occasionally have Marvin jump in. then Dan had to leave, so I took over as the main uke.
After working Troy over, it was my turn to work through the defensive Jo kata. A good refresher and I did not do too badly.
Aftermath:
The session was a little over 3.5 hours. Definitely an ibuprofen night. Ow, I'm sore.
The recipe from Richard Bertinet's "Crust" is what I used for croissants this past weekend. They turned out, ok. I made them too small, and cooked them too long. This is a recipe I will try again. Here it is:
20 g yeast
500 g bread flour
10 g salt
50 g sugar
1 large egg
125 cold milk
125 g water
200 g cold butter
1 egg with a pinch of salt for a wash
Flour in a mixing bowl with the yeast. Add salt and sugar. Add egg, milk, water and mix. Turn out onto unfloured work surface
Form into a ball, cut a deep cross with a knife. Back into the mixing bowl, covered. Chill for at leat 2 hours and as much as 12 hours
Flour the work surface. Peel the dough at the four corners of the cross to form a rectangle and roll out.
Open the butter into a freezer bag. Flatten the butter into a square that will fit onto the dough diagonally. Fold in the four sides of the dough over the butter.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 3 times as long as it is wide. Fold the dough into thirds. Mark it with one indent. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 3 times as long as it is
wide. Fold the dough into thirds. Mark it with two indents. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
or longer.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 3 times as long as it is
wide. Fold the dough into thirds. Mark it with 3 indents. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
or longer.
Roll the dough into a rectangle about 12in x 30 in. Cut the dough lengthwise down the center. Cut each strip into about 6 or 7 triangles. Make a small vertical cut in the base of each triangle to allow you to make the crescent shape more easily.
Roll the triangles up.
Preheat the over to 425-450
Glaze the croissants with the egg wash
Let the croissants rise for about 2 hours
Glaze them again and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Another recipt from thefreshloaf.com
Tangzhong
1/3 C all purpose flour
1 C liquids (I used 2/3 C water and 1/3 C milk)
Final Dough
800g (around 5 C) all purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
50g (1/2 C) milk powder
1/2 C half and half
3/4 C milk
2 eggs
4 T butter
4 t instant yeast
1 t salt
all of the tangzhong
Combine
all the ingredients in a bowl or standmixer and mix the heck out of it,
10 or 15 minutes, until the dough is silky and smooth. I didn't
initially add enough liquid so my dough was quite dry, but by adding
more to the bowl and using wet hands I was able to work more milk and
water into the dough.
Once you've needed the dough well, cover the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled in size, roughly an hour.
Divide the dough into smaller portions. I divided the dough
into 12 pieces and baked it in the 3 pans.
Cover the pans loosely and allow to rise for half an hour, then glaze with milk or an egg wash.
Heat the oven to 350F while letting the loaves rise another 15-30 minutes.
I had to have K. put the pans in the oven as I had an aikido class to teach. She baked the loaves at 350F for approximately 40 minutes. If they are browning too much, you can cover them loosely with foil.
Aikido players: Tim, Troy, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Gail, Mario, Dennis
Ukemi:
Did not get any in. Watched over Dan, Dennis, and Marvin
The Walk:
Twice as usual and then I worked with Mario and Dennis on it for most of the evening.
Releases:
I workd with Mario and Dennis on the releases. We got through the third release.
Techniques:
We did some work on punch the dummy.
Aftermath:
None
of note.
We had a big family meal (8 of us) to celebrate some milestones and chose Zelko Bistro as the destination for lunch. Housed in a renovated Heights bungalow, and decorated with Houston photos and antique knick-knacks, it's a beautiful little place.
The service was quite good, and the food was fabulous as well. I think the meals that were tried included: Short ribs, Fish Tacos, Salmon, and Meat Loaf. We also tried a few desserts: Tres Leches and Lemon Ice Box. For an appetizer we tried the cheese plate.
I don't think anyone had a bad word to say about any of the food or any of the service.
If we're in the area, we won't hesitate to be back.
Aikido players: Sal, Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
None tonight
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We worked on Shomen-ate, left and right side at 3-step distance.
We worked on letting uke come back to his heels after the initial off-balance.
We also did some practice just walking at the end of the evening.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.1 miles, 197 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
We the played the first place, undefeated team last night. They were without two of their players, so it was 6 of us versus 2 of them. We won the first two games in close scores (21-18 or so) and lost the third game 15-12.
We were in a three-way tie for second before last night. One of the teams was playing the 6th place team, the other was playing the 7th place team. We'll just have to wait to see how things settle out and where we end up in the tournament seedings.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.0 miles, 195 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
K and I were on our way home from a meeting in San Antonio. Luling is a convenient stop along the way (yay Buc-ee's!) and they are renowned for their barbecue. We took a BBQ trip a couple of years ago and were underwhelmed by Texas Monthly's Top 5 BBQ joints in the state (we only hit 4 of the 5). So, we weren't going to go back to City Market, but some friends had recommended Luling Barbecue Company, just across the street from City Market.
We enjoyed it much more than its competitor. We sampled the chicken, beef, sausage and ribs.
Out of 5, the ratings were:
Chicken: 3
Beef: 4
Ribs: 4
Sausage: 4
We also enjoyed the fact that you don't have to walk into the smokehouse to pick up your meat. It was pleasant not smelling like smoke all the way home.
No pictures were taken, alas.
I stopped by Papa Gayo's this past Friday for a second visit.
It was a nice place. A crowd of regulars, I'd bet, made up the patrons.
Dive? Close enough
I ordered their Enchiladas Suizas from the regular menu, not the lunch menu
Atmosphere:4 (too much music)
Green Salsa: 3
Red Salsa: 2 (canned tomato taste)
Chips: 4
Rice:4
Beans (charro): 5
Enchiladas: 3
The enchiladas were too spicy for what I want them to be. The restaurant had a bit of a drop in scores this time.
Friday:
Lunch at Papa Gayo's
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Refresh sourdough starter
Load up truck with tree stump and cement scraps for trip to Spring Sparkle
Aikido
Hung some pictures at work
Work on sourdough bread
Trip to Galveston County Fair to see a friend's chickens
Watch some of the Rancher Rodeo
Dinner at Joe's
Sunday:
Mowed the lawn
Art show work
Artfire work
Work on sourdough bread and croissants
Watched the Masters and napped
Baked the sourdough and croissants
Aikido players: Tim, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Gail, Mario
Ukemi:
Did not get any falls in. Helped Gail and Mario with theirs.
The Walk:
Three times today
Releases:
I had Dan and Mario work on the releases together, having Dan teach Mario with me watching over.
Techniques:
We did some punch the dummy drills.
Aftermath:
None
of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Dan the Elder, Marvin, Gail, Hossein, Mario, Dennis
Ukemi:
Got a full set in. My mind was not paying attention the whole time and I took a face plant instead of a roll out on one fall. Very disconcerting.
The Walk:
Twice as usual and then I worked with Mario and Dennis on it for most of the evening.
We also did some work on walking on the mat properly.
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Not tonight.
Aftermath:
None
of note.
Aikido players: Dan the Elder
Ukemi:
A couple of warm-up falls
The Walk:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Releases:
Not on Thursdays, normally.
Techniques:
We worked through 1 and 5 of Ju Nana Hon Kata.
We spent most of the evening on Shomen-ate. Most of it on right side. The left side went much quicker.
Ushiro-ate had the usual issues: tori slamming into uke's arm and forcing a huge collision. I've got a few bruises to show for it. Dan got a couple of good entries before we had to shut down for the evening.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.1 miles, 197 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
We played against "How I Set Your Mother", a NASA co-op team, and won handily. The first game was 21-1 and I server the first 15 points or so. The second game was much closer 21-13 or so. I don't remember the third game score.
We play "Poundcake" next week. They are undefeated.
Monday's workout was skipped to go help a friend do repairs on his house to prep for eventual sale. So, did some moving of furniture, cleaning, etc. in lieu of lifting weights.
Friday
Lunch at Zelko Bistro
Drive to San Antonio
Wandered around Mi Tierra
Dinner at Garage Tacos
Socializing at the Con Suite
Saturday
Breakfast at Denny's
Meetings for WorldCon
Tour of the hotel
Lunch
More meetings
Tour of the convention center
Dinner at Luciano's
Socializing at the Con Suite
Sunday
Snack at the Starbuck's in the hotel
More meetings
Drove around San Antonio scoping out tamales and other Staff Den goodies
Drive home
Lunch in Luling at Luling Barbecue
More driving - bumper to bumper at 80 mph. Very intense.
Deompress in front of the tube
Handle some email traffic
Kim and I wandered around San Antonio near Market Square Friday Night. We wanted to get to Market Square to pick up some pastry samples from Mi Tierra. Mi Tierra was a madhouse. We weren't about to try to eat dinner there. We were also looking for a restaurant called Ricardo's, according to urbanspoon. Ricardo's is no longer in business, apparently, so we ate at Taco Garage instead.
Taco Garage was ok.
I chose the Tres Amigos - one beef, one cheese, and one chicken enchilada. Rice and barracho beans. Kim had some of the chicken enchiladas, as well. I thought the beef enchilada was best, the cheese enchilada was a bit undercooked, and the chicken was just ok. The barracho beans were pretty good. Kim liked the chicken enchiladas.
Here's the score card
Atmosphere: 4
Green Salsa: unrated
Red Salsa:4
Chips: 3
Rice: 5
Beans (charro): 4
Enchiladas: 3
Margaritas: no alcohol for us tonight
Since I was getting the kitchen dirty with the Buttermilk Banana bread, I decided to add to the mess with a Whole Wheat Honey bread from thefreshloaf.com
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
makes two loaves
1 lb
whole wheat flour
12 oz hot water
8 ounces bread or all-purpose flour
15
oz can evaporated milk (or milk, or more water or soy if you are vegan)
(I used 15 oz of buttermilk and water, by weight, which probably necessitated the extra flour)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast
an additional
1/2-1 cup flour, as necessary, to achieve the desired consistency
(I ended up with 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour extra)
Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the
bowl with plastic and set aside until around room temperature, at least 1
hour.
Add the milk, honey, salt, yeast, and bread
flour to the original mixture and mix until well combined. Add
additional flour and knead by hand or in a stand mixer until a tacky but
not completely sticky dough is formed.
Place the ball of dough in a
well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 60
to 90 minutes.
Divide the dough in two and shape the loaves. Place the
loaves in greased bread pans, cover the pans loosely with plastic, and set aside to rise again for 90 minutes. (I had them covered with plastic wrap, when I removed it, the loaves lost some of their rise. Maybe they were over-proofed? Not certain.)
During the final 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (My oven was still warm from the Buttermilk-Banana loaf)
Place the pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature
to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the
pans once so that they brown evenly, until the internal temperature of
the loaves is around 190 degrees and the bottom of the loaf sounds
hollow when tapped.
---------------------------
These loaves turned out okay. I need to try it again, use the evaporated milk, eliminate the negatives and see if I get a nice crown on the loaves.
While toodling around www.thefreshloaf.com yesterday I came across a recipe for a buttermilk banana bread. Given that we had part of a bottle of buttermilk in the fridge, and it often goes past expiration before being used, and a bunch of bananas that will go overripe before we use them, I was inspired to make this recipe.
Looking at my schedule over the next few days, last night was the night to do it.
Ingredients for 2 loaves (actually just made one loaf)
10 g fresh yeast (I used instant)
1-2/3 Cups of room temperature butter milk
1 very ripe banana
500 g of flour bread
15 g salt (if you like it sweeter takes only 10 g of salt) ( I used about 12g )
Preparation
Banana peel, slice and puree with the room warm buttermilk.
For the dough, mix the yeast with the buttermilk. Add the flour and the salt
and the dough with a spiral mixer 2 minutes to slow down and knead for 6
minutes faster level. (I mixed in most of the flour with the yeast, buttermilk, and banana, and then let it rest for 30 minutes. Then added the salt and the rest of the flour)
Cover the dough and leave for 30 min.
Fold the dough 2-3 times. (I did the stretch and fold every 30 minutes for about 2 hours. I think I could have added a little more flour and been okay)
Halve the dough and shape into two oblong loaves. Add the floured upside
down on the sheet with parchment paper, cover and let it go another 30
minutes (as the bread tears during baking to beautiful)
(I shaped all of the dough into one boule and lets it rest, covered with a towel, on my cornmeal covered bread peel)
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450° F, prepare for steaming.
Score the loaves. Bake the bread for 10 minutes at 450° F, then turn
down the oven to 400° F and bake for another 20 minutes.
(I scored the single loaf, spritzed with water, and then placed it on my baking stone at 500 ° F and covered it with my steam retainer. After ten minutes removed the steam retainer and reduced the temp to 450° F. After another ten minutes, I rotated the loaf. After another ten, I removed it from the oven and let it cool for 30)
The loaf came out with a nice thin and light crust. It really exploded through the score I made, taking over 50% of the crust. It has a nice impact of banana flavor as the crust touches your tongue. The crumb is very tender with a hint of banana. My wife declared this one a keeper, one of the few times that has happened. She thinks a slice or two of this bread would be an appropriate addition to a meal at a small bistro.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.0 miles, 192 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
Elliptical: 14 minutes, incline, level 3, 2.0 miles, 195 cal
Leg press (both): 2 x 15@130 lbs
Leg press (left): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg press (right): 2 x 15@80 lbs
Leg extension(both): 2 x 15@60 lbs
Leg curl (both): 2 x 15@50 lbs
Standard chest straight motion: 2 x 15@100 lbs.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Dan the Elder, Mario, and a new student (I knew his name a moment ago?!? I know it begins with an "S")
Ukemi:
I got in just a bit. I then helped Mario and ??
The Walk:
Twice as usual. I then spent most of the afternoon with the newbies on the Walk. We made it through the 8th stone on the walk before calling it a day.
Techniques:
I gave our two newest students an intro to "punch the dummy"
Aftermath:
None of note. I left promptly at the end of class so K. and I could go see some wildflowers before sunset.
Friday
Lunch at Gina's Italian
Aikido
Persian New Year dinner at the dojo
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Started cleaning the house for Easter
Went out and picked up a color laser jet from a freecycler. Needs some work.
Aikido
Day trip to Navasota/College Station for wildflowers and dinner
Dinner at Hullaballoo Diner was fabulous!
NCAA basketball
Started working on some sourdough
Sunday
Started working on dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls
More cleaning
More work on the rolls
Easter dinner with neighbors and family members
NCAA basketball
Friday:
Left the house bright and early so that I would have plenty of time to take wildflower pictures on the way up
Stopped at several places, but the day was overcast so the light wasn't great
Made it to the College Station Hilton and sat at the LoneStarCon3 table for a while
Checked in to the hotel, got a room on the top floor.
More sitting at the table
Dinner at J. Cody's Barbeque in Bryan. Won't be back
Saturday
Breakfast at IHOP in College Station, won't be back.
More sitting at the table
Got George R. R. Martin's signature on my copy of "A Game of Thrones"
Dinner at Los Molcajetes in Bryan
Took traffic pictures on TX 47
Sunday
Breakfast at Kettle in Bryan, wanted to go to Hullaballoo Diner in Wellborn, but they don't open until 9 a.m.
More sitting at the table
Helped the Art Show tear down and brought their clamps home for use with LSC3
Drove home in less than 2 hours. Traffic was moving
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Troy, Marvin, Gail, Dan the Elder, and Mario
Ukemi:
I got a full set in, and then helped Mario.
The Walk:
Twice as usual
Aftermath:
Hossein brought in food for us to celebrate Persian New Year. It was a great meal.
