Anthony D Paul

Maribel and Anjeanette, at the office have been dieting for Anjeanette's wedding. Maribel has bee wanting pizza for a couple days and it sounded good, so I hit up Whole Foods and grabbed some stuff to make high flavor but low fat personal-pizzas. They ended up being very tasty. Most of the ingredients were less than a full serving, so I am estimating maybe 4 or 5 grams of fat per pizza...mostly due to olive oil in the sauce/peppers and milk fat in the cheese...all good fats.

• Bagged organic round pitas (fat free)
• 365 roasted red pepper pasta sauce (very low fat)
• Jar of fire roasted red peppers (very low fat)
• Fresh basil leaves (fat free)
• A couple mozzarella balls from the salad bar (use sparingly for taste, but low fat)
• Bag of part skim shredded mozzarella (use sparingly for taste, but low fat)
• Baked chicken chunks from the salad bar (use sparingly for taste, but low fat)

I sauced the pitas, sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella around, added 3 pepper strips to each, added 3 basil leaves to each, added 3 cubes of chicken to each (had to cut up the larger pieces), cut mozarella balls in half (in hindsight, could have cut into fourths) and dropped 3 pieces on pizza.

Broiled at 400 for 10 minutes or so, until melty and toasty.

Today, I figured out what is wrong with the Whole Foods* salad bar. Each time I have visited it, I have walked away with a culinarily disappointing salad. The problem lies in focus. In an effort to appear diverse, they have added a couple ingredients from many different cuisines. A couple Italian items, a couple Indian items, some vegan/hippie stuff, some standard American salad fare, etc. The trouble is, once you decide which theme or concept to approach in your salad, you find the other key components are missing...and ultimately, your vision falls flat with slipshod replacements. For instance, if I wanted the most basic of Greek salads, there is no feta. I have to pick my olives out of the olive/artichoke mixture. A balsamic vinaigrette isn't seasoned right and if I wanted a protein my only choice is a plain Jane chicken, not marinated or grilled or otherwise customized.

The best solution to this problem would be a simple exercise. If you've been to BD's Mongolian BBQ, their setup is genius (though I have my own thoughts on their execution in the fire...that is another topic). Their strength is not only having the salad bar, but for the unimaginative they also have recommended recipes posterized next to the bar. If Whole Foods were to put together only a few of these recipes with vegetable, protein, dairy, crunch and dressing pairings, it would not only be a boon to the salad bar patron, but it would give a plan to the bar preparer as well.

As random as this discussion might seem, it is a great metaphor for our industry. Just like the designer/firm who pitches by skirting around a lack of expertise in any pre-defined area(s), instead wasting time pointing out snippets of all of the hundreds of wonderful things touched on, the salad bar will ultimately fail without focus. Sure, a great client can come in and push the limits of your core offerings, allowing you to mix and match until some new and previously unseen solution is found...but that experimentation comes as an evolutionary layer atop a previously refined foundational recipe/process.

The mark of a great tradesman then becomes expertise with the ability to opportunistically diversify, rather than a Jack-of-all-trades, expert at nothing. Then, if nothing else, your base offering is still a really great salad...rather than a hodgepodge of substandardization.

* The location next to the office in DC. Perhaps another is better.

I ran across this short book that uses a single vowel for each chapter. (via @shiflett on Twitter)
http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/eunoia/text.html

More interesting (to me) than being limited by a specific vowel for word choice, is the way each chapter looks. The choice of vowel significantly alters the feel of the text. With that in mind, on a granular scale, it must also alter the feel of a word. I wonder if specific vowels (or consonants) build connotations—through type-casting of sorts—then get that connotation communicated visually and/or via the audible translation.

For instance, if you look at the "i" chapter, it is very stuffy and almost uneasy looking. Then, when you think about it, "i" words can be some of the most intimidating spelling and pronunciation words. Irresistible. Mississippi. Inferiority. Similarly lengthy words using other vowels with extended enunciation allow for an easier "sounding out" and elongated pronunciation—even letting you think in between syllables. Extravaganza. Alabama. Lollapalooza. They look more roomy and they feel more comfortable to say.

A few people asked for this on Facebook, so here it is:

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This recipe intentionally has ingredients high in iron, calcium, potassium and protein to make it feel and taste like a meaty dish, without the meat. If you are vegetarian because you don't like the taste of meat, this might be too rich for you.

Contrary to popular belief, lasagna is actually one of the easiest recipes to make and to wing freestyle...it just needs longer than the average bake time to marry. It uses basic Italian components like pasta, sauce, vegetables, cheese and optionally meat. The trick to a good lasagna in flavor, texture and looks is controlling your layers. I find a 3-layered lasagna works best for this.( Read more... )

I just ran across a reptile I now have to see in addition to the wild marine iguanas. The tuatara is the only remaining species of its order. Though it looks like a lizard, it isn't lizard or snake. They have been around since the age of dinosaurs and live to over 100 years in the wild! They are endangered and are being bred in sanctuaries in Australia and NZ.

A map of their lineage:


Wow! In the words of Elmira, "I will hug it and love it and snuggle it!" So cute!

Walking to work today, I stepped over an undamaged dead rat on the sidewalk. Hoping it wouldn't go to waste, my inner child quietly got excited about it and I began thinking of all of the great things one could do with such a dead rat. At the top of the list, put it under someone's windshield wiper, right next to their parking ticket. Or, replace 7-Eleven's doorstop.

Walking home, the rat was gone. Exciting? I can only hope.

This morning, I was waiting for the bus and a bus I'd never seen before stopped and opened its doors. Nobody was on it, other than the driver. It was called "37 Potomac" and was the same kind of RideOn bus I usually ride.

I asked the driver, "Is this the 34?" He gave me some snide reply I half listened to as he told me it is what it says. I didn't get on. Curious, I double-checked the stop sign. Is there a chance I'd never seen this bus in two years of using the stop? Sure enough, it wasn't listed. I set a cellphone reminder to look it up when I got to work. I like to keep on top of the routes in case one comes before the other and the weather is bad.

When I got to work, my phone jingled with the reminder and I checked it out. Oddly, there is no 37 route going through that area. In fact, there isn't even one for Maryland. The only 37 route is a DC route, several miles away...and it isn't called "Potomac". I don't see anything on the WMATA website about a temporary detour, temporary bus, or anything else to allude to what the story was. Either:

A. The bus actually was a 34 or 33 and the digital sign was wrong...and I misinterpreted the bus driver's jive; or

B. I saw a ghost bus a la the ghost train in Ghostbusters; or

C. There is some other fishy thing going on like a serial killer posing as a bus driver with an empty bus, like those cop impersonators.

It is a pretty interesting concept. It isn't my style, but it is very creative. Via ffffound:

Oh, it has been a while since I have gotten one of these IMs. Just in:



Eh?

A reuben is one of those sandwiches where, in its simplicity, it is pretty hard to get wrong. I've only met two reubens I didn't like. Both were from places you'd think would have a decent reuben.

#1 Champps Americana Bar & Grill
Their reuben was the first I didn't like. It had the making of a great sandwich, but the meat was all wrong. It was cut badly, with the entire mass somehow connected. Thick lumps, stringy parts and overly chewy required gnawing to take a bite...and by then, the sandwich had fallen apart. If I recall, I took most of the meat out and ate the rest of the sandwich without it.

#2 Rockbottom Brewery Restaurant
Here is a place next door to one of the best reubens I've had (Union Jack's Brittish Pub), known for some great neo-pub food...and their reuben is off. The ingredients were actually perfect. The problem was in the preparation. The bread was not toasted or grilled, which in most sandwiches would be fine. However, a reuben's trademark is in the contrast of the crisp and crunch of the rye, with the hot and gooey kraut, cheese and Russian dressing inside. Take away the crunch and you just have slop. Not only was my reuben not toasted, but because it hadn't been thoroughly heated, the cheese wasn't fully melted and the contents weren't hot. I took the sandwich home to finish it correctly. That is my lunch today, and I must say it is much better the second time around—after an intervention with the toaster oven.

If you know any DC-area kids aspiring to intern at a design firm, pass this on:
http://fathomcreative.com/intern

I've been shown this article a couple times already and have given it the same response. I just explained myself more thoroughly, so I figured I'd share.

The article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8204857.stm

My response:

Yeah, I read that article yesterday. I don’t doubt the frequency is higher here than elsewhere, but the data is skewed.

“when cash is stacked together” is the key quote. DC, as in other major cities, sees a higher volume of cash rotation than, say, Olney...or another locals-only town where cash is typically internalized (external moneys used to purchase bulk goods are more likely digital). Instead, as a tourism/business/government epicenter, cash comes from all over the country and hits a till where it is equalized. It is simply probable that a dust stack is introduced often enough to taint the rock-barrel.

To return to the alternative, they mention Utah being cleanest. Again, that is not because there are less drugs. Far from it, in fact. There is quite a rave scene in SLC in particular. Hell, I’ve been offered drugs there as often as anywhere else. The difference, again, is in circulation. 99% of the state is a locals-only community. You pay cash to your hairdresser, they pay cash to the local minimart. That cash goes to the bagger, who pays rent back to you who now needs to see your hairdresser again. Money is mattress-money, kept in jars until the day you want a jug of milk.

In DC, chances are you will never touch a dollar you release ever again. Just as in viruses or the dissemination of political agendas via multimedia (like this article), the rate of infection of the money is less an indication of the strength of the attacker as it is the vulnerability of the victim...an opportunistic kill.

I like it when non-creepy people pick up my stuff from Craigslist. You never know what types you'll get.

I had a sheet and a half of extra drywall in my basement for a year, waiting for me to get rid of it. Since I was home this week and we have our new roommates moving in this weekend, I figured it good timing to have it taken away, finally. I listed it in the free section and pulled the ad when I got my first hit.

The guy is a volunteer fire-fighter, finishing part of his home to rent out to a couple other fire-fighters.

That is my good deed for the day.

Today I gave an editor's correction to the Delta Sky magazine before returning it to the seat pocket. One of the articles was titled "Who's Game". The irony is that it was paired with the brain teasers.

"Who's" is a commonly misused exception to the possessive assignment via an apostrophe'd s. Just as "It's", "who's" is always used as a contraction of "who is" or "who has", where "its" and "whose" each become possessive oddities.

I didn't write all of this in the magazine, but felt fulfilled by simply correcting it for the next reader(s) to find. Super-grammar-nerd to the rescue!

I looked up the word "embolies" because it was the only legitimate-looking bingo I could come up with in Scrabble. It turns out, it is actually a word. I tried to figure out what it means, but it is something medical and obscure:

The formation of a gastrula from a blastula by invagination.

Umm...thanks. I have no idea what you just called me. Out of curiosity, and still determined to define the word, I looked up the three words I didn't know, logically assuming it would help to put it into context:

gastrula = An embryo at the stage following the blastula, consisting of a hollow, two-layered sac of ectoderm and endoderm surrounding an archenteron that communicates with the exterior through the blastopore.

blastula = An early embryonic form produced by cleavage of a fertilized ovum and consisting of a spherical layer of cells surrounding a fluid-filled cavity

invagination = The act or process of invaginating or the condition of being invaginated.

Thanks, again. I still have no idea what any of this is talking about. Something about babies, cleavage or vaginas? I would have assumed it had something to do with embolism, initially.

Anyway, I didn't end up playing the word because I felt it had defeated me and I didn't deserve to use it.

A couple people asked out of curiosity how much the 2-week Europe trip cost, since they want to go some time. Now that the charges have all cleared, I went through the books to get an accurate number and make sure we weren't overcharged/double-charged for anything.

NOTES:

• The numbers below are accurate to the cent (in USD) as a grand total.


• We did not set a budget beforehand. Even though we tried to not spend frivolously, we also didn't shy away from getting a nicer hotel or riding a cab when we felt like it...so the total is inflated a bit from what it could be if you watched your pocket more.


• We got a car in Salzburg, which in addition to the rental, also needed gas and miscellaneous parking expenses out of cash.


• The EUD and GBP were both out of our favor by between $1.60 and $1.80 at any given time. So 1 Euro actually cost closer to $1.65, even though the price tag treatment is similar to the USD. For instance, a $6,000 USD trip is equivalent to about 3,500 EUD, though a $5 sandwich in the US is a 5 EUD sandwich in Germany.


• We cut out two hotel nights by flying overnight to and from London, but we kept the days in Europe by arriving early in the morning and leaving in the evening. Another good tactic is to take night trains between cities far between...of which we had none in this trip.

So now for the hurt...

• Grand total = $6067.18 ($3033.59/person)

Grand total includes all travel expenses, hotels, pocket money, food, parking at the airport, trip insurance, gifts, tours and rental car. The only exclusions are gas to and from the DC airport, as well as clothes/backpacks we needed for the trip but plan to use on other trips.

• Airfare = $2015.62 ($1007.81/person; multi-destination = round trip to London from DC, plus 1-way London->Austria and 1-way Slovenia->London)


• Hotels = $1384.87 ($125/night for 11 nights, or $63/person per night)


• Car Rental = $300 ($212.82 rental fee, plus approximated subtraction from pocket money for gas and parking)


• Pocket Money, Tours, Gifts, Food, Misc. = $2236.69 ($1118.35/person)

To reiterate, the USD was out of our favor. If the USD and EUD were somehow on an even playing field, the trip would have cost closer to $3500 in total. The first time I went to Germany, this was the case with the Mark. I believe it was $0.85 per Mark, which in our favor made everything nice and cheap.

Saving money...

If you wanted to go back and do the exact same trip for a lower cost (assuming you had the same airfares), you could:

• Cut hotel costs in half by staying at hostels or budget hotels.


• Don't rent a car, but instead stay in walking distance. We stayed out in the country side.


• Don't dine out. We didn't go fancy or anything, but we also didn't make sandwiches for lunch daily like we had when my friends and I walked Europe for a month.


• Look for cheaper local tour/transport options. We paid for tours/transport to castles and caves in both London and Slovenia, as well as the hop-on-hop-off in London. These averaged about $75 per person per tour/transport.


• Enter museums as a student. We paid some serious cash for entrance fees to all of the dozens of places we went into. It is so much cheaper to go when you are a student and can flash your student ID. In fact, go ahead and get the international student ID card before you leave. It is valid anywhere in the EU.


• Use Eurail passes. We actually didn't need any, so I didn't get any. We only had one long-distance trip from Salzburg to Bled. Other trips were local transport, so paying for a full day of unlimited travel didn't make sense for us. However, this is the only Europe trip in which I haven't needed to get one. Otherwise, it is much much much cheaper to get these passes for long multi-stop trips...especially if you wanted to do a day trip somewhere and can return within 24-hours.