Take a tasty bite out of the Pike Place Market

One of my favorite ways to take an in-city vacation is to spend a day at the Pike Place Market.

Now my friend JanMarie Johnson is offering guided tours of the market, combining historical tidbits with delectable "bites" at a dozen of the shops. Check it out at Seattle Bites Food Tours.

Known locally as the creator of the famous Mount Si Chili Cook-off, JanMarie has a true passion for food. She's made some great connections with Pike Place Market vendors. I've got to know where she found the "truffle-butter adorned popcorn!"

On reading

At my annual checkup today, my doctor asked me if I watched TV. I said my TV isn't even hooked up to broadcast sources -- I only use it to watch DVDs when friends come over to visit.

He laughed, admitted that he doesn't watch broadcast TV, either, and commented that he sees a direct correlation between lots of of TV watching and poor health among his patients, particularly the elderly. He said the problem isn't just sitting and watching TV instead of exercising; it's letting the mind slip into passivity instead of engaging with games, discussions, puzzles, writing, and reading.

I love reading, but recently have been spending what used to be my reading time writing instead. And instead of reading new books, I've been working my way through science fiction classics (such as Cordwainer Smith's Norstrilia) to get a better understanding of that genre.

Thus, I have yet to read any of the books on Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year list. But, seeing the list made me realize how much I want to get to some of these, particularly Michael Connelly's latest, The Brass Verdict, Donald Ray's Knockemstiff, and Greg Bear's City at the End of Time.

(cross-posted on Writer Way)

Food shopping and pumpkin pudding

A tip from Cook's Illustrated about using maple syrup instead of sugar in pumpkin pie has resulted in the most delicious, creamy pumpkin puddings!

Someone has just reminded me about the great imported San Marzano tomatoes at Big John's PFI. I'm embarrassed to report that I've never been there; probably can't really call myself a Seattle foodie until I go.

My fantasy Thanksgiving dinner

Roasted turkey with garlic cloves and olive oil (no stuffing, just herbs inside) served with a mushroom-infused reduction of the pan juices
Fresh cranberry orange relish
Butterleaf lettuce salad with pear (or tomato) slices and vinaigrette
Grill-roasted herbed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and chunks of squash
Sourdough and butterfly rolls (store-bought) with whipped butter
Baked Granny Smith apples (baked with liquor-and-ricotta filling)
Individual pumpkin puddings (same recipe as pie filling, but substitute brown sugar and double the ginger)

Yes, this is Thanksgiving dinner without gravy, stuffing, pie crust, and whipped cream. I think eating it would make me feel satisfied but not overwhelmed. But I can't imagine having the nerve to serve this for fear people would think I'd joined the food police.

What do you think?

That feels better

A thousand years from now some archeologist will be pondering over early 21st century skeletons and wondering why we all had hunched shoulders. Or perhaps some of us will be buried in our Aerons and the answer will be obvious: deskwork.

Massage therapist Larry Swanson has assumed the persona of The Office Rat to help us bring a fitness mentality to our office jobs. His Office Rat blog provides a tip a day, many with You Tube videos, to help us combat desk debilitation. Larry interviews fitness and bodywork experts like Reta Wright-Kinghorn (a sleep disorders clinician) and Lara McIntosh (from Wassa Dance), and draws on his own experience as a massage therapist.

Larry is the therapist who helped me figure why I was having trouble with the warrior poses in yoga. He showed me how years of hunching over a keyboard had shortened and tightened the muscles in my chest, making it very difficult for me to release and extend my arms back and out to the side. Some assisted stretching, and persisting with the yoga, eventually solved the problem.

Check out his latest tip, on stretching your forearms.

(Cross-posted at The Mysterious Traveler)

L'Shanah Tovah

Two years later

Two years ago this week, an ad on Craig's List changed my life. I didn't even read it, but my friend Angie did, and she posted to a Yahoo list we both belong to, and invited people to come with her to a yoga-based exercise class being taught by Susan Powter.

I barely remember the first class, I was so exhausted. Fortunately, I keep a digital journal, which records that after the class I went to QFC, got whole grain bread, came home, and made French toast. "Watching Susan Powter in action is like going to a show in Las Vegas," I wrote.

One week after starting the classes (four of them a week) people noticed a difference in my appearance. Two weeks later, I had my first encounter with muscle fatigue -- I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. That was scary. A few days later I had my annual medical checkup, and there was a strong reflex reaction from my right knee for the first time since I'd herniated a disk 10 years earlier.

As I read through the journal, I remember taping my feet (they were too weak to work out barefoot), living on Ibuprofen, having a second round of muscle fatigue in mid-November, and the horrible grinding sound in my right shoulder. I can't believe I finally got past all that!

I'm thankful every day that I did.