Revenge of the Road Runner

It's a classic twist on the old cartoon that could only happen in Texas - a Wile-E coyote gunned down by a road runner. It seemed that many years of persistence were about to pay off, but unfortunately for Wile-E the road runner in question was Texas governor Rick Perry.

According to the AP, pistol packing Perry was out on his early morning run in South Austin when he encountered the wee beastie who started menacing his dog. Fortuitously, being a Texan he was carrying every runners' essentials - water, gel, cell phone, laser-sighted .380 Ruger.......

Needless to say, the coyote was swiftly dispatched "to where coyotes go". Honestly, I'm not making this stuff up - you can read more about the story here (lots of great quotes and a hilarious (though unrelated) picture).

Though I have to say I actually like Perry - he's very much into the local running scene, and has always been super nice whenever I've run into him.

And of course, he has famously magnificent hair.

But my favorite recollection of Perry involves Gavin. Yes, my then three-year-old anarchist actually head butted him in the stomach while running full tilt round a corner before the start of a local triathlon in which the guv was competing.

Fair play to him, he took it well - and the hair didn't move an inch!!!

Guzzling Chiddlers

I love the Austin library - they have a whole bunch of great books, audiobooks, cds and dvds. And since we were annexed by the city late last year we've been taking advantage of the opportunity to use it. I've always loved to read and I could literally spend hours at the library browsing through their selection of books - like a kid in a candy store. I'm currently reading "23 Days in July", Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" (made a scrumdiddly 100% wholewheat bread last night), and me and the Gavster are working our way through "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" at bedtime.

For our trip to Corpus Christi last week, I picked up an audiobook of Roald Dahl's "BFG" to keep Gavin entertained in the car. Well, we all loved it, and it was brilliantly voiced by the late Natasha Richardson. Ever since we got back I've been doing impersonations of the wonderfully-named "flesh lump eater", "meat dripper" and "blood bottler", and telling Gavin that "if you is not behaving I is going to be galloping over there and guzzling me some Gavin chiddlers". To which he replies (in his "giant" voice) "and I is guzzling some human beans too".

And that's without even getting into "whizz popping"!!!

On the running front, there hasn't been much going on lately. The "off the charts" oak pollen turned into a nasty little sinus infection which left me coughing like an Icelandic horse and feeling like I was breathing underwater - not great for running. I'm notoriously stubborn about going to see the doctor (and I only take medications as a last resort), so I let it take its course and I'm just about coming out the other side.

But I haven't worked out since I ran on Saturday morning. Nancy's been out of town since Sunday so it's just been me and the boys, and it's hard work when you're by yourself - trying to keep a constant eye on two very active boys while making supper and trying to get stuff done is not easy. Kudos to single parents - I don't know how they do it.

Gavin's been really good at helping me out looking after his brother, but it doesn't always go to plan. Dylan got into the dog food last night, and by the time I got to him he was testing his new teeth out on several pieces of it. The dog was standing there sadly watching his supper disappear, and I had to stick my finger in Dylan's mouth (while trying to avoid those sharp little gnashers) and fish them out.

But at the same time it's such a hoot to watch Dylan eating proper food. He's so funny - he won't touch his baby food if there's something better on offer. We had homemade pasta for supper on Monday night, and Dylan was sucking up spaghetti noodles like an Italian, and banging his fist for more.

And he still had plenty of room left for ice cream.

It's been fun (and a workout in itself), but I think baby Dylan really missed his mummy - he was so happy when she got home last night.

And good news on the garden front - when Gavin and I went to water our plants yesterday evening, we discovered that the basil, oregano, parsley and cilantro are all coming through.

Still no sign of the mint though.

Silly Season

One of the great things about a British general election campaign is that it's never dull, and this year is especially so as it seems increasingly likely to result in a close election and a hung parliament. And while I make it a rule to never discuss politics on this blog, I feel it would be amiss of me if I didn't mention a few things about the "silly season" of British politics.

The British have a different, far more direct approach to electioneering (and protesting) than the Americans, and this involves a lot of unscripted interaction with the public (and all the dangers this entails). John Major used to relish this, and often carried a soapbox around with him during election season - he would stand on it and interact directly with the voters (as well as confront and argue with hecklers).

But one of the cherished British election traditions is the throwing of eggs by disgruntled voters. This happened to Conservative leader David Cameron this week, and to me the first good egg pelting of the season is always a sign that the election is well and truly underway (though the best example occurred in 2001 when then-deputy Prime Minister John "two jabs" Prescott was pelted with eggs, turned around and gave the egg thrower a "good thumping" - great stuff).

For the record, I really like Cameron - he's quick witted, fast on his feet, and regularly got the better of Prime Minister Brown in their weekly clashes in the commons.

And the way he "unmasked" the chicken that one of the tabloids had sent to follow him around recently was just classic Cameron.

A-Peel-ing

I've been doing a lot of bread baking and pizza making recently and one of the things I've been wanting is a large wooden pizza peel. The peel is a tool that lets you slide bread and pizzas in and out of your oven - very handy when using a baking stone. They come in wood and aluminum, and while I prefer the aluminum ones for retrieving the final delicious product, the wooden ones are much better for building pizzas and sliding the unbaked dough into the oven.

I knew exactly what I wanted, so I decided to make one to my own exact specifications. I love designing woodworking projects, and this was a super simple one - it took me all of 10 minutes to spec it out and draw it up in Google Sketchup.

My initial design

One of the things I've never understood is why pizza peel manufacturers don't mark up circular size guides on them - that would be very handy when stretching pizza dough. But this is my design, so I decided to just take a sharpie and mark out several popular sizes on it. I also wanted a square front so it could accommodate two loaves of bread at once.

Very handy.

I picked up a piece of 2'x2', 1/4" luan plywood for $3 to build a prototype. Some quick cuts, a bit of sanding and 10 minutes later I had myself a brand new pizza peel. Yippee!!!

While I was at it I made another one out of scrap MDF which will make a useful template if I ever want to make any more.

MDF template and plywood prototype with size guides

I applied a few coats of food grade mineral oil to the peel and it's ready to use. If it works well I may make another out of 1/2" birch or oak.

I love making stuff.

Wind and Waves

Greetings from Corpus Christi. Nancy has a conference here this week, so me and the boys tagged along. We're here until Friday and are having a wonderful time.

We have a hotel on Ocean Drive, right on the seafront. There are many miles of ocean front paths snaking along the coastline which I will explore on my morning run tomorrow.

It was very windy when we arrived this morning, but our room has sliding doors which overlook a huge indoor entertainment area in the hotel. There's an indoor pool, a hot tub, pool tables, air hockey, shuffleboard and table tennis, plus a huge kids climbing gym which includes a ball pit. Very handy.

Gav, Dylan and I explored Corpus this afternoon, and Dylan had his first experience of being dipped in the ocean - he was none too certain about the whole thing!!! We picked up some sandwiches, cookies and strawberry cheesecake for lunch and parked up by the seafront to eat them. We all enjoyed watching the surf hit the seawall, and we all tucked into the cheesecake with relish!!!

When Nancy finished with her conference for the day, I took Gavin swimming in the pool and we had a wonderful time playing "shark". The hotel is pretty busy, but we had the pool all to ourselves. Then this evening we went out to Longhorn Steak and Ale House for steak and margaritas. It's a local eatery that has a wonderful reputation, and it certainly lived up to it - both the steak and the margaritas were excellent.

We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and it had started raining, the wind had picked up and the surf was roaring. I stood on the seafront watching the waves, and it wasn't hard to imagine I was back in Wales - there to my left could have been Swansea bay, stretching all the way across to the Marina, with Mumbles and the lighthouse off to my right, lost somewhere in the night.

Ah, a nostalgic moment.

And then I realized that it's been many years since I'd been night swimming. I gazed at the waves and felt the wind blowing into my face and through my hair. I threw my head back, looked up at the night sky, breathed in the salt air, felt the pull of the ocean, and knew I was going to go in.

So I did.

Gavin came in with me. He'd never been in the ocean at night.

He loved it - of course he did, he's my boy.

It was wonderful.

Men in Tights

When I was a kid growing up in Britain in the late 70s/early 80s, we were never exposed to American wrestling. Instead we got the British equivalent via ITV's "World of Sport" on Saturday afternoons. Presented by the legendary Dickie Davies, some of the big names of the day were Big Daddy (the oddly named Shirley Crabtree who counted the Queen and Margaret Thatcher amongst his fans and starred in his own comic strip), the Mighty Quinn and Giant Haystacks (6'11" and 670lbs) - big fat guys who wandered around in tights, slamming and "splashing" each other with their huge bellies.

There wasn't much finesse to it, but I loved it all the same - what little boy wouldn't. And it seemed to bring out much of the quirkiness that gets to the root of what it means to be "British" - in particular the swarm of crazy old ladies who always got seats at ringside, nipped their gin, whirled their handbags around and were almost certainly barking mad.

Heck, watching them was often as much fun as the shows themselves.

So I wasn't surprised when Gavin became all enthused with wrestling recently - it's definitely a little boy thing. I think some of his friends at daycare were into it, and he was all excited when we let him watch a few episodes (though I have to say, I am somewhat less than impressed by some of the "storylines" they are pursuing these days - don't I sound like an old fuddy-duddy).

And when I heard on the radio that the WWE were doing a Monday Night Raw show in Austin at the end of May, I just knew we had to go.

So I booked us some tickets, and me and Gavin are going to have a boys night out at the wrestling. He's all excited - it's been "Triple H" this and "Seamus" that - and he's been busy practicing his best John Cena moves.

Heaven help me!!!

Deep Dishes and Wonderful Wobblies

This was today's pizza experiment - Chicago deep dish. I think I've only ever had deep dish one time before, so it really was a trip into the unknown. I was only planning on making one pie, but I severely overestimated how much dough I needed, and ended up with enough for two 10" pies, but they were really good. The one in the back is Italian sausage that I rolled out to a circle (yes, I know I should have layered it beneath the tomato), and the one in front is a straight tomato and cheese. You can bet I'll be taking a few slices to work tomorrow for lunch!!!

The sourdough paninis also turned out great (though one of my saltillo tiles cracked while baking the bread, so I think I'm going to cough up the dough (pun intended) and invest in a kick ass FibraMent baking stone). I had a bacon, egg and cheese one yesterday and a yummy chocolate, banana and peanut butter one today.

But enough of good eats. As well as eating, I did do some running this weekend too.

A buddy of mine came into town on Saturday and I'd arranged to meet him early doors to run some hills. I'd been dealing with some chest congestion, which peaked in coughing fits on Friday evening, so I didn't know how well I was going to be able to handle hills. By Saturday morning I'd lost my voice too, as amusingly evidenced by my croaking claim to my buddy that I was feeling much better.

And sure enough I felt the first major climb we came to. You can't hammer hills without sufficient oxygen in your muscles, and the chest congestion and coughing was severely hampering my breathing. I still hit it pretty hard, and felt quite lightheaded by the top. But a blast of cold water over the head put an end to that nonsense, and on we went. We took a fairly easy pace, chatted away and caught up on what's been going on with each other. It was an enjoyable run.

We did 10 miles of road hills and then hit the trails for another 4. It was a bit of a wobbly run, but I felt pleased with myself at the end - it's always a good feeling to stick with it when things aren't going 100% and come out the other end.

That's why I call it a wonderful wobbly!!!

This morning we were supposed to go to Bastrop State park to do some hiking, but it was raining so we decided to do some planting instead. We got in some tomatoes, mint, parsley, oregano, basil, cilantro and chives.

They will make for some good eats this summer if I manage not to kill 'em all!!!

The Love Life of Oak

"Hey there big boy"!!!

Much as I would hate to dampen the romantic inclinations of oak trees, I think it's high time they stopped being so frisky and showering us with copious amounts of yellow pollen. I hardly ever get problems with allergies (unless you count my horrendous reaction to fireants - the little buggers), but I've felt sick as a dog ever since I mowed my yard on Tuesday - I've had scratchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, absolutely no desire to workout or run, and Gavin's bedtime stories (currently "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - one of my favorites) have been read in a comedy nasal voice.

But I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a long week at work, so hooray for the weekend. I'm on a baking kick at the moment, and am planning on experimenting with some rustic sourdough bread which I will use to make paninis (and for snacking). The King Arthur flour blog has some great ideas (and is always a good read), and while I don't have a panini press I do have a cast iron ridged skillet. I'll just use an aluminum-wrapped brick to apply weight to the top of the sandwich.

Running plans for the weekend are still vague, but at the very least I want to get in a good 15 miles of hills on Sunday.

Amorous trees notwithstanding.

Graveyard of Cancelled TV Shows

I was browsing through the TV channels tonight and I happened upon a show starring Mark Valley. I recognized him immediately from a series a few years back called Keen Eddie where he played a New York cop who was sent to London and assigned to Scotland Yard. This was one of those edgy shows with great writing, characters and plotlines that was axed after only a few episodes. I sometimes wonder what the network executives are thinking when great shows like this are canned and others that are absolute drivel keep coming back year after year.

I guess that was around the time that reality TV was gearing up, and something had to give, but why some of the best shows around? Am I that out of step with mainstream America?

Another great show that suffered the same fate was Wonderfalls. It was a really quirky and witty series with a wonderfully sarcastic and offbeat main character - a complete slacker who works in a tourist shop at Niagara Falls and suddenly finds herself being ordered around by talking toy animals who only she can hear, often with unexpected results. Original and unpredictable, Nancy and I loved it, yet it was canned after only 4 episodes.

Thankfully they released all 13 episodes that had been made on DVD. And yes, we bought it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

What do you guys think? Any of your favorite TV shows died before their time?


Here in Austin, Oak pollen has gone through the roof this week. I don't usually suffer from allergies, but this stuff is everywhere. I made the mistake of mowing my yard last night and I've been feeling it ever since - congestion, sneezing, red eyes, the whole nine yards.

What can I say? It sucks!!!

Tossing Pizza

I remember the first time I saw pizza dough being tossed around as "entertainment art". It was in Cologne, Germany and the protagonists were two Italian guys who operated a small pizzeria which was little more than a street window in the center of downtown. They would expertly shape and stretch the dough, then the acrobatics would start. They'd spin it in the air, flick it to each other, catch it behind their backs, and entertain the crowds who would gather for the show. It was like watching Cocktail for pizza.

I've always wanted to be able to do that, and today I finally got the hang of it. I've been experimenting and practicing for a while - sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't - but today it finally clicked.

To start, I made the dough slightly differently - a few days in advance and with a higher protein content and hydration level which made it much easier to stretch and manipulate. I also made it by hand rather than in the mixer so I'd get a better feel for it (more people should try hand kneading dough - it's surprisingly soothing).

I retarded the dough by slowly fermenting it in the fridge for 2 days, then took it out two hours before I was going to form it. I've discovered that there's a technique to stretching the dough and getting it to a point where it can be successfully tossed (and Lord knows I've punched holes in far too many "not quite getting it" attempts). But if you get it right you don't even need to take your rolling pin out of the drawer (plus it's fast, so much easier and results in a much better crust).



I got a lot of great tips and techniques from this video clip (still amazed at how easy they make it look - they can go from dough ball to sauced, topped and in the oven in around 45 seconds), and was very surprised when I got the dough to a point that I could actually "work" and throw it very easily. In fact, I was having so much fun I nearly stretched it too much - it ended up just over 15" and hanging off the sides of my pizza peel.

I have to admit, the "eureka" moment was fun - that sudden instant when you unlock the door, step through, slap yourself on the forehead and exclaim "ah, so that's how it's done".

I'd put two unglazed Mexican saltillo tiles on the middle shelf of the oven to serve as a pizza stone ($1.19 each from Home Depot), and cranked the heat to max. I'd made a yummy sauce from tomato puree, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and a bunch of herbs which came together wonderfully. I kept the toppings very basic - smoked bacon and mushrooms with a combination of several Italian cheeses and some cheddar.

I slid the pie off the peel into the oven, and about 10 minutes later out came a wonderfully delicious hand tossed pizza - maybe the best I've ever made. The crust was crisp and chewy at the same time and it smelled wonderful. The edges had puffed up just like I'd hoped, and it tasted like it had come out of a local pizzeria (instead of my improvised "saltillo brick" oven, ha ha).

Eat your heart out pizza hut!!!

Next time I'm going to experiment with adding some vital wheat gluten to the bread flour to raise the protein level to that of a high gluten flour. I found this great little website that allows me to calculate the exact ratio of flour and gluten (by mass) I need to get to the protein level I want (14.2%) based on the bakers percentage weight I've calculated here (yes, this is my secret little pizza science project).


And the reason I can play around with pizza so much is that I've already made my race-ready goal target weight. As of yesterday, I now weigh 152lbs - that's 10lbs less than I did about a month ago. I don't want to lose any more, so it's time to start relaxing the portion control a little.

That combined with the small amount of running I've been doing recently (plus all the cross training) seems to be having a very positive effect. It's like somebody's pressed my reset button, unlocked my high gears, and rebalanced my tires - I'm raring to go again. When I do run, it all seems so much easier and I feel like a coiled spring waiting to explode.

I need to enjoy it while it lasts.

How to Kill Vampires

Apparently Gavin gave his class a hugely entertaining presentation the other day on Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. He acted out all the parts to demonstrate what each monster did, how they moved, how they talked etc. His teacher told us it was hilarious and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, though she did have to stop him when he started giving the class step-by-step instructions on how to kill vampires.

That's my boy!!!