I had the weirdest run this afternoon.
It all started harmless enough. The sun was shining and I made the decision to go for a longer loop through Capilano Canyon, down Cap Pacific, along Bowser, MacKay Creek and then back home via Mosquito Creek. A modified Night Run loop with a few twists and turns thrown in to get my distance up. There were lots of people on the trails including a lost Japanese tourist, a semi lost group with small children, other Fat Asses (Paul, Action Jackson and Penny) and then the weird ones...
I was minding my own business, when coming around a corner on the CP, I passed two guys...one happily peeing against a tree. Walking distance to the next washroom maybe 1km. Come on guys. How urgent can it be??? And if it is urgent, is it too much to ask to scramble off the trail a bit to get out of sight?
Just as I was getting over the first incident, I come across the second guy also relieving himself. This time, I am out of the trails on an urban road, close to Maring Drive...we are talking busy here. There probably were about 10 store/restaurant locations within spitting (maybe I should say peeing) distance were one could have asked to use the facilities. Heck, there even is a public washroom in the adjacent park.
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me - I usually do carry it around on my runs and I promise that I will take a photo of the next guy I see peeing in public on our busy urban trails. I bet there is a Flickr group just waiting for my submissions.
By now I am on the last 2km of my run. It's past lunchtime and my gut is growling. Eager to get home, I am shuffling up Mosquito Creek. A black shape hanging of a branch beside the trail catches my attention. It looks like a squirrel...no wait, it looks like a squirrel hung up by its hind legs, um, it looks like the fur of a skinned squirrel hung upside down by its hind legs.
I am not faint of heart and rather curious by nature. Debating who would detest squirrels so much to go to the trouble to catch and skin one...Action Jackson? Just kidding! I get closer to the black thing and start thinking that maybe I should start feeling sick...Well, what I saw was a squirrel alright, but it was alive and well and jumped away when I was so close I could have touched it with my outstretched hand (it was still looking rather weird and motionless).
I've seen a lot of squirrels trying a lot of antics (have you ever seen them trying to get to the food in a so called squirrel proofed bird feeder?), but I have never seen a squirrel hanging motionless, upside down in a tree. I swear it was napping ;-)
Next time I will bring my camera along for sure.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Second Annual T/J Chili Cook Off
For Action Jackson's 50th last year we organized the Nifty 50 Triathlon as a Club Fat Ass event. The third discipline was a chili cook off at our house - it was so much fun, that we decided to make it an annual event in a smaller setting.
Last night saw a group of friends and chili aficionados arrive in our kitchen, chili pots in their arms, tortillas, lime, cornbread and beer at the ready. Because of timing and space constraints we asked that all participants have their chili ready to be reheated. Electric Crockpots work great and my chili has been bubbling away since the night before.
Unlike last year, when we had 14 chili's and an even greater number of appetizers, side dishes and deserts - and ended up too stuffed to taste everything, we had 7 chili's and decided that we would taste the chili's one after the other. The rules were easy enough: Each taster scored each chili on it's own merrit on a scale from 1-10. 10 being the best score.
It's amazing how different the chili's all turned out. All were yummy, but my favorite was Rick's Hot'n Smokey Chili:
Hot'n Smokey Chili
2 lbs beef chuck, cut in 1/4" to 1/2" cubes
1 lbs pork shoulder, cut in 1/4" to 1/2" cubes
Marinade:
1 "star" star anise
1 - 3/4" to 1" long stick of cinnamon bark
1 dried chipotle pepper
1 tall tin Guinness beer
2 tablespoons Japanese sweet mirin
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
5-6 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 - 1" cubes fresh ginger root, finely grated
zest of one large naval orange, just get the surface rind, as little of the white pith below as possible
juice of one large naval orange
2 large fresh orange habanero peppers, finely minced
2 green onions, finely sliced
4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Grind first three ingredients to fine powder with mortar & pestle.
Mix all marinade ingredients in large glass bowl and marinate meat in refrigerator for a few hours.
Chili:
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 large sweet onion (like Walla-walla or Maui), chopped
Marinated meat, see above
Reserved marinade
1/2 cup Guinness beer
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
4 large roasted sweet red peppers, peeled, seeds removed and pureed
2 tablespoons unsweetened dark chocolate, grated
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 tablespoons chipotle-raspberry barbeque sauce
Sea salt and ground chipotle pepper to taste.
Fresh lime and chopped cilantro to garnish
Saute onion in cooking oil on medium heat in large cast iron skillet. Transfer to large dutch oven or non-stick pot when cooked to transluscent. Drain off marinade into large pot with onion and set to medium heat.
In same skillet, increase heat to medium-high and brown meat in small batches so to truly brown meat. (too much meat at once reduces skillet heat with liquid and "steams" the meat rather than browning it) Tranfer each batch of browned meat to the large pot as it is done. Work fast and in small batches to keep bottom of skillet from getting too burnt. When all meat has been browned and put into large pot, deglaze the hot skillet with Guinness, scraping bottom of skillet well. Pour liquid into large pot with meat.
Add remaining ingredients to large pot with meat and marinade. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to bubbling simmer. Partly cover with lid to keep temperature up but allow liquid to boil off and chili to thicken. Stir and taste occasionally. Add salt to taste. Add ground chipotle pepper to increase heat a little at a time, if a spicier chili is desired. This chili seems to start out quite bitter tasting, getting sweeter as it cooks. Simmer for about 3 hours until very thick and dark. Meat should be very tender and chili almost thick enough to stand a wooden spoon in.
Serve hot with a squeeze of fresh lime and sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro.
Rick tied for first place with Glenn's Bin 666.
Last night saw a group of friends and chili aficionados arrive in our kitchen, chili pots in their arms, tortillas, lime, cornbread and beer at the ready. Because of timing and space constraints we asked that all participants have their chili ready to be reheated. Electric Crockpots work great and my chili has been bubbling away since the night before.
Unlike last year, when we had 14 chili's and an even greater number of appetizers, side dishes and deserts - and ended up too stuffed to taste everything, we had 7 chili's and decided that we would taste the chili's one after the other. The rules were easy enough: Each taster scored each chili on it's own merrit on a scale from 1-10. 10 being the best score.
It's amazing how different the chili's all turned out. All were yummy, but my favorite was Rick's Hot'n Smokey Chili:
Hot'n Smokey Chili
2 lbs beef chuck, cut in 1/4" to 1/2" cubes
1 lbs pork shoulder, cut in 1/4" to 1/2" cubes
Marinade:
1 "star" star anise
1 - 3/4" to 1" long stick of cinnamon bark
1 dried chipotle pepper
1 tall tin Guinness beer
2 tablespoons Japanese sweet mirin
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
5-6 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 - 1" cubes fresh ginger root, finely grated
zest of one large naval orange, just get the surface rind, as little of the white pith below as possible
juice of one large naval orange
2 large fresh orange habanero peppers, finely minced
2 green onions, finely sliced
4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Grind first three ingredients to fine powder with mortar & pestle.
Mix all marinade ingredients in large glass bowl and marinate meat in refrigerator for a few hours.
Chili:
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 large sweet onion (like Walla-walla or Maui), chopped
Marinated meat, see above
Reserved marinade
1/2 cup Guinness beer
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
4 large roasted sweet red peppers, peeled, seeds removed and pureed
2 tablespoons unsweetened dark chocolate, grated
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 tablespoons chipotle-raspberry barbeque sauce
Sea salt and ground chipotle pepper to taste.
Fresh lime and chopped cilantro to garnish
Saute onion in cooking oil on medium heat in large cast iron skillet. Transfer to large dutch oven or non-stick pot when cooked to transluscent. Drain off marinade into large pot with onion and set to medium heat.
In same skillet, increase heat to medium-high and brown meat in small batches so to truly brown meat. (too much meat at once reduces skillet heat with liquid and "steams" the meat rather than browning it) Tranfer each batch of browned meat to the large pot as it is done. Work fast and in small batches to keep bottom of skillet from getting too burnt. When all meat has been browned and put into large pot, deglaze the hot skillet with Guinness, scraping bottom of skillet well. Pour liquid into large pot with meat.
Add remaining ingredients to large pot with meat and marinade. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to bubbling simmer. Partly cover with lid to keep temperature up but allow liquid to boil off and chili to thicken. Stir and taste occasionally. Add salt to taste. Add ground chipotle pepper to increase heat a little at a time, if a spicier chili is desired. This chili seems to start out quite bitter tasting, getting sweeter as it cooks. Simmer for about 3 hours until very thick and dark. Meat should be very tender and chili almost thick enough to stand a wooden spoon in.
Serve hot with a squeeze of fresh lime and sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro.
Rick tied for first place with Glenn's Bin 666.
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