It is damp here today too, we got some flurries last evening and now it is more of a mist with it turning to rain I think by the end of the day. I will just be here doing housework stuff as we are still in the orange alert, no schools in session once again. Izzi and I are sharing my breakfast of eggs and toast. I am having hot tea. My son just called and let me know what his plans are for today. Husband is off to work, so I have the day to work around here hopefully with out too much interruption. I hope everyone keeps safe as it is icy underfoot, at least it is here. Sue in Central Indiana

Still clear skies, mostly, but getting colder. The leaves are mostly down. I'm getting out the winter clothes and wrapping the backyard up for another Oregon rainy season. We are hoping for snow this year, after four years with hardly a trace. My son wants to build a microscope this weekend, so we'll do that. My daughter may want to go to the darkroom. I want to take one early morning and go for a bike ride. I might go explore some of the steep windy roads in the West Hill that lead to the zoo. Or just do laps up my local hill, less scenic but a more efficient workout. Sometimes I wear a heart rate monitor on these rides. Afterwards I can look at the data and see how my heart rate spiked when the road turned upwards or when the speed rose. The rule of thumb is that your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. I think that is bunkum, or at least that it varies so much between individuals that it is no rule at all. I have gotten my heart rate up to 200 beats/ minute, only for a few seconds, but those were exhilarating seconds. On a pretty routine basis, I ride at 170 bpm which is 85% of my max heart rate, or a. "submaximal" heart rate. There is a whole science of training by heart rate - you are supposed to spend X time at 80%+ of max, Y time at 60%, and so on. I don't pay attention to that. I just like to get up to 170 bpm frequently and see if anything untoward happens. It is kind of my personal security blanket. There is another test you can do, which is a little more useful. You get your heart rate up to 150 bpm or so, which might mean a few minutes of jumping jacks or chopping wood or running fast. Then stop, sit down, and see how long it takes for your heart rate to settle down to 100 bpm. It should only take one or two minutes. If your heart continues to beat at a high rate for much longer, that is a worrisome sign. This is called "recovery heart rate". Finally, there is "resting pulse". The true resting pulse is taken when you are laying down and completely relaxed. In the morning, right after waking up, is a good time. Some people have a high resting pulse, some a lower one. The interesting thing is how it changes. If you get serious about exercise, you can lower your resting pulse quite dramatically. That is a sign that your heart has become more efficient, which is a good thing. I've been thinking a lot about getting older. My kids are only teenagers, and I'm fifty. I don't know when they will have kids. When I have grandchildren, I want to take them riding and skiing and fishing. That means I will have to be strong and athletic into my seventies. Gulp. My dad had a heart attack in his mid seventies. My neighbor is seventy-five and has CHF and PAH. I've got a lot of work to do, anyway that is how it feels, so I get on the bike every day and push until it hurts. It actually is kind of pleasant to hurt. I think I've learned a little about masochism. But I digress. What were we talking about? Cooking. I'm going to go through my Momofuku cookbook and make some Asian comfort food. Daughter is getting interested in sushi so we'll make some basic rolls. Son is a big ramen fan, we'll roast some pork and leeks and make a big hot bowlful. I'll make some meals for my neighbor with the health problems. And I think I will try baking bread again. I was on a low-carb kick this summer, but it turns out I need some carbs. Carbs = glycogen. Glycogen = muscle energy for efforts longer than a few minutes. No carbs = weak muscles. Doesn't work for me.

No cooking this weekend, no interesting cooking anyway. Took daughter to school for her Speech & Debate tournament at 6:30 am. I was not happy about getting up at 5:30 am on Saturday. By the time I got home, it was still dark, but it seemed pointless to go back to bed, so I put on bike gear and went to ride laps up Mt Tabor, our local hilltop park. The "mountain" in Mt Tabor is a very miniature one, it is really just a big hill that used to be a volcano way back when. There are a couple different roads that lead to the top. They start in pretty neighborhoods then climb up through trees and past fields and reservoirs for about a mile, though some are shorter and steeper while others are longer and easier. On my first ride up the hill, I watched the sun rise through the tall trees, and that really made my morning. I kept climbing to the top, circling the peak of the hill which became more sunlit on each lap, descending through the fog and mist, turning around at the bottom and trying a different route up. On one lap I saw a familiar jacket ahead and caught up to it. When I first took my bike to Mt Tabor a few years ago, I met a guy who rides laps up the hill every day. On weekdays he does a few laps as part of his bike commute, on weekends he does laps in the mornings. He'd explained to me that severe arthritis runs in his family, and climbing hills on the bike was the only way he could stay pain free. His mother had both hips replaced, his sister has had one replacement and is needing another, but he is still fit and mobile on his original equipment. I was so impressed that I started riding Mt a Tabor semi-regularly, and have done ever since. But not like this guy. He's ridden up the hill over 40,000 times. When I first rode up the hill it seemed awfully hard, even on a mountain bike with very low gears. I struggled and my heart pounded as I gasped for breath. Now I'm better at climbing, so I ride a road bike with fairly high gears and can have a conversation while climbing, as I did today with this guy. There are much steeper climbs around Portland and I am still not a good enough climber for some of them. The idea I had a few months ago is to make my Mt Tabor laps more difficult by only using the big chainring (that is, forcing myself to use the harder gears) and pushing so that I am struggling on my last lap. I hope it works like weightlifting, where you get stronger by pushing your muscles to failure, and that I'll do better on the steeper climbs now. If I really wanted to be a better climber, I'd lose 20 or more lbs. The best climbers on a bike weigh 140 lbs. But they don't hang around the Cooking Forum either. When I was done, it was still early. I rode to a Saturday farmers' market where they were just setting up. One stall sold breakfast burritos, and I got a duck and lamb burrito (only in Portland). It came fat and hot and wrapped in foil. I slipped the burrito in one of my jersey pockets and it kept me warm on the ride home. Unfortunately, when I got home I was so hungry that I ate the whole burrito and raided the fridge and didn't stop until I'd eaten what I estimate was 1,600 calories. It wasn't even 10 am yet. Talk about undoing all the morning's good work on the bike. And that is why I am not cooking this weekend. I think I need to not think about food for a couple of days! This post was edited by johnliu on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 23:45

TGIF everyone. I've been too busy to get into the holiday spirit this year. Bagged putting up a tree, and didn't bother with the usual lights. Work is decorated and that's where I spend most of my time. We'll go to The Kid's for Christmas and she's all into being a Martha (Stewart), so I don't feel too deprived. It's a long weekend for me, with a rare Saturday off. It's been an odd week, including bunch of deadlines, contentious meetings and being the victim of a random act of kindness (detailed on the Conversations side). I started out my weekend Thursday night with a deep tissue massage... came home, had a glass of wine and fell soundly asleep in my chair. Ahhhhh....... Today was a trip to town for a doctor appt. during our first real snow. People got complacent, I think...wrecks and ambulances everywhere. So we grabbed some groceries and ran for home. I got my sis's package mailed.... main mission accomplished. Tomorrow I'll wrap the kids' presents, put together goodie baskets for work. Maybe bake something using the wonderful crystallized ginger one of my girls brought me from Australia. Sunday DH made an appointment for a hearing test. At noon. At Costco. On the Sunday before Christmas. argh. Clinking with a cup of eggnog laced w/ rum. Be healthy and travel safely everyone.