tap my glass

I ran the 10k yesterday and it was a good time.  I had been training for 8 weeks or so, roughly running 5 days a week, it was a long haul.  Over now though!!!  Yay!!!  I finished well ahead of where i expected, i attribute 25% of that to good weather, 25% of it to a better starting position, and 50% of that to healthy lungs.  Finally, empirical evidence that i’m healthier now that i don’t smoke!!!!

Mostly so i remember next year, i’m going to boringly note what i ate.  Friday morning i was at rocking johnny’s for breakfast taking my car in, followed by a medium 2nd cup cappuccino.  When i got home i started pigging out on pita and hummus and tabouleh, and pretty much ate that all day long, with the inclusion of one kaiser roll sandwhich of left over genoa, provalone, and hot n sweet mustard.  Around 6 o’clock, i cooked for the first time in over a month a very dilectable de cecco fettucine dish that had:
- 2 bbq sliced sazloves lamb sausages
- 2 bbq sliced sazloves chorizo sausages
- 4 chopped roma tomatos
- 1 head of long raddiccio, chopped
- one large shallot diced
- 1/2 bunch of fresh oregano leaves
- lots of salt and pepper
- garlic infused oil (about 30 minutes)

All raw but the sausages added to the pasta at the end, very darn tasty.  Ate a bunch of that friday night for dinner, then when i was alone, i picked away at it some more around 10pm.  Then i had some mango sorbet.  Saturday morning around 9am i had breakfast i prepared the night before - mango coconut granola, frozen berry fruit, and a few corn flakes.  Then coffee…  couldn’t avoid the coffee on race day!!  At 1pm i had leftovers of the pasta, not too much but a decent human sized portion.  At 3:30pm i went to the store, bought 2 gatorade’s, and proceeded to finish just one of them before about 5:45.  I also drank water throughout the day.

This all seemed to work pretty well, but i still think there was too much food sloshing around in my tummy.  Should’ve eaten a smaller lunch…  also, i had to pee.  I peed twice in the hour before the race, but it still wasn’t enough.  I have to be good and STOP drinking fluids by about 5pm i think.  Then i’ve got a hope of purging my body.

The pot i used to clean the pasta is still dirty.  Its a little too big to wash in the bathroom…  i’m hoping plumbing will be restored today.  Guess i should get to work - first things first…  make some coffee!!!!

Just as soon as i mentioned my adoration for #705, an era has come to an end.  Why is it all good restaurants must go by the wayside?  Hopefully if this is anything like stoneface, the new tenant will be just as good…

To the point, Cam Kong is no longer - it has been replaced by a similar Vietnamese restaurant called “Fuscian” i believe.  Apparently the owners retired.  We went there a couple nights ago, and were shocked and bewildered for a few minutes before we sat down in a blur and decided to stay. 

They do have a hot n sour vietnamese soup, and were very happy to do a veggie variety upon our request.  The staff was very helpful, and very accommodating.  And the food was pretty darn good.  The soup was not quite like a #705, slightly less tangy and oily, not as addiction satisfying, but good nonetheless.  They told us that we can ask for extra hot stuff for next time, and i definitely will.

When i was in the Dominican, perhaps even on the day they shut their doors, i had a dream.  I had a dream that Cam Kong was closing (i only knew at this point that renovations were occurring), and i actually tried to get a job there in order to learn their secrets.  This is how obsessed i was/am.  I was desperately in need of that soups power, and was frantically dreaming of the 2nd to worst case scenario.  The worst case being, they’d be closed when i go home, no chance to sneak in and steal a peak at their fantastic flavours…

Rest in peace Cam Kong, i’m sure i’ll think of you always.

In related news, for lunch i chopped a tomato, an avacado, and a green mango.  To them, i added lime juice, and salt and pepper.  I then scooped it into tortilla chips and had a splendid time.  Thats what i call a goooooooood lunch.

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Tags: foodottawa

One thing the dominican left me with was a taste for pineapple. There was an abundance of fresh pineapple down there, and i ate a ton of it. I wasn’t a fan until a few years ago when i realized i liked pretty much all foods, and now i can’t get enough of it.

I picked up a pineapple for the first time in my life yesterday, a PC organic pineapple for 4.99$. From costa rica i believe. Let me tell you, worth every penny.

I followed this and this about preparing and storing it. Its true what the guy says about the sweet stuff being concentrated at the bottom. Now i understand - in the dominican, i’d learned to eye the sweeter fruit as the fruit that was a brighter, wetter yellow. I cut up this pineapple i bought, very simple, stored all the top rings, and proceeded to make the bottom one very large (almost 2inches). Then i ate it. Damn it was heaven. Then i slurped up all the residual cutting juices - definitely do your cutting on a plate from which you can drink later.

If you want a sweet treat, and some good fruit for a few lunches, treat yourself - for the price of a pint you can have a little chunk of yellow heaven.

I’m basically addicted to #705 at camcong right now. Its their spicy veggie soup. It is occasionally hit or miss, possibly depending on my mood, but lately its been bang on. Lots of veggies, right amount of noodles, quite spicy, not too greasy, no massive chunks of galangal, lots of good tofu, its really really good. However, i was quite disappointed last night when we showed up at 8:10, and they were closed. Still had customers, but closed. Their sign says they close at 9pm. But its private enterprise, they can do whatever the pump they want. And because they have one of the best most addictive products in ottawa to myself right now, i can’t afford to boycott based on this one early close…

So we went down to new pho bo ga la and i got a much more traditional s9, pho with bbq pork and shrimp wonton’s. Not nearly the same addictive soup, but good nonetheless.

I think spicy foods are addictive to me. A few years ago, i wasn’t much of a fan. Now i actually crave them… another sign of my feverously addictive personality.

We’re going to the dominican republic in a few days. Its going to be boring as hell, and perfect as hell. It’ll give me time to come to terms with many things, including my various food addictions. And to read some books, get a tan, listen to tunes, brainstorm, tune out, swim, and hopefully not get food poisoning or anything worse.

I needed to get some vegetarian broth on sunday for a soup i was going to make. Nothing fancy, just some good old gluten free, relatively low sodium broth. Gluten free cause of allergies, and low sodium because i like seasoning things myself.

I found myself in loblaws. I’m finding less and less reason to shop at loblaws these days. I needed a few other things, a cuke, broccoli and cauli… their broccoli, while cheap, was shit as only the dregs were left, and no cauli was to be found. Their cukes (english that is) were small and pathetic. I decided to bail on produce and get it at farm boy down the road, and headed for broth and soy milk.

I first went into the “organics” or specialty section (this is the south keys loblaws btw). In there i did find 2 types of broth, but only the PC organic type was available in the veggie variety. I was SHOCKED and APPALLED to learn that the organic PC veggie broth has over 900 mg of sodium in a cup… WHAT!!! This is RIDICULOUS!!! Why the hell do they need to lace it so badly!!! I can’t in good conscience buy that, thats just way too salty considering i needed at least a litre… i kept looking.

I went to the regular broth section… i found some cambells veggie broth in a smaller, likely half litre container. If i recall, it said it was at 400 or 500 mg… but of course, the serving size changed to 2/3 of a cup, making it better, but still about 700 mg sodium per cup. Not to mention their deception, how could i ever support such a product with deceptive portion manipulation!!! Bastardos!!!

At this point i just want to point out that i’m not a massive fan of salt, and seeming obsession with low sodium products is not primarily because of health. I simply want to use ONLY enough of it to bring the flavours out, and for this purpose i am greatly respectful of its powers.

Anyways, now i’m bitching herbivorously the loblaws name under my breath… i head to the soy milk section, to find out all they have is the shite silk stuff left, no regular so good, and definitely no so nice. I’m pissed. I got the obligatory cereal and some pompadum’s as a constellation prize, hit the self serve isle, and hoped i’d never have to enter again save to use that coin changing machine if it doesn’t charge too much (anyone know what it charges, it doesn’t say…?).

So to farm boy. Ahhh farm boy. I don’t care if your garlic comes from china too, i’m still shopping there. I found everything i needed. Organic veggie broth, “Pacific” brand… it ended up tasting decently enough, and was *only* 530 mg of sodium per cup. I found my so nice regular milk, which was convenient too as i wasn’t sure they’d have it. Got some bananas, a beefy english cuke, and was out in no time saving 4c because of my supplied bag.

In closing, loblaws is getting under my skin, and farm boy is climbing the ranks. I still prefer herb n spice where possible, but if i have specific needs and need to go out anyways to say the depot or liquor stores, i’m gonna opt to save a few bucks at the bigger stores (most of the time). But what pisses me off the most is the amount of sodium in broths… i guess thats the flavour, and better tasting broths will sell more, but people are wising. I even overheard someone in loblaws NOT buy something because it contained “modified corn starch”… this is a good sign.

I think food is likely my favorite thing in this world (when i say thing, i’m excluding people and interactions between them). It is just so good.

I planned on doing the lemon cleanse again this year. I started today. I will likely stop today too. I love food too much now. I also don’t have much motivation for doing it, short of saying i wanted to, and i wanted to give my stomach a break. But i’m all confused now… just like the nicotine angels call down to me for company, so do the food sirens request i swallow them post chew. Oh my god i love food so much.

I would love to have some more camcong soup right now. It was my last meal last night. I’d also settle for peanuts in the shell.

I’ll get through today, i’d feel like a mofo if i couldn’t. But tomorrow is another school day…

Desperately low on substance in the fridge, i needed to eat something… and i needed it fast.

One of the beauties of having a house, and some yard, is the veggie garden. This year i planted a bunch of tomato plants, basil, red peppers, lettuce, and cilantro. The tomatos have been good allthough a little sparser than i would’ve expected (considering i planted 13 plants), the basil has been great, cilantro had its times (remember to pick flowers!!!), and the lettuce much the same as the cilantro. The peppers are just coming in full force now.

So back to lunch. I needed some, and had very little in the fridge. Some sundried tomatos was about all that was in there. So i went out to the garden, picked a bunch of basil, and the one tomato i could find. I came inside, pulled some shallots out, and sauted them down with some balsamic till tender. Then added sliced sundrieds and garlic. Of course s & p and oil al mucho. Once done, i took the whole bit along with the pile of washed basil, into the cuisinart with you!!! They had a bit of a pesto party in there they did. Cooked the de cecco pasta (the spooled fettuccine, best dried pasta money can buy), spooned directly into the original saute fry pan, added the pesto, and voila, lunch. Chopped my one tomato on top, some red pepper flakes, and now it is in my tummy, but not before taking this pic on top of my new filing cabinet. What a way to kick off what will likely be paradigm shiftastic weekend.

When i was in Vancouver a few weeks ago i got to partake in the glorious transcendence that is all you can eat sushi. It was good, great, amazing… but now, upon my return, i have heard of not one, but 2 all you can eat sushi restaurants in Ottawa!!! Yes, its true!!!!!

Having heard that, and having spent the vast majority of my weekend 5 feet underground under extreme physical duress (more on this later), i knew the only thing that would appease me was a mountain of raw fish. It was risky, considering the place we were going hadn’t been open long, but i was game.

The place we went was on carling between maitland and the 417. It is called 1000 Sushi Islands. O man, we were not disappointed.

There’s just nothing like the tenderness and flavour of fresh raw salmon sashimi (i don’t know how they get it here so fast, but man i’m glad they can!!!). The texture is like a really thick al dente noodle, but a little more forgiving. The smell, o so good. No need to bathe in soy/wasabi, these babies are islands unto themselves. The quality told me right away that this place was legit. Their seaweed salad was probably the best i ever had. Tempura, of which we tried the shrimp and squid (i know, squid tempura, wow!!!), and it was all delightful. They did rainbow rolls which were killer, and their spice salmon rolls were a little different as far as ingredients, but man were they good. Unagi. Awesome. The pieces were a little small, but it was ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!! SO WHO CARES!!!! The only thing that didn’t blow me away was their hand roll thingys, but i’m not a big fan of those anyways.

The service was good, but it seemed one or 2 of the things weren’t what we ordered, or stuff we ordered went to the wrong tables. They come around and fill your water and tea quite regularly, as well as take additional order sheets whenever you have new ones ready (i think we went through 4 sheets). No liquor license yet, but pops are included with the buffet, as is everything - nothing on the menu had a price, except the whole buffet which was 20.99 for fri-sun, and 19.99 (lunch was cheaper, and there are kids and seniors discounts). The menu does say you’ll be charged for what you don’t eat, but i assume this is only if there are piles of things untouched (if anyone has experience with this i’d love to hear about it).

So ya, 1000 Islands Sushi is an ALL YOU CAN EAT sushi place. Its in ottawa. I think the food was better than sushi 88. Which might mean i never go back there, as even being the cheapest sushi restaurant in town i’ve never left there with a bill under 50 bux, and never full, and our bill was 43 and change… o man. I’m totally stoked.

The best thing about it: sushi full. Normally when i’m full, and i mean stuffed, with other types of food, i kinda want my body to digest. I go for indian buffet, i stuff myself on 2 plates or so, and i feel like i’m going to die. I recognize it is not healthy to eat so much in a sitting, but when i do so with sushi, i feel like i’m in heaven. No bloating, no barfing, no tooting, no burping, no nothing. Just pure peace. Pure sushi full. And this is something you only get with all you can eat, cause i never eat “enough” at a regular place to reach this level of gastronirvana. O baby, ottawa has never seen so bright.

Ok, so i’ve now been a few times. Went for breakfast there last weekend, and what can i say, it was much improved, so much in fact, that i almost want to remove all my previous reservations about the switch over.

To summarize, there were a ton of homies, the fruit was massive, juicy and better than ever, there were specials, one of which i had, and hot damn it, it was overflowing with what it promised. We were out on the balcony, and hot diggidy the service was almost too god in that my coffee never got below half… below HALF!!! I don’t even like drinking that much coffee!!! Ya, it was really good.

Partially by chance and partially because of that previously quite large breakfast, we hit it up for dinner last week as well. Again, not disappointed in the least, in fact quite delighted (i need to start using words like ‘delighted’ when i order bottles of white wine instead of bottles of beers). Non spicy curried cream farfalle!!! Giddeup!!! The mussels were rippin hot too (not like spicy hot, like sexy hot), with pancetta and portabellas in a red wine kickass broth, they were unlike any mussels i’ve eaten recently (including the ones i had at savanna last night, which you’ll likely hear about elsewheres). And the wine, i think we just had house wine, not even bottles, was super crisp and perfect.

So, since i’m just an individual who has little moral responsibility to the community at large and can bounce from one location, to the next, and then back again, i am in the business of second chances, as they often bear juicier fruit, and damn, this time it was falling from the trees. I can’t help but feel a little flushed or perhaps setup, as my original posting is on their cork board, but i’m going to pretend no link up was made and these were just natural changes and in no way directed at yours truly. Bye bye stoneface, hello jak. Thank goodness for second chances, proximity will no longer be the only thing bringing me back (again and again).

So it’s official, “Jaks Kitchen” has moved in down the street, replacing the iconic original location of “Stoneface Dolly’s” gourmet homestyle eatery. I am, tres triste. I’ve been going for brunch still, albeit not as often, regularily over the past few months during the long transition. I’ve got a few things to say about the changes, and what i like and dislike. I realize some of the things that have changed will improve over time given that it is technically a new restaurant, but i’m going to mention them anyways.

Good Changes
Fruit - the new fruit is good. Big chunks of cantelope and pineapple. The fruit has gone from a whole variety, big pieces to small, on the plate to a bowl, and then back again. I actually can’t remember how it was originally, but i remember the occasional blueberry. Now i’m not so sure this is a good change.
Renos - they did some renovations that gave the place a bit more space, which is definitely good.

Ambivalent Changes
Decor - i really liked the old art, then the transitional chunky art, and now i like the mirrors. The new paint is nice too.
Service - the old girls and guys served great, and so are the new. I miss the old cause they knew me of course, and i’m saddened the new may not get to know me as quickly, but i can’t hold that against them.
Coffee - perhaps it hasn’t changed, i’m not sure, but its still damn good.

Negative Changes
Service Times - No matter how busy it used to be, i used to be able to be in and out in 30 min or so. Last time, i was waiting at LEAST 30 min just for my food, and it wasn’t that busy.
Homies - they don’t even call them homies anymore!! They used to have chunks of onion and peppers in em, at least on occasion, and they just tasted better. The new ones are probably healthier tho, less butter, but the old ones definitely tasted better
Omlettes - um, hello?? Can i have cheese in my omellete. Both myself and my friend got omlettes, her the goat cheese, me the fruilano (now called peppers and spinach). Neither of us could taste the cheese, and my friend asked them to check that it was in there… they said it was. I’m skeptical. Mine was just not cooked right, the egg was too cooked, and i don’t think the spinach was saute’ed at all before going in. Thats just a no-no, especially when you can’t taste the cheese.
Portions - the portions are smaller, not by much, but by a little
Coffee Creamers - different company now, used to be organic creamers, now its just regular stuff.
Brunch Specials - there is a complete lack of these alltogether! The specials before were what i went for, only occasionally did i not get the semi-special eggs blackstone or mexican fritatta. Now, there are no specials, and thats just uninspired.

Let me now say this. Breakfast, was awesome, no doubt about it! One of the best breakfasts in ottawa, was and still is. But when you mess with a winning formula, even just a little, its liable to piss a few people (aka me) off. I will go back, i will grow to love it i’m sure, but i’m a little bitter that such an awesome place would every change, even a little bit.