URGH.. of course, the thornlea pool is closed Aug 18 - Sept 18. Doh.. Doh..

Finally I went swimming. Swimming is good.. swimming is bliss.

I think I laid off swimming now for a year and a half. I mentioned before why I stopped, and yesterday the shoulder still causes trouble.. but not as much as my ankle still.. When I pushed off the side of the pool oh man it hurts. But I got a solid 20 laps before I gave up. (readers snickers in an evil way.. vince you fat ass, you are out of shape!) Well.. partly cus I had to catch my breath.. but partly cus I went to the pool under a holiday inn that I get to swim in as part of my Goodlife package. Yes, a hotel pool is usually filled with fun loving kids splashing around in brownian motion. I gave up after realizing belatedly that I might injure a kid or two. :)

What are the other options? Hmm I can try to go back to the pool in my old high school.. Maybe I'll do that and see how that goes.

So I had my checkup for my ankle the other day.. the news is not good.. it's still painful, still swollen, and the doc opened his drawer (it is NEVER good if the doctor has to open the drawer, I find) and gave me a referral slip to "go directly to the physiotherapist, do not collect $200 dollars" .. ur.. anyways.. so yes, to the physiotherapist. He's apparently situated on Bayview... at least on the way to home from work so, woohoo. I've also asked to be referred to see a sleep clinic, to get to the bottom of my poor sleep and snoring. YES, you all who read this, yes I admit.. I snore like a logger cutting down a giant redwood. Hopefully I can stop snoring so my friends won't mind me so when we go camping. :)

Some of my HPY (好朋友) read this page asked to see if we want to hold a gourmet barbeque.. cool idea.. I wonder if I should just repeat my menu, or think of new food to cook? I wanted to think of something more fun to do.. because if it was to be a parteque (barbeque party? :) ) then the cooking part should be as much fun as the eating part. There are one or two things that I like to try too.. as in, it's most fun to try a new receipe at a party.. more.. adventurous.. more fun. :) Let's hope I don't think of something that's too wild.

Today I went nuts and did supreme barbeque (picture here). On the menu today are

Tuna steak marinated with two herbs and two oils

Bacon-wrapped tiger shrimp with a sliver of over-riped avocado

Street-hotdog style mild Italian sausage

and

Grilled portabello mushrooms

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Tuna steak marinated with two herbs and two oils

1-2lb

Yellow-fin (or better) tuna steak.. er this is one piece, 1-1.5 inch thick

10-12 leaves

Fresh basil, finely chopped

3-4 sprigs

Fresh dill, finely chopped

1/2 cup

Good robust virgin olive oil

2 tsp

Good robust japanese/chinese sesame oil

2 tsp

Salt, preferablly sea salt or kosher salt

1/2 tsp

Brown sugar (white sugar OK too)

Black pepper to taste

1. wash the tuna, and carefully pat the steak dry with a towel or some paper towel, set aside.
   
2. use a mixing bowl, combine the chopped basil and dill with the half the salt, sugar, and black pepper.
   
3. slowly drizzle the oils into the mixing bowl while whisking vigourously. Let mixture sit while you...
   
4. rub the remaining salt, sugar and pepper onto both sides of the tuna steak.
   
5. after 5 minutes, pour the herb mixture onto the steak and massage it into the flesh gently. Let sit for 10 minutes.
   
6. turn your bbq or grill to high heat, and wait until the grill is hot.
   
7. quickly slap the tuna onto the hot grill, and sear/cook each side for 2/4/6 minutes for raw/pink/well done tuna.
   
8. take away from grill after desired cooking time, and let sit for 3-5 minutes minimum before serving.
   

Makes 3-6 servings, depending if you are cooking for yourself and your hunny (3) or if you are serving friends after telling them this is fine-dinning bbq (6).. haha.

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Bacon-wrapped tiger shrimp with a sliver of over-riped avocado

18

medium-size tiger shrimp

18 strips

regular Canadian back bacon, no wimpy 50% less salt type (you'll see why)

1

over-riped avocado (that probably means it's so ripe the skin is slightly wrinkled)

18

bamboo skewers

1. remove the shell and the vein from each shrimp. Wash, pat dry, and set aside.
   
2. peel the avocado and remove the pit. (attempt to) cut the flesh into 18 slices along the long side.. I guess 9 per half.
   
3. take skewer, poke it thru one end of the strip of bacon. Then starting from the tail of the shrimp pass the skewer to the top of the shrimp, while trying to straighten the shrimp. Stop advancing the skewer thru the shrimp as soon as the tip of the skewer appears at the top of the shrimp.
   
4. take one slice/sliver of the avocado, place it beside the shrimp. Then gently wrap the bacon around the shrimp and avocado in a spiral manner. If you do it right, the end of the bacon strip should be at the tip of the skewer. Poke the tip of the skewer into the tip of bacon to secure the wrapping.
   
5. repeat for the other 17 skewers. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour for the flavours of bacon infuse into shrimp.
   
6. over medium to low heat on the BBQ, place the skewers on the top rack. Slowly cook until the bacon sizzles. Rotate often. Overall cooking time = 15-20 mins, or until shrimp is just cooked.
   

The bacon should not be too salty at this point as the tastes have infused into shrimp and avocado.. that's why no wimpy 50%-less-salt bacon. :)
Makes 3-6 servings, again, depending on who you are cooking for :)

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Street-hotdog style mild Italian sausage

2

mild Italian sausage

1. take a pot big enough for the sausages and boil some 1.5 inches of water in it.
   
2. when the water comes to a rolling boil, place the sausages in and leave the heat high for 3-5 minutes.
   
3. turn the heat off completely, but let the sausages sit in the hot water for another 3 minutes or so.
   
4. turn the grill on high heat, and when the grill is hot, place the sausages on the grill. Use a sharp knife cut the sausage down 1/3 the way in a oblique pattern. If you are a true Toronto-streetside-hotdog affectionado, you would wanna cut in a diamond pattern. :)
   
5. the grease and some juice will come out of the cuts and basically fry the sausages at this point.. let the sausages fry in its own fat for 5 minutes or until you are sure the sausages are cooked completely.. this is pork afterall.
   
6. serve immediately.
   

Makes 2-4 servings, again, depending on who you are cooking for :)

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Grilled Portabello

4

large (palm sized) portabello mushrooms

4 tbsp

butter or margerine, preferably butter, unsalted :)

2-3 cloves

garlic

a dash

salt, preferably sea salt..

1. remove the stalks and clean the 'shrooms. If you are wimpy wash them under running water. Otherwise, wipe them with damp cloth. The latter will preserve more of the flavour of the 'shrooms, but you have to be careful when you wipe to make sure you don't leave any soil or dirt behind.. Major bummer to eat dirt. Really.
   
2. finely chop the garlic. Then sprinkle the salt onto the minced garlic, and lay the kitchen knife sideways on top of the garlic/salt mix and mince. The salt acts as an abrasive and will help you mince the garlic in no time.. the result is a garlicy plup. If you are wimpy you can use a garlic press, or a microplane to grate it, then add the salt.
   
3. take the butter and mix the garlic/salt mixture into it. After mixing, spread the butter mixture onto both sides of the mushroom.
   
4. turn the grill on medium heat, and place the mushroom underside down. Grill for 2-4 minutes (depending of thickness), and flip and grill for the same amount of time. At this point some liquid will pool on the underside of the mushroom which is facing up -- like a bowl!
   
5. serve immediately, juice and all.
   

Makes 4 servings.

So I've been doing some research into the anatomy of the ankle lately, seeing that it's now probably time to learn such things. I must say the makeup of the ankle is far more complex that I've envisioned! The article I linked suggests that I've probably did what thousands of other did when they sprained their ankle, which is to hyper-turned my ankle inwards and injured the Anterior Talo-Fibular Ligament. Presently, when I use my fingers and poke at the foot around that area it still hurts, and of course the bony part of the outside of my ankle, corresponding to the base of the fibular, is still swollen.. sigh. Moreover, as much as I thought I can go without my painkillers, the dull pain that comes when the medicine wears off is getting on my nerves -- it causes me to walk with a limp. If I take the pills I can walk normally.. doh doh. Speaking of which, I better take my night dose now.

Hmm.. I've to stand corrected.. apparently the proper terms for the ankle movement side-to-side are eversion and inversion.

Urgh. Turns out that the painkillers I am taking makes me kinda happy (in a bad way) so I decided to stop taking them. *Then* I realized why the doctor prescribed them to me -- ankle still hurts like hell if I twist/use it a bit forcefully -- say.. running across the street while jay-walking. Doh. At least I didn't have to pay too much for them -- I only have to fork out $1 after my company drug plan kicked in. Incidently APO-Ibuprofen is cheapass -- it was like < $1 for my 2-weeks worth, but like $9 for the pharmasist.

The swelling is almost gone, and the purple bloches are almost gone as well. I went for a follow-up visit to my doctor and he gave me the good news -- x-rays turn out negative for fracture or tendon damage (tear) so that's great. However, I am to use a tensor bandage and keep the ankle wrapped for a few more days, and have to start self-physio-therapy myself.. mostly stretching exerices (adduct, abduct, toe up, toe down, etc).. just to make sure everything heals properly. Humph. I wonder when I can do exercies again. In particular, I know I still cannot do the motion required to swim freestyle, and breast stroke also hurts a bit. Doh Doh.

Enough of my ankle. The other day I bought for my brother and I 2 pieces of succulent T-bone steak. Yes, Canadian. Yes, Angus. Yes, Organic. YES. $30 for 2 pieces. OH YES it was tasty. Oh did I sound like I had an orgasam? Hmm.. that wasn't my intention. I took the steaks home, and spread some salt, pepper, chopped rosemary, and worked in some olive oil. Then I threw them onto the grill at high heat, and watched as it smoked and crakled and seared and cooked. I heeded to the recommendations of the chefs on FoodTV and let them steaks rest for 15 mins, and then sank my teeth into mine. Oh..... Grilling is fun. One doesn't stink up the whole house after cooking, and one doesn't have to wash the cooking utensils in addition to the dishes (ok I did have to scrub the grill, but that's easy.) I think I'll try the cedar-plank salmon next.