What’s this?
I started this blog website of essays back in 2011. After ending decades of fronting various bands I needed a new project… and davidthetornado.com was born.
Sadly, to this day I still haven’t really come to terms with any definitive purpose for this blog website of essays. And so, davidthetornado.com has become greatly mired in the muck of indifference; but, not so much for lack of creating, producing or participating in the rich tableau of the artistic temperament. It’s not that things haven’t been made, it’s just that things haven’t been shared.
That’s why I hate blogs.
But, I like to write. So, I’ve decided I might recap my week every Sunday evening to stay at least a little sharp and on point. If something is worthy of its own blog essay, then so it shall be. Otherwise… prepare for rants, raves, a lot of food photos and probably annoying things related to running.
Here in New England, it is autumn…
This can only mean one thing. Time for all things pumpkin. Chili. Football. Turkey. Roasted chilis. Roasted squash. Basically all things roasted which is a convenient way to make the kitchen nice and toasty.
And so, I crafted my first batch of chili served with one of my favorite things–toasted corn tortillas seasoned a la “everything”, i.e. onion, garlic, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, jalapeño, cracked pepper, salt. Sublime.
A few scallions, some sour cream and avocado… just a few of my favorite things.
And I have to mention this heirloom tomato I used as part of the base… dare I say it was the size of a pumpkin.
A funny thing happened on the way to the office…
This was scary. My office is located in Downtown Boston where bomb scares are not taken lightly. An unattended gym bag caused a bit of a stir halting traffic on Atlantic Ave for the better part of an hour. Fortunately, it was nothing.
So this is happening in front of my office #boston @universalhub pic.twitter.com/vXapCxvlBd
— David Ziegler-Voll (@davidtornado) September 16, 2014
Mid-week mashed parsnips served with an after-dinner cheese plate…
I was fortunate to come home from work with an insane piece of salmon fished off the coast of Norway and hot-smoked right here in Boston. This isn’t fish you cook. This is fish best served at room temperature. I paired it with a mash of parsnip+roasted poblano+fried onions and quinoa+Brussels sprouts+asparagus.
I have to tell you about this wine I found at our local market City Feed… if you’re into reds, this is a really nice bottle with a friendly price point. ($12.99) Very relaxed with surprise smoke and cinnamon on the tail-end.
After dinner it was jokingly suggested I make a cheese plate, referencing an amazing dinner we experienced at Vinland in Portland, Maine. (I won’t bore you with the details of our culinary experience, but this dinner easily places in my top five meals of all time.) And so I crafted a cheese plate with a nice Asiago, some Jarlsberg, honey and Trader Joe’s Quince imported from New Zealand.
But what to do for this Gluten-free soul? Having no wheat-free crackers I took a single Udi’s gluten-free bagel and sliced it in my food processor. I scattered the slices on a baking sheet and drizzled with olive oil and additionally with my favorite combination of “everything” seasoning. At 350°F the bagel chips were ready in less than 7 minutes.
And I took this photo of my pups. They are such great dogs… this is what I call “the threshold”. When I am cooking they understand they are not to cross the doorway into the kitchen. So they patiently wait at the kitchen entrance.
And then I ran a 5k this past Thursday evening…
There’s a race in Cambridge called the Race Menu Summer Series. It’s a total of six 5k races that are presented throughout the summer. It’s the same course each race. As far as acquiring a PR, that is to say a personal record, it’s flat, it’s fast and it’s a great course for setting a best time. I PR’ed earlier this summer with my first sub-19 5k finishing in 18:55. At the time I was so fucking excited as my previous best was 19:42. Taking a full minute off of a 5k time is deceptively difficult.
This week I finished in 18:39 with an average pace of 6:01.
It’s hard not to sound like a bragging douche-bag… but considering the maladies I experienced all of last year, this is simply crazy. I am ecstatic. I can’t help but feel like the triathlon training has made me a much faster and more resilient runner. My last Tri 5k time was 20:11. (This, after swimming and biking.) I think I can only get faster.
I finished 2nd in my age group which is to say 2nd in masters (over 40) and 18th overall. I’ve mentioned this before, but guys in their 40’s are fucking fast.
I’m really looking forward to my next 5k. It’s an under-rated race in my opinion.
SO I came home from the race and…
Naturally wanted to celebrate. I picked up this interesting Rye with infused botanicals called “pow-wow”. It’s nice. For a rye whiskey it has kind of a ginny feel.
But then as you can imagine I realized I was quite hungry, and as delicious as the Pow-Wow was, I needed food stat. I perused the contents of our fridge and surmised the makings for a delicious carby scallion potato pancake.
I need to mention that this–too–is gluten-free.
Per usual, no recipe, I just went for it.
I used a shredded poblano, 2 eggs, 6-7 shredded potatoes, some shredded cheese, s&p and roughly a cup of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free pancake mix. Oh, and a ton of scallions.
These were amazing. I served with sour cream and sriracha. Perfect.
And then the weekend started…
Friday night I made a pizza with a homemade gluten free-crust. Pretty standard stuff but for the “meat” component I used a vegetarian product called Neat. It was… just ok. But overall the pizza was delicious. Home grown and pickled jalapeños are not to be taken lightly.
Saturday morning: DEAR ZIPCAR, THIS IS WHY I’M (EVENTUALLY) BUYING A CAR…
After a perfect morning of running and getting shit done I needed to rent a Zipcar to make a Trader Joe’s run. I arrived at the Zipcar lot and… I swear I am not making this up… the car that was supposed to be ready for me was not ready because the woman that rented it before me told me her daughter fell asleep in the backseat and she had to wait for her ride to wake her up. Um… what?
Before you think I am an insensitive asshole I want you to know that I was extremely patient most likely a symptom of being completely stupefied by such pure insanity. Sure, maybe if her kid was a small vampire baby that was allergic to the sun or something. But no. This was a fully capable child that she didn’t want to fucking wake up. Thus, impeding on the cost and time of my rental.
I’m not a parent but I can’t imagine the sheer audacity to rip into someone else’s reservation because you don’t want to deal with your child in “awake mode”. Eventually the kid has to wake up right?! Isn’t this why iPads were invented?
And this is why Zipcar fucking sucks.
And then things were made slightly better by seeing this…
I’m a package designer for a very popular South Seas themed grocery store. This is something I designed–but maybe more than that I also created the brand story and even wrote the copy for this range of beers. I don’t post a lot about my work, but I was proud of this…
Easy like Sunday morning…
And then finally a week comes to an end with a little brunch. Home fries, omelets with caramelized onions, mushrooms and Boursin cheese.
The best omelet ingredient is a good omelet pan.
So what’s in store this week?
Welp. I’ve been thinking about possible fall looks. Thinking flannels in reds/greens–tapered bottoms and over-sized knits on top. But first I need to return a pair of pants to Zara. So hit or miss there… until next Sunday.
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