Pasta-fazoo

I’ve been meaning to make pasta from scratch for a while. For some reason I just never got around to it. It’s so much easier to just grab a box of dry noodles — they’re always around the house, super convenient, and honestly, I don’t even know if they ever go bad?

I also don’t own a pasta machine to flatten or cut the dough nicely.  I thought that was a prerequisite to making pasta. But I figured: I have a rolling pin, and every recipe I found made it look surprisingly simple. Honestly, even simpler than making my own bread. And you don’t actually need a machine — just roll it thin and slice it with a knife.

I was home by myself, there was a Leafs game on tonight against the Canes and not feeling overly hungry, and pasta is always a good, simple meal.  It's also a nice distraction in case the Buds stink the rink.  So I decided, okay, today’s the day. Let’s make pasta.

All I used was:

• 00 flour
• Eggs
• Fancy salt
• Olive oil

That’s it.

You mix everything together right on the counter. (Still not sure why it can’t be done in a bowl like bread — but it ends up on the counter to knead anyway.  So clean the counter before you do this) Once it comes together, coat it lightly with oil, cover it, and let it rest for about 30 minutes so the gluten can relax.

After resting, I split the dough into quarters. Rolling each piece out flat actually wasn’t hard — just a bit of patience. The video I watched suggested lightly flouring the sheet, folding it gently, and then slicing so you get more even noodles. It worked great.

Start to finish — mixing, resting, rolling, cutting, and cooking a portion — it was about 90 minutes total.

Fresh pasta cooks fast. Just three to four minutes, since it doesn’t need to rehydrate like dried noodles.

I tried a piece after about three minutes, and honestly… my eyes lit up. It was astonishingly good. I wasn't sure what to expect. The best pasta I'd ever tasted was in Italy, it was melt in your mouth. This wasn't that. But it was very good. Every other pasta has been the boiled dried packaged variant.  Everyone I asked beforehand said homemade pasta tastes way better than dry noodles, and they were right. 

It was tender, delicious, almost buttery — even without sauce. But I did add some sauce, grated parmesan, and freshly cracked pepper.  Simple meal.  And simple to make.

I even made that board. Ha. Honestly, I did.

Won over the World

They may not be 2025 World Series champs, but they won the hearts of fans worldwide.  This was the funnest group of guys to watch in a post season run, I have ever witnessed.  They'd lose, then come back.  Then do it again and again.

I've never watched baseball as intently like I did this fall.  The strike zone overlay was helpful.  It was an insanely entertaining post series from ALDS, to ALCS to W-S, and the games within the game.  The strategy, decisions, choices, and outcomes.  I watched most of the games by myself, but towards the end it was with groups of others in watch parties that were everywhere.  I loved it!  A nation united behind 1 team, bringing energy to the field, home or away.   It didn't matter.

The Blue Jays Manager said something similar to this in a post game interview, if there is one constant, it's that time marches on, win or lose.  Spring training comes around.  A new season starts.

He also apologized to the fans.  One MLB analyst said he didn't have to apologize for anything.  Which is true.  But apologizing is a very Canadian thing.  We apologize for everything.  The MLB analyst couldn't relate as he was American.  But we Canadians, appreciated his words and Schneider represented the Blue Jays organization as Canada's MLB team, in a very Canadian way.  

Thank you Blue Jays for an incredible post season run.

Looking forward to next season.  The Bounce Back Jays!

A Quiet Place

My aunt passed away yesterday. I will always remember her for her regal stature — the kind of quiet strength that drew respect without ever demanding it. To me, she moved through life with a calm certainty, knowing what she wanted and taking each step toward it with purpose.  But family always came first.

In her, I often saw reflections of La — that same grace. Just like La, I somehow thought she would live forever.

I didn’t see her often, but the internet has a way of shrinking distances. Through my cousins, I would send my hugs and kisses — small reminders of love that reached across the kilometers.

Rest peacefully, Tita Rit.
We love you, and we will miss you.
Say hi to Ma & La. I miss them too.

95 tops 90

There was this Everest challenge at Sir Sam's this year, its purpose was to raise money for their Ski Patrol.  No prizes, just recognition of your accomplishment.  I had my reservations when I signed up for this challenge in June, as their logging system was a google form, and it was an honour system for logging the number of climbs you did on every visit.

The challenged ended on Aug 30 when they put the leader's name on the webpage. I even did another 4 repeats on the last day of the challenge.  I had asked how far behind I was as I was had completed 95, and found out the leader had logged 90 climbs.  Unfortunately the distance log form only captured 80 of mine.  But Strava logged all 95 of my climbs.

There was no prize, only bragging rights (even that I felt a bit robbed of since another person got the recognition.  I did send along my strava links as proof of my 95 climbs).  

I do not intend to do this challenge again.  I like having a variety of different ride options - mtb, gravel, road.  This took some of the fun out of mtb this summer for me as I was trying to do volume vs quality.  And I rode solo for a lot of it.  Almost all of it.  It's not like there's ton of trails.  But I did accomplish some PRs.  I had never climbed double digits on a single visit.  I did it 2x.  I never ride there Sat & Sun.  I did that pretty much every visit to get to 95.  My next goal was 100.  But I was cut short, and kinda done with mtb this season.

I took a selfie when I hit 88, and had ChatGPT generate an animated version of it,  I thought I would post it anyways.

G is for ...

For some reason when the calendar changes over to August, it feels like the summer went by so fast and it's nearly over.  Especially when they start to play back to school commercials, when the mornings are dark and I see the odd skunk or raccoon making it's way in the pre-dawn, and when the outside temperature starts to feel cooler compared to June & July. 

It's been a while since we have been, but when the CNE is on, that's a signal that the end of summer is here. Which also means K will be heading into 3rd year university. Some of his friends all start heading off to get settled in their off campus housing rentals.  Not sure which is scarier: watching your kid grow up this fast, or eating something called a “Kool-Aid pickle” at the Ex. 

G is for G license.  K passed his road test to get his full G license. Which means he can finally drive himself places.  He was already doing this with his G2, but now he's good to go and no more tests to pay for.  Young Drivers has a G Road test prep course.  They schedule everything, but they mistakenly booked a G2 test instead of a G.  And the MTO would not refund me over the phone, and they would not refund ME in person, it had to be Kieran with my credit card.  It was such a process pain.  

But I get it.  They want to prevent any scammers from executing another gold heist at the airport.   Good luck with that.  Only 1 way to stop that from happening again.  But it's likely impossible as that was an inside job.  And those guys have disappeared.

This just means he'll be asking me to leave the Venza for him, since the other car is a manual transmission. And I will need to remember to check the fuel gauge, in case he brings the car home on fumes. Also, my insurance bill probably just fainted.   

What can you do?  It is what it is.  At least if he gets a job and needs to drive to work, he's all set. We dislike driving, especially in the city.  The traffic jams, and the many aggressive and generally many bad drivers.  This accident involved no other cars and it was in school zone.  I asked around, but no one saw this driver flip the car on its side, they only heard the aftermath.

It's more dangerous to walk and bike around the city cuz some driver could take you out.  Keep your head on a swivel and eyes on alert.  Better yet. Stay inside.  But even bad drivers will ram a car into a brick house.  No place is safe!

G is for Grit. Cycling-wise, I finished the Sir Sam’s Everest challenge. Needed 88 climbs, but went full overachiever mode and hit 91. Why? Honestly… I don’t even know.   I thought this would be a good challenge to focus on.  I had to change the trails I rode at Sir Sam's to focus on repeated climbs.  There are 6 trails that I enjoy riding there.

1. Crash N' Carry
2. Time Warp
3. Rocky Road
4. Python
5. The Ridge
6. Lou's Loop

The Ridge is a challenging technical climbing trail with some long rocky sections that can be tricky to get through without putting your foot down.  My HR ratchets up quickly on this trail.  It's not easy, and I always feel like I will damage my bike on the rocks.  But I've learned to ride it.  I can do it almost every time now.  You need to have your legs feeling fresh.  Any fatigue will get you caught up on the rocks and you'll either need to reset or walk your bike or worse.  Getting through it without putting my foot down or caught up always feels like a win.  Never fails to put a smile on my face when I can ride through it like a skilled rider.  I've ridden it enough to know the lines to ride and it's just a matter of keeping the wheels moving.

The rest are all downhills trails.  Fun, flowy and fast with a bit of air for flair.  I got a new Norco Fluid FS C2 in June of 2024.  I love it.  It's a few lbs heavier than my 2016 Optic C2, but it has bigger knobby tires for grip and longer travel and just feels smooth and buttery on the technical downhills and landing gap jumps.  I was pushing the limits of my older Optic, the newer Fluid has a different personality and is very capable going downhill over gnarly Ontario terrain.

There is no prize for completing this Everest challenge.  I don't even know where I am in the leaderboard standings.  It says they will publish a leaderboard.  I have yet to see one.  So I kept on grinding up the ski hill.  I had never before this year done more than 6 or 7.  Usually I would do my 5 fav trails.  My goal for this challenge was to do at least 10-11 per weekend (Sat & Sun).

Everest rises up to 29,031ft and Sir Sam's is 330ft.  The Sir Sam's Everest requires 88 climbs to the top - hike or ride.  If you hike and happen to do the lookout tower, that adds another 120ft.  I was watching people do repeats on the tower as I rode by at the top, thinking to myself - they have a lot of repeats to do.

• Sat June 20 - 8x (Start)
• Sun June 22 - 3x 
• ----- 11 / 88 | 12.5% ------
• Sat June 28 - 7x
• Sun June 29 - 5x
• ---- 23 / 88 |  26% -----  
• Sat July 5 - 8x
• Sun July 6 -  4x 
• ----- 35 / 88 | 39.7% ----
• Sat Aug 2 - 10x
• Sun Aug 3 - 6x
• ----- 51 / 88 | 56% -----
• Sat Aug 9 - 8x 
• Sun Aug 10  - 4x 
• ----- 63 / 88 | 70% -----
• Fri Aug 15 - 11x 
• Sat Aug 16 - 7x
• ---- 81 / 88 | 92% ----------
• Fri Aug 22 - 7x - 88/88 - Done!
• Sat Aug 23 - 3x  - 91

I figured I could complete it in 8 wks. Which would have taken me to end of summer. By August I was half-way and feeling the drag of the repetitions and wanted to try to get it done sooner.  This year the summer weather seemed to come about a month or 2 later.  Usually it cools a bit in August, but it was a heat wave for much of it.  The weekends I managed 10, 8 & 11 repeats were draining, but I was determined to get this over with sooner rather than later.  ChatGPT helped me with fuelling and water bottle strategies.

Last Friday - I was done with the challenge.  I still don't know where I am on the leaderboard.  Whenever I am there on the weekends riding, I don't see any other crazy nut doing repeats.  But I don't ride there during the week so I don't know.  However, I feel at least now I can enjoy my rides there and do any trail I want and not focus on doing many repeats.  A few times Tresa would call and I had a few more repeats to do and miss meeting up for coffee in town after her dad would do his daily dump and donut run.

G is for Genuine. Then there’s our 23rd wedding anniversary. Twenty-three years! We keep forgetting the actual date, we always have to ask each other is it today or 2 days from now?   There's no secret.  It's honest effort, humour, communication and appreciation.  Without these ... it doesn't matter.  It'll fall apart.   

We watched the movie F1 at the Queensway Cineplex.  Friends had said it was good! It was a great movie to watch on the big screen!  Like Top Gun but for Formula 1.

There's like no one in the theatres.  It's a bit sad.  But maybe it's because it had been out already for a few months.  Maybe the VIP theatre had more people.  We did see a coyote in the parking lot as we were leaving.  It's certainly not buzzing like it was.  Hopefully it comes back.  But going out to the movies is such a great experience, regardless.  I kinda like that it is no packed like sardines.  And no one behind you kicking your chair.

I still remember the Twoonie Tues though.  Nachos.  Popcorn with fake oil butter is still there.  That butter never goes bad.  They still have lots of trailers, and I was done half my popcorn before the movie even started.  Just glad I didn't have to go pee halfway through.

So yeah — August. Family wins, big climbs, fried food, and a reminder that time doesn’t slow down.

Who AI r U?

I have been known to ask a lot of questions.  Luckily for me there's something will respond to each and every question I post.  I wasn't a big user of ChatGPT, but in recent months I have found it to be very useful when I needed some guidance or direction.

Google searches require a lot of reading and sifting through.  You can read a lot of articles.  But wouldn't it be great to ask your question(s) and get a response, you learning by asking right?  Then your question becomes more specific.  That is the basis of a prompt.  The better your prompt, the better the response from ChatGPT.

I have been using it to help me understand where I was in my recovery from injury and find balance in all my activities.  What used to work for me in years past was no longer working.  Struggling to find my legs, and my energy levels.  I didn't want to guess, I needed recommendations and direction.  And a few months on,  it's been working out.

We are on the cusp of change.  It's been coming for some time, and it's becoming more evident and its evolution is accelerating.  It feels a bit odd, maybe because it's been quite useful.  But it's a relatively new tool, and I don't completely trust it.  I doubt I ever will, but it's like when the internet came about.  This will take time, to become mainstream.   We all have to find a way to make it work for us, or get left behind.

Change can be good thing.  We had to get our Wolf stove serviced and I found out years ago that I could change out parts to make it look like new.  Tried as I might, I could not clean the top of the stove of all the baked in food in the burner pan from a decade of cooking.  

After the service the top looks so good.  I took this pic before we started cooking on it again.  So what's old, looks new again.  Now we gotta make sure we don't spill cooking over into the pan.

What's new is out.  I don't recall so much trouble scheduling my wisdom teeth being yanked out.  With K, it was rescheduled twice.  May wasn't good cuz of summer school courses.  Then we had to take account work, driving lessons, then summertime.  There's never a good time.  You just have to do it and then move forward.   

K was in some discomfort the day of the procedure, and the next day he had to get someone to cover for him cuz he was still reeling from the after effects of the procedure. But after a few days of pain killers and antibiotics, he was feeling more himself.

It's mid-summer, and the warm weather is nice, but the lack of rain is wreaking havoc across the country.  Uncontrolled fires, haze and smoke made it look like it was always a chance of rain.   The seasons feels like it's been delayed by a month.  Chilly weather continued to the beginning of June.  And typically the heat waves end by start of August.  But it's mid-August and it's hotter than ever.

It's been a warm summer.  Feels like summer for a change.  Usually we have more thunderstorms, but this year has been a dry one.   Any rain we get is short lived.  Not enough to keep grass and plants alive.

Enjoy the weather while it lasts.  Because soon enough you'll miss it.  Already the days are getting shorter.  It's now so dark out when I go for my morning rides. the skunks are still wandering about.  I saw one ramble through our laneway to go hide in our neighbours backyard somewhere.

BTW in that top pic.  I took that before 5:30am and it's due east.  If you zoom in the middle, there are 2 celestial bodies you will see.  The brighter one is Venus, the other is Jupiter.

Fence me IN

When we took down all the broken brick.  There was a half-wall that partially hid the bins.  Now that is gone and I wanted something so that I could block out the ugly bins.  They wouldn't look so bad if they weren't bashed up by the garbage & recycling truck.  

I've watched how the mechanical grippers crunch the garbage bin and lift it into the back of the truck.  I now know why my lid has holes.

I didn't want to make this a lot of effort.  I didn't want to install posts.  I wanted something like a screen to hide the bins.  Simple.  

I was looking at some pre-made, or ready to assemble fencing systems that would accomplish the exact same thing as what I did above that didn't cost me a cent.  And this is freestanding so it's not a cement post sort.  But simple fence structure stands on its own. 

I had some scrap 2x4 lengths I got from a neighbour.  I repurposed them into an L-shaped fence with 3 ft sections, in case I wanted to add on another 3ft section. 

It turned out to be pretty solid.  Each section is 3ft wide with horizontal lengths from bottom to top on the side that is next to the garden.  I didn't have enough 2x4s to cover the side by the chainlink but you can't really notice since the bins are there.  But if I find any 3ft cutoffs I'll reuse them here to fill in the gap.

I kinda liked it in this unpainted colour.  It looked rustic and warm.  But the standard around here is either Ultra White (CC-10) or Black.

To prevent the posts from rotting from the ground up.  I found a model that someone created specifically for 2x4 posts and 3D-printed some feet to prevent the 2x4 from sitting directly on the damp floor or ground.

In Black, of course.