Jan’s Sushi Bar » A Little of This, A Little of That
Jan's Sushi Bar - A Little Of This, A Little of That

In Which I Answer Some Questions

July 23rd, 2008

Before we start, I would like to announce that I walked on my treadmill again this morning. That’s three days in a row. Any laurels, praise and calls to Guinness will be graciously accepted.

So.

I probably don’t reply to comments made to my posts often enough. In fact, I know I don’t. There is a reason for this - mainly, I can’t state anything briefly. (Everyone who knows me personally is nodding their heads and going, “Ain’t that the truth…”.)

At any rate, I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer some questions and reply to a couple of things that popped up in the comments section of a few of my posts.

(I like this…instant post! The only other thing I could think of to post about was my dream from last night, where my treadmill was in the middle of some deserted high school gymnasium. I was trying to jog, but was constantly interrupted by Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati, who kept trying to tell me how he’d joined Weight Watchers.)

Anyhoo…

Nanny Goats In Panties asked:

“You have a Bowflex?!!??
Does that thing really work? Do you like it? I mean, I know you don’t like it, but do you like it? As much as I hate infomercials and they sell so much garbage and all the As Seen On TV exercise crap gets used once and thrown in the garage, I keep looking at that thing because you’re supposed to be able to do more than one thing on it, so it appeals to the practical side of me.”

Yes, we do own a BowFlex. And a treadmill. And an AbLounge. All which have been collecting dust for far too long. Well, I can’t take credit for the dusty AbLounge, at least not entirely - I bought that for Beloved, because he suffers from lower back pain at times. I think he’s used it twice.

At any rate, out of all our useless basement adornments exercise equipment taking up space strategically placed in the basement, the “love” portion of my love/hate relationship is probably strongest for the BowFlex. We have a BowFlex Ultimate 2 Home Gym, and believe it or not, it is relatively easy to use. It comes with all sorts of handy accessories designed for different exercises, a poster showing about a dozen of the most common exercises you can do with it, and a pretty comprehensive DVD on how to operate the thing.

I’m sure it will do everything they claim it will do in the amount of time the claim it will take (including forcing you to speak with an Austrian accent while you tell friends, family and strangers in line at the grocery store that you intend to “Pump *clap* them up“)…if you use it. When you’re me, well, that complicates matters a bit.

And this thing? It ain’t exactly small (or light) so you won’t just be chucking it in the garage after the first couple of initial uses. It will stand right smack-dab in the corner of whichever room the guys who assembled it stuck it in, mutely accusing you of being far too flabby (which is why ours is in the basement). That being said, I’m sure it would make a dandy coat rack, not to mention look smashing during the holidays, draped with twinkling mini-lights and sheathed in tinsel.

Tricia at Shout says:

“When you mentioned a while ago that Firefox has a spell check, it took me about -3 seconds to decide to download it, and I’ve been a confirmed user ever since. I have no idea, though, what a skin is?”

A skin is just a way to change how something looks, without changing the functionality of it. When you use Internet Explorer, it looks the way it looks and it works the way it works and there isn’t anything you can do about it. One of the many neat things about Firefox is that you cannot only add to it’s functionality, but change the way it looks. A Firefox skin is, more or less, the same thing as a WordPress theme - in fact, they’re called themes. And they’re not at all hard to install. Some of them are really cool, and some of them are quite beautiful…and then there’s this one.

Oh, and I don’t personally have a French toast casserole recipe, but Paula Deen’s looks just yummy.

My friend Linda asks:

(In regards to my bitchfest about how hard it is to design for Internet Explorer and my plea for everyone to use Firefox)

“I have both, and your blog looks the same from both? I don’t understand what the difference is.”

Good! I’ve done my job then! The difference is I can make my blog look the way I want it to in about 15 minutes in Firefox, and it can take hours, sometimes DAYS, to make it look the exact same way in Internet Explorer. And chances are, making it look right in Internet Explorer will screw it up in all of the other browsers.

I hate Internet Explorer. Have I mentioned how much I hate Internet Explorer?

Twenty-four At Heart says:

“I think we’re related …”

and

“Did you say Pad Thai?”

All I can say is, I’d be PROUD to claim I’m related to you, even if you are a Housewife of Orange County. See-through, tight-fitting, tear-away clothes and all.

And the Pad Thai recipe is coming in the next day or so.

By Jan | Posted in General Schtuff | Comments (0)

Geeky Storytime

July 22nd, 2008

There is a special Hell for web designers, and it is called Internet Explorer.

Once upon a time, boys and girls, a company called Microsoft introduced a thing called Windows 3.1.

And all the world rejoiced.

Then, around the time Microsoft released Windows 95 it bundled an internet browser called Internet Explorer, for free, with it’s (then) marvelous and easy-to-use operating system. This was especially fortuitous, for both Microsoft and an eager public, because the only other browser largely available to the masses at the time - Netscape - made the incredibly stupid decision to charge filthy lucre for its internet browser.

Before you knew it, Internet Explorer had 97% of the internet browser market share, and because it had 97% of the internet browser market share it decided it could ignore the World Wide Web Consortium’s standards and write its own rules for how to build a website. Who cared if 3% of the people using the internet got completely screwed up web pages. They should have been using Internet Explorer - everyone else did! Thus, an entire generation of web designers were trained to develop sites for Internet Explorer, and Internet Explorer only.

Dark days, my friends.

After awhile, the Computer Gods looked down from above and said, “Microsoft, you are getting entirely too big for your britches (not to mention, increasingly insecure) - let there be Open Source Software, whose source code is available to everyone and which anyone can develop.” Geeks around the world oohed and aahed over the Almighty General Public License, and lo and behold - Firefox was born.

And all was right with the world.

To an extent. For, you see, while Firefox was joined by other completely W3C complaint (not to mention more secure) browsers, Microsoft had become invasive - if you bought a new computer, it had a Windows operating system - and Internet Explorer - installed on it. Most people had no inkling that they had other choices.

These days, however, in the aftermath of disasters such as Windows ME and Vista, people are jumping ship and exploring those other W3C complaint, more secure internet browsers. As of this writing, my own readers are split down the middle, with 48% using Internet Explorer and 48% using Firefox; the remaining 4% are mostly split between Opera, Safari and RSS readers.

So a good half of my readers are still using Internet Explorer. And, I’m sorry to say, more than half of the visitors to the commercial sites I’ve designed and/or developed use the dreadful IE browser. Which means that I spend a LOT of my time - like today - yanking my hair out because what is completely proper and valid code, and looks 100% right in every other browser, LOOKS LIKE COMPLETE SHIT IN INTERNET EXPLORER.

Do me a favor. Download Firefox now. It comes with a spell checker! And you can download skins for it! If you send me an email, I’ll even tell you how to find and install them! Just help make my job easier.

I’m begging you.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth today. And while there has been no Ben and Jerry’s (so far) and no wine, there has been plenty of rum and diet Coke and Pad Thai.

Hey - I got up and walked on the treadmill again this morning. Baby steps, y’all. Baby steps.

By Jan | Posted in Schtuff That Drives Me Bananas | Tagged , | Comments (6)

Alert the Media

July 21st, 2008

I exercised this morning.

Yes, I got up, put on my sweatpants, a sports bra, socks and walking shoes, went down to the basement and walked on the treadmill for damn near half an hour. I didn’t walk really fast or do any inclines - I know how long it’s been since I’ve been down there and am not real keen on the thought of dropping dead in my basement while I’m alone in the house - but I did work up a light sweat. I glanced furtively at the BowFlex and AbLounge while taking my little stroll, wondering if they were sneering at the fat lady who has been neglecting them for so long. Well, they’ll get their turn.

As you might have guessed, I don’t care much for exercising. In fact, it falls at about #493 on my list of “Favorite Things to Do”, right below “Brushing my teeth with battery acid” and right above “An intimate encounter with my ex-husband.” Why then, you may reasonably ask, did I choose to exercise today? Well, there are several reasons, really.

I don’t like how fat my face looks in the picture I have over at MidLifeBloggers.

I’m also painfully aware of my overindulgence with a bottle of Shiraz and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s while I drooled over Derek Jacobi for a good 4 hours last night (yes, I know he’s gay and I don’t give a tin shit - the man’s voice makes me swoon). While I’m sure Hell will freeze over before I entirely cease with the aforementioned indulgences, they could certainly use a good curtailing and some exercise to counteract the effects when they do happen.

I have no intention of ruining the fact that I’ve successfully quit smoking by continuing to jeopardize my health, risking heart disease and diabetes, because of my weight. Nope - ain’t gonna do it.

I want to be able to keep up with Beloved while we’re hiking when (not if, WHEN) we finally get to New Zealand for a vacation.

And most importantly, I fully intend to attend next year’s BlogHer. ‘Nuff said.

I will also bypass the wine and ice cream today, and eat reasonable amounts of foods with actual nutritional value - a hardboiled, cage-free egg, some fat-free yogurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries, leftover stir fry (no rice). I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with the pork chop that awaits me for dinner, but it won’t be fried or served with potatoes and gravy. Perhaps another stir fry is in order.

Oooo - I have some fresh peaches - I wonder how one of those would work into a stir fry with some gold bell pepper, onion and zucchini.

I’ll let you know.

By Jan | Posted in Aging, Diet and Nutrition | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

Okay…Maybe It’s Not as Bad as I Thought…

July 20th, 2008

Today I realized that since I’m here all by myself, I can:

This may not be such a bad thing after all.

By Jan | Posted in General Schtuff | Comments (3)

Sweet Souffleed Omelet

July 20th, 2008

I’m here all by myself…again. I went to the grocery store this morning; I must say, shopping for just me is quick and reasonably cheap. All I bought was fresh fruit and vegetables, some pork chops that were on sale, half and half and cheese. I supposed it would have been cheaper, except for all the fresh fruit and vegetables and the gourmet cheeses.

Brie and crudite, anyone?

I was at a loss for what to make myself for brunch this morning, and decided since it’s just me to go with something tasty but reasonably easy. I just tweaked my savory souffléed omelet and made it a little sweet with the addition of a touch of sugar to the eggs and a little bit of really good strawberry preserves. Rounded off with some pan-fried, lean Virginia ham, it was what Oldest Son calls “teh yummeh.”

Sweet Souffléed Omelet

1 serving

2 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon high-quality preserves

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a large glass mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff, but not dry. Without cleaning the beaters, beat the egg yolks in a small mixing bowl until thick and light. Fold the yolk mixture gently into the whites.

Melt the butter in a 10-inch, ovenproof skillet over medium heat until it begins to foam. Once the foam has subsided, but before the butter begins to brown, pour the egg mixture into the pan, spread evenly and smooth the top. Let it sit for a few seconds, then shake the pan back and forth to discourage sticking. Cover the pan with a lid whose underside has been buttered to prevent sticking. Reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the cover and place the skillet in the oven and bake until the top is set, 3 to 5 minutes. While the omelet is baking, warm the preserves until they have thinned a little. When the omelet is done, spread the warmed preserves over half of the omelet, then fold gently in half. Slide onto a warm plate and serve immediately.

By Jan | Posted in Breakfast, Recipes, Weekend Cooking | Tagged , , | Comments (0)