A Moment

A Moment, originally uploaded by Enol.

Time for a link dump but first…

Wow, my new Toyo Proxes 4s are quite nifty in the wet. I drove out to Pitt Meadows to pick up some meat from Hopcott and was greeted with a massive downpour en route. The unfamiliar roads (I’ve only been on the Mary Hill Bypass once before) and the heavy rain would have left me piddling around in the right lane with my Dunlops but instead I powered through heavy water remorselessly. Ernie even noted how stable the car felt from the passenger seat. Anyways…

Mr. Right, It Turns Out, Does Not Take Classes – True, most men won’t take classes, it’s not something we’re that comfortable with. I like the old story of how Cal Ripken’s wife bought the family a trampoline and Cal went and secretly learned it in private before using it in front of his family.

The No Frills Kitchen – While I like to have the good stuff like an $90 Boos chopping board there’s no reason why you can’t go to the industrial supply store and stock up on cheaper stuff.

36 Hours in Hong Kong – I think Hong Kong is one of the very few non-West Coast cities that I would be willing to relocate to.

Taming of the Chef – A story on Gordon Ramsay and the opening of his new restaurant in New York. I love Gordon’s work, would love to eat his cooking.

Buying with help from Mom and Dad – What’s up with shame associated with having your parents help you? Around here no one’s ashamed of that, it’s a fact of life if you want to be able to buy inside of Vancouver.

Korean fried chicken – I ended up tracking down some in downtown and it’s pretty good. Would like to try some different varieties though.

Time to go. You should go join Facebook.

New tires

New tires, originally uploaded by fooliano.

Fresh rubber!

That’s right, I got myself some new rubber today. A semi spur of the moment decision, I was in the neighbourhood and stopped by the tire shop to ask about their pricing. I was already aware of the Toyo Proxes 4 as an option and was really only considering the Michelin Pilot Exaltos as an alternative. The Toyos happened to be available at a good price and I decided to make the leap to the tune of just over 800 bones.

The Toyos are rumoured to be awesome in the wet which I’m very much looking forward too, the Dunlops I had were dangerous in the wet. After only about 40 clicks on them so far in mild driving I’ve noticed that the ride has improved and tire noise is definitely down.

The Dunlops had a very square shoulder and they feel like they have better turn-in response than the Toyos but I suspect I can tune it with some careful air pressure adjustments. The square shoulders of the Dunlops had a downside though, the breakaway characteristics were pretty awful and I suspect the rounder shoulders of the Toyo should give me more feedback so I can get closer to the limit with confidence.

Of course once they go through a few heat cycles and rubber in I’ll have a better sense of what I’m getting out of the tires but so far I’m pretty happy.

Burger of too much work!

Burger of too much work!, originally uploaded by stickyii.

This is not the burger I ate on Saturday but it does look good.

Saturday night I went to Crave to have dinner and it was one of the best meals I’ve had in the past year.

The organic beef burger with bacon and aged cheddar was outstanding because they actually salted the meat prior to cooking and I don’t mean that they salted the burger patty just before cooking but they mixed salt into the meat to help bring the flavour out. Delicious.

The nachos were also very, very good. The refried beans were mixed in just right and the cheese and toppings were first rate. The only slight downer was that the jalapeno peppers were not very spicy which is how I like my nachos peppers.

The buttermilk fried chicken in Ernie’s cobb salad was outstanding as well – crispy brown on the outside and moist on the inside. Very well made. Colleen’s beef rigatoni had plenty of beef short rib cooked into it and was thoughtfully created.

The only thing wanting that I had was the coffee which wasn’t brewed strong enough for my tastes.

I highly recommend a visit to Crave (Main and 24th).