collisionbend.com

We jaunted off to a local restaurant tonight, as is our custom on pay weeks. Since we had a gift certificate from Cleveland Independents for Willoughby Brewing Company, that’s where we chose to go for dinner tonight.

My bride had the Santa Fe Chicken Salad, which required some potable to chill the flame. I, on the other hand, had the Glazed Salmon.

The salmon was excellent, perfectly done. The risotto it sat on, on the other hand… let’s just put it this way: in my honest opinion, the chef at Willoughby Brewing Company needs to go on a strict salt-free diet for about the next six weeks, then taste his food: the risotto tasted like it came straight out of the Cleveland salt mine (sorry, this links to a PDF!).

Seriously: there is absolutely no need for 3,000mg of salt on a side dish when your daily suggested intake of salt is only 2,400mg — 2,000mg for those of us on a low-sodium diet! This is, and has been, my complaint with the food at WBC: the main course is generally excellent, but the side dishes suffer from severe sodium poisoning.

I’m going to be swollen for the next week at least.

The beer, on the other hand, is improving, although the barkeeps have no idea that a beer is supposed to have a head on it — and have no idea that a beer with a head on it is actually easier to carry around without spilling.

I shouldn’t have tipped as well as I did. But, had I not, the message would not get through. Alas…

Tags: Beer, Cleveland restaurants, Salt, Willoughby Brewing Company

I’ve been lamenting the closing of Shinano’s Restaurant in South Euclid, of late. Open in the same place with the same crew (save for two people) since 1991, Shinano’s had just about the best sushi on the upper East Side of Cleveland.

Word is that they are looking for new digs, perhaps near Solon, which doesn’t do me a whole bunch of good: I don’t want to drive 25 miles for sushi — if I’m going to drive that far for sushi, I’ll go a few more and head to Ohashi’s in North Olmsted, which is probably (perhaps easily) the best sushi restaurant in town.

So what’s a guy like me to do? Suffer?

Not quite. Enter Young Lee, the former sushi chef at Lure Bistro in downtown Willoughby. Lee and his wife have recently opened Young’s Sushi on Clark Avenue in downtown Willoughby (old Willoughby). Clark Street runs parallel to Erie Street one block West of Erie.

OK, so I’m not exactly convinced by the location — I think I’d rather be right on Erie Street, but then again, the rent is higher there. Young’s location has its own parking lot, which helps out: parking in Willoughby can be a nightmare, especially during the car show.

Walking in, I was a little amazed at the decor; get this: black and white linoleum tile floor, a pale ash green wainscot-type bottom half and deep purple top half paint scheme on the walls, cantina-style tables with metal-framed plastic chairs, and (oh, wow!) country music playing in the kitchen.

I had my doubts…

…and was well rewarded for my open-mindedness. The sushi was outstanding: their white tuna is on a par with Ohashi’s any day of the week. I had the Fire Bird Roll, which has tuna, salmon, red snapper, white tuna, crab, avocado and cucumber; the Love Roll, which has white tuna, snow crab and avocado; and two pieces of white tuna nigiri. My bride had the Mexican roll (!), which has shrimp, avocado and cucumber; the snow crab roll, which has snow crab, avocado, and cucumber, and another which I can’t remember.

We both also had the Miso Soup and the house salad with ginger dressing. Both of these were excellent. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that both exceed any we’ve had yet (in Cleveland).

But the sushi was, as I said, outstanding: the fish was absolutely fresh, the rice perfectly cooked, the seaweed not too chewy, and the vegetables crisp and flavorful. And the ginger was so fresh it almost burned my tongue!

At first, I was going say that the wasabi was a little weak, but that would be wrong: it’s not weak at all — it’s what you would refer to as a “sleeper”: you get some flavor, but little heat… so you take a little more… then, all of a sudden…

WHAM! Your sinuses are under assault, your eyes can’t hold their water, and your mouth is going hooo-HAH! The wasabi is truly excellent.

I saved the white tuna nigiri for last — white tuna sashimi is one of my all-time favorite foods — and I was not disappointed in the least: it tasted almost like butter, and it melted away on my tongue slowly and evenly — and not a single hint of a sour note, which can happen easily with less-tan-Grade-A white tuna. My only regret here was not ordering two orders of white tuna nigiri (or maybe three — what the hell: when it comes to sushi, what can I say? I’m a pig… <grin>…)

All of this from what you would never think of when you think of a sushi restaurant. I only had one negative to the whole experience: the chop sticks were oval, and were difficult for me to handle. That is something I can definitely get used to, with practice.

I have to wonder about their timing, since opening a restaurant is never easy, especially in bad economic times, but if Young can develop and keep a loyal clientele (and with food like his, I see no reason he can’t do it), you’re going to be hearing a lot about this restaurant in the future.

The hours are 11-9 daily, and 1-8 Sundays; the restaurant is located at 4082 Clark Avenue in downtown Willoughby, about two blocks from the Willoughby Brewing Company (the other side of Erie Street), right next to the convenience store.

If you’re out and about on the East side, and you have a taste for sushi, try this place — you’ll be glad you did.

Spurred by a Twitter post by Dave Shea, I found out tonight that whole milk contains 98mg of sodium.

The serving size is listed at 245 grams, or little more than 8 ounces.

Also in that nutritional data: 146 calories (71 from fat), 24mg cholesterol, 13g carbohydrates, and 13g of sugar.

Non-fat milk, on the other hand, weighs in at 86 calories (only 4 from fat), 5mg cholesterol, 12g sugar, and a whopping 127mg of sodium — also for an 8-ounce serving.

WeightWatchers will tell you that non-fat milk is better for you — and from a fat and calorie standpoint it is. All else being equal, this is not a surprise.

But sodium? I know that 127mg of sodium is not going to give someone on a low-sodium diet (2,000mg/day) an instant blood pressure spike, and over the course of a day, that 127mg of sodium really won’t make that much of a difference — as long as you’re watching everything else: which means take it easy on those low-fat frozen foods, which are generally really high in sodium; I’ve seen some of these entrees come in at 1,300mg of sodium — or more.

And that much sodium per meal will spike your blood pressure — guaranteed.

I have to admit that I am just as surprised at the amount of sodium in milk as Mr. Shea is. My bet is that the increased sodium in the low-fat variety is to make it taste better — God knows it needs something. ;-)

It happened again tonight. Some idiot wearing at least a bottle and a half of cologne simply *had* to stand in my immediate vicinity (shoulder-to-shoulder). I wanted to puke — I almost did.

I couldn’t breathe.

Seriously: my chest started tightening up, painfully, almost cramping; my breathing became labored and short; my stomach turned inside-out; I got real dizzy real fast; I almost passed out.

And I came seriously close to vomiting.

Next time (and this is fair warning to you guys who think that cologne is “cool”), I will puke — all over the guy wearing the cologne. It serves them right: be offensive to people who are allergic to the stuff and get your clothes ruined. And why not? The Old Testament says: “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” right?

Make me sick, cost me my dinner, ruin my night, and I’ll ruin your outfit — regardless of how much it cost.

Now, to make this legal and legit:

Be it hereby publicly known: People (men or women): if you wear an excessive amount of perfume or cologne in my presence (whether you know me or not, or are aware of this statement or not), please be advised that I am allergic to your potions, and they make me gravely ill. Should I become gravely ill in your presence, and end up regurgitating on you and your clothes, I AM NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL LOSSES INCURRED BY YOUR STUPIDITY. I will try to give fair warning, but this will not always be possible. If, all of a sudden, I puke on you, and you are wearing cologne, hey: you made me sick, OK, pal? You made me sick — you pay for it.

I didn’t choose this.

You make me sick — you clean up the mess, OK?

Now I will repeat:

The Rule of Thumb for perfume and/or cologne:
wear only enough that your girlfriend (or boyfriend) can smell it only when they hug you.

‘Nuff said.

(Watch for the first “puke post” — coming soon to a theater near you!)

OK, so here’s the plot: I received a check from a client in the mail today. Ya-hoo!

So, in partial celebration, I purchased a six of GLBC Edmund Fitzgerald Porter from a local store, which I plan to save for tomorrow night, when I will sit back and enjoy it, slow sip by slow, aggravating sip. Pure heaven in every tilt.

No other way there, sorry.

Anyway, I went over to the Time Out Grille at Shoregate after the bank, unfortunately, to have a beer. I went home after two, which got me into a whole peck of trouble. I don’t think I have to tell you why, OK?

So: what did I do?

I made soup. Not just any soup, mind you, but my current favorite: Cauliflower-Gorgonzola soup. Here’s the recipe:

Cauliflower-Gorgonzola Soup

1 cauliflower

1 Tsp unsalted butter

1 large onion, peeled and diced

4 or 5 thyme sprigs

2 bay leaves

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock is OK)

4oz Gorgonzola cheese — or so

1/3 cup milk

parsley for garnish

Clean the cauliflower properly into florets. Leave the stalk in the mix for flavor. Set aside. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan large enough to handle this whole mess over medium heat. Add the onions and sweat gently for about 5 minutes, until translucent.

Add the cauliflower, thyme and bay leaves. Give it a little salt and pepper — but just a touch: let this mixture find its feet, as it were. Pour in the stock, stir, and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so — until the cauliflower is very soft.

Crumble in the gorgonzola and stir over low heat until the cheese is absorbed completely. Add the milk and stir to combine. Pick out the bay leaves and thyme stalks (if you used the entire stalk — don’t bother to pick it out if you didn’t, it’s no matter), then use an immersible blender (as Emeril calls it, a “boat motor”) to blend until reasonably smooth.

Ladle into warm bowls and serve with chopped parsley. Supposedly, this serves 4.

Sorry, but it serves 8.

Seriously: use a large cauliflower, and add a little minced garlic when you sweat the onions; use your discretion with the milk, as you might just need a touch more — that’s OK, it’ll pay off in the end — an ounce or two more won’t effect the end result for you WeightWatchers.

This soup kicks some serious ass — and for WeightWatchers, it’s only 2 points, as cooked above.

Hopefully, this will get me invited back to Eric’s bread and soup party next year… (just kidding!)

Kirstie Alley showed off her new body on Oprah today.

She lost 75 pounds.

I’m wondering… whom do I know that has lost 75 pounds… could it be? Perhaps??

ME??????

You’ll never see me showing off like that in a bikini, though. Although, I must admit that the idea of something slinky, something lacey, has an appeal….

JUST KIDDING!!

Congrats, Kirstie, it ain’t easy: been there; done that; redesigned the t-shirt.

Yesterday morning (well, as I write this, this morning), at 9:45 a.m., I stepped on the scale at my weekly Weight Watchers meeting.

For the last 6 weeks, I’ve been trying to maintain my current weight, which has been a real trick since I’ve vacationed in Washington, D.C., served as best man at a friend’s wedding, and spent a couple of days (and evenings) at my brother’s house on the West side, where (and they belong to Weight Watchers, too) the food is abundant — and delicious.

Last weekend was the toughest: I gained 3.8 pounds, right after the wedding and two days of painting a house for my brother. I was .8 pounds over goal, which is not too bad when you consider that I have a 2 pound leeway (which means I can weigh as much as 176 pounds).

This week… well… I weighed in at: 169 pounds. Huzzah!

I no longer have to pay for Weight Watchers meetings. Since January 7th of this year, I’ve lost a total of 76.8 pounds (41 weeks, for an average weekly weight loss of 1.87 pounds), lost 8 inches from my waistline, dropped one or two sizes in shirts (depending on manufacturer), and more. My sleep apnea is gone; I now sleep through the night peacefully. In fact, I now have a hard time waking in the morning, since I get into such a deep sleep. And my blood chemistry is now well within normal, healty guidelines. Glorious.

Further, I can now walk vast distances again, just like I used to do in high school. (My father, may he not be spinning in his grave — like a lathe) used to call this mode of transportation “shank’s mare,” translated as the “leg’s horse.”

What a kidder, he.

More importantly here is that I have learned a lot of new behaviors and habits, a ton about grocery shopping, and even more about what why processed food frequently is unhealthy, and what to watch for when shopping.

Let me tell you, it’s been an eye-opener; I won’t go into it here.

Now, I don’t write this to boast or brag; far from it: I write this because I want to bring hope to those who feel that they’re hopelessly overweight and could never get to a healthy place and weight in their lives. Hey: if *I* could do it, so can you. I was the worst of the bunch. Well, close to it, OK? You get the picture. I had some pretty severe habits — that I’m glad are gone — and I’m on a much healthier path now than I was just a few short years ago.

And it was all a matter of choice — and truly wanting to make a change in my life. That’s all it took. Honestly.

OK, all of that in the last paragraph and a little fear, OK? I was getting scared of my family history with heart disease and diabetes, me being an old fart and all. I didn’t want to end up on a slab a few years too early, ya know?

Now, if I don’t want to pay for a Weight Watchers meeting, all I have to do is weigh in once a month at 176 pounds or less. I’ll post that monthly weigh-in here, too; it’ll help keep me honest. It’ll look like this, for now: my weight, followed by the difference between my weight and my Weight Watchers goal weight.

Today, it would look like this:

[169 / -5.0] That means that my weight is 169 pounds, and I’m 5 pounds under my Weight Watchers goal weight. (Note: my personal target weight was 172 pounds, which is what I weighed the day I graduated from Rocky River High School way back in… well, you get the picture; then I decided that my personal target should be a total loss of 75 pounds instead, so the target became 170.8 pounds… then…)

So I like 170 pounds; it’s a nice, round number. I feel good, I’m looking OK, and my blood work is where it should be.

Now, I need to learn how to eat more in a day so that I can break the current habit of weight loss and maintain my weight instead of losing it. In a way, that can be scarier than looking at 75 pounds to lose…

[169 / -5.0]

On Friday, June 6, 1977, a mere 29 years, 3 months and 3 days ago, I graduated from Rocky River High School. On that day, I weighed 172 pounds.

I know this because I was at Lakewood Hospital earlier that morning, having tests for a minor surgical procedure I was to have about 10 days later.

Today, I weigh 171.4 pounds, better than 1/2 a pound less than the day I graduated from high school.

Most folks can’t say that.

In fact, last Christmas I couldn’t even say that myself: I was about 75 pounds overweight, my blood pressure was through the roof, I had severe sleep apnea, I also snored ferociously, I had almost uncontrollable gastric reflux, and my blood chemistry was all out of whack.

In short, I was a mess: I was on the short road to six feet of dirt.

Then, on my birthday, one week before Christmas, I received an email from a cousin: his younger brother, all of 51 years of age, had just come out of a quadruple heart bypass operation. His blockages were 100%, 99%, 95%, and 72%. The doctor said he had at least two heart attacks in the previous week that he didn’t know about. He was also 30 pounds overweight.

He could have died.

And there I was, some 75 pounds overweight, thinking to myself, “[expletive deleted]! Just who the hell am I kidding?”

So I got to work. I developed a plan. I joined WeightWatchers on January 7 of this year. I worked the program. I learned about myself and about how to eat properly. I learned to plan ahead, cook lightly, eat even lighter — and still be properly nourished.

And over the next 9 months I lost 74.4 pounds — almost a third of myself. My blood pressure is now normal; hypertension is off my diagnosis list. My sleep apnea is a thing of the past. I still snore a little, but that is now more due to allergies and a worn-out mattress than anything else. My reflux is now well under control — almost non-existant. And my blood chemistry — well, I’m still waiting for the results from a recent blood test — but I can assume that it has improved as well.

And now I’m 1/2 a pound lighter than I weighed in high school, which was my goal.

Who said I don’t finish things? I could have walked out in the middle of it all, saying that it was too hard for me, but I didn’t: I hung in there and got the job done. I found it difficult, but certainly not impossible.

So if you find that you need to do something like this as well, know this: If I can do it, surely you can, too.

(71.8 — 74.4 — -2.6)

My bride and I went to Bahama Breeze, specializing in Carribbean food, for dinner tonight (warning — this web site is loud, and the music annoying!).

I have to admit that this is probably one of the best restuarants we have been to, even though it’s a chain. The service was prompt and polite, even though I took a dim view of our waiter, Ryan, constantly leaning on our table while explaining the menu.

The food was excellent, and a nice value for the money. My bride had the Chicken Margherita, lesser portion, while I had the Chicken Santiago, also lesser portion.

Did you note the menu choice of “lesser portion”? Yes, dieters can take advantage of their generous portions and still feel full and satisfied with half the dinner, even though the price isn’t halved.

Trust me, the lesser portion is quite enough. In fact, it’s more toward a proper, healthy serving size, although the chicken serving was about 8 ounces (still twice the proper size). Sadly, it’s not offered on every menu item.

Both selections were outstanding, properly done, tender, juicy, and drooling with flavor.

And I mean –drooling– with flavor.

The Chicken Santiago (grilled) comes with a creamy roasted red pepper sauce that is a little spicy and downright delightful; the Chicken Margherita (also grilled) was marinated in fresh lemon, lime, honey and tequila, which made for a tasty delight.

The shocker was the alcohol, which I paid for before we took our table: 2 pints of Bass Ale and 2 Diet Cokes ran up a pricy $12.75, more like New York pricing than Cleveland. The rest of the tab consisted of our dinners, complete with two Breeze Salads (tossed salad with a dynamite citrus vinaigrette), for a tolerable $28 and change.

We gave a generous 20% gratuity, even though Ryan annoyed me by leaning on my table: at least his heart was in the right place, so we decided to give him credit for his effort.

All in all, I would recommend Bahama Breeze for lunch or dinner: the food is quite tasty, the atmosphere is pleasing — nowhere near as annoying as their web site — the prices are agreeable, and the service is excellent and cheerfully delivered.

I know we’re going back there — and soon.

(73.8 — 54.2 — 19.6)

So I’m sitting in the Wickliffe Arabica at the moment, doing a little web surfing, and totally enjoying the 6Mbps (6 mips) bandwidth on my mighty little iBook…

I’d be at home, normally, and if I was surfing, I’d be enjoying a nifty 2.8Mbps bandwidth — which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. I recently upgraded my DSL service (and lowered my monthly bill at the same time) to the higher speed, and I’m glad I did.

Still, there comes a time when you have to get out of the house and change your environment. My little white friend makes it possible.

So all of a sudden, without my knowledge, some guy starts playing a guitar in the other room. Yes, I know, he was hired to entertain, but I really can’t stand what he is playing.

Just not my cup of tea — or coffee, as the current case may be.

No offense, and none directed to the entertainer, but if I had a choice between him and listening to my toilet flush, I’d pick the toilet, sorry…

So what’s a guy to do? Heavens to Murgatroid!

Well, I whipped out my other little white friend — my trusty iPod. I donned my earplugs and turned it on. Pat Metheny Group… “Travels”… “Are You Going With Me?”… turn up the volume… and I’m…

…gone — iPod Heaven.

I have to admit, the iPod is a pretty cool device. I haven’t packed it full of my music — only about 2.5GB worth — but that’s enough. I don’t need to have my entire music collection with me, and my iPod Mini (OK, so it’s silver! Poetic license? Maybe?) wouldn’t hold it all, anyway.

Besides, when I really take a good look at what I listen to, I really only listen to about half of my music collection anyway. So I synched it up with some of my favorites: a little jazz, some blues, some classic rock, some flamenco, a bit of avant-garde guitar music, a little classical, and some of my more eclectic stuff.

And I’m happy with that. If I want more, I’ll put more on, but right now, I have what I want. Here’s a cross-section: Pat Metheny Group, Santana, Beck, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, DiMeola McLaughlin & DeLucia, Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Ottmar Liebert, Oscar Lopez, Mark Snow, Golden Earring, Frank Sinatra (you bet!), The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo (great background music for those creative moments), Bèla Fleck, Billy Joel, U2, Cleveland Orchestra/Beethoven and Mozart, Electric Light Orchestra, Neil Diamond…

A little variety never hurt anybody, as my grandmother used to say…

It’s a great invention. I’m glad I bought it. Now don’t have to lug around all those vinyl albums anymore — they were getting heavy!