Hiking Vasquez

As part of my new workout regime I'm trying to go hiking at Vasquez Rock at least twice a week. It's only a few miles away from my house and not working (at the moment) and being cooped up in the house all day long, it's good to get outside and get some fresh air.  Only issue I have to deal with is the heat. Luckily it was only 75 outside so it wasn't too hot.

The good thing about hiking during the week is that there are very few people around.. you pretty much have the entire part to yourself.. wish is nice.

It was a good hike, a little bit of climbing but mostly just traversing rocky terrain. I was out there for about an hour. I got a really good cardio workout.

Life and other hassles.

Well life has been pretty busy as of late, a few days ago my Grandfather had a rather nasty fall and while he hasn't suffered any permanent injuries he did come out of it rather battered and bruised and that has been keeping me rather busy, getting old happens to us all but over the last six months or so I've seen someone who was always vital and energetic considering his age seems to have suddenly actually become an old man and it bothers me more than I thought it would.

It must be tough to discover you can't do some of the things you used to and on occasion you may need to actually ask for help, hopefully I handle it as well as he seems to have.

Podcasts, Working Out & TV

I was somewhat production today.. after spending an hour watching reactions on you tube to last night's Game of Thrones episode. I don't even watch the series (yet) but I do know what happens so it wasn't really spoilery but it was fun watching folks go from being stun, to crying, to screaming to being angry and to swearing off the series... good stuff.

In the afternoon I jumped on Skype with my friend Teal to record a quick mini podcast for "My Gimpy Life" podcast. She currently has a kickstarter for the second season and I wanted to get a podcast out for the last 10 day push. So we got the recoding done and then chatted for another 20 minutes or so. Afterwards I took an hour to edit the podcast and got it posted and available for download.

So I'm starting to work out again.. my current weight is 208

Today's Workout:

10 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
2 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)
1 set of 100 jumping rope

I really do want to take better care of myself. I would love to get below 200 before my 43rd birthday in September.

Syfy's Defience is back.. they took last week off because of the holiday but today it was back. Again this series doesn't blow my socks off but it's constantly entertaining and makes me want to come back each week for a new episode. They are defiantly building up the storyline with the on going mystery but still have fun entertaining stand alone stories.

I also started watching The Fosters, a new series on ABC Family about a multi-ethnic family mix of foster and biological kids who are being raised by two moms. I saw a preview at the theater when I went to go see Star Trek Into Darkness and made a note to make sure I DVR'd it. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to continue watching.. I'll record them and if time permits I'll continue to watch.

Overall it was a fairly productive day!!

Mini Swap: Wildchevy for Mephistoles

Here is an update on my part of the mini swap.
Meph wants his Slannesh Champion to be pink. I started off with the metal areas and progressively tinted the metal. First layer was a blue wash and once that dried I went back over with the gunmetal color avoiding the deep areas. Next layer was with a purple wash and again I went back with metal but this time a brighter color. The last layer of tint was with pink and the brightest silver I have to just pick out the high spots.

Dungeon and Dragons - Pathfinder

Today is our fourth D&D Pathfinder session. Playing today was Will, Robert, Kenny, Dallas, Brett, Josh, Jen, Jes, Aaron and Rupert... also Matt joined us mid-way through.

Today session was a bit more action packed then the last session. We fought some dogs and their handlers as well as some zombie like brainwashed townsfolk. We ended the night walking into a chamber full of skeletons that just came to life.. dun dun dun...

My character Dash didn't have much luck with his magic spells but did manage to use his quarterstaff quite effectively. Our group was split up for a time which makes things a bit chaotic, but eventually we all came back together for the bigger battles. This time around we really kicked some butt.

Some folks didn't seem to be interested in playing and were being more social so it was difficult at times to hear Dallas (the game master). I think this is due to the fact that we have a very large group and it takes awhile for your turn to come back around. Plus we all love hanging out with each other so we tend to talk when we are together.

Overall it was another fun and entertaining game play. Dallas once again took us on a fun adventure and the way we left things I think our next session is going to start off with a bang... can't wait.

Kenobi's 4th Birthday Party

Today is my little nephew Kenobi's 4th birthday. Of course his parents through a big "Spiderman" themed party. I got there about an hour early to help out. When I got there Lora was going crazy trying to get everything ready and my brother was out back prepping the BBQ. They ordered a bouncy thingy that had a water slide attached to it. But it hadn't arrived yet and the party was starting in an hour.

I decorated the back porch with streamers and balloons. At 1pm folks started to arrive and the bouncy thing just arrived and it took them a good hour and a half to get it up and running. More and more kids showed up and just stood around waiting impatiently (no they were actually very patient for the situation).

A few hours in and the party was in full swing, food was being BBQ'd, folks were having a good time and Lora was able to kind of relax. I played with the 15 or so kids most of the day. I had to fix the hose on the water slide so of course I had to change into my swimming trunks and climb up there. It was cute because the kids were waiting for me to finish so they could slide and they kept calling me Unk.. because that is what Kenobi calls me. I had a good 15 kids bouncing on the bouncy side and popping there heads in every two seconds saying "Unk is it ready yet".. I actually went down the slide several times.. but this time around I didn't dislocate two fingers (if you remember from last year at my nephew's birthday party I dislocated two fingers on my right hand sliding down a similar slide.

I had a blast playing with the kids (ages 3 to 12), squirting them with the water hose, nailing them with beach balls and shooting them with water guns. It was a lot of fun. We did cake and presents (Kenobi really made out with a ton of toys, I think I'm the only one who got him some educational writing pads so he could practice his letters). As the day wind down I got to hang out with my Dad, brother, sister-in-law, mom, Lora's moms' and my niece and nephew.

Overall it was a fun party... I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow when I get up.. but it was well worth it seeing all the smiles on those kids faces.. especially my nephew Kenobi.

Hunter S Pub - London Southgate Road

Uh, I'm supposed to be writing about the other American snacks I bought from Dallas, but I will continue that after this post. I must share this!

Miss Pinky and I rarely go up the north side of London, and yesterday we were supposed to go laptop shopping for Miss Pinky, but that didn't happen as we ended up buying things in TIGER in Wood Green, and then we got lost trying to find this place the Hunter S pub. It was a trek and a half, as we thought it was around Southgate Tube Station... It's not!! ¬,¬" Miss Pinky, I thought you knew where Southgate Road was...!

Outside Hunter S

The reason why we wanted to specifically go here was because they served beef wellington, which is an English traditional dish. Yes, England has other dishes other than fish and chips! Miss Pinky has been wanting this for a few months now... (and I had to do all the research because Miss Pinky is lazy :P). Other places serve this dish in posh places like in Chelsea and other expensive places. I have searched high and low on the Internet, just to find a place that still serves this one dish in a not too poshy area! And Hunter S was just right... Posh but not too over the top posh for the average Londoner...

I haven't seen many bloggers blogging about this place. Those that have blogged about it have blogged more about the beers and the decoration, and not much about the food. And those who have blogged about the food haven't given much insight... What's wrong with it? I don't know really!

So as a newbie to this pub, and a person coming from South London heading to North London, I will give a different insight (this will be more about the food and the decoration than the drinks)...

Firstly the decoration is actually stunning! For anyone who loves pubs or bars will find this place a bit of a shock. And if you're a real animal lover, it's best not to stare too much at the decoration. It's mostly full of deer heads, bear skin and birds - are they real or fake? I'm not sure.

Inside Hunter S

Deer's Heads

Beautiful chandelier! 

The Bar

For people needing to go to the toilet, you will get a shock of your life. Well not that much of a shock, but it's different to a normal pub's toilet!! It's a wacky toilet!! You must observe the pictures...

Now onto the food!! ^_^ There's one page of it, and I took a picture of the menu (but I'm afraid it's a bit blurred) because I couldn't find it on the Internet. I guess it changes from time to time (or maybe not).

One page food menu - sorry it's blurred!!

Miss Pinky and I wanted different starters to try out, so we ordered the Asparagus soup (forgot the full name). It has quail eggs in it. And the corn bread with beef brisket (also forgot the full name)... 

Our starters

The Asparagus soup tasted creamy but it was a little salty for my tastebuds. It was something that Miss Pinky enjoyed, and it was a small portion. She had most of this!

Asparagus soup and crusty bread

The Corn bread and Beef brisket was delicious for me. It was rich in taste and sweet enough. I think I have more of a sweet tooth than a salty one! The goats cheese blended in well as it took away the sweetness. :D This dish actually reminded me of being in Dallas - because of the beef brisket!! Miss Pinky said the starters were definitely teasers before the main dish came out...

Corn bread and beef brisket

It was a bit of a wait in between the starters and our main course. But it was worth it!! Every minute of it. The beef wellington comes with salad, seasonal vegetables and a red wine jus (gravy) plus a bowl of chunky chips. This dish costs £35 for two people. So if you're going out to try this, make sure you have someone coming with you to share it!! 

Beef wellington, chunky chips, seasonal vegetables, salad and red wine jus

From a different angle

So there were two pieces of the beef wellington, one piece was smaller than the other - I was going to take the smaller piece, but took the bigger piece in case Miss Pinky couldn't finish it. I could see Miss Pinky wanting that bigger piece, but she ended up being full from her smaller piece, and had a bit more beef steak from mine. Well, the beef was definitely seasoned well, the pastry unfortunately came off too easily. Is that supposed to happen? The salad was ok, but I think I liked the broccoli sticks more as they were crunchy. I'm not sure if I tasted much of the red wine jus (I think I was enjoying the beef to notice the taste really), but I definitely did pour a lot of the gravy onto the beef wellington...

The bigger piece of the beef wellington

My plate ^_^

It was worth coming to Hunter S. It felt more like a restaurant than a pub from the inside, but this is a gastro-pub, and so this is what you should expect! I think I need to trek up to North London more often. The drinks are slightly cheaper than those in Central and South London. There seems to be a whole street in Shoreditch that is dedicated to Vietnamese food - I must have a taste at one those places!!

So total cost came to £61.65 which included four drinks! Just over £30 per person. That isn't bad considering that beef wellington is hardly cooked and sold in many pubs in London...

My geeky rating: 5/5 (for the funkiness between modern and old decor to the food!)

Good points:

- Funky modern and old decor

- Food was filling

- Although a bit expensive, it was definitely worth it!

- Drinks are cheapish (better than Central London prices!!)

Bad points:

- None really, but their website needs a big update! There are no links, no menus to browse at and no pictures to see... Have to rely on the public more for information!

Address: 194 Southgate Road, Dalston, London, N1 3HT

Telephone: 020 7249 7191

Nearest Station: Dalston Kingsland OR Dalston Junction Overground Station 

Buses: 21, 141 (stop at Southgate Road)

Website: http://thehunter-s.co.uk/

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