60's and BEAUTIFUL

Running 2 days ago, 30 mile bike yesterday, and running again today, and my body is not thanking me for dragging it out of its infirm-resting period. It's great to be getting out again though. The sun! I definitely missed the sun during the winter in France. It even makes me wonder if I would like it in Seattle if I do end up working there.

In bike-unrelated news, Jean-Baptiste, a friend of mine from Versailles (in the same exchange program that I went on to Versailles) cooked dinner for me and Red last night. He really loves to cook. There's a difference between making food just to eat it and truly loving to cook and create a dinner-eating ambience. For example, he cares about presentation ("plating" is the term used by chefs, I believe). Perhaps that's because he's in architecture ...

Anyways, he was running late, so I got to learn how to cook something (whose name I don't recall) by helping out. First you chop up white button mushrooms into small cubes, about 1 cm^3, and about 2 white onions. Those are then sauteed. Then soak about 3 or 4 small slices of bread in milk. Mix that with grund beef, and the sauteed mushrooms and onions. Stuff 6 large portobello mushrooms and top with parsley and parmesan cheese. Bake until the meat is done.

Another dish he made was with a leek and green onion sauce, marinated raw salmon, and rice. Everything was served with a Bordeaux wine. Tous les choses étaient délicieuses.

And now he and 12 other architecture students from UIUC are on their way to TOKYO to learn about architecture from KENGO KUMA... I'm kind of jealous of the grad students. They're going to have so much fun. Kengo Kuma gave a pretty good lecture last semester.

Also not bike-related news, friend of mine, Shera, got into RISD !!! We're all so happy for her. As Red says, she had such a hard time communicating her ideas with professors at this university, and this just proves that it was definitely not because of any lack of talent. It was simply a bad fit for her. She was too unique of a thinker, and had issues with public speaking. I've been sort of half considering RISD myself. We'll see where I end up for grad school. Yey Shera :)