New Address, New Blog Name

Hi folks,

It's been a nice long run here at old Neuf Routes. Thanks for sticking with me over the last few years! Effective immediately, this blog will shift over to a new address, koenrat.blogspot.com, so you can follow Joshua and me in our new joint (ad)venture. For the moment we're calling it Koenrat's Gazette, because Ratkoenk was too onomatopoetic. I'll still be blogging, and Joshua will chime in from time to time, who knows, he may really take it to it!

More or less all the posts from Neuf Routes will be over at Koenrat's Gazette in case you ever need recipes or dated advice on french bike parts.

So update your RSS feeds and your bookmarks - we'll see you over at the new place!

xo
hk

Hotel Alexander, Dar es Salaam

This hotel is awesome. It's on the same street as Rob, our Chief of Party, and was turned into a hotel about a year and a half ago (or so the staff tells me). Downstairs there's a comfortable, well-decorated dining room with two long tables, and two wings of rooms stretch out from the back, flanking the garden/pool area. The food is AMAZING, fresh fish, huge prawns, very reasonable, and cooked perfectly. Seasoning is not skimpy, the cook knows how to use salt well, but not overpower you.

The rooms are large and there's a third story bar above the dining area that is open on the sides, with three cushiony nooks on the long side that one can settle down in with a book or a laptop or a group of friends, and a few tables for dining off to the far side. Gorden, the owner, is warm and welcoming, as are the two main staff, Felix and Mohammed.

Only drawbacks are that the wireless doesn't quite reach to my room (when I'm sitting on the bed - which makes it easier to concentrate on work!) and the a/c fans are quite loud, but these are definitely not dealbreakers. My ethernet cable setup at the desk works fine, or I can go upstairs to the bar to work wirelessly.

From Travel

From Travel

Ibex Tuck Gloves Review

These gloves are softshell, with wool lining. They are bulky. And they are warm. The leather palms are nice, but the nosewipe ("flock" nosewipe) leaves a lot to be desired. Not that I used it on my nose during the testing period! It's just not at all fuzzy - same as the outside softshell of the glove. The seam running between the thumb and forefinger felt bulky and irritating on the left hand, but not the right, so it's possible a different pair would not have that issue, but it made for noticeably uncomfortable biking.

I've ended up sending both these Ibex gloves back and turning to a more tried-and-true approach - glove liners (currently my cheapo H&M gloves) and a windblocking shell (Joshua's pair from last season). Warm enough and the least bulky option out there.

I really don't understand

wireless power.

Ibex Shak Gloves Review

Between Christmas and New Year's I biked into the office for three days, in bitter cold and blustery winds. My regular fleece gloves were not doing the trick and my thumbs got froze and painful by the end of the 2 mile trip.

I ordered a pair of Ibex Shak Gloves, which have leather on the palm and a double layer of wool on top, and didn't think that they would be terribly warm or windblocking for the bike ride, but this morning it was 25 degrees and my hands felt fine on the ride in. The fit is a little long in the fingers and that helps to trap air, but doesn't seem to interfere too much with dexterity.

A couple other pairs of gloves are on their way for review and testing, and I will keep you posted.

Ingenue

From Kima

Double Blink Picture Fail!

From J&H Photos General

New Year's Eve Dinner

Fergus Henderson's Duck Legs and Carrots. Lessons learned:

"Add chicken stock until duck legs are showing like alligators in a swamp" is not the same as 1 3/4 cups of stock.

From Food

From Food

This is too much. I unbasted most of the liquid about an hour through the 90 minute cooktime, but then we got to make it into soup with the leftover carrots the next day, so no harm no foul.

So you end up with this:

From Food

Bitman's Chicken Liver Pate ( a little blurry) - so cheap, so easy, so delish.

From Food

Duck, bread, and roasted teeny brussels sprouts. Happy 2010!

From Food

Oh yes and don't forget dessert - Molten Chocolate Lightning Cake.

From Food

Really, it takes ten minutes. I stole this from Hedonic Monica when looking for a chocolate dessert I could make in a ramekin. I used 54% Bakers semisweet chocolate.

1/2 c butter
4 oz dark chocolate (I use 62% Scharffen Berger)
1/4 c sugar (I use brown or white interchangebly)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp flour
pinch salt

berries, coulis, mint, chocolate sauce, fresh vanilla cream, or powdered sugar (for decor)


Butter and flour four ramekins. Preheat oven to 450. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt. Whisk in hot chocolate-butter mixture, slowly and carefully so not to create a chocolate omlette. Divide amongst ramekins. Either bake for 10-12 min (depending on how molten you prefer your center), or refrigerate until ready to use. After baking, run a knife around cake edge and turn carefully upside down onto a plate. Allow to set for 1 minute before pulling off ramekin. Decorate and serve warm.