Restaurants

I’m excited by the nearness of downtown restaurants like Victoria’s (faaaabulous Italian food) and Bilotti’s (cheesy pizza of heaven). It also looks like I’m surrounded by fast food (avoid avoid). And yesssss, I’m finally within spitting distance of an Indian restaurant (India Curry House here I come!).

Book Stores

Sadly, my proximity to book stores in not so good. At my current location, I’m within a mile of two used book stores–a real boon for me. At the new place, the closest book store is Barnes and Noble downtown (sorry Downtown Book and Video, you don’t count – no link, NSFW).

Parks

Decent distribution. Nothing super close, but I’m near Soldiers Field, which is hugemongous–that makes up for  some of what I will lack in proximity.

Bike Shops

Big win here. I’m now within less than a mile of my favorite bike shop in town, Ah Honest Bike Shop. Right now, the closest thing is Erik’s, which, to me, doesn’t count. A real bike shop should be a little bit dirty and a little bit cluttered–more focused on the bikes and less focused on looking pretty.

Ballroom Dancing

Another victory for the new house. (Technical problems with this map.) I’m now much closer to the three main dance venues I frequent: Dahl Dance Center, where I go for lessons, and the two places in town I like to go social dancing, Blue Moon and USA Dance.

It’s so easy to get lazy about being social when you live by yourself in a new town. Life revolves around work. I was shocked the other day to realize, when someone asked me, that I really identify myself by my job at Mayo. I never used to let my job be so much of who I am. Back in Madison, I often found it weird when other people would introduce themselves as graduate students or waiters or lawyers. To me, my job has always been something I do for money…hopefully not too demeaning, but not a significant part of my identity.

Now, I don’t have much else. I’m no longer married, so I’m not a wife. I’ve started taking dance lessons again so I’m a dancer. I go to the gym a lot so I’m a gym rat. And I have Stanley, so I’m a cat lady.

The reason I'm a cat lady. Wonderful fuzzy little guy.

It doesn’t feel right. I need to become more than this again. I never realized how much my sense of self is tied to the place I’m living and the lived history around me. It makes sense. They talk about how debilitating it is to send seniors to nursing homes. No wonder. They leave themselves behind when they leave their homes.

Mom talks about how she doesn’t want to let happen to her what happened to her parents. How she wants to make sure she makes her big move while she’s still young enough to cope with the change. If it’s as hard or harder than what I’m experiencing now, then I definitely think she will be wise to do so. And it’s a lesson for my future too.

Enough of this melancholy train of thought. The upshot of all of this…the happy thought…is that I need to start rocking it. Sounds so silly. I kind of grimace. But it’s a good philosophy of life. It’s what I need right now.  I will make the effort to go dancing as much as possible, because that’s an identity I want to develop. I will continue to work out–that’s another. And I will call the people I need to call to start making connections around here rather than being so passive about my social life. I will. I need to. It’s time. I’m on month six here in Minnesota. It’s time.

Not a photo I took. But I did see a lot of big dice. Really big dice. Dice 6 feet tall. Not really.

told that many gamers still gripe about the move from downtown Milwaukee. In my opinion, Indy was a fine location, much preferable to Milwaukee. The only thing downtown Milwaukee really has going for it is, well, not much. Wisconsin gamers enjoyed the easy distance to Gencon during its years in Milwaukee (and in its earliest years, Lake Geneva). But Indy is a much better draw for the rest of the country, with a decent airport and lots of hotels and restaurants.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon in a packed VW and promptly off-loaded: me, to go check in at my hotel and wander; my car mates, to check at their own (different) hotel and rush over to an evening game.

There are a wealth of hotel choices in downtown Indy. My car mates stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn; I stayed at the Sheraton. Over the course of the convention, I spent lots of time in both hotels, as well as in small parts of the Hyatt and the Embassy Suites. I can say, quite authoritatively, that the HGI is a better deal, overall, than the Sheraton.

• The HGI had nicer, more open room layouts and friendlier staff, plus a killer deal on the breakfast buffet: just a small $1 daily add-on per person on the room bill. And we’re talking a REAL buffet and even solicitous servers who stop by to ask if you would like any tea, coffee, or juice. And they were really cool with me stopping over with my tub of takeout Au Bon Pain oatmeal when I wanted to eat with my friends.

• The Sheraton was a little cheaper, I think. It also had a breakfast buffet of sorts, but it was much more limited, usually featuring only one egg and cheese hot dish, and the standard bagels and cereal—not bad, but I was jealous when I saw what my friends got. Plus, the Sheraton didn’t serve breakfast at all on the weekends, so for two of the five mornings we were there, I had to hoof it over to Au Bon Pain for breakfast (on the fifth morning, my friends gave me their extra meal voucher). The only complaint I recall about the HGI was that they were stingy with the towels, even after repeated requests.

• I briefly visited the Embassy Suites one evening. I hear they are one of the few places downtown that actually has “suite” hotel rooms with, you know, multiple rooms and stuff. The ES are also much more convenient to many of the gaming facilities and the Convention Center. Anyway, I can’t speak about the rooms from personal experience, but I hear they’re nice. And the downstairs lobby is really something. Nice big open space full of the sound of running water, ringed around with balconies.

I spent a lot of time gaming in the Hyatt and the Crowne Plaza. I can’t comment on much except the conference rooms we used, which were nice. And the staff seemed pretty attentive. When we inevitably exhausted their supply of paper water cups toward the end of the convention, they started giving us whatever they had in stock…including some comical, squat little plastic thingies. A for effort.

More commentary to come.

I’ve never paid attention. Up until this very moment, when I’ve thought about nutrition, my brain has stopped at fat and calories, with occasional forays into concerns about sodium and cholesterol. I’ve written entire articles about the importance of Vitamin A, but never really let the message sink in.  How do I expect my readers to care if I don’t really pay attention? Is that any indication of the way my readers view my articles? Just fluff, not to be taken seriously?

I hope not.

Magnesium comes from foods like leafy greens (which I get some of, depending on the week), nuts and soybeans

I should eat more of these. Good news, I like these, just need to accomplish both the buying AND the eating.

(hardly ever), halibut (can’t remember the last time), and quinoa (I have a wonderful asparagus quinoa salad I was intending to make this spring, but never got around to).

I think the message to me is that I don’t get enough magnesium And I’m not alone.

According to Web MD, many people in the U.S. don’t get enough. So that means a lot of people are suffering from magnesium deficiency. They have symptoms like:

• High blood pressure
• Sleep problems
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Osteoporosis

On and on.  It makes me wonder. How many people go to a psychiatrist with sleep and depression issues who just need to eat better?

They say magnesium can also come from dairy food, so I guess I’ve got that covered.  And some fruits, which I should still eat more of.

Mid year resolution: Eat more magnesium.

And maybe I should watch my other vitamin and mineral intake too. Do my food journal in earnest for once, and watch something other than calories-in and calories-out.

I need to weigh my options based on more than just calories.

Starting today.

What a great day to start.

CWs: So where are you going on Wednesday? You’re gone for, like, four days. Gonna hit the beach? Get some sun?

Me: Um, no. Actually I’ll be inside most of the time. I’m going to Gencon in Indianapolis.

CWs: Gencon? What’s that?

Me: It’s an RPG convention.

CWs: What’s an RPG?

Me: RPG. Role Playing Game. It’s like interactive storytelling… There are all sorts of different games…

CWs: Interactive storytelling, that sounds weird. So have I heard of any of them?

Me: [Scrambling mentally for an example other than D&D]. Well there are all sorts of different types of games. *Sigh* But you’ve probably heard of Dungeons and Dragons…

CWs: Dungeons and Dragons! *Snicker* So, do you, like, dress up and stuff?

Me: Who me? Oh no. I mean, some people do. But most people just wear regular clothes. I mean, it’s just a table top game, like monopoly.

CWs: So you’re going to Indianapolis to play Monopoly?

D&D, the sourge of my IRE

I try to be a good ambassador for roleplaying, but sometimes it’s so hard to bore my way through all the false perceptions out there:

- Roleplaying is violent

- Roleplaying is about dressing up in fake-period costumes and engaging in bad improv acting.

- Roleplaying is for nerd/dweebs/dorks/miscellaneous pimply, unbathed social misfits who can’t get a date and will die alone of a heart attack brought on by triple pepperoni and  Mt. Dew poisoning.

- Girls don’t roleplay.

- Roleplaying is for people who can’t deal with real life.

And on, and on.

Dogs in the Vineyard, one of the much better representations of RPGs

How do I explain to these people how cool, how fulfilling, how utterly neat RPGs are in the short time I have between explaining the acronym and the onset of dweeb-evading disdain and scorn?

And how do I avoid the curse of D&D. D&D often seems necessary in defining roleplaying. And D&D itself includes so many of the things I do not want to communicate about roleplaying. All the stupid tropes. The sexism, violence, and greed. Roleplaying can be about so much more. It’s fascinating, it’s social, and it’s what you make of it.

Oh well, I’ve gone through the ordeal a couple of times today.

Only a couple more tomorrow and then I’m off.

I’m planning to tweet my experiences along with photos. #MyFirstGencon. Maybe I’ll even blog about it too.

Still, the scenery was lovely. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Rebecca riding past Longenecker Gardens

The obligatory "party" shot

The best Curry Squash in Madison, right here.

Last night, my friend Nat and I took a birthday trip to Lao Laan-Xang—the Laotian restaurant I’ve been dying to visit since I moved to the Atwood neighborhood.

I love Lao-Thai food, so I’ll likely try any restaurant of that type at least once. I admit I’d forgotten all about it, but my curiosity was recently re-piqued during a conversation with my hair stylist. I mentioned how difficult it was to find a Thai restaurant in the Midwest that truly made spicy food. She immediately recommended Lao Laan-Xang. My stylist is a spicy lady herself—a snappy dresser who wields a mean scissors, and with excellent taste in just about everything else we’ve discussed. I’m inclined to trust her judgment.

We walked the few blocks from my front door down to the restaurant and were immediately ushered to a table. The dining room was only moderately crowded—about what you would expect for dinner time on a weekday. It didn’t take us long to peruse the menu because I knew exactly what I wanted. Every time I visit a Lao-Thai restaurant for the first time, I order the same thing.

Curry Squash. It’s love. It’s destiny. It’s eternal frustration.

10 years ago, when I was a freshman at UW-Madison, I fell in love with the Sukho Thai  cart on Library Mall. I tried just about everything they offered, but ended up carrying on a four-year affair with the squash curry. The yellow, spicy sauce had the perfect consistency. The two or three kinds of squash, the perfect texture and creaminess. And just a hint of fragrant, green-tasting Thai basil. Heaven in a Styrofoam tray.

The vanished, much-beloved Sukho Thai cart on Library Mall.

Then the cart vanished, and the restaurant with it. And my unsuccessful quest for a curry fix began.

And it ended yesterday at Lao Laan-Xang.

If possible, it is better than the curry squash I remember. Fragrant and delicious. Hotter than we expected (we ordered two stars out of a possible four). To die for. And only $11.75.

The rest of the meal was fantastic too. To start, we split the Grilled Chicken Satay appetizer ($7.25). This is easily one of the best appetizers I’ve ever been served at a restaurant. Piping hot spears of grilled, garlicky chicken served with a sweet and salty, perfectly spicy peanut sauce. With a cucumber salad on the side—ideal for cleansing the palate between bites.

Not the curry we ate, but it looks like it.

We also split a Thai iced tea (about $2). Also the best I’ve ever had. Complex flavors, richly sweet, with a refreshing “tea” taste at the finish that kept it from being too heavy.

The bill for the two of us came to about $22.

I would glady, almost feverishly agree to return to this place. It’s a Lao-Thai orgasm of a restaurant. And it’s only three blocks away.

My wallet is in deep trouble.

Menu Price Range: $1.75 – $15.99

Locations:

2098 Atwood Ave, Madison – (608) 819-0140

1146 Williamson St, Madison – (608) 280-0104

Hours:

Lunch 11:30 am – 3 pm (Monday – Saturday)

Dinner 5-9 pm (Sunday – Thursday), 5-10 pm (Friday & Saturday)

• Preformed retinoids, a “processed” form of Vitamin A found in animal foods like dairy, liver, and eggs.
• Provitamin carotinoids, an “unprocessed” form of Vitamin A found in plant foods like carrots, leafy greens, and other colorful fruits and vegetables. The human body converts provitamin carotinoids into preformed retinoids.

Since Vitamin A is a fat-soluble nutrient, it’s often stored in your liver and other body tissues and does not pass out of your body easily. For this reason, you should avoid consuming excessive amounts of Vitamin A. Too much can lead to Vitamin A toxicity, which can cause headaches, dizziness, fatigue, blurry vision, and nausea. Severe toxicity can result in permanent eye and liver damage and even birth defects in pregnant women.

• Skim milk (1 cup) 150 μg
• Cheddar cheese (1 ounce) 75 μg
• Lowfat yogurt, plain (1 cup) 34 μg
• Eggs (1 large) 84 μg
• Beef liver (3 ounces) 6,450 μg
• Carrots (1 large) 433 μg
• Spinach (1 cup) 140 μg
• Mango (1 cup) 63 μg
• Tomato juice (1 cup) 56 μg
• Cantaloupe (1 cup) 264 μg

It’s fairly easy for most people to meet their daily requirements. However, some people on restrictive diets or those who suffer from medical conditions that interfere with fat absorption (like celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, or pancreatic disorders), may need to take a Vitamin A supplement.

Multivitamins often contain 60 percent or more of the Recommended Dietary Allowance. Check the label to make sure your supplement does not contain excessive amounts of Vitamin A. As we mentioned in the last issue of Alive & Well, make sure your supplement has the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) seal of approval. This means the supplement has been tested and contains the amount of vitamins and minerals shown on the label.

• Breakfast: 1 cup plain oatmeal with ½ cup skim milk, 1 banana,1 cup orange juice (90 μg)
• Lunch: 1 cup vegetable soup, 1 cup romaine salad with ½ medium tomato (385 μg)
• Dinner: 1 broiled boneless skinless chicken breast, ½ cup green beans, 1 small roasted sweet potato (675 μg)

  Total = 1,150 μg

Sources: American Dietetics Association, the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, the Mayo Clinic

Vitamin A amounts calculated using the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion Assess Your Food Intake tool.