short takes

[cellio]

Embla is two for two with the attic renovations. Today I came home to find that the door to the attic was closed, with her on the other side of the door. And much of the floor freshly painted. I didn't explore for kitty footprints in the paint. (And this is after I told the contractor that the cats like to hide up there...)

Last night's D&D game was fun. It looked like it was going to be a "sideline" story, just a random adventure and excuse to play with some new toys, and it turned out to be part of the overall story. I thought that was nifty. It looked like Ralph meant for it to be a little more threatening than it turned out to be; calibrating adventures has got to be hard.

Someone described to me an easy sauce for salmon: take sour cream and dijon mustard in approximately equal quantities, mix, spread over salmon, bake. (I always bake salmon wrapped up in foil so it doesn't dry out.) We had this tonight and it was tasty.

According to fitday.com, I get more than the RDA of most vitamins (300% of Vitamin A this past month, 240% of Vitamin C, a few other high numbers, and most others in the 100-120% range). There are two exceptions: Vitamin D at 52% and Vitamin K (what the heck is that?) at 33%. They do not, however, provide the next step in useful feedback: what foods would change that.

(While I'm being statistical, over that same month I've averaged (daily) 80g of protein, 57g of fat, 210g carb, 19g fiber, with saturated, poly, and mono fats being pretty much evenly split. I don't know if this is actually good.)

I was a little disappointed by tonight's "West Wing". The topic of parental degeneration (Alzheimer's) is hard to do well in 43 minutes, but I've come to expect the nearly-impossible from this show and this time it didn't quite work. Oh well. (On a related note, we borrowed "Sports Night" tapes recently; I hope to sit down to watch several episodes in the next few days. Right after Shabbat, perhaps.)

I got some much-needed QA resources at work today, and this has done much to increase my confidence in a part of my work for this next release. Yay, QA!

Comments

[moose]

vitamin K is Mister Clotting Vitamin.

Really. Apparently the K comes from the german word for "blood clotting".

Foods good in K leafy green veggies and soybeans and cauliflowers.

Vitamin K deficiency is rare since the body makes some itself. Unless your'e having clotting problems, it's generally not a worry. However there's some belief that K may contribute to bone density as we age.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002407.htm
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminK/

Vitamin D is mostly gained from dairy products and Mister Sunshine. Put on your sunblock and spend a little time in the sun.

[cellio]

K: thanks for the info. Ironically, roasted soybeans are one of my standard junk foods, and I eat a reasonable amount of broccoli and cauliflower. Not enough, it would appear, unless their software or the RDA is buggy.

Put on your sunblock and spend a little time in the sun.

In Pittsburgh? What is this "sun" you speak of? :-)

Seriously, if sunlight is a significant source then that's a fundamental deficiency in this program (or my use of it); it tracks food, not food and sun exposure. So I guess I do better than these numbers suggest. In the summer I do get a decent amount of sun (not dark but not pasty either), and I don't use sunscreen so it all gets through.

[moose]

Everything I've read indicates that unless you have a problem with clotting, you're getting plenty of vitamin K, and a deficiency in adults is rare.

[marnen.livejournal.com]

Yup. I think the German word is "Koagulation" or something like that.

Gee, this is the second time I've had this conversation in about three days....?

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I was expecting it to be a bit more challenging, yes. On the other hand, there was ample healing available, so I knew that there was no way I was going to challenge you much. :)

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I was a little disappointed by tonight's "West Wing".

syrrichard loves West Wing, but I've always had trouble getting into it. Last night's show was different and I actually watched it, but I'd have to agree; it wasn't poorly done, but I didn't find it particularly well done either.

I'm looking forward to watching Enterprise. I think it's (slowly) getting better. We had to tape it because we were dealing with the soggy clothes left when the washing machine exploded.

[marnen.livejournal.com]

Another good sauce for salmon: Worcestershire sauce, mixed with (some or all of) paprika, lemon juice, onion powder (let stand 10 minutes to rehydrate). The original recipe called for the fish to be baked, but if you grill it, the Worcestershire sauce dries out and becomes a sort of caramelized glaze. Very tasty.

[cellio]

Ooh, sounds great! I will give that a try with my new grill. :-)