I spent the last week in Asheville, North Carolina at one of my favorite dance events in the world, Lindy Focus. Focus is a seven day celebration of swing jazz and lindy hop held in a hotel just outside of downtown Asheville. Some of the best swing musicians and dancers in the world gather with…
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How to Cook Scrambled Eggs with Just a Whisk and a Pan
I eat a lot of eggs. For the past couple of years, I have started almost every day with some form of cooked egg. So I've had a lot of time to experiment with different ways of making them. I have found the easiest, quickest, most tasty way of making scrambled eggs that results in…
The 2017 SF Kouign Amann Tour: b. Patisserie versus Craftsman and Wolves!
Last weekend I organized the second annual San Francisco Kouign Amann Tour. When I put out the word that I was organizing a tour, there was a huge burst of enthusiasm and related emoji from my friends. In the end, we had a hungry group of eight pastry-nerds assembled. But where to go? Last year,…
Study of 135K Individuals Concludes High Carb Diet Linked to Higher Mortality
Here’s something to make you reconsider that bowl of pasta. The largest global study looking at environmental, societal and biological influences on obesity and chronic health conditions just released their findings, and it doesn’t look good for carb-based diets. Led by co-investigators Drs. Salim Yusuf and Koon Teo at McMaster University, this mega study of…
Josephine Baker Was a Badass
I stumbled upon this clip of jazz dancer Josephine Baker in the Huntley Archives, dated sometime in the 1920s. For those who don't know, Josephine Baker was a legendary American artist and performer who gained her fame in France, primarily as a jazz dancer. Baker was the first person of color to become a world-famous entertainer…
How to Exercise: Keep Moving, Do What You Love
I realize that I haven't written much about my exercise practices, as much as I write about food choices and diet. Obviously exercise is as important to health as diet. (But diet is much more important than exercise for weight control.) Here's what a typical week looks like for me these days. I don't have…
Second Month of Bouldering: Falling a Lot, Having a Blast
I've been bouldering pretty consistently for the past couple of months at Planet Granite, which has been a lot of fun and a very different kind of workout for me. I really enjoy working on a particular route, figuring out specific problems, falling a lot, and then eventually finding the solve. So satisfying. I vary…
Why I Need Lindy Hop
Voon and Veronica at Central Park Swings, 2008 Every once in awhile I feel guilty about all the time and energy I spend on dancing, when I could be out fighting injustice, building homes for the poor or lobbying Congress more. And then I finish a kick-ass dance weekend and head off to my job…
Less Coffee = More Energy
About 2 months ago, I was noticing a significant energy drop at around 2-3pm everyday which was bothering me. I had cut out heavy, carb-filled lunches, ate little to no sugar, got a decent amount of sleep (7-8 hours a night.) And still I was struggling to stay away in the late afternoons without external…
Gemini’s Awesome Janet Jackson “Rhythm Nation” Costume (with MJ!)
Sometimes the Internet is a depressing place. Full of trolls, creeps and evildoers. But sometimes it makes cool stuff happen, like today. Gemini is a young woman who saw my post about creating a Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation" costume and used it to make her own wonderful version of it. She just sent me the…