Tragic Sandwich

There’s a cold going around that hits you, and then hits you again about two weeks later. I seem to be recovering from part 2 of this particular double-whammy. It’s been frustrating, because first of all it’s no fun to be sick and secondly because I haven’t gotten any exercise at all for the past week. Hopefully this week I’ll get back in gear.

Looking for a small, hole-in-the-wall local place with good and affordable Mexican/Salvadorean food? Try El Pueblo Viejo in Culver City. The chile rellenos are crisp, spicy, and cheesy, and the mole is dark and rich. The chips seemed a little overdone, but the salsa was terrific.

We went swimming yesterday. Sure, the weather seems to have been a little on the cool side–it may have gotten to the upper 60s–but with a heated pool, it’s not so bad.

I went for 400 meters, which will be more impressive when I can do it all at once, instead of in four 100-meter laps, with pauses in between. My goal is to be able to do 800 meters nonstop, because that’s twice the distance of the swim portion of the race. If I can do that, and get in a few ocean swimming sessions, I should be fine.

Then all I’ll have to do is learn to bike downhill.

I am going to take my out-of-shape self, and start training for The Triathlon at Pacific Grove. The sprint distance is the sprintiest I’ve seen, with a 1/4-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, and 2-mile run. Which I will walk.

Watch this space for training updates, and lots of whining.

I’ve discovered Ramayani, in Westwood. It’s on Westwood Boulevard, just north of Santa Monica, in a little rabbit warren of restaurants (and one dry cleaner). Although I haven’t eaten Indonesian food since a trip to The Netherlands more than 25 years ago, I will definitely go back for more. The bakmi ayam goreng is fantastic, and so are the corn fritters (for which I do not know the Indonesian name). This is not Thai food, and not Vietnamese–although some of the ingredients are similar, the results are very different. Try it. Enjoy.