Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

Lasagna Cupcakes

When Intelligentsia Coffee opened in Pasadena recently, I was intrigued the lasagna cupcakes they served. The cupcakes are made by Heirloom LA, a catering business. About the size of a muffin, a single lasagna cupcake was a delicious meal.
After seeing how much my daughter enjoyed them (she ate my entire cupcake and I had to order a second one), I decided I had to try making them at home.
After a bit of research, here is my method. The girls love them and take them to school as lunch.

The ingredients are fairly simple. Mozzarella, Ricotta, and Parmesan cheese, marinara sauce, meat (if you so desire), and wonton/gyoza wrappers. The key item here is the wrappers. The Asian wrappers are used for making wontons and potstickers most of the time, but here they replace the lasagna noodle. The difference between the wonton and gyzoa wrappers is that the wonton ones are square and the gyoza ones are round. I highly suggest the gyoza wrappers.

Spray or wipe the cupcake tin with olive oil for prevent sticking and add a little flavor. Put the wrapper in the tin and form it into a cup shape. Then a small dollop of pasta sauce. Ricotta cheese is next to add the traditional lasagna taste and texture. I then add a little Parmesan to bring out the flavor. One daughter doesn’t like meat, so her’s are cheese only. The other daughter gets a sprinkling of browned Italian sausage.

Once you filled in the first layer, gently press another wrapper in, forming another cup.

Once you’ve placed the second wrapper, repeat the filling as you see fit. Mine are split between cheese and sausage versions.

A bit of Mozzarella cheese on top of it all. I put a sprinkle of Parmesan on as well, as the saltiness brings out the flavor in the Mozzarella and I love Parmesan cheese.

I baked them for 20 minutes at 375° F and then come out perfectly browned.

If you remembered to use olive oil, they should slide out easily with top crispy and the wrapper moist and tender.
You can do pretty much anything you want as filling from more meats to a vegan version. The key is using the wonton/gyoza wrappers as they make it simple and quick to do the prep.
The small cupcake size works well for us. A larger muffin size would make them almost too big for the kids and not as easy to reheat.
I hope you enjoy them if you give this a try.

On Hating The Superbowl

Today is the day that many people choose to complain or be dismissive of the Superbowl.
I get it. The rise of microblogging, texting, and social media have given everyone the ability to publish their thoughts for others to read and that is a good thing. The Superbowl is a huge athletic, commercial and social event in America and will be the target of much commentary today.
There are people that go out of their way to make sure we all know how much they dislike the Superbowl and try to be as dismissive of it as possible. Usually their critique breaks down into one of the three main lines:
1) There’s more important things to worry about…
2) People shouldn’t like watching sports…
3) It’s too commercial and corporate…
And they are probably right, but it doesn’t make complaining about the Superbowl a good thing to do.
This post is for those of you that can’t wait for your harsh Superbowl commentary to begin.
When you are dismissive and mocking of something you disapprove of on a cultural basis, such as the Superbowl, you aren’t changing anyone’s mind, you are just being a jerk and raining on someone else’s fun. Don’t be a jerk.
That band you like? Yeah, a lot of people hate it, but they don’t mock you. The pictures of your kids/pets? Most pictures only appeal to a small number of people, but others don’t say they look average or make fun on them do they? What you like for dinner? What TV show or movie you liked? What you think is a good deal to buy? Most people disagree with you, but are kind enough not to mock you publicly.
We get it. You don’t like the Superbowl, for your perfectly justifiable position. Great. Don’t watch it. But don’t be a jerk to those that want to enjoy it.
Go do what you enjoy. Tweet about what you are doing for fun, not about what you are NOT doing.
Personally, I like the Superbowl as a celebration of what people can do in sport and their commitment to working hard as opposed to traditional holidays that celebrate a myth or the achievements of a dead person. Other holidays have their place, but the Superbowl is a celebration of active human endeavor.
Please consider what you say/post not just on Superbowl Sunday, but everyday. Are you being harsh in your comments because it will have some positive effect, or simply to make yourself look better and seem cool? You have every right to be a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk to many people that are doing nothing wrong but enjoying their life in a way you don’t.
“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” – Dalai Lama

Last Day of Movember

Today is the last day of Movember. The Mo is in full bloom.

Please consider donating to help fight prostate cancer.

Mindless Link Propagation

These things are worth your time to read:
Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving – This literally brought tears to my eyes as I read it and laughed so hard I snorted. Be sure to catch this one about Simple Dog as well.
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web – An amazing example of HTML5 and good explanations of the current internet to less tech savvy people. If only the whole web worked this way…
Color names if you are a man or a woman – Even made Michele laugh.
Two Hipsters and a Bong – Youtube clip 1:46 long, worth it
I made a fun poster.
The Great Cyberheist – A superb NY Times article on criminal hacking.

Movember 2010 – The Return of the Mo

Why is November a hard month at Cruft Manor? Because it’s Movember, the month when I grow a mustache for charity.
This is the third year I’ve grow a mustache to help raise money to fight prostate cancer. Prostate cancer hits 1 on 3 men. Most people know a man in their family that’s been affected by this terrible disease. The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG use the money to help men with cancer and fund research.
I’m asking you to donate to the cause.
As you can see from the pictures on the Movember site and below, facial hair comes on strong with me. As my brother Matt says “Pusateri facial hair is an relentless force of nature. You can’t stop it; you can only hope to contain it.”

So far I’ve been asked if I’m an Air Marshal when checking into a flight at the airport, and as you can see above, I’m rocking the school principal look now. As usual, Michele and the girls eagerly await the end of the month when they can shave it off, like in previous years: 2009 & 2008.
I know money’s tighter for many than it’s been in the past, but if you can spare a donation, I’d be grateful. Thanks in advance.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was last night, and we were up to our usual tricks. For year six of handing out full size candy the magic continues. Children are wowed and often shocked at the idea of receiving and full size candy bar when the rest of the night is filled with minis. The cries of ‘awesome’ and ‘look Mom, it’s a big one’ are great.

Due to technical difficulties (the camera could not be found) I was unable to make the timelapse movie of handing out candy. next year, I vow to start preparing to make the movie before 5PM on Halloween.
As I have in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 I asked every person what they were dressed as and wrote down the answers. I am careful to ask what they are, accepting their answers rather than interpreting what I see. I now have six years of data to compare.
Here are the top ten costumes for the last six years compared.

It seems that Witch once again remains in the top spot with a surprising challenge by Minnie Mouse making a run for the crown. I was happy to note that besides the one Grabby Grandma who reached in a grabbed a candy bar without saying a word or even looking at me, everyone was in costume. No one said they were dressed as nothing this year. The nerd costume was new as it involved a shirt buttoned to the neck and large black glasses. The majority of costumes were homemade and a lot of thought went into most of the non-scary ones. The scary ones are basically a mask with a bloody or ripped shirt.
Nate the son of one of my riding buddies came dressed as Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python & the Holy Grail. I forgot to snap a picture, but he had the headgear perfect. I also enjoyed these two homemade Rorschachs.

Well played Gentlemen.
At first we feared it would be a slow night due to Halloween being on Sunday, but by 9PM when we closed up, out of candy, over 200 people had stopped by.
This year’s complete costume list of 212 people:
10 Witch
7 Minnie Mouse
7 Pirate
5 Clone Trooper
5 Princess
4 Nerd
4 Ninja
4 Spiderman
3 Alice in Wonderland
3 Belle
3 Fireman
3 Jessie
3 Jester
3 Ladybug
3 Mario
3 Scream
3 Snow White
3 Woody
2 80s Girl
2 Bumblebee
2 Cat
2 Dracula
2 Freddy Krueger
2 Harry Potter
2 Indian
2 Indian Chief
2 Lightning McQueen
2 Luigi
2 Queen of Hearts
2 Raggedy Ann
2 Rorschach
2 Skeleton
2 Wolfman
1 “Obama is the Anti-Christ”
1 “the Grudge”
1 20s dancer
1 50s Rockabilly Girl
1 Abby (Sesame Street)
1 Angel
1 Ballerina
1 Bear
1 Belly Dancer
1 Bloody Guy
1 Blueberry
1 Buckethead
1 Butterfly
1 Cat in the Hat
1 Cheerleader
1 Child of our Generation
1 Cinderella
1 Concert Master
1 Cookie Monster
1 Cow
1 Crystal Skull
1 Cut Guy
1 Darth Maul
1 Darth Vader
1 Dead Sailor
1 Demon
1 Devil
1 Dinosaur
1 Doctor
1 Doctor Superman
1 Dodger
1 Dragon
1 Elmo
1 Evil Goat
1 Fairy
1 Flying Monkey
1 Football Player
1 Frankenstein
1 Gangster
1 Ghost
1 Ghoul
1 Go Go Girl
1 Grabby Grandma
1 Grampa
1 Guitar
1 Half-Reaver
1 Hippie Girl
1 Hobo Zombie
1 Iron Chef
1 Jailbird
1 Jason Voorhees
1 Joker
1 Ketchup Bottle
1 Kitty Cat
1 Little Red Riding Hood
1 Mad Hatter
1 Masked Person
1 Mickey Mouse
1 Miss South Pasadena
1 Monster
1 Monster Ninja
1 Moose
1 Mummy
1 Optimus Prime
1 Oscar the Grouch
1 Peacock
1 Pirate Lady
1 Pirate Wench
1 Pocahontas
1 Prisoner Clown
1 Prussia from Hetalia
1 Punk
1 Punk Girl
1 Punk Rocker
1 Reaver
1 Referee
1 Robert Plant
1 Russia from Hetalia
1 Sailor
1 Sally
1 Scarecrow
1 Selene from Underworld
1 Sheep Herder
1 Skater
1 Skeleton Boy
1 Skeleton Zombie
1 Slipknot Guy
1 Smurfette
1 Snow Queen
1 Soccer Player
1 Thomas the Tank Engine
1 Tiana
1 Tim the Enchanter
1 Tinkerbell
1 Unicorn
1 Vampire Victim
1 Venom
1 Victorian Queen
1 White Rabbit
1 Winnie the Pooh
1 Witch Vampire
1 Wizard
1 Zodiac Killer
1 Zombie
1 Zombie Princess
1 Zombie Skeleton

Healthmonth

For the month of October, I’ve been playing Healthmonth, a site set up to help you meet health goals in a game like way. I learned of Healthmonth from Matt Haughey’s post about it. Matt’s right, it’s a good site.
I’ve really enjoyed playing Healthmonth, even though it adds a little stress to my life. Amazingly, I am quite motivated to meet my Healthmonth goals even though all failure means is losing virtual points. I’ve found myself out for a run or eating fruit at 9PM just to meet my Healthmonth goals.

You can view my profile here and see what I was trying to do. I learned that I needed to think out my month before setting goals. Initially I had put in riding my bike 80 miles a week. This means 3 good rides, at least, to meet this per week. In reality, rain, triathlon training, travel factored in and I could only meet this goal one week out of the month. For November, I’m going to make my goals a bit more flexible to match up with the fact that I’ll be traveling and the holidays.
If you want to improve your health or even just do more blogging, you might consider playing Healthmonth. It might just be the small push you need to stick with it during the week and make the changes you want. You can make any kind of custom goal you want and the site will track it for you. Since I paid for a membership, I think I can sponsor people if they want to play.
The guy behind the site, Buster Benson is sharp and always improving the way things work in response to that players want. I’d love to see more interaction between players the idea of group & team challenges beyond personal goals. Imagine a team goal to run 200 miles as a group or have 30 vegan days per month. Accountability to a group is a strong motivator. So go sign up for Healthmonth now.

Triathlon Update

This is an update on what happened at the triathlon I mentioned in my last post.
I got up early Saturday morning to the sound of rain drops. Not really processing this, I got up, ate some oatmeal, got dressed in my laid out kit, grabbed my gear bag, and headed out the door. My bike was already in the car. The car was covered in dew and there was a light mist in the air, but I didn’t think much of this.
As I got onto the freeway headed to Carson, I noticed more and more rain and by the time I got to Downtown, the wipers were needed to keep the windshield clear. Upon arrival in Carson, it was full on raining on me. Besides a few empty tents I cold see no organization and had no idea where the transition area was. Sitting in the car for a half hour, I wondered what was going to happened. More cars arrived and I wandered out to figure out the situation. It was light enough to see the transition area in a grassy area off the road.
Grabbing my bike and gear bag, I headed up to get ready. Stepping onto the grass in transition, I sank a good three inches into the mud due to rain. This was the point I said to myself, “What the fuck are you doing here?” The feeling passed and I racked my bike.
A few minutes later I heard a voice call out to me. I turned around and saw it was Michael Pajaro aka Mr. P aka NeopreneWedgie, my coworker who had just completed the Kona Ironman a few weeks ago. He was holding a sign for me and there to root me on. I was touched that he made it out into the rain to cheer me on in the tiny triathlon I was about to run.

We chatted a bit and then I laid out my gear on my towel. With nothing else to do, I walked around with Mike waiting for the start. He did his best to keep me positive and gave me good tips like wear as little as possible on the run, even though it’s raining.
Soon enough the race began and I was running. The run was good. I met up with a woman from the company tri team and we ran together the last half or so. I felt good the whole way through.

Mr. P cheered me through transition and I was on the bike quickly. Everyone told me not to wear gloves ont eh bike, but to be honest, I wish I had put them in the bento box on my bike to put on once I was rolling. After thousands of miles wearing gloves, it felt weird to be bare handed.
Since the cycling part was the easiest for me, I didn’t look much into the route. I knew we did a few laps to get to 12 miles and then into transition. I whipped around the course three times and heard the guy at the lap turn point say “3 this way, 4 this way” I said “I’ve done 3 laps.” and he pointed me up the road, not toward another lap. I looked down at my bike computer and saw it was only at 9 miles. Soon I was almost at T2 and I said to the rade officials that I was only at 9 miles and they said I was supposed to do 4 laps. They told me to head in anyways. I wasn’t going to knowingly bail on part of the triathlon, so I turned around and went out to do another lap. You can hit the player on my Garmin track and see the silliness.

After lap 4 I got to T2 and headed toward the swim. This is the hard part for me. I had only started swimming on October 1st, so that meant only 3 weeks of training. I walked into the pool area to a wall of sound with tons of people and the announcer on PA yelling “Six times across and you’re done!” I rinsed out my goggles and slipped into the water and swam. It was not the most beautiful swim stroke nor the fastest, as many passed me, but I did not drown. I kept hearing Coach Steve’s voice saying, “Head down, legs up, glide!” the whole time.

And it was over. I was now a triathlete. Greeting me at the finish was my Dad and Mr. P.

I am thankful to my wife Michele, who inspired me to start cycling and was nothing but positive about the tri, to Coach Steve Mackel who taught me the proper way to run and swim, and to Mike Pajaro, who answered all my tri questions at work, was there on race day, and took all these wonderful photos.
Of course I am keeping this in perspective. I did a sprint triathlon. Compared to the Ironman level completions (Mr. P’s Kona medal shown for scale), it was a light workout. I plan to do more triathlons in the future. Hopefully they will go smoother in better weather.

The Slim Clip Wallet

For years, I used a wallet made from baseball leather. I loved that wallet, but I was often accused of having a “Costanza wallet“. As I tried to reduce the amount of crap I carry, I decided to try a new wallet.
I discussed the idea of a slim, minimal wallet. Many had suggestions. I was a bit hesitant to try the rubber band and/or binder clip method. My co-worker Jason swore by using the Slim Clip. The Slim Clip is advertised on TV a bit, so you may have seen it. The Slim Clip website is here, but I warn you they have an auto-play video that starts up as the page loads and is loud.
I’ve been using the Slim Clip for about 6 months now and here’s my review.

The Slim Clip is stamped steel bent carefully into shape to hold bills on one side and cards on the other. The card holding works well. I haven’t ever had cards slip out unexpectedly or trouble getting cards out, unless I shove too many in.

The cash clip works OK, but it took me some time to get used to putting the dollar bills back in securely. I like to carry cash, so having this work well is important to me. I found the clip will easily hold 20 bills. After that, it starts to get too snug. I found that if I try to push the limit, the metal actually bends and doesn’t hold as tight. I’ve used needle nose pliers a few times to bend the clip back tighter.

The biggest challenge I ran into was simply choosing what to carry. In the past I used to keep pretty much everything that would fit. With the Slim Clip, I really had to reduce down. As you can see, it holds 6 cards, with just a little extra space. I carry a Starbucks Card (mainly to protect the other cards but also helpful with a Starbucks in our building), my Driver’s License, two debit cards from our different banks (you do have two banks right, just in case of identity theft, right?), my company credit card, my health insurance card, and the member cards to the gym and pool center.
At first, I thought I would never be able to get by with just 6 cards, but I haven’t had a problem. When on vacation or business trips, I replace the Starbucks card with the hotel card key.
Overall, I’m happy I made the switch to a small wallet. It’s not the ultimate minimalist, but it’s good for me. At under $10 for a Slim Clip, it’s cheap as well.
What do you use?