Off topic

Jul 30 2018
Corinne McKay

Travel: Back from Beautiful British Columbia!

After a thoroughly relaxing month off (well, minus the day that my bike was stolen off our car in Missoula, Montana…but that’s another story!), I’m back in the office as of today. As usual, the complete break from work really cleared my head and gave me some good new perspectives on where I’d like my freelance business to head in the remaining half–well, almost half–of 2018. My family spent the month of July on an epic mountain biking road trip from our home in Boulder, Colorado, to the wilds of British Columbia, including such mountain biking hotspots as Vancouver’s North Shore, Squamish, Whistler, Kamloops, and Rossland. Although Italy will always have a special place in my heart as a biking destination, BC was pretty incredible and we’re already plotting a return trip in the not-too-distant future.

I’ve beaten this drum many times, but just as a refresher, here’s how you take real vacations as a freelancer:

Make sure that you’re charging enough for your freelance services that you can afford to take time off
Create a paid vacation account, and–either routinely or periodically–deposit money into that account, then use the stored balance to pay yourself during the time that you’re not working
Alert your clients that you will be on vacation, and provide them with the name of at least one trusted colleague who can fill in for you while you’re away
Put your trusted colleague’s contact information on your e-mail auto-responder and your voicemail, so that clients aren’t left in the lurch when you’re not available
UNPLUG. Trust me, it’s possible, if you set things up properly in advance. I’ve been taking a month off in the summers for almost 10 years, and to my knowledge, I’ve never lost a client because of it. No one is indispensable, and time off–even if you take a week instead of a month–is critical to your mental and physical health.

Happy summer to all of you, and I look forward to what’s ahead in the rest of 2018!

Nov 28 2017
Corinne McKay

Completely off-topic: Make a chocolate salami as a holiday treat

I took last week off to mountain bike in the Utah desert with my family (it was stellar, thanks for asking!), so I thought I’d ease back in to real life with an OT post. I like to cook, and I also like to combine creativity and cooking. Past off-topic posts on this theme have included:

How to make Halloween sugar skulls
How to make chocolate truffles for yourself or as a gift
How to make this really incredible whole-grain walnut bread that, to my knowledge, is found only in certain bakeries in Switzerland

When we got back from vacation, I felt like doing some experimental holiday cooking, ahead of the real holiday cooking season where people outside my immediate family will be eating the results. Ever since we spent the summer of 2016 in Northern Italy, I’ve been lusting after chocolate salami. If you’ve never heard those two words used together, it’s a bit of a mindset shift. The thing looks very similar to a meat salami, but is actually a sweet confection. More fabulously, Italians eat this with breakfast–where has that idea been all my life?? No wonder Italians are so much less stressed-out than Americans.

In many of the hotels where we stayed on our bike tour, slices of chocolate salami appeared on the breakfast buffet. My family likes to joke that the evolution of one’s metabolism on a long-distance bike trip is:

First, dessert after dinner every night
Then, dessert before and after dinner
Then, all of the above, plus dessert after lunch (i.e. get a sandwich from a bakery for lunch, and add a pastry)
Then, all of the above, plus dessert after breakfast, in the form of chocolate salami

So I decided it was time to learn to make chocolate salami myself. If you’ve ever made truffles or anything truffle-like, it’s really not so hard. The matrix is like truffle filling, with chopped nuts and crushed biscotti as the “fat blobs” that appear in a meat sausage. You make the filling, allow it to cool until it is moldable, roll it into a log, and then dust the thing with powdered sugar to simulate the aged sausage casing. I used this Food Network recipe by Giada de Laurentiis and didn’t modify it at all. The result was quite pleasing, even for a beta version.

I had trouble getting the log perfectly round; first the matrix wasn’t chilled enough and mushed all over, then it was a little too hard and ended up a bit ridgy and oval rather than round. But for a first try, I was happy with the result. Here are some photos, and I apologize to every Italian chocolate sausage-maker for posing this one on a plate that says “Paris.”

Aug 04 2016
Corinne McKay

OT: Bicycling from Martigny to Bolzano

The Thoughts on Translation family just returned from our summer vacation: a week of family time in Switzerland, then a three-week bike trip through the Italian Alps, from Martigny, Switzerland to Bolzano, Italy (actually Trento, a little south of Bolzano!). As usual, feel free to skip this post if you’re not into bike touring or Italy, but for those of you who are, here goes!

We do a trip like this about every two years, and our most recent (2014) trip was lovely, but the operative theme was rain, rain and more rain. So we (blithely) assumed that we were owed some great weather this time, and that strategy seems to have worked, as we rode in the rain for maybe an hour total throughout the entire trip. We were also fortunate to have no major mechanical problems, with only two flat tires in 820 miles.

Some, or perhaps many bike trips aren’t as good as the Facebook version. There’s the joy, but then there’s the utter exhaustion, or the freezing rain, or the broken wheel, or the day you rode over the wrong pass, or the day that someone was too sick to get out of bed. We’ve had our share of those; but this time it was really smooth sailing from west to to east across Italy. Except that it took me a while to climb some of the passes…see the length of the shadow below!

Logistically, this trip was a bit different than our others, in that we took two single road bikes and a single touring bike, rather than our road tandem and one touring bike. So our “SAG wagon” was my husband on the touring bike, while my daughter and I rode our relatively unloaded road bikes…very pleasant! The only complication was the airline bags for the bikes: we purchased three new Tardis bags from Ground Effect, and they worked great on the way to Switzerland. Easy to pack, easy to carry, and very well made. However complications arose when we mailed the bags to our destination in Milan and they never arrived. So, lesson learned, don’t rely on the Italian postal service, and if you find yourself in need of new bags in Milan, head to Rossignoli and they’ll hook you up! It’s also worth noting that Icelandair did not charge us for the bikes in either direction.

Our itinerary took us over about 16 passes or major climbs, which made for some long days, some short but intense days, and some long and intense days. We had ridden some of these before, but my newfound favorite is the Cormet de Roselend:

Another highlight was two days winding our way through the foothills of the Piedmont region, from Aosta to Oropa to Lake Orta. This region is really off the beaten path and relatively untrafficked by either cars or bicycles. You might think that the photo below shows a bike path, but in fact it’s a Piedmont-style two way road!

As on our previous trips, we stayed in hotels (no camping) and booked most of them in advance so that we could relax during the trip. Not many small hotels in Italy have actual online booking (“send us an inquiry”), but Booking.com has really taken off there, which makes it easier to book some of the out of the way places. New as well for this trip was my smartphone: although I didn’t have cell service in Europe, the phone’s GPS feature still works, and the use of an offline mapping app (Maps.Me) resulted in a dramatic decrease in “where the…are we” stops along the way. Also new is the website Italy Cycling Guide, which is a goldmine of information for independent bike tourers!

For those who want the details, here’s our itinerary. I may do a post about the gear we used on this trip, and here’s my previous post on planning your own bike trip in Italy. If you’d like to do a trip like this and you have specific questions, post them in the comments!

Day 1: Martigny, CH to Chamonix, France, over the Col de Forclaz
Day 2: Chamonix to Bourg Saint Maurice (France), over the Col des Saisies and the Cormet de Roselend. Note that this day could (perhaps should) be split into two days by staying in Beaufort.
Day 3: Bourg Saint Maurice to Aosta (Italy), over the Col du Petit Saint Bernard and Colle San Carlo
Day 4: Aosta to Oropa, via Settimo Vittone. Note that if you take back roads (incredibly beautiful!), this requires a few kilometers on an unpaved road.
Day 5: Oropa to Lake Orta via Rosazza and Bielmonte. Lots of up and down!
Day 6: Day ride between Lake Orta and Lago Maggiore
Day 7: Orta to Cannobio, via the Intrasca valley and Aurona. A classic Giro d’Italia stage with a big climb, then a big plunge down to the lake.
Day 8: Cannobio to Menaggio, beginning with the ferry to Luino.
Day 9: Day ride to the Madonna del Ghisallo shrine and the Muro di Sormano
Day 10: Menaggio to Chiavenna via the Valtellina bike path
Day 11: Chiavenna to Pontresina (Switzerland) over the Maloja Pass
Day 12: Pontresina to Tirano (Italy) over the Bernina Pass
Day 13: Tirano to Ponte di Legno, over the Mortirolo Pass
Day 14: Ponte di Legno to Bormio, over the Gavia Pass
Day 15: Rest day in Bormio
Day 16: Bormio to Merano, over the Stelvio Pass
Day 17: Merano to Bolzano
Day 18: Day ride up Passo Nigra
Day 19: Bolzano to Trento, then train to Milan

Dec 07 2015
Corinne McKay

OT: two ultra-easy holiday gifts to make

It’s that gifty time of year again…and if you, like me, have a surplus of artistic ambition and a deficit of artistic ability, but like to make stuff and don’t want it to look like a preschool art project, here are two really easy crafts that make fun gifts. I have some more complicated things in the works for the next few weeks, but it’s always good to warm the craft juices up a bit. I spent yesterday at home, keeping my daughter company while she worked on her science fair project (strength of recycled versus non-recycled paper…) and worked on these two items:

Groovy fabric belts: requires a sewing machine, but otherwise could not be easier. Literally, if you can sew a straight line, you can make these.

You need: a strip of fabric that’s three inches wide and about six inches longer than the waist of the person who’s going to wear it; matching thread, and a set of 1 1/2 inch D-rings (see below for package). Choose fabric that’s on the stiff side, like home decorating fabric.

Fold the strip of fabric in half lengthwise, with the right sides together. Sew a narrow (1/4″, so the width of the presser foot on a standard sewing machine) seam around all sides except for one of the narrow ends. Then turn the tube right-side out and iron it so that it lays flat. Top-stitch around the edge.

Then take one end, pass it through the D-rings, and fold it over a couple of times to avoid raveling.

Zig-zag stitch across the folded fabric to secure the D-rings:

Then eyeball/measure the correct length for the belt, and follow the fold-and stitch procedure, but without the D-rings, on the free end of the belt. If you want the folded part to be on the back side of the belt when the person is wearing it, the fold needs to go on the opposite side of the fabric from the D-ring fold.

It’s always hard to find good crafts for teenagers, once they’re past the fleece stuffed animal stage. My teenage daughter reported that she “would wear this if the fabric wasn’t pink,” so I’d consider that a success.

Paper “inspiration flags”: really, really easy and cute. These are a takeoff on Tibetan prayer flags, but you can customize the words on them, add photos, use only images, etc. I made three strings of these for various friends, including one who just bought a beach house.

You need: some brown paper (I had some craft paper lying around, but even a grocery bag would do in a pinch), string or yarn, double-sided tape, Mod-Podge or diluted white glue, a paintbrush, and whatever you want to decorate your flags with. I computer-printed the words and used tissue paper for the backgrounds, but you could use magazine clippings, paint, old wrapping paper, etc.

Cut your paper “flags” to whatever size you want. Mine were about three inches by four inches, and I used five flags per string. Leave a border of about half an inch at the top of each flag (this will be folded over when you string them), then paint the flag with the Mod Podge or diluted glue, and start sticking stuff on (unless you want to just paint them). I did a thin layer of glue, then tissue paper, then a little more glue, then the sheet with the words, then a little more glue. At first, your flag will look white and gunky.

Allow the flags to dry, the fold the border over:

Leaving a free end so that the recipient can hang the flags up, lay the string inside the folded edge and put a piece of double-sided tape on the flap. Fold it over with the string inside, to secure the flag on the string.

Then, leave your flags to dry completely, and they will look clear and shiny. You can put spiritual messages, poems, whimsical stuff (I did “Chai is the answer” for a friend who loves chai), photos, favorite memories, or really just about anything.

Have fun! If you liked this post, you can also check out my 2013 holiday crafting post on zombie stuffed animals, origami crane trees, and poetry rocks.

Aug 17 2015
Corinne McKay

OT: Mountain biking in southwestern Colorado

The Thoughts on Translation household just returned from two glorious, computer-free weeks of vacation which we spent mountain biking in southwestern Colorado. If you have zero interest in mountain biking or the Colorado mountains, it’s OK to stop reading here, and be assured that the discussion will return to translation as of my next post!

We spent the first week in Crested Butte, where we enjoyed some of our favorite, classic trails such as Strand Hill, Snodgrass/Lupine and the 401, and added a new favorite classic, Teocalli Ridge. We then headed off on a true Western adventure, riding a six-day loop (four days of riding and two rest days) through the San Juan mountains, from Lake City to Silverton to Telluride to Ouray to Lake City. Other than the route we chose for the first day, I would highly recommend this loop if you’re into beautiful dirt road and singletrack riding in an alpine environment. We carried all of our own stuff and stayed in hotels/condos to minimize the load. This worked out really well (other than the fact that I can no longer keep up with my almost-teenage daughter…) and we were really lucky with the weather, as it rained only on our rest days.

On day 1, we made the (in hindsight, questionable) decision to ride section 23 of the Colorado Trail rather than riding from Lake City to Silverton on the dirt road over Cinnamon Pass. “We’ve already done that! The Colorado Trail looks so wild and gorgeous!”…shoot me with a tranquilizer dart if I ever say that again, as the ride that we thought would take about six hours took almost 12. Granted, it was gorgeous. If it had taken six hours, or if we had had camping gear and thus could have stopped when we wanted to, it would have been on my A list of not-to-be-missed rides. But when the ride stops being fun at about 1:00 and you’re not off your bike until 6:30, the beauty and novelty of the trail is somewhat (or maybe completely) outweighed by exhaustion and the ever-fading supply of Reese’s peanut butter cups. Still, it was stunning; but unless you’re really, really fast and strong or you’re into 12-hour rides, I would highly recommend skipping this section in favor of riding over Cinnamon Pass.

Day two: Silverton to Telluride, over Ophir Pass. We had done this stage before and it’s relatively mellow. Well, compared to day one, the Iditarod would probably feel mellow, but day two was a steady but doable climb up to Ophir Pass, a fast descent down the other side, and then a fun spin up the Galloping Goose singletrack trail into Telluride. This took about five hours total, so probably about four hours of actual riding. Then we rested and ate (and ate and ate) in Telluride for a day: no sightings of Oprah or any Kardashians.

Day three: Telluride to Ouray, over Last Dollar Pass. This was a relatively long day, with about seven hours of riding, and the section on the road (from the Dallas Divide to Ridgway) isn’t super pleasant, although it’s downhill and there’s a big shoulder. Blessedly, there’s a fabulous ice cream place right at the turnoff to the dirt road from Ridgway to Ouray, which a) allows for a root beer float recharge and b) avoids having to ride on the main road from Ridgway to Ouray. Then we rested and ate (see above) in Ouray for a day.

Day four: Ouray to Lake City over Engineer Pass. We rode this on the Alpine Loop, a popular Jeep and ATV route through the San Juans. It was surprisingly beautiful, winding up a narrow canyon past some old mines and very beautiful valleys. The climb took about six hours at a fairly moderate pace; the summit is 12,800 feet (read: no air) so my daughter and I walked the last mile or so while my husband cranked it out on his bike. We had a totally clear blue-sky day, and the downhill into Lake City is pretty smooth and fast, so by 3:00 we were (wait for it…) drinking root beer floats at the San Juan Soda Fountain.

The Tour de San Juans is a really fun and challenging loop if you like high-altitude riding, you have good weather, you’re into gorgeous alpine scenery and you’re either in very, very good shape or willing to do some hike-a-bike. We decided that the flexibility of camping wasn’t worth the extra weight and hassle of carrying camping gear and food, and in the end (despite the marathon first day) we were very happy with the decision to stay in hotels and condos instead. Definitely a true mountain adventure for those who want something off the beaten path!