James Mattis — 2011 Master’s 35+ World Champion

By now, you’ve probably all read or heard about Mark Cavendish’ victory at the world road cycling championships in Denmark this past weekend.  The British team did a wonderful job of controlling the race, Bradley Wiggins nailed back the break at the last minute, and Cavendish won a hotly contested bunch gallop.  But how interesting is that?

The master’s world championships was a far more exciting race.  Held in Stavelot, Belgium on a brutal course that included many of the climbs of Liege-Bastogne-Liege including the  Côte de Stockeau kneebreaker, this race was far more thrilling.  It was race of attrition, gradually whittling the field of contenders down to just two – Michael Olheiser and James Mattis – and in the final 1 km James Mattis won the race.

At last week’s Webcor/Alto Velo club meeting, James spoke about his victory and showed off his rainbow stripes.

The most interesting aspect of his talk was James’ account of the race – the course, the competition, the action, and the strategy and tactics which led to his outstanding victory.  James races for California Giant Cycling .  James’ play-by-play account of the race is on the CalGiant website.

It’s been a joy to see James’ ascendency through the ranks of cycling as he has won increasingly prestigious races, culminating in now being crowned master’s world champion.

I first met James on Foothill Boulevard in Los Altos, CA heading north just north of San Antonio Road in 2002.  I had been training a lot and thought I was in pretty good shape.  I was able to pass almost anybody on Foothill when James comes soft pedaling by me.  I hopped on his wheel, barely able to keep pace while he started chatting with me.  He was riding a Bianchi bike stamped “PROTOTYPE” on the top tube.  I had never met anybody so fast.

A few months later, I relocated back to northern California and ended up joining Webcor/Alto Velo, James’ team.  James was one of the founding members of the Webcor pro team, a team that was known for dominating local racing and for having truly nice guys on the team.

Racing for Webcor/Alto Velo at a much lower level, it was very exciting to be on the same team as James.  In 2003 I raced the Fort Ord Road Race, placing 13th in the category 4 field.  After my race was over, my friends and I stood near the start/finish watching the pro race.  The pro race was the district championships, so it was a big deal.  With one lap to go, James came through the start/finish with a broken wheel.  I gave him my wheel.  He went on to place 6th in support of Mike Taylor who won the race for Webcor.  After the race, James dropped by my house to return the wheel.  Wow!

James career continued to develop.  In 2004, he worked alongside Chris Horner in support of Charles Dionne who won the T-Mobile International San Francisco Grand Prix after crushing the entire Postal squad, including George Hincapie.

The coolest moment (until now!) was when James won the USA elite national road championships in 2008.  I couldn’t even imagine competing at that level, but once in a while I can ride with the guy with the stars-and-stripes jersey.

For the past 5 years James has been riding for California Giant Cycling.  With riders like James Mattis, Steve Reaney (2010 elite national criterium champion), and Jesse Moore (2011 NCNCA elite district road champion), Cal Giant is the dominant force in norcal men’s racing.

Please congratulate James on his outstanding achievement!

Oh, and while we’re at it, I want to put in a plug in for Alto Velo’s new sponsor, Rack ‘n Road.  Rack ‘n Road is a family owned business that specializes in bike racks for all sorts of vehicles.  They are located in Campbell, on 2272 Camden Ave in Campbell, CA.  Here’s a photo of Jimmy & Joe showing off one of their rack systems in the parking lot just before our club meetings.

2012 Giro d’Italia — Best Ever?

Details about the 2012 Giro d’Italia are starting to dribble out.  In April, we learned that the Giro will start in Denmark.  Given the Giro has always been a climbing festival, we’ve all been waiting for news about the mountain stages.

Just in the past few days, we’ve heard a few details of the mountain stages.  The Giro will tour the Dolomites, hitting some of the great climbs I enjoyed on a trip with Alta Quota Adventures this August.  The route will include the Pordoi, the Marmolada, Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the Gavia, the Aprica, the Mortirolo, and the east side of the Stelvio.  We climbed 5 of these 7 on the trip this August.

If you’d like to see photos from Tre Cime, the Gavia, the Mortirolo, and the Stelvio, please read on.

Tre Cime is one of the nastiest pitches of steep pavement anywhere.  Before the Giro heads up the little wall they call Tre Cime, they will pass by Lago di Misurina, a beautiful mountain lake just at the base of Tre Cime.  The Giro riders will not have time to stop here, but it is definitely a beautiful place.

Next, here is my friend Rudy in one of the steepest switchback sections.

And here he is just before the finish at Rifugio di Auronzo.

And this is Rudy and me at the top.

A full account of our day climbing the Tre Cime can be found here.

Early information claims the Giro will head up the Passo Gavia.  Here’s my account of climbing the Mortirolo and the Gavia.

The Gavia is a steep and tall climb with a narrow road.  Here is a view up high of valley below the road.

The most memorable part of the Gavia is the tunnel.  Cyclists face a difficult choice to go through the dark and long tunnel or ride on the rock-strewn abandoned old road.

Here’s a view of the old road…

and a view from further up the pass, looking down towards the tunnel exit and the old road.

Details of the stage up the Gavia have not been announced, but the organizers of the Giro have announced the penultimate stage which climbs the Tonale, Aprica, Teglio, Mortirolo, and Stelvio.  They have even shared a course profile and riders have already reacted to this incredible stage which packs an incredible 5900 meters of climbing into a mere 218 km.

The Tonale and Aprica are nice passes.  I’ve climbed them, enjoyed them, and didn’t find them particularly hard.  Legendary cycling journalist Bruce Hildenbrand tells me the Teglio is a mini-monster with some very steep grades, but it is just a warmup for the Mortirolo and the Stelvio.

The Mortirolo is indeed steep.  You can read about it here.  Here are my friends Ajax and Rudy gutting it out up the Mortirolo.

The most interesting part of the stage is the mountaintop finish on the Stelvio.  The 6000-foot 48-switchback climb on the east side is the most famous, but this year, the Gavia will climb the lesser-known west side from Bormio.  Although it is “only” a 5000-foot climb and quite a bit less famous than the east side, it is still incredibly scenic.  Sending the race up the west side will result in more images from this beautiful climb in the media this summer.

The most notable part of the west side of the Stelvio is a sequence of tunnels.

Right after the tunnels is a section of switchbacks that is every bit as beautiful as the more famous ones on the east side.

My accounts of the Stelvio are here and here.

If you’re planning to visit Italy to see the Giro next summer, I highly recommend you check out two towns, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Bormio.

The full route announcement for the Giro d’Italia is due soon, probably in mid October.  Once that happens, we can anticipate watching the race this coming May.

Young Love — Elizabeth & Jared’s Engagement

Isn’t young love delightful?

Elizabeth and Jared hired me to photograph their wedding.  In advance of the wedding I like to do an engagement session.  Photographing the couple before their big day lets us build rapport and makes for better photographs on wedding day.  The wedding day highlights the couple among their friends and family.  An engagement session focuses on the couple alone and their relationship with each other.

Elizabeth and Jared both have a nice, easy-going disposition.  Elizabeth is bubbly and enthusiastic.  Jared is calm, quiet, and confident.  They are both a joy to work with.

Elizabeth grew up close to San Francisco, so we met at Java Beach Cafe.  My plan was to photograph Elizabeth and Jared at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park and then return to the beach for evening light.  The fog was rolling in, so we turned the plan around.

We walked across the street to the sand dunes.  Elizabeth and Jared posed very naturally on the dunes.

Next step was to go check out the ocean.  We took off our shoes and rolled up our pants so we could walk on the beach and not worry about the ocean.

My goal was to be as unobtrusive as possible so I would get images that showed their tender moments as if I weren’t even there.  I ran up the beach ahead of them and walked backwards through the sand and water.

A long lens gave me the intimate perspective I was looking for and the white fog allowed the ocean to fade into a simple background.

Jared and Elizabeth were all hugs and smiles as they enjoyed a walk on the beach and chatting with each other.

As a photographer, I get to watch the couple interact.  Seeing how comfortable Elizabeth and Jared are with each other gives me insight into them and confidence their marriage will be sucessful.  They simply love spending time together.  All is right with the world!

We headed back to the car but took a short stop by the sand dunes because the iceplant matched Elizabeth’s dress.

Next stop was the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

The Japanese Tea Garden offers many beautiful spots for posed portraits.  Japanese gardens are tranquil and a great place for engagement photos.

The shade offers very nice lighting for faces.  If you’re lucky and you find the right spot, you can get a nice shine from the sun without the light being too contrasty.

Finally Jared and Elizabeth enjoyed a snack and some tea.

I really enjoyed photographing Elizabeth and Jared.  Because they are so comfortable with each other, they are natural in front of the camera.  They make my job easy!

Insalata Caprese

My wife and I love tomatoes and Insalata Caprese is one of our favorite joys of summertime.  It’s also pretty darn easy to make.

First step is to get some good tomatoes.  Living in California, we can get decent tomatoes almost year round.  I think they grow them in Mexico.

The best tomatoes are Heirlooms.  Because of their fragile nature, they don’t ship well.  Heirlooms are thus local and only available late in the summer.  This year we’ve been having a cool summer, so tomatoes have been late and not as plentiful, making each bite even more precious.

Our favorites are the big ones.  They come in multiple colors — red, orange, yellow — and even multi-colors.  The most delicious tomatoes are the so-called “black” tomatoes, such as Paul Robesons.  These tomatoes are actually red, but they have a dark green cast.  We also like the red/orange striped ones, such as Mr. Stripey.

This year I have not had any luck growing tomatoes.  The plants have done well.  They have set good quantities of fruit, but the fruit is ripening very slowly and so far our neighborhood squirrels have eaten every single tomato we have grown.

So instead, I went to the store to get some tomatoes.

First step is to slice them up.  Slicing them about 1 cm thick, I get 4 good slices from each tomato plus 2 end pieces for tasting.

Next step is to salt them.  Something magic happens to tomatoes when you salt them.  The salt causes a chemical reaction to the flavinoids which intensifies them.  So lay the slices on a cutting board, sprinkle salt on them from a shaker, turn them over, sprinkle again, and then let them sit 5-15 minutes.

The I go out into the garden and get some basil.  I need one large leaf per slice of tomato plus a little extra for garnish.

The other critical ingredient is mozzarella cheese.  Mozarella is sold in balls floating in water.  It’s available in big balls or small ones.  Buy  the big ones so you can slice them appropriately.  There are inexpensive brands and expensive ones.  Sadly, the expensive brands taste much better than the cheap ones.  We love Insalata Caprese so much that we don’t mind paying for expensive Mozzarella.

Next step is to slice the mozzarella.  It takes a patient hand.  A serrated knife helps.

The I build a tower by alternating a tomato slice, then basil, then mozzarella, and repeat until I run out of ingredients or it tips over.

To garnish, I sprinkle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over it plus some cracked pepper.  It’s nice to add basil chiffonade, a few olives, or a small drop of pesto if you have it.  As for balsamic vinegar, our markets have some fruit flavored ones.  For a long time my favorite has been a Fig Balsamic from Restaurant LuLu in San Francisco.  Right now we are enjoying a Tangerine Balsamic from Marisolo in Murphys, CA.

Here’s what it looks like when I serve it.

We love to eat this with Linguine al Pesto which is a great use for the basil forest that is taking over our garden.

Actually, we’re going out to sushi tonight.  We have a favorite little Japanese place that is very authentic and reminds me of the great meals I have enjoyed in Japan.  More on that in another post…

Text and Photos © 2011 Allan Armstrong

Upgrading to a Full-Frame DSLR

My good friend David Cheung, who is an outstanding photographer, just posted a story in his blog about my recent upgrade from a Nikon D90 to a Nikon D3.

Indeed I had a rough time getting my hands on a D3.  Japan’s terrible earthquake on March 11 of this year was centered in Sendai, right where Nikon manufactures all of its professional equipment.  As a result, the factory was shut down and new D3 cameras were not available.

So, I decided to try my luck on eBay.  It took me three tries to get it right:

1. The first D3 I purchased was advertised as “mint” condition with 16k clicks on the shutter.  The camera I received was heavily used (scratches everywhere) with 278k shutter clicks (expected operating life is 300k) and a filthy sensor (dust spots).  I returned it to the seller for a full refund.
2. The second D3 I purchased was in good condition but it failed in my hands within two weeks of using it.  The seller was a total gentleman and sent it back to Nikon for repair.  We waited for a month.  Nikon claimed they were waiting for a part from Japan and had no schedule, so the kind seller offered me a full refund.  I returned the camera and bought the third one.  The seller got the camera back from Nikon the day after I gave up.
3. The third D3 has turned out to be in super condition.  It arrived looking brand new with only 17k clicks.  It had some dirt on the sensor, but it came clean after a quick wipe with my sensor cleaning kit.  I have been using it since with no problems.

It was a bit of rollercoaster, but in the end I got a professional camera in fine condition for 2/3 of the new price.  It is an incredible tool and I’m very happy to have it.

So back to David’s discussion about the difference between a “crop” consumer camera and a full-frame professional camera.

Here are a few of the differences:

• better image quality due to a larger sensor
• less depth-of field due a larger sensor
• faster shutter — 9 fps vs. 4.5 fps
• better autofocus
• better low-light performance

This is all theory.  How does it work in practice?

The larger sensor does indeed make for better images.  “Crop” cameras use just the middle 1/2 of the image the lens delivers.  By capturing the entire image, lens imperfections become a smaller part of the total image.  If photos with a D90 and pro lenses look good, they look even better with a full-frame camera like the D3.  This is nice for studio work, food photography, weddings, and scenery.  Amazingly, I even notice an improvement in image quality for bike racing.

The next given is less depth-of-field.  Photographs with the subject in sharp focus and the background in a soft blur are beautiful.  Photographers spend big bucks for fast lenses.  A full-frame camera gives you depth of field as though your lenses were one stop faster.  You can think of this as saving money (f4 zooms are 1/4 the price of f2.8 zooms) or achieving something unachievable (f2 zooms simply don’t exist).  So you get much better images.  The downside is that focus is more critical.  Any errors in focus accuracy become that much more notable.

The faster shutter is undeniable.  I sat at bike races enviably listening to the rat-a-tat-tat of the fast shutters of Tim Westmore, David Cheung, Paul Doran, and others.  When I first got the D3, I put it in CH mode, went to bike races, and held the button down until the buffer filled.  The machine-gun sound was cool and I felt like a real pro.  Come download time, I had to sort through all those extra images and editing time simply ate me alive.  Now I press the button when I see the shot I want.  It’s nice to have 9 fps, but I don’t use nearly as often as I expected.

The D3 is widely claimed to have much better autofocus than the D90.  People told me I couldn’t possibly get good photos of fast action sports like bike racing with a D90.  With Tim Westmore’s coaching, I proved them wrong.  Tim helped me learn the technique of using CF (continuous) single-point focus and keeping the focus point on the rider, panning as the rider approaches and allowing enough time for the AF system to acquire focus before I shoot.  Pro lenses also helped.  They have internal motors and much faster AF performance.  No, a D3 is not neccessary to shoot sports.  Remarkably, the 2nd D3 I used (the one that failed) had a problem with its AF performance which puzzled the daylights out of me.  The D3 I now use indeed focuses better than my D90.  It’s amazingly fast.  It acquires focus quickly and can track until the riders are very close to me.

What’s more interesting though is that the D3 has better AF performance in low light.  I read that in the fine print somewhere and didn’t think it would be a big deal.  In bright light, both the D90 and the D3 work well.  The D3 works better, but the D90 does the job.  In low light, however, the D90 totally falls apart but the D3 still focuses amazingly well.

I’ve also heard claims that the D3 will autofocus better with older screwdrive lenses.  Older lenses do not have built-in motors.  Instead they rely on a tiny motor in the camera body.  I have a beautiful old Nikkor 300mm f4 AF lens I purchased in 1993.  With the D90, focus acquisition is slow but it’s still usable.  The real problem is focus tracking.  It just can’t keep up with fast-moving bike racers, making it essentially useless.  With the D3, the 300 f4 acquires focus faster.  I haven’t used it much for bike races, so I really don’t know if the D3 + 300 f4 AF tracks focus accurately enough to be usable for bike races.

What really surprised me is that the ergonomics of the D3 AF system are actually worse than the D90!  Yes, worse!  Two things are worse:

• The 51 points on the D3 are clustered in the middle of the frame.  If you want off-center focus, you have to focus and recompose, which just doesn’t work for sports.  The D90 has only 11 points but they are better distributed on the frame.
• The D3 has so many AF points (51) that it takes multiple clicks to move the AF point.  No big deal, huh?  It really slows me down when I’m shooting sports.

Yes, this is a handicap, not just for sports but also for candid people shots.  It’s definitely workable, but it’s one of many ways that a professional camera is more demanding to work with.

The big news is better low-light performance.  Physics says that a full-frame sensor should have 1-stop better low-light performance than a 1.5x crop sensor.  Thom Hogan claims Nikon improved the sensor design and achieved almost another stop.  I’m guessing they got the metal interconnect out of the way, which improves photonic efficiency.  2 stops would be a great improvement, but the results I’m getting might be better than that.  Some suggest the D3 might be as much as 3 stops better.  While I shoot the D90 at ISO 200 and am comfortable with ISO 400, it gets grainy at 800, worse at 1600, and totally falls apart at 3200.  With my D3, I shoot 800 with impunity and have gotten some nice results at ISO 3200.  I’m really surprised by how good the D3 is in low light.

This photo below was shot at ISO 3200.  Post processing was simple.  I didn’t even touch the noise reduction bar in LightRoom!  Why is there no grain in this photo???  My D3 just blows me away by what it can do.

Such incredible low-light performance opens new doors for me.  I get grain-free shots and the camera can still focus even when it’s dark.  That helps for night-time races at the velodrome, but the big win is people photography — candids, weddings, all sorts of situations.  I love my D3.

So the top 5 advantages are:

1. better image quality,
2. less depth-of-field,
3. faster shutter,
4. better autofocus, and
5. better low-light performance.

These are the big ones, but I’ve got a few other small observations:

• better ergonomics — the D3 control layout is much better than the D90.  The mode (A, S, M, P) doesn’t get bumped and accidentally changed like on the D90.  Setting ISO, QUAL (raw or jpeg), and WB is easier.  Shutter mode (S, CL, CH) is much better.  The built-in grip is much more comfortable for verticals (unimportant for bike racing, absolutely essential for ice skating) and the camera is simply easier to hold, particularly with a big lens.
• worse ergonomics — yes, worse!  I already moaned about how 51 center-clustered AF points is actually a downgrade from 11 broadly-spread AF points.  Another surprising point is that I can do “pan” shots better on the D90.  For a “pan” shot, I take a long exposure (1/30 or 1/60) and pan along with the rider.  With the D90, I can rest the body and lens on my hand.  With the D3, the vertical grip doesn’t allow me to put my hand under the lens in the same way.  My D3 pan shots just aren’t as steady.
• no built-in flash — waaaah!  Built-in flashes are cheesy, have horrid quality of light, and are the mark of an amateur.  Why do I miss the built-in flash on my D90?  You can use it as an IR trigger for a remote flash using Nikon’s CLS (creative leighting system).  With the D3, you have to buy a $500 SB-900 just to work in commander mode.  All that great flash hardware is wasted because you generally want the main light off-camera anyway.  So now I gotta buy another flash (or a Pocket Wizard).
• crop and 8×10 modes — seems like a throwaway gimmick, but this is kind of handy.  If I’m working in the studio and need exact image placement for an 8×10 image, the D3 darkens the viewfinder and shoots 8×10 instead of 8×12.  Great for food!  And the crop mode is pretty cool for travel.  I carried my D3 + 16-35 + 70-200 up both sides of the Stelvio.  In one case, I needed a 50mm lens, so I just dialed in 33mm and put the D3 in DX mode.  Bingo!
• deeper buffer — My D90 can shoot 17 JPEGs in fast succession before it fills up or maybe only 4 NEFs.  The D3 has a much deeper buffer and can shoot > 100 JPEGs at twice the rate or 17 NEFs.  What does that mean?  For bike racing, I absolutely must have good buffer depth for sprint finishes or crash sequences.  Therefore, I shoot JPEGs with the D90 at races.  With the D3 I can shoot NEFs.  NEFs (better known as raw files) have 14-bit color depth (vs. 8-bits for JPEGs).  That means I get much better exposure latitude and therefore better pictures.
• shorter lenses — A crop camera makes every lens longer by 1.5x.  For sports that’s an important advantage.  Initially, I feared my 70-200 wouldn’t be long enough, so I bought a TC-1.7 and expected to put my 300 f4 to use.  Surprisingly, I’ve barely used either the TC-1.7 or the 300 f4.  If I shot surfing, it would be a different story, but 200mm is long enough for just about everything in bike racing and all the other subjects I photograph.

So, it’s been 3 months now.  Transitioning from DX to FX has been a learning experience.  FX is more demanding of a photographer’s skills and the many small differences in controls between a Nikon pro camera and a consumer camera take a while to get used to.  Even today, I’m a little slower with the D3 but the images are undeniably better and the D3 can do things I would never try with the D90.  Its low-light performance is phenomenal.

Intel Ultrabooks — the New Normal

I’ve been at IDF (Intel Developers Forum) in San Francisco for the past two days.  Somehow, my picture showed up on the front page of the business section of the San Jose Mercury News.  Quite a surprise to me, as I had to leave my house early and my copy of the Merc was sitting on my doorstep.  My friend Kevin Susco emailed it to me while I was at the show.

Interestingly, below me is a photo of Intel CEO Paul Otellini.  The photo of me is bigger and I’m at the top of the page, so apparently I’m more important.    You can measure importance by the rapid growth of my blog… it started as a blog about cycling, then I added food with the article on Pizzoccheri, and now I’m covering technology.

So, the article was about Intel’s new “UltraBook” laptops.  Here is Intel CEO Paul Otellini announcing the UltraBook laptops during his keynote address.

So what’s an Ultrabook?  On first inspection, an UltraBook is:

• thin and light, (like an Apple, Intel is catching up)
• has long battery life, — I think they said 5 hours, very cool, I would appreciate this!
• secure, and
• affordable < $1k.

Here’s a photo of an ASUS laptop Intel was showing in their UltraBook booth area:

Ha!  My photo is sharper and clearer than the one from the newspaper but is lacking the devastatingly handsome model. 

So what are the specs on this ASUS laptop?

• Intel “SandyBridge” i7 processor — wow, a lot of compute power — that would be killer for photoshop!
• 4G RAM — didn’t say whether you can add on
• 1366×768 11.6″ display (nice)
• 0.67″ thick
• 2.4 pounds

Four manufacturers will have UltraBooks in the stores by XMAS:

• ASUS
• Acer
• Lenovo
• Hitachi

Many more are in development.

The first batch of UltraBooks will use SandyBridge processors.  The next batch (1H 2012) will use IvyBridge.  Ivy Bridge is the same architecture, ported to 22nm.  In 2013, Intel will announce “Haswell” UltraBooks.  Haswell will be dramatically lower power. (20x!)

Here’s a photo of Mooly Eden, VPGM of Intel’s PC/client group, showing off a “Haswell” prototype.

Mooly went into more detail about UltraBooks in his keynote.  Mooly is one of the best speakers I’ve seen in the industry.  He is captivating, entertaining, transfers a lot of information, and is always a joy to listen to.  IMO, he is Intel’s best salesman.

To illustrate the size advantage of UltraBooks, Mooly grabbed a conventional notebook.

and then pulled this UltraBook out of the Notebook.  It’s like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.  Wow!  He was so fast I didn’t manage to grab a shot of the two books.

OK, so it’s small and light.  Big deal.

Turns out there are a lot of really cool technologies that will show up in these UltraBooks. In line with Intel’s goal to advance the user experience and make computing engaging, consistent, and secure, here are some of the new technologies Intel is putting in these UltraBooks:

• RapidStart — computer turns on in ~2 seconds
• SmartConnect — gets emails even when asleep — cool, does it answer them, too?
• SmartResponse — using a combination of HDD and SSD you get the latency of a solid-state drive (fast) and the capacity of a conventional hard drive — nice!
• Pair & Share — making the user experience consistent between PC and phone — you can immediately transfer anything (phone call, video, spreadsheet) from one to another — cool

It’s certainly time for me to upgrade my computer.  I have both a laptop and a desktop.  Intel upgrades their CPUs every year in a “tick-tock” strategy.  One year they upgrade the architecture, like Sandy Bridge.  The next year they do a process shrink, like Ivy Bridge.  Like Intel, I have a “tick-tock” strategy.  This year, I think it’s time to upgrade my desktop, but I sure will be drooling over those UltraBooks.

Oh yeah, after Mooly’s talk, they let the press onto the stage to see the new UltraBooks.  Here’s a photo of the ensuing media scrum.  I was one of the first on the stage.  Even with a press pass, I couldn’t get close to the UltraBooks, but I was able to see the crowd.  As more hordes arrived, one could barely stand on the stage.

Finally, remember that Mooly showed a prototype of “Haswell.”  Haswell is claimed to reduce power consumption by 20x (!!!) to deliver all-day operation and 10-day standby on a single charge.

Today, Intel CTO Justin Rattner announced their development of near-threshold voltage (NTV) circuits.  NTV circuits are still in development and no product announcement is yet planned, but they promise to dramatically reduce power consumption by reducing operating voltages to nearly the point at which gates stop working.

NTV may still be a long-way off, but on Monday, Paul Otellini showed a demo of a solar-powered CPU.

This CPU is claimed to be 20x lower power than existing CPUs and runs off a single solar-cell.  The solar cell is small.  Intel claims it is the size of a postage stamp.  It is a relatively big postage stamp.  Only the CPU runs off solar energy.  The rest of the computer is power by normal AC.

While this is only a demo, it is a step in the right direction and something humanity really needs.  Cutting our dependence on fossil fuel is essential to slow global warming and minimize conflict for resources.  I’m very happy to see Intel research in this direction.

IDF was really fun!  Hope you cyclists and foodies didn’t mind this diversion.

How to Make Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina is the famous local dish of Bormio.  Every time I go to Bormio I look forward to trying this simple delicacy.  Indeed, on the last trip, it was as delicious as ever.

So, I’m home now and wanted to see if I could make it.  It’s not hard at all!

Here’s a photo of the Pizzoccheri I had at Ristorante Notte e Di’ in the main square of Bormio.

Now I’m home, I did a little research and I’m ready to get started.

First off, you need to assemble the ingredients.  Pizzoccheri is essentially buckwheat tagliatelle served in a casserole with savoy cabbage, potatoes, sage, butter, and the local cheese from Valtellina.

Here are the ingredients for the pasta.

I’ve got 2 cups of buckwheat flour, 1 cup of normal all-purpose flour, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of milk.

Adding in the stuff we need for the casserole, …

I added 1/2 stick (4 oz.) butter, 1 head of savoy cabbage (Napa cabbage will do if you can’t get savoy.), 12 creamer potatoes, some sage, and 1/2 pound of cheese.

A word about the cheese: at Latteria in Bormio they told me the “secret” recipe is 3/4 Casera Valtellina and 1/4 Semigrasso.  As far as I can tell, neither cheese is imported into the USA, so I use a 50-50 mixture of Taleggio and Fontina d’Aosta which have good melting properties and taste pretty much the same.

First step is to make the pasta.  Put the buckwheat and all-purpose flour in your Cuisinart, add the egg, and start mixing.  Then add the milk slowly until the pasta comes together.  Adjust the quantity of milk to get the correct consistency of the dough.  Too dry and the pasta will fall apart.  Too wet and it will stick to the pasta machine.

An interesting thing to note is that buckwheat is gluten-free.  That means two things:

1. If you have friends on a gluten-free diet, you now have a pretty cool recipe you can serve them.
2. We normally make pasta with glutinous flour.  Gluten helps the dough stick to itself and be elastic.  This dough is a little more difficult to make because it has less gluten than you are used to, so be patient and make sure your dough isn’t too dry.

Once the dough comes together in the Cuisinart, transfer it to a bowl and form it into balls.  Press the balls into flying saucers, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in the refrigerator.

Your dough should look like this:

Once the dough has rested in the fridge for about an hour, it will be easier to work with.

Now, slice each piece into wedges.  You might notice from the photo that my dough was a little on the dry side.

Take each wedge and flatten it with your hands.  Roll it through the pasta machine on its widest setting (#1 for mine).  Fold it in thirds and roll it through again.  Repeat a third time.

Now, continue to roll it through the pasta machine, each time on a thinner setting, until you reach the desired thickness (like fettucine you can buy from the store).  On my pasta machine, the correct setting is #5.

Finally, mount the fettucine/tagliatelle attachment and cut the pasta into noodles.  It should look like this.

Now, get a big pot of water boiling and preheat the oven to 375°F or so.

Preparing the casserole ingredients is pretty simple:

• Cut the cheese into little squares.  (This facilitates melting.)
• Remove the leaves from the savoy cabbage.  Take the big ones (12 or more, hopefully), slice them up, and remove the ribs.
• Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
• Mince or chiffonade most of the sage, reserving some for garnish.  Saute the sage in the butter.

OK, here we go.  Put the potatoes in the boiling water.  Add salt.  After a few minutes, add the cabbage and the pasta.  You want all three to be done at the same time.  Homemade pasta cooks in 2-3 minutes, as does the cabbage, so the critical thing to time is the potatoes.

When the pasta, potatoes, and cabbage is done, drain it, put it in a casserole dish, add the cheese, and the butter and sage.  Stir it up and put it in the over for 5-10 minutes to warm it through.

Here’s what mine looked like.

To serve it, just put some in a plate, add some fresh cracked pepper and garnish with a bit of sage.  Here it is, homemade Pizzoccheri.  Just like Bormio.  Yum!

Now go find a 6000′ climb and ride it tomorrow!

Text and photos © 2011 Allan Armstrong