Commutism

Each new leap in technology enables us to become more and more productive. We can now work on our tans while simultaneously surfing the Internet, responding to emails, and running a fortune 500 company. Amazing. No, mind you, we cannot do all those things well and simultaneously. How many fortune 500 CEOs really spend weeks on the beach. I don't know either, but it's definitely not many. And who likes getting sunscreen smudged emails, and the iPad tan is really hideous.

So why not take a moment, and relax. Sip a delicious cup of coffee in a mug, not a to go cup. Savor your food from a plate, not a styrofoam tray. Read a book, not a blog. Sip a wine and try to discern it's flavors. Do something, anything, with the intention of doing it slowly and really, really enjoying it.

Why the Luddite ranting? Because I am a Luddite on an iPad getting a horrible iPad tan. No, because I am a cyclist. I had a conversation last night about bikers. And cars. So, where are you going in such a dang hurry that you cannot slow down enough to NOT RUN OVER A CYCLIST. I know, "Two cars and a cyclist cannot both fit on that road at the same time.". Excellent argument Mre. Overeager car driver. Nearly irrefutable.

However, time progresses at relatively the same pace from day to day. So plan ahead.

Observe: our prime time TV shows will not begin until 8pm. It was like that yesterday and will be the same tomorrow. So, if it takes 27 minutes to get home from work, and Real Desperate Housewives of the Jersey Shore begins at 8pm, then you have to leave work at 6:45 in order to drive those 27 minutes, stop at the store and microwave your lean cuisine healthy choice three cheese manicotti and pop open your diet soda all in time to get your ample and spreading backside into the couch by 8pm. Unless you get stuck behind a cyclist and then have to wait for another car to go by before you can pass. The solution is clear. Pass the cyclist on a blind curve.

NO. There are other options. You could, in no particular order, microwave your lean cuisine for 3 minutes and 12 seconds, leave work at 6:44:42, miss the first 18 seconds of reality TV (but then you won't know who the special guest cowriter was for that particular episode), you could just skip the first 18 seconds of the recap of the last episode which you watched last week and still have TiVOed, or you could stop being such jerk and do something about your expanding backside and the overall waste of space that you have become and go ride your own bike. I know, it is really, really important what you do at work, which is to collate reports written by someone else about the financial situation and the general feeling on wall street. And, when no one reads them, at least they will be collated in a damn fine fashion.

So, just slow down, stop scaring cyclists, and enjoy those 18 seconds of your life that you will never get back. You weren't really going to do anything with them anyway. Its a dangerous world out there.





BE CAREFUL!

Time managementism and prison food

Have you ever had one of those days? Yeah, one of those days...

It just seems like there is a vast conspiracy against me. Not that people are working to bring me down, but that they are not working to bring me up. Apathy, incompetence, idle chatter and the like have, so to speak, put me in a funk. I have also done my part, you know, given them something to talk about. But, THEY did their part, which was the largest part... Really, just a scheduling glitch. It was a glitch. It was a problem. They kind of admitted it... Then did nothing about it.

Whew. Some venting, a little catharsis.

My time has become really, really short lately. I feel like I'm living fifteen hour days. I am staying busy, accomplishing nothing, and constantly short on time.... More venting. Of course, a lot of that is my fault. I have been cycling... A lot. This month is only 5 days old and my cycling is just a shade over 120 miles. That can eat up some time.

Today was a good ride. The wind was straight in my face the whole time... Which is weird for an out and back ride. Occasionally on a very long ride the wind changes direction, but today was not that long.

But, for you ambulatory non ambi-turners...


So, with my time being short, my cooking has changed a little. Here is my recipe for:

SHORT TIME PRISON NACHO SOUP
a handful of Tortilla chips... In a small bowl
A tablespoon of tomato sauce or salsa
Some chili sauce, hot sauce, chili powder... Or other things
Water... Just a little over the tortillas. Don't drown them.
Grated cheese on the top

Then microwave it for roughly a minute. Awesome.

Okay, no picture, but this soup is actually really good. It is a great way to deal with the last little bit of tortilla chips in the bottom of the bag.

Droidism and black bean soup

I have a new phone. It's brilliant (I mean that, it's smarter than me). The pictures come out so much better than the blackberry. Don't get me wrong, owning a blackberry is a way of entering a world where people can look at you and say, man, that guy is responsible. Unfortunately I used to look at my blackberry and think, "Man, I wish this thing would work." Now I have a Droid device... I just entered a world of fun and adventure. I've been using it on my bike rides. Amazing!
I turn it on, turn on sporty pal, drop it into my back pocket and go. It tracks my speed, location, vertical, it even approximates the calories I burned. And I'm sure it can do do much more if I were to just read the manual. Whatever. The one complaint I have about it is that everyone I turn it on, the default workout category is... roller skating. Seriously! Who even does that anymore? if this were 1987 and I was wearing fluorescent, then roller skating. But this day and age... It's only slightly annoying. I have to shift it to bicycling. Then the world is right.
There has been a theme to my posting lately: not doing it. And there has been a theme to my cooking lately: beans. That I'd why I love the pressure cooker. For best results, soaking the beans is a must. For results, soaking the beans is optional.

With that in mind, how about some black bean soup... Super easy too.






1.5 C dry black beans
1 onion
1 jalapeno seeded and deveined
2 cloves garlic
Chili powder
Oregano... Sprinkle generously to taste
Salt and pepper
1 C Tomatoes (canned for the lazy)
A water source
2 T chopped Cilantro
Dash of ground cloves. Really.
Lime. Cut it in half and squeeze it in their. Save the other 1/2 as garnish.

Soak the beans for a few hours of overnight. Done. Throw them in the pressure cooker for, say, 30 minutes. When that's done, sauté your pepper and onion and then the garlic too. Pour the beans with their liquid over the onions peppers and garlic. Mix in the tomatoes with or without their juices. Add everything else and feel good about yourself as this soup simmers.

Meanwhile...
Toast 1 T of whole cumin seeds in a dry frying pan then grind them.
Mix into 1 T of cream cheese and 1 T of half and half or milk. Beat or whisk the cheese and milk together. It gives kind of a rich cream, now flavored with toasted cumin.

Serve in a hand spun earthen bowl made by demure female artisans in an exotic tropical locale then sold at ikea garnished with the toasted cumin-ey cheeseness, cilantro, a wedge of lime, and a fine beer.

Tofuism

This week finally saw winter break... By which I mean that we had a couple of nice days for some long rides. And the air conditioning came on in my house. This NEVER would have happened had I been home. But sometimes, when roommates are left to themselves, things happen differently. He closed the windows, and put on the air. For the record, it did hit 83. But, it is March.
The other day, I put in a little 57 miler over some of the rolling hills to the west. The day did not go as the weatherman planned. It was colder and cloudier than thought. But the sun finally came out. And I took this picture.



Now, I digress. I need to get something off my chest. I went to the store with someone very dear to me, we will not use her name, we will only call her... "mom." I got this person, "mom," to buy tofu. It is lent, that means vegetarian Fridays, etc. But, whatever the reason, it is an awful thing to trick someone into buying tofu to cook it for them, and then leave without touching said tofu. So, this "mom" has a block of tofu. What can be done? Change the water on a regular basis. And...

Salad...


Spinach
Tofu, cut into small 1cm cubes
Citrus (I'm using blood oranges. There are other options like kumquats)
Dressing (oil and vinegar, soy sauce, Ginger, carrots, pepper, and I added some capers). Honestly, it looked better than it tasted.

Stir fry...



Rice in the rice cooker
Tofu, chopped up into 1cm
Spinach or bok Choy
Olive oil
Onions
Carrots
Garlic
Brown sugar... No sugar so I used molasses and a handful of raisins
Chili pepper
Soy or fish sauce.... I had no soy. Mine was fishy, and good.
Vinegar
Almond butter (or peanut butter)... Ah, I skipped that.
Mix the almond butter straight into the rice. Yes, I did skip this, but I also highly recommend it. Then, heat the olive oil and throw the onions and carrots in. Once they have begun to cook, add the garlic and keep the heat low. then mix in the greens (spinach or bok choy) and tofu. Once it begins to wilt, add a small amount of brown sugar, and some vinegar and chili.

Curried Tofu carbonara


Rice noodles (cooking)
Egg
Cilantro
Chopped tofu
Oil
Onion
Garlic
Curry paste
Salt and pepper
Chili pepper
Sauté the onions and garlic and add about a tsp of curry paste. Stir that all together add tofu and a little pasta water.
In a seperate bowl, crack an egg and then add the hot, cooked pasta fresh off the stove and stir. Add the oil and curry paste mixture and continue stirring. Add about 2T of chopped cilantro and some chili powder.
Don't be afraid to add some almond or peanut butter or just nuts.

And, of course, to care for your tofu. Once the package is open, it will go bad very quickly unless you change the water daily, or almost daily.
For a different flavor, change the water with a marinade. Any marinade.

Cubism

I went and saw a Picasso exhibit. Amazing. His artwork harkens back to a childlike view of the world. Those strange paintings that look like a 4 year old drew them, well, that's what he was going for. They were not without the adult elements and the brushstrokes of a master, but his paintings really do look at the world in a different way.
Let me digress... And explain. Have you ever had a young child explain a picture he drew of, say, his father? If you ask who it is in the picture he will look at you like you just asked the most obvious question and tell you it's his dad. Then he'll tell you why. Maybe it's a look on the face or a curl in the hair or a way of holding his hands, or something. Something that the child has picked up that is truly insightful and tells us that this kid knows what he is talking about.
That is what Picasso tried to do. I also saw some Degas, Renoir, Sargeant, and the Rockefeller Bedroom. But no picture Spoke to me quite like this one:


Then, of course, we dined. We started off with an appetizer of sweet potato in a goat cheese sauce. Then, in honor of St. joseph's feast day we had the most amazing hott cross buns (to the tune of three blind mice) and prosecco on rooftop.

That was when I got busy making a Coffee and Chili Rubbed Pork Loin with Parsnip Puree with Asparagus Pesto.


First off, the parsnip puree. Boil the parsnips in salty water until they are done (took about 10 minutes). Then, add salt and pepper and puree. I added parsnip water to get the right consistency and to help the blender. That was it. Part mashed potato, part carrot... Really, really good and amazingly delicious.

The Pork Loin
Rub with a mix of:
2T coffee fresh grounds plus another 2T of used coffee grounds
2T whole grain mustard
1T chili powder
1.5t unsweetened cocoa powder
1t coriander
2 medium cloves of garlic
Cayenne and salt to taste
mash that into a paste and rub the pork and then allow the pork to sit. I used the hott cross buns and bottle of prosecco method to time that. Once the prosecco is done, heat up a cast iron pan with some olive oil and sear the pork loin for 3 minutes per side. Then take the whole pan and put it into a 375 oven for 25 minutes or until the pork reaches the proper temperature. I also periodically added some parsnip water and about 1/4 C of red wine to keep it moist.

The drippings were nothing short of incredible. Do not waste them. And this was, of course, rounded out with a little gluten free bread courtesy of... You guessed it: her.

Sushiism souf of da bordah

First off, SAFETY FIRST.


IN CASE OF FIRE, DO NOT USE THE FIRE ALARM.
I just came off a whirlwind vacation. Which means I haven't slept much. What did do was spend the first half of my week missing my bike... And the second half of the week riding. I purchased some new bike parts: a saddle and a cycling computer with an altimeter. I'm an altimeter junkie. I love those things and I don't quite know why. So, I was carrying those things around without my bike.
Until yesterday. I was finally reunited with my bike. I, of course, was elated and put on the new computer with altimeter (I registered a 9% grade today, that's hott). I refrained from reseating my bike as I was about to embark on an epic 110 mile ride. I should have. A long ride is a good way to break in a saddle, and my previous saddle, despite its roughly 5000 miles of breaking in, could not have been more uncomfortable... Just an aside, if you lose weight, be prepared for an entirely different experience of sitting.
Which brings me to the Mexican Sushi. For some reason, people are narrow minded about everything. Sushi is NOT Mexican. The very concept requires some mental flexibility. So, why, after explaining what was in this dish did I get I have this discussion:
"So, what kind of Fish did you use."
"I didn't use any fish."
"but it's sushi."
"Yeah, kind of."
"And sushi has fish."
Ah, first of all, no, not necessarily. Second of all, sushi is not Mexican. Not even remotely. The paradigm is already way, way off.

MEXICAN SUSHI (without fish, but you could add some if you want)


1 onion
1 green pepper
1 portabella cap
Season with Cumin, Chili, oregano, salt and pepper the sauté with oil and finish it with a balsamic reduction.
1 C jasmine/sushi rice... Cooked
1 avocado, sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Cheese, shredded
Chili sauce
Egg beaten and placed in bowl
Oil in a pan cause your frying
Corn Tortillas

Cook the rice and let it cool so you can stick your hand in it. Warm the tortillas in a damp towel so they are pliable. Then, spread a small amount of rice over the tortilla, put in some of the mushroom and pepper mix and a little bit avacado (when you roll them, they hold less than you think). Roll them up, and stick 2 toothpicks near the center. Then slice it in half between the toothpicks. Stick the cut ends in the egg for a few seconds the place it cut end down in the hot, hot oil. Give it a minute and pull it out. Sprinkle it with cheese, cilantro, and chili sauce.

Secret of Life Chili

Yes, I have discovered the meaning of life. I really wish I could tell you, but you are not ready for that kind of spiritual awakening. But, have no fear. When you are ready, that knowledge will literally fall into your lap... Unless you are standing, in which case the secret of life will fall to the floor and your destiny will remain unfulfilled and you will probably wind up with an office job.
So how does one prepare oneself for the secret of life? Mong Beans.
True story:

In India, there was a very saintly person. Mung beans and rice with yogurt was his entire diet. He would make it each night and eat it for breakfast the next morning. That man was a radiant light, just from the food he eat. People would come from all over to be healed by this man. Each morning they would form a line outside his door. Whatever sickness they had, he would give them mung beans and rice with yogurt. And they would be cured! That's why it is called the food of the angels. It has protein, carbohydrates, everything you need.

You can easily check up on the specifics, or you can just look it up Here. The good news is that you can do this and still drink Yogi Tea. All other tea brands will disturb your Qi. The plural of which, and this is important, is NOT "Qis" but it is, in fact, cheese.
I must admit that I accidentally stumbled on the secret of life in the grocery store. I have a pressure cooker which opens the world of dry beans. Whereas, it used to take a fortnight to prepare dried kidney beans, I can now do that in a half hour. So, dried beans are back, baby! And I went a little crazy. I branched out to mong beans and adzuki beans, and consequently have achieved total consciousness. Something that would not have been possible with a jar of Goya Cuban Style Black Beans.
And what did I do with my newly achieved total consciousness? I made chili (something that would have been possible with Goya Cuban Style Black Beans).



Secret of Life Chili
1/2 C mong beans
1/2 C adzuki beans .... Soaked then cooked in the pressure cooker
1 onion
1.5 T olive oil
2 Jalapeno ................. Sauté then add
2 cloves of garlic
The cooked beans
1 C diced tomatoes
1 C water
1/2 C chopped parsley
chili powder, paprika, cayenne, and cumin, salt and pepper

Cook for 30 more minutes and serve over rice and under cheese.

Top side downism

Upside down pizza is, ahem, my own creation. I've decided that I will
make this. And so, to stay true to my resolution, and to not forget what I intend to do, I have preblogged it. This is what long hours of studying and thinking about cycling can do (namely, predispose one to intense and welcome distractibility)... I have been debating the merits of a long slow ride or a shorter slow ride tomorrow. I fully intend to ride slowly. It doesn't usually happen.
What usually happens is that I hit a certain point in a slow ride, let's call it "a hill," and push up my tempo. Then, I become mildly annoyed at how out of breathe I am and I start telling myself, "No, you gotta be able to ride up that hill and keep it going.". And next thing I know I am back at my door after having averaged 20.8 mph for the last hour. I consider that a fast ride. Slow rides are not my forte. So, with that in the background, I have to debate what to eat post ride (to replace the nearly 1000 calories an hour that that pace can burn up)... But I digress (and often).

Layer 1, a melange of toppings. This will begin with something, anything really, sauteed in some olive oil and then mixed with cheese. I'm thinkining a gruyere cheese with bits of thick bacon or thin ham, and onions, peppers and garlic.
So it was 2 pieces of beef bacon, 1 onion, 4 small bell peppers, and 2 cloves of garlic with emmentaler cheese.

Layer 2, sauce. Sauce or sliced tomatoes with a bit of salt and seasonings? I'm thinking the latter...
Wound up being a light tomato sauce more mixed in than layered.

....I think I may go out with my tri-aero bars for a quick and very fast spin tomorrow followed by a long ride on Sunday...

Layer 3, crust. I am gluten free. Not entirely in a gluten will kill me way, but in an I avoid it like cleaning the bathroom way (sometimes necessary, sometimes desirable, but never an ideal use of my time). So, with that in mind, I think I will take some soaked polenta and layer it over the top to form an even crust. I may even stir in an egg so it becomes more of a crust. I will spray oil on the top so it glistens and marginally fries under the hot food warmer lights. Then I will bake it on HOT until it is cooked. Then, i will sprinkle it with Parmesan. Then I will enjoy.
Polenta with some grated Parmesan on top. No egg.

Out of the oven it was delicious, but a bit watery. I sort of expected it to set more as it cooked. In retrospect, I might try that egg in it next time, and I will thicken the polenta (that is, use more of it).


1 onion
Peppers (I used 4 small bell peppers, but one large should work well too)
2 T olive oil.................................... Mix and sauté in a cast iron pan
2 cloves of garlic
2 prices of beef bacon.................. Add to peppers and onions on stove
4 oz cheese.................................. Mix in over heat until melty
Tomato sauce............................... Layered over the cheese and sauteed veg
1/2 C Polenta with salt and pepper, not quite fully cooked






Layer the polenta on top and sprinkle with Parmesan. The polenta is not fully cooked yet so it is more watery and easier to layer. Then throw it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Take it out, let it set for 5-10 minutes and serve.

Marmalade and other movements

I decided to make marmalade. It seemed only fitting as it was supposed to go inside a cupcake. I was not about to make the cupcakes, that would involve using measuring cups, but I still felt I should do my part. I found a willing participant who would gladly make cupcakes. My girlfriend is a "stress baker." What this means is that her primary coping mechanism is to bake cookies or, in what has become her new nodus operandi, cupcakes. You can see all the delicious results of her stressful days on here. I really try not to stress her out just for the cookies, but sometimes, I must admit, I do give into temptation.
To assuage my guilt, I try to cook for her. Real food. Manly food. Not especially manly food, because I don't like to grill. My last grilling experience... The grill caught on fire. I was making hamburgers. Little balls of ground beef. Not gourmet, just simple hamburgers. Easy, delicious, what could go wrong? The grill could catch on fire. I know, it's a grill. The fire is how you cook things. That turned into a massive grease fire right under my burgers. Those burgers, they turned into something between a hockey puck and a racquetball.
So, since it does not involve being angered near a grill, I made marmalade. I scoured the Internet for nearly 7 minutes to find the perfect recipe. Most of the recipes read like this: 14 pounds of oranges, 37 pounds of sugar, a home commercial cannery, and a dromedary camel. Not having a camel, only a few oranges, and no desire for a post apocalyptic store of orange marmalade, I nearly gave up the whole project. Ultimately, I four a recipe that made only one, normal sized jar. I read it, took some ideas and then made my own recipe. So here is what I did.

1.5 oranges... I ate half of that second orange, but i probably shoud've used it. I did put the peel into the concoction. I actually used a blood orange and half a regular orange because I was going for a slightly different flavor.
1 lime. This is keeping with that "slighty different flavor."
1/4 C sugar. This is not particularly sweet. Add more sugar if you prefer.
1/4 C water.

Wash the oranges and lime, then slice them thin with the peel on. I then threw them into a food processor and hit pulse a few times to make them smaller. With mixed results.











Throw everything into an appropriately sized saucepan and let it boil. Your goal here is to boil the water, dissolve the sugar and start softening this oranges. Let that go about 10 minutes, then turn it down to simmer for the next half hour. Remove the pan from the heat and read a good book. After waiting until your marmalade has made progress on its way to cooling or you have made sufficient progress toward total consciousness, place your marmalade into 1 appropriately sized jar.
Unless you are planning on stockpiling marmalade in case the whole Y2K thing finally catches up to us, you don't need to do any ridiculous canning process. Just throw it in the fridge until you are ready to make cupcakes.

Pancakerianism

Pancakes. Yes, that is a complete sentence. The recipe follows, and with a little maple syrup, you will see that this is nearly a full paragraph.
I am currently sitting in a review of the colon. This is the culmination of a 1.5 years and about a half million dollars of medical education: the colon. I can now respond to any medical emergency or serious disease or minor discomfort with a crinkled brow and a far off thoughtful look. I may even say, "that's interesting."
Tutu
So, start your day with breakfast. And, depending on how far you are planning on riding, fuel up with more, or less...



1/2 C Oats
1/2 C almond flour
1/2 C Buckwheat Flour
1/2 C Millet Flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 chopped apple
1 T of molasses
.... Mix all this together and then sprinkle the top with cinnamon
Meanwhile, take a pad of butter and melt it in A frying pan then pour it over the pancake batter. When it hits the cinnamon it will release the most amazing aroma. Mix it all together.
Then take that very same buttery frying pan and use it to cook your pancakes.
With a little maple syrup, they are the most worthwhile thing you can do in the morning without soap.

Book Clubism

Ah yes, as I was sitting in my chambers delighting in a fine and well hued scotch, enjoying a delightful repartee with some author whose unquestionable intellectual virtues adorn the pages of this, most delightful tome, I came across the passage:

"Acute liver failure with massive hepatic necrosis. This is most often caused by drugs or fulminant viral hepatitis. Acute liver failure denotes clinical hepatic insufficiency that progresses from the onset of symptoms to hepatic encephalopathy in 2 to 3 weeks. A course extending as long as 3 months is called subacute failure."

I nearly fell out of my chair as I positively exploded in laughter. Subacute... subacute. Very clever, very clever indeed, my dear man. I did not see that one coming at all. Robbins, you old dog, you. You have done it again sir. You have delivered the perfect punchline after the delicious 427 page setup. I must admit, this is anything but bland and predictable. And... oh dear, I have neglected to include the "spoiler alert" warning with this entry. So, for those of you who have not yet read Robbins Pathology, or not yet up to this page, I offer my sincerest of apologies.
It is the little things in life. Like fried eggplant with parmesan cheese. This was both a light dinner with some tomato sauce, then breakfast with a soft boiled egg and some hot sauce... And so simple.

Set your oven at HOT. I used the high broil with the n rack place high.
Grab an eggplant and slice into 1/2 thick slices
1/2 C of flour (maybe more)
1 egg, beaten and mixed with a little water
Salt and pepper
Olive or canola oil spray
Grated Parmesan

Grab the flour... I used a brown rice flour... And mix it with some salt and pepper.
Dip the eggplant in the egg and then coat it generously with the flour and place on a greased or parchmented baking sheet. Spray the top with oil and let it fry. Take it out, turn it over, respray and lit it fry. Once it was cooked on both sides I took the eggplant out and sprinkled some grated parmesan on top.


I served it with some arrabiata sauce and it was amazing.
I served it with a soft boiled egg and some chili sauce and it was amazing.

Those pesky carrotisms

Got a lot of carrots laying around and don't know what to do with them? Pesto them. While not technically a verb, pesto has many uses, although, the best is to serve it with pasta. So I took four carrots and roasted them. Then I roasted garlic. Then, something amazing involving sausage happened and then I ate.

4 carrots
4 cloves of unpeeled garlic
Put these in the oven and roast them (350 for 30 minutes)
1/2 C of onion sauteed in
1 T of Olive Oil with a smattering of crushed red peppers
Meanwhile, I placed
1 C of parsley into a food processor. I let the onion and the carrots cool a little (5 minutes) and then chopped the carrots a little smaller and peeled the garlic. It all went into the food processor with
2 T walnuts
And then I let it rip and I had a delicious orange colored pesto loaded with vitamins and nutrients and healthy fats.

I cooked up some chicken sausage and brown rice pasta and put it all together and it was magic... But not very photogenic.





I have a rule for this bloggedness, I only take pictures with my phone. It keeps things very simple for me.

Your doing wot?

I've decided to make wot. And, in the words of the great Chesterton, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly," I set out on my quest. Wot is an ethiopean stew that is often filled with things like hard boiled eggs, chicken, or just about anything.
Step 1: prep the beans. This involved 2 cups of garbonzos with water in the pressure cooker. Boil, let stand until the pressure drops. Then I added more water and 1.5 C of lentils and repeated the boil, let stand, allow the pressure to drop... No matter what I do, I seem to be left with somewhat unpleasantly al dente garbonzos until they have become leftovers.
Step 2: make some Berbere. Berbere (which my iPad keeps capitalizing) is a blend of spice used in the southern mediterranean regions. I roughly imitated a recipe I found here http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/recipes/Berbere_Spice_Mix.htm but only roughly--I abhor measuring in the kitchen, which makes me a lousy baker. I thought for a moment that all was ruined because I had no Cardamom. Oh, but I did.





I had to hull them. I mixed cinnamon, coriander, paprika, cardamom, turmeric, garlic, cumin, red and black pepper, ginger (incidentally, the iPad keeps capitalizing Ginger as though this were that kind of blog...) and whatever else I could salvage from the spice cabinet.






Step 3: sauté the onions with garlic and about a Tbsp of Berbere.
Step 4: mix together and cook. I added more water, a cup of tomato sauce and two more T of berbere and salt. I tasted it and let it simmer.
Step 5: at the last minute, I decided to add some chicken to flesh out some flavors and textures. So I took two rock hard absolutely frozen chicken breasts and added them to the pressure cooker, resealed it, and cooked the whole thing in there for a 25 minutes. I then pulled The chicken using two forks to shred it.
Step 6: things remembered. There had been another Berbere mix that I had looked up that called for a bitter herb indigenous to Africa. So I chopped some arugula and added that. It's bitter and an herb.





The verdict... Pretty good.

2 C dry garbanzos
2 C dried lentils
1.5 onions
3 cloves garlic
Berbere spice mix (paprika, chili, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, pepper, garlic, turmeric, Ginger, allspice, red pepper, black pepper)
2 chicken breasts or a number of chicken legs or parts (just throw them in the pot and cook or just skip the chicken and go veg)
1 C arugula
Salt to taste

Asian breakfast and Turkey Coffee

Waking up early is the next best thing... To a full night of sleep. If you are going to lose sleep, the way to do it is to lose sleep to a productive morning and good breakfast. And that's just what I did last Wednesday. Because it was early, I dispensed with the tea and tried my hand at some Turkish Coffee. Suffice it to say, it is not my forte. I think I have the measurements slightly off. I don't know why, it says very clear: 5-6 gms to 65 mL of water. I don't know what that is in American. The first cup was too weak, so I drank it and made another. It was better, but not there yet (I have since made a third cup and it went even better. By cup 4 we should be in business.






But it is fun to make in it's classy copper Cezve. In case you were wondering, my Turkish Coffee fascination was a Christmas gift from my brother. I made breakfast, then lunch (more on this) and coffee.





Then I studied until it was time for a little morning swim workout before class. 1000 meters in just over 19 coffee fueled minutes! That's not really fast, but it's pretty good for me.





And, for lunch I tried my hand at some sushi. I am not a sushi chef... As I found out. I made up a batch of jasmine rice and let it cool a little.






I spread it over some seaweed and put in julienned carrot and celery and cream cheese and avocado. I rolled it on a sushi bamboo mat (thanks world market). With a little soy sauce, it was amazing. But, more importantly, it was easy.

My cup of tea

This morning I had plans to go for a ride... It was 26 degrees when I woke up. So we decided a weather delay was in order. No riding unless it is above freezing. This is a big change from my 50-degree-rule of a year ago. The main reason I can make that change: Pearl Izumi soft shell gloves. It was still a cold, cold ride.
We started out with an espresso at a local coffee shoppe. It was not well made. That was a shame. But it was warm, caffeinated, and large. Awesome. Then we started the ride with a few hills that warmed us up quick. 20 miles and roughly an hour later I was back in my kitchen eating some steel cut oats. In case you haven't discovered the all purpose rice maker, it is amazing. Here are (not rice but) steal cut oats:
1 C steel cut oats
2.5 C water. Just estimate something a little over a 2:1 ratio
1 apple
Sprinkle with some cinnamon
Handful of raisins.
Put them into the rice maker, PROP OPEN THE LID (a butter knife laid across the top works well) and turn it on. It will be ready when you finish your ride.


An organic Pai Mu Tan white tea. I love this tea. It is a delicate, slightly sweet chinese white tea. It doesn't have the smokey or vegetable water flavors of some of the other green or white teas. I don't know quite how to describe. It is not a florid palate with hints of currants and blackberries and a tanniny finish. It is just a fine, exceptionally delicate cup of tea. It does not stand up well to other flavors so I generally drink it alone. And I never serve it to anyone who is going to put milk and sugar in it.


And, yes, that is my cup of tea.
And I'm ready for my next ride this afternoon!

Eating with chopsticks

Eating is one of my all consuming passions. Quite literally, I will eat anything. You could say I eat to live. I also track my calories with the help of Livestrong.com. Thanks Lance. It is down right nearly impossible to stay on track, and this is from someone who doesn't really eat out or hit up fast food. But today, I have a few extra calories left thanks to my bike, a Scott CR1! I took it out for about 25 miles today. Burning it up some wicked hills... The hills weren't too bad, but when you look dow at the top of a 5% grade and your speed is still well above 20, that is a good day. We woundup averagin about 196 watts according to the cycle ops wattage calculator.
So I came home and ate and studied then had a delicious dinner of rice and buckwheat with cranberries, chx sausage, tofu, and clementine wedges. Awesome.




1 C rice
3/4 C Buckwheat
1/2 Cranberries (fresh, chopped and spinkled with sugar and put aside)
1/2 C Tofu
1/4 C onion
1 orange, sliced into small chunks drizzled with soy sauce
2 chicken sausage links
Turmeric, Cumin, Cayenne,
A dash of Coriander, paprika, and garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste


Mix the turmeric and rice with 3C of water and begin cooking. Add the buckwheat when the rice is nearly done. Mix in all of the other ingredients into the warm rice mixture. Serve with greens or alone and go to town with your chopsitcks.
Serves 4. Roughly 500 calories.