Pooks Canyon

This is the meat pager my father in law gave me. I'm grilling a pork loin and we're nowhere near done. When Mr. Dennis hits 160 the pager will go off.

Jon finished stage one of the Dead Dog Classic in Laramie, WY in 6th place after having some confused (and probably very embarrassed) Cat 4 guy try to out sprint him on the finish line only to ram Jon's handlebar, sending him crashing to the pavement. Jon escaped with minor injuries and now feels bad for yelling at the guy. Anyway, since Jon is commuting back and forth to Laramie I was tasked with having the pasta ready when he got home. Usually I ad lib my pasta sauces but this time I actually got out the cookbook and learned a valuable lesson from an extremely common Italian spaghetti preparation - aglio olio peperoncino. garlic oil pepper For a pound of pasta, heat 1/4 - 1/2 cups of olive oil to nearly smoking. Add 5 lightly crushed garlic cloves for 1 minute (no longer!) and remove with a slotted spoon. Add 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and saute for a minute more. Then- and this is key - carefully add 2 tablespoons of pasta water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Then add the...

Today Jon raced in the 49th annual Nevada City Classic. This is his 7th year in the pro field at this race and he's been 5th place twice. But somehow today's 6th place feels like his biggest result at this race given who he was racing with... Lance Armstrong got 1st by lapping the field with Ben Jaques-Maynes (2nd) and Levi Leipheimer (3rd) then attacking hard in the last quarter of the race... dropping everyone. Jon got a front row call up which was largely nullified by the parade lap. Top of Jon's head on the far left along with Joey (Jon's Natural Grocers teammie), Chris McGovern and Lance Armstrong. Axel face planted on the sidewalk but seemed to recover well. Leah continues to wear the chapeau de poulet. Lance Armstrong, Ben Jaques-Maynes and Jon ride [fast!] up the hill. Lance leading the pack, Jon is riding fifth wheel. Axel found a cutie wearing a yellow trek jersey. Lance on his victory lap. He looks like he had a good hard tour prep today. Jon lets us know ...

But he sure likes the rental car.

For those (few) of you that don't frequent failblog.org here is a great little gem...

The grocery store had chopped frozen octopus for 2 dollars a pound so I thought, why not? I found a southern Italian (Puglia) recipe for stewing the octopus and it went like this... Here it is, a one pound pile of octopus chunks. I was skeptical at this point. Recipe called for boiling it in salty water for 2 minutes which seemed like a good start. Maybe the weirdness would burn off. Next, saute on medium-high for 4 minutes in 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil. Add 4 cloves minced garlic and go for a minute more. Add a cup of white wine and reduce on high for 4 minutes. Add a can of crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of honey, a teaspoon of chile flakes and a teaspoon of salt (or less). Simmer covered for 30 minutes then add 2 tablespoons of dill and 2 tablespoons of parsley and 2 tablespoons of capers. Simmer for 40 minutes more. Uncover and cook on medium for 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce. Add 2 more tablespoons of parsley and serve with crusty bread or large pasta (penne would do...

The Nuggets may be finito but Leah is just getting started! This week is basketball camp up at the highschool.

My cousin Derek posted this photo on his blog and I just had to lift it. Crazy tourists.

Jon and I checked out the Spring Brooke Trail today and it was really pleasant. We can ride to it from our house and there are beautiful views of the Flatirons, Eldorado Canyon and Boulder. Not to mention the wildflowers that have gone nuts from all the recent rain. I would call it a beginner trail (Jon rode his 'cross bike) but it was scenic and fun nonetheless.