The Hi Tech Housewife

A Tonic for all Your Ills

2012-01-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Tonight, my newfangled birthday present led me to an old fashioned recipe: homemade tonic water. Okay, so the recipe isn't totally old fashioned, but the making of tonic water with quinine has been around for a long time. Did you know quinine (cinchona) originated in Peru and its bark not only fights malaria but has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties as well. It used to be prescribed in the US for nocturnal leg cramps and Lupus. Careful, though, kiddies. Overdoing it is known to cause cardiac arrhythmia and other nasty side effects.

A tonic of quinine bark is bitter. To drink it daily requires some tangy citrus, sweetener, and - if you were a British officer in Africa - gin! So the gin and tonic was born. I imagine they enjoyed taking their medicine each night (probably free of leg cramps).

Back to the newfangled birthday present: a Sodastream soda maker I received from Mom and Dad. It makes sparkling water, but Bed Bath and Beyond sells a variety of syrups, including tonic syrup, to flavor the water. Unfortunately, their tonic syrup contains sucralose; I call it super-gross- can't drink the stuff. About a month ago, resolved to make my own tonic syrup, I searched the Internet for a recipe.

Quinine was the problem ingredient, which I eventually found at Zooscape (not that I would recommend the place). It took three weeks to arrive. Citric Acid was a little difficult, too, but I procured mine at the Chico Home Brew Shop. Here's the recipe...

Bring the following to a boil:

4 cups water

1/4 cup quinine bark powder

1/4 cup citric acid

1 cup chopped lemongrass

1 tsp whole allspice

zest and juice of a lemon, lime, and orange

Simmer covered for 20 minutes, then strain. I found if I pour slowly, most of the quinine bark stays at the bottom and I can just discard that opaque bit. Other people used coffee filters (very slow) or a french press to strain.

Reheat with 1 cup of Agave Nectar or 1.5 cups of cane sugar until fully integrated.

Gin and Tonic Recipe:

Ice

1/2 shot tonic syrup

1 shot gin

Cover with sparkling water to taste

Zesting into the pot.

The strained liquid. Did I mention your tonic will be orange?

Final product. Yummy!

Boxing Day Disc Golf

2011-12-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

I got out of the kitchen by the day after Christmas just in time to burn off some pie and show the dads Chico's finest disc golf course, Peregrine Point. On the way, we saw a highway patrolman driving slowly in the opposite direction, attempting to prevent some loose cattle from entering the roadway.

The cattle must have come our way.

Watch out, Dad!

They eventually got a moove-on, and so did we.

Bill threw a nice roller out of trouble on hole three.

The canyon views at Peregrine are pretty nice.

Jon was stuck in a bush and could only pitch out for par.

Anonymous Discraft man.

Dad, Scott, and I all threw into this bush, which sucked. But then we all managed to make the putt, so we were redeemed.

Scott was upset enough about throwing into the bush that he flipped me off, but he was still able to smile because he saved par.

Jon and his dad, very close to where someone fell off the cliff earlier this summer.

Dad was not so close to the edge.

My drive on hole 9. The only birdie I got that round.

Pooks putting.

Winter Solstice Time, Chico Style

2011-12-20T15:54:00.001-08:00

Below are some snippets of Chateau Baker from today. While I miss the snow at Christmas, it is novel and welcome to be playing disc golf in the warmth, looking at flowers, and wearing tank tops. There is no chance I'll be pick-axing an ice shelf in my driveway this year (hi Laura).

Honeysuckle

Lena would know what this is.

Probably this, too.

These look like they'll be in full bloom by... January?

Seasonal color.

Good thing Santa Pig is foregoing the pants.

Good thing Jon is foregoing the shirt. *whistle*

An Evening at the Baker's

2011-12-16T22:09:00.005-08:00

Tonight Chico felt more like home to me than any time over the last five months. The kids have friends, the neighbors come over to chat and drink beer, and I'm baking bread again. Leah is having one of her school friends, Alexa, over to spend the night. Alexa and her family came to Chico two years ago from... guess where... The Colorado Front Range. Small world. Alexa assured Leah that at the five month mark she was "still pretty messed up about the move." I hope Leah takes heart. Alexa reports full acclimation at this point.

Axel seemed a bit sad that Leah had a friend over so he helped me make banana bread until the door bell rang and the neighbor girl, Natalia, (also five) asked if he wanted to play. That left me to do the baguettes and the split pea soup on my own. Jon came home and settled into a game of Internet chess until Natalia's dad, Chris, came over. Then the men migrated naturally toward the garage. First our garage, then Chris's... what is it with men and the garage?

Axel knows how to cream the butter and sugar.

The final product. We made four loaves and are laying them in store for Christmas guests at breakfast.

I do this with the celery and carrots every time I make split pea soup.

And while I make soup, Axel plays Chutes and Ladders with Natalia.

Jon drinks a beer and plays chess.

The teens, watching TV and playing on the computer. They said I was like the mom from That 70's Show because she always takes pictures.

Axel came out like this right before dinner and said, "I'm ready to rock."

Later, I had to expand our Christmas Tree Star with cardboard, gold spray paint, and beads (the un-enhanced star looked ridiculously shrimpy). Here Jon re-tops the tree with the finished product using our most giant ladder. A 13 foot Christmas tree is fun to look at but a beast to manage.

So Proud to Have a Villain in the Family

2011-12-15T21:39:00.005-08:00

Tonight we attended the Sherwood Montessori Christmas show. No slipping out early for us- having a child in the youngest grade and another in the oldest grade. No matter, though, the show was entertaining, that quintessential mix of proud, embarrassing, and adorable moments.

Axel's class sang a song called "We Are the Mosaic" which was very cute.

Leah played the lead villain, Wolfgang, in Little Red Riding in the 'Hood. She is quite the budding actress, though I'm sure she'll kill me for writing that. Good thing she never reads my blog.

Axel looking handsome in his grey vest. He was nervous before the show so I told him to picture the audience in their underwear. He later reported that he did just that.

He loosened up talking with his blond classmate.

Here's Leah, ahem Wolfgang, before the show, in the green hoodie.

Wolfgang strutted around the stage and got several laughs from the audience. The other children are members of Wolfgang's gang.

We went out to Big Al's after the show for a late dinner. It was a real grease fest... I ordered tater tots from the secret menu and Leah got a side of mayonnaise the size of a child's soda.

The Hunt For Green December

2011-12-12T12:54:00.006-08:00

Moving back to California held many promises for me, time with my family being the foremost of these. So with pleasure, this weekend, the Chico Bakers embarked on the annual Christmas Tree Hunt in Lassen National Forest. We were guided by Dad (aka Forester Frank) and Mom (bringer of cocoa and Santa hats).

Three generations of Christmas Tree Hunters.

Our native guides.

Mom, looking cute.

Leah played video games in the car.

This one says "No Cut" so we'd better keep looking.

Watch the antlers!

Our little tiger helped drink the cocoa and find pine cones.

A large piece of Lassen National Forest installed in our family room. Needles to say (pun intended) I have not yet begun to decorate!

How To Laminate a Table

2011-04-28T17:15:00.009-07:00

As you may or may not know, we're moving to Chico, California on May 31st. Our prospective domicile is a 1980's contemporary extravaganza and I have been up late nights planning the minutia of interior decor to suit the style of the house. Call it overactive nesting instincts. Anyway, the kitchen has dominated much of these nocturnal ponderings. It is an eat-in kitchen with some serious built-in appliances in black... 1983 double ovens anyone?

Why not black, I wondered? I have stainless at my current house and have concluded we are not tidy enough to qualify for a package of stainless steel appliances anyway. Black: I'm going with it. A little research on how to decorate a kitchen with black appliances revealed some helpful information. Did you know that black appliances visually recede rather than pop-out? Sounding good so far... I'm down with receding appliances. Can it make the dishes and mess recede as well?

Another tidbit: a modern style kitchen with checkered black and white floors and a pop of red here and there goes well with black appliances. Okay, the floors at the Chico house are tan linoleum in great condition and I am not the kind of girl to go ripping out perfectly healthy flooring. Also, I would have serious reservations about installing a checkered floor. Pop of red sounds okay but I am pretty sure some red dish towels are not going to really tie the room together. Maybe a checkered rug a la Big Lebowski?

Another tip with black appliances is to have a black surface elsewhere in the kitchen, making the choice of black appear purposeful. This sounded reasonable to me. And since we don't have a dinette table already, so began my obsessive search for a black dining table. I became fixated on the idea of a retro 1950's style dinette for the eat-in area. After much Googling, it turned out I could not find a black table in a retro dinette save one place that would make a custom one for a small fortune.

I put the idea to the back of my head. That lasted about ten hours. Then, as I was selling my Victorian style sofa (won't go in the 80's contemporary house... maybe 1880's) I found a shop in Boulder called "Clutter". Owner Patty Ross accepts consigned home furnishings and sells them from her magnificent shop on 9th near Pearl Street. In emailing her about the sofa I happened to ask if she had any retro dinette tables. Turns out she did. Vintage 1950's with a silver laminate - very, very reasonable price.

I darted down there to check it out. It was built like a tank, but I immediately knew that it was not the black table I was after. Could it be made black somehow? A quick Google convinced me I could re-laminate... so Patty and I slid that table into the back of the Nissan Cube and a trip to Home Depot later I was all set up for project re-laminate.

How I did it:

The table "before"

Step One: Rough up and level the existing table surface with a sander.

The roughed-up and leveled table.

Step Two: Cut a piece of laminate slightly oversized. Laminate can crack and chip so I had to be gentle with it.

The rough-cut laminate

Step Three: Apply contact cement to the top of the debris-free table and the bottom of the laminate. Double coat the edges. Let dry for 30 minutes.

Contact cement with disposable foam roller.

Table with cement applied.

Underside of laminate with cement applied.

Step Four: Cover most of the table with cardboard, leaving just a small strip of exposed cement on one side. Lay the laminate on top of the cardboard and, once it is positioned correctly, press the laminate down on the exposed strip of table. The layers of dry contact cement will adhere immediately. Pull out the cardboard and press the laminate down onto the table carefully, from one side to other.

Table and rough-cut laminate, united.

Step Five: Drink a beer.

Step Six: Using a router with a special bit that has a ball bearing guide below the blade that can run along the table, route off all the excess laminate. Dorky eye protection legitimizes the whole operation.

Routing off the excess laminate.

Voila- now I have successfully figured out how to re-laminate a table. If I figure out how to stop buying furniture in Colorado that I promptly have to haul to Chico, I'll let you know.

I think this will look good with my black appliances.

Watermelon Beets Up On Your Salad

2010-07-14T19:53:00.008-07:00

Image courtesy of Creative Commons

Call me a square but I really do not like watermelon, especially oddly shaped $300 ones from Japan as pictured above. This watermelon diss comes as an even bigger shock to people than my fear of tomatoes and allergy to cilantro combined. And now that I have thrown myself under the bus of culinary credibility you can rise up from your cheek deep stance within that wedge of watermelon and mock me for what I am: a writer of things food with the sometimes palate of a preschooler.

Perhaps I have never come across a great watermelon or maybe it is the seeds that put me off. And since seedless varieties of most produce creep me out, watermelons have me in a bit of a pickle. Not that I will be giving you a recipe for pickled watermelon rind, either. While I am at it, I would not like green eggs and ham.

Nibbling negatives aside, two influences this week have been working me toward trying watermelon in a whole different genre: the main course. The first is Francis Lam’s article. He not only recommended some selection criteria that may help me find a tasty one, but I was fascinated by a serving suggestion at the end of the article. Warm and salty? Since I have always found watermelon a bit lacking in the flavor department perhaps a little salt and less chill would spruce it up nicely.

My second influence on the route toward savory watermelon hails from a new-old eatery concept. Earlier I mentioned a bus of culinary credibility. That was more than a metaphor: one really exists. Ok, it is not quite a bus, it is an Airstream trailer. Here in Boulder, Colorado we have a resident answering to the title of America’s Top Chef. He also probably answers to Hosea Rosenburg, since that it his name. His latest ode to food travels to lucky venues around Boulder County and is dubbed StrEat Chefs. The menu is inspired by street food world-wide and ranges from tater tots to bahn mi.

Last Monday, I ate StrEat food from the Airstream trailer where it was parked for the evening up at the Boulder Chautauqua. Hosea had cooked up many clever dishes, among them Watermelon Gazpacho, a Beet Salad, Thai Shrimp with Glass Noodles, and a Corn on the Cob that kept me looking for an unbitten morsel long after all kernels had been consumed. All of these items sold for $2 - $6 in substantial portions. As I feasted on my purchases under a picnic shelter, I had the sense of having stolen away with a gourmet spread for the price of a fast food value meal.

Image courtesy of StrEatChefs.com

The biggest revelations among those imbibing in the trailer cuisine seemed to be the beet salad and the watermelon gazpacho. I passed on the gazpacho because of my general distaste for watermelon but after tasting the beet salad I kind of wish I had ordered everything. The beet salad was a mixture of sliced strawberries, cubes of roasted beets, and chunks of orange served on a bed of arugula and topped with spicy walnuts and goat cheese. The sweetness of the beets lent perfectly to the dedicated fruitiness of the dish and the meaty texture made for a salad that could easily be a meal. The bitter arugula, salty tang of cheese, and fiery walnuts balanced not only the flavor but the texture and nutritional profile as well.

I have been thinking about that salad - and also how I missed out on the watermelon gazpacho - all day today. So, in honor of this week’s challenge, here is my watermelon riff on Hosea Rosenburg’s Beet Salad.

Watermelon Beet Salad
2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 cup roasted beets, cubed
1 cup orange, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups baby arugula (if it is super-bitter, use less of it and swap in some spinach)
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
½ cup spiced walnuts (recipe follows)

Mix together watermelon, beets, and oranges with a pinch of salt. The juices create a dressing of their own. Toss with arugula and top with goat cheese and walnuts.

Spiced Walnuts
2 cups walnut halves
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp chipotle chile powder (or cayenne if you prefer)
¼ tsp salt

Toast walnuts in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes. Melt sugar and better in a heavy saucepan and season with chile powder and salt. Mix in walnuts until well coated then spread across wax paper to cool, separating the nuts with a fork.

Lovey-Dovey

2010-07-02T18:29:00.004-07:00

A Recipe for a Picnic

2010-06-05T21:39:00.006-07:00

Picnicking is a lost art. It is so arcane that even the word looks strange to me; where did that extra k come from, anyway? With a little practice, however, we can revive a forgotten ritual. With a modern touch we can stave off the salmonella as well. Being smarter than the average picnicker does not depend on gourmet food. A great picnic sits on a sturdy blanket accompanied by the right set of accoutrement.

Once you have the parts: insulated picnic “basket”, reusable dishes, flatware, cups, and a small cutting board, the rest is easy. I use the word basket loosely: the best picnic baskets are zippered, insulated duffels with handy compartments for holding dishes and food. My basket stays stocked and ready in the hall closet, right alongside a hand-woven Mexican blanket – thick enough to keep out a little dew or pointy grass.

I love to take the family on picnics; it is an economical way to spend quality time with everyone. For the cost of whatever food I would be making at home anyway, we can trot the whole crew out on an adventure, making memories instead of purchases. The preschooler learns about nature and the teenager is forced to hang out and talk in a distraction-free situation (bonus for picnicking out of cell-range if you have a teen). With the picnic stuff ready all the time, packing up the car for an al fresco eat-out is easier than gearing up for a trip to the local swimming pool.

The proper picnic inventory consists of all washable and reusable items- no Chinet or paper towels here. My set for four consists of hard plastic plates, sturdy flatware with sharp butter knives, and unbreakable cups. Tucked into each cup is a cloth napkin, and, for filling the cups, I have a dedicated corkscrew in the set. A small cutting board - it multitasks marvelously - completes the collection of hardware.

All of these items can be easily acquired for very little cash from your local thrift store. And if you cannot find an insulated duffel there, one can be found with the coolers at most variety stores. Mine is picnic-specific from World Market and set me back twenty dollars, but it came with a setting for two so I just had to add a few more things to complete it.

Besides dishes and utensils, a few more permanent items flavor my picnic basket. These include a tiny bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar- both can be refilled and have reliable caps. Closable salt and pepper shakers from the grocery store and a teeny tiny bottle of Tabasco season nicely. Because everything is small there is plenty of room left on the insulated side for the food.

As previously mentioned, a good picnic does not require gourmet food. That said, I strongly advise against sandwiches. Not for the mayonnaise issues but because they sap luster from the meal. If you have a well stocked basket the Earl of Sandwich need not be on the guest list; the best picnics arise organically from your kitchen. You can cook specifically for your picnic, as I did in the menu described below, but leftovers are great as well. If you can eat it cold, go for it: slices of cold ham or meat loaf, green beans, garlicky pasta (there is that crazy k again). Just stack your Tupperware into the basket with a reusable freezer block and you’ve got the main course. No worries about amazing flavors, meals automatically taste better outdoors.

Since this theoretical picnic tastes so good, it needs to be washed down with something delicious as well. If you like wine in the middle of the park and the local authorities agree, a red zinfandel or pinot grigio are delicious. In the regular beverage category, some Perrier is nice, but Nalgene bottles full of ice water are really all you need. Include a lime or lemon in your basket if you have one.

In addition to your main course, snack and dessert items are a must. I like strawberries, nice cheese, a chunk of salami, and a crusty baguette or crackers. The crumbs from the baguette can just be swept off into the meadow and the strawberry tops thrown over your shoulder. But if entire strawberries will be thrown at you if that is all you brought for dessert, then hands down the best picnic dessert is cupcakes. Granted, you may not have these in your fridge (if you do- where do you live? I’m coming over) but it would be well worth a stop at the bakery. The bakery will have the best baguette, too.

For my picnic, I am barbequing some items then chilling them overnight. Tomorrow the food will be loaded into the basket and off we will go. In my photo, you’ll notice the garnish: feel free to toss in fancy stuff like fresh parsley, cilantro, or chives. If it is already in the fridge, why not have lovely garnish on your picnic? If no one eats it, I am sure some hungry rabbit will.

Grilled Marinated Chicken:
5 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 3 medium lemons
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon salt

Puree the mixture with a blender (immersion or otherwise) and marinate a pound of chicken drumsticks in the resulting liquid for a couple hours. Grill chicken, lightly basting with barbeque sauce towards the end.

Grilled Potatoes and Veggies
Slice potatoes and vegetables into ½ inch thick pieces and toss with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sear on the grill. Roast over lower heat until cooked through (potatoes will take the longest). For added flavor you can toss the cooked stuff in a dressing, fresh minced garlic, or chopped herbs before putting into the fridge.

Also consider bringing binoculars for birdwatching, a camera for documenting, and don’t forget to watch out for Yogi Bear... Boo-Boo wants those cupcakes.

Images and Text © 2010 Cyndi Baker

Axel's Prizewinning Dandelion

2010-05-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

An Oasis for Shrimp

2010-05-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

This evening’s shrimp were deveined and frozen at a time when the Gulf Oil spill was not even a glimmer on BP’s balance sheet. Through the digestive passages of these cryogenic crustaceans passed only the usual amount of oceanic pollutants. Contamination aside, previously frozen could never be as delicious as the shrimp of my dreams: the fresh catch, killed and grilled same day. Now those were some camarones.

Since all I have now is a bag of frozen shrimp, I’m going to cook with them. No skewers here, we’ll save that for the good stuff. Tonight I am making shrimp fried rice. As I look at my humble and disemboweled sea bugs thawing in a colander, I think back to their succulent superiors from Mexico.

Shrimp Serif. These are not the shrimp I am looking for.

My husband and I got married in Puerto Vallarta and stayed on for the honeymoon - along with several dozen of our closest friends and family. We ate out frequently and often in large groups, so when my husband and I discovered a tiny, nameless eatery on the beach, we dubbed it The Oasis and hid out there. For a while it was just the two of us, quietly sipping our Coronas and enjoying that newly married bliss.

The menu at the Oasis seemed to consist of whatever they were pulling out of the ocean. Baby octopus burritos, anyone? At the time, I shied from the octopi; last year was my first foray with the eight tentacled one. Back then, I had the shrimp. Every time I did it was perfection. They were served skewered, pink and naked with a caramel crust along the edges, always paired with freshly chopped jicama and cucumber tossed in chili powder.

It took us ten minutes to walk up beach from our hotel, hot sand giving a little hop to our step. We knew we were close when we could see the glint of the corrugated kitchen shanty, the white plastic furnishings sinking deep into the sand, the red coca-cola umbrellas so low we had to duck to settle in. The Coronas would be in front of us instantly. We got to know the leathery Canadian ex-pat, a fixture under his little umbrella every time we visited. My husband remembers this about The Oasis: “The beer was cold and the shrimps were good.”

Yes, Jon, those were some mighty fine shrimp. As I de-chitin the newly limbered specimens from the colander I am nostalgic, both for good shrimp and The Oasis. On our anniversary, last November, we went back to Puerto Vallarta and made a point of revisiting The Oasis. A lot had changed. The corrugated kitchen shanty is still there, but years of ad hoc carpentry had been put in place. The main dining area had a real floor and ceiling, nary a coca-cola umbrella could be seen. There was a second floor balcony overlooking the ocean, on which Jon and I sat with our beer and reminisced. We talked to the owner about getting some food but they now only opened for a proper dinner hour and we were too early. He told us how the additions had been made over time, but there was a bigger addition looming in his thoughts. It shadowed us as we spoke.

A new hotel was being built directly behind The Oasis, a towering frame of steel. The Oasis proprietor referred to the developers as the Mexican Mob, but I think “friends of the mayor” is probably what he meant. Anyway, the hotel developers wanted this crusty barnacle off the beach and were seeking to shut it down. The owner seemed optimistic about his battle but I fear for the longevity of The Oasis. Big business, now twice over, threatens my shrimp experience.

Pragmatically, in landlocked Boulder, Colorado, I do not have much hope of great seafood. Maybe trout. Shrimp have not been part of the terrior here for several million years, so my expectations for tonight’s shrimp are less than glamorous. All my little grey buggies are laid out for the shrimp fried rice. My reference for this recipe is Madame Wong’s Long-Life Chinese Cookbook, copyright 1977. I bought this cookbook at a thrift store after it was discarded from the local library and I’ve used it for nearly a decade now in all my Chinese food ventures. Madame Wong feels like a friend to me. The cover states that it is for use with the West Bend Electric WOK but I find my gas flame and regular wok to be sufficient.

Shrimp Fried Rice:

½ Pound Fresh Shrimp
1 tsp cornstarch
½ tsp salt
Oil
3 Eggs
4 cups rice
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 scallion

Chop the raw shrimp and toss in cornstarch and salt, then fry in 1 tablespoon hot oil for 30 seconds. Set aside. Fry beaten eggs in 2 tablespoons hot oil, scramble fine and set aside. Fry rice and soy sauce in 2 tablespoons hot oil until thoroughly heated. Add shrimp, eggs, and scallion, fry 1 minute and serve.

I did not chop the shrimp and, as always happens when I do not heed Madame Wong, I was disappointed. Chop them, people.

A Peck of Peas from the Farm Share

2010-05-15T17:36:00.001-07:00

My back is sore and I did sleep restlessly last night, but I’m no princess. The only peas in my house rest peacefully in the kitchen. We keep the food in bed rule at zero tolerance around here, though sometimes the little guy traipses in at 5am covered in cream cheese after a pre-dawn breakfast foray. Or forage as the case may be. But I’m getting off-peaste (I know, I know), so on with the peas.

Living in Boulder, Colorado has some culinary advantages. While the climate is not the best for abundant fresh produce, support for small organic farms is prevalent. About five years ago, excited for the restart of the farmer’s market, I heard about "farm share." Farm share programs are an opportunity to take part in the bounty of a local farm while at the same time indemnifying the farmer from catastrophic crop issues. If the peas were plentiful, we would get a peck in our weekly share. If the lettuce was hailed upon, then our share would contain lettuce racked with holes. Or no lettuce at all.

Buying a share from the farm turned out to be a huge boon on many fronts. My family ate more vegetables every week in far greater variety than ever before. Some weeks I would be unable to carry our weekly share in a single trip, laden with melons, greens, and giant cones of Brussels sprouts still on the stalk. If you think you do not like Brussels sprouts, you must try them fresh off the stalk. The sweetness is incomparable and made only more satisfying when sautéed with a good deal of garlic so fresh that the stalk is still attached.

The benefit of eating fresh vegetables may seem obvious, but as that summer continued, I realized the farm share gave us more than just a bounty of local vegetables. The real epiphany was flavor. Eating something as simple as fresh Brussels sprouts changed me from the innocent house frau happily buying bruised and olden sprouts from the local Kroger to a more sophisticated produce connoisseur. But even more revelatory than the Brussels sprouts were the sugar snap peas.

I like sugar snap peas year round in just about any dish, but the fresh-picked sugar snap peas from that farm were so crisp, so melt-in-your mouth sweet, so perfect to behold that I would put them out in a candy dish. The family recognized they were a special occasion sweet treat and would gobble them up. Since sugar snap peas in a candy dish is not really a recipe that would appease the judges, below is my favorite way to cook sugar snap peas. While I agree with Francis Lam on spring peas, overcooked sugar snaps are a travesty. Cook them simply and barely; let the peas speak for themselves.

Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas

½ lb Sugar Snap Peas
Olive oil just to coat pan
Kosher Salt to taste
Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Heat olive oil on medium, add sugar snap seas. Toss with salt and pepper flakes and cook for a little over five minutes. If you have a fresh herb lying around, chop it up and toss it in as well. Mint and thyme are both very good for peas, but only choose one.

Celebrity Twitter Accounts Compromised - Stop the Press

2010-05-10T17:09:00.002-07:00

Early Monday morning, in an unprecedented demonstration of the obfuscation of the real world, average tweeters everywhere were given the ability to make Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and Betty White listen to their boring sub-140 character life updates. Yes, kiddies, it’s true. Well, ok, I really don’t know if Betty White is on Twitter- I missed SNL this weekend - but had you known about this, you would have been able to make someone follow you on Twitter. A force-follow if you will, any twit you could dream up.

What would I have done with such immense power? Probably frittered it away, or should I say twittered it away. I would have made Sarah Palin follow me, then posted locations of secret tea-bagging sessions where everyone would get a free Prada goodie bag for participating. The locations would all turn out to be Planned Parenthood offices. I would have forced myself upon Rob Lowe and Jude Law, tipping them off to the headquarters of the under-23 nanny society, only to have a gang of purring cougars laying in wait. I would have thanked Katie Perry for getting engaged so my husband could stop pining after her already (kidding Jon).

We haven't seen this big of a celebrity privacy invasion since 2005, when Paris Hilton's Sidekick was hacked. I dropped T-Mobile right after that, too risky. Seriously, though, I like to imagine what it must have been like when Brittany Spears woke up to find out that Suzy Nobody went for a long bike ride or that Joe Sixpack ate the daily special at the Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen. Celebrity assistants worldwide have their work cut out for them, extracting all the riff-raff from their clients’ follow lists. Go ahead and remove Brett Michaels, Kim Kardashian, and that chick with eight kids while you’re in there, why don’t ya?

Once the chief twits got wise to the glitch, the company became all atwitter to fix the issue, taking out everyone’s followers in the process. Good lord, what now? Would we all have to go back to living as if it were 2007, perish the thought! For those of you opening up a new twitter tab in your web browser right now, don’t despair about the state of your followers. I checked, and all three of my followers have come back (hi Mom).

So rest easy everyone; it is going to be okay. No harm done, really, except to a few celebrities. And they probably deserved it anyway.

Lucky Low Cost Prize Winning Recipes

2010-05-09T14:24:00.003-07:00

It is Mother’s Day and my biggest concern is whether or not I should write under the influence of Flexeril. Such is my carefree lifestyle. The second Sunday in May is usually my favorite day of the year, but this one I am observing horizontally after pulling my back in a frenzied toddler wrangle. I am sure that the back issue will have little bearing on my enjoyment of today; the bliss of a demand-free afternoon is hard to defeat.

I have had my eye on the Salon Kitchen Challenge all week: bring us your Mother’s Day recipes in honor of what your mother made for you. My mom hails from 1950’s California, a product of that state’s agricultural heartland. At eighteen, she wed a son of Indiana and they are happily married to this day. The basic cuisine in my formative years was what one would expect from a 1980’s household such as ours. Shake ‘n Bake chicken, Shake ‘n Bake pork chops, meat loaf, and tuna noodle casserole. We never did have Shake ‘n Bake meat loaf, which would have been very exciting and possibly more American than Apple Pie.

If we were feeling adventurous, we would crack open a can of La Choy Chow Mein resplendent with the little crunchy noodles that I have never seen outside of my mom’s kitchen. Mom has since broadened her gustatory horizons, in case you wonder. In these days of Food Network, Kitchen Stadium, and Kitchen Challenges, we all have. Back then, she balanced two kids with a full time job and still managed hot home cooked meals every night.

My husband’s mother ventured farther afield, into the culinary alps of Northern California. There she lived amongst Sasquatch and crotchety miners in the hamlet of Sawyers Bar. She shopped large and infrequently in a far away town, trading amongst Sawyers Bar locals and the Native American reservation for fresh produce. She even traded her childcare services for goat milk, a substance for which my husband still has an affinity.

It is that same woman, my mother-in-law, who recently gave me an antique piece of her culinary repertoire: a nearly century old Department of Agriculture cookbook from her mother’s side of the family. I have the crumbled shedding of this book lying across my chest as I write from the comfort of my chaise. Part cookbook, part history book, part family bible, the old pages are an enticing way to spend a Sunday afternoon whilst stove up in an office.

The first recipe that jumped out at me was on a page entitled “Preparations for the Sick.” Okay, I am not sick, but I am flat on my back so maybe that qualifies. At the top of the page, there it sat: Toast Water. Place several pieces of stale toasted bread in a cup, cover with ice water, and serve to your patient. If you do not get well soon this is what we will be giving you to eat all the time. Bon Appetite. As proof that it did not say "Preparations to Make you Sick," I give you the page, photographed below.

Here is another recipe, this one labeled as good for invalids. Since I am a bit of an invalid today, why not? Frumenty: Rinse a quart of wheat (fresh from the thresher I presume) and put in a tin vessel with a gallon of water. Set this in a larger vessel of water and boil for eight hours. It will keep in a cool corner for a week. Eat cold with sugar and cream, or reheat if you are worried about food poisoning. I added that food poisoning disclaimer myself; the recipe name is not far from fermenty.

When I first saw the title of this next preparation, I pictured a cow served with a side of her own iced cream: Beef a la Mode. Boil a roast until half done then bake in the oven until tender. Make a paste of 1.5 cup sour cream, ½ tsp soda, and 2 egg yelks (yes, yelks) and spread it over and around the beef, bake until browned. Lay the beef in a serving dish and cover with the following sauce: 1 ounce of butter cooked with 1 tbsp flour, add 1 cup each stock and cream and boil with minced onion then stir in two more yelks and a tbsp catsup. I think this sounds great, but Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorites. My guess is that salt and pepper have been assumed here, Kate F. Beanland of Clinton, Missouri must have left those out.

As I fondle this federal culinary masterpiece, random papers of the past keep falling out. The latest scrap to fall says COMMON SPEECH ERRORS across the top. On the list are: “My brother, he killed a rabbit.” “This is a boughten dress.” “I’ll learn you to do it.” MS Word seems a bit upset with these errors as well so I guess I need not keep grammar tips in my cookbook.

Something a cookbook should have, however, are Pie Recipes. In the pie category, I give you two. Hard Times Pie: Rub ½ cup flour and ¾ cup sugar into a heaping tbsp of butter until no lumps remain. Add a cupful of water and bake with but one crust. Mrs. Clara Everts of Griffith, Indiana assures us that it is “quite palatable.” I will have to take her word for it, back or no back, times are not hard enough for me to make that. So how about Cheap Vinegar Pie? This one comes on the heels of Vinegar Pie and Another Vinegar Pie and just prior to plain old Cheap Pie. Makes three pies, hope you are hungry. Take 1 quart of water and 4 tbsp of strong vinegar and mix with a cup of sugar and 3 tbsp butter. Boil. While boiling, add a cupful of flour wet in cold water and boil 2 minutes more. Let cool. Once cool, if you do not have a solid mass of glue, pour into three pans lined with paste (don’t ask me) and bake in a quick oven. I presume the oven must be quick lest it becomes aware of what it participates in.

The smell of moldering paper must be going to me head. Or is it the Flexeril? Okay, one more, this one from the cover (or page 51, as readers of the intact book may have found). Here it is, for your belated Mother’s Day breakfast, I give you Fried Mush: Slice cold mush ½ inch thick. Dip pieces in beaten egg and then in rolled crackers. Fry same as doughnuts. This is very nice for breakfast, Hattie Cary of La Plata, Missouri advises.

Better yet, lie around and wait for someone to bring breakfast to you. Earlier, a crafty 12 year old and sweet 3 year old brought me a Pac-Man lap tray of second breakfast. Like a good hobbit, I ate it right down to the fun size Butterfinger. Mmmm, that tasted good. Perfectly seasoned eggs. The juxtaposition of Pac Man and ancient cookbook crumbles is not lost on me. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas, and thank you, papas and children, for keeping us hassle free on this blessed occasion.

Groove Subaru Takes the Cake, and the Pie, and the Cookies, Too

2010-05-08T15:51:00.003-07:00

Chuck Coyle literally drove away with the win today at the ICC Crit in Englewood, doing a steering wheel style salute in honor of sponsor, Groove Subaru. Chuck got away in a break of four guys with only three laps to go. Dirk Friel and Thomas Roba were in the break and Chuck said they tried attacks but he was able to stay on their wheels and outsprinted Paul Esposti for the win.

This win came on the heels of many a several primes won by teammies Jon Baker, Greg Krause, Chuck himself, and Zach Davies - who got fifth after winning the field sprint. They are racing in a way we rarely see teams race around the front range: like a team. Good job guys!!!

Cat 2's Get Krausified

2010-05-03T10:01:00.003-07:00

The boys came back last night at about 2 am, following a twelve hour drive back from the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. The big story on the final Gila Monster stage was Krause's crushing attack in the valley during the cat 2 race. He came back from 8 minutes behind on GC to win the overall. That plus two stage wins and four stage podiums makes a fabulous finish for Krause's cat 2 days, which are, of course, now over.

Jon said, once again, Chuck did a fabulous job of getting him to the front. This time for the Gila Monster climb - nose to the wind for over 10 k. Jon was happy with his result on the stage and feels his form is coming along well. He looks forward to Tour de Nez and the Nevada City Classic, as well as the local Morgul Bismark race over Memorial Day.

At breakfast this morning, we played chess. Once Jon (a National Chessmaster - in my defense) had my position so pinned down I couldn't move a piece without weakening it, I commented how futile it was playing him. Jon replied that now I knew how he felt when Levi Leipheimer attacked yesterday. He just couldn't go with him. Well, maybe. I have a feeling Jon and Levi are more closely matched bike racers than Jon and I are as chess players.

Time Trials and Tribulations

2010-04-30T20:29:00.004-07:00

Tour of Gila, Stage 3, the time trial. Jon's hope of a good GC showing was crushed today after a mechanical on his time trial bike, midrace, cost him over three minutes. Bummus Majoris. He is taking it in stride, however, happy that his form is top notch as the road season is ramping up. Bike racing is a sport so loaded with potential disappointment, sometimes I don't know how those guys do it. Must be the endorphins.

On the happier Groove Subaru front, Greg Krause continues to rock the cat 2's with a podium again at today's time trial, only seven seconds from the lead (3rd place was nearly a minute back, btw). He currently sits in the top 5 on GC. Tomorrow is the downtown criterium.

Gone With the Wind

2010-04-29T14:44:00.003-07:00

Strong winds were the prevailing force in today's Tour of the Gila stage. Jon was in it to win it after an arduous 120 kilometers and was actually on race leader Levi Leipheimer's wheel for a while in the final kilometers. Disaster struck when he was echelon-ed into the dirt, crashing with about 600 meters to go. He was sixth wheel at that moment, racing for the podium. "Usually I'm always suffering but I was feeling good today," Jon said in regard to his form at this year's Gila.

The day started with the first Category 3 climb to Pinos Altos, where much of the field was left behind. Zach Davies, also from the Groove Subaru Squad, managed to stay in front of the split with Jon and got him into good position before they hit the crosswind section. It was a group of just 50 of the remaining riders (out of 177 starters) that made it through to Fort Bayard together, though even in this group there were gaps because of the high winds. After his crash, Jon was able to hop up quickly and get over the finish line, not sure of his exact placing yet.

The crash wasn't the only craziness blown in with the wind. The Elder Bakers, at the Gila to feed the Groove Subaru team, accidentally locked the keys in the car and missed getting to feed zone number one. Someone had to Slim Jim the door open. Also, this just twittered: a porta potty has blown over at the race headquarters. Hopefully no one was in it! Lance Armstrong was heard saying after the race that it was the windiest day of his career.

Great news for Greg Krause, the Groove Subaru rider racing with the cat 2's, he'll be getting his cat 1 upgrade soon enough after WINNING today's stage of the cat 2 men's race. Congratulations Greg! Tomorrow everyone is racing solo in the 25k time trial, which sounds punishing but will certainly mean less time in the saddle. More tomorrow.

Grooving the Gila

2010-04-29T08:49:00.005-07:00

photo from GilaWilderness.com

Jon called in yesterday with his Tour of the Gila race report from the Groove Subaru Cycling Team perspective. Yesterday's stage, the Mogollon, was 150 kilometers with a mountain top finish on a Category One climb. Category One = steep or long, in this case very steep. After Stage One, Jon's about 2 minutes off of the leader Levi Leipheimer and only 16 seconds off of Lance Armstrong. Jon probably did not intend for me to blog this, but he said he couldn't ride too close to Lance lest the Fan Boy fever take over. Ok, he didn't exactly say it like that but he did say it was distracting. So maybe he gave Lance 16 seconds on purpose? Haha.

Jon is at the Gila with Groove Subaru teammates Zach Davies and Chuck Coyle, as well as Greg Krause who was snubbed by the USCF upgrade people by not counting his ACA points. So it goes. Krause is racing cat 2 but I am sure he would have been in the mix had he been allowed to race yesterday. So without Krause they are a team of three for the Gila.

Chuck kept the team out of the crosswind danger zone by hauling the them toward the front of the pack, staving off the fate of being guttered out of the race. Then, right at the start of the climb, Zach did tremendous work to position Jon near the top 10. After that Jon said he just kept steady on the climb, falling back a bit at one point but then chugging past a lot of people toward the end to finish 27th.

Today's stage is the Inner Loop Road Race at Fort Bayard, and they are probably about halfway through the 130 kilometers as I type this, perhaps gearing up for the final Category 3 climb of the day (there are three of those today). The race finishes over about 10k of descending then flat terrain. Looking forward to hearing how the team did and posting it here.

The Road

2010-04-26T11:10:00.004-07:00

I managed to peel myself away from work all weekend; thanks Open Salon commentators for the encouragement. Instead of work, I went to a meet-up of the Boulder Writers in which we discussed Time as an element in writing: time period, time passing, time dilation, time travel. (!) Then I went home to work on my novel, getting to chapter seventeen of nineteen of the first draft. It is good progress considering I began in January.

That said, in going back and reading the draft, I see that serious revisions are in order. Entire chapters are probably in need of disposal and replacement. There is an interesting pattern at work in which my protagonist needs to be nicer and the characters surrounding her need to be meaner. The cast, as they stand now, are just being too nice. I believe Barbara Kingsolver said the first draft is a work of construction and the seventh a work of art. It is a long road, but it's not Cormac McCarthy's road, so that's good.

Also in the long road department, Jon leaves tomorrow with some of his Groove Subaru Cycling Teammates for Silver City, New Mexico to race the Tour of the Gila. They will travel by bus, plane, and car in an all day trek to the southwestern reaches of New Mexico (or the northern reaches of Mexico, as the cultural difference of that region may imply). Lance Armstrong will be there, along with a Team Radio Shack contingent, to lay the smack down on the North American cycling scene.

So I will be holding down the fort for nearly a week while my husband rides his bike over 350 miles and 30,000 feet of climbing with some of the world's top cyclists. My legs hurt just thinking about that. Best of luck, Jon, and the rest of the Groove Subaru Cycling Team, may the force be with you! Updates here as I have them.

Practically Tron-ified

2010-04-23T12:49:00.005-07:00

It is snowing in Boulder today, a sloppy, wishy-washy, rainy snow. My lawn is so green now it looks like it belongs in the Pacific Northwest. Today would be an excellent day to go to hot yoga, except today coincides with the end of fiscal April. Deliverables must be delivered and my computer will not cooperate well enough to allow me to finish my work. Maybe she just enjoys my company, but it seems every task I try to accomplish is met with the utmost resistance. She musters all 4 gigs of her RAM to spite me.

Okay, yes, this is day 3 of the "configure the new work machine" marathon and the result is cpu anthropomorphism. We've simply spent too much time together. I think Jon is sick of seeing me in my pj's banging away at the keyboard, but what's a girl to do? Surely not work the weekend! This weekend I resolve to shutdown this machine and hide it in a drawer. I will do yoga, I will go to my writer's meet-up, I will work on my novel. I will communicate with real people, in person.

What's that, computer? You need me? You're ready for your SQL Server 2008 install? Ok, folks, duty calls. If no one can find me this evening, check circuits of my new computer, we may have become permanently melded.

Nat en Straf

2010-04-22T13:51:00.006-07:00

Today we learned, belatedly, that there has been a fire at the De Dolle Brewery in Esen, Belgium. Jon and I toured the brewery last year and consider the owner, Kris, a friend. Apparently a hot water tank caught on fire; one employee was seriously injured and is now recovering well. The brewery is still functioning but there will be some production delays. There is more info about last year's visit to De Dolle at this link. Best wishes to Kris, his wife, and the whole De Dolle crew.

On the other recovery front, Axel's toe continues to heal and he seems to be getting around with little pain. Leah's doing some recovery as well, from the intense, daily, 90 minute track workouts. Jon gave her some muscle ice lotion and told her that she would adapt after a few weeks. We really work our youngsters out hard here in Boulder!

It appears to be a Fall day outside. Something about the gray quality of the sky says Fall, despite some flowers pushing through. Another good day to be stuck at the computer, I suppose.

Breakfast Injuries

2010-04-21T12:13:00.003-07:00

Warning, this is kind of gross.

The big crisis this morning started with a nice healthy bowl of oatmeal. Axel was busing his oatmeal bowl to the counter and it slipped, falling onto his big toe. It took me about as long as the toenail took to turn purple (1 minute) to realize the usual mommy soothing was not going to make it better. Ice, of course, is never a favorite among the under 5 set, so I didn't even bother. Besides, if my toenail looked like that I wouldn't want anything to touch it.

After a dose of Tylenol and elevating the foot I got down to the research of what to do. I looked up nail bed injuries and found that releasing the blood under the nail can relieve the pressure. Further, with small children, it can be necessary for continued proper development. So I called Dr. Wisner's office and he had a 9:30 opening. At the office, Dr. Wisner decided that the toe was not broken (phew) but there was a significant amount of blood under the nail that needed to be released. He used a thing called a cauterizing needle to poke a hole in the nail and drain it, Axel howling the whole time.

Axel is resting comfortably downstairs right now, the day off from preschool. Since the draining, the pain in the toe has been greatly reduced. We are happy about that. The doctor says he will probably lose the toenail. I told Axel that I would paint his other toenails to match and he is pretty excited about that. I did not tell him he would probably lose the toenail.

Family Exercises

2010-04-20T15:31:00.003-07:00

Today was spent mired in the vagaries of new computer configuration. On the upshot, after trolling forums for answers to my Windows 7 woes, I discovered that my previous responses to other Windows forums earned me a little gold badge of nerdliness. Nice to be recognized.

Jon just left for a Tuesday evening group ride, leaving a wave of embrocation vapors in his wake. Earlier, he took Axel for their weekly stint at the velodrome. I never washed the clods of Palo Duro Canyon off the frame so Axel probably left a trail of red dirt everywhere he went. Leah is going in circles of her own, having joined the interscholastic track team at Southern Hills. She aims to be a sprinter.

I did a little 3 hour bike ride yesterday, myself. It turns out the offices of the company I subcontract for can be reached almost entirely by dirt trail. Unfortunately 3 hours was a bit long for my first ride of the season and I am feeling the pain today. It is a good day to be stuck at a computer receiving shiny gold stars for geekitude.

Some may have noticed that Pooks re-branded to the Boulder Housewife. No other change besides that and hopefully a renewed impetus to diarize the family. Thanks, Valerie, for the shove in that direction.

Palo Duro Redux

2010-04-19T13:01:00.003-07:00

On Friday, rain looming, our family set out to go camping. It was the annual Palo Duro trip with my sister-in-law, Valerie, and her contingent. This year we added the Elder Bakers to the mix. Their recreational vehicle turned out to be a great source of refuge in the early squalls, and a continuous source of refuge for the camping-averse teens who were eventually forced out into the sunlight after elicit use of the bathroom.

Jon and I scrambled to set up a tarp shanty, covering tents that had varying levels of water permeability. Note: a tarp under the tent just causes water to pool, only use tarps that are less than the footprint of your tent for ground cover. Eventually we had to give up on my pop-up tent from 1996, too wet. We had relegated aforementioned camping-averse teens to that tent, so they bailed to the relative comfort of Valerie and Richard’s living room sized nylon abode.

Partially dry and mostly unslept, I emerged in the grey morning seeking coffee and oatmeal. The abandoned and waterlogged tent was taking valuable potential kitchen space under the tarps so I disassembled it and set up a camp table. After I had the coffee and oatmeal cooking, I realized that the shanty needed one more tarp wall and one less tarp floor. How I got the tarp floor out from under a rickety camp table with flaming propane and scalding liquids remains a story I would not like to recount to any park ranger. Suffice it to say only minor burns were incurred.

At dawn, as the elder Bakers remained squirreled away in the recreational vehicle, the rest of the sodden camp community arrived in ones and twos for coffee and hot water from the tarp shanty mess hall with the earthen floor. Some remarked that it was warmer under the tarps, a statement in which I took no small amount of pride. In a nearby camp the “Texas Outdoor Family” initiative was giving out lessons on how to erect your store bought tent. Don’t those come with instructions? Send them over here and we’ll show them real camping: tarps and bungee cords lashed together with innovation and the occasional well-placed rock.

The first night, before bedtime even arrived, Valerie’s air mattress had deflated, causing them to sleep on its flattened remains. So after breakfast - I am embarrassed to admit - we drove to a nearby Wal-Mart to requisition a new bed. Before we left I pulled on a yellow sweater and asked Jon about my appearance. He said, “Who cares, we’re camping.” To which I replied, “But I’m going to Wal-Mart,” realizing, of course, the silliness of the statement as it left my lips. So the women drove to Wal-Mart and blinked in the fluorescent light, wondering how it had come to this. Note to self: camping is no time for shopping. I returned tired, confused, and holding several white plastic bags of stuff I didn’t even know I needed.

Eventually, the rain stopped and the mood around camp warmed up. The birds came out, in droves and flocks, and we took the “littles” on a walk. The “littles” are that preschool duo we know as Axel and Ben, full of energy, bikes rooster-tailing through mud puddles. The walk was nice, we tracked a melodic Cardinal who was adopted as the Baker family camp mascot. The boys erred dangerously close to cacti and discovered an entire abandoned windmill which they were not yet inclined to climb. Probably next year, when grown-ups aren’t looking.

After terra-forming the camp playground into less of a soggy disaster (wood chips can soak up a lot of water) the grown-ups were tuckered out and retreated to a nice fire and cold beverages. My father-in-law, Bill, tended the fire and made judicious use of limited wood supplies. We toasted marshmallows, or incinerated them, as the case may be, and pontificated on the various methods and ingredient types for achieving the perfect s’more. We were reminded that the first one is the best and it only goes downhill if you have s’more.

Later, Valerie and I discussed my blog. I often say Facebook ate it, removing it’s raison d’etre. However, if I posted something like this as a FB status update I am relatively certain Beth Fisk would get on her bike and come over here just to mock me. I should be so lucky (hi Beth!). So here we have it, a nearly complete blog post. All it lacks are photos, it certainly does not lack words! Any pictures, campers? I did not take a single shot but I did see Bill, Richard and Mimi shutterbugging… send your pics!

The Running of the Bikes

2009-12-09T13:16:00.015-08:00

It all started with iPhone alarms going off at 6am. Yes, we're on vacation in Mexico... Jon Baker style! We sleepily pulled on our cycling finest and wandered, spandex-clad, toward the main drag in search of a taxi. In the dark. The full crew was Jon, my brother-in-law Richard, my nephew Robert, my dad and myself; we were on the first leg of a bike ride that was to include taxis, buses and even a boat.

We arrived at BikeMex on Guerrero where Oscar, the proprietor, set us up with the necessities. Guide, check. Sandwiches, check. Helmet and Gloves, check. Several bikes in varying states of repair, check. In the dawn light we rode through the cobbled streets of Puerto Vallarta to a bus stop where Oscar attempted to deposit us on the next bus to El Tuito. After much exchange with the driver it was determined we would wait for the next bus.

The wait was nearly an hour. Standing at a Mexican bus stop wearing spandex - when the working people are all getting on the bus to go to their jobs - made me slightly self-conscious. When the next bus finally came our bikes took up more seats than we did and the driver had be convinced with much pleading and many pesos to even let us on. What a ride. Stomachs lurched as the driver railed around corners, up up up into the jungle. A girl in the front had to use the barf-bag and many new passengers had to stand since the bikes were taking so many seats. At that point the driver decided morale was low and began to blast accordion rock on the radio.

About an hour later we arrived in El Tuito. I tried to find the banos but I found the Federales instead. They were kind enough to direct me to the banos, but not without several snickers at my attire. Once the crew was all ready, we started the easy spin out of El Tuito. On this road we noted the first of several times that our guide stopped to ask for directions. But, hey, at least his Spanish was strong which is more than I could say for the rest of us.

At about kilometer 8, just when we were thinking what a piece of cake this ride was going to be, the road pitched up violently. A thousand feet of climbing later, I reached the top of the first hill. Dad came shortly thereafter. We stopped and ate our sandwiches and, after about 20 minutes, began wondering where the others could possibly be. We would eventually find out that Robert had sheared off his derailleur hanger and Jon converted Robert's bike to a single speed. Of course the terrain was too steep (10-15% grades) so Robert mostly pushed.

The next patch was rolling and we proceeded down the road. Dad and I ended up ahead, again, with Jon circling back to check on the others at frequent intervals. By our estimation, the next logical stop was this cement bunker with a thatch awning and busted out windows. Why? The man sitting in front of said bunker was calling out "Cereveza" to us as we passed. Those of you familiar with our family "bike-abouts" will know that beer stops are a given for Dad and I. We were very happy to find this little oasis.

The owner of the place was named Santiago and spoke no English. Dad and I speak poquito Spanish so we passed the time by teaching each other the names of common objects in our native tongues. Mesa... table, Perro... dog, Cerveza... Beer and so on. Finally (though we were in no rush!) the rest of the crew arrived, surprised to see us relaxing with beers on the roadside.

It turns out Robert had now broken his chain and from this point forward Robert's bike was no more than a Skuut! Jon and the guide asked Santiago for some rope, which he had, and they rigged up a system in which Jon was to tow Robert and his bike the rest of the way to Yelapa. And it seemed to work with Jon towing the 120 pound guide on the 2% grade in front of Santiago's Hideaway.

So with beers in our bellies we got up to leave. I told Santiago that dad was "mi padre" and Santiago says, in Spanish I did not understand, "Oh, my new father-in law!" And the guide explains Santiago is proposing marriage (tongue in cheek, I presume). Then Santiago begins gesturing at the borders of his property and saying all this will be mine should I want to stay on and be his wife. The guide is cracking up as he translates.

Just as we're about to ride off, Santiago grabs both my hands, looks deep into my eyes and gives me the most romantic sounding little speech that I didn't understand a word of. The guide was already too far away to translate so I can only imagine what Santiago said. It was all very flattering. I guess women in skin tight clothing don't stop by the hideaway for cervezas very often.

About another thousand feet of climbing later Dad and I - solo again - arrived at the cute village of Chacala. The first thing I noticed was the booming Mariachi-style music permeating every corner of the town; I remember it as the Chacala soundtrack. Other highlights of Chacala: a Spanish-style town square complete with gazebo, a domestic boar, a woman with a large vat balanced on her head, and a convenience store where our guide could ask for directions. Once sure of our path we started up the hill out of town with the Chacala soundtrack slowly fading away.

No sooner were we out of earshot of the town, dad and I came across a strange sight. Up the hill about 100 feet was a man shepherding what could best be described as a logging donkey. This animal had four 12 foot logs attached to his body. Two on each side. So the image was that of a donkey with a huge V of lumber extending out diagonally from either side. Since we had already passed burros, bulls, goats and boars I guess it was just a matter of time before a logging donkey came along. As I rode toward the animal, he trotted toward me. At about 10 feet away I stopped, afraid I would be clipped by a log. The donkey stopped, too. For a brief moment we stared into each other's eyes, then, CRASH! That logging donkey spooked and went dashing off into the thick jungle, trailing his logs behind him. He cut a swath through the vegetation about 12 feet wide. The hombre in charge of the logging donkey gave me a very, very exasperated look and trudged off after him.

Shaken, but not defeated, we continued on. At this point everyone was in "are we there, yet?" mode and every switchback promised to be the top. But then it wasn't. It was hard riding, the guide having no ability to tell us how far we were, or if we were near the top. At one point I looked confidently at Richard and said, "I think it will be mostly downhill from here." I was partially right, it was half downhill... and half right back up the other side of the hill! About an hour of this crazy roller coaster road later my statement was made true and Jon and I could see the village of Yelapa. Way, way, way down below us.

The descent was the kind that makes you beg for an uphill or flat area, just so your aching hands can lay-off the brakes for a second. The jungle became thick and steamy as we approached sea level; parrots mocked us from just off trail. It was beautiful terrain but somewhat difficult to fully appreciate as it flew by at 30 miles per hour. Eventually the trail gave way to what I refer to as dog-sh*t gully. It was an un-ridable ditch full of giant rocks slicked over with run-off water and animal excrement. I daintily negotiated the trail trying to avoid sliding all the way to Yelapa on a lubricant of poopy creek water.

And, finally, Yelapa. Yelapa sweet Yelapa. We stopped at the very first place that sold beer and proceeded to have 2 or 3 in quick succession. At first it was just me and Jon, then Dad came along. Finally we went out to the trail where we found Richard, Robert and the guide just coming into town. Robert was, of course, slow going because his BikeMex turned into a HikeMex. But he never complained once; he was a trooper.

We all went on to another establishment, this time on the beach, and had more beer and some early dinner. I went for a brief swim and changed clothes in a bathroom where, to flush the toilet, you poured in a bucketful of water from an adjacent cistern. Rustic.

The only reasonable way in and out of Yelapa was by boat or burro. And I'd certainly had enough of the latter. The plan was to catch a nice water taxi back to PV, and, surprisingly, it went off without a hitch. On the boat ride Jon and I got a nice view of the beach where we married 5 years ago, and we come ashore at Playa de los Muertos, near the beachfront restaurant where our reception was held. The name of the beach was appropriate for our exhausted crew of bike adventurers.

By this point it was dusk and we had just one last quick spin ahead: the ride from la playa back to BikeMex. Dad has since dubbed this leg, "The Running of the Bikes." We charged in a pack 5 strong through the dusky cobbled streets, making numerous turns and surprising many taxis and motorists along the way. I guess a peloton of gringo mountain bikers is a rarity in downtown Puerto Vallarta.

Back at BikeMex Oscar congratulated us on the dubious distinction of taking longer than any other group in the history of BikeMex to make it back from Yelapa. We bit our tongues and didn't mention standing at a bus stop for an hour or broken bikes in the Mexican outback. And just like the day began, we walked to the main drag in search of a taxi. In the dark.

The long wait at the bus stop

The bikes hogging all the seats on the bus

Dad, ready to roll in El Tuito

Goofing around because the ride is so easy... little did I know

The peloton. Two bikes, two burros.

Exhausted at the top of climb number one

But not as exhausted as this guy

That wasn't so bad... but now we have to do 4 times as much

Santiago and I

The rope tow testing

Santiago's hideaway

Ok, now we're at the top. Not.

Downtown Chacala

Woman with vat on head

Steamy Jungle Jon

Dad enjoying a brew in Yelapa

We can kiss that ride goodbye

What We've Been Doing

2009-09-15T21:56:00.006-07:00

Here's what we've been doing instead of blogging...

Leah started Middle School. Here she is annoyed to have her picture taken while waiting in line to have her picture taken. I guess that is kind of annoying, but as it turns out, this is a more "natural Leah" photo than the school portrait. The school portrait has the forced smile that is de rigueur for middle school students.

Axel started Big Boy school at the local Montessori Elementary (Pre-K to Fifth grade). Here he is dwarfed by the gym/stage/cafeteria.

Axel turned 3 and rode this horse to Steamboat Springs for a mini-vacay.

Leah absconded with Axel's cow poke vest and rubber band rifle (BD gifts from Dad). The hat is her own.

Grandma gave Axel a lovely wooden US puzzle and a beading toy. All very Montessori-esque.

Grandma also came to Steamboat... here she is looking cute and treating us to a Gondola ride.

Axel and I at the Gondola Summit.

Leah and Axel enjoyed the ride.

The next day we babysat Sam while his mom won the Steamboat Crit.

This weekend we inaugurated the 'cross season at the Hudz-Subaru race on the Boulder Velodrome grounds. Axel rode the North Shore course inside the 'drome, mainly sticking to the intermediate routes. Jon's teammie Matt Pacocha won and Jon got 2nd.

I'd have probably fallen off this, and not just because of the keg in the parking lot.

Whew, back to school month is exhausting.

Tour de France 2029

2009-08-12T17:41:00.005-07:00

Axel left the dinner table early tonight to burn off some calories on the push bike. Jon and I watched Axel put on one of Jon's medals from Salida and proceed to circle around shouting, "I'm in the Tour de France" and "I'm winning." I figured that, come 2029, the press will want this footage so I busted out the camera and here you go.

Then Jon decided to fashion him an outfit from an old kit:

Vote for My Failblog Pic

2009-08-10T16:23:00.001-07:00

Vote for my failblog pic by clicking here.

Dara and Leah With Their Best Friends Ducky Necklace

2009-08-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Salida

2009-08-01T19:09:00.002-07:00

Posted by Mr. Pooks: Hanging out at the Fiskingtons place here in Salida after the road race. Not a bad spot!

Baby still life

2009-07-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

Axel took a brief moment to relax this morning.

Cube-i-cool

2009-07-27T20:48:00.003-07:00

The new car has arrived and is in the driveway. The haggling was fun; we got a great APR, a phat 100k bumper to bumper warranty and were nicely below MSRP. It's the biggest little car ever! I think the Cube made me spell fat like that.

Box on Wheels

2009-07-27T06:52:00.003-07:00

Last summer, after our 2005 Subaru Outback had an $8,000 engine problem a few miles over the warranty expiration (of course) we have been a one car household. Making the one car thing work is actually not very difficult here in Boulder, especially when you're a 20 bike household! The only real problem has been that the one car is a decade old, 115 k miles, 4-seater, 2-door Ford coupe with no A/C.

While overseas we have noticed the "boxy" cars are somewhat popular, they offer lots of space without the poor fuel economy of an SUV. Enter the Nissan cube. It is this quirky Japanese box on wheels- very popular in Japan for 10 years now but just introduced to the US market for 2009. Jon says it is like an SUV, but with twice the fuel economy at half the price.

As much as I know this shape of car will produce ire in "curvy car" lovers, I actually love the design. I think the shape is just too functional to disregard and I love the asymmetrical rear window and other cool design features. At at 28 mpg CITY and over 30 mpg highway it is the car that will hold all our stuff without the huge carbon footprint.

And, yes, mom, it has A/C!

Natural Grocers at Bannock Crit

2009-07-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

First Zucchini Harvest

2009-07-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Mountainbike Mondays

2009-07-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

Today is mountainbike monday and my usual partner in crime had planned a 5 hour road ride instead (dangit Jon). So I'm going it alone up at Betasso Preserve.

I was stopped to take a picture of the pretty flowers when another biker started down the hill. I went to pull my bike out of the way so as not to be rude when the other rider says,"Hi Cyndi!" It was Lester, my friend Laura's hubby (and GM at University Bikes). He said he had to get back to work or he would've done another loop with me. So, oh well, still going it alone.

I took a pic of Lester, too, since I had my camera out and all.

Middle of Nowhere Melodrama

2009-07-04T08:11:00.016-07:00

It all started in an epic hail storm just west of Golden. The battery light came on and as the miles ticked away the digital clock started to dim and the speedometer stopped working. When Jon announced that the battery light had turned off I was briefly encouraged until I realized that the battery was too dead to illuminate the light anymore. We were heading to Breckenridge for a mountain bike race and by this point we were still 40 miles from our destination.

The last thing to go was the engine; it died on Interstate 70 just past the exit for Silver Plume. So Jon, clever boy, turns the still-rolling vehicle hard right down the “on” ramp. Yes, we went the wrong way down an I-70 on-ramp without turn signals and brake lights- which were dead, of course. Would you believe it if I told you we coasted right into the driveway of an auto repair garage?

We see that the garage looks closed up but attached is a bar called Grumpy’s and it looks open. As we step through the threshold we are transported back into mid-20^th century America surrounded by old fashioned gas pumps and other memorabilia. At the bar are two local guys sipping Bud and behind the bar is a young blond woman who asks how she can help. Explaining our situation, she nods and rattles off the phone number of the garage proprietor. I call him and he says he’ll be there in 10 minutes to charge our battery.

So we have a seat and order some beers. They had Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light, PBR and Heineken. I ordered a PBR and Jon had a Bud. He says the Bud was really good, which makes me wince. After a little bit the mechanic arrives and hooks up the car to the cold charger. He says it will take 1 hour and 25 dollars.

So as we linger the bartender mentions that she’ll be closing up soon as she is in a play. I ask about the play and she says it is a local Melodrama, written by her grandfather- George Downing. Turns out George has been writing a new melodrama for the townsfolk every year since the early seventies- complete with original songs. Willing Silver Plumians volunteer for parts in the melodrama. Note that the people of Silver Plume have taken to calling it just the “Melodrama” and not the name of that year’s iteration. Later we find out that George Downing is not the girl’s grandfather but that’s just easier to say than, “the old guy that lives at my house.”

The doors open at 6pm and the play starts at 8. From 6 to 8 one can hang out and assemble cold sandwiches from the buffet then have some ice cream. As for drinks, bringing your own is not only ok but expected. So everyone gets sauced on the hooch they carry in from home. The bartender said one year a particularly rowdy bunch brought a Coleman drink pitcher full of powerful rum punch- she could smell them from the stage. Another patron tells a story from melodrama 2006 in which, during the all-men’s song, a woman in the front row puts her feet on the stage intentionally allowing full view up her skirt. His point was that audience members are encouraged to distract the cast to make them slip up- this was just his most extreme example. He said it is like informal dinner theater, very informal. If you want to come, the melodrama runs on weekends every April and the first Friday in July.

In the last minutes before the bar closes the bartender offers Axel an OJ. He sits at the bar drinking it and I mention that it is probably illegal. The oldest guy at the bar laughs and says, “Not in Silver Plume since there aren’t really any law people around.” His friend chimes in, “We have vigilante justice here.” I love this place.

Once we are finished with our drinks the proprietress closes up and tells us we should walk around town, which we do. What a great little town! Dirt and gravel road with lots of old Victorians just steeped in history. There were antique foot bridges and a broken down caboose as well as wooden sidewalks, an old church, bell tower and some sort of eclectic automobile parts park in the town center. Axel had a great time exploring the town and so did we. I’m still smiling at the lovely gift life can handed me.

We embark on the walk

Axel on the platform of the caboose

Auto Parts park at Town Center

Jon checks out one of the many cool footbridges

Before we knew it the battery was all charged up and we were back on the road to Breckenridge (where a more permanent auto fix awaits us on Monday morning). On our way back to the car we passed a smiling townsman holding an iced red colored drink in his left hand and a corked magnum of wine is his right. He said, “You’re going the wrong direction, the melodrama’s back that way.” I can’t help but think he may have been right.

Axel took our picture as we sat on the porch swing in front of the town bakery. A local congratulated us for finding the sunniest spot in town.

Happy Independence Day America!

Blue Mountain Bikes!

2009-07-03T15:00:00.001-07:00

Today we are going to Breckenridge for the Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships ( aka the Firecracker 50). Jon's great sponsor, Blue Competition Cycles, is sending him with a new carbon xc bike. Go Jon!

Meat Pager

2009-06-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

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.

aglio olio peperoncino

2009-06-27T17:53:00.002-07:00

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 un-rinsed, cooked spaghetti and stir, adjust seasoning with additional salt and red pepper flakes. That's it.

You can also top with some fresh herbs (I used mint and basil from the garden) but it is not typical to add Parmesan. The oil really stands on its own as an interesting sauce, it almost tasted like spicy Italian sausage.

Nevada City Classic as Lance Armstrong's Tour de France Prep

2009-06-21T22:44:00.005-07:00

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 he got sixth... either that or he's doing some sort of jazz hands.

Happy Father's Day, Jon!

Axel won't sleep on the plane...

2009-06-16T15:15:00.001-07:00

But he sure likes the rental car.

Cop Fail

2009-06-10T15:49:00.001-07:00

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

Stewed Octopus

2009-06-07T17:16:00.005-07:00

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 nicely).

I really liked it. Delicious. Not gross at all and I can be a bit picky. The trick to good octopus is to cook it on low heat for a long time for great texture. Not chewy but a nice al dente bite.

Basketball Camp

2009-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

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

Tourists in Italy

2009-06-02T21:29:00.005-07:00

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

Spring Brook Trail

2009-06-01T16:41:00.003-07:00

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.

First Harvest

2009-05-31T10:13:00.001-07:00

Baby greens from the garden where I had to thin the lettuces.

Rockies Win!

2009-05-30T20:54:00.004-07:00

Tonight we saw the Rockies play the Padres. Rockies "untied" the game in bottom of the ninth... I was glad both because the Rockies won AND because they did it without extra innings.

Axel hammed it up all night long.

Leah and Dara enjoyed the game.

Frites, Frikandel and Fanta

2009-05-29T18:27:00.003-07:00

Tonight is Leah's Belgium Sleepover- a concept party of her own design. Below are the girls eating Frites with mayonnaise, Frikandel (basically a deep fried meat and potato mixture) and Fanta. Later we'll be showing the Triplets of Belleville and having waffles topped with ice cream. Then maybe they'll go to bed? Yeah right. Jon escaped to Tulsa for some bike racing and won't come back till Sunday. By then perhaps the dust will have settled.

Clockwise from top: Abby, Leah, Lisa, Dara, Audrey and Billie Blue

Bye Bye Mesa Elementary

2009-05-28T16:40:00.003-07:00

Today Leah and all her 5th grade friends said goodbye to Mesa Elementary. Each child was voted most likely to be something and Leah's friends voted her most likely to be an Astronaut. Then there was a slide show of all the kids from kindergarten to the present, which was pretty hilarious but also quite moving. I cried. It's emotional to watch your child graduate from elementary school... she's just not a little kid anymore and this confirms it.

Abby, Leah and Lisa

Girl Scout Graduation

2009-05-27T16:04:00.009-07:00

Last night Leah and a pack of howling 5th grade girls graduated from Junior Girl Scouts to Cadettes. Leah and her friend Lisa (3rd and 2nd from left, respectively) hosted the smashing event.

The girls pose with their bridging candles before chowing down some pizza.

Leah "bridging" to Cadettes. Literally.

Leah holds her apple juice high to toast the troop.

Tomorrow Leah graduates from Mesa Elementary to brave the halls of Southern Hills Middle School. Gulp.

Whipped Cream and Memorial Day Pancakes- Light on the Syrup please.

2009-05-27T15:29:00.010-07:00

This Memorial Day we went to a series of things at people's houses. First was the Bolder Boulder viewing party at the Fiskington's house. I stood in the way of the runners so I could get good pictures like the one below.

The Elite Men's winner crushing it through the Fiskington's neighborhood.

Baby Fiskington offering some of his mum-mum (I thought it was pancake as that is what the rest of us were eating).

Our host BBQ-ing the pancakes.

Beth was concerned we'd run out of syrup so she put a warning on it.

And after all that fun we beat the rainstorm by hightailing it to my Aunt's house for lunch and bar snacks (some people call them hors d'oeuvres but not us). Aunt E and her girlfriend Sally were there, along with my cousins, my parents and my children. We ate well and [some of us] drank mimosas.

Jon and his mother-in-law (hi mom!) spanning time over lox and artichokes in Aunt E's backyard.

My cousin Emma has a penchant for decadent treats involving whipped cream. She also made a killer pasta and veggie stir fry so it balances out.

Our lunch hostesses looking very nice in blue fleece. I'm pretty sure they didn't do it on purpose but it isn't the first time this has happened (remember the orange shirt in Estes Park???). I think they are just on the same wavelength.

Fortuitous Magnetism

2009-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

When cleaning out the car today I stuck a knife holder I'd been
meaning to take back to the store on my roof. I forgot about it and 10
miles and a high pressure car wash later I noticed it stuck to the
roof. A bit wet but otherwise fine.

Afternoon Chess Lessons with Resident Chessmaster

2009-05-19T16:09:00.004-07:00

Axel and papa have regular chess lessons. These used to consist of playing with the piece and the clock but have progressed to actual discussion of legal moves. Axel says, "Don't take my queen, no way!"

I'm not sure if the small lego man in foreground came into play.

North Boulder Crit

2009-05-19T15:57:00.002-07:00

On Sunday we watched Jon race in the North Boulder Criterium. He got into a move with Scott Moninger briefly but it didn't stick... his Natural Grocers (formerly Vitamin Cottage) teammate, Jon Tarkington, did better, getting into a breakaway and getting second place.

Axel cheering on papa. The pace got hot after a series of big money primes and Jon was having tummy probs.

If you look carefully you can see the wild North Boulder Tree Climbing Leah Monster.

I have no idea who these women are, Axel just marched right up and decided he wanted to snuggle. They handled it with aplomb.

Ellis Island Alienation

2009-05-19T15:45:00.005-07:00

Leah, dressed as a 1912 immigrant, participated in the fifth grade Ellis Island Simulation. Parents volunteered to alienate and confuse the junior immigrants in a manner consistent with what might have occurred in 1912. It was fun. I was in charge of the Money Exchange in which I randomly raised posted rates in my favor and stole money from the children so they wouldn't have enough for the ferry. Then I took "gifts" of their measly belongings and almost made one child cry.

Leah's immigrant "family" benefited from nepotism when I promptly gave them the exact amount needed for the ferry. Lucky girl. But I figured that was how it would work if your relative worked on Ellis Island. We were supposed to speak gibberish or foreign languages to the children in order to further the confusion. For my first customer I said "money please" in French... much to my suprise, this was a French Canadian student who understood me perfectly. I switched to Dutch after that.

Stuff I Forgot to Blog

2009-05-19T15:37:00.005-07:00

It was cold on Easter.

Leah got a rat and named it Shumo.

Jon and I stayed in Empire at the oldest hotel in Colorado- The Peck House. They didn't have TV so we watched zombie movies on his laptop until the batteries died.

The plate at Laura's Seder had a comically large horseradish... I made an off-color joke in front of Laura's dad and my mother-in-law.

Giant Oompa Loompa Invades South Boulder Home

2009-05-19T12:53:00.001-07:00

Leah as 1912 Immigrant

2009-05-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

Does she look satisfactorily downtrodden?

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2009-05-10T17:17:00.003-07:00

My niece, Jasmine, captured this image at Palo Duro Canyon a few weeks ago. Wow, Jazzie. Nice shot.

The Finish!

2009-05-10T10:05:00.002-07:00

Axel hands me flowers... Those women behind me thought I was a very lucky girl.

Almost There!

2009-05-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Blogging from trail!

Title 9k

2009-05-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Race day's a bit colder than expected. Let the running begin!

Shumo the Rat

2009-05-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Leah's new pet, Shumo, is becoming quite the house darling. He rides
around the house on Leah's shoulder and today climbed down her sleeve.
He is a "dumbo" rat which means he looks just like the other Borden
boys.

Chicken Under Bricks

2009-05-04T18:15:00.004-07:00

Tonight I grilled chicken under bricks- a Northern Italian method. The breakdown:

Take one whole chicken and snip out the backbone (using scissors) then peel out the breastbone cartilage and ribs etc using a paring knife and your fingers to get between the bone and flesh. Then - and this is the Frankenstein part - snip a slit into the skin hanging from each thigh and tuck the bottom of the drumsticks into the slit. Also tuck the wingtips behind the bird.

Here is what you get... an evenly thick steak 'o chicken. Put it in a 9x13 casserole and whip up the following:

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Chopped fresh rosemary, thyme, parsley, and garlic
Salt
Red Pepper Flakes

Marinate the chicken steak in this mixture for 2-6 hours.

Sprinkle with "Creole Seasoning" and put it skin-side down on the grill. I like the following mixture of seasonings...

Lots of:

Garlic Powder
Paprika
Salt

Some of:

Cayenne Pepper
Onion Powder
Dried Thyme
Dried Oregano
Black Pepper

Cover with bricks that have been heated on the grill for at least a half hour. Rotate the chicken 45 degrees after 15 minutes to get nice crosshatch marks. Go for a total of 30 minutes on the skin side then flip it and cook till done.

Final product.
Served with mint seasoned rice, braised carrots with cress-butter and a nice red zin.

Leah's First Job Interview

2009-05-03T11:55:00.002-07:00

Leah and I ate at the Wazee Supper Club after our job interview with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (she wouldn't let me take her picture in her cute interview outfit). Nuggets tip off in 45 minutes for round 2 of the playoffs so things are hoppin here in downtown Denver.

We just hope we did ok in our interview... I guess it is hard to get volunteer jobs?

Colorado Outpost of the Kentucky Derby

2009-05-02T15:46:00.006-07:00

Today we all dressed up to watch the Kentucky Derby. My horse is Dunkirk, Axel likes Pioneer of the Nile, Jon is going with Fresian Fire and Leah's money is on Hold Me Back. She was originally going with Chocolate Candy, until she found out it was owned by Jenny Craig. Horse names are weird. Jon says it is all pretty much a horse race at this point.

Me, Axel and Bob Costas gear up for some horse racing.

Jon looking dapper.

Leah and I in our Kentucky Derby hats.

Brownie Points

2009-05-02T10:23:00.002-07:00

Leah has discovered one can turn bitter chocolate cocoa powder into all manner of chocolatey treats. This morning she was baking brownies at 9am while dad was suffering at the Lookout Mountain hillclimb (4th in the Pro/1/2 and 1st in the Masters).

She enlisted a little helper... she had him put in the cocoa and whisk the dry ingredients. Such a nice sister.

I told Leah that the secret to sustainable baking is to give away most of the goods when you're finished. She'll be taking brownies to her friend Lisa's house this afternoon.

Your Umpteenth Piece of Swine Flu Advice

2009-05-01T12:58:00.003-07:00

Proper handwashing and avoiding risky behaviors such as shown above, will go a long way toward swine flu prevention.

Cleaning the Fridge

2009-04-29T11:01:00.001-07:00

Today I am channeling my inner Shelly Hartman by running my
refrigerator shelves through the dishwasher.

Turkey Copulation and Other Excitement in Palo Duro Canyon

2009-04-28T16:30:00.003-07:00

We went to Palo Duro Canyon with my sister-in-law and her family this weekend. Highlights included steep canyon climbs (on bikes), hiking, geocaching, avalanches, and turkey sex. We also played cards well into the warm nights... Hearts can take a very long time when you misread the rules and everyone trusts you know what you're talking about.

We hiked to Sorenson Point, a nice rock outcropping that hovered largely in the view from our campground. A painter even set up her canvas on the edge of our site because of the nice vista. Once up there my brother-in-law, Richard, mentioned there was a nearby geocache. A search ensued and after about 15 minutes Jon found the cache. We took a slinky for the kids and left a wood carving Jon had done back at camp.

Robert insisted on scaring the womenfolk by hovering dangerously near the edge.

Val and Richard check out the scene.

The carving on Jon's hat is the only record we have of it since he left it in the geocache. On the last evening we heard loud crashing from the direction of Sorenson Point. Clearly there had been some major rock fall but we were unable to determine where it had come from by light of day. It shook the ground.

The first day at camp we noticed wild turkeys darting about the grounds... in the morning the females would buzz by the tent at full speed gobbling at each other in some crazed poultry ritual. If you were already awake it was funny but those still asleep found it fowl. At one point, Jon and Richard went looking for me (I had escaped up the canyon on road bike) but instead came across turkeys in congress. Jon said there was a lot of gobbling.

Deadheads and Lava Lamps

2009-04-23T07:56:00.004-07:00

Axel was hard at work in the yard this morning deadheading dandelions for me. What a guy! Tomorrow morning we embark on the Lava Lamp camping trip to Palo Duro (the Grand Canyon of Texas, yeehaw). With a burn ban on most of the state we'll have no campfire to stare at so we are bringing the Lava Lamp instead. Yes, there is electricity at the site which I find somewhat embarassing.

Today we get to pick through our dusty car camping crud and see what has made it through the winter intact. Since we no longer have an appropriate vehicle to tow it with, we'll also be going through Squatting Turtle to harvest any useful gems. Anyone need a 1200 pound pop up trailer?

Axel Reading (Age 2)

2009-04-20T21:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, well he is more reciting than reading... he has heard this book often since we bought it 4 days ago. But according to Grandma Mimi this is the first step to early reading.

So smart.

Extreme !!

2009-04-10T20:56:00.001-07:00

Pooks about to drop into some sweet pow turns at Loveland.

Track cycling goodies

2009-04-08T14:07:00.002-07:00

Posted by Mr. Pooks: Just got these sweet white leather toe straps for my track bike. The
Boulder indoor velodrome is a good alternative on the intermittent
snowy days we tend to get out here in the early spring.

A Fifth Grade Education in Colorado

2009-03-28T18:36:00.004-07:00

Today Laura and I took our cute fifth graders to the slopes for some free fifth grade skiing (all Colorado fifth graders ski free). Laura and I decided not to get lift tickets for ourselves since we needed to hang on the bunny slopes watching our lil bunnies.

The girls, all geared up for some serious shredding.

Actually shredding.

A bit wistful about not snowboarding myself.

Gearing Up For the Slopes

2009-03-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

New Natural Grocers Kit!

2009-03-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Blizzard of 09

2009-03-27T13:38:00.001-07:00

Kids and Cards at the Cabin

2009-03-26T16:15:00.001-07:00

Why Did the Elk Cross the Road?

2009-03-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Spring Break in Estes Park

2009-03-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

2009-03-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

My Screen Reset and Came Back Sideways!

2009-03-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

They Had No Idea...

2009-03-23T18:27:00.003-07:00

Tonight I pulled a fast one on the kids. They don't like to eat their veggies, so here is how I secretly got them to eat this:

Sauteed up a heap of mushrooms, carrots, roma tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions and garlic, above

Pureed the mix to a fine sauce

Added it to several cans of pinto beans
Seasoned with cumin and a little chili powder
Mixed it with a pound of cooked macaroni
Layered it in a casserole with cheddar cheese
Baked for 20 minutes

Tricky mommy.

Early Mother's Day!

2009-03-21T16:20:00.003-07:00

Leah and I are celebrating Mother's Day *now* through May 10th. We registered for the Title 9k+ Mother's Day Running Race and downloaded a beginner training schedule from their website. Here we are getting ready for our first training run... it was great and Leah did a very good job. On race day they also have a 2 year old's race which Axel will do. Jon can hand us water.

Terraforming On the Cheap

2009-03-20T17:08:00.005-07:00

This is my front yard, no jokes please. Ok, if you must.

I wanted a path here and so I began looking for stone. Then my friend Lina saved the day by giving me a path's worth of stone for FREE. She and her husband own a landscaping company, Urban Oasis Design.

The new path, below. I laid it myself which was no small feat of shoveling and moving rocks around. The landscape lights are these solar powered, dark activated thingies I got for 20 bucks on Amazon. I hope they last.

I plan to line the border with some flowering, drought-resistant plants and splice in some of the creeping thyme from my other flagstone path in the crevices.

It has been a good late-winter/early-spring for outdoor projects here in Boulder!

Birthday Beer in Dixie Cups

2009-03-16T20:43:00.001-07:00

You know how sometimes you park your car next to another one just like it? It's like that, only with my bike.

2009-03-16T17:13:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday Jon!

2009-03-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Daily Camera Places Vending Machine in My Yard

2009-03-16T09:15:00.001-07:00

Rejection Hotline

2009-03-16T07:22:00.004-07:00

A few businesses make unwanted phone calls to my home number, namely a certain plumbing company that did one teeny thing for us last year and REFUSES to take us off their, "You're due for plumbing maintenance," call. Today was the last one.

After discovering that my VoIP phone cannot block calls from certain numbers, but it can forward them, I remembered the Rejection Hotline. The fake number you can hand out at a bar to get someone to leave you alone. Now I am forwarding the plumbers and anyone else I don't want to talk to.

Ps- You can also Rick-roll them with this number: 626-376-9503

Axel's Mural

2009-03-12T15:47:00.001-07:00

The lovely 4 foot square mural Axel (30 months old) drew on his wall with [washable - thank God] crayon. I think he was trying to draw a face and did a pretty darn good job for a baby!

Climate Smart Loan Program

2009-03-12T14:52:00.004-07:00

Jon and I are replacing windows, insulating our attic, and installing a whole house fan with a loan from the Boulder County Climate Smart program.

Climate Smart loans are funded by a bond issue Boulder voters approved last year. Basically, the loan is paid off via an increase in your property tax and if you sell your house the loan goes with it. We'll borrow 10k to the tune of 1k/year. But the improvements we're making qualify for Federal tax credits and Xcel Energy Rebates of nearly $2,000 THIS year. Not to mention the decreased home heating costs!

Anyway, I am putting this on the blog for two reasons:

1- If you are a Boulder County homeowner you must attend a 2 hour workshop THIS month and apply- bids in hand- between 4/1 and 4/10. So if you don't want to miss out, get crackin!

2- Kudos to Boulder County for thinking-up and voting-in this very real stimulus that is both boosting the energy efficiency of Boulder County homes and boosting business for contractors across the front range.

Me and Cyndy K in 40 Years

2009-03-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

Suessical!

2009-03-04T20:06:00.003-08:00

Tonight was Leah's 5th grade musical... the Suessical! It was AMAZING... seriously. Better than any school production I've ever seen, including high school shows. There are some talented kids at Leah's school, and she is one of them!

Jon and Axel read their programs before the start.

Leah was a Who... she wore a lampshade on her head.

The set design was cool. My cropped iPhone pics, taken in the dark, don't do it justice.

The chorus. Leah's friend Billie Blue, front row center next to the boy in yellow.

DVDs of the production are available and, trust me, this was a good show. I'll buy one and Grandmas can watch when they come to visit.

Axel says, "Your shoes have hats?"

2009-03-04T17:34:00.001-08:00