I’m going offline for Rosh Hashanah. To all the Jews out there, may you have a happy, healthy and sweet new year. May it be a year of blessings and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Here’s hoping the next year is a better one.
I’ve been noticing that the high tide has been a bit higher than usual for the past couple of weeks, figuring it has something to do with the various storms that have been around these parts lately. This afternoon I had to go out for a moment to the next island over (ah, the wonders of living in Miami Beach) so I went out on the bike. It gave me the chance to take a look at the crazy high tide up close and personal. These photos were taken at the end of my street:
It is both a bit scary and awesome.
It’s official, my wife and I will be going back to Seattle for Thanksgiving break (last week of Nov/first week of Dec) and I am so excited it borders on the illegal.
This is the first time ever my wife and I have visited one location twice in one year (my visits to Puerto Rico to see family and friends not included). There were so many things that we couldn’t see when we went in June that it is amazing thinking we’ll have a chance so soon again. This trip, however, has an ulterior motive, as we intend to use the opportunity to take a look at neighborhoods, apt/houses, and generally look at Seattle through the eyes of people wanting to move up there as soon as (freakin’) possible. We’re hoping to line up some job interviews for that week as well, so wish us luck.
Seattle Redux – so awesome.
Hmm, and I’m actually an Independent. Go figure.
| You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an… You are best described as a: Democrat
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
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I normally… wait, scratch that. I never write about food; I leave that to my wife (who’s slowly putting together a cook book), and to my friends Patricia DiGiacomo-Eddy (who does Seattlelites good with CookLocal.com and as the Seattle Cook Local Examiner) and Chris Perrin (doing it Vegan in Kansas City at Blog Well Done). I don’t know why, however, when I decided what I was going to cook last night for dinner, I would take pictures and then blog about it. I guess I’m just trying to exercise different writing muscles. I don’t know I’ll do it again, but for now here we go!
I got this recipe from the book Intercourses, a cookbook featuring recipes using a number of aphrodisiac ingredients, like honey, avocado, black beans(!) and rosemary. The dish is creamy and sumptuous, and simply one of our favorite recipes. I’ve made it a number of times and always by the book, though over the last few months I have begun to make variations depending on whim or an idea I may have had on how to tweak it. The version below is my current de-facto version of the recipe. The addition of the chicken adds much-needed protein to the dish, not to mention that it goes very well with the rosemary.
When I make this at home, I make a Kosher & vegetarian version. All the ingredients are easily available in Kosher-certified versions in any supermarket. The Parmesan cheese can be found at a specialty Kosher store. As far as the chicken, I use Morningstar Farms Chik’n Strips because it is both vegetarian and Kosher, though there are other brands of fakey chicken you can use as well.
The recipe is for 2 people. The version in the photos was doubled, however, since we had a guest for dinner.
There it is, a very simple dish ready in about 20-30 minutes, including prep time. It is equally good for an out-of-the-ordinary dinner as for a romantic dinner for two. Be aware that this dish is addictive, especially if you decide that you like things a bit more creamy and/or cheesy (and I do). If you’d like to try a quick variant, I recommend using Kerrygold Dubliner cheese instead of Parmesan. Dubliner is also a hard and slightly salty cheese, but it is far creamier than Parmesan and it just makes the whole dish taste even better, which is actually saying a lot.
I came across a post (thanks to Spokes ‘n’ Folks) made on the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog entitled “Terminology Folly.” Go ahead and read it; it’s a good article and it holds a core truth.
Waltzing around the cycle blogosphere it seems odd that so much terminology has spawned regarding what is, in fact, a simple pursuit.
Is it a result of the decades old tendency in North America and other non-bike culture countries to nerdify cycling because it has primarily been viewed as a sport or a hobby for closed groups of “enthusiasts” - and not a reasonable and basic form of transport? Perhaps.
Let’s straighten things out, shall we? What you see in the photo above, taken in Copenhagen, is something we call a “cyclist”.
Not a “bicycle commuter”, nor a “utility cyclist”. Certainly not a “lightweight, open air, self-powered traffic vehicle user”. It’s a cyclist.
Now, in general I do agree with the inherent message of the post: a true unified bike culture will only be created when we stop thinking about the differences and simply accept the commonalities. But, as someone living in one of the most unfriendly cities in the US for cyclists, I have some things to say in reply.
While it might be redundant in Europe, over here terminology works, and is actually helpful at times. Yes, ideally I could just say “bike” and everyone would know what I mean, but anyone reading that word, “bike,” instantly got a mental image that is probably different than the one I have. That’s because on this side of the world a “bike” is not as simple an artifact to identify: did I mean a mountain bike? A racing bike? A hybrid? A BMX? A cruiser? Maybe even one of those European-style bikes? This applies just as well to the term “cyclist” (and for the record, no, I don’t use or own any spandex, though I do have some comfy excercise pants that I do use from time to time).
When I walk into a bike shop (of the specialty kind) and ask for a bike I need to be able to identify what I want (and don’t get me started on the discount dept. stores), and that’s where terminology comes in handy. Most average people who own a bike have a mountain bike that they purchased cheap at a large discount store like Target or Wal-Mart, not because they are doing some two-wheeled off-roading, but because that’s the cheap standard (at most they may get a cruiser), regardless of the fact that they are buying the wrong vehicle for their needs.
Yes, blame it on the nerdification of cycling in the US. Every single bike store here in Miami caters primarily to the speed cyclist or the mountain biker (see, we can’t help it, we love naming categories), with only minimal attention to the commuter cyclist, something I already commented about in a previous post.
That’s why, at this point in time, at least over here in the US (and for sure specifically in Miami), we need the terminology because that’s what helps us get the message across about what we want out of a bike culture. I need to use that terminology to state that I could care less about going 1000 miles per hour on two very thin tires while wearing brightly colored Lycra; that I could care less about braving uneven rock-covered downhills and root-strewn dirt paths on a frame with more shock absorbers than a monster truck. I ride my back to do errands, to go to places, to go out for a spin and enjoy the city in which I live in. I want a bike to ride on paved surfaces, with a front basket or rack that I can use to carry stuff like groceries and a sturdy back rack that I can strap down a box to if I want to, something comfortable that I can spend a good amount of my time on without assuming a pose that makes me look like I’m skiing downhill or doing yoga, a bike to run on the very flat paved roadways of Miami Beach that can handle the occassional bridge. How do I accomplish this the quickest? By stating that I am a “commuter cyclist” and I want a “city/Dutch-/European-style” bike.
I agree wholeheartedly that the ideal is a place where we don’t need the terminology, or at least where the default is the regular-joe example and not the sports specialty. In the meantime, the same terminology will allow us to begin to change the perceptions around us towards the creation of a normal, day-to-day bike culture.
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