Gumbo

So being that "cooking" is the first subject in the blog subtitle, I guess I should write about it at some point or another. Now is as good a time as any.

The little Mrs. and I make a Sunday pot meal and pack it up for lunches for the work week. Saves a crap load of time in the morning, a ton of money and is usually better tasting than another round of Cosi or Quizno's. This week it was gumbo, no particular reason why, it just was. So here it is in paragraph form, cuz thats how I roll.

Cut in to chunks and brown 4 boneless chicken breasts in a large heavy pot. (I *heart* le crueset). While that is cooking chop up a green and/or red pepper, a good sized onion, a couple of ribs of celery and of course a good sized pile of okra (at least 1.5 lbs.)into large chunks as well. You'll also want to chop up a cup or so of either taso (spicy cajun ham) or country ham, I use Turner Ham. A finer chop would be a better idea here, pea-sized or slightly smaller. You can add any sort of extra veg you like it *is* soup after all, my wife doesnt necessarily agree with me on this particular point, I had some mushrooms that needed to be used. Remove the chicken and set aside. In the same pot, saute your vegetables. Chop and add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. A couple of teaspoons of thyme, some hot sauce or dried chili at this point too. Once the vegetables start to become translucent or shiny (pepper will never be translucent) re-add the chicken. Throw in a 1/2 lb or so of sliced Andouille. Pour in a bottle of reasonable beer (miller lite is not a reasonable beer, Samuel Adams is), a can of chopped tomatoes, and enough chicken stock to cover by about an inch to an inch and a half. Simmer and adjust seasoning. Dont worry about the thickening, that what the okra is for. Serve over rice, or add the rice in and serve as soup.

MMmmmm good

269 days left.

Not a bad day all told

Some days are better than others. That pretty much goes without saying. What is really nice is when a small part of the day makes the whole thing and turns an otherwise ordinary, spending time til retirement kinda day to a pretty good one. It was simple, surprisingly so. I got to go for a ride after work. That was it. 90 minutes of turning pedals over and over. Not even any sort of special route, nothing new, a route that I do as a default when I want to knock it out in under a couple of hours. It was perfect weather wise. I worked the legs a little hard at the gym yesterday, so I wasn’t expecting anything special. But after I got warmed up, I was out on a long flat 3-mile section. The cadence came up, and I was off. It was all just really nice. Speed was a little higher than usual; I smoked everybody but one guy who just sucked wheel for about 7 miles. Even then, he didn’t get away so much as our paths went different directions. It was just a good day. Back to the salt mine tomorrow.

I saw one of the first smart bike depots in Farragut Square yesterday. It will be interesting to see how this all wears, with tagging, abuse and weather. I really do hope this works. Cities will not solve their traffic and pollution problems until they actually eliminate cars from the road. Make roads wider and/or more roads will only lead to more traffic. At the end of the day the only answer is to get people out of their cars. Full stop. There lots of parts to the solution, but the end result has to be less cars: period.



Hillary pulled just enough out of her ass in Pennsylvania to prolong the agony. My question is; how many of the more conservative democrats that are Hillary’s stronger pull, will opt for “the maverick” John McCain anyway, no matter who wins the Democratic nomination. Good news is that while McCain isn’t spending money or taking political hits, he’s only getting part time press.

Anyway, there it is for now

270 days left

Time is on My Side

Time is on my side (I think). Here I sit waiting….. waiting ….. waiting. This is the part of my job I really love the most. I had asked a supervisor for access to a secure facility. Then I had asked him again. Here I sit….. waiting. Ugh.

Here’s something to ponder; It was brought to my attention that several previous world powers of their times (in particular, Holland, Spain and England) all had several things in common. They had at one point based their economies on manufacturing and trade. Later they had all become the premier military force of the time. They had all also, abandoned their rolls as producers of goods for that of financiers. And finally, they had all become more average powers, economically, politically and militarily. Does any of this sound familiar??

We as a country have ceased producing “added value” goods and are now basing our economy on banking and finance. Moving money. Not producing income. Not producing cars, steel, finished lumber, computers, or anything else that we had during the greatest expansion of the middle class the world had ever seen. Now we produce financial products, and debt. We have sold company after company to foreign interests, which in and of itself isn’t horrible until you consider that while the company in question continues to run and continues to employ people (usually fewer of them with fewer benefits), the owning company takes the profit. Essentially skimming the cream of the company, removing it from the American infrastructure permanently.

So that’s something to chew on while your waiting…… waiting ……waiting.

278 days to go

LeMond v Trek/Armstrong

So it's time to get back on my soapbox and shout (write?) to no one in particular. w00t!

Last night I started building bikes at the Bike Lane in Burke. Why?? Pro-deals baby!! It's been 4 years since the bike quiver has seen any real action beyond the addition of the Fixie, so its time for some needless upgrades. Why Bike Lane?? Esp. since they are definitively out of the way for me. Because these guys do the most for the biking community at large. They host their own events, they lead rides, they help sponsor teams, in short they do all the stuff a good LBS is supposed to. All the stuff. Most of the others in the area do contribute, but not to the extent that The Bike Lane does, here to be known as TBL. Either way, a slow start for me. 3 bikes in 4 hours. There was some time wasted, and I'm really rusty. It'll get faster.

What kind of upgrades?? Like it or not Mrs. Culimerc will be getting a new bike. Hopefully something under the 27lb tank she's riding now. Yours truely will be getting a new road bike (moots or merlin hmmmmm), and a new mountain bike, because you know I spend sooooo much time on the one I have now. The Jamis will be sold, in favor of a 29'er probably. And a pair of SIDI's just cause. and all the stupid schwag I'll pick up in the mean time.

Now for something that actually matters. Greg LeMond is finally getting his wish, He and Trek will be parting ways. after years of trying half heartedly to get away from Trek, Greg finally pissed Trek off enough and they are counter suing to terminate the contract that was going to keep LeMond with Trek til 2010. Apparently Trek got tired of Greg accusing Lance of doping, and all the related news making he was making. Greg admittedly sounds like a bitter old man, puts at the same time much of what he has been accusing people of has come to pass. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Lance to fess up tho. You can read more about the Lemond/Trek thing here. Essentially, it boils down to LeMond sells 12,000 bike for 15 million a year, and he was bad mouthing the company's biggest image in Lance Armstrong.

Alexi Grewal wrote an amazing brave open editorial in Velonews. For those of you who may not know; Alexi was one of Americas premiere cyclists back in the early 80's. About the same time as LeMond or even just a little earlier.

Here's a cool article on doping and game theory written by smart guys

I would talk about the Democratic Primary, but it's taken it's toll and I'm just kind of done with it at this point. Hillery just seems to be hanging on for I dont know why.

Hey here's something I heard on left wing radio. The Saudi's are actually holding telethons on TV trying to raise money for insurgents in Iraq! Then again the biggest source of cash right now for militias in Iraq is the US. .oO("Here's $10, now stop shooting at me"). Pay offs are one of the oldest tactics of occupiers of foreign soil. Guess we're kickin it ol' skool.

285 more days

Blog Jump start

Sometimes you just have to start. Or restart in this instance. It's been a month since my last post and so much has happened. Paris Nice, Milan San Remo, Tierrno Adriatico (sp), victories for Obama in a bunch of different primaries, more scandal from our administration, My trip to FL, a new tattoo. Oh the list goes on and on. Rather than try to address it all I thought I would instead, just get something down on paper (?). I didnt want this blog to fester in neglect, but March was exactly that. Oh well, Happy April. Spring is technically here. My company is going through restructuring after being bought, so I run the risk of lay-off (good times). Things are greening, and the days are getting longer and the weekends are warmer, so there are better chances for riding.

The Bike Lane is trying to start a spring fling bike weekend this weekend. I didnt know if I should volunteer to help or just show my face. I opted for the latter. I'm still waiting to build bikes for these guys, mostly for the pro-deals (shocker), but they wont be in their new space til at least next month. Either way, if ya got some time head over there on Sunday and check it out. These kind of things are always good to support, eventually they turn into events that raise awareness and options for cyclists everywhere.

293 more days