What Are These Veggies You Speak Of?

Now that March is practically upon us, I've been thinking that maybe it's about time to consider instituting my New Year's resolutions. One of the things I promised myself to do this year was to start eating healthier and to drop a few of the extra pounds I've been carrying around. My thinking being that I may be able to increase my cycling speed by lightening things up a bit, and the more economical way to accomplish this would be not by buying a $5,000 titanium frame, but by streamlining the bike's engine (me). Taking this route could also be beneficial health-wise and financially. Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, Michael, maybe if you cut down on the beer you would be able to lose a few pounds." And to those I say, "What are ya, nuts?" I feel it is my civic duty to try and review every beer I can get my hands on, so that others don't have to wade through the bad beers to get to the best of the brews. I know, it's a lousy job, but somebody's got to do it.

As a step towards this end, I began my hopefully weekly trips to a local farmer's market today. It's certainly not like there's a dearth of farmer's markets on the weekend. On Saturday, there are two in Santa Monica alone. On Sunday there is one in Brentwood, one in West Los Angeles and yet another in Santa Monica, though this last one I avoid like the plague. For some reason it is the most widely attended of the SM markets, but is nothing more than a glorified street fair. It is not the best place to go for locally grown fruits and vegetables, but is an excellent place to go for pony rides, funnel cakes and kettle corn. If you are looking to connect with other people pushing double-wide strollers or walking dogs, this is the place for you.

The Saturday market on Arizona Ave. is the one I attended today. The main focus of this market is organically certified produce. There is a small area of non-organic items, then a sign marking where the organic area begins. Apparently they are pretty strict about this. I was there one time when one of the sellers was frantically calling a friend or family member on a cell phone, saying "I forgot to bring the certificate, you've got to bring it to me or I'm going to have to pack up!"

So I got the brown Cross Check ready to go and headed off to the market. It's only about two miles away, so that makes about a ten-minute ride, moving at a leisurely weekend pace.

I sometimes have trouble walking past the homemade jams, jellies, cheeses and dried fruits on my way to things that are actually green, and today was no different. I ended up purchasing a ball of fresh mozzarella, some dried cherries and a bag of dates, but also managed to snag some rainbow chard, some kale, fresh hydroponically-grown tomatoes and fresh asparagus. Our local markets are usually fairly light on fruits (except tomatoes and avocados) and lean more towards the veggies.

Of course, just buying them is not going to do me a lot of good. Letting them languish in the fridge becoming the proverbial science project while I am out at Fatburger does not go a long way towards achieving my goals. There are times, as I am throwing an unrecognizable bag of something into the trash that I think, maybe if I keep it just a little longer, not only will it come to life, but develop super-powers.

So now I have a fridge full of veggies, I got a short weekend bike ride in, and I am on the road to health.

I guess that's it for now, it's time for my Saturday trip to the pub!

Holiday Five Plus One — 2-15-10

President's Day, Karate Monkeys, food trucks, the beach, Valentine's Day. This week, some things from my President's Day ride, a couple things from Hollywood... and one beer.

1. Crazy Monkey Love

It occurred to me that I rarely mention my Karate Monkey. Although it is technically my backup commuter, I haven't had a need lately to use anything other than my black Cross Check.

As I was looking in our spare room yesterday, I started thinking about how the Monkey came to be.

It seems like only yesterday...

The year was '06. Gasoline was nearing an unheard of $3.00 a gallon. I was not very good about hitting the gym after work. Originally I was thinking of getting a Vespa to save on gasoline, but when I went by Vespa of Santa Monica to take a look at the options I discovered that it was permanently closed. Rather than travel all the way to the San Fernando Valley to the nearest Vespa dealership, I got the crazy idea that perhaps I could make the ten-mile trip to work by bicycle. This way, I could save money on gas and get a workout at the same time. If I don't exercise, I don't get to work (or home in the evening). After committing to the idea, I went about finding a bike. The salesman at the local bike shop told me that the Trek 7.5 FX was exactly what I needed, and what do you know, they happen to have one in my size already assembled on the sales floor. Under the impression that this gentleman must know what he is talking about (he does do this for a living after all), I went home with my new Trek. After a trial run on the weekend to gauge safety, distance, etc., I started riding to work. It went pretty well, but became quite apparent that this may not be the perfect bike after all. The aluminum frame sent every vibration from the pitted roads up through my body to the very top of my head. It felt like my teeth were going to rattle right out of their sockets. Also, the frame, which the salesman assured me was exactly the right size, was starting to seem not so perfect. I was feeling a bit cramped and having some knee pain. At this point I started doing some research and decided that a steel framed bike might be a better choice. That is what led up to me buying my black Cross Check. For a time, the Trek served as my backup, though the times that I had to use it seemed more like I was being punished. That is when I decided to purchase the Karate Monkey frame and transfer most of the parts from the Trek over to the Monkey.

I switched over everything that would work from the Trek to the new frame. This was my first experience with building up a bike from the frame up (with the exception of the headset). After a time, I replaced the inappropriate low-spoke-count wheels of the 7.5 FX with some sturdier wheels and big, cushy tires. For a time afterward, I still referred to this bike as "The Trek". "I just replaced one part" I would say, "the frame." This has always been a fun bike to ride. Technically a 29'er mountain bike, it serves more as an around-town cruiser for me when I don't need to haul anything.

Anyway, as I spotted the bike yesterday and was feeling guilty for the neglect, I swear I heard it say to me, "Hey dude, what the hell?"

Thinking about the sunny, near-80 degree day awaiting me outside of my apartment walls, I decided to take the KM for a ride towards the beach.

2. Yet Another Food Truck

I don't know if the rest of the country is experience a huge flood of gourmet food trucks as we are here in Los Angeles, but at this point the number is probably approaching 100. There is quite a variety of food available. The whole food truck revolution started with the Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck. Now you can find trucks selling Indian food, American BBQ, gourmet burgers, desserts, and breakfast, as they sell on the Buttermilk Breakfast truck.

This happened to be parked outside the office one recent morning, so of course I had to try it. I had the applewood smoked bacon buttermilk breakfast sandwich with the rosemary garlic hash browns.

It was pretty tasty, but I have to say I don't think the biscuits travel that well. The bacon and egg were great, but the biscuit had that reheated in the microwave texture. There is nothing like homemade biscuits fresh from the oven, but it just isn't possible to replicate that on a roving truck. I would definitely have it again, but you just can't expect that homemade biscuit flavor. The hash browns were tasty as well. Next time I might try the Hawaiian Bread Breakfast Sliders.

3. Outside The Office Window

The latest in my series of shots taken out our office window.

This is the crowd waiting for the premiere of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, Valentine's Day. I have noticed, after observing many of these things, that the size of the crowd seems to be inverse to the quality of the film. I think this is probably the largest crowd I have seen gathered for a premiere. There were people in lawn chairs on the sidewalk as early as 7 AM. I guess if there is a chance that you may catch a glimpse of Ashton, it is all worth it.

/p>

4. The Beach

After parking my bike on the Third Street Promenade, I walked the couple blocks to the beach, then to the Santa Monica Pier. With temps near the 80s, the beach was jumpin' on this President's Day.

Catchin' some rays on Prez Day.

Crowds of tourists walking lemming-like towards the end of the pier.

The "West Coaster"

The Pacific Wheel, billed as "The world's only solar-powered ferris wheel."

Here's the place to go for shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That's about it. (Courtesy of Bubba in Forrest Gump)

5. Last Chance For T-shirt and Shorts Ice Skating

The Santa Monica skating rink was supposed to have been open to just January 31, but it was extended until February 15, President's Day.

This being the last day, you will have to wait until next year to skate in your short sleeves and short pants.

6. Reissdorf Kolsch

I believe this is the first time I have seen an actual Kolsch from Cologne in the store, so naturally I had to give it a shot. There is no shortage of "Kolsch style" beers to be found, but this is the first time I have seen the genuine article. A lot of American Summer beers are brewed in the Kolsch style. Since the rules governing the brewing of Kolsch are very strict, there is not a lot of experimentation that can be done, but that is not why you buy Kolsch. You buy it for the refreshing Kolsch flavor. The store had two different varieties (both of which I tried), but this is definitely the better (and more expensive) of the two. With a light golden color, this pours with a very fluffy white head.

This was very refreshing, particularly with the warmer weather we have been experiencing the last few days. Mostly malty, with a touch of hops, it has a crisp, clean flavor.

If you see this around, pick some up. At 4.8% ABV, you could easily put away a few of these on a warm day. I will definitely get some more the next time I see it.

Commute Report — 2-12-10

As I look forward to the day after the Oscar telecast much as an accountant looks forward to April 16, I am taking advantage of the President's Day holiday to make an attempt to catch up somewhat with my blogging responsibilities. I owe it to both of my readers to try and keep this thing up to date.

Last week, once again we had a couple days of rain. Though I did commute on wet roads, I managed to avoid riding in the actual rain.

Something about the rain seems to bring more honkers out on the road. Although I simply ignore most honking, most of the time I do not know if they are actually honking at me or if they are the type of people who seem to drive along laying on the horn every 15-20 seconds for no other reason than to make themselves feel important by tooting their little horn.

One thing about riding on wet pavement, one must be extra vigilant looking out for steel grates and manhole covers, as well as the painted lines on the road. Some riders don't realize how slick these items can be in the wet weather until they find out the hard way. I have experienced slipping wheels on the painted lines, but have thus far avoided actually going down. Feeling your wheel slide and then suddenly catch again can be somewhat disconcerting and act as a wakeup call to be a little more careful in the future.

There was one time I wasn't so lucky, when I found out that rounding a corner at about 20 MPH through a bed of moist pine needles was not such a good idea. My wheels slid out from under me, causing me to continue my journey by sliding down the road on my right side. I ended up having to replace my handlebars and brake levers. My bike frame, however was unharmed, what with me having the quick thinking to protect my bicycle with my body. Although the money that I spent on gauze and Unguantine probably could have easily covered the cost of repairing a few scratches on my steel bike frame.

As I have mentioned before, this winter has been a bit more wintry, at least by SoCal standards. I think it has already rained more this winter than the last couple winters combined. I am still trying to get used to riding no matter what the weather. If people who live a little further up the coast avoided riding every time it rained, they might as well sell their bikes. As I have mentioned before, the lack of rain around here seems to instill a fear of precipitation in most people, much as growing up in the flat midwest caused my fear of mountains that I am still trying to overcome.

Just to rub it in the faces of those on the east coast who are currently going through the worst snow storms in quite some time, even though we have been experiencing more rain the usual this year, for the last three days we have had clear blue skies with temps in the mid-70s F.

I think the good weather is supposed to continue at least through this week.

Next week, I need to be prepared to report for jury duty. As it stands now, I plan on going by bicycle, though I am going to go by the courthouse this coming weekend to see what kind of bike locking facilities are available. Thinking about it, I realize I have never had to leave any of my bikes locked outside for a full day. Two or three hours fairly often, but never for an entire day. I guess this is the reason that some people have a "beater" bike, though that would not work well for me. I would end up looking at such a bike and think, "Hmmm... It needs a new bottom bracket and crank. And I should probably replace the brake levers, saddle and bar tape while I am at it. Oh, and the wheels need replacing." And once I got the new components on there, I would notice how shabby the frame looked and would be forced to get a new paint job.

This workweek will only consist of three commuting days, as I am off today and am taking Thursday off for some Dr. appointments.

I believe that is enough rambling for now, and I will report again next week, time permitting, of course.

Commute Report — 1-29-10

Once again, my good intentions have been washed down the storm drain, like so much oil from the roadway.

I am constantly saying "Oh, rain is no problem, I won't let that stop me from riding to work", and I totally intend to do so, until I wake up in the morning, look out at the rain coming down and think, "OK, I think I will sleep for another 30 minutes and take the bus to work." Of course, once I am on said bus I end up looking longingly out the window at those who have decided to ride despite anything Mother Nature is throwing at them.

And so it was last week, when it rained every day of the week, the first time it has done that in recent memory. Typically, our so-called "rainy season" here in SoCal consists of perhaps ten partial days of rain spread over four months or so. This year it is seeming more like an actual "season" of "rain".

There were a couple of days where I would not have biked, even if I were a man of my word. Strong winds, and torrential rains coupled with thunder and lightning are enough to make me ditch my plan with no regrets, but the other two or three days would have been no problem at all.

I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have witnessed out-of-the-blue thunderstorms here in California. In the midwest where I lived as a lad, rarely a day went by that didn't feature an impromptu storm of some sort, be it rain, snow, sleet or hail (or a combination of any number of those). Here in SoCal I am used to hearing forecasts of "There is a storm heading this way from Alaska, it should be here in three days." And in three days, more often than not, the rain arrives right on schedule, allowing me several days to get my affairs in order before "Drizzle Watch 2010!" is upon us. In the midwest, predicting the weather is about as accurate as having the future predicted by a turbaned mechanical fortune-teller at a run-down amusement park. Back then, if you didn't go out in adverse weather, you didn't go out.

I guess that 30 years of SoCal weather have spoiled me, weakening my once-rugged midwest constitution, reducing me to being a typical Californian: "I can't go outside, there is some sort of moist substance that appears to be dripping from the sky." I guess that it is the novelty of precipitation that makes it something I need to put so much thought into. When you live in an area where it rains on a regular basis, a rainy day is just another day.

Well, next week they are predicting rain on a couple of days, and once again I am saying "No problem, I won't let a little water stop me from my bike commute." But I'm sure this weekend will find me checking the sofa cushions for bus fare, "Just in case."

Friday Five Plus One — 1-15-10

Disclaimer: It took me a full week to finally finish this post, so some events have already passed.

Since I have skipped a week on my Five Plus Ones, this week I am presenting a Friday Ten Plus Two.

At work, we are still in the thick of it as far as awards season goes. In fact, as I write this on Saturday evening, I am dreading going to work on Sunday afternoon to await the Golden Globe winners so we can get them into the papers for Monday morning, and this year, as a special added bonus, we get Monday off for Martin Luther King day, which looks good on paper but which means that we need to get our Tuesday ads to the paper as well.

I don't know how many of you have noticed that the paper has been getting narrower and narrower these days, but for those of you in Los Angeles, the LA Times is getting even skinnier as of the beginning of February. It will soon be the Kate Moss of newspapers. Since I have been doing this for a living, the paper is now three inches narrower than it was when I started.

For this week's (and last week's) post, I present ten photos from strolling around the neighborhood. Sure, it might not be entirely bike-specific, but I have always said that this blog is about cycling in particular, but getting around without a car in general.

So, with no further ado:

1. A Guy on a bike...

In an effort to somehow tie this in to the theme of this blog

2. A bird in the hand...

actually, I think there may be two in the cage, which is in her hand... therefore, I believe it may be worth four in the bush.

3. Let's shed some light...

4. Clouds

Yes, even in Southern California we have the occasional cloudy skies. I snapped this photo simply because I thought they looked interesting.

5. Bus stop

The happening scene at the bus stop on the corner of my street.

6. World famous celebrity karaoke...

what more can I say?

7. Still life with Barry...

8. Pedestrians get all of the perks...

9. At the Car Wash

A place to which I no longer have to go. $9.99 is a good deal these days, but $0 is better.

10. Red sky at night..

I had to leave this one in color. Clouds at sundown.

11. Deschutes Brewing Red Chair NWPA

My camera battery having died on the way to the pub, I will have to make do with a ccpp (crappy cell phone photo) in lieu of my usual beer glamour shot.

Red Chair NWPA (not to be confused with Red Chair IPA, which they also make), may just be one of my new favorite beers. Named after the oldest operating ski lift at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, they are calling this their debut NWPA (North West Pale Ale). It has a much smoother, milder hop flavor than most IPAs. The first thing you notice is a very floral aroma with a hint of citrus. The first sip reveals a bit of malty sweetness, making way for an evergreen-like hop flavor. I would consider it hoppy, but not mouth-puckering so. At 6.4% ABV, it is not super-strong, so I could see myself knocking back a few of these in an evening. It's one of the most refreshing beers in recent memory. So many IPAs these days follow the Spinal Tap method of brewing (turning everything up to 11), with high alcohol and a huge amount of hops. Sometimes drinking these beers becomes more of a feat of strength, rather than just the enjoyment of a beverage, akin to eating chili made with "The Merciless Peppers of Quetzlzacatenango - Grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum", as Homer Simpson once did, just to prove you can do it. This beer puts a stop to the insanity, proving to be hoppy, yet enjoyable. I have not had the Red Chair IPA, so don't know how it compares, but if you see the NWPA, definitely give it a try. I can see some of my friends who don't usually like hoppy brews enjoying this copper-colored beauty. This is a seasonal brew which is only available for a few months, so what are you waiting for?

12. Russian River Brewing Consecration Ale

At $22 a bottle (25.4 oz.), this had better be good, and fortunately, it was. One of the trendy new Belgian-style "sour" beers, this is better than most. Sometimes they can be like biting into an unripe lemon, this one has a tart, fruity flavor. At 10% ABV, it is pretty strong. In fact, It would be better to be served in a smaller, belgian-style glass, but since I don't have one, into the usual pint glass it went. This has currants added and is aged in oak barrels. It is not something I would want to drink all the time (especially at $22 a pop), and I would consider it almost a novelty beer, but it's worth springing for at least one time.