SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Quick \’n\’ Lazy Wassail

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For some quick \’n\’ lazy wassail, I decided to try this recipe! Since I wasn\’t preparing wassail for a crowd, I made only one-quarter the amount. I don\’t have whole cloves on hand,  so I skipped the clove-studded apple. Neither do I have cinnamon sticks. All I did was put the juices (2 cups apple; 1/2 cup orange; and juice of 1/2 lemon) in a pot; and throw in a pinch each of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg. Then I put the pot over low heat and let it come almost to simmering. I turned the heat as low as it could go, and let it heat for 15 minutes, with the occasional stir. It\’s pretty good! It would be great to have a mug of this beverage ready when I come in from a cold ride, if there weren\’t any hot chocolate available. Yes, I did ride today, but not until about 12:15 pm. The wind had eased up somewhat, and I needed to get out and get moving. Even quick \’n\’ lazy wassail-making had to wait until I was back home. But it\’s easy to stir up. Cheers!  

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Here I Yam Again!

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Yes, here I yam again. Sometimes we want sweet potatoes, but don\’t want to wait for them to bake. This morning I didn\’t want to wait for the baking, so I did an experiment. Curried sweet potato! Here\’s the recipe I invented: 1  9 oz sweet potato, peeled and coarsely grated (about 3-1/2 cups) 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper 1 tsp curry powder 3 Tbsp whole cashews Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until they look milky. Add spices and cashews; saute briefly. Add grated sweet potato. Keep sautéing. As needed, add small amounts of very hot water to prevent sticking. (I kept a small saucepan on another burner, with the water in it.) I didn\’t keep this up for more than a few minutes, because I wanted the sweet potato to still have some crunch in it. If you want the potato to be softer, cook it longer. Salt to taste. Voila! A food processor would have made the grating process much faster, but I have nowhere to store one. I used the coarse side of a grater box. Vary the type of onion and/or oil, if you like. Another kind of nut than cashew is fine. I\’ll bet pecans would be good, for example. Already I\’m thinking of how I might tinker with this. Cinnamon instead of curry? Or maybe a half-cup of sweet peas? … Here I yam again — stuck in the kitchen.

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All Wet

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All wet doesn\’t have to mean you got caught in a downpour while riding your bicycle. You can also take cycling into the pool! Recently I was talking with a friend of mine, who has had hip replacement surgery. She mentioned doing in-the-pool exercises that resemble the motions of cycling. She even suggested it as a blog subject. Kudos to her! I wouldn\’t have thought of it on my own. I suppose that everybody has heard of water aerobics; but the concept of aqua cycling is new to me. It\’s great that people who can\’t ride an actual bicycle the conventional way can get a cycling workout. Years ago, long before I started cycling, I tried some kind of in-pool exercise class. This was in the recreation center of a university campus. The water was always too cold. I was told that that was for the sake of the serious swimmers who did laps. It was also too deep. Even in the shallowest part of the pool, it was hard for me to keep my chin above water. That experience has put me off of water exercise classes. Nowadays, my \”water exercise\” is when I get caught in a downpour while doing a bicycle ride.

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Not Hot Footing It

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This scene looks like not hot footing it. My feet feel cold just looking at it; and In fact, it makes me feel cold all over! If I lived where I got enough snow, I think I would like to try my hand — or rather, my feet — at snowshoeing. It looks like snowshoeing would be fun. If even Icebike didn\’t meet my needs; and I couldn\’t ride my bicycle because of the snow; I could still get outdoors and have some good exercise. I suspect that the hardest part of snowshoeing, for me, would be fighting my natural tendency towards a tightrope gait. What fun to be the first to arrive at an expanse of fresh snow; and make the first tracks! How about working to form a pattern with your tracks? That\’s sort of like making snow angels; but you\’re using your feet. Or you can try to match your own tracks to the ones already there; but that might be hard for me. I have short legs; and consequently, a short stride. You can keep an eye peeled for animal tracks in the snow. Depending on where you live, there might be deer; rabbits; raccoons; or maybe even moose. There might be bird tracks, too. Have snowshoe games! Race other snowshoers! See who can pace out the prettiest pattern! It sounds like snowshoeing is one time when you\’d actually want to put your foot in it. But it\’s not hot footing it. Get some good thermal socks and waterproof shoes; and keep those feet warm and free of frostbite. And when you get back home, warm up with a big mug of hot chocolate!

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Chipping Away

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I\’m chipping away at it! Yes, working towards the year\’s mileage goal can seem mighty tedious at times; and it can be frustrating when the circumstances, e.g. truly terrible weather, keep you from riding. The not-so-secret solution: just keep at it. As most of us are aware, it\’s better to ride 10-15 miles every day than to ignore the bicycle for six days; and then try to knock off 70 miles on Sunday. My own riding schedule is to take off from cycling on Mondays; and do a pre-work ride Tuesday through Friday (usually 12-15 miles). I usually do a grocery run on Saturday; and then I put in my long ride on Sunday. When I was working up to Tour de Cure, I got my Sunday ride up to 50-52 miles. Sunday before last I had a strong headwind (about 20 mph) on the way out. I had planned to push for 40 miles; but that wind was giving me such a tussle that I wimped out and turned for home after less than 10 miles! Last Sunday I got in 29 miles. There wasn\’t nearly such a wind; but it was overcast and chilly, which makes me feel sleepy and saps my energy. I hope to make it a longer ride this coming Sunday. It\’s going to be in the low 50\’s; but at least they\’re predicting sunny weather. So there you are. Keep chipping away at it, a little at a time. Of course it makes sense to set a mileage goal for the year that\’s realistic for your current fitness level. Five thousand miles between my two bicycles is doable for me; and maybe I\’ll shoot for 6000 miles in 2019. Trying for 10,000 miles in one year would be a bit too ambitious, though!

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What I Yam

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I yam what I yam; with all due apologies to the creators of Popeye. Sweet potatoes, often called yams, are part of many a holiday menu. When I was a kid, we used to bake them in the oven. Each person got his or her sweet potato. We\’d get the skin off as well as we could without burning ourselves; mash the vegetable with a fork, and put on some margarine. I, for one, like some salt on my sweet potato, too. If your thoughts are turning to something fancier, there are recipes galore out there; and this one looks pretty good to me. Some cooks like to cut the baked sweet potatoes into cubes, and mix them with a brown-sugar sauce. Others slice the baked \”sweeties\”, and layer them in a baking dish. Then they pour a sweet \”gravy\” (e.g. with brown sugar) over them; and bake. (Of course peel the baked sweet potatoes before going any father with these dishes!) If you don\’t want to fire up the oven, raw sweet potato is actually pretty good. I grate enough of the raw vegetable to make a cup or so. I mix in either plain or vanilla yogurt, depending on whether I\’m in the mood for savory or sweet; and then season however I like. What would Popeye think of these dishes? I expect he\’d turn them down in favor of spinach; but like Popeye, I yam what I yam.  

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Taste Test

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The taste test is quite a frequent occurrence. For years I\’ve carried packets of GU-Gel with me on my long rides. I like to eat one at each rest break. For my weekday morning rides, I have a few with me just in case I need them. Even when I\’m only riding to and from work, or the grocery store, I keep one or two in the outside zip pocket of my bike trunk. There are many flavors of GU-Gel available. Over time I\’ve tried quite a few of them. My favorites are Salted Caramel; Chocolate Outrage; and Tri-Berry. Vanilla Bean is pretty good, too; and so is Maple-Bacon. Recently I became aware of  the Toasted Marshmallow flavor. When I rode Tour de Cure about five weeks ago, the rest-stop snacks included that particular flavor of GU-Gel. I did a taste test; liked it; and ordered a supply of my own. Taste-testing doesn\’t stop with GU-Gel, of course. I like to try various cereal bars while on my weekly long rides. Some, I find, don\’t seem to have the \”oomph\” that I need when I\’m pedaling for several hours, even if they taste good. XL-Bars, for instance. But that\’s part of the purpose of the weekly long ride: to find out what works; so that when a long event comes up, I\’ll know what I need to take with me for on-bike eating. I need the nutrition while pedaling; but if it takes good, so much the better!    

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Not seeing the Light

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I was not seeing the light on this ride. That headlight of mine drove me crazy this morning. Last night, I had it plugged into the charger. The charge indicator on top of the light was on steady, not blinking; so I figured the light was finished charging up. It wasn\’t. I was only a little more than a mile from home when the light went out; and I couldn\’t see where I was going. I was not seeing the light — literally. I don\’t want to be one of those annoying people who ride in the dark without lights; so I stopped; got off; and started walking the bike. I tried switching the light on, and it did go on; but almost right away it went out again. I had to walk back home; and it seemed to take forever. What with pushing the bicycle; darkness; and bike shoes, I couldn\’t walk at my normal pace. I hope this doesn\’t mean the light is due for replacement. Or could the charger block be on its way out? Whatever it is, I do know that, when I go out for a ride, I want to be seeing the light.

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Toast to the Holidays!

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Let\’s make a toast to the holidays! Run along now, kitty,  I need that bowl! It\’s time to mix up the wassail! Wassail, like plum pudding, goes back to medieval times, and is another holiday custom that I\’ve never explored. I had always had the notion that wassail is boozy; but apparently it doesn\’t have to be. How about fizzy wassail? I guess you could use frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw it out first) mixed with sparkling water. Or use sparkling cider. Maybe vary the flavor by using different kinds of juice? Cranberry? That\’s pretty strong stuff, so it might need to be diluted somewhat. White grape juice? Lemonade instead of orange juice? It depends on what you like. So now, shall we go a-wassailing; and then make a toast to the holidays?

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I Toe\’d You So?

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I never would have thought of this one. If a ballet dancer\’s toes are all cramped after a long day of classes, rehearsals, and performances, might not a cyclist\’s toes feel the same way after several hours of pushing hard on the pedals? I was inspired to try it. At the drug store, I found some really cheap toe separators; less than a dollar for a pair. I\’m glad I didn\’t pay any more than that! It\’s hard enough to get my toes into those spaces, let alone have the separator stay put while I flex my toes. As a complication, both of my pinky toes have bone spurs, which I didn\’t even know until a couple of years ago. Until then, I had a vague assumption that everybody\’s pinky toes had a crook. Maybe the separators need time to soften up a bit with use. I certainly can\’t change the length or shape of my toes!  Or this could be another confirmation of the old saw: If you buy cheap, you get cheap. I\’ll try the toe separators again another time, when it\’s warmer. Today I want to keep my socks on. I haven\’t toe\’d you so yet, but my feet are cold.    

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