Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Back from the trenches

Only 4 hrs 17min. I almost had to do the trek through rain/sleet/snow alone. It's so much easier to handle days like today when I have company. Otherwise I think too much. Every time a car breezes by, splashing muddy water in my face I'd question what the heck I'm doing out there freezing my ass off when i could easily throw the bike away and get a 'real' job, make 'real' money, live in a 'real' home, take 'real' vacations possibly without the bike. And then i start to analyze my definition of 'real', etc, etc.
Anyway, I'm glad that Big Eyes sucked it up and rode with me. And since he saved me from my thoughts, i didn't mind his many off-road excursions and extended cobble sections covered in mud. I hear it's much warmer in The Bay Area. I HATE YOU ALL for getting to work on your tans!!!

2 comments:

Little_Jewford said...

I live in Monterey...you dont get a tan here.

And in honor of your new team (from todays NYT food section, skip the crème fraîche and its vegan:

Recipe: Prunes in Red Wine
Time: 30 minutes plus cooling
2 cups dry red wine, preferably from Navarre
2 3-inch strips orange peel
10 black peppercorns
6 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole allspice
1/4 cup sugar
1 pound prunes with pits, or 12 ounces pitted prunes
2 tablespoons triple sec
Softly whipped heavy cream or crème fraîche, optional, for serving.

1. Combine wine, orange peel, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Stir in sugar. Simmer 10 minutes. Add prunes, simmer 10 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in triple sec.

2. Transfer to a bowl, cover and set aside up to 3 hours before serving, turning prunes in wine syrup from time to time. Strain, reserving syrup in a bowl. Return prunes to syrup and discard spices. Serve at once, with a dollop of cream if desired, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

PEANUT said...

YUMMY! If i weren't so lazy right now i'd make it this second. I think i actually have almost all the ingredients - oh, i'd have to substitute Jenever for triple sec. Hmmm. Nah, i'm not moving from the couch - especially while Scarface is on the telly.