28 Years

I can't decide if it seems shorter or longer than 28 years that AIDS has been with us. Sometimes it feels that it has been part of our vocabulary forever; other times I think, how did the time go so quickly?

I was living in Montana when AIDS was first reported. And I never thought it would reach somewhere as seemingly remote as Helena. But Ron and Burt died.

When I moved back to Baltimore, I had several friends who were HIV positive, and it seemed that they succumbed quickly.

I thank medical research for the advances that have been made. On today's 28-mile ride for World AIDS Day, my HIV positive friends were strong and healthy. But I still ask, when will there be a cure? When will there be a vaccine?

I know we are struggling with so many horrible diseases. And I also know that HIV is totally preventable. But a number of my friends were infected before we even knew what the disease was. And others slipped up. I think about the chances I took in the 80s and 90s and I think how lucky I am that I wasn't infected. None of us is immune.
Literally and figuratively.

But prevention, while it is incredibly important, is not my prime concern. I'm concerned for my HIV positive friends. Men I love and don't want to lose.

Aside from fighting a fierce headwind, the ride today was beautiful. Jerry and I were still a bit tired from riding yesterday, but we rode fairly well. Not necessarily strong, but we rode well.

I had sent out a media alert about today's ride and KCBS radio, the SF Chronicle and Univision showed up to cover it. The more we can get a message out-- the more we can educate people, the better off we will all be.

Ride to Eat Leftovers

Just had a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner after a 40-something mile ride out of the city to Fairfax, and then Tiburon loop. Although my right knee (the real one, not the titanium one) was giving me some grief, Jerry and I still averaged 14 miles per hour. Not bad for a couple of old farts on a tandem.
It was a nice ride though we are both feeling it now. Jerry is napping; I'm still upright to hasten digestion.
Tomorrow we will ride a shorter, but very meaningful ride. A 28 mile loop for World AIDS Day, in memory of the 28 years of the pandemic.

Cheaper turkey, better results

So this year, instead of a pricey Diestel turkey breast from Whole Paycheck, I decided to go with a whole bird from Trader Joe's. I tend to shy away from the whole bird, as it usually means dry breast meat waiting for the legs and thighs to get done. But by tenting, playing with the temperature and a lot of basting, everything came out beautifully, and I think the breast meat was actually more tender and flavorful this year.
I decided to get the bird done a little early, let it rest, carve it and then cover the meat on the serving platter and put it back in a warm oven. While we were having only two guests, I wanted to be able to sit and enjoy time with them, instead of being up to my armpits in mashed potatoes this year. I, in fact, got everything ready ahead of time and kept it all warm. And it worked beautifully. The only thing I didn't cook early was the stuffing, though I had it assembled and so all it had to do was bake.
The Brussels sprouts were an especially big hit, even for Nancy, who usually doesn't like them. I shredded them in the Cuisinart, and sauteed them with shallots and garlic in olive oil and butter. I toasted pignolis to mix in, and also squirted lemon juice on them. They were delicious.
I can't report on George's pie yet, because my heartburn was too intense to try it last night. But it is absolutely gorgeous and I will have a piece later today.
George and Nancy brought two bottles of Markham cabernet. I forgot how much I like Markham vineyards. The wine was delicious-- full bodied-- just the way I love cabernet. I've been into Malbecs and Zinfandels lately. Might be time to go back to finding some good Cabernets.
George and Nancy invited us on a tandem ride in Napa tomorrow, so we'll work off dinner then.

Eat Today. Ride later.

It's Thanksgiving and the cookathon will soon begin. Some years Jerry and I ride in the morning, but my heartburn is so bad (that's a long story in itself) I really don't feel like getting on the bike.
So instead, I'll cook. Our thanksgiving is woefully small this year. Only six of us, but I'll still cook as if the Russian Army were descending any minute.
This year, I bought a whole turkey instead of just a breast. My hope is, with the added fat of the legs, I'll get more drippings for gravy. I also plan on snipping off the wings at the first joint to make stock. The bird is a natural one, but a brand I haven't tried before. My guess is I won't be able to tell a whole hell of a lot of difference between this one and the gold-plated Diestels I usually buy at Whole Foods. Tough times call for desperate measures, and I'm trying to watch the budget.
The stuffing will be pretty basic, though I'm going to throw in some dried apricots, apples and walnuts. Still pretty basic, though.
I am bucking tradition on the Brussels sprouts. Instead of the usual boiling and rice vinegar, I'm shredding and sauteeing with garlic, shallots, olive oil and pignolis. Garlic mashed potatoes, as usual is on the menu, but I did do a variation of my usual cranberry sauce. It's still got ginger and oranges, but I also put in two diced pears and some dry mustard. I tasted it yesterday and the flavors have come together pretty well.
Dessert is courtesy of my friend George, who is making an apple pie. Since there are only six of us, I figured one dessert would do.
Appetizers are feta and sundried tomato dip with carrots, sesame crisps, parmesan puffs, and Cowgirl creamery cheese and crackers.
And good wine will round the whole thing out. And good coffee with dessert.
I am disappointed I won't be having more people, but the folks that will be here are good friends, so it will be a lovely evening.
And tomorrow, or the day after, we'll hop on the tandem.

Riding? Yes. Eating? Not so much.

Jerry and I rode the "Cat 1 Crawl" from Sports Basement and around Tiburon Loop on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day to ride. Sunny, a little cool, but lovely. I inadvertently left my Camelbak home so I used Jerry's back pocket as a water bottle holder. It worked just fine. After all this time we're a bit beyond Cat 1 (though not by much) so we finished before everyone else. A real first for us.

Especially because we have not been riding at our peak. I am having really hideous gastro issues. I was supposed to have some testing done today, so I haven't been able to take any heartburn/GERD medication for two weeks, so I've pretty much been in hell. I can't eat very much at one time without feeling like, or actually, tossing some of it. Lovely, eh?

So I was really looking forward to the testing, even though from all accounts having a tube stuck down your throat via your nose is not the most pleasant sensation, particularly when it stays there for 24 hours.

But, in any case, I got to UCSF nice and early for my appointment. And I sat for an hour. And then had the appointment rescheduled because the person who does the test was out sick. Which they knew earlier, but for some reason decided I should sit there so I could spend even more money on the parking lot. Yes, I was ticked off-- first, for having to sit there for an hour, and even more important, to spend another week off heartburn meds. Thanksgiving is going to be a real thrill...

But when I got home I did get busy in the kitchen. I'm really on a peppermint bark kick, and I made around 10 pounds today. Then I made sesame crackers, and finally, cranberry chutney. I couldn't find my tried and true recipe, so tried another one I found on Epicurious. It's got pears, cider vinegar and a few spices, including ginger. First taste I wasn't too thrilled, but I'll let the flavors blend overnight and give it another try tomorrow. If I still don't like it, I've got another package of cranberries, and I'll start over.

Raising Money to Ride

As anyone who has even briefly met me knows, I ride the 540 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as part of AIDS Lifecycle.
And as everyone knows, this is a tough financial year, so I thought I better get creative with fundraising. As a baker and all-around dessert maker, I thought I'd put these skills to work to help raise funds. Two years ago I gave $100 donors cookies. This year I thought I would sell peppermint bark. Williams Sonoma charges $20 a pound, so I thought if I could make it and sell it for $6 a half pound, I could clear at least a little something to raise funds for the ride.

I made a decent sized batch earlier this week and bagged it up in little half pound bags which I plan to tie shut with a festive ribbon. The project was on.
I decided to go bigger, so today I went to Restaurant Depot, a to-the-trade-only wholesale warehouse to get white chocolate. I bought a 10 pound box of Ghiradelli chips, figuring they would make lovely peppermint bark. It wasn't cheap, even for wholesale, but I figured I should get the good stuff.
Or what I thought was the good stuff. God knows what they put in it, but it would not melt. I hesitate to read the ingredients because the stuff, even being in a double boiler for what seemed like forever, had the consistency of silly putty.
Chalk up another experience to lesson learned. I'll stick to the Safeway where at least I know what I'm getting. And believe it or not, the pure chips there are a little cheaper.
But at least I do have about three pounds of the good stuff, and next week I'll go into production again.

"Relatively" flat ride?

Relative is an interesting word. Today's ride was described as "relatively flat." And I suppose compared to Quadbuster or the Evil Twins, it was. But it sure didn't seem flat to Jerry and me.
Yesterday we did a pleasant ride from Sports Basement to Mill Valley with the "Cyclist Representatives." That's the new name for what we've been calling Cycle Buddies. I have to tell you, I prefer the name Cycle Buddies. True it's not as professional, but it's so friendly and warm. The Cycle Buddies are nurturing supportive people. I'm not sure what Cyclist Representatives are. This is just one change that came this year. The web site has changed, and I gotta tell you, I don't like it. I don't know my cyclist number and I have a hard time finding my home page.
Generally, I am not one of those people who resists change. And there very well may be good reasons for the changes to the web site. But for the life of me, I don't know why the Cycle Buddies are no longer Cycle Buddies.
But back to riding. Yesterday's ride was just a little shorter than today's ride, but perhaps it was the popcorn we ate for dinner, or the fact we hadn't ridden in a couple of weeks or my colonoscopy on Friday, but today's ride was tough for Jerry and me. The climbs weren't long, but they seemed intense.
But we were riding with our friends. It was a Positive Peddler ride, and those are frequently my favorite because I get to ride with Bob and Beau and Wilfredo and some other friends. Though I was sorry Peter wasn't there today.
We rode from Sports Basement out to Lake Merced. And anyone would have to realize, we'd have to climb in and out of the city, but somehow I had blocked that out of my mind.
But we did it, and because the last part of the ride was downhill, we sailed past everyone and were the first back at Sports Basement. Tandems do excel at downhill, and we're not bad on the flats. But hills are another story.
After the ride, we came home, showered and headed to Barney's for turkey burgers and fries. Dinner is a glass of wine and some tums.
yum.

Cheese and movies

I just spent several glorious days in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival. Several highlights of the festival include--
-- A Secret. A French film about a young boy who discovers his parents' past during the Holocaust.
-- The Secrets. An Israeli film about a young woman who, after her mother dies, goes to a Midrasha to study and learns much about herself and her family.
-- Captain Abu Raed. A very touching Jordanian film. Abu Raed is a man all of us would love to know. That might have been my favorite.
Of the eight films we saw, only one was a real dog. A Canadian film -- Continental: a film without guns. While watching,we were wishing they did have guns so they could have killed themselves and put us out of our misery. Yes, that bad.
And it was four days of drinking good wine and eating good cheese. My friends Bob and Dave had an amazing house-- their dream house they designed, with a wine cellar that David built. Every night, after the films, we'd go down and pick out a couple of bottles of wine. Lots of fun. We ate wonderful cheese with bread David had baked. For breakfast, he made croissants ad bagels.
I showed my friends videos and a slide show of last year's AIDS Ride, and Bob is expressing interest in doing the ride. I hopehe decides to do it. It's really an experience of a lifetime. He knows enough people who can afford to donate, so I hope he decides to do it.
And speaking of donations, when I get home from the East Coast, I'm going to start making peppermint bark. I plan to sell it to raise funds for ALC. I make fabulous peppermint bark with the very best white and dark chocolate. Know anyone interested? Send them my way!

Blisters and Joy

The blisters on my feet cannot overshadow the joy I feel for my sisters in law. I didn't get to see the ceremony, but there was at least one person taking video, so I'll enjoy it later.
I spent most of the week preparing for the joyous occasion. Hard boiling 15 dozen eggs takes a long time, and peeling them takes quite a while. Except Friday night, a handful of people, including Jerry and Donna's mother and stepfather came in to lend a hand. James, Jerry's son, had also come in from University of Chicago to help and be part of the celebration. I'm sorry Donna's Dad and stepmother, and Linda's parents declined to attend. Linda's mom did, at least, send a gift.

Early in the week I started shopping and prep. I made a ridiculously easy and extremely popular cracker. I halved wonton skins, brushed them with oil, then sprinkled sesame seeds and coarse salt on them. Baked at 375 for 10-15 minutes. They were delicious!
There were a couple of labor-intensive dishes that could not be done ahead of time. One was puff pastry, cut for mini muffin tins. I sauteed mushroom-- white and shiitaki, with garlic, butter and a little red wine. I put a tad of really good paremsan on the bottom , and then put in the mushrooms. We baked several hundred.
At request of the spouses, we made deviled eggs and pesto potatoes. While on its surface both are simple, they took a long time. We halved red potatoes, baked them and then scooped out a bit and put in a dollop of pesto.
I need more full sheet pans, and the kitchen we worked in had absolutely nothing. If I had had more sheet pans, the potatoes would have gone much faster. Live and learn.
My friend Leslie, of Theresa and Johnny's Comfort Food Cafe in San Rafael, lent us baskets and hotel pans, which helped immensely. I should have taken some sheet pans from her as well.

I also made four dips. I think my favorite was the red pepper with walnuts. I played with this one-- I added Japanese breadcrumbs and Vietnamese hot sauce. And, of course, garlic, and some olive oil.
The white bean and artichoke dip was a hit, as was the feta and sun dried tomatoes. The beet and garbanzo didn't go over as well, though I thought it was great. Maybe people just don't like to eat pink food.
We had a lovely selection of cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery, olives, nuts, and store-bought spring rolls. Always the Jewish mother (of no children except doted-on cats) we had way too much food.
Too much food was, in part, because of the set-up of the room. The food was difficult to get to. I wanted the tables along the side, but they got put in the back, next to the bar. I had some people appear sheepishly in the kitchen asking if we had food in there. I was happy to oblige.
But the married couple was absolutely thrilled, and that is what matters. I guess my biggest disappointments are, I love to have people eat what I cook, and also, Jerry and I paid for all of this, and we are woefully underemployed. We did ship some of the leftovers off to a soup kitchen, and for that I am grateful, and I'm going to a pot luck today, and I will take some with me to that.