Not One Cookie

This has been the oddest holiday season yet. I did not bake one single cookie. I did make a couple batches of peppermint bark, with one more to go, but not one cake, not one cookie, went into my oven.

I also haven't been on the bike in weeks. The main reason for both: exhaustion. It's amazing how tired you can get from standing on your feet for six hours and talking about kitchen equipment.

I love Sur La Table; it's my favorite kitchen store and I've been working there for the past couple months, part time to supplement a very slow healthcare pr practice. I look forward to going into the store. I can be having a lousy morning but when I get to Sur La Table, surrounded by baking sheets and good olive oil, my demeanor takes a decidedly turn upward.

By and large the customers are terrific. They want to hear my opinion and they are sincerely interested in cooking and setting a beautiful table. Of course, there are always the ones who don't like anything they are shown and no matter how hard I try, nothing makes them happy. But those folks are few and far between, and I really get a lot of joy from explaining how the Jura Capresso works or finding the perfect gift for a young woman's boss.

I refer to the group I work with as a happily dysfunctional family. They are smart, talented and by and large, energetic men and women. Lively senses of humor abound and we really do have fun. We laugh a lot and the hours really do seem to fly by. There are a few kids working for the holiday season and they are a joy. They don't take themselves or what they are doing too seriously, but they are killer workers. Oh, to have that kind of energy again.

But the job is taking its toll on my legs. When I get home all I want to do is get horizontal. First, the couch, and then some tv watching in bed until I fall asleep, which is generally early. While I might have had the time to bake, I have simply not had the strength or energy.

I am curious to see how riding the bike will feel. While I surely have been using my leg muscles, I haven't exercised them, and my fear is that the first big hill will be torture. But then, my hope is, the muscles will loosen up and remember what they are supposed to do.

Since today is Christmas, my guess is that after my six hour shift in the store tomorrow, I will no longer be working 30-plus hour weeks and I'll have some recovery time between stints selling Cuisinarts, and life will get back to a little more semblance of normal. But it's been fun and I hoped I helped a lot of customers have a little happier holiday.

No Riding, but lots of (talk about) Eating

It rained most of the weekend so the tandem stayed dry and cozy, hanging in the rafters of the garage.

Sunday is our usual riding day but with the rain and a scheduled meeting, we had a lazy morning reading the paper and then a nice lunch/brunch at Comfort Food Cafe. I had a blackened chicken sandwich with avocado, pepperjack cheese, chipotle mayo and lots of lettuce. It was a bit much, but it was good.

The afternoon took me to Peets in Novato to meet with a group of ALC riders. We are planning a "Crab Feed" to raise funds for AIDS Lifecycle.

Back east we call them "crab feasts" and we have the smaller Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, which will always be my favorite. In all my years in California I've had Dungeness crab only a couple of times. They are good, but I guess my heart belongs to steamed crabs, covered in spicy Old Bay.

That being said, a group of us are hustling to put together a fundraiser in what could be record time. We want to have it late January or first week in February, which, in reality, is not a whole lot of time to find a place, organize it and get lots and lots of silent auction items.

We'll have a live auction as well, but that will have only a few select items. Two already on the list are a house in Tahoe for a week, courtesy of Robin's ex husband, and an aerial tour of the bay, courtesy of my husband. Two down, two or three more to go. Our big hope is to get a chef to do a home dinner, but despite all of our fabulous connections, we discovered we don't know one with a "name." Back to the drawing board on that one.

I discovered there is a traditional menu for a crab feed: crabs (of course), pasta, salad and bread. Easy enough.

Since they seem to be incredibly popular in Sonoma County, my hope is that we will sell out, raise lots of money, all going to my very favorite cause-- helping people with HIV and preventing more people from contracting the virus.

So what could be a better fundraiser! Food, bikes and the AIDS Foundation. A winner all around.

Tiburon Loop and Bread Pudding

You'd think by now we'd be tired of Tiburon Loop, but we took a different route, at least initially this time-- we headed around Roque Morais, or as I call it, Croque Monsieur. We hadn't ridden that stretch for a while, so it seemed new and fun.

Tib Loop is not the most challenging route we ride, but it was a great day to really stretch out on the flats and rollers. We continue to build speed and Jerry and I felt particularly in synch. It was a brisk, sunny day and getting out in the clean air felt wonderful. We were definitely chilly in the shade, but our speed kept us moving into the sun.

We thought we might meet up with an ALC training ride, but we didn't see anyone until we were actually close to finishing our ride. They probably took a different route-- down Blithedale instead of Croque Monsieur. I like our route better.

Since we weren't riding with ALC'ers, we didn't feel obligated to go to Shark's deli, the usual stopping place for training rides. The stop used to be a coffee shop in downtown Tiburon, but a training ride leader felt dissed by them because they stopped putting out a big crock of water, so she unilaterally changed the stop venue. In reality, I really don't like Shark's. I don't like the food and on a chilly day there is only outside seating, and I wanted to be inside and cozy.

So we stopped at the formerly sanctioned stop whose name I forget. But they have inside seating, great coffee, and I discovered that they have wonderful bread pudding. I think they must make it from leftover cinnamon rolls. It's not too sweet, but it's crusty and has just the right amount of egg and milk. It's served room temperature and it was the perfect snack.

We shared a table with two other cyclists and had a nice chat with them. They were younger and definitely more fit than we are, but they didn't look down their nose at us and seemed to enjoy the chat. It was a time that I wished I had our ALC cards with our donor site on it. We've got to get those made. I have yet to raise a dime and need to get on the stick.

When we arrived home I was in a far better mood than when I had left. I've got lots on my mind and really needed a ride to clear out the negative thoughts and troubles. And the bread pudding didn't hurt, either.