Truffles and Popcorn

I haven't written in a month, which also means I haven't ridden in a month, or maybe more.

Listening to the steady hard rain outside gives me a chill and makes me long for the days of sun and riding. But with weather like this, I'm more likely inside, eating.

The last two days there was a lot of that. I went to the Fancy Food Show at the Moscone Center in Downtown San Francisco. Two huge pavilions of cheeses, chocolates, coffee, tea, and yes, lots of popcorn and even more truffles.

I went with my friend and fellow foodie, Renee, and everywhere we turned we were inhaling the heady scent of black truffles. There was truffle salt, truffle cheese, even truffles paired with sweets-- not my favorite. Then there was the truffle popcorn. It was absolutely delicious, and the kettle corn and the plain popcorn. Then there were the olive oil and rosemary potato chips.

And more cheese, and green tea and walnut oil ice cream. And fresh anchovies and smoked trout.

It was a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Beautiful tea displays and chefs thinly slicing aged pork.

We tasted numerous salts, olive oils and vinegars. We collected brochures and business cards.

We spoke to people from Italy, Australia, Russia and Renee's home, South Africa. Companies from around the world displayed their wares and were all too happy to answer questions.

And I had at least four espressos each day.

There was at least one company whose main business was giving back, and I, of course gravitated to them. They were young t-shirted guys who represented Project 7-- www.project7.com They sell a variety of products including bottled water, mints and gum, and 50 percent of their profits go to seven different causes, including hunger, homelessness, peace, environmental issues, and "my" cause, health. They are small, their donations are not huge, but they are doing good.

We ran into them near the end of our second day at the show, and I left feeling hopeful, if not bloated from too much of too many good things.

But I did leave inspired to continue to explore new foods and get more creative in the kitchen.

And I also left inspired to get back on the bike if I want to keep exploring new food.

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.

29 Miles; 29 Years

Yesterday was one of the more important rides I've been on in a while. It was the World AIDS Day ride-- Nov. 29, 29 miles, for the 29 years of the AIDS pandemic.

More than 100 of us gathered at McLaren Lodge in San Francisco, many of us wearing red. After the usual stretching and safety speech, we joined hands and had a moment of silence to honor and remember those we have lost to this horrible disease. I thought of Jimmy, of Andrew, of Ricardo and many other friends and acquaintances whom we have lost. Some died peacefully, some in terrible pain and anguish. Some surrounded by friends and family; some alone. No one should die alone, and I so look forward to the day when no one dies as a result of HIV and AIDS.

One member of the Positive Pedalers told his story of how the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, through services and support, helped him get sober and healthy. Now he rides and is strong.

Treatment has come a long way in the 29 years since the virus was discovered, but we're not there yet. We have no cure, nor no guarantee that the current drug regimen will continue to work or cause other health problems. And every day, people continue to be infected. Even some people I know, who in their hearts knew better, have become infected in the last few years.

Fewer children are being infected, which is wonderful, but again, through education and medication, we can stop children from being infected. The disease still takes huge tolls in other parts of the world, and it is still killing many many people in the United States.

AIDS can never be an afterthought. It can never be a disease that is forgotten, until there is no more AIDS.

Yesterday's ride was short-- only 29 miles, but next to my 545 mile ride I'll take in June, it's the most important ride I do.

Fairfax and FKV

Well, this post might cause some consternation among some folks, but I feel it's something that I need to say.

What is it with cyclists wearing kits? Do they really think that the Marin bike path is part of the Tour De France? Or that Camino Alto is closed to cars so they can pedal up the hill in a Pelaton?

Jerry named them Full Kit Vermin today. These men and women may be perfectly nice (or not) when off their bicycles, but something must happen to them when they put on their Dolce Vita jerseys and shorts. Or their Fizik jerseys and shorts. Or whatever. They have never uttered the phrase "on your left," and stop signs and red lights are for other riders, or perhaps just cars. And "car back" means pull out in the lane.

The FKV are the riders who give the rest of us a bad name, and I, for one, am sick of it, but there's not a darn thing I can do, really. True, there are a few of them who are polite. They will say good morning on the way by to let us know they are passing and they don't come back over so close that we are afraid our front wheel is going to get clipped.

We have been dissed by FKV, but that just makes me think they are immature brats, and I don't really care about that. What I care about is their unsafe riding, and their endangering our lives and others.

We saw a sign on the road today that said "Same Road, Same Rules," with a picture of cars and bikes. But I think signs like that just goad them into riding even more impolitely and dangerously.

Jerry and I tend to avoid the Golden Gate Bridge to steer clear of the majority of the rental bike riders. We have had some close calls with them and so we tend to join rides at the north parking lot. But there's really no way to avoid the FKV on a beautiful fall day.

Jerry and I will never ride as fast as those riders. Hell, we don't ride as fast as many of the cyclists we train with. We have our own tandem pace which is slow up hill and fast down, though we try to stay safe on our descents. I've got no problem with people riding as fast as they can safely ride, but it doesn't help any of us when they block vehicles that can outrun any of us. And it surely doesn't help us when they come close to running down pedestrians in crosswalks.

So, all that being said, Jerry and I actually did have a lovely ride up to Fairfax today. The return trip for me was better than the way out because Jerry raised my seat a little. My new saddle is a lot slimmer than my old one, so raising it another quarter inch helped. The saddle is leather and very slippery so I found myself pushing myself up and back even after it was moved, so I might have him tip the nose a trifle up to keep me from sliding down it so much.

Next week will be a longer ride that should give me a chance to really see how the saddle is doing. Looking forward to it.

Tiburon and Pumpkin Muffins

It was a beautiful day, perfect for riding, so Jerry and I loaded up the tandem and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge parking lot to join up with an ALC training ride. We waited but realized we weren't seeing any bicycles come through the lot. Seemed that the west side of the bridge was closed so we weren't going to see any of the ALC riders. We headed down the Sausalito hill and stopped at Mike's Bikes, hoping to run into one of the training ride leaders. We weren't sure what direction they were doing the loop, so we thought we'd wait to find out.

Turns out they weren't actually doing the whole loop and took a route we normally don't take. So the ride was a good bit shorter than we thought it was going to be. Glad we parked at the bridge instead of Mike's. The Sausalito hill was going to be our only real climb of the day.

The ride was very pleasant, though short, and we joined up with riders at Shark's Deli in Tiburon. The odd thing was, we did not know any of the riders. One of the ride leaders was supposed to be our friend Angelo, but he had to back out last minute. It was kind of strange not knowing one single person in the group, but it also means there are new riders and that's a good sign.

I brought some pumpkin cupcakes I had baked for the annual cul de sac Halloween dinner and wait for the kids to come and trick or treat. They were cute, but I think my toffee bars have gone over better in the past. Live and learn. I had bought Halloween cupcake liners and wanted to use them, and thought pumpkin cup cakes would be just the thing.

I actually like them a lot. They are really pumpkin bread I made into cupcakes. Once, quite by accident I left out the eggs when I was making them so they were vegan (the recipe uses oil) and they were quite good. I haven't repeated the no egg method; I'm too afraid it was a fluke. But the pumpkin cupcake/bread is full of walnuts and to me, very satisfying.

After the stop at Shark's we headed onto the loop but took the Trestle Glen shortcut. The entire ride was only about 30 miles, but a pleasant 30 miles. We averaged close to 14 miles per hour, but I think that's due to not many hills.

In some ways, I feel as if our training is going backwards. We seem to be doing shorter, rather than longer, rides. But in reality that's our choice and we can do longer rides if so inspired.

The World AIDS Day 29-mile ride is coming up at the end of the month, and while that's a short ride, it's an important one. I'm working with the Positive Pedalers to see if we can get some media attention for it. And I'll continue to work with them because 2010 is their 15th anniversary. A big deal and I hope I can tell their story to as many people as possible.