i’m sitting here, eating passionfruit chobani, recovering from my bike ride after testing out my new front derailleur. ahhhh, it’s wonderful. so smooth. because, after all, it’s supposed to get me out of tight spots, not put me into them. the derailleur, that is, not the chobani. although, come to think of it, the chobani could accomplish the same thing…
47.30 mins / 13.6 avg mph / 10.83 miles
we recently discovered passionfruit chobani. it is my favorite flavor with or without mixing the fruit on the bottom. chobani is on sale at albertsons so we stocked up on, oh, about 20 containers of varying flavors so we could perform, wait for it, a taste test. (you know i love me a taste test. and a colored pen for taking taste test notes. and a special notebook just for taking notes on the aforementioned taste test. i’m so predictable.)
anyway, we tried apple cinnamon 0% fat on the way home from costco. it tasted like farmer’s cheese. i haven’t decided if that’s from the 0% or the apple cinnamon. i did enjoy it and liked the chunky apple. the farmer’s cheese flavor wasn’t a turn-off, just a little weird. tonight, i unwrapped the blood orange 0% and it almost tastes like orange cough syrup but the “no cough syrup aftertaste” saves it in my book. also, it doesn’t have the farmer’s cheese flavor so that could still be an apple cinnamon thing or just a fluke.
but nothin’ has knocked passionfruit off its pedestal yet. to be continued…
eating a turkey burger (because of a recent discovery of mad cow in central california. i admit it: i’m a sensationalist.) my bandaged pinky finger is thwarting my iphone browsing. the iphone may do lots of things but it isn’t smart enough to realize that there is flesh under that band-aid.
thus, i have to resort to either putting down the fries in one hand or the burger in the other. decisions…
from dwell magazine: hygge (pronounced hoog-eh) is a danish word with no direct english translation. it describes that warm, cozy feeling that develops when friends gather in a room with some open flames, alcohol, and plenty of time to enjoy the experience.
mind you, it’s not a party and it’s not something that happens on the beach.
and now that i reread the definition, i feel i must clarify that it is also not a rave or a pyro party for arsonists.
now i just have to get me a house, some open flames, and time to enjoy both.
i used blue painter’s tape to keep my front derailleur from knocking around. not only did it work, but it also exactly matches the blue paint on my bike.
7.41 miles / 39.24 mins / 11.2 avg mph | (didn’t reset on trip home) 14.84 miles total / 1.18.45 hours / 11.2 avg mph
in a sudden stroke of brilliance, i realized i could just manually push the chain onto the middle chainring and resume my biking. this is not ideal as the cage is loose and can rub against the chain, but for a short bike ride, it’s doable. i biked to helen’s to follow up on my broken derailleur, ordered a new one and will have my shifting prowess back in no time. but in the meantime, i took advantage of my new realization and the sunshine: 59.51 mins / 13.0 avg mph / 13.09 miles
took my road bike out today because it’s 70 degrees and sunny in santa monica. this bike is hella fast. yes!!!
a few blocks into my ride, i found out i can’t shift my front derailleur (i.e., the bike is stuck on the largest front cog). after inspection, it appears the metal holding the spring broke. this is metal we are talking about. it *broke*. noooooooooooo!!!
(trip not as long as i would have liked…) 5.09 miles / 26.48 mins / 11.2 avg mph
i used the right amount of mushrooms this time, substituting baby bellas for shiitakes. i also used feta instead of gorgonzola and substituted whole grain mustard for dijon. the 2tbsp + 1 tsp of mustard was probably too much as it yielded a tart flavor that was vinegar-y at the start. i would say the feta wasn’t strong enough to match the leek and mushrooms. maybe i should try more cheese? i don’t want it to be overly cheesy. or return to gorgonzola and use less or increase the mushrooms. too few mushrooms was the culprit last time. either way, it is still tasty and i’m getting better at pastry dough. it’s mostly butter – how can you go wrong with that?
i still can’t make a round tart…(sigh) oh, well.
before:
after:
stage 1: put on bike tights that i bought when i was in high school (can you believe that s**t?!?) because it’s 62 degrees outside.
stage 2: bike to the west la farmers’ market so i can justify the chicken tamale and 5 waffles.
stage 3: carbo load before the ride home
stage 4: that northbound hill at texas and westgate is a killer – i deserve another waffle!
stage 5: hope that my high school tights still fit next week when i do it all over again.
outbound: 8.7 avg mph / 2.85 miles / 15 mins
(after walking around looking for bike racks: 10.7 / 3.05 / 20.32)
return: 10.7 avg mph / 2.87 miles / 16.03 mins
meteorologists were predicting bad storms this week and downpours yesterday. they were *way* off. it was gorgeous yesterday as we drank siphon coffee and surveyed the basketball court by our gym and drank more coffee and watched the world from la monarca’s window and finally walked down the promenade after a rich dinner at fraiche.
m says: “you know what a horrific storm is in los angeles…somebody farts and they think it’s thunder.”