Nurse!

As much as I wish it weren't so, I finally got to test Jon's nursing skills. I have been sick since Friday. At first, I didn't think I was getting really sick, I thought maybe it was just allergies. But alas, I am really, truly, miserably sick.

Friday: sore throat
Saturday: body aches
Sunday: runny nose
Monday: wicked cough, body aches, and runny nose

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

I was thinking that Jon has proven to be an excellent nursing student. He has been making sure that my cold is well-fed, plying me with vitamins and water, inquiring about whether my cough is "productive" and what color my snot is, and generally keeping track of my symptoms to make sure this doesn't turn into something more serious. He felt my glands and took my temperature. No fever.

Today I was feeling worse than ever and could barely move so I took a nap after lunch. Jon was doing laundry and I was too immobilized to shut the bedroom door and keep out the noise of the washer and dryer. I couldn't even muster the energy to call out to him in the other room. I had my cell phone handy so I feebly fingered a text message to him: "Nurse!"

Then he did something very un-nurse like, I thought. He threatened that if I did that again he would take my temperature again...rectally! How rude! Fine then, next time I will ring a bell.

Back on the Market!

No, not that market!

We were surprised to learn a few days ago that the house we sold in Raleigh last July is back on the real estate market. Our former next door neighbors were sitting on their front porch when Jer mutely pointed at the "For Sale" sign. Shock and awe, indeed. A flurry of phone calls and the news was flying around amongst our Raleigh friends. The next day I started to receive emails from folks in the neighborhood, too. Everyone is puzzled. The family that bought our house has alot of history in the neighborhood as two other family members live just down the street! This was to be their forever home.

Looking at the pictures they posted makes me think this was a hurried decision. The kitchen is a mess, pictures on the wall are crooked, I can see boxes peeking out in the photo of the dining room, and in just six short months, the drought has taken a serious toll on the yard that we toiled over.

I don't know what unfortunate (I am assuming) turn of events caused this. Perhaps the new owners got in over their heads with the payments. The husband is a realtor so perhaps the downturn in the market has affected them personally. Maybe they hate the house. Who knows, but I feel badly about it: for them if this is an unexpected life change, and for us and the house which I have so personified through the hours of labor and pieces of our hearts we poured into it.

Food, Glorious Food

Finally, a post that has nothing to do with riding your bike in the winter!

A few weeks ago, Jon and I devoured an entire recipe of Roasted Cauliflower in one sitting (that is pancetta, not cauliflower, pictured at left). Cooking the cauliflower in an oven at high heat caramelizes the sugars (yes, cauliflower has natural sugars!) and makes it taste candied. Ever since then, I have been literally fantasizing about eating roasted cauliflower again. So it was this past Friday afternoon, instead of doing the company's work, that I was busily figuring out what to make for dinner that could accommodate roasted cauliflower.

A search on my favorite recipe repository for Gourmet and Bon Apetit magazines--Epicurious--pulled up this recipe for Whole Wheat Linguine with Cauliflower, Pancetta, and Parmesan. I modified the recipe based partly on other readers' comments and partly on my own hankerings. I initially was going to omit the pork (pancetta) and replace it with arugula but in the end I used both. Here is my version of the recipe. Note: this could easily become a vegetarian recipe by omitting the pancetta and replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Fettucine with Roasted Cauliflower, Pancetta, Arugula, and Two Cheeses

1 recipe Roasted Cauliflower

1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 lb thinly sliced pancetta
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 lb fresh fettucine pasta
4 cups fresh greens such as arugula, chopped chard, or spinach
1/2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/4 cup) plus additional for serving
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Prepare cauliflower according to recipe directions. While cauliflower is cooking, fry pancetta in non-stick pan until crisp. Remove to drain on paper towel lined plate. Do not wash pan. To the pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When hot, add panko bread crumbs and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until golden brown. Transfer to a small plate or bowl to cool.

Cook pasta until al dente, drain.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. When hot, add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute on moderately high heat for a few minutes. Add broth, continue to cook for several minutes. Add greens and stir until wilted.

Combine all ingredients in a large serving bowl, placing pancetta on top. Serves 6 - 8.


P.S. I have no idea why this picture turned out so yellow, my apologies.

You Go Girl!

Limits I say..... You've got to set limits on the things you do, when you can. I don't have a parking pass for the BSU campus so my limit has been set by default. I ride my bike to school, I'm limited from parking a car on campus.

This morning it is cold, bitter cold, and Kate was on her bike early heading to work. The paper said this:

Weather
Boise, ID
Currently 8 degrees F, sunny

Almost makes you want to ride or walk to work doesn't it? Luckily, we live close enough to our daily grind to ride a bike. It really does feel good to do it, and no it's not just a hippie thing!

Sorry, Guys

Image courtesy of http://www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroZine/images/Issue57/BeaufortSea_l.jpg

I started to get dressed this morning fully intending to ride my bike to work. Jon asked what the temperature was and I repeated what I heard on our local NPR station this morning. "Nine degrees, with a wind chill of -10." He told me I should drive my truck to work, that I had to set some limits. Perhaps.

When I think about whether I can ride my bike in frigid temperatures, I think about Jill Homer, the Alaska journalist who is training for the human-powered Iditarod race, a multi-day event in which she will bike across the Alaska wilderness in sub-zero temperatures. She chronicles her training in her blog Arctic Glass. Her reasons for riding are different than mine, but an inspiration nonetheless. When I fret about my 1.5 mile commute, I check Jill's blog to see that she rode 22 miles yesterday in 28 degree temperatures.

I console myself with the reminder that driving to work will give me the opportunity to sherpa home the large garbage bag full of empty plastic bottles I have collected at work so they can be recycled.

How to Help Slow Global Warming

Riding your bike to work or school, even when it is only 20 degrees F outside and the streets and sidewalks are covered with snow pack and ice is one way.

I wrote in this post about Boise bicycle commuters and my own limitations. Since then, I have taken to the streets on my bike, weather be damned! Unfortunately, the two days on which I have ridden my bike to work so far have been 1) during a snowstorm and 2) immediately after a series of snow days when the temperature was forecasted at 14 but fortunately climbed to 20.

I just kept telling myself to think of the polar bears and their melting ice sheets!

Honestly, it's not too terrible. Here is what I was wearing today:

winter biking tights
jeans
wool socks
cotton short-sleeved t-shirt
polypropylene long-sleeved shirt
cashmere scarf
my very toasty North Face jacket with quilted liner
polypropylene skull cap
wool took hat
bicycle helmet
biking gloves

By the time I arrived at work, my core body was overly warm, but my finger, toes, and face were very cold. I could have used my face mask (couldn't find it this morning) and some additional protection for my hands and feet.

Magazine and Marketing Rant

Call me ungrateful, but when I subscribed to Yoga Journal, I never expected that my contact information would be sold to sundry fitness companies. As far as I can recall, there was no disclaimer or ability to opt out. There was no mention of it whatsoever and I am now receiving catalogs from Champion and Everlast to name a few.

I called Yoga Journal to have myself removed from this "feature" but I am so incensed that I will not be renewing my subscription. I have a lot of respect for the content and contributors of Yoga Journal Magazine and for the organization as a whole--I held them to a high(er) moral standard.

The moral, however, is that Yoga Journal is certainly owned by some media conglomerate to whom I paid money for the magazine and who in turn marketed and sold my demographic information for an additional profit. I feel totally duped. Now I am left to suffer the conscious and practical burden of unwanted mail and wasted resources as a result of printing, manufacturing, and the transportation of said unwelcome solicitations.

I've heard that the magazine industry on the whole is suffering because paper subscriptions are down. They will soon suffer the loss of one more customer! Arrrrrgggghhh!