Steel Cut Oats for breakfast

an item of oft ridicule by many in #NECX
"you start cooking them at night?" HAHAHAHA

SO MUCH WORK.

Well where are we now...

Off the bike since a snow ride on Saturday. Two big snow storms have worked to make sure the bike path stays impassable, I'm not even sure this warm up and rain we are having/hope to have will be enough to clear it by Monday when I'm back on the bike and the temps are forecast to plunge back to walk in deep freezer mode. Might be worth the attempted slog though just in the name of science and exploration and fun and pure brutal torture.

I did manage to get out for a short run on Tuesday. That's the extent of exercise though other than core work shoveling snow. It is total ice world out there now. I got out for the run as the snow was falling. there was almost an inch of snow on the ground when I went out. Footing wasn't too bad except where the snow was on top of ice. And it was a wet snow that kept packing up in the sole of the shoes making for odd pressure points at times. Managed though juts a short run with a decently/acceptable steady pace. I think I figured out a good use for the Obree breathing method. Usually on the bike other than in a full out TT I feel a bit over oxygenated or whatever it is when you get light headed from breathing way more than you need. Running though? the rythmn is odd but it actually seems to work well.  But still like anything when fatigue sets in I tend to find my self back to breathing in sync with footfalls.

It has been an interseting week. Kid 1 got sick to start vacation week, totally undermined any of her plans and changed the rest of ours (mine). But catching up on the house has been good. Outside projects have to wait till the snow melts and the ground thaws, but maybe we'll have this place ready for company by the weekend, or at least before we all go back on Monday.

Got another installment up on the Two Cone Wrenches and a Megaphone column. Gotta remember to put a link on the sidebar or something. Also need to start working on the next topic. Anyone have a commuter opinion peice suggestion? Going to save the commuting in the rain for later in the spring.

This morning Geo S (Battenkill 2007 or 2008) also former BRC Junior, now expat in some southern hemisphere country posted a link to an article this morning.  A long story in the New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all

my G+ comments on the subject:
"Worthwhile and important reading. Long but good. Well written long form stories are rare in the world of buzzfeed snippets and 140 character news stories.

The topic is important, for everyone. Not just science types.

I learned a very long time ago to always look at the acknowledgements in a scientific paper first. Determine bias of funding.

Cyclists will remember the chocolate milk as recovery drink study? Paid for by Dairy Industry. The findings alone should have been enough to make anyone doubt the much trumpeted public media support for choco milk. Small anecdote.

But bias and ethics, very important in STEM (a term everyone is tossing around now - to me that's a Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope - not Science Technology Engineering Math)."

Heck pick orange juice. I think the Florida Orange Juice growers associations must have G-ride and G-david on payroll to constantly attack me with taunts and bullying when ever I bring up OJ on twitter or anywhere (it is a joke guys but if you ARE getting industry kick backs, share the cash love, or at least give me a commission).

I'm going to try and get back to regular writing here...  But not going to force it. AKA same as always.

Last week was a perfect week. 5 days of work 5 days of riding the bike. First one i think. All the driving the kids and Dr appts and everything seems to have taken at least one day a week since the start of the new year.

Plans for an all day ride today have dissolved. Roads are a disaster number one and two sick kid and work are keeping me here. Plenty of plans though, ideas. Even entertained Morse's Blackstone Blvd century idea. 29 or so laps of the Blvd. It might be something worth trying to do soon though. That or less of a mental challenge: 100 miles on Pine, Homestead, perryville, broad/jacob...  little loop in Rehoboth maybe, still laps and elevation. Or do a flatter loop from 152, brown, pine, read (or walker)... Ideas. Goals. We'll see.

Other goals. Finish getting the Nanoscape catalog together. And get a list of prints to offer up for sale. Not just sort of off hand for sale but like list them and all that. I've started a nanoscape FB page, to go with the tumblr and twitter accounts. All mostly linked together. The Public reception last thursday was unfortunately canceled and the show was taken down, but a few people saw them up there and that was cool.

No more writing time. Coffee is almost gone, time to put the pants on and do some work.

And yes. BTW 2014 GeWilli is more or less on target. It is a moving line but still for the most part trending in the right (positive) direction.

fod yn rhyfeddol
G

Perfect week

At least when it comes to riding every day. With trailer. And zero trips on the bike path. Not even the weather kept me of the bike.

Pizza Dough

So ASG asked for my Pizza dough recipe. And since it isn't a big secret and sauce is the most important part of the pizza I can share this.  Sauce recipe? Not going to share EITHER of mine... I think I have in the past, maybe you can find them, or if you have them, keep em secret.

Sauce is the key to making pizza in my opinion. But Pizza is magical, you can put stuff on it, whatever you want and it can transform stuff.  Good dough, high heat, oven, baking, all that... a magical food.

So here's how I made the dough yesterday. No. It isn't exact. "But GeWilli, this is baking, baking is the most scientific of culinary disciplines."  Yes I know. But here's the deal. It is Pizza dough. Consistency is important but I've found there's pretty much a big wide range of "tolerable" when it comes to how much flour goes into it. The salt and water and yeast are pretty specific. The rest? Feel. Hat tip to Erik V for the suggestion about just doing it till it looks right. He mentioned that a while ago and he's absolutely right.

Keep notes the first time you make it. Too dry? Next time use less flour.  Too wet? add more flour as you are shaping the pizza and add more next time you make it.

Cooking is about practice. I've been making pizza dough and sauce for over 20 years. Not daily but somewhat regularly.  My sauce recipe is an adaptation from what I consider the best place to get pizza on the Kitsap Penninsula. Funny thing is, when I get pizza there I usually order it with pesto sauce not the tomato sauce recipe my sauce is derived from.

Okay to the verbose recipe.

PIZZA DOUGH GEWILLI STYLE.

It seems to work well, the added steps have improved it but made it a bit more about the feel.

Also I use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. You can do it by hand but that's gonna be a pain in the ass, or a really good upper body core workout.

Flour: Equal parts organic whole wheat and unbleached white flour (i use 365 brand cause it is the cheapest good shit around).

This last batch is what I'll give you recipie wise:

2 cups hot water (no more than 115°F 100-110 is fine)

1 tblsp sugar dissolved in the water

2 packs of dry active yeast (or measured equivalent from bulk container 4.5 tsp iirc)

let that bloom/activate for 5-10 min

in mixing bowl start with:

3 cups flour (1.5 each)

2 tsp Salt

3 tblsp Olive oil

Then add water. I rinse out the measuring cup using an extra 1/2 cup of hot water in two 1/4 cup batches.  So techincally 2.5 cups of hot water total.

Let the mixer mix for 5-10 min. This should be a really really wet dough. The extra mixing with all the water develops the gluten better.  Needed to make dough all yummy.

I actually use the paddle not the dough hook for this first step.

Then change out for the dough hook and slowly add flour and mix until dough is not sticky anymore.  Depending on the flour and how much water this can be anywhere from 1.5-2.5 or more cups of flour. I try to keep the ratio somewhat equal between the whole wheat and white but you can go in either direction. WW makes it less workable but more flavorful in the end, also a bit tougher. A nice balance of the two is what my family seems to prefer.

once it is a nice solid dryish not terribly sticky wet mess of dough, let it rise. I just keep it in the mixing bowl. I take the ball of dough out and coat the inside of the bowl with olive oil and cover it in a warm place.

ideally you let this rise until it doubles, punch it down, flip it, let it rise again until it doubles. then divide into pizza size portions, and let it rise again.

OR pop divided portions into containers (or bags) in the fridge for a day or two before cooking.

If in the fridge let them come to room temp and rise before you shape them (if too wet when shaping coat with flour)

I use Whole wheat flour on the pan/peel that i use to move them in and out of the oven, not corn meal.

Cook pizza in a 475+ oven. I also find it best to pre-cook the pizza dough for 2-4 minutes before topping with sauce and toppings.

A wee little snow and ice on the commute

and by that i mean I was riding on ice pretty much the whole way in.

and it was awesome.

so i took pictures...

 Looking north just as i got on the path. That wet snow stuck to everything and then the drop in temps into the mid-teens froze it all in place.

not food

and nothing new but here's another two cone wrenches and a megaphone column

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/clothing-for-commuting-in-the-cold/

Got in a wee ride with the oldest on Saturday, nothing sunday or today (yet). Life getting crazy as it is want to do now and then.

Kind of precarious lately, lots of memories and recollections of last year in Louisville for Worlds. I've been good until today at holding on to the good parts, kind of ignoring the rest of it. But a few triggers kind of brought back a bit of the not so much fun memories, and how i was feeling last year at this time.

But hey. that was last year. Pain fades with time. Scars may be left behind.  At some point those scars with enough effort won't be painful reminders, just reminders. Focus on the good memories.

I'm staring at the new scar on my wrist...  where it was before was some unknown mass, a lump, a strange bit of tissue.

Turned out to be something the surgeon had never seen before, the pathology was so rare that well, yeah, figures eh? Good news is this scar just leaves behind the mark of being safe, checking. Not letting it be. Could have been worse.

But this scar is there...  reminding me... different than the lump that was there. But not really all that different i guess.

Scars sometimes never fade, but how we remember them can change. We control how we remember things.

Trying to transform overwhelmingly painful memories into looking deeper at them for the few moments that were good, that were positive, focusing on them. There always are a few positives.

Always a few good ones that we can fixate on.

Good memories that push out the sometimes overwhelmingly negative ones.

Time is helpful in the process. As is focusing on good stuff, reinforce the positive...

World's L'ville. Not easy for me but there was so much awesome, with the fog lifting i can reflect on those bits, still pretty easy to still get caught up on other stuff, a dark time for GeWilli i suppose. But it is good to be where I am today.

Heavy wet snow today. Not too much, maybe 4" total. Will make riding the bike path after it all freezes hard tonight fun and challenging tomorrow.

But i'm going to "Go all GeWilli on it" tomorrow.

No f'n question.

it keeps coming back around to me.

My perspective. The only thing changing really is how i look at it all. But that's kind of the challenge. How i look at things is directly related to how others interact with me and how it makes me feel. maybe their interactions are mis-interpreted by me, mis-read... does it matter? Yes of course, but it happens.

Life is a funny thing you know?

It is what it is.

gotta keep moving

fod yn rhyfeddol
g