Lost Bike

The small and quiet side street on which I live is just of Allen Street, which has a lot of bars that are open until 4am. Every so often I'll find remnants of the night before that may have spilled down our street...here's an example. It's a Trek bike (a nice one, too); it's obviously stolen. The seat and front tire were most probably quick-release. I can only wonder why the owner locked the rear tire (note the lock on the rear tire) but failed to secure it to something stationary. At any rate, I phoned the police and they came by and picked it up...hopefully it will make it back to it's rightful owner.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#44)

A freshly baked loaf of whole wheat bread.

Frontyard Cabbage

Beautiful. Almost mystical...isn't it? (click it for a larger view.)

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#43)

A gym bag full of wet clothes.
A jean jacket.
A U-lock.
A cable lock.
10 pounds of cement mix.
8 feet of nylon rope.
A small bag containing a metal pulley and other hardware.
2 bottles of Cabernet.

Savage Victory Garden

It's early July and my vegetable garden has already become pretty wild...almost feral (despite our somewhat gloomy and overcast summer thus far). Every year I tell myself that I will weed better and not plant so close (they look so tiny when I put them in the ground)...and every year it becomes something past my control. None-the-less, I've already begun eating from it...a couple more weeks for tomatoes (my favorite) and at least a month for corn. Plenty of teeny peppers already, and Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli, and herbs...cucumbers and beans are on their way. Anyhow, here's a few pictures of my front yard garden...and believe-it-or-not, there is some order to that chaos.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#42)

A big cardboard box full of hardwood scraps.

Someone must have put in a new hardwood floor (oak, I think) and put the scraps in a box at the curb...perfect kindling for later this year. And yes, I realize that it is in the middle of summer, but this was just too good to pass up...and when you live in a region where the cold season can sometimes last for 7 months, heating your house is never far from your mind.

Living Simply and Simply Living

The act of living simply in an urban environment is trying at times to say the least. There are so many distractions. Like faith, it takes work. I find that reading what others have to say inspires me. As the author of this book points out, living simply does not necessarily mean that you have to live in a cabin in the woods (though some people choose to do this)...it means living simply where you are (I'm paraphrasing)...inwardly and outwardly, harmonizing your life. With that thought in mind, I bought a used copy of this book last week at The Strand Bookstore. I read most of it on the train ride home. Like most simple living books, a lot of it is common sense, but there are many good and inspiring tidbits in here as well. I particularly like the way she weaves testimonies of other people's experiences throughout the book. At any rate, it's a good book and I recommend it. If you'd like to order it from Amazon, click here; If you'd like to order a used copy from The Strand, click here; if you happen to be in the NYC area you should find more copies in the basement...in either the religion section, philosophy, or self-help...can't remember (there were a half-dozen when I was there a few days ago). If you want to read a Wikipedia post regarding The Strand, click here.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#41)

11 boards of varying widths, measuring 6 feet in length each.
A wooden box containing, among other things, spare tools, 2 pints of water, 3 pounds of screws, and an extra shirt.

The Story of Stuff

I came across this video at the Story of Stuff website. It's a 20 minute video of--as the title suggests--the story of (our) stuff...how it gets to us from the very beginning...and how it affects things on a global scale...a little scary, and a little eye opening. If you've got a spare 20 minutes it's worth the time to watch it.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#40)

3 liters of red wine.
$48.26 worth of groceries.

New York City Bike Culture

I just returned from a trip to NYC with my son. I try to make it to this beautiful city at least once a year and am always impressed with the bicyclists in America's largest city. And over the past few years the city has become much more bicycle friendly...the city has made great efforts to do this, and they continue to do so. It only makes sense...besides the subway, walking and bicycling are the best way to get around this metropolis. At one point my son and I were in a taxi cab and it was moving so slow that we got out and walked and made it to our destination faster. Anyhow, to read more about bicycle-friendly New York, click here and here. To view detailed maps of the city's bicycle routes, click here.

Here's a few photo's of the clearly marked routes...the first two are along Eight Avenue, and the third is adjacent to Washington Square Park in the Village.



One of the things you'll notice straight away about many of the bicycles in NYC is that many are cargo bikes, makeshift or not...delivering small loads (food, especially) by bike seems to make the most sense. Bikes fitted with racks and baskets are everywhere...many of the baskets are altered to make them able to carry larger loads.



It seems also that there are more bike racks than ever before as well (I may be imagining this)...there were plenty of places to lock up a bike. The first is of a Flying Pigeon locked up just off Union Square, the second is one of David Byrne's bike racks.


Lastly, walking back to our hotel one evening we came across this frame in the trash...it of course stopped me in my tracks. Sad, I thought. I've posted many times in the past how I am not immune to picking good things from other people's trash, and as I stood there looking at it my son, who had a somewhat horrified look on his face says, "don't take it dad...how will you get it home on the train?" Don't worry, I told him...it's only a Huffy. (But seriously, I'm surprised nobody has taken it...maybe they did...if it were in Buffalo I would have plucked it and donated it to Buffalo Blue Bike.)

Pasta with Chicken and Other Good Stuff

This is what I had for dinner tonight. It is as simple as it looks, and the flavors are delicious. It's a basic stewing concept...ingredients can easily be interchanged to create an entirely new recipe. Anyhow this is how I made it:

I heated olive oil and added a diced pepper, half an onion, and a couple diced chicken thighs.


After the vegetables and chicken began to brown, I added garlic, hot pepper, fennel seed, sun-dried tomato, and a handful of dried lentils.

After sauteing that for a few minutes I added some chicken broth.

While the chicken and lentils were cooking I blanched a bunch of chopped rapini (to remove some of its bitterness), saving the boiling water to cook the pasta in (plus, the water contained nutrients from the rapini).

Then I cooked the pasta very al dente. While the pasta was cooking I added a little of the pasta/rapini water to the chicken/lentil pot because it was evaporating to quickly. Then I added the pasta to the chicken/lentil pot to finish cooking and absorb broth and flavor. Then loaded it with cheese and more hot pepper...delicious.

Success?

I love this cartoon...I've have had a framed copy of it hanging in my kitchen for years. I originally clipped it (I think) from Utne Reader (the actual magazine, not web site...pre-Internet days).

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.
--Albert Einstein

Sidewalk Fail

I came across this video on Fail Blog...if you've never visited the sight you should...it's hilarious at times...my teen-aged son told me about it. Anyhow, this clip is only 35 seconds long...keep your eyes on the person on the bike in the background...yow!

Green Wooden Chair

I came across this chair while walking home from work this evening. It was at the curb with some other trash on Allen Street...I really cannot pass up useful stuff I see in the garbage. It's an attractive chair, and it's solid (well, almost, but nothing a little glue won't remedy)...it'll be a nice chair to sit on while I watch my garden grow from my front porch. I like this chair.

Self-Sustainability in the City (suburbs, actually)

This is a great video on suburban sustainability. I've read about this family before, and have their site linked to this blog on the left sidebar...but you can also click here to view their site. Watching the video made me wish I had a little more land around my house to plant stuff...my entire plot, which includes my house, measures 25' by 100', and when I walk along the sides of my house I can literally touch my neighbor's house and mine at the same time. It's an interesting clip and worth the 8 minutes to watch it.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#39)

24 Mason jars.
An 80 foot garden hose.
A gym bag full of wet clothes.
3 rolls of paper towels.

I always enjoy the comments and looks I get riding this bike, especially when it's loaded...but I received one of the best comments today while riding down trendy Elmwood Avenue during peak rush hour. It was from a young woman riding a fixie going in the opposite direction. She was on the opposite side of the street and as she passed she sat up, took both hands off her handlebars in order to cup her mouth and yell: "Hey buddy, nice rack." It made me smile.

Mundo in a (mini) Cornfield

Ahhh...the dog days of summer.

This past winter I made a personal commitment to myself during a particularly frigid cold snap (that seemed to last for months) that I would not complain about the heat and humidity no matter how hot and humid it was in the kitchen...today was hot and tomorrow is supposed to be hotter and even more humid.

Whenever I begin to think that it is too hot I'm going to try to think of these comparative images: the first is of the Mundo that I took today...hooked up to my hitching post in the mini cornfield. The second photo is of the Mule hooked up to the same post during mid-winter. And the last is of the hitching post itself...unusable and almost buried in snow...at the time I was judging the weather by how deep the snow was on the post, today it depends on how tall the corn is...Ahhh...good ole' summertime.

First Day of Summer Garden Pics

Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts

Heirloom Tomatoes

Corn

Virgin Pepper

It's tiny and it's beautiful...and I realize I was a little anticipatory by plucking it from its plant so early...I was just so surprised when I looked down and saw it hanging there. I grew it from seed...amazing. It's the first actual vegetable (opposed to an herb) I plucked from the garden this year, except for a few meager leaves of spinach. Another month and I'll have more than I can cook...something to look forward to. I sauteed it with an onion and added it to an omelet...and yes, it was delicious. But I think what intensified it even more was that just a mere month or so ago I pushed a teeny seed into the soil and now it's food (and more food will come). It's difficult for me not to be amazed (and a little humbled) by this.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#38)

A wooden box containing small tools, cleaning supplies, printer ink, and other miscellaneous items.
A new pair of shoes.
A new shirt.
A parsley plant (on front rack).
Two tomato cages (barely visible on lower right sidebar...obscured by the corn).

Penne Bolognese (variation)

By now readers of this blog have probably surmised that I like starch...particularly bread and pasta...and over recent years I have migrated towards whole and multiple grain varieties. Pasta, I think, is one of the most incredibly versatile foods...it's simple, the variations and ingredients are seemingly endless, and a meal can be made in one pot. Anyhow, tonight for dinner I made a variation of Pasta Bolognese, I say variation because I did not include carrots or cream. And this is how I made it:

Saute ground beef (you can substitute pork or veal, or include both) then add onions and garlic. I also added some crushed hot pepper (optional) and fennel seed.

Then I realized I probably had enough basil in the garden so I shut off the flame to investigate. I was really surprised to see how much was ready to pick.

After turning the heat back on I added a pint of tomato sauce that I had in my freezer (can't remember if it was homemade or not, but it was good), then cut the basil into chiffonade and added it to the sauce.

Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta al dente and added it to the sauce. I cooked the pasta in the sauce for a couple of minutes (to absorb its flavor), and then added a little Parmesan cheese.

The finished recipe...yum. It was (is) as good as it looks. (If you need an actual recipe click here.)

Bike Bus

I can't remember where I downloaded this image from (my apologies to whoever should be receiving credit). This has nothing to do with urban or simplicity (at least not overtly)...I just really like this photo. It makes me smile and I thought I'd share it. But I can't help wonder what the deal is with this bus that is literally coated in bikes. What would be really interesting would be to stand all those bikes upright and carry the bus...well, ok, maybe they could just tow it.

If Only...

Photo Credit James Victore, NY Times

If only this were true...that bikes had the majority of the road...maybe eventually...after oil runs out or its cost becomes too prohibitive. This photo is from a book review written by bicycle advocate David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame. Click here if you want to read the review.

On a different yet similar note, I have a confession to make: Today I drove my truck on a trip that was less than a mile each way simply because it was raining and I was tired. I love the rain when I'm sitting on my front porch drinking wine or when I'm in my bed, but not when I'm riding a bike...snow, no problem, bundle up; heat, ditto, but bring a change of clothes...but rain, I don't know...and I'm dubious of motorist's ability to see me. Anyhow, there it is, so much for my Two Mile Challenge...I've come clean.

Carl Honore On Slowness

After a day of my usual hectic life...trying to fit more into into one day than possible...I came across this video on SlowBike. The video is on the longish side (about 20 minutes), and I realize it may be difficult to spare the time in this sped up world...but it is well worth the watch...it's interesting, clever, and funny at times...and (for me) is just a little too close to home.