Geri's Bike + Rocky Road (true food junkie confessions)

Geri bought a new bike that I've been riding during the week while she's at work. It's the old marriage vow I took a quarter of a century ago that went something like,  "What's mine is mine and what's yours is ours." It is works both ways, for both partners.

I love this bike, which is made by Giant. It has a lightweight aluminum frame, Shimano gears, disk brakes, big tires that grip the road well, and I sit up higher than on my steel street bike. This bike is an on/off road bike.  Best of it  has two lower gears than my street bike. It just sail along smoothly.

I was riding up a hill next to a school in our hood. This young Arab girl, with a headdress, maybe 10 years old, was watching me the whole time. When I finally reached to where she was standing she said, "Yeah, yeah, I like what I see." I saw her again this morning, and we gave each other high fives.

I climbed a long hill I had scaled before. It's maybe a half mile gradual slope. The first time I tackled this hill I had to stop twice before I made it to the top. This time I did it without stopping. Having those extra three lower gears makes a world of a difference to me. I still have a long way to go before I'll be in peak shape.

I have a new 2014 Cannondale 24 gear touring bike coming that's on back order. It won't be here till late March, and it will be a bad ass cruiser. In fact the bike is called, the Bad Boy. You try to get away, but you keep getting sucked back in.

I had a sugar jones last night after our evening walk. To quell the overwhelming desire to saturate my body with sweetness I bought a pint of Hagen Das Rock Road, and a chocolate bar with nuts and sea salt.

I finished the chocolate bar first, and then told myself I'd just have a little of the ice cream.  My sweet tooth was not yet completely satisfied yet, just a couple of bites. Right. The next thing I knew I was tipping the container, and scraping the bottom with my spoon.

I can't seem to kick this sugar jones I picked up over the holidays.
I'm going to ride over to the farmer's market this Sunday, and buy a huge bag of organic carrots and that's going to be my sugar treat for next week. When I get the urge for a glucose rush that will be my go to treat along with some nuts. We'll see how that shakes out.

I don't even want to calculate the amount of calories. Junkie guilt fills my brain.

That's all for this week.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Thursday Jan. 9th

I have a craving for pasta. What else is new right? Specifically spaghetti. I'm going to get some Brussels sprouts, and dried tomatoes and make a simple sauce using olive oil parsley, fresh garlic, crushed red pepper,  kosher salt and Pecorino cheese. I can taste it now.

I'm going to make a nice salad with red bell pepper, kale, cucumber, avocado, lemon and olive oil or maybe I'll make a yogurt based dressing for a little variety.

So, that was the plan early this morning and I went to lunch with my friend Buzz, Ohgane Korean BBQ at 3915 Broadway,  510 594-8300. Rocking bad ass Korean food, and a full bar. Lunch is very laid back. No dinner tonight.

That's my tip for the day.  No pasta this week.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Tue. Jan. 7th

I forgot to blog Monday and I forgot to post this last night . The weekend was as predicted, lots of cycling and Friday night dinner at Piasano's in West Berkeley.

The service was a little slow at Piasano's in the beginning, but improved to the point of being very good.  The food was well prepared. We got kale salad and Brussels sprouts for an appetizer. The entree's were excellent, and the desserts as well. The cappuccino was prepared perfectly.

I don't like doing restaurant reviews. Do I feel qualified enough to be a restaurant critic? Yes, but I think reviews are stupid.  Got to a place. If you like it, go back. Would I go back Piasano's?  Maybe, but most likely not. It's not a destination spot for me, but the experience was well worth it.

Piasano's gets 1 1/2 joints.

That's it. I've got nothing else to say today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Friday + Weeeknd + Movie review + Pisano's + Storyboard P.

Tonight our good friend, Jerry Wyman, a photographer,  is having an art opening in Berkeley at Book Inc., and then we are going to dinner at Pisanos's restaurant. I've never been there, but I'll do a short review on Monday of how we liked it. It's some dribble to write about.

This weekend will be more of the usual. Running around on wheels and heels, be it the case, two or 4. I'm going to take a shot at climbing Lincoln Ave. hill today, but on Geri's 21 speed. We'll see. It's supposed to be 70 degrees here in Oakland today.

Hope you are all  having fun in the snow back east. If you want to know why I live out West I think the contrast between the weather back there today, and the climate here today says it all.

We saw the Martin Scorsese movie Wolf of Wall Street on new year's day. If you have no idea that your money is being managed by greedy white collar scumbags who have absolutely no conscious or moral compass, you should see this film. The cinematography, the soundtrack, and the editing are amazing even if the outcome is rather predictable. Leonardo is just brilliant.

It is educational if you are naive enough to believe that the people who are in control of these institutions are anything but incompetent
criminals in $2,000.00 suits. If you somehow trust these people you need to check your brain for grey matter, or lack of it. Why anyone would aspire to work in the world that is portrayed in this film is beyond me. America's finest?

Last but not least, there is a great article in the latest New Yorker about an artist named Salim Muslim, who goes by the street name of Storyboard P. He is a street dancer and choreographer. Read the article and watch the videos/ interviews of him on YouTube. This cat really is one of America's finest. Wow.

That's it for this week.

Write back at you on Monday.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War





 

2014 Goals

It's a busy year already, and it's only just begun. Of course there is no guarantee I'll survive this year. I'm hoping I do, and if I accomplish everything on this list it will be a great year indeed.

Yesterday I outlined those goals, and today I'm going briefly to focus on one specific goal, that of losing 20 pounds by May 1st, also known as May Day.

I say briefly because why waste so much time on it? Either I do it or I don't. It's time to put this away for good, and move on to the next big thing, whatever the hell that may be.

If we break it down it's one and one quarter pounds of fat a week. That's no different than the plan I had before. the same plan that got me to lose 45 pounds.

I will weigh myself at the beginning of each month, and assess my progress or lack of progress. I'll be eating lots of veggies, cutting down on sugars, saturated fat and starch, plus exercising my pants off. Right now I'm still 210 pounds.

I cycled 20 miles today so that might help a little bit.

I'm going to take a nap.

That's it today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food.Not War

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

January One Two Thousand Fourteen

We had a lovely meal last night to ring in the new year. I bought a lobster for our friend Guy and he came over. I steamed the  lobsters, and they were delicious. I used the leftover water to boil the the shells to make a batch of lobster stock.

We were in bed before 9:30, and I was woke up at 11:00 PM by gunfire, cherry bombs, M80's, and all manner of noise making possible.

Frida slept with me all night, shaking from the noise.

So, the list below are my goals for 2014. I'm going to leave it at that.
Good luck with your next ride around the sun.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Goals for 2014
-Maui in January
-lose 20 more pounds by May 1st. More on this later.
-finish the two books I'm working on
-finish the two screen plays I'm working on
-visit Rod and my hillbilly friends in Seattle in May
-Italian family reunion in Connecticut July
-attend the Sun writing seminar again in Oct.
-paint the  teardrop trailer
-do the Dispy again
-do at least one small bike tour
-climb Lincoln Ave/Joaquin Miller/Skyline Blvd on my bike
-take photo class in fall semester

Those are my goals. If I can accomplish these I'm be overjoyed.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Another Trip Around The Sun

The title of this blog is a phrase coined by our dear friend Janet Cohen and an excellent one to describe at a year that has gone by. Thank you Janet. We miss you and we love you.

I think I'm going to break what would have been one blog into two segments. Today's piece will be about this year, and the blog tomorrow will focus on the future trip around the sun i.e., 2014.

So, today I'm going to reflect on this year. Note: there is no special order to these.

HIGH POINTS:
I turned 60 and had a great party w/my wonderful friend Erwin
I lost 45 pounds and changed my life, including the way a deal with food
I did the Dipsey
Completed two great classes at Laney College..learned a lot
Visited my friend Joey, Shelly, Julie, and baby Joey
Got some cooking videos up
1st trip to Escelan  for the Readers Write workshop...Sun Magazine
Haven't had a drink in 4 months
Got rid of the television reception, and I don't miss it
Geri bought me a bike for my birthday and I rediscovered cycling
Went to Hawaii, Maui, wowi, going back in 3 weeks, wowi again
Feast of the 7 Fishes w/Vicky and Cassius
Greek Easter and visits w/Charles and Kathleen
Britney, Paul and baby Ella visits
Blogging...I think I'm a better writer than a year ago
Christmas holiday ride in Alameda
Visit from Ocean and meeting new people
Almost finished the second draft of my screen play...I'm close
Vicky beating skin cancer
My family is all healthy and alive

LOWS POINTS:
Loosing my best friend Che
Michael trying to kill himself
My friend Mary Harlis passed away
My bike accident
Vicky's bike accident and fracturing her arm
Vicky getting skin cancer

It looks like we're ahead of the game. There were many goals that I had set for myself that didn't never got accomplished; like getting a solar unit on our Airstream trailer, and relocating it back to our property in the high dessert, or painting the teardrop trailer.

For me losing Che was lowest low. You can't replace a loved one. Losing 45 pounds was the highest high.

There are many things in the hopper for 2014.  Only time will tell.

Lobster tonight.

That's it for 2013.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War