Courtesy of the NY Times: Article Here

3 cups flour (all-purpose, better for bread or 1c wheat and 2c white flour)

1/4 tsp instant yeast

1/2 – 1 tsp salt (to taste)

1.5 cups water

1. Dump in dry ingredients and give a quick mix

2. dump in water and combine just until blended

3. cover & let rise 12-18 hours

4. turn onto floured board, fold 4 times

5. pat into dome shape, place onto floured towel, sprinkle flour (or wheat germ) on top

6. let rise 1-2 hours

7. place into pre-heated round ceramic baking container (I use a casserole dish) in a 425 degree oven

8. bake 35 minutes

Good bread!

Stir-Fry Pork and Spinach Salad (Orange/Teriyaki/Sesame)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs pork (or chicken, or beef, whatever you like)
• 1 large onion, sliced (I did quarter slices)
• 6 garlic cloves
• spinach leaves
• apple pieces
• mandarin oranges
• 2-3 dried red peppers
• teriyaki or soy marinade (fish sauce serves a decent substitute for soy)
• almond slivers
• toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup oil (peanut works well)

Marinade:

• 2 tsp corn starch
• 2 tsp soy sauce (again, you can substitute fish sauce)
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• garlic powder or garlic salt, about a tsp

Directions:

1. prepare marinade
2. cut meat into 1/2 chunks or cubes
3. place meat in marinade and mix until meat is coated, marinade 20 minutes
4. prepare vegetables
5. heat oil in wok
6. stir-fry meat with peppers and garlic until brown and mostly cooked through
7. add onion and stir-fry until the onions are translucent
8. add teriyaki or marinade (I favor yoshida’s gourmet marinade) and mix well
9. remove from heat and add a few handfuls of spinach leaves. the spinach will wilt a little, mix it in
10. Serve on a bed of spinach leaves with almond slivers, mandarins, and apple pieces. Top with teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds

I made this for the family tonight. Turned out really good. They hardly noticed the peppers, although I think next time I would use 2 instead of 3.

Yum!

NOTES: 2 of my favorite sauces are Sweet Ginger Teriyaki by East-West – found in the asian section at Safeway – and Yoshida’s Gourmet Marinade – from Costco.

Ok, so it’s been a MASSIVE ordeal to get this bike up and running. Here’s a basic sequence of events:

1. Andy gives me a frame that is the PERFECT size for me – after having ridden a bike I couldn’t stand over w/out being on tip-toes
2. I give the frame back to Andy months later to have it painted up in Centralia.
3. Painting is done (looks great!), but I don’t have room in the garage to work on it, so I make plans to go to Andy’s house for Labor Day (at least a month after the bike was done being painted)
4. Finally make it up there, his shop is crammed full of bikes, so we decide to work outside
5. Occasional rain, bleh
6. removing/replacing headset parts proves to be difficult
7. seat post is too big, have to find another from Andy’s parts
8. handlebar stem won’t go in all the way, unless it’s facing backwards
9. have to spread the front fork a little to get the wheel in
10. Crap! The rear is too narrow for the rear wheel too! Have to spread it
11. don’t have a tool to remove the bottom bracket
12. find bottom bracket among his cache of bikes/parts
13. bottom bracket won’t thread on! We finally get it to thread on hours later
14. bottom bracket is too narrow for the frame!
15. go home to newly cleaned garage in defeat
16. drink beer, hang head in shame (ok, I made that part up)
17. purchase bottom bracket tool to remove BB from old frame
18. installed BB on new frame, starting to come together
19. discover there are no eyelets to run the brake/shifter housing
20. missing a cable-stop for the brakes, lost it in Andy’s yard
21. no mounting hole for the rear derailer
22. found derailer hanger and suitable cable-stop, YAY!
23. find out the reach on the brakes is too short
24. Fashion drop-bolts from steel bar stock (drill press + hack saw + dremmel = much joy)
25. installed the rest of the parts except front derailer and take it for a test ride (1 am on Friday morning)
26. IT WORKS!!!!!!
27. Get up in the a.m. expecting to ride to work….FLAT TIRE! Doggone it!!! I pinched the tube when I was putting it in the rear tire.

Replaced with new tube on Saturday, rode it to work on Monday (today) huzzah! Victory! I just hope the problems are over.

Here she be…

I think this bike would come in handy at times. Sometimes I actually DO
ride to work and back, but often if I have errands I take my pickup
because I need to carry something. This thing would sure make it easier
to do that on the bike! Pretty neat, I think.

Check it out:

Here is one of my favorite recipes found so far (thanks to KickAss BBQ
at http://www.kickassbbq.com/boston.html)

On my very first try it turned out fantastically. I smoked it using a
charcoal weber using the method described here:
http://tastyisland.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/big-island-smoked-pork/

I highly recommend it. Here’s the rundown on how I did it:

Smoked Pulled Pork:
I used a “Boston Butt” (pork shoulder) about 9 lbs

Brine for 30+ hours in:
1/2 cup Kosher Salt (this is the standard for all brines)
1 gallon water
Cajon Seasoning
Apple Cider Vinegar
Red Pepper Flakes
Rosemary (twigs, not dried)
8 oz. jar of Molasses

Rinse brine off, rub w/ olive oil, and shake on your choice of rub (mine
was paprika, salt, pepper, chili powder)

Place pork in aluminum pan with some water or beer for moisture in a smoker

Smoke at 225-250 degrees until the pork reaches 150, cover loosely in foil.

Remove foil when meat reaches 185 degrees. Take meat off when it’s 195
degrees and let it rest for at LEAST 30 minutes. It should reach 200
degrees, then it’s ready to pull.

This one took me about 10 hours on the smoker, and MMMMM was it GOOD.

Happy smoking!