Cycling – Page 39 – VeggHead BeerCyclist

#VeganVriday

Posted on April 11, 2015April 11, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Tags: vegan, vegetarian, food, beer, craft, recipe, story, cycling, pics, organic, tornado, lifestyle, healthy

Title: #VeganVriday

Daily Ride: Goal failed, but yes

Every Friday I attempt to be Vegan. I have failed mostly because of forgetfulness, but I’ve been consecutively successful for quite some time. It’s not hard to be Vegan for one day a week. I am Vegan on other days by accident and sometimes for fun.

My intake of dairy has dropped significantly since last year. I have made a pact to myself to only eat pizza on the first of every month. Do I wish to be Vegan eventually? Not really. Will I? Probably.

I love preparing Vegan food for the challenge and for the fun. I do enjoy food muchly.

I often overthink my dishes. The one that I made yesterday seemed unbelievable in my head, but didn’t turn out that great. It was still very delicious, just not 110% perfect.

I took two drug tests this week for two different companies. Pending results on the second, I passed both! Party on, dude!

I also took a break from my Garmin Edge 1000 all week. Perhaps as an experiment. Perhaps to relax. The conclusion is that I ride the same way mostly without the Garmin, but I do not ride as far. I ride the bare minimum along my commutes. Where with the Garmin with me, I ride extra kms.

I did, however, have to ride with my Strava phone app with 45 km/h tailwind on Friday. Not far from where I party, we had, I think, a few tornados touch and destroy materials and two lives. The one was an EF4.

I saw a tornado at the age of 3-4 in a suburb of Denver, CO, but haven’t seen one since. I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried.

I’ve coined myself as the anti-tornado. And I stand by it. I did witness an “Inland Hurricane” in Carbondale, IL in 2009.

I occasionally try and sell things on Craigslist. It’s all spam nowadays.

Today, I planned to try and reach a goal of 200 km. Also, there is the world premiere streaming of Inspired To Ride tonight and it would’ve been great to fit both into the same day. Inspired To Ride is another Mike Dion / Hunter Weeks film about adventure, pushing limits & self-sustained cycling.

I hate riding with traffic. I still do, just not all the time. I chose to ride the I & M (Illinois & Michigan) Canal, which I’ve done hundreds of times. I was going to ride until just short/south of Joliet and turn around and eventually get picked up when I reached the goal. It sounded great in my head. We had numerous severe storms on Thursday and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Aim high when purposing a goal to yourself. Floods and downed trees consumed the path. Not to mention the detour I took. My parents were in a town visiting family where I actually was picked up. Basically perfect timing. I rode hard and captured decent pictures.

I planned this ride while enjoying vast beers. Two of which were Big Muddy Brewing beers from Murphysboro, IL. Just a few clicks west of Carbondale, IL aka SIUC aka Southern Illinois. Before my untappd days, I enjoyed many of Big Muddy brews and am always ecstatic when finding them 300 miles north.

The Blueberry Blonde was good. I expected too much blueberry, but instead was surprised with a subtle hint of blueberry flavor and more of an explosive smell of blueberry which works out very well.

The Saluki Dunkeldog, which I’ve had many of times, is always enjoyable.

I have an awesome pic of myself with four Saluki’s.

What the hell do you call a century ride when you ride kms?

I’ve always used “century” with miles. I’ve heard “metric century”…

Today out of my 200 km goal, I only actually rode 36 km. I averaged 24.3 km/h after putting up with a lot of crap.

The washout has been there for years with a crossable man made bridge, but right now it’s basically uncrossable without stepping in water.

I decided to fight weeds and pedal bites to find the railroad 20 ish M north of the towpath. Instead of a little water, I chose thorns, probable poison ivy, water still and strange noises. Good one, dude. I took my earbuds out of my waxy ears and used nature to transition my loneliness from my buds. I heard some interesting noises. The railroad tracks that aren’t used very often were making strange noises. The only way I can compare is to the movie Cast Away when Tom Hanks keeps hearing noises and finally concludes it’s falling coconuts. The tracks were popping, almost zapping and creaking as if they were moving. Very weird. Also, I was daydreaming about the whisky that I packed. Jameson. That I wanted to wait to start enjoying when a loud swoosh happened. It almost sounded like a car and train speeding by. It was rather close and hurried and grabbed my phone and snapped a pic.

It was a Bald Eagle either attacking or playing with a Hawk. I couldn’t grab a great picture, but I could clearly see the difference between the Eagles (there were two) and Hawks. It was very cool to witness that sound. It was either from their wings or like hissing or something. Awesomeness! No animals were harmed 🙂 I do respect the food chain.

I finally found a path that looked dry to get back to the towpath. It wasn’t dry. I stepped in water. I continued on and climbed fallen tree after ridden through flood. Good times.

I’ve come to think of myself as more of an adventurist grinder type cyclist. I do not have the cycling gear problem some people have of being a damn shoppoholic. I have the necessities and always try to get nice necessities, but soon I’m gonna make a list of different types of cyclists and even an equation of how much money you should spend based on your hours of ride time.

FOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Along with being Vegan, most ingredients are Organic and all is oil-free. The Veggies didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted them too because of my laziness/hunger, but it was good.

Oil-Free MexVegg:

Ingredients:

-Chipotle Rice

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne/ Chipotle P/Garlic P

-Veggies, I used steaks from a massive Parsnip, Turnip filet, half an Onion, ⅓ beefsteak Tomato, diced Sweet Potato, Zucchini, Yellow Squash

I wanted to obtain nice color to the veggies, but approached it wrongly. Doesn’t this Strava km/h look like a middle finger!

VEGGIES DIPPED IN WAX ARE NOT COOL

Chipotle Rice ingredients:

-Dried Chipotle peppers, rehydrated while saving water

-Veggie Broth

-Japonica Rice

-Brown Rice

-Pearled Barley

-Lentils

SeaSalt/Pepper/ Garlic&Chipotle P

-Balsamic Vinegar

-Fresh Parsley, chopped

-Fresh Cilantro, chopped

Hydrate the Dried Chipotles and remove seeds however motivated and dice while keeping the warm/hot water. Add Barley and Japonica Rice, bring to a boil and cover bringing heat to a generous simmer for 20 minutes. Add balsamic and seasonings and then add Lentils and Brown Rice and simmer for 20 more minutes adding Broth whenever needed. NOT TOO MUCH. Add herbs when finished and set to side. Add Vegan “Cheese” if ya wish!

Roast Veggies and steam Broccolette and season and create a pretty plate. I garnished with sliced garlic, Avocado and more freshly chopped herbs.

Have a beer pat yourself on the back, but only if you finished reading this entire blog. I’ve been typing for a while. And have lots of pics to upload. Yay

Job Dignity

Posted on April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Tags: work, job, beer, craft, health

Title: Job Dignity

Daily Ride: Not today. Kayak to work?

Happy Saison Wednesday to all and/or anyone who knows what a Saison is. I also realize that very few read these bloggings of mine, and that is fine. I’m very used to not having friends unless they are funded to socialize with me.

Today was supposed to be a busy day for me. I altered it and it worked out well. I have a job that I like. I suck at it, but I like it. I want to keep it as long as possible. I started job two yesterday. It entails convenience clerk work. I sold high school girls multiple coffee/cappuccino and 90 YO women too many cigarettes. I’d like to consider myself a decent health conscience advocate.

I’ve been exchanging voicemails with a business which I would prefer job-wise. I was supposed to work tonight at the job I do not like and wound up switching everything around so I could make a suggested late interview tonight. They hired me pending a drug screening.

I’m enjoying a very good Saison from Boulevard Brewing tonight.

For my #VeganVriday I bought some interesting things. I’m excited! Just wanted to vent and wish all a firm belief system hopefully to be followed. If possible, do things the right way. Party On Dude

Veggie Easter

Posted on April 3, 2015April 4, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Title: Veggie Easter

Daily Ride: Hard Commute

I am currently trying to enjoy a Canadian Parallel 49 Filthy Dirty IPA and I’m barely enjoying it. It is just not the right type/amount that I enjoy in my hops. To me, USA is unbeatable with our hops education.

I felt the urge to grill out the other day on my Dads old school Weber grill. The first mistake, I think, was trying to save money on charcoal. Which is a fucking joke in the first place. If it’s on the market, it should burn. I’m not going to say it completely sucked. The wind was also a factor. I bought generic charcoal that would not stay afire long enough to obtain an ember of heat. During this process I was enjoying two high ABV beers and my optimism was high as a kite. I figured I had enough heat to add my veggies.

I soon found myself in a downward downer high spiral as everything was going wrong. And I Promise this is true. I then decided to quit the grilling attempt and put the food into the same container I brought it out in. I used tongs to transfer the innocent cabbage, sweet potatoes, Vegan Dawgs, Mushroom Caps into the container and everything was fine until I went to move the halved Eggplant and it slipped and I freaked out and tried to use my non existent superman skills and catch the eggplant, but instead missed the eggplant but I did knock the other veggies onto the dirty ground. I was super pissed and eventually ordered a pizza. The pizza was very good.

I decided today, that I need to defy and beat my pizza addiction. I’ve been out-of-the-closet pizza addict for quite some time now. I ordered on the first of April. Yes, I am a joke. Pizza saved the day.

I seriously just erased a portion of my notes somehow. FUCK.

Baked Tomato ingredients:

-Beefsteak Tomato

-SeaSalt/ Pepper/Cayenne/Garlic P

-Bleu Cheese, crumbled

-Cheddar Cheese, sliced

-Sunflower Seeds

-Fresh Basil, sliced

I cut the tomatoes towards the north side of the tomato. I then took a bit off of the top to fit some cheese. Obviously leaving the tomato sidewall intact. I backed and then broiled just the tomato. Seasoned added cheese and Sunflower Seeds and baked/broiled and then plated with fresh Basil slices to garnish. Very good.

Now onto the GMO corn. It is, in my opinion, extremely hard to find NonGmoProjectVerified Corn on the Cob in Illinois. Wish I wouldn’t have deleted my text.

Roasted Corn ingredients:

-Corn on the cob, shucks-shucked

-Salted Butter

-Garlic P

-Chipotle P

-Dill

-SeaSalt/Pepper, if ya want

I baked the corn before using the broiler to add color. I continuously had to rotate the corn. Meanwhile, I melted and seasoned that God damn butter. Autocorrect capitalized “god”. Added seasonings to butter and after corn concluded the heat I tossed together and actually garnished with Cilantro. Very good also!

–

Happy Easter, whatever that means…. Happy LAGUNITAS EQUINOX

Eggplant Rice Boat

Posted on April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Tags: April, fools, beer, craft, cycling, bank, food, recipe, technology, Netflix, crackle, GMO, Vegan, Vegetarian

Title: Eggplant Rice Bowl

Daily Ride: Yes

Yesterday, I needed to deposit some cash into my checking account and had to work at 0900. There are two locations for my bank and, in the past, one of them has always confused me and not been open for cyclists walking in. I decided to go (bicycle) to the location that is farther away from work and the lobby would most likely be open. I leaned my Trek against the brick wall by the front door at 0821, took my helmet and gloves off only to see their hours on the glass door. The drive-thru opens at 0730, but the lobby does not open until 0830.

I had my earbuds in with some lovely music blaring and screamed obscenities. I, for one minute, planned on waiting for the doors to open. Ultimately, I decided to ride to the other location that is closer to work. I hate being late and I hate climbing hills. I climbed up the damn hill and rode to the other bank pissed off. To me, it’s just good business tactics that if your drive-thru is open at 0730 because of demand, maybe the lobby is in demand also. And with bank tellers there at 0730, shouldn’t it be a no-brainer that your lobby should be open. Am I crazy for being frustrated and for having these thoughts.

I think next time the lobby is closed, I’m just gonna ride through the drive-thru on my bicycle and probably cause a scene. Maybe not a scene, but maybe act a smart ass.

I’ve been kind of bored with Netflix lately and I cheated on Netflix with Crackle last night. Crackle is basically the same concept as Netflix, just free and consumed with commercials. I hate commercials, but put up with them to watch Safety Not Guaranteed, first seen on Netflix, but unfortunately removed. Very good movie. The level of annoyingness of the commercials is nuclear. Not only are commercials fake, horrible and nowhere funny while obviously trying to be funny, these damn commercials sometimes play four times in a row. It’s equivalent to having your eyes wired open, fed illicit drugs and forced watching persuasion material. Only the strong minds survive. And Crackle did advertise for the movie Drive on Crackle, which later I could not find.

It’s a good marketing tool, labeling food or beer, as made with Sriracha. Monday, I had a Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer. I was hesitant the last couple of weeks after first seeing it. I like Rogue beers and LOVE Sriracha, but didn’t think it was worth $13.00 being under 6% ABV. Overall, it’s very overpriced, very weak on the ABV, but it was very decent with a good amount of spice and I was already multiple beers deep while enjoying the Rogue.

I had the urge to stop and make breakfast, eat the breakfast and read a National Geographic. I actually hate reading. I read the big typing and glanced at the pictures, but I definitely looked at a magazine while my phone was charging in another room. It was a rather splendid technology free breakfast.

After my “Saturday CookFest” last weekend, I had some leftovers. I had a good amount of rice, a few Stuffed Poblanos and an extra whole eggplant. I thought about it for a couple of days and did see a picture of an eggplant bowl online. I think the picture that I did see involved shrimp or something. I just needed the concept.

Eggplant Rice Boat ingredients:

-Whole Eggplant, halved stem intact

-Stuffed Poblano

-Rice mixture

-Good Oil

-Salt/Pepper/Cayenne

-Cheese or dairy-free “Cheese”

-Cilantro

Stuffed Poblano ingredients:

-Wild Rice

-Brown Rice

-Cilantro

-Celery, super diced

-Carrot, supper diced

-Zucchini, diced

-Garlic, diced

-Onion, diced

-Serrano Peppers, sliced

-Sesame Seed Oil & other Oil

-Fresh Ginger, diced

-Water, super sliced!

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne

-Poblanos, cut top off and save, deseed also

-Cheese or “Cheese”

-Balsamic Vinegar

-I garnished with alfalfa sprouts

Heat oil, sauté Ginger & Garlic. Add Onion, Celery and Carrots with a splash of Balsamic Vinegar and Sesame Seed Oil after a few minutes. Add Zucchini and sliced water. Put desired Wild Rice in and bring to boil. Then cover and simmer after 20-30 minutes add Brown Rice and make sure there is correct density of sliced water. Add Serrano slices at anytime with generous Cilantro and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes. You might have to strain before filling Poblanos. I invented a aluminum lasso in the past for making Stuffed Habaneros in order to keep them standing.

I attempted this again with the Poblanos. It was more difficult as the Poblanos are not as uniform as the Habaneros. I put four into a taller bowl and then used the aluminum lasso at the top. I filled the Poblanos with the dry Rice and added Cheese and baked until cheese was melted. I now feel that cutting the bottoms of Poblanos would be easier and just dicing them and adding to Rice along side Serrano, I also baked the tops of the Poblanos. Bake to desired doneness and garnish with Sprouts or anything you’d like. You can use immediately or refrigerate for another day with the Eggplant Rice Boat.

I just cut the flesh of the halved Eggplant at a cross pattern leaving skin unscathed and then backed for 25 minutes. Then remove the flesh and fill with Rice Mixture and then the roasted Stuffed Poblano. Bake again with cheese on top of the Poblano and garnish with Cilantro.

Take a picture, grab a beer and enjoy.

It took minimal exhausting effort. Really just involving suicidal thoughts while inside or around Walmart, but I found some fresh corn, corn on the cob. I definitely looked for organic, but had no luck as Walmart doesn’t even believe in organics much as their customers probably think it’s a fucking French cuisine. I bought three ears. And I bought three GMO ears, guaranteed.

I was extremely craving some corn and unfortunately GMO corn won this battle.

Saturday CookFest

Posted on March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Tags: Netflix, food, cycling, music, vegan, vegetarian, recipe, safety, story, Strava, pics, photo, storm, beer, craft

Title: Saturday CookFest

Daily Ride: Taking the weekend off

With the cold and windy spring weather lately, I’ve been commuting everyday to work. I took last Friday off and yesterday (Saturday) and most likely today off of the bicycle. It’s been too long (8 days) since a 20+ km ride. I try and make my commutes longer, but staying in town usually persuades my internal mind-thought on shorter rides because of lack of space and my lack of tolerance for riding in multiple circles.

I did KOM one all-time segment and multiple 2015 KOMs, which doesn’t mean much, but it’s a nice way to look at it. I’d like to claim that I still ride super hard in town pretty damn well. People probably think I’m crazy in this small twin city community because sometimes you have to be in the middle of the road (still on the right side) in order to turn left, because asshole drivers like to pass you three feet away from a stop sign or stop light creating a dangerously awkward situation. And at stop lights, I stop directly behind cars, rarely off to the side.

You have to fight back when riding in traffic and not cower and give vehicles their way. You basically have to put yourself at risk. Sometimes you’re gonna get hurt, because most people suck at driving and get confused especially around cyclists.

I was actually forced into an accident by a vehicle in 2013 where I then was life-flown 60 miles away because of brain swelling and trauma. The bicycle helmet, from Bontrager, saved my life. It wasn’t damaged much more than a huge divot, but the emergency personnel had to cut my clothes off of me, including the helmet. With the receipt ,my story of the incident and my damaged helmet mailed to the Trek/Bontrager headquarters in Wisconsin, I was awarded a fresh helmet at no cost. I’m not going to get into this ordeal much, but just a little Strava #ProveIt for any possible readers.

Earlier this week, I added The Angriest Man in Brooklyn to my Netflix ‘My List’ after seeing it is a 2014 Robin Williams film before his passing. Like 98% of the entire world, Robin’s sudden passing last year was truly more upsetting than any other celebrities’ death and was, to me, taken as a family loss.

I grew up with Robin Williams in various films and he has always put a smile to my face. RIP, Robin Williams. #RideOn

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, is a dark humor drama/comedy with a great cast. It brings you on a roller coaster journey of emotions. And because of his passing months after the release of this film, has me contemplating his death and life literally the entire film. I’m not going to spoil the flick.

At the end, with himself talking about his exact tombstone years, has me speechless. And then later on jokes that Henry “hates bicycles”. Unfortunately, brilliant.

I came across an amazing hardcore band Code Orange Kids or, I guess, now Code Orange. And with my technology difficulties and funds difficulties it’s easy to hear their music just not keep their music. Very hardcore. Most people would find it ugly and disturbing music.

Last week, I bought a T-shirt. It enticed me brain with little sharks and vast blueness, not to mention the little pocket with…. Just blue. Anyways, I figured a large would size me up right. I’m not super fat, but because of my mostly German and Russian heritage, I’m husky. I then, after purchase, realized it was a British company and didn’t think much of it until I tried this work-of-art onto my work-of-art body. And it was uncomfortably small and tight.

My brain instantly bubbled and popped and I had this thought that the British had created this hilarious and elaborate joke, by creating millions of T-shirts one size too small while claiming a size up, proving and mockingly stating that the USA is fat. I then swapped it for an XL and all is cool in that spool turning and burning in my skull. Possibly, the L shirt displays the correct sizing for the rest of the world and because I’m used to the USA and we are fat, maybe our sizes are bigger to keep our confidence up and our sizes fitting? I’m ready for a beer.

No beer before breakfast…

Yesterday, I did a little shopping and a lot of cooking. I have food for days. I bought this wild rice because of the inappropriate situation in my pants when this Rice was discovered on the shelf. And then when I saw the NonGMO Project Verified label, I let out an uncontrollably loud and awkward moan while making a decent mess in my pants. I will forever owe my heart to this brand of wild rice!

I made Stuffed Poblanos, Roasted Almonds, Cheesy Zucchini and Stuffed Eggplant Linguine. Everything was very good and I’m blessed with vast leftovers which I can play around with today. It all took me a little over four hours, taking my time and sampling a few beers that I purchased. About an hour into cooking, I was confused and thought it was Friday and became disappointed that I’d need to turn my Vegetarian planned food into Vegan food (which is not difficult) to keep my streak of #VeganVriday going strong. Silly me, it was Saturday. And I’ve already successfully completed a #VeganVriday without consciously thinking about it.

Your brain knows things that you don’t really think you know.

Roasted Almonds ingredients:

-Good Oil

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Paprika

-Rosemary

-Whole Almonds

-Garlic, sliced

-Shallot, diced & julienne sliced

-I added Crushed Rep Pepper

Super easy, just mix and bring Garlic slices and julienne Shallots to top and roast 20 minutes or so

Cheesy Zucchini ingredients:

-I used dairy Cheese, but non-dairy “Cheese” is much cooler.

-Zucchini, halved longways

(Quartered,if using oval dish like I did, to fit in awkward goalie areas)

-Roma Tomatoes, deseeded & diced

-Shallot, julienne sliced

-Oregano

-Good Oil

-SeaSalt/Pepper

-Garlic, diced

-Fresh Basil, sliced

Organic Basil is amazing

-Cheese or “Cheese”

I used Cabot Sharp Cheddar and Shaved Parmesan

Oil dish lightly and add zucchini, not stacking. Lightly brush zucchini with oil and season. Add Garlic, Shallot and then Cheese or “Cheese” with Tomatoes on top -bake for 25 ish minutes and garnish with Basil

Stuffed Poblano ingredients:

-Wild Rice

-Brown Rice

-Cilantro

-Celery, super diced

-Carrot, supper diced

-Zucchini, diced

-Garlic, diced

-Onion, diced

-Serrano Peppers, sliced

-Sesame Seed Oil & other Oil

-Fresh Ginger, diced

-Water, super sliced!

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne

-Poblanos, cut top off and save, deseed also

-Cheese or “Cheese”

-Balsamic Vinegar

-I garnished with alfalfa sprouts

FIRST SPRING STORM!?!? BRB

I am an amateur storm chaser. I thought it was coming a little faster. The wind definitely picked up. Probably a good amount of rain, maybe some snow? I’m hoping for some thunder and lightening that I wouldn’t be able to see because it’s 0941. Here comes the rain.

I did get to witness an inland hurricane down at SIUC with my roommate on the porch. I’ll have to dig up a few pictures.

Just a little rain for this weak-sauce “storm”…

Stuffed Eggplant

BackBurner Ragu Mari ingredients:

-Oil & Balsamic Vinegar

-Garlic, diced

-Carrots, duper sicedly

-Celery, super diced

-Onion, whole & then diced

-Tomato Paste

-Chopped Tomatoes, canned or do it yourself

-SeaSalt/GarlicP/Sugar/Pepper

-Oregano

Cool down for at least two hours…

-Linguine, cooked Starch not rinsed

-Eggplant, thinly sliced longways

-Good Oil

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Oregano

-Cheese or “Cheese”

-Fresh Organic Basil, whole leaves or sliced

-Parsley, fresh tree trunks removed

Have your Mari ready for ya. Lightly oil both sides of Eggplant & season. Lightly roast for 12-15 flipping once. Add Cheese or “Cheese” or nothing…Whatever airs your tubes. Bake just a little longer and melt whatever is on there. If nothing added skip that ordeal. Roll up eggplant and securely stab through the Rolled up Eggplants heart because why do you think we have Vegan or Vegetarian lifestyles…We hate PLANTS and also Eggplants have like 10 hearts that you should’ve allowed in each slice that you prepared. I used a lasagna pan and added a little Marinara as a base and then I carefully placed the Murdered Eggplant rolls onto the (Bloody) Marinara, while you painted an outline around the bodies and you’d #BetterCallSaul for contributing in this movement & destruction of a crime scene. You can only call Saul (Jimmy, as of now still) on Monday nights 10/9 c.

I splashed a little more blood on top of the Delicious Eggplant massacre and threw some cheese on them. Baked until cheese was melted. They were Cheesy and stingy Eggplant slices, anyways. I laid Linguine on a bed added some delicious Mari and then not one, but two Stuffed Eggplant rolls. I garnished with ridiculousness. Sorry, Basil and Parsley and enjoyed with an AWESOME Stone Enjoy By 4.20.15 DIPA. #Prost to your outstanding weekend!

Untitled

Posted on March 24, 2015March 24, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Daily Ride: Yes

I have not posted in ten days, I think. I’m sure it doesn’t bother anyone. I had a slaughterhouse thumb injury making vegan gyros over confidently chopping romain lettuce. And due to my somewhat recent MacBook Pro unable to charge, I’ve been relying on my iPhone 6, its Notes and the wonderful Copy/Paste tool. And without, for me, a fully functional left thumb, texting/iPhone blogging isn’t very easy. I guess I could of voice-texted, but I’m a geek not a nerd and I’m crazy, but not that crazy.

While I’m talking about my MacBook Pro misfortunes, I’d like to mention one of the greatest things ever in iTunes Match. Also, I love the autocorrecting texting my phone does when texting apple products. 

iTunes Match is an iCloud based music storage that holds like 25G and improves any low quality music with iTunes quality music. It bends you over for only $25.00 a YEAR. And since my MacBook hasn’t turned on, I’d have little access to my music. But, because my music in iCloud I have access to it in numerous ways! It rocks.

I updated my Strava app this morning. I turned off my auto update setting on my phone. And now Strava allows you to upload photos directly through Strava instead of Instagram. That is exciting and I’ve been waiting for that since creating an Instagram account just for Strava purposes.

I haven’t been cooking as much lately as Spring is upon us here in Northern Illinois. EXCEPT for yesterday. It snowed a bike helmets worth. I’ve been spending more time outside riding and hiking.

All the way from Georgia was this lovely waxed topped beer, Happy Ending Imperial Stout, that I enjoyed yesterday. It escaped the zombie apocalypse and it better call Saul. It was very enjoyable and should go to trial and will probably be guilty of deliciousness. I hope to catch up on my AMC shows today after work.

I had a dream the other day/morning/night. I do not remember the exact rotational position earth was to the star, our sun. It was a nightmare really of myself eating BAY LEAVES….

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll go over a few Vegan dishes I’ve made. Gotta get ready for work soon.

Birthday Bloggy Business

Posted on March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Title: Birthday Bloggy Business

Daily Ride: Hopefully

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∭π {Ἦλρρϒ ρἷ ∂λΨ} π≠∞

Happy Pi Day. Also, happy birthday to me. I am 30 years of age today. I feel fine. Secretly, I wanted to be in the 27 club, but I never became a musician. They would’ve kicked me out. I can party like a rockstar. That has to account for something.

I had a knifing accident yesterday. No worries, no animals were harmed. Really the only thing affected is my texting abilities as my left thumb is out-of-order. I was making Vegan Gyros completely from scratch and it was the romain being chopped that made me over confident and BOOM. I wish it could’ve been something cooler like somehow a pita making massacre. I will not be going over the Vegan Gyro Blood-ssacre because it will take me two days to text it out on my notes with only one thumb. I’m not sure who’s quote this is, but it is hilarious. I looked it up… “I am not vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.” A. Whitney Brown. A writer and comedian, of course.

The gyros were delicious.

I do not know if I go for a ride, my thumb will start bleeding uncontrollably again. I might have to exercise a small bicycle hiatus again, unfortunately. Which isn’t much exercise.

Rule of thumb is, don’t drink and knife. Or at least, don’t tell your mom. I did try a new (to me) Californian brewery yesterday. Out of Coronado, California comes the overly creative brewery name Coronado Brewing Company. For the lack of creativity of the brewery name, their beers so far are creatively named and very good.

I have to pay a bill today that I cannot make payment to because of Strava. I like Strava and what they’re about, but I chose to take a break from the premium membership before my membership renewal date and I’ve been charged three times. The first time, they refunded me. As of right now, I have two monthly premium membership fees pending on my banking app. So I am literally a few dollars short of paying my bill. They have been emailed and I received two emails (one as a free member and one as a premium member) confirming that I emailed them. Has Strava been drinking? I hope they are not chopping romain lettuce. Do they have injured thumbs? Explaining the dumbness going on with my debit card kind of like my current texting skills. Just wanted to vent. Thanks for reading and Happy Pi Day and Happy Weekend!

Adventure Log 201501

Posted on March 10, 2015March 11, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Title: Adventure Log 201501

Daily Ride: Definitely

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This will be a live updated/edited blog.

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I somewhat spontaneously planned this adventure. This will be the first of many outside adventures this year. And I am super excited.

My objectives:

•Ride my Trek HulkRip over a wooden bridge that was originally built in 1863

•I want to create and also enjoy a few Arcadia Ales Sky High Rye cans in some key placed check-ins.

•I want to enjoy the weather as the high is claiming to be 14* C.

•I want to have a great ride, do a bit of elevation gain throughout, take some awesome pics and update this blog as much as possible. Which I always write on my Notes iPhone app and then copy and paste with magic.

•I also somewhat planned a Vegan lunch that I’ll pack and enjoy at The Red Covered Bridge Park.

-Due to heavy, dense and extremely wet airy fog, I’m going to depart via bicycle at 1100.

•To Be Continued/Updated/Edited

RIDE CANCELLATION DUE TO FOG AND FEAR OF NOT BEING SEEN.

Those Vegan sandwiches I packed for lunch are amazing!

I used:

-Leftover “Corned Beef” Seitan, charred, and diced

-Veganaise combined with celery seed, paprika, cayenne, mustard and garlic p.

-Sliced onion, tomatoes and cucumber

-Kale

-On toasted Rye bread

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I decided to try my luck doing a bit of hiking. I knew it was gonna be messy at Starved Rock State Park, so I brought a few beers. My goal was to hike to this cave/crevous that is roughly (muddy & icy) eight kilometers from the lodge. Nothing crazy, but a decent hike. I did not succeed in hiking to the crevously cave, due to an error in timing with my pickup ride. It was fun and challenging in a few spots that I chose to venture Lewis and Clarke style. I took a bunch of pics and here are a few.

Vegan Paddy’s Day

Posted on March 8, 2015November 23, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Title: VEGAN PADDY’S DAY

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Daily Ride: Probably not today.

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Man, it feels like I just blogged out a log.

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Happy Daylight Savings Day!

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I finally trekked on my first March ride yesterday. We (paid riding companions and myself) trekked 66 kilometers and had 380 meters of elevation gain. And yes I’m a metric-loving American. I will admit to being a geek, I am nowhere near a nerd. The accidental six day cycling hiatus did not do anything good for me. I vow to never take more than three days, 72 hours, off.

https://www.strava.com/activities/264469235

It was 6-8* Celcius and I barely overdressed, but felt it immensely in my head as I was sporting a damn balaclava. I failed an accent, but not too bad of a climb. For the first time in years, I had to walk. I only climbed like 4-6 meters before saving my head and brain from over steaming like mushy cauliflower mush from the sweat boiling balaclava and continued to ride. It pissed me off, but it will not happen again. It was the first decent ride of 2015 and I needed it. Because of a big thumb and iPhones lack of big thumb accessible phones issue, I barely caught two deer crossing the frozen Hennepin Canal.

The other day I was thinking to myself, and no animals were harmed, what my favorite beers of 2015 have been. I usually enjoy a crazy variety of different craft brews and I might as well pick some of my favorite types and then my favorite type of beer of that type. Get it? Me either.

Barleywine – Stone Old Guardian: Extra Hoppy

Imperial IPA (DIPA) – I’m a biased Colorado-born native, but from Boulder, Colorado Avery Brewing Company presents an Imperial India Pale Ale in The Maharaja. This is probably the best DIPA that I’ve ever snorted. Post 10% ABV and 100 dolla bill y’all IBU, this masterpiece is no joke. I’m already craving another.

IPA – All the damned way from Kalamazoo, Michigan, this beast of a DIPA brewed with honey is nowhere near light on the hops and will smack that smirk meters away from your face. It’s well known and people love it for a good reason.

Saison – I love a good Saison. I understand people not enjoying saisons, but it PISSES ME OFF. The style was founded on the Belgian farms. Where heaven and cute puppies were also founded. And so the best ever Saison that I’ve had comes from there in Brasserie DuPont’s Avec Les Bons Voeux from 2014. Lucky for me, I do not have to try and pronounce that.

Stout – Russian Imperial Stouts are the way I want to die. Use your imagination and if possible, I’d like that way of death to be barrel-aged. Thanks. This was actually my 1000 distinct check-in on Untappd and I saved it for a couple of weeks to savor it on that exact check-in. From the Fabulous Cali, inside North Coast Brewing Company, gave birth to a legend in the wonderful Old Rasputin. The beer I’m talking about is above that! It is the Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin XVII. It will take away your double chin, give ya a nice new hair cut and even throw some gel and style that dew of yo’s. It will give you an unbelievable confidence that you are the most important person on the moon Earth. This one is out of production, but next year or whenever, if you find one, buy two. #NeverSayDie

Porter – This porter just hit the spot like eight times. It’s not my fault it’s another Colorado beer. I wasn’t even born in Boulder, but from Boulder Beer Company brings this Shake Chocolate Porter. And it was outstanding when I found a 6-pack in the clearance cart after discovering it a few days earlier. Chin-up sad beer drinkers, this is a bottle full of happiness.

Sour – BOOM DESTIHL Brewery has always been outstanding and their Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour: Excommunie Trois was fabulous. Best sour ever!

Mead – Dansk Mjod Viking blod. Mead done right is the opposite of my cold heart. Warm this mead and it is awesome.

Dessertyish- From St. Louis, Missouri. Home of the hated Cardinals and Blues. 4 Hands Brewing Company’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout is the “Grade A” beverage it markets itself to be. Highly recommend a try and I am hopeful to see the Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout they have also created.

ALRIGHT, Vegan St. Paddy’s Day, let’s enjoy some 12 year old Jameson with a sip of regular Jameson as a chaser?

We’ll need the Saison or Seitan started first. If someone is actually trying this, you’ll want to have the Colcannon done ahead of time and kept warm if possible as a completely separate side dish or appetizer. Shit, we Irish, have it for dessert!

CBS “Corned Beef Seitan” ingredients:

-Vital Wheat Gluten (hopefully you’re not gluten-free :/)

-Garlic and Shallot, diced and roasted

-Sea Salt/Pepper/Paprika

-Veggie Broth

-Thyme powder

-Sage powder

-Caraway seeds

-Rosemary

-Sugar

-Tomato Paste

-Veggie Broth

Handstands:

-I started with the Tomato Paste and a little Broth just to turn that Paste into a saucy goodness.

-I broke out the mortal and pestle and no, that isn’t a medieval weapon that I want it to be.

-Threw in Caraway and Rosemary and ground a bit

-Threw in the rest of seasonings and infused

-Infused is sometimes a fancy word for simply mixing

-Roast your Garlic and Shallot dicemembers and throw into Sauciness

-Vital Wheat Gluten is vital and so is kneading.

RAP A TUNE

-Seriously, form your amazingly weird protein chunk into a loaf and hope you have a cheese cloth.

-Wet the cheese cloth, Vegan of course

-Lay out cheese cloth accordingly

-Put Seitan in and wrap, not rapping to much and when spelling “rapping” ALWAYS remember that second “P”

-You’ll need to gather a broth. And swing it to a boil, not using the broiler.

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Broth ingredients:

-Broth

-Chewed garlic, spit out

-Bay leaves, with a very long pull string

-Season to enjoyment

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-Bring broth to a quick broil and after placing you not harmed dead animal wrapped in vegan cheese cloth into a lasagna pan, pour broth over it. And do not exceed over halfway of the lasagna pan or (Luigi and I are tight) I’ll send a true Italian afta ya

BAKE 2 HOURS FLIP ONCE

Corned Tapenade ingredients:

-Oily Vinegar

-Onion

-Carrot

-Celery

-Garlic

-Shallot

-PLUM

-RHUBARB

-SeaSalt,Pepper,Coriander, Fennel, Thyme, Caraway, Rosemary, cayenne

-Brown Sugar

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Super chop without bodily harm and mix and let marinade for a good hour at room temp. PLEASE take the rooms temp first because there are always many possibilities and I am curious only if you talk about the log I blogged earlier.

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So satanish cheese clothes vegan? Protein is ready?

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As you might conclude, I was a bit tipsy. I diagnosed myself with legally insanity and went to bed.

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Vegan Gravy ingredients:

-Vegg Broth

-Bay Leaves

-Oil

-Vinegar

-Sea Salt/Pepper/Savory/ Cayenne

-Garlic, super diced

-Onion, super diced

-Celery, super diced

-Carrot, super diced

-Mushroom, super diced

-Corn Starch

-Do not parch, save some broth or water

Steps!

-Heat oil

-Caramelize Garlic and then onion, Celery and super diced Carrot

-Add Vinegar

-Add Broth, add Mushroom and simmer for 60 minutes or longer

-Add Starch close to the time when you’ll need it and get to a good groovy gravy consistency

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VEGGIES ingredients:

-Potatoes, cut into ¼s

-Turnip, cut into ¼s

-Carrot, cut in half

-Onion, I only used ½ left alone

-Cabbage, cut in wedges with core intact for holdage purposes

-Oil/Vinegar

-Sea Salt/Pepper

-Fesh Dill, chopped

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I was going to leave the turnip skin on, but this Turnip was waxed… I’ve never seen that before. I tried removing the way, but eventually had to peel it off.

Backstrokes:

-Get all of these amazing veggies readily cut

-Place Cabbage and Onion on parchment paper on a pan

-Toss Potatoes, Turnips and Carrots in mixture of seasonings and lay on parchment paper on a pan

-Use remaining liquid/oil to drip on Cabbage

-Roast with the next satan steps. I meant satanly great Seitan

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-Set out a large piece of aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray

-After Seitan has cooked and cooled a bit, remove from cheese cloth and place on aluminum foil

-Now put Tapenade on entire surface of Seitan and wrap

-I placed on a pan and baked for 60 minutes with Veggies at 350*F

-Then remove Seitan and slice and broil lightly to attain that meaty texture and look

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For the record, I sometimes do not wash my balls… Of spuds!

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Vegan ColCannon

Ingredients:

-Potatoes, cut in half and heavily heavily oven roasted

-Almond Milk

-Go Veggie! “Cheese”, shredded or block

-Sunflower Seeds, lightly oven roasted

Kale, frozen and fresh

-Turnip, diced

-Shallot, diced

-Garlic, diced

-Celery, super diced

-Carrot, super diced

-Apple Cider Vinegar

-SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne

-Dill, chopped

Summersaults:

-For comedic purposes, roast your Potatoes on parchment paper on a pan, at 420*F for 90 minutes-Giving them a nice burnt char

-In large saucepan, heat oil and Caramelize Garlic and then Veggies that are super diced

-Add Turnip and diced Potato (why not?)

-Rinse in saucepan with refreshing Vinegar

-Add Almond Milk & seasonings

-Simmer and add potatoes while stirring and chopping/crushing heavy roasted Potatoes

-I like my potatoes the same way I like my peanut butter, Chunky. Feel free to mix with a mixer or jackhammer

-When at the optimal consistency, add “Cheese” sunflower seeds and kale and let sit on the lowest of heat, stirring occasionally, until ya need it. I Garnished with fresh Kale.

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Plate and serve with gravy! Live a bit and enjoy with some 12 year old Jameson. Have a great St Paddy’s Day! Cheers!

Winter Conclusion

Posted on March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 by jeffreylatty

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Title: Winter Conclusion

Daily Ride: Yes

I’m confident that yesterday was the last super cold day of winter. Yesterday was frigidly in the single digits almost the entire day in Fahrenheit units of temperature measurements. Which I don’t even have to try. It is an amazingly hilarious joke on its own. I knew spring was approaching soon a few weeks ago when I had slight allergies attack. The attack was defended strongly with smiles. I don’t know if the groundhog still exists, but my allergies prediction was correct. Leave the groundhog be.

I was on the fence doing backflips yesterday contemplating a ride. It was super cold, but it hopefully should be the last super cold day of winter. Should I tackle it and ride into the sunset. Death Rides A Horse. I do not have any horses, just bicycles. I decided to continue my not planned cycling hiatus and wait for the weather to turn for the better. I think today has a high of -1 * C. That’s almost ZERO. I love the Celsius Zero and it should be a superhero!

I do have a ride planned with a friend. Really just a paid acquaintance to help me seem more normal to the crazy people who read these bloggings. I do not actually have any friends. Animals like me. Anyways, this paid “friend” and I were gonna do a decent distance. He wants to ride miles and I threw a slight fit and made it clear that I wanted to ride kilometers. Not sure how we will come to a conclusion on that. Sounds like a job for the Celcius ZERO!

I had this beer last night. It was a literal beast. I’ve enjoyed many beers of theirs. The actual brewery is Mercury Brewing Company out of Ipswich, MA. The beer line is Clown Shoes. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it’s a good beer line. The beer I had was a Russian Imperial Stout bottled on 02.06.15. I love when they put this date on beers. I’m skeptical when I cannot find and ultimately know how old a beer is. If it’s a beer above 8% ABV, you don’t have anything to worry about. The beers below that ABV are the ones that will spoil. The name of this beer is Blaecorn Unidragon. It is a literal beast at a not so nice Clown Shoes 12.5% ABV. Two middle fingers up!

I’ve loved this band muchly for a good 5-6 years. And I’ve also enjoyed other bands that are tied to the band Russian Circles. They are an instrumental post-rock/ post-metal Chicago based trio. They are very talented. I’ve only seen them live once, but it was amazing. All of their sound greatness is awesome. They play heavy yet light and blend it well.

Yesterday I bought ten pounds of potatoes. This was my adrenaline rushed tweet:

I ate some potatoes yesterday. And today is my #VeganVriday, so I will be enjoying more potatoes for sure today. I’m working on my St. Paddy’s Day meal and my bullshit of an excuse of a recipe. Really it’s just a grocery list that says beer a few times.

I plan on making and somewhat mapping a “recipe” of VEGAN Corned Beef & Cabbage and Colcannon in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and my somewhat recent discovery that I am 1/16 Irish. That is coming by the death penalty deadline 3.12.15. I did already make a batch of Vegan Colcannon. It was to live for!

As for the Northern Illinois Winter, I’m not scared of you, but you are a bitch.

And for the Northern Illinois Spring, welcome. I love you!

Happy Friday! Happy VeganVriday! Have a great weekend!