Training Table Reading List

Daylight Savings Time is almost over, and we'll revert to the hours as nature intended for us to experience them, before rush hours and must see TV and all of the other chronological cues of modern society. We will soon have lots of dark evenings, with nothing better to do than to grab a book and sit by the fire, so here are a couple that I plan to leaf through over the next few months.

The Cheese Chronicles, by Liz Thorpe

From Science Friday: A simple recipe with a lot of variations ... Take some milk, add some bacteria to spoil it. Add some mold, and don't forget to add some rennet, which comes from the stomach lining of livestock, then heat the mixture, drain out some of the liquid, then let it sit around for a few months. Sounds good? Well, maybe if we call it by its popular name, cheese.

The Cheese Chronicles is an insider's look at the burgeoning world of American cheese from one lucky person who has seen more wedges and wheels, visited more cheesemakers, and tasted more delicious (and occasionally stinky) American cheese than anyone else. Liz Thorpe, second in command at New York's renowned Murray's Cheese, has used her notes and conversations from hundreds of tastings spanning nearly a decade to fashion this odyssey through the wonders of American cheese. Offering more than eighty profiles of the best, the most representative, and the most important cheesemakers, Thorpe chronicles American cheesemaking from the brave foodie hobbyists of twenty years ago (who put artisanal cheese on the map) to the carefully cultivated milkers and makers of today.

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

There's nothing I can say about Kenny Shopsin that hasn't been said better by Calvin Trillin, so I'll point you instead to one of his New Yorker articles here.

And the New York Times did a piece on him about this time last year, here. Macaroni and cheese pancakes, anyone?

And finally, one I've been meaning to get to forever is Jim Harrison's The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand. Again, I'll defer to the Times in their description of Mr. Harrison:

Jim Harrison is not your average foodie. He is no pinkie-in-the-air fusspot who finds delight in taste-testing balsamic vinegar or drizzling sea salt from some distant shore on his blanched asparagus stalks. In this collection of his essays and correspondence, ''The Raw and the Cooked,'' he presents himself as the Yosemite Sam of dining -- a rootin', tootin' culinary combo plate of Hunter S. Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Julian Schnabel and Sam Peckinpah. His eats with vigor and writes with unbounded gusto. His enthusiasms are so visceral that readers may put the book down feeling as if they have just been trampled by the bulls at Pamplona.

More on Running Barefoot

Is Running Barefoot Better For You?

The History of Chinese Food in America

Fun Fact: There are more Chinese restaurants in America than there are McDonald's in the whole world.

The Exchange: Chop Suey.

Is there anything more American than Chinese food?

As always, an interesting and thought-provoking piece from Michael Pollan.

Rules to Eat By

My favorite: Don't eat egg salad from a vending machine.

Here at the Training Table, we have our own kitchen manifesto, as you can see if you look at the far right column and scroll down a wee bit.

What are your rules to eat by?

NYT Mag: The Food Issue

Need to read it cover to cover:

Putting America on a Diet

Cooking for der kinder

The Z'ster isn't crazy about hot spices, so we've had to tone down just about everything we make. When it comes to southwest fare, he loves sweet peppers, corn, posole, and beans, but he just can't handle chilis right yet.

And because I'm a Bear of Very Little Brain, it took me a while to figure out the very simple solution to this situation: leave the spice out of the main dish and put it in the sauce, salsa, or sides.

Here's an easy example: start with the Modern Fiesta here at Bon Appetit

Modern Fiesta

and make these easy modifications

Chili-Corn Custard Squares with out the Chili

2 tablespoons EVOO plus more for sauteing veggies
1 cup chopped onion
1 diced sweet pepper (red, orange, or yellow)
Butter or non-stick spray to prep pan
1/4 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 X 1/3 cup shredded cheese (Mexican blend, queso fresca, or something like that)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup canned creamed corn (one can makes two batches, so save the rest in Mason jar)

Heat just enough EVOO to coat a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add finely chopped onion and sweet pepper and sauté until soft and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool, because you're going to add to the egg mixture, and you don't want the veggies to pre-cook the batter.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan, or spray with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Whisk egg, 1/3 cup cheese blend, 1/2 cup sour cream, creamed corn, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in large bowl. Add flour mixture; stir to blend. Stir in onions and peppers. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup cheese blend over.
Bake until puffed and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely. DO AHEAD Custard squares can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Topping: For the kids, they just get a splat of sour cream. For those wanting some spice, mix 1/2 cup of sour cream with a Tbs of diced chilis, or a dash of Tobasco Chipotle sauce, and a squirt of lime juice. The tiniest dash of cumin is also cool, and maybe a dash of Mexican oregano.

Cut into 1-inch squares. Place on platter. Top each square with dollop of sour cream, then small spoonful of salsa. Again, for Z, he got a no-spice tomato salsa, and we got a hotter mix on ours.

Summer squash rice with pepitas, black beans with chorizo, and corn bread with chili.

Rice with Summer Squash and Sweet Peppers

This wasn't hot to start with , so we didn't modify it much. Just added some mild chorizo from the Boulder Sausage Company.

2 TBS EVOO
1 small onion, finely chopped
Optional: one link of chorizo, casing removed and crumbled
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow zucchini, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
1 green zucchini, same
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice, with a dash of salt and pepper
3 cups chicken broth (low-sodium is best because then you can liberally sea-salt it)
3 tablespoons roasted pepitas
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
A squirt of lime juice

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute about 2 minutes. Add bell pepper and saute another 2 minutes, and then add the summer squash, and cook 2 more minutes. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring frequently, until the sausage is browned.
Add the rice and cook for about a minute, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the broth, turn up the heat to high, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in pumpkin seeds, cilantro, and a squirt of lime juice.

Summer squash rice with pepitas.

Black Beans

The Z-Man isn't crazy about spicy beans or even borracho, so instead of putting a lot of prep into this dish, we just cooked some crumbled chorizo in a stock pot, then added some onion and garlic and sauteed the mix for a few minutes. Then added a can of black beans and simmered the whole thing until dinner was ready. All of the spice then went into the salsa and sour cream topping (same as above, in the corn-chili custard square recipe).

Soft Tacos
This doesn't sound very southwest, but Z. likes the citrusy flavor on the chicken, and it works just fine. Marinate chicken breasts for 1-6 hours in a four-to-one mixture of lemon juice and olive oil, with minced garlic and sea salt. Then grill the chicken per your grill and slice into thin slivers. Add some chopped tomatoes, grilled veggies, and a bit of the rice and sour cream mix from above.

For Z, he gets a quesadilla instead of a soft taco, because he can hold it better. Lots of cheese keeps it together, and a couple of minutes on the George Foreman and it's ready to go.


If your family doesn't have a spice problem, check out the originals here:
Bon Appetit's Modern Fiesta

Weekly Highlights

Here's a quick wrap-up of some highlights in the news this week.

1. Sabores Sin Fronteras, Flavors Without Borders.

The Sonoran Hotdog Crosses The Border

Was just thinking about my dad's comments about the suddenly ubiquitous chipotle pepper, and heard this on the radio about recipes moving back and forth across the border.

Americans' view of the U.S.-Mexico border is pretty narrow these days — basically, drugs and illegal immigrants.

Of course, there's more than that if you live there. There's the area's tasty food — Baja California fish tacos, Tex-Mex fajitas and the newest cross-border concoction: The Sonoran Hot Dog.


2. There's no problem getting enough sun in the summer time, right? Not so fast.

Soaking up more of the sunshine vitamin for improved performance, at VeloNews.

As you continue to train and race for the remainder of the season, learning about your vitamin D status and focusing on your vitamin D intake from food and supplements might actually improve your performance. While there is limited data on vitamin D status in athletes , (let alone cyclists), some experts believe that poor vitamin D status can often be a problem among athletes, and affect your overall health and ability to train.

3. No tomatoes for your pizza? Then how about blueberries?

The Weirdest Pizza I’ve Ever Made, at Bitten.

When Kerri sent me this picture, right, I said “but was it good?” She said “terrific.” I said, “send it.” It’s gorgeous and bizarre, and it qualifies as “pizza,” but … check it out. —MB

4. Are your kids getting enough water? Or, are they drinking too much crap?

Phys Ed: Are Sports Drinks Actually Good for Kids?

No one suggests that, outside of fields or courts, sports drinks are wise. “These are not health foods,” Clark says. “They’re fancy sugar water. You see kids having them with their pizza at lunch. That’s not a good idea.” Sports drinks have been linked with obesity and tooth decay. They’re also expensive. Finally, consider nagging, an underutilized means of improving young athletes’ hydration status. When the kids at the sports camps were asked why they didn’t drink more often, one of their most common responses was, “I forgot.”

5. Simple fitness test: how long can you hold your breath?

Measuring Fitness and Health: Part 1, Breathing, by Dr. Phil Maffetone

Breath-Holding Time is a simple test that measures the overall function of the diaphragm. It’s simple to perform. Take a deep breath and see how long you can hold it. This test is best performed while standing and with an empty stomach. Anyone in good health should be able to hold the breath for at least 50 seconds. If you can’t, it may indicate some functional problem, as discussed below.

6. Summer salad dressing: Cilantro and Green Chili. Mix, enjoy, repeat.

Michael Pollan in the Times

From this Sunday's New York Times Magazine:

Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch
by Michael Pollan

An interesting look at the relationship between cooking and eating.

Read it now, discussion to follow.

Father and Son

They say the apple does fall far from the tree. Then again, whenever someone isn’t like Mom or Dad, they always say that the factor in question tends to skip a generation. So I guess there’s a saying for everything.

The other day my dad told me that he thought it was interesting that he had made it some sixty-odd years on this planet without ever seeing a chipotle pepper, and now he can’t turn around without bumping into one. You can get chipotle in sauces at McDonalds, in Kraft mayonnaise, and in every brand of salsa on the grocery store shelf. And you don’t have to live in the southwest to find it any more. It’s everywhere.

To my dad, this is an unwelcomed change. It’s a sign that the world is changing too quickly. If someone wants to seek out a foreign new flavor, he should have to seek it out. Stumbling onto it is fine, but having it thrust is our faces is something else. Call it progress, but at some level it’s a sign that the old ways are just that, the old ways, on their way out, being replaced at a rate that some of us are not quite ready for.

And it’s not like my dad is a white bread, steak and potatoes type. Granted, you can count the great Irish culinary contributions to society on one hand, but my dad did live in New Orleans for the better part of two decades. And those folks will mix just about anything together and call it something I can’t pronounce. So it’s not that the chipotle itself is too weird for him; he’s just not crazy about the intrusion of a regional flavor into places where it shouldn’t be, like the center aisles of the grocery store and generic fast food restaurants.

When he told me that he was about sick of having chipotle sauces shoved in his face, he might as well have been speaking Martian and trying to explain string theory to me. For starters, it seems to be the free market at work. There must be a demand for it, or it wouldn’t be there. And while there may be a marginal at best societal benefit to increased Scoville-awareness, I have trouble understanding a down side to people from other here sharing a bite to eat with people over there. And if they can’t share an actual sit-down meal, then sharing the techniques are the next best thing.

Where my dad sees the old, familiar ways being crowded out, I only see the continual process of refining and refining and refining that which we have. I can whip up a tray of blackberry cobbler, but that doesn’t mean I’m replacing my great-grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies, which will always be the gold standard for desserts. I’m not so sure culture is a zero net game. The addition of X doesn’t mean that Y must decrease by the same amount.

But it is interesting that father and son are wired so differently. My dad wants to be able to walk into the grocery store and see everything he expects in the place where it should be. I want to walk in there and get surprised by something I’ve never heard of before, which I will then look up to see where it came from and what one does with it.

This week the Rocky Ford melons hit the stands. And the other day the Greasy Skillet made a cucumber aqua fresca, something I would never have considered making because I like plain old water. Cantaloupe, because of it's high water content, makes a wicked easy beverage that's a lot better for you than Tang or Kool-ade or that carbonated battery acid that's so popular with the kids.

Melon Fresco: Blend all and serve over ice
1 Cantaloupe melon
1/2 cup cold water or one cup of ice
2 Tbs Lime juice
1 Tbs sugar

Or try melon in your next salsa. Any recipe will do. Just keep the melon to about 1/4 or less of the total volume of salsa, and don't blend the melon in a food processor or blender — cut it into small chunks with a knife, or you'll get spicy melon soup. The simplest starting point is like this:

about half a cantaloupe
1/4 cup onion, chopped medium-fine
a handful of chopped fresh cilantro
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs fresh lime juice
1/2 - 2 jalapeños, finely chopped

Add other peppers, garlic, tomatoes, tomatillos as you see fit.

Don't fear the chipotle, or the melon, or anything else, for that matter.

How they eat at le Tour

Two looks at the kitchens of Boulder's Garmin pro cycling team and Armstrong's Astana team.


Chef Duffy of Team Astana:




And Chef Sean Fowler of Team Garmin.

Five-Star Tour Cuisine for Guys Who Eat and Ride.

Audio Slideshow here.

Cookie Time

The boy wanted to make some cookies to take to the folks at his day care center, so he fired up the mixer and went to work.

Now, I'm sure a lot of folks probably don't consider an electric mixer to be a power tool. But in the mind of a 16 month old, apparently it sounds just like a train, a bulldozer, or a motorcycle. He spent the next couple of hours running around making circular motions with his arms and going "vrrrrmmmm, vrrrrroooommmm" like he was still mixing cookie dough. Same sound he makes when he pushes a tractor or rides his scooter.

Anyway, we usually use the recipe from the New York Time's ultimate cookie project.

But we were out of pastry flour. So we mixed it up like this:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1.25 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp kosher salt
2.5 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup baker's sugar
2 Tbs molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
half a bag of chocolate chips, plus a couple more shakes
about a cup of walnuts, finely chopped
sea salt


Follow the directions in the link above.
Two keys:
1) Let the dough rest for a full day before baking the cookies. That lets the liquid ingredients soak into the flour and sugar.
2) Add the tiniest pinch of sea salt to the balled dough right before you put it in the oven.

Georgia is the "peachtree" state?

Everyone knows the best peaches are grown on Colorado's western slope. There's something about the high altitude sun.

(The whole state nickname thing always cracks me up. Georgia produces around 40 tons of peaches per year, while their neighbor South Carolina produces around 60 tons. So Georgia isn't even the biggest peach producer in the SEC. California produces more than the rest of the country put together, but there isn't enough room on a license plate to list all of the things they lead in.)

Local peaches are just starting to hit the outer aisles of our grocery stores. And there's no reason to we wary of the early shippers. Peaches ripen according to their position on the tree, with the outermost fruit ripening first and the innermost last.

We picked up some Palisade peaches this week and they were just about perfect.

Try any of these once the fresh crop shows up at your grocery store:

A French sweet-and-sour sauce for meat.

Peach Salsa

Peaches and Chicken

Good News for Kitchens All Across the Front Range and High Plains

Good news from Hatch, New Mexico:

Green chile harvest expected to be strong.

(Hat tip to Mad Dog Media Arf Force and Whirled Hindquarters.)

Homemade Energy Bars

Leah Vande Velde, the wife of Garmin Cycling's Christian Vande Velde, demonstrates how to make your own energy bars (via the CycleOps PowerCycling channel on YouTube).



Leah Vande Velde Prepares Homemade Energy Bars in the Vande Velde's Girona kitchen.

Recipe: Homemade Energy Bars

Ingredients:
- 3 cups of uncooked Oatmeal (Quaker Oats)
- 1 cup of dried mixed fruit, chocolate chips, fruit bits, or favorite ingredient
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar or molasses
- 1 cup Honey
- 8 ounces of non fat vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup of apple sauce
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons of skim milk
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Spread out in a lightly greased baking pan and bake @ 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 28-30 minutes.


More info at the CycleOps PowerCycling channel on YouTube, here.

And for more low-gluten recipes from Leah, check out this at VeloNews.com.

Lowered (or, Realistic) Expectations

Last month The Atlantic looked at happiness, following the longitudinal study of 268 men who entered Harvard in the late '30s. The author was quite careful not to confuse correlation with causation, but a running theme was that ones happiness is related to the richness of his or her network of friends.

Here's another take on the subject. This study compared nations and relative happiness, and found that Denmark is the happiest country in the world.

Why Danes are Smug: comparative study of life satisfaction in the European Union.

The researchers looked at several factors. The considered the "blonds have more fun" theory (giving credit to Rod Stewart for the discovery?), genetic differences, and cultural aspects. (Money quote: "Meals in Denmark can be politely described as unmemorable. “Danish cuisine” is an oxymoron, except perhaps the open faced “butter breads” that accompany the beer and aquavit Danes consume for lunch.")

Their conclusion is that Danes are happier because they don't expect much.

“Happiness equals reality minus expectations.”

Not super-inspiring, and certainly not going to show up on one of the motivational posters so popular in the cubicle farms and in corporate management circles. But hard to argue with.

More on Cooking for Team Garmin

In addition to bikes and snappy duds, Garmin team manager and Slipstream CEO Jonathan Vaughters is well known for his love of wine and good food.

On the grape side, The Boulder Report is telling us that he has been tapped for knighthood in the order of Chateauneuf du Pape, and he was interviewed by Wine Spectator in the July issue.

In the kitchen, Garmin has employed Dr Allen Lim to reevalute everything that goes into the riders mussetts, focusing on recovery and not just carbo-loading. Garmin's work on speeding recovery and fighting inflammation associated with endurance sports has everyone questioning the traditional pasta-heavy meals in favor of rice and other gluten-free sources of carbohydrates, as well as the importance of omega-3s in everyone's diet.

For a closer look at the Garmin moveable feast, here's a slideshow with audio commentary from Garmin team chef Sean Fowler. Story here.

And for any logisticians out there, here's what it takes to feed the Garmin team on the road each day. If you're on Facebook, you can read the entire story here, courtesy Team Soigneur Sandra Ni Hodnae. She writes, "Here’s what we pack per rider, per day. So multiply this list by at least 200!"

6 Clif Bars (Nectar, Mojo, Z bar)
5 Clif Gels
4 Clif Bloks
2 cans Clif Quench electrolyte
0.5 can Clif recovery
2 Clif Builders protein bars
2 sachets apple cider recovery (hot tea)
1 sachet hot chocolate recovery for chocolate fix!!!
7 home-made basmati rice cakes
4 fruit jellies
1 mussette
10 water bottles (minimum)
.10 ml sun lotion/start oil depending on the weather
8 safety pins
.10 ml chamois cream
200 g oats
300 g rice for home-made rice cakes
5 rice cakes
50 g cereal
150 ml soy milk
8 l water
10 g nuts
5 eggs
200 g meat/fish
3 yogurts
3 expresso coffee
10 ml olive oil
4 pieces of fruit
1 tablespoon of honey
Quarter baguette

Good News about Omega-3s

More Good News About Omega-3s

Fish isn't the only source of these good-for-you fatty acids. Find out how to easily incorporate omega-3s into your life.

Cooking for Team Garmin

Healthy Eating Tips For Sustained Energy From A Pro Cycling Team.

Salsa 101

All of your salsa questions answered.

Q. Should I use fresh or roasted veggies in my salsa?
A. Yes.
Try this next time: divide all of your ingredients in half, and roast half of them and put the rest in without benefit of thermodynamic alteration. Then taste the two, side by side. You'll pick up on some obvious differences (one will be smokier, duh) but should notice other things as well. The grilled veggies might be a tad sweeter (peppers), a bit less bitter (tomatillos), or maybe nuttier (avocados).

Q. Should I coarsely chop, finely chop, or puree the veggies for my salsa?
A. Yes, of course.
I was about to say, depends on what you want to use it for ... but then realized, even that doesn't matter. If you need something for a chip, both extremes work. A topping for grilled fish? Again, both. Thick and chunky, thin and soupy, either way. Just depends.

Q. Chile peppers: seeds in or out?
A. Yes.
Seeds in adds heat, while removing the seeds lets you maximize the flavor of that chile without scorching your taste buds. Me, I prefer focusing on flavor instead of just trying to out-heat the other guy, so it's usually seeds out for me.

Q. Cilantro: just the leaves or include the stems?
A. Yes.
I used to always pull the leaves off the stems quite delicately and meticulously, until one time I was running out of time and I just threw the whole thing into the food processor. The stems add a bit of a sharper, more intense flavor.

Q. Only veggies or how about fruit?
A. Yes.
Get a little too crazy and you're looking at a fruit salad instead of a salsa, but a bit of peach, pineapple, melon, papaya, and definitely mango will work. But you start getting into berries or grapes, and then I think you're just showing off.

Q. Beans? Add them or leave them out?
A. Yes. For all the reasons above.

Q. Spices? Should I let the produce stand on its own or do I need to doctor it up?
A. Yes. I'm a big fan of cumin, even though I don't know how to pronounce it. Just like with seeds, make a batch and divide it in half. Keep one batch plain, spice up the other, and check out the difference.

For the love of a grilled cheese sammich

I've never done anything this audacious, but I do the know the feeling at a much smaller scale. After four hours in the saddle, sometimes there's nothing better than a warm, flat Coke.

A Run That Lasts 100 Miles

A grilled cheese sandwich may seem like the least likely of bliss-inducers. But there it was, handed to me by an aid-station volunteer. After one bite, I sincerely felt that that sandwich, probably quite ordinary in the real world I had left behind more than 13 hours earlier, on a sunny Friday morning in Dayton at the start of the Bighorn Trail 100, was perhaps the best thing I’d ever tasted. I savored every greasy crumb.
Kirk Johnson, after completing the 100 mile Bighorn Trail 100 in Wyoming.

More here.

Just for the record ...

... I posted this before I read this.

Why does anyone eat store-bought cookies again?

They're full of garbage, too expensive, and don't taste as good as homemade. And they don't make the whole house smell good when you open the box the way these do when you open the oven door.

Convenience, right? Well, it doesn't get any easier than this:


2 cups McCann's quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg, 4 Tbs oil, 2 Tbs maple syrup, a dash of ginger or cinnamon.

Mix the wet in a cup, then pour over the dry.
Let it soak for 15 minutes.
Spoon onto a baking sheet, bake at 375 for 10-12.

Farmers' Market opens in Iraq

Received this note from GEN Ray Odierno. (No, not personally ... just a post to his Facebook page. Sign up here if you want to get them.)


The Central Euphrates Farmers' Market in Mahawil is now open for business after a grand opening ceremony on June 12. The market, a cooperative project between Iraqi and Coalition forces, is the culmination of two years to planning and building.

"The fact that this market is here today demonstrates the cooperation of the Iraqi Security Forces and the Coalition forces," said Brig. Gen. Jerry Lang, deputy commanding general of support for the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division. "We hope this model of cooperation you have demonstrated ... will help us bring it to the rest of Southern Iraq."

"We have received a lot of help from the Coalition forces, and for that, we are finally to the point that we are here for celebration," said Sheikh Khodaer Abdlhosaen, director of the Central Euphrates Farmers' Market.

The market has 20 outdoor stalls and 24 indoor stalls, from which farmers will sell their produce to wholesale buyers as well as directly to local retail customers. Revenue generated by the rental of the stalls will cover the market's operating and maintenance costs, making the project completely self-sustaining.




An Iraqi boy sorts tomatoes at the newly opened Central Euphrates Farmers' Market June 12. The market is built on Highway 1, connecting Basra with Baghdad and Mosul, which is projected to become Iraq's most significant growth corridor in the years ahead. It gives the farmers' market enough space for vehicular accessibility as well as room for research, education programs and future expansion. Photo by Spc. Darryl L. Montgomery







Brig. Gen. Jerry Lang, deputy commanding general of support for the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, Sheik Khodaer Abdlhosaen, director of the Central Euphrates Farmers' Market, and Deputy Governor of Babil province Iskander Witwit discuss how the market will help the region excel in agriculture. Photo by Spc. Darryl L. Montgomery

May Wrap-up

End of the month... time to review the news out there.



(Left: picking rhubarb from the backyard garden. Rhubarb is in season here in the Front Range. Check this out to find out what's good in your neck of the woods.)


First up, another blog to add to your list: Dr. Phil Maffetone's In Fitness and in Health. Great recipe for home-made energy bars in there (the original version of the mass-produced Phil Bar).

The Internet Food Association brings us a quick piece about the new Supreme Court nominee from a foodie perspective.

The New York Times finally notices everyone's favorite chile sauce.

(Odd... Blogger's spellchecker says "chile" is spelled incorrectly. They want to make it "chili," the Americanized version of the Spanish word for peppers.)

We road-tested two of the four dinners on NPR's "How Low Can You Go?" challenge (dinner for four for under $10). The Moorish chickpea stew was great, but we made a spicier and quicker version here. The fried rice was also wicked easy and should be on everyone's emergency back-up dinner plan list, as all you need are rice, eggs, and whatever else you want to throw in there. The Neely's mac-and-cheese looked like a run-of-the-mill attempt, so we're going to try to improve it a bit later next month (hint: going to do it on the grill).

Need to spice up your gym workout? Have you been doing the same dozen exercises, over and over, and need something to change your routine? Check out the list at the Mountain Athlete (or their sister sight, the Military Athlete). You'll find lots of different ways to use the same old gear, or no gear at all.

And finally, as everyone surely knows, it's officially grilling season. And for most people, grilling means meat, meat, and more meat. (Or, like a buddy of mine says, vegetables are what food eats.) But there's so much more to life than that, so over the next few weeks we are going to explore fruits and vegetables and introduce them to our friend, the open flame. In the meantime, you all have some homework. The best stuff to grill is always the best stuff, and the way to get the best stuff is to get stuff when it's in season. So check out the stuff that's currently available in your area of operations, using this little app from Epicurious.

Spice, Spice, Baby

As a Gaelic, haolie, druid of sorts, I have to be careful with any spice that packs a whollop. My people consider a shake of black pepper on a boiled potato to be getting crazy with the spices. For as long as I could remember, I was always the first one at the table to burn his tongue or start sweating.



(Left: everyone needs a little helper in the kitchen.)



One time in Korea, I became particularly infatuated with a slow-burn garlic sauce that we were using with the pork and chicken kabobs grilling on our table-top hibachi. The sauce had zero mouth-burn, but after about five minutes in the belly one could feel the body heat. After a couple of bites, there was a light mist of sweat on my brow. Ten minutes later, I looked like I had just finished a 10K, which prompted the waitress to bring me more napkins. A few more bites and my head was dripping, and she brought me a cloth napkin and another glass of ice water to dunk it in. By the end of the meal she had positioned a table fan behind me and was sitting to my left, wiping my head with her iced cloth and fanning me with a menu.

Hard to get that kind of service at Appleby’s.

M. has always had a higher tolerance for Asian and Mexican spices than I do. At a Thai restaurant, she’ll order a 4 and I’m heading for the exits if I go higher than 2. She can cover a Chipotle’s burrito with the red chile sauce, their hottest, which I can only stand if I dilute it 1:10 with sour cream. But recently we made a Moorish garbanzo bean stew, and not having pimenton (Spanish sweet paprika), I substituted smoked Spanish paprika, at half the required amount. I thought it was just about perfect, but M. was on fire after a couple of bites. And the same thing happened not long ago with an Indian veggie dish. So, is it a male / female thing? Are our tolerances changing as we get older? Is there a hotness difference between Asian, Mexican, Persian, and Indian dishes? We can measure relative hotness with the Scoville scale, but is there a way to measure the difference between mouth-hot and belly-hot, the kind of heat that burns your lips and tongue vs. the kind that slow burns and makes you sweat ten minutes later?

And why is it that this pasty-faced who grew up on Heinz ketchup now can’t get enough Sriracha on just about everything?


Moorish-style chickpea and spinach stew


From NPR’s How Low Can You Go series – dinner for four for under $10

(The stew's on the left, and on the right you have peanut butter and herb fried chicken.)


Chef Jose Andres’ stew is super-easy to make but takes a day and half to make. The day before, you soak the chickpeas, and then the day of, you slow cook them, constantly watching them, and adding water by the cupful until they are done.

We used canned chickpeas and made the whole thing in about twenty minutes, start to finish.

Using canned chickpeas also meant we had to swap around a couple of steps, because the spice concoction should have been added to the simmering chickpeas. But this also serves to shave a few minutes off of the process, making it a better weeknight option. However, because the broth isn’t flavored by the chickpeas, we had to add about two cups of chicken broth to the equation.

Full recipe here, and modified recipe below.

6 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices bread
2 Tbs pimenton (Spanish sweet paprika)
(We used smoked paprika for a hotter stew, and only used one Tbs)
1 pinch saffron
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbs sherry vinegar
1/2 pound spinach, washed and cleaned
1 can garbanzos (chickpeas)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water

Salt and white pepper to taste


To make this a one pot dish, sauté the garlic in the same stock pot that you’ll use for the stew. Add a splash of olive oil, maybe a sliver of butter, and sauté for about five minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently to brown it evenly. Remove the garlic to a cutting board or mortar, and then brown the bread in the same stock pot. Smash the garlic into the bread using the back of your chef’s knife, the bottom of a mason jar, your mortar and pestle, or what have you. Make a thick paste and set aside.

Add the sweet or smoked paprika, saffron if you have it, and cumin to the stock pot, and then the chickpeas, and stir to coat. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow-rolling boil and cook for about five more minutes. Add the spinach and cook for five more minutes. Finally, add the bread-garlic concoction and simmer for five more minutes, stirring to create a thicker sauce.

Serve with flatbread.

Speaking of Chef Jose, check this out: Ezra Klein in the WaPost.

Defining Happiness

Kevin sent in this article:

What Makes Us Happy?

by Joshua Wolf Shenk
from the June Atlantic

An inside look at an unprecedented seven-decade study of a group of Harvard men suggests that one thing, above all, truly makes a difference.

What is that "one thing"? Curly knew what it was, but he wasn't telling.

The Taste of Victory

Maybe this is the next Texas Hold’em?

The Sizzle of Competition in Cook-off City.


A Fondue Takedown, a Risotto Challenge, a Chowder Slam. A Cassoulet Cook-Off and a Ramen-derby. And you can’t go wrong with the old stand-by, the chili cook-off.

The common denominator here: emphasis on fun, not so much on culinary expertise.

Given the state of our economy, the idea of getting with some buddies and losing a couple of hundred bucks playing poker doesn’t sound all that good right now. (And what’s the saying? If you’re not sure who the sucker at the table is, then it’s you.)

But spending $10-20 on grub and sharing it with a bunch of friends? That sounds like a much better return on investment.

The Mother of All Cobblers

Blackberries were on sale this week, a buck for a tray that normally went for $4.99. So you know what that means: blackberry cobbler.

Now, lots of folks prefer to make this with frozen blackberries. It's typically cheaper, and the frozen berries can be easier to work with. But when you have fresh available, you gotta go with it.








O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your
thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and
a crust to endear them...with such a taste that will
make you close your eyes and wish you might live
forever in the wideness of that rich moment.
—Richard Llewellyn, Welsh novelist

Filling:
8 cups blackberries fresh or frozen (thawed slightly if frozen)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup instant tapioca
Juice of ½ lime
Pinch of salt

Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup coconut
¾ cup sugar
½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cold butter, cubed
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, toss berries with sugar, tapioca, lime juice and salt. Spoon into a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Don’t be afraid to mix or try other fruits too—peaches, raspberries, blueberries, etc. Use a little more tapioca with frozen fruit or expect the juices to be a bit thinner.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, coconut, sugar, pecans, baking powder and salt. Knead in the butter using your fingers. The mixture should resemble coarse sand; avoid overmixing. Blend in egg with your fingers; dough will be sticky. Spread topping over berries in clumps, covering evenly.
Bake for 45–50 minutes or until golden and crisp and filling is thick and bubbly. Place a cookie sheet under the dish during baking to catch spills.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Serve warm with
vanilla ice cream.

Børk! Børk! Børk!

A few years ago, secretary and receptionist Julie Powell attempted to break out of her emotional and existential rut by taking on the daring project of cooking all 524 recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, over the course of one year. The result was a wildly popular blog and a best-selling book, Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. And this August, the movie version will hit the screens, starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Stanly Tucci.

What a lot of you may not know, however, is that the blog, book, and movie are all blatant rip-offs of my own similar project. Julie's idolization of Julia Child mirrors my own experience as a student of one of the greatest, and one of our least appreciated, celebrity chefs.

Julie and Julia is nothing but a cheap imitation of my book, Steve and the Swede.

Before I joined the Army, I spent a year under the tutelage of the great master, the Swedish Chef. He taught me everything I know but only a fraction of what he knew, and I have spent the last few years trying to retrace those lost steps and find my way once again in the kitchen.

Sensei Swede, as I called him, was a demanding task-master. Part Obi-Wan Kenobi, part Priest Pai Mei, and part Gunny Sergeant Hartman, he would dispense sage advice by the gram, usually cloaked in obtuse koan-like riddles. "Be one with the clarified butter." And, "Heat cannot be measured by a marking on a dial, but must be experienced by he who seeks to control it." He banned Crocs in his kitchen years before they were even invented. His answer to nearly every question was "Børk! Børk! Børk!" and yet, each "børk," through intonation, pitch, and volume, meant something completely different.


But before my story could be told, Hollywood swept down and turned Julie and Julia into household names. Fate can be so cruel.

I mean no disrespect to the late Julia Child, and I'm sure Julie Powers is a very nice person. But to compare Child's coq au vin to the Swedish Chef's chicken in a basket is like comparing your child's refrigerator art to Seurat's Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte.

See for yourself and decide:

Mango Chicken Chutney

It's no longer winter soup and stew season, but maybe it's not quite summer grilling season. What to do, what to do...?

How about going with some Indian spice until you're ready to fire up the Weber?

This one takes about an hour, but there is very little hands-on.

Mango Chutney Chicken

3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ cup dry white wine
2 pounds boneless, skinless
chicken breasts
1½ cups jarred mango chutney
2 tablespoons shredded coconut
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
½ cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add curry powder and cardamom and cook 2–3 minutes. Stir in wine until well blended and remove from heat.
Place chicken pieces in a casserole dish. Pour butter mixture over chicken and bake 30 minutes. Spread chutney over chicken and continue baking an additional 30 minutes, basting frequently. Sprinkle with coconut, chives and raisins.

Serve with Carrot Jasmine Rice Pilaf and Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.



Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2 pints cherry tomatoes
1½ tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried orange zest
3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Preheat oven to 425°. Put tomatoes in a 9 x 13-inch glass dish or roasting
pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, orange zest, garlic and cardamom. Roast until dish is fragrant and tomatoes are fully cooked—about 20–25 minutes— stirring once halfway through.

(If you're making this with the mango chicken, you can put it in the oven at 350° and cook for 40-45 minutes.)

Carrot Jasmine Rice Pilaf

1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
2–3 carrots, chopped
3 teaspoons dried grated
orange zest
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
a shake of crushed red pepper
2¼ cups chicken broth, heated
½ teaspoon honey
a dash of salt


Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and pine nuts and cook 4–6 minutes.
Stir in rice, carrots, orange zest, cardamom and crushed red pepper. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
Add chicken broth, honey, and salt. Cover pan and simmer 12–15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.

April 24th: Weekly Highlights

Health, training, and fitness highlights from around the web.

What are friends for? Turns out that not only will they bail you out of jail at three in the morning, they also help you live longer.

The Power of Friendship


When asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, George Mallory famously replied, “Because it’s there.” But maybe if he hadn’t spent so much time at altitude, he would have come up with something more specific.

Mountain Climbing: Bad for the Brain


Some of us jump out of bed, others need a bucket of cold water and a pry-bar to get out from under the sheets. If you’re in the first camp, here’s a look at getting the fuel you need before breakfast.

Nutritional Strategies for Early Morning Risers


Pasta has always been a staple of endurance athletes, but there’s a lot of folks moving towards a gluten-free or low-gluten diet. (Me, I’m a big fan of not over-indulging in any one thing, no matter how crazed everyone else is, nor banning anything completely from the table. All things in moderation, including, of course, moderation.) For the average weekend warrior, it’s not a big deal, but for the maniacs out there, there’s some evidence that lowering your wheat intake helps recovery by reducing inflammation. Willy Balmat, Lance Armstrong’s long-time team chef, is now working with Dr Allen Lim on the Garmin-Chipotles team, and over the last year, the team has been pushing more risotto and less pasta on the dinner table, and more rice cakes and fewer pastries in the mussett.

Lots of stories all over the place:

Movable Feast

Dr. Lim’s Rice Cakes



Many years ago, I gave up meat for Lent. Wasn't that hard, and when Easter had come and gone, I found myself, due to sheer inertia and a bit of laziness, to be what I called a social vegetarian: one who doesn't put any effort into making meat dishes, but won't refuse them if served at someone's house or if the special at a restaurant looks especially good.

Bittman's kind of doing the same there here with his Vegan-Until-Dinnertime movement. It's not anti-meat, it's just about saving it for the main course, once a day.

Back To Basics: Good For You, Good For The Earth

Slowing It Down, part two

A couple of articles at the pediatrician's office caught my eye the other day. Each covered a different aspect of every day life, but they all came to the same conclusion: we all do better when we slow it down and sit down to a family meal as often as possible.

I was startled at first by several of their statistics, but after a quick pause and ponder, I realized that I should not have been surprised. Most teenagers only eat 3-4 dinners per week as a family. That's a lot of time alone or off with friends, and when you consider that practically no one eats breakfast and lunch as a family, that's a big hole in the "family time" section of their DayTimer.

Only about one-third of all teenagers eat breakfast. One-third. Which explains why all of my kids come into second period clutching a Monster, RockStar, or Red Bull.

We all worry about our weight, but most folks from my generation didn't start worrying about it until they hit their 30s. Today, 70% of teenage boys and 85% of teenage girls report that they tried to lose weight in the last year. While there is an upside to health consciousness at an early age, there is a definite downside to weight obsession.

Computer usage is on the rise, physical exercise on the decline. Teenage boys want killer abs, but they want them by popping MegaMass 5000 pills and then starving themselves, not by getting outside and playing.

The hours spent watching television is either falling or holding steady, depending on the study, but these hours are not being replaced by exercise. The web and gaming is getting these extra hours. But even if television consumption is not rising, there is a correlation between the presence of a television in a teenager's bedroom and his health and grades. Kids with TVs have half of a grade lower GPA than kids without. Kids with TVs also eat one fewer meal per week with the family. Interestingly, poorer kids are more likely to have a TV in their room than richer kids.

We can't fix this with all at once or with a miracle pill or silver bullet. But a step in the right direction has to be slowing it down and spending more time around the dinner table. Take advantage of those weekends with a big family breakfast. And get the kids involved in the meals.

(I know... easier said than done...)


Read more here and here.

Weekly Wrap Up

Make your own yogurt? It's easier than one would think.

The case against cooking shows. (Hear, hear. The article focuses on the difference between cooking on TV and cooking in real life. Personally, I can't stand any show where someone is voted off. The focus seems to be on ridiculing the guy whose soufflé fell instead of showing us how to do something right.)

How many push-ups can you do?

Good Magazine: The 7 Best Bike Cities

Spring has sprung nearly everywhere, so it's time to get the bikes out and start putting miles under your wheels.

Of course, some folks more hearty than yours truly (which is just about everyone but the intensive care ward of your local hospital) bike year round. To those proud individual, I tip my chapeau.

For instance, take a look at these noble warriors from Montreal and Minneapolis, two nearly arctic villages that made Good's Top 7 Bike Towns.



If you're like me and getting your bike out for the first time this year, don't forget to follow the late, great Sheldon Brown's advice on chain cleaning and lubrication.

Happy trails...

Coffee Talk

I love coffee... just love it... from the ritual aspect of grinding the beans to the smell of the kitchen when it's brewing to the smoky combination of flavors when it's finally in my cup.

So one would think this would be great news for me, right? Coffee makes you faster, stronger, better looking, and all that.

See, but here's the thing: Is your goal a PR at the next race, or is it to live to be 100?

Look at it this way: integrating some caffeine can make you a bit faster or increase your endurance... but only compared to yourself, to your pre-caffeinated self. But that doesn't mean it's making you a more efficient machine for the long haul. I think everyone here would agree: there are no magic bullets. There is no single supplement that's going to let you chow down all you want and still look great come the first trip to the beach.

Is small amounts, it can help you burn some fat, tapping into fat as an energy source. It can make you a little bit faster, and make you go a little bit further.

But it's not a substitute for hard work and watching what you eat.

So be careful out there. If your goal is to live to be 100, moreso than just setting a new PR at this weekend's 10K, there's no need to add an extra cup to whatever you're currently doing. And if your goal is to set a new PR this weekend, remember the singular most important rule of racing nutrition: don't ever eat or drink anything on race day that you haven't tried during training.

What's going on next door?

Next door at the member's only site, we have a couple or three interesting discussions going on.

MG on dropping 70 pounds in six month and SM on muscle confusion (here).

LS on how she got hooked on yoga (here).

And LS again on why she still does push ups, long after her last APRT/APFT (here).

Happy International Waffle Day!

Of course, we don't celebrate it here in the US. We have our own US Waffle Day, in August.

Here at the Training Table, though, we believe is celebrating all food-related occasions as often as possible, so we'll be observing both. Maple syrup is required, whipped cream totally optional.

Mental Health Break: Food, Up Close and Personal

The Well ran a quick diversion from gloom and doom stories about what's killing us all to share the photography of Satre Stuelke, a 44 year old former art professor and current medical school student. Well, not quite photography, as these images were taken with a CT scanner. Mr. Stuelke says his goal was to get us all to “think about how things are constructed" by scanning common, household items. And you don't get any more common than food.

Here's a box of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. "They are so beautiful with their breading," Mr. Stuelke said. "The box design is truly elegant as well."

Read the Well article here.

See the slideshow here.

And see the entire collection here at http://www.radiologyart.com/.

Get out there!

A story I can relate to over at NPR this morning:

Report: Most Americans Don't Get Enough Vitamin D

• Morning Edition, March 24, 2009 · Three out of every four Americans are deficient in vitamin D. That's a big increase, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

How do you get Vitamin D? Well, there's milk (fortified, that is), and salmon and other oily fish. But it seems that we get most of our Vit D from the sun. From getting outside.

I have my own personal story with Mr. Sun. Any time we've lived somewhere known for it's overcast days, I can feel the effects almost immediately. Living in a neighborhood surrounded by 70 foot Georgia pines, where the sun didn't break the tree line until around ten each morning... that really got to me. Moving from Hawaii to Missouri nearly killed me. And now, most recently, just one year in sunny (maybe too sunny) Colorado has been a rebirth for me.

This past winter, I became a dad for the first time, and the whole experience has been wonderful. And yet, because of the new obligations, I'm not getting outside enough. Not walking the dogs, not skiing, not riding my bike. And I had been feeling the effects. So this weekend we made a conscious effort to spend as much time outside as we could. We took the Z Man for a hike, pushing the BOB stroller around one of the easier mountain bike trails. We spent time outside at the local park. Ate lunch outside, and tried to replenish the Vitamin D stores. And come Monday, we all felt so much better.

When the weather turns to crap, especially in the winter, you may have the convenience of a treadmill, a gym in the basement, or maybe a living room floor big enough to do yoga. Those are all good things. But we all still need to get outside, get some fresh air, and gets some sun on our face.

Free, cheap, and professional grade training support

Here’s what I know about fitness: the same thing doesn’t work for everyone.

It’s like Curly said in City Slickers, you gotta find your one thing. Stick with that, and everything else falls in place. But figuring out that one thing, the thing that works for you, aye, there’s the rub.

When it comes to tracking your workouts, folks tend to fall into one of two camps. There are the folks who weigh their food and time every workout and produce reams of spreadsheets to analyze. And then there are the folks who just go with the flow, who run until they get tired, who do what feels right.

For instance, some folks will use an iPod so that they get lost in their run or ride. They use calming music for their LSD runs or long rides so that the miles just disappear, or uptempo music to up the intensity of a workout. Other folks swear that listening to music is counter-productive because it blocks the signals from your body, that you need to be fully aware of the pain and effort that you are experiencing in order to benefit from it.

I say, to each his own. Figure out what works for you and go for it.

Along those lines, some people need data in order to improve. They need to know the exact mileage, pace, elevation gain, and the like so that can put a number next to the feeling. You intuitively “know” what a work out felt like, but what does it mean? You could subjectively give that run a 7 on your personal intensity scale, but what exactly does that 7 look like? Can you put numbers up against that feeling?

If you fall into the more analytical group, then life couldn’t be easier for you today. There are dozens of ways to track your runs or rides, and you can spend as much or as little as you want in taking full advantage of the technology that is out there. And if you don’t want to spend a single dime, there are

For starters, if you’re trying to use your REI dividend check or feel the need to personally jump-start the economy through frivolous spending, you have a lot of choices out there. Just about every GPS out there comes with fitness software so that you can plot your route onto a map as well as determining elevation gain, total distance, pace, maximum pace, and anything else you can think of.

If you want this kind of data, there are a couple of things to consider. First of all, do you really need to see the route on a map? If the answer is no, then you can save a lot of money by opting for a GPS with fewer features. By extracting the processor that converts GPS data into a map location, manufacturers can provide most of the features in a smaller, lighter, cheaper package. You won’t get a map, but you will still get mileage, pace, and sometimes elevation gain. Nike offers this package in their Nike+ series, which consists of a footpod that fits into the insole of certain models of Nike running shoes. The Nike+ pod talks to your iPod and your computer, so you can see your data on the iPod screen while you’re running or wait to download it until you get home.

Garmin also makes several models of wristwatch-based GPS units, some selling for as little as $99, that give you everything you can imagine except for the actual map of your route. The Garmin watches use the ANT+ wireless sensor interoperability platform, the industry standard these days for getting different computers to talk to each other. ANT+ allows your watch to serve as the tactical operations center, receiving data from a GPS footpod (which clips to your shoe laces), a heart-rate monitor, and, for cycling applications, wheel speed sensors and power meters. The Garmins also use ANT+ to wirelessly download your run or ride to your computer, so you can sit back and enjoy your recovery meal while your run downloads without even having to take off your watch.

If you do want to see your run or your ride on a map, then you still have quite a few choices. If money is no object, then one of Garmin’s many GPS units could by right for you. The $299 Forerunner 405 looks like a typical sports watch but is as powerful as that unit sitting on your car’s dashboard. It will track time, mileage, pace, heart rate, calories burned, and can even provide you with a Virtual Partner to run against. When you get home, you wave it at your computer and the run is downloaded, plotted, mapped, and analyzed. For cyclists there is the even more powerful Edge series, which does all of the above as well as providing a full-color map display. You can plot a course ahead of time and then just follow the arrows while you ride, or use the GPS to find the nearest Starbucks when it’s time for a break.

The technology options are quite nearly endless for the consumer willing to pull out the plastic, who wants to help stimulate the economy single-handedly. But what about us cheapskates out there, those of us so tight we’ll squeeze a dollar until the eagle hollers? Turns out there are a couple of free or nearly free options out there as well.

You can assemble a do-it-yourself package for running or cycling at Velo Routes. Velo Routes is based on Google’s Maps, making it quite user friendly. You input a route, then time yourself on that route, and Velo Routes will tell you your pace and elevation gain. While Velo Routes was made for cyclists (hence the elevation gain feature), it works just as well for runners. Of course, you could do the same thing with Google Maps, but Velo Routes adds the ability to save and track runs/rides, to find other runs/rides in your area, to compare times with other runners/cyclists, and to develop cue sheets for your run or ride.

Another program that does about the same thing is Map My Fitness. Map My Fitness is broken down into five very similar sites, focusing on running, cycling, hiking, walking, or triathletes/multi-sporters. Map My Fitness is basically Google Maps on steroids. It lets you plot a route, save it, share it, find the routes of other users, generate a training log, and analyze your workout data. Map My Fitness would be cool enough by itself, but if you own an iPhone, then you are really in luck. Using the iPhone application, the whole thing now becomes hands-free. Your iPhone tracks your run or ride, you download the data to your Map My Fitness folder, and without plotting a single point or typing in anything, you have a complete breakdown of your workout.

So pick your poison. Free, free-ish, cheap, or professional grade. Your pick, according to what works for you.

Now go forth and do great things.

Simul-blogging: Something Fishy

From our companion site:

It is common knowledge that the amount of Omega-3 acids in fish make them a good source of lean protein. However, there are many issues with commonly eaten seafoods in the way they are caught and the amount of mercury and other harmful toxins food in many fish. Two recent Sundance movies “The Cove” and the “End of the Line” highlighted some of these issues along with “The Cold Hard Truth About Fish” in the Dec 08/Jan09 Issue of Adventure Magazine. So in keeping with the mantra of “eat low on the food chain”, here is a simple pasta recipe as we near the end of the week, and time and energy are waning.

10 + cloves of garlic sliced
olive oil
cherry tomatoes sliced in half
2 cans of flat anchovies
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Fresh parsley
1 lb penne or rigatoni pasta

Lightly brown garlic in oil, add anchovies. Stir regularly to facilitate the anchovies breaking up to a semi-paste consistency. Add tomatoes. Stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Mangia!

Capers might be a nice addition as well.

Recipe compliments of Diane Bracey ‘80

What NOT to eat for breakfast

Bill Maher, on Dunkin Donuts new breakfast offering, the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich:

Bacon, egg, and cheese between two waffles isn't breakfast, it's a suicide attempt. This is Dunkin' Donuts' new waffle sandwich. You could wait in line for yours or, if you're in a hurry, just snatch the pistol from the cop sitting at the counter and shoot yourself in the head.


Scramble the first word, and you get Unkind Donuts.

Awesome Easy Veggie Wrap

From Donna McAleer, over on our sister-site:

Only have 5 minutes to make your next meal. Throw together the ingredients below and the result is a tasty and relatively healthy wrap.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a little
Romaine lettuce, chopped
Ceasar dressing - a few tablespoons
Onions, chopped - a few tablespoons
Mushrooms, sliced — a bunch — any kind–regular, shitake, portabello, etc
Parmesan cheese, shaved
Tortillas or Wraps (personally like the Spinach ones)

Saute sliced mushrooms and chopped onions in olive oil. Toss romaine lettuce with Ceasar dressing. Pile lettuce on top of a warm wrap, add the mushroom-onion mix, generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Roll, wrap and eat.

Tomato Soup on a slow Saturday

Everyone's sick here... head colds, coughs, runny noses.

So it looks as though we'll be spending this sunny day in bed or on the couch.

Fortunately, I made a quick and easy tomato soup (with grilled cheese on the side, of course, because you can't have tomato soup without grilled cheese) so we have lunch already made, if nothing else.

Z-Man will need something else, as he made clear to us by going through the cookbooks and bringing to our attention the things he wanted to try.


The soup is too easy... just the thing when no one really feels like cooking.


2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 28-ounce can diced fire-roasted
tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup garlic or cheese croutons, for serving


Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour for 1 minute. Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar. Bring to a boil. Partially cover and cook over moderate heat until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Puree half of the soup in a blender or immerse a hand blender into the saucepan and pulse for a few minutes. Return to pot and add the half-and-half or cream and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper and swirl in an additional 2 tablespoons of butter if desired.

Serve with croutons. Makes an excellent accompaniment for our Crispy Crab Cakes (page 8, Great Tastes — soon available as a free PDF download).

Friday Highlights

Long week and I'm out of ideas, so here are some highlights from elsewhere.

A few recipes:

• Homemade Soft Pretzels from Cooking and Kitchen Stories.
• Nouveau Casseroles from the NPR Kitchen Window.
• Ginger Steak Salad from the Pioneer Woman.
• A muffin that's a bit too healthy from Fritter.
• A wicked easy cabbage and chicken stir-fry with sriracha sauce.

And general stories about food or about thinking about food or about thinking about thinking.

• What I Eat, from Hardscrabble Times.
• Blogging for Food, from Little Red Bike Cafe.
• Vegan Before Dinnertime, from the NYT's Well.
• The Rise of Extreme Beer, from an old New Yorker that I never got around to reading.
• What's the best time of the day to exercise? at the NYT.

Pancakes: Quick and Easy or Supercharged

If you have premixed pancake batter in your fridge, drop and give me 50 pushups. That stuff is loaded with preservatives and stabilizers and doesn't taste good in the first place.

If you have a box of premixed pancake powder in the pantry, you only owe me 20 pushups, plus another 20 flutterkicks. Same problem as above, plus you're paying way too much for something you can make yourself in about three seconds.

A running theme here has been slowing it down, but slowing it down doesn't have to mean that it takes forever to get ready. And if you forgot to make the french toast the night before, then it's never too late to whip up an alternative to cold cereal and Saturday morning cartoons.

Basic pancakes are super-easy, and my version ups the fiber and protein and makes a great pre-race or pre-workout meal as well as an excellent recovery meal.

For basic pancakes, just remember the number two. You need 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of milk, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter or oil. Throw in a dash of salt and, if you want, a tablespoon of sugar (or brown sugar, or agave nectar, or honey), and you have pancakes for a family of four. (What? Step by step instructions? Come on... they're pancakes! Mix the dry, mix the wet, mix the wet into the dry, and fire up the griddle.)

These are super easy, and taste so much better than anything you're ever going to get out of a jug or a box. Add some mashed bananas, blueberries (fresh or frozen), or anything else that strikes your fancy.

But here's the really cool thing: it takes about two more minutes to take these from pancakes that taste good to pancakes that taste great and are great for you.

The first trick: substitute one cup of whole wheat flour for one cup of the white flour. That single step takes your protein from about 4 grams per serving to 5.5 grams, and your fiber jumps from zero to 5 grams. If you have a couple more minutes, you can grind up some oats in your coffee bean grinder or food processor and make a cup of oat flour. That gives you about 6-7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. (Mix the one cup of oat flour with the one cup of white flour, and throw a mini-scoop of whole oats in to the batter — presentation counts, after all.)

The second trick: add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of almonds to the mix by chopping them in your grinder, processor, or hand-chopper. About ten whacks with the hand-chopper gives you almond powder that nearly disappears into the flour, but still gives the batter a little bit of nutty texture. Take it down further and you'll loose the texture completely for lightly, fluffy pancakes. And almonds are nutritional powerhouses, giving you an extra 3-4 grams of fiber per serving, plus protein, calcium, and Vitamin E.

So here you go: the Training Table's Super-charged Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (or 3 egg whites, if you're watching your cholesterol)
2 Tbs melted butter or oil
2 cups milk or 1 cup milk, 1 cup buttermilk

1/4 to 1/2 cup ground almonds, chopped finely with a hand-chopper or food processor

One cup blueberries

The Economy and our Pantries

Interesting piece on how the economy is affecting haute cuisine.

Food Magazines Begin to Consider Cooks’ Budgets


Bon Appétit, too, is altering its mix. “We encouraged our readers to still indulge; have caviar, but try Carolina rainbow trout caviar; instead of beef tenderloin, make an eye of round beef roast,” Barbara Fairchild, the magazine’s editor in chief, said by e-mail.


And for those of us who were already living on Carolina rainbow caviar, what are we supposed to downgrade to?

Quote of the Week

Mark Bittman, on his new book, Food Matters.

“I have no interest in helping people becoming chefs. I have an interest in 50 percent of the people in America knowing how to cook. And whether they cook like chefs or not, I don’t care. It’s probably better if they don’t. It would be better if they cook like me, which is adequately.”

Irish Stew with Cheddar Scones

There aren't very many stew days left in the year, but even if Mr Summer is breathing down Mr Winter's neck, you can always break this one out for St Paddy's Day, if nothing else.

It takes a good hour and a half, but most of that time is just watching it simmer on the stove, which frees you up to make the scones, clean everything up, and set the table, so once dinner's on, there's nothing to do but sit back and enjoy it all.

Ingredients:
2 pounds stew meat (beef or lamb), cut up into one inch cubes
Olive oil
1 large onion or 2 med/small ones
2 Tbs chopped garlic
2 Tbs tomato paste
1/4 cup flour
One bottle stout or porter beer
4 cups broth — 2 cups beef, 2 cups chicken
Thyme: either a couple of fresh sprigs or a shake or two of dried
*2 pounds potatoes (Yukon works best)
*1 cup carrots
*1 cup frozen peas
*1 cup savoy cabbage

*you won't need these until after the stew simmers for an hour, so you have time to chop it all later

(Adapted from Cuisine at Home.)

Season the stew meat with salt and pepper. In a Dutch oven or large pot, brown the meat for 5-8 minutes on med-high in 1-2 Tbs of oil. Move it to a bowl (or a plate, but you want to catch and save any liquid from the meat for the broth) and drop the heat down to medium.




Add a bit more oil and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and garlic, stir well and cook for 2 more minutes, until the paste darkens. Add the flour and stir until everything is evenly coated, and cook for 1 more minute. Then deglaze with your beer, scraping the bottom for a couple of minutes to free up the meat and onion bits from the bottom of the pot.



Most folks will tell you to use a Guiness, but this time I used an Odells Cutthroat Porter. Any dark beer will work, but avoid anything sweet (eg, your vanilla or chocolate stouts).

Once you've deglazed, add both broths, the stew meat and its juices, and the thyme. Simmer for one hour on low heat. (Now you can work on the cheddar scones and clean up a bit.)

Chop the potatoes and carrots. Stir in to the stew and cook for about 10-12 minutes (potatoes should be tender). Cut the savoy cabbage into slices and add with the peas, and cook for 5 minutes more.






The cheddar scones take about 20 minutes to make and 25 minutes to bake, so you can make these while the stew is simmering.

2 1/2 cups flour (up to one cup whole wheat, the rest all-purpose)
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
10 Tbs butter (keep it cold until you need it)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup minced chives
*1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbs water
1 egg whisked with 1 Tbs water

*or water and Saco cultured buttermilk powder

Preheat the oven to 375ºand line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (Ahh, parchment paper... one of the world's greatest inventions.)

Mix the flour, sugar, baking power and baking soda, and salt. Combine until evenly mixed. (If you're using the buttermilk powder instead of real buttermilk, add that now as well.) Cut in the butter until pea-sized.

(Scott Peacock says to cut in the butter by hand, mashing it and tearing it between your fingers until it crumbles. I tried that but make too much of a mess. And I'm not a huge fan of pastry cutters, because I hate cleaning them. So I use my three dollar, all-purpose utility knife to cut the cold butter into tiny cubes and then mash it with a fork.)







Add the cheddar and chives (or a dash of onion and garlic powder, if you forget to get green onions) and then add the buttermilk and 2 Tbs water. Mix very gently, just until blended. Move the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and pat into a large square, 8-10 inches on a side. Cut in half both ways, and then cut each section in half both ways again. Then cut those squares into triangles. Place on the parchment paper and brush the tops with the egg/water mixture. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden.

Clean up the kitchen, get back to the potatoes and carrots, and get ready for a slow dinner.

Cheers, and Happy Birthday, Naomh Pádraig!

Question of the Week: Oats

Pat said:
Hey
whats the difference between quaker oats one minute oatmeal and the regular. Does it effect nutrition? Did they precook it?

If you’ve ever seen raw oats or oats in horse feed, you probably noted that they look plumper than what you see in your oatmeal. Humans can’t really eat raw oats — the bran shell makes them indigestible. So you’re three choices are steel cut (like the name says, cut between fine disk blades), rolled (slow cooking), and quick cooking (also rolled, but rolled finer and usually cut again).

Nutritionally, if you gave steel cut oats a 100, then rolled/slow would be around a 90 and slow cooking maybe an 85. It’s a personal question whether the extra nutritional gain is worth the extra cooking time.

Lots of folks advocate eating more oats. If you’re fighting high cholesterol, cancer, or celiac disease, you’ve probably read that you should eat more. So here are a couple of tips.

For one, avoid the individual packets of oatmeal. They are highly processed and contain tons of sugar. And they’re expensive. Just buy a big tub of oatmeal and add your own brown sugar, maple syrup, walnuts, dried fruit, unsweetened coconut, or whatever you want. For three bucks you get eight individual servings, or for three bucks you get a tub of oats that will last you a month or more.

Second, if you’re going to microwave your oatmeal, then there is no difference in cooking time between regular and quick cooking oats. They both require the water to get right up to boiling, so you’re not saving any time and you’re losing a tiny bit of nutrition by picking the quick cooking.

For baking applications, I have found that quick cooking give you a chewier cookie while regular give you a crisper one. We use the regular in our granola, because I like that smokier taste of the browned, crisp oats over the softer, quick cooking ones. But both work and there’s no time adjustment to the baking.

Finally, you can grind oats in your coffee bean grinder and make oat flour. Substitute about one half cup of oat flour for one half cup of wheat flour for every two cups of flour called for in the recipe, and you’ll probably get the same results (in terms of rise and baking time) with a slightly nuttier flavor and bit of a nutritional boost.

Cheers!