Category Archives: Just Life

Breakfast

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I really like breakfast. Actually, I love the food that we/Americans eat for breakfast, so of course I like breakfast. I could eat breakfast type foods for lunch, breakfast for dinner, breakfast for a snack, it really doesn’t matter. It is sort of like pie. I can eat pie for breakfast, lunch, dinner or in between. Pie is really my favorite food. I know it isn’t technically a breakfast food, but since it is my favorite food, it fits in that category.

Racing bikes means big breakfasts. One of the great benefits. I usually eat breakfast 4 hours before most races. By most races, I mean most US races. And by that I mean criteriums, cyclocross and MTB races. I do this so my stomach is pretty empty for the intense efforts of these races. If I do a longer road race, eating so early isn’t mandatory. But, recently, the past year or two, I’ve been eating closer to the start. Sometimes as close as two hours. I’m not sure why that is, but it seems to be working out, so maybe it isn’t that important.

I like riding to eat breakfast. I started this back when I was in high school. I used to ride over to Lawrence on Saturday mornings and get the .99 cent breakfast at The Good Earth. I did this pretty much most Saturdays with my friend Judy Hudson. I’m sure Kris, Mike and a few others went along sometimes, but it was always Judy and I. It was 60 + miles roundtrip, which seems really far back then, especially in the winter.

A few years later, I was staying in Cardiff California one winter, training for riding an hour record attempt. Once again, there was a Good Earth in La Jolla village. Nearly every weekday morning, Trudi and I would ride the 15 miles to La Jolla, get the .99 cent breakfast special. It was whole wheat/cinnamon pancakes and eggs. After, we’d go down to the cove and watch the whales that were migrating down to Baja, then head back. It was pretty great having 30 miles on my legs before I’d even trained for the day.

I don’t hardly ever eat cold cereal for breakfast. My friend, Glenda Taylor, who grew up on a farm, once told me her mother wouldn’t let them eat cereal until they’d already had some “real food”. That makes sense. Most cold cereal is just a sugary snack.

I like most everything, pancakes, waffles, eggs, all types of hot cereal with fruit and nuts. I drink hot tea in the morning. I’ll drink coffee if I’m going out, but at home, it’s hot tea. Iike English Breakfast the best, but just about any black tea will do.

If I had to choose just one breakfast food, it would probably have to be pancakes. I’ve had the same pancake sourdough starter for close to 20 years. I thought I’d lost it once when I returned from a long trip and the mason jar the starter was in had exploded in the refrigerator. But a few months later, I was helping Keith and Catherine move and there in the back of their fridge was a jar of my starter that I’d given them. I was so stoked.

Anyway, I though of this because I am pretty much skipping breakfast today, just raisin toast. A couple times a week, I’ve been going over and walking Catherine’s mom’s dog, Jason, a little Pomeranian. When I do this, I end up eating lunch with her. It is a full meal deal, more like dinner. I normally skip lunch. I’m usually riding or doing something and just snack between breakfast and dinner. So, when I eat a full lunch, I have to cut back before and after. It’s not a very good trade-off.

My sourdough starter.  I know it looks a little rancid, but it isn't.  I only use real maple syrup.  I like Grade B better than A, it has more flavor.

My sourdough starter. I know it looks a little rancid, but it isn’t. I only use real maple syrup. I like Grade B better than A, it has more flavor.

I usually put yogurt and fruit on waffles.

I usually put yogurt and fruit on waffles.

This is the best bacon I've ever had.  It is from Steve Myrland from Madison.  He brough it up to Dennis' and wasn't shy about proclaiming he makes the best bacon in the world.  He was right.

This is the best bacon I’ve ever had. It is from Steve Myrland from Madison. He brough it up to Dennis’ and wasn’t shy about proclaiming he makes the best bacon in the world. He was right.

Jason.

Jason.

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Thanksgiving and Hanukkah Overlap

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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Pretty simple, friends and family get together to hang and eat. It sort of hard to commercialize something as simple as this. I heard that yesterday was the biggest travel day of the whole year. That is a good thing. It seems like some our best holidays, Halloween for example, has lost its appeal, thus participation, due to societal worries. Today happens to also be Hanukkah. I don’t know much about Hanukkah, but I do know that it is usually in December. This weird alignment of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah won’t overlap again for 79,043 years. That’s a while from now. Another tidbit of information, Thanksgiving has been a holiday since 1863. Pres. Abraham Lincoln declared it a holiday hundred and 50 years ago.

I say it’s hard to commercialize today, but “they” really do get their way tommorrow, Black Friday. I’ve never participated in Black Friday. I don’t make many rash decisions on purchases by prices. But, Black Friday is probably a bigger “holiday” than Halloween now. I hate that the Black Friday devils are now encroaching Thanksgiving Day. But, that is just life.

I’ve spent Thanksgiving away from home maybe more than the time I’ve been home. One season I spent the whole fall and winter racing cyclocross in Switzerland. I was living in Aigle, a small town in the French section, now famous as the place the headquarters of the UCI is located. Trudi flew over a week before Thanksgiving. We decided that we were going to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal. But trying to locate pumpkin in Switzerland was impossible. We travelled to Geneva, which was an hour drive from Aigle, to try to find some pumpkin. We went to health food stores, farmer’s markets, out of the way grocery stores, but no luck. We went without pumpkin pie that year, which seems like the mainstay of the meal, plus it’s my favorite part.

Another year I didn’t have a proper Thanksgiving meal was a winter I spent up in Grand Forks, North Dakota, doing a study with the Human Nutrition Lab. I was confined to the lab 24/7, unless I left with an escort or was out training on my bike. On Thanksgiving day that year, after lunch, which was beyond horrible, no turkey, no mashed potatoes, no pumpkin pie, only saturated fat, I went out for a ride around town. It was super cold, as it always was in North Dakota then, but I didn’t mind. I was pleasantly surprised how many people were out walking. If they weren’t walking they were playing touch football with their families, or frisbee. It was so nice observing for afar. I think that is when I really started to appreciated the simpleness of the holiday.

I got an email yesterday, from my friend, Brian Worthy, czar of Vermarc clothing and just all around nice guy. He reminded me of a Thanksgiving that he spent in Chicago at Trudi’s grandmother’s apartment. Kris, Trudi and Brian were driving the team van out to Plymouth Massachusetts, for Cyclocross Nationals. Seems pretty early now, but back then, the date was so late in the season compared when the last road race occurred. I was all ready on the East coast, I ate with Paul Biskup’s family. Anyway, Brian got the luxury to get to eat some of Trudi’s grandma’s knodel, which is a German potato dumpling. You cover it with Sauerbraten gravy, with is a German pot-roast. It is to die for. Trudi’s grandparents were both from Germany. I like the mixing of ethic foods with traditional holiday meals. Brian is lucky to have that memory. Obviously, it will be with him forever.

I won the Nationals that year. I thought it was so appropriate that we we in Plymouth near Thanksgiving. We saw were the original piligrams landed, Plymouth rock. It was sort of disappointing, much smaller than you’d think. We did a tour of a cranberry museum there. I learned nearly everything I know about cranberries on that tour. It was a great trip.

I’m in Topeka this year. A few friends are coming over. We’re not eating until late because Catherine is flying in from Seattle at two o’clock, so won’t be back to Topeka until after four. That is fine. I hope to ride Bill up North towards Hoyt, where he seems to go every other year. It is pretty cold out, but that’s alright. Okay, I hope you all have an enjoyable day, relaxed, no worries. It doesn’t have to be memorable for it to be meaningful.

If you want a little fun Thanksgiving merriment, go to Google and click on the Doodle.

I baked these two pies last night.  It smelled so good waking up this morning.

I baked these two pies last night. It smelled so good waking up this morning.

These are knodel from last year's Christmas.

These are knodel from last year’s Christmas.

Brian Worthy

Brian Worthy

Plymouth rock.  I think it has been whittled down through the years.  It is only a few feet across.

Plymouth rock. I think it has been whittled down through the years. It is only a few feet across.