Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition – Page 60

#everydayonabike

Since January, Sara over at Life’s a Bear has been collecting photos of people on bicycles as part of her #everydayonabike challenge as a way to motivate her own efforts and to “encourage others to consider biking as and easy and fun and empowering way to get around.” Couldn’t have said it better!

I’ve been meaning to participate, and with yesterday afternoon’s beautiful bike outing at the park, I finally got around to taking a photo. The only catch? She’s collecting photos using Instagram.

I’ve never used Instagram, but I thought it would be a simple matter of going to the website and signing up for an account (like Twitter). Not so much — apparently, you to have one of them fancy IPhones or androids or tablets or whatever them kids are usin’ these days.

Regardless of the fact that our computer seemed to think it was a tablet, it doesn’t want to play with Instagram (I wasted much precious time figuring this out, of course). And my basic, no-frills, no-data-plan, talk and text only phone is definitely out.

So, without further ado, here is my attempt to participate in #everydayonabike.

Have you been out on your bike yet this month?

Easter sushi

We kicked our Easter off with a relatively low-key breakfast and Easter baskets. I discovered yet another reuse for receiving blankets — the small, pastel-colored blankets make a nice basket liner, without the mess of Easter grass (bonus points if the blankets happen to have bunnies on them!).

Someone got creative with his Easter bonnet.

Later in the morning, we headed over to Matt’s dad’s house for a traditional Easter brunch. I realized as we were in the car driving that the timing (and weather) was such that we could have attempted our first South City to Webster Groves bike ride with Gabriel — another time, I guess.

The fabulous spread included a fritatta, a Parmesean artichoke quiche, waffles with blueberry sauce, and fresh fruit. And then there was dessert — sour cream coffee cake and lemon coconut cloud cake. I don’t need to look too far to see where Matthew gets his penchant for baking.

Anyway, the mother and sister of one of the other brunch guests are in Japan, and we guessed that their Easter brunch may have included sushi.

After a post-brunch nap, Gabriel was ready for some egg hunt action.

Back home, Gabriel and I hung out in the yard, while Matthew worked on bread, including a variation on our chocolate cherry bread. I snapped some more pictures of Gabriel in his Easter best (vest: one American dollar at the SVdP thrift store).

That night, looking for a light and healthy dinner option after the rich brunch, I remembered an idea I had for sushi filling (based on a snack I made for Gabriel a few days prior). I’d actually forgotten about our brunch conversation, and that Easter sushi connection, until I sat down to write this post.

I’ve already done non-traditional rice for sushi, so why not experiment further?

Our Easter dinner: sushi and Asian-inspired salad with garden-fresh purple cabbage and mache lettuce.

Rice millet sushi

Ingredients
1 c. cooked rice (I used a red variety)
1/4 – 1/3 c. puffed millet [cereal] OR 1/2 c. cooked millet
2 T. almond butter
2-3 T. tomatillo salsa OR 1 T. seasoned rice vinegar
1 t. olive oil
3-5 Nori seaweed wrappers
Avocado, carrot, radish, etc., thinly sliced for rolling
Soy sauce and wasabi for dipping

Directions
Mix the top five ingredients. Spread a thin layer on the non-shiny side of the nori sheet and place other fillings on top (see here for more detailed instructions) — don’t overdo it on the fillings, or your roll will fall apart.

Roll, dipping your fingers in water as you work, let the roll sit for a couple of minutes, and slice with a sharp knife. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi paste for dipping.

Expanding our fleet

After saying for years that he could really use a back-up bike — something to ride when his usual bike is in the shop for repairs — Matthew began hunting in earnest this spring, trolling Craigslist and visiting some local bike shops to test ride different styles of bikes.

He found and test-rode a [Craigslist-ed] Surly Pacer at about the same time he visited a local shop where he tried three bikes: a Salsa Casserole (yes, that is seriously a brand and model of bicycle, not a TexMex dish) and the Kona Ute (a longtail — be still my beating heart!) and MinUte.

While he liked the Konas (more on this below), he narrowed it down to the Salsa and Surly Pacer, which were fairly similar: both sturdy road bikes that would take a rear cargo rack and should hold up well for daily riding. In addition to the ecological benefits of choosing a used bicycle, there are also significant cost savings. After researching to make sure the Surly could be adapted to his needs (i.e., would take fenders and that rear rack), he opted for the used bike route.*

Actually setting it up with fenders and a rack was, of course, easier said than done. In the end, it involved an extra bike shop visit, a new, narrower rear tire and drilling a couple of holes in the rear fender.

Late last week, it was finally road worthy, and not a moment too soon, as Matthew was starting to get buyer’s remorse, wondering if he should have gone with the ease and peace-of-mind of a new bike. He’s still adjusting to the road bike position (his other bike is a hybrid, with a very upright riding position), but so far, so good, I think.

Now, to my favorite subject — the longtails. He didn’t go into the bike shop intending to try a longtail, but when the Kona Ute presented itself, he took it for a spin. He was impressed with the overall handling, and the fact that we could get a frame that would fit both of us is certainly attractive.

Unless we want to solely use the trailer for Gabriel (which I don’t), we’ll need some other option, as he probably will outgrow the IBert [front seat] before summer’s end. While we could just attach a rear seat to one of our current bikes, it would mean sacrificing our rear cargo room, not a practical option when using a bike for transportation. A longtail bike provides plenty of room for a little passenger and his (and your) stuff, not to mention groceries, towing other bikes . . . the options are endless!

Given the rarity of longtail bikes in these parts, this will almost certainly be a new purchase. We’ve narrowed it down to the Kona Ute (which I need to get into the shop and ride) and the Yuba Mundo. None of our local bike shops carry the Mundo (the closest is in Columbia, MO), but fortunately, we ran into a family who is willing to let us test ride theirs.

I’m still not sure that we’ll end up going the longtail route, but I’m very excited about the possibility!

*For a nice guide on buying a Craigslist bike, check out this post from S. over at Simply Bike.

Fuel for active living

Active transportation is one way to incorporate more physical activity into your daily life, but it is not the only means of active living. Despite a distinct lack of bicycling over the past few days, our lives have not lacked for activity.

The cool, wet March weather has Matthew a bit behind where he’d like to be with planting, so on Saturday, I joined Matthew at the garden. We planted over forty pounds of potatoes (ten different varieties) and transplanted more of the onion seedlings. When the sun came out mid-morning, we enjoyed unexpectedly lovely weather, lifting spirits and prompting fun outfits:

Someone knows how to garden in style: coat, leggings, and rain boots, sans pants, of course. He grabbed the lantern in case we decided to work into the dark (we didn’t, but it has been known to happen).

We fueled our efforts with leftovers of colcannon, a dish consisting of mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale (I used a mix of red cabbage and Swiss chard). The potatoes were leftover from our potato taste test the previous weekend — some of the purple color is the cabbage, but we are also growing a variety of ridiculously dark purple potatoes.

We went from fifties, sunny, and no pants on Saturday to over a foot of snow on Sunday. The winter weather prompted us to alter our Sunday brunch plans. A mile into our eleven mile drive to UCity, on a very snow- and ice-covered main road, we opted to turn back — not worth it. With the car safely parked again, we headed out on foot to a new neighborhood coffee shop — walkable wins again!

In addition to gardening, PLAY is also a form of active living, great for kids and adults alike. Today’s slightly warmer temperatures and sunshine were perfect for playing in the still-abundant snow.

While Gabriel tramped around the back yard (in pants), I brought this guy to life, complete with squash stem mouth:

I scaled back the size of his midsection when I couldn’t lift my initial creation.

After our exertions, we headed inside to warm up and refuel with dinner leftovers: farinata with carmelized onions (the onions make cheese unnecessary); couscous with Swiss chard, toasted almonds, and sundried tomatoes; and roasted sweet potatoes.

Have examples of how you’ve incorporated physical activity into your life over the past few days? Please share!

Bicycle inspiration from around the blogosphere

True to my word, I’ve spent some time over the past few weeks digging into bike-related blogs. If my recent food-to-bike posting ratio is any indication, I have indeed found the inspiration I sought.

I’ve mentioned it here before, but one NOT new to me bike blog is Simply Bike. S. and I both biked through our pregnancies, and her daughter C. is just a couple months younger than Gabriel, so I feel like we’ve been figuring out this whole biking with babies thing together.

I used S’s blogroll as a jumping-off point in my bike blog search, which led me to Hum of the City. Inspired by a vacation in Copenhagen, this San Francisco family returned to the U.S., bought bikes, and later sold their only automobile. In addition to detailing their adventures as a bicycle family (with two kids), the site contains a wealth of information on different cargo bikes.

Two recent posts that really struck a chord with me are “Yes, but . . . ” that addresses excuses for not giving cycling a try, and “Bicycles and privilege,” a thoughtful look at how, whether we ride bicycles out of choice or necessity, we are not so different.

Over at Tiny Helmets Big Bikes, the Bustamante family chronicle their adventures using bicycles for transportation (and fun!) in Sacramento. I especially enjoy reading about their travels on the Yuba Mundo, a longtail cargo bike that I’ve been drooling over for about a year now.

Sara over at Life’s a Bear added cycling to her family’s routine fairly recently. Since January, she’s been collecting photos for her #everydayonabike challenge to encourage others to give bicycle transportation a try (which reminds me that I need to snap a photo one of these days).

I would be remiss if I did not mention Girls and Bicycles (no, not a calendar with pictures of semi-nude women on bicycles, regardless of what Google thinks), a blog I read regularly before I started writing here. While “stylish cycling” is not so much my thing, seeing Miss Sarah bike through cold snowy Edmonton (Canada) winters makes winter cycling here look like nothing. And she was on her bike with her son when he was just a few months old — part of my inspiration for wanting to start early with Gabriel.

Finally, I came across this stand-alone guest post, “Becoming a Biking Family.”

While my selections thus far are heavily skewed toward biking families, they run the gamut from cyclists who became parents and incorporated their children into their preferred form of transportation to families who discovered the joy of active transportation together. Their stories and examples provide inspiration whether you have kids or not (and, heck, if you don’t have kids, you’ve got it easy — you REALLY have no excuse for not giving biking a try).

I know I’ve just scratched the surface here, but, as I don’t have all day to sit around reading bike blogs, no matter how awesome, starting small makes sense.

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Rice millet sushi

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