For the Love of Fresh and Local

If you haven't seen the article about Alice Waters in this week's NY Times, ....read it now! There's also a fabulous video on 'how to work a market' from Ms. Water's trip to NYC's Union Square Green Market.

No Excuses

Over the past few years Brad and I have been excitedly telling friends and family all about our CSA shares and the wonderful vegetables and fruits we get over the season. So often we get the same response, "Wow, that sounds great! I'd love to do something like that but I wouldn't know what to do with all those vegetables...what's bok choy anyway?" Well, if this is you, you no longer have any excuse.

Our CSA started 3 weeks ago and already the goods are bountiful. This year I am the Recipe Coordinator and every Thursday I get to share my recipe findings with all the other members in our newsletter, The Garic Press. Each week I collect 3 or 4 of the greatest recipes I can find to cook what's coming from the farm. You can find my seasonal recipes on our Turnip Talk Blog, and please feel free to pass them on!

If you live in New York City, you can find your local CSA through Just Food. No matter where you live there is likely to be a farmer's market nearby where you can go and load up on the week's produce treasures.

It's Summer in Brookyln

My life has taken a turn towards chaos, positive chaos, but it is crazy nonetheless.


Brad and I have been very busy this Spring turning what were my independent design projects into our own business. About two weeks ago we moved into our new office space here in Brooklyn! My daily routine no longer includes sitting at my desk in our apartment, but instead, a pleasant 4 minute bike ride to the office, where we have set up shop. The space feels really productive (we share it with some friends who also have a small creative business) and has enough room for us to collaborate. We're still in the process of decorating and organizing, but soon I'll post photos and our new website.

The approaching Summer months will continue to feel hectic due to our frequent weekend travel plans. It seems half of our friends are getting married this summer, which calls for us to leave town often. I also have bike training and a few upcoming centuries I plan to ride. One of the travel precedents we have set early on this season is camping and I couldn't be happier. With so much work and goings-on it is nice to occasionally go away and unplug - no computer or cell phone and lots of outdoors is just the cure for stress relief. So far our camp outings have included the Catskills, complete with a hike to a waterfall, and just this past weekend, Fire Island (photos to come). Late Summer and early Fall are guaranteed to host a few more.

Something about New York Summers makes makes everyone hyper-social and we are no exception. As the temperatures climb we find ourselves attending more and more parties and hosting more frequent dinners in out beautiful back garden. Which brings me to my final topic in this post, the food. For anyone who has been around this blog you must be asking by now if I am still cooking. Well the question is not if, but what - we have been cooking and eating like crazy!

The farmer's market and our local CSA have kicked into gear and I just can't get enough of the start of this season's bounty. I am reading a book by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, that is making me more aware than ever of the importance of eating locally and seasonally. I am excited about my own efforts to make a little difference doing something I love and today I found out that have been awarded the role of Recipe Coordinator for this year's CSA season. Each week I'll be collecting four new recipes for our members based on the offerings from the farm. For anyone who has been saying that you just don't know what you'd do with all the goodies you find at the farmer's market, well, I'll have the answers for you. As soon as we have the recipe archive up and running I'll be sure to link to my collections from this blog. But in the meantime, here's a little teaser recipe to get you started:

Fresh Pea Soup
(makes a lot and freezes well)

3-4 pounds peas, shelled (reserve peas and shells separately)
8-12 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
3-4 spring onions, including stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
handful basil leaves
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon

In a stock pot, cover pea shells with water and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for about 40 minutes. Strain shells and discard, reserving broth.

Melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, until soft for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and potatoes and continue to cook for 5 minutes longer.

Add 4-5 cups of reserved broth and peas and bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil and cook for 2 minutes longer. Salt and pepper to taste and allow to cool slightly.

Working in batches using a blender/food processor, or with an imersion blender, pure the soup until smooth. Either boil to thicken or add water to thin to desired consistency if necessary. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

*This soup goes down even smoother with a dollop of basil on top. It is delicious served either hot or cold.

Enjoy!

HRIDE: Crossing the Finish Line

I am writing this as I sit, knees sore and muscles cramped, on a flight from Denver International Airport to LaGuardia. Today I woke up at 6:30 AM to take my bike to the shipping truck (not the earliest of my wake up times in the past few days) before having one last meal in South Lake Tahoe –Red Hut Waffles are NOT to be missed – before heading to the airport in Reno, Nevada. Yesterday was an incredible day in my life, the culmination of four wonderful months and an entire weekend that celebrated them, and I am still in a bit of awe at what I have accomplished.

Since my last post on this blog, I put my bike on a truck parked on a city corner in Manh
attan, not to see it (or ride it) again until eight days later on the border of the Nevada and California state line in Tahoe. The past week was a hectic one, even minus the bike rides, during which I rushed around trying to pull together the other parts of my life while simultaneously resting my body (otherwise known as "tapering") and mentally preparing myself for what was to come. Then, last Thursday, Brad and I flew to Reno accompanied by my teammate and friend Lauren (yes, you've heard her name before) and her boyfriend. We drove together to Tahoe and our jaws dropped at our first view of the awesome lake, which, if you don't know, is huge, surrounded by mountains and full of crystal-clear water. At about that same time we all noted just how long we had been driving uphill for, certain it would be part of Sunday's route, and Brad gave us some words of encouragement, something like, "Oh man, you guys are dead!". Yep.

Anyway, at about 6,000 feet base altitude with 3 days to go, the theme was "HYDRATE!" and soon I was peeing like a pregnant lady. Friday we shopped for some last minute gear (arm warmers were quite a nice thing to have in the chilly, cloud covered Tahoe morning) and checked out the town until the rest of the team arrived and we finally were reunited with our bikes. Friday night we hit the casino, where Brad won 100 bucks at blackjack and together with my riding partner, Kurt, and the team's youngest member, Erica, he and I set the dance floor on fire!

Saturday we went on a team warm-up ride in the interest of acclimation (although we had a head-start from all the dancing) and to give us a taste of the hill climbs to come. We rode to the top of Inspiration Point, a grueling climb with a breathtaking view as reward, and only about 13 miles into Sunday's course. After the ride I had my bike tuned just one last time by some very competent mechanics at the local bike shop and the carbo-loading kicked into high gear. For lunch we had some great local pizza (and um, some nice dark beer), which was soon followed by a generous plate of pasta at the TNT pasta party (an event tradition with all the national chapters present). I learned that not only did our New York City chapter of 45 strong raise over $285,000, but the combined effort of all the national Team in Training teams for our event raised $8.5 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's mission.

The last event of the Saturday night before what we all hoped would be a good night's rest was a team meeting. We were advised on the course to come, decorated our jerseys with our race numbers and little dedications to those we all ride in honor of, and each individually shared our reasons and stories for why we were there. If it hadn't been for Lauren's father's illness, I never would have joined TNT, and as she reminded me on the drive in, it was a difficult commitment to make. As I told my teammates that night, it feels great to have reached my fundraising goal (and THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!, I did!) and I am proud of the progress I have made through my new dedication to cycling. But the incredible part is how much I have gained through this experience – new friends, a support network of teammates, and the chance to be a part of a greater thing, in which everyone involved has a personal motivation and as a team we can really make a difference.

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4:30AM. My team's race start was scheduled for 6AM and we planned to meat in the hotel lobby at 5:30. I had bought some healthy food for the morning, but had trouble swallowing much of it. I cannot appropriately explain how nervous I was at the start of the ride. In fact I think it took about 20 miles and the most thrilling downhill of my life to calm those uneasy nerves of mine.

3,000 cyclists rode America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride yesterday (2,000 of them TNT participants) and it seems like an understatement to say that it lives up to it's name. I have been lucky to see a lot of beautiful parts of this country, but watching the sun come up over the lake as I pedaled along was one of the most incredible things I have witnessed. The hundred miles were challenging and some of the climbs I could not have dreamed of summiting 4 months ago, but I as continually looked out at the lake (from some really great heights), surrounded by beautifully aged, tall trees, I would breathe in the mountain air and surprise myself with the emotional weight I felt from what I was doing and how far I would go that day.

The 100 mile course was truly a blast, with my riding partner, Kurt, either in front, back or along side me just like we had trained to do all season. He took a pretty hard fall – or what I called a Hollywood Slide – and came down on his wrist somewhere around mile 30, but it didn't slow down our peddling for the remaining 70. It was a great feeling being part a team when we would ride up on each other, or high five at rest stops, pushing each other forward. I have some irritation I call "monkey butt" from an 8 mile climb that started at mile 79 and was nearly an hour of peddling uphill in the saddle, but could care less because riding across the finish line, with 12 of my teammates was the most exhilarating feeling of accomplishment I have felt in my life. Looking back on the lake later, it's still hard to believe I rode the entire way around it. It was a 9-hour day on the course (with the fall, lunch, and some very long waits in the bathroom line included), but my actual ride time was just under 6.5 hours, which I am quite proud of with all that climbing!

I should note that Brad was waiting in a homemade, duct-tape-lettered "Go Heather/Go Team!" t-shirt both at the 70mile lunch stop and the finish line. He even whipped up some turkey sandwiches for Kurt and I while kneeling in the finish line parking lot, just when I was about ready to eat my arm.

As the rest of my team crossed the finish line, Brad, Kurt, my coach Josh and and I went, on the advice of the on-site paramedics, to the Emergency Care center for an x-ray of Kurt's wrist. We all crowded into the exam room, had some great laughs with the doctors, and learned it was only some severe bruising (a week to heal while the bikes travel back to New York). Later that night, there was a victory party and my entire team ate and drank together, sharing stories of the road as our eyes all sunk into the same tired bags that had hung there when we met each other 5:30AM that morning. As I said before, it was an incredible day.

I have already signed up for another century ride in Tucson this fall, where I will serve as a mentor to all the new participants and hopefully help them have as great of an experience as I have had. Already, I can't wait, and am itching to get back on my bike, which won't be back from it's cross-country trip for another week. I will also continue to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in hopes of a cure, and I will also continue to encourage Brad to buy a road bike! I cannot thank those of you who have donated and supported me along the way enough (and if you still would like to support the cause, please do!). This experience has changed my life, and the money we raised will hopefully change the lives of others. None of this could be accomplished by any of us alone.

You can see more photos from the weekend here.

HRIDE: Week 13/14+ Training Report

I confess that I have started to lose track of weeks as training time has been flying by this month. Since my last post I have reached my training peak for the event and can honestly say that I have surprised myself in what I am now capable of.

My last three weekend training rides have been:

May 5th: Sandy Hook NJ - 85 miles
(40 miles of which we rode in fast pacelines on the flat coast)
May 12th: East Clinton NJ - 40 mile hill climb extravaganza
(500 feet more elevation in climbing than the 100 mile Tahoe course, crammed into 40 grueling miles)
May 19th: Rockland County NY - 60 miles with hill repeats included, in the rain

*Not only have I completed these rides, but I have graduated to comfortably riding them with the "fast group". Wahoo!

I should also note that my progress over the past month would not have been as great without teammates and coaches, and most importantly, my riding partner, Kurt, aka Hollywood - a teammate who lives just two blocks from me in Brooklyn. Having someone to commit to work out with, travel to rides with, compare progress with, complain to and ride with while watching each other's backs on the open rode, has made me a stronger and more confident rider that I could be on my own.

So, basically, I am ready - which is an awesome way to feel as I enter into the "taper" part of training (more on that in my next update). It might actually be more appropriate to say, I am kicking ass. So stay tuned for my story about America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride. Tahoe, here I come....

HRIDE: A Note on Fundraising

In February when I signed up for Team in Training and committed to riding the Tahoe Century, fundraising was the most daunting of the many challenges associated with this undertaking. How would I raise $5,000 dollars? With a lot of faith, I set out asking friends and family for their support and generosity, hoping to help raise awareness of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's mission, while sharing my personal story of growth through the process.

I have been awed by the generosity and support that has returned from my letters. As I write this post I have $4,745.00 in my TNT donation account, an amount that once seemed an impossible goal. Knowing this money will be received so gratefully by a society that makes a difference in people's lives, I am truly at a loss for words. As I type, I keep deleting my sentences because they don't seem to be appropriate enough expressions of my gratitude. So I will simply say, Thank You to all of you who have given, and know that this comes from the bottom of my heart.

It has been a lot of work to raise awareness and money, but it has been fun too. Sharing my story and asking for support has lead to corresponding with so many great people from my past, now a part of my present again. There have been days when I am greeted with mail that holds checks and letters, wishing me luck from far away, and makes me feel thankful and loved, over and over again. And just last week, Brad and I, with the help of our friend Steve Plant, hosted a Wine and Food tasting party to which many of our Brooklyn friends came with great appetites and donations.

To leave you with a laugh, below is an email I received from a friend in Portland that Brad and I met last year in Mexico - by far the most humerous of ways that funds have been given...

*******

I have finally picked a new organization to receive the money from the auction of the infamous Chenis: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300093965519.

Below is an email from a friend who I met in Mexico last year. She's raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as well as attaining a personal goal of participating in a 100 Mile Century bike Ride around Lake Tahoe. The Chenis' love spreads far...

I've made the donation in Jaqueline's (the winning bidder) and my names. Good luck Heather on your trip and happy cheeto eating!

love

Shawn

*******

And because I can't say it enough - to all of you, Thank You.

Love, Heather

Belated Birthday Tales

This past Sunday, May 6th, Brad reached the ripe old age of 31. Yep, pretty darned unexciting. The day itself however was not short of activity.

Brad and I have been in a chaotic and sometimes stressful phase lately, the result of many things going well for us and keeping us very, very busy. So being the newly hyper-productive people that we are, we made the most of May 6th. After a bike ride and the usual morning dog walk we had brunch at our favorite spot, Cousin John's, and then strolled the neighborhood while drinking more coffee and window shopping. In the afternoon I joined the Dark Rainbows for a hockey game. I had resigned from my spot on the team this year to tackle cycling instead, but a number of girl players were missing so I got to fill in and get a little taste of the old times with Brad - oh, and we won.

The real excitement came later that evening when we headed south in Brooklyn for Brad's Bowlerama-Dama-Ding-Dong. We met friends in Sunset Park, Brooklyn for what are rumored to be the city's best tacos at Tacos Matamoros (they were deeeeeelicious, and only $1 a taco!) and then, we bowled. At Big Apple Bowling & Fun Center @ Melody Lanes, 10 of us drank endless pitchers of beer and bowled our hearts out while wearing matching shirts. Nothing like a little team spirit, and I just couldn't resist making them when Brad sent around this work of art:


I bowled a whopping 33 on my third game and the whole event could best be described as rowdy. It was wonderfully fun. You can see all 429 photos from the night here. Happy Birthday Brad!