Slowly but surely inching my way towards bike to work day. I was sick for several days. Stomach virus that my wife had several days before. I NEVER get sick so this was disappointing. Then I had this alarmingly large saddle sore AND pulled something in my left calf muscle that made it very sore as well. I tell you I'm just falling apart here! Anyway, recovered sufficiently and/or pushed it aside enough to get back out on the bike again yesterday. Nothing to really brag about. The last couple of rides have been down the hill to the 101, then down to Via de la Valle.

Here are a couple of photos.

Saturday's ride was really nice, sunny, not too warm. Really nice to be back in the saddle again.

Got out after work today and rode down through Encinitas, along the beach to Cardiff, then back up the hill home. Not very far, but I think it's important at this point to just get on the bike regularly.

Bike to Work Day?

Yeah, I think so.

Riding Avoidance Behaviors

So Jeremy texted from Zurich recently¹ that he's enjoyed a "rosti" for breakfast. A rosti is a hash brown pancake, shredded potatoes cooked in a skillet so that they're golden brown and crispy on the outside, warm and creamy² on the inside, and full of delicious potato flavor. My research (4 minutes on Google while standing in the kitchen waiting on water to boil) gave me no reason to believe I couldn't make one, and so I decided on a "traditional" recipe and gave it a try.

If you want to be extremely traditional you peel and grate your potatoes by hand. I found the box grater³, a couple of Yukon gold potatoes and made my first rosti. I burned it of course, and soggy. Burned and soggy is a difficult combination to achieve, but I have exceptional culinary talents. I've made rostis nearly every day since, working to improve my result. The traditional recipe called for russet potatoes. I made several but was disappointed with the texture and taste, so I've switched back. I ditched the box grater for the grating attachment on the food processor, and it was a dramatic and immediate improvement. The result was much thicker bits of potato with much less residual moisture. My rostis immediately stopped being soggy. Switching from butter to olive oil (mixed in with the raw grated potatoes before they even go into the pan) improved the color and quality of golden-brownness. I still add a bit of butter during the last 5 minutes. And I now cook them on the lowest setting and cover them for the first 15 minutes or so. I've have really satisfying results.

1. Jeremy was in Zurich for two weeks on business. His new job requires that he travel there and work from the Zurich office for two weeks each year. Awesome.
2. "Creamy" isn't my preferred word for the target texture of the rosti interior, but I can't come up with a better one at the moment.
3. Remember back in the day (before cell phones) when you had to grate cheese at home...by hand? The world is a better place with grated cheese.