Food not bikes.

Well, well, well. There's little to report on the cycling front. Mostly, I haven't been doing it. My layzee-ness, however, hasn't stopped me from running out and buying a new ride to add to the collection. As I think I proclaimed a few posts ago, I'm stoked for 'cross season and aim to do it right this time 'round. With that, I pulled the trigger and ordered this:

My first foray into aluminum. We'll see how it treats me.

In other news, don't eat at Red Lobster. I let SVR talk me into a lunch there this Sunday. I had mini shrimp on my salad. Then I got back to the car and sneezed. Don't try this at home, kids!

Really, though, the eatin' hasn't all been that bad this summer. Here are a few shots of some lovely home-cooked numbers SVR and I whipped up over the past few weeks.

This summery ensemble included the famous Fleischmann meatloaf, some sweet-ass corn, and some adequately rich mashed Yukon Golds. I think we paired it with Mendocino Red Tail Ale. Though the meatloaf is probably a better winter meal, the corn all but made up for the other items' density. Mad props go out to all the Fleischmann ladies for keeping the recipe alive and passing it on to me.

Another recent highlight was a gorgeous salmon fillet pan cooked with an emulsified lime and butter sauce. SVR brought the sauce recipe back from 'bama and my blender made the emulsification a snap. We normally cook fish in the oven and are usually met with varying degrees of contentment. This time 'round, we cooked the salmon in the cast iron skillet. That cooking method was the key to our success. Keeping the fish out in the open allowed us to watch the flesh cook and we were best able to monitor how quickly and how much the meat cooked. This technique resulted in moist, flavorful, perfectly pink salmon. The accompaniments were so darn simple, but bursting with flavor. The rice was of the basmati sort and the carrots were minimally steamed. The lime sauce was pungent and tartfully refreshing, the carrots were sweet and just the right amount of crunchy, and the basmati was nutty and fragrant. I think some Viognier paired okay with this.

Going forward, the home-cooked meals might suffer from a period of adjustment. SVR and I bought a condo (what?!?!?) and we'll be forced into using an electric range. Might take a while to get up to speed on the thing, but the larger kitchen should yield some excellent opportunities for good eatin' at home.