The ADA Tour de Cure

In years past our family has participated in the Tour de Cure. This is a fund raising event/ride for the American Diabetes Association. It is a fantastically supported ride that raises thousands of dollars for the Research and Cure of Diabetes.

We have family and friends with Diabetes and feel like this is one small way that we can help while at the same time getting out on our bikes with the family.

The Seattle Tour de Cure was last Saturday May 16 and because of prior commitments we were unable to participate. But the route was ready and we got to ride part of it last Friday.

If we are able to participate next year, you'll be the first to find out because we'll be hitting you up for some donations!
In the mean time keep your eyes peeled for bikes on the road and see what you can do about being one of them!

Whole Wheat Bread

I love home made bread. I love the smell of it baking. I love to eat it warm. I love to eat it as toast with home made jam the next day. I love to see it sitting on my counter cooling. I love home made bread.

Today I'm going to share a recipe with you for Whole Wheat Bread. The best whole wheat bread EVER!

First of all: The Ingredients.

What? The white flour didn't make the photo. You'll still need it.

Freshly ground whole wheat flour. If you don't have a grinder, use a friends, if you don't have a friend with a grinder... Go ahead and use the stuff from the store, it tends to be very fine but will still work. (or get to know a Mormon neighbor, they often have one they will let you use and probably 100's of pounds of wheat they will share, too.)

Brown Sugar. Light or dark... whatever you have in the pantry.

Yeast. I use Red Star Active Dry. The recipe doesn't specify but I've always used active dry.

Warm Water. To dissolve the yeast in.

Sugar. What? You don't put sugar in everything you make?

Salt. Once I thought I could health it up by omitting the salt. Don't do it. Resist the temptation. Flavor was lost. If you need to make it healthier, use applesauce instead of shortening.

Milk. Whole, non fat, 2 %, canned, whatever you have in the fridge.

Shortening. Apple sauce can be used to omit fat. Sometimes I just don't want to deal with the hassle of shortening so I just unwrap a cube of butter. It sure is yummy that way.

Water. This is separate from the first bunch. So if you have to; get if from a different sink.

White Flour. Sorry it didn't make it into the family photo.... you'll still need it.

You should have 10 ingredients because you do not want to combine the water.

1. In a bowl larger than you think you need dissolve 2 Tbsp. yeast (the big T means the bigger spoon) in 1/2 cup warm water. Stir these together gently and add 2 Tbsp sugar (there's that big T again. Actually there are no little t's in this recipe so just leave it in the drawer.) Set aside and watch it grow.

2. Combine in a separate large mixing bowl 4 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp. salt.

3. Heat 1 1/2 cups water, 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup shortening in microwave to lukewarm.

4. Gradually add liquids and yeast mixture to dry ingredients (flour mixture).

5. Beat at low speed until moistened, then at medium speed for two minutes.

6. Stir in enough white flour to make soft dough. About 2 - 2 1/2 cups. Don't add it all at once. Add a cup, mix, add a cup, mix and you're going to have to just trust yourself about what a soft dough is. If you have a dough hook let it knead for 10 minutes.

7. Now is the fun part. Dump the dough onto a lightly (or not so lightly) floured surface and knead away. Kneading bread dough is not difficult but you'll want to avoid getting your fingers very involved. So, using the heal of your hand push the dough into the counter. Roll it back toward you and push again. Rolling and pushing, hitting and pounding. You really want to get those glutens working and work the yeast throughout the bread. It works well if you are angry or frustrated because you can really beat up on your dough and it's actually good for it.Work it baby. (I wonder how many calories you burn doing this?)

8. Place in a greased bowl and grease all sides of dough. (I just spray the bowl and the dough) Cover.

9. Let rise. About 30-60 minutes. It should double in size.

Watch it grow... I only removed the lid to take a picture. You should keep it covered so it doesn't get a hard crust on top.

10. Divide in two pieces and form into loaves.

11. Place in greased (again... spray) loaf pans and again let rise double. (about 30 minutes)

12. Bake 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven 350 degrees Farenheit.

13. Let rest on cooling rack for about 5 minutes then gently remove from pans and replace onto cooling rack until cool. (After the 5 minute resting period, it's okay to slice into a loaf, smother with butter and savor the goodness of your own healthy and delicious creation.)

Sooo scrumptious!

Whole Wheat Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups water
2 - 2 1/2 cups white flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water with 2 T. sugar. Combine whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and salt. Heat water, milk and shortening to lukewarm. Gradually add liquids and yeast mixture.
Beat at low speed until moistened, then at medium speed for two minutes. Stir in enough white flour to make soft dough. Knead 10 minutes. Put into greased bowl and grease all sides of dough. Cover and let rise until doubles (about 30 - 60 minutes). Divide in two pieces and form into loaves. Put in greased loaf pans and let rise double (about 40 mins) Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

~Jenny

Bike Jerseys ROCK!

I've decided that Bike Jerseys need to be promoted in new ways.
Why?
Because they have 3 pockets in the back.
They are made of super comfy fabric.
And they're cute.

Let's just say a jersey is
The Cyclist's Bat Utility Belt

When I'm on the bike I keep an extra gel in one, pepper spray
in another, (for those scary stray dogs)
a cell phone in the other, (and usually a camera).

Just think, if you had one for yard work and another for housecleaning
how efficient you could be.
When doing housework you could have the ipod in one,
the feather duster in another
and the toilet brush in the other.

And yard work? Water bottle in one, spade in another,
and phone in the other.

I tell you these shirts are AWESOME!

Where would you like to wear one?
And, what would you put in the pockets?

Teenagers in the Spring

Do you ever wonder what it's like to have five teenagers all at the same time?

What happens after school in a house that full of teenage hormones?

Here's a good example of what I found when I wandered
around a very quiet house Monday afternoon:

Beaner

Coolio

Thing One

New Kid

Okay, so Cycle Guy's not technically a teenager, but he gets up really early in
the morning so he deserves an after school nap too!~
Cycle Guy

Fashionista isn't a teenager yet... She still has some energy.
Look at her go!

What does your house look and sound like at 4 in the afternoon?

Serious Training and Unscheduled Rest Stops

Cycle Guy had the day off on Friday so we wanted to go for a bike ride, but Thing One had his smart teeth (Get it? Wisdom Teeth? Smart Teeth? The Bean came up with that one.) out on Thursday so he was home on Friday asking for butterscotch pudding and watching "The Office" reruns. We decided we could still go but not to make it a full day trip. We settled on the short (30 mile) version of one of our favorites. A Lake Stevens/Granite Falls loop that is almost entirely quiet country and forest roads. Beautiful!

I often carry a camera in my jersey pocket, but Friday I realized that it's time I got serious about the training thing so the pocket remained empty.

Here's the way a ride goes when I don't bring the camera in my jersey pocket. I set my watch timer to go off every five minutes. I start out in front with Cycle Guy following in my draft. When the alarm rings, I move to the back and CG leads.

His new bike is really fast and sometimes I have to kick myself to keep up. But he's a pretty good friend so he keeps track of me and rarely gets very far ahead. Except on hills where you ride your own ride and meet at the top. That's when I stand up and leave him in my dust. (click here for a refresher on bicycle lingo.)

Remembering the importance of hydration, I was sure to bring my favorite water bottle along. But that brings with it the need for rest stops. Usually we watch for constructions sites or soccer fields, all good places for a porta potty. But like I said, this is a VERY rural route and, well, porta potties are hard to come by.

After seeing nothing for like 100 miles I ran behind a lonely building for a quick "health break", then I was ready for some more H2O.

The day was amazingly nice. We've been waiting for weather like this. Jerseys and shorts were all we needed. No jackets, no layers, I didn't even need my toe warmers!

CG even decided to pull out all the stops and 'look' like the true cyclist that he is. Notice? No camo baggies over the spandex!

Things learned: It's important to take your turn in a pace line. If you are the owner of the stopwatch it's probably best to be honest about when the alarm rings, your partner probably has a pretty good sense about how long 5 minutes lasts and letting more than one rotation go by while you're in the draft makes you a wheel sucker. Also, Action Wipes will get chain grease off your leg.

Tradition and the Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California

Family Traditions... some of them are planned and carefully calculated. Like birthday cakes, family vacations and Christmas Eve. Others happen all on their own and come to be 'expected' by members of the family. Like spaghetti with no utensils on Halloween. (What were we thinking?)

A tradition at our house that just ...happened involves The Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California. We've never been to The Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California... physically. But every one of us has been to the Primate Village of The Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California in our imagination a million times.

And I can tell you why...

Sunday is a special day. Dad is home and takes a part in getting ready for church that day. When the girls were little they liked to have Dad brush their hair while it was wet because while he brushed he told stories. Okay, he told one story but although the story always ended the same, the characters often changed because the victim girl getting her hair brushed got to choose the main character of her story.

To get the full effect of the story it would be best for you to run take a shower and wash your hair first.

Go ahead... I'll wait.

Now that you're back and all squeaky clean, have someone you love brush your wet hair while they tell you the story of:

A Visit to the Primate Village at The Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California
As told by The Cycle Guy Dad

When Olga was in Kindergarten her teacher took their class on a field trip to The Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland California. (here we often hear about the long bus ride going all the way from NW Washington to Oakland California). Their class like all classes zoomed over to the flamingos because they were new at the Zoo (sometimes it's the hippos or maybe even the Tapirs). While admiring the pink beauties they heard some commotion coming from the Primate Village and decided to follow the noise. (There is ALWAYS a commotion in the Primate Village)

When they got there, they saw a gorilla going mad and banging on his chest. He picked up a piece of day old poop and flung it through the air. (I regret to inform you that the consistency and age of said 'poop' varies between tellings). It flew in slow motion flipping and turning and broke into pieces. They watched in stunned silence as one piece hit her friend McKenzie in the chest and the other hit Olga smack dab on the top of the head.

But don't worry, their teacher always carried baby wipes and cleaned them right up.

And they all lived happily ever after.

This, my dear friends, is a true although somewhat embellished rendition of an experience that actually happened to Cycle Guy when he was in Kindergarten in California sometime in 1970. The victim of the landing projectile was a grown woman and we're quite sure she did eventually live happily ever after.

Could it possibly have been the same day that a goat from the petting zoo ate the name tag off of little cycle guys coat and he worried all day that he would get lost?

What kinds of family traditions do you have that didn't come about with any careful planning?

Thing One and New Kid and ...The Prom

Saturday night was The Senior Prom. Thing One and The New Kid took a couple of beautiful girls and had a wonderful time.Before the Prom they all met at the park by our house for pictures. Check out this amazing group of friends. They really have some great friends and love spending time together. Playing Risk, Ultimate Frisbee, eating, dancing, playing tennis, whatever it is they love doing it together.
Before the Prom the boys asked me if I would make them vests to match their dates dresses. A little scared, I don't sew much, I said yes.These are the corsages I made for the girls. I wanted to add a little blue to Thing 1's dates flowers since that was her main color. I used some Forget me nots from the garden.The pink I got from an Azalea in the garden.

They had lots of fun and even though I'm still learning, it was even fun to make the vests and flowers for their big night.