Bikers Give Big

My Dad and I spent the afternoon volunteering at a fundraiser for the Wilmot Cancer Center. It's an annual ride featuring a Cenzi Custom bike giveaway, a Poker Run, bike show and lots of prizes. It's a great day and this year there were about 500 bikes (and about 1,000 people in attendance)! The photo above includes some Cenzi bikes, one of which won best of show.

We followed that up with a little backyard burger grilling, and I'm working on an ice-cream outing. Wish me luck!

Veg. It's What's for Dinner!

We're trying to get back to cooking at home more often. Saves money and it's generally healthier all round.

I'm calling it Texpacho. With saffron rice and roasted sweet corn. Lovely summer dinner. The book recommends Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier, but we're fresh out. Next time!


4 medium sized tomatoes (seeded)
juice retained from seeded tomatoes
1 cucumber (peeled & seeded)
1 poblano pepper (seeded)
1 jalapeno pepper (seeded)
1/2 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4C lime juice (1 large lime)
1/4C olive oil
1/4C original V8 juice
2T red wine vinegar
1tsp toasted coriander seed
salt & pepper

Chop tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and onion, and run through the food processor in small batches. Do not over process. Serve chilled.

My New Favorite Blog

Meet Maru...

Ostrama... Llamu...

If you had been a fly on the wall (or perhaps a cat under the table) of our dining room yesterday evening, you could have witnessed the following exchange. Though you might have had difficulty deciphering the words through the snickering. Which eventually dissolved into hysterical, breathless laughter on my part.

A: Ooh, I've got goosebumps... or perhaps emu bumps.

K: Or ostrich bumps?

A: Yes, ostrich bumps.

K: Or maybe even llama bumps?

A: Llama bumps...? Llamas aren't birds!

K: Well, yeah. Little known fact that the llama is actually a distant cousin of the emu and ostrich. Think about it... great big feathery backside...

A: Llamas don't have feathers!

K: ... great long neck, tiny little head, pointy nose and bulging eyes...

A: ... bilaterally symmetrical...

K: OK, now you're just being... [insert hysterical laughter here] ... silly!

*Whew* What a week... or so!

The last couple of weeks have been super crazy at work! We just put on our major advisory board meeting for the Spring, and it's such a relief to have pulled it off with no hiccups. And smack in the middle of the lead-up to the meeting, I took a couple of days off to go to a wedding. Boy did I need it! I realized last week that I hadn't had more than two days off in a row since our wedding last July. Too long. WAY too long.

We spent three lovely days in Florida, loaded with sunshine and ocean, friends and pancakes. I even got me a new hat. Why is it that you can't get a decent hat in Rochester? I have searched for hats here on many occasions, and the options are frankly dismal. We also discovered Rasta Sauce at Tijuana Flats. I almost cried when they told me they didn't have any inventory for sale. Even the website is out of stock. Bummer.

When we got home, we discovered the most amazing thing had happened while we were out of town... Spring is fully sprung. It's past time for the first mowing and the trees are flowering, the flower beds are filling up and it's already time to do some weeding! GAAHHR! WEEDING!

And finally, many congratulations to Jill and Chris for the safe arrival of little Miss Ada, the teensiest gnome in Seattle!