Green oats

I'm a big fan of oatmeal. A while back, Audrey and Amanda sent me a link to Kath Eats Real Food, because she's also a huge oatmeal fan and, like me, mixes in all sorts of tasty ingredients like nut butters, bananas, fruit, etc (she doesn't top hers with plain yogurt like I do though - yum!).

Green oats = oatmeal made GREEN (for once, I mean the color, not environmentally) by the addition of spinach. Weird, huh? I've been adding some frozen spinach in to my smoothies occasionally and really don't taste it*, but I know I'm adding some iron to my frozen fruit, which is great, since iron is absorbed better with vitamin C.

Anyway, Kath recently made Green Oats, which seems to keep popping up in the foodie blogosphere (ok, I exaggerate - it's not exactly sweeping the nation, but it's there).

I didn't follow Polly's recipe exactly, but did end up with similarly colored oatmeal this morning.

Here's what I did:
1 c water
1 really ripe banana
Chop up banana, put in water, boil

Add 0.5 c oats & cook
Here's where I deviated...
Toss in a handful and a half of frozen spinach
Cook until spinach is defrosted
THEN get out your immersion blender and blend it all up

I topped mine with some plain yogurt - don't mix it in, because then you don't taste it. Kind of let it act as a "frosting" and get a little yogurt with your oats on your spoon. I think that the whole banana (generally I add only half to my oats) totally covered up any spinach taste. I liked the blended texture as a change, but it didn't seem as filling. (Or maybe it was just a hungry kind of morning.)

*Cheese, on the other hand, is something that I DON'T add to foods, like sandwiches, if I'm not going to taste it. Kath agrees with me on this one.

WoD and Soy Yogurt

Awesome. Use it. I loves me some Urban Dictionary and you should too.

May 18: Douchebaguette

A female douchebag. A woman who exhibits characteristics of a douchebag.

Just look at her pompous gait... what a douchebaguette!

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Also... soy yogurt. Sounds a little strange, but is really, quite tasty. Ok, maybe it's not for everyone, but I'm such a sucker for creamy textured foods. Give it a shot sometime. Janet, over at prettygreengirl.com/ has some sweet WholeSoy & Co coupons for soy yogurt and soy frozen yogurt. Enter her contest and you could try soy yogurt for free.

DYBTWD

What did I do this evening? I participated (for just my second time ever - thanks LF!) in a weekly bike ride called the Butter Lap (cuz it's smoooooth like butta). ~30? riders, roadies, fixies, commuters, cyclocross, mountain bikes all doing a nice lap around the city. Today, being the day before Bike to Work Day, was:

Drive Your Bike to Work Day.

Did I mention that the Butter riders are a hilarious bunch?

Riders were given the option of riding their bikes OR hitching their bikes (that's the "driving your bike" part) to the top of the disco limo. Of course, the folks *in* the car then yelled things like "Get a car, you dirty hippies!" at all of us on the ride. Good times. I'm now sporting a temporary tattoo with the Drive Your Bike to Work Day on my right calf "so that other riders can see it when I pass them (recommended another rider)."




Here's a flickr site with pics from last year and the DYBTWD blog. http://www.driveyourbike.org/wp/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woo/2517479076/in/pool-driveyourbike

Kirby is not happy at work.

I am a lot of things. An event planner is not one of them. My job sucks right now.

Shout out to Big A! Congratulations on your engagement.

Also, a "Janet" has been making lovely comments. Thank you. I <3 comments. I may even <3 you. Do I know you? Email me!

Sheep as lawn mowers as wool as meat. Then you finally get profit. Article, which I've been meaning to send out, but have been obviously waiting until miserable at work, here.

Sierra Club does red, white and green wine

Nice little wine competition here from Sierra Club. I was pleased to see a lot of California and Pacific Northwest wines ranked up there since, in addition to the farming practicies, I like to keep the transportation carbon footprint to a minimum and do tend to buy from my region (lucky me, I know!).

Article here

I was super pleased to see Quivera's Zinfandel listed as a winner. It's one of my favorites. I've purchased their Zin at the tasting room and then also found their Hammerhead Zin at a nearby grocery store. Give it a try, if you can find it near you (and you like Zinfandel as much as I do!).

Zinfandel

Quivira 2006
Sonoma, CA
PRICE: $34 | SCORE: 7.4

TASTING NOTES: Though Hernandez said, "No one knows what they want their zins to be when they grow up," Dutton was "amazed that with this ripeness, there is good acid balance." The experts detected a muted cherry-pie aroma; a taste that evoked toasted oak, bitter chocolate, and "bubblegummy fruit" (Wines); and "a 'pow' on the finish" (Dutton). Pair it with chocolate--especially mole sauce.

GREEN NOTES: Quivira, which is 100 percent organic and solar, has been working since 1998 to restore a nearby stream in which steelhead and salmon spawn.

Oh look. Green Gifts for Outdoor Athletes.

I don't know any of those.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/green-gifts-outdoor-athletes.php

Some thoughts from my bike commute

On the way to work.

• Damn it, I'm late
• Hey - that pain that I felt under my right breast *isn't* a tumor (I was all worried last night that I had breast cancer). That's just exactly where my Timbuk2 messenger bag sits and I've been carrying around a bunch of crap with me, like my LEED AP New Construction Reference Book, swimming gear, running gear, my lunch, etc.
  
• I better make this light (I have a nice gradual downhill at the very start, but there's a stop light just one block into it)
• My goodness, you must be cold. Didn't you read the weather on your iPhone this morning like I did? Get some pants!
  
• Crap. I have a lot of stuff to do today.
• My calf effing hurts (I got a ginormous cramp yesterday while at the pool. G$ was over and helped me work it out, but even my physical therapist said I needed to take the day off because it was so bad and *still* cramped this afternoon)
• Will I ever make this light (Market at Hyde/Grove)? I don't think I've ever made this light.
• Thank you tour bus, for hanging out in my bike lane. I'm going to just hope the cars thank me for jumping over into their lane. Oh wait, they don't.
  
• Ahhhh, the smell of oatmeal in the morning. I love that industrial oatmeal smell. I used to love the oatmeal in the dorm at college. My current breakfast, various mixed grains - quinoa, pearl barley & bulgur - isn't quite the same.
  
• Just another block down, I pass the John Mitchell Salon School. I don't smell it, but I imagine that I'm smelling hairspray.
• Seriously dude, why did you just get in front of me?
• Will I ever ride up this hill fast enough to get that light? Do I care?
  
• I hope I have my badge.
• My back hurts. Stupid book.
• I'm hungry.
  

On the way home.

• Dude. My calf is busted.
  
• That was a bad-ass move. You've got to be careful. This badassery is going to get you in trouble. Maybe you should start mixing up your routes sometimes to keep on your toes.
  
• Thanks mail truck! You blocked the traffic lane instead of my lane. Way to keep me safe!
• Since when do homeless looking dudes smell like Ambercrombie & Fitch cologne?
• I dated a guy who wore A&F cologne. I loved it. It was a long distance relationship and he gave me one of his nearly empty bottles. Ahhh, romance.
  
• Ahhh, the smell of Subway. Mediocre sandwiches, but I love the smell of the freshly baked breads.
• Ew. Pee smell.
  
• I'm so happy they repaved this stretch of Howard. Then I turned... Oh, back to bumps again.
• Girl, get a helmet. Mine is awesome.
• Why on earth are you trying to start ahead of me AGAIN? Did I not JUST pass you after the last intersection that you and your wobbly, no-helmet self tried that sh!t?
• I need to finish up the answer key for my finance class (I'm a TA), study for LEED, do my laundry and cook some of the veggies I got in my CSA.
  
• Oh honey. You and your skinny legs are not starting this again. I am going to run your ass over if you do not get out of my way.
• I need to practice putting my right foot down. I always unclip (on my road and mountain bikes, I'm not clipped in on my commuter) my left foot. This seems like a good way to get some ambidexterity.
• Dude, my calf hurts. This hill sucks.
  

K____ needs

I saw this in AM's FB notes and thought it was funny. You just Google your name followed by the word needs in quotes - e.g. "Kirby needs" and see what you get.

Yeah, I'm supposed to be working, but I'm tired and trying to fill out this form for my 2009 Development Plan and it seems like a bunch of BS. So you get... what I need:

1. needs a little man to get him off
2. needs to keep the drama going on
3. needs a quivering antenna
4. needs Halloween help
5. needs her brother backstage
6. needs help
7. needs patience right now
8. needs to be in my life, always
9. needs a new attitude
10. needs airbrushing
    

Method cleaning products!

I do occasionally use my own cleaning mixtures. Baking soda is great for getting grime off the stovetop. A mixture of vinegar, water & tea tree oil in a spray bottle is a good all-purpose cleaner. But...Method cleaning products. Love them. Non-toxic, biodegradable, new packaging that's made of recycled material, good scents, based in San Francisco, functional. At least one of my readers was the recipient of my new favorite baby shower/new mom gift - Method baby products!

And, they are one of the few consumer goods to get a Cradle to Cradle designation...
"The C2C certification process, administered by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), looks for environmentally safe materials, design for material reutilization (recycling, composting, etc.), use of renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and company social responsibility practices."

You can read the article here, or just get their dish soap, spray cleaner or laundry soap next time you need that kind of stuff. Trust me. (Cleaning wipes, on the other hand, I think are kind of stupid - just use a reusable rag and wash it. Though if you live in an area that has municipal composting, they are biodegradable.)

Wine... and dinner

Went out for glass of wine with sugar daddy. And, after joking here about it, I decided to pay for the wine while he was in the bathroom. He was too busy to get dinner after the glass of wine, but I'm trying not to take it personally. Good conversation and we'll see if he calls.

On to more important things -

I just made (and ate!) made this (with a few mods - some celery because I only had one carrot and some tofu to augment the garbanzos, only one onion since two seemed extreme, ginger powder, did use light coconut milk, no shredded coconut or cilantro) and thought you might enjoy it too -

Coconut Cauliflower Chana

Makes 6-8 servings

2 T non-hydrogenated coconut oil or olive oil
2 medium-large onions, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
3 large or 5 medium cloves of garlic
1 T grated fresh ginger root
1-2 T curry powder (or to taste)
1/4 t cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 t sea salt
2 fist-sized orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (may sub with regular potatoes), diced
3 c diced cauliflower
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 1/2 c cooked chickpeas
1 can good quality coconut milk (do not use light version)
1/4-1/2 c (or more to thin sauce as desired)
1/4 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1 handful of chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)

Heat the oil in a soup pot on medium. Add the onions and sautee for about 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cayenne and salt and saute for another 5 minutes. Stir in the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, red pepper, chickpeas, coconut milk, water and shredded coconut, cover and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are soft.

Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve hot.