Cooking the sauce

Croque-Madame (one of the best things, ever)
Serves 2 – adapted from Epicurious

There are lots of weak versions of this recipe out there. This one beats any I’ve tasted in any restaurant. You’re opinions may vary.

This has enough calories to get you through a 600K.

For sauce
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tbps flour
• 1 cups whole milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Cheese

For sandwiches
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 ounces coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (3/4 cup)
• 4 slices white sandwich bread
• Dijon mustard (to taste)
• 1/4 lb thinly sliced cooked ham
• 2 large eggs

Grilled in butter

Topped with sauce and broiled

Finished with a fried egg

Making the sauce:

Melt 2 tbsp of the butter over medium-low heat and whisk in the flour a bit at a time. Let the mixture (a roux) cook for about 3 minutes. It is important to keep whisking it so nothing burns. Consider it exercise for the calorie fest to come.

Slowly at the milk and whisk to incorporate. Bring it to a boil and then drop the heat to a light simmer. Let it cook for about 5 minutes but keep an eye on it. It will threaten to boil over if you aren’t careful. Whisk it occasionally.

Mix in the salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1/4 cup of the cheese until melted. Remove the sauce from the heat. Cover the mixture with a cloth or wax paper (not a lid) while you prepare the sandwiches.

Making the sandwiches:

Lay out the 4 slices of bread. Top two of the slices with a few tablespoons of the sauce each. Split the remainder of the cheese over the slices with the sauce. Spread mustard on the empty slices and top with ham.

Preheat broiler with rack 5 inches or so from heat source.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in large skillet and cook sandwiches over medium-low heat until golden brown, 2 minutes per side Alternatively, you could butter the bread directly, but I find that you need a bit more butter to cover that way.

Transfer sandwiches to a shallow baking pan and wipe out skillet.

Top sandwiches with the remainder of the sauce and broil until the top is golden and bubbly. Note that I cooked mine a touch too long. Keep a close eye on it. There is a very fine line between perfect and burned.

While that is cooking, start 1 tbsp of butter in the skillet you wiped out earlier. Fry up the 2 large eggs over medium heat with a touch of salt and pepper.

Top the sandwiches with the eggs. Eat it right away. Perfect.

I’ve been slacking off quite a bit on the bike riding front just in time for the holidays. Oddly enough, I’ve been commuting by bike a bit more than usual, just not going on quite as many rides for fun on weekends. I’m not sure if the two are related.

I’ve picked up a few books by Michael Pollen that have got my brain pushed into new directions lately. Both “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” have got me to reassess my values on what is healthy. He speaks truths that the government seems to want to dance around. Eat more vegetables, less meat (though it doesn’t not encourage you to drop them), and eat less of everything.

(more…)

Our friend Norman was in D.C. for the last week or so for the inauguration. We don’t tend to spend very long at a time without him, so he has been missed. There were a few positives to spring up from the absensce though, namely his mixer and Le Creuset doufeu.

I’ve been itching to cook with it myself for awhile now, but I was slacking on finding a dish that really called for it. To be honest, you can cook whatever you want in it, but it supposedly really shines at slow cooking foods (especially meats) straight off the stove top. You can place water and/or ice in the tray that is molded in to the lid. It helps the dish retain moisture and tons of flavor.

I made a “Zazzy” Jambalaya last night that was freaking fantastic. Note: the extra zazz comes from the heart.

Jane and I have been fighting some sort of throat based cold all week. It started Saturday and hasn’t really let up since. We are both feeling a touch better today, but it is still there. I lost my voice for about a day and sounded like a 13 year old when I attempted to say anything before clearing my throat. Nobody (aside from Jane) gets tongue kisses from me until I drop this nonsense. That is just the way it has to be.

As soon as Norman gets back, we are going to start “training” on some Expert level Rock Band. One of the local dive bars around here has dedicated Rock Band nights, and we plan on destroying the competition. We aren’t expert on all songs (or even most of them), but they ones we know… we can rule. The regulars at Goldie’s on Airport Way had better watch their backs.

A long time in the making, we finally went live on the refresh of Sammamish Valley Cycle’s website. We are still working on getting everything together for a more cohesive user experience, but we all wanted to get the new look and feel up. Everyone seemed pretty tired with the old look.
I spent a few days laying out some tutorials on how to easily update the website. With any luck, Mark and Chris can con just about anyone in to working on it.

Christmas has come and gone and I’m still no closer to finishing the painting I’ve been working on for Jane. I need to kick myself into gear on it because it has sat in an almost finished state for over a week now. I’ll get some pictures up whenever that actually happens.

I blame the cooking bug that has caught me. There are definitely worse affilitions to have of course. I’ve been scouring online resources for things that make my stomach rumble. There have been some definite winners:

• Lamb Shanks (previously posted)
• Oyster and Clam Chowder (I love soup)
• Stuffed Pork Chops with Apples and Calvados (just thinking about it gives me goosebumps)

On tonight’s menu?
Homemade pizza dough – topped with roasted vegetables.

I botched my dough making plans last night when I realized that I was out of flour (damn you powdered sugar…) after I had already started mixing the yeast. Jane brought some home, but by then it would have been finished far too late. I drank the rest of the beer that the recipe called for anyways.

I ran across this on the hard drive today. It was from an early logo sketch that I was working on that never really panned out. It still makes me smile. Maybe I’ll develop it out a bit and make a t-shirt or something.

Jane managed to snag some last minute tickets on the cheap to San Diego for Willy’s wake this weekend. I’ve been wanting go back down there. Not like this of course, but we will try to get around anyways.

I’ve got a soft spot in (and on) my belly for some good mexican food. It has been too long…

There is a little chain fast food joint in Santee that sells a breakfast burrito that is built just to ruin any fitness I might have gained. It has hash browns, sausage, bacon, eggs, cheese and sour cream in a massive tortilla. Top it off with some of the best hot sauce around and you have one case of me getting fat again.

Like I said, I’ll take the little pleasures when I can get them.

We are hoping to regroup with some old friends while we are down there. There are some many people that have touched my life at one point or another, it will be nice to reconnect.

Chris and I have been on a quest for our R-12’s and we keep hitting these damn road blocks along the way.

The last two months have been pretty well filled for each of us, forcing us to get our ride in on the last possible weekend of the month. This is coupled with the fact that we only share one day off on any given week (Saturday). I am not about to choke now though, even though it might mean missing the annual SIR meeting on the 27th to achieve it. I’ve always been told that the months after the season is over are the hardest to maintain.

Obligations that don’t involve bike riding are kind of silly, yes?

This is a JP Weigle 1970’s time trial bike. Thanks go to Peter Weigle for the use of some of his photos. He was kind enough to offer them out in my work when I spoke to him at NAHBS. Maybe I will purchase a bike from him in payment some day. I’m sure the wife would love that.

I am getting antsy for the 200k this weekend. I keep looking at the (rough) route on google maps and imagining the pain I’m going to feel. I’ve been through a little bit of pain in the past though. It shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m interested in on the bike nutrition. I love eating, but it gets hard to choke down energy products every hour. I’ve been experimenting with powdered products for the water too. There is just so much on the market and so little time to get it down.

I am also wondering at what point I’ll break the habit of trying to keep “the group” together on these longer rides. I know I’m not usually on pace with Chris and Joby at this point. It is nice to have people to ride with, but I need to get used to the fact that we are going to be at different levels on different days. Thankfully, there are plenty of other really nice guys and girls on the road. I’m bound to end up in a group at some point.

SIR released a newsletter today in PDF format. Peter McKay wrote an article on the 100k from 2 weeks ago. He mentioned the “couple of cute women on bicycles” asking for me. I wish I would have been able to catch Jane and Michele on the ride through South Park. Thanks for trying though ladies!

“You don’t have water with you?”
“I’ll be fine!”

Joby and I had this exact conversation before the training ride on Saturday. I left my water bottle(s) at home accidently and thought to myself, “It is no big deal. The ride will take a couple of hours and probably wont be any harder than you are used to.” While the ride wasn’t grueling, I could have used some water here and there. The coup de grace was delivered when we took a wrong turn (or two) and ended up adding an extra 10 miles and a couple of hills to the ride.

We started at Sammamish Valley Cycles out in Redmond, rode down south to Carnation, looped back up through Union Hill (where the madness began), and ended up back at the shop. I ended up with a pounding headache and the lack of will to do anything else for the rest of the weekend. To be fair though, I probably would of had that anyways.

I keep talking about getting serious with my on bike eating habits but I haven’t actually done anything about it. Most of my rides are less than an hour and a half, so I’m not tempted to bring food with me. Thursday nights are so beer filled that it would be silly to bring even more calories for my love handles. I need to train my body to eat very healthy on a daily basis (like it is doing now), but be able to pack in the loads of calories that I burn while riding long distances. I will strike a balance, it is just going to take time.

The only day that I rode my bicycle to work this week was also the day that I got sick. On both Monday and Tuesday, I was dressed and ready to leave only to find my back tire flat (on both days). I can change a tire pretty quickly, but the cold weather / already late double whammy told me to just forget about it. Wednesday I went in and felt great until about 9, when a stomach flu hit me like a sack of potatoes. I rode back home early and slept between bathroom breaks. It was a pretty miserable day. Thursday my stomach was still weak so I decided not to chance the commute. I still went in to work, just didn’t put any unnecessary stress on the body. I didn’t even end up making it out on the Thursday night ride due to some obligations. Today I have a meeting right after work on Mercer Island.

Needless to say, I’ve been feeling pretty lazy. It is silly though; this time last year I could barely even get on the bike. I’ve been riding in about 4 out of 5 days on average. There always seems to be some dumb excuse once a week or so. I try to minimize those, but they spring up from time to time.

Saturday is the first SIR training ride. I’ve been doing a few rides “on the side” with some of the members and I am comfortable with where my health is right now. I can’t say enough how happy I am to be in shape and free of any bodily invaders. *high five*

We picked up Norman at his work last night, and he made/bought us grocery bags full of healthy foods to help us out while he is on vacation in Denver. He is a great friend. The pseudo diet we are on is really working out well. I’ve been eating smaller portions and dropping some fatty pounds. I’m not out to lose weight, but I know where I need to gain some strength. The 5 or 10 pounds make a surprising difference up on a 10% grade.

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions. This year is an exception. I am jumping on the bandwagon with the wife, Norman, and Brian to resolve to eat healthier starting today. It isn’t going to be easy, but I think it will be for the best. You can safely smack that cheeseburger out of my hands if you see it.

I am starting a food journal (to supplement my “training” journal) to see where my weaknesses are. I already have a good idea of course, but maybe I can find out where some extra faults are. I’ve always drank too much soda (though less now than I used to), so I plan on cutting it out all together. Beer is still on my diet, but whiskey is out. Cream cheese is a demon, and it needs to be exorcised. I am definitely keeping in mind to adjust my intake based on the amount of calories I burn though. I don’t want to end up passing out on the side of some back road highway in the middle of Washington.

The holiday’s didn’t ruin me thanks to my activity levels, so I just need to keep it up.

I fit in two great bike rides over the 4 day weekend. The first was some hill climbing in West Seattle. Chris, Joby and I have a little loop around the city that gets a bit over a thousand feet of climbing in an hour. I’m getting better at it, but it always wears me out. It is also nice to have a shorter ride that is easier to fit into a full schedule like I always seem to have on the weekends.

The second ride was with some of the SIR people again. I managed to wake up at 7:00am on New Years day (after having been up until about 1am), to ride out and catch a passenger only ferry to Port Townsend. We rode down to Bainbridge Island and took the ferry back to Seattle. It was about 100k and it seemed to take longer than I was expecting. We didn’t really get out on the road until 11 and the sun was already falling once we got on the ferry home. Still, it was beautiful weather and amazing views. I am excited to see more of Washington like this. These guys (and gals) seem to have ridden almost every road around Puget Sound. They are all quite breathtaking.