Highmoon’s Ponderings

As is normal during the High Holy Days, I barely have time for anything. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are now past, which is shoocking considering how I was feeling that I couldn’t believe they were already here again from last year. Time moves way too fast!

The services and prayers were good and meaningful, which is awesome, as last year they didn’t quite feel that way (and I am sure that had some effect on the shitty year I had). I feel good, renewed, clean; I am aching to start things again. First, however, we gotta get through the end of the festivities, the holiday of Sukkot. I’ll be getting my four species and constructing my sukkah on Sunday, G-d willing.

Which brings me to my birthday, which is on Sunday, Oct. 12. Again, here already?! My wife is planning a surprise party (the theme is a surprise, not that I’ll be having a party) for me tomorrow night, so pics will be coming soon. Officially, I turn 34 on Sunday, and I am looking forward to enjoying the day.

I already started my birthday weekend by treating myself to the D&D 4e Adventurer’s Vault book from WotC. I’ve been very much in a 4e frame of mind lately, so I’ll talking about that more once I get some time.

Off for now.

Highmoon Media Productions and MonkeyGod Enterprises present At the Edge of Dreams.

The body of a Faean lord is found skewered by an iron lance, one of his retinue surviving long enough to whisper, “Mortals” An entire human family is found ruthlessly slaughtered in their sleep, traces of Faean magic still lingering in the air. Ancient pacts between the Faean and the village of Graymeer have ensured a lasting peace over the centuries. Now, however, with ever increasing atrocities occurring to both sides, the pact is strained to the point of breaking. And if they break, there will be a war between the Mortals and Faean, a war that will escalate to throw all of the Shield Islands into chaos.

Something, or someone, has been purposefully trying to drive the Faean and Mortals into direct conflict. The heroes have one chance - they must find the true culprit behind these incidents, and then travel to the mysterious Faean Realm, At the Edge of Dreams, to convince the Faean Court to halt their attacks, before it is too late.

At the Edge of Dreams is a d20 fantasy adventure for 6th- & 7th-level characters.

Written by: Christopher Coyle
Cover by: Scott Fischer
Artwork by: Theodor Black
Fully Bookmarked

NOW AVAILABLE from RPGNow.com!

I’m going offline for Rosh Hashanah. To all the Jews out there, may you have a happy, healthy and sweet new year. May it be a year of blessings and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

Here’s hoping the next year is a better one.

I’ve been noticing that the high tide has been a bit higher than usual for the past couple of weeks, figuring it has something to do with the various storms that have been around these parts lately. This afternoon I had to go out for a moment to the next island over (ah, the wonders of living in Miami Beach) so I went out on the bike. It gave me the chance to take a look at the crazy high tide up close and personal. These photos were taken at the end of my street:

It is both a bit scary and awesome.

It’s official, my wife and I will be going back to Seattle for Thanksgiving break (last week of Nov/first week of Dec) and I am so excited it borders on the illegal. 

This is the first time ever my wife and I have visited one location twice in one year (my visits to Puerto Rico to see family and friends not included). There were so many things that we couldn’t see when we went in June that it is amazing thinking we’ll have a chance so soon again. This trip, however, has an ulterior motive, as we intend to use the opportunity to take a look at neighborhoods, apt/houses, and generally look at Seattle through the eyes of people wanting to move up there as soon as (freakin’) possible. We’re hoping to line up some job interviews for that week as well, so wish us luck.

Seattle Redux - so awesome.

Hmm, and I’m actually an Independent. Go figure.

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive)   and an… Economic Liberal (28% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I normally… wait, scratch that. I never write about food; I leave that to my wife (who’s slowly putting together a cook book), and to my friends Patricia DiGiacomo-Eddy (who does Seattlelites good with CookLocal.com and as the Seattle Cook Local Examiner) and Chris Perrin (doing it Vegan in Kansas City at Blog Well Done). I don’t know why, however, when I decided what I was going to cook last night for dinner, I would take pictures and then blog about it. I guess I’m just trying to exercise different writing muscles. I don’t know I’ll do it again, but for now here we go!

Pasta with Rosemary Cream Sauce

I got this recipe from the book Intercourses, a cookbook featuring recipes using a number of aphrodisiac ingredients, like honey, avocado, black beans(!) and rosemary. The dish is creamy and sumptuous, and simply one of our favorite recipes. I’ve made it a number of times and always by the book, though over the last few months I have begun to make variations depending on whim or an idea I may have had on how to tweak it. The version below is my current de-facto version of the recipe. The addition of the chicken adds much-needed protein to the dish, not to mention that it goes very well with the rosemary.

When I make this at home, I make a Kosher & vegetarian version. All the ingredients are easily available in Kosher-certified versions in any supermarket. The Parmesan cheese can be found at a specialty Kosher store. As far as the chicken, I use Morningstar Farms Chik’n Strips because it is both vegetarian and Kosher, though there are other brands of fakey chicken you can use as well.

The recipe is for 2 people. The version in the photos was doubled, however, since we had a guest for dinner. 

Ingredients 

• 1/2 pound penne pasta
• 3/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/8 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 pound boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions 

1. Prepare the pasta according to package instructions. In the meantime, in a large non-stick skillet, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. In an another non-stick skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat.
2. Once hot, add the chopped rosemary to the large skillet and sautee over low heat for 3 minutes. Add a few leaves of rosemary to the oil on the second skillet, then add the chicken strips, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, then set aside. If you want, you can also cut the strips into smaller cubes. 
   




3. Add the tomato paste to the chopped rosemary, stirring to mix. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. 
   

 

4. Add the cream and Parmesan cheese to the tomato paste. Mix well. 
5. Add the cooked pasta and the chicken, then stir thoroughly, making sure everything gets covered in the cream tomato sauce.
   

 

6. Serve. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary. Adding extra freshly grated Parmesan has been known to make people like the cook even more. 

There it is, a very simple dish ready in about 20-30 minutes, including prep time. It is equally good for an out-of-the-ordinary dinner as for a romantic dinner for two. Be aware that this dish is addictive, especially if you decide that you like things a bit more creamy and/or cheesy (and I do). If you’d like to try a quick variant, I recommend using Kerrygold Dubliner cheese instead of Parmesan. Dubliner is also a hard and slightly salty cheese, but it is far creamier than Parmesan and it just makes the whole dish taste even better, which is actually saying a lot.

I came across a post (thanks to Spokes ‘n’ Folks) made on the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog entitled “Terminology Folly.” Go ahead and read it; it’s a good article and it holds a core truth.

Waltzing around the cycle blogosphere it seems odd that so much terminology has spawned regarding what is, in fact, a simple pursuit.

Is it a result of the decades old tendency in North America and other non-bike culture countries to nerdify cycling because it has primarily been viewed as a sport or a hobby for closed groups of “enthusiasts” - and not a reasonable and basic form of transport? Perhaps. 

Let’s straighten things out, shall we? What you see in the photo above, taken in Copenhagen, is something we call a “cyclist”.

Not a “bicycle commuter”, nor a “utility cyclist”. Certainly not a “lightweight, open air, self-powered traffic vehicle user”. It’s a cyclist.

Read more.

Now, in general I do agree with the inherent message of the post: a true unified bike culture will only be created when we stop thinking about the differences and simply accept the commonalities. But, as someone living in one of the most unfriendly cities in the US for cyclists, I have some things to say in reply.

While it might be redundant in Europe, over here terminology works, and is actually helpful at times. Yes, ideally I could just say “bike” and everyone would know what I mean, but anyone reading that word, “bike,” instantly got a mental image that is probably different than the one I have. That’s because on this side of the world a “bike” is not as simple an artifact to identify: did I mean a mountain bike? A racing bike? A hybrid? A BMX? A cruiser? Maybe even one of those European-style bikes? This applies just as well to the term “cyclist” (and for the record, no, I don’t use or own any spandex, though I do have some comfy excercise pants that I do use from time to time). 

When I walk into a bike shop (of the specialty kind) and ask for a bike I need to be able to identify what I want (and don’t get me started on the discount dept. stores), and that’s where terminology comes in handy. Most average people who own a bike have a mountain bike that they purchased cheap at a large discount store like Target or Wal-Mart, not because they are doing some two-wheeled off-roading, but because that’s the cheap standard (at most they may get a cruiser), regardless of the fact that they are buying the wrong vehicle for their needs.

Yes, blame it on the nerdification of cycling in the US. Every single bike store here in Miami caters primarily to the speed cyclist or the mountain biker (see, we can’t help it, we love naming categories), with only minimal attention to the commuter cyclist, something I already commented about in a previous post.

That’s why, at this point in time, at least over here in the US (and for sure specifically in Miami), we need the terminology because that’s what helps us get the message across about what we want out of a bike culture. I need to use that terminology to state that I could care less about going 1000 miles per hour on two very thin tires while wearing brightly colored Lycra; that I could care less about braving uneven rock-covered downhills and root-strewn dirt paths on a frame with more shock absorbers than a monster truck. I ride my back to do errands, to go to places, to go out for a spin and enjoy the city in which I live in. I want a bike to ride on paved surfaces, with a front basket or rack that I can use to carry stuff like groceries and a sturdy back rack that I can strap down a box to if I want to, something comfortable that I can spend a good amount of my time on without assuming a pose that makes me look like I’m skiing downhill or doing yoga, a bike to run on the very flat paved roadways of Miami Beach that can handle the occassional bridge. How do I accomplish this the quickest? By stating that I am a “commuter cyclist” and I want a “city/Dutch-/European-style” bike.

I agree wholeheartedly that the ideal is a place where we don’t need the terminology, or at least where the default is the regular-joe example and not the sports specialty. In the meantime, the same terminology will allow us to begin to change the perceptions around us towards the creation of a normal, day-to-day bike culture.

(Note: This information also appears as a page on Slow Bike Miami Beach.)

Over the years we both have owned a number of bikes, but these are the ones that we have right now, the ones we use to slow-bike our way around Miami Beach.

This is my bike, a Schwinn Legacy Cruiser from Target. I purposely decided to get a cheap cruiser bike in order to find out if I was going to like biking everywhere, and while I gauged how much biking I would be doing. This bike is cheap but awesome, quite sturdy (it can support me just fine, and as you can see, I’m no twig) and rides pretty smooth. While a cruiser suited for paved surfaces, it actually has a little bit of off-road capabilities, not enough to tread where mountain bikes zip by, but enough to handle the ocassional dirt/grass/rock-strewn patch found so ubiquitously in Miami’s streets and sidewalks. I’ll be looking to upgrade soon, but for now, this is a great bike to have.

This is Yvette’s bike, an Electra Amsterdam Classic 3 Yellow Tulip from City Bikes in Aventura, FL. Yvette had been riding around with her old mountain bike but what she really wanted was a Dutch-style city bike, like the ones we had seen in Holland and used in Belgium, so after extensive research, she found Electra Bikes, who produce a Dutch-style series of bikes aptly named Amsterdam meant to be city commuter bikes. This bike rides like a dream. It is made of steel so it is very sturdy, yet pretty light considering. It comes with a front-wheel generator headlight, and solid back rack, not to mention the skirt guard, something you just don’t find in American bikes. The only drawback it has is that it doesn’t do off-road, however light, that well. It’s understandable, considering what it is patterned after, but as I mentioned above, the streets and sidewalks of Miami (Beach or otherwise) are not necessarily bike-friendly, so it leads to careful maneuvering. Still, a small price to pay for an amazing bike.

We also still have a Mongoose mountain bike around for whenever we may want to do some off-roading at one of the local parks.

One of the advantages of living in Miami Beach (especially over the suburb of Kendall where I used to live) is that you get to see a lot of local wildlife, especially of the marine kind. Since I walk every week to go to Synagogue, I get to see animals other people pay good money to see at an aquarium right in their native habitat. I’ve been fortunate enough to see dolphins, manatees (once even a mom and her baby calf), tons of fishes, hundreds of jellyfish of many sizes and colors, and stingrays. The only problem is that, since I see these animals on days when I cannot use a camera, like Shabbat or Holy Days, I am left only with the memory of my encounter.

This morning, while biking to synagogue, as I was starting the climb up the intracoastal bridge, I happened to look over. The water was completely still, like a mirror between the islands, and that’s a perfect time to spot dolphins, as well as to check out the shallows since visibility is near perfect. I peeked over the railing and bingo, a spotted stingray!

This one was about three feet from wingtip to wingtip, not the largest I have seen (this past Saturday I saw one twice as big as this one) but certainly of a respectable size.

I love these fleeting encounters. Especially because not all the wildlife in the area is very glamorous.

Ugly turkey vultures…