Since recovering from my latest work insanity, not running has opened my eyes to certain fun things:

1. The lab on the property who wanders if she is not taken for a mile loop -- I started taking her and we saw a gorgeous egret this morning on our walk -- try to find it among the vines

2. Changing my bike position -- 10 speed gives way to 11 speed, but that requires a change in bar position after 12 years ... getting used to it. I actually did a halfway decent climb today (22:13 up Old la Honda, which is over 1000 meters/hour) at well under puke level. Fun descent as well.

3. Cooking: Boys requested double-baked potatoes. I baked them while on my ride, then scooped out the insides, added, olive oil, a touch of butter and creme fraiche, roasted asparagus, Basque pepper, green onions, garlic, crispy bacon. For the bride, who loves shrimp, I found the biggest shrimp I could, seared them in olive oil with basque pepper and salt and pepper a minute a side, then deglazed with white wine, added garlic and covered for a few minutes more. I then added them to the stuffed potato and spooned on the sauce, which was as good as the shrimp (well, not really).

While all that was cooking I took some eggs from the hens on the property and made mint chocolate chip gelato (milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla bean, mint extract, melted chocolate).

A good gourmand day all around despite getting up early for work. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Nice pictures. With cooking like that I'll be stopping by for dinner as soon as I can catch a flight .  I used to cook a lot, now I rarely do for some reason.

 

Is that a new bike, or just retrofitted to the 11 speed?  Why does 11 speed require a bar position change?  And finally, can you tell much difference going from the 10 to the 11 speed?  My first road bike was a 7 speed and when the frame broke the new bike was a 10 speed. That did take some getting used to but I didn't really think it helped my performance, but I tend to be a grinder and  masher.

Thank you.

Bike is a 2007 Pegoretti. The 10-speed parts were getting harder to find, etc. so I "upgraded" to 11-speed. As for the reason for the bar position change, really hard to say other than it seems the 11-speed hoods take up some of the real estate where I used to put my hands so my wrists ended up pointing down -- solution, rotate the bars upward. With a round bar (not those "ergonomic" nightmares with only one place to put your hands in the drops), there are plenty of places to grip.  Going from 9 speed to 10-speed required no such change, either Campy or Shimano so who knows.

I will say I am not a huge fan of the 11-speed, ergonomics aside. I find the shifting to be less intuitive, and the dual pivot rear brakes are a bit strong (I would go with the single pivot version). The crank is very smooth, though, and the hoods are certainly better than 10 speed Shimano, though not as nice as the old Campy stuff in my opinion.

Wow. I didn't realize that 10 speed stuff was getting phased out. Since I haven't been putting many miles on my bike the past several years I'm kind of out of touch with bike stuff.

Campy will generally support their stuff longer than Shimano ... but only bottom-end Campy (if at all) is 10-speed now, and replacement Record 10 parts are insanely expensive.

Nice pics!  I hope work has settled down a bit to do more of this.  I just made twice baked potatoes for my boys for the first time.  They were a hit.

Looks like you live in a happy place!

Looks like you live in a happy place!

The compound is indeed a happy place! A bit unconventional, but we love it.

And yes, I did say bacon

Rocky, I like the dried Piment d'Espelette from See Smell Taste, which is not too bad if you buy it in bulk. There are others as well.

It is just like a great paprikas or cayenne that is not too spicy and adds a great depth of flasvor. Our boys like it in tomato sauce, in marinades, etc.