Dinner and a Good Book - LGRAB 2

I finally got to sit down and start my bike book, which I'm reading as a part of the Lets Go Ride a Bike Summer Games, round two activities.  I chose "Miles from Nowhere:  A Round the World Bicycle Adventure" by Barbara Savage.  I gave this book to a former coworker/one-time boss/friend/cyclist as a retirement gift a few years ago and she reported that it was a  great read.  It's been on my own to-read list ever since.  The book tells the story of Barbara and Larry Savage and their 23,000 mile treck around the world - two years, 25 countries.  It's an older book but one that many of my friends have read and loved.  Self supported long distance touring has long been one of my dreams.  I've done supported tours but I'd really love to just set out someday and see the some of the world by bike.

While devouring the first few pages of my book I also devoured my first ever kohlrabi.  I've never eaten this unique veggie (that I know of) but we planted a ton of it this year just out of curiosity.....

 We didn't even start reading about preparation until it got close to harvest.  The Baker cooked it up in a stir fry with curry spices over basmati rice. We also had one of our favorite spins with ground beef, pakistani hamburgers, a dish introduced to us by dozens of Pakistani friends over the years.  There's a Moroccan version as well with slightly different spices.  I generally  make the Moroccan version in more of a kibbeh-looking shape just because that's how my Moroccan in-laws did it.

The stir fry has kohlrabi (root and greens), onion, garlic, carrots and pecans.  He simply sauted in some olive oil and seasoned with his own special garam masala (which he makes in large batches because we love curries!)  The "burgers" are spiced with onions, garlic, lots and lots of flat leaf parsley, paprika and garam masala.  It's a nice way to do something different with boring old ground beef.   We are lucky to be part of a buying group for happy beef from an organic farm in southern Colorado.  Becuase of the great deal we get, we have a lot of ground beef around and are constantly looking for new ways to spice it up!

I'm using my new bookmark for the first time as well.  Part of the purging meant pouring over boxes and boxes full of cards and letters too and from my mother from well over 50 years.  She keeps everything - have I mentioned that?  I found this birthday card from the early 60's and it had this foxy little muffin shakin' her thing inside.  I just had to keep her!  And today, since I had absolutely nothing else to do (HA!) I made her into a bookmark.