I get regular emails from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I have no idea how I got on this list, but this week’s notice was about how pizza (tomato paste actually) is considered a vegetable in school lunch. You might have heard this news from other sources; I also heard commentary on it via Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! (WBHM represent! I listen to a lot of NPR, because I’m a communist).

Elisa and I are both as passionate about food as we are about cycling. Pizza is probably one of our most favorite foods -it’s got all the items that make up a “balanced meal” and it’s downright delicious. We were both members of a local Birmingham CSA last year, and I cannot count the number of times our vegetables ended up as pizza.

However, when I dream about pizza, it usually looks something like this:

******************************

This is my favorite pizza to make, from Bon Appetit – Asparagus, Fingerling Potato, and Goat Cheese. It is amazing. AMAZING. You should stop what you’re doing, get to the store, rush home, and make this delicacy. I’ll wait.

Anyway, I would certainly consider the asparagus pizza a vegetable straight from heaven. This, however:

*********************************

This is pizza straight from hell, as documented on Fed Up with Lunch – The School Lunch Project. Should the tomato sauce on this pizza be considered a vegetable? I don’t know, maybe. Should it be served to any living being? Most definitely not.

So…why is this post on Bikeskirt? Well like I said we love pizza, and it’s a great cycling fuel. It should be at the destination of rides to be worshiped as the perfect combination of carbohydrate goodness, melty calcium and protein wonderfulness, and vitaminy fibery deliciousness. Pizza should not be demonized!

Processed foods that don’t even resemble whatever they’re supposed to be is the problem. No one should be putting that food in their bodies, particularly if they are persons working to live intentionally healthy lives. I understand processed foods cheaper, more convenient, and stimulate those happy receptors in your brain sure, but for gods sake lets just say no to this mess. We live life in the admittedly slow but enjoyable bicycle lane, so we should also take time to allow our food to join us on that journey.

Riding home with my Jones Vally Urban Farm CSA bounty, I couldn’t have felt more beautiful.

Our good friends Charlie and Stella have recently embarked on a journey of exploration and discovery – Farm by Bike! Charlie is known to us through Jones Valley Urban Farm, a great partner of Bici. After a few years tilling the wild urban soil, he and his lady Stella decided to sever ties for a couple of months to ride bikes from Birmingham to Kentucky and back, visiting and working with small-scale sustainable farms. A very cool idea!

They came into Bici a few months ago to begin getting their bikes ready for the long journey. Hopefully the bikes are treating them well and they are having some great rides and farming experiences. Check out their route to see if they’ll be coming by you. They might need to see some friendly faces out there on the road or good tips of where to get some bike work done (hope not!).

They’ve been posting up some great photos of them riding and working, and regularly update about what’s going on, so go check them out!

Godspeed Charlie and Stella!!!

*************************

Weekends are made for straight cruisin. Cruisin to listen to people’s stories about their relationship with food, transitioning to night time parties, leading early morning community garden tours (which again required much more effort than they were expecting), exploration of historic old neighborhoods, parks. All the while waving at passing stangers, laughing at their confusion and comments, finally having our turn with overcast skies and chilly air. Lots of beer, lots of love.

***********************

This past weekend was full of bikes and completely great.

Dear Summer,

I love you today a lot.

hearts,

elisa

photo from here.

A great weekend!  Rode all over the place…to the top of a parking deck (and back down…motion sickness…), to a brewery for a special friends and family July 4th party, to church(es), the farmers market AND farm, Jazz in the Park, lunch, and just around town.  I can’t remember the last time I rode this much just to ride.

How was your weekend?

See you Saturday

Special thanks to Andrew Thomson for designing and hand screen printing these kick ass posters.  A small number of them will be available at the race for a couple bucks.  Art for the people!!

It was so lovely.  Downtown Birmingham goes to sleep early, so the roads were peaceful and the lights stunning.  Wind was blowing and I could smell the springtime in the air, with the storm that hit us brewing above.

the city at night (forgive the lo-fi iPhone photos!)

One thing that could have ruined it was when a car came screaming through a red light at an intersection I was riding through.  Thankfully this has been happening a lot (perhaps my helmet is also an invisibility cloak as this has literally happened 4 times in 3 weeks!), so I am super cautious when crossing green lights.  The car and I screeched to a halt with me yelling “Hey!” and shaking my head.  The driver would not even make eye contact with me.  I was shaking and frustrated for about 2 blocks until I passed over the viaduct and heard the trains running underneath.  Birmingham may suck for cyclists and drivers may be morons, but no one can take away the joy of riding my bike!

I retrieved the Cilantro, rode home and then joined some friends for some porch time.  Today has been rainy and gross, but the pollen is being washed away and the heat abating.  Spring!

Night time at the farm

Proud farmer for plot #10!

Well this week I was awarded a plot at the community garden at Jones Valley Urban Farm!  Freddy and I took a ride over to visit it today.  It needs a LOT of love, but is just waiting for me to grow something wonderful.

Suggestions for what to grow?  I will keep you posted with photos and reports from my bounty.