Roasted Squash Soup with garlic and green chile

It's been a while since I wrote about food or the quest for health, mainly because this whole month I've been inundated with posters as my boss has been working on a movie set, and I've also been writing a poem a day (which is, surprise, increasingly difficult). But last week I picked up a squash at the grocery store, a few days ago it made its way into the oven (with my help) along with a head of garlic and a bit of olive oil, and and finally tonight it turned into soup.

This soup, though, gosh. It's just so good. Something amazing happens when a butternut squash is roasted, it's like a savory candy, and.....well, here. I'll just post the "recipe" as I just whipped it up and didn't measure anything.

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash
1 head garlic
~1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 C. vegetarian soup stock
1/2 C. Bueno brand Autumn Roast green chile, "hot" (or to taste)

~1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
~1 tsp. paprika
~1 tsp. cumin
~1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut squash length-wise and remove seeds. Place both sides flesh down on baking sheet. Peel excess layer of paper from garlic head and place on baking sheet. Spray squash and garlic with enough oil to lightly cover. If you don't have a sprayer, you should get one but in the meantime, just drizzle the oil and massage it into the veggies. Roast for about 40 minutes, checking periodically. Skin on the squash should just start to ripple, and you should be able to pierce it easily with a fork. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle (or, if you're me, leave on the counter for a couple days, put in the refrigerator, and eventually get cracking on this next step). Scoop flesh from squash and peel garlic cloves and put both in blender or food processor. Add stock and green chile and blend, adding more stock as necessary for desired thickness, and more chile for more heat.

Transfer blend to large pot and put on low heat. Add spices to taste and bring to simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15-20 minutes.

This recipe is low fat, fairly low calorie, low sodium, gluten free, and vegan. It's also rich in vitamins and minerals, including Vitamins A and C, and complex B vitamins. This time of year, our immune systems are being pushed to their limits as we try to enjoy the last long rays of sunlight and warm, dry days, but there's a lot of impurities and germs being spread around, and it's easy to get sick. It's also a time when a lot of folks, myself included, are busy and don't put nutrition first, and that's a quick way to break down and allow for sickness to set in. Good food builds a solid foundation going into the cold winter months. This recipe should keep well, either frozen in small batches to take to work, or for a good 4-5 days in the refrigerator. (This is a guess. Please use good judgment and don't get sick. I'm not a food scientist and my ability to eat "iffy" foods is unparalleled).

The long fall of turning leaves

Something I've been learning to appreciate about cyclocross racing is that it is both simple and complex in its competition. As much as it's a team race, there's also the ability to beat one's teammate. We race others on the field, but also work towards bettering one's own skills and time. We try to win, but cheer each other on and congratulate each other on victories and accomplishments, however large or small. When Alice ultimately passed me, I was bummed because I didn't have the juice to chase her and hold it, but was also stoked for her because she was trailing behind me for a few laps and I knew she was really digging deep (and is generally faster than me). Having played a lot of team and lonely sports, I feel like this is a perfect mix between being self accountable but team/sport supported.

Today's course was hard and perfect. 55 degrees F, sunny, breezy; the course itself was almost all uphill, seemingly endless climbs staggered stop one another, alternated with sweeping steep downhills and an almost rideable run-up. The sandpit was rideable also, a fact I learned to late I. My race. While it was painful, I felt strong and confident throughout. My dismounts are finally proper, but I still can't adequately remount. It all takes practice. I was in 4th place with a sizeable gap until about halfway through, when Alice caught my wheel and I didn't have the snap in my legs to chase her during my strong sections - the long climbs. I did hold down 5th, though, and still feel okay about that, especially since I had such a huge gap on the people behind me. I think that commuting and postering have helped a lot with the climbing skills, though I still wish I did better and probably need to lee a few pounds to get myself lighter up the hills. The race winners, who win every race, do the Dirty Dozen, though so I don't feel too bad about not beating them. There are always goals to reach. Alice and Mary, I'm coming for you next. Of course, in the most supportive way possible.

Bike Race! So hard!

Today was a lesson in humility, but moreso a lesson in testing and tuning before a race. I didn't think to have our team mechanic look at my bike after yesterday's race, because I know how to work on my own bike. The thing about that is, however, that means I need to actually throw my bike in the stand and turn it. I didn't, and I didn't take any air out of my tires to accommodate the damp course. I fishtailed every turn and in an effort to gain and maintain speed on my power sections, I jammed my shifting and had to pull off the course right before a steep uphill. This is enough, I think, to disqualify me since I didn't run it to the pit, but I don't think the hecklers on the sidelines were too concerned with ratting out someone who was riding sweep. The shifting debacle, however, also pulled my rear wheel out of its drops, and my last two laps were spent with a rattling rear wheel rubbing hard against the brakes. I was surprised to learn I was pulled from the race because I finished it, not because I was lapped some ferociously by the tweens I was racing against.

Lessons learned: don't go to bed at 1:30 when I need to be out the door Cora race by 8:30, and always tune my bike before and/or after a race. Other important reminders, of course, are that cyclocross, for me, is a sport much like Zozobra, signaling the peaceful and fun time between other sports, a time to have fun with friends and let it all go, and also that there is always something to be gained even from a bad race - today, I left the house, road bikes with friends, and it's a beautiful day outside. I'm sitting in our van, still in my shammy, so it's time to enjoy the parts of the day I can still recover. 

Bike Race! So fun!

E. and I had a bit of a late start getting out the door, because he worked until 3 a.m. and the dog was sounding sick this morning and we decided to take poor Major Tom with us, which required a slight change in packing plans. We didn't have a lot of time to test ride the course, use the bathroom, etc., but I tried to get done as much as I need to in the time permitted in between the race before mine and the call to line up. At the very beginning of the course was a wooded section that dropped out with this steep and pitted dry dirt wall, a hill swooping down into a few turns that brought you straight to a right turn dismount for a double barrier run-up. We were still chatting when we came to the drop, and I tried a few times to ride it, getting more panicked as my attempts failed, until E. finally encouraged me to just come down and ride the rest of the course to see what else to expect. we ran up the barrier run-up, rode some of the twists and turns through the field, through the wooded sections that included a steep ride-up, and then the sand-pit which I chose to run through rather than try to sludge with my bicycle. I started having an anxiety attack, my nerves of the race bringing on the ignored feelings of loss and regret in the mourning of my recently departed friend, Max.

The field is called to the line, so I cut through the tape and rolled down the last steep downhill section, this one mudded and soft.I'd managed to stop my hyperventilation, and E. hands me water and some goo to try and up my sugar levels, since I also hadn't eaten much and needed some energy to burn. I felt like I was going to throw up, a bad combination of nerve and not being able to reach the bathroom in time. I want to pull out, but Colin, our team sponsor, paid for my entry fee and I didn't want to waste his money. I also didn't want to let my team down, or E., or myself, and knew that if I bailed on this race, it would set a precedent for choosing the easy, shameful way out.

As my field approached that first steep downhill I'd failed to ride just minutes before, my heart was thumping and I knew I needed to either ride down it or quit the race. The rest of the field had ridden it successfully, and if I was going to dismount at every lap, ride 50 feet, and dismount again for the barriers, I would lose. I also would be missing an important aspect of the course, something that the promotors put a lot of time into developing for our enjoyment.

All this was in my head as I suddenly remembered, I'm a mountain biker, dummy. What do mountain bikers do? We don't look down. So I rode through with the pack, and it was actually wicked fun. I cut through the turns and had a sloppy dismount up to the barriers. Basically, I am like Zoolander where I can't turn right and it is an almost fatal flaw. Stack that with a dismount and I'm toast, baby.

The rest of the course was a blast. I rode everything I could and made a conscious decision to not attempt the sand, seeing multiple people get stuck halfway through and stumble off their bikes in the sand. I'm a pretty quick running so it wasn't an issue for me, even though there was immediately another hill to climb. I'm happy that E. took the time yesterday to practice dismounts and remounts, because at the sand pit it really helped, even though my dismount and remount at the barriers was still pretty embarrassing. All things in practice. 

Also, I got 5th! Podium! I also got $15 and a pair of socks. And, there was free beer and coleslaw. So, really, I was already winning.

Tomorrow is another race, part of the Month of Mud series. Here goes!

Tomorrow is race day!

Tomorrow is race day! Well, actually, today is race day, I've just been fiddling with this blog post, thinking it keeps posting, but have had issues with the site for the past few days. I've heard that staying up late helps with the adrenaline anyway, so I should be fine. E. and I went out into the woods today on my request, even though we were both so busy, because I needed some fresh air and to work out some tension I have had building up over this past very stressful week. We practiced dismounting and remounting, and while I'm still bad at it (like, quite bad) (like, really, quite bad), I at least know what I am doing right or wrong, what I need to work on in terms of my weight shifting.

It was a relief to hear that he was good at these sport-specific skills after a few years of racing. I tend to want to do something correct immediately or not want to do it at all. It's a wonder I do anything! After this high stress week, I'm happy to have something to focus my mind and body energy towards, a tangible goal with a definite end, calculative results. These things are so rare in the adult world, and I'm starting to see why crazy people like racing so much. Does this mean I'm going crazy?

The weather is changing, which means I am packing as if I'm leaving for a week - different shammies and warmers for different temperatures. My race is at 11 a.m., a time of great temperature shifts, depending on the moisture in the air. If it's still raining or misty out, it could be (or at least feel) like the low to mid 40s, but if it's dry and sunny, the same kid will leave me heaving and sweating by the end of the first lap. The learning process is so multifaceted! We're also going straight to a wedding shower after the race, so we need to pack additional outfits in a separate mud-free bag so we can pretend we aren't completely disgusting (they know we are though, that's what friends are for).

A busy week! Workin' for the weekend hike

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Okay, you optimists: the good news is that after the cross race I headed out into Frick Park and rode all the hills I could remember, many of them twice. I listened to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (did you know you can check out audiobooks from the library and stream them on your listening device? So cool) and was completely in the zone of class war and dystopian politics (I kind of zone out during the love scenes, sorry). It made those climbs so easy, I just kept going, hill after hill, remembering new ways to move up, then cruising down as fast as I could manage (not very) to find a new trail to take up, or else just turn around and do it again. It was so much fun, really! I also rode up some of the single track I typically ride down on my mountain bike. It's a whole new game heading uphill, and a whole different sport on a cross bike. I won't replay the whole conversation I had later about people racing on mountain bikes, but my ride certainly brought up some new arguments which I then forced E to enter as contrarian. I then rode hard Monday and Tuesday, hustling posters and pamphlets around town, sweating to make sweet cash and get my back used to carrying weighted packs.

The bad news is it rained pretty heavily on Tuesday evening and all day today and I haven't been on the bike since. I have been scooting around a lot, taking care of scooter-specific needs, but other than that it's been a pretty stationary few days. I did take the dog for a short run today, largely to get us both away from an annoying lady and her also annoying dog on the bike path, and tomorrow I have a hike planned with some friends to get the fresh air, despite the coming rains. I feel optimistic about rain at the moment, and think hiking in it is a lot more fun than, say, commuting to work. And considering I just got another couple drop-offs of posters that need to go up next week, there will be a lot of commuting in my near future. Hopefully Sunday I'll have a chance to do some more hill repeats.

In the meantime, it's me and my boy Rodney Yee.