Makes 3-4 quarts
6 medium cucumber, ends cut off, peeled seeded and roughly chopped
2 ripe avocadoes, pitted and peeled
1 cup scallion greens, washed
1 cup cilantro leaves , washed
2 cups buttermilk or yougurt
2 teaspoons toasted, ground cumin seed
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and roughly chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Directions:
Add half the ingredients to a blender and blend soup smooth. Repeat with remaining half. Taste, adjust seasoning and add additional jalapeno if necessary. Chilled the soup thoroughly before serving. Serve within 48 hours (the soup will start to oxidize and discolor after a day or so). ENJOY!!
Note: I use a couple of more cucumbers to make it less creamy. I haven't used the cumin seed yet, I'm sure it adds a lot of flavor. I use all of the cilantro, not just the leaves. I also use the whole cucumber, minus the ends (I use the seeds).
The soup does not oxidize as quickly as the recipe says; I've kept it in my fridge for 4 days and it tastes and looks delicious.
I also think the reason it has turned out so incredibly delicious is that I have used mostly LOCAL ingredients (not the avocadoes).
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Magnificent Seven, 2010
For those who have not seen the classic western movie, the Magnificent Seven is a tale of seven cowboys, horsemen and gunslingers who band together in pursuit of glory, to save Mexicans from certain peril against insurmountable odds.......
The Crew:
In hard core Colorado if you invite people to go on a standard, 15-20 mile bike ride, they will kindly tell you "maybe", but when you show up to the trail you will likely find yourself riding alone. When you tell people, "lets go on a ride that is 131 miles, climbing 13,000 feet in elevation and is said to be impossible and it will feel like you have only one of your two lungs", you are joined by six of the strongest people I know (some of which I had never met before the day of the ride). I present to you, the rest of the "Magnificent Seven" in the order that they accepted the challenge:
Childhood friend. The first time I ever saw this guy was in 7th grade as he set the city record for the mile. He was so much faster than everyone else, it didn't look like they were doing the same sport. Today Todd competes in marathons and Ironman triathlons at the highest levels as displayed in qualifying for Boston Marathon and Half Ironman world championships...
The youngest in our crew. Alan moved to CO one year ago after finishing his service in the armed forces. He's conquered marathons and Half Ironmans at an age where many of us specialized in bar hopping for fun. I hear he was also quite a chick magnet at the summit with several flirting tourists swarming around...
#6 Chris Hakulin
"The Finn". A work buddy of Matt's who signed up at the last minute. He keeps in shape by bike commuting to work daily and running an occasional marathon. Using his status quo shape, not having time to specifically prepare for this ride, he was still one of the first to summit... This speaks so much for keeping yourself a well oiled machine and ready to go at any moment.
While Alan was at the top with cute young girls flirting with him, I was told by a seventy year old lady at Echo Lake Lodge, while she winked at me, that she thought I was the "best dressed cyclist on the mountain". Yeah baby!
Nicole has also written a fantastic account of the ride with many more great photos... Please take a look on her blog, Banana Death:
Raquel Morales (my mom)
August 28th, 2010 this feat was re-matched by seven quad-slingers from the Colorado Front range who mounted their aluminum and carbon fiber steeds and accepted the insurmountable challenge of placing one of Colorado's largest mountains beneath our feet using only the power of our own bodies and the ingenuity of man's most elegant, un-motored invention...
Matt Sands-Joe Morales- Bryan Sendelweck-Nicole Drummer- Chris Hakulin- Todd Faestel-Alan Sage
The goal of this challenge was to create a ride more ridiculous and larger than any of the organized rides in Colorado, a state that has an un-balanced concentration of super-athlete meccas: Vail, Gunnison, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs. It was to make the Triple Bypass look like a heart murmur and to tower thousands of feet above the maximum elevation of the famous, Leadville 100.
The Challenge:
- Start: We will start at my house which lies on the border of Denver and Englewood.
- Destination: The summit of Mt, Evans, one of Colorado's largest peaks seen towering over any viewing point in the Denver Area. Have you seen it? If you're in Denver driving on I-25 just look west and find the largest peak behind the mountains that are behind the other mountains.. That's it! Now consider biking there from where you stand... and then back home....
- Distance: 131 miles
- Starting Elevation: 5,200 feet
- Elevation at the top: 14,200 feet.
- Oxygen Deprivation: With every 1000 feet in elevation gain, the air has 4% less oxygen for breathing. With a 9000 foot differential from Denver, We will be breathing air that has nearly 40% less oxygen atop Mt. Evans. Nearly the equivalent of losing an entire lung.
- Total Elevation gain: nearly 13,000 feet
The Crew:
In hard core Colorado if you invite people to go on a standard, 15-20 mile bike ride, they will kindly tell you "maybe", but when you show up to the trail you will likely find yourself riding alone. When you tell people, "lets go on a ride that is 131 miles, climbing 13,000 feet in elevation and is said to be impossible and it will feel like you have only one of your two lungs", you are joined by six of the strongest people I know (some of which I had never met before the day of the ride). I present to you, the rest of the "Magnificent Seven" in the order that they accepted the challenge:
#1 Todd Faestel (and Co-Creator of the ride concept) as seen with his family and our incredible support Sherpas: Radar and Liz Faestel.
Childhood friend. The first time I ever saw this guy was in 7th grade as he set the city record for the mile. He was so much faster than everyone else, it didn't look like they were doing the same sport. Today Todd competes in marathons and Ironman triathlons at the highest levels as displayed in qualifying for Boston Marathon and Half Ironman world championships...
#2 Bryan Sendelweck
Mines fraternity brother. Bryan learned to ski before he could walk. From this seed, sprouted a renaissance athlete who can control any device on any terrain. It doesn't matter if he's on a raft, kayak, snowboard, skis, bike, feet, climbing shoes, rock, snow, water or pavement... he can command the vehicle and he can command it fast as shown on this ride which was only his 4th month owning a road bike. Quick study?
#3 Matt Sands
Mines Fraternity Brother. Hadn't seen Sands in years until Julie and I moved back from CA and we saw him at a party. We quickly started talking about bikes and now we'll go conquer a mountain from time to time (never quite this big though!).
#3 Matt Sands
Mines Fraternity Brother. Hadn't seen Sands in years until Julie and I moved back from CA and we saw him at a party. We quickly started talking about bikes and now we'll go conquer a mountain from time to time (never quite this big though!).
#4 Nicole Drummer
The lone female in our crew. Supposedly a high school band geek (really?). Later in life Nicole embraced a strong coaching program that propelled her into triathlon. Today a certified triathlon coach at any level from sprint distance to Ironman. There is certainly no doubt of her skill as seen by a constant smile and a brisk pace no matter what the challenge. This chick is tough...
#5 Alan Sage
#5 Alan Sage
The youngest in our crew. Alan moved to CO one year ago after finishing his service in the armed forces. He's conquered marathons and Half Ironmans at an age where many of us specialized in bar hopping for fun. I hear he was also quite a chick magnet at the summit with several flirting tourists swarming around...
#6 Chris Hakulin
"The Finn". A work buddy of Matt's who signed up at the last minute. He keeps in shape by bike commuting to work daily and running an occasional marathon. Using his status quo shape, not having time to specifically prepare for this ride, he was still one of the first to summit... This speaks so much for keeping yourself a well oiled machine and ready to go at any moment.
# 7 (Yours Truly)
While planning for this ride we agreed that the honor for being the first to summit Mt. Evans would be the penalty of wearing a yellow speedo afterward. It was to be an embarrassing consequence of striving for speed. The yellow was to commemorate the color of the yellow leader's jersey (The "Maillot Jaune") in major races such as the Tour de France.
If for no other reason than the other six riders loathing the speedo, or being injured, I proudly wore this honor in my descent of 15 miles from the summit of Mt. Evans to Echo Lake in 40 degree temperature while others put on their warm coats. I then had to hang out alone in this ridiculous thing for about 20 minutes on the stairs in front of Echo Lake Lodge before my clothes arrived in the support vehicle.
While Alan was at the top with cute young girls flirting with him, I was told by a seventy year old lady at Echo Lake Lodge, while she winked at me, that she thought I was the "best dressed cyclist on the mountain". Yeah baby!
It was hilarious. Entire cars of tourists summiting the mountain would cheer as I rode by. Tough guys on Harley's would almost crash in a attempt to recover from laughter as I bombed down the mountain and all the while I was quite literally "nippin' out" because it was COLD!!!
The flowers were the best attempt we had at finding a yellow speedo. Apparently it is an issue with transparency in the color yellow for that fabric.
The Ride:
In brief summary, we started before the sun rose and departed for Morrison as a group. We hit some challenges including a broken bike chain, injured knee and oxygen deprivation, but despite all of that, 100% of our crew was able to make the full summit to Mt. Evans, a total of 60+ miles of non-stop hill climbing. We all stopped in Idaho Springs and ordered Pizza at Beau Jo's for a tailgate party before the final journey home.
Due to complications, injury and safety, two of our crew made the smart decision to opt out at the summit and the remaining five were able to make the entire ride. An incredible accomplishment for everybody.
Some of the highlights:
Entire crew at Echo Lake Lodge
Sendelweck and Sands bound for summit
"The Finn"
Nicole - Always smiling no matter what
Jomo - deep in my own mind
Todd powering the climb despite an active knee injury..
Views keep getting bigger and bigger
and bigger.......
Still dedicated to the climb - we came from the place behind the mountains in the back
Sendelweck in good form.....
Followed shortly after by Sands
And Nicole looking like a pro...
Me approaching the final summit....
And the view from the top.....
Liz Faestel posted a photo gallery with many more photos from the ride:
GPS data of the ride looked like this.....
Nicole has also written a fantastic account of the ride with many more great photos... Please take a look on her blog, Banana Death:
The Glue:
No great thing can hold its integrity without some force holding it together, in-tact. In the case of our fearless ride, the glue was a fantastic team of "The Four Sherpas"
Liz Faestel, Radar and Julie Morales. They manned a fully equipped support vehicle with PBJ sandwiches, gatorade, pretzels, cliff bars, gels, water - whatever we needed. They were incredibly supportive. dedicating their entire day to the event showing up at key, predetermined locations to make sure everybody was safe and had what they needed to make the journey. They also helped prepare the food and house for the post party...
Raquel Morales (my mom)
Came over to our house early in the day, while we still had hours of riding left, and made sure the slow cooked tacos were cooking perfectly, setting up buffet tables and helping us keep completely organized at a party that would be laden with calorie deprived, famished cyclists...
Thank you so much for your time, energy and incredible support...
Post Party:
We were all pretty beat at the post party, happy to get protein in our bodies and happy to relax with a water, beer, protein drink etc...
Thank you so much to all of the riders and support crew for such an incredible day!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Angie & Pete's Wedding
Hello family!!!
Time has been flying by and here it is August already. Amy and I have had a very busy with work (in the yard and on the job) and play (fishing, bike riding, hiking, and attending music/movies/events in the Denver area.) A BIG highlight of our summer so far was attending Angie & Pete's wedding in Virginia….. spending several days staying at a very cute B&B in the country….and having fun each day/evening attending wedding parties, dinners, ceremonies and seeing family members we haven’t seen in months/years while enjoying the sights/culture of rural America in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
All of us having breakfast at the B&B in Bedford, Virginia.
View from the B&B porch as the owner walked his goats across the bridge.
The groom and bride (Pete and Angie)
Barbara (Amy's sister), Lori (Amy's cousin) and Amy
Joe, Julie, Amber, me, Amy at the rehearsal dinner on Friday night.
Lance, Aunt Mabel and Barbara
Pete, Jacob (Angie's brother) and the bride's parents, Tony & Patsy
The wedding
Outside the church: Angie, Julie, Amy, Amber, Barbara, Pete & Joe
The bride and groom
Father - Daughter Dance
Amy, Barbara and Tony... The Martin siblings
Joe and Julie strutting their stuff (check out the attached video)
Love,
Amy and Greg
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
NoCal in July
Familia,
It's time for me to accompany Joe in Northern Cali for a little while again.I got here last Thursday night, had dinner in Downtown Palo Alto and set out to do my exploring in Santa Clara, where our hotel is, on Friday. The weather is PERFECT. They're experiencing a "Cold Front", so temps are in the mid 70's.....Aaaahhhhhh!!!!
On Saturday we changed hotels, from Palo Alto to Santa Clara (Better beds, Joe says). Joe took care of some work stuff and we headed out to Gilroy, where the Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival was going on. As most of you know, our family is not fond of garlic (YES, we're aware of all the nutritional value, etc )and IT is not fond of us either. So I have no pictures or stories to tell you......other than the whole time we were in Gilroy, walking around and exploring, we could smell nothing but GARLIC......roated, sauteed, marinated.....you name it....we smelled it!
On Sunday , after work-out and sun bathing by the pool, we headed out to Sonoma via Downtown San Francisco. Joey and Julie always told us to make sure to take a "jacket", not just sweater or wind breaker, but a JACKET if you're going to spend ANY time in San Fran........and YES......it was cold, windy and in some parts rainy, in the City by the Bay. It's like driving into La Dimension Desconocida....
Golden Gate Bridge
SF Capitol
Do you know the way to Sonoma & Napa ? Notice how sunny it is, just a few miles north of SF ?
Papi fell in love with Sonoma; he said he could live there NOW. It is very picturesque and it has a super positive energy flow, PLUS it's Sunny, most of the time.
Sonoma Park
On our way back we stopped in Sausalito for dinner at Scoma Restaurant on the water
San Francisco view from Sausalito
Local Fruit from the Fruit Basket Market in Sonoma
Last Night we realized that we only have a couple of nights left in Sunny Cali before we head back to Colorful CO........SO......before heading out to dinner we had Happy Hour in our room
We had dinner at Parcel 104, a restaurant famous for serving ALL locally grown food. The menu changes every day, based on what Chef Carlos Sanchez gets that very same day, from local growers. Joey and Julie visited the restaurant a couple of times when they lived in San Jose. The Best Part....The Restaurant is IN our hotel !!
Joe and I could not just enjoy ALL Locally Grown Food without a nice bottle of Alexander Valley Silver Oak Cabernet ...It was Awesome!!
Monterey Heirloom Tomato Soup
Half Moon Bay Greens
I should have taken pictures of our Main Entress, Pork Loin Chop for Joe and Spearfish for me.....but I guess I was overly excited when we got our entrees...and we just ATE them. They were beautifully presented and tasted heavenly.
Dessert: Passion Fruit Milkshake, Berry Whipped ice Cream, Mini Lava Cake, Chocolate Mousse
Later on today, and tomorrow, I'm heading out to explore the land of McCaffee, Yahoo, EMC2, all company headquarters in this area of Santa Clara.
The flowers are just SO Amazing (I'm so amazing!) I must take pictures and share them with you all. No, it's not "a threat"....Counselor.....
Con Carino,
MoonRaka
It's time for me to accompany Joe in Northern Cali for a little while again.I got here last Thursday night, had dinner in Downtown Palo Alto and set out to do my exploring in Santa Clara, where our hotel is, on Friday. The weather is PERFECT. They're experiencing a "Cold Front", so temps are in the mid 70's.....Aaaahhhhhh!!!!
On Saturday we changed hotels, from Palo Alto to Santa Clara (Better beds, Joe says). Joe took care of some work stuff and we headed out to Gilroy, where the Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival was going on. As most of you know, our family is not fond of garlic (YES, we're aware of all the nutritional value, etc )and IT is not fond of us either. So I have no pictures or stories to tell you......other than the whole time we were in Gilroy, walking around and exploring, we could smell nothing but GARLIC......roated, sauteed, marinated.....you name it....we smelled it!
On Sunday , after work-out and sun bathing by the pool, we headed out to Sonoma via Downtown San Francisco. Joey and Julie always told us to make sure to take a "jacket", not just sweater or wind breaker, but a JACKET if you're going to spend ANY time in San Fran........and YES......it was cold, windy and in some parts rainy, in the City by the Bay. It's like driving into La Dimension Desconocida....
Golden Gate Bridge
SF Capitol
Do you know the way to Sonoma & Napa ? Notice how sunny it is, just a few miles north of SF ?
Papi fell in love with Sonoma; he said he could live there NOW. It is very picturesque and it has a super positive energy flow, PLUS it's Sunny, most of the time.
Sonoma Park
On our way back we stopped in Sausalito for dinner at Scoma Restaurant on the water
San Francisco view from Sausalito
Local Fruit from the Fruit Basket Market in Sonoma
Last Night we realized that we only have a couple of nights left in Sunny Cali before we head back to Colorful CO........SO......before heading out to dinner we had Happy Hour in our room
We had dinner at Parcel 104, a restaurant famous for serving ALL locally grown food. The menu changes every day, based on what Chef Carlos Sanchez gets that very same day, from local growers. Joey and Julie visited the restaurant a couple of times when they lived in San Jose. The Best Part....The Restaurant is IN our hotel !!
Joe and I could not just enjoy ALL Locally Grown Food without a nice bottle of Alexander Valley Silver Oak Cabernet ...It was Awesome!!
Monterey Heirloom Tomato Soup
Half Moon Bay Greens
I should have taken pictures of our Main Entress, Pork Loin Chop for Joe and Spearfish for me.....but I guess I was overly excited when we got our entrees...and we just ATE them. They were beautifully presented and tasted heavenly.
Dessert: Passion Fruit Milkshake, Berry Whipped ice Cream, Mini Lava Cake, Chocolate Mousse
Later on today, and tomorrow, I'm heading out to explore the land of McCaffee, Yahoo, EMC2, all company headquarters in this area of Santa Clara.
The flowers are just SO Amazing (I'm so amazing!) I must take pictures and share them with you all. No, it's not "a threat"....Counselor.....
Con Carino,
MoonRaka
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