True That Bikes makes nice racks

Jesse stealthily laces up the rack in front of Mission Bicycle Company.

And with some coordination...

...leaves the bike rack much less naked than before!

If you'd like to lace up your favorite bike rack, please comment here and I'll

get one over to you.

more on the horizon

Brainstorm number three happened, and here are some notes.

Next meeting + dinner scheduled for this coming weds, july 7 at 7pm.

Please feel free to come by (email me for directions)

Also, dinner at this past meeting featured gluten-free gumbo (make a

roux from corn flour, garbanzo flour and potato starch), and an awesome

salad of watermelon, feta cheese, toasted pecans and basil over arugula

and spinach. I highly recommend it.

Well, I've been in San Francisco a year as of Tuesday, and to celebrate I

put in my 2 weeks notice at the cafe.

Some food:

Gluten-free bread pudding

This one came about by tasty miscalculation. Cake with too much xanthan

gum = pudding.

bake at 375 until delicious:

white nectarines

fresh ginger

cinnamon

maple syrup

coconut oil

mix:

potato starch, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, sweet rice

flour, and garbanzo/fava bean flour

baking powder

salt

xanthan gum

sugar/honey/maple syrup

apple sauce

water

coconut milk

olive oil

pour the batter into cake pans and put the nectarine goop on top (or under

for an upside-down cake.) the batter will puff up quite a bit in the oven but

will collapse again when you take it out. don't overfill, as it will spit your

nectarines out onto the hot oven bottom and set off your smoke alarm.

bake for 1 hour at 375 and let cool before serving.

i served it with a frosting:

blend:

yogurt (sweetened, or unsweetened plus honey)

vanilla extract

toasted pecans

cinnamon

rice noodle kugel, aka fauxsagna

saute:

chinese eggplant (soak in salt water first)

tofu

thai basil

with a sauce of:

soy sauce

vinegar

sesame oil

chili oil

honey

sesame seeds

in a hot skillet or wok with oil, quick-scramble some eggs, and mix in with

the sauteed veggies

preheat oven t0 450 or so

in a greased pan, layer rice noodles, sauteed veggies and ricotta cheese with

more fresh thai basil. you can pour the leftover saute sauce on it too. bake

until the top is crispy and the bottom is bubbling, maybe 20 minutes

And a new project: bike rack corsets! These will begin cropping up on SF

bike racks as fast as I can make them. Please let me know if you have a

favorite bike rack that you would like a corset for, and i'll get one to you!

First off, some sugar:

Left to right: milk chocolate peanut butter cups, however misshapen,

earl grey milk chocolate truffles, curry milk chocolate blobs, and

goji/cherry/pistachio/cacao bark.

the bark and the curry lumps are awesome. I'm too scared of the sugar

crash on the other side of the peanut butter cups to taste them, but

they will be served at tomorrow night's brainstorm (i'll put them out

AFTER we do all our thinking).

Bark:

dark chocolate

goji berries

dried cherries

dried mulberries

cacao nibs

pistachios

salt

freeze a plate or tray.

melt chocolate in a double boiler (or a saucepan on top of another saucepan)

mix all the berries and nuts, keep at the ready.

spread wax paper over your frozen tray

pour half the chocolate over the cold wax paper surface

pour on your trail mix

cover with the other half of the chocolate

freeze until solid, peel off the wax paper and enjoy!

i added some salt crystals to the top of mine, i recommend it.

And some watercolors. I was itching to do some acrylic work, but after

a thorough search through my paint toolbox, i discovered that I lost my

white, and really, there isn't much i can do without my white. I promise

some paintings next time i near an art supply store.

some old, some new, found in cleaning the piles in my room

the new ones are stiffer, like my eyes got bored. it's a funny feeling.

more soon, i hope.

cake 2.0

gluten free cardamom cake with arabic coffee frosting:

potato starch! i think that's what the last cake wanted

sorghum, buckwheat, sweet rice and garbanzo flours (flours and starch = 1 c)

xanthan gum

salt

baking powder (plenty)

cardamom

cinnamon

mix all these in a bowl

water

honey

rose petal tea

boil these and strain. add:

1 egg

coconut oil

mix all that in with dry stuff, add pistachios, bake at 375 for about 20 minutes

frosting:

plain yogurt

coconut oil, melted

dates

arabic coffee (finely ground coffee with cardamom. I used decaf), strained well and boiled down while the cake bakes.

mix all that together, chill, frost cake

brainstorm # 2

The notes

A very productive meeting, although the multi-colored post-its have yet

to make an appearance. The next meeting is Wednesday, July 1 at 7 pm

if any of you care to join.

As always, feedback and suggestions are much appreciated.