If you’re not into the fixed gear culture, you probably won’t get it. The first “Fixed-push” video is a satire of the subculture of cyclists who ride fixed-gear bicycles.

Technically, I’m a fixed gear cyclist. Except, not really because I don’t own an industrial size messenger bag that could fit beer fridges, I don’t play bike polo, nor have I ever been employed as a bike messenger (or competed in bike messenger competitions.. apparently you don’t have to be a messenger to compete in one :p). Nor did I build my bike from some ultra cool retro frame I pulled out of someone’s old school garage sale and fitted it with stuff that has weird italian and japanese names that I have no clue why it matters. My bike was sold to me “off the peg”… what i see is what i got. Though it doesn’t have a top tube pad, it reviews well, and I kept the brakes on it and even had it equipped with … *gasp drama* … fenders! I do, however, own skinny pants. I don’t think I look so skinny in said pants, but they’re practical for cycling with and they go with everything.

The only thing I’m disappointed in about not belonging to the “fixed gear culture” is that I cannot skid stop for the life of me, and I cannot maintain a trackstand. I wanted to ride fixed for the ability to do trackstands, and so far, I’m not getting it. I guess I’m not so zen with the bike.

So the cherry tomato plants aren’t doing so well. The leaves are sort of tiny and mottled and despite my best attempts I couldn’t get good growth out of them. I’m going to continue to nurse them and see how far they go, but at this point, they’re on life support. I bought two new cherry tomato plants and this morning planted them. I figured since they were already outdoors they didn’t need to be hardened too much longer. The stems grew a little crooked, but they’re green and leafy. Maybe i’ll get a salad out of it yet.

Marigolds in the back, cherries along my makeshift bamboo trellis, roma plants next and sweet basil plants in the foreground.

In the 2nd veggie patch, my one cucumber seedling is doing well. The lettuce and the carrots have come up  and need to be thinned.  I may take the spinach out and plant a pepper plant instead. I’m not that big of a fan of spinach anyway.

I just finished dinner.. President’s Choice World’s Best Meatless “Chicken breast” with grilled tomatoes and asparagus. I’ve somewhat succeeded in kicking my morning habit of coffee, and I took it a step further by eating mostly raw meals. Though right now, to me, raw means salads and lots of it. Over the weekend, I was able to indulge with food a bit. I even had a couple of lattes. Tonight was the first time I used a heat element for myself at home, other than a crock pot full of vegetarian chilli for a vegan potluck we had at work on Friday.

I had a great weekend. I spent it in Toronto with the boy, even though I should have been here spring cleaning. But I wanted to see him, and I got a lot done on Saturday morning. We played a lot of Gears of War co-op, visited Ikea and even made our own pizzas. Working with pizza dough was interesting, but it was something fun that we got to do together.

Back to Monday, back to work, even at home. I can’t deal with all the weeds in the backyard. It’s really disheartening. But the seeds I’ve planted in various places are coming up, which is really nice.

Tomato update: I left the tomatoes out for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it was windy and the wind knocked my romas over. They seemed to survive though, and i promptly brought them back in. Today, I left them out for a lot longer. It was very sunny and warm. Unfortunately, i think one of them got too stressed out, so it started to wilt. I brought it back in and propped them up with wooden chopsticks. I’ll keep bringing them outside, and hope that the stress won’t kill them outright.

Toronto Critical Mass took over the Gardiner Expressway.  I wish I could have been part of that ride.

Tonight, I’m treating myself to gazpacho. Most of the ingredients are from the market, at the most Ontario grown.

4 large tomatoes, peeled
1 red bell pepper
1 english cucumber
1 handful of chopped cilantro
5-6 fresh basil leaves
1 handful of chopped scallions (or red onion)
3 garlic cloves
1/4 olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
salt, pepper

(optional stuffs: tabasco sauce, other fresh herbs, avocados, parsley)

Half the pepper and half the cucumber are finely chopped and set aside in a large bowl. Everything else goes in the blender. You can chop up the tomatoes and veggies coarsely if you like. Blend until smooth. Add the liquids to the big bowl and mix the peppers and cucumbers together. Season to taste. Cover, and chill in the fridge for about an hour for the flavours to blend in. Waiting is important for delicious gazpacho.

I think a lot of recipes call for tomato juice to thin the concoction and add more flavour. Honestly, I don’t think it needs it. If you want it less chunky, forget chopping anything and put all of it in the blender and set to liquify. If you want more liquid, add water. If you want to bother, you can even strain the pulp, though I wouldn’t because all that stuff is healthy. If you wanted more flavour, add more herbs. Yum, cilantro!

So I get headaches when I don’t get my daily fix of caffeine. Also, I don’t feel rested after a full night of sleep. I figured it was time to get myself off of caffeine. I started today, which was kind of a bad time because my weekend was sort of exhausting. We started the weekend with a housewarming party for a co-worker in Oakville. She has an awesome place, and the snacks were plentiful and delicious. I spent the weekend in Toronto, with the boy and friends, shopping, drinking too much coffee, some wine, lots of sugary stuff. Not exactly outright hedonism but it was fun for a while.

When I got back home, the litter box needed changing, the plants needed watering, and over the course of a weekend it seemed that the weeds had just gone nuts. I have a headache from not getting enough sleep, and quite possibly from skipping my morning coffee. I did need to have a Hershey Almond chocolate bar or else I would have been completely useless. The chocolate bar perked me up a bit, and I was able to continue working through the day. I still have a headache, but for the most part, I’ve been so good about food.

I’m going to make myself an asian spinach salad. A big one. And veg out in front of the telly. I’m going to attempt to eat raw foods for the most part, if I can. I’m hoping by the end of this week, my brain will be back on track. I’ll be honest though… quitting caffeine might be just as hard as quitting smoking was for me.

Tomatoes went into their individual pots last week. I picked 3 of the Romas and 2 of the cherries. I think these should be enough for the veggie patch I plotted out for them.

I named the romas after my sister’s family. The cherry tomatoes are named for me and my boyfriend.

The cherry tomatoes (Sweet 100), are in recycled plastic pots from the herb plants I bought earlier.

Sometime this week, the cucumbers, lettuces and carrots are going into the ground. I would have done it today but it was really cold out.