Well-wishes to all...

Aaaah! It's Friday!

Aaaah! IT'S MAY!

We all know what that means...the First Friday of May...

There are folks down in King City/Lake San Antonio right now, getting their camp on or enjoying the pleasures of the local hotels of King City (YEAH COURTENAY AND EILEEN AND ROCKETPANTS AND DAN AND RAY!), prepping for Wildflower.

There are folks in St. Croix enjoying the sights of a GORGEOUS place (damn, wish I were there...maybe next year I can afford it...) before their big day...GO BREE AND JACKIE AND MEL (and anybody else I might have missed)!!!

There are some of my Lombardi buddies gearing up for a more local, Wildflower-style race out at Lake Berryessa...GO JOHN, JERRY & STEVE!

And maybe others racing in other places?

To ALL of you...

All my best to you. Have a GRAND time. Have FUN. KICK SOME ASS (especially your own)!

Then there are the rest of us...gearing up for yet another training weekend. :)

I'm going to do the Healdsburg TT tonight. We ran into my friend Tim last Saturday evening, and he had done it on Friday...apparently his legs were STILL trashed. Nice.

Tomorrow some of the other Lombardi guys and I are going to crash the bike course of the Lake Berryessa Tri (it's a pretty small local race so it's not a big deal) and make it our training ride. 56 miles the morning after a hard-core TT effort is going to feel reeeeeaaal good. ;) Still, the atmosphere will be awesome and so will the scenery, so I'm just going to go have a good time with it.

Overall I felt pretty trashed this week after last Sunday. I ended up kind of taking it easy so that I could start the weekend off right and have a good couple of intense training weeks coming up.

I'm glad my last recipe sounded good to people. I'll finish off with one I made Wednesday night, which was SO easy and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YUM.

This was another one from 101 Cookbooks.com. It's called "Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad." We both LOVED it.


Once again, I failed to take a picture, so this is from 101 Cookbooks!

As for modifications, I used these tofu noodles we had picked up a month ago. No reason not to use soba noodles, I just happened to have these other ones in the house.

Also, I added more green beans and also sauteed some mushrooms and added those to the final mix. The mushrooms were a great touch.

Finally, instead of creamy peanut butter, I only had crunchy. I thought it was nice because the nuts added a nice crunchy texture to the softness of the noodles and mushrooms. (note: for anybody who uses Skippy/Jif/pb that isn't 'natural', it probably isn't good for this recipe; you def want the natural stuff sans sugar)

Here's the recipe:

I used asparagus in this version, but you can use any of your favorite in-season vegetables. This time of year peas, asparagus, and carrots all make great additions to the noodles and peanut sauce.

1 8 ounce package soba noodles
1 bunch asparagus spears, ends trimmed then cut into 1/2-inch segements

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup (brown) rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
drizzle of toasted sesame oil
big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4-1/2 cup hot water

1 small bunch of spring onions or scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup peanuts
12 ounces extra-firm (organic) tofu, cut into small cubes (feel free to heat the tofu in a skillet if you like, but cold is good too)

Big a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the soba noodles per package instructions.In the last minute or so of cooking toss in the asparagus. Drain noodles and asparagus, run under cold water for about a minute to stop cooking, and set aside.

Make the peanut dressing by combining the peanut butter, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and a big pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Thin with hot water - the amount you'll need depends on the original consistency of your peanut butter. I like it the consistency of a thin (non-Greek) yogurt. Taste and season with a bit more salt if needed.

Gently toss the noodles, asparagus, spring onions, peanuts, and tofu with a big splash of the dressing. I reserve a bit of each ingredient to sprinkle on top of the serving platter to make it look nice. Add more dressing a bit at a time, until the salad is dressed to your liking, reserving any extra for another use. Taste, sprinkle with more salt if needed, and enjoy!

Serves 6 - 8.