Cycling around Vermont

 Hey all:
Sorry that it's taken me so unforgivably long to update, but I have a few blog posts from last fall that I haven't had the chance to put up. I plan on going on many, many more bike rides around the state in the Spring and Summer, but I had two good days last fall to get on the bike, so that's what I did.


Ride 1 (Silver Lake loop; 22 mi, 2 hrs):
This was just a nice slow ride through the countryside, with some puke-inducing hills thrown in for good measure. The first half was flat enough, but it turned into a long, slow, uphill grind after I ate lunch at the gorgeous little Silver Lake State Park.

Ride 2 (Brookfield and back; 27 mi, 2hrs):

This one was a few weeks later, and was really the end of the season for enjoyable bikes rides (the end of my season, at least). I think it was in the high 50s when I started, and it dropped by 10 degrees or so when the sun went down. It was all on paved roads, unlike the first ride, which was a plus, and I got some unneeded breaks getting caught behind tractors on curvy roads (both being driven by adorable old ladies).

 

GPS Data:
Royalton to Brookfield and back
Ride to Silver Lake and back

Hiking the Long Trail continued: Hiking around Griffith Lake

Copyright 2010, Green Mountain Club

Hello again! I've fallen far behind in updating the blog, so we're going to take a trip in the wayback machine back to the halcyon days of fall. Sections (5) and (6), surrounding Griffith lake, were really quiet and pretty. The first half included a hike up Baker peak, which was a refreshingly breezy. Once at Griffith Lake, I took a path called Old Job trail on the map, which wound up being part of a system snowmobile trail that crosses the state.  



The snowmobile trail bypassed Baker peak and was quite flat. Unfortunately, an entire stretch of it had been washed away by the nearby creek during Hurricane Irene, and some of the otherwise flat hiking was turned into climbing.



The second section of the hike started at Mad Tom Notch, a long gravel road that was made a little sketchier by the heavy rain that had been falling for much of the week. It wasn't quite as fun as the first section, but seeing Griffith lake shrouded in fog was well worth the price of admission on its own.

More Pictures:

Turkey tail fungus



GPS Routes:

USFS 10 to Griffith Lake
Mad Tom Notch to Griffith Lake (ended by dead battery)

Parsnip Vindaloo

I need a better system of taking pictures of food. It tasted delicious. Trust me.

Hey all. I decided to post another recipe, because it's peak season for one of my favorite veggies. It's long been an obsession of mine to make Indian-esque food with vegetables that aren't usually used therein (bulb fennel and collard greens being typical victims of this). Aloo Vindaloo is kind of the chop suey of American Indian cuisine apparently, not really existing. Replacing potatoes with parsnips, which have a great combination of a carrot's sweetness and (in the older ones) a radish-like spiciness, makes things interesting.


Parsnip Vindaloo
-5 tsp canola oil
-2 tsp cumin seed
-1 tsp black mustard seed
-1/4 tsp Asafoetida (optional)
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
-2 small onions, chopped
-1/4 tsp turmeric
-4 cups parsnips, chopped
-12-16 oz extra firm tofu, pressed, drained, and cut into chunks (you could use any firm-fleshed fish that you would typically use for stews and chowders here. Halibut is good for this, as would be walleye or mahi mahi. Cod is going extinct, so I probably wouldn’t use that.
-1 tbsp minced ginger
-1 tbsp chopped garlic
-3 cups chopped tomato
-2 tsp garam masala
-2 tsp curry powder
-1 bunch cilantro, chopped
-2 tbsp butter (optional)
-Hot sauce (optional)

Add the canola oil to a wide-bottomed pot and turn the heat to medium. When the heat is high enough to sizzle a cumin seed, add all of the cumin and black mustard seeds (and the Asafoetida if you are using that. It’s hard to find and kind of smells like the black soil in a forest, but I like it), and stir for about 40 seconds to toast. Add the chopped onion, red pepper flakes, turmeric (making sure to only add ¼ tsp of turmeric…it can ruin food fast), and a pinch of salt, and cook until the onion starts to brown, about 5 minutes or so. Add the parsnips and tofu, and stir to coat. Cook for another 5 minutes. In the meantime, blend the tomatoes, garlic, and ginger into a sauce. Add this to the pot, stir once, and cover. Cook on medium-low for about 15-20 minutes, or until the parsnips are soft. Remove from heat, add another pinch of salt, curry powder, garam masala, and chopped cilantro. You can add the 2 tbsp of vegan butter (or strait up ghee if you want) at the end and stir if you want it to taste more like it would at Indian restaurant, but it’s really not necessary.  Stir, and there you have it. Serve over basmati rice with some mango chutney on the side. Usually vindaloo has a vinegar componant, and I added mine at the very end by way of some Tobasco sauce.

Back with more hiking (VT Rt. 140 to USFS 10)

(Copyright 2010, Green Mountain Club)

 

 

 

Hi guys! I guess it's been a while, but I got a little busy, and wanted to post sections up in proper order. So what happened is this: I did section 4 real quick after class one day (Constitution day, actually), remembered the section and decided to save the other half of it (Section 7) for a few weeks until my girlfriend made it up. Then we would hike the 13 miles together during peak leaf season. Both hikes start at a road, go to Little Rock Pond, take the loop around the pond, and then go back to my car.

The first section, which was only 5 miles out and back, was  very easy. See for yourself on the map. Almost table-flat. It was a really pretty hike, though, particularly the lake, so I knew that I had to save the connecting hike for 2 weeks.

 

Fast forward two weeks...my girlfriend is up to visit and leaf-peep. We got kind of a late start on the hike (I think we started around 11), packing sandwiches and GORP for an even later lunch. We also started at a parking lot that cut off .4 miles. Having done it before, I'm fine with this. So up White Rock Mountain we went. We got to the White Rocks, a creepy place where people have built hundreds of cairns.

 

 

 

We then did something completely foreign to me- we hiked .2 miles off the trail (and back downhill) to a vista. It was probably worth it. We had pretty good weather all day, and avoided the rain we had a chance of getting. It had rained the night before, though, so a lot of the trail was pond-like after we got out of the high spruce/fir forests.

 

We finally go to the Pond around 2:30, scrambled up a rock that had some great views, and tucked into some grilled avocado sandwiches. It was a pretty good way to spend an afternoon. We kind of had to rush back on the 2nd half to beat sundown, but overall it was an amazing hike.




One thing I particularly enjoyed about the hike (besides the girlfriend) was seeing what a difference 2 weeks makes on a trail. The idea of being in the same place two different times is kind of foreign to thru-hikers, at least, and I don't remember what the air smelled like or how the breeze felt 4 years ago when I was doing that section.

More Pictures:

 

(compare/constrast:)

Pictures of the same spots from the AT 4 years ago:

I don't have my journal from the AT with me, but what I remember about this section was being creeped out by the White Rocks, and asking the caretaker at the Little Rock Pond shelter where I stayed one night what she thought of Joe Biden (she was from Delaware and it was election season 2008).

 

GPS Routes:

Rt. 140 to Little Rock Pond
USFS to Little Rock Pond

Let's make Kimchi!

So this is the first recipe I'm posting here, but it's essential. As you will soon find out, Kimchi can go in almost anything. Definitely in anything that needs spicy fermented cabbage. Koreans eat more than 40 pounds a year of the stuff on average, and if you scale this recipe up 20x, you can too!

You will need:
Hardware-
3-4 quart jars with lids and rings
A giant, non-reactive bowl or 3-4 big mixing bowls

Software (all of this stuff is kind of optional except for the cabbage, salt, and chili paste)-
-6 medium carrots
-1 bunch of scallions/green onions (probably around 7-8 total)
-1 giant Napa cabbage
-3 medium Bok Choy cabbage
-1 2-inch chunk of ginger
-Around a cup of kosher/sea salt
-2/3-1 cup of Sambal Oelek or Korean Chili paste (to taste)- generally comes in a clear jar with a green lid
-2-3 tbsp of sweetener (white sugar, cane sugar, honey, etc.)
-1 Habanero (certainly optional)
-1 cucumber (optional)
-5 cloves of garlic (optional)

So this recipe takes 4-5 days to make, but it's all baby steps.
Step One: Make a brine with the salt and 6 cups of water or so. I think this covered me, but you may wind up making more. The brine should be about as salty as the ocean.
Step Two: Cut and peel the carrots and ginger into matchsticks (this will be the longest job). Why so many carrots? Here's why: pickled carrots maintain their crunch and get sweeter the longer they ferment. Also, unlike Bok Choy, which, despite being the most popular green veggie on the planet can be expensive, carrots are super cheap. Drop all of those matchsticks into your brine (which will be in the big bowl/3-4 smaller bowls). Clean and wash the cabbage, and chop it into 1 inch pieces (I start with about 3/4 inch pieces towards the base  and get to 1.5 inch pieces in the leaves for the Bok Choy). Drop this into the bowl, and mix with your hands. Dice your habanero (very optional) and garlic (which will be good pickled, but sometimes turn a weird blue color), and add the to the mix. Add the cucumber too, if you want. I only add the cuke about half the time, because they really don't hold their texture too well. Anyway, mix all this with your hands or a spoon, put a heavy plate on the veggies so they stay submerged in the broth, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a cool dark place for 24 hours.

Pre-Kimchi soaking in Brine

 

Step Three: Put the salted vegetables in a colander and wash most of the salt off. The cabbage, in particular, will have absorbed enough to stay sufficiently salty. In a big bowl, mix the chili paste and sugar, and add the veggies. Chop your scallions into 1 inch pieces, and add them to the bowl. Mix with a spoon, add more chili paste or sugar to taste (spice level is according to your preference, and the Kimchi shouldn't be too sweet). Pack the Kimchi into cans (mine made 3 full quarts), and tighten the rings just enough to give the lids some space to move. When the Kimchi is fermenting over the next few days, you want to have a way for the air bubbles to escape. I generally let mine rest for 2 days, but anything up to a week is probably okay if you like it super funky. When it tastes how you want it to, tighten the rings and refrigerate. This will stop the fermentation. Enjoy! Taste great in fried rice, omelets/tofu scramble, and Kimchi pizza. The juice makes a lot of things taste better, too.

I kept losing more and more Kimchi in seeing if it was done