Joys of Leisure Bike Riding

  There are many things I miss about my childhood, mainly snow days and summers off, but the other thing that I came to realize I missed greatly was bike riding.  I don't mean the kind where you train daily to do marathons, I refer to the type, where you just meander and enjoy the scenery, stopping at the local small grocery to grab an ice cream bar, then continue riding one handed, while licking furiously to keep the ice cream from running down your arm. You know, the simple fun kind?


  As a kid, I spent hours and hours upon my bike.  Cruising around with my friends, pretending to be superheroes (because in our heads Spiderman and Superman would be naturally be riding bikes, duh) or doing daredevil tricks like jumping ramps, or wheelies to impress boys. I was a pro at fixing  a bike, often called upon to rescue a fallen chain, tightening a loose handle bar and even building a few by combining the parts of old ones. In the summertime I would patrol the neighborhood until the streetlamps came on, signalling it was time to go home.  My bike, like a cowboy's horse, was my constant companion.


  I realized a key component was missing in my life, when I started to admire the retro bikes I have been seeing around town lately.  I started to day dream about a mint green beach cruiser with a basket.  I could visualize myself breezing around town waving at my neighbors, stopping to pick up a sack of groceries or two and maybe visiting the used book store in search of a cool find.


  During my trip to Seattle to visit my sister, we decided to take a trip to India in a few years.  I know several friends that have done this they have all told me that there are certain parts that are best toured on bike. On this same visit, I took a ferry to the San Juan Islands.  We encounter several cyclist on the ferry and the idea of exploring new places by bicycle really appealed to me.  It was then and there that I concluded, what was sorely missing in my life was a bicycle.


  After looking around the inter-web for a month, I decided that, until I found out if the reality of riding was as enjoyable as my memory of riding, I would limit myself to spending no more than $150.00.  I found this great bike at Walmart.com within my price range.

  Although not mint green,the raspberry color seemed fun and rear rack, basket and beverage holder seemed really to suit my needs as leisure and commuter rider. Now to go purchase the bike!

  Ah the disappointment of finding something online, only to not find it in the store.  The Walmart Sporting Goods rep told me that although they did recently have it in stock, the bike had been an extremely popular model and he had sold the last one that very day. Drat!

  He offered to call around town to see if he could find one, so while I waited, I causally looked at the other bikes on display. I had my heart set on that one, still I had to admit some of the others were kind of cute, but most were too this, or too that for my taste. Then I saw it, a teal blue Huffy Cranbrook Cruiser.  It was love at first sight.  No, it did not have a rear rack. It didn't even have a basket. Those had been two requirements in my search and would be imperative in my eventual plans, but I really LOVED this bike.  It spoke to me in a way that no car or designer shoes ever have.  The best part was, it was almost $40 cheaper! 

The sales rep came back and told me he had found the deluxe cruiser at another store, but I no longer cared. My heart was set on the teal blue bike with the green and gold flower detail.  Sure I would eventually have to spend money on a rear rack.  Of course I would have to find a basket, but this was MY bike, it knew it and I knew it.  She whispered to me "Take me home with you" and I whispered back "Okay, let me get my wallet".  

  Isn't she pretty?  I couldn't wait to ride her and yes guys, it really is just like riding a bike, you never forget.  I rode up and down the street so filled with joy, that I could hardly contain myself.  That little girl inside went 'weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' and the adult in me reasoned this will work off quite a few calories. The little girl told the adult to shut up and just enjoy the ride.


 Unfortunately the temperature has climbed up near 100f, so my plans to ride all over the neighborhood have been thwarted. Still, I think I will brave the heat late this afternoon, to get the high of zooming my new bike up and down the hills.  We are told constantly to 'act our age' or 'grow up', but I think this is one time that it's perfectly acceptable to enjoy a long forgotten past time.


This is just another step in simplifying my life and I hope to have many trips and adventures on my bike to blog about later.  Until then, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

REVIEW: Bumpy's Texmex Grill

I try not to eat out much anymore and when I do, I tend to make sure my restaurant dining experience is a treat, rather than the same ole same ole. A friend at work has been trying to get me to try out Bumpy's Texmex Grill for weeks now.  I am the guinea pig for all places new, but frankly, the thought of yet another TEXMEX place in central Arkansas did not excite me, so I danced around a visit for quite awhile.


Friday, a workmate and I finally decided to take the plunge.  I will admit my expectations were low.  I mean, come'on, we have loads of great authentic Mexican restaurants (And lunch trucks, shout out to my favorite Luncheria Mexicana Alicia) around here and I seriously doubted that a texmex place was going to thrill me. What I got was a nice surprise.


Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. The first thing he informed us was that Bumpy's promotes use of fresh and local products, including, but not limited to produce, beef, and chicken.  Case in point, the grilled vegetable side dish is seasonal, so it changes  constantly, depending on what our local farmers are growing during that time period.  Today's offerings were zucchini, yellow squash, and onions. Yes my friends, that is exactly what is in season in Arkansas right now!


Now, seeing I too promote local, fresh, and sustainable, it seems like serendipity that Bumpy's and I would find one another. I cannot tell you how excited I was about this news (a new blog was flowering in my head), so much that I whipped out my phone to start taking pictures of food and asked our very patient waiter dozens of questions.

Like other texmex restaurants,  Bumpy's offers complimentary salsa and chips.  The salsa was a decent, hardy variety with a good  kick to it.  I was told if I wanted spicier, I could opt for the Salsa Verde. I passed, wishing to concentrate this time on my food and not wanting to consume that many chips. My friend ordered the queso, which after sampling seemed to be a hopped up version of   my favorite Velveeta/Rotel combination, quite tasty.  Our waiter assured us it was not Velveeta and that fresh cheese was melted every day and the tomato spice combination were indeed local. This was all served with slices of fresh local peppers which I adore.


I  spotted fish tacos on the menu and decided to get one my weekly fish serving out of the way. (I am behind, but I will be having fish tonight, so all is good!) I figured with this being Arkansas and Bumpy's promoting local, the fish was probably catfish.  I am not a fan fish, as you are all aware, and especially not catfish.  Before I settled on my choice I asked JP (Not going to list his name, because I didn't get his permission to put him in this blog) what type of fish were in them.  I asked if it were catfish and he said, no, it was a Mexican fish called pangasius.  A warning bell went off in my head.  Where had I heard that before? Nevertheless, I opted for the tacos and was not disappointed.

They served a spicy tartar sauce with my tacos that was a delicious companion to the fish .  The fish nuggets in the tacos was a mild flavored fish coated in a well seasoned, crispy coating.  The grilled vegetables, including a roasted pepper, was so enjoyable.  I truly love grilled vegetables, especially local, seasonable ones! The black beans, topped fresh tomatoes and peppers perfectly complimented the already flavorful beans.  This lunch was so good and filling, that I was only able to consume half of my meal.  This meant take home for a yummy meal latter.


My companion chose the chicken enchiladas with cheesy potato soup and  cheesy mashed potatoes. She deemed her meal completely delicious and quickly consumed the majority of her meal.  She's a picky eater, so it must have been good!


We agreed that this was a very lovely experience and Bumpy's would be put into our lunch rotation.  I left there full, satisfied, and happy that I had found another restaurant that promoted the same values I do.  The price wasn't too bad either, cashing in at around $11 apiece for each of us, the same amount we tend to spend at our favorite Mexican restaurant.


On a side note, the name of that fish continued to bother me.  Being the food sleuth I am, I did some researching.  Suddenly it came back to me. OH! THAT PANGASIUS! Yeah, the Vietnamese Pangasius (yeah it's not local), is a shark catfish that has flooded US fish markets.  US fish farmers, most notably Arkansas catfish farmers, raised a stink that this was ruining the local markets, due to the abundance and low cost. They even went as far as demanding that it could not be labeled as catfish, because it was not truly a catfish and confused consumers.  The farmers got their way and pangasius is now labled as Basa, TRA, SWAI, PANGASIUS, CHINA SOLE, BOCOURTI, RUFFY,  PACIFIC DORY.  


Although I do enjoy the taste of pangasuis, much prefering it over the taste of catfish, I feel that if Bumpy's using this fish, while promoting themselves as supporting local products, that they are being a bit misleading.  I am hoping my waiter was wrong and plan to call Monday and clarify what fish they do use.  I would rather they support local fisheries and gulf cost fisherman, than to use a fish that a picky fish eater like I would eat.  When I find out for certain, I will update this blog.  Let's not condemn them before we have the facts.  If I in fact do find out the waiter was correct, I will encourage the owners to rethink this practice. 

Still, I applaud Bumpy's for promoting local and seasonal.  This is a trend in central Arkansas that I hope I continue to see grow.  I would really like to know if any of my local farmer friends are suppliers for Bumpy's.  If you are, hit me up with an email. (located in the profile section of my blog) I will keep it confidential, unless you and Bumpy's wish to publicize it.  Then I will be all about the shoutouts.  ;)

If any of my readers know of other restaurants, please alert me.  I am very much wanting to promote these places.  Local and fresh is best! 

Plans for the second half of 2012

It's funny how that, no matter how well you plan things, often life takes you off on little detours.  Sometimes if feels like my life is just one big detour.


I had plans.  Oh boy did I have plans.  I worked tirelessly to carefully plan a garden, so that I would have a pretty good yield this year.  I harvested seeds last year.  Got out my trusty Farmer's Almanac to calculate when to start my seeds.  Carefully I nurtured my lovely little seedlings, only to have another massacre like I did in 2010.  Yes, Ms. Phantom Bo-baggins (Known as Hell Kitty around these parts) decided to make my seedlings her play thing again. I am limited on my space, so I don't really have a place to put them where she can't get to them.  She leaves them alone for the longest time and then it's like she magically knows I'm hardening them up to put them out.  Then BAM, she goes on the attack!


I was dishearten by this little turn of events, but not down.  I still had my herbs, thriving nicely in my windowsill and my lettuce, rapidly growing in my boxes on my porch.  I went to Seattle for a week to visit my sister, leaving my son in charge of my green things, only to return to dead plants. *big sigh*


Okay, so, no real garden this year.  I am going to go to the nursery this weekend to buy a couple of heirloom tomato and several pepper plants. I can replant my herbs, so that is no biggie.  I guess this year I will do most of my purchasing from farmer's market.  I'm a little disappointed, but not thwarted on my other plans.


I plan to can this year.  I had big ideas, but now I'll just small scale it to a few items.  This weekend I plan on making some yummy Kimchi.  This can't be really canned, but can be saved in jars in the fridge for several months, so I'll make a big batch for me and a few people that have voiced interest.  This summer I also plan to can salsa, spaghetti sauce, sour kraut, pickles, and some vegetable soup.  I think this is manageable and will help me in my quest to eat 80/20 clean food.


I start juicing this week.  I'm not going to do the full cleansing diet like many of my friends and sister's family does, but I am going to use it as a meal replacement, several times a week.  This is part of my plan includes Meatless Monday.  If you are interested in incorporating a Meatless Monday in your life, be sure to check my friend Lisa's blog Manhattansway.com, where she gives good vegan advice and great recipes. I also plan to eat fish at least once a week and hopefully (crosses fingers) twice.  My big goal is to try to acquire a taste for salmon.  Used to, I could not eat any fish, with the exception of shellfish.  Yeah, a southern girl that does not eat catfish, is there such an animal?  I assure you there is. Fresh water fish is very much a don't with me.


Over the past ten years I have learned to eat several kinds of saltwater fish.  Recently I tried salmon again, via my sister's salmon salad, but nope, wasn't able to eat, but one mouthful.  I know it's good for me, so I am determined. I really want those omega 3's.  Stay tune on updates (I'm sure they will be amusing) on my progress with that.  I will also probably blog about my progress with juicing.


My sister and I plan on taking a trip to India in three years.  I have big ideas that part of this touring will be on bike.  I don't know if she's so much game for this idea, but I do plan to start training to ride long distances.  I am not interested in marathons or races, although my friend Donna is training for a triathlon this next year, which amazes me and I'm so rooting for her! Maybe one day we can do a bike tour somewhere together. I am so proud that we both have decided to keep challenging ourselves as we approach 50, instead of just resting on our laurels.


I am going to look at bikes this weekend.  I have my eye on a pretty mint green retro cruiser. One with a rack in back to carry a few groceries. As you can tell, I plan mostly to ride for pleasure, but would also like to increase my endurance for distance.  As I said, I am not interesting in being in racing, but I do have future plans to travel tour by bike and some of it will be long distance.  If any of you have any suggestions on how help me, please send them to the email attached to profile section of this blog.  I have great trips plan and this is one of my main obstacles.  I am determined though! If things work out, I may start taking my bike to work. No way will I be able to ride the full distance, but the bus has bike racks and I can ride that good little jot from the bus stop to work.  I may even start riding home from the bus terminal in the afternoon, instead of transferring to my second bus. The more I talk this out in my head, the more I like this idea. hmmmm


The weight continues to slowly come off, but this is how I planned.  I want to keep it off and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I feel so much better than I felt this time last year.  I am up for just about anything.  I look forward to some hiking soon and some bike rides down the River Trail with my son.  If you see me on my beautiful new mint green retro cruiser, be sure to wave!

Certified Organic vs Certified Naturally Grown: What's the difference?

The farmer's market season is upon us and I would like to take the time to clue you in on something that has confused several of my friends lately.  This morning I checked my email and one friend sent this message "Please explain to me the difference between "Certified Organic" and "Certified Naturally Grown" food? I recently went to the farmers market and found myself confused in which to buy."


After receiving this email I thought, wow, this is something I should have blogged about a long time ago, because it's a question I get asked a lot. Let's first talk about the organic farm movement. And if you aren't interested in a quick history lesson, jumped to the bottom of the article for your answer.


Organic farming is described by Wikipedia as "the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure,compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers,pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms,^[1] human sewage sludge, and nanomaterials.^[2]" 


In the early 20th century, with the invention of the internal combustion engine, research which lead to genetically altered hybrid seeds, and the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers, farming took a decided turn. After WWII came broad use of the pesticides and then in 1944, the US teamed up with Mexico and privately funded the Green Revolution. Basically the Green Revolution was the sharing of research and technology to increase agriculture production. This lead to the development of high-yielding variations of cereal grains, which in turned helped to save 'a billion of people' in under developed countries from starvation. 


But, while many were rejoicing in this 'wonderful' direction of agriculture, some people began to worry about the effects of these practices on people's health and the environment. In 1972, several independent organizations around the world banded together to create the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.  


For quite awhile, the organic food movement was seen as 'faddish' and something only followed by those 'crunchy health food' types. But, in the past five years, with the shift in concern about the environment and people educating themselves and becoming more aware of the food they are consuming, organic food is becoming a regular staple on many tables. 


While much of the food labeled as 'organic' was truly what it claimed to be, some disreputable farmers/retailers where slapping that tag on non-organic food. This resulted in the movement for 'certified organic' governing parties, which set up guidelines and served as "watchdogs" to ensure that the public was really getting organic food.  


In 2002, the USDA National Organic Program went into effect.  In order to be 'certified organic' you had comply with the NOP.  And while the guidelines were great for big agriculture and offered the public protection and assurance, the cost and paperwork requirements was just too much for most small, local farmers comply.  While this helped to regulate organic farming and protect the consumer, it was almost a death nail in the movement for local, sustainable organic farming.  In response to this, small farmers banded together and formed the Certified Naturally Grown organization.  Just like the "Certified Organic" farmers, "Certified Naturally Grown" farmers do not use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, of GMO seeds.  Basically this is a self governing organization the regulates and verifies that the food you are getting is organic. Just like the NOP, the CNG has strict guidelines and routinely inspects farms for compliance. 


So in a nutshell? What is the difference between 'Certified Organic' and 'Certified Naturally Grown' food?  Nothing more than the governing body that supplies the label.  It's all organic. One is not better than the other and some local farmers do have the 'Certified Organic' label, so don't have the misconception that buying "Certified Naturally Grown' is the only way to support local, small farms. My advice to you is to get to know your farmer.  This is why I love the Argenta Farmers Market.  All the farmers involved are certified local growers. 


I hope this blog helped to explain the labels you are encountering involving organic food.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me and I will do my best find you an answer. Until next time, become aware of what you put into your body.  I am living proof that a change and  awareness can improve your health and general well being. 


1. wikipedia-organic farming
2. http://www.organic-nature-news.com/organic-farming.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution
4. http://www.naturallygrown.org/

Argenta Farmer's Market

Strawberry Salad Made with Buttercrunch lettuce, radishes, green onions, and sweet Arkansas strawberries

This a a great time of the year for me.  Between my container garden and Argenta Farmer's Market, I'm in produce heaven.


Now I know some of my Central Arkansas friends are scratching their head going "Argenta who?"  Well let me educate you about the Farmer's Market scene in the central part of our state.  As you may know, there is a thriving Farmer's Market located in the River Market section of Little Rock.  A few years back, local farmers began to notice that big trucks were coming in with non local produce.  While some of it was the great, good farm produce we know and love, much of it was actually bulk produce and because of the sheer quantity, they were able to drastically undercut the prices of our local farmers.  What many customers were ending up with was the same variety of produce that you can buy at your local supermarket.  Since our poor local farmers, many of them certified organic or certified natural grower, where fighting to make a living, this practice of trucking in 'warehouse' produce seemed unfair and down right deceptive.  Ever vigilant, our local farmers banded together to start the Arkansas Certified Farmer's Market on the North Little Rock side of the river.  And this is how we ended up with two farmer's markets.

Now if you didn't know, North Little Rock used to be called Argenta and when the city started to revitalize the downtown section of our fair city, they reclaimed the name Argenta.  The Arkansas Certified Farmer's Market is located at 6th and Main St, downtown NLR, hence the name Argenta Farmer's Market. Clear as mud? Good, now let's get to the good stuff, pictures of all the goodies I picked up a couple of weeks ago.  I did not go this past week, because I am going out of town and did not stock up for this week.

The entire haul







 I hit the mother load! I'm going to give a shout out to my favorite farmers.

Fresh Farm Eggs and soap, lotion, and lip balm made from goat's milk from Tammy's Critters

Yummy cheese from Honeysuckle Lane out of Rose Bud

Some of the BEST honey ever, from a guy down the road from me at K-Bee Honey Farm.  

Wonderful Arkansas Strawberries

Lovely Produce from Kellogg Valley Farms

As you can see, I made out like a bandit.  I can tell you that my household made short work of most of my bounty.  You can bet I will be back there in a few weeks to restock on my return from vacation.  If you haven't experienced the farmer's market, you don't know what you are missing.  I promise you, there is nothing like fresh, local, organic veggies. And they are especially good when you know the guy that grew them and know for certain, he puts lots of love a pride into his crops.