Monthly Archives: July 2009

Slow News Day: Bike Commuting is Up & So are Folding Bikes

Posted on July 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

Two million Americans are riding their bikes to work, says the New York City-based Transportation Alternatives, which advocates for biking, walking, and public transportation as healthier, greener alternatives to the car. Bike commuting in New York City grew an astonishing 35 percent from 2007 to 2008.

As someone who once stored a bike in a Manhattan bedroom, I know that New Yorkers, especially, encounter storage issues, among others, when considering biking in the city. Enter the folding bike — and there are some great ones available now, in different weights, configurations and prices.

Transportation Alternatives offers this very complete rundown of folding bikes.

The New York Times also just road-tested the latest folding bikes and offers this slide show.

Still craving more folding-bike info? This British site, The Folding Society, might offer the last word.

If something is holding you back from bike commuting or riding more, this list at Bikecommuters.com dispels some myths.

In wonderful recent San Francisco biking news, the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency recently approved a whopping 45 bike network improvement projects as part of the 2009 SF Bicycle Plan. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition web site has complete details and maps.

All of the above may just be reason to stow a split of Champagne in the bike bag.

(No argument from Cyrille Van Houwaert, a dominant early rider in the Paris-Roubaix Classic, from 1908-1911.)

Cheese of the Week: Sartori SarVecchio Wisconsin Parmesan

Posted on July 12, 2009 | 2 comments

This is a fantastic Parmesan-style cheese, perhaps all the more because it’s made in Wisconsin, rather than Italy.

According to the Huffington Post, it was recently named Best Cheese in the U.S. in the 2009 Championship Cheese Contest. It’s easy to see why. The SarVeccio grates beautifully and has a wonderful, distinctive Parmesan taste that is great plain and can also hold its own in many dishes. The taste is at once sweet, salty and nutty, and the cheese has a nice crystally crunch.

Sartori is now in its third generation of cheese producers. The company patriarch, Paul Sartori, hailed from Valdastico, Italy, not far from the cheese-town of (and producers of the parmesan-like) Asiago. It was his dream to bring Italian cheesemaking methods and tastes to America. Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Larry Steckbauer has been at the helm of the company’s Parmesan operation for some time.

A lot of processes are carefully cultivated and unique to SarVecchio. The cheese is washed with olive oil and aged a long 20 months. The milk is from local cows.

In addition to being the perfect grating cheese for pastas, salads and soups, SarVecchio also makes a nice dessert or munching cheese, and works with dried fruit, flavorful wine, or sherry. As a bonus, it is fairly reasonably priced, when compared to other Parmesans or grating cheeses.

We recently grated some SarVecchio over a dish of lemon-ricotta ravioli, with olive oil, super-thin zucchini slices, and soybeans. Yum!

Photo by Susan Sachs Lipman

2 Comments

Posted in Butter and Egg, Who Moved My Cheese?

Tagged Cheese, Food, Italy, Parmesan, Sartori, SarVecchio, Slow Food, Wisconsin

Camping Trip: California’s Eldorado National Forest

Posted on July 8, 2009 | 1 comment

I just got back from a mother-daughter camping trip in California’s Eldorado National Forest. It was a new spot to me, and I highly recommend it. It’s a classic high-altitude conifer forest setting, in which every camp site is near a reservoir, lake or creek. Campers can fish (there’s a supply and bait store within the forest), swim, boat, hike, or bike on paved trails. Water and toilets are close. Facilities are well-maintained. The forest has a general store. It’s all located a little more than 3 hours from the Bay Area, northeast of Placerville and west of Lake Tahoe.

I felt immediately relaxed in the peaceful setting that provides something for everyone and ease of doing it. Our particular campground was called Wolf Creek, and was one of many on the Union Valley Reservoir. We could still see snow in the Sierras.

A bike path ran around the reservoir.

Here are the girls in the reservoir.

There was a lot of bonding, in the water and in the tent. (As well as a few hands of poker.)

Anna and Camille made beaded message bracelets and lanyards.

Anna was the camp cook.

Food just tastes better when made and eaten outdoors.

Are you looking for your own tree tent? Check out Globo Surf’s comprehensive guide to the best tree tents in 2020! https://www.globosurfer.com/best-tree-tents/

Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman

1 Comment

Posted in Crafts, Field Trip, Nature, Road Trip, The Great Outdoors

Tagged California Campgrounds, Camp Food, Camping, Car Camping, Eldorado National Forest, Nature, Sierras

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on July 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration, perhaps with good friends and loved ones. I got home from camping just in time to enjoy my wonderful tiny neighborhood parade and subsequent picnic which takes place in the beautiful redwood Stolte Grove and is run by terrific community volunteers. Small children (and the rest of us) enjoyed Boswick the Clown, and each child, in local tradition, received a prize based on some aspect of his/her outfit, bike decoration, or other distinguishing feature.

After this sweet event, my family headed to the town of Sausalito, to enjoy great live music by The Pulsators (cajun, reggae, blues and rock!), out in the sun by the bay, while we visited with friends and then watched traditional fireworks burst right over our heads.

Here are some pictures from the day: