Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

I love baking and making appetizers but don't think of myself as much of a cook. I can make a cheesecake or a wonderful plate of brie onion tartlets but when it comes to feeding my family dinner...well, let's just say we eat a lot of plain pasta at my house and I feel pretty inept when it comes to cooking meals. So when I found out that my favorite chef, Karl, was going to come over today and make me and my kids lunch I was especially thrilled. Karl is my friend, Tom's, brother. He's a chef who has lived all over but is currently living in the Dominican Republic and working at a swanky resort. We originally connected because of a recipe he created for his nephew - Jordan Ett's State Fair Drunken Beef Stew . I posted a comment on his blog, Fusion on the Fly , and he didn't think I was real. My name, Myrna CG Mibus, sounded made up, he thought, so he figured his sister-in-law, Libby, posted the comment as a joke. Libby assured him that Myrna was, in fact, a re...

I'll be honest with you, my two main motivations for riding my bike any distance are coffee and conversation. A good workout is also a motivator but going really fast is not. I'm more of a slow and steady - okay, really slow and not that steady - sort of bicyclist. But for months now I've wanted to join in on a group ride. From what I've heard people ride their bikes, chat away the miles and stop somewhere for a cup of coffee mid-way or at the end of the ride. Sounds like my kind of ride. Right? Maybe not. Most of the group rides I've heard about promise average speeds of 18 to 20 miles per hour or more and go 40 or more miles. Some sound brutal and talk about hill climbs and sprints. Granted, these are the "A" rides, rides geared towards competitive riders, riders who want to push their limits. "B" rides are supposed to be slower, "C" rides even more so but I've seen some C rides that sound too fast for me, some B rides with leng...

Today is a off to a great start! I rode the Tour de Nick this morning with some friends and am now about to shift gears, clean up and head to my 25th high school reunion. What a day this will be! The Tour de Nick is a charity ride that takes place each year in Northfield, Minnesota. It's put on by the local bike club, the Northfield Bicycling Club , in memory of one of their riders, Nick Sansome, and benefits an organization called SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education).  Nick lost his life to suicide in the winter of 2003. I didn't know Nick but knew his mother - we were in a book club together for several years. I also sort of knew his father who was the doctor who checked Ryan out after he was born back in 2002. I think it's great that the Club has this ride every year (this is the 8th year) and am glad I got to be a part of this ride. This morning it was raining when we arrived at Mike's Bikes for the Tour de Nick to begin. There was a bit of lightning and...

Whoa - it's been two weeks since I've written and people are starting to wonder if I've disappeared. Well, @bikerly has been wondering and if @bikerly is wondering it's possible that other people are wondering, too. If not, @bikerly has done wonders for my ego in asking when I'm going to blog again. (@bikerly, aka Jim, always has something good to say at his blog. He likes bikes and Dr. Seuss. Visit his blog. Soon! You will laugh and smile. http://bikerly.wordpress.com ) So I’m sitting here ready to blog - but I don't know where to begin.  I guess you could say that last week was busy. Crazily busy. I somehow thought that having both kids in camp was going to give me lots of free time but the reality was that I spent most of my time driving the kids to and from town. By Friday afternoon I was kind of a mess. Yep, I was frazzled. I yelled at the dogs. I screamed at Owen over the phone. That night I cried a lot and couldn't sleep and was feeling pretty bad abo...