Articles in the Life in Madison Category

Jim’s Turkey Brine Recipe Jim’s Turkey Brine Recipe
Posted in Food, General, Headline, JimPhelps, Life in Madison, Recipes on 23 November 2008

I’ve had several requests for my turkey brine and herb paste recipes. In a just-in-time fashion, I’ve posted them below. I use an organic, range raised heritage turkey for my Thanksgiving turkey. I also use this brine for pork chops and turkey breasts that I cook on the grill.

Riding East with Cranes Riding East with Cranes
Posted in Headline, Life in Madison on 7 October 2008

I was riding on a late Summer evening in September and this is a meditation upon a few minutes in that ride.
If you are not familiar with the hills and valleys of Southwestern Wisconsin, let me describe them.  These are old mountains, the Driftless, worn down over the aeons by rain and snow. [...]

Door County Century Recount Door County Century Recount
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison on 13 September 2008

One week after the Door County Century (nearly) and I’m finally getting around to writing about it. In short - it was a great ride, a wonderful cap-stone to the cycling season; but I’m jumping ahead.
The night before, Erik, Monica, LeRoy, Ena, Barbara and I had dinner of a lot of spaghetti and bread [...]

25 MPH on a Cargo Bike
Posted in Life in Madison on 4 September 2008

I had an 8:30 AM meeting this morning, it was raining and I was running around looking for my rain gear (helmet cover, shoe covers, leg warmers, etc). … They will go North with me up to Door County for my century ride on Sunday but that’s another story. … I get on my bike and I start cranking it out to get into work. … I get to the first stop sign and I realize that he is in my draft. … Mike pulls out in the lead like he is going to pull for a while. … I pull out the stop and get in his draft for while then it is my turn to take lead. … I’m thinking to myself, “well, if he is going pull us at 25 MPH, I’ll pull at 25 MPH.” I’m on my commuter bike with full fenders, a rack and a 12 pound pannier with lunch, change of clothes and all my miscellany in it. I’m working hard but if we’re going to do a 25 MPH pace, then dammit, I’m going to take my pull. Suddenly Mike (as I later learn his name is) pulls along side and says, ” You do know I’m cheating don’t you?

Plum and Raspberry Galette with Lemon Ricotta Filling Plum and Raspberry Galette with Lemon Ricotta Filling
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison on 4 September 2008

I love making galettes - a french free-form tart.  This is a peak of Summer galette made from local plums and raspberries.  Once you get galette making down, you can create galettes with lots of different fillings:  Apples and toasted pecans, peaches with almonds, blueberries with lemon.  This takes few hours to make but [...]

Tired, Grumpy, Fuzzy and Twitchy Tired, Grumpy, Fuzzy and Twitchy
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison on 3 September 2008

I’m sure that sport psychologists / physiologists have a name and maybe a reason for these feelings…
I’m getting ready to ride the Door County Century this weekend. This means that I have spent the last couple of months riding longer rides and building up time in the saddle. I was up to about 190 to [...]

Garmin EDGE 705 - Bugs, Bells and Whistles Garmin EDGE 705 - Bugs, Bells and Whistles
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison on 30 August 2008

I got a new Garmin EDGE 705 bike computer about 6 weeks ago. I’ve been riding 3 or 4 times a week with Garmin and have synced to several applications and a web site. The Garmin EDGE 705 has great bells and whistles but the basic function, turn-by-turn directions, is buggy [...]

Jim’s Fire and Wine Scallops Recipe Jim’s Fire and Wine Scallops Recipe
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison, Recipes on 29 August 2008

The sauce and spice mix add a little heat and sweetness to the already sweet scallops. This recipe takes about 15 minutes to prep and 10 minutes to cook. I served these with a cold Green and White bean salad and crostini and an Italian white wine. This serves two as a [...]

Frazz Hair Frazz Hair
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison on 8 July 2008

I get Frazz Hair when I bike. I view Frazz Hair as a measure of the quality of the ride. Good Frazz Hair means I had a good ride. This is an example of good Frazz Hair:

This hair came from a beautiful ride to Paoli, WI after a Summer rain storm. [...]

Spring in Wisconsin - weather runs amok Spring in Wisconsin - weather runs amok
Posted in Featured, Life in Madison, random stuff on 13 June 2008

UPDATE: June 25th. We now have 28 counties declared as disaster areas by FEMA.

When we get serious Spring weather, we get weather sites that look like this:

7 Warnings, Watches and Statements on the Weather.gov forecast
A weather map that is covered, jigsaw like, with areas of watches and warnings across the surrounding 25 counties. [...]