Lebanese Inspired Pizza

This isn't so much a pizza as it is a sort of Middle Eastern flat-bread with flavoring ingredients on it (but then again that's what pizza is, isn't it...bread with stuff on it). What this is really is a variation of the Lebanese za'atar bread with a few other ingredients...and geeze o' man is it delicious. Za'atar is a Middle Eastern herb and spice blend whose most distinguishing feature (I think) is the inclusion of Mediterranean sumac. It offers a very distinctive sour, almost lemony flavor; it's also a little salty, supposedly from growing next to the sea. The other interesting thing on this pizza is strained yogurt, a sort of Lebanese cream cheese. It's referred to as labneh in Arabic and is made by simply straining yogurt in a cheese cloth...the result is super rich and creamy and can be used as a base for any number of dips or spreads. I also added onion on the pizza...simply because I enjoy them. Sometimes when I make this I also include a small amount of ground lamb that I saute in olive oil, but this time I wanted it sans viande.  If you'd like a recipe (with pictures) from a previous post on how to make an easy and really delicious bread/pizza dough, click here.

Urban Simplicity.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#165)

A bottle of red wine and the book Bike Snob (excellent book, by the way, click here to go to his blog).

A Few Einstein Quotes

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only after death."

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity"

And my personal favorite...

"I thought of that while riding my bicycle."

Urban Simplicity.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#164)

A large portable propane stove.

Urban Simplicity.

Free Spirited Musicians/Bike Video

This is an inspiring short clip from the SF Bay area...it's almost an ode to the Yuba Mundo (and other longtails). These truly are the most comfortable and practical bikes. Caution, though...this video may make you want one.

Take The Poll.

If you've previously visited this blog you know that as the name suggests it is my feeble attempt at recording my thoughts and promoting living simply in the city...using a bicycle as a serious and viable form of transportation is a large component of this (I think). Anyhow, the month of May is National Bike Month and I began to wonder if this will effect anyone in their transportation habits, or if it will have any effect at all. In response to these thoughts I posted a poll (in the sidebar on the left) and would love to have your input...bikers and non-bikers alike. Feel free, also, to leave a comment.

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.  Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.  Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.  

~Iris Murdoch

Natural Beauty

Growing in the front yard next to mine.

Urban Simplicity.

May Is National Bike Month

Yup..the advent of fair weather makes riding a bike easy, and this of course coincides with National Bike Month. National Bike To Work Week is May 17-21, and National Bike To Work Day is May 21st. My thought is this: Try it you may like it, you may feel more free than you have in years (and yes, fellow everyday bikers who are readers of this blog, I realize that I am preaching to the choir...my apologies). But no one could sum it up better than Freddy Mercury in one sentence: Get on your bikes and ride!

To read about National Bicycle month at the website of the League of American bicyclists, click here.

Urban Simplicity.

Party, err...Bake Bread Like It's 1999

After not using it in nearly nine months I recently resurrected my sourdough starter. I've had plenty of starters but this is the original, named 799 as in July 1999, the month and year it was conceived. When it is bubbling and fully a live it is truly a beautiful thing to behold...yup it's that gooey mess below.

Bread made with a natural sourdough starter (and absolutely no store-bought yeast) is unparalleled by other breads...the flavor and textures are so multi-layered you'll swear on first bite that you'll never buy a flabby and bland loaf at the supermarket again.

It's also a very old technique, the original actually. It takes a while but it's not complicated. This loaf, for example, took 6 hours to fully rise (but it was worth the wait). And when you make bread in this fashion you are in fact making it the same way as it was done for millennium (OK, so now we use electric mixers and gas stoves, but you get the picture). Sourdough baking, like wine and beer making, is a form of controlled fermentation. The beer making process so closely resembles that of bread making that some refer to it as "liquid bread." To read more about fermentation and it's health benefits with recipes, click here.

Anyhow, here it is in photos (I wish they could make smells come through the internet...its aroma is intoxicating).

Urban Simplicity.