Serves 4

Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups filtered water Vegetable Stock
• 10 Organic scallions diced in 1/4 to 1/2″ pieces
• 1 to 2 Organic Leeks sliced thin (I use some of the green part as well)
• 1 1/2 cups diced Organic Bok Choy
• 1/4 cup chopped Organic Cilantro (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon Spicy Sesame Oil
• 3 tablespoons Mild Red Miso
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Organic Tamari
• 1 tablespoon of Organic Thyme
• 1 teaspoon of Organic ground Coriander
• 1 tablespoon of Organic Rice Vinegar
• 1/2 clove crushed Organic Garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated Organic Ginger (or more if you like a stronger ginger flavour)
• Sea Salt to Taste

Prep Cut up all of your vegetables and set aside.  Bring 4.5 cups of water (1/2 cup will boil off) to a boil, and add your vegetable bouillon. Once it is dissolved, turn the heat to low.  Take out a cup of vegetable stock and begin to dissolved the miso in the cup by mixing a tablespoon in the stock.  Return it to the stock and take another cup.  Keep doing this till all of the miso is dissolved and returned to the stock. Add the fish sauce to the stock and place the Bok Choy (except for the leafy parts) and the leeks into the stock, let it simmer for 5 minutes. In a mixing bowl combine the ginger thyme, coriander, garlic, rice vinegar, tamari and sea salt.  Mix throughly and add into the stock.  Just before you are ready to serve add in the leafy parts of the Bok Choy and the scallions.

Place 1 cup in a bowl and top with the sesame oil and the fresh cilantro to taste

Enjoy

Serves 4

Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

Spring Rolls

• rice paper rolls
• 2 cups diced Organic Bok Choy
• 2 cups shredded Organic Red Cabbage
• 1/4 cup chopped Organic Cilantro (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup finely cut 2″ pieces of Organic CarrotDipping Sauce
• 1/4 cup diced Anaheim Pepper (if you would like it hot)
• 1 cup of Filtered Water
• 1/4 cup of Organic Lemon Juice
• 1 Tablespoons Organic Sucanut
• 1/2 cup Organic Orange Juice
• 1/4 cup Organic Rice Vinegar
• 2 cloves crushed Organic Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Fresh Organic Tarragon
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated Organic Ginger
• 2 teaspoon Organic Thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Sea Salt to Taste

For the Spring Rolls Combine all of the ingredients for the Spring roll filling in a bowl.  Soak the Rice Paper in water till translucent and then place on a flat surface and put a sufficient amount of filling in the center.  Fold the sides in first then the bottom over the sides and roll.

For the dipping Sauce in a large bowl combine the water, orange juice, lemon juice and sucanut until dissolved.  Whisk in the remaining ingredients and adjust the spice quantity until it suites your taste.  This sauce will keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks in a good container due to the vinegar in it.

So this post is to introduce you to the wonder that is  Copenhagen Cycle Chic.  It is a taste of the possibilities that are possible when the public is dedicated to a better form of transportation.  Explore the site, it is updated daily and full of phenomenal examples of Chic Cycling!

Serves 8

Time 45 minutes then chill till cold

Ingredients

• 12 oz Organic fire Roasted crushed Tomatoes
• 2 cups Organic diced tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 peeled, seeded, diced Organic cucumber finely chopped
• ½ cup chopped Organic red onion (or to taste)
• ½ cup chopped Italian sweet pepper
• ½ cup chopped Organic bell pepper
• 2 small cloves minced garlic (preferably through a press)
• 4 Tablespoons Organic Lime juice Concentrate
• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon Course Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon Ground Peppercorn
• 1 teaspoon Organic Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Organic Thyme

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Purée 2/3 of the mix set gets puréed, the other 1/3 keep aside.  When finished puréeing, recombine all ingredients

Chill till cold, garnish with parsley, dollop of onion, diced tomato and diced cucumber in the center

If this isn’t some of the most exciting news in cycling, I do not know what is!  Though I would much rather be living in the Mediterranean full time and watching the Giro every year, this would more than suffice in the interim!

The Giro d’Italia has considered a start in the states before, but the logistics, time difference and cost have stood in the way.  However, Washington DC has stood up and shown genuine, concrete interest in hosting the start of the event in the future.

For some time we have had the idea of holding the Giro’s start in America. But now there exists a concrete interest from the city of Washington,

said race director Angelo Zomegnan.

Since the undertaking of starting the epic race would be so large, it is quite possible that multiple stages could be raced here, say Philadelphia and NYC to name but a couple of possibilities.
How will the backdrop of the White House stand up to the Coliseum…I am not sure but all I can say is Bring It On!

Enter Sevi Organics.  A chance discovery on twitter has led me to what I believe is quite possibly the best source for hygiene, cosmetics and skin health products that I have found.  First and foremost all of the products (save one line of brushes) are made by the owner and the team at their studio in Baltimore.  They handcraft all of their products from beginning to end. All core ingredients are 100% vegan (if you don’t care, you should!), Sulfate and Paraben Free and certified organic, organic wild crafted or ethically harvested!  Still have questions or concerns, write or call the owner, who is responsive, open and honest.  Not to mention extremely passionate about her work!

I cannot say enough about what I believe I have discovered here.  But don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself – Sevi Organics .  And if you are on twitter, the owner can be followed at twitter.com/ecosevi

Ciao and Happy Grooming!

FOR PART 3 VISIT: VBS TV FOR

Gehard Demetz was born in 1972, in Bolzano, Italy. Currently he lives and works in Val Gardena on these fantastic sculptures.

Truly Beautiful!

So William set about digging in trash bins and junkyards for the parts he needed to build his own.  Please remember that this is Africa and finding the necessary parts is not a simple task.

he collected things that most people would consider garbage—slime-clogged plastic pipes, a broken bicycle, a discarded tractor fan—and assembled them into a wind-powered dynamo. For a soldering iron, he used a stiff piece of wire heated in a fire. A bent bicycle spoke served as a size adapter for his wrenches

After months of work he hauled his apparatus to the top of a 16-foot tower made from blue gum tree branches.  As the wind began to move the blades, Williams hard work started to become a reality.  He went on to wire his house with four light bulbs and two radios, installing switches made from rubber sandals, and scratch-building a circuit breaker to keep the thatch roof of his house from catching fire.

William and his windmill remained a local hero only till the head of a teachers organization saw the windmill and recognized the monumental accomplishment. The media got a hold of the story and in the end Tom Rielly, TED’s  partnership director befriended him and put funding behind him to irrigate and electrify his village and paid his tuition to attend further schooling.

William has since co-authored a book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which is one of the few modern African story’s that has a happy ending.

There is a ton of great information on her site regarding, you guessed it Simple Green Living! I constantly come across “Green”sites, but more often than not many of them have some monetary interest in mind or are just spitting out more impersonal green stories than most can digest. Simple Green Living, exists as an endeavour of love for the topic and is maintained by a woman who is passionate about the topic and interested in sharing both her experiences and information with you. Have a look and once your done with all she has to offer, check out her husbands site, Green Home Building which has a wealth of information on building houses the responsible way! Enjoy.