I made probably my best meal ever this last week. It was pinched from a wonderful site/magazine that Norman pointed me towards called Saveur. You can find the full recipe for “Aunt Polly’s Lamb Shanks” here. I completed them with some pretty amazing (read: fatty) mashed potatoes full of heavy cream and loads of butter. It was a red wine meal for sure. Even the left overs are outstanding.

Last Tuesday I had a much needed work day. Thanks to the snow and ice, I took the bus to work for the first time… ever? It was completely loaded. I was standing next to the door and we were packed in like sardines. This, coupled with my relative laziness the week prior, encouraged me to try walking through the snow home. It would be “an adventure”, I told myself. Randoneurring seems to work itself into my day to day thinking about suffering and epic-style exercising. Anotherwards, my judgement is always clouded. My fifteen minute bike commute turned into a brutal 2 hour hike home.

I used muscles in my legs that I wasn’t even aware that I had. Every inch of muscle was active while I was trying to keep upright as the ground shifted underneath me all the way home. Because my judgement is clouded, I jumped between, “This is awesome”  and “Why the hell am I out here? Is there a bus on the way?” every fifteen minutes or so.

The snow plows pushed every inch of the snow off to what little was left of the sidewalk, making it especially rough going over the train tracks on 1st ave South. It is hard to tell in the picture, but it was over a foot deep, and sections had large footprints that I had to walk in. This meant that I had to lift my leg much higher than I normally would and step into the next hole. The slope down hill felt like a reverse stair stepper with ice platforms.

It was getting dark by the time I got to the main bridge over the Duwamish river. There was a beautiful layer of snow all the way up and down it. It wasn’t very fun to walk on, but it sure was pretty.

The weather is changing though. Warm rains came at a good pace. Fast enough so we can still get a ride in tomorrow, but not so fast as to flood out the region. It looks like we will have good company to break in the newest SIR route, Mercer Island – Redmond – Orting. The ride hugs most of the major cities around here, so there should be plenty of coffee stopping along the way. I’ve never been so eager to play hooky.