Bikes! and other fun stuff this weekend

Thanks to the Boston Cyclist's Union, MassBikes and a host of other groups, we finally have bike lanes along Centre Street in JP! A-mazing!

The Union is also giving free bike tune ups at Farmer's Markets across Boston. What a great idea that is.

This weekend is the Tenth Annual Bicycle Film Festival in Boston. Films are showing at the Brattle in Cambridge. Saturday night there is an after party with free beer at AdHoc. in JP- also a swell night cap for a day at Berklee's Beantown Jazz Fest.

Anniversary!

I've been meaning to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of Commandeered and today I realized I missed it. Rut ro. I'll do my best now, even if I'm over a month late.

What's in a name?

While "commandeered" is historically a military term (see below), I chose to re-appropriate it. I regularly acquire phrases, recipes, philosophies, etc. everywhere I go. I take what I want of them and use them towards my own ends. I wanted to honor the fruits of my habit in the blog. It became mostly a record of what I'm eating and listening to but that could still change.

com-man-deer
Function: transitive verb

Etymology: Afrikaans kommandeer, from French commander to command, from Old French comander

Date: 1881

1 a : to compel to perform military service b : to seize for military purposes
2 : to take arbitrarily or forcible possession of

Why Blog?

Recognizing that I needed to spice up my workaholic lifestyle, I started blogging as a way to force myself to get out and do things. You can't have a blog if you don't have anything to write about, right? That's what I thought at the time. And, while I've been slacking a little in writing lately, I do feel my quality of life has increased significantly.

For one, my garden kicks last year's garden's ass. It's twice as big, more varied, and was made possible by contributions from Wyatt and my roommates. Last year I did it alone. I'm also sharing a community garden plot with my friend Jesse. It's full of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, eggplants and cucumbers. We're hoping to do a crap-ton of canning this fall. I hope everyone in my life is cool with getting pickles for Christmas. Back to progress... I feel blessed to have made a lot of new friends in the last year. Not having a job that takes over my life has definitely been a plus in the social category. I now have a super man in my life and tons of new and interesting people to share new adventures with. Big props to Emily (an old friend) for helping me realizing this when I was choosing to focus on my lack of financial well-being, which, by the way, was dumb.

In terms of swell people, here's a good one:

This is Samara, amongst some garlic scapes. She's half of Team Capricorn, the all-girl auxiliary farm crew at Allandale Farm.

We've spent the last two days harvesting these little buggers. Raw they taste a little like garlicky green beans. I have not cooked with them yet but I hear they make a bitchin' pesto. Samara suggested putting them in guacamole. I'm thinking she's a genius.

Other things:

If you ever need a pick me up, try the Tenacious D Pandora station. Think Jack Black at his best followed by SNL's "I'm on a boat" and highlights from the Team America Soundtrack.

I know you miss pics from the garden but they're coming soon.

I'm back on the music review bandwagon so if you know of any good, small, American acts that need press, let a girl know.

If anyone knows anything about pitching freelance stories, I could use advice on that. Mostly, Wyatt and I want to get paid to determine 1. who has the best mac 'n cheese in Boston and 2. which diners are the best in the city. We don't need to get paid for the story so much as we need start up capital. : )

And fellow Bostonians, I can tell you two things:
Dorado's a fish taco place in Brookline is the best food I've had in Boston in a long time. It is straight up delicious, there is outdoor seating, the fish is sustainable and while they use disposable plates and cutlery, it's all compostable! AND they have $2 tacos after 5pm on Wednesdays. Yeah. Do it.

Revolution Bicycle Repair in Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain hooks it up! I got new handle bars, the labor it took to re-do the cables and housing and a tune up for $63.00. I love Bikes Not Bombs but that wouldn't happen there. If nothing else, Revolution's website is entertaining.

Lady Gaga, I love you but really? I hope this isn't real.

Finally!

Google has finally put a bicycling option on GoogleMaps! It's in Beta- you can tell because it doesn't recommend using the JP bike path to get downtown- but still, it's a step in the right direction.

The Beach!

Today we rode to Castle Island from Jamaica Plain. Unfortunately the weather turned halfway through the trip (see the happiness in the photo). Its great to know there is a nice beach just a 30 minute bike ride away. If it ever warms up in Boston I'll be there every weekend, making friends with the young bachelors at the yacht club.

Being on a bike is just awesome. I need to find more folks to ride with. I'd like to divide the Boston area into sections and bike a different section each weekend. I understand the city so much better now that I've started riding to work and select social affairs. Its really quite small and manageable. If it was not so brutal here in the winter I'd love this city.