Fuel Up Wednesday: Hearty miso soup

This weekend, I was temporarily knocked flat by a weird one-day flu. Although it was short, it was bad enough to make my body incapable of consuming anything but orange juice, crackers, and soup.

We have a huge tub of miso in our fridge from a previous recipe, so I decided to try making miso soup instead the usual chicken-noodle remedy. I always prefer chunky soups to bowls of broth, so I set out to find a recipe for a hearty miso soup.

That's exactly what I found! This recipe is delicious, comforting, healthy, and filling.

My grocery store didn't have dried shitake mushrooms, so I used these intriguing (and delicious!) wood ear mushrooms instead. I also used more bok choy in place of the seaweed.

This recipe is definitely a permanent addition to the list of "get well" soups! What recipes do you use as wintertime flu remedies?

Adventure Friday: Bicycle fever and indoor cycling

What's that feeling in the air? That intoxicating scent?

It's bicycle fever.

It's that time of year when even the slightest hint of rhythm conjures vivid daydreams of pedal strokes. Percussive Latin beats suddenly give way to hallucinations of a sprint down a long flat road. Slow bass-driven songs inspire deep longings for tough uphill climbs. Footsteps suddenly seem much too slow.

It's that time of year when 40 degrees feels balmy, and when the quiet trickling sounds of snow melt are mistaken for the arrival of spring.

As a (wimpy?) three-season cyclist, I get bad cases of bicycle fever every winter. This year, skiing and snowshoeing helped stave off the fever for quite some time. This week, finally, it hit me.

Andy has a set of rollers, so we set them up for my road bike. Thursday was my first time ever using rollers, believe it or not! He claims that that the front roller drum is a pain to adjust, so I'm only using the front fork stabilizer right now. Still, it felt like heaven. Once my legs started pedaling, it was hard to stop.

When I was a gym member in New York City, spin classes gave me my cycling fix. Now, I think I like rollers better. Feeling my own familiar bike underneath me—handlebars, seat, pedals, fit, and all—is ten times better than the hit-or-miss quality of gym spin machines.