NOVEMBER 2014
Sunday 2014.11.30
Black Friday Shopping
For those who might be wondering why we call it "Black Friday," it is the beginning of the holiday shopping season when stores supposedly expect to move out of the red ink (deficit) and into the black ink (profit).
I normally don't venture forth on Black Friday, preferring to stay away from the crowded stores. However, after being home all week because of the plumbing and then the Thanksgiving holiday, I felt like I needed to get away for at least part of a day.
I drove down into the city with only two goals in mind: Get some Better Than Bouillon chicken flavoring at the one store that carries the large size jars and search for interesting serving spoons that might look good in photographs or videos. I don't have any good serving spoons and I broke the one plastic one I had.
There is an antiques mall down in the city. It is more of a junk mall actually, although there might be a few antiques in among the shelves of old shoes, rusty cookie cutters, and dented lamp shades. It takes a while to look at everything and I usually look twice. Nothing. There were assorted pieces of flatware, but no serving utensils except for a cake cutter or two. I wanted spoons. At another antique store there were beautiful sterling silver spoons — and I mean beautiful — but I wasn't prepared to spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of spoons.
I also look at the clearance items in Sur la Table and the Italian Pottery Outlet. Nothing of interest. Many of the unusual items in my photos and videos were clearance items. They don't sell because they are too odd or ugly to place in front of dinner guests. However, it's the oddity or ugliness that makes them interesting center pieces for photographs.
You never know what you mind find by poking around inside thrift stores or antique stores. It's true: Sometimes someone's trash becomes someone's treasure. I have two stacks of odd plates, from small dessert plates to platters, out in the storage shed. Every one is different because I only need one plate for a photograph. My search for serving utensils, however, proved fruitless again.
By about noon on Friday the city sidewalks were filling with pedestrians. Not quite like Disneyland, but enough to make me want to get far from the madding crowd. I drove home.
Rain
Today, thankfully, it's raining. This is the first of two storms, although today will be mild. Heavy rains are due on Tuesday, followed by showers through Thursday. It won't do much to fill the reservoirs and it's too early to know what this might mean for the state's drought situation. However, we'll take anything we can get.
And, finally, Thanksgiving
How was your Thanksgiving dinner? Mine was, well, interesting. I tried to avoid one person who kept inviting me, almost every day, to eat with her on Thursday. I kept telling her I needed to keep the day open because I was expecting to have dinner with friends down in the city. No invitation came. And so I was resigned to the dinner I didn't want. Everything was store bought, pre-made, and cold — even the mashed potatoes. I already knew she doesn't cook, but I didn't know she also doesn't heat anything. The pumpkin pie was good cold. I'll make my own plans for Christmas.
Wednesday 2014.11.26
Happy Thanksgiving Tomorrow (if you live in the USA)
If you don't live in the USA, have a happy every-week-type Thursday tomorrow.
I have something to be thankful about tomorrow. The plumbers arrived before 9:00 Monday morning and started drilling holes and feeding pipe. No need to turn off the water until they were ready to hook things up. So other than the occasional noise, it was a normal day.
I was really pleased when I saw the copper pipe. I feared narrow copper tubing that could be shaped and squeezed through little holes. No, it's real pipe, ¾-inch diameter for the main feeds and ½-inch going up to the faucets.
Better yet, as the day progressed I could smell the smoke that comes from soldering. This is real plumbing. All fittings are soldered. No quick-connect friction fittings.
By the end of the first day the job progressed so well, the plumbers felt confident they might complete everything in two days rather than three.
One benefit I asked for was a water filter on the intake pipe going into my mobile home. This park has old galvanized pipe under the ground. It breaks occasionally. Thankfully not often. The water is turned off for a few hours while they make repairs. Then there is grit in the line, which clogs the aerators on sink faucets. I try not to run any water for an hour or two after a repair. Let the other residents clear the lines. Now, however, I have a "whole-house" water filter outside and that will catch any particles before they enter my home.
Another benefit is that with new pipe and a filter outside, my reverse osmosis system should work better. I probably won't need to change the filters as often.
Here's a Tip About a Tips
If you think the guys doing the labor are doing a good job, go to the bank and get a crisp $50 bill for each of them and tip them early in the job. It will pay for itself in better quality work and you can often ask a favor. One of my pet peeves about home plumbing is that they put shut-off valves under every sink, the toilet, even behind the refrigerator if you have a water line going to an ice maker. However, they never put shut-off valves going to the bathtub/shower. Why? What if you need to change gaskets or, in my case a few years ago, valve stems and seats? You need to shut off the water to the whole house until you fix the tub's faucets.
I asked the plumbers if they would put shut-off valves in the wall behind the tub. No problem. They put in nice ball valves where I have an easy access panel. One amusing note: They even advertise on their fixtures.
They showed me a section of pipe that fed water into my home. It was nearly clogged shut with rust and debris. No wonder my water pressure seemed a little low. They replaced all these fittings as well. And this is the reason why I had a large water filter put on my service line. The debris in the pipe is the kind of stuff that exists in the water line of this old mobile home park. Now the grit and other debris can no longer get into the plumbing inside my home.
The job was done, other than cleanup, by 2:30 yesterday afternoon. Two days. They spent more than half an hour watching joints to make sure nothing was leaking and cleaning up. The water heater was back on and heating. They installed a newer, better valve for my reverse osmosis water filter system and calked around the fittings going to the bathtub. They really did an excellent job.
There was one final task, however, they couldn't complete. They usually fill all the old holes with foam sealant to keep rodents out. Their can of foam was defective. I drove to Home Depot and bought a can of foam and some coarse steel wool. I know mice won't chew through steel wool. I plugged all the old holes with the wool and then foamed over them.
This morning I went around and touched all the accessible joints to see if any of them felt wet. They're all dry. Then I buttoned everything up and began moving my stuff back under the sinks and into the closet. I couldn't be happier. There is no longer any old galvanized pipe in my home. One less thing to think about.
Sunday 2014.11.23
Where the Bread Begins
Besides putting up food servings in my freezer this past week, I also put up two-pound portions of flour in ziplock bags for making bread. I buy the 25-bag of flour at Costco, currently $7.19 per bag. I always use two pounds of flour when making bread; so it makes sense to portion and store in pre-measured amounts.
It's also economical. Do a little arithmetic with me. I get 25 loaves of bread from a sack of flour. Divide the price, $7.19, by the yield. That's about 29¢ per loaf. Double that to account for the yeast, sugar, butter, and the oven being on. My bread costs me about 60¢ per loaf. Plus I enjoy the satisfaction of baking bread. Even though I bake bread every other week, I never tire of the pleasure of homemade bread. I needed to shoot that video again too, so I planned for Friday.
Although we're not supposed to store bread in the refrigerator (it goes stale more quickly — something about the starches in the bread crystalizing), I always keep my bread refrigerated because I use it only for toast. The heat of the toaster de-crystalizes the starches.
Pesto Lamb
As planned, I roasted the Pesto Lamb on Thursday morning and shot new photographs.
Looking at the photo on the recipe page, the meat might seem a little too rare, but it was portioned for my Minute Meals and put in the freezer. Later, when I heat a meal for myself, it will be cooked further in the microwave. Therefore, it's better to slightly undercook it. As always, the flavor is magnificent. Lamb is one meat I almost always have in my freezer. I prefer it over beef.
This Old Mobile Home Continued
On Friday the plumbing company called. They were able to do better with the scheduling. Rather than starting on Tuesday, which could conflict with the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday (he originally said the job would take three days), they will start a day earlier on Monday — tomorrow. I'm actually getting excited. I'll have real pipes soon. These old galvanized pipes are so clogged with rust, I have no cold water to my shower. No water comes through the pipe. To shower safely without scalding myself, I lowered the temperature on my hot water heater such that I could shower, and wash dishes, using only the hot water.
Meanwhile, I boxed up and set aside everything that was under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, along with everything that was in the closet where the access panel to the shower pipes is located.
As for cooking this week, I won't be doing any. Thankfully I put several servings of food in the freezer for my Minute Meals.
Wednesday 2014.11.19
Progressing Toward Change
For a long time I've been working toward a name change for this web site. Most everything is now Mobile Home Gourmet. The PDFs are in progress. At the bottom of each front page is a copyright statement. That's the only text that needs changing.
The big step will be changing the URL. I own MobileHomeGourmet.com; so that much is done. Switching the web site will be tedious and the site could be down for a day or more until everything happens. I'll try to put an advance alert on the Home Page a week or two before I make the change.
Meanwhile, the first estimate for the pipe refit of this old mobile home came in. I'm looking at about $4,000 for copper pipe. One plumber is ahead of the others already. His company has already done several mobile home refits in this park. He knows the challenges and says the job will take three days.
He has another advantage working in his favor as well. The manager of the trailer park highly recommends him. When there is a plumbing need in the park, this is the guy the manager always calls. I like our manager and I respect his opinions. Therefore, I think I'll weigh the opinion as more important than a lower cost estimate.
Meanwhile, the temporary plumbing patch I did is still holding and still dry. I feel a little proud of that assembly. It got me out of a bind. I'm not sure how long it will hold, but it is certainly good enough until the work can be done to replace all the rusting galvanized pipe.
What's next? Hopefully nothing. This gets the two most pressing projects out of the way. At the beginning of the year I replaced my collapsing — and therefore dangerous — storage shed. Now the galvanized pipe. There really isn't anything else that needs my attention, at least nothing expensive. There is a third project, but it isn't necessary. I want to have my lawn replaced with natural stone. No more mowing the lawn. A lot depends on the weather this winter. If we have plentiful rains and the grass, and weeds, grow a lot, I might do the yard in spring. It there is another year of drought, the project can wait.
And thus with the pipes on my mind, cooking has ground nearly to a halt, again. I might make butternut squash risotto this week. That's a video that needs a makeover. I have the chicken stock in the freezer and the squash in the refrigerator. It's just a matter of doing it. Maybe tomorrow…
I also need to prepare more of my Pesto Lamb to have servings in the freezer. That's another video I'm doing again. The old one was done nearly four years ago when I was beginning to learn how to make videos. I know I can do better now. This morning I made the pesto and coated the lamb with it. It's wrapped and in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I'll roast it, finishing the video, and then I'll portion the lamb into pouches for my Minute Meals.
If you've never read my Minute Meals page, you might want to familiarize yourself with it. I really do eat this way. I've been doing it for years. Yes, it's a lot of work to put 20 or more servings of something in the freezer. Yesterday I portioned five pounds of corn and the same amount of mixed vegetables into four-ounce packets.
That's 40 packets of vegetables. I also did some mashed potatoes for nine packets — nearly 50 packets for the freezer. Those will last for many weeks. At mealtime I pull two packets of vegetables from the freezer along with a protein source — chicken, lamb, whatever — and heat everything in the microwave oven. I can literally put a plate of food on the table in under ten minutes because all the work is done in advance. For many weeks afterward I don't do any cooking. Just heat and eat. They're convenient too if you want to carry lunch to work and you have a microwave oven at your job. This was how I ate lunch at work for several years.
There's a second, more important reason, besides being so easy: I eat well. Each plate is a decent meal of balanced nutrition. And that helps me to feel good.
Sunday 2014.11.16
Stock Day
Stock, as in homemade chicken stock. You can certainly buy stocks and broths at the grocery store. I've bought them and although they taste a little watered down — concentrating them helps improve the flavor — they are usable in many recipes. Whether used in soups, sauces, or risotto, homemade stock, however, tastes better because you can control what goes into it. Another advantage: It is almost free.
I buy whole chickens, fillet the meat — breast, thigh, and drumstick — for use in recipes and freeze the trim (bones, skin, etc.) for making stock. The trim is normally the stuff you would throw in the trash. For the cost a few vegetables — carrots, celery, and onion — I make my stock from those scraps. Even roasted chickens, such as the whole roasted chickens they sell for $5 at Costco, make excellent stock after all the meat is removed.
After straining the liquid and skimming off the fat, I portion the stock into 1-cup containers and freeze them. The following day, I pop the block of stock out of the containers and store in ziplock bags. I almost always have stock in my freezer. With winter coming, it's time to think about soups. I have a recipe/procedure here on the web site for making Chicken Stock.
Mystery Meat
Several months ago someone gave me some frozen mystery meat. It was in small ziplock bags with an oriental character hand written on the bag. Two were ground meat and a third was sliced meat. They were all raw. I tossed it in the freezer and left thoughts about use for later. I don't know what it is. The texture is tough, not tender.
I drove to the oriental market near where I live to see if anyone could identify it. One person (she is Chinese) said it is Japanese, but she could not read it. As long as it is not the name of someone's pet, I'm okay with it. I'm adventurous with some foods, but nowhere near as adventurous as Anthony Bourdain. When I made the stock this past week I tossed the meat into the pot. If anything, it would add some flavor.
The stock, at least some of it, was used to make a new video of my Mushroom Risotto recipe. I find it amazing how much I have learned about making videos during the past four years. I went back and reviewed some of my earliest videos, this risotto video being one of them. I was awful, simply awful. My plan, before I changed my mind, was to move the video to Curious.com. After watching it, I was too embarassed to put it with my others; so I shot a new video, along with some new still photographs as well.
I don't really like eating risotto, but this one really grabbed me. I couldn't stop eating it. I finally packed it up and shared it with two of my neighbors to get it out of my home. The video turned out really well. In fact, the whole day went well. This was the first time I shot, edited, encoded, and uploaded a video all in the same day. It takes more than a week before it is published. As for the original, I'll leave that on YouTube.
This Old Mobile Home
One of the challenges of living in a mobile home, especially an old one, is keeping things working. They're not built like houses, although the newer ones are built to better standards. My home has galvanized pipe, which is good pipe when it is new. However, the pipe starts to rust after a while. Two things happen. The rust builds up inside the pipe, diminishing the water flow until it is completely blocked. The fittings rust and eventually break off. That's what happened yesterday. A fitting broke beneath my kitchen sink. Fortunately I was home and I quickly turned off the water.
Thankfully, I am not as dumb as I look. I was able to do a temporary fix until a plumber can estimate the repairs I want done. This is my fix: A short section of vinyl tubing and two hose clamps. Heat the tubing in boiling water to soften it so that it slips over the pipe ends easily. A little grease also helps. Then clamp securely. Turn the water back on and check for leaks. My fix didn't leak.
And so it's time to get all the pipe in my home replaced with either copper tubing (expensive), plastic pipe (affordable), or something new they're doing — PEX polyethylene flexible tubing. Ideally, I'm thinking of going with copper, but PEX might be the best option. Copper is better for new installations. PEX is more suitable for replacements because it can be fished through openings and curved around existing structural pieces. Plastic pipe remains an alternative. I'll know more when I see the estimates.
Wednesday 2014.11.12
Lots Happening
The week started off busy enough for me. My ravioli form arrived. It makes BIG, I mean really big, ravioli. Four or five of them are enough for one serving. The frame has ridges that will cut the ravioli for you, but it doesn't work perfectly and I don't like the look of straight edges on my ravioli. I cut them apart with a fluted cutter that gives the final ravioli a scalloped edge. It's a minor point, but I try to think about what would look best in the photography.
I made the Smoked Salmon Ravioli, twice. I needed to prepare it again because I didn't get the best final photographs I wanted. I forgot to do one thing — cut one ravioli in half to reveal the filling inside.
When I made the food again I stuffed one ravioli a little more than the others. That was my "royal" for the photographs. Meanwhile, I've been writing the recipe and editing the video for Curious.com. I'm not sure when it will be available. At the moment I'm rather stacked up with recipes to publish. The next one on the schedule is Honey Whole Wheat Bread, in time for Thanksgiving.
The bike part, the derailleur hanger, arrived and I put my bicycle back together again. Assembly was made easier because I have a length of lumber that I clamp to my deck railing. I can then hang the bike by the frame, raising it to a comfortable working height for assembling and adjusting things. This is my bicycle stand. A board and two U-bolts. What could be simpler? I don't clamp the bike in place — that might damage the cables; I just insert the U-bolts into the holes and that prevents my bike from sliding off the board while I'm working on it.
I like my bike, but now I like it even more. With everything cleaned and oiled, adjusted the way I like it, and knowing that I did the entire job myself, it makes me feel a little proud. It might be only an inexpensive street bike, but it works and I'm happy with it.
I also baked bread on Sunday. That's routine. I keep bread for toast, two slices of which I eat almost everyday. That's routine too.
There's nothing special about my bread formula. Find a recipe that works and stick with it. Some people have congratulated me for having helped them become successful bread bakers. Thanks. I'm no genius. I failed at baking bread for many years. It wasn't until I saw a video with Julia Child teaching how to properly measure flour for baking — weigh it rather than measure it volumetrically — that I started being successful with bread. Now I make it so regularly, I buy the 2-pound bag of yeast at Costco (Amazon also sells it) and the 25-pound bag of flour, also at Costco. Other than special bread for recipes, such as for my Tomato and Mushroom Crostini, I haven't bought bread in years.
One final issue that I thought might be worth mentioning: Someone walking by saw me working on my bike and asked, "How is it that you can do everything?" I said, "I can't do everything, but I'm willing to learn anything." That's the answer.
Sunday 2014.11.9
Bike Repairs, Again
On Thursday I decided to work on my bicycle again. This time my rear wheel didn't break a spoke. Instead, the threads stripped in one of the spoke nuts along the rim. When taking the wheel off I noticed that the part that holds my rear derailleur to the frame — they call it a "derailleur hanger" — was bent, badly cracked, and ready to fall off. I tried to straighten it carefully, but that was the end. It broke off.
The nearest bike shop now is the expensive one where the arrogant guys work. The good bike shop closed their local branch and moved everything to their store down in the city. I asked how much a new rear wheel would cost (I had the old wheel with me) and they quoted me $80. They wanted way too much money for the hanger and they didn't have it in stock anyway.
It turns out Raleigh, the maker of the bike, uses lots of different hangers. I found what I needed on line and ordered it from a company in Colorado. The price was right and the process was painlessly easy.
Save your glass jars, at least some of them. You never know when you might need one for a job like cleaning a bicycle chain. My chain went through several baths of mineral sprits before I was satisfied it was really clean of grease and sand. Afterward, the jar went into the recycling bin.
This is also a good time to clean the derailleur. I disassembled what I could and cleaned all the little pieces. I should mention that I was hit by a car while riding my bike a few years ago. My bike, although it works, has never been the same. Nearly all the problems I've had were with the rear wheel. I've replaced eight or nine spokes so far. When I mentioned this collision to the guys at the expensive bike shop, they wanted to sell me a new bike. I told them they were the ones who repaired the bike after the accident. If the bike needed to be replaced, they should have sold me one back then. The driver who hit me paid for those repairs.
I should probably also mention that the guys who work at the bike shop are mostly kids who would rather spend their time assembling new bicycles, preferably Specialized brand, than service old bikes. Also worth mentioning is the local university. It's a bicycle campus. Nearly everyone commutes on bike. I worked there for 24 years and I commuted by bike too. They have a bike shop on campus and the prices are very affordable. I bought a rear wheel there — they had one in stock — and it cost me only $40, half the price the other bike shop wanted.
Ever since I retired and started watching the Tour de France at home each summer, I occasionally think about how clean the bikes on TV are. The closeups they occasionally broadcast show bike parts that haven't a speck of dust on them. The teams have mechanics that take excellent care of those bikes. My bike isn't nearly as good. Their bikes cost more than ten times the money I spent on mine. However, I really like my bike. So maybe I'll start learning more about bicycle mechanics and keep mine better maintained.
Wednesday 2014.11.5
What's Cooking?
But first, let's get the politics out of the way. The best comment I heard this morning, about Rand Paul's changing positions: "He has more positions than the Kama Sutra." Yesterday's news coverage of the mid-term elections was fun to watch. I watched all day. What will Republican control of both houses of Congress mean for our country during the next two years? I don't know. I'm not hoping for big improvements, but it should be entertaining to watch.
As planned, I made the Smoky Pork and Bean Chili on Sunday. Better than delicious. I like chili anyway, if it isn't too spicy hot, but this one always tastes the best to me. I made plenty and portioned it for the freezer. I'll have chili to enjoy occasionally for the next month or two.
There was a second reason to make the chili. When upgrading my old videos to put on Curious.com, I need a thumbnail image of the food, preferably on a plate, or in a bowl, ready to eat. I shoot these photos last and call them my "Royals." They're the best shots of the day. These days, I keep the originals in a separate folder. I didn't always do that. I need a photo that is the same aspect ratio as the video. The size can be different, but the ratio needs to be the same. However, I had no "originals" from which I could get a photograph to use as a thumbnail. Thus the reason for making the chili again.
While the meat and beans were working through their final stage of cooking, I set up my table for the photograph. Choose the best plate and fabric napkin. Decide on a place mat. Set up the tripod and camera. Use the 55mm "normal" lens. And set the camera to aperture priority to get the depth of field I like. Finally, put the food on the table and shoot. You can see the photo on the recipe page.
Another food needed a new photograph as well — my Lamb and Pappardelle. However, I repeated this recipe for another reason. It was the poorest performing of all my videos on YouTube. In nearly four years it has been barely noticed. Is it the name? Are people put off by the meat? Maybe no one searches YouTube for "lamb" or "pappardelle". I shot a new video, expanded it a little with more information, and named it Lamb and Pasta. I uploaded it to Curious.com yesterday, where it will be under review for a week to ten days before being published. At Curious there are fewer artists. The competition for notice is much lower. Even if it performs no better there, it will be another video adding to the body of my work. And that, I hope, will bring me more recognition, and maybe a little more compensation.
I also have another ravioli recipe in the works. I did a video and recipe for Chicken Pesto Ravioli, which I haven't published yet (currently scheduled for early December). The flavor is excellent because I also made Alfredo sauce, which you taste first as you eat the ravioli. Then the chicken and pesto comes out, giving you a second burst of flavor. It's a pleasant surprise.
For my next ravioli recipe I ordered a ravioli form from Amazon.
Mine, I think, will be slightly wider, making larger ravioli (I ordered the large one rather than the regular one) and it will mold 10 ravioli rather than 12. I'm already planning my experiments.
As for the filling, I haven't yet decided on that. I'll probably repeat the chicken breast meat and pesto recipe first, because I know how that one is supposed to come out. Later I'll experiment with other fillings. I'm thinking of combining Italian sausage meat with ground beef and herbs, then serving with Marinara Sauce. Another possibility is the mixture from my Smoked Salmon Meatballs recipe. Even the filling from my Smoked Salmon Quiche seems like a good idea.
The odd thing about many recipes is that you can recycle old ingredient formulas into new recipe ideas.
Sunday 2014.11.2
Happy Standard Time
So here we are, back in Standard Time again (some of you never changed to Daylight Saving Time). I like both. Standard Time has the advantage of brighter mornings. The down side is the final photography I often need to do for my recipes and videos. I shoot the food on a plate, on my dining room table, with the drapes open for natural lighting. With the sun setting an hour earlier, I must plan my videos better to have sunlight at the end of the shoot.
Halloween passed uneventfully, and I admit I'm thankful for that. There was talk about possibly having a gathering outside my home. I thought I might move a computer outdoors and hook up my data projector to it, then project Rocky Horror Picture Show on the wall of my shed as a backdrop to our evening festivities. I am not, however, a skilled party planner. The one who is, the one in whom I was hoping would help, moved to Colorado. I'll miss her. She organized some great parties. But people must go where their opportunities are. I've heard from her by email and she loves it there. I'm happy for her. She's a great gal.
Winter — the weather anyway — has finally arrived. We had a decent amount of rain Friday night and Saturday morning. Sadly, it was a fast moving front; so there wasn't much accumulation. The first few rains of the season soak into the ground anyway. Later, when the ground is saturated, the runoff flows into the reservoirs. I checked the rain report. For the season we've already received more than our average to date. We're a little over 100%. The nearest reservoir, however, is below 30% capacity. It will probably take two or three wet winters to fill it up. Where I live, the water district has a desalination plant. It has been in mothballs for 20 years, any many of the components were sold (supposedly the ones that couldn't be kept in storage). They're in the process now of upgrading and activating it. The water will be a lot more expensive, but at least we'll have water.
Meanwhile, in preparation of winter cooking, I inventoried the freezer yesterday. I have nearly two pounds of raw pork. I'll make more of my Smoky Pork and Bean Chili this week. I can taste it already. I think I might like this better than my Texas Beef Chili. Either one makes good winter food.
This past week there was a mobile home washing company in the trailer park detailing a motor coach. I asked them how much they would charge to detail my SUV, inside and out. What with the drought here in California, I've been trying not to use much water. $30 was their charge. It seemed fair; so I agreed. After detailing the car, which looked beautiful when done, they asked, "Do you ever drive this car?" I get asked that a lot. It's a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder. It has 32,000 miles on it. The odometer has never rolled over. I fill the tank with gas every other month. I put more mileage on my bicycle.