>Ezekiel Bread (#3)

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Ezekiel bread is by far one of my favorite breads to make and to eat…It’s also apparently one of the most common reasons people visit this blog. With the umbrella name of Urban Simplicity, I focus on three things mainly (with many random tangents)…food/cooking, spirituality, and biking, lots on biking because I enjoy it (including Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike). But on any given day 20-30% of the hits this blog receives are for Ezekiel bread.

Interesting.

All I can think is that there are so many crappy (and misunderstood) recipes and methods out there for this bread that when people find a good one they spread the word. But then again, maybe not.

Anyhow, the following is mainly pictures of a recent and delicious batch of this bread. For previous posts, complete with recipes, additional information on the bread, and more pictures, click here and here.

As with any recipe that I publish I like to tell people that these are mere suggestions not blueprints…thus my recipes often change from one time to the next (this is why the two recipes listed in previous posts vary). What’s different about this recipe (I guess I’m always seeking improvement) is that I increased the amount of beans and grains by about 10 percent, and in addition to 1/3 of the total flour content being organic whole wheat spelt flour, I also incorporated whole spelt berries.

And this is also pretty common knowledge, but I thought I’d share this as well…the Bible passage from which this recipe is derived:

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.”
—Ezekiel 4:9 (NIV)

Because of the extreme vagueness of the above passage it’s easy to see why there are so many extreme variations on this recipe…this happens to be how I like to make it and other people seem to like it too. And I guess that’s all that really matters.

Anyhow, if you’re into baking I suggest this bread…It’s easier to make that it may appear, it’s light, and it’s super nutritious. And just to reiterate, recipes and additional info can be found here and here.

Urban Simplicity.

Blessed!

Yesterday I attended the Bike Blessing ceremony at Lafayette Presbyterian Church here in Buffalo. It was the first time this event was held in Western New York and I hope it becomes a tradition. I’m assuming it is modeled after the bike blessing that has taken place at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on 112th Street in NYC where they’ve been doing this for a dozen years or so (visit the blessing of the bikes). The event, I believe, was also co-sponsored by Green Options Buffalo.

The service itself was brief and informal, but there was also something very moving about it….all of these bike riders in the sanctuary of a church sitting or standing in silence with their bikes as the Pastor walked the aisles, said prayers for the people and splashed water from the church’s Baptismal Font on the bikes. Even more moving was when two women symbolically walked a white bike down the center aisle in silence in remembrance of a loved one who was killed while riding his bike. I don’t believe it was a Ghost Bike, but it may as well have been (click here).

But it wasn’t all somber and remembrances, the Reverend Drew Ludwig spoke light of the event and cracked jokes (“Bike church is like people church…most the bikes sit in the back pews).

As I sat there in the pew I thought how this is mostly (but not entirely) metaphor, and that it has taken me many years (decades!) to realize how truly blessed my life has been and continues to be. While I don’t have every thing I want, I surly have everything I need. Everyday, I truly believe, is a blessing in itself (I just wish  could remember this everyday). And now my bike is blessed as well.

During the service the pastor also mentioned that we were in no way obligated, but if we would like to make a donation to either the Church or Green Options Buffalo you could do so as you left the sanctuary. And as I wheeled my bike out to the sound of bicycle bells clanging I couldn’t help but notice two receptacles…one was a church collection plate and the other was an upturned bicycle helmet; both held donations. This made me smile.

To see more about this event at Buffalo Rising (where you can also see the back of my bald head as I sat in a pew), click here. To see a short video of the event at the WIVB website, click here.

Urban Simplicity.

>Blessed!

>

Yesterday I attended the Bike Blessing ceremony at Lafayette Presbyterian Church here in Buffalo. It was the first time this event was held in Western New York and I hope it becomes a tradition. I’m assuming it is modeled after the bike blessing that has taken place at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on 112th Street in NYC where they’ve been doing this for a dozen years or so (visit the blessing of the bikes). The event, I believe, was also co-sponsored by Green Options Buffalo.

The service itself was brief and informal, but there was also something very moving about it….all of these bike riders in the sanctuary of a church sitting or standing in silence with their bikes as the Pastor walked the aisles, said prayers for the people and splashed water from the church’s Baptismal Font on the bikes. Even more moving was when two women symbolically walked a white bike down the center aisle in silence in remembrance of a loved one who was killed while riding his bike. I don’t believe it was a Ghost Bike, but it may as well have been (click here).

But it wasn’t all somber and remembrances, the Reverend Drew Ludwig spoke light of the event and cracked jokes (“Bike church is like people church…most the bikes sit in the back pews).

As I sat there in the pew I thought how this is mostly (but not entirely) metaphor, and that it has taken me many years (decades!) to realize how truly blessed my life has been and continues to be. While I don’t have every thing I want, I surly have everything I need. Everyday, I truly believe, is a blessing in itself (I just wish  could remember this everyday). And now my bike is blessed as well.

During the service the pastor also mentioned that we were in no way obligated, but if we would like to make a donation to either the Church or Green Options Buffalo you could do so as you left the sanctuary. And as I wheeled my bike out to the sound of bicycle bells clanging I couldn’t help but notice two receptacles…one was a church collection plate and the other was an upturned bicycle helmet; both held donations. This made me smile.

To see more about this event at Buffalo Rising (where you can also see the back of my bald head as I sat in a pew), click here. To see a short video of the event at the WIVB website, click here.

Urban Simplicity.

Things That Can Carried On A Bike (#169 – #172)

All in a day’s ride.

An acoustic guitar.
Two jackets.
A loose-leaf folder.

The new DVD, BFLO PNK 1.0

A few miscellaneous groceries.
A medium spinach pizza.
Another bike.
Best thing someone has yelled to me on a bike: Hey buddy, it looks like your bike is having sex.

>Things That Can Carried On A Bike (#169 – #172)

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All in a day’s ride.

An acoustic guitar.
Two jackets.
A loose-leaf folder.

The new DVD, BFLO PNK 1.0

A few miscellaneous groceries.
A medium spinach pizza.
Another bike.
Best thing someone has yelled to me on a bike: Hey buddy, it looks like your bike is having sex.

Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#167 & #168), and a brief story of the misunderstood car driver

A freshly baked loaf of Roast Red Pepper-Parmesan Bread.
A canvas bag containing, among other things, three books, a day planner, and a camera.

A quart of milk.
A tin of mixed nuts.
A can of coffee.
A gym bag full of wet clothes.
A 15lb canister of propane fuel.

So there I was pedaling down Allen Street on my short commute home from work. All I had on the Mundo was my bag and a loaf of bread. Allen Street is narrow and clogged with cars (was originally a cow tow path, I’ve read), and under normal circumstances a cyclist would stay clear of a car-clogged road like this. But what I like about it, other than it being my most direct rout home, is that it is so narrow and car-clogged that one can move at the same rate as car traffic. Indeed, often a bicycle can move faster than the traffic. And for this reason a cyclist can, and often has to because of the street’s narrowness, ride in the street proper rather than on the sidelines. Anyhow, as aforementioned, I was merrily pedaling home…when all of a sudden I hear the car behind me start beeping short little toots, like they wanted me to pull over: beep-beep, beep-beep. Not even turning to look I just kept pedaling. They became more aggressive: beeep, beeep, beeeeeep! This went on for a full block; someone from the sidewalk even yelled, WTF! (Only they used the full phrase.) I had no problem keeping pace with the car ahead of me and knew the car behind me, the one beeping, had nowhere to go if I did pull over…so I kept going. Finally I approached a red light and pulled over a little. I could see the car pulling up next to me. I was fuming; I could feel those little veins in my forehead pulsing and was ready to spit verbal fire if they harassed me.

Instead, the passenger rolled down his window and said with a slight smile, “Hey buddy, your bag fell off your bike back there when you hit that pothole.”

I was floored, and immediately felt like an ass. Here I was mentally calling the driver every name I could think of and he was simply being a Good Samaritan. All I could muster was a meager, thank you. I sheepishly turned my bike around and went back the block to retreive my bag, which indeed was lying there in the middle of the street. Luckily it did not get ran over by other cars or you wouldn’t see these current pictures (as my camera was one of the bag’s occupants).

My apologies to both of you, Good Samaritan driver and passenger. Sometimes Buffalo really does feel like the City of Good Neighbors, but even more importantly, I sometimes forget how good and kind many people–common strangers–can be to one another. Thank you for the reminder.

Urban Simplicity.