Bike Race pt 2 and many other rambling thoughts

First, let me start with the confession that I normally write my posts early or late in my day, but rarely am I buzzed while I write. Tonight is an exception. But, let me digress a moment. We got our beer and wine license on Thursday at 4 pm!

This is no small matter. New Mexico has very...umm...well, let's just say, conservative liquor licensing issues. The process took four months, required a major floor plan shift, and many, many revisions to our original application. I don't recommend the process to anyone prone to paranoia or suicidal ideation. But enough of that. We got it. I bought some amazing beers and tonight I finally had a chance to drink my first one - Don de Dieu from Canada. Beer Advocate gave this beer an A-. I won't bother acting like I can review this awesome beer. I'll just say at 9% alcohol, I'll be reading my alcohol percentages in the future - it kicked my rear!

This past week was the Tour of the Gila professional bike race. Lance Armstrong and bunch of other big names that were wasted on me showed up, as did 600 of their closest friends and media.

And Lance was still the star, although not as much as last year. His RV (parked in front of our store) was much smaller, suggesting Leman Brothers have not been good to him.

But once the big downtown race started, we already had three nights of serving racers under our belts. This year we served over 100 racers each night with an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner. My sauce was very simple but received very positive reviews - sauté onion, carrot and celery, add zucchini, then thyme, salt and pepper. On some nights I added cayenne which the riders loved. Every night had a different salad, low-fat protein, and dessert (brownies, granola, mango crumble and baklawa). I prepared the meal based on the next days ride - spring = more protein; longest = more carbs; last day = kitchen sink because its a huge, long, hard ride. I really enjoy cooking for this many people, and really was humbled by how appreciative the riders were to get affordable, but fresh and tasty food.

After the Saturday dinner, all I could think about was how I have been juggling so many balls for so long, and I could finally put them all down. Our renovation is essentially done (did I mention that I built a papercrete wall last week?). I have no major catering jobs (except for the New Mexico Film Commission tomorrow). No major events (until our Blues Fest at the end of May). And my desk, bill paying and universe are almost under control.

Now I can focus more on Tyler, our house, my family and so many other neglected aspects of myself. I'm ready for that rest.