Bike Pro Centre’s Dec 30th 2006 party. No bikes were harmed or harassed to accommodate the awesome bands!

If you live within bicycle commuting distance to your work, biking has several advantages to offer. Why not consider commuting by bicycle. Even if you choose a bike as you way of commuting on the nicest days of the year, you can do your part in reducing our dependence of petroleum products and reducing pollution.

Biking to work is a great way to get exercise. Why should you pay to go to the gym and ride a stationary bike when you could get a better workout free by just biking to work? If you fear that the distance is too far, try commuting using the bus and your bike. This works well for persons that live a distance from the bus stop or work away from the closest stop.

If you plan to bike to work, there will need to be some preparation that you make. You will want to have a way to carry your gear that is needed for work and anything you pick up that needs to be brought home. Messenger bags are one great option. If you have a laptop that you need to carry back and forth to work, a laptop messenger bag can offer a waterproof option that also protects your computer from and scrapes or scratches.

You may also want to pick up a few extra messenger bags for the bike. They are nice for spur of the moment purchases such as sale digital cameras or transporting items you will need when you get home such as ATV parts.

As we spend more time on our planet we realize that resources are limited. There is no endless supply of gasoline available. We all need to do our part in conservation of natural resources for the generations that will follow.

Besides conserving resources, biking to work saves money. A commuter that switches two days a week saves 40 percent of his commuting fuel bill. If you bike daily, you can save 100 percent of that fuel bill. If you begin with a used bike, you will have almost no investment in your commute. In addition to saving money, you keep your body in shape.

Thre’s an amazing biking community in Malaysia. And they have a blog for people who bike to work. Check them out at http://cyclingprofessionals.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, in Singapore, the bicycle community has this blog http://cyclinginsingapore.blogspot.com/

The Australian website you should check out would be http://www.cyclingresourcecentre.org.au/24/Ride_to_Work

The American website would be http://www.bikeleague.org/

The whole reason for going back to the basics in terms of food is because I’m always looking out for ways to feed my second child who is allergic to eggs and sea food. While I was doing my research, I came across information about bread additives that are detrimental to our health. You can read about it in my article Is your bread bad for you and your family?

My sister-in-law’s bread

I did want to post up a picture of my bread, but somehow it disappeared from my computer when I was transferring the images from my camera to my CPU. Luckily, my sister-in-law and I were baking up a storm and she took a picture of the latest bread, baked by her, which is a whole wheat bread. Frankly, I thought all the bread we made looked fairly alike coming out my my mum’s 20 year-old oven, so I thought I’d show you how the whole wheat bread looked like even though the recipe isn’t whole wheat.

I’ve tried baking whole wheat bread, and I did a 2 part white flour and 1 part wheat flour combo as well but the 1 1/2 year old kiddo just won’t eat it. I do realize a big portion of the population used to eating commercial white bread probably won’t like homemade wheat based bread because it’s very dense compared to the commercial bread … which is why this recipe is a white bread recipe. My game plan for my almost 2 year old son is to slowly add some whole wheat flour a little at a time into the bread that I make until he gets used to eating better bread.

I have to tell you, this bread is perfect, and so soft and moist. Really, you should use this recipe if you have not baked any bread before, and want to wean your family off commercial bread if they are used to soft fluffy bread.

Ethan’s Oh-So-Soft Bread

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
a sprinkle of ground dry ginger
a pinch of citric acid (you can find citric acid at the bakery, usually next to the Konnayku jelly or also known as Konjac jelly)
2 teaspoons granulated lecithin (purchased at the organic section of the supermarket)
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast

I found out from another blog, the secret to the soft moist bread is the ground ginger, tiny, tiny pinch of citric acid and lecithin. You can try with or without these ingredients to see which you like better.

1. Combine warm water, milk, brown sugar, honey and dry yeast. Stir. Let it sit for about 5 mins to foam up.

2. Add flour, salt, ginger, citric acid, lecithin. Mix. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the wet ingredient and oil.

3. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. You must need it properly or else it won’t rise as the gluten in the flour mixture is not developed. I need it by hand because my Kenwood Chef machine is broken. But really, to save time and energy, you can use any machine with a S hook or just dump the whole thing inside the bread machine to knead. If you don’t wish to bake or you made extra dough, you can keep the extra dough in the freezer in a airtight container for later use (don’t let the bread you intend to freeze rise. It will rise when you take it out of the freezer before baking). Just shape it and pop it into the freezer.

4. Place dough you wish to bake now in a greased bowl. Greeze the top of the bread as well. Cover it and let rise at a warm spot until doubled, about 40 minutes. I once saw a video where the guy took a clean plastic bag and wrapped the bowl and all in in. I thought it was a very good idea because we can just reuse the plastic bags we bag our vegetables (you know, like at the supermarket) instead of using a disposable plastic cling film that just does not do anything for the environment.

3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size again, about 30 minutes.

4. Bake the bread at 350 degrees Farenheit (or 175 degrees Celcius) for 30-35 minutes.

5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Slice and enjoy while still warm! Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

6. If you want to bake the frozen bread, just take the bread out and let it rise overnight, before baking the bread in the oven in the morning.

Speaking of bread, what do you guys think of this latest fashion taken from http://www.dadadastudio.eu/shop/?i=40#?

Shoes made out of bread? Apparently, the website says, these shoes are meant for wearing. It’s art but fairly expensive art you can’t eat. Would you pay for it? It’s €62 product + €8 shipping and handling = €70 total.

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More on additives and bread that you eat

• Malaysian Bread Statistics You May Not Know
  Is food making people around you crazy?

Also, here’s two recipes to go with bread

• Homemade butter
• Homemade healthy uncooked jam

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The Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker is the most awesome bread machine in my opinion, especially since it makes just enough bread instead of a large loaf.

I dislike leftovers, and making a small loaf is what I like. Just click on the picture to find out more about it.