The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

A father is defined as:

a. A male person whose sperm unites with an egg, resulting in the conception of a child.

b. A man who adopts a child.

c. A man who raises a child.

This year I am celebrating my 23^rd Father’s Day. In contrast my father is celebrating his 51^st. I still remember the day that turned me from a mere child to a father. The birth of my first child and my second child are days that I will always remember. I remember the moment that the doctor handed me my child right then and there I went from being a kid to becoming my father. I knew what this child was going be able to do, when they had to be home from a date, how they would do in school, and how I would love him unconditionally.

What does it mean to be a father? I am sure that there are many thoughts on what it means to be a father. For me it means that I am responsible for the heath and well being of my children until they have reached a point in their lives that they can survive on their own. So far I have discovered that even when they are 23 and 21it has still not ended. As a father it not just the heath and well being of the children that you must do but also you must teach them the skills to survive. It is important to remember that children are adults that need training and as a parent it your job to make sure that they become a respectable member of society.

Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever. ~Author Unknown

We all learn from our parents and as children we marveled at what they can do. As adults we see the role that they play. Some of us may not know our parents, some may loathe them and some may want to be them when we grow up. I took many things from my parents and have passed it on to my children. There many things that I did not take and my children have no idea they even exist.

On this Fathers Day I plan to do a little internal reflection on how I am as a father and spend some time with the ones I love. Happy Fathers Day.

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~Clarence Budington Kelland

Ciao,

Sir J Rotten

6.14.2010

Road to Recovery

I know it has been awhile since I last blogged there has been many things that have happened. The first thing I should tell you about is that I have not been on the bicycle since the beginning of March 2010. The root cause of this is I suffered from AVN, not the Adult Video Network, but Avascular necrosis. The short version of this is a disease where there is cellular death (necrosis) of bone components due to interruption of the blood supply. Without blood, the bone tissue dies and the bone collapses. I my case it caused bone on bone in my right hip. There was a lot of pain and made things very uncomfortable for the day to day life.

In early March I join the group for a ride 40 mile ride on the Silver Comet here in the greater Atlanta area. The Comet (aka The Vomit) is a Rail to Trails trail. The pace was to be winter pace 15-17 MPH but when you get a lot of testosterone in one location the original plan is thrown to the side. The pace for that day was 20 MPH. It was not that I could not handle the pace that ended my riding season it was the increased amount pain that followed for the next five days.

At that point I decided to have a conversation with Dr Rollins, my family doctor, about the increase in pain. After that conversation I decided to get the surgery. I selected Dr. Kress to be my surgeon and the surgery was promptly set up for March 12^th 2010. On June 17^th it will be 5 weeks since surgery and I must tell I feel a hell of a lot better.

It was decided that total hip replacement was what was needed. The surgery itself was pretty straight forward. An incision was made the femoral head was removed and a titanium hip prosthesis, with a ceramic head and polyethylene acetabular cup were installed. There are two things that amaze me, one I was out of the hospital in less than 28 hours and I was walking within 4 hours after the surgery.

I am still not allowed to ride my bicycle. I have been advised to wait the full 6 weeks before I start. If you are a cyclist then you can understand the insanity I am going through.

In a few short weeks Yellow band chef and I will be headed to Europe for our EuroTour 2010. This year we will be headed to Rotterdam, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Again this year we will be following a few stages of the Tour De France. The stages we are planning to see are the Prologue in Rotterdam, the departure from Rotterdam, the arrival in Brussels and then the departure from Brussels. We will then be watching the tour on the television like everyone else.

This year on Euro Tour we will be do our best to keep you update on our adventures.

Ciao,

Sir J Rotten

food & fun in the cold

I cannot seem to remember when it has been this cold in all my years of living in the south. Growing up in Syracuse, New York winter seemed to have lasted forever and memories of the long cold days without sunshine certainly makes me cherish the warm sunny days winter here in Atlanta, however those have been very few and far between of late.

SJR and I have been doing our best to keep ourselves busy with warm foods, warm blankets and warm inside events!  Our kitchen has been the ground zero for many of my work projects including several batches of new cheesecakes; delicious cookies; savory breads and experiments with sweet & salty combination.
Much of my inspiration comes from many of the new food trends for 2010. The true winner of the not so great economic state of our country is without a doubt....FOOD!
SJR has taken comfort from the cold by taking part in his 14 year of Wind Training class with Coach Will and several of the B&S cycling team members. It may not be as fun as cycling on the road but keeps him focused on the bike and mind off work for several hours a couple of times a week.

Both SJR and I are anxious to get back outside on the Piazza but will make the most out of being forced inside. We will work on new culinary creations to tackle on the grill once the weather cooperates and certainly share with everyone our new found favorites.

Comfort food, butchers and bakers are the center of our plate this winter and we are delighted to share in the great concoctions that many of our favorite and new found restaurants are stirring up in their kitchens.

Catch up with us next time when we blog about food in West Midtown and all our new favorites finds!

Peace, Love, Food
YBC

Warm Sunny Days In the Republica Dominicana

We could not have picked a better time to get away from Atlanta and celebrate SJR's birthday! We boarded our Delta flight the morning of January 29th with the local temperature in the low 30's and expected to get even colder over the weekend.
With a rather uneventful and reasonably short flight we landed in Santa Domingo as probably the only American tourists. Everyone else was then heading over to Haiti to offer their hands; expertise; spirit and tools to assist with the horrible aftermath of the earthquake. Honestly I felt a bit guilty but our trip was booked well before the devastating event.

We were graciously welcomed outside the airport by the transportation coordinator for the Barcello Cappella Beach Resort and made a quick 45 minute journey to the hotel. I had flash backs of our trip to Panama driving through some pretty rough spots mixed right in with all the resorts; modern high rise condos and surprisingly a lot of car dealerships!

Upon our arrival at the resort we headed to our lovely corner room changed out of our winter clothes and headed over the the Ocean Grill snack bar for a rock solid and cold hamburger and a couple of cervezas! We did not care about the food we were on our way to having a fantastic weekend in the DR.

We walked the beach a bit; checked out a couple of the other bars, enjoyed the sights and shared a few laughs with the great bartenders. Dinner that night in the main restaurant was a typical Caribbean fare which was well done for a buffet. Following dinner we took in the nights entertainment show in the Tropical lounge and had a great time chatting with Juan Sosa the bartender. We were both amazed at what a great performance all the singers and dancer provided. The women were absolutely beautiful in their elaborate costumes.

Saturday was a lovely sunny day with a bit of an ocean breeze. Breakfast with wonderful tropical fruits; pastries; ham; eggs and fish. We walked around the resort checking all the venues; the south end of the beach and played several games of dominos. Later in the afternoon we played 18 holes of mini golf where SJR made a statement and kicked my butt 64 to 100!  The rest of the evening we ate, drank and laughed with the comedians at the evening's entertainment show. SJR bought a ton of mamjuana root at the local fair and we bought several Dominican leather wrapped bottles for gifts for some of our friends. Needless to say SJR has a way with negotiating for the best price!

Sunday was by far the hottest day but we had a great time! We walked to the north end of the beach over to the Costal Caribe Resort and wouldn't you know it we got roped into a time share sales pitch; complete with a tour and fortunately we were able to get out of the 15 minute video telling the nice man that we had to catch a bus into the city...hated to fib but certainly did not want to waste anymore time away from the sunshine.
The beach in Juan Dolio is very pretty; water is very clean and although we read there were many seashells we did not find that to be the case. We had a great lunch at the buffet restaurant off the pool bar and loved the grilled to order pork chops; lovely salads; sauteed pastas and wonderful ice cream!
Our afternoon was filled with several games of scrabble and dominos and several flavorful Dominican beverages...my personal favorite were the banana daiquiris!
Dinner at the a la carte restaurant Bohio was very disappointing. We were both craving a steak and I am not too sure what type of animal our "steak" came from. It was nice to be waited on but we did not linger very long. Our last stop of the evening was at the Tropical Bar where we tried our hand at Dominican Bingo which proved to provide many laughs trying to follow along with our limited Spanish.

Our last day in the DR was again a beautiful day and we hated to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that we met. One of our favorite bartenders Juan, the "other" Juan gave us a beautiful departing gift of two bottles of Ron Barcelo Anejo Rum...what a nice surprise. Once we arrived back at the airport we had a great little lunch of prosciutto bocadillos and empanadas. The perfect way to end a great long weekend of fun in the sun with my main man.

Until our next adventure....
Peace, Love, Food

Yellow Band Chef

Sir Johnny's Birthday

Last Friday, January 22nd Sir Johnny and I shared an early nice little bite at Abbatoir located in our great neighborhood in the up and coming West Buckhead...yes Buckhead!  Now that our side of the city has become the fun hip place to work; live; EAT  -  all the old money in Buckhead wants us to join in on their campaign to make Buckhead its own city.  I am okay with breaking off from all the challenges that the city of Atlanta has burden those of us that do pay taxes with but come now it is still the West Side of the city and we are proud to call it home.

If you have not been to Abbatoir make a point of putting it on your calendar. One of SJR's and my favorites is the to die for, ground to order no less, Steak Tartar. Absolute best we have had anywhere in the world. Make sure you order a Moscow Mule from the bar and feel free to sit and eat at the bar. All the bartenders; bar chefs or mixologists (not sure what they are calling themselves these days) are great and really fun to watch as they create interesting libations and serve them with a cute little flair. It was the perfect setting for the two of us to catch up and celebrate his birthday after both traveling solo for work all week.

Before we headed to our favorite local watering hole we decided to check out Ormsby's also in the new White Provisions center. SJR did not realize that I had invited several of his closest friends to meet us for a game of bocce and a few beers. To say that we were disappointed in this new addition to the West Side may be an understatement. The minute we walked in the door the place was packed, dark and loud. Getting near the bocce ball court which is artificial turf, was not going to happen and he wanted to leave. Thanks to our dear friend Aaron from the Arizona Pub for calling SJR from his bar stool upstairs as SRJ was headed for the door. We had a nice time catching up with friends but the space is just too crowded to manage a group of 15 or so. We ate the cake that I picked up from Metrotainment Bakery, a delicious Chocloate Mousse and headed on over to Mr. C's to finish up the night in a relaxed, friendly and always welcoming dive bar!

Yellow Band Chef

fancy food food food

I spent the majority of this week out on the left coast in the great state of California.
My adventures in food this week were primarily for work,  but boy what a fun work week it was!
Arriving into San Francisco for the Fancy Foods Show on Monday proved a bit of a challenge given the lack luster weather both getting out of Atlanta and arriving into the bay area. It was great to be greeted at the airport by William my driver from Ace Limosuine SF, what a fine warm welcome.
Once I hit the show floor all the excitement of the vast amount of fancy foods was like Christmas morning wrapped up under the Moscone Center with a big red bow!
The show provided me with exactly everything I was looking for in current trends for food enthusiasts. Chocolate in every imaginable format; flavor and combination.  Even Willy Wonka would never have dreamed about. Dark Chocolate appears to be the new star....but the combination's of chocolate with sea salt; chiles; nuts;citrus; creams and burnt flavors are outstanding. I was a bit taken a back by enormous variety of cheese and olives showcased but again it was all about food heaven! Some of my favorite discoveries were the new  Vosges Hautes-Glaces (exotic ice creams) including the Red Fire with Mexican Ancho & Chipolte Chillies; cinnamon and dark chocolate and surprisingly the chocolate bacon flavors....YUM!!!!
After 3 hours on the show floor and feeling a chocolate overload coming on, I headed over to the Grand Hyatt for a bit of recovery before meeting colleagues for a glass of wine at the W Hotel.
Dinner at Perbacco was the perfect finish to a long SWEET filled day.
The restaurant setting is lovely and the service is outstanding. Armando our waiter was so gracious. The Salumi Mista was the perfect beginning to our meal accompanied by a lovely Barolo. As I often do I selected two appetizers. The Bresaola with Celery Root Salad and the Roasted Beets with Dandelion greens and Grapefruit exceeded my expectations.
“Perbacco” is an Italian word to accentuate positive comments....they are spot on with that!
Day one complete....stay tuned for the continued fancy food adventures of day two!
Peace Love Food,
Yellow Band Chef

....yellowbandchef's addition to the first blog

Sir Johnny (SJR) did a great job of launching our blog!

Food and A Wheel was born out of an idea on a whim.....what great recipe has not 
been created on a whim?

From the beginning, our life together has always been spontaneous. Our blog will most likely be an extension of all that fun; winging it; craziness and love.
Our blogs whether together or solo will be for the most simple, sweet and from the heart. At times we may get so excited about something we may blog a bit more. How can you not be excited about food and cycling?

One thing SJR did not mention was that I am often affectionately called Lala, so there may be times that there is a reference to Lala, the Yellow Band Chef.
Stay tuned for our adventures in food and cycling.

Peace Love Food,

Yellow Band Chef