Tour de Fat: A pedal powered fundraiser of sustainable folly

A ballyhoo of bikes, Belgian Beer and circus?

Sounds like my kind of party.

morbidmtb.com

The highly acclaimed Tour de Fat, a traveling circus show/costumed bike parade/excellent beer fundraiser, rode into the San Diego region over the weekend with a celebration set to rouse the inner cyclists within the citizens of America's Finest city, all in the good name of BIKE.

Participants are encouraged to abandon their best four-wheeled companions and grab their two-wheeled mistresses for the kickoff parade.

You'll find that Tour de Fat parade goers dress in their silliest attire to drink the finest of Belgian beers, 

and to proudly let their freak flags fly.

This one here lad managed to play the accordion whilst bicycling, fancy that!

The Tour de Fat is brought to us by the nice folks over at New Belgian Brewing. 

These days, this event is hailed the world over as a smashing success, raising money for local nonprofits through beer and merchandise purchases. To date, it will soon exceed the $2 million mark for total funds raised. 

 Cheers for Belgian Beers!!!

Saturday's event alone raised an excess of $27,000 for the City of San Diego! 

The bicycles on site were just as much of a spectacle as were the attendees, as they came in

all shapes and sizes for the day's celebration.

The minute details throughout made for a spectacular spectacle.

Silly biked themed games were abound to entertain us.

We even had jumbo-sized family board games for a bit of nostalgia, and a healthy bit of competition.

The day's schedule was packed with wondrous amusements.

I was particularly fond of the darling yo-yo couple, a high energy, comedy act called no other than 

the "Yo Yo Show".

 Yo Yo People: World Champion title and Guinness World Record Holders

Of honorable mention, was the Penny Farthing jousting, and the professional paddle gentleman.

Now where to park?

City Bike Coordinator and Event Hero, Tom Landre, traded his vehicle yesterday to join the ranks of those before him.

By electing to go car free in this year's celebration, he was rewarded with a $2,250 budget for the ultimate car-replacement commuter bike.

bikesd.org

And of course he earned the accolades and respect of all car owning folk as he pledged to live car free for the upcoming year. 

Whattaguy!

A special performance by DeVotchKa, a dreamy, gypsy troupe took to the stage to wrap up the day's celebration of bikes and beer.

They performed a rousing, live set of music that told tales of romanticized desert escapades, the kind you find in only dreams, and at quirky bike celebrations.

Good day for a traveling cycling circus, I say!
An even better way to kickoff into a Bike-tober.

You really can have magic everyday on a bike.

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San Diego's Taste of Downtown 2012: A Ringo Schwag-away

Prepare your tastebuds for the excitement that awaits at San Diego's biggest tasting party!

With over 50 participating San Diego restaurants and establishments hailed from the friendly neighborhoods of East Village, the Gaslamp Quarter, the Financial District, and Horton Plaza, you can sample fare from a tried and true favorite, or give the new hotspot a go!

The generous folks over at McFarlane Promotions have been darling enough to throw some schwag this here way, so I've a pair of giveaway tickets to the 20th Annual Taste of Downtown.

That's right ladies and gents, these are absolute freebies!

It will cost you the A-mazing price of nothingness to win this here pair of tickets for you and your usual suspect.

or you can use your winnings to:

make peace with an enemy

impress a colleague

dazzle a date

connect two friends who have never met

have a Valentine's Day in October

thank your mother for putting up with you

take a finicky kid (or grown-up) to try new foods

hob nob with downtowners

The Taste of Downtown event is set to take place this Thursday, October 11, 2012 from 5-9pm!

To see participating event flyer, click here:

Tickets are valued at $30 apiece in advance/$35 at the door and can be purchased here:

Or you can win them for FREE by adhering to the following:

Rules

1).  Follow this blog (by clicking the 'Join this site' icon in the left sidebar of this blog).

Alternatively, you can click on the 'Follow' link on the far left side of the (nearly black) navigation bar located at the very top of this blogsite. 

If you're already following, a hundred-thousand thank yous! Just follow the next step to enter.

2). Leave a comment describing which San Diego restaurant you are longing to check out

That's all folks! 

A couple of muy importante details:

Prizes are limited to those in the San Diego region as they are indeed hard tickets, printed and ready for hand delivery.

Winners will be automatically generated via Randomizer.org

Contest begins now and ends one week from today on October 5, 2012 at 5:00pm

Winners will be notified here on the eve of October 5th.

Get ready to savor the flavors of downtown San Diego! 

Good luck!!!

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A Mozzarella Making, Pizza Baking Valhalla

Our relationship with pizza has always been a grand love affair.

Perhaps then, this is why the September meeting of
Queso Diego saw a rise in attendance. Members gathered at City Farmers Nursery for the piemaking free for all.

It was indeed, a deliciously pizzacentric affair for us curd nerds, and all the fun was had by those in attendance. 

Members took to stretching freshly pulled curds to their limits, and assembling toppling towers of toppings for some much needed pizza therapy.

Master cheesemaker, Virginia Masters, was on hand to demonstrate the proper way to make and stretch mozzarella.

As you can see, she takes her work very seriously.

A sea of heavenly potluck toppings lay before us to include, fresh garden veggies, grilled and cured meats, pestos, and enough sauces to turn any amateur into a fierce pizzaiolo.

Dough was flying, as members took to tossing, stretching and shaping their fair share into appointed pans.

Oh what fun, drizzling olive oil,

and stacking toppings in the most creative of combinations.

One member took the liberty of making a clever, mushroom-shaped, mushroom topped pizza.

I believe this beauty of a pie would have given even Mario and Luigi a run for their money.

Photo Credit: jeffbeaulieu.ca

Meanwhile out on Farmer Bill's lush grounds, there were additional pizza making creation stations.

They were manned by manly men who looked after the dough making, tended to the brick ovens,

...and our *harrumph*, "Franken" Weber,

a brilliantly designed, masterpiece version of a brick oven pizza handcrafted by Jeff using a jimmy-rigged Weber bbq grill and a bit of fine MacGyvering. 

Our little r2d2 of a pizza baking friend yielded gorgeous pizza after gorgeous pizza.

After some trial and error, we learned there's a bit of method to the madness of creating perfect topping:crust:sauce:cheese ratios.

Turns out it varies much based on preference.

This my friends, 

is science hard at work.

Why even an egg yolk found its way to the top of a soon to be fresh oven roasted pie.

Cooked to perfection, the slightly runny egg on top was perfect for crust dipping.

Yet another delicious evening and successful meeting for the Queso Diegans.

Now if Congress would only declare pizza a vegetable.

Ciao for niao

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