Up where we belong

There has recently been some debate in the local paper here in Edmonton about cycling on the sidewalk (or what I call the pavement). Some cyclists prefer to ride on the sidewalk as they see riding on the road as too dangerous. In most cases, from what I can see, these are usually the big boys who look as hard a nails, but evidently that’s all swagger. You see them sitting as far back as they can on the saddles of their customized bikes nonchalantly weaving in and out of the pedestrians along Whyte Avenue. Now Whyte Avenue is probably one of the busiest sidewalks in Edmonton. It’s stupid to cycle along this sidewalk, mainly because, due to the numbers of people walking along it, it would take you ages to actually get anywhere!

I don’t generally have a problem with cycling on the sidewalk – I have to admit to doing it myself at times. However, this is usually when I want to travel the wrong way down a one-way street, or after I’ve crossed a road at the most convenient place to do so and I’m travelling against the flow of traffic. In both instances, we’re talking about riding on the sidewalk for no more than about 50 metres or so - and doing so very slowly. (Although here in Edmonton you see so few people out walking along the residential roads, at any time, that causing injury to someone by riding on the sidewalk is something that I imagine happens very rarely, if ever.)

During the debate as to whether cyclists should be “allowed” to ride on the sidewalk, one of the members of the provincial parliament said something to the effect that cyclists should ride on the sidewalk and that it’s safer for them to do so. Now this I have to disagree with. Rarely is it safer to cycle on the sidewalk than the road. One of the reasons being that the majority of motorists aren’t expecting to see a cyclist on the sidewalk so won’t be looking out for one. This means that if a car is pulling out of an alleyway (of which there are a lot here), there’s a good chance that if you’re cycling along the sidewalk the two of you will collide. For starters, as a cyclist, you will be travelling faster than a pedestrian will be walking. The motorist will be thinking that he can travel at a speed that will enable him to stop in time if he sees someone walking; however, this speed may not enable him to stop in time if you’re approaching on your bike. That’s just one of the dangers for cyclists riding on the sidewalk.

Cyclists are safest when they’re predictable and we are most predictable when we’re riding on the road: this is, after all, where we belong. Which brings me to an important point about this issue: anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a road user should use their vehicle in the manner for which it was intended. If we all take to the sidewalks, then we lose credibility as cyclists – and as road users. I don't know about North America, but in the UK it’s taken years for cycling to be accepted as a credible mode of transport and not just something people do because they can’t afford to drive. If cyclists move from the roads to the sidewalks then we risk going back to the situation where cycling is again viewed as a substitute mode of transport, not a preferred one.

Stick to the roads whenever you can. Ride assertively and predictably. And try not to feel intimidated by motorists. Remember that we have every right to be on the roads. It’s where we belong.

Great digestive biscuit recipe No. 1

This is the easiest dessert in the whole wide world. Just three ingredients and no instructions - the photo shows how it's made. I use a nice thick Greek yogurt, although if you really wanted to go for it, you could use cream. The biscuits are digestives (McVitie's to be precise), because they’re not too sweet and are relatively sturdy.

As soon as you bite into this it will fall apart – so a plate’s fairly useful. Don’t bother with any cutlery though; fingers are all you need.

Bean and gone

I have a great recipe for broad (fava) beans (or rather Rose Elliot does), which is why I decided to grow them this summer. When buying seeds I’m always tempted by the packets with those little veggie cartoons on the front: if kids can grow them, surely I can! I had moderate success with the broad beans. The beans I picked were of a decent size, color, and shape, and tasted good; however, some pods were soft and misshapen and their beans weren’t good. I’m not too sure if the beans were blighted by a disease or if I just didn’t give them enough room in which to grow (I have a modest sized veg patch in my back garden). I also think they may have suffered from a lack of water when I was away for a week or so.

Anyway, they take a good photo!

Rose Elliot's Penne with Minto Pesto, Peans, and Beans (or a variation thereon):

Boil up a pan of penne. While the pasta is boiling, finely chop some mint leaves, crush a garlic clove and stir these into some olive oil. When the pasta is almost ready, add peas and broad beans. Once the pasta’s cooked, drain it (taking care not to lose any of the small peas during the process!), then stir in the mint pesto and season. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Note: If the broad beans are particularly tough, you may need to boil them first, remove their skins, and then add them to the pasta once it's cooked. Frozen peas and beans work just as well, and if you can’t get broad beans, use lima beans.

Lovely jubbly

Unless I’m in a really good mood, I can usually count on the fingers of one hand - excluding my thumb - what I like about living in Edmonton (although when I lived in the UK I rarely needed more than one hand for the same exercise). One of those things is cooking on the barbecue in the summer. I know that barbecue cooking isn’t exclusive to Alberta, but to me it sort of is as before I moved to Canada I had never used a barbecue. I had eaten food cooked on one, but never used one to cook on myself.

When our landlord was showing me and my boyfriend round the house we’re now in, she pointed to the contraption tucked away at the back of the shed and said that we could use it (the barbie) if we wanted to. Seeing as my boyfriend is vegetarian we didn’t think we would ever bother to roll the thing out of the shed, but this being my third summer in Alberta, I find I’m using the barbecue more and more.

Yesterday evening I thought I would try cooking chips on it using Jamie Oliver’s “recipe” from his Jamie at Home cookbook. It’s not so much a recipe more a suggestion (but then I suppose all recipes are): slice potatoes in half inch rounds, par boil for five minutes, drain the water, throw in some olive oil and herbs, shake around, and then place the potatoes on the barbecue. I had only one of the herbs Jamie suggested using, which was rosemary, and I think that most of this got washed away with the olive oil at the bottom of the pan as there seemed to be very little green stuff stuck to the potatoes when they went on the barbecue, but nevertheless, these chips were bloomin’ lovely! (As the geezer himself would say.)

What helped with their loveliness was serving them with rhubarb habanero ketchup. I picked this up when I was downtown yesterday in the city’s gourmet supermarket (for gourmet read sells sundried tomatoes). It’s a locally produced ketchup-cum-chutney and very tasty. Habanero peppers are small spicy peppers from Havana (habanero meaning from Havana – La Habana – my clever boyfriend told me). The ketchup is made by Cooks Corner with all natural ingredients. Lovely jubbly!

So that’s two things I like then…