Provincial Champions!

I've done a ton of bike racing in my lifetime and now that I'm "old and fat", I consider it my duty to help young riders experience the same thrill as I have. With the construction of the Pam Am velodrome in Milton, riders from Ontario are suddenly uniquely poised to stomp all over the international cycling world. Mark my words, Canada is about to take the sport by storm!

Anyhow, in doing my small part to advance the sport, I climbed into the car at 8 this morning and drove out to Ancaster. However, I didn't make it even to the lights at King before I saw this scene in front of Quatrefoil:

Smash! (that's me in the grey car)

It would seem that the big old tree out in front of the restaurant didn't make it through last night's storm. Nor did the Mercedes. Bummer. I'm awaiting confirmation that everyone escaped unharmed but word on the street says that everyone is OK.

With that gruesome scene behind me, I made my way out to the Firestone Arena in Ancaster. As I mentioned on Thursday, this was a fairly big deal - Provincial Championships!

Here's where I spent the entire day (minus some scrutineering):

Finish Line

Being the Judge isn't the most glamorous job but come the end of the race and you're a rock star. Check out these other pics I was able to snap when I wasn't swamped at the finish line.

Parents and families crowding the finish

HPS Paid Duty doing a great job

U11s so cute... I mean fierce!

Giant crowd for the finish of the U17M race!

Across the board, the racing was top notch and I'm quite pleased to report that local talent Amy Bell is your new Provincial Champion! (As a race official, I'm not allowed to take sides but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't paying special attention to rider #125...).

We rounded out the day at home with a proper BBQ and as I was doing the dishes, I made some time to cure a side of salmon.

While this isn't technically cooking, I think this is still a recipe worth sharing: Cured Salmon (adapted from Micheal Ruhlman).

Buy me on sale!

Step 1: Buy a nice piece of salmon. We got ours from Fortinos on sale but  it's in season so it shouldn't be too tough.

Step 2: *per 1/2 kg*, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup Kosher salt in a bowl and mix.

Step 3: In a properly sized glass pan, spread half the mix. Set the salmon skin-side-down. Sprinkle with Pernod (vodka will do in a pinch) and a few fennel seeds and a good grind of white pepper.

Step 4: Cover with remainder of curing mixture and pop in the fridge under Saran wrap.

Step 5: Let it sit. Give it a couple of days.

Salmon. curing

Step 6: When you think it's about ready, rinse it, pat it dry and slice it extremely thinly and serve it on almost anything. Seriously, it's great on everything!

Tomorrow, we're going to tackle my Ancaster Fair spaghetti sauce so stay tuned. Spoiler: my cremini mushrooms are already smoked.