Last meal! "Salted cookies"

Decided to end the campaign with a dessert. I've been eating the best cookies I've ever had at Google - choco chip with sea salt. So, I tried to make them. So easy - 20 mins prep, 15 mins in the oven - not quite as good as Google's, but tasty. The bottom kept burning for some reason, but I think that's because I didn't have wax paper and my oven burns pretty hot.

Cookies is just egg, butter, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract, baking soda and chocolate chips.

Bite missing from one of the cookies.

"Memorial Day Guac"

More guac - one with sauteed onions and one without. Sauteed onions is good, but I think not necessary. The raw onion is better.

My last bike ride for the campaign, was the most brutal as well. Rode all the way home from Google Mtn View to home in SF, 40 miles into the wind. Luckily, Scott Crosby and two other experienced bikers led the way, but also kicked my ass the whole way. We left at around 530, got home around 830. There were no hills, but those guys kept a fast pace the entire time. The pic is of me and Scott after having arrived at his place. After that, I ate everything I could get my hands on.

Like a bat outta hell: "Finally, Meatloaf!!!!!!!! (and artichoke)"

I love meatloaf. Who doesn't? It was the one thing I knew I had to make during this campaign. Finally - knocked it out. It's easy.

-1lb of ground sirloin. Mix with onion soup mix, an egg, some milk and whatever else you want.

I put: breadcrumbs, sauteed onions, roasted peppers, minced garlic. Formed it into the shape of a loaf and glazed the top with ketchup, mustard. The recipe had called for a touch of brown sugar in the glaze, but I put a drop of maple syrup instead. Pop it into the oven for an hour and 15. Afterward my mom told me to make some tracks in the top of the meatloaf with a fork to make it look better.

The artichokes were steamed - took a freakin hour. Dip in melted butter with lemon squeezed in. Lemony butter is key.

Sunday breakfast: "Real man's quiche"

Finally, I baked something. I made it into the oven. We're cooking with gas now. Baking is great, cuz you do the prep, then let it bake while you chill out.

This quiche turned out great: store-bought pie crust, 4 eggs, half and half, sauteed onion and mushroom, jarlsberg cheese, avocado and some roasted peppers - my new favorite thing. It couldn't have been easier to make. Threw it in the oven for 50 minutes.

Meal #8: "Lox Bagel: Loxing it down"

Standard but so good. I could barely wait to take the picture before diving in. The key to a lox bagel, or any bagel with cream cheese, is CAPERS which are the bud of a plant native to the mediterranean, pickled and salted, used chiefly in italian cuisine. This lox bagel had onion, tomato, cucumber, organic cream cheese and capers. It was a cinnamon raisin bagel - unorthodox, but tasty, combining the sweet and salty.

I'm behind on these meals, but just going to keep plowing ahead.

Second ride last week: "Bike to Work day"

Hundreds of googlers jammed down to mtn view - 42 miles. Didn't stop except to help a guy who crashed. Beautiful day. Here I am with Scott Crosby - biggest bike geek at google.

Catching up #3 of 4: FAIL! "Bolognese sauce, I mean soup"

Tried to make a great lamb bolongese, with a can of tomatoes, onions, white wine, chicken stock and lamb. Added peas and corn later. I just added too much liquid and it was way to liquidy. Was delicious as a soup though.

Going to ride twice this week. Today was the first - a solo mission starting at 545am in order to make a 9am meeting, hopped on the 556am BART to Millbrae and rode from there. Met some fellow riders 5 miles from work which was great, but was 10 mins late to the meeting. That's a long freakin ride.

Catchup meal #2 of 4: "Pasta a la Shaw"

Mark and Kate have had me over countless times for Kate's amazing cooking. A little payback, very little.

Wheat pasta with store bought bolognese sauce. Next time I'll make the sauce. But it was key to add sauteed onions, peas and corn, adding some sweatness, and then tons of minced garlic and some chili powder. Turned out great in my opinion.

Also a lettuce salad with carrots and tomatoes and my Mustard Vinaigrette: oil, vinegar, dijon mustard, honey mustard, minced garlic, salt, pepper.

I have some catching up to do. 4 meals to be exact, to bring me up to the start of week 5.

Here's catchup meal #1: Fish Tacos

The best thing at the Phoenix, my local Irish pub, are the fish tacos. Here's my stab, with thanks to my culinary advice hotline, Tasha:

Petrale sole breaded (is that the right word) with flour, breadcrumbs and chili powder, cooked in grapeseed oil. Garnish with chopped onion, salsa (not made by me), fresh mango, mozzarella cheese, sour cream, and homemade guac.

Everyone needs to know a good guacamole recipe. Here's Gillis Guac:

4 california avocados, lemon juice,lime juice, garlic, cilantro, onion, serrano chile, minced garlic, salt. Next time, I'll add tomato.

Interestingly, I don't remember ever eating guacamole before coming out west. And, 4 hours after making it, it's all gone. 4 avocados is good for you, right?

Week 2, Meal 2: "Le Mission croissant breakfast sandwich"

Sunday morning breakfast, made my favorite stuff: egg sandwich on croissant with chicken apple sausage, jarlsberg cheese, avocado, tomato and sauteed onion. Side of strawberries. Low fat it wasn't.

Oh man. Marathon bike ride today, all the way from SF to Mountain View with no less than 3 wrong turns that amounted to an additional 10 miles, for a total of around 50 miles. Must learn the Bay way route! Knucklehead. Left SF at 6:45am arrived Google at 11:40am. Can't even go into it but it was again a solo mission - started with a group, ended solo, too embarrassing to say why.

Week 2, meal #1: "General Hoisin's Chicken Stir Fry"

De-lish, though I really poured on the hoisin sauce. Ingredients: Chicken, broccoli, green onions, mushrooms, minced garlic, shallots, yellow peppers, seasoned with the aformentioned hoisin sauce, sriracha, salt pepper, ground ginger, and hoisin sauce. Mixed with jasmin rice and peas. Never can have enough hoisin. I added olives to the sautee as well, as an experiment, and they weren't horrible, but that was the one thing I could have left out.

Hoisin Gillis. Like the sound of that.

And, the image below photoshopped by popular demand. My legs were too muscular or something.

First 30 mile bike-to-work day down, Millbrae BART to work. Six more to go. It was tiring - solo mission with a heavy backpack and I got lost twice. But the weather was beautiful and the rest of the day is sailing. Next time with a group will be great. This is my "pyrrhic victory" face upon arrival after 2:20 on the bike.

Week 1, meal 1: "Ye ol' Blu Cheese Burger."

Lettuce, beefsteak tomato, avocado, sauteed onions and mushrooms. I packed minced garlic and blue cheese in the middle of the patty before cooking, like a little flavor packet of french vampire hatred. This burger was delish. I'm already such a good chef, I had to make two burgers, one for me and one for my ego.