Smushed cupcakes, among other things

A fair amount of biking (by which I mean like 9 miles, which really isn't that much at all, but given that the high was 31 with a wind chill of a lot, I think I earn extra brownie points) today...biked back from Bethesda this morning in the freezing cold, biked to Friendship Heights in the freezing cold and in the middle of a snow squall, and took the bus home in the freezing cold because I had to carry a box of delicate cupcakes.  Not because it was cold, believe it or not, but because I found out last week that this is what happens when you try and carry cupcakes home on your bike rack:

 

You will be glad to know that, this evening, all 6 cupcakes made it through my front door in one piece, primarily because they were frozen.  After getting through the door, they lasted about 30 seconds before my roommate and I got to them.

I discovered a lovely little route to Friendship Heights that doesn't primarily involve Wisconsin Avenue.  After New Mexico Avenue (which is a hateful hill), you just cut through AU's campus, go down Massachusetts, cut through 45th over to 44th, past Garrison Street, then cut up the curb of Harrison Street (rhyming streets?  Come on, DC...) then straight up to....um....maybe it's Western Avenue.  I'm not sure.  Either way, the first day I tried it, I tried to make a left onto Wisconsin Avenue from the left turn lane, it was a disaster, and I narrowly avoided a bus.  So.  Yeah.  Using the crosswalks during rush hour from now on.

Speaking of which, I had a major I-am-an-asshole moment today.  After biking up New Mexico, I was kind of overheated (a down jacket and a new biking coat in 25 degrees may be too much, methinks) and out of it, so I tried to cross when I definitely didn't have the light and I definitely made a little white car slam on its brakes so it didn't hit me.  If you're out there, driver of the little white car, I am really x a bjillion sorry.  That was stupid of me and I know that maneuvers like that make all cyclists look bad.  Also, doing anything that dumb near Ward Circle is a really bad idea. I might end up looking as bad as those cupcakes....

Usually I am not that klutzy on a bike, but I can get a little disoriented when I'm in new situations and panic unnecessarily, which causes me to do silly things.  One of my new year's resolutions is to (pardon my French) chill the fuck out in many arenas of my life, and being in traffic is one of those arenas.  It doesn't really help that I just got a job at a place that deals primarily in sugary baked goods and caffeinated beverages....my lunch this afternoon consisted of a cupcake and a latte.

Still going to blog about the bangers and mash, in case you were holding your breath. I might change that to bangers and risotto, though that has less of a ring to it...  I also need to blog about the joys of polenta, because it's actually my new favorite thing.  I came home tonight and ate some more of an existing loaf, but it didn't last long enough for me to photograph it.

Stay warm!