A simple eggplant recipe

Usually eggplants are used in salads but they are delicious fried on the grill. I had some eggplants and I thought I should make some breakfast so I cut them in cubes and threw them in a pan:

After the cubes got brown I added some cheese:

After the cheese melted I added tomato sauce:

You can add some eggs also, but you can serve it like this:

Bon appetit!

Black friday

Tommorrow is shopping day so if you want to buy something from eMAG (like I do) use this link => eMAG.ro

Have a great shopping day!

Cargo bike

I bought my city bike two years ago in Berlin from the flea market. Since then I carried many heavy and big things with it, too bad I didn't take a photo of the bike every time. Here are a few pics with my cargo bike:

A bike on a bike

carrying some isolation

20 meters of isolation on board

Tough times call for tough measures

It's been a long time since I wrote (regularly) here, but my life got in fast forward mode again:)

Lately I had some money shortages so I had to rob the piggy bank. I got this ceramic devil about 4 years ago from my friends and I started collecting only 50 bani coins (worth about 10 euro cent) in it. I had big plans for the money but the devil got full just in time, when I really needed some money. So one night with the help of my gf I robbed the bank:

We ordered the money in stacks of ten to count it:

There were 460 coins in the bank (about 100 euros). I put the money in a bag which got really heavy and went to the bank. Luckily they had a coin counting machine :)

3rd birthday

Happy Birthday dear blog!

3 years passed since I posted the first post. Sometimes I have longer periods without the mood for writing but I know that there will be a time when I'll write more :)

Drinking tea

I was drinking a lot of plain water, at least 2 liters every day. After I got a magazine about tea I started to wonder why am I only drinking plain water when I could take in other useful stuff with it. So I got a simple tea making machine and I ordered some tea from Fares, one of the biggest tea brand in the country.

I bought an Echinacea tea wich is very good for the immune system. I used to take Echinacea pills and they are very good, I got rid of a cold in a few days without staying in bed. I also bought a tea designed for the health of the joints which hurt sometimes from to much use :)

Don't forget to enjoy your tea without sugar!

How to stress stress

Lately I had a very stressful period an stress is killing my inspiration and my mood to write, that's why I've published fewer articles. Now I understand why the writers need a calm environment to write :)

What can you do when you are stressed, angry? The best thing is to remove the cause, but if you can't do that (can't quit work for example, or can't move to another city) you can try these:

- first thing you should do is to try to calm down, try to think logically. And very important, don't do stupid things when your angry, think about the consequences of your action first!

- a good stress killer is swearing

- the next level is hitting something but be careful not to break it or not to hurt yourself

- taking a walk helps you calm down

- do something pleasant to divert your attention like watch a movie or eat or sleep

- try to find out what works for you, for me the best stress relief  is to going for a ride :)

Probably the best stress relief is the physical activity. You don't need to run or to workout even if you walk faster then usual endorphins are released in your body which calm you down. From my experience the more intense the workout the more relaxed I get after it. Going for a ride or playing football for an hour makes me a new man :)

Targu Mures Trophy

The Targu Mures Trophy was my longest and hardest race. I was thinking a lot before the race about which category to choose, the 65 km or the 100 km. I knew that I wasn't in a very good shape but I had a very stressful period and very few time to get out on a bike... These and the fact that the 100 km included the climb to Becheci made me sign up to the longest race. I thought that if I would be very tired I would abandon and race on the short track.
Thanks to the weight training and football I am in a good shape although I don't ride a lot anymore. In the last few year I raced a lot so know I know how to race and how to finish races. I've put a lot of thought in my race tactic and I decided to start slow and maintain a steady pace so I don't get tired.

I was expecting to have some cramps in my legs but I learned how to deal with them (eat a lot of bananas and drink a lot). I was also expecting to have a sore behind but luckily that didn't happen only after the race. Thanks to the weight training my hands didn't get tired like they used to and even my back pain disappears after about a half hour. I didn't expect the pain I had in my neck area in the middle of the race when I got so tired that I couldn't keep my shoulders up :)

The race started one hour later so I was starting to get hungry and I wanted to get fast to the first checkpoint to get something to eat. I started slowly, keeping a constant and pleasant pace to conserve my energy, I was just enjoying the ride. The first climb was in the forest and it was muddy and slippery so I had to get off the bike two times. At the first check point I was amazed by my speed, I had 16,7 km/h average speed. I took a lot of bananas and a cereal bar and a lot of liquids. It was my first race where I had an extra water bottle in my back pocket because it was very hot and I was prepared for a very long race.


I was heaving fun and riding steadily, not pushing to hard and soon I got to the the second checkpoint where I noticed that my average speed dropped only to to 16,6 km/h. After the second stop which was at about 40  kilometers I started to get tired so when stopped at the next checkpoint for water and food my average speed decreased to 15,4 km/h. I was eating a lot of bananas and drinking water and isotonic drinks to avoid cramps. I also had 5 gels and some magnesium candy which I ate before the hard climbs or when I started to get tired.


When I got to the big climb to Becheci I was already tired but conquering the mountain motivated me. It was a very hard and long climb, it took me 1 hour and 12 minutes to climb 9 kilometers. The only thing that motivated me was the thought that if I climb this mountain then the hard part is over and I can finish the race. Talking to the people at the checkpoints I found out that I was last and a girl was in front of me at a few minutes. The climb to Becheci was very hard, I had a lot of cramps and I was walking a lot to get rid of them, I was dreaming of just sitting down or laying on a bed. The other big problem was the sun, there was almost no shade on the climb.


When I got to the top the checkpoint was already gone, I found out from the mountain rescue team that they left about 5 minutes ago, after the girl in from of me left. I got some water and continued with a short downhill.


The path to the next checkpoint was very hilly and I got very tired from not being able to keep a steady pace. When I got to the checkpoint the people motivated me and I was feeling recharged. The big problem was that I still had a long way home and I was fighting with my thought and the cramps. The last 40 kilometers where the hardest, I thought that the race will never end. Two referees with an atv motivated me before they left me alone and went to the finish line. With a few km before the finish some people where congratulating and saying that I'm almost there, that was the best motivation :)

When I got to the finish line everybody was applauding so I instantly forgot all the pain. I didn't defeat anybody (I was last) but I defeated myself. I proved to myself that it's all in my head, you have to race with your head not with your legs :)

Stats:
 - distance: 103.4 km
 - average speed: 13.7 km/h
 - max speed: 48.7 km/h
 - moving time: 7:30:24
 - race time was about 7 hours and 50 minutes

How to remove login popups

I'm sure you saw at least one site where you have to log in to see the content. Today I clicked on a link from Lance Armstrong's twitter account and I got a nasty popup on top of the page.

Here are the steps to get rid of this popup and view the page without loging in (for this tutorial I used Firefox with Firebug, but you can do this in all browsers):

1. open Firebug

2. select the popup div (in this case mobli_dialog)

3. hide the div (display:none)

4. select the overlay div (in this case pop_overlay)

5. hide the overlay

It only takes a few seconds to access the information without logging in or creating an account :)

Euro 2012

Are you watching Euro 2012?

Football

I have a new favorite sport, football. It's a great game and it is a lot of fun when you play with other people who are on the same level, as bad at football as you are :)

I started playing football last year with my colleagues but it didn't last long. This year we were playing almost ever Wednesday. It is a good training also because it involves a lot of running. Sadly I got injured, my left leg hurts when I kick the ball and I didn't play for two weeks, but I am looking forward to the next game.

I got a great present from my girlfriend for my birthday, a special shoe witch prevents me from slipping and my aim got better to:

Kicking the ball reminds me of my childhood, we used to play when I was in school and when we were going out in the weekend to a barbecue.

Driving is FUN

Monday I was racing, but not with a bike. I was racing with a gocart.

Driving is a lot of fun and you need to be in good shape to. The G forces are far greater in a small and powerful car then on a bike. The car was so powerful that in some corners if I pushed the gas pedal too hard I was drifting. I was also drifting when I was breaking hard and I turned the wheel to.

When my 9 minutes where over I was tired (especially my hands) and very happy. I hope I can race again soon :)

Song of the week #22

RoDuathlon

Sunday I participated in the national duathlon championship as a photographer. The race was well organized but it is very sad what is happening here. In a country with more than 20 million inhabitants only 20 athletes were battling for the national champion title :(

I uploaded some picture to FB and Picasa.

Song of the week #21

Flower bike

I saw this bike in front of a flower shop:

I wanted to take another picture with nobody in the picture but I managed to get my finger in the pic. I hope I can make another picture soon. I was looking for the bike today too but it was in the shop, they didn't put it out :(

Update: I saw the bike again and this time I took some better pictures:

Song of the week #20

Dog guarding owner's bike

I would like to have a dog guarding my bike :)

Song of the week #19

Song of the week #18

On vacation :)

Critical Mass

Last Sunday another Critical Mass was organized in town. This was the biggest so far, about 1500 people showed up. It was a nice ride through town and even the black clouds left when it started. The organizers can still improve their skills (more about this in romanian here).

I made a lot of pictures which you can find on Picasa here and on Facebook here. I also posted a video on Yotube with a kid who pedaled 18 kilometers with just a little help from his father:

See you at the next one :)

Song of the week #17

First forest ride in 2012

This Monday I went for a ride in the forest. It was raining a bit lately but I thought that it would be pretty dry in the fores and I missed the forest very much. 

The weather was kind of ok when I left my flat. when I was climbing up in the forest it was getting very hot. The ground was a bit wet and the sun was shining so the humidity was very high. The humid air combined with the pedaling resulted in me feeling very hot. Also I had some chili sauce for lunch so my stomach was hurting to.  (Note to self: never eat spicy foods before a ride.)

After the first climb the ride started to get fun. In some places the wind was blowing so it was cooler and in some places the trail got muddy so my bike was sliding. The forest is very beautiful, spring is finally here :)

I took some picture and uploaded them here. And now I'm off to the Critical Mass.

Stats:

 - time: 1:23:43

- distance: 20.33 km

 - average speed: 1,45 km/h

 - maximum speed: 45,7 km/h

Song of the week #16

Critical Mass

On the 22nd of April (2012) if you are in Targu Mures and if you have a bike you should be at the Critical Mass. It is a great biker celebration and an event to raise awareness about the huge numbers of bikers who represent a big part in the daily traffic.

Last year there where about 1200 participants and this time the organizers are expecting even more people. More information (in Romanian an Hungarian) on the official website here. 

Here are some pics from the last Critical Mass:

Song of the week #15

On vacation

I'm on vacation this week so

no blog

Image from varyfocal.wordpress.com

Song of the week #14

Green is good

I have a toy, a green toy.

Android

I retired my old Windows phone and I got a new Android phone, a Samsung Galaxy Xcover. My first impression about Android is that it's awesome. It is a very cool operating system and I hope I will have time (and mood) to write a few nice apps :)

Bikes in Berlin

There are a lot of bikes everywhere in Berlin

You can see a lot of bikes used for commercial purpose

Cool bikes to rent

in action

You can read about the solar powered bike rentals here.

Song of the week #13

First road bike road ride

Last Sunday I went out with my road bike for the first time this year. It was very warm, spring is just around the corner :) 

 It was a fun 40 kilometer ride with five other bikers. The wind was strong in some places but that didn't ruin the fun. After 20 kilometers I turned back and rode a time trial to home. 

Last year I bought a CST tire to ruin on the trainer and I have that on the bike. I don't know how good is the tire because I didn't ride on the edge, I'm still getting used to the insane speed of the road bike :)

new CST tire

Spring is almost here

Stats:

 - time: 1:34:23

 - distance: 40,93 km

 - average speed: 26 km/h

 - maximum speed 56 km/h

Song of the week #12

First road ride in 2012

The first road ride this year was a very cool ride. The weather was warm, the hills were covered by snow and the  road was dry. The only thing I didn't like was the nasty wind. It was nice to get back in the saddle after a short absence :) 

I climbed a small hill near the road to take a few pictures:

The map of the ride is here, we went to a village named Laureni and back.

Stats:
 - distance: 32,11 km
 - average speed: 20,4 km/h
 - maximum speed: 45 km/h
 - time: 1:34:01

A walk in Berlin 2

Like I said before I was in Berlin for a few weeks. On a windy Saturday I went shopping to the Designer Outlet Berlin, I like to shop in outlets because everything is cheaper. After a few hours of shopping I got on a train to the Berlin Central Station. This station is huge, has more levels and a lot of trains pass there every day. I took a few pictures of the station from outside:

Berlin Central Station

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

From the exit of the central station you can see the Reichstag building:

Reichstag building

It was a short walk to the parliament which is one of the symbols of Berlin and a must see for every tourist. The glass dome on top of the building is very impressive to. A few pics of the parliament:

Reichstag building

The parliament

the entrance of the parliament

After taking a few photos I headed to the Brandenburg Gate (which is very close):

Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburger Tor

This gate is a huge tourist attraction, I even saw Darth Vader there:

Darth Vader

Darth Vader at the Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate / Brandenburger Tor

More pictures from here.