Go by bike day breakfast Wellington

With coworkers in tow the bike blender got an outing at Wellington's annual celebration of bike commuting. I've been to this breakfast a few times over the years and it seems to be getting more popular and the number of freebies ever more excellent. Awesome. I've always found it the event little bit like going to church - a solidarity with the biking congregation, a bit of an uplifting ritual, but a bit humourless and polite as well. So it was great to be there with the blender to inject a bit of bike culture into the morning. There were heaps of people interested in how it all worked and impressed with the fun of it and the results. We gave away heaps of smoothies which many hard case cyclists simply mixed with their coffee or cereal.

For the record we blended up a straight blueberry banana smoothie with honey, yogurt and milk - really nice, a perfect biker's breakfast.

It was also neat to see Frocks on Bikes folk at the event and one frocker blended a smoothie, red heels and all. On leaving I found a Frocks on Bikes calling card in my riding glove with an instruction to pass it on - so that's pasted above as well.

Bike blended margarita

Bike blenders are a bit of a party piece. Someone can roll up, set up the blender and get Margaritas going. To put this to the southern hemisphere test the bike blender was an addition to my cool (weather) evening birthday. The bike and Margarita ingredients, basic instructions and measurement tabs on the pitcher were all set up and guests really, really got into it - even the non-drinkers helped things along. Each Margarita was about a one minute pedal - pretty easy going and just as well. The first photo shows the fill lines for the mix (Cointreau & tequila mix, lime juice and ice).

Blending in

One of the questions I get about the blender is along the lines of "is this a gimic?; are you actually going to use this as a legit appliance?" I'm happy to report that so far the blender has become part of the appliance scene in the Stuart household. So far there have been afternoon smoothies and grinding peanuts for a satay sauce. In summer when outdoor dining and cool foods become more the go, I'm expecting even more every day use. The blender has turned out to be really

One of the great things has been taking friends at the house 'out the back for a blend'. It's just fun and I think most of the neighbours like living next to someone who is a bit eccentric.

The blender is a lot quicker to set up than I thought which is making it realistic to pop out to the shed for a few revs.

On the drawing board for the blender are some shared lunches, street party and birthday party margaritas

This way up

Micah and I had a wonderful afternoon (what is it about the bike blender that brings out the winter sun?) hosting dedicated cyclist Simon Morton of National Radio's this way up show, making an afternoon tea of salsa, hummus and Lassi - all beautiful again. There is a podcast of the blending session at their website.

The show also featured an interview with Tamara Dean who has published a book about the potential of human power including bike power: the human powered home.

Blending up a storm

A great blending day! We gave the bike blender and food processor a good work out on cole slaw, beetroot hummus and salsa. All washed down with a mint lassi. It performed really great and everything tasted and looked fantastic as you can see above.