Table of Contents
- Snorting a Line?! Fueling the Fire: A 45-Year Odyssey
- Nebaletan Word of the Day – CHIDAD?!
- Pizza Review – Angelo’s Italian Market, Venice, FL
Snorting a Line?! Fueling the Fire: A 45-Year Odyssey
As an endurance athlete, I’ve traversed the winding trails of performance optimization for decades. Buckle up as we explore the evolution of fueling strategies—some brilliant, others downright bananas (pun intended). 🍌
- Hyper-Carbo Loading (Current Era):
- Bring on the pasta! The reigning champion of endurance fueling. Carbs galore! 🍝
- Yeah, baby!
- Intermittent Fasting (The Dieting Detour):
- Great for shedding pounds, but a lousy companion on the racecourse.
- Note to self: Fasting ≠ Winning.
- No Carb, Keto (The Fad Flop):
- Total rubbish! 🗑️
- Endurance performance? More like endurance disappointment.
- Kind Bars (The “Be Kind” Conundrum):
- Buy our bars, make us rich, but your performance? Not so much.
- Kindness doesn’t always fuel greatness.
- Laura Bar vs. Luna Bar (Sibling Rivalry):
- Are Laura and Luna sisters? 🤔
- Plot twist: Cliff might be their estranged cousin.
- Cliff Bars (The Norm-Bars MIA):
- Why no Norm-Bars? Cliff monopolized the market.
- Norms need fuel too, you know. (or beer)
- PowerBars (The Quaker Takeover):
- Former sponsor, now swimming in Quaker oatmeal money.
- A billion-dollar decision.
- The OG: Hyper-Carbo Loading (Before It Was Cool):
- Mmm, love a huge plate of pasta! 🍽️
- Also, history repeats itself.
But wait, what came before all this? “Snorting a Line!” No, not that kind of line!
Ah, the legendary Slater-suraus and his figgy-fueled escapades! 🚴♂️🍪 Let’s dive into this delightful tale of endurance and snackery.
Once upon a time, in the golden era before PowerBars, there existed a cycling tribe. Among them was Slater-suraus, a pocket-stuffing maestro with a penchant for figgy the beauties.
Picture this: The sun-kissed road, the wind in your hair (I had hair then), and the rhythmic hum of spinning wheels. And there, in the midst of it all, Slater-suraus rode, his jersey pockets bulging with promise.
The Fig Newton Package: a treasure trove of figgy goodness, 2, 3, or 4 stacks of 15 Newtons each.
The Ritual: as the miles stretched ahead, we’d all nibble on crackers and PB&J, But Slater-suraus? He had a different plan.
The Newton Grab: mid-pedal, he’d reach into his jersey pocket
Teeth Unleashed: with the grace of a hungry velociraptor, he’d rip open the Newtons’ seal.
The Snorting Vanishing Act:
- Now, here’s the magic: If you blinked, you missed it.
- I’d turn my head to admire the scenery, and poof! The entire stack of 15 vanished.
- ONE SNORT A WHOLE LINE OF NEWTONS POOF! GONE! SNORTED!
My belly aches, I need some CHIDAD?!
Nebaletan Word of the Day – CHIDAD?!
We take heartburn and indigestion seriously in our family because, unfortunately, it runs in our family. My last blog post BRIOSCHI (see here) induced a text from my brother (Uncle Chip) reminding me about CHIDAD!?
CHIDAD – pronounced Chee-Daad
I’ve mentioned before that my mother’s (Grandma Joanne’s) family was from Napoli and used BRIOSCHI, whereas my father’s (Grandpa Tony’s) was from near Avellino and used CHIDAD!? Although geographically close, Napoli and Avellino seem a million miles apart!
We asked our cousin Richard if he remembered Grandma Rocco using the word CHIDAD, but he didn’t recall. So, with some further research, Uncle Chip found this:
Hmm….HEARTBURN must be a thing in Italy too! It also seems that DIGESTIVE remedies are also a “thing” in Italy! Even NY Magazine was in this game with this article – Best Italian Effervescent Digestives: Crastan, Brioschi | The Strategist (nymag.com)
And, like many others, the Italian CITRATO becomes CHIDAD in Nebalatan?!
Pizza Review – Angelo’s Italian Market, Venice, FL
It’s well established here that Angelo’s is MY GO-TO; usually at least once per week for coffee and a cornetto or sfogliatell during a bike ride and oftentimes for lunch or dinner. Also, my desire to have authentic Italian products in our home is mostly satisfied in their market.
But, typically, we only take-out their pizza, and it’s primarily their Rustica pizza (eggplant, roasted peppers, sausage, onion, mozzarella, basil, & sauce) – 2023 reviewed here and 2022 review here.
Despite that, my review style has changed, and more importantly, my pizza pallet and understanding of technique have improved. So, here we go again!
Before I go on, here’s what’s on the shelf at Angelo’s!
| Date | 3/15/24 |
| Pizzeria | Angelo’s Italian Market and Restaurant |
| City/Neighborhood | East Venice at Pinebrook |
| Website | Market — Angelos Italian Market |
| About Us | About — Angelos Italian Market All “About Us” on sites should be like this. It tells a story, and makes you believe that this is a “long haul” joint, not a fly-by-night! |
| Style | Angelo’s style seems to be a mash-up between – NY – round, thin, and soft but not as thin as Neapolitan – NJ – round, thin, but some crispiness compared to NY – Sicilian – thicker, but typically rectangular If I were pressed, I’d call it NY style. |
| Ambiance | This is where Angelo’s gets me most. Inside, it’s a relatively small eat-in area with a well-stocked Italian Market, Butcher Shop, and Bakery! Inside causes me to deeply reminisce about the “original” Lakeway in Ashtabula which had the same type of space inside albeit much smaller. The vibe inside is very Italian with most of the staff being from Italy who give me a chance to practice my Italian (and Neapolitan!). Angelo’s also reminds me of many small markets in Italy which is likely no coincidence given Emilio’s roots in Sicily and NJ. Others might argue that they try to shoehorn too much into a small space, and it’s cramped. I CALL IT COZY! |
| Beverage Pairing | Coke Zero |
| Rating Criteria | |
| Shape | Round – I ordered two slices, one cheese and the other pepperoni |
| Dough/Crust | Tickness – thin to medium, much ticker than a Neapolitan and slightly ticker than a NY, but by no means tick, not lots of air Cook – Soft, Crispy, Chewy – the crispiness harkens a NJ style, but not nearly as crispy as that Flavor – Char (not burnt), Slightly less char on the cheese slice, Yeasty, Bready. I know that most of their pastries are made in-house, and although their breads are brought in, I’m guessing they make their dough. I enjoyed this bready/yeasty taste, although it seems like it’s “new” dough, and not deeply acidic like longer fermented doughs. |
| Cornicione | Crispy, Chewy, not lots of air, similar taste to dough/crust |
| Toppings | Pepperoni & cheese on one, Just Cheese on the other Fresh – that’s a good question, but not likely! Angelo’s just recently expanded their imported cheese selection. We’ve purchased fresh moozedell and burrata from Campania there. |
| Sauce | Tangy, spicy oregano, pepperoni, very much a tomato-rich taste similar to tomato paste The oregano flavor is much more apparent on the cheese slice (likely because the pepperoni oil hides other subtle tastes an any typical pepperoni slice) |
| Cheese | Cheese Type – Moozedell, no other apparent cheese flavors Cheese Distribution – all over Greasy, stringy, salty – all typical of “normal” moozedell |
| Cheese to Sauce Ratio | Sauce – medium Cheese – medium to a lot Balance – a little too cheese-heavy for me |
| Value | Excellent at $18 for a 16″ Cheese which is about $11 for a 12″ equivalent |
| Overall Rating | Good (but not great), love the dough/crust and the sauce, but there’s simply too much cheese for me to make it great |
| Would I Go Back? | Already have! |
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