Recipes

I wrote a post yesterday, or at least most of a post.  However it failed to be finished, so it did not get posted.  Oh well.

Living in the past, a recap of last nights dinner:

Chicken.  Monday consisted of an all day crockpot affair.  We have too crocks for just these occasions, or just because single people tend to accumulate kitchenware for themselves and when they combine with other single people, you wind up with more pairs than just single people.

Anyway, made yogurt in the ancient four quart, which is probably my favorite and most hated kitchen tool next to my whisk since it is damnably difficult to clean. My love for yogurt is beginning to wane again, but it is so good for the body.  I am going to continue experimenting with culturing edible (beneficial) bacteria in my kitchen, because it is fun and I love it when the things I want to grow, grow... unlike the centipede in my seedling box.  Perhaps he will drown in the nutrient wash I putt my dirt tray above.  That would be great.

In the other crock, I potted a lovely chicken.  I feel that I am repeating myself.  Did I make a post Monday before I managed to break the lap top?  Oh well, my chicken and chicken stock recipe will follow.  Like all of my recipes, it is nothing special and can be adjusted in any measure that you want.

Today, I actually have quite a few recipes.  Because I got busy in my kitchen yesterday!  I managed to keep the mess minimal, so it is about as messy as it has always been since moving to the new apartment.  Meaning coffee stained with the remnants of sweet potato shreds everywhere!  (They just keep popping up! I can whip it away into the garbage disposal, but there is always more!)

Crockpotted Chicken and Stock

• 1 whole chicken: dead, plucked, with legs, comb, beak, gibblets, gizzards, entrails, various sphincters, etc. removed.  One that will fit in your crockpot easily with the lid on it is a good idea. This can be done with chicken legs, thighs, breasts, etc. but it must have bones.  You can get a stock without the bones, but it is soooo much better if you have the carcass and connective tissues in the simmering miasma of awesomeness.
• 5 cups of water, or enough to cover your chicken.  I left the very top inch and a half of my chicken bare, it was frozen solid and I did not wish to spend time for thaw nor did I want to dilute my broth too much, but it should probably be covered totally and thawed before cooking, use your best judgement.
• 1/2 of secret seasoning blend.  This blend is anything that tickles your fancy and tastes good on chicken.  This chicken had bay leaves, black pepper, cilantro, cumin, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, and lemon juice. My chicken was intended for burritos and scotch bonnet pepper chicken wraps (more on this later) so I went with seasoning that would compliment.  Sage, salt, ginger, soy, basil, etc. would be good too, as there are endless combinations you can make with this particular method.  The seasoning seasons the chicken for sure, but it mostly seasons the broth.  If you want to use the broth in anything in particular, be sure to focus your seasoning blend on the broth rather than your chicken.  My broth is going to be used in pho and a couscous dish, so again, the flavors were aimed to be complimentary to those dishes.

Plug in and turn on your crockpot to the low setting, no I do not know what "low" constitutes as a numbered setting for more fancy crockpots. Set in your chicken into the crock.  Apply your spice blend.  Supply your water.  Cover with the lid.  Let sit until the smells become enticing (about eight hours on low or four on high).  If you have one, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness in the thickest portion of your chicken, such as in the thigh or breast or both. Congratulations, you now have a cooked chicken and delicious broth.

Sweet and Spicy Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce
You may want to don protective breathing gear and eye protection for this recipe.  You've been warned.

• 6 scotch bonnet peppers (aka Habenero) , rough diced or chopped
• 1 medium to large sized sweet bell pepper, rough diced or chopped
• 2 cups white wine vinegar
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt ( I like sea salt)

Rough dice your peppers and garlic in whatever way you deem the best such as with a knife, blender, processor, etc. Toss everything into a sauce pot and bring to a boil (not roiling). Once boiling, turn down to a simmer for 10 - 15 minutes (this is where the fancy chemistry gear comes in handy). Take your chunky sauce and blend it either with an immersion blender, food processor, standard blender, etc. until well incorporated. If you do not want a thick paste or sauce, strain and keep your liquid.  You can keep your pulp for other spicy dishes... like curry maybe?  

If you want a spicier sauce, because this is pretty sweet as well as kicks a nice tingly spice, opt for white distilled vinegar.  If you want it super spicy, instead of rounding out with the bell pepper, use a full 8 - 16 ounces of scotch bonnet peppers and no bell pepper.

Pulled Scotch Bonnet Pepper Chicken

• About 2 cups of pulled chicken. 
• About 1 cup of Pepper Sauce

Pull, with two forks, cooked chicken muscle off of your chicken carcass. Apply sauce to shredded chicken, and store in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours for absorption; 12 hours is best; 24 hours is even better.

Sy's Hot Pepper Relish

You may want to don protective breathing gear and eye protection for this recipe.  Depends on your peppers.

• at least 4 spicy peppers of choice, diced. due to the habenero in the sauce and the decaying jalapeno on my counter, I opted for Mexican red chillies (no idea if these were a special breed that is what they were labeled as at Publix) and jalapeno.
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Welcome to the land of refrigerator pickling (if you haven't been there before)!  Pickles are super easy to make and no one should have to buy them... personal opinion, moving onward!  Place all of your ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil (not roiling). Allow to simmer for several minutes  (no more than 5 if you want firm peppers, no more than 10 if you want to not add more vinegar (you don't want to add more vinegar)). Place in jar and allow to sit refrigerated for a minimum of 24 hours.  Pickles are one of those things that must age a bit before tasty eating.

Accidental Faux Papadum

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup corn meal
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, and another tablespoon for the cooking pan
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup water

The intention was to make supple flat bread/tortillas.  I ended up with something a lot like papadum in both taste and texture, but less cracker.  Odd, but tasty.  But such are the experiements of mixing corn meal and wheat flour.  For those who are gluten intolerant, Papadum is traditionally made with gluten free flour and makes an excellent tasting cracker or chip, so in case you are missing crackers, give this a try with your rice or chickpea flour.  

Anyway: combine all of the ingredients and form into a smooth ball.  If the ball is cracked or not forming properly, add water a tablespoon at a time.  You just want smooth, not too sticky.  If it gets sticky, add flour a teaspoon at a time.  Now you want to pinch off and roll smaller balls about 1 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter from your big ball.  Anywhere between 9 - 12 balls can be formed with this recipe.  Roll these suckers as flat as you can possibly get them on a flat surface dusted with corn meal (so it won't stick).  If you have a tortilla press, this would be a fantastic time for its use. Heat a skillet (cast iron if you got it) until it is almost as hot as the blazing fires of hell with a scant amount of oil to discourage sticking.  Fry your flat bread about 1 - 2 minutes per side.  Bubbles and brown spots are an awesome sign. If all goes well, you should have a fantastic crispy flat bread.

Kale Chips

• The remnants of your bag of kale fast turning into green sludge in the back of your fridge
• 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil of repute, or your favorite. You're going for taste here, not simple cookability. 
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• the juice of half a lime

Welcome to my favorite type of kale chip/kale salad.  Preheat your oven to 475*F.  In a bowl, mix your ingredients.  This is best done by hand, so that you can massage the seasoning into your kale, but there are other means to do this, probably. Scatter kale onto a sheet pan (covered in foil or parchment paper for easy clean up) in a single even layer.  Place in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes (cook time varies by electronic/gas efficiency).  Stir kale around, trying to crisp the underside of the kale.  Return to the oven for anywhere between 5 - 15 minutes.  Once finally crisp all over, eat like any salty, crispy thing that you have loved forever, only greener now.

So ends the glorious meal I attempted to eat this like a taco, then as taco salad like the SO. This makes fantastic leftovers, however it is a long and involved process unfortunately. I am trying to plan out how to stream line this so that the tastiness works alongside efficiency.  

Happy Cooking :)

Great news, everyone!

Great news, everyone!

Not really, I just felt like life needed a little Prof. Farnsworth today.

I'm not sure if other people find it as stressful as I do to not have a job, but I'm finding a bit vexing.  Particularly because I have no hireable skills, or so it seems.  I'm not sure what it is.  I suppose it is my lack of liking people (in general) and plugging in the correct responses to automated systems.  Or it could just be that everyone is looking for work and that there are only so many jobs.  Or it could be something I have not thought of yet.

Hire me!  I need to make some kind of monetary income to pay for rent, pay back loans... pay for my cats to live here... I don't know if the last one is a legitimate case for most employers.

Anyway, 2500 yds today.  Swims are so much better when you can mix in some IM and they are not all drill or freestyle.  With IM, I fly through the pool happily, except when swimming the breast stroke and backstroke components.  But then again, I have cause to sprint because I hate those with the fiery passion of a thousand, blazing white hot suns.

I need to find out something for lunch so I will post more (maybe) after the truly wonderful discovery has been made.

Hellz Yeah!

Day two of swimming over a mile!  And today, did the Master's Sprint workout from yesterday!  

100 Free easy

50 Free kick easy

100 Free easy

50 Free kick moderate

100 Free moderate

4*150 Free sprint on 00:00:20

3*150 Free sprint on 00:00:20

2*150 Free sprint on 00:00:20

100 Free drill, closed fist/swim/closed fist/swim

200 Free swim easy

2050... however now that I look at it, it seems a little low.  Said 2550 on the board, maybe the drill was a 400 in disguise?  But that still leaves a 100 unaccounted for... oh well, maybe I read it wrong.

Moving on!  Hummus! So Sabor hummus has less processed crap in it than the Publix brand.  Unfortunately it is a $1.00 more (mark up). So it was a definite quality over price choice today.  I did pick up whole chickpeas to make my own hummus next week.  The only reason for hummus?  Craving, satisfied with prepared stuff. I go the spicy blend because it heralded less sodium than the absolutely delicious roasted red pepper kind.  Should have gone with the extra sodium.  The spicy blend is ok, but it is heavy on the cumin and I just wasn't feeling cumin, (a part of there "spices"). 

Speaking of foods, when will they stop putting colorings into the food?  Are consumers so absorbed by the need to look at artificial colors?  I thought about this the other day when I had a slice of key lime pie from a local restaurant.  My first thought was: "it's not green."  Because every key lime pie I have eaten previously have been colored, needlessly, green.  This not-green key lime pie is the best key lime pie I have eaten, and I eat a lot of key lime pie (well not a lot, but you know what I'm getting at, right?). 

Preservatives, colors, dyes, etc. it's so hard to find food without these things!  You know what else is hard?  Finding fruit and veggies from the United States!  Even the organic section, limited as it is, lacks local fruit.  The farm stands lack local fruit here!  It is infuriating.

But small triumph of the day was finding a whole normal looking chicken!  Not a mutant super-size-breasted chicken, but a regular chicken.  The package claims to be hormone free, anti-biotic free, and vegetarian diet fed.  I'm not sure about you, but a vegetarian chicken seems unnatural.  Poultry fowl should eat bugs, especially if they are free range, and bugs, the last time I checked, were not vegetarian.  But I could be confusing vegan with vegetarian.  At least I know my chicken was not fed other chicken before it was "humanely" killed.  Got some ground turkey too, and discovered, that 100% lean turkey, looks really unhealthy.  The meat was almost beige in color while the 94% lean was a reddish color.  Now I know that lots of manufacturers color their meat red to look appealing to customers since any introduced air causes the meat to oxidize and turn brown, yada yada yada. But still, the 100% lean was almost white! That don't look right.

Moving on from everyday frustrations, I should probably get my walk in for the day.  Happy Thursday! Cheer up, tomorrow is Friday :D

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble

Huzzah! 1950 today!

Thanks to pushing through at least a quarter of the Master's Training workout this morning.  Their endurance board is crazy!  But I like that.  1900 out of 3400 isn't too incredibly shabby? Right?  In 45 minutes too.

Anyway, yoga today made the ankle feel superiorly awesome, so I will continue with that in the mornings after waking up.  Which means, a 4:00 am wake up call in order to get through yoga and strength training before hitting the pool for Masters. Ugh...

You know it is almost Daylight Savings Time when the sun is starting to tint the sky at 5:30 am and you panic thinking your alarm did not go off.  While I hate Daylight Savings Time, I have no problem rising with the sun.  Then again, I am really lazy and like to try and fall back to sleep only to be jerked roughly awake by that horrible screeching sound...

Strength training.  What am I going to do with this.  Full body circuits feel the best for me, or at least better than trying to work groups every day.  I can go back to that every other day.

Enough babbling here, I don't have anything more to really write about.  Didn't have much to write about in the first place.  So on with novel words and other things :)

Happy fitness, writing, baking, etc. days!

1650 By the End of the Week

I will make that swimmer's mile by Saturday!  It won't kill me, but I might feel like death warmed over.  Today, I attempted the 3K Master's Training.  I made it through the warm up, the drills, and started on the main set, but was not feeling it through to the end, and stopped after the first 400 yds. but did follow up with a 50 yd cool down. So 1350 again, it only took 30 minutes again.  I suppose this is decent.  However, I really want to get up to 1650 yds in 30 minutes like I was starting to get the hang of two weeks ago.

My ultimate goal is a 10K.  As soon as I can do 3k in an hour's time, I think I will start training with the Master's group. I know they take anyone, but I really would like to be able to finish their workouts as well as work on stroke refinement.

Other than my 1650 yd challenge this week, the pool also offers at Swimmer's Mile Club, which is a continuous 1700 yards. I think I will see if I can tack practicing for this onto my workout (like a separate workout), because they take quarterly times.  It would be really fun and help me with my endurance, stamina, and maybe a little speed.

Other things: I fell to the power of the meatball sub last night with a delicious spinach salad from Cousin Vinny's.  I think my uncle and my SO are the only people to make superior meatballs.  Anyway, I found it humorous that I was breaking rules in both vegan circles and paleo circles by eating it.  It made me extremely happy.  The cheese, however wonderful it maybe, actually did not appeal to me last night.  Odd, for me.  Oh well, the veal in my meatballs was delicious. << This is not normal for me.

Anyway, working on a novel writing challenge that some JvS friends started. 350 words a day. Oh yeah.  Today was day 2 and I have 830 words or something and the early beginnings of what might be a fantasy novel, probably geared towards a more young adult crowd since my writing style has yet to evolve from that of a 14 or 15 year old adolescent. (In the case you could not tell the whinging BS dribbled forth across these posts are written by someone in their mid-twenties who still writes the same way as when in middle school.  Yes, I am ashamed).

Time for that walk before the skies open up!

Whinging

I succeeded today!  I ate an entire sweet potato.  It was what I consider to be a normal sized sweet potato, which means when I shredded it and turned it into hash browns it yielded just about a US cup or a little over that volume (8oz. or ~240mL).  But my after swim breakfast bowl had a lot more going on than hashed sweet potato (which shredded by my shredder and cooked maybe a tad too long yielded an almost cheesy consistency  which is awesome). It included a slew of nightshades (tomatoes, green bell peppers, and wonderful mouth feel spicy green jalapeno peppers), a big handful of baby spinach, a little over a tablespoon of chopped onion for flavor, some garlic (maybe a couple of teaspoons), an egg supposedly passed by inspection of the USDA to be organic, cage free, etc. and a little olive oil for the stir frying process. Oh yeah, and topped with that wonderful creation Cock Sauce! Well, most people know it as Srirachi Sauce, but it has a giant cock on the bottle, so why bust an un-cleft palette trying to say "srirachi" let alone try to spell it out?

Anyway, second breakfast aside, the day has started fairly well.  I actually got up at 5am with the intent of joining the Master's swim team training session at the pool, to woefully discover that my flabby form has lost everything it had started to gain in terms of muscle from my terrible eating and lack of exercise last week.  Moving week killed my progress because of my inability to be steadfast in my training routine.  Today, sucked, in terms of exercise.

I skipped Master's today, but I did get to the pool.  Before the pool though, I ran through my sun salutation (which felt good, but I know I will be in pain tomorrow) and began my restrengthening on my legs.  This is where I discovered that that excessive five more pounds from almost two full weeks of bad choices really made my workout suck.  Because my ankles and knees are already in poor shape, I backed off on reps today.  We will see on Thursday if I can do more, but the knees were protesting despite the good form.  Oh and the pool!  New pool, high temps (claiming to be between 84*F - 86*F), I seriously felt like I was swimming through pudding. I don't remember ever feeling so sluggish in the water.  I had a workout from Ruth Kazez'z site, and I started it, but promptly decided that I also needed to start this over. After the first 200 of the 4*200 warm up, I switched to a ladder with the intent to finish it.  Needless to say, my body wanted to revolt today and all I managed was this:

200 Freestyle Warm Up
100 Freestyle Swim
4*50 Freestyle
3*100 Freestyle
2*150 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
50 Freestyle Cool down
1350 total

I suppose for an out of conditioned person, this is not too shabby, however it is 300 shy of a swimmer's mile which is my goal anytime I swim.  I will try again tomorrow to hit my mile at the very least.  If I get in a good walk and do well on my cycling endurance training tonight, perhaps I will not feel so heavy and gross. Ah fast food, I don't even like you most of the time, yet last week you were easy and tantalizing.

Always over the fads.

Yesterday, I discovered that the paleo movement has become almost as crazy restrictive as the vegan movement.  So I have decided to stop toying with my ideas of a paleo diet and stick with my true omnivore but mostly vegetarian deal:  I can eat any non-processed food that I want to eat, but at least 85% is going to be plant based.  While doing this, I am still going to cut back on most grain consumption.  I will personally allow quinoa, brown rice and buckwheat to remain as a variety option, but they won't be staples in my personal diet. Meat will make an occasional appearance if I can find locally raised or wild caught specimens. The same stipulation goes for eggs, honey and goat dairy. This does not mean I will not experiment with vegan options or even paleo options, because I love to experiment.  But you can forget about me giving up nuts or beans. It took me 22 years to develop a taste for nuts and beans, I'll be damned if a little phytic acid will deter me from eating them from time to time. 

Next week starts a whole new diet.

Menu Plans

Menu plans, an excellent idea, however I am very poor at their actual execution, mostly because I am lazy and find excellent ways to distract myself in order to procrastinate.

ANYWAY!

Last week in the old Apartment, Pantry cleansing meal plan:

Monday:
Breakfast : banana, egg salad sandwich
After workout snack: my recovery coffee, almonds, a few chocolate chips
Lunch: Whatever is in the fridge leftovers: mushroom oatmeal "risotto" mixed with a little roasted butternut squash and red pepper soup
Afternoon munchies snack: how does that bag of chocolate chips disappear so fast? (no worries, there is about 1/8 of a cup left of the half bag that I had...)
Dinner: weakened, we went out for hibachi because again, I am lazy and did not want to cook.

Tuesday: (A plan!)
Breakfast: banana, coffee ... should I do the amaranth porridge today or Thursday?
Lunch: More leftovers!  Everything must go!
Dinner: Pizza!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: banana, something with protein...we'll work on that
Lunch: Leftovers?  If not we will make this oat Waldorf salad but use the cuke and apples that are going bad.
Dinner: Couscous salad, there may not be quite enough couscous to get through this, but I'm sure there will be leftovers from something to fill it out.

Thursday:
Breakfast: we are probably out of bananas by now...lets kill that pineapple, and make some bread
Lunch: barley salad I'm thinking of adding some salmon to my portion and a chicken to my SO's portion, but then I think I might do that for all of the salads here.
Dinner: Singapore Mei Fun! I love this stuff, I probably will not love the homemade version as much, but it requires less prep to get rid of my rice noodles than pho or pad Thai.

Friday:
Breakfast: more bread?  will have to find more protein...
Lunch: Polenta!
Dinner: While I'm sure we have plenty of things left to make in the pantry, I have lifeguard class so this will probably be a Jimmy John's night for me.

Saturday: (Moving day)
Breakfast: whatever I can find before guard training.
Lunch: whatever our moving buddies want
Dinner: Thai? Please can we have Thai?

Sunday:
Breakfast: we need to go grocery shopping
Lunch: we really should not have gone grocery shopping hungry
Dinner: I have a bunch of produce, but no desire to cook it.  to SO: "so do you want salad or should we go raid the Chinese buffet?"


Coffee and Recovery Drinks
I love coffee, and coffee does not hate my body, but I only drink maybe 2-4 oz. of espresso every other day.  And my espresso machine?  So much better than Starschmucks.

There are lots of theories on how to best recovery your muscular ability after a workout.  My favorite is the chocolate and cinnamon milk idea. (It gives you an excuse to drink chocolate milk!)  The idea is that the protein and minerals in the milk help provide the building blocks for your muscles and that cinnamon and chocolate provide minerals and additional amino acids that help your muscles accumulate more glucose for faster regeneration. Whether you find any of these cases to be highly dubious or have a grain a truth, doesn't really matter, I personally find that I feel better if I have worked out really hard and have a glass of chocolate milk, whether by endorphins or what not.

I do not consume too much dairy, (unless it be cheese and yogurt in scant encounters), so I substitute dairy milk for any nut milk.  I started out with almond milk, because of its higher protein and calcium level, (and it is what I had at the time), but today I used coconut milk, which is exceptionally tasty, because it is coconut milk.  Now I am thinking that both milks should be combined for their benefits of extra protein, potassium and flavor.

My measurements are rarely stable, but if I want a tall glass these are typically 12 oz. so a double shot of espresso (4 oz.), 4 oz. almond milk, 4 oz. coconut milk, 1 teaspoon chocolate syrup (don't pick the kind with corn syrup if you lave your body), 1 teaspoon cinnamon. And for a shorty, 8 oz., one shot of espresso (2 oz.), 3 oz. almond milk, 3 oz. coconut milk, 1 teaspoon chocolate syrup, 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

It is best to stir the cinnamon into the chocolate syrup so that it will actually dissolve when the hot coffee is pulled rather than clump and give you textured coffee.

I've been told, that water, protein and electrolytes are all you need for muscle recovery and that diuretics like coffee should not be included in muscle recovery drinks. I say, the colon jumpstart and the muscle recovery work perfectly well together, at least it tastes great.

I actually have something to write about!

Hi everybody!

In my perusal of Reddit's Science News, I have discovered this: "Alcohol is a significant contributor to cancer deaths in the US, say researchers".  Awesome!  

The news article is linked to this article from the American Journal of Public Health "Alcohol-Attributable Cancer Deaths And Years of Potential Life Lost In the United States."

The news article, to me seems geared for shock and awe, so I am dubious about its reflection of the study.  However, I am not a subscriber to the American Journal of Public Health so I can only read the study's abstract.

The line from National Monitor that makes me so dubious? "Gallup poll found that Americans average approximately 4.2 drinks per week. However, the World Health Organization reported in March 2012 that adults in Europe average three standard alcoholic drinks per day."  But the article continues to only report about Americans and their cancer rates tied with consumption of alcoholic beverages.  Their linked source to the World Health Organization (WHO) shares some cancer and alcohol related information at least: "Cancer is proportionally higher in southern Europe, as consumption levels were considerably higher two decades ago and cancer often takes a long time to develop."

While I am certain, alcohol has some part to play in declining health, despite is wonderful mind altering properties after a long day of endless bull shit, I want to see a comparison study here.  If the average European slings back three glasses of wine in a day, with a moderately to low mortality rate from alcohol attributable cancer (based on WHO 2004 numbers), what is in American alcohol that apparently ratchets up the death toll?

Why this question?  Well, alcohol in moderation, like anything in moderation also has health benefits.  If our journalists, and Scientists, are going to make a comparison to European drinking vs. American drinking, we should really compare quantity of the average drink, and then the components of that drink before we say that "oh it's the alcohol that causes the cancer for sure!" Does the original article touch on any of these things?  It is hard for me to tell from just an abstract.  But if there comes down a decree to make it harder for me to get alcohol but even easier to purchase a gun, I might have a few words to say about that.

Catch Up... or Catsup?

It's Saturday, and I have not been posting as I should.  A shame really, that this diary be so abused by whim rather than daily practice as it should.  Ah neglect, whatever will I do with my lazy self?

Saturday Musings:

We will begin with my avoidance and procrastination techniques of writing the rough manuscript of my potential graduate prospectus.  It is very important for getting into a biology graduate program, and will remain imperative as a basis for future thesis work.  But I can't get myself into my non-fiction writing mojo!  Unfortunately, I keep finding personal nutrition and cooking strategies much more interesting right now.  Why no become a nutritionist or cook?  Well, I think I would hate it if I pursued it as a career.  So I shall keep it as a slight obsession that has yet to be found as healthy or unhealthy.  I still need to work on my prospectus...

Meanwhile, I have successfully lost 2 lbs.  Goal one achieved!  This has a lot to do with watching what I eat, how many calories I consume, how many calories I burn as well as making sure I can still make delicious food.  I have found, eating out, it is not this weight losers friend.  I have no significant diet plans within the next couple of weeks, however once my pantry, freezer and refrigerator are cleared of the current foods stocked, I am going to work on an adaptable paleo/vegan diet. 

Why a paleo and or vegan diet? Well, there are components of both that I find very appealing for nutrient acquisition   I am looking for locally grown/raised, in season, mostly organic, economical to my means foods.  While I have aspirations to grow and raise my own food, that ain't happenin' any time soon.

This little writing spot may become a bit more of a food diary over the next few weeks, with links to calorie and nutrient counter apps, grocery lists, recipes and meal planning.  So be prepared!

And for something completely different: NaNoWrMo plans failed miserably this year, as I was in the middle of the Atlantic playing with tunas and swordfish, but my aspirations to write are still here.  

2011: Santa Claus, Dragons and Gods, Oh My! made almost 40K words. This set of stories however became so disjointed, I don't believe it had much hope in returning to the over arching plot.

2012: A Star of Cold Light. made just under 7K words, but I only had a week to really devote to it. Since it had a bunch of converging plot lines, it may have suffered the same fate as SCD&GOM.

2013: It's Always Science Fiction. This year's novel, either for NaNoWrMo or CampWriMo, will make it! (Possibly).  I like Sci Fi, to read it, to write it, therefore "It's Always Science Fiction" seemed like a good plot or title for me to work on this year.

I have more story ideas, a good many from when I was in middle school and high school that I think would make interesting tales.  My problem, as is always, procrastination, disinterest, distraction.  We will just have to see how this turns out.

New Years

Happy 2013, everybody!

So it begins: a time of goal setting, a time of resolving to do new or old things, and a constant confusion between the two!

I don't know about you, but my list of resolutions is quite long, and my list of goals journeying throughout 2013 is fairly lengthy as well.  But, we shall not despair!  We have technology to help melt and mold our brain into a pliable mass of organized chaos!

Failing the law of entropy aside, I keep coming back to the point of why I write this blog.  I know that no one will read it, except for maybe Rover over there ;)

So I have a smart phone now, wanting a miniature tablet finally won out over my cheapskateness.  Needless to say, I have gone application crazy.  There really is an app for everything!  Even an app to manage your apps!  While immensely handy, I always wonder if necessary.  Myself, I have three calorie counting apps simply because I love different features in each of them.  FitDay has an excellent micronutrient checker (which is what I am more concerned with than calories honestly), LoseIt! has fun community challenges that seem to turn my crazy diet choices into a game (which makes it fun for me), and MyFitnessPal is what I started with, has an epic food database that can find almost anything. If the Sparkpeople App was free, I would probably play with it too since I use it on my computer.  But there are tons of apps, not just the ones devoted to fitness.  Tons!

Anyway, onward and upward to my personal trove of random musings.