Sunday, April 27, 2008

Strength -- What is it good for?

What's the purpose of training to get really strong? That was a question posed to me recently by several of my friends.

In my local circle of friends, no one lifts weights. At least not with a program or plan. ...or any real weight to speak of. My friends typically run, cycle, swim, yoga, walk, and "go to the gym." Those who "go to the gym," tend toward ellipticals, treadmills, step machines, and the cycles. In this group, we've got a couple of marathon runners and a triathlete. A few are in decent shape.

I don't think any of my friends thinks it's strange that I lift weights. But, recently, they've become aware of my shoulder pain and have seen my hands with torn calluses. These things shine more of a light on my activities in the gym and bring up some questions.

The shoulder thing is easier to dismiss, since even sedentary people can get shoulder pain. Plus, golf, tennis, and inline skating are all good ways to end up with pain in the shoulders; it's unlikely that they'd question why I was doing those activities.

Bandaged hands are harder to explain away. "Why don't you wear gloves?" is the first thing I hear. Well, my first ripped callus was while wearing gloves, anyway. Repeated heavy dumbbell snatches ripped the callus right off, right underneath the glove. That was actually what made me finally decide to try gloveless for a while. If the gloves weren't keeping my hands blood free, why bother?

Outside of the weighlifting community, no one buys the idea that you can lift heavier weights without gloves. I'm not sure I buy it 100%, either. But, I have used that response, nevertheless. I get rolled eyes and things like that.

That answer, though, sometimes leads to the question of why I'd want to keep lifting heavier and heavier weights, anyway. A weight like 400lbs is an amount that means nothing to most of these people. They don't know how much they can lift, themselves, so that's a fantasy number, at best. To some, that is an awful lot. But, isn't that more than enough? Not if I want to keep getting stronger and/or compete in something.

That's my second response to the lack of gloves, actually -- If I ever want to compete in something, I have to be able to lift without gloves. That brought up a while different line of questioning that actually more interesting...

After they get over the surprise that I'd even want to compete in something like that (Why don't they question my friend Jeff about running his marathon?), the tend to ask roughly the same things, so I'll paraphrase, once again. "What good is it to be that strong?" and "What's the attraction to being that strong?" are the two basic questions.

Let me say that no one questions the impressiveness of being strong. Most just think it's useless. "What do you do with that strength in real life?" Nothing, hopefully. Other than being a furniture mover, what's the real life usefulness of great strength these days? I can't think of too much in the modern day. Of course, I can't think of a lot of uses for running a marathon's distance or being able to finish a triathlon, either.

There seems to be a ranking system as far as fitness, training, and sports activities and athletes go. The more perceived skill involved, the higher the ranking. The more agility and "talent" involved, the higher the ranking, too. Gymnastics and figure skating are up near the top, while Powerlifting, Strongman, and Sumo rank pretty low. Olympic lifting seems to get a pass, somehow.

Talk about useless skills! I have pushed a stranger's pickup out of the street and moved my whole condo worth of furniture, both without help, but I can't think of a time when being able to snatch something overhead would have saved the day, much less have I seen the need for some of those crazy gymnastics or skating moves.

So, what is the usefulness of all that great strength? Despite the fact that it's all physical, I think it comes down to a mental and emotional thing. Building and using great strength is something now useless in modern society and civilization, but some of us were bred for it. There are no blacksmiths anymore. And farmers are using machines for the heaviest lifting. Warriors can be any size and strength, as long as you have eyes to aim and a finger to pull the trigger.

The strength sports are a necessary outlet for those people who might have once been looked to to hold the enemy back on the battlefield, help with the big barn raising, the tree felling, and the removal of a unfortunately located bolder in the middle of farmer Jones's field.

Also, in the olden days, most men had something physical that they had to do around the house. But, modern society has eliminated the need to sweat. Speaking for myself, I have someone to mow my lawn and remove my trees, my roof was fixed by someone else, and we all know how easy it is to just get in the car and drive, rather than hoof it to the store. Does not doing these things leave a whole in your life?

I've never been very athletic, so it's been a new experience to use my body for something purely physical. Lifting heavy weights and doing hard work has become satisfying. I helped my friend move her house the other day, for instance. I used to hate moving days, but not so much, anymore. Moving my friend's bed and dresser didn't exactly feel primal, but that's the closest I'm probably going to come to that "hero" feeling, lacking some sort of natural disaster or cataclysm in my lifetime.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Indigenous American Osso Bucco, Part Two

A couple of days ago, I started the Indigenous American Osso Bucco. No, it wasn't in the slow cooker all this time. It did get the marathon treatment, though. 14 hours on the #2 (of 5) setting.

I had such a long day, then got invited to our Controller's going away party, which got me home (after hitting the gym) at 10pm or so. Too late for osso bucco.

I decided on some simple zucchini for the vegetable, but chayote would also have been good. I don't buy them very often because they are $1.50 each, and I can eat 4 or 5 of them. What a scam... Summer squash is like $1.50 per pound, and these are that much per. Anyhow, enough of me being cheap.

Here's a reminder...

Indigenous American Osso Bucco

1 lb beef shanks (two small ones)
3 small carrots, whole
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced into rings
1 cup water
1 cup chicken stock or broth
10 juniper berries
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 bay leaves


Zucchini

2 medium zucchini
1 tsp olive oil
salt

I quartered the zucchini lengthwise, then sliced each quarter in half, lengthwise, again. Then, I cut each spear into three segments. Bitesized.

In a saucepan, over medium high heat, I sauteed the squash in the olive oil.

Meanwhile, I reheated half the beef shanks and half the liquid (and a couple of carrots, of course) in a covered bowl. I just nuked it for two minutes, then left it covered for another two or three.

When people say the microwave dries out the meat, it's nonsense. Cooking it too dry in the first place, cooling it without liquid, then overheating it is what kills it. Don't do those things.

I wanted the squash a little more done, so when it had browned enough, I added the meat on top, poured the liquid over the squash and covered it all for two or three minutes. Low simmer.

I had to use a big shallow soup bowl for this. It was really, really good!


Pros:

The meat was fall off the bone tender
The cranberries added a really subtle fruitiness to the broth which was different from the normal wine taste. The were a little sour to eat, but they looked good.
The broth was so good that I wish I had more
The zucchini went well
Crockpot/slow cooker convenience
Mmm... marrow


Cons:

Too much "stuff" floating around. The cranberries were fine, as I could choose to each them or not, but the juniper berries and onion pieces were too much to avoid all the surprises. Cheesecloth and quartered onions, next time.
Not enough broth

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Indigenous American Osso Bucco, Part One

I have so many recipes that I start on here, then never come back to finish. It's the perfectionist in me. They are usually pretty good, but rarely stellar. Plus, it takes time to come back and polish up the directions, fine tune the details, etc. Not really worth it for a dish that's merely good, right?

So, I'm trying a new thing here. The creative process at work. I'll put it down on virtual paper, and see what's worth perfecting on down the road.

Indigenous American Osso Bucco

Osso Bucco is the common term for braised shanks of red meat. Veal or beef, usually. Here, I've got beef, but I don't have all that it would normally take for the traditional osso bucco, so I'm winging it.

1 lb beef shanks (two small ones)
3 small carrots, whole
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced into rings
1 cup water
1 cup chicken stock or broth
10 juniper berries
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 bay leaves

In my metal slow cooker, I browned the shanks of beef on one side. After turning, I added the cranberries and onions, and continued to brown the shanks. Wich about a minute left, I added the garlic, holding the water at the ready.

Just before the garlic browned (and got bitter), I added the water an swirled to stop the cooking process.

I added the rest of the ingredients, settled it all in so that all herbs and spices are mixed, and put the slow cooker on medium for the day.

Notes: You always need a theme, right? I have no red wine or beef stock handy, and I'm not in a vermouth mood. I was flipping through a Native American cookbook the other day, so I've been craving some of those flavors. I have no bison shanks, and I'm not really sure when chickens appeared around here, but I'll pretend it's turkey. Most of the other ingredients would have been readily available to early Americans (I think).

Juniper berries, sage, rosemary, and cranberries are the keys here. I have the whole day to think about how to finish this up. The house already smells good.

I'm hoping for the best...

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Imam Bayalda

Hi. This is not my own recipe, at least not when it started. Galya handed it off to me, quite a while back, and I've been trying new versions every few weeks.

Galya said that it's the closest thing to chili that Bulgaria has. It's not spicy, but you could easily make it so by replacing some or all of the paprika with a hotter powdered chili.

Here's my latest version, which is tomato-less, because I was out. I think I prefer it this way, but I quadrupled the paprika, too.

Imam Bayalda (The Imam Fainted)

2 medium eggplants
1 large onion
2 zucchini
4 large cloves of garlic
1 lb ground or cubed lamb
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
4 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1 tsp turmeric
salt to taste (about a tbsp to start)

Cut the eggplant into small cubes, chop the onion and zucchini, and mince the garlic.

In a large covered pot, metal slow cooker pan, or dutch oven, brown the lamb over medium high heat, draining off the extra fat. Remove from heat and put the cooked meat into a bowl (or the crock of your "crock pot," if you're going to be using it).

In the same pan, brown the eggplant in batches, adding olive oil when necessary. As the eggplant is browned, put the batches in the bowl with the lamb.

When the eggplant is done, using the same pan, cook the onion in the remaining olive oil. When the onion is translucent and starting to brown, add the garlic, cumin, and paprika. Stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds to a minute), being careful not to burn the garlic. When the garlic is done (or even before, if you're concerned), add the water and stir.

Add the remaining spices and stir to combine. Stir in the lamb and eggplant. Bring to a light simmer, cover, and allow the food to cook on a low simmer for at least an hour. I like to use my metal panned slow cooker to brown, then let it cook all day. If you have a "crock pot," and not a slow cooker, brown in a pan, then transfer it all to the crock.

I said to start with a tbsp of salt. I'm sure you'll need more.

Options: Just eat it like chili, or serve with rice or pita bread. You can also stir in a can of chick peas for more of a chili effect. A few spoons full of Greek or normal yogurt tastes good on top.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Pollywogs

I took the boy down to the creek to hunt for tadpoles. We looked and looked and looked, then suddenly, we found a million of them. Embarrassingly, on the way back, we noticed tons that we'd walked right by...

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Trabuco Creek

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Still looking...

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Success!

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WTF? This pic doesn't do the scariness justice. Three inches of creepy.

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It wasn't exactly catching tadpoles, more like scooping. Look how easy it was.

We came home with 40 or more tadpoles. 38 little black ones, and 2 little green ones. If it's like last time, the green ones are frogs and the black ones are toads. Let's see if we're right.

Friday, April 4, 2008

porcupines and weedy pools

I've always wanted to read the Bible. But, like many of the "the classics," it's really boring. On top of boring, it's hard to read. So, I basically just gave up.

I figured a Bible study group would be a good start, but the image isn't appealing to me. The ones I'd seen are soooo serious. I'm sure there's a "market" for something like a Comedy Bible Study, right? Like comedy traffic school? They could also serve snacks.

Fast forward to Starbuck's one Saturday. I'm hanging there and writing some recipes down. I have the Times open to the food section and I'm making some notes on my PC. A nice lady sitting next to me starts chatting me up about cooking. 30 minutes later, we're still chatting about food and she's got friends showing up. Turns out they're meeting for a Bible study and I'm invited. What the hell...

Fast forward even more, and I've got a weekly Bible study going with one of her Brothers. That's the term that they use for the guys.

Quasi-funny little aside -- I'd met with him (the Brother) two or three times, and he'd always say things like "One of my brothers is meetings us here." While he is black, I thought that he didn't seem the type to refer to himself as a "brother." And, the other Brothers were always something of a variety pack; never black. Once I'd met these other Brothers, and they did the same thing, I caught on. I'm not always quick on these things.

Anyhow, while it's not exactly Comedy Bible Study, I do bring the funny with me. I try, anyway. At first, they seemed amazed that I would joke about such things, but now, they joke right back. And, we "study" in Starbuck's, so the snacks are handled, too.

I'm still not sure what I'm learning about the Bible. Nothing really new yet, but it's coming around in new contexts, so I think I could end up with a net gain in the end. A surprise ending?

Last week we got into a discussion about funnies in the Bible. They say there aren't many. The best they could come up with was this: In a later book of The Book, someone is telling us not to do something and wants to refer back to an earlier dude's writing. But, he neither remembers the quote OR who said it. So, he basically says (and I'm paraphrasing a paraphrase of the Bible's paraphrase, in this long string of ironies) "You should not do X because someone a few books back said not to do something like that. Just don't do it." That's like putting yada-yada-yada or blah, blah, blah in the Bible. That is kinda funny.

Every once in a while, we (I) come up with something funny as we read. Usually it's the translation to modern terms or concepts that's the hoot. When was the last time you called Pest Control to take care of an infestation of porcupines? Yet that's the horror that befell Babylon after the crap they pulled. Of course, the city was invaded first, but afterward it was doomed to an infestation of porcupines and weedy pools. Of course no one moved back in...

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The positives of a broken mp3 player

It's been broken for a while and I need a new one. But, I don't listen to it at the gym anymore, so I have no compelling event at the moment. So, I've been dragging CDs to the car for my drives, rather than listen to my lame mixes on the mp3 player.

When you haven't listened to a whole CD from start to finish, it loses some of the context. Not every song has meaning when played before or after another song, but I think the artist arranged them in the order that they thought best; whether to tell a story or illicit a mood or series of moods or thoughts.

Obviously Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, The Who (which I don't care for), and the Beatles (among others) have albums that tell stories from start to finish. A song might stiill stand alone on your mp3 player, but played at random, it doesn't have the same impact that it does when played in the original order. Hell, it even bugs me that there's a minute gap between songs on the player, where there's none of the CD.

So, I've relived some albums in full; concept albums and regular old albums, as well. With the regular albums, I've noticed the nostalgic feelings from when I first listened to that record. Where I was the first time. Who's party. Who gave me the CD.

When you make a mix CD or load up your mp3 player (mine was only 2gbytes), you're forced to pick and choose songs. So, you won't put the songs that aren't favorites on there. You rarely put a whole album on there, unless it's new or filled with masterpieces.

As I've written before, I don't have a lot of new music. I wallow in my old crap. Which I like, still.

"Some people find new music, and some need new music thrust upon them." -- A totally butchered Shakespearian quotation

In listening to some of my old CDs, I've rediscovered some songs that I love. I'll leave you with two.

The first, I have no video to show you. I'll put in the lyrics of Lyle Lovett.

I don't like country much, and I don't know if this really qualifies, anyway. I've always liked Lyle Lovett, and I found the first CD in the country section at the Wherehouse, way back when. His lyrics are funny, smooth, and unforced. He doesn't care about the rhyme, he cares about the rhythm and the meaning. He always makes it work.

Here's my current favorite.

The Record Lady, from I Love Everybody.

Robert Earl is this friend of mine
You know he's always looking after my best interest
He told me Lyle P. you need to get some action
Get your head back in line
You need to get out on your own boy
This hanging around here's got to stop
Get out on your own boy
And take a little trip to the record shop

I said the record shop
But Robert I don't need no records
He just smiled and he said
What you need is a

Record lady
Record lady
She's got the cutest little cartridge
That you've ever seen
She's a phonographic dream

I didn't waste no time about it
I put on my coat and shoes
I packed up my old rocking chair
And I left them hell on Church Street blues
And I went down to the record shop
What else could I do?

She was five-foot-one-and-three-quarters
Lord she claimed she five-foot-two
And she looked at me with her big green eyes
And she said can I help you find something?
I said what you got on special?

Record lady
Record lady
She's got the cutest little cartridge
That you've ever seen
She's a phonographic dream

Acting very sophisticated
I began to browse around
I walked up to the record lady
And I said I sure do like what I have found
It would be so beautiful
Please come away with me
We could run down to Istanbul
Or maybe even gay Paris

And she looked at me with her big green eyes
And she said can I help you find something?
I said what you got on special?

Record lady
Record lady
She's got the cutest little cartridge
That you've ever seen
She's a phonographic dream
A phonographic dream

One day you know I will see
My phonographic fantasy
In sweet fulfillment to the last detail
Down in Acapulco
Or even somewhere else
Just her and me together
The whole day long
Her and me together
Playing them records all night long

She's the record lady
Record lady
Record lady at the record shop
Set it spinning mama
Don't ever stop my
Record lady
Record lady


Here's number two. Anna Begins from the Counting Crows.
She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
I've been there. The part of love that outside of the area of logic and reasoning, I guess.

Adam Duritz seems to have that same lyrical ability that Lyle Lovett and Roger Waters have. You just write what you need. Conventional rules don't apply and they make it work.

After you click the play button, you might want to minimize the window or scroll down farther to read the lyrics. Who makes a video this bad and puts it to good music? Jeez. My apologies...




Anna Begins, from August And Everything After

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
I am not worried I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me, "For one time only,
make an exception." I am not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried I am not overly concerned with the status of my emotions
"Oh," she says, "you're changing."
But we're always changing

It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey,
Something in between,
And I can always change my name
If that's what you mean

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
But I am not really worried I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try to tell yourself
To make yourself forget I am not worried
"If it's love," she said, "then we're going to have to think about the consequences."

She can't stop shaking I can't stop touching her and...
This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering for days," she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing

But I'm not going to break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not going to bend, and I'm not going to break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
It seems like I should say, "As long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should
Snap her up in a butterfly net
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...

The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And every time she sneezes I believe it's love and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
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