I was recently challenged to try a vegetable I’d never tried before. My initial thought was "humph"! I’ve eaten a wide variety of veggies in my life — I don’t really need to try anything new.
But the concept — and, of course, the challenge (because I’m a notoriously competitive person) — itched in my brain. So, when I was in the grocery store yesterday, I did not follow my usual path through the produce section, flitting from carrots to celery to bell peppers to tomatoes to onions to garlic to salad, with the occasional glance to mushrooms if I’m feeling feisty.
No, this time I looked at the end of the veggie cooler, checking out the root vegetables, like turnips, and the varieties of broccoli and cauliflower. I am not a huge cauliflower fan (though I am rethinking that thought) and I prefer to buy frozen broccoli for ease of use and storage.
Down there at that end of things hide the leaks — who I get cravings for, sometimes — and other veggies I’d never really “seen” before. Likely, they’ve always been there, but I had never tried them, so I just didn’t see them. For the first time, I picked up broccoli rabe (also called rapini). It had that dark green look of broccoli leaves, interspersed with little green florets.
I decided that this would be my adventure. This, I would try — sautéed with garlic, as so many web recipes suggest. I am, I must admit, a bit excited.
But there’s another thing that has startled me: how huge the variety of foods that are available in the produce section. That fact, and also the startling truth of how set I had become in my ways, drifting always to the same things, especially in such a familiar setting.
I consider myself to be quite adventurous when it comes to food. But it seems I have fallen in a rut when it comes to my regular chore of moving through the grocery store. The variety of produce available is astounding — and I didn’t even see it.
This wealth of variety may be costly in many ways — both the direct cost and the indirect cost of transport, and the collective ignorance about the sources of our foods — but I assume that educating myself must include trying some of these veggies, right?
We are so lucky in terms of opportunities and options — I am so lucky — and I have fallen into the trap of taking it for granted. So, rapini, here I come. Let my eyes be opened, and the adventure begin!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Drifting Ever Further Out Of The Mainstream
I have had a couple of opportunities recently to eat with — or in the vicinity of — a friend who has joined the "raw food" diet or movement or whatever you want to call it.
Not too long ago, I would’ve considered her choice extreme to say the least. Her diet, quite literally, consists only of raw — and preferably organic — fruits and vegetables. No meat, of course, but no cooked beans, no popcorn, no bread, none of the stuff that makes up the vast majority of my diet, even now.
But, I kid you not, I get it, now. A few months ago, I would’ve been mentally scoffing and shaking my head. Now I’m wondering if I could accomplish such a dietary change. The short answer is no — if for no other reason than I’m finally getting really good at baking bread — but the long answer makes me realize how far I’ve come.
The distance traveled — how far I’ve come — is the drift, or maybe the rush, away from "normal". Normal, in so many ways, is just plain wrong.
“Normal” means that people really don’t cook any more. “Cooking” these days means buying a box of mac-n-cheese (low-brow) or Bertolli frozen meals (hi-brow) or seasoned entrée from the meat counter at the grocery store and “cooking” it at home. Cooking from scratch seems so rare I rarely talk cooking to casual acquaintances, because I can’t stand their disbelieving reactions.
The big change that has pushed me to quit buying frozen pizzas and Cheezits is an auto-immune disease. My rheumatologist has stopped short of calling it rheumatoid arthritis, but that’s a good enough description for me. It came on strong late last year, keeping me awake all night long in continuous aching pain. It tore at my desire to exercise, making me weak and depressed.
After the diagnosis — and some drug prescriptions that finally kept the pain at bay — I started reading up on my new life partner: autoimmune disease. My immune system, for no reason yet known to science, was attaching my joints, causing pain, weakness and inflammation. A fair bit of popular literature suggested that these autoimmune diseases — including RA, asthma, lupus, Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, to name a few — were increasing in frequency at a near pandemic level, and that it’s our diet that is the most likely culprit.
Although it's mostly a hypothesis only indirectly supported by existing research, the argument was very compelling to me. Before reading about this, I had thought I was eating a healthy diet, but when viewed in light of these theories, it was actually full of processed meat and processed foods — the source of an over-abundance of fatty acids that might be sending my immune system into over-drive. My daily and weekly intake of essential omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, was far too sparse.
So I changed. There’s nothing like real pain to serve as the stick and the hope of staying pain-free to serve as the carrot (oh so healthy) as the basis for a life changing incentive. In the process, I made the following changes:
As a result, I am down to eating only a couple of servings of meat each week, instead of the two or three a day I used to eat. I eat a lot more fresh veggies than I used to. I cook from scratch a lot more, and I’m spending significantly less money on food than I used to. Shopping is easier, as I am hardly ever tempted to browse the meat department or the snack food aisles. I am much more aware of the sources of the foods I eat, and I stay away from anything where I can’t readily identify all the ingredients.
It seems shockingly different from most people I know. But it also seems to me that those same people — all the "normal" people — are just nuts to eat the way they do, to be so unaware of the sources and content and nutritional values of the foods they eat.
I wish I could get everyone who wants to eat healthier that this is the trick: you really have to find a way to let your concern for your health take precedence over your cravings. Sure, I still have cravings, but instead of craving Cheezits (I used to go through a box a week), I let my hunger push me towards veggies and homemade bean dip with fresh garlic and cilantro, or an occasional bag of low-fat microwave popcorn.
In a nutshell, I believe people really need to start being literally afraid of the vast majority of foods in the grocery store. That reaction you have to seeing kids eat those preservative-laden, packaged snack cakes covered in green or pink icing and coconut? You need to have that same reaction to boxed cereals, processed meats and all that fast food.
For my own part, I hope I can maintain this diet and this attentiveness to what I eat.
Not too long ago, I would’ve considered her choice extreme to say the least. Her diet, quite literally, consists only of raw — and preferably organic — fruits and vegetables. No meat, of course, but no cooked beans, no popcorn, no bread, none of the stuff that makes up the vast majority of my diet, even now.
But, I kid you not, I get it, now. A few months ago, I would’ve been mentally scoffing and shaking my head. Now I’m wondering if I could accomplish such a dietary change. The short answer is no — if for no other reason than I’m finally getting really good at baking bread — but the long answer makes me realize how far I’ve come.
The distance traveled — how far I’ve come — is the drift, or maybe the rush, away from "normal". Normal, in so many ways, is just plain wrong.
“Normal” means that people really don’t cook any more. “Cooking” these days means buying a box of mac-n-cheese (low-brow) or Bertolli frozen meals (hi-brow) or seasoned entrée from the meat counter at the grocery store and “cooking” it at home. Cooking from scratch seems so rare I rarely talk cooking to casual acquaintances, because I can’t stand their disbelieving reactions.
The big change that has pushed me to quit buying frozen pizzas and Cheezits is an auto-immune disease. My rheumatologist has stopped short of calling it rheumatoid arthritis, but that’s a good enough description for me. It came on strong late last year, keeping me awake all night long in continuous aching pain. It tore at my desire to exercise, making me weak and depressed.
After the diagnosis — and some drug prescriptions that finally kept the pain at bay — I started reading up on my new life partner: autoimmune disease. My immune system, for no reason yet known to science, was attaching my joints, causing pain, weakness and inflammation. A fair bit of popular literature suggested that these autoimmune diseases — including RA, asthma, lupus, Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, to name a few — were increasing in frequency at a near pandemic level, and that it’s our diet that is the most likely culprit.
Although it's mostly a hypothesis only indirectly supported by existing research, the argument was very compelling to me. Before reading about this, I had thought I was eating a healthy diet, but when viewed in light of these theories, it was actually full of processed meat and processed foods — the source of an over-abundance of fatty acids that might be sending my immune system into over-drive. My daily and weekly intake of essential omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, was far too sparse.
So I changed. There’s nothing like real pain to serve as the stick and the hope of staying pain-free to serve as the carrot (oh so healthy) as the basis for a life changing incentive. In the process, I made the following changes:
- No more buying processed lunch meats or mass-marketed raw meat.
- No more buying eggs, except for baking.
- No more store-bought breads/pitas/tortillas of any kind. I bake my own.
- Only bake with whole wheat flour.
- I started adding flax seeds to my weekly bread loaves and other foods – a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
- I started buying and eating more fish, and only wild-caught fish.
- I joined the Lawrence Community Mercantile coop grocery, and started shopping there more often.
- I switched to “old fashioned” oatmeal instead of the instant packets for breakfast.
- I cut way back on eating out.
As a result, I am down to eating only a couple of servings of meat each week, instead of the two or three a day I used to eat. I eat a lot more fresh veggies than I used to. I cook from scratch a lot more, and I’m spending significantly less money on food than I used to. Shopping is easier, as I am hardly ever tempted to browse the meat department or the snack food aisles. I am much more aware of the sources of the foods I eat, and I stay away from anything where I can’t readily identify all the ingredients.
It seems shockingly different from most people I know. But it also seems to me that those same people — all the "normal" people — are just nuts to eat the way they do, to be so unaware of the sources and content and nutritional values of the foods they eat.
I wish I could get everyone who wants to eat healthier that this is the trick: you really have to find a way to let your concern for your health take precedence over your cravings. Sure, I still have cravings, but instead of craving Cheezits (I used to go through a box a week), I let my hunger push me towards veggies and homemade bean dip with fresh garlic and cilantro, or an occasional bag of low-fat microwave popcorn.
In a nutshell, I believe people really need to start being literally afraid of the vast majority of foods in the grocery store. That reaction you have to seeing kids eat those preservative-laden, packaged snack cakes covered in green or pink icing and coconut? You need to have that same reaction to boxed cereals, processed meats and all that fast food.
For my own part, I hope I can maintain this diet and this attentiveness to what I eat.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Being Single on Valentine's Day
A Valentine’s Day that falls on a Saturday seems to rattle the cage of conventional wisdom even worse than one that falls on a weekday. The potential of having a weekend dalliance seems to excite the thoughts of the besotted, the bold, and the love-happy.
Being single, I do my best to ignore all the hubbub. I know there is no cause for concern, no need to reflect on my failings as person when measured by the fact that I’m single. My life is in no way flawed. I need not feel any shame at my status.
Nonetheless, I am distracted. So, as a panacea to this ailment, I offer up a list of reasons I’m very glad that I’m single.
Feel free to reflect for yourself what is good about your own relationship status – whether single, entangled, entranced or embarrassed – That’s what I think Valentine’s Day should really be about.
I wish everyone an enjoyable Valentine’s Day, and I hope you all find in it meaning that suits you and brings you joy and appreciation for what you have.
(Originally posted to my Facebook account on 13 February 2009.)
Being single, I do my best to ignore all the hubbub. I know there is no cause for concern, no need to reflect on my failings as person when measured by the fact that I’m single. My life is in no way flawed. I need not feel any shame at my status.
Nonetheless, I am distracted. So, as a panacea to this ailment, I offer up a list of reasons I’m very glad that I’m single.
Feel free to reflect for yourself what is good about your own relationship status – whether single, entangled, entranced or embarrassed – That’s what I think Valentine’s Day should really be about.
- I love the fact that when I open my refrigerator or cupboards, there is nothing unexpectedly dangerous (a box of Cheezits, for example, or a nice new chunk of fresh brie) and nothing missing (the leftover pizza slice I hoarded from last night’s dinner out or enough flour, eggs and butter to bake a batch of cookies).
- I treasure the fact that I can leave a project, uncompleted, in the middle of the dining room table for as long as I like. No one is inconvenienced by my mess, and I don’t have to recreate my workspace each and every time – it’s ready for me when the inspiration hits.
- No one can ever infect my computer with a virus (but me).
- There is exactly as much dirt in my house as I am willing to stand. There are exactly as many dirty dishes as I am willing to clean. There is precisely the correct number of dirty clothing items in my laundry as I am willing to fold, when I’m willing to fold them.
- No one misuses my kitchen utensils, and they always get put back exactly where they belong.
- All the sex toys are mine and I get to use them whenever and however I like.
- When I decide to go on a trip, my schedule is the only one I need to coordinate. When I arrive at my destination, if I decide I want to do something not on the original itinerary, I just do it.
- I can wake up at 4 a.m. I can stay out till 3 a.m. I never worry about anyone getting anxious and no one is awoken, grumpy, by my nocturnal perambulations.
- I am never tempted to waste money on empty gestures or gifts. I never have to feel the guilt of accepting a heart-felt gesture that is a complete bomb.
I wish everyone an enjoyable Valentine’s Day, and I hope you all find in it meaning that suits you and brings you joy and appreciation for what you have.
(Originally posted to my Facebook account on 13 February 2009.)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Freezer Burn
I have about 17 minutes before I find out if my cheese straws will turn out all right.
I hate this waiting.
So, the new rule is this: don't assume that the puff pastry I bought a year ago will be okay a year later. In fact, if it has freezer burn, it might be best to rush out to the grocery store and buy a new package, rather than try and make the stuff I got out of the depths of the freezer — because I was too cheap to buy real ingredients for this pot luck — along with some other fresh stuff and keep myself from panicking like I am now.
Short cuts — and being a cheapskate — is never worth it.
Better go check the oven, again.
I hate this waiting.
So, the new rule is this: don't assume that the puff pastry I bought a year ago will be okay a year later. In fact, if it has freezer burn, it might be best to rush out to the grocery store and buy a new package, rather than try and make the stuff I got out of the depths of the freezer — because I was too cheap to buy real ingredients for this pot luck — along with some other fresh stuff and keep myself from panicking like I am now.
Short cuts — and being a cheapskate — is never worth it.
Better go check the oven, again.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Hacking
I am finally getting some old, ugly web sites wrapped up, so I can work on my shiny new web site for the State of Kansas so-called Geo Portal.
I've been wanting to re-do the web site associated with my "Web Administrator" title since I laid eyes on it, but I've been working on other web sites since I started here, and the field is only new clearing.
This is the old site: www.kansasgis.org. Aside from some heinous code (try sending that sucker through the W3C Validator!), it is very dated, suffers from a design that is cluttered with too many fonts, its terminology is all specific to GIS geeks rather than the lay-person trying to find the free data offered by the state, and it is simply unreadable on IE6 at 800 x 600 resolution - a frightening majority of the users out there.
So, I'm finally making progress on the new site (which, I must admit, I haven't checked on IE6 yet), and it's pulling together rather nicely.
I stole a very nice solution for finding element locations on a page from this site, and was able to make definitions hover under the underlined text. That affect is so cool. (But I really have to check it in IE6).
The next fun thing will be embedding some of our map caches into a new catalog layout.
Looking forward to some seriously cool coding in the near future makes the darkening days of late fall, and the biting chill of winter, seem completely insignificant.
I love my job.
I've been wanting to re-do the web site associated with my "Web Administrator" title since I laid eyes on it, but I've been working on other web sites since I started here, and the field is only new clearing.
This is the old site: www.kansasgis.org. Aside from some heinous code (try sending that sucker through the W3C Validator!), it is very dated, suffers from a design that is cluttered with too many fonts, its terminology is all specific to GIS geeks rather than the lay-person trying to find the free data offered by the state, and it is simply unreadable on IE6 at 800 x 600 resolution - a frightening majority of the users out there.
So, I'm finally making progress on the new site (which, I must admit, I haven't checked on IE6 yet), and it's pulling together rather nicely.
I stole a very nice solution for finding element locations on a page from this site, and was able to make definitions hover under the underlined text. That affect is so cool. (But I really have to check it in IE6).
The next fun thing will be embedding some of our map caches into a new catalog layout.
Looking forward to some seriously cool coding in the near future makes the darkening days of late fall, and the biting chill of winter, seem completely insignificant.
I love my job.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Unbelievable
My Dreamweaver crashing problem? The one I ran CHKDSK for? Yeah - the problem is that a time-management related file gets corrupted after Daylight Savings Time ends.
This is the link. Can you believe it?
That support page is dated one year ago, November 5th, 2007. You'd think they could've patched the damn problem.
Unbelievable.
This is the link. Can you believe it?
That support page is dated one year ago, November 5th, 2007. You'd think they could've patched the damn problem.
Unbelievable.
I Live By Technology, I Die By Technology
I am standing at the window, blogging, because by the window is the spare laptop, and the spare laptop is plugged into the extra speakers, and my coworker and I listen to Slacker.com all day from this laptop and these speakers. Right now, Regina Spector is singing It Breaks My Heart, and I agree.
I am using this computer because my computer, the perfectly decent computer that has been a trooper the past 18 months, since my boss ordered it for me, has suddenly started crashing. As I have advised many of my friends in the past, I am now running CHKDSK (which will finish, hopefully in a half hour so), then I may defragment, though I doubt that is the issue.
The issue, you see, is a specific program — Dreamweaver CS3 — and it is crashing when it tries to write to the “Clipboard” memory of the Windows operating system. I know this because I can reproduce the problem over and over again. I believe it is a specific file — but it may be more than one file.
Because I am not just blogging while I wait for CHKDSK to run, I did manage to find this fascinating blog entry to suggest that the problem may not be with any corruption in the file on my harddrive, but rather with some badly formed CF or HTML code that is making the whole program freak out.
The truth is, I believe there is a very strong likelihood that the code is bad — because I know it is. I am hacking on an incomplete web site that has been under development since 2004, that must go live in January of 2009, and which has been hacked on by at least three other developers before I got my grubby little hands on it.
In short, the damn thing is a mess.
But this is what I do. In fact, I have won huge props since I started this job by doing just this: duct-taping, hobbling together and occasionally completely rewriting complete web sites that have languished in development hell, as the developers in this office have cycled through the past few years.
The worst part of this particular nightmare has been the extent of the complexity of the site, the amount that has already been done (however badly), and the total lack of documentation from the client. Let’s name them by their acronym: DWR. The reason why there’s no documentation: they don’t have any of the rules written down. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? But it’s true. And like them, I’m not writing it down, either — just the occasional comment here and there. Mine and my colleagues’ comments in this code may be all that exists to define the business rules of this application. It boggles the mind.
But this is what I get for moving out of the hell of a publicly traded company (and the joys of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance) to the loosey-goosey world of working for the state. On the one hand, I have a lot more freedom. On the other, I am screwed by the freedom to be undisciplined.
And so it goes.
It must be time to break for lunch. I’m outa here.
I am using this computer because my computer, the perfectly decent computer that has been a trooper the past 18 months, since my boss ordered it for me, has suddenly started crashing. As I have advised many of my friends in the past, I am now running CHKDSK (which will finish, hopefully in a half hour so), then I may defragment, though I doubt that is the issue.
The issue, you see, is a specific program — Dreamweaver CS3 — and it is crashing when it tries to write to the “Clipboard” memory of the Windows operating system. I know this because I can reproduce the problem over and over again. I believe it is a specific file — but it may be more than one file.
Because I am not just blogging while I wait for CHKDSK to run, I did manage to find this fascinating blog entry to suggest that the problem may not be with any corruption in the file on my harddrive, but rather with some badly formed CF or HTML code that is making the whole program freak out.
The truth is, I believe there is a very strong likelihood that the code is bad — because I know it is. I am hacking on an incomplete web site that has been under development since 2004, that must go live in January of 2009, and which has been hacked on by at least three other developers before I got my grubby little hands on it.
In short, the damn thing is a mess.
But this is what I do. In fact, I have won huge props since I started this job by doing just this: duct-taping, hobbling together and occasionally completely rewriting complete web sites that have languished in development hell, as the developers in this office have cycled through the past few years.
The worst part of this particular nightmare has been the extent of the complexity of the site, the amount that has already been done (however badly), and the total lack of documentation from the client. Let’s name them by their acronym: DWR. The reason why there’s no documentation: they don’t have any of the rules written down. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? But it’s true. And like them, I’m not writing it down, either — just the occasional comment here and there. Mine and my colleagues’ comments in this code may be all that exists to define the business rules of this application. It boggles the mind.
But this is what I get for moving out of the hell of a publicly traded company (and the joys of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance) to the loosey-goosey world of working for the state. On the one hand, I have a lot more freedom. On the other, I am screwed by the freedom to be undisciplined.
And so it goes.
It must be time to break for lunch. I’m outa here.
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