Tuesday, September 30, 2014

45 Minutes Strength Training

This is a little bit of a work in progress, I can come up with an onskates workout off the top my head and it generally works as expected; but lifting heavy is newish to me, so I didn't know what to expect. For one thing, I had to try out how much I could actually lift. Then I had originally planned a little circuit of deadlifts, pushups, and pullups; but then when I was actually doing the deadlifts, I didn't want to be interrupted. It was actually surprisingly satisfying putting on weights, picking them up, putting on more weights, and so on.

So I put the pushups and pullups as part of the warmup:

Warmup

Row 500m
Shoulder openers 10
Overhead squats 10
Step ups 10 L + 10 R
Side step ups 10 L + 10 R
Pullups with purple black bands 10
Pushups 10
Hip bridges 10

Lol I packed the purple bands because that's what Travis uses, but Travis weighs a bit more than me! Those bands almost shot me to Indiana.

Workout

Deadlifts
2 x 5 bar = 40#
1 x 3 bar + 5 = 50#
1 x 5 bar + 10 = 60#
----------------------------next time the above will be back squats
2 x 5 bar + 10 + 5 = 70#
1 x 3 bar + 10 + 10 = 80#
1 x 3 bar + 25 = 90#
1 x 3 bar + 25 + 5 = 100#
1 x 3 bar + 25 + 10 = 110#
1 x 3 bar + 25 + 10 + 5 = 120#
1 x 5 bar + 45 = 130#

Ha ha, my working set is what Travis and Nora warm up with. Keeps ya humble!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Housecleaning
 2 of 6

Where 1 of 6 was watching Monday Night Football at Ska's house last week.

Welp. Home, hungry, very tired. Again with the wind blowing my fur away. Am eating a bowl of slow carne, cauliflower, and quinoa. I had this tiny idea that I would need dinner during break to be more entertaining than spacefood, but I'm too tired. I don't need to be entertained. I just need to be fed. I'm letting it expand in my mind that I have nowhere to be for the rest of the night.

Of course, I have housecleaning scheduled. I hope that second wind blows in.

What is to be done: the bed's not made, there are dishes piled in the kitchen, there's laundry piled on the kitchen floor, and also eggs shakshuka isn't made for the week, slow chicken isn't made for the week, and I've just eaten the last of the slow carne that was in the fridge, and there's just one portion of quinoa left. I did make greens Saturday morning, there's an almost full container of that. What happened, Munt? Mahh, I went to Ska's to watch the Bears vs. Packers instead of staying home to do my Sunday cooking practice. I want to watch Bears games like a normal person!

It's okay, you can watch Bears games. My Darmok for situations like this is from Howard's End:

When she saw Charles angry, Paul frightened, and Mrs. Munt in tears, she heard her ancestors say: "Separate those human beings who will hurt each other the most. The rest can wait." So she did not ask questions. Still less did she pretend that nothing had happened, as a competent society hostess would have done.
—ha, hello there, Mrs. Munt. My nickname Munt comes from Howards End, if you didn't know. I forgot that she was in this bit.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if the plan says Big Clean. There's little cleaning and cooking that needs doing so that's that, and the rest can wait.

{ watch one episode of Criminal Minds
\\ pick up clothes and straighten sheets
\\ wash dishes
\\ sort laundry
\\ reset coat rack
/ record cash

Phew, order has been restored. I have not cooked, the likelihood that I will tonight is ...quite low.

Now housecleaning is supposed to be part of my fitness plan, how does it stack up? Well, picking up clothes and straightening sheets was 15 minutes walking to and fro with a tiny bit of muscling up the mattress. Washing dishes is just standing, 45 minutes. Sorting laundry is flat out sitting, I think that most people don't sort laundry the way I do. I'm not as bananas as I used to be about sorting all the laundry by colors and, erm, shapes. Now I just do colors, yes, even though blue and red and black all go in the same load, I still separate them. Though really the most important thing is that I straighten and smooth everything out, so things don't go bunched up into the washing machine. Does the washing machine unbunch things? No, right? I have never tried it. Resetting the coat rack, the only task that approaches Big Clean and just barely, that's just standing, 15 minutes. So basically, all told, an hour of standing with 15 minutes of sitting wedged in. Well you know, it's not aerobic. It's what I would code on my BAMF! chart as Very Low Intensity Activity, which is purple. Which is more active than gray, No Activity.

What I was thinking was something more in the blue range, Low Intensity Activity. Big Clean stuff is this—e.g., sweeping is little clean, but mopping is Big Clean. Actually I don't even mop: I'm Korean, I get down on my hands and knees and scrub. It's vigorous.

Not tonight, though. But what needed to be done is done, so.

Gonna get a snack and then switch to a little deskwork before bed.

No wait!

\ make ice creeeeeeam

This time I made the larger recipe with the full can of sweetened condensed milk, so with 20 fl. oz. whipped cream. And then! And then I divided the batch in three into three containers and flavored one vanilla (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vanilla extract), one coffee (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp each coffee liqueur and instant coffee), and one chocolate (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp each rum and cocoa). Yeeee!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

15 Minute Onskates Interval Training

Or well 16 minutes, not counting warmup and rest breaks. Close enough.

Warmup

1 lap low, 1 lap off
1 lap quick, 1 lap off
1 lap low and quick, 1 lap off
x 3 rounds

Workout

vertical jumps 20 sec, rest 10 sec off x 8 rounds
lateral shuffles with 45s 20 sec, rest 10 sec x 8 rounds
lateral slides with chips 20 sec, rest 10 sec x 8 rounds
kamandas 20 sec, rest 10 sec x 8 rounds

Take 2–4 min rest breaks between sets, I didn't time our breaks but I'm guessing we did closer to 2 min—just long enough for breathing and heart rate to return to normal.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Birth of a Fitness Chart

One may as well begin with Marcus Martinez's email: How Many Days a Week Should I Workout?

To which Dawn said, "The full recommendation adds up to 670-1185 mins per week, average 95-169 mins per day. My mind reels."

Well, yes. In fact the full recommendation is:

  • four 45-60 minute strength sessions per week
  • two 15-30 minute interval sessions per week, only one if your goal is not fat loss
  • two 20-40 minute lower intensity cardio sessions per week, if your goal is fat loss
  • a 30-45 minute walk every day, or at least every other day
  • 20-40 minutes of stretching every day
  • 10-30 minutes of meditation every day

Then again, I feel like we already do more than that. Okay, "feel" is probably not the operative verb for math. Fiiiiine, right off the top we have 90-120 minute practices three times a week, that's 270-360 minutes right there, that pretty much matches the 250-380 minutes of weekly practices that he recommends. And outside of practices Dawn works with a trainer and I work with my clients, so we're both actually over. But, now we're on break. I want a new drug! I want to seriously strength train, I don't do it in season because like I said I'm already over. Just say no to overtraining!

First of all, let's not be a hero and not take the high road, just as an exercise in giving it a goddamned rest:

  • four 45 minute strength sessions per week
  • two 15 minute interval sessions per week
    —fifteen-minute workouts, how cuuute
  • two 20 minute lower intensity cardio sessions per week
  • a 30 minute walk every other day
  • 20 minutes of stretching every day
  • 10 minutes of meditation every day

Let's address those daily practices:

  • I already walk 30 minutes every other morning: it's 30 minutes door to door from home to work, and I work four days a week, check. I walk to the train, take two flights of stairs down, stand on the platform, train surf on the train, and take two flights of stairs up. It doesn't have to be more than that. On the other hand, it doesn't have to be less than that. It's good standing, walking, and climbing stairs, and if I do sit on the platform or the train, it's good sitting i.e., squatting. All with proper form! The reason you should do all these things with proper form is JUST BECAUSE. Because you should do things the way your body is designed to do them, the better for doing those things and the better for your body and the better to build on. And obviously I do all that, in reverse, from work to home, and I'm not even counting that, which is why I don't sweat it if sometimes I sit down.
  • I actually also already meditate for 15 minutes every afternoon, check. More about that TK.
  • That leaves 20 minutes of stretching every day—okay fine, I will add that. And since I'm walking in the morning and meditating in the afternoon, I will stretch in the evening. But how about for 15 minutes, my timetracker is set up in fifteen-minute increments.

Okay but, I will tell you this: I'm not working out hard six days a week. I want to crosstrain over break, but I also want to break on break. If I try out for travel teams again in February, I fully intend to go the distance for the season: fill up the tank now, don't run out of gas later:

  • two 45 minute strength sessions per week
  • two 60 minute combined strength and interval sessions per week
  • two 20 minute lower intensity cardio sessions per week
  • a 30 minute walk every other morning
  • 15 minutes of meditation every day
  • 15 minutes of stretching every day

Now I'm not going to just lay this on top of my life, I'm going to work it in with what I've got. Which is learn to skate clinics and referee practices on Sunday, Nora at GIC on Tuesday, Kris at Fit Foot on Wednesday, yes, sometimes your trainer plans a month of foot rubs, it can happen to you, and Travis at GIC on Saturday. So clearly, the two strength sessions Tuesday and Saturday when I am already in the weight room. Also clearly, a) the time to do my Sunday workout is during ref open skate, between learn to skate and referees, and b) I'm not going to take off my skates and put them back on, c) heavy weights + skates probably not a great idea, so d) that's going to be an onskates interval session:

  • two 45 minute strength sessions per week
  • one 15 minute onskates interval session per week
  • one 60 minute combined strength and interval session per week
  • two 20 minute lower intensity cardio sessions per week
  • a 30 minute walk every other morning
  • 15 minutes of meditation every afternoon
  • 15 minutes of stretching every evening

Here's another thing: I really, really need to do some housecleaning around here. Those can be my lower intensity cardio sessions. What, it's totally legit. Now that I'm thinking, I think I don't start housecleaning projects because I subconsciously know I don't have enough gas for them. Also housecleaning isn't twenty minutes, more like an hour minimum. What happens if I mentally prepare and fuel up for them like they're workouts? When should I do them, Monday and Friday? Haha, NOPE, how about just Monday:

  • two 45 minute strength sessions per week
  • one 15 minute onskates interval session per week
  • one 60 minute combined strength and interval session per week
  • one 60 minute housecleaning session per week
  • a 30 minute walk every other morning
  • 15 minutes of meditation every afternoon
  • 15 minutes of stretching every evening

Or, in order:

  • Sunday: 15 minute onskates interval session
  • Monday: 60 minute housecleaning session
  • Tuesday: 45 minute strength session
  • Wednesday: 60 min foot and body rub
  • Thursday: 60 minute combined strength and interval session
  • Friday: rest and relaxation
  • Saturday: 45 minute strength session
  • a 30 minute walk every other morning
  • 15 minutes of meditation every afternoon
  • 15 minutes of stretching every evening

I definitely think whatever I do on Thursday I should do at home, I have plenty of weights and other toys I can work out with. I could do tractor runs. Though that's not using weights, so not strength. I could just do two strength and two interval workouts.

I ...don't want to work out on Thursday.

First of all, I want to write! I was supposed to get to write during break, and here I have filled all my time back up with workouts. Secondly, I want to see people! Thirdly and seriously, that time might be better used for recovery and rebuilding between strength workouts. Fourthly, I'm supposed to get to breeeeeak. What I need is just one open night in my week besides Friday night, which isn't open. Friday is the opposite of open, Friday is Sorry We're Closed! where what only ever happens is tacos and watching TV on the couch. I need an open night when anything could happen!

"In testing, that's called 'ad hoc' time," Dawn says. I know, you haven't heard from Dawn in a while. We're driving to Grand Rapids and I've been talking for like an hour straight. But now I stop dead in my tracks, transfixed. "I thought you would like that."

I do!

Sunday: 15 minute onskates interval session
Monday: 60 minute housecleaning session
Tuesday: 45 minute strength session
Wednesday: 60 minute foot and body rub
Thursday: AD HOC TIME
Friday: rest and relaxation
Saturday: 45 minute strength session
a 30 minute walk every other morning
15 minutes of meditation every afternoon
15 minutes of stretching every evening

This is the world's longest shaggy dog story ending exactly where I usually start: three high-intensity practices, two low-intensity practices, including the foot rub (no seriously it's more or less a full body deep tissue massage, some of it really hurts AND it's going to be hella beneficial), and two rests, including the ad hoc time.

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP
morning morning morning morning morning morning morning
HOBBY
cooking
WORK
 
HOBBY
cooking
WORK
 
WORK
 
WORK
 
PLAY^
strength
HOBBY
appts
WORK
 
HOBBY
bills
WORK
 
WORK
 
WORK
 
HOBBY
tasks
PLAY^^
interval
PLAY
cleaning
PLAY^
strength
PLAY^
bodywork
PLAY
ad hoc
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
5 4 5 4 2 2 3
evening evening evening evening evening evening evening
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP

Geez, I looked for my summer fitness chart and I guess I never did it. I kind of hate not even being aware that something fell through the cracks, but also feel kind of validated. It's been a hell of a long haul, I'm kind of glad that I wasn't aware how hella until after it's been hauled.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Ad Hoc!
 1 of 6

Which I keep singing to the tune of this:

Home, hungry, very tired. I don't have greens made for dinner, and making them now is beyond me. The easiest and tastiest vegetable to make in this case is coco broccoli or cauliflower: heat a spoonful of coconut oil in a saute pan over high heat until it melts, open and empty a bag of frozen broccoli this time into the pan, stir it a bit to coat, sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes, cover and let cook for five minutes, uncover and give it a stir still over high heat to dry it out, done. I've been drinking butter coffee after breakfast and haven't been hungry for lunch, but now I think I could deal with some slow chicken. I heat up a jar and a bit of that in the microwave and spoon half of it over half the broccoli, and the other half over the other half of the broccoli for the sweetie man. It's really, really good.

I am tired. I feel like Captain Holly says after he gets back from Efrafra, "as dry and empty as an autumn puffball—I feel as though the wind could blow my fur away." I always feel this tired after work, but I always gird up my loins and go to practice at some point in the evening. I have a second wind coming, I know that.

Upsy-daisy.

// wash gear
\\ clean bearings
\\ change wheels

Data points: washing gear takes about 45 minutes, cleaning bearings takes about 30 minutes, changing wheels takes about 45 minutes, with some overlap between washing gear and cleaning bearings. See this is why this never gets done, actually I already took off the wheels and took out the bearings the other night and according to timetracker that took an hour, though that seems longer than it should. Still it's a significant project, I'd had it in my head to change my wheels and even brought the extra set of wheels to clinic like I'd be able to get it done in fifteen minutes. I try to be sparing with advice, but here's some: don't ever plan to change your wheels before practice, god it's so stressful and unsurprisingly because I'm rushing to get something done in fifteen minutes that maybe actually takes two hours. I mean, that's counting cleaning the bearings; but if I'm going to the trouble to take them all out, I might as well clean them while they're out.

Boy mine needed it, too. I don't think I've even taken them out let alone cleaned them maybe since ::meep:: May? I used to be so much better about this. One of my bearings popped out in a little poof of rust; it still spins fine, though. Just the casing got rusted somehow, I don't know. One of them, though, was pretty much seized; it's better after cleaning, but not as good as the others. I wonder if it's time for new bearings. These are the ones I've had from the very beginning, you know, so like 2007.

Also haha I do believe the acetone is slowly eating away at my bearing washer bottles, I don't remember them being hourglass-shaped before...

State of the Break
 fall 2014

belly rubs

Well, there's break and there's break!

There's blog break that I'm just coming off of and that this post is supposed to be about, what I did on my blog break. Well I'll tell you what I did, I took a break from feeling like I always had to write something for the blog. Because I'd already been taking a break from actually always writing something for the blog, so I didn't need a break from that. Lots of times what you need a break from is your feelings. Actually a major thing that I've been doing is adopting some bullet journal stuff into my own journal and notebook practices, and the upshot of that is, I have a pretty big idea forming about how I want to write the blog in 2015, so stay tuned for that if you want. Actually haha, I guess the main thing I've been doing on blog break is writing.

Then there's derby break that just started this week, Second Wind season is finished! A month early, actually. But that works out, I will have six weeks off (!) until home season starts up. This is my first free and clear break since I started derby in 2009, I've either made travel teams and been practicing with them through summer or not made travel teams and been trying to keep up with them on my own—there's those feelings again. So this is my first break ever from my feelings about derby; or in other words, I feel good enough about derby to leave it alone for a while.

There's something in that, you know? That's kind of how it is with me and the sweetie man, we're not all up in each other's business all the time. I don't think we actually spend a lot of time together, apart from sleeping. Which is some of my favorite time and maybe that's why, but we do have a good relationship and it's very 38 Special, you know, hold on loosely but don't let go and all that. I think that might be a good relationship to have with derby, too. Actually, also with blogging.

That said, I'm happily vegetating this week and then I start some aggressive cross-training next week. I'm super stoked, it includes strength and interval training, housecleaning, bodywork, deskwork or "ad hoc time" as Dawn says it's called in software testing, and couch time including watching foooootball—this is a whole other story that I hope to write up in that aforementioned ad hoc time, we'll see how that works out.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Bout Day Breakfast
 WCR Second Wind vs GRRG All-Stars

scrambled eggs with avocado sweet potato hash, water, coffee

Scrambled eggs with avocado sweet potato hash, water, and coffee.

More bout day breakfasts!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Can't Take Much More

p: how was your day?

m: clummmsy baby.

p: aw, he fell?

p: did he cry?

m: he cried a little.

m: you pick him up and let him know he's okay, and he stops.

m: and i sing to him.

p: you sing to him!?!?!

p: what do you sing?!?!?

m: ...

m: LET THE BABIES HIT THE FLOOR

m: LET THE BABIES HIT THE FLOOR

m: CHH! CHH! CHH!

m: RAHHHHH!

Via "Rudy T, A Year in the Life of...", A Message To Rudy
p: aw, he likes you.
m: no, aaron's in front of us.
m: and he has a camera.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Be Coachable

Last Sunday I started teaching Learn To Skate sessions for WCR, and the following was more or less this session's intro:

Before we get started, the very first thing I want to impart to you is BE COACHABLE. And I'm telling you this really only partly because I want you to make the most of our time together and kick ass at tryouts and show off your strength and your fitness and your skating skills. Being coachable gets you those things, but being coachable itself is a thing that coaches and captains will be looking for at tryouts and throughout your derby career. Being coachable is a thing. It's a thing that would behoove you to be good at, which means it's something that you have to practice, which means it's something that you have to learn. So let's get started with that.

Why don't I just tell you what I think it means to be coachable, first, some basic courtesy things like Be on time. Be prepared and ready to work. Be rested and fed. Don't be hungover.

Be here for what you're here for. You're here to learn. Not to put it too finely, you're not here to teach. I'm here to teach. I know it's a really sweet thing to say, "oh I learn more from my students than they do from me," but let's cut to the chase, if I learn more about skating from you than you do from me, we are doing it wrong and what are you paying me for. Be here to learn! And learning is what, well, listen to the thing, then try to do the thing, and then ask questions. In that order, seriously, and questions are optional. Only if you sincerely have a question and then, of course.

Here's the thing, learning is a vulnerable position to be in, maybe you're aware of that and maybe you're not; so now you can be aware that I'm aware. I'm not aware as a teacher that my students feel vulnerable, I mean I am, but I mean I'm aware as a student myself that I feel vulnerable all the time!

"Dr. Brené Brown (and Teddy Roosevelt’s) Top 21 Tweet-Tweets", actually this whole slideshow is pretty great and mostly relevant. Via Oprah: Super Soul Sunday.

Being vulnerable is scary, it's uncomfortable, I get it. You will want to protect yourself, you will want to shut the stall door and be like do you mind, I'm in here. But er, you gotta leave the door open. Where shutting the stall door means backtalking, or self-deprecating, or showing off what you already know, or ass-kissing, or squirting out a cloud of ink like a squid, anything that isn't listen to the thing, then try to do the thing. Don't beat yourself up if a little defensiveness slips out, this is a hard thing that you're learning and it takes practice. It's hard for me and I've been practicing hard—I don't mean practicing skating hard, I mean practicing not being defensive—for seven years, and I just slipped up, like, last week. Just catch yourself, and turn yourself back to listening to the thing and trying to do the thing. Listening to the thing and trying to do the thing, and as little else as possible, is a skill like any other that you get by practicing it over and over. And as it happens it's a supremely useful skill for learning other skills, particularly physical skills like skating.

Nice speechy, no?

Lo and behold, the very next morning, Why You May Seem Uncoachable popped up in my facebook feed, like it's actually time-stamped September 7, it might have posted literally at the same time as I was having my little fireside chat above. Not gonna lie, I read that with my cigarette and bourbon... at 7:00 AM, lol... like ::puff:: preach, sister. Zing, right out it went to my recruitskis: I told you, it's a thing that every trainer will look for in you. Okay but, kidding about the cigarette and bourbon, I'm an accentuate the positive kind of gal and almost always want to present the good side of what you want to do vs. the bad side of what you don't, so I detourned her selfsame points just to give a few more positive pegs for you to hang your helmet on. Actually I think she's nicer than I am, there's no appreciable difference to me between an uncoachable person and an apparently uncoachable person.

1. Self evaluate. Look at your strengths and weaknesses—honestly mostly your weaknesses, but don't freak out and think I'm a bad skater, I'm a bad person ahhh! That is ego, in fact you're not any different from any other person learning how to do a thing. A weakness is just a thing to work on. Work on it.

2. Listen to feedback. See above, or here I'll just repeat it to save your eyeballs the upward trip: listen to the thing, then try to do the thing, and as little else as possible.

3. Look like you're listening. I love that she says she doesn't like to make direct eye contact, I don't either for different reasons. I point my ear at my coaches. I wonder if they notice I'm pointing my ear at them. I nod, I repeat back what I heard. Then most important, I try to do what I heard.

4. And I repeat, try to do the thing. Sorry not sorry to sound like a broken record, that's all I got because that's all there is. I actually haven't had too much of skaters asking for modifications, I really only came across it when I was auditioning to be a group fitness instructor for, you know, gen pop. That sounds kind of jerky, but in derby you're competing to be on a select team that needs you to be able to do the things and not so much to be free to do your own thing. Second Wind has been great about this this season, faaack I have sucked at left chip stops all summer and they never let up on us and guess what, last night I felt something click... no wait, those were right chips. Faaack. I can't remember. Something clicked, though.

5. Stay in drills. Here's the thing, I'm also a proponent of taking care of yourself and there may be a perfectly valid reason that you should pull out of a drill and you are the arbiter of your own health. So here's how you do it, you pull yourself out on your own authority. Maybe your skate is laced too tight and you can't feel your foot, maybe your lower back is killing you (and if it is, you need to be using your glutes and hamstrings more and your lower back less), maybe you're just flat-out gassed. Fine, pull out, fix it, recover, and put yourself back in when you're ready.

I see you, I get it, I appreciate that you're taking care of yourself both in the tender loving care sense and the Emersonian self-reliance sense, I fully expect that your muscular endurance and your fitness will improve over the next six weeks and deeply anticipate how gratifying that will be to both of us. No other song and dance is necessary, I have up to twenty-three other skaters to keep an eye on. Put your helmet back on, get back in the drill, I might wink at you for courage, and if a wink doesn't cut it, here's Kidnapped Dogs and How We Get By in Roller Derby that my wifey and il miglior fabbro wrote way back in the day, ever golden.

If you're interested in LTS clinics, give me a shout at tryout (at) windycityrollers (dot) com.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Early Fall Tuesday Cooking Practice

Since I'm keeping eggs and melon for breakfast, and I'm keeping ground meat, greens, and rice for lunch for another month, Tuesday cooking practice is the exactly same as last month: wake up, coffee, words, get up and tidy the bedroom, tidy the kitchen, whack whack whack cut up a cantaloupe or honeydew, put three-quarters in three jars, plate the last quarter, scramble some eggs, and voila breakfast.

Eventually get up and put on some ground meat and when the meat's on, blanch some turnip or mustard greens, drain, squeeze, and dress with seasoned rice wine vinegar.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Early Fall Sunday Cooking Practice

I'm keeping hard boiled eggs and melon for breakfast for another month, so Sunday starts the same, wake up usually by eight, get coffee in bed—oh wait, look!

otter mug

EEEEE, it's an otter with a fish. Birthday present from Biggie!

...where was I, do words and email clients, get up and tidy the bedroom, tidy the kitchen, boil eggs for the week, and whack whack whack cut up the week's watermelon, put three-quarters in three jars, plate the last quarter, the timer goes off for the eggs, run cold water over them and peel two for my plate. Take my plate to the couch for breakfast.

Eventually get up and put the rest of the eggs into a carton to bring to work and then I was supposed to set about making baked chicken and roasted vegetables, but I guess we're going to get all of our summer in September! I almost gave me and the sweetie man heat stroke from having the oven on. I switched things around on the ultimate food chart, I can use the oven and heat up the apartment in winter how about. I don't know why I didn't think before to use the slow cooker for fall—so slow chicken will be happening instead. Really a better rule of thumb is lingering heat in fall, and lingering cold in spring.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Early Fall Saturday Cooking Practice

So Saturdays have changed yet again, but not so much in the cooking aspect. I sleep in a bit and when I wake up I do words, tidy the bedroom, and tidy the kitchen. Then, I'm still sticking with scrambling eggs and grabbing a melon jar out of fridge for breakfast. I pretty much have just enough time to wash up and bike over to Vie, or I guess now it's called Goose Island Crossfit, to train Travis at noon. Both Nora and Travis are training deadlifts, so it's actually a bit of work for me setting up their weights. I mean, not as much work as they're doing; they're both prodigiously strong. Then well, Binny's is right by Vie/GIC... sooo I swing by Binny's and look at the pretty bottles...

snaggle tooth

Eeeee, for coffee ice cream! I'm going to get chocolate liqueur for chocolate ice cream, and maybe Midori for green tea ice cream? Sooo many ice creams.

I mean, I can't be buying a bottle of liqueur every week. Sometimes I go to Trader Joe's for more microwaveable rice, I have another month of that too. Actually a huge plus about having a Saturday morning client is that it gets me out of the house and once I've achieved escape velocity, I can get errands done.

Then I bike home and fix myself a bowl of peaches and koldskal. Koldskal is good with other fruits, like cherries and strawberries, all berries, but peaches keep best so that's what I keep in the fridge.

Ideally after lunch I get to sit down to some desk work, including updating my flickr links and setting up my appointments for the week; but more importantly, I should get to write or study. Or I run around to meet with coaches committee and get my hair cut... but anyway same cooking practice, just different other stuff.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Egression #178

OMG this:

Makes me feel like this:

Via E!

178. Bullet Journal.

Hahaha. This is what I'm doing on break, changing over my notebook into a BULLET NOTEBOOK. Brb!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Early Fall Food Chart




Black coffee in bed.
Hard-boiled eggs with watermelon for work breakfasts.
Scrambled eggs with cantaloupe at home.
Baked chicken and roasted vegetables for work lunches.
Peaches and koldskal at home.
Cherry lime soda (!!) and mixed nuts for afternoon snack.
Ground meat, greens, and rice for pre-workout dinner.
Hello, old friend.
Beetlejuice for pre-workout drink.
Cococherry2O for workout drink.
Fruit, nut butter, and yogurt smoothies for post-workout snack.
Wine spritzer with Friday dinner.

Early fall, but finally it's hot out—and even if it wasn't, I always try to hang onto summer as long as I can—so the only changes are baked chicken and roasted vegetables for work lunches, because I burned right out on chicken jars nonononono this is not going to work, suddenly September decided to be serious about being summer and it's too hot to have the oven on, brb. And fish tacos continue not to happen so I threw in the towel again. By Friday I'm so tired, sometimes I stop by the grocery to pick up some odds and ends but then I'm totally spent and couldn't cook to save my life; so the sweetie man goes out for tacos while I fix myself my homeopathic drink, either a wine spritzer or a thing that I'm calling a malanciata (malort + aranciata), and let all the air out of my tires, and I'm loving it, so yeah.

Ultimate food chart! Always tweaking...
Early Fall food planner for the extremely detail-oriented.

Ahhh, the thing! That I want to do! I want to print out all these food charts and reconcile all the images and list, label, and link all the recipes that go with each chart. I keep picturing the white room that I need to do all this in, the giant table with all my papers spread out and taped to the wall—

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Chicken Stock

chicken stock

So if you've been making chicken jars and saving rotisserie chicken carcasses all summer, and actually this will continue with baked chicken thigh bones all fall, you've been amassing ziploc bags of chicken parts in the freezer, so every once in a while you make a batch of stock to keep things under control. Sometimes I make soup straightaway with the stock, and sometimes I freeze the stock in containers; it's nice to have one or two frozen stocks on hand for when one of us gets sick.

I try to make a chicken stock when I've filled a gallon ziploc bag of parts, not only to keep the freezer under control but also because it's a manageable amount of stock. I'm aiming to make two quarts of finished stock, so I start with three quarts of water (which I measure with a quart mason jar, by the way). Also by the way, the apple cider vinegar is to dissolve more minerals out of the chicken bones, which is one of the benefits of consuming homemade chicken broth. Below are the standard vegetables I use for stock and generally always have on hand, but really you can throw anything in—once I did fennel instead of celery stalks, that was really delicious.

a gallon bag of saved chicken parts
three quarts water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
an onion
three celery stalks
three carrots
a handful of parsley

Put chicken parts, water, and apple cider vinegar in a stock pot over high heat, bring to a strong simmer, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours.

Roughly chop onion, celery, and carrots, add to the stock pot, and simmer for another hour.

Ladle out as much chicken and vegetable as you can, then pour the broth through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into another pot. Let cool a bit and pour into containers.

Okay, now what? So actually I wouldn't use this stock for a classic chicken soup with, like, chicken and vegetables and maybe noodles; I'd do a quick chicken broth with the chicken that's going to end up in the soup for that, I'll write that up in a minute. The very easiest thing to do with this is to dice up the contents of a chicken jar or some baked chicken and roasted vegetables and toss it into the stock, or just toss whatever ground meat, greens, and rice or quinoa you have into the stock, heat it all up, et voila. Or if you have a bag of frozen vegetables on hand, you could try the oldest recipe in my book, good old creamed vegetable soup.