More Celtic Things

To maintain my love of Celtic things, I'm going to a Dropkick Murphy's concert tonight. Technically, by the time you read this, I should already be at the concert. I went to a Flogging Molly concert a couple weekends ago and it was amazing! I'm sure tonight's show will be the same. I don't know if there's many Paleo-friendly Celtic traditional dishes, besides Paleo Shepherd's Pie... I'll look into it.

I also got a kick out of the sign-off used by one of my teammates from crew (rowing). They closed their email with:

"Slow the  Slide"

For those of you who aren't rowers and don't understand this, let me explain. First off, your feet are strapped into foot stretchers and don't move. Your seat is on wheels on tracks (a.k.a. slides), so your butt slides backward and forward in the boat. There are two main parts of rowing: the drive and the recovery. The drive starts when you're as compressed as you can be. In other words, your legs are bent, you're back is leaning slightly forward, and your arms are extended in front of you. This position is called the catch. You then explode with your legs (straighten your legs quickly), lean back slightly and pull the oar into your chest (bend your arms). You're now at the finish. At this point, you would tap your oars out of the water by lowering your hands, and feather your oar by rotating your wrists back so that your palms are facing forward-ish (feathered: the blade is parallel to the water. this cuts down on wind resistance and is easier to avoid hitting your blade against the water). You're starting your recovery now. You extend your arms, lean forward, and bend your knees, up until you end up back at the catch. During this recovery process, you have to make sure that you don't compress your legs too quickly. Doing so can "check," or slow down, the boat. Slowing down this compression, so it's controlled is called the "slowing the slide," because you're slowing otherwise frantic rush up the tracks.

Anyways, what do you do with leftover Curry Burgers and Roasted Curry Cauliflower? You make a frittata with it.

Curried Frittata
1 lb curry burger ground beef

1 1/2 cup roasted curry cauliflower

6 eggs

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Grease the bottom of a round pan with coconut oil or olive oil. Transfer your cooked and seasoned meat and cauliflower to the pan, and stir to mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour over your beef and cauliflower in the pan, making sure it's evenly spread. Move your baking pan to the preheated oven, and cook for 25 minutes. The frittata is done once the egg is solid. Let sit for 15 minutes. Slice, reheat if necessary, and enjoy.

Business Trip: Part 3

On my second full day in Glasgow, my friend asked me what I wanted to eat for lunch. I replied with “salad,” and he was at a loss for where to go to get a good salad. He even googled “Glasgow salad” to see what would pop up. The first search result was Urban Dictionary, which defined a Glasgow salad as chips (French fries for you Americans). So, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant, where I had a bowl of soup and chicken, and got worried looks by the waiters for not clearing my plate. We then took the subway from Buchanan Street to the Kelvinbridge stop, meaning we ended up in West End, the “posh” neighborhood. We went on one of the free tours of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

and walked past the University of Glasgow on the left (oh, how I wish the architecture of Georgia Tech were as cool). We ended up on Ashton Lane, where our first bar stop was Vodka Wodka, where I read truth while watching a rugby match.

We then had a few pints of cider at Ubiquitous Chip

and made a friend who was probably as in love with America as I am with Scotland. We finished up the trip to West End and Ashton Lane at The Wee Curry Shop where I ate more non-Paleo foods, and found a Glasgow specialty: Haggis Pakora.

After a stop back at the hotel, we headed to the opposite side of town to Calum’s friend’s house so that we could watch the superbowl. Yeah, apparently the Scots like some American football, too. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the couple whose house we invaded had lived in the US for a while, and Calum grew up in Texas… Anyways, we finally made it back to the city center around 4 a.m. Obviously, I had a late start the next day. We stopped at Elia Greek Restaurant for lunch, during which Calum and I continued to discuss how my diet is not well suited for Glasgow foods. Alas, it is so true. But, I’d say most of the world has not learned how to be Paleo-friendly either. So maybe we’ll call it a draw.

That afternoon, I checked into a new hotel, Radisson Blu, and then walked back toward Glasgow Cathedral to visit the Necropolis. I walked around taking photos there for a couple hours before heading back to my hotel.

On my way back to the hotel, it started sleeting on me. Since I walked around constantly with my winter ski jacket, I survived just fine, but it was a bit of a shock to my Texas system. After changing shoes at the hotel, I walked back to George Square through the snow and had a pint at The Piper on the Square (go there!), before walking down the street and eating dinner at Jamie’s Italian.

The snow!

After dinner, I walked outside to more snow. And I finished up the evening going over notes for my meeting the following morning.

One-Year Anniversary

On this day last year I made my first ever blog post. Last Wednesday was the one-year celebration of starting the Paleo diet. I went to a happy hour, but not exactly in celebration of Paleo, not to mention that drinking probably isn't the best way to celebrate Paleo. Anyways, yay for one year! I'm excited about it.

In honor of this day, I decided to try to mix it up a bit and go for a different genre of food. So I made myself an Curry Burger

Curry Burger

1/2 lb ground beef
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix up the spices and then use your hands to mash it into the burger. Heat over medium-low heat on a skillet. Flip after about 3 minutes. Enjoy with a side of Roasted Curry Cauliflower.

Roasted Curry Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

1 1/2 Tbls EVOO

1 tsp curry

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Place your ingredients into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Seal and shake until evenly distributed. Spread over a tin foil-lined baking sheet, and place into the oven for 35 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes.

Whole 30- Feb/Mar

I’ve been bad lately… I’ve been eating grains, sugar, and dairy lately. Not all of the time, but definitely more than usual (for the past year). I’m thinking that my non-Paleo ways as of late are the cause of my almost constant headache and low-grade nausea for the last week and a half. Yet for some reason, I keep eating it. I guess sometimes we just fall into these weird funks where our self-control is shite. Which is why, as of right now, I’m starting Whole 30 again. Minus the restrictions on alcohol. So I need to stock up on strict Paleo foods. My fridge has been pretty bare lately, which is probably why I’ve been snacking on non-Paleo treats. I have one wedding to go to, a friend’s birthday dinner, Rodeo, and St. Patrick’s Day within in the next month, so there will be quite a few temptations. Wish me luck!

Business Trip - Part 2

Before I start in on Glasgow again, I just want to point out that in the first 48 hours of not watching Netflix, I read two books (the first book I read was ~300 pages and the second is ~350 pages), reorganized my closet by color and sleeve length, and played with my hair, eventually giving myself blue hair. Well, blue streaks in my hair. I also went to crew practice, met up with a friend for a few hours to discuss upcoming travel plans, took a nap, went to a horse race, and went for drinks with friends twice. This past weekend I also went to a Flogging Molly concert. It was incredible. Go if you have the chance!

Speaking of Celtic things... back to Glasgow!

My flight to Heathrow arrived at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, Feb 2, which gave me an hour and a half to make my way through customs and through security, and get to the next gate before that took off at 8:55. Again, a bright side of flying business class is that your ticket gets a "FastTrack" note which means you get to skip the giant lines. For those of you who have missed connecting flights because of a late arrival of the first leg of your journey, you know what a blessing this is. Anyways, I got through with enough time to wander around the massive Terminal 5. Weird thing about the UK: When you buy anything (water, newspaper, candy) from one of the stores, you have to give them your ticket/flight number. Strange.

The flight from London to Glasgow is pretty short, so we landed in Glasgow around 10:20 a.m. British Airways did provide us with breakfast of sliced bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and a roll.  Overall, a pretty greasy breakfast, but hey, it's better than a pack of peanuts or pretzels. Even though I was tired, I was planning on dropping off my stuff at Millennium Hotel...

... and then heading out for some sightseeing before my friend Calum arrived in town to show me around the city where he went to university. Unfortunately, by the time I checked into my hotel around 11, I was exhausted. So, I ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours. It took a while to get moving again, so it was 2:30 p.m. by the time I left the hotel and walked the half-mile to Glasgow Cathedral.

After spending an hour or so looking around, I walked back to my hotel just in time for my friend to meet up with me there. We had an early dinner at The Living Room, where I had the special: Teriyaki Salmon, which did come with some greens. After dinner, I went skipping down the street (because I was excited about being in Glasgow), while Calum rolled his eyes at me. We took a taxi from Central Station to McPhabbs, where Calum's uni friend, Colin, works. There, I got to indulge in my favorite cider (Kopparberg), and share a plate of haggis, neeps, and tatties. Haggis is yummy, but I recommend not looking into the ingredients if you really want to enjoy it. Also... not Paleo thanks to the oatmeal that it contains. After a little while, we walked over to The Park Bar, where we chatted with Calum's cousin Calum... about his uncle Calum, while drinking cider. Anyone else recognize a common theme here?

If you go to Glasgow, I strongly recommend going to The Park Bar. There's live music (including bagpipes and accordian) and friendly patrons.

We ended the evening with a munchy box, which is apparently a popular late-night post-drinking snack in Glasgow. And yes, it was actually called a "Munchy Box." Not Paleo-friendly, except for maybe the meat, but even that is a stretch. I ate part of it anyways. Because nothing's worse than waking up on vacation hungover, and getting some food into your system is a good idea.

Let me summarize:

Breakfast - somewhat Paleo

Lunch - what lunch? oh, you mean sleep... yeah, that was Paleo

Dinner - partially Paleo

post-Dinner haggis - maybe Paleo

post-drinking snack - definitely not Paleo

Paleo fail. Of my food choices, I went for the most reasonable Paleo option without being super demanding of hold this and that... And really, all you can ask for when you're traveling Paleo is to do your best. Now, if you're celiac or have a food allergy, obviously you can find stuff because you'll be much more careful, but for me, I figured, while in Rome Glasgow... So, with the happiness from being in Scotland, I tolerated my gluten headaches and upset stomach from dairy.

Ow, blisters...

Last Thursday night I stroked a quad. I know what you're thinking: She did what???

A quad is a 4-person boat in which the rowers scull, meaning that you row with two oars. Stroking the boat means I was the stroke seat (sitting in the stern of the boat) and set the pace for the rest of the boat. I was stroke seat in college too, but we rowed sweep then, meaning we used one longer oar. I also started having asthma attacks every time I stroked. One of the attacks was bad enough to send me to the hospital. But I'm happy to report that I did not have an asthma attack last night. Yay!

When I rowed in college, we weren't allowed to use gloves. It was supposedly a safety concern. I guess the oar could have slipped out of our hands, resulting in the oar smacking us in the face and possibly flipping us out of the boat (worst case scenario). My current crew team falls under the masters category, since we're not rowing with a school. My team could care less if we wear gloves. In fact, a large number of us do. I use a pair of little boy-sized football gloves because they're grippy.

Anyways, I don't like to scull with gloves because the Velcro strap on the left glove tends to scrape against my right wrist and it feels like it's going to get pulled open. So last night, for the first time since rejoining crew, I rowed without gloves. The result? 11 new blisters on my hands. Two of the blisters ripped open on my left hand, and somehow I got blisters underneath those. Impressive, huh? I also have lots of little scrapes on the first two knuckles of my left hand from the fingernails of my right hand scratching against them while rowing. The things we do to ourselves for sports...

After getting home, I poured some hydrogen peroxide on the open blisters to clean them out. Can you say "pain"? And my post-workout shower... Well, hot water HURTS! Despite all of this pain, I'm still kind of excited to have blisters again. It means that I was trying hard, and it's kind of like a sense of pride. Rowers, like cross-fitters, like to compare blisters. We like seeing how bad it can get. We're a weird group of people, huh?

During my novice year of rowing (sophomore year of college), I roomed with a gymnast/cheerleader. We used to talk about and compare blisters. She told me that she used to use pickle juice to dry out the blisters she got from gymnastics. It just so happened that I had an almost empty jar of pickles in the fridge, so after a weekend regatta, I decided to give it a try... I don't recommend it. Mainly it just burned, and my hands smelled like pickles for the next few days. And "pickle" isn't a great perfume choice.

A blister is a pocket of fluid that forms within the upper layers of skin. In my case with crew, the blister is formed by forceful rubbing/friction between my sweaty hands and the oar. See my post about blood blisters for how to treat blisters at home (it's basically the same). Also, don't use alcohol on the blisters because this can delay the healing process.

Lent

Every year I participate in Lent, and this year is no different. For the past 5 years or so, I've given up sodas and sweets (such as cookies and candies). I did the same thing last year. Then a week or so after Lent began, I started Paleo, and gave up a lot more things. This year, I needed to think of something different. I still have sodas and sweets every once and a while, but it's drastically lower quantities than what I used to consume in the past (I only have tonic or soda water when I have a mixed drink). So for this year, I've decided to give up TV. I already canceled my cable subscription in January, but I'm going to say no to my nightly Netflix for the next 40 days.* The reason why I've chosen to give up Netflix is that I'll come home from work and sit down to watch something on Netflix. The result is that I end up watching more and eating more food than I intended. I like watching TV and movies, but I get a bit bored and fidgety. I stave off boredom by eating. Bad plan if you ask me. I'm well aware of this habit of mine, which is why it's time to change.

So don't ask me if I know what's going on in your favorite TV series. I won't know.

And of course, I'll be using Lent to refocus on Paleo.

*I will make exceptions to watch a movie with friends or family. However, it will not be my suggestion. And I'll be bringing knitting to keep my hands busy and away from the food.

Business Trip - Part one - Flying

Last week I was on a business trip to Glasgow, Scotland. I had meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I flew out early and stayed late in order to do some sightseeing while in Glasgow. Anyways, let me give you the timeline of the past month. The week after I got back from Jamaica, one of the engineers that I work with suggested that I go with him to Glasgow for a meeting. He had seen my comments/questions on one of the sets of documents and thought it would be beneficial for me to go talk to our vendor in person. Early the next week (Jan 15) I sent in my travel authorization request form and waited to see if it would get approved, though I was not expecting that it would.

On the afternoon of Monday, January 28th, my supervisor told me that my travel authorization was going to be approved. By mid-morning on Tuesday, I got the official approved travel authorization saying that I would leave on Sunday, Feb 3, and return on Thursday, Feb 7. My company's travel agent started getting my travel plans made, but on Wednesday afternoon, one of the women handling my trip arrangements asked why I wasn't extending my trip to do sightseeing. So, I asked if I could extend the trip, leaving on Friday, Feb 1, and return on Saturday, Feb 9, and of course paying for myself on those days that I had extended the trip. On Thursday morning, the travel agent booked the flights and made hotel reservations for me. On Thursday afternoon, the updated travel authorization was approved.

On Friday afternoon, I got on a flight to Heathrow. My company has a policy that if your flight is more than 10 hours long, you fly business class. Fortunately, my flight time was close to 12 hours total. What this means, is that I got to sit in the British Airways lounge before my first flight (which comes equipped with chips, cookies, small sandwiches, beer, wine, and other spirits and mixers). This also means that my seat on the plane was one of those flat bed types. It was AWESOME! I was seated toward the center of the plane and my seat faced backward. The aisle seats faced forward and the window and center seats faced backward, which means that I actually had a seat buddy. He was originally from Amsterdam and was very interesting to talk to. And boy was he a talker! We talked for about 5 hours about engineering and shipping before I finally said that I needed to get some sleep. After less than two hours of sleep I was awake again, though I managed to sleep through breakfast.

Saturday morning UK time, I arrived in London, rushed through customs, and hopped on a plane to Glasgow. Another benefit of traveling business class is that you get to use the Fast Track lane. I landed in Glasgow around 10:20 am (6:20 am CST), and headed off to my first hotel, the Millennium Hotel, located on George Square (toward the center of town).

One thing that wasn't so great about traveling business class though is that it was difficult to stay Paleo. The foods that were available in the lounge at the airport were primarily breads and pastas, though they did have some celery and carrots that I managed to get (the gentlemen sitting in a chair across from me commented on how I made him feel bad about his food choices because he went for the pastas and cookies, while I chowed down on "rabbit food"). Also, the food on the plane came with bread, creamy sauces, and cheese. I ate around these non-Paleo choices as much as I could, but I can guarantee you that the oils that they used for cooking were not Paleo. Also, when you're traveling and tired, it's very difficult to have the will power to make those healthy food choices.

So, what I recommend for you travelers out there, is to come prepared with snacks (I had mixed up a Ziploc bag of pistachios, coconut flakes, raw cashews, raw almonds, and walnuts to hold off my food cravings). Also, if you're traveling on a flight where you will be served a meal, get onto the airline's website and see if you can request a special meal. British Airways does have options for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, Muslim, etc. meals, though for this particular flight, I did not have the option to order a gluten-free meal. Staying Paleo while traveling is all about being prepared. It's tough though, and I admit that I didn't stay strong for the entire time I was in Scotland, but that will come later...

Lack of Computer Access

I don't have much computer access right now, so my posts will be lacking for a few more days, plus I'm busy with work. However, I'll leave you with a photo of what I feel like sometimes when my alarm goes off or when someone jumps on my bed at 6:45 in the morning to wake me up (you know who you are)...

Who dares disturb my sleep? http://imgur.com/irPBIOi

And I'll send you to some humorous videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/BadLipReading

And my favorite: O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics

Knives

One of my most favorite Christmas presents was a Wüsthof Silverpoint knife block set. It was a gift from my parents and if I didn't already love them, this gift totally would have bought my love. A few months ago I had invested in a 8" chef knife made by J.A. Henckels. It's a good knife, but the chef knife of the Silverpoint set is amazing. It's like slicing through air, or through butter with a hot knife. The knives are so light and sharp. Sigh. They're awesome.

My family and I have a long history of accidentally slicing our fingers open when chopping veggies, etc. I've even did a safety topic at work on knife safety as a result of a slice across the palm of my hand while trying to cut open a melon. What I can tell you as a result of that safety topic is that it's safer for you if you have a sharper knife? Sounds kind of strange, but the reasoning for a sharper knife is that you require less force to chop things and therefore are less likely to slip and slice your hand open with a lot of force. And with the amount of meat, veggies, and fruit that I slice, dice, and chop, it's a good idea to invest in good knives. You don't necessarily have to go with an entire set at once, but I highly recommend getting a chef's knife - 8". There is a proper way to hold a chef's knife though, so check out the articles below:

Anatomy of a Chef's Knife

How to Use a Chef's Knife

How-To Video

Plus, it's cool to know how to chop things properly and quickly. So go out and learn!