Cooking really is an art

I was cooking eggs the other morning, and some of the egg whites spilled out to form a dolphin shape (at the top).  At least that's what it looks like to me.  The eye is an air bubble.  I was so shocked that I knew I had to take a picture.  This was totally accidental; I did not purposefully engineer this design in any way, nor is it photoshopped (except to orient the picture correctly since my camera took it sideways).

Yes, I ate a dolphin - one made of eggs.  It was delicious.

Beets - The Candy Vegetable

Beets are fantabulous (fantastic + fabulous).  Prior to this year I would never have eaten them on purpose.  My only experience eating beets was many years ago eating them at a farmer's house.  I did not like them, but it was not until recently that I considered they were pickled.  I don't enjoy pickled anything.  The vinegar and salt overwhelm the flavor of the vegetable, mutating it into something it shouldn't taste like.  What made me decide to try beets again was a recipe from Spark People, a diet plan website that I subscribe to occasionally that creates meal plans based on healthy food and recipes.  I was challenged with the recipe of a beet salad.  It was actually the recipe that broke my resolve to stay on the plan.  It called for fresh beets, but I could not find those in the grocery store.  Reluctantly, I bought canned beets even though I thought they would be pickled.  I kept finding substitution recipes to eat instead of the beet salad.  Eventually I gave up on the salad idea, and the beets became just a can taking up space in my pantry.  Several times, I considered just donating the can to various food drives, but I always forgot to get around to it.

Finally, I decided that I was going to throw out the can, but before tossing it out, I would try one.  Beets have a very unique flavor.  The first thing I noticed was that these beets were not pickled, so I kept eating them.  They were very sweet, but they still tasted weird to me.  The odd flavor was too interesting for me to stop trying it.  I have since bought several cans of beets.

The other day however, I found some fresh beets in the organic section of produce.  I decided to bake them as opposed to boiling.  The outside was very rough so I scrubbed it with a veggie brush until it turned red all over.  I cut off the leafy top and the root end.  I found this recipe for baking instructions online and baked them at 400F for an hour.  I stuck them in the fridge to cool.  Once they cooled down, I rubbed off the outer layer of skin to finish them.  They taste so awesome!  They taste (not surprisingly) even better than the canned beets.  The fresh baked beets taste good enough to eat hot or cold, and they are so much sweeter.  I already knew that I would be growing beets in my garden this Spring, but now it's double guaranteed.  Beets are more like dessert than just a vegetable.  I look forward to trying them in more recipes.

The Awesome that is Slow Cooking

Imagine if all it took to have a delicious, savory dinner was to put meat in a pot, add some spices, push a button, and let the meal cook itself.  This is all completely possible with a slow cooker, also known as a crock pot.  I have tried this myself on whole chickens and pairs of Cornish hens with great success each time.  The meat is far more moist than if it were roasted in the oven.  It comes out so tender that the meat is falling off the bone.  Instead of carving the meat off with a knife, I can use a spoon.  My favorite method is to use two wooden spatulas to pry the meat from the bone.

Once you have acquired a slow cooker big enough for a whole chicken, there are 3 things you need to make amazing food.  The first step is to chop up some vegetables.  One onion is sufficient, but you could go further and add some chopped carrots and celery.  I cooked a turkey breast yesterday and had no onions, so instead I used chopped leeks.  It was still very delicious.  The chopped vegetables are the first thing to go into the slow cooker, enough to mostly cover the bottom.

The second step is the seasoning.  Mix it up before getting your hands dirty with the meat.  Paprika is a good start to the herb mixture because it adds a lot of color to the mix.  Garlic powder and onion powder add lots of concentrated flavor to the mix.  Cayenne pepper is good both for color and flavor.  Also add a bit of black pepper and salt just to round out the flavor.  Beyond that any herb would be a great addition.  I enjoy thyme, rosemary, sage, and ginger, usually only one or two per mix, but sometimes I go crazy and add everything.  You could even add cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, or chili powder.  Whatever floats your boat.  If you enjoy slow cooked meat, you'll likely be doing this a lot since it is so easy.  Try out different combinations each time you cook and see what you like.

The last ingredient is, of course, the meat.  My rule of thumb is to use a whole chicken or something else of equivalent size.  That way I don't have to fiddle with changing the cook time or amount of other ingredients, and I also know how much food to expect.  Clean it, rub it down with the herb mixture, and put it in the slow cooker.  Add the lid, and set the cooker to high power for four hours.  Bon appétit!

Water is the Best Drink

Water is my favorite drink.  It's free and readily available.  It's easy to store and will last much longer than other drinks even after the container has been opened.  It doesn't need any additional ingredients to be drinkable (unless you are camping, then I would recommend adding tiny amounts of chlorine if the water is from a natural source).  It's no calorie (in fact it burns calories to drink it if the water is cold) and goes well with any food.

During my week trying polyphasic sleep, I had to drink lots of water just to stay awake since caffeine would have interfered with my ability to nap on time.  Getting less sleep caused me to be even more dehydrated since I didn't have my nightly hibernations to warm up under a blanket.  I found that once I started eating more fruit and vegetables, I was able to stay better hydrated.  

About a week after returning to monophasic sleep, my skin started breaking out.  I was also really tired all the time.  It finally occurred to me that I had stopped drinking much water at all.  The same day I noticed the break out starting, I began drinking lots of water.  As soon as I noticed that my glass was empty, I would refill it.  I noticed a difference by the end of the day.  The blemishes stopped getting worse, and I did not get any more of them.  

Winter is a very dehydrating time of year.  For starters, the cold and wind dry out my skin.  My muscles get stiff from shivering.  The idea of going outside is unpleasant.  The idea of drinking a cold beverage is not much more appealing.  During the warm months, it is easy to drink all the water I need because it feels good to cool down.  I get really lazy in Autumn because I lose all motivation to exercise and eat right.  I just want to curl up under a blanket and go to sleep until Spring.  

It is not until I decide to feel warm in spite of the cold that I feel able to exercise and drink lots of water.  I find that by drinking cool water, I actually feel warmer.  The warmth is caused by burning calories to heat the water to body temperature.  Once I make the conscious choice to drink more water and follow through on that choice with action, the rest is easy.  The cool water warms me up, improves circulation, and makes me feel ready for anything.  

Support Your Local Dog Park

Little Rock has a fantastic dog park.  I feel lucky to live in a city where I can take my dog to a public park where he can socialize with other dogs and run as much as he wants.  We frequent Murray Park which is along the Arkansas River.  It's down the road from the Big Dam Bridge.  When I do a lot of running, I take my dog with me along the river trail, although the trail bridges have caused some controversy this year.  Big Dam Bridge is a pedestrian trail built over a lock and dam.  I have often been annoyed at the amount of dog waste I see there despite there being doggy bags at either end of the bridge.  I don't like litterbugs, much less people who allow their dogs to defecate on paths meant for foot traffic (sometimes even bare feet).  To me it is a no brainer: pick it up and throw it away!  If nothing else, at least discourage the dog from squatting until it finds some grass or shrubbery.  It's easy to do this by tugging him when he starts making the motions, and if you pause for a while in a grassy spot before getting on the bridge, it may encourage the dog to go before polluting the trail.  

I realize that I am going off on a tangent about the inappropriately located dog waste.  When I started reading newspaper articles stating that the mayor was going to ban dogs on the trail bridges, I was upset.  A new trail bridge recently went in near the Big Dam Bridge that connected to a peninsula jutting out into the river.  I was excited to be able to explore more in that direction and be able to take my dog on my long walks.  Then I was faced with the possibility of not having this privilege because so many other people don't clean up after their animals.  If you are a dog owner, and you don't clean up after it, just find it a new owner, because you don't deserve to be in charge of caring for another being.  Dogs have needs.  They have to be trained to follow the rules of our society in order to coexist with humans.  In return, their owners are expected to leave public areas as they left it before they brought their dogs there.  It may feel silly to carry a bag of dog waste around with you, but it sure beats contributing to a disgusting world.  The joys of keeping a dog far outweigh the inconvenience of acting as dog janitor on outings.  If you're really against carrying it yourself, train your dog to wear a dog pack and make him stow and cart it around.  The waste is in a plastic bag, so it's contained enough to get it to a trash can.  

At the dog park, the dogs have free reign to use any place they want for their own personal bathroom.  Murry Park's dog area has bag stations all over it so that even if the owner forgets to bring bags, there are still bags available.  The dog park also has lots of gravel so that even the messiest messes can be quickly cleaned up.

Don't make someone else step in it - clean up after your dog so we can all still enjoy local parks.

Self Made Existence

This morning I enjoyed French toast made from bread that I baked myself.  I made that bread when I was experimenting with polyphasic sleep which gave me the time to bake it.  Essentially, I gave up sleep so that I could enjoy delicious homemade French toast.

Next year, I plan to grow a garden.  Gardening takes a commitment of time that I previously have not expended.  What activity will I have to give up to accommodate that change?  I could give up sleep, but really there's not much point since my work schedule requires me to burn daylight.  I'm not going to garden at night because it's hard to see.  I could give up television.  That is something I've given up for periods of time in the past.  It is completely possible to do it again.  I could also take a good look at everything I do and every distraction and question whether it is important enough to keep me from investing time in homegrown food.

Opportunity cost is a part of every decision.  If I focus on what is truly important to me (growing wholesome food while keeping a day job), then I can start to tune in to opportunities to encourage that goal.  The goal is a statement: I will do this.  Focus is the belief that the goal is important.  In order to focus on my goal, I have to keep two realities in my mind: the reality that results from my completion of the goal, and the reality that results from my failure to do what is necessary to complete my goal. By comparing these two realities, I can make decisions with clarity instead of doubt.  I can overcome fatigue and boredom to reach the success that is waiting on the other side of perseverance.

I can.  I will.  I want to.  That is all it takes to lead a life that I choose instead of the life I am handed.

Polyphasic Sleep Conclusions

Polyphasic sleep is not for the weak willed. I've been trying the Everyman 4 sleep schedule where I take 4 naps roughly every 4 hours and then have core sleep that is longer than individual naps in the early morning. I have succeeded in failing. I could not get a handle on the midnight to 4AM stretch of time. I can get up at 5AM just fine, but when my body wants sleep, there's no reasoning with my brain that 4AM is not too early.

I was really on a roll after the first day. The novelty of being awake at times when I am usually asleep was all the motivation I needed to stay awake those extra hours. But my plan to slowly migrate toward the Uberman sleep schedule was flawed. I am able to motivate myself to do something that I know is difficult, but when I'm asleep, I am in an entirely different context than reality. What I decide is urgent in reality had no impact on the motivations of my dreaming mind. When I am woken from a pleasant or urgent dream, my only goal becomes to stay asleep so I can continue to chase my dream quest.  Reality loses all importance.

Here are some other problems I encountered. My household consists of my spouse, cat, dog, and me. Everyone was accustomed to being in a certain place at certain times. The cat hates the dog. I had to let the dog stay out of his crate longer at night because my late night cooking and cleaning woke him up and made him noisy. When he was allowed to roam the house, he used his freedom to sleep peacefully on the couch. Even with him being practically comatose, the cat refuses to occupy the same room and protests by using inappropriate places for a litter box. This in turn made my husband cranky. Dealing with this much chaos while undergoing sleep deprivation is not fun. Granted, those problems can be solved with patience, something I had in abundance.  However, with so much time spent at work and so much  at home time spent with everyone else being asleep, I can see the dissonance between my perspective of reality and others' perception of my chronic napping.  I can see that it may seem like I was abandoning trouble at every turn without a care since I had more time to for leisure.  The polyphasic adaptation would be a lot easier without the stress of daily obligations.

Another issue I had was a problem with dehydration. My hands can get do dry in winter that they crack and bleed. One of my remedies is wearing moisture gloves at night after caking my dry patches with Neosporin. I found it hard to do that since I never stayed down very long. I had to drink lots of water to stay awake which resulted in more trips to the bathroom, hence more washing my hands. My eyes were always extremely dry, too. I see this as more of a problem with my diet than the sleep schedule. However, cutting back on delta stage sleep does seem to increase dehydration. I believe that's part of why we sleep so long at night - it's a daily hibernation to cut down on resource demands.

I do not regret trying polyphasic sleep. I gained a massive amount of insight from this trial about myself and about existence. I also found time to jump start some other habits which I intend to keep, even if it requires that I miss out on a little sleep to keep up with them. I find that a few minutes of Pilates in the morning, a long walk in the early evening, and yoga just before bedtime is very rewarding. I found it easier to eat healthier since high sugar foods and caffeine would make me crash before my scheduled nap time.  Really the past week of polyphasic sleep was like a boot camp that pushed me to extremes so that I had to consciously make every choice instead of just following a routine.

I do not consider the experiment of polyphasic sleep to be over. I am not going to try to sleep deprive myself in the near future. I can already see reasons that my current course of action will not get me to the goal of a 22 hour day. I will try this again in the future after I work on developing my self discipline into a less flabby state.