One of the most interesting things I see on a regular basis are cyclists who seem to have a little too much in the belly department. It's always a little humorous to see people dressed in the standard biking jersey and shorts carrying some extra weight. While these individuals are fairly active, especially those I see most days commuting to work, there are several reason I believe this to be the case.
Cycling isn't particularly a full-body exercise, especially if you're leisurely biking without an intent to treat it as working out. While it's great that you're biking to work or getting out on the weekends for an easy ride, not using your upper body at all just might lead to a slight pot belly. Having an overall good body of work would probably require working out the entire body.
Another idea is more psychological, in that people seek to reward themselves after exercising. Except, instead of rewarding, they use exercise as an excuse to maintain unhealthy parts of a lifestyle ("if I go to the gym, then I can have this chocolate bar/burger/etc"). Obviously these things don't cancel out, and good overall health requires a good diet as well.
Maybe so, maybe not, but these cyclists always give me a good chuckle.
Monday, May 25, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
City Sterility and The Idyllic Use of Rustic
Recently I received a catalog from Uncommon Goods in the mail, and several items were highlighted as being "rustic". For example, a set of large wooden dice in a brown cloth bag and a beer caddie made out of wood are both characterized as "rustic". While perusing the catalog, it was very apparent that Uncommon Goods tended to target what I call rich "city people", where many of the items served very specialized functions and command large price premiums.
This interesting sales pitch of essentially just using more natural materials in making objects seem more "rustic" is an interesting observation of the thought process of those who primarily are exposed to cities. Our living spaces have become jungles of concrete and metal, and the great outdoors are often absent from the urban environment.
With these observations I tend to associate cities with being too sterile. Everything is supposed to be clean from the environment, and nature is seen as dirty. Dirt almost seems revolting and non-domesticated animals become freaks. People have become so separated from the outdoors to the point that it seems to be a plague that contaminates on contact. (Ok that might be a big too much hyperbole, but the general idea stands).
What this has been replaced by is a more idyllic view of the "rustic" country style, where people sit on their beautiful porches all day overlooking perfect views (which of course are somehow super clean without the rest of nature getting in the way (or the real life). It would be entertaining to see "city people" spend an extended period of time away from the cities to see what it's really like to live out in the middle of nowhere.
This interesting sales pitch of essentially just using more natural materials in making objects seem more "rustic" is an interesting observation of the thought process of those who primarily are exposed to cities. Our living spaces have become jungles of concrete and metal, and the great outdoors are often absent from the urban environment.
With these observations I tend to associate cities with being too sterile. Everything is supposed to be clean from the environment, and nature is seen as dirty. Dirt almost seems revolting and non-domesticated animals become freaks. People have become so separated from the outdoors to the point that it seems to be a plague that contaminates on contact. (Ok that might be a big too much hyperbole, but the general idea stands).
What this has been replaced by is a more idyllic view of the "rustic" country style, where people sit on their beautiful porches all day overlooking perfect views (which of course are somehow super clean without the rest of nature getting in the way (or the real life). It would be entertaining to see "city people" spend an extended period of time away from the cities to see what it's really like to live out in the middle of nowhere.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Trying New Ingredients
Part of cooking is learning new things to expand the cookbook, which definitely helps cut down on the monotony and repetitiveness that cooking can become. So every once in a while, I'll pick up a new ingredient from the Asian grocery store and give it a shot, often with mixed results (as expected).
My latest epic failure was cooking with Thai chilies. I'm a huge fan of Thai food, and I though it would be interesting to substitute a chili paste I use with some Thai chilies. However, I greatly underestimated their spiciness the first around, and ended up dicing six of them for a single serving, seeds and all. Naturally that did not end well, and it took me almost an hour to finish my dinner. Since then I've cut down the amount of chilies I use in a single serving (one or two now supplemented with a little chili paste) to add another flavor profile to my dishes.
Lately I've been greatly expanding my mushroom library when it comes to cooking. Before I consciously began exploring new ingredients my primary mushrooms and fungi of choice were white mushroom, shiitake mushroom, and wood ear fungus. Recently I've began cooking with enoki, oyster, and chanterelle (at the right price) mushrooms. However, I'd have to say that my favorite has been the shimeji mushrooms, particularly hon shimeji (which should NOT be eaten raw). The particular variety seems to absorb flavors pretty well without wilting too much; maintaining enough crunch without being bland. I've tried it with several different preparations, and it seems to hold up as a pretty versatile to the point where it seems to have become my mushroom of preference. Shimeji mushrooms also seem to keep much better than other varieties of fresh mushrooms, which also makes it an attractive option since I only go grocery shopping once a week.
My latest epic failure was cooking with Thai chilies. I'm a huge fan of Thai food, and I though it would be interesting to substitute a chili paste I use with some Thai chilies. However, I greatly underestimated their spiciness the first around, and ended up dicing six of them for a single serving, seeds and all. Naturally that did not end well, and it took me almost an hour to finish my dinner. Since then I've cut down the amount of chilies I use in a single serving (one or two now supplemented with a little chili paste) to add another flavor profile to my dishes.
Lately I've been greatly expanding my mushroom library when it comes to cooking. Before I consciously began exploring new ingredients my primary mushrooms and fungi of choice were white mushroom, shiitake mushroom, and wood ear fungus. Recently I've began cooking with enoki, oyster, and chanterelle (at the right price) mushrooms. However, I'd have to say that my favorite has been the shimeji mushrooms, particularly hon shimeji (which should NOT be eaten raw). The particular variety seems to absorb flavors pretty well without wilting too much; maintaining enough crunch without being bland. I've tried it with several different preparations, and it seems to hold up as a pretty versatile to the point where it seems to have become my mushroom of preference. Shimeji mushrooms also seem to keep much better than other varieties of fresh mushrooms, which also makes it an attractive option since I only go grocery shopping once a week.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Visiting The South
This past weekend I traveled to the deep south for the first time (because we all know Florida doesn't count as the deep south), spending the weekend in the Mississippi gulf coast town of Ocean Springs. Naturally I wasn't expecting how the south is portrayed in the media and entertainment industries where everyone sits on their porches with sweet tea overlooking vast plains of grass (and other portrayed stereotypes). However, I am unable to provide a great perspective, as I was pretty busy with an event most of the weekend and I wasn't able to really explore. I was only able to go out to eat once, and that was the Wendy's next to the hotel because the Waffle House was too far away. All my other meals were catered as part of the event, which didn't help me explore the south.
That being said, there were a good number of observations. Everyone I engaged with seemed happy to just chat and shoot the breeze, starting with my taxi driver from the airport, who essentially gave me a small commentary of the coastal areas we were passing from Gulfport to Ocean Springs and continuing onward with the drivers of the shuttles for the event. At Wendy's (and a restaurant at the airport) every customers were addressed as Sir of Madam. They're also really into their soda (or coke as they call it). The Wendy's had one of those touchscreen soda machines, but the selection was huge-they carried seemingly every known variation of Coca Cola (including the flavored variations) and Fanta flavors (lime) that I had never heard of before. No wonder obesity is such a problem. They also really like their sweet tea, and I have to say it's quite tasty, and I even took the liberty of making my first Arnold Palmer (and I see why people like it so much). However I would have to say that the Mississippi gulf coast is a place I would like to stay for an extended period of time-sure the food would be good for a few days, but after a while I would easily get bored.
That being said, there were a good number of observations. Everyone I engaged with seemed happy to just chat and shoot the breeze, starting with my taxi driver from the airport, who essentially gave me a small commentary of the coastal areas we were passing from Gulfport to Ocean Springs and continuing onward with the drivers of the shuttles for the event. At Wendy's (and a restaurant at the airport) every customers were addressed as Sir of Madam. They're also really into their soda (or coke as they call it). The Wendy's had one of those touchscreen soda machines, but the selection was huge-they carried seemingly every known variation of Coca Cola (including the flavored variations) and Fanta flavors (lime) that I had never heard of before. No wonder obesity is such a problem. They also really like their sweet tea, and I have to say it's quite tasty, and I even took the liberty of making my first Arnold Palmer (and I see why people like it so much). However I would have to say that the Mississippi gulf coast is a place I would like to stay for an extended period of time-sure the food would be good for a few days, but after a while I would easily get bored.
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