Gearing Up

It's been a long time since I've blogged anything, but I finally mustered up enough motivation to post something today. I'm going to try to contribute more in the future. Meg has lovingly mentioned to me that I'm not carrying my weight. I used to say the same thing to her when we first started this blog, so it's really only fair for me to take some flak for it.

It should come as no surprise that my first post after a long hiatus is about football. The season is right around the corner and I am ridiculously excited about it. The first NFL preseason game is tonight (!!!) and the Redskins play their first one this Thursday. I assume everyone has already blocked off September 13 on their calendar, which is opening day for the 'Skins.

As part of my wedding gift last year, Meg got me a Redskins flag to hang outside the house on game days. We didn't have a flag holder or a flagpole though, and had a surprisingly difficult time finding ones we liked at Lowes/Home Depot (apparently Fall/Winter is not a popular time to be buying flag-hanging equipment), so I resorted to hanging the flag from the top of the porch with packaging tape every Sunday last year. It got the job done, but it was perhaps not the classiest workmanship you've ever seen.

So this past Christmas she got me the flag holder and the flag pole, along with a Redskins decal for my car, which I had been asking for (it concerns me that people driving by me on the highway might not be aware that I'm a Redskins fan. Imagine if they assumed I was a Carolina Panthers fan, just because I happen to live in NC. It's unthinkable, really.). Being the wonderful and appreciative husband that I am, I let everything sit in the garage for 7 months until today.



I am officially ready for the start of the season! All we need now is an American flag to hang so we can be patriotic on the 4th of July.

HTTR! (That's "Hail to the Redskins" if you're a n00b.)

Discovery Health

I really miss having that channel. Mystery Diagnosis, Trauma - Life in the ER, The Critical Hour, the plethora of specials.

Recently, Matt was my Discovery Health Channel:

Last Saturday, we were painting our master bathroom (pictures/blog post to come), and Matt reached down to itch his foot. And found that. I wish this picture could show you how raised and angry looking it was. And it really didn't capture the array of reds and purples that were present. I quick quizzed him on symptoms - fever? achiness? throat closing in? He remembered that it had been itching him for a while - at least a week, but had never noticed the welt. Or the welt was new. Who knows.

We gave his mom a quick call (she's a nurse) and she asked a lot of the same questions we thought of before. We all decided that without any systemic symptoms, there was probably not a whole lot that could be done at a walk-in clinic on a Saturday.

I gave him some hydrocortizone cream to put on. He looked around online at tick and spider bite pictures. This was not a great activity for arachnophobia Matt.

It's been a week now, and he never developed any other symptoms and the rash has gone down significantly. So I guess we'll never know exactly what happened. But we have the pictures just in case...

CSA Week 18

This week's goodness:

peaches
tomatoes
butterbeans
sweet corn
zephyr squash
sweet pepper mix

We already ate all the peaches, but here's the rest of it:

Humor. Science. Baboons.

Earlier in the summer, I read A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky, PhD and have been wanting to extol it's very existence ever since.

In the Physiology class I took last semester, the professor opted to show a PBS/Nat Geo documentary on the day scheduled in the syllabus that we were to discuss stress and its effects on the systems of the body. Awesome, right? No lecture, no PowerPoint, no note-taking. It was awesome for those reasons and more. Stress: Portrait of a Killer was an engaging and straightforward introduction to some of the research that's been done, and is being done, on the stress response.

It's believed that most animals have this autonomic cascade of physiological events in place for instances of life or death - either trying to catch something to eat, or trying not to be the something that is to be eaten. It's a quick and efficient method to gear up all the systems that will help the organism succeed (cardiovascular, nervous, etc) and turn down/off the systems that are unnecessary (reproductive, digestive, etc). And this response is designed for a quick turnaround. Immediate on, immediate off. But humans, and it appears some other primates, have somehow coopted the stress response for less life-threatening occurrences - like peer pressure, societal hierarchies, and traffic jams - and are therefore experiencing these physiological changes for a greater amount of time. So why is this so? And what are the effects on our bodies, our systems, to this extended response? From the sampling of animal and human research they presented in the film - it's not looking good. There's evidence of increased risk for cardiovascular disease, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, immune suppression, memory loss, neuronal (i.e. - brain cells!) death, etc, etc, etc. Simply put by one of the researchers, Carol Shively, PhD, (I'm summarizing, I don't remember verbatim) Stress isn't some abstract concept - it's a critical health issue demanding attention.

Sapolsky and baboon. photo credit: John Heminway

I was so intrigued by the research presented in the documentary, specifically Sapolsky's methods, I borrowed his memoir from my professor. It turned out to be a hilarious and detailed account of his time in Kenya studying a baboon troop, intermixed with anecdotes about hard lessons learned, cultural differences, and interactions with other researchers, park rangers, government "officials", and new Kenyan friends. The book strikes a balance of humor and earnest, while being personal and scientific. Even the science is written about so accessibly that anyone and everyone would get something from it. If you're looking for an entertaining and informative read, I would absolutely suggest you pick this book up. Your body will thank you!

CSA Week 17

We're down to the last few weeks of our CSA. Last Wednesday we received:

seedless watermelon
athena cantaloupe
green slicer tomato
red slicer tomato
red carmen peppers
sweet corn

Matt made fried green tomatoes last Thursday - it was a delicious surprise to come home to. And the carmen peppers were sweet - excellent with baby bella mushrooms, onions, and garlic on a homemade white pizza.

CSA Week 16

Mostly for the Moms...

fresh salsa kit
yellow squash
slicer tomatoes
snap beans
red grape tomatoes
crowder peas

*For the record: We are currently hunting for a delicious way to prepare butter (or lima) beans. Most recent attempt (steamed, then tossed with sauteed onions and simmered in a little milk) was not good enough to remove them from my "no thanks, I'll pass" food list, where they reside with ketchup, Oreos, and plain milk (as a beverage).

CSA Week 15

Finally, we remembered to grab a picture! This past week's box contained:

sweet pepper mix
red grape tomatoes
zephyr squash
butter beans
slicer tomatoes

homemade rosemary and olive oil bread.

I like cooking. Kinda. Sometimes. (Lucky for me, Matt enjoys it!) But I'm not one for following recipes. I tend to use them for inspiration and foundation - then see what else I can come up with. Additions, omissions, substitutions. I think I like the risk - will this be any good? (And once again, lucky for me, Matt's curious enough to go along with it!)

I do not usually enjoy baking. I rebel against measuring cups and spoons. The accuracy requirement intimidates me. While in many other areas of life, I am on board with following directions and executing procedures and protocols as indicated, this is not one of them. I have a few items I am able to produce with a mild amount of consistency: congo bars (shoebox brownies), fresh apple cake, shortbread, banana nut muffins, lemon poppy seed cake, and a few varieties of cookies. I am drawn to recipes with short ingredient lists and concise instructions.

However, recently, I have ventured into a new arena. And so far, it's been delicious.

We're complete suckers for crusty loaves of bread with chewy, soft insides. Toast with breakfast, alongside a bowl of homemade soup, paired with cheeses, grilled panini sandwiches - I could go on and on. And we have a beautiful rosemary bush that smells so good when you walk by, you'll find yourself salivating. And now, thanks to the interwebs, we have a recipe for an easy Rosemary and Olive Oil Loaf.

Each attempt has yielded slightly different products, and I'm still looking around online and in my beloved Joy of Cooking (a staple kitchen reference - thanks Mom!) for tricks and tips to work on the texture and finish of the loaves. So while they aren't yet close to artisan, they are pleasantly idiosyncratic. And yummy.

Before:

After:

Eat.