Those 70’s Shall Return

If you are not a skier, you are most likely anxious for spring, and aching to get out for a ride. Let your heart not be troubled. Though the 70’s, a near perfect temperature range, may be a ways away, this very weekend there is a bike swap in La Crosse (Feb.28). La Crosse with their La Crosse Omnium people are even now promoting their first event of the season; a time trial, criterium and road race; May 1st–3rd. It is the same weekend for the WORS season opening event The Iola Bump and Jump; one of my most favorite WORS races (wink wink). Road bike or mountain bike your next fix is a mere two months away.

If you happen to be a woman, I suspect I have many women readers, Ray’s Indoor MTB Park is having a women’s only day March 13th. It is a whole weekend dedicated to women. It is also the very same weekend of The Bike-O-Rama in Madison. Of course your all counting your secret stashes and dreaming of the Bike Expo in Milwaukee; April10th-12th.

Some say “Preparation is the key to success.” I say, “Succeeding is the key to success. It’s time to prepare to succeed.”

The odd part of this Winter is that it started early, very cold, is ending late, very cold, but the middle was just right. It must be heaven for the ski hills right now with the frequent extreme cold, not to mention the late snows we enjoyed. They will make up a lot of lost ground if it doesn’t warm up too quickly, but wouldn’t the 70’s feel nice right now.

Speaking of the 70’s, and the Bulletproof Diet, I was looking over bulletproof cooking techniques and my mind went to this Turbo Cooker Plus our friend had given us some years ago, that I had been trying to sell for $20 as rummage the last few years.

It’s a steam/convection kind of cooking thing, that if you enjoy attentively creating your meals you can cook your whole meal in this one  not too little thingy. You just put the stuff in that cooks slowest first and keep adding items respectively. It appears to be a bulletproof way of cooking from how I understand it. …Yeah, I know, our stove looks like its from the 70’s too.

Some of the literature was dated 2002 but the recipe cards, not to mention the instructional video, scream 70’s. My wife was happy how quickly she cooked some whole boneless skinless chicken breasts last night. We looked at the guide to see how long to cook the breasts. The guide had listed large boneless skinless chicken breasts (as opposed to instructions for smaller breasts) at 5-6oz. My wife had bought a package of four breasts, on sale. It was a three pound package. …That’s 12oz a breast! Twice the size of forty years ago.

It’s called GMO chicken people; Genetically Modified Object. My wife and I both felt we bulked up over night, after our chicken dinner. Makes me wish we had gotten to the farmer’s market this last Saturday. The chicken was moist and nicely cooked and my wife steamed the broccoli on one of the racks at the end while the chicken was still cooking.

The Oscars? Did we watch? I was waiting to throw my hands over my eyes, when Lady Gaga tore off that princess gown she was wearing. It never happened and I ended up pleasantly impressed. We still have all those movie gift cards. Just haven’t been interested and when we catch some time to see a movie… “American Sniper” is just too long for the times we could catch it. “Jupiter Rising” looks interesting because Mila Kunis stars in it. (I bet she’s getting paid more than the other actors and actresses in the movie) My wife and I have been fans of Mila Kunis since we saw her on “That 70’s Show.” We thought then that She and Ashton were a perfect couple. Everyone around my age knew a couple, just like their characters in the show, when they were growing up.

I was 267lbs today after lunch. If I am soundly under 265lbs by the end of the month I will be supremely confident in the Bulletproof Diet, even though I will have missed my goal.

Now for the $87 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Still the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.

The Cravings

Are you craving a Pizza? The last Metro Mountain Bikers’ monthly meeting was at a Pizza joint. It was busy, noisy and the service… well there wasn’t any if you weren’t there before the meeting started and chased down a server.

Fat Tuesday passed without a Punchki or Paczki. Regrettable, though I always feel a warmth in my heart recalling working in New Orleans some decades ago on Fat Tuesday. Police of every stripe, civil and military, form up across the streets at midnight and pummel, beat and manhandled anyone who doesn’t get off the street. A story I have related to various degrees on several occasions in the past. Am I wrong to delight in the well deserved sufferings of others? Drunken and depraved fools getting their up commence; a metaphor for justice in which, if not lacking in our daily lives, all would be happier and looking to a brighter future.

Some may crave food, others justice, some just a good ride on their bike. Lapham Peak State Park is, or was at the time of the meeting, in good shape for fat bike riding. The Lapham Peak Fat Bike Series was a great success. They will be donating the profits to Lapham Peak. If you ever visited the park, went into their buildings, you would see that it is supported and cared for by many user groups who donate time and money to support park use. Much in the same way Metro Mountain Bikers supports mountain biking, by building trails with their own money and volunteers. Word is, when it warms up, their will be not only Odd Tuesday Rides but newly established Even Monday Maintenance Days. It will make volunteering a bit more convenient for those who need to plan ahead or don’t keep a close eye on the Internet.

Justice? It’s only for those who are above it. I seriously doubt that there are not people in my neighborhood who know exactly whose plow struck my car in our alley. And they had to swing in several feet to hit me. The first thing my friend asked me when I told him what happened was, “Did they do it on purpose?” (my neighbors snow blower cleared the snow beside my car) I guess I am not deemed as important as others and will suffer far greater financially than the guilty party would if he would fess up. But my book sales are beginning to move. Another novel and short story coming out this summer.

So I did some weight training and really got hit with the cravings. This always happens when I exercise. I thought it might be different with the bulletproof diet. I drop weight when I don’t expect it and add a pound or two when I expect the otherwise. For many years a went through a cycle of gaining ten pounds in the Winter, then dropping five in the warmer months. I leveled off the last few years, but I hold great confidence that warmer weather will really have me dropping the pounds on this diet. We are not 100% into the bulletproof diet. Our idea of throwing out everything that isn’t bulletproof (as the author recommends), is to eat it.

The bulletproof coffee creates a baseline from which you can judge the effect of other foods on your body. Yes, high fructose corn syrup causes cravings. I consider it near a crime that people are forced to live off corn syrup, if they are buying anything but produce and fresh meats and eggs. Of course most all your meat and fowl are fed corn, and even worse soy.

Sometimes the official bulletproof coffee (the grounds) goes on sale, if you’d ever like to try it. They keep their product fresh, so they have to keep the inventory moving. Not sure if you have to sign up for the e-mail to get the offer.

Despite the fun I make of myself here on the blog, for the entertainment of you my readers, we have been eating fairly healthy with moderate portions for many years. We don’t suffer greatly with cravings. I have a goal to get below 260lbs by the end of the month with this new diet. Not sure if I’ll get there but I have to try. The first twelve pounds were easy, now it’s little by little.

There are the Pizza cravings and Oreo cravings. They pass about fifteen minutes after the contraband is consumed. Are Oreo’s more addictive than cocaine? I never used cocaine but I imagine Oreos could be. Fortunately the withdrawal is over before you can get back to the grocery store. (no I haven’t recently indulged in Oreos)

Lent has begun. A time to abstain and attend Friday fish fries. Is it just me that finds a contradiction in the feelings and hopes we hold on Christmas and the regrets and humble gratitude experienced on Easter?

Peace on Earth Goodwill to Man, and stay warm, even if you’re fasting.

But not before the $87 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Still the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.

The Meat, The Meat, The Meat

As MacArthur would have said if he had had a Bar-B-Q show on PBS. So, as my wife was in a cultural panic, her husband telling her what we should eat, in bewilderment I asked her, “Is it that hard to understand? Buy protein, not root beer popsicles and fudge bars.”

So she came home with a peperoni pizza.

The Metro Mountain Bikers’ monthly meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, evening at Magellan’s/M2 on Main Street in Waukesha. If we go and buy a pizza it will be a thin crust.

The best spaghetti sauce I have ever had is made with ground venison. So I bought some ground elk at the Winter Farmer’s Market Saturday, located in an auxiliary building at the Milwaukee Domes. You can sign up for their weekly e-news letter to find out what is available week to week. Parking is free.

I also bought some beef liver from a grass fed cow, or rather from the farmer that took his liver. Last week we got us some Lamb at the Farmer’s Market. Real Lamb, less than one year old, unlike the mutton from New Zealand that I heard has been marketed as Lamb here in the US. Sweet savory mouth watering Lamb, and that was just the stew meat my wife put in her curry. It was delicious; Wisconsin Lamb. They give a special feed to the Lambs a few weeks before slaughter to create a consistent flavor as they supply many restaurants. It includes some grains, so it isn’t bulletproof, as in the diet, but did I mention that it is delicious.

You can also buy fresh farmed fish. Farmed fish is also not bulletproof. I almost bought some trout but since my wife hasn’t been around the last few days it wouldn’t have been cooked up too soon. In a documentary we watched on the Paleo Diet; “The Perfect Human Diet”, they found that modern man from the Paleo period, existing together with the Neanderthals, outlasted the Neanderthals. The only difference in their diet, determined from bone testing, was fish. In the orient fishing is often considered a form of meditation.

You can find much of what is at the Farmer’s Market at a place such as Whole Foods or The Outpost, but the open market is a nice way to start a Saturday. You can find locally grown fresh vegetables, better than organic (you have to check that stand out, there every week), and stuff like Hickory Syrup (the syrup guy only comes in once a month).

I went to the gym today. A bit of weightlifting, and some chocolate whey protein mixed, in non-homogenized batch pasteurized cream on top whole milk, when I got back. Whey protein is bulletproof. A first entry in my fitness log for 2015. For now I will keep my log on my Yahoo Group page. I was debating whether to transfer it all to a spread sheet on one of my older computers. Yahoo has really been dumbing down their features over the years. They had a perfectly good spreadsheet function that they changed to something that freezes up and cannot collate by date; only by order of entry.

Now I have one more fudge bar to dispose of.

But not before the $86 question: What were my three most favorite WORS races? Still the same question. Check out the Charity Jackpot Page link in the sidebar to possibly triple the amount.