Happy Thorsday!

As my Thor training progresses I keep finding new motivations to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I finally returned to Facebook much to the delight of many close to me and to the dismay of a silent I'm sure. Going through some old photos I found some rather disturbing photos of myself from back in the day. Dang! I was a big boy! Now I'm not gonna rant about how disgusting  I was, it was a part of my life which is now behind me but it does give me endless motivation to get my butt out there and run everyday.

Another inspiration was a story I heard on the way to class listening to the Bert Show, about host Jeff Dauler who recently completed a triathlon and who's two main pieces of advice were:
 “In times of transition, keep moving forward.” It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you keep going forward.

And ”Remain calm. One step at a time is all you need to do.”

Hear more at: http://thebertshow.com/be-inspired-how-life-lessons-from-jeffs-triathlon-can-affect-your-life-now/

For anyone just starting an exercise regimen or facing any transition in life it can be easy to lay down and let life pass you by, but if you keep moving and taking everything one step, one day at a time anything can be accomplished. 

In a slight transition I begin my 'cut down' phase of my Thor regimen which means removing unhealthy items from my diet and increasing cardio workouts. *sigh* This is the hardest part for me solely because I love eating so much! I happened upon a friend going through food tumblrs the other day..... it was like torture for my belly. 

But I have to stick to it to arrive at the finish line. So here we go: The main carbs eaten by people are breads, potatoes and rice. This week I remove potatoes, next bread, then other negative aspect of my food group. It is these small steps in changing my diet for the better which will enable me to cross that finish line...... but in the mean time bruthas gonna need plenty of help! so if you see me downing hash browns knock that fork outa my hands! 

Happy Thorsday all!

A Body Like The Thunder God Himself!

Starting today I am revamping my workouts to prepare my body for Halloween. That's right folks, this year I am going balls to the wall in my pursuit of dressing up as Thor the god of thunder for Halloween. This is actually in partnership with a few friends who are all taking on different roles from the avengers (pictures to follow). But why Thor? why not the Hulk or Nick Fury?

I have had to finally admit to myself that while I always desired a tight, skinny jeans wearing emo kid body, in reality my physical shape is more conducive to body builder style exercises. *sigh* However instead of lamenting this fact I have chosen to embrace it fully and utilize it for an awesome costume this October. So for the next two months most of the posts here will be updates on my progress, workouts I'm using, and healthy food options that I'm using to reach my goal.

Now why not accept my current state of fitness instead of work my ass off for a costume I may wear only twice? Recently this project of mine came up in conversation when a friend/asshole pretty much said the equivalent of, "I don't think you can do it". .......... Clearly this person misunderstands my motivations, because I am a very competitive person and when someone tells me I can't do something I want to prove them wrong. As the saying goes, The best revenge is success. So to all the haters out there, enjoy dressing up as Loki, I'll be the one swinging the hammer. 

Feast on the Cheap

A quick divergence towards cooking again. I am a full time student with a full time job so eating well without frivolously spending money can be difficult. However, I have mastered certain basic principles which can be applied over and over which will keep your belly full, lips smackin, and wallet a little heavier so you can spend your money on true items of value..... like alcohol.

Lets be honest meat is rather delicious, and especially in America we have come to expect it to be a central component of every meal. This is a big one which you will have to strike from your prejudices about food if you truly desire to eat in a less expensive and healthier way, but still with plenty of taste. The trick is to find substitutes for protein which are more affordable. I'm not saying meat is bad, theirs nothing I love more than a good steak, or meaty pork ribs, but I don't usually have the time, funds, or energy to make such a culinary endeavor work.
This first recipe post will give some ideas for meatless, tasty substitutes low in cost and time to prepare:

I came up with this the other night after a day full of lifting weights and hiking/running up a mountain which left me famished and nearly passing out behind the wheel on the drive home.

For 2 people

4 medium sized red potatoes
1 can of sweet corn or substitute fresh corn if available
1/4 an onion
1/2 jalepeno pepper
3-6 pieces of okra or any other quick cooking vegetable to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of milk

Boil potatoes till soft, drain and remove from heat.
Chop onion, jalapeno, and okra and add to heated skillet with olive oil.
Once veggies begin to get soft add corn and salt and pepper. When all ingredients are acclimated to each other add the milk, stir till combined. On medium to low heat allow corn mixture to cook down till practically all the milk is gone creating a cream corn like consistency. Now while the corn is finishing take your finished potatoes drain, skin if you desire, and taking a spoon or potato masher quickly turn them into yummy lumps. Feel free to add a little milk or butter, salt and pepper to the mix to taste. When the corn is finished pour over your mashed potatoes and now you have potatoes with cream corn gravy!

Would you look at that, no meat, little fat, rather filling and you probably spent less 5-6 buck on the ingredients with leftovers for lunch. YO to the LO.

Ragu for me and you

Deep down their is a yearning in my soul for an old school Italian grandmother. This is not to say that my real grandmothers, proud Scottish women they were, were not good cooks; but lets be honest that deep seated stereotype of an Italian grandmother always cooking something delicious lingers in my thoughts like sand in your flip flops after a day at the beach. Well today I attempted to compensate for the lack of Italian grandmother in my life by making some old school Ragu sauce.

Forget the jar of Ragu you see at the supermarket, cause that ketchupey mess have no place in this old school cucina. I started this adventure knowing I wanted some tough pieces of meat with plenty of bone to flavor my sauce. While everyone may have a different interpretation of what Ragu is, I think of a meaty blend of pork, beef, possibly chicken or sausage, and of course lots of fresh tomatoes.

For the meat I decided to go a little easier on myself and shorten the potential cooking time and hassle by picking up some pork short ribs and chicken drumsticks. I skipped the sausage this time because I would have had to make an extra trip and it was hotter than dammit out so I went straight home to start this four hour process of deliciousness.

Chris's Italian (Faux) Grandmother's Ragu

2lbs of pork short ribs
2lbs of chicken drumsticks
4lbs of tomatoes (I used about 8 fresh tomatoes but if you want more or less sauce do it to taste)
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrots
2 celery stems
handfuls of basil, rosemary, oregano or whatever Mediterranean herbs you have on hand
salt and pepper to taste

Begin by knocking out the sauce part, dice up the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery then add to your sauce pan with a generous lug of olive oil. Salt and pepper and allow to sweat out their juices. Dice up the tomato  and herbs, add to onion mixture when the veggies look partially done. Allow the tomatoes and herbs to meld together and leave on low heat to allow everything to soak up each others flavor. After a while either in batches in the blender or with a hand beater, blend up the veggies into a smooth sauce and set aside on low heat.
In the meantime heat up the pan your going to be finishing your dish in, preferably a dutch oven or large pot. Add a dash of olive oil then add meat in batches to sear on both sides. Do not over cook the meat here the goal is just to flavor the pan and lock in the juices. Once all the meat has been cooked off and removed from the pan choose a deglazing medium. The best option to deglaze with is red wine but if none is on hand extra chicken stock or even just water will work. Scrape up the bits of meat from the pan with the deglazing liquid and allow it to simmer down. Once the liquid is reduced by half add the tomato sauce and mix in together. Add the meat back in and cover the pan on a low heat.
Now all that's left is to left it cook for about 2-3 hours and let the meat dissolve into the sauce. When the time approaches boil up some pasta and try to pick out any bones in the sauce. Mix together and enjoy a not so traditional but still Italian experience!

Squash Me Please!

Well I'm finally getting around to a food entry which many have suspected this whole bloggin endeavor maybe about. So with out further ado lets get cookin!

I Love squash, I even capitalized the L back there so you might better understand the emphasis I'm putting on this. Here in Georgia summer means one thing besides sweating and braves games, wonderful produce! Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, all sorts of delicious greens, yellows, reds they make me giddy just thinking of them. I came up with this dish the other week while strolling through a farmers market. I was about done with the overpriced bourgeois selection these so called farmers were peddling (honestly the closer farmers markets get to urban areas the worse the prices get). However I was struck by these beautiful UFO looking squash just waiting to be sauteed. Buying two with a tomato and jalapeno I hurried home to complete my Frankenstein creation.

Sunburst Squash Tacos

Ingredients for 2:

One medium to large Sunburst squash (also known as pattypan) or any other type of summer squash

One fresh tomato

Half to whole jalapeno pepper depending on taste preference

Half an onion

2 cloves of garlic

Any other fresh veggies you got lying around like spinach or cilantro

I added a dash of rosemary towards the end for the bit of herbal addition

1 pack of corn tortillas

Any type of cheese you prefer

Dice onion, garlic, and pepper up and add to olive oiled pan on low to medium heat.

Cut ends off squash and slice in half longways. Cut into slices, don't be too worried about thickness as the squash will start to loose form anyways. Add squash to pan with onions, garlic, and peppers. Dice tomato and any other veggies herbs you decide to add. When squash starts to loose shape add tomato and any other veggies/herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes until all the veggies have thoroughly sweat out their juices and melded together. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute. Prepare tortillas and any cheese or other toppings. Fill tortillas and now you have some delicious squash tacos which are healthy and filling. Try adding chicken or black beans for a heartier version for diner sometime. Enjoy!

The Girl With The Sunshine Tatoo

I feel like I've been getting off topic recently but fuck it this is a funny story.

So I have been talking to this girl for a while and we hang out constantly. We finally decided to go out for a  movie and spend some quality time together. Now let me stop for a moment and explain that I am an awkward person. Like I ooze awkward, it could be bottled and marketed as a fragrance for nerdy men. So here I am going into this date, really excited but super-duper like slapstick nervous. Why? I don't FUCKIN KNOW. I think I laughed after every comment, funny or not. I'm not talking my various normal laughs either, more like a whispery shadow of a laugh designed to mask the possibility of screaming at any time. Also I made the poor decision the previous night to down half a bottle of vodka leaving me rather hungover. Then because of the pure anxiety I didn't eat more than a bag of trail mix leaving my stomach in a stellar digestive mood.

But on the outside I'm all cool, nonchalant, confident mode. Fake it till you make it they told me, it always works they told me.....
So we get there and make small talk till we go in. Bam! i realize split second decision time, do I sit up front where we can enjoy the movie? or go up to the top  for premium privacy? wheres the damn manual for situations like that? Well I go safe choice, up front to watch the movie, cause honestly nine fuckin dollars regal? I'm damn well gonna get my moneys worth in visual feast.

The movie begins, its entertaining enough but I keep getting the impression from our constantly bumping elbows that neither of us know what to do with our hands with all this sexual tension between us. So after developing an ulcer over this for 30 minutes I decide fuck it, YOLO and go traditional yet classy with the old yawn and stretch.
From the get go I realize, my technique is lacking to say the least.  Instead of smoothly placing my arm across her deltoids it ends up death gripped to the end of her seat in a position I'd describe as in the center of her skull. I whited out for about ten minutes of the movie at this point. I've already committed but my arm is falling asleep, FAST, and my brain is screaming for a solution. After five of the awkwardest minutes of my life I removed my arm to, "check my phone".
Like what a completely transparent gesture, and so taboo in a movie theater too. For the rest of the movie I'm dreading the car ride back wondering if I've just botched everything, and will be forever remembered in her circle as the dip shit who put an arm bar across her head at a movie. I couldn't help thinking of the guys sitting behind us just whispering to each other about how much of an asshole I looked at that moment.
Can you feel the awkwardness oozing yet?

Their is a happy ending to this story though. After departing under rather normal circumstances later on, she texted me 30 minutes later saying she had a really good time, with a smiley face. A FUCKIN SMILEY FACE. I think shes a keeper, and I didn't bring too much shame upon my family after all.

Let me diverge from exercise on this one and mention something which is familiar and upsetting to say the least. I love movies, and have been described by people as, "The most Jaded movie critic I've ever met". Well what can I say? I'm not head over heels for dumb and dumber, and once you've appreciated There Will Be Blood its hard to go back. However their is a caveat to my favorite film lists. I want everyone reading this to be sitting down before you read the next sentence. My favorite film of all time is A Knights Tale, yes the one with Heath Ledger. Go ahead curse my name but I find A Knights Tale to have everything I'm looking for in a film. Particularly the injection of modern feminism in the form of the female characters. 

Now without trying to sound ignorant or haughty I also consider myself a Feminist and find the lack of respect for women in film painful. According to the latest Women's Media Center report, "“Female characters were typically younger than male counterparts, white, and more likely to have an undefined employment status". In 2008 and 2009 only 32.8 percent of speaking characters in movies were women. We discussed something similar in my literature class today, going through what society expects out of women. One of the first stereotypes mentioned was that society expects women to be quiet, subdued and unambitious. What in gods name inspires this kind of inbred education for people. Now I am not a product of some super liberal California institution, I just have a Mother, Sister, Aunts, Cousins, and friends that I choose to see as humans. We are equal, yet society and especially the media portray women in a fashion which denotes helplessness. Maybe I'm wrong in my analysis and am open for criticism but I will never waver in my belief that ALL members of society are human and deserve the same human rights, and are to be treated as human.

Pheww
I find myself really nervous writing things like that for fear I'll be misunderstood or poorly support my argument.

Back to the movie though. The characters of Jocelyn and Kate defy the expectations of their time period by not submitting to male desires just because they are female. For Jocelyn as a woman of nobility everyone expects her to find some equally rich and powerful lord to marry and produce many sons, nothing else. However she spurns the advances of all suitors, even our male protagonist. She even makes demands of him to put off the thing he loves to prove his love for her is greater than his hobbies. The character of Kate faces much discrimination as one of the very few (I'd assume) female blacksmiths in France. However she proves herself time and again better at her craft than any other blacksmith, male or not. While ultimately this is a movie and the reality of Medieval Europe is much bleaker in gender discrimination; this fanciful movie finds a fun and provocative way to play with gender stereotypes in a genre like period pieces which often pick the harshest of gender roles. Hence one of the reasons I consider this to be one of my top five movies, EVER.
I'll finish with a quote attributed to Joss Whedon though the source is dubious at best but I still love it. When asked why his work featured such strong female characters he replied, "Because I consider women to be human beings". YOLO

P.S. some sources for Womens Media Center: http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/02/16/426519/television-is-less-sexist-than-moviesbut-not-by-much/?mobile=nc
http://wmc.3cdn.net/a6b2dc282c824e903a_arm6b0hk8.pdf