Fried, deeply

I had kung pao chicken for lunch and fried chicken for dinner. The latter was planned while the former was not. When I was meeting with my co-worker Matt a vendor stopped by to ply him with sushi. They also had an order of kung pao chicken that wasn't claimed. So I claimed it. It was greasy, spicy, and a no-brainer. The bean sprouts were a nice touch. As soon as I got back to my desk I had an apple to bring it down a notch.

After work I headed to BMW to pull my scooter out of their back yard. Once again it didn't start without the unholy assistance of starter fluid. I think I just need to replace all the hoses and the thing by the spark plug.

After wrestling with the scooter for a bit I met Jared for dinner at Mama's. I knew I was getting fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. All I needed to decide was what vegetable to get. I settled on the beet salad. I liked the fried chicken better than the stuff I got in Williamsburg.

All in a all, a pretty greasy couple of days. I need to scale that back a bit and make sure the fruits and vegetables are in full effect.

Chin strikes and more pigs

Before working out I decided to stop by
The Brooklyn Kitchen and pick up a butcher knife and steak knives. They only had steak knives that cost a small fortune, so I only got the butcher knife which wasn't exactly cheap. Such is the lot of a meat eater. Next, a meat thermometer.

Today's WOD was Elizabeth.
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

I scaled the cleans to 115 pounds. I can basically wrench the weight up, but we were doing full squat cleans. By the end it was jump-squat-drop-rest. And don't get me started on ring dips. It was another very hard work out. At least it was hard for me. I really need to get better at the complex lifts and develop my upper body, lose weight, or both. Also, I managed to clock myself in the chin twice with the bar while cleaning. Once in warm-up and once during the WOD. Not awesome.

After working out I stopped by Affinity to catch up with Jason. We talked about racing next year, his future plans, and just how he's doing in general. Which is well. Lacort, Karl and Chris were there training. It was good to see Karl. He is quite a beast to behold and a truly lovely person at the same time. When I got home it was snack time. I was planning to meet Marissa for barbecue, but I wasn't certain about that and was pretty hungry right then. So I had what is rapidly becoming a stand-by, some cheese and grapes. This may be European, and possibly even French. Apparently you can roast grapes. I may have to give that a try to mix it up.

Now, to the barbecue. They were at Fette Sau which is conveniently located close to me. After a brief consultation with Marissa I purchased a selection of pig meat. I got a couple ribs, pulled pork shoulder, and pork belly. For sides, which were as limited as my co-worker Jen had warned, I got sauerkraut and potato salad. The rolls were included and I washed it all down with a sasparilla soda. The ribs were good and the barbecue sauces helpful in making them a little jucier. The potato salad was alright, but could have used a little more kick in the way of salt, vinegar, or both. Same with the sauerkraut. The pork belly was really too much. It was so fatty it was like eating a stick of butter.

The min-sandwiches made with the rolls, pulled pork, and sauerkraut were solid. I would definitely have that again. Same with the ribs. But I will pass on the pork belly and potato salad next time. Those dark spots are little dabs of tasty spice barbecue sauce.

Back to the grill again

Specifically back to Green Symphony. Which isn't really a grill, but it's still a great line. I opted for the Korean-style baked (not fried) chicken.

Meal:

• Korean-style baked chicken
  
• Potato samosa
• Backed collard greens
• Tofu and pea salad
• Beets

I really need to get back to bringing lunch. So I really need to get my landlord to fix my oven.

Pork-free

Sadly I left my bacon at work. Happily it is in the refrigerator. So maybe I will experience what many assert to be divine goodness for breakfast on Friday. Until then I will have to make-do with the classics and cultured milk products exclusively. Which is what I did this morning.

Meal:

• 2 eggs fried in butter
• OJ (this was the last of it, and I won't be replacing it)
• Onion flatbread
• Hummus
• Stove-top espresso with raw milk

I smell a little like gas from last night's wrenching episode. I look forward to sitting in yet another epic meeting with our new outsourcing vendor with a hint of eau de garage.

Becoming an American

After work I went straight to work out. The WOD was weights. Specifically, Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps. I have a bit of a mental block with the more complex lifts, and can't lift more than the smallest amount I can move in any one phase of the larger lift. So I maxed at 155, and failed whenever I attempted above that. Such is life, but I should definitely be doing at least 165.

After the workout Erica made sure we got a little met-con in, and we did 5 sets of 10 air squats and 10 burpees. I redeemed myself here and finished in just over 4 minutes, a good 45 seconds or more than anyone else. She had also kept us honest in our warm up, so by the time I got home I was starving and not sure what I would eat. Happily, I had leftovers. I didn't have anything that great too cook. Even if I had, I was too hungry to do it.

Meal

• Left over scallops
• Green grapes
• Raw milk Monterrey Jack cheese
• Water with lemon

Then it was over to Brooklyn Machine Works to rebuild the carburetor for the Empire scooter. With the help of BMW Luke, Other Luke, and Ken I was able to get it into much better shape. I'm charging the battery now, and planning to shoot on Saturday. This is a major weight off my shoulders, and those guys totally rule.

Saliva response

I believe I have officially arrived as an omnivore. Last night while reviewing various cuts of meat, I wondered what they taste like. And I salivated. Much like the way Deckard tested for androids, this is the test for meat eaters. And this morning when I purchased my bacon, I knew that I would soon see what the hype was all about.

For lunch I went to Green Symphony

Meal:

• Chicken enchilada
• Potato samosa
• Tofu and pea salad
• Braised cauliflower
  
• Feta and shredded lettuce salad
  

Also, Utah is back, so hopefully I will get sushi soon.

Back to the Classics

Back to the basics. Almost finished with OJ too.

Meal:

• 2 eggs fried in butter
• 2 pieces of whole wheat sourdough toast
  
• Stove-top espresso with raw milk
  
• OJ

It was Wednesday, so I stopped at the green market to get some fish. Sadly, the fish guy was absent again. So instead I got some bacon, which was championed last night at my food pick-up. I will make it for breakfast tomorrow. My co-worker Utah explained to me how to cook it. The short of it seems to be to let it cook well on one side, and then turn it and repeat.

Day two of single posts

I didn't work out yesterday, so this morning I went light and didn't have eggs.

Meal:

• Home made raw milk yogurt with granola and banana
• OJ
• Stove top espresso with raw milk

I met Ken for lunch at BLX to discuss the future of Bike Shorts and eat more shellfish. The mussels were just kind of rubbery and tasted like the sauce.

Meal:

• Moule frites
• Grimbergen beer

After work I went to my raw milk pick-up. I volunteered tonight and worked the entire shift, from unloading to helping members to loading back up. When I got home, I was beat. I had a piece of black bass I had picked up last Saturday at the green market. I broiled that with butter, lemon and garlic.

Meal:

• Broiled Black bass with butter, lemon and garlic
• Kale sauteed in sesame oil with a splash of Balsamic vinegar
• Few slices of raw milk cheddar cheese
• Green grapes
• Last bit of previous shipment of cottage cheese with a couple of strawberries.
  

I didn't work out today either, but I did commute. Lame, but that's all I got.

A day of meals in one post

This morning was another classic. On the way to work I stopped by the green market. The sprout people had some green stuff. I bought baby bok choy and kale from them. Hopefully it's delicious.

I had a marathon meeting scheduled through lunch, so I had an apple to hold me over til after. When we broke from the meeting, lunch was left overs from Saturday.

I picked up some coffee on the way home from work. I was planning to make the black bass I bought on Saturday, but I was beat. Instead I snacked. I had some onion flat bread with hummus and read my email. After I read my email, I finished the last little bit of my raw milk Colby cheese with green grapes and read some blogs while I waited for Luke to come over to pick up my bag. While I waited, I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the nut butter from the food club and blueberry-ginger jam on French whole wheat sourdough bread with a large glass of raw milk.

Lots of snacks, but no regrets

More pig

I was very pressed for time after recovering from losing my mind due to an endorphin overload at Crossfit. When I left there I could barely walk and I'm pretty sure my pupils were dilated. Who needs drugs? I had a snack of green grapes and a few slices of Colby cheese before lieing down to recover.

Anyway, I needed to focus on making sure everything was ready for Bike Shorts, which included burning a new DVD to include the last minute addition of Jimmy's dirt jump piece and my Dwain edit. So I called my go-to delivery place, Taco Chulo and ordered a pork burrito. I tried it with the Spanish name (puerco) but they didn't understand me. White Americans speaking Spanish to other white Americans generally doesn't work so great.

The pork burrito showed up pretty fast, and I devoured it. It was very tender pulled pork buried in hot sauce, guacamole and sour cream. Add in the beans and potatoes, and the pork was just anoher texture. That said, it was delicious.

A met-con grinder

Crossfit Brooklyn was open today; they removed the ice from the roof. I had missed the total due to yesterday's closure, and was going to do that. But I realized that I was looking forward to it too much relative to the scheduled WOD, Barbara. So did Barbara. It rook me 44:19 start to finish, and by the end I had scaled everything except for the air squats which I finished with my eyes closed and face contorted.

"Barbara"

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

Rest precisely three minutes between each round.

Rest day

Sunday is typically a day of rest, but as my grandfather says, no rest for the wicked. I'm actually not certain that's what he says. I do know he likes to say don't let the bastards grind you down. Regardless, lots to do today. Moving the scooter, working out, picking up around my place, hopefully a quick load of laundry, and Bike Shorts. No work out yesterday because they were fixing the roof at Crossfit Brooklyn. The blog hasn't been updated, so that may still be in progress.

For such a grueling day, the Classic was required.

Meal:

• 2 eggs fried in butter
• 2 pieces of whole wheat sourdough toast with butter and blueberry-ginger jam
• OJ (running down the inventory)
• fresh-ground stove-top espresso with raw milk

Some further thoughts about the scallops from last night. They were like a very firm piece of tofu with the animal grain that I can now recognize. Tofu doesn't have this, but instead is uniform or has little bubbles that radiate. Animals striate. But the scallop's grain was very subtle, probably reflecting how much it actually moves and how prehistoric it is. There were occasional pieces of grit making me think I hadn't cleaned them properly. Marc assured me that was normal for shell fish, and that scallops were actually the least gritty. I suppose that's how pearls are made in oyesters. The flavor was very subtle, and overshadowed by the spices used. However there was still a very faint and not at all unpleasant fishy odor after cooking.

Shellfish

This has been quite the non-Kosher week. First pork and now shellfish. Luckily I am not Jewish.

Initially I was going to make this with the scallops, but then I came across this, which required the red cabbage I had whimsically purchased. It seemed like fate, so I went with it. In the future I'd like to make this, and this seemed like a good guide for a very basic preparation.


My friend Marc came by for dinner, and we had a beer while I finished up the scallops and sauteed the asparagus.

The dinner:

• Spiced scallops with Balsamic braised red cabbage
• Asparagus sauteed with olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, and salt
• Short grain brown rice cooked in a pressure cooker with salt, oil, bay leaf, and garlic

Marc helped me confirm that the scallops were indeed done. They felt different to the touch, so I was pretty sure all was well. But it's always nice to have a food chaperon. Dinner was served, and Marc heartily approved of the final product. In fact he called the rice "the best rice ever".

Dessert was raw milk cottage cheese with granola and strawberries. This isn't your super market low-fat cottage cheese or granola. It was a buttery, creamy capstone to the meal. After we finished everything, neither of us could go anywhere. That was too bad for Marc because he doesn't live with me.

Scraping it together

Lunch was the last of my black eyed pea chili. This wasn't the best recipe, but I blame adding salt to the pressure cooker and using cloves, not cinnamon. I'll definitely give it another try in the future. I added some grapes and cheese to round out the meal. I'm low on the Colby, and looking forward to my next shipment on Tuesday.

Meal

• Black-eyed pea chili
• Green grapes
• Raw milk Colby cheese

I'm still working out the kinks of this operation, and unfortunately I had to dispose fo some fo the contents of the refrigerator without eating it. I tossed a little bit of the turkey breast as well as some fresh spices that weren't very fresh any more.

Saturdays are looking like food day

Breakfast was the Classic 2. Eggs bread, and hummus. It had been a while, and I enjoyed the tart garlicky hummus. I also don't miss the OJ. I will probably have it sometimes so as not to waste it, but it is very sweet. That sounds a bit odd, but I have eliminated most sugar from my diet. I'm not a totalitarian, but I am fairly conscious of when I am electing to have a cookie or some other sweet. I am also no longer taking my multivitamin. Anyone want my extras?

Meal:

• 2 eggs fried in butter
• Onion flatbread
• Hummus
• Fresh-ground stove-top espresso with raw milk
• Water

The Williamsburg green market has been worse and worse every week, and the Union Square one seems to be getting better during the week, so I went to the green market at Union Square.

This was a good idea, as it was packed with vendors. Not much in the way of fresh fruit or vegetables aside from some apples and root vegetables, but there were tons of meat and poultry stands as well as a larger fish vendor than my friendly Wednesday guy. I stocked up on Empire apples, black fish, scallops, a whole pheasant, fingerlings, shallots, Jerusalem artichokes, and a head of red cabbage for a change of pace. I saw duck eggs and talked to the vendor, but decided this was not the week for them.


Behold the cornucopia. I planned to make the scallops tonight, and cook the fingerlings and shallots with the pheasant on Monday with Araby. I'll probably make the black fish tomorrow, possibly with the Jersualem artichokes. The apples will just be snacks. Happily, unlike the apples I bought on Wednesday, these were still quite firm.

I think Saturdays will require a regular visit to the green market. I'll try to get there early so I can do the 11AM Crossfit at the Manhattan location.

Porky's II

Tonight was about inventory management. I got right on the leftovers. Ken was over to deal with Bike Shorts stuff and had already eaten, so reheated the pork chop, adding some sauteed kale and green grapes.

Meal

• Pork chop with mushrooms and onions
• Kale sauteed in olive oil and Balsamic vinegar
• Green grapes
  

Off-schedule Minar

Sara and I had lunch plans. I wanted to get mussels at BLX, and we were tacking for that until I had to shuffle around some meetings. I was short on time, so we went to Minar as initially planned. I forgot to get a pic of the spread, so here's what it looks like as you leave.

Meal:

• Saag paneer
• Alu ghobi
• Chana
• Rice AND nan
  

Active cultures

At the beginning of this experiment as expected, I had some digestive issues. There were many recommendations, most of which I followed. Time cures most things, and may have cured this as well, but I think the admonition to eat yogurt was probably the most helpful. So I make sure to have yogurt for breakfast every couple of days. This morning I also added grapes in place of OJ. More fiber, which can only act as more of a corrective.

Meal:

• Home made raw milk yogurt with granola and banana
• Green grapes
• Stove top espresso with raw milk

First Blood

I borrowed the Stallone classic from Luke on the night of the duck, but still havent' managed to watch it. The title is in honor of tonight. I ate my first red blooded animal, my first mammal. Pig. I made pork chops with Paul and shared them with him and Becca.

Paul was my able chaperone for this cooking adventure. I provided the ingredients and the recipe. He provided the functioning oven and ability to tell when the meat was cooked through. We started the beets roasting, and good times ensued, including a quick break to track down some brandy. We ended up in a serious liquor store on Bedford somewhere around Madison. Happily brandy was available in sizes starting at airplane bottles and running up to a liter. After making the tough call as to which brand to go with, we returned and got back into it.

I didn't fully brown the pork chops, so the baking part took longer than expected. But it was worth the wait. Despite the late hour, Becca ate with us. The texture was intense. The musculature was much more complex, there were large chunks of fat to be avoided. And of course the ever-present bone, which had bled while we browned the chops, making it oh so clear we were cooking flesh.

Once again, I found the visceral texture overwhelming, leaving the experience of the taste a distant second. I could taste the mushrooms and thyme, but I don't have a strong memory of the pork flavor. That said, I felt very calm and well fed after finishing the chop and my beets. I didn't feel at all bloated, nor did I feel hungry by the time I got home.

Back to basics and the cycle of life

I returned to lunch Crossfit which I prefer to after work. A good crew, and Juan. He ran me through my first free WOD and will always be one of the key Crossfitters for me. Super nice and a high performer.

WOD - Five rounds for time of:
45 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet
21 Burpees

I managed to do this 14:19. Not the fastest, but one of the faster out of my group of 11.

I ran out of there back to work to eat an apple on the way to a meeting. After I picked up lunch at Green Symphony.

Meal:

• Shredded chicken enchilada
• 2 pieces of Korean backed chicken
• Potato samosa
• Beets
• Tofu salad
  

I began the day with eggs, and had chicken for lunch in two different forms. Shredded in a taco and the baked Korean drumsticks.

The story so far

Not too long ago and just after I added fish to my diet my good friend Amadeo did me a huge favor and took some portraits of me in my skivvies. This is what I look like after a couple of months of pretty regular high-intensity work outs. I've lost about 10 pounds and weigh 194 lbs. This is the least I've weighed in many years, probably since my mid-20s. I suspect I'll drop below 190 pounds if I continue to exercise as I have and remain even approach fastidiousness about my diet. This will probably happen by the spring, or if have any sort of racing season by mid-summer.

Just prior to adding meat to my diet I began to pay much closer attention to my diet and was preparing a lot more of my own food. Also, with the new training program I was drinking less, including beer. I think that the latter was probably more helpful for my weight loss, but both contributed to finishing 2008 in a very solid state of mind.

I still need to take some other measurements to establish a baseline. These will be thigh size and other body measurements, and blood work.

I'll check in with this sort of information again in the early spring before I start racing regularly.

Other things I've noticed is that the act of eating is incredibly more social, with lots of dinners prepared with friends who are excited to share these new moments with me.

Help with what was almost a hangover

This morning didn't come as fast as I feared it would. Last night after a few hours in the cold doing my best imitation of a grease monkey which sadly wasn't good enough, I had dinner and then a few beers with Luke. I kicked him out at a pretty reasonable hour, dinner had been fairly greasy, and I was more or less hydrated. According to this guy, I was already on track for a reduced penalty. However, just to make sure, I had eggs for breakfast, which is also recommended. As delicious as breakfast was, I don't think it was required. My drinking had been modest enough. Despite my very few beers didn't hurt.

Meal:

• 2 fried eggs
• Fresh ground stove-top espresso with raw milk
• 2 pieces of toast with blueberry-ginger jam
• OJ

I am considering cutting out the OJ. Apparently juice is high in calories with poor satiation cues. Plus it's very acidic.

Today was a poultry kind of day

The scooter was threatened with removal. It isn't clear if the threat was real, but Luke and I treated it as if it were. After a couple of hours of trouble shooting, it became fairly clear that it was in fact just the cold. A heroic effort like this called for a dinner fit for heroes. So we headed to the macaroni and cheese cook-off at Glasslands, but arrived late. So we turned to Dumont Burger. I got the grilled chicken sandwich and Luke went with the classic burger. I will join him soon enough. I also ate the jalepeno pepper. That was intense, but not crippling.

After dinner we picked up a six pack and I burned a bunch of music for Luke. While we waited for the DVDs, we skimmed through some movies on my harddrive. Specifically, The Holy Mountain and American Hardcore. We also updated this.

Tomorrow pork chops with Paul.

Dead to me

I was up early with a light breakfast before I went to lift a little at New York Sports Club before my cancellation goes through. I need to start doing this a couple of times a week. I hate deadlifts the most, so I decided to start there. This article also had something to do with it.

Breakfast:

• Coffee with raw milk
• OJ
• Home made raw milk yogurt with granola and banana
  

Workout - 5x5 Deadlifts
225-235-245-255(4)-265(3)
I didn't make to a full 5 towards the end. Lots of reasons for that, with the primary one of course being that I wasn't strong enough. Other secondary but (I swear!) legitimate reasons in order of decreasing legitimacy are that (1) my hands are still a little tender from ripping them a couple weeks back, (2) there was no chalk and I wasn't using straps, (3) I couldn't drop the weight like at Crossfit, (4) squatting inside a power rack is claustrophobic, and (5) it was cold making my grip fail even earlier. When I move into my office I'll have to smuggle a sledge hammer in and use it to develop my grip.

I dropped by the Green Market to pick up some meat, vegetables, and apples. At this point there's really nothing green outside of the pricey hydroponic vegetables and sprouts. So I stuck with pork chops and potatoes and onions to accompany them tomorrow. And apples for snacks at work, one of which I had as soon as I got to my office.

I also indulged in sauerkraut-like pickled ginger and carrots and ginger-blueberry jam. Sadly the fish guy was not there. However that's OK, as I am going to a macaroni and cheese bake-off tonight at Glasslands and making pork chops tomorrow.

Leftovers again?

Last night had a lot of influence over tonight. Specifically what I ate. I skipped Crossfit because I was feeling lazy. I didn't even make it to Alex's thing at Affinity. My more self-indulgent rationalizations include (1) I had to be at home to sell a frame, (2) I'm going to lift in the morning (REALLY), and (3) rest is super important too.

Life goes on and Paul and I will have pork on Thursday. Now all I need is a recipe. Perhaps tomorrow from Jen.

Tonight I am obsessed with Filson. How is this related to working out and food? Well, it comes from a similar place. Part of why I decided to eat meat was because I didn't want to supplement. I wanted to eat food, whole food. Clothes like those made by Filson are highly functional garments. There is a certain style to them, but they are also made out of classic non-high tech fabrics like wool and oiled cotton. They are sort of clothing's version of whole food.

Tradition

I finally went to Minar with Marcus. It had been quite some time since we dined together there. I went with the usual: a veggie combo with a healthy, albeit smaller-than-usual dose of kvetching about work, women, and not enough time for personal projects.

Breakfast Tuesday January 20, 2009

Just like everyone, including Barack, I put my pants on one leg at a time. But seeing as mine aren't on yet, he's had his on for a lot longer than me already today. But he probably didn't make the yogurt for his breakfast. I think that's all I have on him though. He is getting inaugurated later today.
Breakfast:

• Raw milk yogurt with banana and granola
• OJ
• Coffee with raw milk
  

Failed gymnastic fitness and gobble gobble

The last bit of the Crossfit Carnival I attended was really hard. It was a guest appearance of Keith from Crossfit Virtuosity. I made it pretty far into the class, but once we got to L sits on paralettes, I really started to fall apart. I sort of pulled off an L sit, but that was the last exercise I managed with any success. And calling the L sit I pulled successful is generous. So I made myself useful and took some pictures.

Tonight I finally cooked up the turkey breast I got last week. I continue to struggle to manage my inventory, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I think.

I breaded the turkey breast, following this recipe. Simple, but probably a bit too oily. I sauteed some asparagus and made a black eyed pea chili loosely based on a recipe from this book. The pressure cooker continues to be a game changer. I'll be preparing meat in it soon enough, which will make it a game changer in the changed game. Take that Barack.

The turkey was quite good. I don't think I'll be making chicken again any time soon. Turkey actually tastes like something, and is as easy to prepare. That said, Dan was right that it probably would have been a bit too much to begin with. As I already said, fish has a simplicity to it such that even when eating it with the head on, it doesn't seem much like an animal. Chicken has the texture of muscle in a fairly animal way, but is so mild that the texture is all that I needed to confront. Turkey is the whole shebang.

Meal:

• Asparagus sauteed in olive oil and balsalmic vinegar with salt and pepper
• Breaded turkey breast
• Black eyed pea chili

I am one step further along the spectrum laid out by Matt. In fact, thanks to last night's duck, I am jumping around a bit.

From his email:
Luke I keep trying to put myself in your shoes and I keep thinking meat would be disgusting if you've never eaten it before.

Do you have plans for a steak?

I think in order of increasing grossness the order is this:

Fish -> Chicken -> Turkey -> Bacon -> Steak -> Ham -> Roast beef -> Duck/Pheasant/Pigeon -> Veal -> Lamb .

Carnivals and small meals

Today was a company holiday, and my gym planned accordingly with a full day of skills training. I slept in a little later than usual, and fueled up for the first four hours of coaching. Breakfast was The Classic less the multi-vitamin. And I think I digested the duck pretty well. In general that department seems to have stabilized.

Off to the Black Box where the first session was a skills review of basic lifts with Thor AKA Justin. We didn't make it to my weakest lift, the clean, but it was good to have the differences between high-bar squats, low-bar squats, front squats, and overhead squats laid out.

I was most excited about the second session on kipping with Torch. Johnny helped me tape up my hands which still haven't quite healed. Torch took us through the basic progression to a full kip. We all got on the bar and everyone got it with varying degrees of success. Some were pulling themselves to the middle of their chest and doing clapping pull-ups. I managed to get out about 4 or 5 before I found the frequency for harmonic resonance and began to oscillate out of control.

Both sessions were extremely helpful. Crossfit Harlem, which is group of people who work out together at New York Sports Club came, doubling our numbers. Everyone in the group was super nice, and one guy even had on an Iron Maiden t-shirt.

I would have liked to stay for Court's kettle bell clinic, but I wanted to attend Keith's Crossfit Virtuosity clinic. So I ran home to make a snack, pick up my place some, and of course, blog. My snack was a grilled cheese sandwich made with raw colby, the last of my quinoa curry which hadn't gone bad, and some grapes. Fried good sure is tasty. In fact, I think I will be breading and frying my turkey breast later tonight.

Walks, talks

Tonight was the dinner party at Carrie's. We were going to share a duck. Which meant I was going to eat duck. Rosie said that most people don't eat duck, so once I ate beef I would be ahead of most Americans. I consulted a few recipes before heading over, and it was going to be almost 3 hours to cook the bird. So I had a snack of raw milk colby, raw milk cheddar, and grapes.

I swung by Luke's on the way over to Carrie's. He proved to be key to the dinner preparation, as well having a copy of Rambo: First Blood. Overall, a crucial player.

We began food prep rinsing the duck, finishing the stuffing, chopping the potatoes, peeling the shallots, chopping the Brussel sprouts, making the garlic rub, and pouring the boiling water over the duck to tighten the skin. And tighten it it did as we watched. It was a little creepy.

We rubbed the bird, stuffed the bird, added the potatoes, shallots, and Brussel sprouts and tossed it all in the oven. Then we went to the liquor store to get wine, put on Rambo and waited. After hours of cooking with some flipping of the bird, it was ready. And it looked pretty great. Luke described how to carve the bird, but I only made it through one side of the breast and one drum stick. He finished it up.





Dinner was served. It was duck with a garlic rub roasted with potatoes, shallots, and Brussle sprouts, stuffing, salad, and red wine.

Duck was yet another step up. It's such a fatty bird with even more texture. The meat had more variety throughout. I was told that it's much stronger than chicken, and I suppose it is. But I'm still finding that the texture is the most notable aspect.

In closing, duck isn't bred the same way as chicken, and you really need to get into it to get all the meat off the bones.