Meat is Back!

September is here, which means cooler weather, football and a return to meat.

Our month long meatless experiment has ended, and it was pretty uneventful.  I didn't feel healthier, stronger or more energetic.  I also didn't feel sicker, weaker or more lethargic.  I didn't "miss" meat all that much either.  In the end, it all comes down to a great big "meh".  I think I've proven that I can eat meat, or not, and I don't really care.  If I were to give up meat permanently, I think I'd certainly miss it, particularly on holidays where the food is an important part of the tradition.  But on an average day, I'm just as happy with all the other foods.

Labor Day was on the 1st this year, and we celebrated with turkey burgers, which were very tasty.  We spent the long weekend in Michigan, so on the drive back I added a McDonald's cheeseburger to the meat tally for the day - just as tasty as ever.  Shannon is in charge of the cooking, and she plans to implement a somewhat lower meat diet than we have had in the past, but for now we don't have any plans to have any more meat prohibitions.

One of THOSE people

We went out to eat at Red Robin yesterday for Shannon's birthday.  Because when it's your birthday, you deserve unlimited steak fries.  "But wait" you say.  "You can't eat meat this month."  Right you are.  But like most places these days, Red Robin has items on their menu for the meat-free.  Items indeed.  I believe we counted 2.  Certainly you could ask for salads without the chicken, or things like that, but we were there for the fries, so we both got the vegetarian burger.  I thought it was pretty darn tasty.  No one would mistake it for beef, but I don't mind.  If I really wanted beef, I'd eat beef, and I'd rather that something taste good (which it did) than try too hard to taste like something that it's not.  So, the meal was a success.  (Ella's behavior on the other hand . . . . let's just not talk about it.)

It was interesting to see some of the challenges that a true vegetarian would have to deal with, particularly when you have to deal with other food restrictions on top of that.  As you recall, I can't eat fish, lentils, kiwi, peas and various types of beans.  And it's the beans that can be tricky, because they can often be used in vegetarian burgers.  So, we had to be the people asking what was in the vegeburger patty.  When we got to that point I was outside the restaurant with Ella (I said I didn't want to talk about it) so Shannon had to do the asking.  The waitress brought out the ingredients list and Shannon declared it to be ok.  (And it was.)

We survived the night out (Ella just barely) and proved that even if you aren't eating meat, it is still totally possible to eat enough stake fries to make yourself feel unwell.

Meatless update

7 days meatless and all is well.

I hate to say that I told you so, but things have gone pretty much as I expected them to.  Shannon does virtually all the meal planning and cooking, so all I have to do is show up to dinner and eat what she puts in front of me.  I dare say that we haven't missed the meat at all.  We'd regularly go a day or two or three without eating meat before, it's just that now we've strung together 7 days of it, likely a record.

We both agree that the most likely reason that we'll fail in our venture is from absent mindedness.  If you stop me on the street and offer me some jerky, I'll possibly eat it before I remember that I've given up meat for the month.  Unfortunately, people rarely offer me tasty treats while I'm walking down the street, so I'm probably safe for the month.

Thus far I haven't found myself missing meat at all.  We had the missionaries over for dinner on Monday and we had breakfast for dinner - pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit and sausage.  It was a little bit odd to be cooking something for someone knowing that we weren't going to eat it, but really wasn't that big of a deal.

I stepped on the scale this morning and it says I've lost a pound or two.  Just like the original measurement, this was done post run when I would have been a bit dehydrated.  (But I like feeling dehydrated.)  I did a short study of my weight a year and a half ago and found that there was about a half pound variation in my weight on a day to day basis, so the measured weight loss is somewhere on the edge of being real.  (It wasn't a terribly well done scientific study, so I never published the results.)

Tidbits (made of soy, I promise)

Day 1 of the meatless adventure.  I weighed myself in at 162 pounds, which is a couple of pounds lower than I expected.  It was post run and pre-breakfast, so I was probably short a pound of water.  Even still, I would have anticipated being about 165.  I don't expect to lose weight doing this, but if 2 pounds want to disappear, I guess I won't say no.

We're about to start a 6 day stretch where we break 80 every day.  Summer sure is tough, isn't it?  The hottest day gets all the way up to 84.  It seems like we spend more days with a high below 80 than above, which is just fine by me.  After a winter where we went multiple days without even breaking 0, I think we've earned a nice cool summer.

BYU has scheduled a football game at Northern Illinois which is only 30 miles from my house!  The bad news is that I'll have to successfully not move for 6 years before the game actually happens.  The last time I lived in the same place for 6 years was from ages 11-17.

All the Meat you care to Eat

At the Blockburger home, we're apparently bored enough that we've decided to do a little bit of culinary experimentation: we're going meat-less for a month.

Now, before the internet explodes, I want to explain what this is and isn't.

This is not part of any grand plan to "convert" to vegetarianism.  At the end of this, I fully expect to return to my omnivorous ways.

This is not done for any particular ethical reason.  I recognize that there are many instances of animals that are used for meat being treated very poorly.  I also recognize that environmentally meat is a less efficient way to feed ourselves.  These are not my primary motivation for this venture, however.

This is fueled significantly by my own curiosity.  I know several people who are vegan or vegetarian, and they seem to like it.  I also know a lot of meat-eaters, and they seem to like it.  I've tried the meat-eating thing for a few decades, so I figure I can spend a few weeks without meat to see what it's like.

This is also fueled by the idea that meat is "to be used sparingly" and "should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine".  I recently read somewhere a quote where [prophet]'s son was describing his father's health in general and added that [prophet] didn't eat meat in the summer.  (Clearly, this is a quote that you'll want to be slipping into your next Sunday school lesson.)

Now some details.  You'll note that I describe this as going "meatless" rather than be vegetarian.  The difference is that it is pretty easy to know what's meat and what isn't, but somewhat harder to avoid all the things that a vegetarian would traditionally avoid.  A lot of things have gelatin in them (marshmallows, twinkies, many yogurts) and then there are cheeses that have enzymes from animal stomachs, sauces and dressings with anchovies in them, and orange juice with omega-3 stuff that comes from fish.  So the goal is to cut out 100% of the "meat", and then as much of the "other animal products" as I deem reasonable.  Also, I don't want to spend an entire month worrying about every single item that I put in my mouth.  Was this granola bar made on machinery that also processes crackers that use an animal based fat?  Does this cake mix have lard in it?  Where is the L-Cysteine in this bread from?  It's all too much for me.  I'll make my own reasonable efforts at avoiding animal products and leave it at that.  (This bit is left entirely to my discretion.  If you want to be in charge, you can mess with your own diet for a month.)

One thing that I have no intention of eliminating from my diet is dairy and eggs.  They are simply too tasty.  Yogurt is one case where I will very likely be consuming gelatin, and I'm ok with that.  I'm not a huge fan of any of the non-cow milks (soy, almond, rice, etc.) that I've tried, so I'm sticking with the cow juice for my cereal each morning.

I'll be blogging about all this, in as much as there are any interesting results from the experience.  What do I expect?  Fairly little, really.  I don't anticipate losing a bunch of weight, or seeing dramatic changes in energy level or general well being.  We generally claim that we don't eat that much meat, but it's not like I keep track all the time.  The build up to this adventure has made me pay more attention to how much meat I do eat, however.  As I'm writing this, in my last 14 meals, my total meat consumption 10 slices of peperoni.  But then our last meal of the month was hotdogs, because we had some and needed to use them up.  (Again, we're cheap.  It's apparently one of our core values.)  I still think it's fair to say that I'm a "light" meat-eater.  I'll also add that we won't be forcing the girls to give up meat.  They don't really love most meats, but if they want a hot dog, they can have one.  (Seriously, we've got hot dogs to spare.  Anyone want to come over and eat them for us?)

I think that pretty much covers things.  I'm not completely sure what to expect, so I don't know how my blog-reporting will go.  I generally don't care much about food, so I suspect this whole thing won't be very difficult.  I guess we'll find out over the next month.

Do Not Eat List

My own personal Do Not Eat List has officially been incremented by one.  It now stands at:

• Fish
• Peas
• Kiwi
• Pinto Beans
• Chickpeas / Garbanzo Beans

Other than fish (nasty things, those) I generally like the things on the list.  They just don't like me.  The chickpea was the most recent, reluctant addition.  Not so much because they're a particular favorite of mine (I'm rather ambivalent), but because they're a favorite of Shannon's, and she does the cooking.  Unfortunately, repeated testing showed a strong correlation between eating chickpeas and feeling unwell.  That's really the best word I have for it: unwell.  I haven't had fish, peas or kiwi in years, but as for the chickpeas, they just make me feel very uncomfortable.  I wish I had better words for it, but I don't.  The feeling is centered in my chest/lung area, and it feels vaguely that if I could just get in a comfortable position things would feel better, but it turns out that there is no squirming in your seat that really makes a big effect on your chest.  The feeling goes away in an hour or so.  There's no breathing problems, or really any other symptoms.  But, who wants to eat something that is all but guaranteed to make you feel lousy afterward?  (Other than chocolate milk, of course.)

Valentines day post: My new love

Some time ago Shannon brought home some Corn & Black Bean salsa from Meijer*. I'm in love. We seem to always be out of either salsa, or chips now. Just thought you should all know.

*Meijer (pronounced like "Meyer") is like Super Target out here. It's named after the owner, Fred Meijer. As far as we know, he's not related to Fred Meyer.

Leftovers

Shannon made waffles for dinner. Pumpkin waffles, with apple syrup. They're very tasty. And that's a good thing, because these are the leftovers. Yes, this is after three of us ate all we could.

Feast for Two

Last night for dinner Shannon and I had a feast for two. It was a lot of food. Salad, garlic bread, pasta, pizza, root beer and cookies that we passed back and forth underneath the table. In the end, we couldn't quite finish all the food, so we had to get a box to take it home. (And yes, all three of us signed it.)

For those of you who haven't already figured it out, St. George now has a Brick Oven! Maybe for the start of next semester we can get some other people to join us here.

Super Shopper

Shannon is quite the bargin shopper these days.  She gets lots of coupons and then does fancy sales where you buy lots of stuff and get big rebates and what not.  But what this means is that when something goes on sale, we end up with a lot of it.

And so, I present to you: the Yogurt Shelf.

Made in Brazil

We went to Made in Brazil for dinner last night, and various people have mentioned they wanted to know how it was.

Here's the part where I remind you that I not only lived in Brazil for 2 years, but I lived in the part where this style of food comes from. The comparison I use is that me living in St. George and having been a few times to Famous Dave's Barbecue doesn't make me a good judge of authentic American barbecue. I'll leave that to people who have been to the South and experienced backyard slow cooked barbecue and been to the small, local barbecue restaurants. Same thing with the Brazilian food. Just because the meat is on a stick, doesn't make it authentic.

Authenticity:
Brazilian places like this don't really have a menu. You get the buffet of sides and they bring the meat to you, but they still have a small drink menu, which they gave us. And right at the top, it says something to the effect of "This is a churrascarria (pronounced "choo-ras-ka-REE-ah") . . . " Wrong! Right of the bat, they had two problems. First, it's spelled churrascaria, and secondly, it's pronounced "shoo-hahs-ka-REE-ah". But from there, things improved greatly. Guarana is a well known Brazilian soft drink, and they have two brands. Antartica is more familiar in the US, but they also have Brahma on tap. Brahma is evidently the second best selling guarana in Brazil and has a very different taste, but it's still good. Guarana is no more specific than "cola"; not all colas taste like Coke, and that's ok.

Churrascarias (a place where you get churrasco ("shoo-hahs-ko") which is the meat) always have a buffet. The point of the buffet is to trick you into eating less meat. A traditional churrasco will have a few sides. Some rice, some beans, a potato salad, tomatoes, bread, cucumbers and that's about it. But when churrascarias come to the US, they feel a need to fancify things up. So we end up with (last night) pickled potatoes, crab salad, broccoli salad, green olives and a variety of other things offered. I don't mind them adding these things, but I don't eat them, because I'm going for an authentic meal. Made in Brazil did have a nice selection of more authentic foods, which included: fried yucca (excellent!), fried bananas, fried rice balls, rice, beans, stroganoff, and farofa (yucca flour).

The meat was good. It wasn't perhaps as salty as I would have liked, but it was still good. They had a good variety (which is smaller if you go for lunch, but lunch is cheaper) including chicken hearts (which they cooked just for me), grilled pinapple (I realize this isn't a meat), sirloin, chicken wrapped in bacon, and other yummy things. Shannon even tried a small piece of chicken heart. You'll have to ask her about it.

Service:
I thought the service was excellent. They were friendly, but more importantly, the people the brought the meat around remembered what we wanted. When we mentioned to one that I was waiting for some chicken hearts, he even told the other guy. Interestingly, one employee came and started talking to me in Portuguese. I asked if he always assumed people spoke Portuguese, and he told me he could tell that I did based on what I was eating.

Ambiance:
Nice. It wasn't at capacity, which helps, but I liked it. It was clean, etc.

Price:
Churrasco is never cheap, as it focuses on meat which is brought to your table and cut just for you. But the price is reasonable for a churrascaria. I think the dinner is 18 bucks. Lunch is less (15ish?). We won't be going back often, but birthdays only come back once a year.

In Conclusion:
I'd go back often, except for the price. This is why we don't eat out anywhere very often. I'd love to go again, and enjoy taking people and telling them all about the foods. So, if you want to hire me to spruce up your Churrascaria experience, I'm available.

Corn Bran

15 days since my last post, and I've still got stuff from Christmas that I haven't mentioned.

For Christmas this year (and last year, too, I think) I asked for the cereal Crunchy Corn Bran. My bewildered parents went to the store, bought some, wrapped it and gave it to me. They couldn't understand why I wanted cereal for Christmas, and I couldn't figure out where they got it from. For years I've been telling Shannon about Crunch Corn Bran, and for years we've never seen it in any store. Apparently they still sell it in Sandy, but not in Provo or St. George. The cereal is kinda like Capt'n Crunch; it's little squares of crunchiness, but instead of being made primarily of sugar, it's made of corn bran. It looks bran-y, it tastes bran-y, and yet, somehow, it's good.

Well, at least I like it, and Shannon says she does to.

Amish Friendship Bread and Exponential Growth

If you're not familiar with Amish Friendship Bread, here's how it works. You receive a ziplock back with a mixture of flour, water and sugar in it, presumably from a friend. Over a 10 day period you squish the bag around, and add more flour, water and sugar. Then, on day 10, you pull out 4 portions of the mixture, and give it to friends. You then add more stuff (eggs, oil, baking soda, etc.) and bake the bread (which is more like cake if you ask me). So 4 of your friends now have the stuff, and repeat the process over the next 10 days. It's tasty stuff.

In the last 2 weeks, Shannon and I have gone through that whole cycle, which lead to a brief study of what this 4 fold growth means for the world, as well as our supply of flour, water, sugar and ziplock bags.

Basically, it comes down to this: buy stock in Ziplock. And their competitors. Anyone making an airtight bag.

After 10 days, 4 people have the bread. By the end of a month, we're up to 64 people (roughly the population of my street). Not that impressive. By two months it's 4,096 (small part of town), and by 3 months its 262,144 people (all of southern utah). And, like all exponential growth problems, this is when it starts getting fun. One more month reaches over 16 million people, or the population of a whole pile of western states (UT, NV, ID, MT, WY, CO, NM, ND, SD). At the conclusion of 5 months and pass one billion people, and at 6 months we have about 10 bags of Amish Friendship Bread for every person on earth.

From here, the problem repeats itself, in a way. Once everyone has a bag, start the growth over again but after a month it's not 64 of your friends that have a bag, it's you that has 64 taking over your kitchen. By the end of the year, there are about 4,700,000,000,000 billion bags of Amish Friendship Bread in the world. (And you're rich, because you bought stock in Ziplock, remember?)

Clearly, this does not describe reality. Shannon and I received some friendship bread a few years ago, and since it hasn't taken over the world yet, people must not be passing it on. If only 25% of the people who received the bread passed it on, it would just barely remain in existance. If the rate went up to 30% growth would be small, with my one loaf of bread growing to about 600 over the course of a year. In reality, the survival rate of the bags is probably somewhat lower than 25% which would not be sustainable for the friendship bread population, and would require certain individuals to create the bread from nothing occasionally to start up new chains.

Ok, I think I finally got all this out of my system and I can go on with my life.

Pie

This deserves its own post, separate from the rest of the feast info. Greg brought a fabulous pie to the feast: lemon sour cream. Stephanie gets absolutely no credit for the pie; Greg picked it out and it was declared when they bought it that he would get all the credit and/or blame for the choice. From me, at least, he gets only credit. It was fabulous. I just finished off the last of it. I miss it already.

Yogurt

Yogurt is clearly something meant to be eaten with a spoon. So why does Yoplait make their containers such that the top is the smallest end? It gives minimal opening to reach into the space. Doesn't it make more sense to provide a bigger opening for the same size by essentially reversing the top and bottom dimensions like all the other yogurt producers do?

And what's this? Evidently in Turkey, Yoplait does reverse their dimensions!

Forgetfulness

It's not just for pregnant ladies!

You know how days all tend to blur together? Yesterday, Shannon and I went to a doctors appointment scheduled at 3pm. I went to work a bit early and just left for the day before the appointment. At about 3:45 as we were still waiting, I noticed that I was getting hungry. It was then that I realized that I wasn't sure if I had eaten lunch that day or not. I really wasn't sure. After thinking for a minute or two, I decided that I probably hadn't. I considered calling work to ask someone to check the fridge for my lunch, but decided it wasn't necessary.

We've known for some time now that I was capable of forgetting to eat, but as it turns out, I can not only forget, but even when reminded, I may have difficulty remember whether I've eaten or not!

Another one for the List

What do the following things have in common?

Peas, Refried Beans, Kiwi, Fish and Canned Chili.

Answer: I'm apparently allergic to all of them. Shannon made Chili-Mac for dinner last night. Mac-n-Cheese, a can of Chili and a can of corn. It's tasty. And it makes me ill. It wasn't the first time it had ever happened, but I'd never been quite 100% sure that I was feeling ill because of the food. As of last night, I am officially declaring Chili-Mac off limits, and I'm fairly certain that it's the chili. (Makes sense w/ the refried beans, too.)

As if my eating habits weren't weird enough without all this being forced upon me.