Workouts on overnight

Hi all! (all 3 of you that read my blog, that is.)

One of the problems for flight crew members on overnights, is where to work out? (If you work out, that is.)

A number of hotels advertise that they have a health and fitness room, and when you get to the converted single hotel room, you find that they have 2 treadmills, one of which has been missing some rollers for at least 2 years, and an exercise bike with mismatched pedals. Oh, and a water cooler.

Some hotels, like the Sheraton and Hilton chain, have really Primo workout facilities. Such as our hotel in DCA, the Sheraton Pentagon City. I would bid trips here just to use the workout facility (aside from going to the spy museum, Arlington Cemetery, visiting friends, all the usual.) This is actually pretty normal for some Sheraton hotels, at least in the US and Canada, from what I have seen. I am not positive, though, because we don't stay at that many!!

Plus, off to the side, you can't in this picture see the exercise balls, foam rolls, yoga mats, etc. Those are off to the right.

One of the things you can do on overnights for exercise is walk or run. This takes no equipment (honest... not even clothes, you could go naked and barefoot.... although that might bring other problems.) Yes, you can swim (also doesn't require anything more than what you were born with,) but the Potomac in February is, shall we say, not a viable option.

The problem with swimming is finding a place to swim. Rivers are cold and/or shallow, plus, what is in it? Lakes, etc... you really have to know the area. Most hotel pools are ridiculously short for proper lap swimming.

So we are down to walking, jogging, and running.

True, some areas are better than others. Our old overnight in Allentown/Bethleham, PA, was not a location to be jogging around... unless you had an armed escort!

But for the most part, you can walk almost anywhere, really. Walking is basic to humans as animals. It is our primary mode of transportation. Even if you are going to drive someplace, you will walk to your car, you walk around your house or apartment, you walk from your parking spot to the store you are going inside, etc. (Yes, I know not every single human being can walk. We're not getting into handicap access, etc, here.)

So walking is truly primal. Actually, we probably need to walk a bit more, certainly in the USA.

Aside from that... If you want to get a workout in, walking/jogging/running only goes so far.

So I am a big fan of bodyweight workouts. This starts with simple calisthenics, and goes right on to al the MovNat stuff, P90X, etc.. etc.. etc..

I am a cheap-o, so P90X is out. If you are using it, and it works for you. Awesome. N=1. If something works for you, and you are healthy, then rock on.

So, digging around the internetz, I came across Mike Chang, and his YouTube channel, SixPackShortcuts. Now, I know most of you don't know this, but I do have a SixPack... actaully, I have 2 of them. One is in my fridge, the other is my stomach, although that one is covered by a small pony keg of fat.

Mike is great. He is silly, but best of all, he really gets into the workouts, and the biggest piece of equipment you need for them (he does have weight training workouts on there, too) is a simple hand towel (this is what makes them perfect flight crew overnight workouts.)

Just a couple samples of what he has out there. You can do all of these in the comfort of your hotel room, even on a short overnight. Best of all... they are free.

Here is his beginner workout. Simple, 7 minute workout.

If you are a little more advanced... This is a 1 minute cardio workout. Repeat until you can't use proper form anymore.

There are a bunch of videos to pick. A number of them are more complex workouts, but they all use bodyweight, High Intensity Interval Training, and he laughs at himself and doesn't take things too seriously. Here is one of my favorites. Getting your ass kicked with a hand towel.

I like that he also shows the girl on the right doing pushups from her knees, so you can do this even if you can't do 'proper' pushups, you can still do a variation of this. The entire workout takes less than 30 minutes... how much of a workout do you need?

Anyways, more to come.

Cheers!

Scott

At Long Last

So, those of you who have known me, even for quite some time, have almost always seen me with a missing tooth.

I lost that tooth chomping on a pretzel on Super Bowl Sunday, 1996. Honest. I had a filling that had cracked, and when I bit down on a pretzel, that spelled the end of that tooth.

So, I am finally getting everything fixed! (Hey, when I procrastinate, I really procrastinate!)

So, cool stuff in the dentist office-- They have a computer aided guide that they will be using to guide the titanium post into my jaw. Since there has not been a tooth there in ages, my jaw bone has thinned a little bit.. Part of the body's design... if you are not using it, you lose it. Here is the preliminary shot, complete with angles, etc... cool! Should have a whole new smile by the start of sailing season.

Cheers!

Scott

Sublime Scrambled Eggs

I'm a big fan of Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and even Gordon Ramsey. This is a bit of a combination on how they make scrambled eggs. [There is an interview floating around somewhere of Mr Pepin saying something to the tune of '... and if you have a lady friend stay the night, the least you can do is make her a proper omelet.'

Eggs are amazing. I love eggs, and I have eggs for breakfast almost every day. This is the way that I prefer to make them. I think it shows off the best flavors of the eggs, it brings out the best.

The ingredients are simple, and it should take you less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Don't be afraid of eggs....

This is most of my breakfast in the morning, so adjust appropriately:


3 Eggs
Scallions
Cheddar Cheese
Splash of Milk
S and P to taste

Notes on ingredients--

Eggs
I go pretty far out of my way to get free range eggs. This is the most important ingredient. The eggs are beautiful. The hens are out amidst the cows on the farm, doing their chicken-y things. You can't get more free range than that.

Scallions
Preferably from your own garden, but these are just green onions, finely chopped (you don't need a lot, just to flavor.)

Cheddar Cheese
I use Trader Joe's Raw Milk Cheddar. Illinois law requires raw milk cheeses to be aged at least 60 days. No problems. Love the taste, and it is natural. DO NOT get pre-grated cheese. They have to add powdered silica to the cheese to get it not to all clump together. You don't really want to eat sand, do you? Any other cheese you like? Give it a try!

Milk
We use raw milk from my friends at Golden Guernsey in the western Chicago suburbs. We easily drink a gallon a week, and I make the drive out to visit once a week to keep it fresh. LOVE real milk. RAW milk. Give it a try...

The only 'prep' work you need to do is chop the scallion (Sacre Bleu!! Heavens forbid!) You will find what the taste you like is... but I found that about the area of an egg in scallions is a good flavor for 3 eggs scrambled. Not an exact number...



Here is about 'egg sized' little pile of scallions. You can re-use the green onion to get your scallions for maybe 2 weeks. If parts of it appear to be going soft, just chop them off and cut deeper. Discard when you get to the whitish part of the onion, unless you like a pretty pungent flavor.

Eggs-- When you crack eggs, hold them in your hand and rap them once, quickly, on a flat surface. this way, you don't break the egg yolk (Yes, we are making them scrambled, but if you do it the same way every time, when you want over easy you will do the same action.) So, hold like this (although slightly against the palm of your hand... I had to hold it like this to take the picture.) [Off the cuff, I have a record of weeks at a time without breaking a yolk. I seem to break every 4 or 5 yolks right now.... bad streak!!]

Now, you will be doing two things simultaneously. Get the butter going in the pan, and whisk your eggs. I use real butter, please stop using oils to cook in. If you use oil, add some butter or lard of manteca or schmaltz, or whatever... you need those saturated fats in the REAL fat to protect the unsaturated fats from oxidizing. And for God's sake, don't use Crisco. Throw it away. THAT shit will kill you.

You want your butter to reach the point that the bubbles are subsiding. Hard to get in a picture, but you don't want it to start browning. Hot, but not burnt. (All of this takes place over fairly low heat. I use a gas top, electric tops take some adjusting.)

While your butter melts, whip or whisk your eggs. Add your splash of milk here. Ramsey says to add butter, do what you'd like, but a little fat makes things a bit more 'sprightly.' You want them as uniform in color as you can once you start. I use a fork, some people use a whisk, Julia Child would use chopsticks... whatever works for you. Just don't over do it. Once it is at a uniform color, and the butter is hot, into the pan it goes! [Don't add S and P yet... supposedly, they'll make the eggs a little more runny.]

Once it is in the pan, you can add the scallions, scatter them around liberally. I usually just scrape them off the cutting board. These are for flavor, so if you find you like the flavor, add more!

You'll notice the edges of the eggs start to harden a bit. If you are using a non-stick pan, just scrape gently from the edges towards the middle, and the slightly more cooked eggs from the bottom of the pan will bunch up towards the center. When they start to form that way, grate the cheese directly into the eggs in the pan. Don't be shy, just get it right in there. The cheese will melt and incorporate a bit into the eggs. This way if they sit for more than 10 seconds, you don't have a cheese film on top of your eggs... they will all stay happy together.

You are going to keep pulling the eggs towards the center. Flip them over a bit as you do this, so that they are cooking evenly. I don't like dry eggs, so I just keep everything moving. Once they are willing to 'bunch up' for you a little tightly in the middle of the pan, you can bring them to the plate. As soon as they are plated, add a little S and P if you would like... I prefer just a touch of pepper, and I do not salt a lot of my food, but if you wanted to, now is the time.

And voila! Sublime Scrambled Eggs. Total time, 10 minutes, start to finish, most likely less once you have done it a few times. Dig in!

Cheers!

Scott

p.s... figuring out cost. Back of the envelope parsing here-- I get eggs at $6/dozen (you can get cheaper, but not REAL free range); Milk is $8/gallon, cheese is like $10/lb, and scallions are maybe $0.50 a bundle. So the total cost of this meal is about $1.90-$2.00. MAXIMUM. Even though they are all expensive ingredients, you can make REAL food CHEAPLY. Especially if the scallions come out of your own garden, or you have a little hen house (free eggs every morning!!) or, of course, you are totally farmsteading and have your own cows and make your own cheese.

But even buying the most expensive stuff that I can, breakfast comes in at under $2.50 (Being insanely generous with the pricing.) Time? <10 minutes. Price? ~$2.00. Why would you have anything else? Get cooking!!