February 11, 2012

Happy birthday, Me.

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Today is my 33rd birthday. It passed at 2:51 a.m., while I fought off Walter for more of the electric blanket. There’s something about a warm, solidly sleeping cat that turns them into 100 pounds of dead weight. Amazing.

I haven’t caught up on how living gluten-free is going, or anything else for that matter. I just get caught up in the day-to-day routine of being me, and don’t think to write when I get a little free time in the evenings.

So, in brief:

I think I’ve adjusted.

I’m starting to sleep through the night more and more.

I don’t miss caffeine at all. (Shut the front door, Jacque. No, I really don’t.)

Hardest days: January 21 in Athens, when I planned poorly and starved while 10 guys devoured thick-crust Goodfella’s pizza; February 8, when I had to bring my recovering from pneumonia father a Chicken McNugget extra value meal, large, after a particularly hard workout at the gym.

Easiest days: Most of them. Plan and make good choices, and this isn’t soul-killing. You make your own decisions. Nobody else. It’s on you.

What I’ve learned: I have tremendous ability to accept change, and I can eat sushi. (Yessssss.)

Oh, and I’m down 25 pounds. That’s pretty cool.

So, no cake for me today. But I’m hopeful I can get my family together later for a birthday steak.

Another year older, another year wiser? Maybe not. Just a little more awesome. Healthier, for sure. Happier.

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January 2, 2012

Week 1: Adjustment

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So, I’m officially seven days into this 30, and I’m alive. I’m actually better than alive, if I’m honest about it. I’m pretty OK.

The hardest day of the week was definitely Friday. A lack of planning on my part failed me when I found myself going without a meal for about 11 hours. My dinner was essentially water, and a bite of fajitas at Applebee’s I couldn’t eat because I could taste the sauce they put on the steak. (The menu didn’t say anything about the meat being sauced … sigh.)

Yesterday, I was chatting with the OP, and she asked how it was going, if I was hungry, etc. I’m not hungry at all. I’m making myself eat, for the most part. I don’t know if it’s because I’m eating all whole foods or that I’m drinking as much as eight liters of water a day, but I just don’t want to eat.

My body is accepting, slowly but surely. I am down four pounds, which is what the doctor predicted. I am sleeping a lot, but still not well. I’m not feeling fatigued, really. I feel as if I have plenty of energy to go to the gym. I will have to see if that holds once I go back to work tomorrow and have a full workday on top managing this eating plan and then hitting what I’m sure will be a very crowded Alexander’s Athletic Club after work.

I still don’t feel optimistic, but my doctor said he prefers a skeptical patient. We’ll see.

Above is what I’ll likely make for dinner: Brown rice pasta (1/2 cup) topped with tomatoes, herbs and some balsamic.

At this point, I swear I’m almost vegan. It wouldn’t be a stretch. If I didn’t love juicy, delicious steak as much as I do, I’d pull the trigger.

But, if you have any vegan recipes, I’m open to trying them, at least for the next 23 days.

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December 26, 2011

And then this happened

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Pour one out for my fallen homey. RIP, DMD. You were a great friend. You got me through some dark times.

… But you were really hosing me on the sly.

Welcome to the next 30 days around here.

I’ve had some medical stuff going on for the last year or so. My doctor kept insisting nothing was wrong, my bloodwork was fine, my metabolism was just slow because I was getting older.

Simple math dictates if you eat less and move more, you shrink. Despite four hours or so a week in the gym and being responsible with eating more than 90 percent of the time, I felt awful, fatigued, achy and kept slowly, but surely, gaining weight.

Then, two weeks ago, I found another doctor, and holy night … he found out what’s wrong with me.

“non-Celiac gluten intolerance”

And, because I never do anything half-assed, I’m basically in adrenal gland failure.

It turns out that living under the kind of stress I did, oh, say, for two and a half years in a place that was eating me alive with a job that was demanding and a home situation that was at times untenable, coupled with compensating for the fatigue by drinking stellar amounts of caffeine can virtually destroy your system.

I’m living proof.

But, finally, I have an answer as to what’s been wrong with me for a year, if not longer. It’s not a direct thyroid malfunction, as one doctor thought. It’s a secondary malfunction of it caused by my adrenal glands packing up and backpacking around Nepal.

So, what’s that mean?

My doctor has me on a 30-day detox. No sugar. No dairy. No caffeine. No fun.

That, coupled with a pretty hefty vitamin regimen, should have me well on the road to being well in a month. Then, we add foods back in slowly to see what I can and can’t tolerate.

I’m going to chronicle it here, as much as I have time to do. I decided when it was over, I wanted to remember the harder times of it.

Today: Day 1. So far, so good. Had a good workout, a good day of cooking what I need. A good stroke of luck I’m off this week.

Any G-free advice and recipes would be awesome. I have some books, but nothing beats road tested recipes.

And on day 31, there will be drinks and bacon.

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November 30, 2011

Latvian cooking: Bacon rolls

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One of the skills I’ve honed in my home chefery is the art of making a good pepperoni roll. The West Virginia state food. I’ve got it down to a science. Back in June, we went to a cookout in Columbus, and I took 18 of them. The host hid the pan on top of the fridge so he’d have a pepperoni roll to come home to later.

So, imagine my intrigue when I was going through a book my co-worker Jack gave me. Jack was entertaining some Latvian guests in the office, and as a thank you, they gave him two books — one on Latvian culture, and one on Latvian cooking.

I thumbed through it quickly, admittedly not that eager to try fish cooked in milk or summer solstice cheese. But, toward the back of the book, I found something that made my heart swell.

Piragi.

Bacon rolls.

By all appearances, these Piragi are essentially pepperoni rolls with bacon. As far as I’m concerned, it’s impossible to go wrong there.

I’d taken a picture of it and posted it to Instagram, and one of my favorite blogging ladies, Salena at The Daily Rant, asked for the recipe.

Finally, I deliver. And let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. I had to first convert things from metric to U.S., and then put them into user friendly measurements. So, full disclosure: If the “Convert Units” app on my iPhone is a dirty liar, I apologize in advance. Also, I won’t judge you if you’re not brave enough to make the dough from scratch and you use the frozen dinner rolls from the grocery.

Piragi (Bacon Rolls)

4 cups flour
1 cup milk or water
1 3/4 Tbsp yeast
5 1/4 Tbsp margarine
1 3/4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Filling:
12 oz. smoked, streaky bacon (I say you can go for the win and use the entire pound of bacon. It’s only going to make you happier.)
About 1/4 cup chopped onion
Ground pepper

1. Prepare dough. (This says to prepare without a starter …). After the dough has risen, divide into 1-ounce pieces, roll into round balls and leave to rise about 15 minutes.

2. Dice bacon into small pieces, combine with onion and saute. Saute briefly so fat doesn’t run off. Mix well with black pepper.

3. Press each dough ball flat, place bacon filling in the center and press together. Roll with both hands to even out filling, and shape into a half-moon.

4. Place on greased baking tray and leave to rise. Brush with beaten egg and bake. Brush with melted butter once removed from the oven.

Here’s where I point out how helpful it would be if the Latvian cookbook told me either how hot to make the oven or how long to bake. I’m going back to my standard here on pepperoni rolls — 350 degrees, 20 minutes, check at 15.

If you make these, let me know how it turns out. I haven’t tackled this one yet — I forgot this cookbook at work on my week off — but it’s on the list as a Christmas party item.

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November 30, 2011

Holiday Road (trip)

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Just a preview … Been a little busy playing catch-up from my “staycation,” but I do have a travel food and drink roundup on the horizon and a recipe for Bacon Rolls … once I convert the measurements from metric.

Until then, have a Caucasian on me.

Vodka, Kahlua, milk.

The Dude abides.

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November 24, 2011

Thankful, baking, eating

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The things for which I’m thankful don’t need to be written in long form. Every day, I find myself thankful for how things have turned out in my world.

So, rather than give thanks in 600 words, today I’m thankful that someone loved me enough last year to buy me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and saved a recipe for Bourbon Steak’s cornbread.

In case you’d like to tell the break and bake dinner rolls to peace out, or in case you’d like to make this some other rainy day, here you go:

Bourbon Steak’s cornbread recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs – whole
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sea salt

Method

1. Make sure all of the ingredients are at room temperature before mixing. In a mixer, whip the butter, sugar and salt until it resembles mayonnaise.

2. Add the eggs and the sour cream, and mix thoroughly on high, making sure to scrape down the sides.

3. Add the flour, corn meal and baking soda to the mixture and mix on medium speed until just incorporated.

4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix with a spatula until homogenous.

5. Spray pan of choice well — portion the mixture into the pan and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes.

** Couple of notes: Never did my butter/sugar creaming look like mayonnaise. I creamed that stuff for 10 minutes, and never got a mayonnaise look. Also, I used an iron skillet and coated well in oil and preheated the pan in the oven to try to get a crust on it. Also, probably could go 25 minutes if you like it a little more well done.

Happy Thanksgiving. Make someone happy today.

 

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November 22, 2011

Rainy days and football

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Those are two of the soldiers from last night’s Monday Night Football adventures in Athens. The one on the left, naturally, was mine. Hat tip to the bartending staff at The Pigskin last night for that one — Absolut Apeach with half cranberry and half orange juice. Felt almost like something you’d get at the beach or if you were a 20-year-old girl. I was neither.

The second day of my Thanksgiving staycation finds me again in Athens, this time posted up in the back corner of the Buffalo Wild Wings on the corner of West Union and South Congress streets. I’d take pics of the food, but you know what you’re getting. As a friend of mine aptly pointed out on Twitter — you never see anybody actually eating the food in those Buffalo Wild Wings commercials.

But in between bites of mango habanero boneless wings, I’ve been researching Thanksgiving side dish recipes. I’ve got a two-dinner Thanksgiving on the horizon; which, unlike last year’s Thanksgiving of work and frozen chicken nuggets, seems overwhelming. We’ll spend the early part of the day with Rob’s Mom, and then we’ll head north to spend the rest of the evening with my family for a late dinner.

I’m making all of the sides for the early dinner, and trying to see if I can stretch my boundaries outside of a box of Stove Top. Maybe an apple and almond stuffing, or apple and sausage. Something a little different. I’m OK with mashed potatoes, but thinking of maybe oven roasting some garlic ahead of time to mash in them, and using heavy cream and real butter instead of their faux counterparts.

I think what I’m most looking forward to are my Mom’s noodles. I don’t care if they’re frozen, there’s some way she makes them that I can’t describe and it’s magic. It’s absolute magic what she does with those noodles. It’s a skill I need to hone.

I’ll be watching tonight’s Ohio-Miami game from the broadcast booth, thankfully. It hasn’t stopped raining here for 24 hours. It’s not supposed to stop until sometime tomorrow. It’s dry in there. I’ve got my computer, my Kindle and some time on my hands to be quiet. I’m almost done with “Kitchen Confidential,” and I think I’ll keep the food theme going by starting Frank Bruni’s book, “Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite.”

Or you could give me Thanksgiving side dish ideas … I’d be awesome with that, too.

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November 21, 2011

Welcome to Drinks and Bacon

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Welcome to Drinks and Bacon.

That’s one of my editors, Rose. Rose is sticking her head in the cat condo at the thought of me starting a blog again, but said she’d be willing to help out after lunch.

How did I get the name?

About a month ago, I checked out this little website called Klout. I’d seen it mentioned here and there on Twitter, but never had an account of my own.

Granted, I put little stock in a web site’s ranking on how influential I am. In fact, before joining, I told one of my co-workers that I was doubtful that I could influence a fat kid to eat cake.

So, I joined. In three days, Klout told me I was influential in Brooklyn (what?) and Algebra. That’s right. Algebra. I don’t know either.

But in just one short week, I feel like Klout actually got to know me. It actually called me up and said, “Hey, Jac, we’re going to come up with some way to classify things you’re good at, you got any ideas?”

Klout had deemed me “influential” in drinks and bacon.

And so it was born. Here I’ll write about the things I know best — cooking, sports, terrible television, books and, of course, bacon.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you stick around. And I hope you brought bacon.

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