(Taiwan recess) I burn things.

Authors note: I haven't been blogging just to write creatively as I'm feeling behind on my Taiwan trip - which I vow to finish noting... and am reserving my BevCycle blog for it... I'm tempted to blog under my old site SLaB...  yet that seems like more clutter. One blog is enough - yes?!  I'll finish the amazing Taiwan trip after this little recess.

I burn things. Distractions. Weather.

Rhode Island (raw) oysters

Whether it's vegetable broth or thanksgiving sweet potato marshmallow topping on fire, I ruin the pan that it was in as well. I'd like to blame my electric stovetop... but reality is... I burn things. In the last week or two it was a 4 qt pot that I had been cooking, and neglected the Basmati rice and Mung Bean concoction. Today, popcorn in the wok (wok is saved). Just now... broth was over boiling onto the stove... and I thought. "Would a kitchen remodel really solve this? Or is it that I'm distracted, don't set timers... and put something on the stove and walk away?"

Lately I've been in my head, and outside the space I'm sitting in, and terribly distracted by thoughts of what am I doing with my life, what is my purpose (blogger? Artist? Designer? Marketing? Cycling Coach? World Traveler?), and why can't I get the work I do have, done. How come I'm not in better shape? Why is it that when the temperature drops beneath 70 degree's, I can't climb onto my bike. Is it the excuse that lycra waistbands of my long tights and jerseys and gear are not comfortable, or laziness? So... not riding a bike, and I'm trying to heat up food. What is wrong with me?!

Just back from a warm island, where I happily rode into an unknown ride, on an unknown road, with questionable weather clouds of rain and wind... I'm guessing the weather has a lot to do with it. Am I distracted by thoughts of being somewhere else - for sure. But certainly I've made it through cold seasons before. This burning thing... the kitchen and I... it's relationship with me has been building into this for my 40+ years. "I'm more of an assembler" - I say. "I like to eat Raw" - now that is a true statement. If it was easier, and yes... warmer... I'd eat salads, sushi, and only items cooked to I think it's 118 degree's. This is a challenge in a household that doesn't feel the same. (Husband is a filet mignon kind of man, along with old leftovers - ewe, fresh is best). I think leaving anything in the oven for over 30 minutes means you've killed all the goodness that your body needs- enzymes - vitamins - maybe even the minerals change or are crushed under the long oven tanning session. So if it's so dead, why even put the calories in you then? We all know that simple carbs - aka - white flours/rice etc - are colon cloggers, so why bake then? (This spoken with some knowledge - says the girl with both parents Colon Cancer survivors and me the poster child for an appendix blow up post prescribed diet of "mild" foods like pasta, mashed potatoes and rice). 

When you eat it freshly picked, and unharmed by microwaves and heat... don't we get more out of the sacrificed plant or animal? I'm very drawn to this idea of eating, yet with some kind of allergy to all things high in Arginine - (meaning pretty much all nuts) - it's hard for me to figure it all out - and be sure to get my fill of protein and nutrients. I'm hoping to rid my body of it's rashy reaction to Arginine (had cause my childhood emotional scars of acne actually - turns out when I stopped eating poor man's protein of Peanut Butter everyday... my skin cleared!). In the mean time, since I still seem "sensitive" to coconuts all the way to peanuts... what is my plan?

A "nut" allergy keeps me from being a true vegetarian, that and I love the smell of bacon and an occasional... grass fed - hormone free lean hamburger doesn't suck either. Not a fan of tofu, mostly cause it's actually NOT that good for you, and it's terrible for the environment, as we are losing perfectly good tree's and soil for this Soy/Bean raising craze. So here I am... stuck in a needing to be renovated 1950's house w/ 1980's kitchen of an electric stove top that hates me, and a fire alarm that is validating my dislike for cooking, by going off like Pavlov's dogs might salivate - every time I try to cook. It's like punishment for trying. Turn on the oven... BEEP BEEP BEEP the ear piercing painful sound causes my blood pressure to skyrocket and my heart to pound and stress to enter my growing age lines. 

I've been eating mostly "Pescatarian" lately- It's always been my M.O. really anyway. Protein of choice: Fish. Not that all fish are raised, farmed or caught in a safe manner for the environment, but overall - it's usually better, and I try to make the "correct" or lesser of evils choice when ordering. The extra catch (pun intended) with this way of eating... is the Mercury. Yes... this is where politics come into play. A simple diet of fish for protein, and organic veggies and fruit as my bulk intake... are marred by politics. If we had stricter standards (whoaa, stand back Republicans that don't want government regulating all businesses actions - so that the economy can thrive or at least recover)- yes, when it comes to things like... smoking that affects MY health - even though YOU are smoking, we restrict it. Well. Here we are... coal being burned in a significant number of power plants and cement plants... and Mercury is ending up in our water, and in our air, and in our fish, and in my body.  Boo on my simple solution of being a Pescatarian. Boo on politics vs environmentalists that effect not only my diet, but my family planning as well. It's all connected, and "he" who thinks it isn't, has their head in the sand.

Now what is a girl to do. Burn lifeless food and take it in, or try to save the world and lobby for stricter pollution laws and filters on said burning of coal - so that less mercury lands in my stomach. If you've read earlier blog entries of mine, you'll know I was found to have TOXIC levels OFF THE CHARTS of Mercury and Lead in my tissue. After a 10 week arduous Chelation,  halved it. Giving up on trying to have kids w/out birth defects - I am not going to get pregnant even w/ half the mercury - and decided my multiple years of NO FISH, were ending, and that I wanted my sushi and to eat it too. So here I am, loaded w/ the evil toxic mercury, hoping to not add nitrates to everything I attempt to cook - by hopefully stopping my burning habit. And hopefully - I will always live walking or riding bike distance to a Whole Foods. Yes... I know they don't always use local producers... and actually use China for "365" products... but seriously... a girl has got to eat. Geesch!