Derailed

Okay, after deciding to get a good night's sleep Monday night and skipping class on Tuesday, I went to Natalie's last night and we went out for a wine tasting/dinner.  It wrapped up at a very reasonable time so I was going to get back to my quest, but then realized I hadn't brought my workout gear.  Oops.  Now I'm back home, going to get things organized and figure out what class to take tomorrow morning!

Plan Aborted

Due to a combination of staying up a bit too late and my bed just feeling waaaay too good this morning, I decided that the optimal course of action was to sleep in for another 90 minutes and skip the class I'd planned to attend.  Stay tuned.

Class 1 Review

AquaFit was great!  As I think I mentioned, I struggle with motivation when swimming laps on my own.  I frequently max out around 2,000 and it feels like a drag.  I've made it up to around 2,500 yards a couple of times, but by the time I got there I was hating it.  Today's class was run by a woman named Beth.  I was the first person there (intentionally) so we chatted a bit about the class and my normal workouts.  She seemed confident that I'd fit in with the class well and she was right.

I enjoyed the people I was swimming with (today's workout was all in the water) but most of all, I really enjoyed the extra sense of both camaraderie and competition that comes from doing the same workout with some other folks.  A couple of them were close to the same level as me which really helped provide some extra push.  The workout had some great variety without feeling like any of the drills were novelties or trying too hard.  It was a good solid workout.

Possibly the best part came at the end, after finishing the main workout, when Beth said, "Ok, just do an easy 150 warm-down, however you want and you're done...2,350 yards for the day."  WHAT?!  That felt like nothing!  And it was 2,350 yards?  SWEET!!!!  (Truth be told, the workout was pretty tough and my quads and calves were both close to cramping up, but, compared to the mental effort it has taken to push myself to barely get to 2,000 yards, this was a piece of cake.

I'm really looking forward to taking this class again and anticipate that I might become a regular.  At one point today, I even thought about scrapping the whole "take all the classes" plan so I could just keep doing this one.  But, I want to follow-through on it, partly because I might find that I really like some of the other classes too...we shall see!

Tomorrow morn is my second class and it's "Cycling" and, according to the schedule, it's run by "The Spin Doctor."  Excellent.

Class 1: SwimFit

As I mentioned the other day, I'm going to take a whole lot of classes at my gym, the YMCA in Silverdale.  Tomorrow I'm starting with SwimFit, which the notes on the schedule describes thusly, "SwimFit is a registered proram that provides guided workouts and swimming instruction for all levels of lap swimmers, triathletes and open water swimmers.  These workouts include lap swimming, cross fitness and dry land components."

When I've been swimming laps, I've noticed this class from time to time and it struck me as something I might enjoy since it combines swimming with, well, other forms of exercise.  Though a swimmer, one dedicated to the all-around, low-impact benefits of lap swimming, I've always found it colossally boring.  So mixing in some dry land activities in there has a lot of appeal.

So, that's my plan for tomorrow morning.  We'll see how it goes.

I Embark On a Quest!

So, I recently joined the YMCA near my current job. The facility is less than a year old and has everything. I can't stop saying good things about it. However, I do have one beef. They offer a bunch of classes in the lap pool which constricts the number of lanes available for just swimming laps. As a former competitive swimmer/water polo player, hopping in the pool and playing tag with the wall is a natural way to start the day for me. Unfortunately all these classes have cut into my swimming time. What makes it even more frustrating is that I've never been a big fan of classes. I enjoy setting my own workouts and don't generally even like having workout partners.

But, I've come across an obscure phrase of striking wisdom. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." As such, I decided to try a class or two. On the other hand, I'm also a big fan of the phrase "Go big or go home," which is why I'm going to take ALL THE CLASSES!

Okay, there are a couple of limitations. There are a few classes that are only offered during the day and there are some with age restrictions. That still leaves me with a pretty good-sized list of classes:

• Zumba 101
• Shallow Water Fitness
• Deep Water Aerobics
• AquaZumba
• Boot Camp
• Cross Train
• Kickboxing
• Zumba
• River Fitness Bootcamp
• Kick Camp
• Iaido
• Cycling
• Core NRG
• SwimFit
• Sculpt
• Awaken Yoga
• Foam Rolling
• Hip Hop
• River Fitness
• Tai Chi
• Power Yoga
• Caribbean Rhythms

Yeah, seriously, I'm going to take a class called "AquaZumba." I'm not even sure what sort of class "Caribbean Rhythms is." Dancing? Do I need to bring my own steel drum? "Foam Rolling?" What? How bad can these be? Actually, I anticipate that I'll probably regret this decision a few times, probably really dislike some of the classes. On the other hand, I'm sure I'll enjoy a few of them. In fact, I'm even looking forward to a few.

I need to figure out the timing on the classes, but I figure I'll start next Monday morning with one of the aquatics classes. The offerings are SwimFit, River Fitness and Deep Water Fitness.

Wish me luck!

French Onion Soup

Yesterday I made french onion soup (FOS). I wasn't pleased with it. It was decent, but I don't settle for decent. Thus, I made more today. Prior to making another batch of FOS I spent a bunch of time looking at recipes online, grabbing ideas and just absorbing approaches to making the stuff. There were a few things I knew early on that I wanted to change, but wasn't sure how much impact they'd have or even if I was going in the right direction. The research helped reassure me, but ultimately, I figured I'd appeal to a higher power.

Yup, I called Gavin.

Gavin, my brother, an incredibly talented chef of high repute.

We talked for a while, largely about the caramelization of onions, but also about other things FOS-related. Shortly thereafter I went to the store where I got a ton (well, 6 pounds) of onions, some sherry and beef stock. Then, back in the kitchen I started my second batch of FOS, this time, cooking the way I normally cook.

With yesterday's batch, I had a recipe, I followed it diligently. While for some things, I don't mind that approach, I much prefer to just go with my gut. On the other hand, prior to yesterday, I'd never made FOS, nor really even thought about making it before, so my gut would've been worthless as a guide. But, now that I had made a batch, plus the additional research and conversation with my brother, I felt confident just digging in and making some SOUP!

I started by slicing up those 6 pounds of onions and slowly caramelizing them over the course of about an hour and a half with about 4 tablespoons of butter and a bit of salt. After I was satisfied with the progress, in went some flour and pepper. Then it was broth time, 32 ounces, into the pot. Simmer simmer simmer simmer simmer, then a splash of sherry and a good pour of dry white wine. Oh, yeah, and a bunch of dried thyme and parsley got mixed in as well. I had started making it around midday so it would have plenty of time for all the flavors to marry by dinner time. After returning home from picking up Natalie at work, I fired up the broiler, sliced some french bread and grated some gruyere. After ladling a bowl each, about 3/4 full, topping each bowl with bread, then spreading cheese on top, they went into the oven until the bread and cheese were all nice and happy.

We just finished eating our dinner and both agree that this pot was VASTLY better than yesterday's. My desires for next time will be to make my own stock and maybe use some better sherry. I also am interested in trying some different onions.

Meat in Tubes, Chapter 1

First, a bit of background: This past Christmas I got a meat grinder. Shortly thereafter, I made a huge pot of chili, which kicked off my Week of Ground Meat. During the Week of Ground Meat, I used the meats of a few different animals and genuinely enjoyed doing it, both because it resulted in yummy food and because I got to play with my new toy. But, another motivation was to get more familiar with the meat grinder, leading to the next step in what I planned to do with said grinder. After the weak of ground meat, I began surfing around and talking to my chef brother about stuffing ground meat into tubes. My birthday was last month, and I just received my final birthday gift (it had to be ordered and took a bit): Charcuterie, by Ruhlman and Polcyn. This book was recommended to me by Gavin and I was very excited to get it and it is ABSOLUTELY my favorite cookbook (right now).

OK, on to Chapter 1:

For my first adventure in sausage-making, I picked a fairly straightforward,fresh sauasage. (The main types of sausage, as far as I've determined, are cured, like a salami; emulsified, like a hot dog; or fresh, like the normal artisanal sausages you'd buy from the grocery store, the ones in the deli case or with an expiration date that can't be measured by presidential election cycles.) With a fresh sausage, you simply grind everything up and stuff it all into casings.

In this case, I was making a Polish kielbasa. Granted, it's not the smoked beef in a long ring that comes to mind when you hear "Polish Sausage" or "Kielbasa." That one is an emulsified sausage, using beef, that has been smoked. In truth, "kielbasa" just means "sausage" and this one is a fresh sausage, using pork, garlic and marjoram. Thursday evening, I cut up five pounds of pork shoulder and tossed it with the garlic, marjoram and some salt and pepper and put it in the fridge overnight


Friday afternoon, my 10-year-old (almost 11) daughter and I got to work.

First we ground the meat


Then, after adding some water and mixing it into a paste, rather than the strings of ground meat, we put it in the fridge and made a couple of patties for a test taste.


While the meat chilled some more, I cleaned out the grinder and got it set for stuffing. That included getting rid of the blade and grinding die and replacing it with the stuffer tube and loading up the tube with casings.


With Colleen feeding the meat down the grinder and me handling the casings (trying to figure out how much to stuff into the casings so they'd be just the right amount of full, no pictures were taken. Plus, it goes well with the old adage about sausages and laws.

After feeding all the meat into the casings, I began twisting off the links, with a break to show some pre and some post twisting sausage.


Ultimately though, the true test is in the eating and Colleen and I both agreed they were delicious. On the one hand, we made them, so there's some bias there. On the other, we can both be pretty hard on ourselves, especially when it comes to cooking. Plus, three more people have since tried the sausages and echoed our approval.

Oh, and I mentioned I was uncertain as to how full to stuff the casings...well, the recipe said that it would yield 10 feet of sausage. We ended up with 10' 1".

====================================================================

I'm very excited to make more and look forward to chronicling all these experiences here. Next time, I plan to make two different sausages. I want to make a cured sausage, though the frustrating thing will be the waiting while it cures. However, I'll temper that by also making another fresh sausage, which I'll get to eat immediately!