Day 3 of 28 Day Refocus

We started the day with a walk to Howell Park where the recent rain made for some fun puddles. I suspect that it was about a mile and three quarters total and along the way we chatted with some guys playing tennis in Jack Russell Park. I say “we” because Codee can still be a bit barky at strangers who try to talk to him, but he is getting so much braver…and, thankfully, quieter. Truth be told, guys just like to get him riled up and he only has so much restraint before he is compelled to answer them….because they are talking to him. He’s not aggressive, just vocal. Back to the parks…Howell has some cute, very, very short trails and Jack Russell is right across the street and marks our loop with a nice public restroom. It’s a great destination with a lot of route options..

In The Gardens:

I can’t believe this pepper plant is going to produce again!! Good thing I came to check on it because it had been knocked over in the storm the night before. It’s safely tucked in a cage now and still has two peppers on the cusp of ripening and now at three in the second round. Then, I decided to do some weeding and came across a couple of these…

I had about a dozen purple tomatillo plants that had a TON of fruit on them and they were beautiful in their delicate wrappers, but they started dying off without ripening…maybe it was too wet…I have no idea, but then a tropical storm came through and all the plants took a hit, some from wind and some from a palm tree branch that crushed them. It looks like the pods decomposed fast and dozens of the seeds sprouted in the same spot… I popped it back in the ground to see if any of them make it for the fall plant. Mean while, in the climate control section:

On the Streets Where I Live:

Sweating It Out:

It was a nice easy spin around one of my favorite routes. I walked the first little bit and probably started a jog somewhere around a half mile in. I made it home just as the daily rain set in.

Podcast of The Day:

I am a recent subscriber to Gastro Pod which is a podcast where they “look at food through the lens of science and history.” They have a lot of interesting episodes, but one of the nice things that they do is guest episodes so they have introduced me to a few other new podcasts. This one is from Body Stuff.
The episode is about water and hydration and isn’t ground breaking, but it is interesting especially if you are like me and have any interest in the industrial food system and how messed up it is. I haven’t had time to fact check this, but could the US military really be the leading purchaser of Gatorade in the US? Recent dips into this rabbit hole tells me that it is definitely a possibility.

On The Plates:

I used the last of the parsley in the fridge for my daily green drink at 2PM. If you had told me even two years ago that I would make it through multiple bunches of parsley before their demise, I would have rolled my eyes at you, but now…I love it. I just want you to know that I don’t think anyone should dive into this combination all at once, but I will say that I forgot the vinegar this morning and I immediately knew when I tasted it because it was really not good. The point is that all of ingredients kind of work together, but it’s, for sure, an acquired taste.

The snackiness of the meals that I have at this time of day is why I originally called it tea, but it has been pretty consistently between 6:30PM and 7PM this week, so I’m sold on renaming it supper. I had an easy plate of blistered carrots and broccoli stalks, Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed Classic crackers and Dash Cooker Eggs with black pepper.

I am going to call what I had for dinner Call Your Mom Chicken. The deliciousness is a result of the fat in and on the dark meat of the chicken and the time everything was left to simmer together in my cast iron pan while I chatted with my mom. I had just about three ounces of chicken thigh left in a mason jar and I had saved the cooking juice with it. Well, obviously, when the fat and collagen cooled, they hardened. This is a very effective trick for separating everything if you don’t pull the meat off the bone first, which leads to much more surface area for the fat to cling to, and if you don’t use the shape of mason jar that I used, which was a pint size regular mouth jar. In my case, I did both of those things making it messier and less effective, but the result was that some of the fat melted by back onto the meat and fat is delicious so there’s that. All in, I used a brush to coat the bottom of the pan with a little of the leftover chicken fat/collagen combo from the jar and tossed the sliced raw mushrooms in. Once they got a little wilty, I added the leftover roasted cauliflower (which had color, but was still very crunchy) and then the chicken and some sea salt….and then the whole thing stewed together while I finished my chat with my mom. After we hung up (maybe 30 minutes later?), I plated it on a bit of my tiny hydroponic arugula. The chicken and cauliflower got more tender as they cooked and the mushrooms lended an extra push of umami and flavor. This plate is a real reminder that good things come, sometimes in unexpected ways, from talking to Mom.

Cronometer:

I have developed such a sweet tooth since I stopped drinking a few years ago. Even though there are studies that say the body recognizes all sugars as equals, I have a guideline of no refined or highly processed sweeteners (well, no refined or highly processed anything really) which means that I tend to stick to maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, dates, and bananas as my primary sweet sources. This month, I have locked the pantry door on the first three and would like to limit the other two to one day each a week. I’m not all about restricting foods for people, but I am an addict so it’s helpful for me to set up a very specific plan. It helps me lower the number of times that I have to argue with myself about food and makes the day easier.
I came in a little low on the calorie side of things today and that Is super unusual for me, but not in a bad way. I actually wasn’t hungry and felt good about what I had eaten, but I definitely took my last bite at 10PM. Having that hard stop definitely made me question whether to keep eating whereas, with no guideline, I would just grab something else…..I decided earlier in the day that I wanted banana nice cream (there’s that sugar addiction), so I had logged that info before Codee and I headed out for a walk. We ended up being out later than expected and it was a really great evening. Like I said, I am trying to get Codee’s weight down as well and if he wants to walk, I want to walk. I had loosely planned what I was going to have for dinner, but hadn’t really decided on the details and when we got home I happily prioritized chatting with my mom over eating…and during the call, I threw together dinner and ate a red pepper that wasn’t going to make it until tomorrow. Since Kristina May taught me on Dear Evan Hansen that I like them by bringing me one to cut up, I actually really like snacking on strips of raw sweet bell peppers, except green, thank you very much. In any event, by the time I finished eating what turned out to be a delicious meal and my banana nice cream, I was really full and it was precisely 10PM, so there you have it.

Garmin Says:

A little lower on the steps and the calories, according to this one, but I got my heart rate a little higher today.
Eventually, I might try to get on board with caring more about what the other numbers mean, but I don’t really pay much attention to them. All of this with the caveat that these numbers are definitely not 100% accurate by a long shot and should only be used as a guideline. The expression “Don’t eat calories a watch gave you” always makes me chuckle. I happen to like to track data though, so I fitness trackers are kind of a hobby of mine. There are SO SO SO many to choose from.
Personally, I wear a Garmin Forerunner 245 and it does everything that I need it to do and likely more, it was reasonably priced, and is a good size (though still a little big) for my wrist.

116 Days Until Load In…Stay safe and moving, y’all!!