Muchacho Polaco

It’s been a hot year. Now that it’s finally dropping down to 90s and 80s, I want to start riding again. My office is only 5 miles away, so that will be a nice ride each day.

Two weeks ago I jumped on one of the faddish diets: keto. Normally I would avoid something like this at all cost, because if they’re effective, they usually don’t seem to be permanent (since no one is going to eat like this permanently). But after increasing the amount of exercise I was doing AND still gaining weight, I got desperate enough to try it.

I have watched dozens of videos online. Most of them are anecdotal, but a few seemed rooted in persuasive reasoning. With nothing much to lose, I gave it a try.

Beginning two weeks ago, I weighed in at 213. Today I weighed in at 204. A nine pound reduction in 2 weeks is pretty good, but I found that about 5 of those pounds was probably excess water retention.

I was 194 in Mexico for about 5 years prior to departure. It was pretty consistent, as was my level of activity (which was much more than here in the US). As soon as we moved back to Tucson, I have been gaining weight steadily and rapidly. Much of that could be related to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic. I was consuming much more food than I used to.

The results so far are great, but so has been the price. To illustrate:

That was my breakfast most of last week. To try and make meal prep more efficient, I just measured out the allowances for various items and then liquefied them. In this case, pork, cauliflower, and zucchini. It makes a hot breakfast drink. A glass of pork juice isn’t really as bad as it sounds, but it’s not exactly something I would naturally gravitate toward either.

Yun thinks there’s a lot I could improve upon in regard to meal options. I tend to agree, but don’t often like to spend the amount of time required to make it happen.

Overall, I am encouraged to continue. In part, because I feel great in the mornings. I used to wake bloated and miserable. That is all entirely behind me. Most of my cravings are gone and I eat much less than I used to (around 1200-1400 calories a day).  I am not exactly sure how one would sustain this lifestyle, but the reduction of weight feels good and I’m hoping to reach 185 within the next 3-6 months.

Nick hosted a surprise b-day party for Betsy last Friday. The best part was the food: carne asada from Guero Canelo. It’s the most authentic Mexican food (at least Sonoran) one can find in Tucson (and probably the US). However, being on the keto diet is not exactly ideal for a meal of this sort. I did the best I could.

It’s been years since I’ve bought a new phone. I inherited the Galaxy Note 5 when it was released years back as it was a gift to Yun (who preferred the iphone). I liked the Note quite a lot, but it is run down. I upgraded yesterday to the S20. That was a massive upgrade over what I was using. The camera (it has 4 lenses) is on par with my Nikons and it records at 8k (which is super practical given I have no such device to play at that size). The 5g is screaming fast and the big plus for me was the upgrade in storage (128gb + expansion).

Yun celebrated 3 months post-op yesterday, so we celebrated by going to Phoenix for some shopping. I waited in the car for nearly 3 hours so I could study and as I am not exactly a fan of shopping. I’m also not a fan of that drive as it is 4 hours round trip. But at least we had a good lunch at a Greek place. Lots of rain on the way home.

We spent last weekend up Mt. Lemmon with Matt, Dana, Charles, and Julie. It’s about an hour from the house, but the elevation radically improves upon the weather. It was nearly 100 degrees at home and 60-70s up there.

Matt and arrived early on Friday. The ladies followed a few hours later and the Garlands shortly after them. All was well, but somewhere in the middle of the night I began to smell that unfortunately familiar burnt tire smell. I thought there was always the possibility it was somewhere off in the distance and there’d be nothing to worry about.

That was not to be as discovered first thing in the morning when stepping outside on to the deck. It was as if someone lit a tire on fire on right there. The stench was awful.

To add insult to injuet, this little fellow seemed to lack the normal fear factor that he should have had programmed at birth when it comes to avoidance of people and dogs. But sadly that was not the case as he brazenly moved around on the patio while the dogs curiously followed him from behind.

It turned out that he had made the BBQ his home. The BBQ we needed that day to grill the fillets. Fortunately, I was not aware he was under the grill when I removed the cover and turned it on as I probably would have avoided that task. Also fortunately, he didn’t punish me for heating up his home. With some coercion, we eventually got him to leave, assuming that was going to be a permanent thing.

Mt. Lemmon is paradise for the dogs. Not only because the temperature is cool, but because there’s so much for them to explore unrestrained. Though I think I overestimate Scout’s endurance in his old age, still he never quits no matter how many times I throw the ball down a steep hill.

Saturday night we enjoyed some spectacular fillets with what I believe is my best performance with a twice-baked potato. Coupled with corn on the cob and baked onions (and a handful of serranos), it was probably the best dinner we’ve ever done together.

We attempted pizza on the grill for lunch, but that proved to be a disaster.

The photo above taken Friday is nearly identical to the photo taken 2 years previously on the exact same day. That wasn’t planned, but pretty crazy to be two years to the day.

These two have gotten to know this neighborhood pretty well. They are walked nearly every day (some days multiple times). This is one of the things we like most about this area. The demographic is University students and faculty mostly. Everyone is always out walking their dogs. This time of year has the best sunsets.

I was looking up recipes the other day to try and mix it up a bit. There was one that called for a small amount of basil, which I thought no problem I’ll add that to the list for the grocery store. Turns out, fresh herbs are a vile ripoff. The store wanted $3-5 for a small package of what looked like a few leaves. Forget that. I went to Trader Joes and bought the plant for the same price. It’s growing strong producing more than I need. Once again, the dehydrator proves it’s awesomeness. I can dehydrate the excess and grind them into powder for the little spice bottles. If I had the time, this would be a legit business.

We have this weekly food basket we buy for $10. It’s generally filled with an excessive of things we don’t need, like potatoes. We have a lot of potatoes these days. We don’t eat potatoes too often (because they are soooo good in virtually every form and also make me really fat). So rather than let them go to waste, I dehydrated 5lbs last weekend. After blanching them, they turned out spectacular.

The most common use is probably au gratin potatoes, but I found I could grind them into flour and make bread and/or a host of other tasty things. As it turns out, that’s how pringles are made.