Motorcycle First Steps

Should I get a cheap motorcycle and learner’s permit and lean on my own? All I need to be street legal is a learner’s permit and that only requires passing a written test. Scary isn't it?  These things are big complex dangerous machines. I wasn’t sure how to drive it down the driveway to even start learning. Plus, without ever having driven one, how could I be sure it would fit me well? I decided to sign up for a course to learn how to drive it.

The MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) has a Basic RiderCourse

http://www.msf-usa.org/brc.aspx

In my area, there are two main organizations this course. A set of classes is sponsored by ABATE. ABATE is a non-profit motorcycle advocacy group. They are cheap, just $75 dollars for the class. However, they were booked out solid through the end of the year. The other choices was through Harley Davidson. They were pretty booked up too, but there were 3 dealerships in my area offering classes, so I found one I could get into. They are much more expensive at $300, but also include an extra day of class time. And I think the class size is normally smaller. Plus you ride a Harley :)

Before the course started, I wondered if I should have waited for next year for the cheaper ABATE class. But, the Harley class worked out well, and I consider it money well spent.

Advice: Ask what happens if you drop out of the class or fail the test. The dealership I took it at had a nice policy. They’ll let you try again in the future: wait list for free, or guaranteed spot for half price. I think this is a dealer specific policy and could change, so ask in advance. At $75, failing and paying a second time isn’t too bad, but at $300, failing and paying a second time is pricey.

Beginning of My Motorcycle Adventure

First my background, I can ride a bicycle. Now when I was like 7 or so, I broke an arm flipping over one, but I’ve done alright since then. I last flipped over one when I was 15 or so, and didn’t even break anything :) That’s over two decades without bicycle injury! Thus, I felt I was ready.

I’ve never drove a motorcycle. I think I may have been a passenger a super long time ago. I never drove dirt bikes, but did ride as a passenger with my older aunt when we were both kids. That’s the extent of my motorized two wheel experience.

Why am I doing this?  It is there.  Or, I like to try new things, and it something there.  Or, my wife wanted a boat, but we don't live by water, so this was a compromise.  Or, when I was younger, I had fun riding on a dirt bike as a passenger with my aunt.  Or, I'm getting older and needed a midlife crisis adventure.  Or, I'm always looking for new challenges and this is one.  Or, do I really have to have a reason?  I'm doing it.  I'll see if I enjoy doing it and if so, I'll keep doing it.  Then after I'm into it, then I'll figure out the reasons.

Oat and Almond Flour

I needed to use the food processor tonight to make peanut butter.  I like the ability of the food processor, but there's a lot of parts to wash afterwards.  Thus, I like to optimize my usage by making multiple things with it.  There's a few recipes I've been meaning to try that call for oat flour or almond flour.  I made a batch up of them before making the peanut butter.

 
Oat flour: Take Old Fashion Oats.  Run through food processor until fine grained like flour.  Store in baggie in freezer until needed.

Almond flour: Take Almonds.  Run through food processor until grainy like flour.  Be careful about running too long or you'll start to change it into almond-butter.  That's good food, but it is not the same use as almond flour.  Store in baggie in freezer until needed.

Why Sourdough

I was asked a great question, "Why Homemade Sourdough Bread?"

My phases with bread

1. Obese days - Bread-holic.  I bought the most ancient healthy labeled bread the grocery store had to offer.  I dined out at restaurants with unlimited rolls.
2. Weight loss days - Bread-phoby.  I scaled down to light 35 calorie per slice bread.  It was a good calorie/flavor trade off.  Sure, the 200 calorie per slice bread tasted better, but for 35 calories it was hard to beat.  Plus, this meant I could still eat alot of bread.  I avoided baking and buying other kinds of bread, because I didn't know if I could trust myself.  I was concerned on derailing my efforts.
3. Target weight - Return of the Baker.  I found myself, and my overeat temptations had left.  I had extra calories to spend on things and knew how to fit in anything I wanted.  Thus, I upgraded from the 35 calorie bread to one with more flavor and more calories.

But why sourdough?

1. Sourdough can rise 100% all whole wheat flour.  Baker's yeast can't.  I make bread with 100% all whole wheat flour, because refined white flour is equal to eating sugar.  And I'm going do that, I'd rather just eat straight sugar.
2. It tastes good on its own.  Floor, Water, Salt, and Sourdough starter.  That is all you need for flavorful bread.  I add butter and honey, but I don't have to use much.  It already tastes good without it.  This gives me options to save on calories.
3. Longer shelf life.  Homemade sourdough bread keeps longer.  I can make a batch and its fine a week later in the pantry.  It may last even longer, but I go through a batch by the end of the week.
4. Adds micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.  But I emit this is a nice add-on reason, not a driver.
5. Baking was and is again a hobby for me.  Its another side interest onto its own.  Baking good sourdough bread is the pinnacle of bread baking.  Nothing more challenging.  I could write a whole series on sourdough bread baking and maybe I will.

Where do I come out with calories?
One of my sourdough buns comes in about 100 calories.  Thus, I'm only about 30 calories over two light pieces of bread.  This isn't much today, because I don't eat as much bread.  Back when I was trying to lose weight, 30 calories ten times a day adds up.  I don't regret my choices.  I got to where I'm at with them.  But now that I'm here, I have more choices, and I can afford 30 calories and that's only multiplied by 4 times in a day at most.  If I wanted, I could probably match the 70 calories per bun, but I don't need to.  Knowing when to stop is just as important.  There's better calories I can focus on.


What if you don't bake?
Baking isn't where I'd recommend starting.  Bread is high calorie and a risky food if you are trying to lose weight.  If weight loss is your goal, focus on that first.  There will be plenty of time to come back to baking.  In the meantime, try to lean on the lighter breads, 35 calorie and 45 calorie per slice.  Or really the key is down step the hundred plus calorie per slice :)  Even a kind that is twenty calories less per slice than what you buy now will get you moving in the right direction.

And if you never bake, that's alright too.  Like I said, it is one of my every growing hobbies.  When you buy bread, look for a good calorie and flavor balance and try to get whole wheat when possible.


Also, be careful of store bought sourdough bread.  It usually isn't actual sourdough bread, but regular bread with a bit of vinegar to flavor.

But if you do bake and are ready for some flavor and challenge, nothing beats homemade sourdough bread.

The Most Complicated Hamburger I Didn't Eat

My book is nearing completion, and I've been thinking about cover concepts.  I wanted a cover with food, but what?  Ice cream came to mind, but face it, that is what kept me fat.  I'm in love with my replacement yogurt with fruit, but I didn't think it would be as recognizable.  Plus, it didn't highlight that many techniques.  Pizza is great any time of the day or temperature, but it just seems destine to be a risk food.  Then there was one another food that came to mind.  It was there for me growing up, after school, on many cheap teenage dates, in my apartment in grad school, on many cheap adult dates, and even today for dinner.  Hamburgers! When I started trying to lose weight, fitting in two hamburgers for dinner was like trying to fit in a large pizza.  But tonight, I ate two for dinner and had enough calories left over for a chocolate yogurt shake.

I planned for hamburgers tonight and cooked an extra one for the photo shoot.  As they fried in the cast iron pan, I asked my wife, "Which hamburger patty looks the most photogenic?"  I used the two I was eating for dinner as practice.  Does it look better all together or separated into parts?  What size and amount of lettuce best represents the message I want to convey?  The whole photo shoot took me an hour, far longer than it took to cook or eat the hamburger.


I used only actual food, no glue, glitter, or fake stuff on my plate.  Sure it may have looked better, but I'm about reality in food, not make believe.  The grocery store already sells enough make believe food.  I thought of myself as a National Geographic photographer on expedition trying to get the perfect shoot of the hamburger in the wild.


I even had to face the apex predator of the kitchen.  It got rough at the end when my toddler took a break from cartoons and toys to notice what I was up to.  Then he yelled he wanted a hamburger and made an unsuccessful raid campaign to the table.  Fortunately I had another hamburger left over in the fridge I used to buy him off.

In the end, I think I captured it:

This hamburger was like the ones I actually ate for dinner.  The above as pictured was only 385 calories.  It highlighted what I've learned about engineering calories.  The beef, cheese, and bread all fell into the "will work for calories" technique.  For example, the beef is a chuck roast I ran through the food processor.  That saved over a hundred calories in itself.  I'm topping it with a mini-salad of veggies to lower the calorie density.  (Fun fact - the jalapeños and onions are from my garden last year.)  Beyond that, the plate highlighted how my tastes have changed: extra sharp cheddar cheese, mustard, and raspberry tea.  Those don't go as far back as me and my childhood hamburger but are regulars now.  I always thought tea was dirty water and mustard was as tasty as a banana peel.  Now I'm drinking tea everyday and to the point where mustard can replace mayo and BBQ sauce.


The "sprinkles-on-top" experience is that during this whole time I was never tempted to eat the hamburger.  I felt sated from the two I ate for dinner.  Though I did the drink the tea when I was done.  Still can't believe I missed out on it all those years.  Now I just need to review my 80 something shoots and finalize on the image.  The above is one one my leading favourites.

Disclaimer: Hamburgers were eaten in the making of this production.

A Calorie Engineer Valentine's Day

Got my wife some Roses:

Even better I made home made cupcakes with optional cherry frosting:

I started with a standard golden layer cake recipe.

• Replaced half the sugar with sugar free sweeter
• Substituted almond milk for the whole milk
• Substituted white whole wheat flour for cake flour.  Honest, I'd do that even if it was more calories.  Maybe it'd be softer with cake flour, but it was plenty soft and moist enough.  It is the difference between eating food and pure sugar.

In the end, they came out to 207 calories each (and 4.7 grams protein).  If I needed, there would be opportunities to pull down the calories even more.  For instance, I used 10 tablespoons of cream butter.  I could have used margarine or applesauce for all of part of that to lower the calories.  But I didn't for two reasons.  First, didn't want to change too many things at once.  I haven't made this recipe that many times.  Second, I didn't need too.  The 207 calories each is fine for my needs.  Know when to quit engineering and move onto the next challenge.
One tip in making cupcakes: Fold the dry and wet ingredients.  Don't mix.  The difference between cake and muffins.  Sure you have to dish wash an extra bowl, but it is Valentine’s day.  Suppose that's why I make more muffins than cup cakes, the other days :)

I still celebrate with food, but responsibility.  Yet, I don't celebrate only with food.  I took the family to the Indianapolis Children's museum.  I burned almost all the calories for one cupcake just from that trip.

Plus burned even more calories through cooking and tasks around the house and yard.  We had a bit of a snow here and that landed me even more unexpected calories through shovelling and ploughing snow.  With all that, I was running a bit low on calories consumed and needed to seek out more food to eat.  I already had two cupcakes in the day and didn't feel like another.  Honest, I didn't crave another.  Instead I had something healthy - mixed veggies with cream butter as a snack between meals.  That's become one of my frequent snacks when I'm low on calories.  I used a mix with carrots, so it has a good vitamin A boost.

I made dinner extra special by making steak.  For only 685 calories I had steak, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, and sourdough bread.  I didn't used to like steak all that much, growing up on hamburgers, but I've come to appreciate the low calories that lean steak has to offer.

And tonight looking forward to watching the season première of Walking Dead with my wife and a bowl of buttered popcorn.  This is our Sunday night tradition.  Popcorn is pretty low calories, as long as you don't over do the butter.

There you have it a random holiday.  Went on a family walking trip.  A little extra indulgent with the cupcakes.  But I engineered those to a lower level of calories.  Burned a good deal of calories from a walking and other activities.  And I still had a sensible breakfast, lunch, dinner, and post dinner snack.

How to Cut Up a Pineapple

Many years ago, I never thought to eat a pineapple.  I pictured it as something people put on a ham.  But one day, I had fresh pineapple and it was good, ice cream level good.  Of course, I had no clue how to cut one up.  They are a bit imposing when you look at them.  Not as easy as an apple or an orange, and they do look a bit like an alien fruit.  But once I invested some time in learning how to cut them up, I learned it wasn't near as difficult as I thought it would be.  Plus the stuff from a can and what is baked on a ham is a far cry from what comes out of the pineapple direct.

Ingredients

• One pineapple

Hardware

• Flat surface
• Paring knife
• Big bowl

1.) Cut off the ends of the pineapple and thus have a canister shape.