Good afternoon, friends and neighbors!
A new job.
New, later hours.
New work.
New kitchen, new people, new rules, new lifestyle, new rhythms, new responsibilities, new challenges, new criteria.
New expectations- from the job, and from myself.
Let’s kick some ass.
Good afternoon, friends and neighbors.
I’m not going to lie- the last couple months have been more than a little rough.
Between letting my side work get away from me, leaving one job, trying to make something of this whole blogging thing, and now starting another day job with a different schedule, it all takes a toll.
We are all humans- not robots, not beasts of burden, not machines. No, not even professional cooks and chefs. EVERYONE has periods where they feel overextended. Exhausted. Burned out.
Weak.
Broken.
Done.
There’s no shame in that. No shame in needing help, time, or advice to put yourself back together. As the Tao Te Ching says,
“If you wish to be made whole, you must first allow yourself to be broken.”
You tell ’em, Uncle Tony.
That’s where the true strength of will and character is- not in never cracking or failing, but stepping up and trying it all again.
Easier said than done, of course- but here are some of the quotes and wisdom I have been reminding myself of when things feel a bit too deep. No particular order, and I have many more- but here are some of my favorites, and why.
Good evening, friends and neighbors.
The flight in was abysmal. Normally, I don’t truly care one way or another for air travel- I usually have enough of SOMETHING to make being stuck in the same seat for hours on end manageable- reading material, writing work, podcasts, exhaustion, something to make the hours a little shorter.
For some reason, though, the red-eye out of Portland International drove me mad. I’d been tired enough to sleep, but not exhausted enough to sleep for very long. Nothing distracted me long enough that I could ignore my legs getting twitchy and anxious.
Granted, that had been my entire body and mind for the last week or so, and this plane trip was meant partially to help me relax and get ready for a new job to start the next week. What better way to relax than ten days of family and food- and what better place to do it?
Philadelphia.
Hello, you f***ed up little city. Good to see you again.
Good evening, friends and neighbors.
To quote my wife, “Cooking with a cold must be like being a musician that can’t hear.”
This may or may not be because we went out to dinner once when I was dealing with some nasal congestion and couldn’t taste anything. My favorite beers, deep-fried brussels sprouts, and smoked ribs were utterly tasteless. It was frustration bordering on heartbreak.
The senses of smell and taste are obviously deeply connected- informing and influencing each other in one of our most primal survival mechanisms- when something smells off, it probably IS off.
When you’re a cook, though, not being able to taste things is not an option. You might know the recipes by heart, you may measure and cook everything perfectly- but if you aren’t tasting (or able to taste) as you go, it’s like driving down the highway with only one eye. Yes, you can do it- but you wouldn’t unless had to, and there are a LOT of things that can mess with your ability to detect flavors.
Here’s some of them:
Good afternoon, friends and neighbors!
I don’t have a home gym setup. Never did. I saw absolutely no reason to drop 12 Easy Payments of $19.99 a month for some gargantuan piece of machinery that, in all likelihood, would become another clothes rack and hiding spot for the cat.
Yet, 6 years ago, I was 240 pounds. As of this morning, this is what my scale told me:
10.6 Bodyfat Percentage
|
BMI of 22.3
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Yes, I am still a baker. Yes, I still eat my own work, as I’ve brought up before.
I just lost the weight and keep it off without buying some ridiculous workout machine or diet plan.
In the previous articles, I’d mentioned it in the broad strokes, and I mentioned that I use a single, 50lbs. sandbag for weightlifting (or, as the case may be, a sack of flour), and told you all a bit about where and why I run, but I never went to any great detail on my bodyweight exercise routine.
Here we go then!
The Black Hat Baker 