Tag: food

designing a fun race for non-runners

I recently received an email newsletter that started with this:

I ran a marathon a couple weeks ago. No training. No preparation. I decided 5 days before. Just went out and did it.

The newsletter had the title “Lessons Learned”. I’m thinking that would be some harsh lessons there. If you don’t train, you don’t just go out and run 26.2 miles. Without running regularly, most people probably couldn’t run more than a quarter mile. I was curious about these lessons he learned, so I kept reading, and he talked about how it’s good to prepare, but then he said he did it because he knew he “could run 20 miles”, so he could just push himself to get to 26. And he did finish.

At this point, it’s obvious he’s being misleading, so I’m out. I unsubscribed from that email. (I realize there is strategy for trying to win a marathon, but the hardest part is being able to run that far, and being able to run 20 miles counts as training and preparation to me. That doesn’t just happen. Even if you’re young and skinny, you don’t just run miles without building up to it.)

I run more than the average adult, but I know I couldn’t finish a marathon without massive amounts of training, and that’s not one of my goals. I suspect most people have no interest in running that far.

However, I do enjoy being outside and getting exercise, as well as enjoying the camaraderie from being with like-minded people. So perhaps there should be some similar events but with modifications. I don’t just mean a shorter race — I know those exist, and I’m still not interested.

I’ve heard of a bicycle race called the Tour de Donut (The Donut Race). It’s a 30 mile race with two pit stops where you eat donuts, and each donut you eat reduces your time by five minutes. That’s more my style. Although 30 miles is still too far. So we should have one that is 5 miles (bicycling or running or walking), and each donut you eat takes off one minute from your time. We could also do this with bacon strips. Or donuts AND bacon!

I think a lot of people would attend an event like this. You could hand out medals for various categories: fastest actual time, lowest adjusted time, anyone who gets negative time, and most donuts/bacon eaten. The whole event could be a fundraiser, too. Someone should make this happen.

Would you participate?

Do you have any ideas to make it even more awesome?

What is figgy pudding?

There are quite a few Christmas carols with unusual lyrics, which many people seem to ignore because it’s tradition to sing them. One of them is “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, where in later verses, singers demand hearers to “bring me some figgy pudding” and then exclaim, “We won’t go until we get some”. I’m not sure how I’d react to carolers on my front porch demanding me to feed them some obscure food. (I recommend watching the Phineas & Ferb Christmas special, where the wanna-be evil scientist Heinz Doofenshmirtz finds himself in that exact situation. It’s funny.)

I can’t recall ever eating figgy pudding, nor do I know much about it, so I looked it up. There’s more to the story than you probably care about, so here’s a summary:

1) It’s not pudding, and it may not even include figs.
2) Sometimes it includes meat. Or a hard animal fat called suet.
3) Sometimes it is served ON FIRE!
4) It has more in common with a fruitcake than pudding.
5) One historic recipe used 13 ingredients to represent Jesus Christ and the 12 disciples. It included a sprig of holly on top to symbolize the crown of thorns.
6) When people sang that they wanted some and wouldn’t leave, it was likely poor people having fun at the doorsteps of the wealthy. Sometimes wealthy families did hand out money or treats to carolers (although demanding it still seems weird).
7) It sometimes contains alcohol, and can remain edible for a year without refrigeration.
8) It was mentioned in the 1843 book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens: “Mrs. Cratchit entered — flushed, but smiling proudly — with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quarter of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.” (Do any of the movies show this scene with it on fire?)
9) Ingredients can include figs, plums, raisins, currants, oranges, cherries, cranberries, citrus zest and juice, along with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice.
10) It dates back to the 14th century. Initially it was a meal of subsistence, not a dessert. It was made of meat, root vegetables, and dried fruit, stuffed into a sheep stomach and boiled for hours if not days. So basically a pottage, but boiled until firm. It was held together by the flour and dried fruit.

The recipe has changed a lot over the years. Initially it was made with whatever ingredients you had available (which was much less then).

So when you sing, “Bring me some figgy pudding… we won’t go until we get some”, now you know. Personally, I’ll pass. Maybe we need a modernized version of that verse… A modern take could be hot chocolate. If carolers are going to demand some food or beverage in exchange for singing carols outside someone’s house in the cold, hot chocolate makes sense.

Thanksgiving feast weight gain myth

I have an important Public Service Announcement that should be read by all before a Thanksgiving feast:

Eating one large meal will not make you fat.

Also, eating a piece of pecan pie or pumpkin pie that you normally would skip will not make you fat. Obesity is a big problem (ahem), but it’s a lifestyle, not the result of one meal. And research backs this up.

A study showed that during the holiday season including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, the average weight gain was 0.8 pounds. That’s within standard deviation — i.e., you can gain that much in a day just from normal eating. It’s not a big deal.

So my point is, enjoy your holiday feast with family. Of course, if your doctor gives you specific nutritional instructions, follow that. (This is not medical advice.) Or if you have personal convictions that you should follow, then do that. But don’t let guilt or shame or some overreaching news article keep you from enjoying a piece of pie. Eat, drink, and be merry!

Let me add to that — this isn’t about eating a lot. Actually enjoy the feast if you get to partake in one. And enjoy the people around you. It won’t all be perfect — life never is — but be thankful for what you have. And don’t let shame or guilt keep you from enjoying a feast with family. This day is unique — you won’t pass this way again.

breaking news about Thanksgiving

I was visiting some family over the Thanksgiving break, and someone turned the TV news on for a few minutes. One of their “Breaking News” stories was that there was a lot of holiday travel on Thanksgiving. That’s not really news, since everyone knows it will happen, and it’s not breaking news because it was already predicted and known.

I’ve seen a lot of other mundane things be called “breaking news” before. One time the President’s plane was landing in Philadelphia. I don’t keep up with his travel schedule, so I wondered if something was wrong. Nope, that was where he was going. He was just traveling to a meeting. So I don’t see how it’s even news. Does anyone need to know? Was there nothing more relevant happening that day?

I understand that the news networks want to keep their viewers “engaged” [i.e., glued to the TV / radio / stream all the time] so they want “breaking news”, and they sometimes manufacture drama, but instead of all that, why don’t they actually report interesting and/or relevant news? There’s a lot of good things that happen in the world each day. It seems like these days some of the most popular mainstream news sources just try to incite anger toward a particular political party by blaming all the problems on that one group of people. (I’ll stop the rant on that before it gets going, but let me remind you that biased reporting like that is called propaganda. News is reporting the facts of what happened, not casting blame on that “other party”. Look to see if your preferred news sources do this. Both sides do it.)

Whoops! Started to rant there. My bad! Back on topic, here’s some “breaking news” about Thanksgiving — many people ate a lot and had a good time doing it! 🙂

Here’s some Thanksgiving-related news… at a family get-together I attended, someone brought cheese dip with sausage in it. I think there was some slight befuddlement at that, since it’s not a traditional side dish at Thanksgiving. But it’s not like green beans and corn are anything special on their own. Besides, cheese dip proved to be beneficial since the turkey was on the dry side. (I’m not complaining — it’s hard to cook a turkey well, and it was still good — especially with the cheese dip.)

Here’s another point along those lines. There’s nothing inherently wrong with tradition and having the same foods for Thanksgiving each year. I’m glad we always have dressing/stuffing, since it’s rare and delicious. But it’s better to not let tradition keep us from making things better. It’s good to ask, “How can we make our Thanksgiving meal more awesome?” Keep what’s already great, but don’t be afraid to add new items or change things up if it improves the experience. The holiday meal is not great just because of tradition — it’s great because of good-tasting food and enjoyable fellowship with family. So make it awesome!