Diet and Excercise

Yummy cave lady food

 Tomorrow I plan on becoming a caveman...cavegirl....er, caveperson.  But only in a culinary sense - I am not planning on moving out of my comfortable apartment into the woods. And the culinary part is really a modern one; I'm not going to bring any big game down by hand (or gun for that matter) nor will I eat any raw meat. What is really happening is my partner and I are attempting the Paleolithic Diet for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  In short, the "Paleo" diet is about returning to our hunter gather roots where, supposedly, our bodies are still attuned to evolutionarily - none of this new-fangled agriculture for us, apparently. So the idea is to ingest as much meat, eggs, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds as you can while eschewing refined sugar, grain products, dairy items and processed foods. No chips, no peanuts (for some reason), no cupcakes, no toast, most terribly - no ice cream...you get the picture: no fun. Why would I want to do such a terrible sounding thing you ask?

A carpet of leaves on the West side

Well, unfortunately for me, the famed "Oly 25" (the weight you are supposed to gain when you move to Olympia) combined with the weight gained by quitting smoking  has crept up and up.  My already too much weight has put on weight. So the Paleo diet seems like the ideal jump start for some quick weight loss and hopefully setting the tone for further lifestyle changes (after the indulgences of the holidays, that is).  I think I can do almost anything for one month...but I am including  prayer, chanting, divination, meditation, rune reading etc. in my diet plans as an insurance that my sanity remains intact while my body goes through chocolate withdrawals.

West side neighborhood ravine walk

So like any good diet they suggest an exercise regimen. The suggestions are usually way too complicated for me to deal with:  cardio verses weight training, aerobic, anaerobic, heart rates, eccentric training, metabolic rates, endorphins and something strange called "spinning."  What it all boils down to for me is - walking.  I love to walk. I like a brisk walk in the morning, a nice steady trek in the afternoon and a calm meander through the gloaming. Luckily for me Olympia is one of the ultimate walking towns. There are so many great neighborhoods all with wonderful things to see along the way. I really appreciate the gardens of Olympia and never tire of admiring them as I get my exercise in.  Outside of the neighborhoods one of my favorite places to walk is Priest Point Park. It is also a great place to have a picnic.

Narnia-like woods out behind my apartment building

One of my most frequent walks is the one closest to home.  This is kind of a strange place - it was once a bit of forest and a developer bought it and put in the infrastructure: streets, sewers, streetlights, etc. and then ran out of money.  The land has since been trying to return to forest ever since.  Depending on the season, the empty lots are full of wild flowers, deer, coyote, flocks of crows and other birds.  There is a little man made lake there that has about a zillion frogs, a pair of ducks and these wonderful little birds that skim the surface of the pond scooping up insects for a snack. I think I love it best in the winter time because the lit streetlights shining over fields of untouched snow remind me of walking in Narnia in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  So I walk and walk and think about this limbo place - a patch of land with a veneer of civilization trying to be wild again...just like me.

Ferris Wheels

I see nothing in space as promising as the view from the Ferris Wheel.  -- E.B. White

The splendor of the Ferris Wheel

One of the many things I have enjoyed about Washington is the frequency of county fairs and fair-type events - particularly events that offer the visual thrill of a Ferris Wheel.  Mind you, I am a total wimp when it comes to carnival rides.  I become terrified and queasy on The Zipper. I get woozy and alarmed on The Tilt-A-Whirl and I go into a fist clenching state of panic on any roller coaster larger than a kiddie-sized affair.  I even, embarrassingly, tend to frequent the children's rides at Disneyland.   I prefer the mysterious stability of The Pirates of The Caribbean and the safe joys of the Peter Pan ride to any of the roller coasters or, God forbid, anything that might turn you upside down. But most sadly for me is that I am afraid of the Ferris Wheel. Sad because I adore how they look and ever since reading Charlotte's Web and The Great Gastsby as a young girl, I find them terribly romantic too.  So on my birthday last year I allowed my sweetie to talk me into a romantic ride on the glittering Wheel at The Capitol Lakefair. As you can see by my weird grimace in the photograph below I was on the verge of having a heart attack as the carriage was being rocked by a now not-so-sweet sweetheart.

Having a heart attach on the Ferris Wheel.

I love the names of Ferris Wheels too: The Cosmo Clock, The London Eye, The Astro Wheel and The Singapore Flyer which stands 541 feet tall making it the largest Wheel in the world. It is even cooler by being the only Wheel that had its direction changed because of advice given by feng shui masters. And of course there is the subcategory of Wheels called "Eccentric Wheels" where the cars are not only affixed to the rim but slide up and down the spokes of wheel between the hub and the rim.  I feel a bit faint just thinking about that.

Another wheel-ish ride...

The history of the Ferris Wheel is a charming one and how could it not be?  The very first incarnation of the amusement wheel  may have happened in 17th century Bulgaria where they were called "Pleasure Wheels." But Pleasure Wheels were too much fun to be contained by any one country and they started popping up around the same century in India, Europe, Persia, Siberia and Romania. Pleasure Wheels didn't make it to America until 1848 when a wooden one was built to - guess what? Attract people to a fair. Things have not changed much or at all. The original Ferris Wheel was a mere 264 feet and started delighting the attendees of the World's Columbian Exposition in June of 1893.  After that it was just an evolution of who has the tallest and most glamorous...it doesn't matter to me - I see one, any size, twinkling against the night sky my feet are inextricably drawn to move closer to its hypnotic rotations.

Crows

Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed to have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Crows enjoying a dead tree.

One of the aspects I enjoy about Olympia is its vast crow population. I have always been a fan of the Corvid or Crow Family because of their aesthetic qualities and their savviness towards the world at large. Plus, they are just highly entertaining creatures to observe. We have been walking in what we call "Crow Park" which is really the newly developed southern 10 acres of Yauger Park.  This new area is the Stormwater Expansion that serves as a "Green Infrastructure" that includes a water quality treatment wetland, bio-retention ponds, a 5,000 square foot rain garden and bio-filtration swales. So not only is this place a really wonderful on an environmental level, it is a great place to hang out with crows.  The park has many dead trees that are a social gathering place for a tribe of about 50 plus crows. 

Pond reflections at Yauger Park.

 

Rocks to hop on at Yauger Park.

Sunset over Yauger Park.

My partner and I have taken to "crow feeding" as a Sunday afternoon activity. All week long we save up savory tidbits to entice our feathered friends. Crows are omnivores so they will eat just about anything but they can be picky.  This weekend they turned their beaks up at ham steak but went crazy for a chicken carcass and a bag of potato chips. Often, more excitement happens when some pushy seagulls appear out of nowhere and attempt to steal the crow treats.  Usually the crows are extremely cautious birds. When food is placed on the ground they spend a lot of time discussing it and eyeing it but not picking it up.  Everyone will wait for one brave soul to fly down and snatch a succulent morsel and then everybody else will follow (but only on that same spot). Its like the game of "hot lava" where you can only step in tested places. An untested place is dangerous and therefore to be avoided until someone desperate (or stupid) enough is willing to risk it.

This is not so when food must be defended from seagulls. Caution goes out the window and a precise, fearless and highly organized teamwork ensues. I watched a group of crows work together to collectively sit on the food to hide it from the gulls while another group body checked the gulls to knock them away from the food and yet another group worked to lure them away completely from the site. Unfortunately (for the crows) these tactics often fail. Seagulls are extremely single-minded and tenacious-- we watched the last battle turn into a struggle of strength and focus against cleverness and cooperation. This time our team did not win as the seagulls made off with a large share of the chicken. But I have faith in those sleek, inky birds and am going to lay bets that by next weekend they will have figured out a winning strategy.

Culinary Disappointments

I love so many aspects of Olympia: the lushness, the clean air, nature everywhere, charming neighborhoods to walk through, an interesting college, distinct seasons...but there is something I have consistently missed about California - the food.  I hate to make this statement but the food in Olympia is mediocre at best. When I arrived here my hopes were high. My partner and I love funky little diners and this seemed like a place that would have one on every corner. Unfortunately, this is not the case.  The few that we have found have not been good enough to spend money there twice. Sometimes, even, one is tempted to demand money back. Not too long ago, at a downtown diner that shall remain nameless, I was served soup that tasted like a tire fire and L was treated to a tasteless tower of water-infused glop that was hailed as the "house special." We still have nightmares...

South Bay BBQ

 Then there are the places that have food that you might want to eat but are ridiculously pricey.  South Bay BBQ is a good example. They have a nice atmosphere: cool old pictures on the walls, outside seating, plenty of room inside, super nice waitress...all lovely. They have zingy barbecue sauce, nice cornbread, decent ribs and brisket. Not wonderful, decent. The compliments stop there. The rest of it is a downhill slide into never going back again. The portions were tiny (especially the "special"), the potato salad weirdly sour, the peach cobbler was made with canned peaches and the worst part of it was having to pay over  fifteen dollars per person for lunch.

My peach cake.

One of the benefits to a land with sub par food is that it forces you to cook new things - or at least things that you didn't think you needed to cook. Burritos and chicken enchiladas ( good Mexican food is rare here and I pine for 2am Mission-style burritos) and sushi. Sushi is something that we haven't mastered yet but our forays into Japanese cuisine in the area are compelling motivators. I have also been inspired to bake more.  This summer I used succulent local peaches and fresh lavender grown on our patio to make Martha Stewart's Peach and Cornmeal Upside Down Cake.  It is now an official favorite dessert. 

                                                                                                                     There are a few exceptions to the cavalcade of culinary disappointments on the Olympic Peninsula. One of the places where I actually enjoy the food is Little Da Nang in downtown Olympia.  They have delicious Pho with a complex broth that rivals the Pho houses of San Francisco. We always order the well done beef and the chicken pho (ask for extra garlic on the side and add it to both soups. They also dish up yummy egg rolls and a refreshing glass of young coconut juice. The inside isn't much to look at but the service is friendly and it is a welcome site after a brisk and chilly walk around Capitol Lake.

Delicious mole sauce from our kitchen.

 So the search goes on...and on. We aren't giving up just yet. The perfect restaurant maybe lurking down some side street (at least in my imagination). In the meantime I plan on trying my hand at making the perfect tempura, savory Vietnamese Imperial Rolls, Moo Shu Pork, the creamiest Kheer (Indian milk pudding), carbonara sauce...are you getting hungry yet?