Cast Iron

For some reason, just recently, I have been on a kick about getting some cast iron cookware, I’m not real sure why, maybe because of the look of  the food from a cast iron looks so damn tasty. Then luck has it, my parents had some they were getting rid of. A 12 and a 6 inch “The Lodge” brand cast iron skillets both covered in a layer of rust from not being used. “No problem,” dad says as he handed me a steel wool pad. After a few times of scrubbing and rinsing with cold water I removed the rust and was down to bare cast iron again. Now it was time to season the skillets. To season, I followed a few instructions I read on-line, heating them in the oven to 500º for 20 minutes or so then wiping down with veggie oil and laying them upside down in the oven again for another 20-30 minutes. I put aluminum foil down on the oven rack to keep any excess oil from dripping onto the element. The oil helps keep the pot from rusting again and keeps food from sticking when cooking. After the second time in the oven I just turned off the oven and let them cool down while the oven cooled. I repeated these steps the next day.  Now it was a bit of work to clean a rusty cast iron skillet then season it but when it’s free it’s worth it. I don’t have any pictures of before but here is the 12 inch after a couple of seasonings. I cooked a couple of chicken thighs in the small skillet last night and it tasted good. No rust or metal taste at all.

There is a long list of benefits from cooking with cast iron from cooking to actual health benefits. A couple benefits that stick in my mind are a well seasoned pan allows you use less oil to cook and is a healthy alternative to using non-stick pans which may contain harmful chemicals. Another awesome benefit is you can use any heat source oven, stove, or even a camp fire. It truly is a versatile piece.

“One man with courage makes a majority.”                 -Andrew Jackson

No more list

After reading last weeks posts and putting my self to sleep, I've decide to spare you the agony and not attempt a post everyday again. So that’s that.

Found out this morning on my cold, slow commute to work that today, January 21^st, in 1982 Ozzy was hospitalized after biting the head off a real bat that a fan threw on stage. Ozzy was later quoted saying, “I thought it was a plastic prop.” I’m sure he had enough drugs in his system that it probably killed anything that bat was carrying.

So the weather has been brutally cold this past month dropping down into the negatives on some days. The weather report said the temperature dropped forty degrees in less than forty hours. On top of that we went from a few inches of snow to torrential downpours and warmer weather that melted all the snow and created flooding then the temp dropped back down to low teens, freezing rain and snow making central Ohio a huge ice skating rink. Driving to work is a real hoot. They are calling all the temperature drops a polar vortex, not exactly ideal weather to be outside. All this brings me to this coming weekend, which I had planned on getting out and doing a little winter fly fishing plus bringing the camera to see if I could get some creek and snow bank photos but if the temp is below twenty, probably won’t make it. Nope, I’ll just sit inside and drink coffee.

Amber and I went and saw the movie Wolf of Wall Street on Friday. It was a good movie and Leonardo Dicaprio is one hell of an actor. The movie was filled with drugs, money, sex, and F-bombs, like I said a good movie. Saturday we met friends at the Columbus Winter Beer Fest and had our fill of good brews and bad. One was infuse with bourbon that I’m pretty sure made my voice deeper, chest hairier, and probably gave me a manly scar on my face. Fruity beers which I hate, IPAs, amber ale’s, lagers, we had them all, well not all of them but we tried our best. And what’s beer without pizza? So we headed out to a quaint little place named Fabians in what is called the Short North. They serve Chicago style deep dish pizzas and aside from not being in Chi-Town itself the pizza was the real deal. We got a small BBQ chicken and it was amazing at about four inches deep. Our friends got a supreme, a Stromboli, and some garlic bread and no one was disappointed.

Last thing for the day, I was driving home from the store on Sunday and saw a license plate that read “OOH YEA” I’m pretty sure it was the Kool-Aid guy.

Ok this is the last thing, this Saturday I will be celebrating a friend’s birthday out and about but if you are searching for something to do around Columbus, Barleys Smokehouse is celebrating a fellow Scotsman and poet Robert Burns by offering a Robert Burns dinner with a four course Scottish meal including haggis, Scottish ales and single malt Scotch. They will also provide some bag pipes and poetry for entertainment. 

Week one; Topic five

So here it is, Friday the last business day of the week and the last day for my topic on being a better/healthier person. Now we have discussed health in different aspects diet, exercise, social and work life, and even touched on mechanical (car) health but what about health during a zombie apocalypse? Well it’s easy; step one buy a gun and become amazingly accurate because you’ll want to conserve ammo. If you don’t buy one before the outbreak steal one. Step two, stock pile food. No one is for sure when the outbreak will happen so best to start now. Step three while you are waiting for the zombies to arrive go ahead and get into great shape that way you‘ll be able to run from them without tiring. Hopefully they’ll be the slow kind and not the insanely fast running and jumping kind because if that happens no one will survive. Step four, after the outbreak, if movies have taught us anything, stay away from hospitals and/or military bases/camps, that’s usually where it starts or where they concentrate to. Step five, learn how to drive a semi or some other very large heavy duty vehicle. Speaking of which, why don’t they ever get into a semi, dump truck, or trash truck in the movies and just run over everything, make sense. Step six, learn basic survival skills… self explanatory. Seven, include only the closest family and friends. When ducking and hiding from a horde of zombies you don’t want to be sneaking around in a big crowd and if you do find yourself in a large crowd stay close to the fat or sick ones, at least you can outrun them. Eight, place blunt objects such as bats, clubs, sledgehammers or any other tool with some weight to it strategically around your safe house. This way you always have a weapon close by. Number nine, learn basic first aid and pay close attention on learning how to control bleeding. If someone in your group is hurt, even if it wasn’t from a zombie, quarantine them until they are perfectly healthy. Better safe than dead. And number ten the final step to being prepared for the end, never go into an unknown building that has no lights and in the dark. Even if you have a flashlight or flamethrower, do not go in there.

But seriously there is actually, people out there that are certain and are preparing for a real life zombie breakout and I used to think they were crazy. That is until I heard of Krokodil. Krokodil has been deemed “flesh-eating zombie drug,” and that’s exactly what it is. After injection of this drug vessels start to shut down cutting off blood supply to the area of injection and the area starts to die. So while these people are getting high body parts are falling off. Flesh just falls away from the bone like dead leaves from a tree. Think about it a group of these drugged up “zombies” walking towards you on the street, flesh hanging, mind altered from the drug, what do you do? See the steps from above and hope that the drug hasn’t given them super fast running speed. If you have a strong stomach Google krokodil and look at the pictures. I refrained from posting them to keep upsetting any weak stomach readers. If you do look at the pictures, what I’ve noticed is some of the people on the drug seem to be in no pain at all with an arm bone showing, which is probably why this is known as the zombie drug.

So lessons learned this week; stay healthy, stay positive, don’t do drugs, and be prepared for the zombie apocalypse.  

Week one; topic four

Today’s topic at being that better/healthier person is the job/social life. When it comes to talking to people I can keep up a conversation, most times, even with a stranger. The best way to talk to people whether it be a friend, family, or the general public is know what’s going on in the world or at least read the headlines. It’s better to know a little rather than nothing at all that way you at least have the line, “Yeah, I remember reading something about that.”  I’ve found that if they bring it up then they know more about then I do so I just let them talk. Social media can help keep you informed and in contact with people but don’t be glued to it. I try not to look at my phone when hanging out with friends or family, especially when having a conversation with them and never at the table unless obviously you are showing them something. It’s rude and makes you look bored with them. I fail at this sometimes then think of it later and feel bad about it. When meeting new people or even people you already know always give a firm handshake. I hate when I go to shake hands with someone and they offer limp hand, especially men or worse when we miss each others hand then it just becomes awkward. Always make eye contact. When talking with people I try to switch between there eyes and mouth so they know I’m focusing on them. Plus I don’t always hear to good and am slightly ADD so it helps me pay attention. Never hesitate to tell someone, quietly now, that they have something on their face, in their teeth or have a wardrobe malfunction. It might be embarrassing at the moment to them or even you but they will thank you for the fact that they won’t walk around the rest of the day like that. As for your job, always work hard, whether you like your job or not, and take pride in it. If you’re a cook at a fast food place be the best damn cook, if you’re a CEO of a fortune 500 be the best damn CEO. Hard work has always paid off. It looks good, it feels good, and when that asshole next to you gets fired because he is lazy then it is you who gets the last laugh. I once read a quote, not sure who said it, but it went something like don’t do two things half-assed do one thing whole-assed. Don’t be too proud for a job; be proud you have a job. Last but not least learn how to have fun and relax, that will keep you healthy and happy.  

week one; topic three

I didn’t get this posted yesterday so here it is today;

Today’s topic is car maintenance. Cars are a factor in almost every ones day to day life. The US alone averages just over 800 cars per 1000 people, we rank third in cars per capita with San Marino and Monaco taking the number one and two spots. That means we rely on those four wheeled creatures to carry us from point A to point B. Because of that we need them to run, and run well. Just like your health you need to keep your ride just as healthy and the best way is proper maintenance. Now I’m not going to go on about how you need to know how to replace a timing belt or a ball joint or even change your own oil although it is a good thing to know but there are a few things that, I feel, every man, scratch that, everyone should know about your car. Here is my list of must knows;

1.      First and foremost, know what every button, lever, switch, and light means. These days every car comes with a manual, but if you don’t have one you can figure it out online. You laugh but when I worked as a valet I had a guy who sat there, in his car and complained that we broke it because it wouldn’t move. When I came around to the driver side there was a bright red light above his steering wheel that said “BRAKE”. So I told the fellow that his emergency brake was on and when he releases it he can go on. He followed up with, “How do I release it?” Yep, some people. Back to the point know everything about the inside. Also, the little lights on the dash mean something, learn them.

2.      Next kind of goes along with number one, know where the fuse box is. The fuse box is usually inside the cab of the car. Know where it is and it wouldn’t hurt to know how to change a fuse. It’s not always what is wrong with the car but usually when something electrical happens to my car that’s the first thing I look at. It’s a cheap easy fix less than $5 for fuses at the auto parts store. The best part is the labeling for the fuses is usually pretty good.

3.      Moving outside your car, know how to check your tire pressure, how to add/remove air, and how to change a tire. The tire always has written on it what the proper pressure (PSI) should be and most air pumps at gas stations have tire gauges that check the tire pressure when you hook up to the valve stem.

4.      You should know how to open your hood.

5.      And how to jump a battery and keep a set of jumper cables in your car.

6.      Know how to check the fluid in your car that includes oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and transmission fluid. And know how to refill them if needed.

7.      Last is huge especially during the winter time, how to replace a windshield wiper.

Knowing these little things about you car can save you from being stranded and you won’t need to rely on someone else. Plus, if you ever find someone stranded you might be able to help them and that would make you a hero.