Fitness

cold hand dark alcohol

Endorphins The Hard Way, The Yummy Way, and the Rat Pack Way

Endorphins, Fitness, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Music / By

Noted Buzzed Boomer contributor, Old Man Wrong, will drop into Seattle today from the Bay Area to share his expertise in catching a Buzz in multiple ways.  Faithful readers may remember OMW’s posts on the art of cooking steak, popcorn, and….. Brussel Sprouts. He also knows a bit about fitness.

An open water swimmer, OMW will first brave the brisk waters of Puget Sound to fire up those exercise endorphins.  Brrrr!  I’ll be doing some beer can curls from the safety of the beach.

Next, we will visit B & E Meats, established in 1958 by Bob and Earl Green, where OMW will select the proper steak for pan searing and grilling later in the evening.  Yum.  

Finally, a stop is planned at the Tin Room Bar for a classic, poured-at-the-table, dry gin Martini.  “Quite simply, no other drink even comes up to its knees.”  Further quoting Jay Jacobs in A Great And Sudden Glory, we shall “stoop to pay obeisance to this wonder.  The pursed lips draw off a modicum of the only liquid to which the adjective “brittle” can be applied.  The taste buds undergo extreme arousal, and a great and sudden glory is experienced in the general vicinity of the pharynx.  With startling clarity the drink seems to irradiate its own descent through darkness from gullet to gut.”  Queue Frank Sinatra.  

We will look forward to some of OMW’s takeaways from this quick trip to the Pacific Northwest in a future post. Meanwhile, cheers!

– Jet Cannon

person, human, joy
man and woman sitting on couch

Shaken Not Zapped

Endorphins, Fitness, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Recipes / By

You know popcorn? You may not know popcorn. It shouldn’t cost $58.50 and leave you sick after watching The Matix XII at the Come On In, What Are The Odds Of Getting Ill-plex. It‘s not the ‘as much fun’ (actually far more fun) ‘to make than it is to eat’ stuff. Although the J. Pop experience was always oddly…hot, I won’t lie. And it ain’t Orville Fudruckers Buttery Microwave in a 2 minute ‘bing!!’ all done folded bag. The waxy weirdness of the insides, burnt clumps here and there, dry tasteless stuff elsewhere. 

Grow up! People been trying to mess up popcorn since Charles Cretors invented the popcorn maker out of his old Chicago candy store in like 1890. Get in touch with this Nature’s wonder y’all!l Ima tell you how. 

Good p’corn needs the stove. Period. Why did our moms get a gadget or machine for everything? Keeping away from dirty nature, I guess. Oh well – Greatest Generation, they did win WWII etc. We can forgive ‘em for wanting to get out the kitchen and live! But. Corn goes on the stove. 

Pot. Oil (Google tell you which kind) and you can throw in some bacon fat/lardo or butter because umami. Fair measure of salt. I get it – salt bad. But salt ‘properly seasons’ food. Food’s swizzle stick. To counteract the bad, go for a nice long walk every day. Ahem. 

Gring in some pepper. (Or buy a pepper grinder and some peppercorns and then grind in. C’mon!! Thro’ out that powered pepper from 2011. How old are you??!?) Now, there is a secret ingredient. It is lemon juice. Not ReaLemon, that of the plastic lemon-looking thing with the green screw top. Actual lemon juice, a good bit, squeeze into the oil/lardo/salt/pepper mix. Set it all on the stove on lowwwwwww. Low. Then put in the corn. 

Now go watch a Next Gen or something on Netflix…45 min. By that time — Data having let go of the dream of becoming fully human, somehow becoming more human in the process — the kernels (not colonels) are dark brown and nutty and ready, come what may.  Ready to get rocked. Now you gotta put down your phone thingy and get up. 

What is needed is a blast of the highest heat known to your stove, you at the controls. There’s a lid on the pot and there’s a towel over the lid and you’re shaking that pot like it’s never got shook, its shoes are falling off, it’s missing appointments, it’s making promises it’ll never keep, it is giving and giving, corn popping like absolute crazy, shake shake shake shake and then…

It’s over. Last chord in Day In The Life… bonggggnngggg…. 

That’s it! You will like the result.

Old Man Wrong

popcorn, movie time, snack
man architecture high travel

Bike Safety

Endorphins, Fitness, Good Clean Fun, Uncategorized / By

Exercise the fun way!  Saddle up!  But safety first!  Let’s see I need my helmet (with blue flasher on the back and rear view mirror), florescent green vest with pocket for phone, padded bike pants for that firm saddle, bike gloves to keep the hands from going numb, Apple Watch to capture biking exercise minutes and miles, mask in case I need to talk with someone, glasses for eye protection, water bottle and Camelback for max hydration, bike shoes, sunblock, seat bag with mini first aid kit, and baseball cap for post-ride helmet-hair.  And….. we’re out of time.  Tomorrow we’ll get an earlier start.

– Jet Cannon 

no cycling, park, sign
dog, sad, waiting

No buzz in Those Greens!

Endorphins, Fitness, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun / By

Brussel Sprouts still suck, just not as bad as they used to. At the table growing up . . . big brothers (cool, snickery); a sister (holding her own); mom (ringleader, cook); dad (dropped off by carpool at 5:23 pm, a little later on his driving day, serving up); and me (punk, dragged in from kick the can or whatever) . . . there was almost always something tasty on offer. Seems incredible even to me, but we all showed up pretty much every night for many years. 

Which was fine, a little stiff at times but more than a few laughs along the way and like I say, decent-plus edibles (thanks mom!!). And eating together forms bonds (I didn’t know that then). Except Brussel Sprouts. We weren’t poor so they weren’t canned. But we weren’t rich so we had no notion of “fresh” (dirty? European?)  A&P didn’t have fresh anyway. My mom boiled the living Ess out of those frozen, piss-green balls. Stunk up the place. Mouth-feel like the inside of a waterlogged baseball, taste like paste and not the minty kind; rotten spinach, fish? Bad. I cut a deal with the dog – you eat my Sprouts, I shoot you a couple extra Milk Bones.

All that’s changed of course. Now you get BS on the stalk or at least fresh in a zip-lock bag with sell-by date. Try this: Baking pan. A little bacon fat (ok more than a little), salt ‘n peppa, olive oil and lemon. Preheat to 6750 deg. Shove it in and 10 min later, Boom!!. Crispy on the outside — leaves shatter and bacony. Tender on the inside – smooth, the sour gone, almost sweet. Earthy not dirty.

But that pure high never lasts. Along comes oven-roasted BS No. 18, a bigger one that didn’t quite caramelize or tenderize . . . maybe a rough time growing up on Better Than You Organic Farm. Bite into that Eff’er and well, where is the dog??

Old Man Wrong

Pre-Workout Drinks

Caffeine, Endorphins, Fitness, Food and Drink / By

An energy boost before your workout is a welcome idea.  There are numerous powders and drinks on the market but are they safe?  In moderation, probably.  In many the main ingredient is caffeine which in appropriate amounts is likely safe and effective.  If your heart races or your fingers tingle that’s too much.  

Some experts recommend going more natural because then there is less concern with what other ingredients might be in that powder.  So instead, have a cup of coffee before working out.  Or food rich in protein like yogurt.

Use common sense.  We don’t want to over stress our bodies.  Yet it’s important to keep moving as we age.

– Jet Cannon 

gym, exercise, fitness

Pickleball

1 Comment / Endorphins, Fitness, Good Clean Fun, Trending / By

Need some exercise?  Pickleball is a sport that virtually any age can play.  Based on the Single Sport Participation Report of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) on Pickleball, 75% of Core Players are 55 and older (defined as players who play 8 or more times per year).

My wife and I have all the gear.  Racquets, balls, shoes, sweatbands, and bags for all our gear.  Someday we will actually step on to a court.  Looking forward to it though.  Do what I say and not what I do. 

– Jet Cannon

person holding strawberry ice cream

Sugar, Carbs, and Calories

1 Comment / Fitness, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Trending / By

Buzz off bad boys!  All three are bad for the beach body we’ll need this spring and summer.  Hence the hard seltzer craze.  These beverages are lower in all three.  Now, 100 non-nutritional calories per can is not exactly healthy but it beats most beer, wine and liquor options.  The alcohol content is also lower making summertime parties a little safer.

The fun part is the number of choices is growing as all the big beverage makers are jumping on the bandwagon e.g. Bud Light Seltzer.  Lots of subtle fruity flavors.  “Here, try one of mine!”  The millennials seem to have claimed White Claw.  If Baby Boomers have a favorite brand, please let me know.  I want that one.  

– Jet Cannon

 

Photo courtesy of swiglife.com

woman holding her orange and white cat

Green Tea – Jolly Good

Caffeine, Fitness, Food and Drink / By

You may have heard that green tea has positive health benefits.  According to WebMD, the catechins in the tea are antioxidants that fight cell damage.  Blood flow may be increased, cholesterol may get lowered, and high blood pressure may be reduced. It may improve memory and possibly reduce the plaques linked to Alzheimers.  No guarantees but introducing tea time to your day may do more than just provide a time to relax with a cuppa.

– Jet Cannon

green tea latte, tea, latte
bench, bodensee, senior

Boomeritis

1 Comment / Endorphins, Fitness / By

Regular exercise is essential for good health and it can be very useful in creating a natural endorphin Buzz.  But overdoing it, and this is good news in a way, can be counter-productive.  Exercised muscles need time to rebuild.  And as we age, our bodies just need more time to recover from strenuous exercise.  

I tested this Boomeritis ailment with classic New Years resolution vigor and daily exercise to the point where it hurt to move.  My body was trying to tell me something but I was bent on losing those Covid 19 pounds.  Even though I was mixing up the kinds of exercise I was doing, my body rebelled.  Burning pain.  

Lesson learned.  Exercise, yes, but please be careful out there. 

– Jet Cannon

man, muscle, fitness
dumbbells, training, fitness

National Get Up Day – february 1

Endorphins, Fitness / By

Started by the United States Figure Skating Association, “Get Up is about being fearless in the face of falling.”  It’s about bouncing back. Good stuff.

For Buzzed Boomers it’s also about getting up and moving.  Walk, exercise, swim.  Do something active.  Generate those endorphins.

You’ll want to have that under your belt to prepare for tomorrow’s post!

– Jet Cannon

old man, ride, scooter