Em on Daily Life

Still Lovin' No-Knead Bread!

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:21:00 +0000

It's been two months since I last posted and I'm still loving Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

I've settled on a favorite dough recipe for everyday use--the light wheat. Instead of 6.5 cups of white flour, one of those cups is whole wheat. Just enough to give it a tan glow.

In addition to bread, I've continued to enjoy making way-better-than-Thomas' English muffins. Pita and dinner rolls have both turned out well, though I'll improve each with another batch or two. And, twice I've been able to make fabulous pizza on the spur of the moment because I had dough in the fridge waiting for inspiration.

I've also gotten pretty good at making bagels, though they seem to "deflate" as they cool. Still experimenting with that...

A recent blog post on their website discusses making naan (actually, it's paratha), and I'm looking forward to trying it.

I don't eat a lot of bread in general. But I'm really enjoying that the bread products I make are easy, fun, fast, fresh, and have few ingredients.

Thanks, Jeff and Zoë!

Who Knew Homemade Could Be So Easy?

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:51:00 +0000

Yesterday I realized that I am becoming quite the "Susie Homemaker."

It's been slowly emerging since last year when I finished hiking (see my hiking blog) and became the work-from-home, self-employed member of the household. My flexible schedule allowed me to take on the role of primary cook.

I had to brush up on my cooking skills, expanding my repertoire beyond the one-pot, rehydration meals I ate on trail. Early on, I discovered the crock-pot and have been trying different recipes once or twice a week since then. (Thanks for the crock-pot cookbook, Mom!)

Through the hiking group on Yahoo, I learned of the preserving-food group, also on Yahoo. (The two are related, as we hikers eat better on trail when we dehydrate meals cooked at home.)

On the preserving-food group, I learned about Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and, even before the book arrived, I bought a baking stone and successfully made bread, pizza crust, and English muffins from their boule dough (their online video showed me how). No kidding, it's super easy and fast! That's because it breaks from the traditional expectations for making fresh bread at home--no more kneading, rising, punching, and incantations. You make a batch of dough one day, and take from the batch as needed. It keeps in the refrigerated for up to 14 days. The English muffins were so delightful that I won't be buying the $2.99 Thomas' any time soon!

On the preserving-food group I also saw the 5-minute chocolate cake recipe that I'd seen somewhere before on the internet. This time, I tried it. OMG, a fabulous cake! And, just the right size to share with a friend and leave no guilt-ridden leftovers. Even better, members of the group suggested varying the recipe to make muffins and cornbread. I tried the cornbread today--it will take some trial-and-error to perfect, but it was pretty darned good!

As I made this week's grocery list, I included taco seasoning. Then I had the idea to Google "homemade taco seasoning," and sure enough there were two recipes for homemade taco seasoning, each requiring ~8 ingredients that are already in my spice cupboard. Awesome!

I can't really claim to be Susie Homemaker, based on the infrequency with which I use my vacuuming skills. But, I am having so much fun, feeling empowered and saving money by making quality, tasty food at home. I had no idea it was so easy!

Go Steelers!

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:01:00 +0000

My favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be playing in Super Bowl XLIII this Sunday. Like millions of other people, I will spend the evening watching the Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals battle it out to determine this season's champion. I would love for the Steelers to win their 6th Super Bowl!

As big a Steeler fan as I am, I sometimes wonder why we as a society are willing to spend so much time, energy, and money on something as apparently meaningless as football.

We fans watch games, participate in fantasy leagues, buy team paraphernalia, and engage in friendly rivalries with other teams' fans. Corporations sponsor luxury boxes, buy commercial time, and employ football players in advertising their products. Teams' hometowns contribute stadiums and infrastructure. On the whole, the amount of time, energy, and money spent on football is mind-boggling.

What is it about football that encourages us to make expenditure on such a scale?

Is it escapism? Football is entertainment that is available on television from the comfort of our recliners. We get to relax for a few hours, focusing on a game and clearing our minds of stress and worry.

Is it equality? Football builds bridges, such as across generational and socioeconomic divides. All of a team's fans are equal in fervor when the game goes especially well or especially poorly.

Maybe it's connection? Any two people in a team's hometown can find common ground by starting a conversation with, "How about that game?" Even more so, away from the team's hometown, otherwise strangers may smile or comment when they see each other wearing their team's emblem.

Or, perhaps, it is belonging. As a fan, I belong to a huge club that meets most Sundays for five months of the year. It's an amorphous and largely anonymous group, but it's a group nonetheless. And I belong.

The reasons we invest so much in football may include all of these, as well as others I haven't named.

Of course, I know that professional football is a business, that it wouldn't exist if it weren't profitable to the business owners and stakeholders. But we consumers pay for the "product" because it serves us in some way(s). The benefits we gain must be worth more to us than the time, energy, and money we spend on it, or we wouldn't make that investment.

On Sunday, I am not likely to think about these things as I cheer the Steelers on. But my curiosity is likely to persist as this game becomes just a memory: why do we invest so much in football, and what it would take to garner such interest in other endeavors, such as making the world a better place?

BMI Is Overrated

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Dear Doctor,

What do I have to do to convince you that the Body Mass Index (BMI) doesn't apply to me?

The BMI says that I'm obese. Sure, I am overweight. And, I am on a journey to lose weight, especially since the sleep doctor said it's my best chance for curing the sleep apnea. But, obese? No way--I wear a size 14, after all. (It's no wonder that girls and women have warped self images!)

I have set an aggressive target to lose 25 pounds over the next 1-2 years. That will take me to the weight of my 20s, and my weight in 2000 after hiking 750 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 3 months while eating too few calories. (I said it was an aggressive target, didn't I?)

At the end of that hike, 22 pounds lighter than I am now, I looked and felt slim and healthy. But, even at that weight, the BMI will still call me "overweight." To squeak into that elusive "normal range," I have to lose 34 pounds. That's just to get to the highest end of the range. I suppose I should lose 40 pounds to get into the range with a little room to spare.

Doc, that ain't happenin'.

The BMI might be a fine tool to assess the population as a whole, but stop using it on me as an individual.

It's not that I'm not interested in being healthy. If you want to talk about my percentage of body fat, cholesterol, or blood pressure, let's get down to business. Just put that dadgum BMI chart away.

Thanks,
Em

Brother Cats, Still Hunting at 19

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Meet my two cats. This is Mikasi:
and this is Maori:

Littermates, they had their 19th birthday in August. That makes them 83 in cat years.

They are showing their age in some ways. They weigh less than half of what they once weighed, with the angles of their bones easily felt beneath the skin. And, their kidney disease started almost two years ago, so they get subcutaneous fluids twice a week; the bag of fluid a permanent fixture in the diningroom.

But, let them out into the sunshine on a warm afternoon, and they rediscover their virile youth.

One has taken to chasing the squirrels from under the bird feeder. One day he stood his ground at the base of a tree beneath a chattering squirrel perched about six feet above him. I don't know how it would have ended if I hadn't intervened.

The other one usually spends his outdoors time taking a bath in the sunshine. But yesterday I caught him in hot pursuit of a small lizard that was scooting across the brick wall. If only he had front claws, he might have snagged its tail--darn!

Back indoors they return to their sedate, napping selves. Dreaming of their hunting adventures and looking forward to their next outing into the sunshine...

Sleep... Shouldn't it be the easiest thing one does?

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:28:00 +0000

Actually, sleep does come easily to me. Most nights I don't notice that my head has hit the pillow because I'm asleep by then. And, if I wake up in the night for one reason or another, I go right back to sleep just as immediately. And, I sleep until the alarm goes off. So, what's the problem?

Nothing except that even with all that sleep, I've been exhausted for the past 4-5 years. I wake up tired in the morning, and spend the day tired. For a while I thought it was just stress, but if that were the cause, then I would have had great rest while hiking, especially after my house sold. But, no, I woke up tired on trail, too. So, finally, this fall I decided to do a sleep study, something I'd been talking about for a couple of years.

Sure enough, I have a moderate case of sleep apnea. On the night of the study, I was asleep for 7.5 hours, and stopped breathing 10 times, almost stopping (called hypopnea) 107 times. That's something like once every four minutes. I was relieved to find a reason for waking up tired--I really am not getting enough quality sleep.

With that diagnosis, the next step was to choose an intervention. The least invasive option is to use a CPAP machine at night. Essentially, it puts a pocket of air in my airway, splinting it open so I can't stop breathing.

I've now been using the machine for 34 nights. I'm still in the getting-used-to process. I'd have thought that I would just need to get used to sleeping with a mask on my face, but that's the easy part. I've tried two different types of masks and had issues with both. But I haven't given up yet. Even though there have been very few nights when I've managed to wear it all night long, the hours I have been able to sleep well have helped me to feel more awake, with more energy than I've had for a long time.

So, I'm still working with it, trying different things each night, in the hope of finding a combination of factors that will work well. Because it will be SO worth it, when I am able to get 6-8 hours of quality sleep every night. I am looking forward to having more energy than I'll know what to do with!

Back to Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:25:00 +0000

My last post was in the middle of summer, and here it is almost winter. Since then I've been settling in to life in Atlanta. I have also been through the sleep study process, which I'll share more about in another post.

Before it becomes en vogue to make resolutions, I'm making one to keep my blogs more current... Stay tuned to see how well I do with that!

Job Hunting: A Depressing Endeavor

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:58:00 +0000

I have been blissfully unemployed for 18 months, but now am at the point where some income would be useful. I have several ideas for self-employment, but none of them will generate income in the required timeframe, so I'm seeking employment. And I'm finding it to be challenging at best, and more often simply draining and depressing.

One challenge is that I have moved to a new place, Atlanta, where I know only three people. My friends and professional network are back in the Raleigh-Durham area. Every professional position I've had in 18 years, except for the first one after grad school, has come to me through my network. Now I'm cold-calling, mostly responding to online postings.

I am an extremely capable person, with numerous talents and qualities that have made me successful in many roles over the years. I have no doubt that most, if not all, of my former managers would be delighted to hire me again. And yet I'm finding it difficult to communicate that in my responses to the relevant postings I've found.

It doesn't help that many places want you to have years of experience doing exactly their job. And some say that if you don't meet all of their requirements, "PLEASE do not respond!" Fine. So much for the olden days when a hiring manager described the ideal candidate, while expecting good candidates to match most of the description.

Reading career and resume advice, I've learned that nowadays there is HR software that screens applications, searching resumes for specific keywords and assigning relevance ratings to the candidates. I understand that recruiters have to find efficiencies, but that's a total shame to me.

See, I learned a huge lesson from a former manager, Bill, who hired me for my second job out of grad school. Had there been HR software to rate my resume for the position, my score would have been rock bottom--I hadn't done any part of the job before. But I had a relevant degree and the qualities Bill wanted in the person having this role. He believed that you can teach someone to do the required tasks, but it's a lot harder to teach them the finesse part of job success--things like building good relationships, doing things right the first time, thinking outside the box, and communicating well. I think he was right. But I guess it's too hard to screen resumes for qualities, or maybe recruiters are successful enough with the have-you-done-this-somewhere-else method.

I've submitted applications for maybe 20 posted positions. So far, I've had one half-day temp job and received one "thanks but no." I will be revising my resume to be more compelling, so maybe that'll make all the difference. We'll see...

In wonderment,
Em

Reproductive Relief

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Seems to be a day to celebrate heroes! Earlier today I posted about Dave and Shannon of Wind River Services, bringing their vision into reality to make a difference in people's lives.

I just learned about Reproductive Relief, a non-profit organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of people living with reproductive cancer. Their mission is "to offer relief through support, encouragement and inspiration to the courageous women who battle reproductive cancer by increasing awareness." A Cancer Walk and Wellness Event is their first fundraising event, to be held in Rhode Island in September.

It was started by my friend, Kerri McClean, who is bringing her vision into reality. Wow.

Check it out at reproductive-relief.org.

In wonderment,
Em

Wind River Services

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:57:00 +0000

In the spring of 2007, I was hiking the Appalachian Trail through the Smokies and met Dave Pschirer who was hiking for the weekend. I felt an immediate connection to him and enjoyed our conversation that evening and the next morning. Dave shared that he and his wife were starting a retreat center for people who have cancer. He took my email address and followed through with putting me on their mailing list.

It's called Wind River, and it's located in western North Carolina. Dave and Shannon just celebrated the center's first anniversary, and from the sounds of the newsletter I just got, they're busy making a difference in people's lives. Check it out at windriverservices.com.

I appreciate this example of people who have a vision to make a difference in the world, and who manifest that vision in reality. Wow.

Dave's parting words were that he was sure we'd cross paths again. We haven't yet, but it's still likely.

In wonderment,
Em

Em on Daily Life

noreply@blogger.com (Em Stecker) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

In this blog, I'd like to share my thoughts about life. As in exploring every day curiosities, not why-are-we-here ponderings.

I have always been the person asking "why." From why is the sky blue to, most recently, why do I have to have a third-party agent between me and my insurance company. Sometimes I find an answer (as in the blue sky) and sometimes I don't even hope to find one (as in the insurance agent).

On any given day, I may choose to explore a "why" question, make an observation, or share a resource I've come across.

In wonderment,
Em