Traveling

I've been very focused at work the last few work days. I am taking some time off, and I wanted to make sure a couple of projects that I'd started last week got finished before I left. Sure, I'll only be gone a week, but I can't go live with a new process the literal day before I leave. That would be totally rude to my team, because if I forgot some step, then they will have to deal with the fallout without me there to let them know I just forgot to cross the t or something simple like that. 

My team is capable of handling the normal day to day when I'm out. I mean, I take vacations every summer, so I know they've got it. I might be freaking out a bit because I'm nervous about taking a flight. It was almost this time last year exactly that I was going to be headed to a conference for work, and then swinging by my childhood hometown to visit family. 

Covid, of course, changed all that. There was no conference, and I certainly wasn't going to fly anywhere. 

I don't really like flying in general, because of the people. Give me an open wilderness over an enclosed metal tube any day. Most people are fine, I'm sure, but there are many who wear strong perfumes and that irritates me. Or they want to talk to me when I've got my headphones on in a clear signal of "introvert trying to pretend they are not stuck in a metal tube with strangers." Or they are crying babies. 

Actually, no, I'm okay with crying babies. They are irritating, but they can't help it. Not like those bros who douse themselves in Ax body spray before getting into an enclosed metal tube! Though, to be fair, at least they showered? I once had to sit next to a guy who clearly had NOT showered for quite some time, and it was pretty unpleasant. I know that I stink after a backpacking trip, and I would never get on a commercial flight without some attempt at washing first. 

In fact, that fits in with my plan to backpack Hawai'i someday - fly in, stay a night at a hostel, backpack a week, then another night at a hostel for showering before flying home. I've heard there are no mosquitos there, and I like that! 

Usually, when I go on a trip, I have a plan. An itinerary. Goals for the day and events to attend. This time, I have no plan. Except for staying with my brother, that was planned. But other than that, and a dance recital on Friday night, I have no idea what I'll be doing with myself for a whole week. It's a little unnerving for me. After all, I did get the trail name Task Master for a reason - I am all about the plan! 

It will be good for me to just go with the flow. I managed to avoid overthinking about what-ifs for the trip - most likely because I was so focused on wrapping up those few things at work. It's a good thing my job keeps me from getting bored.

The Pot Speaketh

The other day my husband told me that I could sometimes be a bit convoluted in my communications, leading to less clarity and sometimes confusion. He was about to really get into how I do that, but I cut him off with a laugh. I laughed, because he was absolutely the pot calling the kettle. 

This is a man who will spend 40 minutes telling you five different stories to explain one off-hand remark, and you will not realize, at first, that he is doing this, because story number 1 has NOTHING to do with what he said. If that's not convoluted, then I don't know the meaning of the word. 

And I absolutely do know the meaning of that word, as someone who recently 'won' an argument by pointing out that I properly used the subjunctive. 

The incident made me think about my writing, and whether I need to keep an eye out for convoluted phrasing or confusing word usage. And I think that I do keep an eye out for those, but that isn't all that I need to do. If my thoughts naturally organize into something more convoluted than typical, then I need to think about bigger picture organization and making that more clear in my writing. 

I consider myself a 'rule-follower'. I have learned the rules of the English language (many of them, at least), and I enjoy using that knowledge. Using the language to the greatest extent that I can. That's all well and good for an essay, or perhaps literary fiction, but if I want to tell a story? I need to put clarity over cleverness. 

Even if it means no longer using the subjunctive to win arguments. I can always find another winning tactic. . . 

IBS Update

Well, I've been using laxatives for a couple weeks now. I have tried four different kinds so far. I want to try and avoid the stimulant kind, because that tends to be more painful in the gut, so after an initial stimulant I went to stool softeners. These worked, kind of, but it felt like after a few days they didn't give the same results. It seems weird that my body would adapt to them so quickly, so I figured that just means I should try a different one. 

The next trial is an osmotic type, which is easier to consume, in a way, because it's a powder that dissolves in any liquid rather than a pill. But I really need to take it with something flavored, because taking it with plain water made me feel like I was drinking plastic, and it was hard to finish. 

The first few days went well, but, again, it feels like they are losing efficacy in a very short period of time. I don't do well with fiber due to mild gastroparesis, but I'm thinking that I might try very small doses of psyllium fiber with plenty of liquid. When I was first diagnosed with IBS, I took psyllium regularly, but I stopped after the gastroparesis diagnosis. 

Even though I haven't fine-tuned my laxative use as of yet, I'm feeling a lot better in general. The simplified diet seems to be doing me very well - and it's helping my husband lose weight also. I'm not really looking to lose weight at this point; I'm focused on fixing the gut and preparing for summer backpacking season more than on weight loss right now. 

It's been interesting doing twice daily measurements of my tummy. I started doing it as a way to track my bloat, and possibly confirm when my physical sensations are actually telling me about bloat, rather than different kinds of pain. In the past, I'd be pretty sensitive to my waist measurements and freak out about them going up. Now, I'm just observing, and not putting any meaning into the numbers. After all, my pants fit either well or loosely at the moment. 

The hard part about the simplified diet is staying the course. And I'm going on a trip soon, during which I may have little control over what I eat. I will be bringing some snacking food, not partaking of alcohol, and avoiding serious trigger foods at least, if not strictly adhering to the simplified diet. 

Once I get back, I am prepared to have to do some resets - I anticipate my sleep schedule and diet will both be out of whack. So, I'll wait to try the fiber experiment until after I get back. 

Sometimes, I wish I could be more rigorous in my self-experimentation, but alas, I live in the real world, not a lab. 

Best. Omelet. Yet.

Last Sunday I prepared an omelet for my husband that was so delicious the first thing he told me after taking a bite was: "I'd pay for this. I would pay money for this omelet." 

Now, I've been making omelets for my husband for a while now, and I haven't before received that level of praise for one. I'm going to bet here that a good part of it is that I catered to his tastes by using mushrooms. Although, I have cooked mushroom omelets before and not gotten that compliment - even with morels that we gathered ourselves!

This omelet may also have benefited from a change of eggs. We recently started buying local "backyard" eggs. They vary quite a bit in size, but seem more vibrant in color and flavor. I don't love them very much for my boiled eggs, because they don't peel very well, but in omelets, they do very well. 

In fact, the omelet I made had almost all the ingredients coming from the same place - Old Fashioned Fruit and Veg on Broadway. The eggs came from there, as well as the smoked mozzarella-style cheese, and, the star ingredient, marinated mushrooms. It was just the butter that did not come from there. 

And the omelet pan, of course. 

My idea was to make a mushroom pizza omelet, and I started by dicing up some marinated mushrooms - reserving a few slices for the garnish. I also shredded some of the cheese, because my style of omelet cooking requires everything is prepped beforehand. Ambrose suggested I let the mushrooms sit on paper towels so that they wouldn't be soggy and ruin the omelet. 

Mushrooms getting dry and cheese, ready to go.

I prep the eggs by giving them a whirl in the Ninja blender with a dash of salt and potassium salt. The omelet pan gets a pat of butter and medium heat until it melts. Then, and I only discovered this recently, when I'm ready to start cooking, raise the temp to high and wait about 20 seconds - then add the eggs. Allowing the pan more time to heat really impacts how much egg ends up sticking in the pan after. 

Once the eggs are cooked, time for the filling! 

Filling? Perhaps, in this case, I mean toppings. 

I cover the omelet pan with a pot top to allow the residual heat from the turned off burner to melt the cheese. 

Nice and melty!

Then it's time to roll the omelet up and slide it out of the pan and onto the plate. This one rolled really nicely. Then some more cheese, the garnish mushroom slices, and a hit with the torch to melt the cheese just right. 

The cheese looks like it should be on a pizza! 

So I've set a new bar for omelets. 

Challenge accepted!