Dinner: Wild Cod and Veggie Soup

Pan fried wild cod marinated with onion powder, salt, chili powder, and soy sauce

Kidney bean veggie soup with bone broth

Boiled broccoli

Slow cooker beets

Sautéed baby bella mushrooms, finished with salt, chopped raw garlic and red wine vinegar in a mixing bowl

Chopped walnuts

Pumpkin seeds

Chopped raw garlic clove

Finished with olive oil, fig balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar

Kill The Meal Kit Delivery Companies

Before they kill the planet

Jen and I, along with ~10 other volunteers, spent two hours unpacking 2 pallets worth of prepackaged meals, donated by Hello Fresh. These companies should be illegal.

Hello Fresh donated the pallets of food to a local food recovery organization because they would’ve otherwise thrown them into the garbage. Ending up in landfills to rot and pollute the ozone.

Not only is the amount of food that these companies waste beyond comprehension, the amount of packaging that they require is disgusting. Brown paper bags stuffed with “meal kits,” containing individually wrapped spices, sauces, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and bread.

Picture this. Half a bell pepper wrapped in a plastic bag. One serving of cilantro pesto sauce in a to go style plastic package. Two slices of bread, wrapped in plastic. One serving of feta cheese, in a plastic bag. On and on and on.

Even if these two pallets actually went to paying customers, instead of being shipped to the landfill (before being intercepted for food recovery), it should still ring the alarm. The amount of plastic being used will make you sick

These companies have no morals. They have no awareness or respect for the environment and have no shame when it comes to trying to make a profit.

I’m sick of companies like these. And I’m sick of the fact that they are even allowed to exist. The federal government passed a huge spending bill last year, made up in large part of spending on “renewable energy.” Yet companies like Hello Fresh that devastate the earth with their incompetent business models are allowed to exist.

Jen and I have been tying to find a place to compost our food scraps and yard waste for the last month. I finally found a small company that accepts drop offs or does pickups for a small monthly fee (if you’re in or around Denver check out: Compost Colorado). Denver has apparently been working on rolling out a compost program for a couple of years now. We live 20 minutes from downtown and our region still hasn’t made the rollout.

If governments actually cared, if they were actually competent, the very least they would do is mandate a nation wide composting program in all municipalities. But they don’t. So, everyday people that actually do care fight an uphill battle. Trying to negate the ill effects of a shitty and incompetent government that allows companies to shit all over our country with zero repercussions. It’s a maddening situation.

Try this move

Suitcase deadlift with weighted vest

Notes to self

Don’t make things easier for yourself

The easier you make your life, the easier it will be. But change doesn’t happen when things are easy. Wash the dishes. Clean your own house. Cook. Stop ordering takeout. Small changes for a big impact.

Thoughts on being frugal

My frugalness comes off as cheap. Although I’m not sure theres a difference sometimes. I prefer to look at my frugalness as awareness. Awareness of what I need vs what I want. Awareness for when something is not worth the money. An awareness for if I will even use the thing I’m thinking about buying.

I also enjoy the challenge of being frugal. I like the little bit of work it requires. It’s just enough to feel satisfied you did your job, and it’s just enough to learn something new, or meat someone you would’ve never met.

Short term is hard when playing for long term

When you go against conventional wisdom, you have to be willing to wait it out. No one will ever understand it in the short term, and you yourself will even doubt it from time to time. But you have to stay focused on the conviction that in the long term, your strategy will pay off. You have to rely on the other times in your life when it DID actually pan out as you planned it. But it doesn’t make it any less frustrating in the interim. Dealing with doubters, and haters is not fun, but it’s part of the territory if you want to stay true to your convictions.

The stock market

A good day for me I realize is when it’s been over 2 hours since the stock market opened and I haven’t checked my portfolio or overall market performance and news. There’s so little you can do to influence your portfolio on a daily basis, which is why days when I’m so immersed in something that I forget about it, always turn out better.

Cadence and technique

Everything has it’s own cadence and technique. Knowing that is fundamental to trying to learn what they are. But there are a few things that transcend across any discipline and you can take with you to use as a starting point. Breath, pacing, and core engagement are the bedrock of anything physical you’re going to do. Being aware of breath, pace, and core will immediately set you ahead.

Moments

Every moment, every second, is an opportunity to get back on the right track. It doesn’t mean you will, or that you have to, but literally every second is a chance to begin to turn things around. And when you do start taking advantages of all those moments, they start to add up, and that’s when change happens. More moments, more change. On and on.

Think

If it doesn’t make you think, ignore it.

Habits

I get into bad habits all of the time. The key is to first know you’re getting into a bad habit, and then to recognize that at some point soon, before it becomes habitual, you’ll need to cut it off.

Lessons

Everybody learns a lesson, but not every lesson sticks.

Big ways technology has influenced society

When you had a home phone, it was an unknown for the caller who was going to answer it when it rang. Likewise, it was an unknown for the answerer who the caller might be. That random occurrence connected people who otherwise wouldn’t have spoken, even if it was for just a moment, . With cell phones, we now circumvent conversations with anyone other than the exact person we’re trying to reach. Those small, but important conversations have vanished.

When you had a question about how to fix the garage door, or the best way to build something, or you needed a good recipe, you called your friends and family. Your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle, your grandfather, your grandmother, your best friend. Now, you login to YouTube, or open Google, and your questions are answered. Those connections to friends and family, connections to our past, are gone.

Whether it’s hot out, or cold out, people drive with their windows up and AC or heat on. Every day millions of people drive from place to place, enclosed in their transport capsule, alone.

Accessibility

Accessibility shapes your life. What you have access to, and what you lack access to, greatly determines your path. Increase your accessibility to things you want, and decrease accessibility to things you do not want. Including people.

Dinner: Lentils, Cod, Brussels, and Avocado

I’ve been getting really into making broths and soups. This week I made my first ever vegetable stock using the leftover vegetable scraps from all my cooking (a recipe I’ll share).

I originally was going to use the stock to make soup but I decided instead to cook my lentils with it. And it came out so effing good.

This dish is those lentils with some extra stock, wild cod I had cooked a few days before (old fish as my girlfriend would say), brussels, and avocado.

I finished the dish with red onion, white onion, and raw garlic, and cut the acidity of all of them with red wine vinegar and fig balsamic vinegar. And of course a few pinches of sea salt.

Such a delicious and tasty dish.

Wasted Time

I think what you realize is that time is actually running out. To be 37 or 45 it feels like you have all the time in the world. And the younger you are the more confident you are that it’s true.

The reality is that the clock is always counting down from the moment you’re born. But that only becomes apparent when you face a life threatening diagnosis. Or someone you love does. Or perhaps it happens naturally with age. I’m only 37 so I don’t know but I assume I’ll find out eventually.

The clock is always counting down is not a morbid view, its motivation to make the most of the time you’re alive. It’s the reason to never waste a minute questioning your wants, dreams, and desires, and instead to just act on them. It’s the reason to love and accept the people in your life unconditionally.

One of the first letters I ever wrote Jen came after one of our first fights (perhaps unsurprisingly). I had been so mad at her and jut a few days later had to leave her to fly home for Christmas. During my flight I wrote her the letter.

I couldn’t believe how much I missed her after being separated for just a few hours. And I couldn’t get over how I had wasted the time before I left being mad. I told her in my letter that I never wanted to waste another minute of our lives being mad at her.

I wish I could say that I kept that promise, but I didn’t. In fact over the last few months there have been a number of times when my anger has gotten the better of me. But reminding myself of that promise, has helped me get over my sore feelings way sooner than I otherwise would have.

In Goodfellas Sonny tells C that the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. I’d have to disagree. The saddest thing in life is wasted time.

Workout journal 6/20/24

I mailed it in today. I have been doing a lot of manual labor, so I've been tired going into my workouts. Today I did a lot of manual labor, and I was dreading my workout.

But I knew I wanted to do it, even though it would be a struggle, and that it would make me feel better. So, I started thinking about how I could make it more beneficial and less dreadful.

I decided that I would really back off the weight from last week, and I would keep the whole thing to under 30 mins. It was already 6 pm, and I still needed to cook dinner.

So, that's what I did. I dropped the weight, and shortened my rest period. I put my phone on silent and just got through it.

It sucks to end Phase II having to modify the workout, but I know that in the long run, lightening the load and getting the workout done will be more beneficial.

Cheers to the end of Phase II. I'll circulate Phase III next weekend. Enjoy the week off. I know of at least one person who said they are looking forward to it. I am too.

Notes to self

Right or wrong

It’s not important whether you’re right or wrong. What’s important if recognizing when you’re wrong and correcting it as quick as possible. I think people put so much emphasis on trying to be right all of the time, but allow themselves to languish in doing the wrong thing.

Big things, and little things

I think what people miss the most is how important it is to do the little things right because they have implications into how you’re going to handle the bigger things. If you’re careless with the little things, then you’ll be careless with the big things. If you’re crass with the little things, then you’ll be crass with the big things. If you’re scared of the little things, then you’ll be scared of the big things. Use the little things to improve the big things.

I think that most people do a lot of different things, but very few continue to do them over and over again. A lot of people exercise, or start a new fitness plan, but very few continue with it past a few weeks or after they hit their goal. A lot of people cook, or make the time to prepare their food, but eventually it fizzles out and ordering delivery or eating out is just easier.

Everyone is not fine

Everyone is just pretending like their fine. We saw Bill Burr the other night. He had a joke about how guys are only allowed to be happy or fine (I forget the joke). But it’s not just guys. It’s everyone. We went to the movies tonight and the girl at the counter was reading This is where I leave you. A great book, that was made into a movie, that I read. I commented on the book to her and how much I enjoyed it. She ended up telling me that it’s been really good for her and really relatable because her father passed away a few years ago, and it’s been good to read and help her with her grieving process.

When she finished telling me her story, I told her I was sorry to hear about her father. She said thanks, but not to worry, she was fine.

I’m not a psychologist, but I could tell from our brief conversation that she was not fine. She couldn’t have been more than 20, and it was clear that the loss of her father at such a young age had impacted her. As it should. I don’t think there’s any age where it wouldn’t impact you, let alone while you’re still a kid. But for some reason she thinks she has to be fine. It’s a real problem in our society. It’s one that I’m guilty of as well.

Which is why I really try to tell the truth now as much as possible, and let out whatever it is I’m feeling that’s making me not fine. Fine is such a vanilla way to characterize how you’re feeling. No one who says they are fine is fine. It’s a cop out answer and it’s not a real feeling.

Cooking and eating

Part of the process of eating is preparing the food. So, if you are not preparing your meals, you are eating processed food. Even if someone makes it for you. You miss out on the benefits that come with being part of the preparation process. I don’t know what it is, but there is power in your body getting prepared to eat while you prepare the food.

On a deeper level, if the majority of your meals are not prepared from scratch by you. If you’re not perusing the aisles deciding what to buy. If you’re not scanning your refrigerator to decide what to prepare, then you never truly satisfy your needs. Because only when you control the meal, can you truly follow your intuition, and feed what you’re body needs.

Cancer and weeds

Cancer is like weeds. Or weeds are like cancer. You don’t need to knock it all out in one shot. But you do need to keep beating it back, and never let them take over the yard. You also don’t need to blitz them with chemicals. You just need to maintain and stay ahead. Cancerous cells are in all of us. Our body is fighting a constant battle, and we need to help it.

It’s true sometimes an infestation or a non-native species invades, but that’s the exception, not the rule.

Meal Idea: Crock Pot Chicken, Broccoli and Zucchini

I got back from a morning of skiing and I was hungry. I ate a small bowl of chili on the mountain, a coffee and a RXBar. I was looking for some heavy nourishment. This is the bowl I went with.

• 1 handful of crock pot chicken

• 1 handful of boiled broccoli

• 1 handful of zucchini sautéed with garlic and onion

• 1/4 sliced avocado

• Finish with:

• salad dressing from Jen’s parents and red wine vinegar on the chicken

• Ume plum vinegar on the broccoli

• Chopped raw red onion, salt and onion powder and a few cracks of black pepper across the whole dish

Enjoy.

Meal Idea: Add Chicken and Avocado to Vegetable Soup

I’ve been making a lot of soup recently. Once I found out how easy it was, I’ve basically been making it ever since. This week we made a version with kidney beans instead of lentils, and added mushrooms.

I’ve also been continuing to make a whole chicken in the slow cooker.

Today for lunch I finished off the soup, added chicken, sliced avocado and raw red onion. I finished it with a drizzle of fig balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of red wine vinegar, sea salt and onion powder.

It really is delicious.

Sardine and Egg Scramble

This one is sure to be a hit.

I opened a pack of sardines the other day and they were smoked and not skinless or boneless. If you’ve eaten sardines you know this makes it tough. So I didn’t eat them and instead put them in the refrigerator for later use.

Tonight I decided to put them into a 2 egg scramble with avocado, rice, onion and garlic. I tried to further hide the taste with sweet baby rays hot sauce and primal buffalo sauce. Mission accomplished

I accompanied the dish with brussels sprouts and asparagus. It turned out really nice.

Full Body Home Workout

Here’s another low intensity bodyweight workout for you.

Perform each exercise back to back to back. No breaks until after jumping jacks (the last exercise). Then take as long as you need and then do it again. I ran through it three times with 60-90 seconds in between rounds. Three rounds should take 30 - 40 minutes.

If you’ve been hitting the weights hard then this will be a nice change of pace and feel almost therapeutic. If you’re looking for something efficient and effective to do without leaving your house, then this is a good routine to try. Running through one round can also be an efficient and effective warm up.

Enjoy

Exercise - Rep/Time

Single leg push up 20

Side plank thread the needle 10 each

Kickstand D/L 10 each

Bird dog isometric 30 sec each

Kneeling resistance band row 20

Bicycle crunch 30

Side plank resisted clams 15 each

Flutter kicks 40

Underswitch 10 each

Protein Skepticism

Junk food is not health food just because you add “protein” to it

The newest trend in big food is to add protein to processed foods in order to pass them off as healthy, and sell them to people who have been programmed to believe protein = health.

The first product like this that caught my attention was Kudos Protein Popcorn, who has a sponsorship with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Their slogan is: “Snacking shouldn’t have to be a guilty pleasure.” Kudos Popcorn has 23 ingredients. Feels guilty.

The second place I saw it was at my gym. Next to the pre-made protein shakes, a health hazard in their own right, is a shelf stocked with Protein Pop-Tarts and Protein Chips.

Most recently I was at CVS picking up a prescription when I saw a basket full of protein chips manufactured by Quest. I always suspected that Quest bars and Quest as a company were pure trash, and this just confirmed it. Quest “Protein Chips” have 25 listed ingredients.

It’s really regrettable that these companies have decided to latch onto the protein programming we’ve all grown up with. The idea that we need to consume copious amounts of protein (anywhere from .7 grams - 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight) in order to grow muscle, and maintain muscle mass. It’s conditioning that I’ve bought into for most of my life.

I’ve always had a pantry stocked with whey and casein protein powder. And I’ve always chosen meals rich in protein. But it’s a programming that I’ve become skeptical of recently, and have started to reject.

My skepticism started to grow the more I learned about the Blue Zones populations of people. In these parts of the world where people live the longest and most active lives free of chronic disease, where it’s common to live into your 90s while still tending to your garden, working, and socializing, there is no emphasis on protein consumption.

In fact, in these cultures, protein is the side dish, an after thought, not the focal point of any meal.

Further, protein mainly come in the form of plants, beans, legumes, fish, and fermented foods. Meat is eaten only on occasion.

I think that excess consumption is not only unnecessary, but I think the conditioning to eat more protein is a major contributor to our health epidemic.

Protein in America is often consumed in the form of red meat, which is typically processed into a hamburger, sold sandwiched between an ultra processed white bread bun, with a side of deep fried french fried dripping in vegetable oil, with a side of sugar in the form of a soda.

I think that the pursuit of more protein, attempting to hit the recommended goals mentioned before, leads to overeating, and therefore overconsumption of calories. And I think that for the majority of people consuming a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is just too much for their level of activity (inactivity). Over 60 percent of people fail to get the minimum daily amount of exercise recommended by the federal government.

Meaning that all of that protein is not being utilized to repair muscles and instead is turning to fat in people’s body’s.

It’s a shame that we’ve been programmed to consume protein in excess. And it’s beyond shameful for companies like Quest to take advantage of this conditioning just to turn a profit, knowing full well that protein in tortilla chip form, is not actually protein. And it’s disgraceful for a company like the UFC, a company that showcases some of the best athletes in the world, to accept sponsorship dollars from a company like Kudos, knowing full well that their viewers are being led to believe that their athletes consume Kudos Protein Popcorn as part of their diet.

It’s sick.

Meals & Recipes: Wild Salmon, Broccoli, Zucchini and Carrots

I try to cook at least one ingredient per meal. I think that the effort of cooking in preparation for eating helps prepare your digestive tract for the meal to come.

In this dish the salmon, broccoli, and zucchini were all cooked in prior days. But I had 3 carrots that were getting soft, so I decided to cook them this morning to add to my breakfast.

I went with a simple recipe.

• 3 chopped carrots

• 1 tbsp of olive oil

• 2 pinches of sea salt

• 1/2 tsp of onion powder

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp of chili powder

• 2 cloves of garlic chopped

• 1 slice of red onion chopped

Mix everything in a bowl and then add the contents to a pot preheated to lo-med heat. Spread the carrots evenly and cover. Cook for 10 minutes undisturbed.

These carrots came out really tasty and perfectly tender. Add them to any dish.

Two Voices

I have two voices in my head. I refer to them as Voice 1 and Voice 2. Voice 1, true to its name, is the first voice I hear in my head. It tells me what I need. It’s in tune with my intuition. It knows when I’m hungry. When I need to exercise. When I need to eat. And when I need to work. It tells me when I should be loving, compassionated, open, and understanding. It tells me when I need time alone to recharge. When I need to read, write, or disconnect. Voice 1 keeps me on my path.

Voice 2, on the other hand, serves to contradict everything that Voice 1 says, and it fills my head with doubt, fear, and reasons to ignore Voice 1. Voice 2 is my voice of “should.” You should do this. You shouldn’t do that. Voice 2 is the devil on my shoulder, but not because he’s telling me to do anything that’s wrong or bad. But because Voice 2 serves exclusively to knock me off my path.

There is no right or wrong between the two. There’s only the observation that when I follow Voice 1, that when I go with that first thought that pops into my head, my days and life are better.

Breakfast: Sardine Omelette and Lentil Bowl

I’ve really been enjoying putting sardines in my omelette. I love sardines on their own but in an omelette they take on a different flavor and role in my dish.

I also beefed up the omelette this morning with avocado and red onion.

I’ve found lentils to be a food to start my day. They provide such a good balance of protein, fiber, and carbohydrates. I mixed my lentils this morning with roasted brussels sprouts, raw garlic, and ginger (left over from sushi the other night so why not).

I finished the whole dish with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fig balsamic vinegar.

A great way to start the day.

I’ll vote for whoever will get the bathrooms open

Access to restrooms offers a glimpse into the successes and failures of society. When a store no longer thinks it’s “safe” to keep their restrooms open to the public, to the customers, then we have a problem.

I was just in the grocery store and I had to pee. I went to the bathrooms and found three doors labeled, Men, Women, Family, all required door codes to get in. They all also had signs posted that read “No Public Restrooms.”

Well I had a cart filled with close to $100 worth of groceries. Clearly I’m not the “public” in this sign.

But when I went and asked the cashier for the code so I could use the bathroom, I was told “there are no public restrooms.” I had left my cart by the bathroom and came to the cashier empty handed, so surely she assumed I had just come in off the street.

I told her my cart was by the bathroom. She said “I understand, but there’s no public restrooms. I’ll call the manager.”

The manager came out of the back to greet me. “I’m sorry we don’t have public restrooms,” she said. To which I replied I’m not the public, I’m shopping here, and you very clearly have three restrooms that could be used.

“I’m sorry,” she reiterated, “it’s for our safety.”

I’ll save you the rest of the story other than to say I was fucking pissed and I didn’t get to go pee.

All across the country now you’ll see signs that read “No Public Restrooms,” the last like of defense for store owners looking to keep homeless drug addicts from soiling their bathrooms or camping out in there.

Rather than addressing the issue, that more and more people in this country find themselves addicted to drugs and living on the streets, we do things like close the bathrooms.

Now this might seem like a trivial thing, or something that only “privileged” people get to complain about, but the truth is it’s a symptom of a much bigger issue in our society. An issue that NO ONE in any position of leadership cares to address. It doesn’t impact them, so why fix it?

It’s the same type of symptom that forces working class people who take the bus to their job to stand and wait at the bus stop because some homeless drug addict decided that bench would be their new home.

It’s the same type of symptom that allows 40 percent of food in this country to go to waste, while 44 million people suffer food insecurity, millions more suffer nutrition insecurity, and families are forced to wait outside inline just to get food.

It’s the same symptom that actually forces whole stores to shut down in communities.

I’m so sick of the nonsense battles that politicians play. Abortion. Gun rights. The border. They pretend like those are the battles they’re taking on and they do a good job of recruiting people to argue for them. Meanwhile those “issues” never get resolved, and the population is distracted as the country rots from the inside out.

When I was in high school I remember the platform that the student president often ran on was: getting paper towels in the bathroom and getting rid of those paltry hand dryers (this is before Dyson got into the hand drying business).

It’s the little things that matter. That’s why I’ll vote for the candidate who says they will get the bathrooms open. Because to get the bathrooms open means addressing the growing incidence of homelessness and drug addiction, as well as safety for people working in the stores.

Everything else is just nonsense.

Lunch: Chicken and Berry Arugula Salad

I had a big bowl of fiber last night. A lot of beets and brussels sprouts. Too much of anything is a bad thing and so I woke up with an aversion to fibrous vegetables. Instead my body craved something light.

I put together this salad for lunch: arugula, sautéed mushrooms, chicken, blueberries, raspberries, avocado, tofu, red onion, almonds and walnuts.

These ingredients still pack a fiber punch, but it’s much milder than what a bowl of beets and brussels sprouts will do to your stomach. The nuts and arugula are more gut clearing than gut filling.

I finished the dish with 1 tbsp of olive oil, red wine vinegar, fig balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and a few pinches of sea salt.

I did an intense leg workout right before, so the little bit of fructose from the berries is enough to stem that sugar/carbohydrate craving my depleted body is feeling. Cheers.

There’s No Way to Guarantee Success

But you can give yourself the best shot.

A few years ago a buddy invited me to attempt a summit of Mt. Rainier in Washinngton State. I said yes without hesitation. But I knew nothing about the adventure that lied ahead.

It turns out that at 14,410 ft Mt. Rainier is one of the highest mountains in the lower 48 states, is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S., and it is therefore one of the more technically difficult to climb.

One of our guides said that she thinks it’s more challenging than Mt. Everest which stands at over 29,000 ft. I knew none of this.

When I agreed to join my assumption was that we would be doing something akin to the backpacking trip that my buddy and I had met on a couple of years earlier. That was a 7-day trek around Torres del Paine national park in Patagonia. I found out quickly that this trip would not be at all like that.

When you’re attempting to summit a mountain peak like Mt. Rainier there’s a lot you need to know. You need to understand how to walk in crampons over glacier crevasses. You need to know proper ice axe arrest technique to prevent yourself from falling off the mountain cliff, and dragging down everyone with you in the process. And you need to understand how to hike through glacier, ice, and rock while tethered to other people, with a pack on.

That’s the real life saving stuff, and speaks nothing to the challenge of hiking at elevation with 30 - 40 lbs on your back. Proper nutrition and hydration. Sleeping in a tent in freezing cold conditions. Pooping in a bag for two days while your privates are exposed to snow and the cold. 

This is all a long way of saying that success, getting to the peak, relies on a lot going right. And it relies heavily on having the proper mindset.

After the challenge in front of us became clear, my buddy and I were talking about it a couple of nights before over dinner. He said something to the effect of “do you think we’ll make it to the top?” To which I replied, “what other choice do we have?”

With a lot of help from our guides, a few days later we were standing at the peak. A lot had to go right. In addition to everything mentioned above I was lucky to be coming off a 6 week cycling challenge that put me in some of the best shape of my life. That challenge, along with a couple of years of endurance racing experience, had taught me about nutrition and hydration, and how to push past physical limitations.

But I can’t help but think that having the mindset of “what other choice do we have?” played an important role. Climbing Mt. Rainier was one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life, and there were many instances where I stopped and asked myself “what the fuck am I doing here?” But each time I made sure to follow it up with “getting to the top.”

It’s not that I didn’t have doubts, pains, fears, or concerns, because I had all of those in spades. But I never allowed them to take a permanent or even long term residence in my mind. All of these doubts and feelings were quickly cast aside by the positive thought of having no choice but making it to the top.

Fish for Breakfast

This meal goes out to my buddy Darren. We were having a conversation about breakfast, prompted by his suspicion that Kashi might not be as healthy as they told him and might actually be processed food. I sent him this picture and told him that’s what I eat for breakfast. His response was “the fish is a little much for breakfast.” Maybe. But it doesn’t mean it’s not delicious!

Ingredients:

Vegetable soup (carrots, celery, onions, garlic, crushed tomato, white beans, green lentils, zucchini, in homemade vegetable broth), with wild sockeye salmon, almonds, walnuts, and beets, topped with sriracha and salt.