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I was listening to a book written and read by Charles Kuralt, Charles Kuralt’s America. (He has such a wonderful speaking voice.) And one of his essays was talking about the daffodil variety that was named for him. But before he got to that portion of the essay, he talked about the monarch butterfly.

The monarch butterfly spends winters in the forests of southern California and Mexico. They are the only insect to migrate 2500 miles every year. (Much more fascinating information is here.) In spring, they migrate en masse 2500 miles north, flying as far as Canada. They mate. And then they die.

But the remarkable thing is their offspring hatch and become caterpillars. The caterpillars eat milkweed and eventually form a chrysalis. Later, they emerge as a monarch butterfly and then migrate the thousands of miles south, to the same forest, and the same trees that hosted the parents.

How do the new generation of butterflies know where to fly? Which forest is “theirs”? I mean, salmon in the Pacific northwest at least are hatched in the streams and rivers before they swim out the to ocean to grow into adulthood before swimming back to the same stream. The salmon are returning to their place of origin.

Monarchs don’t return to anyplace. They fly to a new place for the first time. And I’m pretty sure they don’t have access to an iPhone5. How do they get to some place they have never been? How do they know when their journey is finished?

Many of us are on a similar journey. We are migrating to a place that we might possibly have seen only once, on our way up to greater weights. As we got older, we also got larger, but like the adult monarch we finally noticed a need, an urge, a mandate to go back.

How do we get there? The monarch flies in a flock of millions of butterflies, all moving towards the same destination. We can copy that idea, by finding fellow travelers. Myself, I have many friends on LoseIt that are supportive of me and each other as we all find our eventual resting place. Others may use Weight Watchers, or Jenny Craig, or Nutrisystem. You might find another online service such as MyFitnessPal. Maybe you will find a coach at a gym. Maybe you attend Overeaters Anonymous. (If that is you, you don’t have to identify yourself here.) Regardless of the actual vehicle you choose, the path is the same. You find people with a similar goal and you fly together.

The butterflies don’t fly thousands of miles without stopping. We won’t lose weight without pauses. That is normal. But just as the butterfly will continue flying after a brief rest, we need to continue on our journey without excessive lingering. Our destination will not come to us. We need to go to it.

How do we know when we arrive? Probably we have all set a “final number” as our goal. When we achieve it, we have arrived, right? Well, yes. But it is important not to assume that “arrival” is the same as “finished.” (This is where my butterfly analogy breaks down.) Butterflies are able to simply hang out for a few months in a tree before flying back. We can’t just hang out for a while. We need to keep on doing what we did to get to our goal. If we exercised our way to a new weight, then continued exercise will be needed (at least at some level) to prevent regression. Calorie counting will require continued counting (or at least monitoring at some level) to ensure the bathroom scale does not start to show bigger numbers.

Alternatively, we could continue to set new goals. Upon reaching a weight goal, maybe we could set a physical strength goal or a speed goal (running or swimming.) Maybe work on body fat percentage, or running/biking endurance. After I reached my goal, I set a new goal of running a 10K race. Bad knees prevented me from running it, but my wife and I walked it instead.

Become a butterfly. (Oh, I guess the butterfly metaphor isn’t finished.) Do what you need to do to transform into your new shape. 

Note: One of the other blogs that I follow is running a contest for a Keurig Mini-Plus brewing system. Since I love a) coffee and b) free things, I entered it on Danica’s Daily blog. She also has good information on her blog. It is worth reading (after reading mine, first!) 

Just a quick note here.

Last night, Ozzy was not acting normally. (And if you have a pet, or your child is a toddler, you know how it is when they are “not right.”) It was almost midnight. Our options were to wait it out, or to take him to the Pet ER.

Then Tammy suggested that I Google his symptoms. I didn’t find much. But then I found a website service that connected you to professionals in real time. It was www.JustAnswer.com and I was connected to a small animal vet from Hawaii.

Awesome! After a couple emails back and forth, he suggested that we treat Ozzy with Pepcid or Tagamet and see what happens. And by the morning he seemed to be better, and when I got home from work this afternoon he was back to his normal self. It was EXCELLENT service!

Yes, there was a fee, but seriously, the $18.00 that it cost was probably 5% of what the ER would have charged. And working with Dr. Michael Salkin allowed us to feel better and sleep better. Sure, ideally we would have taken him to his regular vet, but that isn’t possible at midnight. This was a great service!

As the request of several Lose It friends (particularly Natalie!) here is a look at what I ate on Thursday, September 27. This was a busy day. I gave Ozzy a two mile walk in the early morning. Then I had office hours on campus in the morning and a three hour lecture in the afternoon. Then I drove home, quickly walked Ozzy for a mile, picked up Tammy at school and went to watch Ethan and the soccer team play out of town.

All that activity means that my only meal eaten at a calm pace was my “first” breakfast. Like Hobbits, I like approximately seven meals a day: breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. Except I call mine: first breakfast, driving breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, evening meal, evening snack. It works for me.

I didn’t get all seven meals in on Thursday, but I did pretty good, and I ate almost all my calories.

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This is not weight-related, but it is health-related.

We are all gifted. And while we focus on ourselves and our life-changing journey, we need to consider how to use our gifts. Are you gifted with resources? Share those with a worthy organization. Do you have the ability to manage your own schedule? Share your time. Are you able to write thoughts in a way that people seem to enjoy reading? Share those thoughts that will help others (and I hope that is what I am doing.)

But there is something else that many people can share:  blood.

If you are able, go to the local blood bank or Red Cross, and become a blood donor. Or a platelet donor. Or a plasma donor.

I donate platelets, about every two weeks. Platelets have a shelf life of five days and so hospitals only have a small stock on hand at any given time. It costs me nothing, except about two hours of my time. I get to leave with a bandage on each arm and the knowledge that I am doing something good.

Disclaimer: I have relatives that have used a lot of blood products, including platelets. I sort of feel obligated to provide the same help to others.

Note:  if you eat the snacks that are provided, make sure you log them. Donation of blood does not exempt you from logging food!  🙂

It seems like no time ago, both my sons were in high school (Bennet, on the left, was a senior and and Ethan a freshman.) Here was the “First Day” picture, in the fall of 2009.

For comparison, here is a picture of both boys, from June, 2012.

This is on Ethan’s last “First Day of High School” as he begins his senior year:

Salmon Loaf with Grilled Beets and Broccoli
Serves 4

1 can (15 ounce) can salmon, undrained
1 egg
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried parsley or chives
Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. It is easiest to simply use your clean hands.
Spray a microwave safe dish with cooking spray and gently press the mixture into it. (I use a ring mold. Why? Because I always have. No other reason.)
Microwave until cooked through (9-12 minutes, depending on your microwave.)

Nutritional data:
Calories:         242
Fat:                10.2g
Sat fat:             2.2g
Chol:              123mg
Sodium:          540mg
Carb:             13.3g
Fiber:               1.3g
Protein:          24.5g

If you want a different flavors:
Add pickle relish
Replace the tomato paste with Dijon mustard
Add tiny shrimp or crab meat to the mixture
Add lemon zest

How to grill vegetables:

For especially dense vegetables (carrots, beets, winter squash) cut in half and microwave until hot and beginning to get soft. For all others, cut into workable sizes (as seen above.)

Place veggies in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss.  (Most of this oil will cook off, it just helps prevent the veggies from sticking to the grates.) Add salt, pepper or other herbs.

Preheat grill on high for 5 minutes. Clean the grates and using tongs, wipe the grates with a paper towel dipped in cooking oil (I use canola.)

Place veggies on grill. Watch carefully, turning when the cooking surface begins to get brown and there are bits of char.

Nutritional data will vary based on what you are grilling, but they are a very healthy option for dinners. The heat tends to bring out the sweetness and reduce any bitterness normally found in some veggies.

Veggies that are routinely grilled at my place:
Carrots
Corn on the Cob              
Broccoli   
Onions (scallions, onion slices, and whole onions)          
Cauliflower  
Beets   
Mushrooms (white button, crimini and portabella)
Peppers (bell, poblano, and jalapeno)
Squash (winter squash like acorn and butternut and summer squash like zucchini)
Garlic bulbs
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Leeks

Fruit that I grill include:
Apples                  
Pear
Pineapple 
Peach           

Yesterday, we celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. I made a nice meal of flank steak, balsamic-glazed Brussels sprouts, grilled carrots, and sauteed shallots.

I don’t really have recipes for these foods, but I can tell you what I did.

Flank steak can be a tough cut of meat, so on each side, I scored it about every inch and about a 1/4 inch deep. The grain of a flank steak goes the long way of the meat, but I score at 45 degrees of the grain, first upper left to lower right, and then upper right to lower left. When done, you should have little squares cut into, but not through, the meat about 1 inch on the side.  (I guess the next time I make this, I will take pictures of the process.)

Then I take 4-6 cloves of garlic, crush them and mince them. I sprinkle a teaspoon of coarse salt on it, some black pepper and a tablespoon olive oil.  With the flat of a heavy knife, I grind this into a wonderfully aromatic paste.  I spread half on each side, cover it and let it rest for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I peeled the carrots and sliced them in half. I put them in the microwave and cooked them until hot and just getting soft.  I set those aside.

The Brussels sprouts are small. I spent a lot of time at the bulk bin in my grocery store, searching for as many small ones as I could find. I wanted cherry tomato sized sprouts. (They had many that were larger than hen’s eggs.) I must have looked like a picky freak (which would have been accurate) but I wanted similar sizes so they would cook at the same rate. Don’t be afraid to be picky when it comes to your food. When you go to good restaurants, the chefs will insist on only the best pieces. Why shouldn’t you do the same for yourself and your loved ones? I cut the dried stems off, and pulled off any loose leaves. Then I put them in a colander and vigorously rinsed them under cold water.

(As often as I make this dish, and as much as I love them, I really think I need to visit Brussels, Belgium. That will make for some fun blog posts!)

Lastly, I peeled and thinly sliced the shallots. Then I turned my grill on high and let it preheat.

I put a large and a small non-stick skillet on the stove. Two teaspoons olive oil went in the large and one teaspoon in the small.  When hot, I carefully put the Brussels sprouts (they are wet, so they might splatter) in the large skillet and the shallots in the small. I ground a bit of fresh pepper and coarse salt on each and spent about five minutes tossing them every minute or so.  Then I turned the heat on the shallots down to medium-low (but I still tossed them occasionally because I wanted them soft and cooked, but not fully caramelized.) I poured four ounces of wine (use your favorite) into the Brussels sprouts and covered them, turning the heat down to medium. I let them steam for about five minutes (or until they start to get soft.) Then I removed the cover, turned the heat back to medium-high, and added four ounces of balsamic vinegar. I went back to frequent tossing to coat all the sprouts with the vinegar as it reduces and becomes more syrup-like. When done (you will know when you toss them and the vinegar is sticking to the sprouts) I turned the heat off and covered them.  I turned the heat of the shallots at the same time.  (The total cook time for the veggies is about 15 minutes.)

Finally, I went out to the grill, and using paper towel and tongs, I coated the grate with oil to help prevent sticking. I turned the fire to medium and laid the steak on one half of the grill, and the carrots on the other half.  The steak was about one inch thick, so six minutes per side will be rare to medium rare, seven per side will be medium rare.  Eight minutes per side will be more medium. I actually don’t know what happens at nine minutes per side, because I don’t cook steaks any more than medium.

The steak above is a 13 minute steak (seven on the first, six on the second) with a 10 minute rest before carving.

The carrots will be done right before the steak. Turn them from side to side until they begin to get dark and a tiny bit charred in spots. (They will be soooo sweet and flavorful!)

Carve the meat into 1/4 inch slices, across the grain. I topped the meat with a pile of shallot. No steak sauce or ketchup (catsup, depending on where you live) is ever served with my steaks. 

Pictured above is six ounces of steak, two whole carrots cut in half, about 15 Brussels sprouts, and two large shallots.

It is the beginning of the school year. Our college starts earlier than most, so I have been neck-deep in school work (to explain my recent absence.)

Friday was a nice day (I define a “nice day” as “a day when I do not need to go to the campus or the clinical site”.) I got a bunch of work done around the house, but I also got prepared for a special meal. We invited both set of parents over for a meal and a viewing of the vacation pictures, both Tammy and my vacation out east and Ethan’s trip to China. (It was a lot more fun that than sounds. Everyone in our family tends to be grandiose storytellers, so it got to be a bit wild and crazy.)

You’ve already seen many of the East Coast trip photos. Ethan is a lot like me, and he took almost 800 pictures over 17 days. I will not post all 800 pictures, but I think there are four that are representative of his trip and his personality.  After I subject you to those pictures, I will tell you about the simple, delicious and healthy meal we served.  But first…

Yesterday was fun, and we all shared laughs and stories. And food, of course.We have a few people in the extended families that are more particular about what they eat, so that makes meal planning a little more work. But we found a meal that satisfied everyone.

This was a simple meal. The main dish was a potato-ham skillet (recipe to follow.) I served it with my from-scratch four bean salad, a wilted lettuce salad with hot bacon sweet-sour dressing, some homemade rye bread, a fruit salad (pictured above) and that light lemon souffle cheesecake (recipe to follow.)

Sometimes–most of the time, actually–the meals do not need to be fancy or elegant to be supremely enjoyable. This was another “breakfast-for-dinner” type meal, but it was easy to prepare while everyone was milling around the kitchen. (Have you noticed that no matter where you want people to go, they always gravitate to the kitchen?)

Anyway, it was a nice afternoon and evening. I hope you give one or both of these recipes a try. They were ridiculously simple.

More recipes will be following over the next few days. Now that the school year has actually started, my life will get back into the routine and blogging will be a bit easier (well, easier than the last week or so.)