Fatigue vs Stamina

In this tale, H.K. will play the part of the strapping young bulk of a man, Stamina, whilst your "humble" (who are we kidding?) narrator will play Fatigue.  H.K. often deals with the stress of not only my illness, but my persistent lack of confidence or pride when I am ill.  It's a load on him, and I do not pretend to not notice; in fact, I owe him decades of tantrum-free Ragalove to make up for the last year and whatever other spurts of self deprecation may occur in the future... and lots, and lots of Legos.

Ahem...

T'was the night before Friday, and all through the apartment
no creature was stirring for they knew what compartment
of Hell they would occupy, should they cross Fatigue's way
as she raged against the defeat of a very long day.

Calm was her manner as Fatigue attempted to hide
the day's exhaustion that was melting her insides
and cooked, she, a meal of potential glory;
"potential" being key to the outcome of this story
for Fatigue was... fatigued, and she undercooked the broccoli
and the way-too-bland chicken simmered so mockingly
which was tolerable to her taste buds until Stamina tiptoed
into the region where no other creature dared go.

"Darling," he whispered, so cautious and patient,
"this broccoli's not quite done, if I may be blatant;
could I give it another quick spin in the pan?"
and Fatigue's eyes went red as she glared at the man
and then, an explosion of surprising magnitude
was aimed to attack Stamina's loving attitude.
The tears flowed in streams from Fatigue's boiling eyes
her obdurate upset in no kind of disguise.

T'was a culinary failure, she sorely proclaimed
and swore no more dinners would henceforth be maimed.
For Fatigue had decided that this single supper
was a representation of all that she blundered;
her pattern of failure to remain insurmountable,
her tantrums toward Stamina seemingly uncountable,
Fatigue simply gave up with a mucousy blow
and poor Stamina, a kiss and a hug did bestow.

"Don't do this to yourself," Stamina appealed
"it's been a long day, and this is just one meal,
we'll do it together the next time around,
and we'll follow the book so that things turn out sound."

When an hour of crying had passed, the truth was outed:
Fatigue was embarrassed of all that she touted
to be able to give Stamina in return for his love
and felt she could not, despite all she had hopes of.
The undercooked broccoli and under-spiced chicken
weren't hints of a long day, but marks of a quickening
realization that Fatigue was no good
at providing the things that a good partner should.

T'was the day after Thursday, and with her eyes dried
Fatigue began battling the inadequacy inside
admitting that exhaustion was likely to blame
and she still had this gift to give Stamina unmaimed.
Fatigue returned home from another long day
rhapsodic that she had not driven Stamina away,
and promised him a weekend devoid of strife.
Happy Friday to all, and to all a good life!

--------------

Just so y'all know, when prepared correctly (below), this dish is scrumptialicious.

Methods

1. defrost two chicken breasts

2.  dice yam into 1" blocks to match banana chunks

3.  caramelize onions in pan

4.  throw yam chunks in with onion

5.  in a separate pan, stir fry broccoli with olive oil, salt n' peppa for 2 min on med-high followed by 5 min on med-low

5.  when yams are halfway to their peak softness, add chicken

6.  after 1 min, add 1tsp garlic, 1tsp turmeric, 1tsp cayenne

7.  add bananas to chicken/yam/spice pan and cook on med-low until everything is soft and chicken is cooked

The Method

The recipe-posting hiatus has gone on long enough.  Tonight's dish celebrates my most reliable comfort, my most beloved enemies and my troubled hypocrisy.

Methods
1.  Nuke sweet potato
2.  Whilst nuking, dice a yellow onion and get sizzling in a tiny amount of olive oil
     a.  "tiny" means a quarter teaspoon, mixed with chicken broth if you need to dissipate your saute
          medium in a big pan
     b.  because there must always be a "b" for every "a"
3.  Wash and dice creminis and kale
     a.  oyster mushrooms are also great in this one
     b.  remove kale shreds from main stem
4.  Toss creminis into pan with half-carmelized onions
     a.  open and rinse a can of navy or black beans
     b.  pour glass of Johan Vin Gris 2007 (yes, a good Pinot from this year is hard to come by);
          water, if you are a less masochistic Crohnie
5.  Add turmeric, coriander and pepper to the onions and toss
6.  Dice softened nuked sweet potato and add to pan with kale and a can of navy or black beans
7.  Pile onto whatever aid you need to get it to your mouth

I've been atrociously weak this year.  Atrociously.  There has been no fight in me.  I blame it on H.K. for giving me something to persistently lean on.  Despite an outwardly aggressive and invincible daytime manner, I come home at night and crumble into depression.  About what, you ask?  About my unreasonably perfect life, and how maladroit I am trying to keep up with it.  H.K. combats my crumbling with reason.  And yet, he always wins; my fears are consistently proven obdurately nonsensical (read: in fact, I am responsible for some of the awesomeness in my life). 

He reminds me of how difficult it is to judge oneself objectively, and urges me to trust his assertions as the objective party to my madness.  Suffice to say, his assertions are that I am doing just fine, and have a bad habit of defending everyone else's set-backs but my own.

And he is right.  I have this self-deprecation complex which, before H.K., I was always told was very unattractive.  For whatever reason, it hasn't driven him away (yet).  In the end, though, it inevitably seems to come out that I have spent the evening being upset about something simply because I had found time to relax (read: veg in front of a movie), and felt outrageously guilty about it. 

This happens because the Compulsion has projects it wants to do (read: Raganovel 20XX remains twenty pages of research and three pages of verse).  I think the problem there is that I'm too oriented about the goal, and not so much about the Method.  The Method, however, is what I live for in every other arena.  Particularly when Crohn's is feeling neglected does my pace retard and the Method become more important to appreciate.  And so I cook.

Food of the Day: Turmeric

In this lonely diet which now consists of rye bread, rice, beans, eggs, avocado, tuna/chicken and bouillon broth... I am cherishing my seasonings.

Today's Food of the Day is Turmeric, which is my favorite thing to do to white rice, and I believe I'm about to put it in my black bean tuna "salad" tonight!  This amazing Indian spice not only dehydrates leeches (sorry -- that one could not be avoided.  see 2:20 for applicable material.), but also sports a flavenoid that has been shown to inhibit several inflammatory responses.

Curcumin is the component of turmeric responsible for its yellow pigment, and for its anti-inflammatory properties; highlighted are Crohn's and IBD:

"The results indicate striking suppression of induced IBD colitis and changes in cytokine profiles, from the pro-inflammatory Th1 to the anti-inflammatory Th2 type. In human IBD, up to now, only one open study has achieved encouraging results. In this study, patients were given curcumin (360 mg/dose) 3 or 4 times/day for three months. Further, curcumin significantly reduced clinical relapse in patients with quiescent IBD. The inhibitory effects of curcumin on major inflammatory mechanisms like COX-2, LOX, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, NF-kappaB and its unrivalled safety profile suggest that it has bright prospects in the treatment of IBD. However, randomized controlled clinical investigations in large cohorts of patients are needed to fully evaluate the clinical potential of curcumin."(Hanai & Sugimoto 2009)

Binion et al 2008; Curcumin inhibits VEGF-mediated angiogenesis in human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells through COX-2 and MAPK inhibition

Zhang et al 2006; Curcumin inhibits trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced colitis in rats by activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma

Deguchi et al 2005; Curcumin Prevents the Development of Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS)-Induced Experimental Colitis

This article by Laura Owens actually covers a considerable and well-referenced breadth.  Read it.

Did you know turmeric is part of the ginger family?  I didn't.  No wonder I like it so much.  Woody ginger...