My Lifelong Battle with Sleep

     I haven't posted much lately. Ever since I returned from my trip overseas I have been trying to get back on schedule. I've been busy getting certain affairs back in order and trying to catch up after more than a month away. The main reason I haven't been posting, however, is that I have been having more trouble with sleep than ever before. Over the past 3 weeks I have not fallen asleep before 2AM and I've had two nights that I had no sleep at all. So, here I sit after another night of only getting 2 hours of sleep. On the bright side, I did get to see the sunrise this morning.

     I have the world's worst sleeping habits, at least it seems that way. I've had problems with sleeping for as long as I can remember. In elementary school I would often stay awake until 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning watching television or playing video games and then I would sleep until the early afternoon. In my teen years the problem got even worse and in college, between working full time and taking a full course load, sleeping was truly a luxury. As an adult my bad habits continued but I have been lucky that most of my jobs never required an early start time and I could make my own hours. There isn't a time in my life when I don't remember feeling like a zombie in the morning. I have always thought that people who say they wake up feeling rested were full of shit. I have almost accepted that I would always feel like garbage in the morning and there wasn't much I could do about it.

     I've had occasional success with my sleep. From time to time I'll get into a very nice routine, in bed at a reasonable time, up for an early start and feeling energized. But, those occasions have been very few. I'd quickly fall back into old habits. It has become quite obvious to me over the past few weeks that I have a serious problem that needs to be addressed. I've been reading a lot lately on how to obtain proper sleeping habits and over the next few weeks I'll be applying some of the things I've learned and talking about them here. This may not be interesting to a lot of you but hopefully it will be helpful to a few. I know for a fact that I'm not the only one with bad sleeping habits. Also, this will be a good chance to get back to why I started this blog in the first place, a place to explore self improvement. So, keep checking back in to see my progress or to see my crash and burn. Who knows what will happen.

Do you have bad sleeping habits too? Share your story.


Take care of yourself and each other......AND GET SOME SLEEP!

Tasty Tuesday! Late Edition

Yellow Split-pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale

     This is my first post since returning from Guyana! It has taken a little time to get back in the habit of updating "A Beer with Brad" but more posts are coming. In the meantime try this soup recipe. I believe I've posted a lot of soup recipes on here lately. Apparently I really dig soup and didn't realize it. I'll put up a wider variety of recipes some other time.

     This is the first recipe I've put up that you will need special equipment in order to make. You'll need a pressure cooker for this one or else the sweet potatoes and split peas will take forever and a day to cook. It just so happened that someone gave me a pressure cooker a while back and I have never used it so I thought why not try it out.

     The thing is, this pressure cooker was most likely manufactured in the 1950's (at least that is when the user's manual was printed). Obviously pressure cookers have come a long way in 60 years and they are completely safe to use now. Today, thanks to built in pressure relief valves, there is no risk of a pressure cooker exploding, or creating a new sky light in your kitchen, maiming you, or vaporizing the family dog. But, this pressure cooker lacked all the modern conveniences and safety features. I probably had no reason to fear the cooker while it was on the stove but I left the room anyway and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't have to explain to my landlord why his house had to have the kitchen replaced.

     Honestly I wasn't really curious as to how this recipe would turn out. I just wanted an excuse to use a piece of antiquated cooking equipment. It worked, the meal preparation was pretty uneventful, the soup tasted great, and I will be using the pressure cooker again in the future.

     If you don't own a pressure cooker this recipe may not be for you. There is a way to make this recipe without one but the amount of time it takes isn't worth it. If you have one though give the soup a try.

A fun side note: I scoured the user's manual for any kind of funny anachronistic uses of sexist/racist language but the manual was PC even by today's standards. Kudos Mirro-Matic!

• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. oil (I used olive)
• 2 tsp. ginger paste or 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger (minced)
• 2 tsp. garlic
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 8 cups of water (give or take)
• 3 cups of dried yellow split peas
• 2 tablespoons of curry powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 large handful of kale, central rib removed, chopped

1. Saute the onions until translucent in a little oil. Throw in the cumin, pour oil over the spices, add the ginger and garlic. Add the sweet potatoes, water, split peas, and 1 tablespoon of curry powder. Stir. 
2. Seal the cooker and bring it up to high pressure (as described in your manual). Cook at high pressure for 8 minutes, remove from the heat, and allow the pressure to come down.
3. When the potatoes and split peas are cooked add the kale, season with salt and pepper, and the rest of the curry powder. If the soup is too thick add a little more water.
4. Cover the pot again and let the kale cook down a little just using the steam of the soup. Do not apply heat.

Saute those onions

Add the potatoes

There is essentially a bomb on top of my stove.

Next add the kale

Take care of yourself and each other...

Tasty Tuesday!

Roasted Beet and Tofu Burgers

     This will be the first Tasty Tuesday post made during my trip to Guyana. Well...I'm actually making this post from the comfort of my Baltimore kitchen a week in advance but you know what I mean. This week I bring you beet and tofu burgers. I know...sounds weird but try it! I promise you will become a fan.

     I've always been a fan of beets but never really knew what to do with them. Being from the south, I only consumed beets of the pickled variety or cut them up into salads. After reading a little about beets (yes, I take time out of my day to read about beets) I found out just how versatile they are. Beets can be processed into table sugar, used a performance enhancer for athletes and race horses, and can be used a natural coloring agent in food, among other things The coloring agent part explains why I ended up with pink hands making this. Sorry for not taking more pictures by the way but I like the color of my camera the way it is..

     I came across this recipe on the blog Fat Free Vegan and I knew I had to give it a shot. I will have to warn you now that this is not a quick recipe that you can whip up right after work and I modified it a little from the original. This takes a bit of time but you can make the patties in advance. Beets are a hearty vegetable so will probably still be in season for a little while longer. Take advantage while you can because very soon the only seasonal vegetable will be turnips!

• 2-3 medium sized beets
• 1 onion (or 3 small)
• 1 head of garlic (that's head, not clove)
• 1 package of tofu
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Trim the beets using a vegetable peeler if you have one and remove the stems and leaves. Remove the excess skin from the onions, and trim the top off of a head of garlic. Wrap each item in foil, place on a baking sheet, and put in the oven for about an hour. Once the time is up remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
2. While they are cooling, crumble the tofu and add the reaming ingredients. Finely chop the onions, remove the garlic cloves, and mash the beets into the tofu creating a "ground beef" like consistency. This is the part where your hands will turn pink. 
3. Shape the mixture into patties (whatever size you like), place on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes. 
4. Create your favorite burger with whatever condiments you have on hand.

The only picture I took before my hands turned pink

Take care of yourself and each other...

And Away I Go...

     Not too long from now I will be boarding a plane and traveling to Guyana. Without getting into too many details I'll be taking part in an expedition to discover, catalog, and hopefully one day protect the biodiversity of the Guyanese rainforest. How did I end up with this job? I'm still trying to figure that one out. This is just the next step in what has been a very long journey. I'm looking forward to this new chapter. 

     I've already written a few pre-scheduled blog posts that will be up at random times over the next few weeks. Keep checking back in for those. Don't expect anything insightful or terribly interesting while I am gone. This is going to be my chance to get away from technology for a bit. It will be nice to take a breather. I've become too dependent on my laptop and cell phone. I need to take a moment to center myself. I think we all need moments like that from time to time. I've always tried to use travel as an excuse to get away from technology and to reconnect with people and places. I've never understood people who don't take the time to travel even though they have very few obligations like a job or a family but I also stopped trying to understand people's actions (or lack thereof) in general. I wonder and find great interest in what other people are thinking but I know that I will never fully understand them and they will never fully understand me. I guess that's why we have to keep the lines of communication open. We may not be able to understand each other completely but hopefully we'll get close enough. So, I encourage you to travel. See other places. Experience new things. Live life the way other's live it. You may find out that you like their lifestyle. Their habits may become your habits and before you know it, you've grown as a human being. It's funny how easy it happens. Look around every once in a while. You could be missing some very interesting things.

What are some of your favorite travel stories. Share them with me.

Take care of yourself and each other...  

      

  

Tasty Tuesday!

Baba ghanoush

     This week, I bring you a really simple recipe. Baba ghanoush! If you aren't familiar with baba ghanoush you are really missing out. Baba ghanoush is very similar to hummus so if you are a fan of hummus you will like this recipe. If you want a simple hummus recipe check out my previous "Tasty Tuesday" post here. 

     I had a few eggplants left in the Towson University Urban Farm that needed to be harvested before our first frost so I brought some home. The original plan was to make a nice eggplant Parmesan but that's old and played out. Even though I've had baba ghanoush plenty of times in restaurants I never made it myself and it is super easy. So, if you have a spare eggplant laying around give this recipe a try. The recipe says "serves 8" but I ended up eating it all in two sittings. This mess is addictive!

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• garlic (as much as you like. I used 3 cloves)
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of tahini
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt (to taste)

1. Cut the eggplant in half and roast in a 400 degree oven (skin side down) until a fork easily punctures the thickest part.
2. Allow the eggplant to cool. Using a fork or spoon, scoop out the inside of the eggplant into a blender or food processor. Do not use the skin.
3. Combine the eggplant with the remaining ingredients, except for the oil, and blend until smooth.
4. Once the mixture is combined slowly incorporate the olive oil.

Take care of yourself and each other...