Summertime Mean (revise)

What is your favorite part about summer? Is it going swimming, traveling, warm weather, or not having to go to school? Of course I enjoy all of those things but some of my fondest memories from when I was younger was sitting outside and enjoying, well, summer. Sometimes all of the neighborhood kids would come over and we would gobble up melting popsicles and jump on the trampoline until it was dark. And other times we would roast marshmallows around the camp fire in our back yard. However, being with my family was the most important to me and favorite part about summer was getting the whole family together to enjoy a wonderful dinner.

One particular summer evening was a memory when my family and I were truly happy. We had just built a patio in our back yard so we could enjoy the outdoors a little bit more in our own privacy. One afternoon we had planned to make a huge dinner because the whole family was home for once. Since we rarely get to have steak, my brother and I suggested that's what we should have. Steak, potatoes, and fresh vegetables was what everyone decided on, and I'm really glad we did because it somehow turned into a summer tradition.

My mom ran to the store and picked up some flavorsome steak to enjoy with fresh vegetables from our garden. While she was gone I started to make the salad. Spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, sweet peas, cucumbers, and some dried raspberries to top it off. My favorite kind of salad dressing is Red Wine Vinaigrette. It has a sweet and kind of sour taste to it, but I think it tastes really good to dip the steak in it because it adds flavor. We also cooked baked potatoes and cut up fresh fruit and put them on kabobs for dessert.

After preparation was done it was time to gather everyone up and enjoy our beautiful meal. It tasted so wonderful, I can still remember how juicy the steak was and how fresh the salad smelled. For some strange reason, when my brother and I were younger, at six o'clock on the dot every night we would get so hyper and laugh about everything even if it wasn't funny. So during dinner it turned six and everything became hilarious. My mom and step dad even joined in on the laughter. And to make matters worse it was time for dessert. We probably shouldn't of added even more sugar to our craziness, however, it made for a good memory.

Now that I am older and my family has gone our separate ways, it is just my mom and I. At least a few times every summer we will steak, baked potatoes and salad for dinner and sit outside at the patio remembering the happy times we used to have. Now our garden has become gigantic and in the summer all we eat is fresh vegetables. Honestly this evening will be one of the memories that sticks with me forever. And steak will always be a summer tradition even if it is just my mom and I appreciating it.

The Necessity of Food (Revision)

Food is necessary for life, no one can argue that, but if you ask people what are some of the food memories they have they would probably tell you a story about grandmother’s cooking or a holiday tradition of some kind or even a favorite restaurant. I do not relate to food that way, of course that is not to say I do not have fond memories of grandmother’s house or some of the awesome meals my father cooks. I relate to food out of necessity. I relate to food as a tool, energy. I eat on average twice a day and of those two times only one is usually a full meal. Even though my eating is out of necessity it is most certainly not a well planned diet. It is more of a haphazard balancing act between my current activities, known future activities and how I feel at the moment.

My current activities recently involve tasks of a college student. While most people think of college as a party, the reality (at least for me) is late nights, early mornings and no energy so coffee is just the thing that solves my energy problems. A medium roast coffee bean brewed fresh with a pinch of sugar and I am on my way. Coffee only goes so far though and then comes the shakes which are easily fixed with a lunch of some sort. I say of some sort because yesterday I ate chicken salad, nothing else, just chicken salad. That is usually how it has been lately for a lunch, something quick and then I am onto other things. Dinner that night was a real meal, a classic, steak and potatoes with cheesy vegetables. That is an example of my current eating habits but it has not always been this disorganized.

For example, while in high school I ran cross country. Our team had a tradition that promoted camaraderie and winning. That tradition was spaghetti nights. We would all gather at the designated teammate’s house and enjoy friendships over big heaping plates of spaghetti. The reason we ate spaghetti and not pizza or burritos was the carbohydrates. These carbohydrates or more specifically complex carbohydrates are the building blocks of energy which was going to be necessary for the next day’s race. So big plates of complex “carbs” at spaghetti night was when I first started equating food as a tool for energy.

My time spent in the Army was where this mentality was completely solidified. More specifically this idea of food as a tool was ingrained while at basic training in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The non-stop pace of training at Ft. Benning required me (like I had a choice) to eat two square meals a day and an MRE. Breakfast and dinner were full plates of food served in the mess hall (cafeteria) and lunch was an MRE. A MRE or Meal, Ready to Eat is a “completely self-contained meal that provides all the nutrition a solider-on-the-go needs to sustain himself.” About 1200 calories is what the typical MRE provides and even though the food itself might not look good it is definitely needed to continue the fight. Candy might not be your first thought when looking for a food that provides energy but it can solve a problem. After being assigned to my unit after basic training the continuation of my soldier skills was an everyday part of the work schedule. One of those tasks was foot marches which were most of the time very painful and completely exhausting. Candy was the answer, after approximately mile 8 loaded down with about 60 pounds of gear I would hit a wall, along with everyone else, and the answer from a senior leader was hard candy. A hard candy like Jolly Ranchers or Jawbreakers or Red Hots (Cinnamon Imperials if they came from the MRE’s) gave you the electrolytes needed to keep going. The trick with the candy is once you start make sure you do not run out because you will crash so it was important to keep a good supply and time the use just right. I was told it was the sugars turning into electrolytes which provided short term energy. I thought that was plausible but also I though it could be the psychological joy associated with candy while I was doing something that really sucked. Either way it was a trick that worked so it was something I practiced and preached.

While deployed to Iraq we faced extreme heat, summer temperatures between 110 to 130 degrees, and staying hydrated was an issue that was solved with another trick taught by senior leaders. In Iraq we were given palettes of 1 liter water bottles for drinking and any other task that require clean potable water. We were also given boxes of Gatorade powder packets to help keep us hydrated with the essentials of sugars, electrolytes and minerals. That alone was not always enough because it did not provide enough salts to really help our bodies hold the water we drank so the medics acquired re hydrating salt packets for us. They are a mixture of salts and other things to help the body retain water and other nutrients easier and those packets were worth their weight in gold. What many of us would do is mix half a Gatorade packet and half a re hydrating salt packet into a full 1 liter bottle of water as a morning and afternoon rejuvenation. Like many things in the army this concoction tasted horrible, like cherry flavored sweat, but was the perfect solution to a very real problem of dehydration. These were tricks that were either taught by senior leaders with prior experience or learned through trial and error.

Due to the necessity of being physically fit in order to accomplish the mission I had to spend considerable amounts of time in the gym where, instead of being taught tips and tricks to getting the most out of food, it was my own prerogative to teach myself what was required. I learned the ins and outs of a healthy low fat-high protein diet, how to balance vitamins and supplements and to eat properly proportioned meals. All of this I learned through reading muscle building magazines and books or spending time on health and fitness websites or internet forums. I learned what it takes to really fight against my old habits of snacking and overeating. It was very challenging to not load up my breakfast, lunch and dinner plates with fried or greasy foods but the rewards were worth it. I was rewarded with a sense of achievement as well as a surplus of energy which allowed me to work even harder at the tasks I was trying to accomplish.

Like everybody else I have memories of the family getting together for holiday meals and I have memories of my father’s dinners but what really stands out in my mind when I’m asked about my food memories is the techniques I use food to accomplish my goals. Whether it is coffee to stay awake and alert, a high carbohydrate meal for pure energy or a low fat-high protein meal to really promote muscle growth. It seems very analytical to think this way and it is in a sense but it’s the way I have been trained either inadvertently or deliberately to think the role of food in my life.

Why I only Eat Chicken
Since I could remember I’ve always liked chicken. I’m not too much of a meat eater so chicken is almost the only meat I eat. I had a couple of bad experiences with meat when I was younger, so the experiences I had affected the way I eat in a big way. I also eat a lot of chicken because I work out five days a week. I try to eat it every day, and sometimes it’s hard because you can only make chicken so many ways. It gets old eating the same thing every day.
When I was younger I used to eat any kind of meat. One day I was eating a steak and there was a vein in the meat. My dad cut the vein out but I was never the same. Now whenever I eat meat I can get disgusted by it very easily. I like the way pork, beef, and other types of meat taste. I just can’t get over the way some of it looks. Also the texture can make me not want to eat it. If it feels funny in my mouth that’s it I won’t be able to finish it. When I was younger I used to have my dad cut of the parts of the meat I didn’t like. As I got older I was just put off by meat more and more, so I just stopped eating meat. By cutting of the fat and other stuff I didn’t like, I felt I was wasting food. Hence I figured it would be better if I just stick to chicken. I like turkey and crispy bacon. Those are the only other types of meat that don’t bother me. I have ground beef sometimes in tacos but not much.
Only eating chicken is difficult sometimes because a lot of my friends/family eat beef and pork when they a dinner party. I always eat something before I go to my family or friends house for dinner. I’ve learned over the years to do that because, if I go to eat at someone’s house and their eating meat I won’t have anything to eat. At first my family and friends made fun of me for only eating chicken. They also called me a picky eater. This still bothers me because maybe if the people that made fun of me went through the bad experiences I did they would only eat chicken like me.
I also have to eat a lot of chicken to get a natural source of protein. Since I work out a lot, protein shakes aren’t enough. Sometimes on Sunday I’ll cook enough chicken to last me all week. The only thing is leftovers don’t taste as good as a fresh cooked meal. So I don’t do that too often. I don’t have that much time to cook either, so I eat a lot of chicken pot pies. Plus I don’t like to cook. For that reason I don’t do it often. Not to say I can’t cook because I am a pretty good cook. Maybe one day I’ll get a girlfriend that likes to cook. That way I’ll be able to eat the way I’m supposed to, instead of eating frozen dinners all the time.
When you work out a lot you should have chicken with every meal. But who wants to eat the same thing all the time? I probably eat chicken four or five times a week and I get tired of it. I can’t imagine eating chicken every meal. So I really respect and admire the weight lifters that have chicken with every meal. My favorite type of chicken would have to be rotisserie chicken. That with mashed potatoes, corn bread, corn, and string beans is one of my favorite meals. No matter how you cook chicken it’s probably one of the healthiest meats you can eat. Luckily chicken doesn’t bother me because how many vegetarian weight lifters do you know? I wish I could get over the experiences I had when I was younger but I can’t.

Fry Bread: More American Than Apple Pie (FINAL)

Whenever I think of the month of March, my thoughts immediately turn to Denver March Pow Wow. My family began taking me to this yearly Native American gathering around the time that I was just learning to walk. This particular pow wow is centered on competitive contest dancing, which means it is a great event for both Native and non-Native folks to attend. Our family is part Hopi Indian, so this gathering has always served as a way to stay connected to our tribal roots. As I grew up, Denver March Pow Wow became my own personal annual tradition. I have only missed it once in the last 15 years. Whenever I think of March, I think of pow wow. And like most Natives, whenever I think of pow wow I immediately think about frybread.

Although different kinds of frybread can be found all over the world, it is most well known as being the staple food of America’s many different tribal nations. “Indian fry bread” (or simply “frybread” as it is known to Natives) is exactly what it sounds like. It is made by taking flat dough and frying it in oil. The way that it is made and served varies by regions and tribes, although inter-tribal gatherings such as pow wows have created some consistencies over time. Frybread has also become very popular with Non-Natives thanks to state fairs, rodeos and other community events.

Frybread is unique in the fact that it can be served as an entrée, a desert or all by itself as a snack or as a compliment to another dish. One of the most popular ways it is served is as an “Indian taco”. Indians tacos are generally served open-faced with a flat piece of frybread serving as the base. On top there is a combination of fillings generally starting with a protein. The most popular choices are pinto beans, black beans, ground beef, bison and chicken. On top of that, the taco is piled high with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and sometimes sour cream.

As a desert, frybread is served in many different ways. My favorite way is taking a fresh piece right out of the hot oil and coating it with a generous dusting of cinnamon and powdered sugar. Another popular way to serve it is with fruit compote on top as you might typically see with pancakes. The most popular fruit toppings are apple, cherry and blueberry. And of course, the most simple and classic way of enjoying frybread as a desert is eating a plain warm piece with honey. It is similar to eating sopapillas with honey, although the taste and texture are quite different. Sopapillas are generally known for being "puffy", while frybread tends to be much denser.

Frybread is more than just an amazing treat to those who prepare and eat it. It is also a huge symbol of Native American pride. Similar to other religious and spiritual traditions, American Indians believe that sharing dry bread is a way to come together in unity with other tribes and all people. It brings family members of all generations together, from the elders down to those who have just started to eat solid food. It is a time for sharing among friends, and making new friends too. I cannot count the number of times I met a new friend while standing in the enormously long “frybread line”.

The frybread line is something pow wow legends are made of. At most large pow wows, the frybread stand traditional opens around 11:00am, right after Grand Entry. During Grand Entry all dancers, elected royalty (princesses and warriors) and other community representatives dance into the grand arena while the drummers beat a sacred prayer. This is usually followed by a song to honor veterans, a presentation of colors and singing of the National Anthem or a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. After that is usually some sort of special prayer dance--and then it is one mad chaotic dash by everyone to the frybread line. If you aren’t already in line just before Grand Entry ends (which is something many elders generally frown upon), you can expect to be waiting anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. For those who only get this incredible treat once in a great while, the time spent in line is absolutely worth it!

While visiting with family at Denver March Pow Wow in 2009, we received some very exciting news. We had arrived late due to another family obligation and were saddened that we wouldn’t have enough time to stand in line for frybread. We were informed that there was a new Native American restaurant in Denver called Tocabe (which means “blue” Osage). They opened in January 2009 and are located in the trendy Highlands neighborhood near 44^th and Tennyson. We couldn’t believe it! We could actually go to a restaurant and order an Indian taco just as easily as ordering a cheeseburger. And best of all—no waiting in line!

Tocabe does a great job of serving up tradition while being incredibly innovative at the same time. When you first walk in the door, the restaurant design makes you feel as though you have stepped into a post-modern Chipotle. However, on any given day you will find tables full of Native families or groups of elders interspersed amongst Highlands hipsters. Besides the option of having frybread any way you like it, the menu features non-traditional items as well. This includes Medicine Wheel Nachos (an option for customers who do not eat gluten), the highly addictive cinnamon and sugar coated Frybread Nuggets, and of course beer--which is both traditional and non-traditional depending on who you ask.

At a whopping 700 calories a serving (and that’s before any kind of protein, sugar or topping!) and deep fried, frybread is unfortunately not one of the healthiest foods in the world. However, it stands for so much to America’s Native people. Whether they have lived on a reservation their entire life or only visit pow wow once a year, it is the fellowship of the bread that brings Native American brothers and sisters together. This tradition and expression of pride is so ingrained that Tocabe sells t-shirts that read, “My heroes have always cooked frybread.” (a clever play on the cliché, “My heroes have always been cowboys.”). In the non-Native world, it is one of the last persevering symbols of a people that have lost so much over the decades. When it comes to Native American visibility, frybread is right up there with Indian casinos, dreamcatchers and the American Indian stereotypes of headdresses and totem poles. The calories may be heavy, but they certainly carry a lot of weight.

Frybread: More American Than Hot Dogs and Apple Pie (DRAFT)

Whenever I think of the month of March, I immediately think of Denver March Pow Wow. Whenever I think of Pow Wow I immediately think of fry bread. (***More about Denver March Pow Wow Here***)

Although different kinds of frybread can be found all over the world, it is most well known as being the staple food of America’s many different tribal nations. “Indian fry bread” (or simply “frybread” as it is known to Natives) is exactly what it sounds like. It is made by taking flat dough and frying it in oil. The way that it is made and served varies by regions and tribes, although national inter-tribal gatherings such as pow wows have created some consistencies over time. Frybread has also become very popular with Non-Natives thanks to state fairs, rodeos and other community events.

Frybread is unique in the fact that it can be served as an entrée, a desert or all by itself as a snack. One of the most popular ways it is served is as an “Indian taco”. Indians tacos are generally served open-face with a flat piece of fry bread serving as the base. On top there is generally a combination of fillings starting with a protein. The most popular choices are pinto beans, black beans, ground beef, bison and chicken. On top of that, the taco is usually piled high with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and in some cases sour cream.

As a desert, frybread is served in many different ways. My favorite is when they take a piece that is fresh out of the oil and coat it was a generous dusting of cinnamon and powdered sugar. Another popular way to serve it is with fruit compote on top as you might typically see done with pancakes. The most popular fruit toppings are apple, cherry and blueberry. And of course, the most simple and classic way of enjoying frybread as a desert is eating a warm piece with honey. It is similar to eating sopapillas with honey, although the taste and texture are quite different. Sopapillas are generally know for being "puffy", while frybread tends to be more dense.

Frybread is more than just a good. It is a symbol of Native American pride. It brings family members all generations together, from the elders down to those who just started to eat solid food. It is a time for sharing among friends, and making new friends too. I can’t count the number of times I met a new friend while standing in the enormously long frybread line. (***More about Native tradition of Frybread Here***)

The “frybread line” is something pow wow legends are made of. At most large pow wows, the frybread stand traditional opens around 11am after Grand Entry. During Grand Entry all dancers, elected royalty (princesses and warriors) and other community representatives dance into the grand arena and while the drummers beat a sacred prayer. This is usually a song to honor veterans, a presentation of colors and singing of the National Anthem or a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. After that is usually some sort of special prayer dance, and then it is one mad chaotic dash by everyone to the frybread line. If you aren’t already in line just before Grand Entry ends (which is something the elders generally frown upon unless you are non-Native), you can expect to be waiting anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. For those who only get this incredible treat every once in a while, the time spent in line is absolutely worth it!

While visiting with family at Denver March Pow Wow in 2009, we received some very exciting news. We had arrived late due to another family obligation and were saddened that we wouldn’t have enough time to stand in line for frybread. We were informed that as of January 2009 there was a new Native American restaurant called Tocabe (which means “blue” Osage). They are located in the trendy Highlands neighborhood near 44^th and Tennyson in Denver. We couldn’t believe that we could actually go to a restaurant and order an Indian taco just as easily as ordering a cheeseburger. And best of all—there is no line!

Tocabe is does a great job of serving up tradition while being incredibly innovative at the same time. When you first walk in the door, the restaurant design makes you feel as though you have stepped in a post-modern Chipotle. However, on any given day you will tables full of Native families or groups of elders interspersed amongst Highlands hipsters. Besides the option of having frybread any way you like it, the menu features non-traditional items as well. This includes Medicine Wheel Nachos (an option for customers who cannot have gluten), the highly addictive cinnamon and sugar coated Frybread Nuggets, and of course beer--which is both traditional and non-traditional depending on who you ask.

At a whopping 700 calories a serving (and that’s before any kind of protein, sugar or topping!) and deep fried, frybread is unfortunately not one of the healthiest foods in the world. However, it stands for so much to our America’s Native people. Whether they have lived on a reservation their entire life or only visit pow wow once a year, it is the fellowship of the bread that brings Native American brothers and sisters together. This tradition and expression pride is so ingrained that Tocabe sell t-shirts that read, “My heroes have always cooked frybread” (a clever play on the cliché, “My heroes have always been cowboys”). In the non-Native world, it is one of the last persevering symbols of a people that have lost so much over the decades. When it comes to Native American visibility, frybread is right up there with Indian casinos, dreamcatchers and the American Indian stereotypes of headdresses and totem poles. The calories may be heavy, but they certainly carry a lot of weight.