Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke
We successfully survived both the Independence Day holiday and a week-long heat wave.
Looking ahead, next week’s forecast promises temperatures nearly ten degrees cooler. That may not sound dramatic on paper, but after several days of running through Nashville’s summer heat, it feels almost luxurious.
I’m looking forward to seeing whether my morning runs become a little more enjoyable.
Interestingly, my wife mentioned that one of her colleagues in New York had temperatures even higher than ours. It seems this year’s summer has decided not to limit itself to the South.
While many people celebrated Independence Day with fireworks and large gatherings, we took a much quieter approach.
Crowds have never really been our favorite way to celebrate, and neither of us has ever felt a strong desire to launch fireworks into the sky.
Instead, we raised our American flag.
For us, that small tradition carries meaning.
We try to treat the flag with respect by following the proper customs for displaying and caring for it. In many ways, that reflects how we approach most of the things we own.
We believe that if something serves us well, it deserves to be cared for.
Our computers often remain with us for well over a decade. My wife’s car recently celebrated its twentieth birthday, and it still runs beautifully because she faithfully changes the oil, takes it in for regular maintenance, and keeps it clean.
Taking care of things is usually less exciting than buying new ones.
It is also much less expensive.
After putting up the flag, we moved on to another holiday tradition of our own.
Cooking.
My wife prepared another batch of Nashville hot chicken, a recipe she learned after we moved here. It has become one of our favorite ways to enjoy a little local flavor without standing in long restaurant lines.
Meanwhile, I conducted another small kitchen experiment.
This week, I increased the baking temperature for both our pizza and our pastry bites.
The results were noticeably better.
That success actually began with an entirely different hobby.
My wife had purchased an oven thermometer while experimenting with polymer clay because she wanted to know the oven’s true temperature rather than relying solely on the control dial.
What we discovered was surprisingly simple.
Our oven wasn’t running too cool.
It was simply taking much longer to reach the target temperature than we had assumed.
For years, we had trusted the oven’s suggested five-minute preheat time. Once we began waiting until the thermometer confirmed the correct temperature, everything improved.
The pastry bites puffed beautifully.
The pizza developed a much better crust.
Sometimes the solution isn’t changing the recipe.
It’s simply giving the oven enough time to do its job.
Tomorrow’s weather looks cooler, which means I am already looking forward to my morning run.
After this week’s heat, ten fewer degrees almost sounds like nature’s way of saying, “You’re welcome.”
I’ll happily take it.