Month: July 2004

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UA Controlled Environmental Agriculture Center

The Controlled Environmental Agriculture Center (CEAC) is an interdisciplinary research and training facility located on the University of Arizona’s Campus Agriculture Center (a.k.a. the Farm). Students and faculty from the College of Ag and Life Sciences, including Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering, Agricultural Education, and Plant Sciences currently participate within its programs.

It is our hope to advance the current state of controlled environment technology, to assist the rapidly growing CEA industry in Arizona, and to train the future generations of CEA scientists, growers, and entrepreneurs.

A Roast Dinner HOWTO

How to roast just about anything — presented in the style of open source software developer documentation

Matrice des sauces au moment

It is all too easy for the novice of French cooking to think that all sauce preparations are delineated in recipes, long ago inscribed in some large book of official cooking instruction. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Recipes for hundreds of sauces do exist in French cooking. (Some can even be found in the archives of this web site.) But in reality, the sauce component of a French dish is often “created” au moment — on the spot — just before serving.

If you peruse the classics of French cooking, such as Escoffier’s Guide Culinaire, you’ll find hundreds of sauce recipes. Many of these sauces, although classic preparations, are in reality, variations on a theme — change one ingredient and Sauce A becomes Sauce B. By applying a bit of imagination, it is possible to see the recipes as elements of a matrix rather than individual prescriptions.

Setting Goals for Weight Loss

There are lots of reasons for people who are overweight or obese to lose weight. To be healthier. To look better. To feel better. To have more energy.

No matter what the reason, successful weight loss and healthy weight management depend on sensible goals and expectations. If you set sensible goals for yourself, chances are you’ll be more likely to meet them and have a better chance of keeping the weight off. In fact, losing even five to 10 percent of your weight is the kind of goal that can help improve your health.

Most overweight people should lose weight gradually. For safe and healthy weight loss, try not to exceed a rate of two pounds per week.

How to Make Homemade Ice Cream (Without an Ice Cream Maker!) – LeAnn R. Ralph

• 2 Eggs
• ¾ cup Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 pinch of Salt
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs for several minutes until thick and lemon colored. Add 1 cup of milk and blend into the eggs. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a large saucepan. Add egg/milk mixture to the sugar and cornstarch. Cook until thick (about 5 minutes) stirring constantly. Allow the custard mixture to cool to room temperature.

When the custard is cool, put into a freezer-safe bowl. Blend in cream and salt. Freeze for 2 hours or until slushy. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla. Whip for 5 to 10 minutes with an electric mixer. Return to freezer and finish freezing (several hours or overnight).

Variations: After you have whipped the ice cream, fold in 1 to 2 cups of fresh or frozen fruit, nuts and/or chocolate before returning the ice cream to the freezer to finish freezing.

Breakfast was a bowl of cold cereal with banana slices, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.

Lunch was a two quesadillas and a bottle of Saranac Pale Ale. We ate lunch sitting on the porch, watching the rain. I should not complain, given how long we had droughts here, but I fear for the garden. The tomatoes are getting blossom end rot. One of the plants died completely. The tops of the onions are dying so we dug a few. They are rotting in the ground. To top it off, the peppers are not Gypsies. They are the wrong color and shape, so we do not know how to decide when they are ripe. Some are already rotting on the vine.

Dinner was a garden salad, made with lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers from the CSA, a slice of Foolproof Focaccia, Provençal vegetable stew, and two bottles of Saranac Pale Ale.

I went to the MBNA Fitness Center tonight. This workout includes all of the machines from my new upper body workout, but not the cable exercises.

1. Vertical Chest: 12@75, 12@75
2. Compound Row: 12@125, 12@125
3. Seated Dip: 12@90, 12@90
4. Lateral Raise: 12@75, 9@75
5. Incline Shoulder Raise: 12@65, 12@65
6. Triceps Extension: 12@45, 12@45
7. Biceps Curl: 12@55, 12@55
8. Reverse Biceps Curl: 12@20, 12@20

The pace was good. I am trying for a 3 second repetition and a one minute rest between sets and exercises. I figured that this workout would take 35 minutes and it took 33. I think all of the exercises could go up 5 pounds except for the lateral raise. Doing the reverse biceps curl I discovered that I really do not have 100% range of motion in the arm I broke. I really cannot hold the bar at the right angle. It was a pretty good workout. It was a rainy Friday evening near the end of the summer semester and there were not a lot of students there, so I had good access to the machines I wanted when I wanted them.

Breakfast was a omelette, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. I weighed 157 pounds.

At the office I had another cup of coffee.

Lunch was the Panda Express kung pao chicken with mixed vegetables on chow mein noodles with hot and sour soup, and a fortune cookie.

Diligence is the mother

of good fortune.

Lucky Numbers 1, 18, 19, 21, 35, 31

Dinner was 2½ ears of CSA sweet corn, squash pancakes, and two bottles of Saranac Pale Ale.

Breakfast was a glass of orange juice and 1½ cups of coffee. I weighed 156 pounds.

I had another cup of coffee at the office.

Over lunch I walked around town — 4⅜ miles. On the way back I stopped at the HUB and had Panda Express Sushi — four California rolls and three Inari.

Dinner was lo mein with two bottles of Saranac Pale Ale.

• 5.377 Gallons
• $1.859/Gallon*
• $10.00
• 270.6 Miles
• 50.3 Miles/Gallon**
• 4¢/Mile**
• 14 Days

• Interesting. Gas prices are trending down, while crude prices hit $43.05 a barrel yesterday. The highest price since 1983. Thank goodness it is an election year!

** These numbers are bogus. The method I am using to determine Miles/Gallon and ¢/Mile only works if the fill-ups are very consistent. Today it was a little too close to payday to be able to put $20 worth of gas in the tank, but I did not feel that I could go much further without worrying about running out of gas. On average I fill up every twelve days. I managed to stretch this one to fourteen days, but I did not feel that I could get another two days out of it.

I went to the MBNA Fitness Center tonight and tried out my lower body workout for the first time. Here is tonights workout:

1. Tread Mill: 5 minutes at 4 MPH
2. Seated Leg Press: 12@100, 12@200
3. Prone Leg Curl: 12@2, 12@4 (Hoist)
4. Seated Calf Extension: 12@4, 12@8 (Hoist)
5. Seated Crunch: 12@2, 12@4 (Hoist)
6. Back Extension: 12@60, 12@120
7. Tread Mill: 5 minutes at 4 MPH

I guessed at the target weights based on the last time I did each of the exercises (over a month ago). I think they could probably all go up. It would be nice to be able to translate the Hoist weight numbers to pounds. I think the timing is about right, one minute between sets, two minutes between exercises. I was surprised to find that the minute between sets was important for building strength but, once I actually did it, I could feel the difference. I was guessing that this workout should have taken about 30 minutes. It ended up taking 44 because some twittering, vacuous, overweight, out-of-shape, schoolgirls decided that they should learn how to use the seated crunch machine through trial and error, ultimately deciding that it was a good place to sit and gossip. Leave it at home, girls! Other than that, it was a pretty good workout.

I am one of those people who over thinks things. One way that quirk manifests itself is in an inherent need to understand how and why things are the way they are. Call it Zen if you must. I think I have decided that what I am doing is a three day per week, two day split upper/lower workout. This seems to be a good choice for a beginner to intermediate exercise routine, which is good for me, since I fall into those categories.

Before I go on, let me give a disclaimer: I do not know what I am doing. I am not a doctor, or a dietician, or a personal trainer. This is not advice. This is an effort on my part to figure out what I am doing and to see whether it makes sense.

Anyway, there were several components there in that statement of what I am doing. So first off, I am doing this because it is what I got out of Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength by Bill Phillips. That is not to say that I got it right. It is just what I got out of it.

Next — in no particular order — there was the two day “split” part. That means that there are actually two different workouts that I do on separate days. That gives me a chance to concentrate on one group of muscles without making the workout very long. It also gives each muscle group longer to recover between workouts, since the next workout will be on a different muscle group. That sounds like a good plan to me, so I am going to stick with it.

Then there was the upper/lower part. That just means that I decided to divide the two workouts into an upper body workout and a lower body workout. Other possibilities are push/pull, and torso/limbs. I find it pretty easy to get my mind around the concept of the upper body and lower body workout, so I am going to stick with it.

Finally there is the three day per week part. That is pretty easy. I am going to go work out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The only tricky bit comes because I actually have two workouts, so it will take two weeks to complete the pattern. Like this:

S	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	U		L		U			L		U		L

The upper body workout consists of exercises that focus on the shoulders, chest, back, and upper arms. The neck and forearms are notably absent from this list. There are exercises for them. Perhaps I will think about adding them at a later date. The lower body workout consists of exercises that focus on the thighs, calves, waist, and hips.

So to summarize:

• Three days per week with at least one day off between workouts
• Two day split workout exercising two muscle groups on two separate days
• Upper body workout focusing on:
  1. Shoulders
  2. Chest
  3. Back
  4. Upper Arms
• Lower body workout focusing on:
  1. Thighs
  2. Calves
  3. Waist
  4. Hips

An upper body workout that gives reasonable coverage might be:

1. Vertical Chest
   • Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head and Sternal Head)
   • Deltoid (Anterior)
   • Triceps Brachii
2. Seated Dip
   • Pectoralis Minor
3. Incline Shoulder Raise (Incline Press)
   • Serratus Anterior
   • Pectoralis Major (Clavicular Head)
   • Deltoid (Anterior)
   • Triceps Brachii
4. Lateral Raise
   • Deltoids (Anterior, Lateral, and Posterior)
   • Trapezius (Upper Fibers)
5. Front Lateral Raise
   • Supraspinatus
6. Compound Row
   • Latissimus Dorsi
   • Teres Major
   • Biceps Brachii
   • Trapezius (Middle Fibers)
   • Rhomboids
   • Deltoid (Posterior)
7. External Rotation
   • Teres Minor
   • Infraspinatus
8. Internal Rotation
   • Subscapularis
9. Cable Shrug
   • Levator Scapulae
10. Triceps Extension
    • Triceps Brachii
11. Biceps Curl
    • Biceps Brachii
    • Brachialis
    • Forearm flexors
12. Reverse Biceps Curl
    • Brachioradialis

Emphasized exercises are intended to pick up smaller muscles not worked by the other exercises.

I have not actually gotten around to doing the lower body workout yet, but I was thinking it would go something like this:

1. Leg Press
   • Quadriceps
   • Adductors (Hip)
   • Soleus
   • Hamstrings
   • Gastrocnemius
2. Leg Curl
   • Hamstrings
   • Gastrocnemius
   • Gracilis
   • Sartorius
   • Tibialis Anterior
   • Iliopsoas
   • Tensor Fasciae Latae
   • Pectineus
   • Adductors (Hip)
3. Seated Calf Extension
   • Gastrocnemius
   • Soleus
4. Seated Crunch
   • Rectus Abdominis
   • Obliques
   • Pectoralis Major (Sternal Head)
   • Latissimus Dorsi
   • Teres Major
   • Deltoid (Posterior)
   • Triceps Brachii
5. Back Extension
   • Erector Spinae