Food Rushes In

It's impossible not to know what's going on. I'm aware of the beating the Pats put on the fading Steelers last weekend. I even saw something about the whole bullying thing with the Dolphins. I think the Celtics have won one game, if that. I'm also pretty sure the Bruins are doing OK, even though they seem to have lost the grudge match with their former players a few days ago. There's just no way to avoid finding these things out in this town. That makes this whole thing even harder.

I'm trying to stick to WBUR for radio, and they are more than happy to report when teams are playing, and what they did the night before. Boston.com, as I have mentioned on Facebook and Twitter, is hardly different than looking at ESPN.com when it comes to sports coverage. Every single time I glance at it, I find out something about at least one team. So far, though, I have managed to not click on a single link. It hasn't been easy.

So what have I been doing? Well, I just recently got a set of juggling balls and scarves, so I am digging in to that. The scarves proved pretty easy to pick up. I was able to keep them going for a few seconds right out of the package! The balls are a different story. I have heard from many friends that they were able to learn how to juggle quickly, as an afterthought, or even while drunk. Unfortunately, these stories have only served to make me feel worse as I have made very little progress. I'm now trying to get to a place where I can throw two back and forth without breaking rhythm. Baby steps.

The thing that has really sprung up in place of sports so far has been an ambition for cooking that runs deeper and different than any I have had before. I've always been able to follow a recipe, but now I'm trying to understand the role each piece of food plays in the success or failure of the meal. In the past, the idea of cooking something from scratch on a weeknight was a complete nonstarter. These days, without the constant curtain of a game starting at 7 or 8 on my mind, I have the time to think of and attack a real meal.

Maybe it's predictable. You remove a passion from your life and food rushes in to fill the void. Hopefully I'll be able to keep some of the skills required of this newish hobby, and not just the extra poundage.