NOTE: This blog has been retitled and edited to remove a word which I had used and have since been informed is offensive to some cultures. To anyone who read this blog previously and was insulted, no offensive was ever intended.

Our weather has been reasonably nice the past few days. One of the things that I like to do with my son is longbow target shooting. We like the traditional ones. By traditional I mean it is not a recurve style and it has no sight. Since we don’t generally do much shooting during the winter when the weather is nasty it is interesting to see just how bad things have gotten from lack of use (read how much our aim has deteriorated).

On the good side, for the past two winters that I have followed the BTD I have noticed that my strength does not degenerate as much even when I’ve been a slacker with doing my weight training. To put it another way, I can still easily pull and control a fifty pound draw rather than have to wait until I’ve done enough strength training to just pull it let alone hold it for any length of time. Bad news - BTD hasn’t done anything to preserve my aim.

With the BTD, I have also noticed that as I shed the extra fat I am being re-shaped. In the past whenever I lost weight I lost it from the top down...bust got smaller, then the middle, then the thighs and rear...a pyramid. With the BTD it seems to melt off evenly from all over and occasionally seems to change my shape somewhat. I mentioned this to my ND, wondering if I was imagining it. He said that I am just assuming the normal shape of an AB - the hourglass.

The hourglass is a nice traditional feminine shape, but not very easy to buy off the rack for. Since most of the population is either A or O that means most of the clothing is cut for the A and O shapes. This explains why I always have so hard of a time finding clothing that fits and on the few times that I have reverted to the handmade it is always with alterations to the pattern. I wonder if B’s have this same issue since they are also a minority population, at least in my part of the globe.

Completely new topic now: I ran into some folks that said they absolutely couldn’t stand salmon. Period. Now, I realize we don’t all like the same thing, but since a nicely done salmon is one of, if not, my most favorite animal protein I couldn’t help but wonder if I could get them to give salmon one more chance.

After talking to them a little bit, I found out that whenever they cooked it fresh that they had cooked it with a few herbs and ate it. When they had tried it from a can, they had just dumped out the contents and used it as is. They weren't doing anything wrong, but I suggested they try the following to improve the flavor.

For the fresh salmon, as soon as it is done cooking remove the skin and then carefully, using a dull knife or a pancake turner, gently scrape off all of the gray colored meat and discard it. To me, this greatly improves the taste. I don’t like that gray colored meat either.

For the canned version, I suggested they remove the skin, bones, and dark meat. I know, some people like this. Some people, like my paternal grandfather, prefer it that way and my mother-in-law doesn’t mind it...but for others, it really makes the difference between it tasting good and tasting like “cat food”.

If you have already tried both of these and you still don’t care for salmon, then, well maybe you really don’t like it. Please send me your portion though, eh?

As far as any canned fish is concerned, many times the problem is you just simply do not like the way some brands are done. Myself, I absolutely hate sardines and mackerel from cans for the most part...but I have found a few brands that I can truly say I enjoy. Enjoy is even better than like.

Meow.