Food And Drinks That Go Well Together

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Food and drinks have been paired for centuries to compliment one another, particularly at social gatherings and formal dining settings. While many people take great care in making the most accurate selection of beverage that will compliment their meal, there are others that strongly believe in simply drinking what you like. Neither camp is particularly wrong or right, but here are a few guidelines to go by that may help you down the road.

Wines

Everyone knows that certain wines go with particular foods, but not many people know the particular rules behind this. In spite of what most people think, rules are made to be broken. The key to pairing proper wine with food is to take care in not letting one overpower the other. Wine acts upon food much like it were a spice. Pairing a good wine with a good dish is a delicate balance and is open to a lot of experimentation and interpretation. Everyone won’t have the same opinion, especially with more risqué pairings. The stand by rule is typically that white wine is to be served with fish and poultry and red wine is to be served with red meat. Aside from that, almost anything goes. However, most wine experts will not hesitate to say that this old rule can be disregarded to your heart’s content, but you may want to take your guests’ tastes into consideration before making a completely bold and off-the-wall pairing.

Beers

Beer is known as a social drink and there is no better social activity than people eating together. Beer is a fun drink, even for its strictest aficionados. In the US, most people associate drinking beer with food that is traditionally served in bars and pubs, such as buffalo wings, nachos, and burgers. However, if you leave beer to just those foods, you are missing out on a world of flavor. Like wine, beer can accentuate the foods you eat. The hops in the beer actually serve to coat the pallet and interact with the food in such a manner that can be highly complimentary. Also like wine, beer is right at home dressed up in a fine dining restaurant served with a filet mignon, lobster tail, or roast pheasant.

Liquor

Liquor is not typically served with main course meals, per se, but is more often served before and after in the form of aperitifs and digestifs. An aperitif is served before the main course of the meal and is accompanied by finger foods such as small sandwiches, nuts, and crackers. Aperitifs are typically fortified wines such as Sherries or clear spirits served neat. Digestifs are served after the main course and dessert and are often said to aid in digestion. Digestifs are darker liquors such as cognac, whiskey, scotch, or brandy

Individual Sports

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Typically, when people think of sports, they think of the most popular sports around them or the ones they grew up playing. In the United States, the dominant sports are usually football, basketball, and the so-called All American sport, baseball. However, there are many sports that showcase the talent and skill of only one athlete at a time and so cannot be included into the category of team sports. Individual sports have gained tremendous popularity in recent years particularly because of technological advances that permit the immense global coverage of the Olympics. However, not all individual sports are featured in the Olympics and not all Olympic sports are individual sports.

Individual sports have been in existence much longer than team sports. The Olympics, in their antique beginnings, showcased the athleticism of the individual in varying feats and exercises of skill, speed, strength, and agility, much like they do today, but without as many team sports. Here are a few examples of individual sports that are ever-increasingly popular in the United States and around the world:

One popular individual sport is that of archery, it is an individual sport that showcases the mental focus and skill of the individual archer. Though the practice of shooting an arrow with a bent bow goes back to at least 9,000 BC, archery is a thriving sport today that celebrates the impeccable precision of its participants and is just as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

Another popular individual sport is that of bodybuilding. Competitive bodybuilders are essentially in competition year round honing their physiques and pushing their bodies to the far limits that their genetics will allow. Competitive bodybuilding has seen an explosion of popularity because of the celebrity status that has been achieved by some of the sport’s most elite members. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most obvious example of this phenomenon, as he has starred in many featured films and then went on to become Governor of California. Bodybuilding will continue to thrive particularly because of the immense industry that has sprung up around its popularity.

Snowboarding has witnessed a surge of popularity in only a few short years since its initial inception. Snowboarding became a huge hit with fans of snow skiing, skateboarding, and surfing to become the large sport that it is today. All three sports had much in common with snowboarding and so with their popularity, snowboarding flourished. Today, there are snowboarding competitions around the world and like the sport of bodybuilding; many snowboarders are enjoying a celebrity status both with fans of the sport and with the pop culture phenomenon that it has become.

In essence, many people like sports but for one reason or another prefer to go it alone, rather than be part of a team. Being part of a team is continually driven into us that we sometimes may forget that challenging yourself is the biggest challenge of all.

5 Things You Can do to Focus Better and Get Out of a Mental Rut

Posted in General, Motivation | 2 Comments »

There are days when you just can’t focus or get it together. You feel tired, can’t think straight, and are probably feeling sorry for yourself. You are in what is known as a mental rut and it really sucks.

When you’re down in the dumps, this can affect your relationships, your work, and even your leisure time.

Many people confuse being in a mental rut with being depressed. Depression is a serious disease and if you suspect you do have clinical depression, then you should seek professional help.

In contrast, lacking focus and being in a mental rut is only temporary and usually subsides within days or weeks. Below I will list five things you can do to focus better and get out of a mental rut.

1.Sleep- In my experience, the first thing I ask myself when I start losing track of things and I start feeling like I can’t focus is “how have I been sleeping lately?” Lack of sleep is probably the number one culprit in not being able to focus well.

Don’t think that you are lazy because you feel the need to take a nap. Personally, I love to take naps every chance I get. This is probably the single greatest factor in helping me be more productive. It doesn’t have to be a 2 hour siesta (although those are nice), a 15 or 30 minute powernap followed by a shot of espresso usually does the trick for me. You can do this almost anywhere, in an office, a car, or at home. Even if you don’t fall fully asleep, simply closing your eyes in a meditative state will refresh your thinking and boost your energy. Just in case, set the alarm on your cell phone.

2. Exercise- I know it has been said a thousand times, but it’s true, nothing helps you focus better than working up a good sweat. For me, a combination of jogging, walking, and weightlifting does the trick. A good long walk will do for most. Exercise also does something else; it helps get the creative juices flowing, this is good for brainstorming projects and new business ideas. Additionally, exercise helps keep your weight down, which is a big factor in helping you feel physically and mentally better.

3. Food- Speaking of weight, food is a big contributor to being in a mental rut. If you are on a high carbohydrate and low protein diet, you’re probably not feeling mentally sharp. The reason is that the brain needs protein to function. Don’t believe me? Try a strict Atkins diet for 5 days and you’ll see just how much you will sharpen your ability to focus.

4. Sight seeing- If it’s the weekend, jump in the car and go somewhere different. Sometimes just changing scenery can do wonders for your state of mind.

5. Party- Finally, nothing beats a mental rut, like a good party. Find some friends, go dancing, and get drunk (for me getting drunk usually precedes the dancing). If anything, you’ll wake up hung over and think “oh the hell with it, there’s nothing wrong with me” and go on about your business on Monday morning having forgotten how depressed you may have been the week before!