setsubun
The abuse I take, I tell ya...
http://pirokowisdom.blogspot.jp/2014/02/bean-scattering.html
http://pirokowisdom.blogspot.jp/2014/02/bean-scattering.html
scientific method
So, many years ago I figured out that I am not lactose intolerant, but in fact have a dairy allergy.
Depending on my general condition I have a tolerable amount of dairy that I can consume in a week without getting any adverse reactions; red itchy hives on my face and neck, watery eyes, stomach cramping, mild asthma.
However, some dairy products elicit far stronger reactions than others. Parmesan cheese seems to be utterly irrelevant, or perhaps I am incapable of consuming enough of it to garner a reaction. Most soft cheeses are completely intolerable in even minute quantities, with the exception of really expensive mozzarella (which is generally water buffalo, not cow). Goat cheese seems to be ok, though I've never desired it in large quantities.
Doing more investigation, an allergy, unlike lactose intolerance, isn't about the lactose sugar in dairy, but the proteins, generally casein and whey. Some dairy products contain more of a certain dairy protein than others.
And so, I shall conduct a self-experiment.
Question: What am I allergic to in dairy foods?
Hypothesis: I am largely allergic to whey.
Experiment: Consume significant quantities of casein-rich food, observe reaction. Consume significant quantities of whey-rich food, observe reaction.
For casein I will eat cottage cheese. For whey I will eat...whey protein powder, as it seems easiest to get ahold of.
In order to isolate results, I will spend a full week "dairy clean" as a base diet, then I will maintain said diet but add in cottage cheese once a day for a week, or until adverse allergic reactions proves unequivocally my allergy. Then I will revert to the base diet for a week, with addition of whey powder once a day for a week, or until adverse allergic reactions proves unequivocally my allergy.
Total experiment should take at most four weeks, though it is entirely unlikely I make it to four weeks unscathed (unless my dairy allergy is cured!)
Depending on my general condition I have a tolerable amount of dairy that I can consume in a week without getting any adverse reactions; red itchy hives on my face and neck, watery eyes, stomach cramping, mild asthma.
However, some dairy products elicit far stronger reactions than others. Parmesan cheese seems to be utterly irrelevant, or perhaps I am incapable of consuming enough of it to garner a reaction. Most soft cheeses are completely intolerable in even minute quantities, with the exception of really expensive mozzarella (which is generally water buffalo, not cow). Goat cheese seems to be ok, though I've never desired it in large quantities.
Doing more investigation, an allergy, unlike lactose intolerance, isn't about the lactose sugar in dairy, but the proteins, generally casein and whey. Some dairy products contain more of a certain dairy protein than others.
And so, I shall conduct a self-experiment.
Question: What am I allergic to in dairy foods?
Hypothesis: I am largely allergic to whey.
Experiment: Consume significant quantities of casein-rich food, observe reaction. Consume significant quantities of whey-rich food, observe reaction.
For casein I will eat cottage cheese. For whey I will eat...whey protein powder, as it seems easiest to get ahold of.
In order to isolate results, I will spend a full week "dairy clean" as a base diet, then I will maintain said diet but add in cottage cheese once a day for a week, or until adverse allergic reactions proves unequivocally my allergy. Then I will revert to the base diet for a week, with addition of whey powder once a day for a week, or until adverse allergic reactions proves unequivocally my allergy.
Total experiment should take at most four weeks, though it is entirely unlikely I make it to four weeks unscathed (unless my dairy allergy is cured!)
on the cutting edge
Like much of my personality, style, and habit, I learned to shave from my dad. I distinctly remember him using a really nice silver or platinum razor holder with his initials engraved in it. I would take the holder and (without loading a razor) cover my face in shaving cream (that awesome stuff that came out blue but immediately foamed up white!) and pretend to shave.
By the time I was old enough to have to shave, though, he had switched, like millions of others, to those disposable blade jobbies. At the time, they probably only had two blades on them. And I remember when they came out with a three-blader him fondly telling me that the maker (Gillette or Schick or whomever) didn't bother patenting it; the technology to put three blades into a disposable plastic head, with tiny little shock-absorbing springs on each blade, was so tricky that no one could copy them.
So I faithfully started shaving with those miracles of modern disposable culture.
Every few years, they would change the design of the blade, so I would buy a new handle, and dump my money into new heads; three blades! FOUR blades! FIVE BLADES OMFG!
At some point I switched to a nice electric razor; one of those self-cleaning deals, so now instead of buying expensive disposable blade heads, I was buying expensive cleaning fluid cartridges.
I have always been a huge fan of the barber. In Japan, this is still an art no lost to the vagaries of the 90s. Sure, SF has hip and trendy salons where you can get a straight-razor shave and trim your neckbeard and an aloe face wipe for $175. But in Japan, family-run barber shops have been using real razors for decades. I have been going to Barbar Kawamura for over a decade; dad runs it with mom and their two daughters. $45 gets me a full head and face shave, including ear and nose hair trim, straightening of the eyebrows (including unibrow repair), ear wax cleaning, shampoo, and a quick face/head/shoulders massage. And coffee, if I need to take a break.
The whole ordeal takes well over an hour and involves countless hot towels. It is utterly epic. One has not lived until one has had one's nasal hairs trimmed with a straight razor.
I have always been envious of that awesome shave, and recently I finally took the plunge; I sold my electric razor and bought a Feather double-edged razor holder. Feather is a local Japanese maker of personal and professional grooming and medical products, mainly bladed. The holder, and two blades, cost all of $8.50. I have since purchased a box of 100 Shark double-edged razor blades for $15. Assuming I am hedonistic and use one blade a shave, and assuming I actually bother to shave 5 times a week (massively unlikely!), then I have purchased 20 weeks worth of incredibly close shaving. The same amount spent on Gillette ProGlide Fusion 5-blade disposable heads would get me less than a week's worth...and a worse shave.
Once winter is over and I start shaving my head regularly again I will hopefully be comfortable enough with my double-edged razor to use it on my head as well. If I really want to Man Up I will then strop and use my own straight razor...but one step at a time, eh.
For anyone suffering through an electric razor and/or disposables: switch. Immediately. You shan't regret it!
By the time I was old enough to have to shave, though, he had switched, like millions of others, to those disposable blade jobbies. At the time, they probably only had two blades on them. And I remember when they came out with a three-blader him fondly telling me that the maker (Gillette or Schick or whomever) didn't bother patenting it; the technology to put three blades into a disposable plastic head, with tiny little shock-absorbing springs on each blade, was so tricky that no one could copy them.
So I faithfully started shaving with those miracles of modern disposable culture.
Every few years, they would change the design of the blade, so I would buy a new handle, and dump my money into new heads; three blades! FOUR blades! FIVE BLADES OMFG!
At some point I switched to a nice electric razor; one of those self-cleaning deals, so now instead of buying expensive disposable blade heads, I was buying expensive cleaning fluid cartridges.
I have always been a huge fan of the barber. In Japan, this is still an art no lost to the vagaries of the 90s. Sure, SF has hip and trendy salons where you can get a straight-razor shave and trim your neckbeard and an aloe face wipe for $175. But in Japan, family-run barber shops have been using real razors for decades. I have been going to Barbar Kawamura for over a decade; dad runs it with mom and their two daughters. $45 gets me a full head and face shave, including ear and nose hair trim, straightening of the eyebrows (including unibrow repair), ear wax cleaning, shampoo, and a quick face/head/shoulders massage. And coffee, if I need to take a break.
The whole ordeal takes well over an hour and involves countless hot towels. It is utterly epic. One has not lived until one has had one's nasal hairs trimmed with a straight razor.
I have always been envious of that awesome shave, and recently I finally took the plunge; I sold my electric razor and bought a Feather double-edged razor holder. Feather is a local Japanese maker of personal and professional grooming and medical products, mainly bladed. The holder, and two blades, cost all of $8.50. I have since purchased a box of 100 Shark double-edged razor blades for $15. Assuming I am hedonistic and use one blade a shave, and assuming I actually bother to shave 5 times a week (massively unlikely!), then I have purchased 20 weeks worth of incredibly close shaving. The same amount spent on Gillette ProGlide Fusion 5-blade disposable heads would get me less than a week's worth...and a worse shave.
Once winter is over and I start shaving my head regularly again I will hopefully be comfortable enough with my double-edged razor to use it on my head as well. If I really want to Man Up I will then strop and use my own straight razor...but one step at a time, eh.
For anyone suffering through an electric razor and/or disposables: switch. Immediately. You shan't regret it!
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