Monday, February 5: Ice Baths, Peter Frampton (guitarist), and Potatoes Dauphinoise

   

    Yeo! As this is my first blog, I'd like to welcome you to The Wee Globetrotter, a place where I reveal and share my day to day routine as a professional basketball player living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Although I would not consider myself small, I thought it apt to include a common Belfast slang such as wee into my blog title because of how frequently I hear it sprinkled throughout conversations. Considering this is a "wee" blog, as some NIs might say, the Globetrotter has a double meaning, stemming from the Harlem Globetrotters, a USA exhibition basketball team known for their theatrical athleticism, and harkening to my travels across the world from Santa Barbara, California to here. It is a great privilege to demonstrate and represent how I've been raised by my parents, grown with my friends, and  taught and competed in NCAA D3 basketball at Hamilton College to people across the world here in Belfast. Even though this blog is shuffled into the millions of other content across the internet, I am glad you get to see a glimpse of my life through the events that distinguish each day from one another. So what do ice baths, Peter Frampton, and Potatoes Dauphinoise have in common? Nothing, except for that they were the things that made my Monday memorable. Let's dive in...

    In college, we were given "meal cards" which granted us unlimited swipes into the different dining halls cafes around campus, so as a 6'7" athlete, this was a gift to be cherished. With this being said, I never turned my stove on to cook anything in college, the microwave was our best friend. I knew sometime after my five years in college that simply making my three to four meals a day would become a reality once I graduated and wasn't sure if I would enjoy it or dread it every time I got hungry. But since I moved here in September 2023, I can say that I love cooking. 

    I started my Monday with a classic: four egg omelet (one egg had a double yolk...extra protein! ◡̈) seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, four strips of bacon tucked inside as well as shredded mozzarella. I added some blueberries and grapes, toast with jam and peanut butter and a couple sips from my berry smoothie. I needed energy for my morning since I had a shooting workout with two of my teammates that 

I live with: Igor, who is Polish/Irish, and Nate, another American who played for this team last year. We are on a MWF schedule to have a shooting workout around 10:00 am and then go into the recovery suite to mend and repair for the next workout, lift or game. Our workout wasn't strenuous but we focused on form shooting and different sets of shooting from 5 spots around the basket. Half way through, one of the American Women's players, Delia, on the Ulster team came and asked one of us to shoot together so her and I alternated shooting and rebounding for one another. For those that don't play basketball, a women's ball is smaller than a men's ball. We shot for another 30 minutes or so and then Nate, Igor and I walked over to the recovery suite. We changed into our compression shorts and prepared our minds and hearts (literally) for the ice bath. 

    For those that haven't gone into a body of water that is starkly lower than your body temperature, I recommend it, it's very refreshing. But, it can make break you mentally if you don't prepare yourself for the cold shock. In college, it was routine to hop into the cold tub up to your waist and bring blood circulation into your tired legs, but no one ever knelt down to submerge their whole body. But not here. The ice bath is deep on purpose so that when you take the ladder down into the water, you're already 2/3 of the way covered. Out of us three, Igor prides himself the

most to trying stay in the ice bath the longest. We've done the plunge enough times that we don't shiver anymore, but he goes into a zen state. It's amazing how when you're standing at the top of the ladder how much you are dreading going into the ice water and how painful and uncomfortable it will be and all the negative things, but when you're able to overcome those thoughts and force yourself into the water, the three seconds of shock and pain are worth it. We always tell each other how "light" and fresh our legs feel afterwards when we are showered and walking back home. We don't just go into the ice bath and go home. We also used the hot tub, steam room and sauna. Our usual routine goes like this:

- Hot tub: 5 mins 

- Ice Bath: 3:00 mins

 *Repeat three times* ^^

- Steam room: 10 mins

- Sauna: 5 mins

- Ice bath dip for a few seconds then shower

The morning shooting workout and the recovery suite had become one of my favorite things to do this past month with Nate and Igor because in the midst of our workout and recovery sessions, we are still able to joke around, encourage, and push one another. I am a person who enjoys their alone time and will occasionally shoot and recover on my own, but I won't be here forever to make memories with these teammates that I've grown to cherish. I'm excited to continue our MWF morning traditions the rest of the year. 

    Once we got home, it was time to make another meal. Sandwiches have been my go-to for lunch the past few weeks. I still have to remember my £80 Tesco run is not $80 USD so I've become more mindful about my meal prep and purchases for the week and sandwiches have deemed themselves satisfying, filling and affordable for my liking. So, I made a chicken, egg, lettuce, tomato, garlic and herb spread, mozzarella sandy...two of them. Technically four since I cut them in half. But I enjoyed these while I relaxed in my room for the afternoon and watched some Youtube videos. Here's what I watched:  Comedy Actors Roundtable: Sacha Baron Cohen, Jim Carrey, Don Cheadle & More | Close Up and Bad Friends Podcast–Ep. 204. 

    On Monday we have practice from 7-9 pm, so I walked over with some chicken soup in my Yeti thermos cup since I wanted to cook dinner after practice. This next weekend, we have a local "derby" game against Belfast Star, our local rival and only other Belfast Irish Super-league basketball team. So in practice, we emphasized limiting unnecessary dribbles and off ball screens. We usually finish practice with 45 to 1 hour of scrimmaging each other. It was a tough practice, a lot of discussions on leadership and

encouraging one another when possessions are poor or a player makes repetitive mistakes. It was one of our more competitive practices and those are the best kind. Afterwards, I walked home by myself and listened to one of my favorite songs: Do You Feel Like We Do - Live by Peter Frampton. Standing at 13:47 minutes, it's become one of my favorite songs to listen without distraction. My musical taste ranges from '70s rock to classical, but I grew up side kicking in my dad's car listening to his music, so listening to rock is my go-to. Anyway, this song hit the spot on the walk home. You can click on the album cover to take a listen and broaden your musical horizon! 

Do You Feel Like We Do - Live by Peter Frampton 

    

Taking some musical inspiration into the kitchen, I finally was ready to make one of my favorite dishes I've made on my own: Potatoes Dauphinoise. The recipe I used is the same recipe my Dad uses when he makes it for Christmas and Easter dinners at home. It's a simple recipe that uses two blocks of Gruyere cheese, 1 cup heavy cream, salt, garlic, butter, and layers of potatoes. The recipe goes like this: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F˚
2. Get a deep backing tray and butter the bottom and sprinkle minced garlic over it
3. Skin and thinly slice 4-7 potatoes based on their size and width. Take the slices and overlay them across the bottom of the tray until there are no empty spaces. 
4. Then lightly pour the cream over the potatoes just enough to make a thin layer. 
5. Generously salt over the potatoes. 
6. Spread shredded Gruyere cheese to cover potatoes. Repeat this two more times to make two more layers. 
7. The last layer asks for a bit more cream and Gruyere cheese to top it off. 
8. Put into oven for 45-60 mins. Check every 15 minutes to make sure cheese is browning evenly. 
9. Serve up and enjoy! 

I cooked up a rump steak with caramelized onions, two over easy eggs, some bread and a salad. It was a great meal to end an eventful day. After typing out this blog for you to read, I realized how full it was with things that are normal and routine for me and sometimes consider them mundane. But, I hope to you, you get to see what my day as a pro athlete, chef, friend and music lover looks like. My next blog will be posted about the great Tuesday I had on February 6th! FYI, Monday is my favorite day of the week.