Tuesday, February 6th: Prayer, Pasta, and Powerlifting

 

    

    I live about 20 minutes up the west side of Belfast Harbor in a town called Jordanstown and take a pink, double-decker Translink bus to commute. The best seat in the house is second level, front left corner where you can look out across water and enjoy the cloudy sky, even when the sun isn't peeking through. To make it complete, I press shuffle on my liked songs playlist on Spotify and bounce around what song strikes my mood. But on Tuesday, I did not have class, as a Victory scholar, I needed to take a shift for the basketball club at the Fresher's Fair (Club Fair) at the University. During my hour and a half shift, about 4 people engaged with our booth. Thanks to the American football table next to me, they had a corn hole set to pass the time and showed them my American made talent forged during my time in college. After a teammate relieved me of my post, I walked out of the University without a plan, but knew I should take advantage of my time downtown. I had no leads. 

    The university resides in the "Cathedral Quarter," which encompasses the northern area of the city, and includes various convenience stores, restaurants, tattoo shops, and of course, 

Saint Anne's Cathedral. I've walked inside a few times and 

observed from behind the red ropes, but the £2.50 full entrance fee kept me at bay. I got past being stingy and reminded myself that cathedrals are one of my favorite architectural sites to visit, so I paid the fee and began my slow walk through the 120-year-old cathedral. It was built upon the grounds of a previous church that was consecrated in 1776 by the town of Belfast's landlord, Lord Donegall. The foundation stone for the current church was laid in 1899 with construction finishing in 1903. There were three notable elements of the cathedral that I spent time reading and observing. The first being the ten pillars of the nave, each with a different theme on the capital (the top of the column). The north pillars include: Science, Linen, Healing, Agriculture and Music. The south pillars include: Theology, Ship Building, Freemasonry, Arts and Womanhood. For a detail dwarfed by the height and giant size of the interior of the cathedral, I was intrigued to look at each one from underneath, like the image above.  Secondly, the Spire of Hope protrudes from the center of the church 250 feet in the air and pierces through the gray skies with its fabricated stainless steel frame. 

The cathedral does not have a traditional bell tower  atop its roof because the Belfast floor bed, known as "sleech", is not stable enough to support such a heavy architectural ornamentation. Instead, in 2004, a contest was held for young Irish architects to create a lightweight spire. The spire can be seen from inside the cathedral because of a glass roof that allows viewers to bring their eyes toward the heavens. Lastly, the pipe organ was a treat to see. I used to take lessons when I was younger and every one I see I'm curious as to as kind of unique tone and sound it has. As a follower of Jesus, I also took time to reflect and pray since I had never been to a cathedral completely by myself, without family. I was appreciative that I went out of my way to put immerse and engage with all the cathedral had to offer. 

    Initially, I wasn't quite psyched with the notion of getting out of bed to sit at a club fair table for an hour and a half, but after I walked out of St. Anne's cathedral and had a some good chicken wings for lunch from Slim Chickens, I wouldn't have had that experience and made memories if not for the fair. Thank you Basketball Club! From there, I went back home on the U2 Translink pink double decker bus and put on my music again to enjoy the slightly darkened cloudy climate and muted color of Belfast Harbor.

    Making a complete U-turn in sentiment, later in the day, it was time for our Tuesday team lift. When I say team, I mean 4-5 other teammates, but nonetheless, we've developed a great habit and feed off each others' energy to get better. We only lift twice a week and these are the workouts we do TTH: 

    Here are a few videos of me doing some of the exercises...

This was my final set of quarter squats with 170 kg for 3 reps

Set of Push Press for 4 reps with 70 kg

Set of dumbbell flat bench with 34 kg each hand

    To cap off the night, I was fairly hungry so thought it would be a good night to make my favorite food...pasta. But the favorite within my favorite food: carbonara. REAL carbonara. No cream. I needed my protein so I cooked some chicken and added a salad. I ate my whole serving of carbonara though!  Here's the recipe I use when I make genuine carbonara that would put a smile on any Italian's face. 

Ingredients

                                                      3 Tbsp. kosher salt, plus more

4 oz. bacon (preferably pancetta) 

2 oz. Parmesan or Pecorino Roman

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

Freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. spaghetti, bucatini, or rigatoni

Recipe

1. 1. Boil spaghetti until al dente.
2. 
   
3. 2. Cook diced pancetta or bacon with olive oil until crispy. Set away on separate dish
4. 
   
5. 3. Whisk eggs, cheese, and pepper into a clean bowl. Set aside. 
6. 
   
7. 4. Drain pasta, reserve some pasta water.
8. 
   
9. 5. Put a cup of pasta water in the pan and bring to boil. Put pasta with pasta water and reduce until half the water is left. 
10. 
    
11. 6. Take the pan with pasta and water off heat, slowly pour egg mixture in small amounts and gently mix with tongs or spatula until you get the consistency you prefer. Add pancetta/bacon bits. Put back on heat for 30-40 seconds. Keep mixing. 
12. 
    
13. 7. Season with salt and more pepper and more cheese.
14. 
    
15. 8. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

            I'm proud that you made it this far into the post. Congratulations! Fun fact time: It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. 

Enjoy the rest of the week! 

Cheers,

Eric