Grilling, Suburban Life, and Impact to Health
And some props out to the Seattle Seahawks!
“There is no better friend than a good meal, and no better meal than one shared with friends.”
— Anonymous
I’m writing this the day after Super Bowl LX. (That’s 60 for those who can’t remember Roman numerals!) For those who didn’t follow it, our hometown Seattle Seahawks won this year! (Marsha and I were both born and raised in the Seattle area, and we had to do our part as “12’s” to bask in the hometown victory!)
Beyond the actual victory, what’s fresh on my mind right now is that this year, we spent Super Bowl Sunday in the suburbs at a potluck! (As a side note, Marsha brought “Ginny’s Smokey Albacore Spread”, with slight modifications to add Tabasco and a tiny bit of sour cream). Besides the game itself, the highlight was that our friend who hosted the potluck is a grilling veteran, and all of us there got to enjoy his ribs and chicken! Since embracing urban life, we’ve adopted different food rituals, and we haven’t done as much grilling or been to as many potlucks.
So, yesterday actually made me think of three food-related topics for today’s post: urban restaurant events, another recent trek to the suburbs for some backyard grilling, and why this may be one of the last potlucks I will ever participate in!
Portland Wiener Week
In urban life, we still entertain, and we still have been hosted by others who entertain. The thing we’ve done less is the potluck format. I think the alternative when people want to reduce the workload of hosting is to meet at bars or restaurants. Portland is full of some great restaurant events to provide people with the excuse to get together!
Two weeks ago was Portland Wiener Week, and I celebrated with different friends at four different places!
10Barrel Brewing - A Zenner’s double smoked pork sausage with brisket burnt end chili, diced onions, and cheddar cheese.
Lazy Days Brewing - In house beer cheese, pretzel bun, crispy bacon bits, onion.
Breakside Brewery - All beef frank, housemade robust marinara, 3 cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar, and jack cheese, crispy pepperoni on a hot dog bun.
Wayfinder Beer - Grilled sabrett hot dog, chili braised pork and hominy, avocado salsa, crema, cabbage, lime
Here’s the group we assembled at Lazy Days.
Of course, for those of you who have followed my personal story, you likely know that beer and processed meats are food violations, given my gout and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). More on this later!
A recent backyard grilling adventure
I have really enjoyed urban life, but as I reflect there is one thing I miss about suburban life: backyard grilling. I did a bit of grilling myself, but admittedly, Marsha is the real grill master of our household. After all our years of living in California, Marsha definitely built up a library of some excellent grilling recipes, and we really hadn’t enjoyed any of those in the decade since we left suburban California for urban life in the Pacific Northwest (first in Seattle, then Portland).
Despite that our condo’s governing documents explicitly allow grilling on our balconies, Marsha and I don’t do it out of consideration for the neighbors above us. The outside air intakes to our units are all in the balcony areas, so grill smoke is known to cause discomfort for our neighbors above. Our condo association also has a community grill on our common area rooftop, but we never got in the habit of using shared grills and taking the elevator up and down to grill.
As such, we were excited when a younger couple decided to move to the suburbs for their next phase of life. While we were going to miss seeing them more regularly in the city, we also looked forward to their getting a backyard grill of their own in the suburbs. Along the way, they shared with us the progress updates of purchasing the grill and setting it up! And then, they bestowed upon Marsha the honor of getting to christen the grill!
So, we went over with marinated ribeye, portobello mushrooms, and pineapple all ready to grill! Here’s a photo of us putting both their skewers and Marsha’s ribeye on their brand new grill!
We had a great time and a great meal!
Potential limits on the future
Despite all the educational materials we’ve been reviewing, Marsha and I learned something else new last week. No potlucks for transplant recipients! If you’re interested, I’ll explain why. Otherwise, you can skip this section!
For context, Marsha and I did a full-day visit at OHSU so that I could be evaluated as a candidate for a kidney transplant. On that front specifically, there’s no news yet, as the team there plans to meet in 2-3 weeks from now once they’ve reviewed all the data. If accepted to proceed to the next round, I will have to do some additional testing.
The team evaluating me included a social worker, a nutritionist, a pharmacist, a nephrologist, and a surgeon. In addition, I had both chest and pelvic X-rays, an EKG, and echocardiogram, and a whole series of blood and urine tests.
The objective was to ensure that I would:
Medically benefit from a transplant
Survive the surgery
Have all my vaccinations ahead of going on immunosuppressants
Take care of the new kidney
Have all the right economic and social support systems in place
While none of the individual team members expressed any concerns, each was careful to set the expectation that they’d wait for all the data to come in. The good news is that everything so far has come in as expected. Right now, I’m not showing any markers for cancer, latent diseases, or drug use. (Yes, they also know that I’m not using marijuana (THC) although the doctors indicated that they test for this but do not disqualify based on its usage!)
Humorously, my blood tests also did not reveal what short-term damage I did to my body the week before with all of those processed meats during Portland Wiener Week! While my eGFR (filtration rate) is as low as expected, all my electrolyte readings (potassium, sodium, phosphorus, etc.) remained in balance. Even my total cholesterol was on target (130 total cholesterol, with a non-HDL cholesterol of 72 and HDL cholesterol of 58..)
However, the meeting with the nutritionist was interesting in that we learned that one of their rules was “no potlucks!” The past materials I’ve reviewed included familiar restrictions like the “no sushi” and “no sunnyside-up eggs” because a sickness that might cause a little bit of upset stomach or diarrhea in a normal person could cause serious illness for someone whose immune system has been suppressed to support an organ transplant. However, I didn’t recall any of the training materials presented to me that prescribed “no potlucks!” A subsequent Google search revealed several sources reinforcing this rule.
“Beware of buffets, salad bars, and potlucks. All can be a source of food borne illness.”
So, as I attended yesterday’s Super Bowl party, I had this rule in mind and appreciated that this one may perhaps be one of the last potlucks I might be able to enjoy! The one bright spot is that grilling is an OK food preparation technique for kidney transplant patients, with instructions to use a meat thermometer to ensure cooking to a “medium” or even “medium well” level of doneness.
Final thoughts
Independent of the form all of this takes, I think my food-based reflection is just that I enjoy the opportunity to eat with friends. Restaurant events are cool. Having people over can be even more fun. Backyard grilling adds a total bonus. And the motivation behind potlucks is good, too, even as they pose a risk to transplant patients.
Having our hometown team win while eating with others makes all that even better. Go Seahawks!