Confession: I don't really like to cook that much.
Correction: I'm not really motivated to cook for myself.
Condition: I'm single and live alone.
Conclusion: I don't really cook that much, for myself or anyone.
In the past, I've been pretty happy to "scavenge" whatever is in my fridge and/or cupboards, and call a grilled cheese sandwich and a pile of carrots dinner. That or grab some kind of food to-go from a local eatery (or, well, get dinner through the late-night working crew at work). But now that I've been on a graduate student stipend for a few months, I've realized I need a better incentive system to improve my cooking habits. Something with flexibility so I don't feel immediately overwhelmed, yet something with accountability so I also feel adequately compelled to change my behavior.
Drum (dinner?) roll please.
Tonight, implementation of the "Dinner-in Nights" intervention - DINs - began with my great friend (and apartment building co-resident) Kelly. This pilot program involves each of us committing to cook at least once a week, and then alternating cooking for the other person every other week. This two-pronged approach aims to cultivate a non-intimidating cooking routine while promoting mutual accountability among two people with low access barriers (i.e., we live in the same building, we work for the same company) and high motivation for behavior change. We will report weekly progress as part of the overarching monitoring plan, and course-correct as needed. Limitations of this pilot program may include unforeseen scheduling constraints, self-recall biases (e.g., "Oh wait, it was my turn to cook this week? Ermmm...), and potential for suboptimal adherence.
Can this count as our study protocol pre-registration?
Anyway.
To kick-off DINs properly, I made Molly Gilbert's tried-and-true (and truly delectable) chicken and broccoli with spicy peanut sauce with a side of quinoa. And before you think I'm a fancy quinoa-toting chef (or something), I'm fairly sure I purchased it circa 2013-2014 amid a fleeting cooking spree - it's hung out on a pantry shelf since. Like her cookbook promised, this dish was quick and easy and ever so tasty. Now Kelly and I both have leftovers in our fridges, and happy digestion in our bellies.
For more of Molly's great recipes (and 'riting), check out her blog at https://dunkandcrumble.com/
Today I learned...
When I was rerunning some analyses, I noticed that a number of patient-level data points were somehow negative versions of otherwise reasonable blood pressure readings (i.e., not 0 or -999, a frequent code for missing values). I'm going to investigate a bit more tomorrow, but it's likely that the negative values were interviewer errors and thus we should adjust them (i.e., multiply by -1) and now include these patients rather than dropping them. Takeway: know thy data.
Today I'm grateful for...
Easy access to a local Trader Joe's so I could pick up ingredients for our first DINs without breaking the bank and on the way home from work.
Today's best part was...
Brainstorming lesson topics and plans for a global health and data science training we'll be offering through the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA)'s STEM Global Teacher Workshop at the end of April. I'm excited for the opportunity to be more involved in curriculum development and teaching around global health measurement - more to come soon!
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