Monthly Archives: July 2024

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity

Rain or drought, heat or cold, the weather is always a popular topic of conversation. Feeling awkward in a social situation? Discuss the weather! Once summertime – or at least summer temperatures – roll around, the humidity becomes the primary topic of discussion among us native southerners. It’s hard to think of anything else when the humidity slaps you in the face before attempting to suffocate you every time you step out your door.

After the traveling we’ve done over the past few years, I’m here to tell y’all that it really is the humidity. Once of the first times this was really brought to our attention was when we visited Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming in 2019. The park rangers were all very apologetic that the humidity was so high during our visit; it was 25%. I told one of the rangers that, while I appreciated her concern, I’m from Georgia and 25% humidity doesn’t even register with me. As a matter of fact, it felt wonderful. (Just as a point of reference, the current level of humidity is 68% and that’s not particularly high for July.)

Image courtesy of depositphotoscom

However, it took out trip out west last year to fully bring home the difference between heat with low humidity and heat with high humidity. All of the parks we visited had signs stating that visitors shouldn’t hike when the temperature is above 90℉ and recommending the amount of water that should be carried per person per hike. We were blown away by the whole idea of not hiking when the temp is over ninety. Around here, that would knock out hikes any time between April and October. It took a few days before it dawned on me that the lack of humidity is exactly the reason why it would be so much easier to get dehydrated. (Apparently I can be a little slow sometimes.) When the humidity is low, your sweat evaporates (as it should) without you ever realizing how much liquid you are actually losing. Around here, when you sweat, it literally runs down your skin and soaks into your clothes because it doesn’t evaporate. When your clothes are soaking wet, it’s easy to realize that you need to increase your liquid intake.

I’ve never dealt well with the summer heat and humidity and it seems to be getting worse as I age. I work two days a week and most of my tasks are outside. I’m going in a little earlier and looking for indoor tasks these days because I just can’t stay out in the heat after around 2:30pm. I’ve already had one day where I got too hot and don’t want to have a repeat performance anytime soon. Fortunately, September is coming. We only have to get through August first and August sucks.

Do you prefer hot weather or cold weather? Do you live in a high or low humidity area?

Well, that takes the cake.

Cooking and baking are not my forte. I didn’t learn how to cook as I was growing up. I used to watch my grandmother cook, but somehow, as a child, it never dawned on me that cooking was a life skill I needed to grasp. None of the adults in my life ever said “Hey, this is something you need to learn.” As a matter of fact, by the time I reached my teens my mother had announced that she wasn’t going to cook anymore… and she didn’t. Fortunately, my father stepped up to the plate and kept us from starving, LOL.

I did most of the cooking the first few years of our marriage and then Kenn took over. Between the two of us, we kept our family fed. However, I am a much better cook now than I was prior to retirement and it’s mostly due to Hello Fresh. We subscribed to Hello Fresh shortly after I retired. We get two meal kits each week which mean that there are two fewer meals to plan. (Yay!) The kits have also given me a chance to try things I otherwise wouldn’t have. I have learned that I enjoy the prep process or mise en place if you will; I find the chopping, slicing, and dicing relaxing. I have learned that roasted vegetables are easy to make and delicious to eat. I can also now successfully cook rice. Kenn has learned that sweet potatoes aren’t so bad. I can even “wing it” now. Need to cook pork chops without a meal kit or a recipe? No problem. I can whip up a glaze or just use one of the many gourmet (flavored) salts Kenn has gifted me.

Baking is another story. I’ve never done a lot of baking. Baking is far more scientific than regular cooking; you can’t just substitute an ingredient on the fly without possibly ruining the whole recipe. Kenn finds it amusing that even though I don’t bake, baking shows are favorite shows to watch. However, there was one item I baked regularly: a poppy seed cake. I got the recipe from a co-worker probably twenty-five years ago and it became a staple in our household. However, starting several years ago, every attempt to bake a poppy seed cake failed spectacularly. I bought a thermometer to make sure the oven was cooking at the correct temperature; it was. I bought a couple of different pans; neither helped. I wondered if the ingredients of the cake mix had changed somehow so I tried a few other brands; no change. I finally just gave up. Until yesterday.

I didn’t manage to center the round cake on the square plate.

The display on our range failed which meant we had no way to control the oven so we had a technician come out to give us a quote on repairing the faulty item; between the $109 diagnostic fee and parts and labor, it was going to cost over $700 to repair our existing range of unknown age. We decided to purchase a new range and to splurge on one with an air fry feature. An unexpected bonus is that the new range can function as a convection oven. I decided I’d try my beloved poppy seed cake recipe one more time using the convection oven. It worked! True, the cake isn’t as brown as what I’m used to, but it tastes amazing, so I’m calling it a win. I am so happy to be able to add this cake back to my repertoire for family gatherings, potlucks, and so forth.

How do you feel about cooking and baking? How did you learn?