I've Got the Power

Yup, Gentle Reader, it's a theme post. Brace yourself.

Power Songs
I mentioned the other day something about my gym iPod and its ability at times to play songs that "inspire my arse to move." Nike (and I'm sure many others) calls these power songs, and, yeah, I find power in me that I didn't think I have when they play.

Thinking that you may be curious what kind of songs inspire me to make it through another mile, another fifteen minutes (no, that's not how long it takes me to run a mile) or whatever, I thought I'd share with you, Gentle Reader, a list of my top power songs. They're not ranked because I don't like ranking things like this and because each song's "power potential" depends on the circumstances of when my iPod shuffles it up. Nor is this list exhaustive: a song that may do nothing for me for months may suddenly be the stuff that, say, gets me to increase my speed instead of decrease it from that playing of it and onward.

If you're looking for fodder for your own gym music playlist, check these out:

• "Given to Fly" by Pearl Jam. Yeah, not a big surprise to see this one given what I wrote about it earlier.
  
• "Stomp!" by DJ Aligator Project. This little gem came from a BodyPump release--a squat track, if memory serves. There's nothing like a little "Colonel Bogey" (and images of meticulously built bridges exploding) to get you to run or squat or whatever.
  
  
• "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen. Sure, the circumstances surrounding the writing of this song aren't exactly cheery, but I've found this song puts the surge in my blood ever since the first time I heard it. Yeah, I'm a sucker for some good pathos. And I even managed to love the song after Les Mills stuck it in a BodyFlow release I taught; that company should be brought up on crimes against humanity charges for setting faux-Pilates movement to it.
  
• "Autumn Song" by Manic Street Preachers. Yeah, it mentions running in the chorus, but this is one of my power songs for more than just that. I love the ebb and flow of the tempo. I love the swell of the choir that leads into the chorus. This song just does it for me. So sue me.
  
• "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters. It's David Letterman's favorite song, and it's my favorite song from the Fighters of Foo, whom you can always trust to put out solid, dependable rock. They're coming to ACL this year, but I won't be going. Will I be missing the opportunity of a lifetime? Perhaps. Do I care? Not in the least. I guess I live in the wrong city because while live music is fun and powerful, I'm fine listening to it at home.
  
• "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti. Yo, Adrienne! Sure, it's cliche, but can ya really resist this song? And it beats Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" any day (although that's another oldie but goodie, I'll admit.) Enjoy a craptacular "video" for this one:
  
  
• "Fluorescent Adolescent" by Arctic Monkeys. I didn't really go gaa-gaa over the Monkeys when they hit...was that last year? Typically my interest in the next big Internet thing is inverse to its hype, ergo I had zilch interest in them. But I heard this ditty late last year and just laughed so hard that I cried because, well, we'll all reach an age when we realize that we too took a left up Last Laugh Lane. But I'm still getting it in my fishnets, thank you very much.
  
• "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon. Ahh, this classic power movie ballad doesn't get old, does it? Sure, it's about filthy capitalist pigs, and it was co-opted by the Postal Service to reassure folks it wasn't delivery anthrax-laced letters to every good 'merican, but I still find when that boy's choir starts caterwauling in my ears, I kick up my pace. And often hit the back button on the iPod so I can hear it again.
  
• "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. Whether your a brother or whether your a mother, you can't resist this song. Or maybe you can--it too is highly cliched. But sometimes, just like Travolta's Tony Manero, ya just gotta strut. And when this song comes on, yeah, you bet your ass I strut, Gentle Reader.
  

And last but not least....

• "America" by Neil Diamond. I know, hard to believe anti-'merican 'ol me can find motivation to run in this song, but I do. Like I said, I likes me some good pathos. Well, bathos, in this case. Plus I grew up with Neil Diamond on the turntable, right there in the stack with Carol King, Bee Gees Greatest, John Denver (we whipped out the infamous Christmas album at the right time of the year), Kenny Rogers and Air Supply. (Faint not, Gentle Reader. In the mid-80s, we added a 45 with Billy Idol covering "Mony Mony" live. It played a bit too fast, but it made for a helluva mix with 'ol Kenny and The Gambler.) But Neil knows how to put on a vocal chord-straining, panty-throwing show, don't he?
  

So there you have it, Gentle Reader--further proof that I'm a complete freak.

Power Tune-age, Power Bars
Although I'd bookmarked a few power bar/energy bar recipes back when I first started my culinary misadventures, I've never made any until today. Why today? Well, Mum shared with me the recipe for some she got from these great nuns she knows (who are the boy's honorary great grandmas). They got it, if I recall the story correctly, at a recent reflexology conference they attended.

Yeah, I know. Nuns and reflexology. Not exactly something you'd put together, huh, Gentle Reader?

I whipped this recipe together after this morning's trip to the gym. I'm sure it wouldn't have taken terribly long if I hadn't been on the phone with Mum and trying to get the boy squared away with his post-gym viewing of The Phantom Menace. And perhaps the initial goo wouldn't have looked so disgusting if I'd paid more attention to it while melting it. Not terribly appetizing to look at, is it?

And I had my doubts that the ingredient I'd chosen for the bulk of the recipe--Kashi's GoLean, a box of which I've had in my pantry, unopened, for many months--would make these things edible. If you've ever had any of Kashi's cereal, you may think they taste roughly like cardboard and have the consistency of cardboard left out in the elements for many months. For many years, I lived off Kashi's Good Friends, and the boy when he was younger was convinced the man and woman on the red box were his Nana and Papa (and I'll agree that they look a scary lot like my 'rents). But would the GoLean be crispy enough to withstand the melted goo? Or would it wilt like soggy Rice Krispies dunked in a toilet? (No, I don't know why you'd do that, Gentle Reader. I'm stretching for an allusion here. Just go with it.)

I was surprised by the mass of the finished recipe. I didn't expect it to damn near fill the 9" x 13" pan. See for yourself:

Amazing texture, don't ya think?

Unfortunately, the things didn't set up after chillin' in the back of the 'fridge (i.e., our third freezer) for some eight hours. I cut into them after supper, and it was obvious there would be no bars from this pan. The best I could hope for would be lumps. For this photo, I molded with my fingers the portion I scooped out--also with my fingers. (Okay, not really. I used a small plastic turner.)

But lemme tell ya this, Gentle Reader: For as big a failure as these bars appear to be, they're damn delicious. Just the right combination of sweet and salty, crunchiness and gooeyness. Here's the recipe if you want to try to make some for yourself:

Power Bars2 t vanilla
2 T butter
1 C honey
3/4 C any nut butter
1/2 C raisins
1 1/2 C oatmeal
4 C Minute Oats or whole grain cereal
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C chopped nuts

1. Heat the butter, nut butter and honey until melted.
   
2. Add the vanilla, seeds, nuts, cereal, oats, raisins, and cinnamon, stirring until blended.
   
3. Pat firmly into a greased 9" x 13" pan.
   
4. Let chill in refrigerator until set, then cut into bars.

I can't provide any nutritional info, but if you work the ingredients right, you can come up with a pretty darn healthful bar from this very basic, very modifiable recipe.

The Faudie's Futzings

• As always, I used Promise fat-free butter. I wasn't worried about the extra moisture too much since I wasn't sure the other melted goo would be enough for all that Kashi cereal and oats and nuts and seeds and raisins.
  
• I used Better 'n Peanut Butter, which only has 2 grams of fat per 2-tablespoon serving. Yeah, 2 grams of fat. That beats the hell out of Peter Pan's 12 grams per 2-tablespoon serving for its reduced fat product.
  
• I used agave nectar in lieu of honey. Hey, lower that glycemic index whenever you can!
  
• Even though I find the Better 'n Peanut Butter a bit salt (it only has 190 mg of Na per serving), I did use the full cup of sunflower seeds, which also were lightly salted. Sorry, I couldn't afford the organic, unsalted ones.
  
• For the half-cup of nuts, I just used some chopped mixed nuts Fisher puts out for ice cream topping. Yummy.

Mum assured me this recipe is very easy to modify, so whatever you have in your pantry you could probably throw in. Bon appetit!

And for No Reason Except to Maintain the Theme....

Yup, it's Power Girl. She rocks.