How Did it Get to be Next Summer Already?

I see that I last posted over a year ago. That was not my intention. But winter was emotionally difficult for many reason - not the least of which the very wintery weather!

I seem to have lost at least one friend over the hard winter, perhaps two - people who I spoke to regularly. One seems simply to have dropped off the face of the earth, and the other ... well, I'm not quite sure what is going on there - just that I hear "I'll call you later" a lot but then nothing ...

Work has been stressful for me, and that is all that I will say on a public forum about that.

But, I've been trying to get myself out of the emotional dip I seemed to have gotten into and I think I'm doing it, finally.

Let me share some of the discoveries I've made ... I'll forwarn you - they are food and drink related.

I make a decent guacamole - but I cheat. I use pre-chopped pico de gallo, then mix that in with mashed fresh avocado, and a liberal dash of lime juice, either fresh or bottled.

I make a pretty good stout beef stew - and I cheat at that too. I think I wrote about that in a previous post, but I'll repeat it here. I buy raw diced potatoes, fresh English peas, celery and carrot sticks, chopped onion, sliced mushrooms and stew beef, and a four or six pack of stout ale like Guinness. I flour and brown the beef pieces in a little olive oil, coconut oil or another healthy oil, then remove it from the pot. Then I chop the celery and carrot sticks into stew worthy pieces (in other words - however big or small I feel like at the moment!), throw them and the onions in, and saute them until the onion is getting transparent. Then, back in goes the beef, maybe some fresh rosemary, a little minced garlic or garlic powder (whatever I have at the moment) and whatever herbs strike my fancy - keeping flavor in mind, of course! Then, and here's the part I haven't quite got perfected, one and a half to two 12 oz bottles of the stout... Too little and it hasn't got that hint of bitter bite, too much and the bitter bite is much less enjoyable. After the stout, add water, and simmer for a while - until the carrots are starting to get tender. If you need to get more beef flavor, add small amounts of beef flavored Better Than Bouillon paste to taste. Then add the peas and the potatoes. The peas will probably take longer to get tender than the potatoes, so you may want to add them earlier - depends on if your peas are fresh or frozen (don't EVEN put canned peas in there!!!). Once the peas are close to done, add the sliced mushrooms and simmer for a while longer or until it all tastes delicious and all the ingredients are tender. Depending on how thick it is, or how thick you like it, at any point you may wish to blend a little flour or cornstarch to thicken it up, but be careful not to add too much or you will have jellied beef stew! :)

Finally, the drinks... I've discovered barley water - a gaming friend introduced me to it! It's pretty simple, really... here's a couple of links: Barley Water by Alton Brown of the Food Network and this answer at Yahoo Answers. Depending on how long and vigorously it simmers, you may find it is a little thick - syrupy, almost. Just add water or ice to thin it down. It's refreshing and has many of the benefits of barley. Don't throw out the barley like Alton Brown says, though - put it away for eating... you can heat it and put honey on it for a lovely hot breakfast, or use it in some stout beef stew ... or any number of ways that you could use rice or pasta. It's good for you and tastes great!

For my next post I will talk about my experiences drinking and now making Kombucha - a fermented tea drink.

Until then - hope you get a chance to try some of the "recipes" I've shared. Be adventurous in the kitchen but try not to burn anything! :)

-- T

Complaining early ... it's HOT! (and stuff about me)

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I would probably be complaining in August about how hot it was, since I was so happy to get the warmth of spring. Well, we seem to have largely skipped right over that "warmth" ang gone directly into the heat of summer - we've had August weather quite a few times in MAY! We have had unseasonably warm weather this spring - which led to "quick - please get my a/c unit in the window!" (thank you very much to Brenda's family).

News about ME (who else?)

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Over the last few years, I have developed asthma, and over the last six months or more, it's apparently been aggravated by a number of allergens - most recently, mildew/mold (same thing - one is just a nicer sounding name) and I cough a lot. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to avoid molds - I think the carpet in the office area where I work has mildew - when you walk into the main office, you can smell the mustiness, especially when it's been damp or rainy outside. And, due to a leak SOMEWHERE in my car, water gets into my trunk and sometimes into the floor of the back seat, and so the car carpets are mildewy as well. Since that amounts to about 9.5 to 10 hours of my day, you can imagine that I've been having a lot of trouble - mostly with coughing. At first I wasn't absolutely sure it was the office carpet that was the big offender, but when I had 3 great days and 2 bad ones in one week (the 3 days I was off were good, the 2 I worked - not so much), as well as the weekends always being a little better, I have become convinced that the midlew in the carpet at work is a huge problem for me.

I have an air purifier in my own small office area, and have been wearing a specially designed silk mask to help filter out the bad stuff. That seems to have helped, even if I have to constantly explain to people why I am wearing it, and that, NO, I AM NOT CONTAGIOUS (sheesh - if I was that sick or knew I was contagious, I wouldn't come to work - do they think I'm stupid?) The doctor has put me on a new inhaler medicine which also seems to be helping. I was on this medicine, by the way, when I had the 3 great days and two bad ones, so I'm holding to the work mildew thing as the trigger.

I've also started eating raw honey from local bees every day (They sell some from Ray Tousey in Clermont at the Kaaterskill Farm health food store in Greenport on Healy Blvd), in hopes of lessening the impact of local pollens on my allergies. It's got a lot of glowing anecdotal reviews, but most doctors will not suggest it due to the lack of clinical evidence. I've been trying to eat better (more veggies, more healthful fats, better quality foods) and am taking a number of supplements which I'm also hoping will help - from DrBenKim.com at his online store. This is all NOT CHEAP and I am very thankful to be able to afford to do it.

But I know one of the things I need to do is MOVE more. I freely admit that I HATE to exercise. After I drive home from work, the very last thing I want to do is exercise, especially when it's 85 degrees F outside! And I don't seem to have the ability to get up early to do it when it's cooler out, either. I will have to figure something out.

And I'll let you know what I figure out - next time!

TTFN!

T

Spring at last?

I'm really tired of being cold and, well, cold. The sun and warmth of spring and summer aren't coming quickly enough.

Of course, in August, when it's hot and humid, I'll likely have forgotten that I was in such a hurry for it to be warmer ...