NIXE by LIDL – Smoked Oysters

October 11, 2024November 3, 2025 bgibson135

[NOTE]: I hadn’t thought to mention this, mainly because I don’t think anyone else besides myself is actually reading what I write here but, the reason why I’m not illustrating my postings with images is that I’ve run out of free space on WordPress, and I haven’t chosen to buy more storage space. That is unfortunate because I like to take a lot of pictures with my phone so that I can illustrate what I write about. And, I like to write first to visualize my point, and then check the photo(s) to see if the image matches up with what I’ve written. *As a temporary solution, I’ve started linking to my images on Amazon.

This reminded me that as much as I would like to think that I’ve never been wrong in my memory, I have had many examples brought to the fore that were irrefutable. I don’t always remember or perceive things as they are. **In high school, for my Senior picture I had an outfit that I had put together. It may have started because I had bought a pair of Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes. I paired these shoes with white “Mess” pants (the Navy bell bottoms with button fly), a red terry cloth short sleeved shirt (with a few narrow white accents around the sleeves) and Red, White & Blue suspenders on which I had glued a small white star on the front of each suspender. Oh yeah, I think I also had red socks. I astill have a black & white picture of this outfit where I am sitting on a table top, with the female version of me. I was “Most Studious,” although I would have preferred to be “Wittiest.” But the point is that for years I remembered my blue suede tennis shoes as having a white star on the side of each. I did look online at some point and see that these Converse Blue Suede tennis shoes did have white stars (on some), but the pair I had only had white stripes. And, this was one example of where I had remembered something incorrectly. Not a big thing, but important to the overall image of my past. [end NOTE]

Fancy Whole Smoked Oysters (front) (back)

I noticed these smoked oysters on a shelf in Lidl. They were only $1.29 a can, and although I had never tried this brand, that was a good price if they were any good. And, when I tried them, “they were good.” Good flavor and there were fewer of them in the can, but that was because they were slightly larger than those in the other brands I’ve tried. I see they are 140 calories for the whole 3 oz. can.

When I think of smoked oysters, I usually think of making hummus at home. I like the flavor of hummus made with garbanzo beans, whole cumin seeds, lime juice and some avocado oil (olive will do). A little water if needed to make it a little smoother. The problem with hummus is that it is high calorie.

I think the only other meat that I like with my hummus is the hard salami, like the Wegman’s Black Pepper Sopressata Salami. *Wegman’s no longer sells the pepper salami. I like olives with my hummus: Castelvetrano or the Ripe Green Olives that come in a can at Whole Foods.

I like to make an “Almost Vegetarian” Meal out of my hummus. I’ve mentioned salami and the smoked oysters above, but the rest of things that I pare with my hummus include: sweet onion, carrot, tomato and sweet (colorful) bell pepper and I might even want to add a few pickles (either Ranch Dill spears or the Sweet Bread & Butter Chips).

I don’t recall the exact results, but I think my hummus meal affects both my blood sugar level and my weight. I could probably eat less hummus, with all the other good stuff.

Oh yeah, making hummus is relatively inexpensive. A can of garbanzo (chickpeas) beans, a little lime juice, some oil and a few cumin seeds (you could also use ground cumin). Looks like a 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans cost anywhere from $.85 to $1.69. I could make two or three helpings of hummus from the one can.

This is where I could type about the Braun Kitchen Multi-Tool (stick blender, chopper, wisk) that I have. For several years I had the smaller version of this tool and it just wasn’t powerful enough to blend a whole can of garbanzo beans into hummus. I had to blend half a can at a time. Finally I bought the larger version and now can easily blend a whole can of beans at a time. *This chopper also works great for making salsa and guacamole.

And as I’ve written previously, I would suggest buying this kitchen multi-tool for a “growing boy” going off to college. It does so much without having to cook anything, although if you can roast some poblanos or jalapenos to go in your salsa and guacamole that adds greatly to their flavor. But, filling a growing boy, cheaply can be done with this. Veggies to go with homemade hummus. Chips for all the salsa or guac he makes. And he could become the hub of his dorm with others supplying the veggies or the chips and he making the hummus and/or salsa. Now that I think about it, making guacamole is relatively cheap if you can get medium avocados at WalMart for about a dollar.

[NOTE 10/19/24]: I was in an IGA yesterday and was passing by the chicken section when I saw a container of chicken gizzards. I stopped and picked them up, and noticed that they were quite large and fresh looking. I bought them.

Later at home, I googled for how to season chicken gizzards. This isn’t the first time I’ve fixed chicken gizzards, and I have enjoyed them in the past. I know that they need to be cooked a long time in order to tenderize them sufficiently to eat. And normally, I would cook them with rice, but I always end up with too much rice, and I don’t need the extra starch to mess with my blood sugar. *I happened upon a cooking web site and the authoress focused on how to make “dirty” rice, a New Orleans staple. I love the flavor of dirty rice, but I haven’t had it in several years. For some reason I am reminded that I had dirty rice at Clark’s Inn and Restaurant in Santee, South Carolina. I even stayed once for a night at Clark’s Inn, but have eaten at the restaurant a few more times.

I think the food is overpriced, but you are paying for ambiance. I do recall having an experience there in which I thought my waitress was incredibly rude. Rude, how? Well, I was looking at the menu, and holding it in both my hands. The waitress came to the table and put my drink down in front of me. But, when I say in front of me, she reached inside my arms to place the drink between me and the menu I was reading. It’s one of those things where, when it happens, I am immediately flabbergasted. And then as she walks away, I am left to ruminate upon the experience and ask myself if she intended to be purposefully rude. She wasn’t a young waitress, older, and she didn’t seem inexperienced, but I definitely thought “rude.” So rude, that I still, to this day, and this day is maybe 10 years later, think of her rudeness.

Interestingly, to me at least, I’ve come to Santee, SC from at least three directions and one of them from Columbia, SC, the State Capital. And several years ago, I enjoyed a visit to the South Carolina State Museum when they were hosting the Titanic Exhibition.

**Santee is not too far from the smaller town of Bowman, and the first time I passed through Bowman, I must have been on Hwy. 178. I was passing an intersection and looked to my right and to my surprise I thought I saw a shiny flying saucer. I was so sure that I had, that I drove about another block and turned right to come back around, and after the third right, I was now passing a shiny UFO, the Bowman UFO Welcome Center. I admire people who think “outside the box” and even if they are considered crazy or eccentric, hats off. I’ve been back to Bowman at least once and the UFO hasn’t worn well, and I see from Google Street View that it may be in even worse condition in the present day.

As I was looking over this page again I noted that the UFO was missing in the Google Street View. Sure enough, it is gone. I just read online that it was destroyed by fire in 2024. The owner was 73 then, and may or may not rebuild the UFO. *It was a fun thought.

I put some bacon grease in a pot and then the chicken gizzards. I had some celery (normally I don’t have any on hand) and chopped up a stalk for seasoning, and added some chicken stock also. Garlic powder, savory, ground long pepper, and later some chopped onion. I didn’t add rice directly to the pot, but had a small amount left over from breakfast. I later mixed the rice and cooked gizzards just before eating.

Let me say this, “Those gizzards were delicious!” And, I just had some more of those gizzards for dinner tonight, and “they were still delicious.” But, instead of fixing some more rice, I had a small white potato that I diced, boiled and then mashed into mashed potatoes. I added some margarine, sour cream and garlic powder to these. I reheated some of the gizzards and there was a little a gravy produced. I used just a little of this on the mashed potatoes. The gizzards were once again delicious, with the mashed potatoes. And later when I noticed that there was still some gravy in the small plate on the stove, I reheated an end piece of rye bread in the microwave. And the warm rye bread was excellent for sopping the gizzard gravy… D E L I C I O U S again!

As I was moving items around in the fridge, I found the container of seafood chowder that I had made recently. This chowder has bay scallops (which look like little mini marshmallows), chopped clams, shrimp and some cod fish. I only added one small Campari tomato, diced, and some celery chopped. I didn’t add any Half-n-Half or Cream of Celery soup as I often have in the past. I wanted to keep this chowder a little lighter. I think I also chopped some red jalapeno pepper, and added some powdered cayenne to the mix. This chowder turned out well also.

These had been reduced to $1.39 per pound and so I bought 4 chops for about $5 total.

And today I drove up to Lillington, to the Harnett County Library and bought a couple of books. I then went back into town and looked around the used stuff store. Then on to Campbell University and drove a residential section that I hadn’t gone through before (I think.). Then on to Lee’s Fresh Market. It was after 1 pm and there were many customers inside so I went around directly to the Pork section and bought a couple of thick cut pork chops. They were only $1.99 a pound (A few weeks ago they were less, $1.79 a pound.) and I fixed one for lunch after I got back home. A late lunch. They are so big that I only need about 1/3 of the cooked meat per meal, so I have enough for two more meals. They were very good once again. ***My current political comment, which I made to the check out woman, was that when I hear the ads on TV that say we have such a bad economy, I say, “Well, I know where I can buy pork chops for $1.99 a pound, and I bought some a few weeks ago for $1.79.” I also bought a package of their Pepper Bacon. The flavor of the last I bought there wasn’t completely pleasing, so I started cooking some regular bacon.

[end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/22/24]: And finally, I finished the chicken livers tonight for dinner, with another small mashed potato. If I could fix chicken livers as good as I did this mess, I would mess every week. The flavor was so good that I would actually say they were as good as any that Mary Ann has fixed, and that is a great compliment, both to me and to her.

I drove to Goldsboro today for lunch at LongHorn Restaurant. On the way, I made a detour to Nature’s Way Farm, Inc. which is listed as being in Faison, NC. I had already been there online using Google Street View, which definitely gives a feel for how things are laid out. I gave them a donation check to use as they saw fit. They have said that they make a weekly delivery to the NC Food Bank and that some of that would probably go to the Asheville area for Hurricane Helene Relief. Maybe they could use it for gas to make their delivery.

I cut a couple of slices of sweet onion and added 4 or 5 small slices of sweet Bread & Butter pickles to add to my lunch. I ordered their cheeseburger with a side of Shrimp & Lobster Chowder. My sweet onion was much better than the tough slice of onion that came on their burger, and I didn’t even try the slices of dill pickle that they provided. I cut the appetizer bread in half (I normally eat the whole thing at lunch, but leave off the burger bun that comes with the meal. I brought the half of loaf of bread home with me and ate just a little for dinner with some margarine.

Oh, forgot to mention that before I left Fayetteville this morning I went over and “early voted.” There was no one in front of me in line and I breezed through the process in just a few minutes. I think I voted for 3 Republican candidates and the rest except for maybe one Libertarian were Democrats. I don’t necessarily agree with Democratic philosophy, but until Republicans get some sense and get rid of this overpowering Trump mentality, I’ll continue to disrespect them as much as they are disrespecting our Country. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 10/23/24]: I told you I voted yesterday, and I had heard on TV that several people had reported getting unsolicited emails regarding the validity of their vote shortly after they voted. This got me to thinking so I checked the voting history web site later yesterday and it already had recorded that I early voted on that same day. I think that’s pretty neat, but I tried to check on a few other persons to see if they had already voted and couldn’t find them. But, I actually have to enter my first name as “Billie” which is my name on my birth certificate. I did see Jim Sharpe’s record but noted that his history has been disabled. I guess that is what happens once they know you are dead. *I wonder what logic Jim would have for voting for Donald Trump, if he were still alive. I’m pretty sure the logic would involve voting for the candidate that would provide the most support for the policies and beliefs that I hold dear, but the problem I have is that I don’t want a man in office that might bring America down while nixing Roe v. Wade. I don’t need Donald Trump telling me that I can’t trust our Electoral System (he still says he was cheated, and I heard him on TV just about a week ago saying it again) when it has been repeatedly proven that significant cheating didn’t occur last time. Donald is just a sorry assed, poor loser and I wouldn’t go to him to provide me with “the news and truth.” How gullible can people be to trust this guy over the long established news system? I’m not saying they don’t color their news in various ways, but if you listen to enough, different news sources you can begin to think for yourself and determine what the probable truth is.

When the Trump ads are telling me how bad our economy is, I just “look out the window to see if it is actually raining.” What do I mean? Well I don’t see the signs of a bad economy. I see two new WAWAs opening recently in Wilson, NC. I see a new SHEETZ open where I40 and Hwy. 24 cross and I bought gas for under $3 there. And I’ve been paying less that $3 a gallon for gas for over two months. *Not saying it won’t go up after the Election, because it usually does. I heard on TV about three weeks ago that the Rooms to Go Super Center (located on I95 above Dunn) was planning to expand their facility next year. And, I have bought thick cut, bone in pork chops at a local (Benson, NC) butcher for under $2 a pound twice in the last month, and these chops were delicious. Having said all of the above I question how bad the Economy currently is. All these businesses aren’t acting as if it is a bad Economy, or as if the Economy is going to worsen. Stick your head out and see for yourself. It’s a damned good time to be living in America and not the “gloom and doom” vision that Donald Trump is dishing out in an attempt to defeat Harris [end NOTE]

I see that I have a tendency to say or write “chicken livers” when I am actually thinking, “chicken gizzards.” I like livers & gizzards, but currently love the flavor of the gizzards.

Focusing on Biltmore Village…

October 6, 2024October 10, 2024 bgibson135

I wanted to focus on a few things that I saw in the images of the devastation in the Biltmore Village area. Before I watched the Carpetbagger’s video of Asheville, I had seen an image on WRAL TV 5 that showed a very large oil drum that had come to rest on Brook Street beside the White Lotus Boutique and a small tree. This drum was wedged snuggly but it hadn’t bent the tree at all. This meant it had to float to where it was and then be gently lowered into its current position. *I later thought to look for where it had actually come from, and I’m pretty sure I’ve found it. I’ll show the location from Google Maps at the bottom.

So the drum had floated about a block away from where it was originally located, and then made a sharp right turn and started up Brook Street before coming to rest. And the giant oil tank with the spiral staircase had been turned on its side and was a short distance from where it was originally located.

[NOTE 10/09/24]: I was just watching another Asheville Disaster Aftermath video and there was another picture of a bridge that had been destroyed. My thought was, would it be worth it to redirect flooding around both ends of a bridge so that the bridge wouldn’t be destroyed but both ends would be washed out? Rebuilding a bridge takes a really long time, but bringing in fill dirt to repair a road would take less effort. So, how could you do that? Maybe like a cow catcher that comes down into the river or stream and then it redirects the water to both sides of the bridge. Might work for a small/short bridge. *Another thought would be to build drawbridges that could be raised not to let shipping pass through, but to let rushing water and garbage have free flow.

Why come up with an idea like this? Well, it’s not that this is a “once in a lifetime” event. Granted that floods occur not that often, but when they do mountain folk are devastated by the destruction. You’ve got to protect your infrastructure to make for a speedier recovery. It’s not that flooding isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but that it is going to happen. [end NOTE]

I googled and found that I’m not the first, or only one to have come up with the idea of minimizing potential loss. Better to lose the road on either side of a bridge rather than lose the bridge.

Lee’s Fresh Market – Benson, NC

October 4, 2024February 12, 2025 bgibson135

I can get to Lee’s Fresh Market in Benson, NC in about 37 minutes, traveling mostly “back roads.” This butcher shop is a couple of miles outside of the town of Benson, so if I go into town after visiting this market, my GPS shows that returning home is shorter by going back on I95.

There is a Lee’s Market in Benson that is not related to the butcher shop. This is a vegetable market just about a block down from the IGA. But, this Lee’s Market is related to the Lee’s Market which is located at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh. I have been going to that vendor in Raleigh for about 13 years, and I found a picture that I took 13 years ago of some Anaheim & Jalapeno peppers at their stand. *These are just green peppers, but at some point they mostly have not-green peppers, reds, oranges and yellows.

But, I went to the butcher shop to especially buy some more Pepper Bacon. This is really good flavored bacon and I’ve even given some as a present to my relatives down in Hubert, NC. They only had one package of peppered bacon. They come in packages weighing approximately two pounds and the cost is about $14. I asked a nearby staff person if they had any more of the bacon. He said he was a “chicken” expert, but he would go back and check about more bacon. When he returned they had just gotten the bacon they season with pepper and he said it would take about a day for more pepper bacon to be available.

I walked down one isle and around to the next isle. Almost immediately I saw a package of thick cut pork chops, two to a package. I normally do not buy thick cut pork chops because I only need about 3 or 4 ounces of meat per meal. But, these looked good and I then noticed that they only cost $2.92 for this package which I then noticed weighed 1.63 lbs. *I had to do the math at home the next day to see how many ounces I could get from each chop. They were just too big. I was going to have to cut each chop in three parts because cut in two parts there were just too many ounces of protein.

I cooked one chop in my large frying pan that is all metal so that I can put it in the oven. I set the oven to Broil on LO. Normally I cook steak or lamb on HI but those are not usually thick cut. I really only like the Round Bone Lamb Chop because I think it’s flavor tastes better. I figured that the thick cut pork chop would burn to a crisp before the inside was done if I set the Broil to HI. The LO setting worked and I flipped the chop after the top started to crisp up. And, this chop was delicious and tender. I only cut off about a third of the chop and that was enough. I had some fried okra & onion, and an ear of corn on the cob, and some corn chips with guacamole.

[NOTE 10/03/24]: I was just watching an episode of “Diners Drive Inns and Dives” and one of the chefs used some Crunchy Garlic Crisp in one of his recipes. I think it went in a sauce that was used on a sandwich. I’ve only used the Garlic Crisp in my stir fry. There are expensive brands of this, but I get a cheap brand at Walmart and it does the job.

I had a little guacamole left from yesterday and find that with a few salty corn tortilla chips this is a decent side with various meals. It’s not just for Mexican anymore.

[end NOTE]

I don’t recall if the first brussels sprouts that I enjoyed included Balsamic Vinegar, but I recall the waiter said that they had honey. That was at Fatz Restaurant in Cheraw, South Carolina. That Fatz location has been closed a few years. There was another location in Rockingham, North Carolina, but I’m not sure if it is still there.

Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

Produce

2 1/2 lb Brussels sprouts
2 cloves Garlic (I used garlic powder.)
1 tsp Red pepper chili flakes

Condiments

1/3 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup Honey
Agave Nectar

Baking & Spices

1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Oils & Vinegars

1/3 cup Olive oil

Dairy

3 tbsp Butter, unsalted

I did not follow the exact quantities above since I was only making enough for one helping. I cut five sprouts in half. At first I started to fry these on the stove top, but then I realized that the tops probably wouldn’t be cooked through, so I put them in a bowl, covered it and put them in the microwave for three minutes. After these looked tender and I put them back in the frying pan on the stove top and finished cooking them. *I did not add the condiments directly to the pan, but after they were cooked and had a dark brown bottom, I put them in a bowl and added the condiment mixture. I didn’t have enough honey (unless I put some of the crystalized honey in the microwave) so I added some Agave Nectar. Oh, and I added some Splenda to the mix also.

I enjoyed these brussels sprouts that I fixed the rest the next day, and they were just as good the second time. But, I hadn’t refrigerated those left from the first day and by the second day, one of them had actually started to rot. I had to cut the rotten part off before using the rest.

This turned out great! They were tender and sickeningly sweet and went well with the pork chop that I fixed on the stove top. *I’ve found that adding some Amchur (mango) powder and Tamarind powder, with some vinegar, lime juice and Equal (and/or Agave Nectar) makes a delicious flavored pork chop. The sweet vinegar flavors are echoed between the pork chop & the brussels sprouts. I also cut some grape tomatoes to go with this and they were a perfect balance for this meal. **I probably could have had cabbage slaw or maybe even some guacamole to balance the flavors of this meal out.

ADDENDUM [12/28/24]: I had driven up to Raleigh yesterday. I wanted to get another French Baguette (LaFarm) sold at Whole Foods, and then go to Wegman’s and see if they had Bigelow’s Raspberry Royale tea. Yes they did, and I bought two boxes (20 bags each). *Amazon wants to charge a little over $7 for just one 20 bag count box and Wegman’s only charged a little over $3 for the same. A few years ago I did buy the 6 pack of 20 count boxes from Amazon and gave them away as presents, but I didn’t want to buy that much again, if I didn’t have to. Fortunately I checked online at the Wegman’s site and to my surprise it said they they did have it in stock.

A black woman clerk had come to me in line and ushered me over to the Service Desk where she was working and checked me out there. We started talking and I mentioned that I had come to buy the Bigelow’s Raspberry Royale tea and she then told me the story about how her daughter who had been pregnant said that raspberry tea would force labor. The daughter had drank some raspberry tea and had her baby the next day. I told the lady that the Raspberry Royale had never forced me into labor, and she agreed that it had not forced herself into labor either. She was old enough that she more than likely shouldn’t be having any children. The woman said she had never tried the Bigelow Raspberry Royale. I paid for my few groceries and walked out to my car. There was a slight cold rainy mist, but as I sat in my car and opened one of the Raspberry Royale boxes it came to me, “why didn’t I open the box and give her a couple of bags to try.” So, I took out two bags of tea, still in their pouches, and headed back inside. When I got to the counter the woman was no longer there. There was a younger man, another clerk that asked if he could help me. I asked the whereabouts of the black woman clerk, and he looked around and said he thought she might have just gone to lunch. I handed him the two packets of tea and asked that he give them to the woman when she returned, then I left.

I ate at the Redneck BBQ Lab at McGee’s Crossroads (Exit 319 off of I40) and afterward headed to Lee’s Fresh Market just outside of Benson. It was after 3 pm when I got to Lee’s, but there were still several cars parked outside. I grabbed a red plastic shopping basket as I walked inside the sliding glass door and headed around to where the pork chops were located. A man and wife were standing in front of the “thick cut” pork chops, but they were looking at other cuts of pork. I waited briefly and then said, “Excuse me,” and reached for one of the 2 chop packages of Thick Cut Pork Chops. I saw the price was only $1.79 per pound, so I reached over and got a second package.

I fixed two of the pork chops for lunch today. I’m using my new “oven safe” VinChef wok to broil them. It does an excellent job and cooks them quickly. This wok is beautifully ornate on the inside and on the bottom! As I’ve said elsewhere, I can make two or three meals out of each thick cut chop. Each chop is about a pound (16 oz.) so quartering it would mean each serving would be about 4 oz. And 4oz. would be perfect. The chop was good again, and the grease/gravy left in the pan is delicious also.

Guacamole…

October 1, 2024December 26, 2024 bgibson135

If there was a graveyard for the avocados that I have let spoil before I was ready to eat them, it might rival those buried at Arlington Cemetery (people not fruit). One predicament is that if I need an avocado for today, all the avocados at Walmart are rock hard and won’t be ready for 3 or 4 days. Or, I’m trying to think ahead and I’m looking for an avocado that will be ready in 3 or 4 days… and all of those avocados at the grocery are already soft and will start to turn brown by tomorrow. Also, if I buy a medium sized avocado, I don’t need to eat it all, when half would do.

[NOTE 10/31/24]: I think it was a woman customer, behind me at Pate’s who mentioned that putting an avocado in a glass of water (completely covered) and putting it in the refrigerator would make it last longer, so I tried this. Unfortunately, I forgot about this avocado and it was probably two weeks before I pulled it out and attempted to cut into it. At first I thought it was frozen. It was hard and difficult to cut around the kernel, but I did and then left it to thaw before twisting it apart. But later, when it should have been thawed, it was still hard, but not cold. I did manage to pry it apart and to my surprise it was rock hard inside. It looked fairly good, if it had been soft, but it wasn’t soft. Not sure why it took on this extreme rigidity, but maybe just a few days would work to hinder the overripening. [end NOTE]

Finally I thought through this dilemma and decided that I would cut the ripe avocado in half and eat half now and make guacamole out of the other half. I could refrigerate the guacamole and it might last for another couple of days, so I might be able to skip a day between eating the whole fruit. *I try to cycle through the different types of food/meals I prepare. I don’t want to eat steak every day, or chicken every day, or steamed cabbage for every meal, so I try to change my entrees and sides. I’ll eat chicken in a stir fry today, and a pan fried pork chop for the other meal. I might steam asparagus, cabbage or cauliflower for one side and maybe fix a cucumber/onion salad in sweetened vinegar or stewed Roma tomatoes to go with whichever other side I’ve chosen. I may choose a hot side to go with a cold side. I like a microwaved Russet potato with butter & sour cream as a side and I might eat steamed asparagus with that choice. Cabbage slaw made with Dukes’ Mayo and some Half-n-Half might go well with a pork chop. I like a hamburger or maybe a large Sweet Italian Sausage patty that I might put on a ciabatta roll (or half of a roll).

I currently like a simple ciabatta roll sandwich, made with some Dukes Mayo, a couple of slices of Wegman’s White American cheese, a slice of Sweet (Vidalia) onion and some Hillshire Farms Pastrami. Carlie C’s IGA has a small bag of Wavy “store brand” Potato Chips that sells for about $1.48. This is not a family sized bag, nor a single serving bag. I can make 3 or 4 meals with this sized bag, and not eat the whole thing at one sitting. So I put some of these chips in a plastic sandwich bag, along with the slice of onion and maybe a few grape tomatoes. In another bag, I put a wedge of “Ranch Dill” pickle or olives, keeping the dry ingredients from the wet. For the Dukes Mayo, I put some in one of my small Rubbermaid containers that have an “Easy Find” lid. And, a few weeks ago I happened to see and buy a set of eating utensils that fit in a plastic carrying case (metal spoon, knife and fork). So this sandwich is what I fix sometimes when I drive up to Wegmans Grocery in either Raleigh or Morrisville. I actually buy the pastrami, cheese and the ciabatta roll at Wegman’s and make the sandwich in my car. I either eat in the parking lot, or find a nearby city park with some shade. *It is amazing how delicious this sandwich tastes. A bite of the pastrami sandwich, then a wavy potato chip, and maybe a tomato or a bite of the dill pickle. Oh, I also buy a cheap ICE flavored drink (costs about a dollar) and may have brought a half empty frozen drink container with ice that I can pour the drink into to cool it off.

Raw peanuts at Pate’s Farm Market in Fayetteville.

I like various nuts. I have eaten a lot of raw peanuts this summer. Pate’s Farm Market, across town, has a large pile of raw peanuts for sale. There is a scoop, but I use my hand to select my peanuts, and most times I eat a mess of them right after I get back to my car. I also like roasted pumpkin seeds and cashews. *Years ago the Fresh Market offered “Wasabi Soy Cashews” and I really liked the flavor, but then they discontinued that flavor of cashew for about nine years. A year or so ago, they brought the Wasabi Soy Cashews back, but once again they didn’t sell well. I had found that I could use the wasabi soy seasoning powder that sloughed off and put it on roasted pumpkin seeds. And the flavored pumpkin seeds became my favorite over the cashews. I finally found the wasabi soy seasoning powder at Amazon, and now buy a small package about once a month. I can season quite a few pumpkin seeds from (“Wasabi Soy Seasoning Sauce Powder – Kinjirushi Brand) this one package. They are addictively delicious.

About once a month or a month & a half, I buy a whole rotisserie chicken from Harris Teeter. It costs less than $8 for the whole cooked chicken. I can make four or five meals from this one chicken so it is very cost effective. Two breasts (maybe 4 oz. of white meat each), and two drumsticks with some white meat (3 oz. each), and then pick off the remaining meat to make chicken salad. Cabbage slaw and some baked beans would go well with the chicken.

I like various seasoned beans like black eyed peas, large white lima beans, or green split peas, and I am partial to lentils with some carrots & onion. I season the beans & peas with bacon or ham hock. Some time ago I made a delicious “mess” of green beans, white potato and bacon. Beans & potatoes both mess with my blood sugar levels so I don’t fix them quite as often as I would like.

I like the flavor of German Potato Salad which is simple to make: potato, bacon, onion (maybe some celery if I have it) and vinegar & sweetener. I like the flavor, but I can’t have this often because it “messes with” my blood sugar levels.

I used to make spaghetti sauce at home (about every two weeks) but rarely do this now because I don’t need all the starchy pasta noodles. After years of using the cheap starter sauces (from Delmonte or Hunt’s), I heard about Rao’s sauce and now buy their Marinara starter. The cost difference is probably $2 for the cheaper sauces and $8 for Rao’s regular jar, but Rao’s produces a better end flavor. I add ground beef, onion, sweet (yellow or red) bell pepper, and sometimes mushroom pieces. I might add some Italian Sausage, but not always, and I will add some garlic, or garlic powder, along with some fennel seeds. I read that Italian Sausage is seasoned with fennel seeds so I thought to add this as extra flavoring. *It is a licorice flavor. I just saw a review of several starter sauces online and Rao’s was a favorite of several reviewers. I don’t know why it’s that good, but it is that good!

BREAKFASTS

I often fix fried apples and bacon for breakfast. I like using Gala apples and often use bacon grease to fry the apples (sometimes with olive or avocado oil). If I have it, I use some pepper bacon that I get from Lee’s Market near Benson, NC but also like the Gold Leaf (plain not peppered) brand from Smithfield. The Gold Leaf is a cheaper brand at Carlie C’s IGA, but I noted that Pate’s charges about $3 more per package for the same product. *My mother fixed fried apples for me the first time, but I don’t think we had them very often. They only had sugar and ground cinnamon for flavoring, but as I started to fix them fairly often I began to add most if not all of the “warm” spices. So, I added cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace and nutmeg. I later added ground coriander (a lemony flavor) to the mix and each time I fried apples I would sift sweetener (not sugar) on the cooked apples first and then took each spice in turn and sifted it across the apples. Only recently, when I bought a set of empty glass spice jars, I decided to combine these spices into a separate Fried Apple Spice Mix. I also used some Pumpkin Spice mix, but I don’t think it includes any additional spices. *I haven’t tried it yet, or even thought about it until now, but I might try adding Amchur (mango powder) or Tamarind powder as an alternative flavoring. I think either would go well with the sweetener.

I have several flavored teas that I eat with my breakfast: Bigelow’s “Earl Grey” or “Constant Comment” (both of these I have drank probably since 1985 and was introduced to them by Rick & Linda Bell (former Marine Pilot and later a Baptist pastor). Several years ago, while on a trip to Lynchburg, Virginia I tried another Bigelow tea, “Raspberry Royale.” If you had asked me first if I wanted to try it, I probably would have said, “no.” But after I tried it, it was good hot, and good even when it got cold. I actually bought a six pack from Amazon and gave the boxes as Christmas present one year. I don’t know why I bought another brand (Taylor’s) to try some time ago, but I did. As I recall, I didn’t like the “heavy” flavor of “Scottish Breakfast” tea the first time. But, a few days later I tried it again, and I liked it a little and by the third time I tried it, “I was hooked,” and it is maybe my favorite hot tea now, with half-n-half and Equal & Sweet-n-Low sweeteners, Agave Nectar, and coconut sugar. I was reminded about Rooibos and bought a small box of this flavoring in tea bags, and they make a good cup of tea. Rooibos means “red bush,” and I don’t think it is actually tea. Probably like sassafras. *It also makes a good hot drink that goes well with sweetener and creamer. — Remember this, because it does taste better with Half-n-Half.

I also like the Starbucks Brand of “Breakfast Blend” coffee. I get this in a $9 package of their already ground coffee. *In the past, before Covid, I would buy a Harris Teeter brand of coffee bean and grind it at home, but after Covid they didn’t bring this back in bean form. **An interesting aside was that someone (probably Deborah Savage) had given me a pound of ground coffee from Cracker Barrell as a Christmas present. Because I ground my own beans, I had left this package in my cabinet, probably for several years. When Covid struck, I eventually ran out of my favorite HT coffee beans so I went to the cabinet and tried the Cracker Barrell coffee. It had a good flavor. The next day I tried it again, and it was good again. But on the third day, I finally had the thought of how ironic this coffee was. I HATED the Cracker Barrell coffee when I ate breakfast as their restaurants. I hated the flavor so much that I would order (or bring my own bag) tea instead of their coffee. But, here I was enjoying every cup of their coffee at home. But, eventually this coffee would “run out,” and fortunately it ran out just as my second (booster) Covid immunization happened. After I had my shot, I think I had a hair cut, and (maybe not it that order) then went to Cracker Barrell to eat (and buy their brand of coffee). I think they sold a decaffeinated blend and one that wasn’t. The packaging had changed. I think it had previously been a metallic copper colored theme, but now was a metallic aqua color. That may have been reversed also (the color of the packages). So, I got the Cracker Barrell coffee home and brewed a cup, It wasn’t good. I don’t think it was as bad as the restaurant version, but just not worth buying again, or continuing to drink. I spent $9 on various packages of coffee from Harris Teeter, and Walmart, etc. and finally found the Starbucks Breakfast Blend that I’ve continued to drink.

I like to fix egg salad (usually from two hard boiled eggs) for breakfast sometimes. Add a little Dukes Mayo and some margarine (Cracker Barrell Original) to the egg salad. Some polenta and bacon and a few grape tomatoes (or Campari) finish out a delicious breakfast.

Another favorite breakfast includes a microwaved egg seasoned with Dulse, celery seeds, salt and some freshly ground Indian Long Pepper. I add a little olive oil and cook the egg in a plastic onion cooker. This cooker cooks a whole onion, but can also be used for cooking a potato (white or sweet) or maybe even an apple. You put the object to be cooked in the container and it steams inside it fairly quickly (a minute for the egg and about 4 or 5 minutes to cook a potato). The egg comes out round and flat, and maybe has the texture of an omelet (or maybe a scrambled egg). I like English Muffins, but can’t have them often because of my blood sugar, but add this egg to the muffin and then a slice of cheese and a slice of Canadian Bacon and you would have something approximating an Egg McMuffin. *Add some liver pudding (mush), casing removed, mashed and mixed with some sauteed onion. And heat up some polenta and mash it up like mashed potatoes. The polenta becomes the base, and you put the liver pudding & onions on top. Also add some grape tomatoes and this is delicious. **I like tea or coffee with this breakfast.

Not for breakfast, but I also like corn on the cob (steamed in the husk in the microwave in about 5 minutes) with a little salt and margarine. I like fried okra (but I like okra in soups also) without batter, and sometimes add onion to be sauteed with it.

I have a drink that I mix almost every day, and I’ve had it each day for months and months. I have glass carafes that I add water to, leaving some room for orange & cranberry juices mixed. To this I add a packet of Pomegranate Lemonade and a packet of Iced Tea (maybe with Lemon). For some reason this drink mix, which I call “Bill’s Drink Mix & Some Juice” never gets old. I usually make it and have drunk the whole thing before midnight. *Sometimes I run out of one of the ingredients (no OJ, or cranberry juice, or one of the flavored packets [Walmart] ) and the drink is never as good. **I did like the Dragon Fruit flavoring, but eventually stopped liking it much. Walmart at one time had a Lime flavor packet and I really liked having a glass of this after eating out at a restaurant. For some reason, I didn’t like the lime flavored drink at home, but when out and about. They stopped making those flavor packets but for a while I would find one that I had misplaced at home or in the car and I would enjoy it again. No one else makes a lime flavoring.

I haven’t mentioned peppers, or seafood chowder, or a Hispanic or Indian (India) meal. I can chop up chicken, some veggies: carrots, onion, bell peppers & tomatoes and just by changing whether I add Salsa Ranchera from Herdez, or Hot Curry Paste from Patek’s I can go in two completely different directions. Have to add sweetener and/or Agave Nectar to this to “turn it” properly. Either of these would go good on top of rice or mashed sweet potato (with some cinnamon, sweetener and margarine),

Oh, I also created a Polska Kielbasa, Shrimp and Zucchini dish. The only other ingredients are onion, a little tomato (just enough to make a slightly red sauce) and some pasta shells. This also has ground cayenne, or red pepper flakes, or maybe even some diced jalapenos. This is a spicy dish. Sometimes it takes my breath, in a good way. But each item sings it’s part in the show. Not too much shrimp, or too much kielbasa or too much zucchini. Each bite a tiny island of flavor, and the tomato disappears except for the color of the slight red sauce. The onion isn’t a star, but is necessary, and the pasta shells soak up the sauce flavors. Hmmm, hmmm, good, over and over and over.

I haven’t quite mastered my stir fry. Chicken usually, but shrimp, or pork or even beef sometimes. Carrots, tomatoes sweet bell peppers and onion. Toasted sesame oil and some soy sauce with garlic powder. There is a “crunchy garlic” paste that I also like.

[NOTE 10/05/24]: I mentioned to someone yesterday that I liked a simple salad made with turmeric, vinegar, tomatoes, sweet bell peppers & sweet onion. I think I found this on a Mediterranean themed site. The turmeric gives an acrid flavor to this, and eating some olives with this would also work. *I recall that at some point I added sweetener to this. I think I saw a turmeric pickles recipe that caused me to try this. I liked the sweet acrid flavor. *I might try adding turmeric to some dill pickles. I know I like the Ranch Dressing flavor that adds to the dill spears. [end NOTE]

Fun with sound alikes;-)

September 29, 2024September 30, 2024 bgibson135


fair	fare
tare	tear
mare	mayor
some	sum
dum	dumb
pair	pare	pear
pale	pail
main	mane
root	route
taut	taught
dour	dower
mist	missed
bow	bow
tow	toe
pait	pate
heart	hart
rough	ruff
great	grate
bait	bate
tail	tale
tear	tare
boy	buoy
tern	turn
earn	urn
sew	so
bowl	boll
bought	bot
light	lite
jewels	joules
cell	sell
peat	pete
hair	hare
aunt	ant
rain	reign
piece	peace
stare	stair
jews	juice
flew	flue
more	moor
raise	raze
pain	pane
train	trane
been	bin
dotter	daughter
aye	eye
tea	tee
slay	sleigh
hale	hail
byte	bite
tea	tee
cache	cash
not	naught
new	knew
pew	pugh
too	two	tew
rest	wrest
site	sight
weight	wait

Actors & Actresses That Remind Me of Each Other

September 28, 2024November 2, 2025 bgibson135

Kathy Baker
- Jessie Stone Series
Lindsay Crouse
- the Arrival
Nancy Travis
- Rose Red
Gwynyth Walsh
- Insect

I rarely see either of these actors without thinking of the other. I think they should be brother and sister.

EDWARD BINNS

Periodically I see Binns in an episode of the Twilight Zone. He was the commander of an early space flight that fails and lands back on Earth, but the crew thinks they have landed on some asteroid. They are in the desert near Las Vegas but there are no signs of humanity, so they think they are on a desert asteroid and may not survive the harsh environment. Dewey Martin is a crew member that systematically kills off the other crew, to save himself. Only at the end, Martin’s character comes over the rise and sees a roadway and power polls and realizes where he is, but by then all the other crewmembers are dead.

JOANNE LINVILLE

I see that Joanne Linville died at age 94. I was just looking at a color picture of her in character as a Romulan Commander (who was in love with Spock). She was looking good, and those thigh high boots were soooo sexy. *I saw a woman in a grocery store (seems like it was Publix a few years ago) and she had high boots. They weren’t thigh high, but higher than most, and it made me think of Linville’s character.

KEYE LUKE

I’m going to include Keye Luke on this page although he does not remind me of another actor. I just wanted to show the young Luke as Charlie Chan’s #1 Son, “But gee pop,” talented artist, and the wise old Luke that guided David Carradine’s character through Kung Fu. *And, I first was made aware of Luke as the old blind Kung Fu Master.

SUZAN FARMER

An actress with a different look over time.

HARVE PRESNELL

And now an actor that didn’t even remind me of himself, although I enjoyed his performances 30 years apart. What a voice as he sang, “They Call the Wind Mariah,” in “Paint Your Wagon,” and then years later he played an abusive, old salesman, with Barbara Rush in an episode of “the New Outer Limits.”

AGM-114 Hellfire missile @ $65K and almost $2 Millions to deliver it.

Jalapeno Pork, Tomato Chutney & Guacamole.

September 24, 2024June 26, 2025 bgibson135

Well, I came up with a meal that works well together. It started with me fixing a version of Jalapeno Pork. I had chunks of pork that were large diced like you do beef for stew beef. To this I added several mild peppers that I sliced and diced in various sizes, and one jalapeno. I think I added some chopped onion to this also and put it all in a pot on the stove top along with a little chicken stock, S&P and probably some garlic powder. This turned out relatively good.

Trying to think of something that might go with this, I decided upon fixing a tomato chutney, which might also be called spicy stewed tomatoes with some onion, garlic powder, red wine vinegar, a little Balsamic vinegar, Equal sweetener and some Agave Nectar.

Finally, I fixed a form of quacamole in which I included a half of a small avocado, one chopped tomatillo and a little diced sweet onion. For seasoning I added S&P, some ground cumin, celery seeds, Duke mayo, and sour cream. This became the perfect foil to the spicy jalapeno pork. Very cooling.

And, I also had some flat corn chips from Mission that were salty.

I hope I can remember what all I put in this meal because it was “spot on.”

Jalapeno Pork

boneless pork chops cut into chunks
a jalapeno diced
a red cayenne type pepper, diced (frozen also)
a couple of the Ajicitos Dulces Peppers diced (these I bought at Compare & froze several)
diced onion
Green Chilies
Splenda & some Agave Nectar
S&P

Cabbage Slaw

Green cabbage shredded
Sweet Onion diced
Half-n-Half (just a smidge)
Garlic Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Dukes Mayo
Splenda
S&P

[04/13/25]: Tonight I added some Mung bean sprouts (I grew myself.), some sweet red bell pepper and a little Agave Nectar. And I had a few blue corn tortilla chips and this worked well also. [end]

[04/27/25]: Red cabbage works well as slaw. High is Vitamin C and antioxidants. More nutritious than green cabbage. I added Mung bean sprouts again, and they are crunchy like the cabbage, and their color looks good in the slaw with the red cabbage. [end]

Jalapeno Pork Recipe (Smaller Portion)

Ingredients:

0.75 lbs boneless pork chops, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
1 red cayenne pepper (or similar), diced (adjust amount to your spice preference)
2 Ajicitos Dulces peppers, diced
2 oz can of diced green chilies
1 tablespoon Splenda (or brown sugar for a richer flavor)
1 tablespoon Agave nectar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil (or your preferred cooking oil)
Optional: 1/4 cup chicken broth (or water)

Instructions:

Prepare the Pork:
- Cut the boneless pork chops into 1-inch chunks.
- Season the pork chunks with salt and pepper.
Sauté the Vegetables:
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add the diced onion and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced jalapeno, cayenne pepper, and Ajicitos Dulces peppers. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes, until fragrant.
Brown the Pork:
- Add the pork chunks to the skillet and brown on all sides.
Add Remaining Ingredients:
- Add the diced green chilies, Splenda, and agave nectar to the skillet.
- If the skillet seems dry, add a 1/4 cup of chicken broth or water to help create a sauce.
- Stir everything to combine.
Simmer:
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the pork is tender and cooked through.
- Stir occasionally.
Taste and Adjust:
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed. Add more salt, pepper, Splenda, agave, or peppers to your preference.
Serve:
- Serve the jalapeno pork hot, with rice, tortillas, or your favorite side dishes.

I was in the IGA and saw this pork chop on sale. I knew I had a couple of thick cut pork chops thawing in the refrigerator, but this looked so good and I knew it would make the jalapeno pork (without chunking it up) and it did. .69 lbs. would be a little over 11 oz. of meat (with bone) so even cutting it in half would yield about 4.5 oz. for two meals at about a dollar a meal.

Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded green cabbage (about 1/4 of a medium head) Option: Red cabbage for green.
1/8 cup diced sweet onion (adjust to your preference)
1 tablespoon Half-n-Half (just a “smidge” for creaminess)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (adjust to your preference)
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek powder (start with 1/8 and add more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds (adjust to your preference)
Option: Mung bean sprouts
2-3 tablespoons Dukes Mayo (adjust to your desired creaminess)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon Splenda (or other sweetener, adjust to your preference)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Prepare the Vegetables:
- Ensure the green cabbage is thinly shredded.
- Finely dice the sweet onion.
Combine Ingredients:
- In a small to medium bowl, combine the shredded green cabbage and diced sweet onion.
Make the Dressing:
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the Half-n-Half, garlic powder, fenugreek powder, celery seeds, Dukes Mayo, and Splenda.
- Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Dress the Slaw:
- Pour the dressing over the cabbage and onion mixture.
- Toss everything thoroughly until the cabbage and onion are evenly coated with the dressing.
Chill (Recommended):
- For the best flavor, cover the bowl and refrigerate the slaw for at least 20-30 minutes before serving. This allows the flavors to meld together.
Adjust Seasoning:
- Before serving, taste the slaw and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Tips and Considerations:

Fenugreek: Since you mentioned fenugreek again, I’ve suggested a slightly broader range. Remember it has a distinct, slightly sweet and sometimes a little bitter flavor. Start with the smaller amount and add more if you enjoy it.
Celery Seeds: Celery seeds add a distinct aromatic and slightly bitter celery flavor. Adjust the amount based on how prominent you want this flavor to be.
Balance: Taste the dressing before adding it to the cabbage to ensure the flavors of the garlic powder, fenugreek, and celery seeds are balanced to your liking.

Makes 1-2 portions.

Approximate Nutritional Value per Serving:

Jalapeno Pork (estimated for roughly 1-2 servings):

Calories: 300-450 (This can vary significantly based on the fat content of the pork chops)
Protein: 30-45 grams
Fat: 15-30 grams (again, highly dependent on the pork)
Carbohydrates: 5-10 grams (mostly from onions, peppers, and the small amounts of sweetener)
Fiber: * Calories: 100-150 (primarily from mayonnaise and Half-n-Half)
Protein: 1-2 grams
Fat: 8-13 grams (mostly from mayonnaise)
Carbohydrates: 5-10 grams (from cabbage, onion, and sweetener)
Fiber: 2-3 grams (from the cabbage)

Combined Approximate Nutritional Value for One Serving of Jalapeno Pork and Cabbage Slaw:

Calories: 400-600
Protein: 31-47 grams
Fat: 23-43 grams
Carbohydrates: 10-20 grams
Fiber: 3-6 grams

Important Notes:

This is a rough estimate. To get a more accurate nutritional value, you would need to:
- Weigh all your ingredients precisely.
- Use a nutrition tracking app or website and input the exact quantities and brands of each ingredient.
- Account for the cooking oil used.
The fat content of the pork chops will have the biggest impact on the calorie and fat estimates. Leaner cuts will result in lower values.
The amount of mayonnaise used in the slaw will significantly affect the calorie and fat content.
Adding blue corn tortilla chips will increase the overall calorie and carbohydrate count.

My Long Pepper grinder has stopped working and I don’t know how or why. *I figured it out. The microplane was rotating with the grinder handle, so no grinding was taking place. I used a small amount of Gorilla Glue on the outside of the grinder and it seated the microplane again, and now it is working once again. **I just did one drop of glue on the outside and not glue all around.

I was in the mood to fix some Jalapeno Pork today and found some boneless, center cut pork chops at IGA. I cut them in long strips and then crosswise to form small cubes. I ate some Blue Corn Tortilla Chips with the Jalapeno Pork I made today. I also ate some cold refried Black Beans and they were very good.

I drove to Lee’s Fresh Market near Benson today (06/25/25) in hopes that I could buy some of the thick cut pork chops I’ve bought there before. I hoped they would have some for sale, and that the price per pound would be low. It was probably about 10 am when I arrived and there were probably 10 customers around the store. I took a red plastic shopping basket and walked around to where the pork was located. I saw a package of thick cut pork chops, but I think the price was about $3+ a pound. Fortunately I continued to look and there was a package at $1.98 per pound, and then I found another at the same price. I think they said something like “Weekly Special” or “Manager’s Special.” But as I put the third package in my basket I noticed that they had another special sticker… “Buy One Get One Free.” Wow! Not only a good price per pound but a great price at half that amount. So I got four thick cut pork chops at about $4 total (plus tax) for the four. I bought 4 packages. I was planning to keep one. To take two packages down to Mary Ann’s and Ray’s tomorrow, and to see if Jeff wanted a pack. I’m not sure if Jeff or Robin eat pork chops, But when I got to Jeff’s and rang the bell and knocked on the front door, I couldn’t get anyone to come to the door. There were no automobiles visible, and although I heard the dog inside, Ashlyn never came to the door. She may have been away.

I ended up leaving a check, and a couple of bags of books for Ashlyn near the front door. I try to get her art related books that might give her ideas for when she becomes a graphic artist. One book was a small one on glass objects. One about brass doors. One about Indian (India) art, and one was a history of England during one or more of her periods of history. I also had a few of the advertising magazines that you find at the front of certain grocery stores like Wegman’s and or Whole Foods. But now that I think about it, I haven’t seen these magazines the last few times I’ve shopped at either store. Odd, I thought.

But, I’m not sure what Ashlyn expects to do as a graphic artist, but I think it would be an interesting profession to work for one of these local color magazines in some U.S. City. You would always be writing copy, or stories, and illustrating each in some way and creating other ads.

Carolina loses 70-50 and it’s not a basketball score?!?

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 bgibson135

I feel compelled to write about this because it just seems impossible, and that is after I have seen the game highlights from several sources (not all showing the same highlights). *Follow the money!

I looked at the highlights of this game and repeatedly, I found it difficult to imagine: 1. That Carolina lost this game playing as well offensively as they appeared to be doing. 2. That the other team ran up a score of 70 points.

50 points in a college football game is normally not a “losing score.”

I think Mack Brown “manned up,” taking responsibility for the outrageous loss saying, “I hired everyone, so ultimately I AM RESPONSIBLE.” And he is, but I don’t feel any animosity toward him, as a man, or as a coach. Shell shocked? Yeah, that may be the current feeling, but I still want to see the whole game to try to make some sense of this.

Out in the distance is a question which is asked to try and make some sense of this final score. Were points “shaved” or manipulated to come up with this lopsided outcome? Did gambling have anything to do with this loss/win? Was their a great deal of money either won, or lost on this game? More than is usually wasted in gaming the game?

Closer to home is the question to the Defense of, “How did you let this happen.” This question would need to be directed to the defensive players and to the defensive coaches. This outcome is the equivalent of someone giving you a “snuggy” or pulling down your drawers in gym class in front of a bunch of girls (if you are a guy). If you remember those tough, eaked out, hard fought wins for the rest of your life, surely (and you don’t have to call me Shirley) you’re going to remember ] you are going to remember being spanked in front of thousands of people on a Saturday afternoon.

Is this the greatest football loss in Carolina Football history? And, James Madison isn’t even on the radar (until now) as being “a hated rival.” Wouldn’t you have to think, “They aren’t even in the same league as Carolina?” Well obviously, they proved that statement last Saturday, but definitely not in the way any Carolina fan might want or approve of. This year at that moment, “We (Carolina) don’t deserve to be on the same football field, wasting our opponents time and efforts, and producing such a shitty product for all to see.” And, this isn’t the kind of thing you want to put on display in some Carolina Football Museum.

How do you ever bring your defensive team back from this? “It was an off week.” “We underestimated our opponent.” “We’ve got to cut down on our mistakes.”

Now this game fiasco occurred at the same time that Mark Robinson, the current Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, is facing an outrageous, if proven, scandal. A political career ending scandal that makes you wonder how a person could run for and be elected to the position, and serve a full term as a Lieutenant Governor. I mean, what group of stupid assed Republican leaders got together and said, “Hey this Mark Robinson would be great as Lieutenant Governor or even Governor someday?”

Hey, I’m against abortion. I definitely think chopping up a fetus is equivalent to killing a human being. It’s not like a fetus in a woman is going to turn out to be a three headed dog, or anything other than a human baby when it comes to full term. That’s not to say that a baby instead of being healthy and “normal,” might instead turn out deformed or retarded for life, either a long or short life.

Some years ago, I was living in Jacksonville, North Carolina. A prominent doctor that performed abortions had moved to Jacksonville from Chapel Hill. I recall reading one of his ads in the local newspaper, “The Daily News.” What caught my eye, was a phrase that was included in an ad for this doctor’s women’s clinic. The phase was, “Be good to your baby before it is born.” I thought that phrase was sort of ironic. If you can be good to your baby, before it is born, then wouldn’t having an abortion elicit the phrase, “Kill your baby before it is born?” *I cut the ad out and kept it for a while.

I believe that a woman should have the right to choose, but with that right comes a great responsibility, and ultimately destroying a fetus IS killing a child.

So he’s against abortion. But, it’s the way that he delivers his message. ABRASIVE to the nines! If you’re going to choose to be that offensive in the manner in which you deliver your message, then you would be stupid to think that when “the other side gets a chance” they’re not going to be just as abrasive “right back at’cha.”

Several months ago I was “feeling out” the idea of Mark Robinson becoming the Governor of the Great State of North Carolina with a friend of mine. And to my surprise, my friend rather than agreeing with me that Mark Robinson seemed a really odd choice for an NC Governor, said that he thought the negative press against Robinson was invalid and that Robinson would be his choice in this Race. Made me think. Wasn’t going to make me vote for the opponent, but made me think of why someone would vote for him. I had thought that I might vote for Mark Robinson because nothing would prove the Republican leadership more inept than a perpetual embarrassment in office.

But have I learned nothing? After all years ago I changed political parties. Having been a registered Republican for 35 years, I switched to the Democratic Party, not because I believe in what Democrats were saying or proposing, but because I wanted to vote against Hillary Clinton. And who was she running against? Well Barak Obama, of course! She lost, he won, and he won again. And Barak Obama, socially, would be on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Mark Robinson. Quiet, thoughtful, soft spoken but determined. *I’m not saying that I agreed with everything that President Obama was hawking.

So, I switched parties. But, I didn’t switch back after my Hillary/Obama vote. I remained a registered Democrat waiting. And, what happened was that the Republican Party seemed to make odd/wrong choice after odd/wrong choice for their candidates. They failed repeatedly to give me a reason or a candidate that I could get behind “solidly.” And I waited to feel good about voting for a Republican who had higher ideals. So in 2016, with Hillary Clinton running against Donald Trump, I chose not to vote for either candidate. First, I couldn’t believe that Republicans would actually present Donald Trump as a viable Candidate for President of the United States. And Hillary Clinton just had an agenda I couldn’t get behind.

Donald Trump’s visit to the Whitehouse proved chaotic. Severely chaotic. He ruled by instigating chaos, and it is tiring. It’s obviously tiring because you just had to look at the waves of noble Republican servants that filled positions in the Government because they wanted to “serve the common good.” And the waves of those same sincere servants that became frustrated and stepped away from service “for the good of their family.”

What happens when you get rid of wave after wave of qualified staff? Well eventually you end up with shit. The best and the brightest are going to step up and win out at first. But, if you frustrate them to the point of their leaving the game, the next row of candidates are not going to be the best and the brightest. They are going to be the second best and the second brightest. Repeat this process enough and we aren’t talking about best and brightest. We are talking about family and ultimately the “riff raff” that thought it thinkable to attack the US Capitol. So many good, staunch Republicans have stepped away that we now have the dreggs in leadership. If there are any of the “old guard” then they are going to have to step up, and suffer, rather than choose to step aside and let shit rule.

I’m not sure that I see a scenario where the old guard take back control of the Republican Party. And slapping a picture of an elephant, or a small American flag pin on someone doesn’t make them a Republican at heart. I have a photo, a scene from the original Star Trek, in which there are two mortal enemies shown side by side. One of the actors in this scene was Frank Gorshin, who also played “the Riddler” in the original Batman. The irony is that both of these persons are painted half white, and half black right down the middle. And we find their only difference is that the side of their body on which the white or the black color is shown is just reversed. A right or left Twixt dilemma. But they humorously, to the audience, are in a death match to destroy the other because of this unfathomable difference. Well, when this episode of Star Trek originally aired, I think both Republicans and Democrats (and even Independents and the Unaffiliated) would have agreed upon the absurdity of this scenario. I’m not sure that would be the case today. In fact for many years, probably since the Tea Partiers first uttered the phrase, “It’s our way, or no way,” Republicans began to only want it the Republican Way. There would no longer be any compromise, and “the other side” would be demonized. Hey, “the other side” be he Republican, Democrat or Independent isn’t some inhuman piece of shit that comes from Hell, and wants to destroy America, and the American Way. We are all infallible human beings with warts and all that are just trying to make the best of what we are given… or what we can take from those weaker than ourselves.

Working together, even if it means compromising, gets more people “across the line” than concluding that only half of us are going to make it, and we’re going to make damned sure we are the successful half. America was built on successful compromise. I don’t think that I’m living in a generation that can successfully protect America from foreign attack. We’ve walked away from God, and we can’t even work together within our own Party to get things done in Congress.

There was a change in America with the 9-11 Attack. It’s obvious because since that attack we have had one American President with the first name of Barak, and we may have another President with a first name of Kamala. And, God forbid, a woman become the American President.

America has been attacked, and a great part of that attack was from the inside. You can’t have an American President telling the American people that you can’t trust our Electoral System. Especially since it was never proved to be true. You can’t get much more subversive than that. If the American people can’t trust our election process, then why vote, all is lost already.

Damnedist Thing!

September 22, 2024October 3, 2024 bgibson135

I’ve temporarily (hopefully) lost one of my new hearing aids. My left ear was itching and so I took out my hearing aid, and twisted the cotton off of a cotton swab so that I could scratch the itch with the stick end of the swab. But then, the rest becomes fuzzy. I don’t recall getting up from my chair. I didn’t see the hearing aid on the table next to my easy chair (but the cotton swab is there). I had the burgundy “throw” on top of me.

I then thought that maybe I had laid the hearing aid down on the throw, but had moved and it had rolled off into the creases of the chair or onto the floor. I stood up and shook the burgundy throw, and nothing. I took the colorful, fall themed table top that I use for the seat of my easy chair and shook it, nothing. Hmm. Eventually, I checked the creases of the chair, and even found that there was a removable cushion. I looked under the cushion, nothing. I’ve lifted the chair from the front, from the back, a couple of times, and have even turned the chair on it’s right side and still nothing… other than I see the chair is broken, severely. There were two wooden braces that go across the bottom of the chair, and one of them had busted near one edge. There was a bent metal wingnut that had deformed that apparently had held that end of this brace. I’m guessing that the foot rest, which hasn’t worked for quite a while (it is semi-extended out so that I can rest my legs on it) stopped working about the time that the wooden brace broke.

Now that I see how badly the chair is damaged, I may just get another. I’ve seen one like it, but not as good a quality (not La-Z-Boy) for about $400. *I’ve just gone online and found a nice looking recliner (modern style) at Lowe’s. **Still trying to figure out exactly what “no motion recliner” means. I’ve read and explanation which didn’t clear things up, and I see a recliner labeled as “no motion” but the back lays aback up to 135 degrees. It doesn’t reference being able to swivel the chair either? I don’t know, but the Lowe’s chair is only $290 – $302.

Swivel Recliner Chair, PU Leather Reclining Chair for Living Room, Modern Recliner Sofa with Footrest, Dark Brown

Gray Faux Leather Standard (No Motion) Recliner for only $239. ***Already read a couple of reviews which tell me not to buy this chair because it is poorly made and breaks in 6 months or so.

Oh, my, my!

So after I inspected the chair thoroughly, I thought, “Maybe the hearing aid had bounced away from the chair and not into or under it. So I looked around, and still no hearing aid. *I still was thinking that it must have got caught between one of the chair’s creases and had just not shaken loose. And then just one more thought, “What if I left the other hearing aid in my car.” But that would mean that I must have imagined my ear itching, and that I had taken that hearing aid out of my ear before scratching the itch with the cotton swab stick. **Wouldn’t that last alternative be much more worrisome that a hiding item in my easy chair? Yes, it would!

I put my shorts on, with the suspenders, and then put my vibrant pinkish shirt on over the suspenders. Normally, I don’t put the shirt on over the suspenders because I have to remove the shirt before dropping the suspenders to pull my pants/shorts down. I walked out to my car, and noted that some of the ground was wet and it appeared that there had been some rain overnight. I walked around the car to see if the tires appeared to be inflated, and then walked back around to the driver’s side door and opened it. As I stuck my head inside, yes, there it was. The other hearing aid was in a little slot near the gear stick (not a stick drive, but automatic). Oh, my! I probably took out one hearing aid as I went in to shop either in Pate’s Farm Market or a little later in the Walmart across town.

But the worrisome part of this is that I had imagined that I had a hearing aid in my ear. The ear had itched, and I had removed the hearing aid before scratching the ear. The part that I know I didn’t imagine was that I had twisted one end off of a cotton swab so that I could use the stick part of it to scratch the ear better. *Well, I don’t see the swab with the twisted off end, but I could have easily thrown it away. But, if I didn’t then I guess I imagined that as well. Oh, boy.

“Oh, hell yeah.” I was just looking for the cotton swab, and as I was moving stuff on the table, I heard something drop to the floor. I look and my daily drug container had fallen off and I see tablets on the floor. I hope the morning & evening tablets didn’t mix. *They didn’t. Only one tray top popped open.

I bought some more raw peanuts at Pate’s yesterday. I’ve bought several batches this season and they have all been good. I bought some fresh okra. The okra are getting smaller and tougher looking, but they fried up nicely yesterday. I happened to look for the Noosa Yogurt in Walmart yesterday and found it. I bought one of the slightly larger containers, which is probably about 9 oz. Their small container is 4.5 oz. I bought their Raspberry Yogurt and it was good too. They may not include fresh fruit as I had thought with the blueberry, but it may just be a fruit flavored jam in the bottom. But, their yogurt is smooth, thick and nicely tart. I paid $1.98 for the larger container, but only $1 for the smaller containers (at Food Lion), but it looks like Food Lion is trying to get rid of this yogurt. If their prices are not too expensive, the Noosa Yogurt is worth buying compared to the textures and quality of other yogurts.

[NOTE 10/03/24]: So a day or so ago, I realized that one of my hearing aids had stopped working. I first thought that it had just run out of energy and needed to be recharged, so I put that hearing aid back in the charger. Later I took the hearing aid out of the charger and put it in my ear. Normally the aid will beep and then I will hear a slight hiss as it starts to amplify the outside noise. But, no. It was still dead. At some point I look back and see that the charging plug has been pulled out of the wall outlet, so I plug it back in. Oh, and I switched the charging bowl in which I put the hearing aid, in case it was the charger and not the hearing aid. I also changed the cabling, which I had switched around using the hearing aid charging cable in my car and using the Chromebook charging cable for the phone & hearing aid in my apartment. Nope. I’m going to have to contact Audion and see what to do about fixing it myself, or getting them to send me another one. I did take out some kind of insurance so this shouldn’t be a problem. [end NOTE]