I can’t tell which pepper this is, but I did buy it at this vendor’s site. I looked at the large green stem, and the knobby shape of the red fruit and nothing seems to show in the variety photos.
I only bought one Peter Pepper. It was a light green color. I did not think that it had too much heat.
Man consists of both body and soul (spirit).
When does the spirit attach itself to the body? Why does the spirit continue with the body, until death?
By the time we become aware of the spirit, it is already a part of us.
We think and we point to our brain. We love and we point to our heart.
I had a nervous break down in my early 40s. For a long time, that which happened before the breakdown seemed like it happened to a different person than afterwards.
We have no proof that the spirit leaves the body at the time of our death. A dead body cannot speak or move or communicate, but is that necessarily proof that the spirit is no longer with the body.
But, religion, tells us, or leads us to believe that the spirit continues on, without the body.
Do we make “moral” decisions based upon our spirit?
We couldn’t have “a living” body, without the spirit? Would that be a Zombie?
Does the spirit give the person coherence? By this I mean, the string of decisions and action we make and take through our life.
We do things daily to live. We awaken, eat, shower, poop, go to work, come home, relax, eat and sleep. But there are quality of life issues that we deal with, perhaps not every day. We find someone to love, date, marry, have children. We question “the meaning of life”. We make decisions upon some moral standard… or not.
The things you can trust, on the non-spiritual plane in this life, appear to be few. Republicans took the “high moral ground.” People of intellect trusted in “Science,” even if they were religiously oriented. I could not have imagined that “an educated” individual would reject taking a vaccine for personal or societal protection, and that it would be even more unbelievable that someone in the medical profession would refuse taking a vaccine. Or wear a protective mask… to protect others and not themselves. To not trust the Government… after having spent enough years to retire from the Government. At what point did you stop trusting the Government? But, you do trust the Government enough for them to keep those retirement checks coming… don’t you?
Your parents trusted the Government when they were told to vaccinate you for Polio, didn’t they? You do wear a mask in the Operating Room, don’t you? It’s not a political statement to not wear one. If anything, the insurance company would refuse to protect the hospital, if the doctors & nurses didn’t wear masks during surgical procedures. It’s not political! It’s Science! How do you work in the medical profession and not be sold out to the merits of Science? How many pills do you take a day for various conditions or as corrective measures? Each an act of faith. So not taking the Vaccine means you don’t trust its ability to be a successful preventative to a disease. But, with millions of persons having taken “the Vaccine” and not suffered negatively, why are you choosing to focus on the relatively few examples of negative reactions? Okay, if God has told you not to, that’s okay with me.
The two major political parties in America, Republicans and Democrats, have chosen to not work with each other for quite a number of years now. MAGA, hell. MAGA is only possible if everyone is a Republican. How was America ever Great, when Democrats and Republicans worked together in Congress to get things done. There can be no greatness with compromise… So, I’m not sure how far back you have to go to say, “American was Great” then. When was “then” for you? Was America’s greatness just after WWII, or during WWII? Korea? Vietnam? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan? Was America great during FDR’s Presidency? JFK’s? Or how about during the Nixon Whitehouse? Was America Great being when President Reagan was shot?
Damn, I can’t believe that an unruly, but highly organized, crowd, under the banner of Republicanism would actually march to the US Capitol, and storm the gates, in an attempt to overthrow a valid US Election of the President. How close did we come to the fall of America? We were pretty damned close. It doesn’t take an outside force such as China, Russia, Korea or Iran to attack American values for America to be brought low. Just have someone in Power question the validity of the Election and suggest “taking action” to correct that wrong. *I’m not saying that there are examples of “cheating” that have gone on during Elections. But, in North Carolina, the one major example of cheating, during Elections, came from a Republican down in Bladen County that was collecting Absentee Ballots and guaranteeing election results. And, he, I believe is still getting away without being prosecuted because he has Cancer. *I stand corrected!
I had been thinking that I was going to move my dining room table (which I never use for dining & always has “stuff” on it) over to my green wall, where the two TVs are currently located. But, this morning as I was sitting in my easy chair, I looked down at my striped coffee table. It dawned on me that this would be perfect for my new TV. It appears to be long enough to accommodate the TV width.
I had carried the TV box in to my apartment on Thursday afternoon late. I opened the Chromebook box and the Chromebook was okay.
A few days later, still having not opened the TV box, I looked over and saw that one corner of the box had been crushed, which meant it had probably been dropped from a fairly good height. This was the first time that I had the thought that the TV might have been damaged before delivery.
I waited another couple of days and bought three surge protectors at Walmart. All three were different. Not sure what the Joule count means, but figured that the higher number would provide more protection. I had one each of a 500, 900 and 2K+ Joule protector. I put the 500 in the bathroom and hooked my old Chromebook up to it. I put the 900 in my bedroom and hooked my new Chromebook to it (also for my hearing aids). I put the 2K+ surge protector in my living room and hooked my new TV to it during installation.
When I finally turned on the TV, sure enough the screen showed that it had been damaged. The TV still worked, and I went ahead with the install as practice for when I get a replacement. I am currently watching “Dalgleish” on the damaged TV. The 4K is an awesome step up from the previous technology. My 40″ Hisense TV had been dead for many months. It is still attached to the living room wall. I’ve been using my old 30″ Samsung that is attached to my portable (on rollers). *Hadn’t planned on buying a TV, but when Prime Day came (the first of two days), I found myself ordering a new Chromebook, as a backup for when my current Windows laptop dies. I wanted to be able to connect to Amazon to choose a new Windows laptop. I probably could have used my old Samsung Chromebook. They stopped supporting Chrome updates on the old Chromebook many months ago (maybe more than a year now).
**I had a first generation Chromecast still attached to my 40″ TV, which I moved over to the 30″ Samsung. I had forgotten how to get this all working. I had to attach it, and login to the network with the Chromecast. I was able to get the Chromecast working again. Although at first the new Chromebook was showing two older Chromecast ‘feeds’. I think it was the old Chromebook that first found the new ‘feed’. Once I saw this, I knew it would just be fiddling to get the new Chromebook to cast successfully. You do have to switch the HDMI input to where you have the Chromecast plugged into, for casting to work.
So, after I ordered a new Chromebook (as backup), I shortly thereafter thought that I should purchase a new TV for when the old Samsung 30″ dies.
I saw a 43″ FireTV on special for $256.79. There was a slightly cheaper version, but I ordered the one, “Omni” which would support attaching web cam for two-way video conferencing. *Not really planning to do video conferencing, but…
You can really “count the bricks” with the 4K TV. Dalgleish locations often have old church buildings, with tons of bricks & stone, and the detail is so vivid.
I am planning to get a pair of head phones with a long cable to hook up to the new TV.
Bought a roll of the clear mailing tape at WalMart for about $3.98 to pack up the damaged TV for return.
NOTE [07/19/22]: I’ve thought about this in recent weeks… after years of enjoying “Midsomer Murders” and “Poirot,” I no longer enjoy watching re-runs. This also applies to “the Glades” and “Morse” although, I might still like to re-watch “Lewis”. I am also about spent on “Endeavour”.
ADDENDUM { 07/29/22 ]: A note on the note. For most of my adult life, I ate breakfast out, and usually at the Rainbow Restaurant (in Fayetteville). The fare was usually a couple of eggs, “Over Medium” (which is runny yolk and no runny white), bacon/sausage/country ham, grits/potatoes, toast/biscuit, and coffee/tea. I ate so many of these, even with the various combinations from above, that I began to bring various “additions”. Little ‘flavorful’ tomatoes (Campari/Sweet Bites) or a special hot sauce ( for the potatoes ). *I had created a special herb/spice mix to go on my tater-tots from Burger King (with catchup & a Honey Mustard): curry & garlic powder, dried oregano/onion flakes/marjoram/crushed red pepper flakes/thyme/celery seeds/freshly ground pepper & salt. After a while, I started adding the tater-tots to the plastic baggie, closing it up, and shaking vigorously. This would normally coat warm potatoes with the spice mixture. **I came up with the idea that Burger King and other fast food restaurants should come up with various spice mixtures to apply to their tater-tots. They could call them “Shakers” because you would add the spice mixture to the bag with the potatoes, close it up and give it a shake. You wouldn’t use plastic bags, but have a long paper bag that could be rolled up at the open end to close it off when shaking. You could have several “Shaker” flavors, such as a Southwest blend, an Oriental blend, the Curry flavored, etc.
The time of COVID really changed things. For one thing, I started cooking most of my meals at home. Even now, I rarely eat breakfast out, although I did go to the Rainbow for lunch recently. *I ordered the Liver entre and brought several slices home afterwards.
I found Zorba’s Restaurant after retiring. Where it cost a good deal extra at Rainbow to have a pancake with my eggs/sausage/grits meal, at Zorba’s you can ask for 2 pancakes instead of toast. But, after eating at Zorba’s quite a few mornings, I became tired of that breakfast.
I am running through a stage where I like to fix bacon and fried apples on the stove-top. I add Splenda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace and cloves to the fried apples.
Sometimes, I will boil several eggs for breakfast and make Egg Salad from a couple of eggs (w/ mayo/margarine, S&P, marjoram, dried basil. I may toast the bread, or not. *When I drink hot tea, I normally make either “Earl Grey” or “Constant Comment,” both from “Bigelow” tea company. I like cream with my Earl Grey although sometimes it is enjoyable with lemon. *Some time ago, I had bought some dried orange slices. The slices were dry and hard, and not sweetened, so at first I didn’t have a way to enjoy them, “straight out of the box”. But, fortunately, I kept them and after months, one day I thought to add one of the dried orange slices to my hot Constant Comment tea. That version of tea has orange as a major flavoring. The hot tea rehydrated the dried orange slice, and not only did it add to the tea flavor, but the slice also became completely edible.
“Sweet Bites” were a small, roundish, flavorful tomato from the Sunset Company. I think I first found them in Walmart. They were probably around $4 for a small plastic basket. After a while, I started seeing the “Sweet Bites” at other grocery stores including Food Lion & Harris Teeter. I bought a bunch of these at $4 a whack, because they had that classic tomato flavor. I enjoyed these better than the larger Campari tomatoes, but Campari tomatoes are still the best, that remains. I say, ‘remains’ because the company stopped making “Sweet Bites,” and they disappeared from all store isles. I don’t think that I have bought any small tomatoes since. I do still buy the Campari’s, and I’ve been buying full sized tomatoes at a local farmer’s market which are pretty good, but no where near as flavorful as the Camparis or Sweet Bites. *I have tried quite a few small tomatoes. Many of them “look good” but they just don’t step up.
Oh, I’m going through a hot pepper stage currently. I don’t want really, really hot peppers, but have tried various hot & mild peppers I’ve purchased either from the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, or maybe Compare (like Poblanos). Recently have wanted a more savory dish, so am not adding Splenda or Agave Nectar to the pasta dish. But, have been adding some flavorful green, pitted olives (from Whole Foods) along with various hot&mild peppers and a few small tomatoes. *Don’t add too many tomatoes or their flavor will take over, but don’t do without them, or the final dish is lacking. **Same thing happened with my shrimp/zucchini/kielbasa/onion, hot pepper flakes & cayenne pepper and pasta dish. Just a few tomatoes gave the sauce a slightly reddish tint. In that dish, each item became a little “island of flavor” so you wanted each for variety, but not so much as to overpower the dish.
Ruining old standards… The last time I had the shrimp/zucchini/kielbasa pasta dish, I think the shrimp (frozen) had started to go bad and they distracted from the consistently good flavor of this dish. It has been quite a few months since I have made this, but at one time was making it quite often. **I let some of the Ciabatta Rolls get moldy, the last time I made “homemade pizza” with them. It just threw everything off and made what is consistently a good pizza into ‘not enjoyable’.
The replacement “Fire TV” from Amazon arrived several days ago. I wasn’t happy with the audio, and decided pretty quickly to order a Bluetooth Audio Transmitter and a pair of Bluetooth headphones. They arrived a couple of days ago, and are working pretty well. *I can turn up the volume on the TV without fear of disturbing the neighbors. No telling how loud I have been tuning the volume, just so I can hear well. I do have a pair of cheap hearing aids, and they actually make listening to the TV better. **I bought the hearing aids to use in the courtroom, when I went for the ‘Vehicular Manslaughter’ case, of the guy who was driving behind me on February 15, 2021 and was hit and killed by Shirley Mae Barath in the Honda Odyssey she was driving. I found that I could not hear enough for understanding when I was in the courtroom. Even when one of the deceased’s daughters was right next to me trying to explain things.
I was trying to finish off the Oven Roasted Chicken that I had bought at Publix. Currently, buying a whole roasted chicken at around $7+ is a good deal. There is a lot of chicken. Two drumsticks, two wings, and plenty of white meat.
NOTE [ 01/22/24 ]: Publix may also call this a Rotisserie Chicken. There are two meals with a drumstick & some white meat. I can use some of the white meat for my Chicken-Chipotle-Avocado Soup. That is instead of opening a can of white meat chicken. *I’ve started using a whole, medium avocado when I make this soup because using just half, I’m left with a half that I need to use later that day and it isn’t always convenient to plan for that other half of avocado into another meal. **And, buying avocados is just a pain. If I am trying to plan ahead, I don’t need an avocado that is overly ripe today, even if I’m going to use it tomorrow. And if I forget to buy an avocado a couple of days before, then all the avocados in the stores are hard as rocks on the day I need them.
And then there is always the chicken salad, which I haven’t fixed in a while. But, I haven’t been using much, if any, sweet bell pepper in my meals either. For a long while I would include some colorful (red, yellow or orange) sweet bell pepper in my salads. But, for a month or so now, I have been fixing (and enjoying) a Greek Salad with my meals. And, I don’t normally include bell pepper in my Greek Salad.
Greek Salad: Romaine lettuce, sweet onion, tomatoes, pepperoncini, assorted olives. And homemade salad dressing: Red Wine Vinegar, Olive Oil, Dijon Mustard, Italian Seasoning, some garlic powder & some sweetener. Shake the dressing up in a little Ball/Mason jar (with a yellow Dukes Mayo lid) before using.
I love the sourness of the Pepperoncini peppers. I’ve started using Romain Lettuce/Hearts Of for my Greek Salad and have been buying the “Hearts of Romaine” at Walmart for under $3 for a small bag, but even the small bag has about a third of the lettuce go bad (turning brown around the cut edges) before I can use it in even three days. So, the last time, I bought a whole head of Romaine, and I have been very pleased. It’s been about a week (maybe more) and I am still pulling leaves off and they are all still good. I think I’ve had at least 3 salads, and looks like it will last for at least a couple more.
I like the Campari tomatoes, but also may have some red and/or yellow grape tomatoes, which have even more good tomato flavor.
NOTE [07/22/24]: I want to keep reminding myself that I’ve changed from the Publix rotisserie chicken to the roasted chicken at Harris Teeter. I think the Harris Teeter chicken is about a dollar cheaper, and I like the texture/flavor of their chicken better. I seem to recall that I had begun to think of the Publix chicken as being mealy and a little bit fatter. I haven’t bought one of these in a while, but it is well worth the number of meals that I can get from it. There are at least 4 good meals, if not five. Two drum sticks, and wings. More than enough chicken breast, on each side for a meal, and the remainder of chicken goes toward making a good chicken salad.
I made my Avocado-Chipotle Chicken Soup today. I couldn’t find any chipotle peppers already opened, so I used some Salsa Ranchera sauce and chopped up a raw Jalapeno pepper. I didn’t like the jalapeno in this. It’s worth using at least one chipotle pepper, diced up. [end NOTE]
This was incredibly hot, spicy soup. I used less lentils than I normally do in other soups so this one was more brothy.
I started by chopping up the jalapeno, poblano, cubanelle, sweet bell pepper and onion with no oil in the pot. Very soon, I found myself coughing. The dry peppers were roasting and causing an allergic reaction. At one point I thought I might have to stop chopping and walk away, but finally made it through. I then added Grapeseed Oil to the pot.
Why add basil? Hey, I currently have a bunch of basil growing on my small patio. *I think you could add cilantro instead of the basil and it would “work”. I don’t think Flat Leaf Parsley would add anything, but color.
I’ve found that adding just a few tomatoes enhances the flavor. You don’t want to overpower the soup with tomato flavor.
The carrot added a cooling influence.
I had stopped coughing from cooking the peppers and now a little over an hour later (I think.) the soup was ready. As I start to eat the first bowl, I start to cough again, and one thought is that I may be having an allergic reaction. I stop eating, and then manage to drink some juice. The coughing subsides and does not come again. *The soup was hot, spicy and addictive.
The soup went well with these salty crackers.
NOTE [07/16/22]: I made some more of this spicy hot soup this morning. I did not have any Poblano peppers. I also added some Cilantro. The resulting soup was not as flavorful.
I decided to add some Polska Kielbasa. The soup was better, but no where near as good as the previous batch.
The recipe is going to vary depending on the day and the ingredients that I have available at home.
Roasted Poblano would be nice.
I bought a couple of types of peaches and two heirloom tomatoes (not sure if Cherokee Purple, Purple Boy, etc.). One of those times when I didn’t ask them to write the peach type on the bags.
Steak from IGA, okra from State Farmer’s Market Raleigh, cabbage from Food Lion and bread from Publix.
The bread has been exceptionally good with two meals. The first meal was with some homemade chicken salad that I made. All of these peppers that I bought at Lee’s Produce from the State Farmer’s Market were hot. This wasn’t a problem when I sauteed them with some onion and added them to the left over Thai Basil Chicken that I had from Maguro’s. They actually made the meal better. But… the peppers, raw, added to the chicken salad were a distraction. Didn’t need the heat.
The bread is good at “sopping” up gravy and juices. I think it would be good with butter and molasses.
I added some Half-n-Half, Duke’s Mayo, and Vidalia Onion, garlic powder, marjoram, celery seeds, Equal sweetener and Agave Nectar, to the chopped cabbage, for cabbage slaw. It was some slaw that I had a the Rainbow Restaurant. I think I asked about it, and the waitress said they added cream/milk to it. It does something with the mayo to make it better.
NOTE: Now that I take a look at the remaining heirloom tomato, I’m not sure both of them were the same type. The first had the purple hue, but this one is more reddish. *Yes. When I cut into the second tomato, it was different. It was reddish and not purplish. It had good flavor. Not a great tomato, but a good one.
Hardees still has their $1 drink special, if you ask for it. I ask for it with a small fry ($2.19) and ketchup.
I just fixed me a steak, with fried okra, corn on the cob (microwaved) and sliced tomatoes (Campari). I haven’t had really sweet corn yet, this year. But I have had some good sweet corn.
I normally cut the ends off of each ear, leaving the corn in its husk. I might take off some of the outer layers of husk. I then put the ears in the microwave and set cooking time for 5 minutes.
The corn steams within its own husk. When it is cooked, I take one ear out, at a time, and turn the sprayer on my sink faucet. The corn is really hot, so I need the cold water spray to be able to handle it while I shuck the husk and then pull the silks off.
I then add some salt and some margarine or butter.
Last year, I was able to get corn on the cob late into the year at the Farmer’s Market in Raleigh. I think I may have gone as late as December. And I kept being surprised at how good and sweet the corn was, thinking that I had tried my last of the year, each time.
There were some good looking tomatoes at the Farmers Market, but when it came time to buy, I didn’t. I also didn’t buy the smallish watermelons, some of which were listed at $10 each.
After stopping at the IGA and Food Lion in Lillington, I couldn’t find any watermelons, or they were extremely small (smaller than most small cantaloupes), I came to the Food Lion nearest me and found a couple of pretty good sized watermelons, and they were only $3.99. I think they were originally marked at $6.99, but this was the day after the 4th of July. I bought one.
The watermelon had good flavor, and I cut most of it up and put it in several Tupperware containers, and then in the fridge. This was something I did for the first time, last year, and it worked really well.
So, as I am eating this corn on the cob, I think to myself, “This is another food that I really like.” The other two foods that I really like, when done well, are black eyed peas, and white butterbeans. I like some chopped Vidalia Onion with my black eyed peas and good seasoning meat with both.
NOTE [07/16/22}: I should have paid attention to how I had labelled the “First Corn” photo above. I got it from WalMart. I bought some corn at Pate’s Farm Market a couple of days ago. The Pate’s corn turned out to be tough and old. Not good. I bought some more corn at WalMart yesterday, and checking before buying, I saw it had the multi-color kernels. Ate some last night, and “yes” it was still tender and sweet.
ADDENDUM [05/31/23]: I think it was an episode of America’s Test Kitchen, a new one, without Richard Kimble. The new guy was showing how to fix corn, on the cob, without boiling it. He did bring the water to a boil, but then took it off the heat and put the ears of corn (with the husks still on) in the hot water and let it cook this way. *But, and I wasn’t paying that close of attention, he then showed how to remove the silks. He had the stalk end of the ear of corn cut off, and he just took hold of the silks end and began to squeeze the ear of corn out of the husk. Darned if the silks didn’t come out along with the husk, and the clean ear of corn. **I am going to just cut the stalk end of the husk off, and cook the ear in the microwave, as I have been doing. Then under cold running water, because the cooked ear is still extremely hot, I will squeeze the silk end & husk and force the ear out of the husk. The silks should come out with the husk. I’ve tried this once and most of the silks came cleanly off the ear.
Village Deli & Grill – Village District (formerly Cameron Village).
Not sure how I came across this deli, but was probably looking online for a place that served a Pastrami Reuben. I had looked at their menu online, and saw they had both a Reuben on Rye (corned beef) and they had a Pastrami on Rye (with mustard & no sauerkraut). I figured they would probably have no problem making me a Pastrami Reuben (Rachel), and fortunately there were two clerks at the counter where I ordered. The older man knew how to ring up my special order and showed the younger woman (girl) how to do it.
I arrived about a quarter to 12, busy but not overcrowded. I ordered fries and water with my sandwich. They gave me a small plastic cup for the water, and a black electronic disk which would buzz when my order was ready.
Before I sat down, I walked around into the next small room, and there was a long hallway that ended. The drinks, ice, napkins & condiments were along the inside wall of the hall. I got my ice water, some napkins and went back into the other room (where the registers & pick-up area were located), and sat at a small table that had two chairs. I sat facing the register area.
After I picked up my order, I walked around into the other room and got some ketchup. The large ketchup dispenser ran out of ketchup and I grabbed a few packets of ketchup and went back into the larger room and sat down.
The sandwich was good, and in fact it was too much for just one meal (although I ate most of it). I could have shared the sandwich & fries and ordered two drinks. My meal with water was $14+ with tax.
Between the two rooms, there must have been a small condiment bar, which I just failed to notice. I had to walk past it several times, and didn’t even take note of it as I was leaving. *A young woman sitting to my right, had gotten up and gone to this condiment area to get some ketchup. I had laughed to myself for not noticing it.
The clientele were mixed: working singles in ties, small families with child or children, older families, and older couples & singles. Some in shorts, some not, but all comfortable in their various garb.
Okay, this Pastrami Reuben was not as good as the first one I had at “Macados” in Salem, VA, but it was probably as good as the one I had at “East Village Grille” in Asheville. This did have Thousand Island Dressing, Sauerkraut and a Dill Pickle. I think my homemade Rachel is as good as this, and my homemade Thousand Island Dressing is definitely better.
Bill Gibson, II 