Category: Fun
Ozempic
I started my first injection of Ozempic on September 18, 2024. These were weekly injections and the first four weeks I was to inject a .25 dosage. After that, I was to inject a .5 dosage. I didn’t notice any changes the first week, but thereafter I started to see reduced resting blood glucose levels and my weight started to fluctuate slightly downward. This morning I was slightly above 250 lbs. *If you can lose enough weight the Type 2 diabetes should disappear, but losing that weight, at my age and level of inactivity is very difficult. I am currently trying to maintain a daily calorie count near 1,880.
The easier to use injection system was with Trulicity. They provided a separate epi (not sure if that’s the correct designation) pen for each injection and the needle was hidden, only coming out after you pressed the pen button and going back inside after the solution was expended. Therefore, if you rested the pen on your stomach (alternating on each side of my belly button about a couple of inches) before pressing the button you never actually saw the syringe. This is the more preferrable system since there is a slight reluctance to inject yourself, even if the needle is both short and narrow.
OZEMPIC 1 MG PEN INSTRUCTIONS (PDF)
But the Ozempic needle is short. Maybe about a quarter inch in length and is extremely small gauged. It doesn’t hurt going in and you just have to wait for about five seconds for the delivery and then add an extra count of about 6 to complete the process before removing the syringe. Then, put the cap back on the syringe, unscrew it and put the used syringe in your “SHARPS” container. I am currently using one of my empty Diltiazim bottles as a SHARPS container. The plastic is thick and will protect from the used syringes poking through the bottle.
I had used Trulicity for several years without a problem until it became unavailable for refill not quite a year ago. I then switched to Rybelsus which was a daily tablet but didn’t work well, and then finally Ozempic which is working tremendously well! Why did Trulicity become unavailable? It may be that it has become in short supply because of persons starting to use this drug to help them lose weight.
[NOTE 10/31/24]: I’ve probably mentioned this elsewhere, but if not, this is a good time to mention that the beautiful blue cloudy sky at the top of my blog postings was something that I cut from a web cam view from the Beaufort Hotel web cam one morning. When I look at it closely I am amazed at how artistic this sky actually was. It’s not a doctored photo either, although it looks to have some photographic filter applied to it.
Another note to make here is that last night I finally purchased an upgrade to my WordPress web site (eptemplate.wordpress.com) and now can access that site with a new URL: billggibsonii.com I would have preferred a different “top level domain extension” of something other than .com, but this extension was the least expensive to maintain annually at just $13. [end NOTE]
[NOTE 11/13/24]: Here are a couple of graphs of my weight and resting blood glucose levels:
[end NOTE]
[NOTE 11/20/24]: I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but this is a reminder for myself. The first round of Ozempic I was required to take a dose each week at .25 and on the fifth and sixth weeks to up the dosage to .5. But, I took that to mean that I should keep the dosage at the .5 level thereafter. However, I noticed that the second Ozempic package was just like the first. It had spaces for me to enter four .25 doses (four separate weeks) and then the .5 dosage for the last two weeks. But, if I take .5 dosage for four weeks, I end up with two unused syringes. I think that is correct, but I need to ask which way I should be dosing myself.
This isn’t important, but a couple of years ago (that means two years ago) Jim Sharpe was very ill at Thanksgiving. So much so that He didn’t come out of his bedroom until late afternoon. He looked horrible. His skin was translucent (like really old people get) and he was slow at answering questions put to him. He answered correctly, but the answers were extremely slow for Jim Sharpe. But, the next visit (probably a couple of months later) I was hesitant at going in his bedroom (they had moved it to their music room and had a hospital bed) because I just didn’t want to see him in the condition he had been in back at the last Thanksgiving. Finally one of the nurses convinced me to step in to say hello to him.
To my surprise, Jim although still looking ill, no longer had the translucent skin and his mind was a sharp as it ever had been. I said something to him and he fired right back with a direct answer.
It seems that he had been overdosing himself with some of his medications and this had caused his severe decline. But once his kids got him back taking only the correct dosage, his mind returned.
I think I have more respect for Jim Sharpe because of the way he handled his final days, that from all the previous years I had known him. He was a class act, and went as I would hope to go. I guess it might be that he was confident in the life he had lived and was prepared to go on to the next life. [end NOTE]
I take a series of pills daily. There is a morning batch, and an evening batch, and I give myself an Ozempic shot once week, usually on Wednesday.
I have a routine that helps me remember to take my morning pills and my evening pills. Each week I refill the daily pill trays in advance. This weekly pill tray is beside my easy chair.
Each morning, usually a little after 7 am, I take the day’s pill container (morning & evening pills) to the bathroom and take the morning dosages. I also weigh myself and test my “resting blood glucose level,” and record these online.
I leave this daily container on the stand beside my bathroom sink. In the evening, usually after 7 pm, I look and see if the morning pills have been taken, and if the evening pills are still there, I take them. Once I’ve taken all pills for a day, I return the empty daily pill trays back to the weekly container beside my easy chair. And the process repeats the next morning.
I misplaced one of my daily pill containers when I went to visit Mary Ann. Don’t know if I left it there, or if it slipped down somewhere that I haven’t yet found it, but that is now a long time ago. So, I decided to use the little glass vials (two sizes) that I had bought to make a unique chess set to organize my daily medications and found a flexible rubber ice maker in which they fit easily. Morning meds, labeled with the day of the week in the front, and the smaller vial in the back for each day. This has worked well, although sometimes the larger pills may get caught in the vial temporarily. *The rubberized ice tray also works well to organize my AA & AAA batteries for my remotes. That would be 14 batteries per tray.
I am surprised at how quickly each week’s worth of pills go by. But that is “life in the fast lane” for a 71 years old. *I have a calendar posted to my bathroom wall, above my weight scale. I keep a note card on which I record my daily weight, and later post it to my online site, myfitnesspal.com . I also write “OZEMPIC” on each Wednesday on the calendar, ahead of time. This is a reminder to take my Ozempic shot that day. I put a check mark by the word Ozempic once I have taken the shot.
There have been a few times, when my pill routine has been interrupted, or totally forgotten. If I’ve covered my weekly pill trays with a book or magazine (usually I do not), then I may forget to take my day’s pill trays to the bathroom. Or, I think there have been a couple of times when I was going out of town for the day, and in a rush forgot to take my morning pills. *If I forget, I try to take the dosage I’ve forgotten almost immediately. Then if there are several hours till the next scheduled dose, I try to spread the time out “a little.” But, the idea is to get back on track, ASAP.
[NOTE 02/18/25]: So it didn’t take long for me to have a specific instance of forgetting to take my daily pills. We have a winter snow storm predicted to start tomorrow morning. I had a list of items (mostly food purchases) that I wanted to make early (first thing) today, so I checked when Walmart would be open and it opens at 6 am. It was a little after 6 am so I rushed to get dressed and wrestled with the thought of eating out, or getting items, and then returning home to eat. I got out the door, and stopped at Walmart first. Not a lot of people there yet, and I quickly got everything+. Then I headed up to get gas and that went quickly also. I decided to go to the Rainbow for breakfast. I rarely go out for breakfast, but for years, I might eat at the Rainbow at least 200 days out of the year. That would be eating every weekday morning, on my way to work. But now, most days, I have the time to fix breakfast for myself and enjoy what I fix more than eating at a restaurant.
So, I “had time to kill” before Harris Teeter was scheduled to start selling their Rotisserie Chickens at 11 am. It was still before 9 am, when First Citizens Bank would open and I could cash a check. I did cash a check there later. I then went over to Harris Teeter, hoping they might start selling the prepared chickens before 11 am. My plan was to see if HT had the Plain Greek Gods Yogurt. Seems they don’t, more times than when they do, but they did, and I took a container for my cart. I think I also bought a couple of shallots, and I did see one woman get a chicken brought out to her ahead of time, but I decided to wait a little while longer so I took my cart over to the Starbucks in HT and sat down, able to see where the Rotisserie Chickens would be placed for sale. About 10:30 am I saw one of the HT workers bringing out what appeared to be Rotisserie Chickens. It was and I got my red box and headed to the check out. I then stopped by Publix to change the date for me to pick up my “half loaf of seeded Rye bread.” I had scheduled for pickup on Thursday before finding out that it was supposed to be the aftermath of the pending winter snow/ice storm. I changed the pickup day to Saturday, and according to WRAL Weather, that should be warmer & less angst about travel on the local roads.
I got back home and got everything inside (two trips), and had lunch (chicken livers, Asian cucumber salad, and a slice of Sourdough bread.). At some point I go to bed for an afternoon nap and about 4:20 pm, I wake up and head to the bathroom. I look over and see that my day’s pill container isn’t on the counter beside my bathroom sink. “Oh, heck!” I went and got my forgotten pills, and took the morning batch immediately. I might wait until 9 pm tonight to take my evening doses. So, that is a specific example of how my mind can get distracted from taking my pills. And, I am in the process of washing some dirty towels, clothing next & my dishes may be finished in the dishwasher. [end NOTE]
Ahhh, so that’s where that was.
They are little things, but still they are so important as first steps toward a more organized life.
I like the idea of compartmentalizing things according to their use, but I rarely, or consistently do this type of organizing. But when I do, I feel a minor, but definite sense of accomplishment.
I’ve recently bought 48 clean, new, glass spice jars, with shiny aluminum screw lids and translucent white plastic filters that snap snuggly on the mouths of the jars. They are squared off, and I kept one of the packing trays (there was a tray for both the top and bottom of these jars to fit into snuggly so that the glass wouldn’t “tink” into an adjacent bottle and break. I’ve filled almost all of these jars with either existing spices that I already had, or recently purchased spices that I thought I might like to try.
I’ve moved a bunch of stuff around on the countertop next to the stove on the side where the spices and a small plastic cutting board lie. Most importantly, I moved the paper towel dispenser away from the stove top (and potential fire hazard) and put it next to the side of my refrigerator and next to that I moved the plastic sandwich bag dispenser. This dispenser is indispensable. I use these bags to store food items both after and before cooking.
Oh, and something I’ve just started using for a different purpose is small colored plastic salsa bowls. The kind with the little plastic legs to steady the bowl. I’ve used a few of these (a bright green and a bright yellow one) for many years for when I make homemade salsa, hummus, or guacamole, but now I am also using one for my Greek God’s Yogurt (plain flavored) to which I’m adding fresh fruit that I have blended in my chopper. The raw (not sure how fresh) raspberries that I pureed turned out extremely flavorful, and were a very pleasant addition to this yogurt. *I recently bought (at the exorbitant price of $4.99) a 3-pak of assorted berries: blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I plan to blend them and put them in the little plastic Rubbermaid containers, in the fridge, until use.
So first I bought, at separate times, a few more of these plastic salsa bowls and then came up with the idea to use them like monkey dishes. I have some dark blue (outside) and white (inside) ceramic muffin cups that I’ve used for years as monkey dishes putting in various liquid and dry ingredients. I have one of these cups in which I put my olive oil brush. This is to brush oil onto a pan surface or my waffle iron before baking a waffle, so that it won’t stick to the surface.
My salt dispenser sits beside the sandwich bag dispenser.
One of the items I have on the other side of my stove is a large ceramic container in which I put an assortment of kitchen tools. But tonight, very early morning, I decided to clear out some of the unneeded items in this horribly cramped container. Surprisingly, to me, I actually took several items out of this and actually threw them away. I did throw away a shiny melon baller, but I don’t think I will actually miss it. I found a cup sized tea ball, which I actually might use now that I know where it is. But I also plan to move this tea ball to a more visible location as a reminder. I do have a coffee, tea and flavored drink packet area on the corner of my kitchen counter.
The other thing I found was a dark metal pair of scissors. My mother had used them, and they are still a really good pair of scissors, and I’ve just used some olive oil on them for protecting their surface, which I see can rust, but hasn’t much. *Sometime in the last couple of years I recall asking myself, “What ever happened to those black scissors.” And the scissors are what started me writing this particular blog entry. I plan to put them in one of my plastic shoe boxes (for organizational purposes) and then put other “like minded” items in that same shoe box. *I do have a small sewing kit, but the scissors might also be used for cutting paper, which I did just a few minutes ago and they still do a fine job of cutting.
I mentioned the spice jars above, but I still haven’t quite got how I want them laid out. I have tried to come up with a 3 letter code to go on top of each jar, but I still have a few jars that I don’t quite recall what the 3 letters stand for, and a jar or two of spices/herbs that I don’t really recall which ingredient it is. But first I had all the jars alphabetically organized from A to Z. But now I’ve put the most used ingredients in the first two rows nearest my cutting board. It seems vaguely that I might want to categorize these spices/herbs even more. “Most Used,” “Warm Spices” for frying apples, and “Peppery Spices.” For a long time, I would sift each of the warm spices from their separate jars onto the fried apples (on top of the Splenda I had already sifted on them), but then I finally mixed all of these spices and put them in a separate glass jar with a sift lid. It just makes it so much easier to sift from just one jar.
Some time ago, I started organizing a few reusable items in some plastic sandwich bags. These items are rarely needed, but nice to have on hand if and when the need arises: assorted rubber bands (different colors, sizes and widths), various plastic bottle tops (My Agave Nectar dispenser has had a couple of broken bottle tops that it was nice to have an extra unbroken one to replace with.), twist ties (both from bread bags or label ties from Sprouts), and I also keep my yellow plastic “Dukes Mayonnaise” jar lids because they fit perfectly on regular sized canning jars.
One drawer beside my stove includes the most used utensils: apple corer, can opener, vegetable peeler, box cutter, etc. I think it was just a couple of years ago that I bought a 4 pack of the box cutters. They came in 4 separate colors and they have proven to be very handy. I keep one cutter beside my easy chair (for opening various plastic bags and Amazon packages). One cutter is in the drawer beside my stove (for slicing open the plastic bacon package, or slicing off the top of a resealable shredded cheese bag). I have one cutter in my car. And, I don’t recall where the fourth cutter is, but I have a suspicion that I gave it away as a present. These are really useful. *How about for slicing through those annoying thick plastic protective seals. The ones that snuggly protect a new tooth brush, or batteries, or…
Oh, every so often my can opener doesn’t work on a can. I think most times it is the design of the can rim, or the softness of the metal that causes the old standard can opener not to take and slice the metal apart as it travels around the can lid. *For those extraordinary times, I have my “John Wayne,” which I have probably had for more than 40 years. Perhaps even more than 50 years. I might have still been in high school when I found and kept the little steel can opener that was supplied to soldiers for opening their C or K Rations in the field. It has been on my key chain for many years, and when the big opener won’t start or finish the job, that little can opener works “every time.” Yes, it takes longer to open a can with this little tool, but it gets the job done.
This reminds me that I’ve recently bought a new pair of nail clippers. But the problem with these clippers is that they are a smidge too small to be comfortable in the hand when in use. And, I’ve checked at a different store and their clippers were also in this slightly smaller size. The smaller size works for adding them to your key chain, but they are an irritation that I plan to find a solution to… Another pair, slightly larger as they were for many years.
Which reminds me. Yesterday when I left home, my phone wasn’t sufficiently charged up for the day, and I didn’t have a charging cable in the car. I had used the short white charging cable that came with my hearing aids in the car to charge my phone. In the apartment, I used the black charging cable that I switch from hearing aids, phone and Chromebook in a round robin match that works. But, I sent the white cable back in the return of my hearing aids.
So, I’m in Goldsboro with my phone around 25% and falling fast. I don’t want to be without a phone, in case my car “acts up,” or I need to get navigation or an online map, or to check for a product, or location or time of an event, etc. I check for the nearest Dollar Tree and see one. I’m not sure if I’ve been to this exact location before, but I had a slight awareness of where it was located even before using the navigation to drive there. I think it is next to a Walmart, because I saw the Walmart Blue color on the side of an adjacent building, but never actually saw the Walmart name on the building. I was parked askew of that building, and had no need to get a better view. I go into this Dollar Tree and start looking for the USB cables. And they don’t have any. What? The USB cables are always with the assorted smartphone protectors, and the other little, cheap electronic thingys. I look and then I go to the register and ask and the clerk sends me back to where I had been looking. I go back, and they don’t have any, any, any USB cables. How can this be? I go back to the car and google for another Dollar Tree. It can’t be that ALL Dollar Trees in the area are devoid of USB cables. The other Dollar Tree is across town, past Wilbers BBQ. But, this is not an unfamiliar location as I go by it quite often when visiting Goldsboro. There is a dead end road that butts up against the chain link fence next to the Seymour Johnson Airforce Base runway. There are fields on either side of this road and most of the year, except when the crops are tall in the summer, this is a perfect location to come watch the take offs and landings of the fighter jets and the refueling tankers. I’m not the only one who knows of this location and I’ve been there when several others are watching also. Most of the time it is deserted. You might see a white security/maintenance truck in the distance traversing around the runway. I think it may be looking for debris that is on the runway, more than checking on possible intruders.
So I go to the other Dollar Tree and go to the electronics section and here they have at least three different styles of “Fast Charging” USB cables (Type A to Type C). The price on the package is $1.25. I buy one of the fancier looking cables, but would like to buy a couple more and have them about, just in case. My phone was down to 17% by this time, but having the phone hooked up only a brief time, I saw the percentage of charge begin to climb and by the time I was back home I think the charge was close to 60%. I think ALL USB cables should be “fast charging” and cost only $1.25. Why pay $10 or more for this basic cable? *I don’t understand what the difference is between a fast charging cable and a regular (slow charging) one, but it is probably just one extra wire or some such. **Just checked and the fast charging cable is thicker with more insulation which provides a higher delivery voltage, and therefore quicker charging.
On the way back home, I stopped at the drug store in Newton Grove and had a Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, regular cone, for $2 total (including tax). It is $2 for one scoop, but they put what I call one scoop in the cone, and then add another scoop (sometimes it might be half a scoop), but I definitely would call it more than one scoop for the price. Unfortunately for me they discontinued the “Super” Raspberry flavor sometime ago, but they still have enough flavors (probably 20 or a few more) to satisfy. The raspberry ice cream had little chocolate candies filled with raspberry jam. I make this description of the ice cream after having gone online and researched the raspberry flavor. I might be able to get this elsewhere, either in an ice cream shop or in a small container to take home.
And something else. In the morning, I wanted to go to Nature’s Way Farm near Faison, NC. I checked my phone navigation and turned off Hwy. 13 to head toward the business. It’s out in the country. But this detour took me a different way to a familiar route. I’m not sure if it is a shorter route, but it almost seemed to be. Instead of going into Newton Grove (and circling the round-a-bout a full rotation), I can go this different way and end up on the “on ramp” to I40.
[NOTE 10/29/24]: And so, I guess it continues. I had the desire to have a Lamb Gyro Pita at Pharaoh’s Legacy Restaurant. I normally like to also order the house Greek Salad with this meal. Previously I’ve even made my own version of a Greek Salad, and even made the Italian Dressing at home, and taken it with me to eat in the car, outside of the restaurant. So this time I prepared a sandwich baggy with a few items meant to enhance the flavor of their Greek Salad: an extra Peperoncini, some chopped sweet onion, a Campari tomato, diced, and a few green pitted olives (because I just can’t find any Kalamata olives in my fridge).
I drive clear across town, and park in front of the restaurant and start to go to the front door. I do note that there are no cars parked in front except for some utility trucks away from the front. I pulled the front door open, and there, to my surprise is no restaurant. It has been gutted, and as I start to step back outside, I do see a construction worker come around the corner in the far back. *I should have at least stopped to ask if the restaurant was just being remodeled, or if it was closed permanently. **And, I still don’t know if it is permanently closed because I see nothing regarding their closing on their web site. Maybe a fire, but the place was just gutted and I didn’t smell any smoke.
I decided to drive over to the old, other location. This was the first place I had visited some time before I had my heart surgery. I pull up in front of the other restaurant and another car pulls in ahead of me near the front door. I walk past this person, who is getting out of his car, and open the door. They are open.
I walk up to the counter and get a menu and go over and sit down at one of the dining tables. I already know what I want: Lamb Gyro Pita with a Greek Salad. But, I note that the Greek Salad is more expensive and apparently isn’t available with the Pita as it is at the other location. *I do ask the waitress if the Greek Salad is the full price with the sandwich, and then the waitress explains that this restaurant has different ownership than Pharaoh’s Legacy. I tell her this wasn’t always the case and that when I first visited this restaurant, it had the same owner.
**I do want to mention another thing that I am quite proud of, but not related to this story of Pharaoh’s Legacy. In a moment of insight, I thought about using the old Lazy Susan that I had previously used for my spices. But with the new spice bottles and the matrix that I’ve chosen to use to organize the bottles, I no longer needed the Lazy Susan. The insight was that if it would fit, I could use the Lazy Susan, and place the kitchen tool jar (with my assortment of various kitchen tools: spatulas, juice squeezer, spoons, etc.) in the middle and put some other items: Splenda jar, Sweet-n-Low packet jar, Coconut Sugar jar, corn starch jar, etc. around the outside. This worked excellently! And now all I have to do is spin the Lazy Susan to select what I need to use. [end NOTE]
Audien Return & Replacment
I got online on the Cumberland County (NC) Public Library website and found that I could upload a document for printing, then go and print it at the Library. I had a shipping label for my return to Audien but I didn’t have my printer hooked up at home.
I went to the Main Library on Maiden Lane.
I just noted that the next “Friends of the Library” Book Sale is on November 22, 2024 (a little over a month from now). The book sale is held on the lower level of the Main Library. There is a large adult section and also a separate children’s section. I have bought quite a few cheap books. Some I’ve read, but I’ve also given them to various Little Lending Libraries (from South Carolina and all the way to Raleigh, and points in between). *I was just reminded that I bought a hardcover copy of Michael Connelly’s “The Poet.” This story was the introduction of the Jack McAvoy character. I purchased a couple of novels at “New To You” in Lillington, NC.
Usually when I am passing through Lillington, I will stop at their new Library. It is very nice! They have a small section for books that they are selling. Prices are from a donation up to about $2. This facility also has a nice bathroom, and I’ve also read in the upstairs adult area where they have comfortable, cubby holes.
The Google Street View above is where the new Harnett County Library building now exists.
I bought a 6×10 shipping envelope at the Post Office over on Oakridge Ave. on Friday.
I see according to the Tracking site that my Audien Hearing Aid replacement is now in Butner, NC. It is being returned with UPS. *My hearing aid replacements have been listed in Butner for at least a couple of days. I thought I might get them by Wednesday, but the arrival date is still showing Friday, October 25th. I have no idea why it is taking so long to travel the hour and a half from Butner to Fayetteville. Looks like the delivery service may be switching from UPS to USPS. What? Can’t they work together more efficiently?
I’m not sure if I have mentioned this elsewhere, but the Audien 2 Pro hearing aids that I had and just returned because one stopped working completely, have only been really effective while watching TV. These hearing aids have 4 modes and one of those (#3) is for TV. It works pretty well and I can reduce the TV volume noticeably, but the other three modes are pretty ineffective. One mode is supposed to be for being in a restaurant setting, one for having discussion with someone, and the other for outside. The outside mode is pretty much like turning the whole thing off. I was hoping that one of the modes would work well for responding to those persons handling the checkout counter/register say at the grocery store or WalMart, but I didn’t find the hearing aids useful for those situations. *I need to go online and see what feedback there is. I’m guessing I’m not the only one, or maybe I’ll find some hacks or ways to make these aids successful in those situations.
**Well, I am finding it very difficult to find any customer reviews from sources other than on the Audien web site. I find that unusual. I want to read some reviews from customers who aren’t posting to the Audien site. I will now try Facebook, although I rarely go to Facebook directly.
NIXE by LIDL – Smoked Oysters
[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.
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.
Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots
I was looking online for things to serve with polenta and found the following:
Wondering What to Serve with Polenta? Here Are 27 Ideas, from Hearty to Healthy on the Pure Wow web site. As I scrolled down the page, I came to Idea #9 Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots. The photo for this dish immediately captured my eye. This recipe was originally in Amanda Frederickson‘s cookbook, “Simple Beautiful Food.” The scallops had that beautiful brown crust, the peas were vibrant green and what’s that, “bacon?” “Yes, bacon, although the shallots are a little hard to see. And, I see no polenta anywhere in sight, but I can imagine adding a little dollop (okay, a little more than a dollop) of polenta or a couple of polenta waffles to soak up all those other flavors.
I looked at several images of dishes that were made from her book, and I decided to order the book from Amazon. I’ll try to turn the pages gingerly so I do not damage them, and this will become a gift at some point. The book was 240 pp. at about $18. *I did see that one reviewer of her book found reading some of it difficult because of the choice of text color on the pages’ background color. I’ve found that problem on some packaging too, and I don’t like really small text either.
I’m getting to an age where “this old dog ain’t gonna be learning too many new tricks,” and those few people that I know, who love food and cooking, are now older also and another cookbook isn’t as special a gift as in years earlier. But, the images of the food were captivating. I could actually prepare this scallops & peas dish. *In fact, I made some delicious peas & pastry with country ham recently and it was very pleasing. Now I know a photo of my peas, ham & pastry would not appear as beautiful as Amanda Frederickson’s photos, but my food was good. And, my pastry wasn’t hand made at home either.
Why was I looking for things to serve with polenta? Simple. I cut a few rounds of already prepared polenta, sometimes for breakfast with an egg, and sometimes for adding to green beans, bacon and potatoes. The polenta reminds me of when my Aunt Sis would add some cornmeal dumplings to her green beans. I’m not sure if she was adding them as filler or just as an interesting aside.
I made some homemade Pizza Sauce (about six simple ingredients and it tastes like Pizza Inn’s) for my Ciabatta Roll Pizzas and had some left over in a small jar in the refrigerator. So as I’m fixing a breakfast of scrambled egg, pepper bacon and some halved yellow grape tomatoes, I think to add a couple of slices of polenta. And then the thought comes to me to add some of the pizza sauce as a topping for the polenta. It was good, but it still needed something else. I’m thinking of trying fresh basil, and/or shredded cheese, and/or even a few slices of pepperoni. But, adding the pepperoni would begin to overpower the pepper bacon. But that’s why I was looking for things to go with polenta. Some extra flavors for my polenta at breakfast. *The idea for adding the pizza sauce to my polenta rounds was my own. I came upon the above “pizza rounds” afterwards.
Those Creamy White Beans look pretty good too! Cannellini beans, spinach, rosemary and chilies… hmmm?
I had made some cabbage (with a little chopped onion) slaw, with mayo, half-n-half and sweetener and put it in the refrigerator before I went out shopping this morning. I still had one of those tiny Tupperware containers with the remaining guacamole from yesterday in the fridge also.
I started some lentil soup on the stove top. I first added andouille sausage to the pot after stripping the sausage casing from it. I added a small amount of olive oil. I had about a half of a small onion which I diced finely and added to the pot with some chicken & beef broth and some brown and red lentils. I then diced one carrot, and several types of mild peppers and one small jalapeno pepper minus the seeds. The spice which I think is cumin I added it with some other spices, and a little more water. After this I let it all cook for a while and then I added a little orzo. I noticed that I had some steamed cabbage that had cooled and I tried a little cabbage with the lentil soup. It tasted good. Eventually I added the left-over steamed cabbage to the bowl of lentil soup. These two combined very well. It probably would go well even if I just added the cabbage to the soup and let it cook together. *The cold cabbage slaw went well with the spicy andouille & lentil soup, and I added a few of the white corn chips (Mission) and this just brought it all together.
I can make really good andouille & lentil soup, and I can make the same thing that doesn’t work. It’s the spices I add, but I can’t always remember what I put in the last good batch of soup. I had planned to put in some frozen chopped spinach, but just didn’t want to wait to unfreeze it, and it definitely didn’t need it to taste really good.
[NOTE 09/15/24]: Well, I just finished eating my scallops with green peas, shallots, bacon, and mint. And, I also added a dollop of polenta, which was the cause of my original online search. I was searching for things that go with polenta. I think this meal was better with the polenta than it would not have been. The photo is more appealing than the flavors in the meal, but the flavors are pleasant. After all, I like scallops, and bacon, and shallots, and garden peas and polenta.
I bought a mint plant at Publix instead of buying already pulled mint leaves in a pouch. I don’t think I had 1/4 cup of mint leaves, but perhaps half that. I’m thinking that I would like to see if tarragon instead of mint would fit my palate better. *I have been making Tarragon & Split Pea Soup for several years, but haven’t made it recently mainly because that soup and my Curried Apple Soup both affect my blood sugar levels negatively. But, I really do love the flavor of the Curried Apple Soup and I like it either warm or cold.
**I just googled for it and tarragon may be the more traditional flavoring with garden peas and scallops.
I’ve already put the mint in the pureed garden peas so I can’t see what adding just tarragon would do, but I might try a little tarragon with the mint. I may fix this again either tomorrow or within a couple of days as I have the left over pureed garden peas and the bacon/garden pea/shallot mixture. [end NOTE]
[NOTE 09/17/24]:
Quick Cabbage Slaw
- 1/2 red cabbage (shredded or chopped)
- 2 cups defrosted corn
- 2 shallots (sliced thin)
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 tablspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 handful mint (chopped)
I was looking for something to go with the Sea Scallops & Garden Peas and found the above recipe for Cabbage Slaw (using red cabbage). I already had the shallots and mint that are both in the Scallops & Garden Peas recipe, so there will be an echo of flavors. Not sure, but I may add some sweetener to this. And, I may add some dried Tarragon to the Garden Pea mixture.
Recall that today is my first day for my Ozempic injection. Since I didn’t have to take my Rybelsus tablet after midnight, I was able to have a cup of hot tea (Earl Grey) with some half-n-half. *A late note: The Ozempic has worked wonderfully. It has brought my resting blood sugar level down and my weight has remained steady within about 4 lbs. up/down.
I finished my second helping of my lentils & andouille soup (to which I also added some orzo) yesterday and I had some cabbage slaw left over. Because the lentils were spicy, the soothing nature of the slaw was very welcome. I like spicy, but not too hot, and when I get the spicy and physically hot soup just right, there are few things more pleasing.
I just finished my second helping of seared scallops & garden peas, and with sides of polenta and a red cabbage slaw with corn & mint. The only sweetness of this meal was from the garden peas. This was the most “savory” meal I’ve eaten in a long time. I normally add some sort of sweetener to either my slaw or on the meat I am cooking. There was only S&P and apple cider vinegar on the red cabbage slaw with corn. I’m not sure I would make this repeatedly, but it was a pleasant change from my norm. *The cookbook I ordered, “Simple Beautiful Food” arrived this afternoon before I had my lunch. It doesn’t appear that there are recipe ingredients listed as in most cook books. The web page had the standard layout for a recipe with a list of ingredients . **Oh, I did cut up some small grape tomatoes to go with the red cabbage slaw.
[end NOTE]
Step N Store, Step Stool Tool Box 20″
I ordered a “Step Stool Tool Box” two days ago and it was supposed to arrive by today, Saturday, but I now see on the Amazon site that it should arrive by tomorrow.
Several days ago I was thinking that I needed a stool so that I could sit on it and clean my floors with a scrub brush or sponge. I had this thought several months ago too, but never found anything that I wanted to order. But, as I was looking through my online images on Amazon Photos recently I saw a picture of a metal stool I had taken a couple of pictures of while in Walmart. It was a well used blue painted metal stool that an employee had left out on the floor and I even turned it on it side to get a better second picture. I think this stool may have been on rollers that when you sat on it, it locked the stool in place.
So a couple of days ago I had been shopping in Publix, perhaps for bread. The nice thing about Publix is that they will let me buy a half loaf of bread or a half package of ciabatta rolls. This is nice because sometimes when I buy a whole package, some of the bread molds before I eat it all.
I was walking out the door and heading toward my car when I happened to see a black woman, who actually looked at first like a “street person.” She was sort of dressed like a street person, and she was carrying a toolbox, or something that looked like a tool box with legs on it in her right hand. My focus immediately went to the thing she was carrying. I realized what it was and so I stopped her to ask about it. I said something like, “Excuse me. May I ask about the box you’re carrying? Is it a stool also?” She was nice enough to stop and answer my questions. It was a stool. It was made of sturdy plastic. She had bought it more than five years ago (and seems like less than 10 years). Part of her telling me how old this purchase was was that she also told me how much it cost “back then,” but that it would probably cost more now. This also told me that it was sturdily constructed. She had bought it at Lowes. She even opened the metal latch and opened the stool top to show the tool box area inside. *I don’t recall what things she had in the toolbox, but I began to think that she might be coming to Publix to perform some maintenance work.
I thanked her for her time and information and she walked toward the store’s front sliding glass doors, and I headed on to my car. Seems like I had purchased two items, but I don’t recall what they were. I think one of them was something I intended to buy, and the other was… and with this rehearsal in my mind, I think I just recalled the second item. I had passed a BOGO display which had Duke’s Mayo on sale. That’s what I had bought. Two jars (plastic jars) of Duke’s Mayonnaise and I probably paid about $2.50 for each. I think most places sell this size of Dukes at about $4.67 per jar.
I put my small plastic bag of groceries in the car and sat down on the seat and closed the door. I immediately went online on my phone. Even though she had said she bought her stool/toolbox at Lowes, I went to Amazon and found several listed. I even found one that looked almost exactly like the one she had been carrying. *I would think that if you make a good product with all the necessary features, then you don’t have to re-create the wheel and the basic design works for a while. What I found, that looked good to me was, “Step N Store, Step Stool Tool Box 20” and the price was $57 plus tax. I ordered this immediately from my phone, which I normally do not do. Most products I order from Amazon are ordered from my Windows laptop (and my easy chair at home). So from the time I had first seen the woman carrying her stool/toolbox and the time I had finished ordering it on my phone, from my car, was probably about 15 minutes or less. And, it was supposed to arrive by Saturday, which I just saw has been postponed till tomorrow, Sunday.
I just watched a couple of reviews of this product on Amazon and one person used it as a step into their camper. Another used it to reach items in higher cabinets in the home. I looks very well made, and the reviews seem to confirm this thought.
**I had thought of getting rid of my old Craftsman toolbox and had said something to Ray about him taking a look and keeping what he wanted and getting rid of the rest. He said he would be willing. If the size of my new stool/toolbox is large enough I might just keep the few tools that I might still need in it. I’m thinking that I might still need a hammer, a wrench or two, a screw driver or two (flat & phillips head).
One tool I purchased several months ago, and have found very useful is a small pen-like box cutter. They came 4 to a pack, in four different colors. I keep one in my car. One beside my easy chair, and one in the kitchen drawer with my can opener, vegetable peeler and apple corer. Not sure, but I may have given one away as a gift. **One nice thing about these cutters is that they have a little locking mechanism that allows you to slide the blade out to a certain length and then, with the same hand, lock the blade into position. You can unlock it with one hand also. They are so handy for opening various packages. A box is delivered from Amazon and a cutter slices right through the sealing tape. I can make four quick slits in the plastic packaging holding bacon, and peel the plastic back to easily remove the bacon.
I made a good number of German Noun Cards with various images on each card representing each noun. In German, it is important to assign the correct “definite article” to each noun. In English we only have one definite article and it is “the.” No matter what we are focusing on we always say “the cat,” “the lawn mower,” or “the reward,” but in German there are three definite articles based upon assigned gender. Masculine nouns have “der” as their definite article. Feminine nouns have “die” as their definite article and neuter words use “das” as their definite article.
I thought that if I needed to learn the specific definite article for each noun individually, that would be almost impossible for me, so I came up with a learning trick. My trick, and it worked for me, was to create noun cards and create a collage of images representing the different nouns on each card. But that’s not the whole trick. What works is to just put nouns on one card that have the same definite article. Only nouns that have the “der” article go on one page, another card only has nouns that have the “die” definite article and on another card only “das” nouns are shown.
The better the image I used for each noun represented that noun “for me,” the more chance I had of remembering it. And, if I laid those nouns out in a pattern that helped me remember them in a certain order, that was also better. But the idea was that I am a visual learner, and I remember images, and so if “die Katze (the cat) image was on a page, and I remember that “die Auster” (the oyster) image was also on that page, and others such as the picture of a lime (die limette) then when I needed to remember a noun, the other nouns on that page helped me remember which definite article they all used. I remembered that card had a cat, an oyster, a lemon, a lime, a scale, a tomato, a shovel, a wheelbarrow, etc. and if I remembered the German noun for each I then remembered that all of those nouns took the feminine definite article, “die.”
It worked and I managed to learn 767 German nouns and their correct definite articles and I had a high retention rate over time. If I could visualize the separate noun cards and remember a key noun’s definite article, e.g. I put “die Katze” on every “die” card, and I put “der Apfel” on every “der” card and I put “das Buch” on every “das” page, and then if I could picture the other nouns that were on a page with a cat, I knew they all had “die” as their definite article. All the nouns that were on a card that had an apple, had “der” as their definite article, and all nouns on a card that were showing a book had “das” as their definite article.
So, for the German noun for the word “catalog” (der Catalog), I found a picture online of the Sear’s Christmas Catalog for 1964. The cover was mostly red. But, I also found images for several of the inside pages of this catalog, and one was a toy page and it included the “Rock’em Sock’em Robots.” I happened to see these catalog images just before I started to write this posting, and one thing I noted was that the inside pages were basically black and white. No color, or at least the toy page I am referencing was a cheap black & white page.
*And, that’s a major difference between 1964, when I was 10 years old, and 2024, when I am 70 years old. You didn’t go online to look at all the toys you might want for Christmas. But, it was fun looking through those black & white pages of the Sear’s Catalog for those items most wanted that Christmas. Maybe a small “Stirling Moss” slot car track & cars for your kitchen table. Or maybe a “Marx Mystery Spaceship” which actually included a gyroscope. A football? Well I usually didn’t have anyone to throw the ball back and forth with, but it was still fun to throw it up in the air and catch it myself. Not sure where or when I bought my Globus Stamp Album and started trying to fill it with used stamps.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, TV was totally different back then. It was analog and not the beautifully detailed, crisp digital images on the large screens. And, it wasn’t even in color until maybe 1968 for the Gibson family. We had a Zenith Black & White portable TV that was fairly heavy. There weren’t all the Cable channels that we are bored with today. There were three major networks, and where we lived we were able to receive ABC and NBC, but CBS which was in Greenville, NC, we couldn’t quite get, so I missed out on “Gun Smoke” and “Bozo the Clown” (after school). TV didn’t run all night. It ended at 12 midnight, and started back up at 6 am each day. And while it was off the air, they ran a “test pattern.” However early on Saturday mornings WRAL Channel 5 would start the first of two Sci-Fi movies at 6 am, and they would run back to back until 9 am. The problem was that about 15 minutes before 9 am, the sun was high enough to start affecting our TV reception from this distant channel. Many was the morning that at about 8:45 am, I would run outside, on our front porch, to adjust our TV antenna. I would then run back inside and this might work for a few minutes, but almost always I would miss the last few minutes of the second movie. That’s a minor frustration when you don’t know what happened to the hero, or the girl, or even how the monsters died or were defeated.
Christmas was special because it didn’t start in October each year. Preparation for Christmas started shortly after Thanksgiving day. And, there were certain shows that played every year, and you knew it was Christmas because they only played briefly before Christmas. Burl Ives would be singing “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, it’s the best time of the year,” or Charlie Brown or Rudolph the Red Nosed Rain Deer would be saving Christmas once again. Our family didn’t celebrate the religious events and reasons until I was a little older and only seriously after 1977 for me.
So, being able to buy a stool/toolbox from the front seat of my car and looking at the color photos of the item from a web site is very special. Sears is gone, and Amazon is here. But, then one day, Amazon will be gone, and who knows what will take it’s place. I guess life as we know it in 2024 will seem as old fashioned as life in 1924 seemed to us. Well, us being “me” because mom was born in 1915 and she would have been nine years old in ’24.
I have a couple of the “Marx Mystery Space Ship” toys that I bought online several years ago. None of the gyros still work and they each have at least one clear plastic astronauts canopy that is cracked or broken. I also bought a complete set of “The Golden Book Encyclopedias,” several years ago and the set included about 5 atlases, which I did not originally have. But these thin books had tons of color illustrations. Not color photos, but drawings illustrating the various topics. There might be a few color photos but most would be black & white photos. Still, there was something magical about these books that contained so many ideas, and the covers alone were worth the price of admission.
My “Step N Store Toolbox” arrived on Tuesday. Not much to say but that it appears to be “as advertised.” The construction is simple and sturdy and there appears to be adequate space inside to carry necessary household tools or cleaning supplies. There is a plastic insert tray that fits inside and sits at the top, providing a little space on one side for a tall spray bottle. There is plenty of room beneath the tray insert for other storage. The stool is sturdy, and I both sat on it and stood on it. In the kitchen, I used a nearby counter to stable myself as I stepped up on the stool, but I would need my extra “Stepper” exercise step as a pre-step if “I was positioning myself to change a light bulb in the middle of the room.”
I think this is one of those “excellent purchases” that will prove to be worth the small cost.
a Day & a Half
[ADDENDUM 01/22/25]: Little did I nor anyone know that just five weeks after my visit to Asheville, that Hurricane Helene would come through Western North Carolina & Asheville and devastate the area. I had such a wonderful visit. The last place I visited in Asheville before starting back home was the New Morning Gallery in the Biltmore Village area. The flooding covered this area with a great deal of mud and destroyed many buildings. This was a high end shopping area, that was, and then wasn’t. I think the New Morning Gallery is still closed, and it has been about four months since the Hurricane. [end]
Gosh, what didn’t I do in the last day and a half?
I scheduled a one night stay at the Quality Inn at 180 Tunnel Road in Asheville for Monday night. At first I had looked at a different Quality Inn further down Tunnel Road, but then I saw a couple of negative reviews so I looked at the other Quality Inn. It seemed nicer, but for just a little more money, and still not $100 a night. *I had stayed at the other Quality Inn several years ago, and it had been a pleasant stay, but I’ll have to admit that the room was much better this time.
I guess I should mention my reason for my brief jaunt to Asheville, North Carolina on Monday & Tuesday of this week. I got a notice last week that they would be repaving and repairing various parking areas where I currently live, and that certain areas would need to be vacated, by 8 am, on selected mornings. I decided to make a quick trip, out of town, so I wouldn’t have to deal with parking in another area. I’ve done this at least once previously, several years ago. I also ran away once when a hurricane was coming through, back in 2018. I ran all the way to Milledgeville, Georgia that time, and ended up having to stay at a cheap hotel for a week because flooding had made it impossible to return to Fayetteville for that length of time.
The Milledgeville trip was fantastic. I didn’t have to worry about food, or the hassles of being homebound in Fayetteville, because Milledgeville was sunny and comfortable, and there were loads of places to eat. I did try to return to Fayetteville a day or two before I should have, and ended up having to stay at another cheap hotel in Siler City, NC for a couple of nights. Eventually, I found the one way back into Fayetteville but I had to drive from Siler City to Pinehurst/Southern Pines and then up toward Raeford, and then back into Fayetteville. This was the first route that the flooding had subsided to make it possible to return home.
So, that was my reason for my impromptu trip.
At the moment, I don’t recall what I had for breakfast on Monday… oh, I just remembered. I had a tin of Amour Potted Meat, which I had bought at WalMart. I had also bought a half gallon of regular milk for about $1.99 but only drank about a third of it, but that would still be worth the cost. *Because I didn’t refrigerate the milk, leaving it in my car overnight, I poured it out Tuesday morning in the toilet in my room (#125).
I didn’t want to eat a lot for breakfast because I was going to have lunch at the Seaboard Station in Hamlet, NC. But, on the way to Hamlet, I first drove by the Maxton Airport and was surprised to find that the retired NW Airlines jets that ran along the fence line from the airport terminal were all gone. ALL gone. I did see a few large sheets of slightly curved metal, one of which I think still had red paint on it. I’m guessing these might be the few remaining pieces of the old jets. Maybe broken down for scrap. *Recall that I think the Northwest Airlines logo, from a few years ago, was the “perfect logo” for English speakers.
U.S. Army Parachute Team Annex (Maxton, NC)
But, as I continued to drive around the end of the airport, nearest Maxton, I looked in the sky and saw a couple of sky divers rapidly descending. They were coming down fast and spiraling almost horizontally. I even questioned if they were actual sky divers *Not sure what they would have been if they weren’t real men with parachutes. Two came down and disappeared on the ground, and then I saw two or three more, one at a time coming down. They were all down as I came around the end of the field and I honked, but was away from them, so not sure if they were even aware of me. I never saw any airplane from which they must have jumped out of.
I headed back into Laurinburg via Hwy. 74. I stopped by the Scotland County Memorial Library and ended up buying about 10 hardback fiction novels to prime the Little Lending Library pump. They were only a dollar each, and I think I also left a $2 donation. The librarian helped me bag the books in a couple of plastic grocery bags and as I walked out the door I met a woman coming in. She let me go through the door first and made a comment that “Anyone that reads that much, deserves to go first.” I laughed to myself thinking that I wasn’t planning to read any of these books, but wanted them all just for the LLLs.
It’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve already dispersed all the $1 hard back fiction books that I bought on Monday. I also got rid of about 8 “Our State” Magazines leaving one magazine with each book (or one with a couple of books). *I did buy a couple of large cookbooks at the Northwood Temple Thrift Shop (Thursday 22nd) this morning. I had never been at this store before yesterday, when I was allowed inside, on a day when the store was actually closed, but the workers were friendly and let me look around. They were open today and I went in to shop. I paid $4 for one book (Americas’ Test Kitchen) and $1 for another large book. *Amazingly, having lived and worked in Fayetteville since 1995, and retired here about five years ago, and as many times as I passed this thrift store, I had never actually gone in. Through the years, I had seen people’s donations sitting beside the building. I guess it was the years of working & administering the efforts at the Hem of His Garment in Onslow County, I just have little or no interest in a thrift store. **I did buy some old Craftsmen screwdrivers for a couple of bucks each, several years ago, but that was in some other town I was visiting while on one of my vacations.
On the way to Hamlet, I made a detour to Gibson, NC. I’ve been to and through this little town many times over the years. It has a nice old train depot that has been painted yellow. There is also an old bank building that, when I first saw it, had a keystone that had a date written on it. I think it might have been in the 1920s, but that was removed by someone who bought the building several years ago and then painted the outside walls in a couple of bright, gaudy colors. I think maybe a burnt orange and an aqua. Don’t recall exactly, but they ruined this building and now the outside has been painted a light gray. *I say ruined because I had an idea that this little town would be perfect for filming a TV series or movie about a small town. There is also the G.V. Pate building which I think was probably a large hardware or agricultural supply store in the past. It’s was closed before I ever visited Gibson the first time. Oh, and the railroad tracks almost magically curve around back of the town after leaving the colorful depot.
After all of my meandering, I still arrived a little early, just before 11 am, at the Seaboard Station Restaurant. This was about 30 minutes earlier than most visits, but that was because I still was going to have to drive to Asheville after lunch.
For lunch, I had a couple of pieces of fried chicken, and a thin pork chop, some steamed cabbage and black eyed peas with some sweet onion. I sat at the same location that I had the last visit.
Seaboard Station in located in an old multi-story home, painted white. The dining area is located in several rooms on the first floor, and they have even added a room that must have been an “outdoor” porch at one time. This is all inside now, but there is a large opening, between rooms, that was once a window. Now it has no glass, and you might even be able to reach through this opening and take something off another diner’s table.
There was a man, Russell, sitting at the same table that he had sat the last time I was there. He is a retired cabinet maker, who’s wife died in 2016, and he has found that making knives is now fun. He is a Type 2 diabetic and wears one of those 14 day devices that records blood sugar levels without finger pin pricks. I think he said he was taking Wegovy, which was also a single shot a week, and needed to be refrigerated, like my Trulicity that I used to take.
After lunch I rode over to the library in Hamlet a few blocks away. Looked at the books for sale, but nothing there of interest for me.
A little after noon I left the library but stopped next in Rockingham at the Thomas Leach Memorial Library. No books there for me either. Later, I stopped at a Circle K, just past Monroe, before reaching Charlotte, to fill up on gas.
I chose to navigate through Charlotte instead of going around and paying a toll. Interesting about Charlotte, there was one sky scraper that had a large horizontal fixture at the top of the building. This reminded me of some of the fictional large buildings shown in the Westworld series, but this was real. *I looked this up on Google Maps when I returned home. I think it is just from certain angles that this cross bar appears.
The rest of this trip was long and boring, up the Interstates.
I made it to Asheville about 4:30 pm and went directly to the Folk Arts Center to see if they knew about the “space ship” mug and who might have made it. I had asked the last time I was in Asheville, and they still had no idea. After the Folk Art Center, I went directly to the East Village Grille,. It was late afternoon and the sun was brightly shining through the large westward facing window.
[NOTE 02/28/25]: Today, after about seven years of trying to recall or find out where I bought this mug, and who was the potter that made it, I finally caught an online thread, found an image similar to my mug, followed the artist’s name and even found a YouTube video by the artist, Claudia Dunaway, and even more surprising, the video showed several steps in how she made my mug (or one of thousands like it). Go here for more info on the mug, the potter & her husband, who drew the cartoon spaceship. [end NOTE]
They had updated their menu so that it is much smaller than the first couple of times I ate there. The original menus might have been twenty pages, dual sided and covered in heavy plastic. Now there are only about 5 pages, which each might be printed on a thin plastic.
I looked but saw nothing about a Pastrami Reuben. I asked the waitress if they still served a Pastrami Reuben and she said they had stopped serving pastrami some time ago. So, I ordered a Philly Cheesesteak with steak fries and a diet drink. The cheesesteak was delicious, but I only ate half and took the rest, along with some of the fries for a snack later. **So, they no longer serve a Pastrami Reuben. Yet another example of a past pleasant culinary experience disappearing over time. I am 70 years old, so I guess out with the old and in with the new. No “Sticks-n-Stones” pizza, too? Damn.
On the other hand, I do know how to make a delicious Pastrami Reuben at home, with homemade Thousand Island dressing, served with wavy potato chips & sauerkraut (on the sandwich, and as a special side). Mix some sauerkraut with the thousand island dressing and it makes a good side dish, maybe not just for Reubens. Would probably work for a fried pork chop, or even a hamburger.
I think I went to the Quality Inn directly after dinner and then went for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway later. It was about 7:13 pm and the sun was going down, but some areas along the road were well shaded. I looked ahead and saw something in the shadows, large and black, meandering across the road. I said to myself, “That’s a black bear.” And then moments later, a smaller black bear followed the first across the road. I slowed my car down, because I didn’t want to crowd them. Moments later a couple of cars came up behind me. As I passed the two bears, they were walking slowly up the side of the mountain disappearing into the undergrowth.
I drove along the Parkway for several more miles, passing a few overlooks, and going through at least one tunnel (maybe two) before turning around and heading back down to town. I get off the Parkway at the entrance to the North Carolina Arboretum and then headed back into town passing the WNC Farmer’s Market.
I had decided to park my car at the front of the motel and not at the side nearest my room. I figured that with no one being around at the end, it would be a good place to try to break into a car. I did notice an outdoor camera this morning. *The room had been renovated with nice fixtures & a quiet flush toilet.
This morning as I drove around downtown Asheville, I drove through the downtown tunnel and then turned around and came back through it. As I exited the tunnel, I made a sharp left turn and headed up a road that took me up one side of this mountain and then over it and beneath a stone bridge (Which I did not drive around to find if I could cross it.). From Google Maps & Street view, I think this overhead bridge is just for foot traffic.
As I came back down the mountain, on the side nearest downtown Asheville. I approached two wild turkeys. As I passed the house, there was only one of the turkeys still visible and it had that beautiful bronze, almost metallic looking plumage. *So last night I saw two black bears in the wild, and this morning I saw a couple of wild turkeys in downtown Asheville.
I went to the WNC Farmers Market just as it was about to open at 8 am today. I took with me, my Cara’s Corner bright yellow shopping bag that I had been given a couple of years ago. Cara’s Corner is still in the upper corner of the Market. The man was most helpful. They had no Gumbo File, but I did buy some lentils @$2.29 lb. and another type of bean I had never tried, Anasazi @$4.89 lb.. Anasazi beans are also called “New Mexico Cave Beans,” a heirloom variety related to kidney beans. *The man said he liked these beans and apparently they form a tasty gravy. My thought, about which I did not ask him, was that he might just be a vegetarian & that is why he didn’t season these beans with some kind of meat. I also bought some Danish Blue Cheese. This cheese looked good in the display case. And somewhere in the past I’ve bought & ate Danish Blue. Later at home, this was a good flavored blue cheese.
I just came across this Anasazi bean recipe online: Anasazi Beans and Rice with Kielbasa Looks like I have everything that goes in this recipe at home already. Kielbasa, celery, onion and sweet bell pepper, yum! I see from the photo of the finished dish that the beans turn a solid light brownish color, losing their distinctive burgundy & white mottled raw color in the cooking process. *I think it was the October Beans that I tried from Cara’s which were shaped like limas, but also had the mottled burgundy & white uncooked coloring which was lost after cooking. And I think the October Beans took on a kidney bean flavor. I have said it elsewhere in this blog, why buy October beans when you can get a can of re-fried beans, that are mashed up kidney beans.
Well, I made a small batch of the Anasazi beans with the Kielbasa (but no rice as per the above recipe) this morning. It looks like the burgundy part of the bean sloughs off and you are left with a brownish, kidney bean looking and flavored bean. Nothing to write home about. If I wanted a bean with a kidney bean flavor, I would fix kidney beans. So, out of the four unusual dry beans I’ve bought at Cara’s Corner, none of them are worth fixing a second time. As I said elsewhere, the Yellow Eye has a mild Black Eyed Pea flavor and that is probably why the Black Eyed Peas became the more dominant bean.
I went to Earth Fare after the WNC Farmers Market and they had the dulse I have been looking for for quite some time. I bought their only two containers for about $7 each. *Funny, but as I was passing through Morganton, I looked over and saw a Food Matters Market. I did a double take because I knew of only one other market with this name, and that was in Brevard, NC. **I checked with an employee and sure enough there are only two of these. She didn’t know why this one was in Morganton. ***And, what? They didn’t have Gumbo File either, but they did have the dulse so I bought another container for around $7. Now after a long draught, I have three packages of Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Dulse. I think I also bought a couple of jars of Minced Ginger. Well, I either bought the ginger here or at Earth Fare. I think I bought the Andouille Sausages at Earth Fare because I had an extended, friendly conversation with the butcher, who was having a minor problem with a gentleman as I walked up to the counter.
I came back to the Quality Inn and got some ice to put in a small container (a plastic Bento Box container that once had a couple of smaller plastic side containers that fit in the bigger box) and put the cheese and a couple of Andouille Sausage links in it. The ice had completely melted by the time I got home and the water had turned a brownish color. Not sure if the sausage was ruined, but I put both links in the freezer. I think the cheese is okay and plan to try it shortly. *The cheese was still good. I had a little with a few of the black sesame rice crackers about midnight.
You’ve got to understand that I might never be on Hwy. 18 going through Morganton, NC again, but I just looked over and saw the name. I had a vague memory that I knew this grocery (health foods store) from having visited one near Brevard, NC several years ago. I think I had been to the Brevard location at least twice, but really don’t know why I was passing through this area. I still had time to kill so I turned around and pulled into the Food Matters Market parking lot and went in.
After Earth Fare I headed up to Weaverville and stopped in the Mangum Gallery in downtown. One nice thing is that there is a small parking lot across the street. No charge, free parking, and just walk across the street to several of the shops. There were several “artists” around this parking lot painting, but facing in different directions.
There was a young man, in the Mangum Gallery, working on some of the pottery and I ended up asking him if he had ever seen or knew who created my “space ship” mug. I showed him a picture from my phone. He didn’t know who, but directed me to to a guild gallery that also had a school for students. It began with an “O” but I don’t recall if it was Odyssey or not. I didn’t go there. *Checked online and it is the “Odyssey Clayworks.” Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art
After the gallery, I drove over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a back route that leads me up the mountain and I come back down the Parkway, past the Folk Arts/Crafts Center, and then out onto US70. This time, I drove past the East Village Grille, on my left, and turned right at one corner of the VA Hospital. This road goes past the “staff/bus” entrance for the Folk Arts Center and under the Parkway. I then headed back to US70 which ends up below where the Parkway entrance/exit is located on US 70.
I then headed back to the New Morning Gallery and managed to get a parking space on the street at the very end (or head) so I didn’t even have to worry about leaving the parking space.
You enter the Gallery on street level and there are a bunch of stairs that lead up to the display area. But, I know where the elevator is located and I now take that up. They have blocked off one corner that was used for display, but now is used for storage. I looked at quite a few mugs and bowls and asked a female clerk about my “space ship” mug. She didn’t know it either. A gentleman also working there said there was a Guild location around the corner, and across the street, but I did not go there afterwards.
I did buy a cheap green Mangum soup bowl. It is a little deeper than the couple of bowls that I already have. The others might be shallow salad bowls. I say cheap because this bowl was only $34 plus tax. This is an old price because I see that most new items are now priced in the $60 – $80 range. Or at least they were at the Folk Art Center.
After the New Morning Gallery I headed out on I40, but pretty soon meandered back over to US 70. I did this because I needed to kill about an hour and a half. The actual driving time to Yadkinville from Asheville was about 2.5 hours.
I meandered through several towns on the way to lunch at 3:30 pm at the Yadkin Valley Seafood Restaurant in Yadkinville, NC.
I rode around Morganton for a short time, not finding their library although I saw the Library turn signs from several directions, but never saw a building labeled “Library.” Actually, I just checked with Google Maps and Street View and I drove completely around the Library but any signage was so small I did not see it. I do recall the parking lot across the street but didn’t know it was for the Library.
The cute blonde waitress with the nice behind wasn’t at the restaurant today. Probably long gone. I wasn’t even sure back then of how old she might have been. She might have still been in high school, or maybe in her early twenties.
Yadkin Valley Seafood Restaurant (Yadkinville, NC)
I asked my waitress what diet drinks they had and I thought she said Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. I said, “Oh great! I’ll have Diet Dr. Pepper.” Later when she brought my drink, it looked light in color and when I tasted it I wasn’t Dr. Pepper. I asked her about this and she then said, “Oh, we don’t have Diet Dr. Pepper. I thought you said Diet Mountain Dew.” I told her it would be okay, and it was, but as I ate and thought about this, I wasn’t the only person who didn’t hear well, because I know I said “Diet Dr. Pepper” in my reply. If I had heard her as she stated, I would have chosen Diet Coke.
My waitress charged me correctly for my meal but it seemed to be about $3 higher than I thought it should have been so I only gave her a $2.50 tip on a $20 meal. I checked on my phone later and saw that she had charged me the extra price but then I realized I had ordered scallops, popcorn shrimp and flounder, and the scallops were one of several items they charged extra for in their combos.
So after my lunch, it was about 4:30 pm and my GPS was suggesting the quickest route back home was through Winston-Salem and then just south of Greensboro. I decided that going through those cities in rush hour traffic would not be best so I made my own navigation. First I drove from Yadkinville to Mocksville.
From Mocksville to Lexington, and then from Lexington to Asheboro.
I turned around in the Davidson Funeral Home parking lot to get my GPS directions to Asheboro. There were some Hispanic kids (boys & girls) walking across town and I passed them or they passed me a couple of times because I had gone in the opposite direction to see a little more of town and then turned around to get back on track.
Each of these three segments took a little less than 30 minutes. After Asheboro, I headed south, but turned off to come through Seagrove and Robbins, NC, and this segment I had driven before. *I thought I had been to Lexington before, but maybe not. I had been through Lincolnton, NC several years back.
Robbins, NC (I’ve bought gas at this store before, but not during this trip.)
I do want to return to my stay at this Quality Inn in Asheville. The motel was obviously older, but I asked and they had started renovations in 2021. Everything was superb! The toilet had a quiet flush. The shower and the sink had good fixtures and there was plenty of hot water (although I did shower close to 6 am). There were all the amenities: mini fridge, mini microwave, TV with at least 80 channels and a remote, an iron & ironing board (which I haven’t used in probably 25 years) and a blow dryer for your hair. I got ice in the ice bucket and had my “Bill’s Drink.” I had carried my empty carafe and several packages of the dry flavored drink mixes and even had a bottle of mixed orange juice and cranberry juice. So, I wasn’t lacking at all with my personal drink as I normally have at home. I also had a medium avocado which I cut open with a metal spoon I had brought with me, and then scooped all of it out a little at a time. The avocado was perfectly ripe, but I had no salt and that would have made eating it perfect.
The bed was comfortable and had maybe five pillows on it. I think I registered that the pillows were a little hot during the night. The room had been renovated perfectly. Perfectly modernized and for the nightly price worth it. I saw nothing in the room that was a negative. No negative smells or stains, etc. The air conditioning worked fine. Locks on the door. Water pressure in the shower fine.
This morning I decided to go out for breakfast and I got dressed and headed over to J.K.’s. On the way over, I remembered that this was Wednesday and that J.K.’s is closed on Wednesdays. Instead of going on to Zorba’s, I passed by there and went to the Harris Teeter to fix a breakfast from their breakfast bar. I had scrambled eggs, cheese grits, a biscuit and sausage gravy, a small dollop of corned beef hash, and a couple slices of bacon. The total for the breakfast was a little over $9. The items on this bar had good flavor and I would try this again. *Recall that I had enjoyed the Harris Teeter lunch bar many times before I got something “bad” from that bar and my throat started to close up. Since I had tried everything previously, I’m thinking that maybe someone used some chemical cleaning solution and that remained on an item causing the allergic reaction. I stopped eating the lunch buffet there for several months and later tried it once again, with no problems, but never went back to it on a regular basis.
This morning the air was cool in Fayetteville and it reminded me of how the air had been fresh and cool as I was driving around Asheville the morning before. Asheville was a pleasant change.
I fixed some Anasazi beans yesterday and now have a pot of Andouille & Lentils on the stove at 2:01 am Thursday morning. I can already tell that the lentils are going to provide a much better flavor. And, the Andouille seems to be better than the Kielbasa, although I like the Kielbasa for my Kielbasa/Shrimp/Zucchini dish. I’ve also added Savory to the lentils, which I didn’t put in the Anasazi beans.
And yes, I have just tried them and they are really good.
Wholesome Agave Nectar 44 oz. $12.99 at Wegman’s
Currently at Amazon, two 44 oz. bottles of the Wholesome Agave Nectar costs $33.16. That would be $16.58 per bottle, so it is quite a savings at Wegman’s ($3.59 per bottle). Wegman’s White American Cheese runs less than $4 per package (pre-sliced). *But, I don’t think of Wegmans as being less expensive, except for these two examples, and the $.99 ICE drinks. *Wegman’s also has the “Raspberry Royale” tea from Bigelow.
Part of my jaunt up to Morrisville, via Apex, is to stop first in Cary at the Golden Hex (a European grocery). They have a fantastic variety of deli meats, salamis and sausages as well as various cheeses and a bunch of other grocery items from European countries. I’ve found a green seaweed there that I can “doctor up” to replicate the side dish that I had enjoyed several years ago at different restaurants. I think the additions included toasted sesame oil & seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, and some sweetener. *I think there was also some hot pepper flakes.
So I buy some sliced Estonskaya and maybe one other sliced salami. I take this to Wegmans, where I buy a ciabatta roll for $1.10. I either take a couple of slices (or buy them there) of the Wegman’s White American Cheese. It is both cheap and flavorful. *I take a sandwich bag with a couple of dill pickles & maybe some grape tomatoes and/or some olives (Castelvetrano). **I have been taking some sweet mustard flavored with horseradish cream, but after today I think I might simply prefer Dukes mayo. Oh, and I’m also thinking that a couple of slices of sweet (Vidalia) onion and/or some sliced Campari tomatoes. If I have some wavy potato chips (IGA has a small bag with about 3 good servings per bag at about $1.38), I take them too. Take a bottle of ice to use with my bottle of flavored ICE drink. This has to be a relatively cheap lunch, but with a lot of enjoyable flavors. ***Oh, I did actually buy a whole head of Iceberg Lettuce at Wegman’s today and included it in my ciabatta roll salami & cheese sandwich. My dill pickle spears were the “souped up” version with the Ranch flavoring.
I buy the cheap jar of dill pickle spears at WalMart, and the even cheaper packet of Ranch Dressing mix from either WalMart ($.60) or Food Lion ($.50) and add the packet’s contents to the dill pickle jar. After this first combining, I re-use the Ranch dill pickle juice in subsequent jars of dill pickles. The juice doesn’t appear to “go bad,” and I just pour off the plain pickle juice first. *I bought some whole dill seeds to try and sprout them, but the sprouting didn’t work. So, I ended up putting some of the dill seeds in the “Ranch Dill” jar. To my surprise, this kicked up the flavor of these pickles even more.
If I am fixing some Ranch Dressing chip dip, I do buy the more expensive Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning at a little less than $2 per package. I add cream cheese (the cheap brand is okay), some sour cream, diced sweet onion, diced red bell pepper and S&P. *The chip dip & wavy potato chips are a “splurge” that I seldom enjoy because of the fat & threat to my blood sugar level.
I find that including “cheats” or “splurges” to the foods I eat make life more palatable & enjoyable. And, if you don’t cheat often or regularly, any move in the wrong direction is quickly re-adjusted in a day or two. The blood sugar level may spike higher than you would want on a daily basis or you may gain a pound or two by eating a lot of ice cream or spaghetti at one sitting. But, going back to the rule and not making the exception(s) the rule, the body quickly readjusts and the bgl or weight return to acceptable norms. *I just realized that it has been a long time since I ate a half gallon of ice cream in a day, or ate a large plate of spaghetti noodles w/ homemade spaghetti sauce as a cheat. I no longer have those desires. **Having said this, today for the first time in a long time, I stopped by a Wendy’s (Exit 319) and got and consumed a small Triple Berry Frosty (normally I would prefer chocolate flavored). I had never tried this flavor (it is new) before today, and it was a familiar flavor and I enjoyed it, but don’t think I would prefer it over a small chocolate Frosty.
In the past, I might buy a cheap Rocky Road flavored half gallon of ice cream at Food Lion and at home, would take a soup spoon and add some chocolate flavored syrup before scooping out and devouring the ice cream. After I’ve indented the ice cream, I would like to either add some Half-n-Half or regular milk in the ice cream container. Yeah, I haven’t done that in a while, or even desired to do so.
In 2019 I think I had eaten some Pistachio ice cream before 10 am, on a holiday Monday, and had just returned the half gallon container to the freezer section of my fridge, when I sat back down in my easy chair, watching a new episode of the new, new Outer Limits (or was that the new Twilight Zone) and in moments realized that something was terribly wrong with me. I was having a seizure due to low blood pressure, but I didn’t pass out completely. No, I just sat in my chair watching the TV show through a reddish filter and pissing on myself. My body providing the tinted filter. *I quickly recovered, but sat for a while trying to regain my composure and to determine my next steps. I called Jeff Mitchell to let him know what had happened. While talking to him I decided to drive myself to the Cape Fear Valley Emergency Care facility that is about a quarter mile up the road from my apartment. I showered, dressed, and drove there. And, as I have rehearsed elsewhere on this site, I was providing a urine sample there, when I passed out completely. And within the hour, I was transported over to Cape Fear Valley Hospital (across town) and three days of intense testing begun. **They didn’t come up with a definitive cause of my seizure and passing out, but my cardiologist had an idea I think. About a month later, when I passed out while getting a new CPAP machine, I was taken again to the hospital and within a few days had a new device in my body, a pacemaker. I think it was six weeks for the heart surgery, and my fractured knee to heal. Once I could get my behind in the driver’s seat, AND my leg (in a brace) into the car and my foot on the gas I was self-sufficient once again. I still wasn’t supposed to raise my left arm above my head until the electrode connections had healed. The only time that I might have raised my arm was when I was sleeping and awoke with my arm above my head. But, this only occurred once or twice, and I guess I could have tied my left arm to my body to stop this.
Just tried some of my sweet mustard & horseradish cream sauce on some smoked oysters. Good flavors together!
[NOTE 08/15/24]: I bought a small tin of Riga Cod Liver at Golden Hex (I think.). I’ve never eaten Cod Liver before, and I am 70 years old. I had a strange reaction to even opening the tin container. I guess I was afraid that I would be repulsed by however this food tasted. It wasn’t the flavor, which was slightly fishy (maybe like a hint of tuna), but the texture which was probably like foie gras, and I’ve never had foie gras either. Duck fat. I could tell this was a extremely fatty food. Not sure how I would enjoy this. I think I read that you could spread it on bread, and that you might want to eat it with something that would “cut the fatty” flavor. Citric juice or maybe a vinegar. I’m thinking that you could add cod liver to tuna, or smoked oysters to deepen their flavor, but I’m not sure it would be worth the extra cost.
Actually, I just noted a picture of a package of Duck Pate that I had tried some time ago. I recall that this also had a slight flavor that wasn’t as pleasing as the Nueske’s Liver Pate that I buy sometimes. I think this liver pate is reminiscent, but not exactly the same as Potted Meat.
I tried some Sprat’s Pate that I also bought at Golden Hex some time ago. I did not like the flavor.
[end NOTE]
[NOTE 08/25/24]: One of my regular morning breakfasts consists of hot tea, egg salad, bacon, & polenta. Sometimes I add grape tomatoes, if I have them. I currently prefer the Scottish Tea by Taylors, which has a “heavier” flavor. In fact, the first time I tried this tea, I didn’t like it, but when I tried it a second time, I began to like it, and after a while, I prefer it. Now I still like Bigelow’s “Constant Comment” and “Earl Grey” (longtime favorites, maybe since the mid-1980s) and another favorite, “Raspberry Royale,” since I first tried it at a Quality Inn in Lynchburg, Virginia about 2017.
Today, I came up with two additions/modifications that worked well. I had a small amount of some homemade pizza sauce (only 6 ingredients) and I put that on two thin slices of polenta which I heated in the microwave. This had good flavor. I also cut a couple of slices of English cucumber and put a little salt on them. These two modifications worked well and I might do either again.
I had another Ciabatta roll pizza with the homemade pizza sauce yesterday, but I forgot to add jalapenos to it. It was good still. This is a consistently satisfying pizza, and just enough. So, I can make a satisfying pizza at home, and I can make a very good Pastrami Reuben on rye. Oh, and the Kielbasa/Shrimp/Zucchini dish I make, is consistently pleasing.
I do not make it often, but I enjoy a multi-bean salad. Its not something that I want to eat every day, or even once a week, or possibly even once a month, but I do like it and it is a nice addition to my food rotation. Sometimes I buy the beans in separate cans, but this time I found a can of 3 mixed beans: kidney, pinto & black beans from Whole Foods. To this I added some wax (yellow) and some green beans. I also added the little red pearl peppers, and the multi colored medium pickled peppers and some chopped sweet onion, and orange bell pepper. I used three types of vinegar: white distilled, red wine and some apple cider vinegars with some Splenda. You could add pickles, pickled beets, pearl onions, garbanzo/cannellini/navy beans to this too.
I made my bean salad yesterday and still have enough for two more meals. I had bought a whole rotisserie chicken at Harris Teeter so I had a drum stick and a little white meat, and I steamed a medium sized ear of corn in the microwave (it was sweet & tender). *Harris Teeter sells their whole cooked chickens for under $7 compared to Publix, which sells them for about a dollar more. I had bought the Publix chickens for a while and then realized I didn’t like their fatty/mealy textures. I tried HT and liked them better. Still either one would be a good deal because you can get about five good meals from a whole roasted chicken. The last meal being a chicken salad with a good portion of chicken.[end NOTE]
Michael Connelly – The Wrong Side of Goodbye
I’ve read that there is another Harry Bosch novel* coming out in November of this year (2024), but for now, I have started to read, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” which I started reading several novels ago. When I realized the storyline, I just didn’t feel like reading that story, which I had seen on the Bosch TV Series. Now I have read all the other Bosch novels, and several others in which Harry Bosch may or may not appear, including “The Poet,” “Blood Work,” and “The Late Show.” “The Wrong Side of Goodbye” is my last Bosch novel. I’ve read all the others, but not in published order. *”The Waiting” a Ballard/Bosch novel.
If I had read the Bosch novels in the order in which they were published, I probably would have stopped by the 4th or 5th novel. I learned to hate Harry Bosch from the written character, not the character played by Titus Welliver during the several years of Amazon Original BOSCH. The dislike started in “The Black Ice,” when Harry is about to sleep with the Interim Medical Examiner, who has just that day performed an autopsy on an apparent suicide by another LAPD detective. But, she finds evidence that this wasn’t a suicide and Harry presses her for her findings. She tells Harry that she can’t share her findings with him because she is the only source for this alternate finding and she doesn’t want to jeopardize her possibility of becoming the Chief Medical Examiner. Harry assures her that he won’t share what she tells him. After they have sex, she asks if she can take a shower. And, she hasn’t even had a chance to wash the Bosch stink off of her before Harry has picked up his phone and called a newspaper journalist giving the journalist the heads up to determine whether the dead detective’s demise was due to a suicide or a murder. Bosch then zips off the Mexico.
When I read this vignette I said to myself, “If I was a co-worker with Harry Bosch, and he did this to me, I would form a lasting opinion about Harry Bosch.” And that opinion would be that “Harry Bosch is a lying sack of dog shit that can’t be trusted.” And, I would never give Harry Bosch a “free ride” or “cut in line” card again. This was even more obvious, because I read “City of Bones” immediately after reading “The Black Ice.” The novels weren’t written in that order (about an 8 years difference), but Harry’s mistreatment of the Interim Medical Examiner, that slight, was fresh in my mind when Harry calls the now Chief Medical Examiner asking her to take a look at a bone to see if it is human or not. And, she tells him to come over and she will do it. She doesn’t invite Harry into her home as she has an event she is planning to attend later that night, but she does verify that it is indeed a human bone and sends him on his way. She should have told him to “fuck off.”
So the slam bang conclusion of “The Burning Room” is that Harry has just been ordered to give up his badge and gun pending an investigation regarding his breaking into a locked room with his lock pick skills & a paper clip.
**I think it was the Burning Room where Harry once again interacts with the now “former Chief Medical Examiner,” who has been demoted due to politics. Connelly seems to relish that this character has fallen from her high point, but if I were the character, I would still tell Harry to “fuck off.”
Oh, and could Harry have ever had a successful relationship with a woman? Well, I don’t think he ever told his high school English teacher, “Oh, by the way, I killed your former husband when he attacked me. But, it’s okay because he had murdered his half-brother.”
Harry is an awful parent. Maddie Bosch is second or third fiddle to her dad’s detective work.
U.S. Bank Tower (Downtown)
San Fernando Police Headquarters
Los Angeles County Public Health Building
St. Helen’s Home for Unwed Mothers (St. Annes)
Maternity home’s 100-year evolution (latimes 2008 article)
Poquito Mas
Poquito Mas at 3701 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Studio City CA 91604
Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation
Hotel del Coronado
CellRight
Giamela’s Submarine Sandwiches
I guess it was early this morning, July 20th, 2024, that I finished reading “The Wrong Side of Goodbye.” Until another Bosch novel is published, I have now read all the Harry Bosch novels. I did not read them in the order in which they were published. I have also read “The Poet,” Jack McAvoy, “Blood Work,” Terry McCaleb, and “The Late Show.” Renée Ballard.
Thanks to Connelly’s placing his fictional characters in real life locations, I now have a working familiarity with a lot of Los Angeles and surrounding areas. I know that Avalon is the only incorporated town on Catalina Island. I already knew the Wilmington area of the Port of Los Angeles because of my familiarity with the cargo vessel, YM Warranty, which had visited this area several times. I got to know the Cabrillo Marina area, and recognized the nearby Warehouse #1 in a Dodge car commercial.
I can take you along 1st Street pointing out Mariachi Plaza all the way to City Hall, LAPD HQ, the LA Times Building and the CCB. I know if you go one way on Broadway, you will pass the CCB, the Hall of Justice and come to the ornate Dragon Gate to Chinatown. Dodger Stadium and the LAPD Police Academy are located on further. And Echo Lake Park and Silver Lake are just, “over there.” Down Broadway in the opposite direction will take you past the Bradbury Building and Grand Central Market. On the other side of Grand Central Market across Hill Street is the Angel’s Flight funicular.
Bill Gibson, II 