Planning for and tracking my meals and food intake is made much easier using the online MyFitnessPal Food Diary. You can add individual items by meal: breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks. You can search for the items, many are already in the database, or you can add an item or create a recipe, by adding individual ingredients and then saving as a Recipe or Meal. Depending upon how you set these up, you can also remove an item or ingredient.
So I’ve just added a specific breakfast meal and labeled it as “BK – Egg Salad / Bacon / Avocado / Bread.” Now the bread might be toasted, and depending upon whether I’m using the Ezekiel 4.9, Aldi’s ‘Knock Your Sprouts Off’ or the Publix Sourdough bread, there may be slight variations in calorie count. My current favorite of these three is “Knock Your Sprouts Off” sprouted bread from Aldi’s.
The “BK – Egg Salad / Bacon / Avocado / Bread” breakfast, after removing the half avocado and adding hot tea.
I can add the above breakfast meal, and then take off the bacon or the avocado if I choose not to have that on the specific meal. I’ve also just added “BK – Coffee,” and “BK – Hot Tea” items with their additions: half-n-half and/or Agave Nectar, Coconut Palm Sugar. I normally also add Splenda and Stevia. Maybe it’s sweetness overkill, but no individual artificial sweetener seems to provide the deep sweet flavor profile of sugar. *I’ve just renamed (had to copy first, and then save under new name, and then delete old meal) the breakfast meals starting with “BK – “. This causes all the breakfast meals & items to group together.
I do like bacon with the egg salad, but I’ve also come to like just mashing up half an avocado and not having any bacon. I now have an easy way to toast my bread and most of the egg salad fits on the two half slices of bread. I might also add a few halved grape tomatoes (yellow or red).
I make my egg salad from two hard boiled eggs (9 minutes), and mash them up with a little Dukes Mayo and Kerry Gold Grass Fed Butter, celery seeds, garlic powder, Dulse, cayenne powder, salt & some ground Long Pepper. *I had this breakfast this morning, but switched out the grape tomatoes for bacon.
I’ve really enjoyed using the Recipe creator in MyFitnessPal because I can enter a list of ingredients and then change the amount of each ingredients used in the recipe. It will also allow you to determine serving size.
The Ezekiel 4:9 bread comes frozen and that may be one reason why I like it a little less. I actually think the Knock Your Sprouts Off bread has a better flavor. But, the fresh baked sourdough bread from Publix has it’s merits also.
Recall that I love bread, but I also have to limit the type and amount of bread that I eat because of my Type 2 diabetes. Sourdough and sprouted breads are supposed to be more “diabetic friendly.”
A few days ago, I took out half the frozen loaf of Ezekiel 4:9 bread and let it thaw. I then put it in the refrigerator. I’ve enjoyed eating it as toast with egg salad, with peanut butter & a little Agave Nectar, and even as a simple sandwich with Neuske’s Smoked Liver Pate.
[06/24/25];
I will now freeze some of my bread, and refrigerate some. This was something I didn’t like to do, but now am okay with it. I’m eating more bread lately after many months of eating only about 1 slice of sprouted grain bread (“Knock Your Sprouts Off” Aldi’s).
Before the sprouted grain bread, I was eating mostly Sourdough Bread from the Publix bakery. I haven’t bought the Publix bread in a while opting to buy the Aldi’s “Knock Your Sprouts Off.” But now I have about 2/3rds of a loaf of seeded rye bread that I bought so that I could have a couple of slices for my homemade Pastrami Reubens. And just recently I saw a loaf of Sourdough bread at Aldi’s which I bought and have eaten about half of it so far, instead of the sprouted grain bread. And surprisingly for me, my blood sugar hasn’t been affected negatively by switching to the Sourdough.
It’s been quite a few months since the motorcycle rider up in Lillington kicked my passenger side mirror and broke it. He shattered it into quite a few pieces, but none of them dropped out immediately. In fact, I determined that the motor for the mirror still worked fine, and I rode around with the broken mirror for months. Only a few weeks ago as I was heading to Goldsboro for lunch did part of the mirror drop out.
Actually one piece may have dropped out the day I had the car inspected at Hendricks and just after leaving the dealership, I heard a high pitched sound coming from the direction of the passenger side mirror, but I didn’t equate it with air passing through the broken pieces. It was only when I noticed one piece had dropped out that I put two and two together and put the sound with wind.
I got it this far.After Jeff Pressed the Replacement Mirror into Place.
On the trip to and from Goldsboro, much of the broken mirror dropped out, and I pulled a piece or two off when I was in the Longhorn Restaurant parking lot in front of the Mall. Only one corner of the broken mirror remained and this was when I ordered a replacement mirror. I’m pretty sure the $500+ quote that Hendricks gave me was to replace the whole mirror assembly, but I realized that I only needed the mirrored section. And, the unheated mirror section only cost $19 and now I see the price has gone down by a couple of dollars at Amazon.
I finally popped the black plastic piece of the old mirror off today. But when I went to put the replacement on, it fit, but it didn’t lock into place. I don’t know why, but will try online to see if it is a known issue and if there is a simple fix. I’ve put the old plastic back on and put some of the blue painter’s tape on to hold it in place.
I took the replacement mirror with me when I took my defunct Dell Inspiron laptop to Jeff this morning, hoping he might have a trick or some experience and sure enough, he was willing to press the new mirror with more force than I would have and it finally snapped into place without breaking. The passenger side mirror is now working fine. The mirror motor wasn’t damaged when the motorcycle rider kicked it and broke the mirror glass.
I don’t watch many horror movies but came across this one that appears to have been made outside of Hollywood and in the South. A beautiful girl was telling a scary story and at the end she said something like, “Boo” and everyone jumped and then laughed and this reminded me of something I did many, many years ago.
I had a couple of younger friends, Tracy and Jane, who were best friends. There must have been a concert in Charlotte, North Carolina and someone loaned me their station wagon so that we could all go. I was driving. This car had power windows and I had never had a car that had power windows.
We went and had a good time and then came the long drive back to Jacksonville, North Carolina from Charlotte. The drive took place at night. We made it back to Elizabethtown and then got on the road to Burgaw. This was ages ago and there were long stretches of that road that had no houses on it.
It did for many years have a very tall TV antenna. I think I read that this was used by a Wilmington TV (WECT 6 Raycom) station. And, I do recall seeing an online video several years ago when they demolished the tower. This was a tower so tall that if you were near it’s base, you would hurt your neck bending it back to look all the way up to the top. But on this night the tall TV tower wasn’t the main event.
We started telling scary stories in the car. All the windows were up and as I said there were no houses, no lights along a long stretch of road. I’m not good at telling scary stories, and I was having to make one up on the fly but I had an idea for a surprise ending.
I told a story about a creature that lived along this stretch of road and it would abduct people driving along the road, snatching them from their vehicles never to be heard from again. So, I set this story up. Seems like there were 3 other people in the car. Tracy, Jane and I don’t recall the third girl.
Well, I get to the end of the story and it was dark in the car, but I had quietly moved my left hand over onto the 4 power window buttons, and at the finish of the story I pressed all four buttons and the windows came down and the air rushed into the car, and everyone let out a scream, and then laughed. What fun!
I’m looking at the credits for the horror movie, “Death Screams,” I was watching and it was a 1981 movie made in Shelby, North Carolina. That’s funny.
Susan Kiger (Playboy Playmate 1977) who did “hard core” porn before she became a playmate.
Andria Savio was married to Tony Curtis for several years.
2023
I just replayed the ending of this movie and I still don’t know who the killer was. I just didn’t pay enough attention to the movie other than making a comment to myself that there were a bunch of good looking women in it. I think I made a comment about Kiger having “Hallmark Channel Movie” beauty. And she did, but now that I know how rough she had been prior to making this film, I wouldn’t expect her to have ever done anything great in acting. *She stepped away from acting right after “Death Screams” and has been living in California ever since. She is just a couple of months older than me, and is a very attractive woman still.
NOT SO DEEP FAKES
A few days ago I came upon a YouTube video about how the actor, Denzel Washington, had argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and impressed the court with his legal acumen. I listened to the end of the video and found it extremely inspiring. I was just re-watching the demolition video embedded above and for some reason was reminded of the Denzel Washington video and I thought to google to see if the video was actually real… and it wasn’t. The story was almost completely made up. Washington hadn’t earned a law degree from Howard University and he never argued any case before the Supreme Court. How disappointing that some mook, and I use the term “mook” in the least favorable way,… some mook wasted my time vie,wing his creation of fiction. I can only hope that he or she will at some point in the future have their time wasted in a similar fashion. But the video, if it had been true would have been extremely inspiring.
*Just a few days ago and weeks after I had viewed the above video, I came across a story, online about a young woman police officer who disappeared in the 1970s. They were showing a picture of an attractive woman officer in uniform, and beside that pic was a picture of a rusted hull of an automobile, at the rocky sea shore. The word “POLICE” prominently displayed on it’s passenger side door. I began to read the story but as I did “little things” began to register. Notably, they mentioned the make and model of the patrol car the woman officer had been driving the night she disappeared, and when I looked at the rusted hull, I didn’t think that matched the named type of vehicle. And then it came to me to look for the key phrase at the start of this article… and yep, there it was, something to the effect that “the following content is fiction.” Okay, it doesn’t say that explicitly, but that is what the phrase means. Believe me, the little fictional stories made up to pique people’s interest, and waste their time following the stories as if the fiction was real has gotten to be a slick delivery tool.
Day before yesterday I was suffering from mild diarrhea so I decided not to try and go to Wegman’s in Raleigh. Yesterday, I was feeling much better and headed up to Raleigh again. Not sure why, but this time I didn’t take my shortcut, bypassing Bunnlevel, but went through the small town. Not actually sure I would call it a town. It does have a Post Office, Fire Department, a Dollar General and a church, but not much else. 45 miles per hour, and zip you’re through it.
My crass joke is based upon the simple observation of “Why won’t they ever build a high school in Bunnlevel?” And the reply is, “Because they would have to call it Ass Hole High.” If you’re from Bunnlevel, I’m pretty sure that’s an offensive joke, but as far as humor goes, it’s “spot on.”
I got to Lillington and decided to drive by the junk store. It was open and I went to a small parking lot nearby and walked back to it. I like many of the things they have. Unlike some junk stores, I find interesting things there, and I’ve bought items in the past. I bought a set of Lennox glasses once and there must have been at least 10 in the set because I think I kept four of them and gave six away. I ended up buying an “Azalea Coast” cook book for $4 plus tax. This cookbook didn’t fit my standard. No colorful pictures, but there were recipes from Wilmington, North Carolina and the nearby region of Pender, Hanover, and Brunswick Counties.
After Lillington I headed up and dropped off a couple of books at a Little Lending Library that I’ve visited before. This is the one where I once left a book that had some personal items in it. The book had an old driver’s license, a photo of a relative’s child, and maybe a Christmas card. The owner of the LLL returned these items to me via the U.S. Postal Service. But what do you expect from someone that leaves those types of personal items in a book? I didn’t open the letter that the person sent immediately. In fact, I think it may have been about 3 months before I opened it and read the note. And even worse, I didn’t send a thank you note anytime soon.
But yesterday I was in Fuquay Varina and stopped at their Walmart for the second time, maybe ever. A few weeks ago I had actually stopped there and bought a small hand vacuum cleaner. That broke the ice, and yesterday I stopped in and bought two things: a box of boxed matches and finally I bought a Walmart Gift Card. The store clerk was very helpful and even pointed me to the matches on H11.
I walked out to my car and as I was starting it up, I looked and saw the tire warning light on my dash. I checked and it said that my rear driver’s side tire only had 28 pounds of pressure. The rest of the tires had around 36/37 pounds. I had to decide what to do. I even asked Gemini what I should do. A tire store, or service station were a few of the suggestions. I asked if there was a Black’s Tire Service in the area. There was one in Apex, about 10 miles away. I thought through the process and decided I didn’t want to continue on to Wegman’s in Raleigh, buy some White American Cheese & the Bigelow Raspberry Royale tea (before Trump Tariffs stop things from being imported, or drive up prices so high). Yeah, I didn’t want to be sitting in my car in the Wegman’s parking lot, with cheese that needs refrigeration.
So, I started back home, and kept watch on the tire pressure. I might have gone twenty mile before the tire pressure dropped from 28 to 27. Once it did that, I knew I had made the right decision. And now the process began to gel in my mind. I had a box of trash in the trunk, but I wanted to get the tire from my apartment before I went to Black’s Tires. I think the rear tire pressure did drop to 26 as I neared home. I decided to put the trash in my back seat, and got the old tire and put it in the trunk. This was just the tire and not on a rim.
I made it to Black’s Tire Service on Ramsey Street, next to Methodist University without further problems. I told the young woman clerk that I had a tire leak and that I had a spare that could be put on a rim if necessary. Sure enough this was about the third tire, with a nail or wire, in a location that meant it couldn’t be repaired. And the clerk forgot about the spare that I had brought and quoted me a price of about $242 for the one new tire. I walked and sat back down in the waiting area, but my mind was processing the situation. Had she said that my tire couldn’t be repaired? I got back up and asked her. Sure enough she said it couldn’t be repaired and I asked why they couldn’t put the spare I had brought. She rushed out to tell the tech to put my spare on, which he did and my total bill ended up being only about $42. So having kept that old tire, even if it didn’t have a lot of tire tread, did finally pay off.
I now had good tires all around, but I wasn’t going to go back to Raleigh, but I now wanted to go to the La-Z-Boy in Fayetteville to give a saleswoman a copy of “Becoming” a bio by Michelle Obama. I had stopped in the store on Sunday looking to see what easy chairs they had. I think the first one I sat in was about $3K, and the rest appeared to be in that price range. So needless to say, I wouldn’t be buying from La-Z-Boy again.
Like, but not.
I had bought a sofa & love seat and my bent wood “Easy” chair there back in 2011 when I first moved to Long Hill Apartments. Eventually I gave the sofa & love seat to Jeff and Robin, and I’m guessing they have just moved that furniture with them to their new home. I haven’t gone to their new home yet, but have a bunch of “art” books for Ashlyn when I do.
I didn’t recall the name of the La-Z-Boy saleswoman, but we had a long conversation and I recalled that we had talked about her using an AI to organize a book she was writing. She was working and once I got close enough, I asked, “Did we have a conversation about how you were using AI to organize a book you were writing,” to which she replied, “Yes.” I told her I had a book for her. She thanked me and hugged me. I left. I hope she enjoys the book. It was a very enjoyable book and inspiring.
Oddly enough, I bought the book in Dunn at “Cat’s Corner.” I paid a little more than I had wanted, but I did want to give this book as a gift. But the “oddly” was that after I bought the book I saw Michelle Obama on TV talking about “doing stuff for herself.” I don’t think she actually said she wasn’t planning to not divorce Barak Obama, and he seemed to be apologetic in having “run up a tab” with his wife that he was trying to pay. I like them both, even if they do divorce. She hasn’t attended at least two events that you would normally think she would have. The funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, and the Inauguration of Donald Trump.
I definitely could see not attending anything for Trump. That was something that Hillary and Bill Clinton should have skipped. As I’ve said elsewhere, “If someone had called my wife ‘That lying Hillary’ over and over again during the Campaign, I sure wouldn’t have attended any event for them. And Trump actually thanked them both for their long civic service and had everyone stand and clap. How two-faced can you get? I think I know.
So, with her showing up on TV after a long time of not being on TV seemed almost prophetic. I figure the book will be enjoyed. I hope.
I’m now living under a Hex to not be able to get to Wegman’s and get the Raspberry Royale.
I’m supposed to get my new waffle iron today. A Cuisinart WMR-CAP2 Round Classic Waffle Maker, Brushed Stainless,Silver from Amazon. *Messaged that it was delivered, to a parcel locker, but no key in the mailbox. I left a note the next morning, and when I got back home the key was in the box. I got the new waffle iron. Hope it’s in working condition. Unboxed, looks a little flimsy.
Purchase Date: 04/08/2025 Date of Delivery: 04/12/2025 Purchased From: AMAZON.COM Price: $24.95
I plan to give my old one to the Northwoods Thrift Store. It’s been a long while since I had a waffle for breakfast. But, I haven’t had liver mush (liver pudding) either, nor polenta. **Gave the old one to the thrift store yesterday. ***Key not left in box the first day, but I left a note to the Postman next morning, and when I got back and checked the key was in the mailbox.
I coated the waffle iron surface with olive oil, top & bottom. Turned it on, and shortly the green light came on to add the batter. I had added some Greek Yogurt and sour cream to the Bisquick recipe for more moisture, and the waffle came out perfectly, and very quickly also. Added a little grass fed butter, some Agave Nectar and Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup. **Another reminder, but I’ve put this maple flavored no-sugar syrup on carrots with a little butter, on the stove top and the syrup gets thinner and not thicker as sugar might. You end up with a maple flavored glazed carrot.
*Oh, and I had a large glass jar which held the whole box of Bisquick. Some time ago, I had mealy bugs get in my opened box of Bisquick and ruin it, and some dry beans also. So, I bought a large glass jar (gallon or half-gallon) with a tight fitting lid for the Bisquick. No bugs this morning and it’s been well more than a month since. I’ve also put all my dry beans in small glass or plastic containers. Most containers are Ball/Mason/Dukes Mayo jars, some with canning jar lids and some with the yellow plastic Dukes Mayo lids.
I do want to mention how I am using AI to enhance my food experience. I can take a photo of a recipe in a cookbook and then have the AI interpret it.
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This was Gemini’s response:
The attached file contains a recipe for “SMOKED OYSTER DIP”. The recipe lists the following ingredients:
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
1 (3½-ounce) can smoked oysters, drained and chopped
½ cup ripe olives, minced
1 teaspoon onion, grated
The instructions are to thoroughly blend the cream cheese, sour cream, oysters, olives, and onion. The recipe suggests serving the dip with chips or crackers and states that it makes 1 cup. The recipe is attributed to Mrs. Landon B. Anderson (Connie).
I am impressed by how well the AI reads the text from a photo. And, if I wanted to add that recipe to a web page, or a Word document, the AI has done all the hard work for me. *It’s not always perfect, but when it is, it saves a lot of time. And then I can start exploring the recipe even further. Asking the calorie count, the suggested serving size and even reducing the ingredient amounts.
Gemini providing further exploration of the above recipe:
Okay, let’s calculate the approximate calories per serving based on our estimated serving size of 2 tablespoons (1/8 of the total recipe).
Here are the approximate total calories for the entire recipe:
Cream cheese: ~300 calories
Sour cream: ~180 calories (using an average)
Smoked oysters: ~160 calories
Ripe olives: ~110 calories (using an average)
Onion: ~1 calorie
Total estimated calories for the entire recipe: 300 + 180 + 160 + 110 + 1 = 751 calories
Now, to find the calories per serving (assuming 8 servings of 2 tablespoons each):
Calories per serving ≈ Total calories / Number of servingsCalories per serving ≈ 751 calories / 8 servingsCalories per serving ≈ 93.88 calories
Therefore, each serving of approximately 2 tablespoons of this Smoked Oyster Dip would contain roughly 94 calories.
Important Note: This is an estimated calorie count. The actual calories per serving can vary depending on the specific brands and types of ingredients used. For more precise nutritional information, it’s always best to check the nutrition labels of your ingredients.
And I can also ask the AI to make a recipe “more diabetic friendly,” and it will make suggestions like, “substitute Greek Yogurt for sour cream.”
I’m also using an online tool, “My Fitness Pal” to keep track of the foods I eat, or plan to eat. I also track my weight and resting blood glucose level.
I can add recipes to this, so I can take a picture of a recipe from some source, an old cookbook for instance, and have the AI generate the text from the photo. I then paste the recipe ingredients text into the recipe creation tool at My Fitness Pal. It then searches for these ingredients and pretty soon, I have a new recipe, with the almost exact calorie counts. I did this for the “Black Beans and Quinoa” recipe that I had found online. I didn’t have to rely on someone else having already posted this recipe to the site. I did it.
And while I’m still think of it, I am going to try to use those empty glass vials that I bought to use as chess pieces for my new pill organizer. I hope I kept some and didn’t donate them all to the thrift store. I looked at the pill organizers that $T has, and none worked. Too small, odd shaped, all one unit and not daily.
I found a few of the tall glass vials and tried my morning tablets in it. They fit easily and the smaller, half sized glass vial might fit all the morning, or all the evening tablets also. I’m pretty sure I donated them, but if not I will have enough for my tablets and they will also be easily fillable for both morning & evening. True that the mouth of the vials is small, but they came in a box where the vials can line up nicely side by side. But, the small mouth means I can just turn the vial up and swallow.
I found the box of glass vials (3 different sizes) that I used to make a chess set. I don’t have enough of the 2/3rd size to have matching vials for 7 days, but I do have enough of the tall vials for 7 days, two vials per day. *While in Target today I happened to see a black silicone ice tray. It had 7 slots on each side (7 days, morning & evening). I thought the slots were about the right size, but once I got home, they were a little short, and the diameter of each vial was a little large for the slot, but the slots a flexible and that creates a snug fit for each vial. I think this might work.
**This worked fine. I’ve used two sizes of glass vials. The shorter vials are for my nighttime pills, and the taller for the morning pills. I’ve attached color coded labels and a 3 letter day code: SUN, MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT for each day. I fill up each vial (did this morning for the first time) and screw the aluminum cap on each. They fit snuggly into the ice tray. After I use a vial, I leave the cap off but stuff the cap into the empty tray and turn the empty glass vial upside down and stuff it in the other section of that tray section. That way, moisture doesn’t get into the empty vial. I now keep the whole week’s worth of vials and the rubber tray on the shelf next to the bathroom sink.
And before I forget it, I saw a package of shower curtain hooks (the old style that act like carabiners) and I realized that they could be used to hook my large (non-electric) wok to my mobile kitchen stand. The little S hook that I had wouldn’t fit on one side of the cart, but did on the side… that I didn’t need it on. *I did buy some of these and have put about 5 or 6 pots & pans on the end of the mobile kitchen cart, that used to sit on the stove top.
**This works great. I’ve added about 5 pots & pans from my smallest Revere Ware pot, to the largest (non-electric wok). I can walk in and out of my kitchen and don’t brush against these dangling beside the mobile cart.
I finally got up the courage or interest, to read about pickled eggs, and in reading about them, I suddenly had the idea and minor desire to try and make some pickled eggs at home.
I love eggs. I like the standard formats of scrambled and hard boiled, and over medium, and I’ve even made poached eggs and have microwaved them to my satisfaction. But the thought of “pickled eggs” has for many years, since my youth, has elicited an extreme aversion to trying to even taste one bite. Here is why.
As a boy growing up in Eastern North Carolina, I would travel about, tagging along with my mother, or favorite aunt (Aunt Sis) and going into stores as they either shopped, or window shopped, or even just stopped in to “touch base” with the store owner, or some long time friend, relative or acquaintance. There were several of these stores, perhaps even small enough to be called a shop, as this was before the Convenience Store became popular. These small stores might have all sorts of goods for sale, both food related, and household, or outdoor work related. And up near the checkout counter or cash register, there might be one or two large glass jars labeled, and two different food items would be floating, one type in one jar and the other type in the other jar. They weren’t mixed. And these items were floating in what I came to know as vinegar or brine. The items were “pickled pig’s feet,” and “pickled eggs.” For some reason I found the idea of fishing out either from their nasty looking jar, and eating them, was a repulsive thought.
I love pig’s feet, when I cook them at home. The process is simple, Get a large pot to place on the stove top, pour in enough water to cover all the meat, and add a little salt and pepper, and just a hint of Cider Vinegar to “sweeten their flavor” and after a very long cooking time, the scant meat and the vast amounts of cartilage break down, and release almost completely from the massive amounts of intertwined pig’s feet bones.
I will say that eating pig’s feet is an interesting process. Your fingers start to stick together. And now I think, this is probably why they can turn a horse into glue. But, I have almost completely stopped fixing pig’s feet because of the feeling I am left with after eating them. It may be the high fat content, or salt, but I feel awful, as if I have been drugged. Much like my body’s reaction to eating a doughnut. Just eating part of one, I almost immediately go into a sugar coma, which can last for several hours.
The other item that connoted gastric horrors were the pickled eggs. They were in a dark brine, or some in a brine colored by beet juice, giving the brine and the eggs a deep purplish color. But, it wasn’t the color of the eggs, it was the thought of all those people sticking their fingers and hands in this one jar to fish out an edible egg. And I know it was probably only the store owner that did the fishing, and he probably had a large spoon to complete the process. But I never had the desire.
I was watching a YouTube video about someone shopping at various grocery chains, and maybe it was Sam’s Club where as he was walking along he saw a case of these and just looked in wonder that these were for sale. And having tried them finally, I would wonder even more.
And now I have the first ever pickled hardboiled eggs sitting in a small glass jar in my kitchen, in a brine of Apple Cider Vinegar, water, beet juice with some mustard seeds, sweetener, a Bay leaf, one garlic clove and some peppercorns. According to one online suggestion, I should wait perhaps a week or more to let all the flavors meld before trying an egg. I have two eggs in the jar, so I may not wait a week to try the first. And, if I like the first pickled egg I try, I may not wait for a whole week.
Now, at 71 years old, never having ever tried a pickled egg, what if I find that like many other food items, I love the unique flavor of a hardboiled egg seasoned with a little vinegar and beet juice.
And, I like the flavor of beets. I got the beet juice for the pickled eggs from a jar of sliced beets. I poured out the rest of the beet juice, after adding some to the egg brine, and I dumped the sliced beets into a small Rubbermaid container. I then added a little Cider Vinegar, some Balsamic Vinegar and some sweetener, coconut sugar & Agave Nectar.
If I like the pickled eggs, then finding a use for the beet juice I once threw out, but now can repurpose would be fantastic. And that I quite often boil a couple of eggs to make egg salad, would make it easy for me to boil two eggs for immediate consumption, and two eggs for a later pickled egg treat.
NOTE [03/31/25]: I think I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but I didn’t like the pickled eggs. I wouldn’t make them or any variation of them again. They were pickled, but if I want something pickled, I’ll eat a pickle. Now, I do like the flavor of sweet bell peppers, sweet onion and tomatoes in a turmeric/vinegar brine. That would give the eggs a bright orange or yellow color, but I’m not sure I would like them with that flavor either. [end NOTE]
I think the Spicy Chili Crisp gave it better flavor. The original recipe, with slight mods, was pleasant, but not distinctive enough. I’m not sure what it could have used. It wasn’t unpleasant, but just didn’t “pop.”
I halved the finished product, and added some Spicy Chili Crisp to the second half. This reddens everything, so the scallops come out a darker brown color. I just went back to taste this version before storing it in the fridge, and you know what? I like it. This was just enough of a change to make it pop. Maybe this version, on some polenta, and with a simple salad with the Cilantro-Honey-Lime dressing. *Agave Nectar instead of honey.
If you’re paying attention to my current seasoning favorites, you know that I’ve used a lot of Toasted Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, ginger powder, bell pepper, carrot, and Red Wine Vinegar. So, this was just a very minor side step.
Ingredients
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup long-grain white rice
¼ cup rice vinegar (red wine vinegar)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower (Avocado)
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
2 bunches scallions, white and green parts separated, cut into 2-inch lengths (onion)
2 carrots, halved lengthwise, or quartered if large, and cut into 1 ½-inch lengths
In some ways, this meal reminds me of the Seared Scallops with Minted Smushed Peas. It looked great, but just didn’t deliver. If you recall I found this recipe from a page that was highlighting entrees that would go well with polenta, and my comment was that the photo on their page didn’t show any polenta.
But, what I produced, had polenta, and I also added a colorful red cabbage & yellow corn salad, which made the image pop even more… red, yellow, mint green, and the seared scallops. The colorful red & yellow grape tomatoes didn’t hurt the color palate either.
I wonder if going a slightly different direction and adding shrimp with the scallops, and then instead of Toasted Sesame Oil, forget the ginger, and using Oyster & Fish Sauces, and maybe serve over Polenta. And, maybe use tomato, instead of carrot. Not a lot of tomato, sort of like I use in my Kielbasa, Shrimp & Zucchini dish. Just a little tomato forms a slightly reddish sauce, without overpowering like a tomato sauce.
Then it came to me, “You know, some fried chicken livers would really set off the seared bay scallops.” Let’s try, bay scallops, chicken livers, and bacon, with maybe some stir-fried green beans. That’s probably what the scallops need to pop. Sort of like when you add sausage to shrimp in a Frogmore Stew.
I was looking for the Sempio Brown Rice ( 현미 ) Vinegar ( 식초 ) and went to three Korean Asian grocers in Fayetteville, and none had the Sempio Vinegar. But, while I was looking in the Sun Asian Super Market, I happened to see the “Spicy Chili Crisp” and the “Fried Chili in Oil” that I like (very much) and they have a good price on it, although Walmart has it listed online at $3.88 a jar.
I just noticed from the above photo the cardboard inserts separating some of the jars. The packaging adds to the confusion, and I’ve found little difference between the flavors of “Fried Chili in Oil,” “Hot Chili Sauce,” and “Spicy Chili Crisp.” I do see some jar size and label color variations that I hadn’t noted before. *I see both “Spicy Chili Crisp” and “Fried Chili in Oil” in Walmart. One of them has fried peanuts in it.
In one of my early stir-fries, using the Spicy Chili Crisp, I ended up with a finished product that had a few peanuts in it. I asked myself where those had come from and eventually I found that they were “hidden” in the Spicy Chili Crisp.” Welcome by me, but I’m sure someone with a peanut allergy might fall out dead from a little taste.
While in Pan’s Thai Market I bought two different things, “to try.” I bought a bottle of spicy pepper vinegar that had some whole veggies (looked like peppers and white garlic cloves) floating in it, and a small jar of “black pepper sauce.”
The pepper vinegar turned out to be nothing more than “pepper vinegar,” which I knew those flavors from my childhood. Like those small shaker bottles of “hot pepper vinegar” that we would have put on raw oysters. Nothing new, and nothing really special. I’ve made similar at home by putting the various colorful peppers I’ve bought “in season” at the Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.
A brief aside here. Specifically a comment on my age, and it’s effects. I’ve noticed that my typing, specifically, my spelling of words as I type has become more sporadic. I rarely had this trouble for most of my adult life. *Perhaps some of this “misspelling” can be attributed to the automatic “corrective word spell” software that tries to take over and correct me, on the fly, and many times missing entirely on my message, and choosing incorrect words, and spellings that I have to correct as I go back and reread what was written, not necessarily what I wrote, or intended to write. But I think at least some of my misspelling is due to my age, and my mind just not working as well as it did. This was a message from our sponsor, and now back to the show.
The other item, “black pepper sauce,” was more interesting. It had what I would call a “gelatinous” look, but the deep black pepper flavor was captivating. I liked the flavor, but my mind wasn’t quite sure, how I would use this sauce, or what I would put it on. I couldn’t quite imagine spreading it on bread for a ham sandwich… although I might at least give that a try. It’s consistency being odd, I couldn’t imagine mixing it with Dukes mayo, or French’s yellow mustard. No. But, I am looking for a place to put this, and if I find it, I think it will be a happy addition to all those “earthy” flavors that I enjoy. (Earthy flavors e.g. fried chicken livers, pig’s feet, Nueski’s smoked liver pate). And none of those items listed here, would be something that would benefit from this Black Pepper Sauce.
Ah, I just read a note on someone’s web site, that this sauce is “thickened with starch.” Yes, that might give it that gelatinous quality. And now AI puts in it’s two cents, “It is perfect for pairing with barbequed or grilled meat like steak, chicken, or shrimp.“
Finally, after several years of searching, I found another coffee mug so similar to the one I bought, that is has to be the same potter. The photo was attributed to Claudia Dunaway, an artist living in Burnsville, North Carolina. I have not been able to recall where I bought my mug, but from a date on the photo, and that I was on a short vacation which went through Asheville near that time, I have guessed that I may have bought the mug at Southern Highland Craft Guild, Folk Art Center, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just off Hwy. 70 at Asheville. *I have asked there, and at the New Morning Gallery another place that I’ve bought mugs from through the years, but neither location recognized my description or image I had on my phone.
I just found a useful piece of information about Claudia Dunaway on the Toe River Arts web site:
“From 1974-2018 Claudia Dunaway was a full-time potter working primarily in stoneware and porcelain, with a focus on carving and drawing on the surface of her pots through colored slips, a process called sgrafitto. In 2018 Claudia received a scholarship to Penland School of Craft for a woodblock printmaking class taught by Master Printmaker Keijo Shinohara. This experience shifted her focus to printmaking….”
John D. Richards’ Spaceship Drawing
Claudia Dunaway explains silkscreens in use.
I was on one of my short vacations in 2018 that took me through the Asheville, North Carolina area.
I bought the mug because of the various whimsical elements: cartoon space ship, plants which in my mind represent an alien race or community, the swirls embedded into the mug, and the “three point” nature of the mug’s odd shape. *I did not expect to find the following YouTube video in which Claudia Dunaway explains how she makes the imprinted pottery/mugs. She is actually using the image that I have on my mug of a cartoon spaceship. And, if you look closely at the video, there are several not yet printed mugs that might be like mine once finished.
I’ve now found enough examples, see above gallery, that I know this is a Claudia Dunaway and John D. Richards Collaboration. They were doing these as far back as 2012, and Claudia Dunaway may have gone in a different artistic direction about the time when I bought my mug. Oh, well.
NOTE: I sent her an email asking a couple of questions and she had definitely been doing “other” work and could hardly recall anything about my mug. It was a collaboration between her and her partner. He had drawn the images, and she had added the images to the mugs and other pottery with a print screen process (see video). Interesting and it might have even been possible that one of the unfinished mugs seen in the YouTube video might have ended up being mine. [end]
I was walking along one of the isles at Golden Hex in Cary yesterday and happened to see a jar of some type of jelly. You’ve got to understand that Golden Hex is a European Market specializing in various foods from Europe. They have a deli meat & cheese section where I bought some Head Cheese and some Kabanosy Podsuszane (dry sausage – links).
Head Cheese
I had originally found Golden Hex online, a couple of years ago, because I was looking for a store that sold Blutwurst or Head Cheese. I couldn’t find anyone who did sell these, and even got a weird look from a deli worker in a restaurant near UNC-G when I asked if they sold Blutwurst. I think I first tried Blutwurst and/or Head Cheese when I was living and working down in Myrtle Beach shortly after I had graduated from UNC-W in 1976. There was a deli located next to the tennis shop I was managing, “Tennis With Love,” and I tried several of their “exotic” meats sandwiches.
*I don’t recall whether I viewed a YouTube video, or if I found a web site regarding the following: There was a young, inexperienced, sausage maker (butcher?) who was going through a book about how to make various sausages. One of the types of sausage he made was “Kabanosy Podsuszane.” It must have been a video I was watching because I recall that his finished product looked “too fat” to be like the Kabanosy Podsuszane I had tried earlier from Golden Hex, and there must have been a comment section because some other viewer made the comment that the result wasn’t a true Kabanosy Podsuszane because it appeared to have too much moisture (not dry enough) as this commenter had experienced growing up (in Poland, I think). The commenter suggested that you can’t learn everything from a book, but you need to find an experienced sausage maker, who can teach you how to make the various sausages. I thought this was a very wise suggestion, although I read and interpret well, I know that words and their interpretation have limits, and just because someone explains in great detail “how to do something” doesn’t mean anyone can pick up a recipe, read it, follow the “step by step” instructions and come out with a successful finished product. It can happen, and sometimes, it can’t.
I like that Golden Hex has labeled their products along their shelves including a colorful national flag of where the item comes from. I would think that they might create a special monthly display where they congregate all of a country’s items, in one location. One month a special display of all items they sell from “Germany,” next, “Poland,” “the Ukraine,” “Israel,” etc., one each month.
The one item that I had on my list to buy at Golden Hex was an item they currently had out of stock. I talked with one of the owners and he said he knew the “Zip” (company name) product and would re-order it. I did buy a different brand of seaweed to see if that would work as well.
Dried Golden Berries
I saw from the label on the shelf that this was Sea Buckthorn Jelly (from the Ukraine), and I had never heard of Sea Buckthorn. My thought was that it might taste a little like Golden Berries which are slightly tart in flavor.
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At home later, I tried the Sea Buckthorn Jelly and liked the flavor. I tried it by itself from the jar, and then on a Black Sesame Rice Cracker, and a slice of Sourdough Bread, with a little grass fed butter. Oh yeah, and with a little peanut butter and with some Greek Gods “Plain” Yogurt.
Late in the afternoon, about 4 pm, I drove over to Publix to pick up the Seeded Rye Bread that I had ordered last Monday. I only wanted half a loaf, and it sliced. I made the initial order on Monday, but later that day I heard on TV that there was a winter storm coming and Thursday, the day after the storm, I probably wouldn’t be able to drive over to Publix, so the next day, I went back in to Publix, with my pink order form and asked that they change the pick-up day to Saturday, the 22nd. A woman took my pink sheet, went around the corner, out of sight, and after a short while came back to me, handed me the pick slip, and said that the pick-up date had been changed to Saturday.
— Sounds good, until I show up on Saturday about 4 pm and find that they have no bread for me. They look at my pink slip that shows the original pick-up date of 02/20/25. But I tell the man that I had come back in and the date was supposed to be changed. *I do see the number “22” but it’s in the price section, and the original date isn’t crossed out. But, I’m thinking that the woman entered the new date in “the computer.” The only logic I can think of is that the baker, instead of looking to the computer for the scheduled orders, may have looked at the original order form and thought that date had already passed for pickup.
It’s not my job, but my curiosity will try to make sense of why my order was dropped even after I physically came back to the store and supposedly had the date changes.
I’m glad that they didn’t have my Seeded Rye Bread because I bought some Head Cheese at Golden Hex and want to finish that off before I make my Pastrami Reuben. I haven’t opened my Hillshire Farms Pastrami yet, so hopefully it won’t go bad before I use it next week, or whosever Seeded Rye Bread I buy.
As I walked back to my car I was thinking about going over to the new Sheetz store that has just been opened in the last day or so. Coming into Publix, I had seen that gas was listed on the sign for $2.35 a gallon. $2.35 a gallon is a great price currently since I’ve been paying around $2.79 a gallon.
I did go over and get “cheap” gas. *But oddly, next day, this morning I passed two different convenience stores that were showing gas for $2.59 a gallon, so the price of gas must be starting on a downward trend.
[NOTE 03/19/25]: I finished off the Sea Buckthorn Preserves this afternoon. I added some of them to Plain Greek Yogurt. It has a citrusy flavor, that is unique. Probably you could say that peach preserves have a distinctive flavor, or orange marmalade.
Hopefully the Ukraine won’t be “sold out” and their democracy will flourish, instead of being incorporated back into Russia. Oh, yeah, in case you didn’t make note of it, these preserves were from the Ukraine. [end NOTE]
I started smoking these “Original” RamRod Cigars many years ago. I came upon them first at a smoke shop just across the river from New Bern, beside Hwy. 70 heading toward Havelock, North Carolina. Eventually this smoke shop stopped selling these cigars. The owners of this shop appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent. I did find the RamRod “Deputy” cigar, but this was a little cleaner looking and about half the length of the original. The original was long and sort of gnarly (not a straight roll of the cigar) that was Bourbon flavored. I have driven past this location within the last three months and the smoke shop is no longer there, but it was there for many years.
I like the aroma and flavor of these Avanti Cigars. It is Cafe Mocha. I think I first tried these at JR’s off of I 95 at Smithfield, North Carolina, because they had stopped selling the RamRod Cigar. I rarely smoke, but do it maybe one in a three to six months period. I’ve said, and this was the original reason, that I smoke a cigar to “get in character” when reading something like “1984” or a “seedy” detective novel.
JR’s is now just a large smoke shop, but for many years JR’s was a large, sprawling department type store, with a large book section. I’ve bought many cookbooks there, for myself and as presents for Mary Ann and others. JR’s sold clothing, dishes, cologne & perfumes, and assorted “stuff.” This was one JR’s location, but I think the other that I knew of, and visited at least once, was located at Statesville, North Carolina.
I bought a pack of cheap cigars, GAME Expresso Martini. They were a pleasant smoke. I may have bought Swisher Sweets BLK Cocoa flavored. If so it smoked fast, but had a pleasant flavor. The plastic tips begin to melt when the cigar burns near it.
I guess this posting will morph into a story about things that were, and are no more. “If you live long enough… and even if you don’t.”
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that there was a LIDL in Havelock that I shopped at when passing through the area. This was just off Hwy 70 that passes through Havelock as you are going between Morehead City and New Bern. I’ve also mentioned that I now see the blatant evidence that they are working on a bypass for Havelock. But one time, I bought a gallon of milk and a jar of dill pickles and was surprised that the pickles cost a little more than the gallon of milk. *Maybe that’s why LIDL didn’t last at this location. But, I took a picture, with the jar of pickles, the gallon of milk and even the register receipt (that’s readable, if you zoom in far enough).
I think there’s another LIDL location, in Rockingham, North Carolina that I shopped at a couple of times before they closed. I think that location has been repurposed, but I don’t recall to what purpose.
But recently, I’ve started shopping at LIDL in Fayetteville more than in the past. I’ve found that they sell the “Hatfield” Brand of hams. I first bought a pre-sliced Hatfield Ham at Harris Teeter, and then couldn’t get another. And then was recently surprised by seeing the LIDL sells the Hatfield Brand, and I bought one there. *But, they also had good looking carrots, so I bought some of these also. Pre-Covid, I could get a small bag of carrots at Food Lion, near me. After Covid, they and other groceries began to sell larger bags of carrots, and not the small sized bags. LIDL also sells the Hillshire Farms Brand of “Beef Polska Kielbasa.” Both LIDL and Walmart have good prices on the Hillshire Farms products.
One of the meals @ FATZ in Cheraw, SC
If you travel to Cheraw, South Carolina you could drive by the former location of FATZ Restaurant. I enjoyed eating at the restaurant chain several times. They were sort of a Yuppy environment, and I had some delicious “Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts” there. They were so good that when I came back home I tried to make these at home and was successful. There was/is a FATZ in Rockingham also, but I’m not sure if it is still open for business.
I’ve been to Rockingham quite a few times. I fell in love with the fried chicken (and other buffet items) at the Seaboard Station Restaurant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Hamlet is a short distance from Rockingham, and I will normally also visit the library in Hamlet and then go to the library in Rockingham. I’ve bought books at both locations several times. I’ve also bought books at the library in Laurenburg, North Carolina. They usually have a large selection. Most of the books I buy are not for me to read but as books to leave in various “Little Lending Libraries” at various locations, in assorted cities & towns, or to give as gifts to family & friends.
But in mentioning libraries, the main library in Asheboro, North Carolina is vibrant. They keep a large selection of book on counters for perusing. The library in Laurenburg has also done some remodeling inside and “looks good.”
Normally I do not drive on Hwy. 70 directly between New Bern to Havelock and then on to Morehead City. I have recently, but that is the exception.
The new New Bern bridge crossing the Neuse River.
I normally will drive across the bridges at New Bern and over to the Bridgeton side of the river.
Growing up, I would cross the old New Bern bridge, between New Bern and Bridgeton, riding on a Trailways Bus heading from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia. This was a low bridge, near the water that headed directly across the river. This bridge was torn down years ago.
Leo on one of his boats.
*A note, I had a good friend, Leo Taylor, who hired me to work in the IT department at Fayetteville State University. Leo’s parents (“Silver” was his mom.) ran the Trailways Bus Terminal in Washington, North Carolina. I call Washington, NC, “Little Washington” as most of us did. So, no telling if I ever saw a young Leo as I was passing through on the bus (either heading to or from Portsmouth).
My mom worked at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth for several years and I continued to live with my Aunt Sis (mom’s sister) in Hubert, North Carolina until I graduated High School in 1972. I then went on to college, and when I returned to the area, lived with my mom at our house in Jacksonville, North Carolina (204 Johnson Blvd.).
The house at 204 Johnson Blvd. was torn down several years ago and the lot remains empty, but the property is owned by my cousin, Raymond Sharpe.
Then on to the Minnesott Beach Ferry and taking the 20 minutes ride across the river, and from the Cherry Branch side, I will normally head back to Havelock and then find the route to head back to Swansboro. But when I have much more time, I might “take a left” and head away from Havelock and find my way, the “back way,” to Beaufort, North Carolina. I then try to drive down the waterfront. For many years there was “Down East Gallery,” the art gallery of Allen Cheek, but that has been gone for quite a few years now.
LaVaughn’s on the Beaufort waterfront.
There was also a gift shop, “LaVaughn’s” from which I bought several Mangum ceramic mugs. That shop too has been gone quite a few years. *But, I have gone to the Mangum store in Weaverville, North Carolina. Weaverville is about 9 miles north of Asheville, North Carolina. I visited this gallery the last time I was in Asheville, which was about 5 weeks before Hurricane Helene came through the area. *I happened to find a picture of LaVaughn’s storefront on my old Flickr site, otherwise I would have never recalled what the name was. *I found the owner’s obituary online: LaVaughn J. Hendricks
These were the Mangum mugs I bought at LaVaughn’s over the years. I also bought a large serving platter in this pattern, and a creamer. Seems like I also had a sugar bowl too, but I think I’ve gotten rid of the platter, creamer & sugar bowl. I use the largest Mangum mug regularly, usually for coffee.
I poured out a small amount of my “Bill’s Drink” into one of my glass beer mugs. I’ve had these over 30 years They belonged to Russ & Deborah, and they had donated them to the “Hem of His Garment” when I was working there, and I bought all six of them. I was living, working and going to school (Coastal Carolina Community College) in Jacksonville, North Carolina at the time. When I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1995, I brought these beer mugs with me. They were a nice size for drinks with ice.
So, just about an hour ago, I had used these beer mugs without breaking any of them in over 30 years. *I just checked and I still have five left.
I wanted to wash one of my drink carafes which had a small amount of “Bill’s Drink” in it. I poured the remaining drink into one of my beer mugs and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. I like my drink hot or cold, and almost every day for more than six months.
So, I was doing something. I might have been pre-treating a few of my T-Shirts with the stains that haven’t come out after a good washing. I think some of the stains are from spilled Hot Chili Crisp, which is a reddish oily stain. I pre-treated with Dawn dishwashing liquid, and a little water, but I didn’t see much of those stains being loosened, or disappearing. But, all of a sudden I hear a loud crash. It sounded like something had fallen off a nearby shelf. I even walked out of the kitchen and into my living room looking for what might have fallen, but didn’t see anything.
I came back into the kitchen and heard my microwave talking to me, so I went to open the microwave door. It was then that I saw something that surprised me. The glass beer mug had exploded in the microwave and except for one large ring of glass, the rim of the glass mug, there were a bunch of large shards of glass and the small amount of Bill’s Drink.
The drink was room temperature. No ice. And, I’ve heated water for hot tea in these glass mugs for years. In fact, I will even use the glass mug to heat the water and then transfer the hot water into a fancier coffee/tea mug. Not sure why this happened, but it is an exceptionally rare occurrence, “never” rare. *I’ve re-thought this and I think it may have been that I had so little liquid in this mug that it allowed the existing liquid to get much hotter, thereby breaking the glass mug. I have heated many, many, many of these mugs, with either water, or Bill’s Drink in them from 3 minutes to a couple of minutes and none have ever broken until now. I even heated water in one of the remaining mugs for 3 minutes this morning to make my Raspberry Royale tea and it worked just fine. **I will just have to pay attention and fill these mugs higher.
*I seem to recall breaking two other glasses when I had put either ice, or extremely cold liquid in them and then the heat from the microwave cracked them, but this wasn’t the case. Maybe the small amount of liquid concentrated the heat on the glass.
This may be the perfect spot to show my current coffee/tea cups/mugs. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of all but about three of them, but don’t quite know which three to keep. I did have a favorite, large, blue glass mug that cracked, and I didn’t replace it because of how expensive a replacement would be.
Bill Gibson, II 