I bought this pasta at Publix. I was surprised by how quickly it seems to cook.

I fixed browned, ground beef, assorted peppers (hot & mild), onion, carrot and Salsa Ranchera and added some sweetener. Goes well with the noodles.

ADDENDUM [ 07/25/22 }: I’ve had a sweet ground beef with Salsa Ranchera sauce a couple of days in a row. I still had some ground beef to finish up (or freeze) so I opted for another ground beef and pasta (shells) dish again tonight. But, I was going to try and not add sweetener or Agave Nectar to this dish.

I decided to add some Green Olives (pitted), onion, tomato, peppers (one hot and one not), to some ground beef and pasta shells. Cumin, celery seeds, freshly ground pepper & salt, some marjoram & garlic powder and Grapeseed Oil.

This turned out really well. Not sweet, except for maybe the onion. Capers might have added to the saltiness of the olives. One of the peppers was relatively hot.

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After having this dish with the Pastaribbons a couple of times, I think I like the pasta shells better. The reason being is that the Pastaribbons do not hang on the fork well with the other ingredients. And, it is difficult to get more than one ribbon on the fork at a time. I also like the whole, pitted olives better than halved olives. I think the olive flavor is more pronounced with the whole olive.

NOTE: I googled for recipes that included: ground beef, green olives, onion, hot peppers, tomato and cumin. The primary recipes that I found with these ingredients were for “Cuban Picadillo”. But, the Cuban Picadillo included potatoes or were served with rice, might include raisins, and may or may not have cilantro and may have included tomato paste.

I did not create my recipe by starting with the ingredients for Cuban Picadillo and that is why my recipe headed in a different direction but with most of the same ingredients. The key ingredient for my recipe started with the green pitted olives. I also eliminated sweetness (other than from the onion) for this recipe because I normally add Splenda and/or Agave Nectar, diced tomatoes and Salsa Ranchera sauce. The other dominate ingredient was assorted peppers, which I had purchased at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh last week. I used several peppers, not knowing if they were hot or not. I’m thinking that Poblano and Jalapenos should be the primary peppers, but not necessarily limiting the peppers to those two. Maybe a colorful sweet bell pepper. Not sure if a bit of Habanero might not work.

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Although peppers have had my attention this week, I am still enjoying the pan fried, round bone lamb chops from Publix. I’ve had several meals with microwaved corn on the cob. Walmart has some good sweet corn. I’ve also enjoyed some tomatoes that I bought at a local farmers market, and some fried okra. Some of the okra I purchased at the State Farmers Market. They had just put out some okra, and I was the first to get at it.

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I thought about bringing my red wagon, but didn’t. Yes, it was in the car. If I plan on getting a watermelon, I definitely would think about bringing the wagon. According to this flyer, it is okay to bring your own containers, including a “cart” for shopping.

A TIP: Here is a trick I use when shopping at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. The retail section includes two (maybe three) long straight covered areas. During corn season, I normally will walk along from vendor to vendor, down one side of the shelter, and then come back on the other side. As I go from vendor to vendor, I taste the samples (not all vendors offer samples) of corn. I make a note of which corn is the sweetest and when I’ve made my first circuit, the second time is when I go directly to the vendor that had the sweetest corn and make my purchase.

A few years ago, pre-COVID, there was a farmer, named Farmer, who was selling sweet corn, on the cob. I seem to recall that he had an old white pickup truck with the truck bed full of ears of corn (unshucked). He did not offer samples, but he did have the sweetest corn. I think he would have sold more corn, or sold what he had more quickly if he had offered samples. Break a single ear of corn into four samples, or maybe cut it smaller. *The last time I saw the old white truck, the old Farmer (grandpa) wasn’t there, but had sent his grandson to sell the corn. This was probably three years ago, now.

I normally buy unshucked corn on the cob. I take it home and when ready to cook it in the microwave, I cut off both ends of an ear, but leave the shuck on the cob. On my microwave, I set the timer to 5 minutes for one or two ears. At the end of the cooking time, the corn has been steamed in it’s husk. It is hot, often too hot to hold for very long, but I start my kitchen sink, cold water, and put it on spray. I then put the hot corn under the cold water spray and shuck it, also pulling off the corn silk. The corn is able to be handled, and is still warm, and then is when I add butter/margarine to each ear, and some salt.

I’ve also used this trick if I can’t get unshucked corn on the cob. If they have already shucked the corn and maybe put it in plastic bags, go ahead and buy it if it is the “sweetest.” At home, you can take each ear of corn and wrap it a few times in a paper towel and then wet the paper towel around the corn. When you start to heat it in the microwave, the wet paper towel will hold the water in against the corn, and you will get the necessary “steaming” to cook the corn. Re-use the wet paper towels when possible.

Man consists of both body and soul (spirit).

When does the spirit attach itself to the body? Why does the spirit continue with the body, until death?

By the time we become aware of the spirit, it is already a part of us.

We think and we point to our brain. We love and we point to our heart.

I had a nervous break down in my early 40s. For a long time, that which happened before the breakdown seemed like it happened to a different person than afterwards.

We have no proof that the spirit leaves the body at the time of our death. A dead body cannot speak or move or communicate, but is that necessarily proof that the spirit is no longer with the body.

But, religion, tells us, or leads us to believe that the spirit continues on, without the body.

Do we make “moral” decisions based upon our spirit?

We couldn’t have “a living” body, without the spirit? Would that be a Zombie?

Does the spirit give the person coherence? By this I mean, the string of decisions and action we make and take through our life.

We do things daily to live. We awaken, eat, shower, poop, go to work, come home, relax, eat and sleep. But there are quality of life issues that we deal with, perhaps not every day. We find someone to love, date, marry, have children. We question “the meaning of life”. We make decisions upon some moral standard… or not.

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The things you can trust, on the non-spiritual plane in this life, appear to be few. Republicans took the “high moral ground.” People of intellect trusted in “Science,” even if they were religiously oriented. I could not have imagined that “an educated” individual would reject taking a vaccine for personal or societal protection, and that it would be even more unbelievable that someone in the medical profession would refuse taking a vaccine. Or wear a protective mask… to protect others and not themselves. To not trust the Government… after having spent enough years to retire from the Government. At what point did you stop trusting the Government? But, you do trust the Government enough for them to keep those retirement checks coming… don’t you?

Your parents trusted the Government when they were told to vaccinate you for Polio, didn’t they? You do wear a mask in the Operating Room, don’t you? It’s not a political statement to not wear one. If anything, the insurance company would refuse to protect the hospital, if the doctors & nurses didn’t wear masks during surgical procedures. It’s not political! It’s Science! How do you work in the medical profession and not be sold out to the merits of Science? How many pills do you take a day for various conditions or as corrective measures? Each an act of faith. So not taking the Vaccine means you don’t trust its ability to be a successful preventative to a disease. But, with millions of persons having taken “the Vaccine” and not suffered negatively, why are you choosing to focus on the relatively few examples of negative reactions? Okay, if God has told you not to, that’s okay with me.

The two major political parties in America, Republicans and Democrats, have chosen to not work with each other for quite a number of years now. MAGA, hell. MAGA is only possible if everyone is a Republican. How was America ever Great, when Democrats and Republicans worked together in Congress to get things done. There can be no greatness with compromise… So, I’m not sure how far back you have to go to say, “American was Great” then. When was “then” for you? Was America’s greatness just after WWII, or during WWII? Korea? Vietnam? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan? Was America great during FDR’s Presidency? JFK’s? Or how about during the Nixon Whitehouse? Was America Great being when President Reagan was shot?

Damn, I can’t believe that an unruly, but highly organized, crowd, under the banner of Republicanism would actually march to the US Capitol, and storm the gates, in an attempt to overthrow a valid US Election of the President. How close did we come to the fall of America? We were pretty damned close. It doesn’t take an outside force such as China, Russia, Korea or Iran to attack American values for America to be brought low. Just have someone in Power question the validity of the Election and suggest “taking action” to correct that wrong. *I’m not saying that there are examples of “cheating” that have gone on during Elections. But, in North Carolina, the one major example of cheating, during Elections, came from a Republican down in Bladen County that was collecting Absentee Ballots and guaranteeing election results. And, he, I believe is still getting away without being prosecuted because he has Cancer. *I stand corrected!

I had been thinking that I was going to move my dining room table (which I never use for dining & always has “stuff” on it) over to my green wall, where the two TVs are currently located. But, this morning as I was sitting in my easy chair, I looked down at my striped coffee table. It dawned on me that this would be perfect for my new TV. It appears to be long enough to accommodate the TV width.

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I had carried the TV box in to my apartment on Thursday afternoon late. I opened the Chromebook box and the Chromebook was okay.

A few days later, still having not opened the TV box, I looked over and saw that one corner of the box had been crushed, which meant it had probably been dropped from a fairly good height. This was the first time that I had the thought that the TV might have been damaged before delivery.

I waited another couple of days and bought three surge protectors at Walmart. All three were different. Not sure what the Joule count means, but figured that the higher number would provide more protection. I had one each of a 500, 900 and 2K+ Joule protector. I put the 500 in the bathroom and hooked my old Chromebook up to it. I put the 900 in my bedroom and hooked my new Chromebook to it (also for my hearing aids). I put the 2K+ surge protector in my living room and hooked my new TV to it during installation.

When I finally turned on the TV, sure enough the screen showed that it had been damaged. The TV still worked, and I went ahead with the install as practice for when I get a replacement. I am currently watching “Dalgleish” on the damaged TV. The 4K is an awesome step up from the previous technology. My 40″ Hisense TV had been dead for many months. It is still attached to the living room wall. I’ve been using my old 30″ Samsung that is attached to my portable (on rollers). *Hadn’t planned on buying a TV, but when Prime Day came (the first of two days), I found myself ordering a new Chromebook, as a backup for when my current Windows laptop dies. I wanted to be able to connect to Amazon to choose a new Windows laptop. I probably could have used my old Samsung Chromebook. They stopped supporting Chrome updates on the old Chromebook many months ago (maybe more than a year now).

**I had a first generation Chromecast still attached to my 40″ TV, which I moved over to the 30″ Samsung. I had forgotten how to get this all working. I had to attach it, and login to the network with the Chromecast. I was able to get the Chromecast working again. Although at first the new Chromebook was showing two older Chromecast ‘feeds’. I think it was the old Chromebook that first found the new ‘feed’. Once I saw this, I knew it would just be fiddling to get the new Chromebook to cast successfully. You do have to switch the HDMI input to where you have the Chromecast plugged into, for casting to work.

So, after I ordered a new Chromebook (as backup), I shortly thereafter thought that I should purchase a new TV for when the old Samsung 30″ dies.

I saw a 43″ FireTV on special for $256.79. There was a slightly cheaper version, but I ordered the one, “Omni” which would support attaching web cam for two-way video conferencing. *Not really planning to do video conferencing, but…

You can really “count the bricks” with the 4K TV. Dalgleish locations often have old church buildings, with tons of bricks & stone, and the detail is so vivid.

I am planning to get a pair of head phones with a long cable to hook up to the new TV.

Bought a roll of the clear mailing tape at WalMart for about $3.98 to pack up the damaged TV for return.

NOTE [07/19/22]: I’ve thought about this in recent weeks… after years of enjoying “Midsomer Murders” and “Poirot,” I no longer enjoy watching re-runs. This also applies to “the Glades” and “Morse” although, I might still like to re-watch “Lewis”. I am also about spent on “Endeavour”.

ADDENDUM { 07/29/22 ]: A note on the note. For most of my adult life, I ate breakfast out, and usually at the Rainbow Restaurant (in Fayetteville). The fare was usually a couple of eggs, “Over Medium” (which is runny yolk and no runny white), bacon/sausage/country ham, grits/potatoes, toast/biscuit, and coffee/tea. I ate so many of these, even with the various combinations from above, that I began to bring various “additions”. Little ‘flavorful’ tomatoes (Campari/Sweet Bites) or a special hot sauce ( for the potatoes ). *I had created a special herb/spice mix to go on my tater-tots from Burger King (with catchup & a Honey Mustard): curry & garlic powder, dried oregano/onion flakes/marjoram/crushed red pepper flakes/thyme/celery seeds/freshly ground pepper & salt. After a while, I started adding the tater-tots to the plastic baggie, closing it up, and shaking vigorously. This would normally coat warm potatoes with the spice mixture. **I came up with the idea that Burger King and other fast food restaurants should come up with various spice mixtures to apply to their tater-tots. They could call them “Shakers” because you would add the spice mixture to the bag with the potatoes, close it up and give it a shake. You wouldn’t use plastic bags, but have a long paper bag that could be rolled up at the open end to close it off when shaking. You could have several “Shaker” flavors, such as a Southwest blend, an Oriental blend, the Curry flavored, etc.

The time of COVID really changed things. For one thing, I started cooking most of my meals at home. Even now, I rarely eat breakfast out, although I did go to the Rainbow for lunch recently. *I ordered the Liver entre and brought several slices home afterwards.

I found Zorba’s Restaurant after retiring. Where it cost a good deal extra at Rainbow to have a pancake with my eggs/sausage/grits meal, at Zorba’s you can ask for 2 pancakes instead of toast. But, after eating at Zorba’s quite a few mornings, I became tired of that breakfast.

I am running through a stage where I like to fix bacon and fried apples on the stove-top. I add Splenda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace and cloves to the fried apples.

Sometimes, I will boil several eggs for breakfast and make Egg Salad from a couple of eggs (w/ mayo/margarine, S&P, marjoram, dried basil. I may toast the bread, or not. *When I drink hot tea, I normally make either “Earl Grey” or “Constant Comment,” both from “Bigelow” tea company. I like cream with my Earl Grey although sometimes it is enjoyable with lemon. *Some time ago, I had bought some dried orange slices. The slices were dry and hard, and not sweetened, so at first I didn’t have a way to enjoy them, “straight out of the box”. But, fortunately, I kept them and after months, one day I thought to add one of the dried orange slices to my hot Constant Comment tea. That version of tea has orange as a major flavoring. The hot tea rehydrated the dried orange slice, and not only did it add to the tea flavor, but the slice also became completely edible.

“Sweet Bites” were a small, roundish, flavorful tomato from the Sunset Company. I think I first found them in Walmart. They were probably around $4 for a small plastic basket. After a while, I started seeing the “Sweet Bites” at other grocery stores including Food Lion & Harris Teeter. I bought a bunch of these at $4 a whack, because they had that classic tomato flavor. I enjoyed these better than the larger Campari tomatoes, but Campari tomatoes are still the best, that remains. I say, ‘remains’ because the company stopped making “Sweet Bites,” and they disappeared from all store isles. I don’t think that I have bought any small tomatoes since. I do still buy the Campari’s, and I’ve been buying full sized tomatoes at a local farmer’s market which are pretty good, but no where near as flavorful as the Camparis or Sweet Bites. *I have tried quite a few small tomatoes. Many of them “look good” but they just don’t step up.

Oh, I’m going through a hot pepper stage currently. I don’t want really, really hot peppers, but have tried various hot & mild peppers I’ve purchased either from the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, or maybe Compare (like Poblanos). Recently have wanted a more savory dish, so am not adding Splenda or Agave Nectar to the pasta dish. But, have been adding some flavorful green, pitted olives (from Whole Foods) along with various hot&mild peppers and a few small tomatoes. *Don’t add too many tomatoes or their flavor will take over, but don’t do without them, or the final dish is lacking. **Same thing happened with my shrimp/zucchini/kielbasa/onion, hot pepper flakes & cayenne pepper and pasta dish. Just a few tomatoes gave the sauce a slightly reddish tint. In that dish, each item became a little “island of flavor” so you wanted each for variety, but not so much as to overpower the dish.

Ruining old standards… The last time I had the shrimp/zucchini/kielbasa pasta dish, I think the shrimp (frozen) had started to go bad and they distracted from the consistently good flavor of this dish. It has been quite a few months since I have made this, but at one time was making it quite often. **I let some of the Ciabatta Rolls get moldy, the last time I made “homemade pizza” with them. It just threw everything off and made what is consistently a good pizza into ‘not enjoyable’.

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The replacement “Fire TV” from Amazon arrived several days ago. I wasn’t happy with the audio, and decided pretty quickly to order a Bluetooth Audio Transmitter and a pair of Bluetooth headphones. They arrived a couple of days ago, and are working pretty well. *I can turn up the volume on the TV without fear of disturbing the neighbors. No telling how loud I have been tuning the volume, just so I can hear well. I do have a pair of cheap hearing aids, and they actually make listening to the TV better. **I bought the hearing aids to use in the courtroom, when I went for the ‘Vehicular Manslaughter’ case, of the guy who was driving behind me on February 15, 2021 and was hit and killed by Shirley Mae Barath in the Honda Odyssey she was driving. I found that I could not hear enough for understanding when I was in the courtroom. Even when one of the deceased’s daughters was right next to me trying to explain things.

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Hardees still has their $1 drink special, if you ask for it. I ask for it with a small fry ($2.19) and ketchup.