I may have seen that one of the flavorings for fried rice was “toasted” sesame oil on Cook’s Country or America’s Test Kitchen. The first fried rice I cooked at home was a couple of years ago, and I only used Soy Sauce for flavoring, which didn’t make the fried rice flavor that I was accustomed to. But, I could only find regular sesame oil for my first try, but the finished product was close enough, and I bought some toasted sesame oil and yes, this is the flavor I was looking for. Amazing that I have not fixe more fried rice at home, since my first success. I think part of the problem is that I ended up with a bunch of fried rice and didn’t want to freeze a bunch of it. Also, you need to cook the white rice first, and then cool it in the refrigerator or freezer to keep the rice kernels separate when you cook it again in the wok.

Another note that I make when looking at the fried rice above is that I couldn’t find frozen vegetables without the green beans. The frozen veggies included garden peas, carrots, corn and green beans. The scrambled egg was just cooked in the wok along with the rice & veggies.

When I go to Maguro’s, I try to take a small vial (old test strips container, which has a air tight seal) of toasted sesame oil. I add this to their fried rice which kicks it up several notches! *No telling how many new chefs have cooked the Thai Basil Chicken dish for me since I first tried it there a couple of years ago. But, sometimes it doesn’t have mushrooms, egg plant (baby ones) or jalapeno peppers. I don’t like mushrooms in this dish, but definitely want the jalapenos and the egg plant (if cooked to tender). *I also take a vial of hot Chinese mustard along for the egg rolls.

NOTE [05/19/22]: I had lunch at Maguro’s. The chef left out the mushrooms, but had all the other “necessary” ingredients. I especially want the Thai Basil, Jalapeno slices & tender Egg Plant.

Interesting that the Google StreetView doesn’t show the new businesses/residential units in front of the Islander.

Now is the time…

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Interestingly, maybe only to me, is that I only took two pictures with my phone during the Reunion. I took a picture of the food ticket, which ended up not being used, and the highlighter pen, which was on the table. The reunion was both enjoyable and painful. Some people looked like they were 68 years old, many unrecognizable, and I hoped I wasn’t in the awful looking group. But, they did help me remember many things.

Earlier in the day I took one of my favorite rides, upon the auto ferry running between Minnesott Beach and Cherry Branch. It was a little stormy and I can see some of the rain that has already fallen on the black railing of the ferry.

I hope this utility cart works well. I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived in 2 days, although, I had to go pick it up at the Post Office. They attempted to deliver the first time, but the box would not fit in the receptical. I was home, but they did not attempt to deliver to my door. When I saw they had a problem with delivery, I went to the mailbox and saw the notice regarding why the delivery problem. It was about 20 minutes before five o’clock so I rushed down to the Post Office. I made it inside the door before they closed. The box had been brought back, so I managed to get the cart on the delivery day.

I wanted to get the cart, especially that first day because I was planning on driving down to Hubert the next day to deliver a bunch of cookbooks that I was planning to give to Jacqueline.

All the books that I wanted to give to Jacqueline fit in the cart. They were heavy, and might have been close to the 150 lbs. capacity of the utility cart… maybe not, but they were heavy. There ended up being about 41 books and a DVD Case with a digital cook book. Hauling the books out to my car worked great! One trip instead of six or eight trips. The books fit in about 4 rows across the back seat of the Camry.

Tuesday afternoon was very hot. Mary Ann and I had gone out to Watkins Flooring, then to Logans Roadhouse for lunch, and then to Target, where I lost her after the first few items that we placed in my cart. It didn’t dawn on me to call her until much later, and I had waited patiently near the front at the Starbucks section.

We got back home and I think it was after 6 pm, maybe just after 5 pm, and I said I needed to get the books out of the back of my car. I had hoped that Jacqueline or Ray might come over to Mary Ann’s house, so they could help with the migration, but when I mentioned this to Mary Ann, she was pretty sure we couldn’t rely on that happening, as she didn’t know when they might come home. I started moving the books from the Camry and to the front/side porch. I made four stacks of books and counted them (I think there were 41, or close to.). Mary Ann brought a Rollator to the door (Jim said he had taken the utility cart out to the garage, at her request, which she denied.) and I stacked 6 to 8 books at a time and she would roll them inside and put them somewhere.

The only problem with my utility cart so far is that when I went to fold it back up, the pull tab came loose in my hand. I saw that it was a black Velcro strip that had come undone, and I did not try and fix this problem, because it was in the morning as I was beginning to start my trip down to Hubert. I was able to fold the cart up, without this pull tab and it fit behind my driver’s seat in the Camry. Or, I might put it in the trunk.

This cart cost about $97 including tax. The wheels are large, but not wide. They roll easily on the floor, sidewalk, or asphalt pavement. I think they might have a problem rolling through soft sand, but I don’t intend using the cart in that environment.

NOTE: I came across this photo from June 22, 2012. My white 2011 Honda Civic (got it in January 2011) is in the picture, but note the size of the trees at the entrance to the walkway. I have two pictures above that show the current size of the trees. Ten years, amazing!

I just noticed something really interesting. Look at the photo from 2012 and the 2022 photo from the same perspective. Look at the sidewalk difference. Apparently, the tree roots have pushed the concrete up severely.

NOTE [05/28/2020]: And, “Yes, the cart is a useful tool, that I should have bought years ago.” Especially now, for the way I shop. I may visit three or four grocery stores (Walmart, IGA, Publix, Sprouts, Harris Teeter, Food Lion) and end up with a myriad of plastic bags full of various items. And, if I purchase milk, or sodas, or orange juice, and several cans of somethings, then carrying the many plastic bags becomes cumbersome, quickly. So, yes, this was a good purchase.

My mother and I both suffered from leg cramps at night. She has been dead for over 40 years, but she died of Leukemia and not leg cramps. Maybe you awake from sleep with your toes curling painfully down, or your calf muscles tightening, causing you to sit up in bed, trying to manually cause the pain to go away. Sometimes hopping up, so that you can put your curled toes flat on the floor.

My mother nor I ever figured out the cause, or a good remedy.

I rarely have night-time leg cramps any longer. But, some years ago, I had a revelation, at night, in bed, and I started developing a simple remedy, which for me, has worked very well.

I attributed my nightly leg cramps with having too much salt in my diet the previous day. I use some salt in my cooking, at home, but if I eat fast food, or eat out that day, I may not have much control of the salt in my food. Also, I have not paid attention to how much liquid I consume during that time.

Growing up, salt and pepper were about the only spices we used on our food. Needless to say, my mother was not a good cook. My “Aunt Sis” was a very good cook, but mom had not gravitated toward those skills. My mother liked working outdoors, in the yard, mowing and grooming the yard (although I wouldn’t say our yard would ever win any awards). She also bought a Singer Zig-Zag sewing machine and through the years made many of her dresses from “store bought” patterns from companies such as Butterick, Simplicity, etc. *She also would save up and I think about twice a year, or whenever Pik-n-Pay would have their sales special, she would buy several pairs of shoes for work and home. She did not skimp on me or my clothing, but she was quite frugal on herself. **I even recall that one time, after years of wearing the same prescription glasses, she absolutely had to spend the money on a new pair. And, when she put them on, she started acting like a child who was seeing things for the first time. After several comments from her about things she could now see, I said something to the effect that, “Mom, you should have bought new glasses when you first needed them.”

Sis was a good cook, but that is not to say that she used spices to flavor her food other than salt & pepper. She used fatback, and ham hocks, bacon grease. I don’t recall her ever using garlic. Pepper vinegar on collards. But her food was delicious. She would normally have two different meats prepared, and three vegetables (on the stove top), and maybe biscuits. But, she would cycle through what she had prepared. She might make soup out of the remainder of the week’s earlier vegetables (e.g. green beans, potatoes, tomatoes) at the end of the week. I don’t ever recall having broccoli, asparagus or Brussel sprouts, but blackeyed peas, green or white butterbeans, green beans & potatoes, corn on and off the cob, mashed potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, and turnips or rutabagas, and all the various tops/”greens” that could be “cooked down” with a little seasoning meat, including collards, turnip greens… Oh, and assorted seafood, fried fish, or crabs, etc. Chicken -n- pastry! Bacon/sausage and eggs (scrambled or over easy), grits or rice. A big hunk of pork or beef every so often. How about some sliced cucumber and chopped onions in sweetened vinegar? Beets!

My favorite dish, and one that I often said I would prefer as “my last meal” would be: Blackeyed peas, with ham hock, and some sweet Vidalia onion chopped up. Now, we did not have Vidalia onions when I was growing up, but I now use sweet onions for many things that just need a pleasant, sweet, raw onion. But, in almost everything that I cook, I start with sauteing a regular onion (“Any onion is sweet once it hits the heat.). *And, if seasoned well, sometimes a mess of large white butterbeans really hits the spot.

Now mom could fix fried chicken well, add a few sides, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, or potato salad and dinner rolls (store bought). Sweet tea. The potato salad included large diced white potatoes, onion, sweet relish, mayo and some sugar. — A pot of diced ham in white rice, or chicken was deliciously filling. Corned beef, potatoes & onion in a simple stew (S&P). And, from the really brief time, when the paycheck hadn’t lasted and mom had me scrounging in the rear floor board of the old, gray/tan Chevy, “Saltines & Yellow French’s Mustard”. **I still love the flavor of Saltines and mustard to this day. We liked Kraft Sharp Cheddar cheese.

The above picture was taken by Mary Ann Kellum (Sharpe) a little after my 6th birthday. This is the back porch of the old two-story house that mom and I lived in, which was on one corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road. Many things in this picture: chain off the new Roadmaster bicycle from Western Auto; Wisteria bush; front end of tan/light gray Chevy; little house that Lyde lived in (because she had TB); mule on other side of ditch, tail to us; beyond the mule and across Queens Creek Road was an old tobacco barn that burned down. I note that the edge of the porch is a fine straight line which means this porch had probably been recently replaced. The wood at the edge of an old porch would begin to wear away and become jagged. The kitchen would be to my back and the porch to my left would lead to the door of the main house & its hallway.

So, what do I do when I wake up with leg cramps at night. I hop up, go to the bathroom, and drink a bunch of water and the cramps go away… I go back to sleep and the cramps do not return that night. It might take about 5 minutes for the cramps to fully subside, and if the cramps seem to want to persist longer, I drink a bunch more water. But, for quite a few years now, drinking the water has worked for me! Oh, I have a friend that said her remedy was to eat some Yellow Mustard. I see online that this is a suggested remedy. If I ever need to I might try the mustard in addition to the water.

Now that I think of it, eating the Saltine crackers with French’s mustard should be sort of a checks -n- balance, shouldn’t it?

NOTE: There was a manual, hand crank, ice-crusher mounted on the wall near the back door (kitchen in Sis’s house). Like this one.

Oddly enough, when I checked online as to what might cause leg cramps, I surprisingly found that one article said that not having enough salt, or magnesium, could cause the leg cramps. One article talked about athletes that have leg cramps (during a game). One article said that athletes were sweating out the salt they needed. But, this goes entirely in the wrong direction for me. Sure you may be sweating out liquid & salt, but I’m saying that too much liquid is leaving, and leaving you with too much salt in your blood. *Drink more water!

[05/04/22]: I awoke between 1 am and 4 am, and realized that I had a minor leg cramp. Actually it was just at the top of my right foot, but I knew from previous instances, that this was the start of a cramp. I jumped up and drank about two cups of water and went in the living room to sit. The soreness, as it hadn’t developed into a full cramp, started to subside. Sure enough, in about 10 minutes, the cramp was gone. Cause: Well, I had a Country Ham breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen… I had a hamburger and baked potato at Logan’s and then, I had a hamburger and onion rings (which I salted) at Hwy. 55 on the way back to Fayetteville. A bunch of eating out during the day, and with salted foods.

I took the above photos of the Pepper Palace in Smithfield, NC on January 2nd of this year. They were closed at the time. Previously the site location was for a kitchen store, which I had visited many times.

Yesterday, they were open, for my first visit and I had a fun time with Acey, the store manager. She directed me and led me around to different hot sauces and spice rubs. And I tried quite a few. I ended up buying a couple of the sauces/marinades that she had mixed together (Asianxxx and a “Sweet and Spicey”). Later, last night, I heated a couple of egg rolls in the microwave, and got some Chinese Hot Mustard out, and used the above mixture as a sort of a hot Duck Sauce. It was all good!

This is going to be eclectic because I came across my Flickr account online, and there are over 8K of photos I’ve taken and posted, but these are older, going back to 2009 with my first photo of the boat landing down on the Cape Fear River at Elizabethtown, NC. This is a photo of one of my favorite food combinations, in the Summer:

Corn on the cob, fried okra (I don’t usually bread them), a freshly sliced tomato… and I see here that I had used Tomatillo with some onion (probably with some vinegar and sweetener) that I now might call a chutney. And you have to wait until the early corn comes in, and okra & tomatoes are available. I like meat, but this is super satisfying meal without meat.

The collage of photos below includes some from the State Farmers Market in Raleigh (different visits) and focused on the various peppers, some tomatillos & dried chilis at Compare Foods in Fayetteville, and various shots of Tiger Sauce.

NOTE: I hope to finish this later, but I need to get to a late breakfast. Want to find pictures of hot peppers at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market. **I realized it was Wednesday, and I like the Turkey Club Sandwich Combo at Subway (with the Onion Teriyaki Sauce), so I will eat a lite breakfast at home and then get an early lunch at Subway.

The photo of me with the Tiger Sauce: I had purchased a couple of bottles of this at the Harris Teeter in Cary, NC. I have since bought Tiger Sauce Original and the newer Tiger Sauce Habanero & Lime through Amazon. I like the Habanero & Lime version better.

Recognize the white tag as those used at Sprouts to label and close the plastic bags for nuts, flours, dried fruits, etc. You only have to use one side of the label, and the twist-tie is long enough to attach to most items I wish to label, such as headphone or USB cables, or chargers.