Pared Down Spaghetti Sauce

February 18, 2024May 4, 2024 bgibson135

I haven’t made spaghetti sauce in a long time, but in the past, I made it quite often, probably every two or three weeks, and each time I made it there would be at least enough for three meals. I just haven’t needed the extra carbs of the spaghetti noodles, and I can’t imagine substituting zucchini noodles for actual pasta. *I do think I had some zucchini pasta with chicken at the Olive Garden, and wasn’t too thrilled when I found that the cheap special came with the zucchini noodles.

Olive Garden is one of those restaurants that I’ve completely stopped going to, although since my last visit to Dr. Norem (quarterly checkup), I haven’t been eating at very many restaurants. I’ve even pared my weekly visits to Taco Bell down to almost none. A day or so ago when I was preparing my schedule for meals for the next week, I thought of stopping by Taco Bell to buy either a Beef Burrito Supreme or a Crunchy Taco, but when I looked at the calories in just one taco, I decided to not go there,… and I love the flavors of their burrito supremes & tacos & bean burritos.

I haven’t been to the Rainbo in many, many months. Nor have I visited R.K.’s, or Zorbas. I’ve even made my lunch and took it with me twice when I was going up to Cary, Morrisville & Raleigh shopping. Ate twice in the Wegman’s parking lot and think I had a Greek Salad both times. The sesame crackers had become stale the second time, and they keep their crunch a long time. Probably should have put them in a plastic bag instead of actually on top of the salad, in the Tupperware container. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in way more than a year. I had been to the Pizza Hut in Lillington (just across the Cape Fear River) for their lunch buffet several times, but since my doctor’s visit, not once. I will have to say that their pizza and salad needed something, but I’m not sure what.

But this time I started with the intent of making only enough for one, or two meals. Quickly, I realized that you almost have to prepare spaghetti sauce for at least two meals. I had 4 oz. of ground beef, and diced a very small onion, some chopped red bell pepper, added half a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes to about a third of a jar of Rao’s Marinara Sauce, and a small can of mushroom bits & pieces. Italian seasoning, marjoram, bay leaves, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, onion flakes, garlic powder, ground Indian pepper, some dried parsley flakes, S&P, very little chicken stock, Agave Nectar and Splenda. I can see that this is going to provide me with two generous portions of spaghetti sauce, and I am planning to sauté some zucchini and add that to the pasta & spaghetti sauce (at the end). *Recall that fennel seeds are in some Italian sausage and provide a licorice flavor.

I have been to Helen’s Kitchen for breakfast a couple of times, when I visit Hubert & Jacksonville and Mary Ann. And on January 19th, I ate at both Helen’s Kitchen and at Down on Main Street, in “little” Washington, NC. I really, really, really enjoyed the shrimp burger with coleslaw, fried okra and cocktail sauce. Now, these are exceptions to my current eating patterns. And, if I am successful at getting my A1C below 7 this next doctor’s office visit, I might take a quick trip up to Greensboro, NC to “Sticks -n- Stones” Pizza. I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos. The only other restaurant treat might be a visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for their Lamb Gyro and Greek Salad, and my last visit there (about January 17th) I even carried my own Greek Salad and at the meal out in my car. But, this did throw my resting blood sugar level way high on January 18th, my & Mary Ann’s birthdays.

My change in eating patterns since shortly before my last checkup have greatly reduced my resting Bgl. And that only went up when I couldn’t refill my Trulicity prescription in a timely manner. I went up about 20 points on average until I got on Rybelsus, and then got Trulicity and started back on it. *I only used about 15 tablets of the Rybelsus because I had started to see things about extreme side effects, and then a commercial about another like product that was including Rybelsus in a law suit.

I left the spaghetti sauce cooking on low on the stove-top as I wrote the above, and when I went to it just now, most of the liquid had cooked out and I had enough for two 2-cup containers (only filling each about 2/3rds full). Fortunately, the sauce was just about perfect, and none of it had burned on the bottom of the pot. Sometimes, especially when I am cooking beans, and specifically those large white butter beans, I leave them and at some point realize that the water has cooked out of the pot and the beans on the bottom have become “scorched.” Although not inedible, the overcooked flavor is not my usual goal.

Both the YM Warranty and the BBC Volga appear to be in port at this time. The Warranty is at the Port of LA, and the Volga is at Douala, Cameroon. You know I am enamoured of the vessel Volga and her vast travels around the World since I first became aware of her, as she pulled into the Port of Morehead City in late November of 2022. If I were ever going to teach World Geography, I would hope to incorporate the travels of such a vessel because, and greatly to my surprise, the Volga, in a year almost completely travelled around the World in both directions. She did travel completely from West to East, and then turned around and almost completed the entire journey for East to West. And since, she has also gone through the Panama Canal, travelling completely down the western coast of South America, and then back up the entire eastern coast of South America, going to the Port of Houston, and then Panama City (USA) and then Jamaica and from there across the Atlantic to Cameroon. When you figure that she has been up to Norway, and over to Gdansk, Poland, and then to the UK, and around past the Straits of Gibraltar, across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, down and across to Singapore, up to China and all the way to Japan, I think you should be impresses with this “little” vessel. A Handysize container vessel literally travelling the World.

[NOTE 05/04/24]: Well, I was successful in getting my A1C down to 6.7 for my last visit to Dr. Norem, and I had also lost about 15 lbs. during that time. And I think it was the following week that I took a trip up to Greensboro, NC and had a pizza at Sticks-n-Stones. “I love their Margherita Pizza with some jalapenos.” That pizza was good, but it wasn’t the best I have had there. After looking at this picture, the colors are vibrant, and the ingredients look tasty (and they were), but I noticed that the crust was uneven and gigantic around the edges. I began to think that the chef wasn’t really “into” making my pizza, this time. Different chef, maybe?

After Greensboro, I drove to Burlington, then through Gibsonville, and finally to Mebane before heading back south and home. I stopped at the library and a bookstore in Burlington. I found the downtown section of Gibsonville and they had a neat little small toy train setup, and finally I stopped at a used book store just out of Mebane and the the library in Mebane. I had just missed the used book sale at the Burlington Library, and then was told that the Mebane Library is part of the Burlington system.

I’ve stopped going to Taco Bell altogether, and before I got serious about my A1C & weight, I probably would visit at least once or twice a week. Haven’t been to Golden Corral in many months, and for years when I was working, I would probably visit Golden Corral at least once or twice a week. Covid shut down most buffet restaurants, and I don’t have any buffets that I go out to now. I would visit Mi Casita at least once a week, but haven’t been there in a long while. I still will make a special visit to Pharaoh’s Legacy for a Lamb Gyro, but I now order out and eat in my car. I make a Greek Salad at home and bring it along with me for this lunch.

The last time I went down to Jacksonville to see Mary Ann, I didn’t eat at Helen’s Kitchen. And, at the moment, I can’t remember where I did choose to eat, or maybe, now that I think about it, I ate at home before driving down and then had lunch out at Marakesh with Mary Ann.

[end NOTE]

Connelly – Lost Light

February 14, 2024February 19, 2024 bgibson135

On one end of Selma Avenue in Los Angeles is Hollywood High School

The only bungalows on Selma Ave. are on the opposite end, where Selma Ave. does a slight “S” crossing N. Gower Street. It was at the “shooting” location of one of these bungalows that “the shootout” occurred during the $2 Mill robbery.

In some ways, Los Angeles seems quite navigable. You begin to build your layout on the main routes, you add some notes of interest, and you learn the freeways that get you from point A to point B more quickly… except during rush hour.

Echo Park is just off the 101, as is the Hollywood Bowl. And you can get off the 101 onto Hollywood Blvd., or below it, Sunset Blvd. and a little further below those Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica Blvd. parallels Hollywood and Sunset Blvds. until it does a dog leg and heads to the Pacific Ocean. And just before you get to the Ocean, there was “Little Ruby.” But, you wouldn’t take Santa Monica Blvd. if you wanted to get from downtown. There are faster routes.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Federal Building – FBI Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Gessler heads up S. Sepulveda Blvd. from the Federal Building, buys gas, and isn’t seen again.

Los Angeles Central Library

Nat’s

Not sure where or if there actually was a Nat’s Bar, but this is the approximate location, “about a half block, south of Hollywood Blvd.” Musso & Frank Grill is behind us and to the right from here, on Hollywood Blvd. To our left if we turn around from this view.

Kate Mantilini’s Restaurant (permanently closed)

Branch Bank

Okay, I do not wear caps. Never have, or never have for very long, and rarely trying them on to see that I really don’t want to wear a cap. But, I bought this one as a test, to try and solve a problem with me reading from my easy chair. I have the floor lamp shown above which is just to the left of my easy chair. I can reach over and pull it to me to turn it on, or turn it off, but when I am reading, the light hits me “directly” at an angle;-) It’s just irritating to try to read for too long with this light glaring at me. So I’ve tried sitting up, or holding the book at a different angle, but all of that is uncomfortable also. At some point I thought that wearing a cap, and having the brim shade my eyes might work… I thought about it for a time. And, I asked Jeff about how much a cap should cost. I think he said it’s about $25. Now, at one point I might have thought $25 was too expensive for a cap, and that $12.95 plus tax was the more reasonable, but this time I went on to Amazon.com and found a cap, a “Port of Los Angeles” cap, black, adjustable (aren’t they all, and this one with a velcro adjuster), and added it to my Cart, but I didn’t complete the purchase. I left for a day or a couple and then came back to it, in a buying mood, and finished the process. Now this cap didn’t include free shipping. That was another $4 or so. And it said delivery would take about 10 days (It didn’t in reality.).

This afternoon, I decided to take a drive, and go grocery shopping for steak and a red bell pepper up toward Lillington. Lillington is about 25 minutes, one way and I’ve shopped at the Food Lion and IGA there quite a few times. As I walked out my front door, I noted a small square box (my new cap) just outside. I brought it in, and sliced it open. Looked in real life as it had in the online photos. I put it on, had to readjust the fit, and then put it back on, and then on backwards, and then on sideways. I took the cap into the bathroom before I left and put it above the Bosch novel I’m currently reading.

After I got back home, I went and got the cap and the volume of “Lost Light” from the bathroom and brought them both back into the living room to test the reading. Works fine in shading my eyes from the floor lamp light. I decide to take a few pictures to illustrate me & my new cap. Oh, and I don’t have any other caps in my apartment or in my car. As I said, I don’t feel comfortable wearing one, and except for reading, I probably won’t wear this one much.

Why did I get a “Port of Los Angeles” cap? Well, as written elsewhere, I had just finished reading “A Darkness More Than Night,” which has a good deal of it’s time spent down near the Port of LA, and Catalina Island. But also, I was watching an episode of Perry Mason and some of that show was down near the Port of LA (but probably late 50s or early 60s), with much fewer cargo cranes, and an LA Fire Station which is probably near where the current one is located very near to the Vincent Thomas Bridge and the Battleship Iowa. *And ironically, a short time after this episode of Perry Mason ended, I was watching a commercial, a Dodge car commercial with Dodge Darts (I think.) from 2023 (just last year), and they were driving across a bridge, but I recognized the bridge, or thought I did. And, later in the commercial, several cars are speeding away from a tall building with the label “Port of LA – Warehouse #1.” I went to Google Maps Street View and found that this warehouse was located right next to the Cabrillo Marina (a setting in the Bosch novel), and a building that the large container ships have to pass when entering or leaving the Port of LA. *And the YM Warranty passed it coming into port just a few days ago, and will pass it again on it’s way out in a day or so. On the opposite end of this warehouse is a large lettering saying something to the effect, “Welcome to the Port of Los Angeles.”

I think my current moustache & beard remind me of those of Michael Connelly. Not intentionally grown for that likeness, but just noted by me. I think Connelly is about three years younger than I am.

Before I forget it, I happened to look at the book cover for the current novel, “Lost Light” and realized what it was showing. I recognized it because I had just read a short time earlier in the novel where Harry, feeling paranoid, and sensing he might be, “being followed,” cuts his car sharply across traffic and into a tunnel, and Connelly through Bosch describes how the car lights, of a following car would show up in the tunnel. *Makes me wonder if the tunnel may have greater meaning that will be revealed later. Otherwise, it would be strange to choose this image for the cover of this novel. Still, I don’t see how it could have greater significance. We will see, or at least I will;-)

NOTE [02/18/24]: This is just a navigational reference that I noticed recently. I was looking at an old posting, and had made note of where the old motel was located in Pulp Fiction, where the Bruce Willis character & his wife stay, just before leaving LA for the last time. By the time I had pulled up the location on Google Maps, the motel had been torn down and a new storage warehouse built there. But I happened to see that you could head in an almost southerly direction to Silver Lake and then on to Echo Park, and then to downtown LA (with all the skyscrapers), but here’s the thing, you now have a straight line all the way to the Port of LA. It’s a long way from Silver Lake to the Pacific, but it is a straight line. And, you could come close to following that line out to Catalina Island and Avalon.[end NOTE]

Sweet Horseradish Mustard / Steamed Cabbage

February 9, 2024August 1, 2025 bgibson135

I originally combined these three ingredients to make a new condiment for my deli sandwiches (ham, turkey). I really enjoyed their flavors together, but have not been eating any sandwiches with deli ham for a couple of months.

But, for lunch today, I decided to mix up a little of this sweet horseradish mustard and I put it on some steamed cabbage, and it was very good. I’m pretty sure it would also be good on steamed cauliflower. I like Toasted Sesame Oil on both of these steamed vegetables, and/or bacon fat, and/or butter.

I had some left-over steak with this cabbage, but I’m thinking the mustard & cabbage would go really well with a pan fried pork chop, and maybe some garden peas.

In November of last year I made some Cabbage with Mustard Sauce and hated it. And I see that I tried doctoring up that mustard sauce recipe, and horseradish and sweetener didn’t work. I think it may have been the flour that ruined everything because the creamy horseradish, yellow mustard and Splenda worked great today. I would make this again.

NOTE [02/19/24]: I just wanted to make a note of this, and didn’t want to start a new posting. Instead of buying a whole roasted chicken from Publix, as I have several times in the past, today I bought a Rotisserie Chicken at Harris Teeter for $6.99 plus tax. I had gone online and found that HT sells whole chickens, and the price was a little less than what Publix offers.

I had begun to dislike the fatty/mealy flavor of the white meat of the chickens from Publix and wanted to see if a chicken for a different store might taste better, or even different. *I know that there is a difference in the amount of meat between a chicken from Smithfield’s Chicken -n- Barbeque and KFC, but those are both fried, not baked. The flavor is different, and the amount of meat is less, not to mention the breading. Oh, I guess I just mentioned the breading.

I haven’t actually tried the chicken from HT, but that is scheduled for lunch tomorrow.

Another note: This morning I weighed the least I had weighed in several, if not 5 or more years. I weighed 249.4 lbs. I surprising to me, had weighed the same amount for three days straight before my weight today, at 249.8. And, my resting blood glucose level was also 101. I think my A1C is going to be below 7.0 my next visit to Dr. Norem. I made a deal with her that if my A1C wasn’t below 7, that I would do as she suggested and start taking insulin. And, I really don’t want to start taking insulin. [end NOTE]

A Breakfast

February 8, 2024February 9, 2024 bgibson135

This is a satisfying breakfast that is easy to prepare. Use a small skillet on the stove-top and put some bacon grease & some other oil (grapeseed, olive, avocado) in the pan. Slice the casing and remove it from the mush and press the mush down onto the skillet. If desired, slice some onion and put it in the pan with the liver mush. Depending upon how hot the pan is, the mush may begin to form a fine burnt (not to taste) skin that sticks to the skillet but can be scraped up. *Freddy’s hamburgers have a similar skin around the edge of their burgers.

Paint some oil on the surfaces of a waffle iron, and put a couple of slices of polenta on the hot iron surface and close the lid, and press it down and leave it to heat through. **Without the oil, the polenta may stick to some of the waffle iron surface when you try to remove them.

Prepare an egg (maybe two) in a bowl, with S&P, and various spices (marjoram, celery seed, dulse, garlic powder). Put a little oil & water in the egg mixture and beat with a spoon. Put a little oil in the microwave onion cooker, to keep the egg from sticking to the bottom of the plastic container. Cook the egg for perhaps 30 seconds and then add shredded cheese(s), and then finish cooking the egg. A minute or a minute & a half is usually sufficient to melt the cheese and cook the egg thoroughly.

When the egg is cooked, you can just flip the container upside down and slap it on a plate. The oils should cause the egg to release without a problem. ***Without the oil, some of the egg may stick to the bottom of the plastic egg cooker. You now have a perfectly formed & cooked egg, in a round flat shape that you could also put on an English muffin. Add some sliced deli ham and you have an Egg McGibson.

Without an English muffin, open the waffle iron and using a fork, remove the two polenta waffle cakes to your plate. ****You choose whether you want polenta or other bread with this breakfast.

Scrape the liver pudding & onion from the pan making sure to get the burnt bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet.

Add some small grape tomatoes. Slicing the tomatoes will allow you to add salt to the halves/quarters.

[NOTE 02/08/24]: I’ve mentioned cooking this breakfast elsewhere but I’m not sure I’ve ever stated the brand of “liver pudding”. This is “Pender’s Pudding” and I originally bought some at Pate’s Farmers Market (across town, in Fayetteville). But, I have since realized that there are other grocers that sell this. I think I bought some in the Carlie C’s and here is the simple process I used to figure it out.

Note that the file name of the image of the Pender’s Pudding was showing as January 22, 2024 at 11:12 am. I went to my Google Timeline and pulled up that date. Timeline wasn’t sure of where I was visiting at that specific time, but the outlined path made it clear, to me, that I was in the Carlie C’s IGA at that shopping center. *Not sure if I just saw it there, or actually bought it there, but I know the last time I bought it, I didn’t drive across town to Pate’s.

You may also notice that the Pender’s Pudding is vacuum packed, but once the seal is broken you don’t have an endless shelf life in your refrigerator. I know from experience that some has gone bad and had to be thrown out, or almost gone bad (beginning to get a slimy texture to the casing). So, this last time, after I sliced the plastic package open, I cut a slice of liver pudding for breakfast, but I cut the remaining into breakfast portions and put each in an individual re-sealable sandwich wrapper and put these in my freezer. I figure I can take one out a day or so in advance to thaw and hopefully won’t waste the rest.

The problem with this or any meat is that you don’t want to eat it every morning until it is all gone. And, when you rotate through waffles & bacon, oatmeal, eggs & bacon, fried apples & bacon, etc., you might not finish off the liver pudding before almost three weeks (too long, unless you freeze some of it). I do eat a lot of bacon, but it is packaged in 12 oz. sealed packages, and when I open one of these, I slice the bacon in half and then put all of it in a plastic container for my fridge. *I use the re-usable plastic containers that I have bought deli meats from Hillshire Farms in. They have clear plastic bottoms and a red see-through top. The Hillshire Farms advertising is meant to be easily removed from the red plastic top. It is a flat cardboard sheet that is attached to the red plastic top by a few daps of sticky glue. Just pull off the cardboard sheet, and roll the glue up into a ball & throw away. Depending upon where & how much you pay for the Hillshire Farms Deli Meat, it may or may not be cost effective to get these re-usable plastic tubs.

***I haven’t bought deli meat (honey turkey, honey ham, black forest ham, pastrami, corned beef) in quite a while. Actually since I started paying attention to my weight & Bgl, I realized that I didn’t need a deli meat sliced, to go on a bunch of bread. Now, I might buy some pastrami with the intention of making my Pastrami Rachels at home, but this would be an intentional act, knowing I was going to use more bread, buttered & toasted with melted Swiss cheese than usual. A “splurge” eating event. As might be going up to Greensboro to “Sticks n Stones” for their Margarita Pizza (jalapenos extra). Or perhaps going across town to Pharaoh’s Legacy to have their Lamb Gyro, with a Greek Salad. And this reminds me that I haven’t been up to Maguro’s for their lunch special (all the rice, I like but don’t need) in quite a while. At one time I was going weekly up to Southern Pines to eat at Maguro’s.

Also, the one “fast food” place that I had continued, Post-COVID to visit, Taco Bell, I haven’t been to in maybe a month now. I ate there every week, buying a Beef Burrito Supreme, a Bean Burrito & a Crunchy Taco, but sometimes leaving either the bean burrito or the crunchy taco out. I think the last time I stopped at Taco Bell, I only bought one item and don’t recall if it was the Burrito Supreme or the Crunchy Taco. You see, I can and do make/choose other items at home to go with this Mexican Meal. Homemade salsa, with roasted poblano & jalapeno peppers, some cumin & cayenne & Agave Nectar. Some chopped sweet onion, or maybe an avocado cut up. And some sour cream.

I’ve got an opened bag (probably gone stale by now) of Tortilla Chips on my dining table that may have been there a couple of months. I ate a few with some homemade salsa, and then they just haven’t fit into my current eating pattern since. You have a certain amount of calories in a day, but you also have to get all the nutritional value in that same day, so you can’t eat a whole bag of Tortilla Chips and then eat all the other stuff you need nutritionally for that day. **I tried 1 tortilla chip tonight, and they were still crisp & edible.

My Fitness Pal has helped me schedule and plan ahead the foods/meals that I am going to eat. The total calorie intake might not be exact for a certain day, but with a certain margin of error, they are close enough. So, I am eating with two main goals in mind. #1 is to keep my Blood Glucose Level down, and the 2nd is to cut calories to bring my weight down. I know that my Bgl will become more maintainable as my weight decreases.

I haven’t been able to decrease my weight (after having lost a little more than 10 lbs. in couple months period) below 250 lbs. and today was 252.6. I’ve also had a problem with keeping my Bgl down because I wasn’t able to get my Trulicity refilled when needed and eventually switched (maybe just for 30 days) to Rybelsus. But during those couple of weeks what had been averaging around 135 resting Bgl, had kicked back up above 150 Bgl. I’m still not happy with it, and after reading some of the side effects of Rybelsus, I want to return to Trulicity, if possible.

[end NOTE]

I’ve said there are two versions of the Sesmark Rice Thin Crackers and one of the packages is about twice the size of the other, and for about the same price. I know I can get the single channel package at Harris Teeter, where I first bought them. I don’t recall the other store where I bought the four (or 3) channel package, but will be looking because I didn’t notice too much difference between the two crackers.

Connelly – The Night Fire

February 2, 2024April 17, 2024 bgibson135

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I like that Michael Connelly uses real locations in many of his books. I understand that you can’t make a real location a “murder scene” but you can have Bosch, Ballard, or Haller meet in actual restaurants, or suggest a body was found near a public park, and have the school, streets and residence realistically real.

[NOTE 02/04/24]: I’ve read about six of the Harry Bosch or Bosch-Ballard novels, by Michael Connelly in quick succession. I just finished “The Night Fire” this morning and added the El Tinajon Cafe in Las Vegas entry to this posting. But, what I am wrestling with now, is that I have a mental image of a Google Maps “directions map” showing the route that a victim, a young college-age girl, might have taken, bicycling from Los Angeles City College where she was attending, to where she was living. And about half way between her residence and the campus is where they found her dead body, near Lemon Grove Recreation Center. *And, I cannot recall who killed her, or the ending to that story, or even in which Bosch novel the story was included.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Tyrone Power Memorial

But, as to why I even thought about the above geographical layout, is that I flipped back to the first page of The Night Fire in which Harry is limping his way to his mentor’s (John Jack Thompson) funeral and he sits to take a rest at the memorial of Tyrone Power. And the connections I place here is that the dead girl’s place of residence, on Romaine Street, was only a couple of blocks from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the funeral is being performed. And, without going back to the novel, I’m not absolutely sure that Romaine Street is the correct street. What I recall is that her street did not go the extra two blocks to get to the cemetery. [end NOTE]

The Night Fire came out in October of 2019. I’m almost three-quarters through the book and Ballard and a representative from the DA’s Office meet for a conference and breakfast at a cafe in Santa Monica, near Ocean Boulevard, called “Little Ruby.” From online this is a NY type restaurant that has an Aussie style. The two women meet briefly, discuss a case and have a breakfast of coffee and avocado toast, and Ballard brings along her dog Lola.

I see from Google Maps & Street View that “Little Ruby” in Santa Monica is now permanently closed, but there are still quite a few photos of what the location, atmosphere and food were actually like. And I now know what an Avo Toast at Little Ruby looks like, or perhaps where the two women might have sat during their talk.

Above is a basic Avocado Toast, but I see that you could top it with 1 or 2 poached, or a fried egg., and/or bacon, etc. And apparently Lola would have been quite at home there.

Dulan’s “Soul Food” on Crenshaw

I must have researched this restaurant previously, seeing it referenced on the Bosch TV Series. I can’t quite tell if they are still in business at this location or not. I do have an image in my mind from maybe a couple of years ago. Seems it was a black couple eating at a small table. I did find their current web site for the Crenshaw location. But Ballard is in the large banquet hall “surveilling a couple of perps.” The web site has a couple of photos showing the banquet hall. There are also pictures of their fried chicken, collard greens and peach cobbler. She would have gotten a couple of cornbread muffins automatically with the meal. Not sure if she got their iced tea.

Harry meets his daughter Maddie “Mads” at Urth Caffé in Old Towne, Orange, CA for a late afternoon snack of Avocado Toast and coffee. He’s catching her just before she needs to go to an evening class. He feels the need to give her “a cancer update.” The cafe, located on Orange Circle, is just a few blocks from Chapman University where Mads is currently attending, but she’s thinking about law school, and going to the “D” (the District) after tonight’s class.

NOTE [04/17/24]: I turned on ABC 7 from LA (perhaps Long Beach, CA) this evening and while watching, I caught a police accident where a fleeing car ran through the circle and crashed into a fountain. Looking at the accident, the traffic circle seemed so familiar. I thought that this looked like one of the Google Street Views that I had recorded for where the fictional character, Maddie Bosch, was attending college and the Urth Caffe was nearby. Sure enough I found the article where the fountain was destroyed back in March. [end NOTE]

Is that an Almond Cheese topping with some micro cilantro? And for only $14.50 not including tax & coffee. Oh, and those heirloom tomatoes are extra…

The Musso & Frank Grill
- Entrees
  - Filet of Sandabs Sauté Meuniere $29

So, Harry orders Sanddabs at the Musso & Frank Grill. It appeared to be lightly breaded & fried fish. At some point, I asked myself if this was like flounder. The images of prepared Sanddab didn’t appear to be wide enough to be flounder-like, but later I did find that the Pacific Sanddab was a form of flounder.

So I learned two new things. One, was that a Pacific Sanddab was a type of flounder. The other, was in looking at a picture of “Filet of Sanddabs” as served at the Musso & Frank Grill, I noted what appeared to be a covering for the lemon half served on the plate.

El Tinajon in Las Vegas, NV where the Black Widow may, or may not, have gotten her last café con leche with Cuban toast. Ballard and all were there to arrest her.

Cheeky Monkey

February 2, 2024February 2, 2024 bgibson135

I’m watching an old British made movie called “Blind Spot,” and a woman just called a man, who was being forward to her, a “cheeky monkey.” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard the term, and I thought I understood the meaning because of how I had always seen it used. It’s sort of “a mild rebuff,” usually between acquaintances, but not necessarily friends. Maybe also being a little too familiar from someone that doesn’t know you well enough, yet, or maybe never will.

The only thing I’ve added to sauerkraut is homemade Thousand Island Dressing. Maybe that’s because the only time I eat sauerkraut is on a Pastrami Rachel sandwich, and as a side for that sandwich. *The short story about me and sauerkraut is as follows: When I was in 3rd or 4th Grade, at Swansboro Elementary School, about 1963/4, we would have sauerkraut as a side for our meal that we ate in the cafeteria. It was probably served with one of those big red sausages, and maybe some applesauce.

One day there was sauerkraut on our plates. I didn’t want to eat the sauerkraut, and I noticed several other boys stuffing their sauerkraut into their empty milk cartons (the little Half Pint size) and taking these up on their trays to the little window where everyone took their dishes when they were finished eating. There happened to be a couple of teachers standing near the window, talking, and checking to see if we had eaten our sauerkraut, and drank our milk. I had drank about half of my milk, before I had stuffed my sauerkraut into the carton and closed it up. *I normally would not do this, but it seemed like a good idea.

Well, a teacher stopped me, looked at my tray and lifted my milk up, and feeling that it was still full, she directed me back to finish my milk. **I now think she probably saw me stuffing my sauerkraut into my milk carton. I went back, sat down, and tried to drink my milk… my milk, mixed with sauerkraut. I gagged. So, for many years I never would even try sauerkraut again. The incident had left a “bad taste in my mouth.”

It may have been on my Spring Vacation 2017 through Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina that I had a Pastrami Reuben, with Swiss Cheese & Sauerkraut (about 50 years later) at Macado’s in Salem, Virginia. The sandwich and experience was so good that I tried a Pastrami Reuben at two other restaurants before returning home, and then got the fixin’s and made it at home a few weeks later. Over time, I learned that adding Thousand Island Dressing to the sauerkraut in the sandwich, “turned” it and made it pleasant. I eventually began to add sauerkraut, with some TI Dressing beside the sandwich, and liked it. I’m not sure I would have ever “really loved sauerkraut” but now I am thinking I may want to add sauerkraut to some of the meals I eat. Maybe add a little sweetener & spices to it and make a delicious side dish for maybe pork chops or Kielbasa sausages.

So, I thought I was finished writing this post, still watching “Blind Spot,” and what to my surprise, the main bad guy, who we’ve not seen until almost the end of the movie is played by a very young, curly haired blonde Michael Caine. I didn’t recognize him in a framed picture at the start of the movie. Oh, and he just drove off the road, the car caught fire, and Johnny is dead, or we hope so because the car is still in flames. The End.

“Blind Spot” has quite a few British actors & actresses that I have seen through the years. Well, I probably saw most of them in the series “Danger Man” with Patrick McGoohan and maybe even “The Saint” with Roger Moore.

I love the way the Saint (Moore) would sometimes, quite often, turn to the camera and talk personally to us, letting us in on some secret about what was occurring, or was about to occur. But, I also like the Saint, played by George Sanders from the 1940s.

I liked the actor George Sanders, even if he was playing a bad, very bad guy in something like “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” with Hurd Hatfield as Gray. And with a name like Hurd Hatfield, I recognize the actor when I see him in other shows, such as an episode of Perry Mason. And I’ve also watched much of the Alfred Hitchcock series and their are many, many actors that I recognize from these episodes.

I just heard a knock on my door. I rarely have a knock on my door, but I quickly recalled that I had an package arriving today. I had ordered a 28 piece silverware set from Oneida a couple of days ago.

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, that I especially enjoy the Bosch TV Series, and now the novels I have read. Connelly is probably responsible for both the location accuracy in his books and also on the TV series. Many locations can usually be found on Google Maps Street View. And, I like to go to Street View and get a better feel for the locations. So, I was retracing the steps that Harry, the serial killer, and the other police officers and technicians were riding along to get up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood, where the killer had supposedly buried the young woman’s body. Harry had been on the case for 13 years, and now… [This is from “Echo Park.”]

I happened to notice the Beachwood Cafe from Street View. I then went to their web site. Not sure if I saw the Greek Chickpea Salad on their menu, but something about their menu triggered me finding this salad online. For some reason, not the chickpeas, I was attracted to the long handled fork shown with the salad image above. I eventually found for sale online a set that looked “close enough” to the fork… and I ordered a set of four 5-piece place settings, which also came with two chopsticks for each setting (total of 28 piece set).

The Zephyr Mirror order arrived a short time ago. It remains to be seen if I actually enjoy using these utensils to eat my meals.

Beachwood Cafe on the way up to Sunset Ranch Hollywood

Parking for Sunset Ranch Hollywood

I checked out the Zephyr Mirror dinner knife & fork for my lunch today. The knife is shaped in some way to remind me of a doctor’s scalpel. I had a pork chop, bone in, some garden peas and zucchini & Italian tomatoes and a slice of White Mountain Bread. The knife easily cut close to the bone in the pork chop, and the fork handled the garden peas & zucchini.

At the last minute I changed the sides I was going to have with my pork chop. I was slated to have steamed cauliflower and steamed cabbage, but happened to see some garden peas and some zucchini & Italian tomatoes in the fridge. Trying to be better at portion size, I used a half-cup Tupperware container to portion out both the garden peas and the zucchini.

These half-cup plastic containers look small, but there were plenty of garden peas and enough zucchini, and I heated them up in the microwave and then dumped them out on a dinner plate. I saw that the pork chop, with bone, was .75 lbs. If 16 oz. makes a pound, then 3/4s of a pound would be 12 oz. I cut the pork chop in half, diagonally so that each portion was approximately 6 oz. But, one half of the pork chop had no bone and the other half had all of the included bone. **I ate the half of pork chop that had the bone, so now I am thinking that I could half the half and end up with two 3 oz. portions. Three ounces of pork chop with a generous portion of steamed veggies should work out just fine and reducing my calorie intake without leaving me hungry.

Now the half-cup container works for the above two items, but I couldn’t imagine measuring out my Greek Salad in these, or their equivalent. In fact 2 cups of the salad might seem a little small. Not sure if the steamed cabbage or cauliflower would be enough if measured out in half-cup sizes either. And, I think the calories in a lot of cabbage or cauliflower would be relatively low. I love the flavor of both the steamed cabbage & cauliflower. *I also like to flavor both of these veggies with margarine, or toasted sesame oil or bacon grease, or salt or a combination of it all. I’ve also enjoyed baked cauliflower seasoned with Smoked Paprika & Cumin.

Tuna Salad

February 1, 2024November 13, 2024 bgibson135

The other day I realized that I hadn’t fixed tuna salad in quite a while. The first thought on this was that I would need to buy some sweet bell pepper (any color, red, orange, yellow). For many years when I fixed a salad, I added some sweet bell pepper to it. And until not too many years ago, the only bell pepper that I used was a green one. That was probably because I don’t recall any but green bell peppers being sold in the grocery stores that I frequented. *Someone, probably Mary Ann, mentioned that the colored bell peppers were sweeter and more tender. I don’t think I had noticed this on my own, but after it was brought to my attention, I rarely bought a green bell pepper.

**Also, the various colors of bell peppers go well in my Salsa Ranchera dishes (usually chicken or pork) which include onion and tomatoes. They go well when I fix spaghetti sauce, although the big change in my spaghetti sauce is using Rao’s Marinara “starter” sauce. But, I’ve also stopped adding mushroom bits & pieces to this sauce. So, between spaghetti sauce, the Mexican chicken dish or salads, I almost always had one or two colored bell peppers on hand. But now, I mainly fix a Greek Salad, in which I don’t use sweet bell pepper. And, I rarely fix spaghetti sauce, because of the high starch content in the spaghetti noodles, and I rarely fix the Mexican chicken dish.

So, I stopped by the nearest Food Lion in which the Green Grocer (vegetable) section has recently been remodeled, and bought a red (seemingly smaller than usual) bell pepper. I used about a quarter of this red bell pepper in my tuna salad.

Tuna Salad Ingredients:

Canned Tuna
Sweet Onion
Sweet Bell Pepper
Campari Tomato
Romaine Lettuce

Dukes Mayo
Capers
Celery
Mt. Olive Pickle Relish
Sun Dried Tomato

Lime Juice
Splenda Sweetener
S&P
Cayenne
Celery Seeds
Dulse

I think the only thing that I didn’t add to the tuna salad today was the sun dried tomatoes. And, I don’t actually recall whether I chopped up the Romaine Lettuce for this either. My first thought was to slather some of the tuna salad on a Romaine leaf, and some more on a slice of wheat bread.

For a long time, and especially since my last visit to Dr. Norem, I haven’t been eating any sandwiches or even a hamburger with two slices of bread. Only one slice, the hamburger patty, a couple of slices of sweet onion, a small tomato, relish, catchup and some yellow mustard on the plate. And yes, I do like a dill pickle spear with that.

Speaking of dill pickle spears, or slices. Walmart, until about three years ago, offered a Spicy Dill Pickle in addition to their regular dill pickles. I think I still have one unopened jar of the spicy dills from Walmart. I think the last jar that I opened, the pickles had begun to go a little mushy. But, I had learned that I could pour out the pickle juice from the regular dills or dill spears and pour in the spicy dill juice, and very shortly, the plain dills took on the extra spicy flavor.

Just a few days ago, and I wasn’t looking for this in particular, I came across a recipe for Ranch Dill Pickles. The first thing that caught my attention was that this recipe only had two ingredients: a 1 oz. package of Ranch Dressing, and a jar of dill pickles. Now, I know there are more ingredients in the package of Ranch Dressing, but I tried this, because I had an unopened jar of regular dill slices, and a package of off-brand Ranch Dressing mix. I used the whole package of dressing mix, pouring it into the dill pickle juice, which made the juice a milky color with flecks of herbs (from the dressing) floating in it.

I’m not sure that I can say that the Ranch Dill Pickles are exceptionally different, but there is nothing negative about the flavor, and I do plan to pour this modified pickle juice into another regular jar of dills after I’ve finished eating this first batch. Now, I have planned to eat one slice of the Ranch Dill Pickles three times today. One for lunch, one for dinner and one with my Bucheron cheese & Sesame Crackers snack for later tonight.

I really have fallen for the Sesmark Savory Rice Thins crackers. I eat them when I have a salad, and sometimes with soup or chowder. There are two different versions of these thin rice crackers from Sesmark. One comes in a package that has twice as many crackers for about the same price.

These crackers go well with Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate, but they also go well with the Bucheron or Capricho de Cabra goat cheeses. The Capricho de Cabra cheese is extremely tart and combining it with a thick raspberry jam and a cracker works! *But, until I get my A1C under control, I don’t think I will buy any raspberry jam, or orange marmalade or blackberry jam.

Now, I might add the above cracker choices with my homemade hummus choices for variety. I like having smoked oysters with my hummus, but also Vidalia onion, Campari tomatoes, assorted olives (Castelvetrano, Kalamata, Green), assorted colors of sweet bell peppers and maybe celery stalks or carrot spears. *I haven’t had them lately, but I seem to recall that I don’t actually like the celery stalks with hummus, and I’m not sure why.

The following I have used as a condiment with certain deli sandwiches: Inglehoffers Creamy Horseradish, Frenches Yellow Mustard & Equal Sweetener (and/or Agave Nectar). But, I haven’t been eating any homemade deli sandwiches lately because of the fatty/salty meat and the starchy bread. If I had a craving for the horseradish-mustard mix, I might buy a small package of sliced deli Turkey or Ham and eat the two together without any bread.

I haven’t been eating much cheese lately either. I like cheese, many different types, and I especially like fresh goat cheeses. There is also a blue cheese, “1924 Bleu,” that has exceptional flavor.

Thinking about toasting bread for cheese, reminds me that I also like to slather a slice of wheat bread with margarine and then sift a generous portion of garlic powder (not salt) on the whole slice. This toasts up nicely in the oven.

Growing up there were only two main cheeses that we ate. Cracker Barrel Sharp or Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese was the old standard for toasting on white bread. I don’t know when the first time was that I had wheat bread, but I might have been in college. The other cheese was Kraft American Cheese, which went on a sliced ham sandwich, which might be slathered with Dukes Mayo. The American Cheese slices might be individually wrapped, or not. As a much older adult, I have enjoyed a sharp white Cheddar cheese from Cabot’s.

I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I think it was about 2017 when I was on one of my three day vacations and I had come across a restaurant chain online. The chain was called Macados and the locations are mostly in Virginia. I was looking to visit the location in Lexington, VA because Washington & Lee University is located there (VMI also there), and I had planned to stop by the university to meet with a staff person that had developed a “free” application for the Blackboard LMS that FSU was using. But, after driving through the Washington & Lee campus, I decided to not try and visit this person. And, that made the morning only about a little after 10 am, which was too early for lunch. I got online and saw that there was another Macado’s location in Roanoke, VA and decided that I would drive down there and have lunch. Only after I neared and drove into Roanoke, at 12 noon, did I realize that I didn’t want to fight the crowds for parking and eating at a restaurant during “rush hour.” I did drive in downtown Roanoke and past where their Macado’s was located. But then I got online and found that there was another location, a short distance away in Salem, VA. Now Salem and Roanoke are jammed up right next to one another, but Salem is much, much smaller. Ironically, Roanoke College is located next to downtown Salem, not in Roanoke.

So I made it to Salem, VA and managed to find the Macado’s parking lot behind the restaurant. The front of Macado’s faces East Main Street, but there is little or no parking there.

[NOTE]: Before making it to Lexington, VA, I had stayed the night before in Lynchburg at the Quality Inn. Just before leaving the motel for breakfast, I went up front to where they were offering a continental breakfast. I was planning to have breakfast at Famous Anthony’s (Google Street View), but I saw a selection of Bigelow teas on the counter and I chose the Raspberry Royale. Not sure why I did, but it became an excellent choice. I made a small cup of the tea in my room and took it with me. I hadn’t finished my tea before pulling up to the restaurant, but decided to keep it. After breakfast I went back to my car. The tea was now cold, but it had good flavor and I decided to keep it for something to drink as I drove that morning. It was good cold also. *After returning home, I ordered some Raspberry Royale tea and still enjoy it to this day. **I see from the Google Street View that Famous Anthony’s in Lynchburg is permanently closed. [end NOTE]

Macado’s is a college crowd restaurant, with stuff on the walls and ceilings. I looked at their menu and found that they offered a Pastrami on Rye sandwich, with rough cut fries. I hadn’t had a Pastrami sandwich in several years so I jumped at the chance, and boy it was worth it. The sandwich was flavorful, had lots of meat, was toasted with Swiss cheese and the fries & ketchup were all delicious. The ice cold Pepsi was a welcome addition. *Reading in an earlier post, I may have had iced tea instead of Pepsi. I do seem to recall that my waitress didn’t come back very often, but I did manage to get a refill of Pepsi and more ketchup to finish off my fries. The food was GREAT, and set the tone for the rest of my lunches on this vacation. I ate Pastrami sandwiches in Asheville, NC and in Florence, SC before returning home to Fayetteville.

I think it may have been a couple of weeks before I got all the fixin’s to make a Pastrami Reuben (Rachel) at home. My first attempt wasn’t a complete failure, but I tried to toast the bread & cheese on the stove-top. What a mess, the bread ending up greasy and burnt. But since that first time I have honed my Pastrami Rachel skills to a fine art. I can make the sandwich quickly, and with little mess in my oven. I put margarine on one side of each slice of bread and toast that first. I then flip these toasted slices and add Swiss cheese to toast on both insides of the sandwich. I toast the cheese for the inside to help prevent any sogginess due to the Sauerkraut. And, I have learned to love Sauerkraut, and even add extra as a side, and on the sandwich. The Sauerkraut goes on one side and the Thousand Island Dressing on both sides and then the Pastrami slices in the middle. This makes a consistently good flavored sandwich. I don’t make french fries at home, or not in a long while. I do have a potato cutter for making french fries, but I’m a little wary of all the hot oil in the pot on the stove-top.

Oh, I do make my Thousand Island Dressing at home. I think there are only about 5 or 6 ingredients that go into this dressing: Dukes Mayo, ketchup, diced sweet onion, Mt. Olive relish, Texas Pete hot sauce and S&P. This makes a pinkish dressing with little bits of onion & pickle floating in it (thus the thousand islands).

I have made a delicious Catalina Dressing at home. The finished product had a ruby red color and had a good sweet flavor. Recently I made a Cilantro-Lime Dressing to use on a baked Salmon steak. The flavor was different but I think it was high in calories, which is something I don’t need. I do like Ranch Dressing, but I buy this at the store.

Great Value Classic Ranch Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix, 1 oz 54 cents per packet [06/28/24]. I think I bought a generic packet of this dressing at Food Lion for 50 cents. I removed some of the dill pickle juice and emptied the packet of dressing in the jar. Added back some of the juice and closed and shook up the jar, dispersing the salad dressing mix in the liquid.

Golden Juilliard by Oneida

January 29, 2024February 6, 2024 bgibson135

I don’t recall when I first started collecting this cutlery, but it was many years ago, and not having bought any in this pattern in several years, I now find that Oneida has discontinued the pattern. Golden Juilliard has a gold plated highlight but there was a Juilliard pattern, same design but without the gold highlight. I always thought this had a elegant look without being pretentious.

I have a “silverware chest” for storage. I haven’t looked at what I have in a long while, but I think I had most of the pattern, both serving and individual place settings, and maybe enough to serve 6.

I have a different pattern that I use for daily use, but the Golden Juilliard has a small “seafood/cocktail” fork that I like to use for olives and pickles. I also like the size of the soup spoon which has a large bowl, which is even bigger than the soup spoon in the pattern I use everyday. But, I only have one Golden Juilliard soup spoon out of the storage chest for daily use. I don’t recall who made the pattern I use daily, but it is much different from the Golden Juilliard, less delicate and less elegant. I had eaten at a restaurant in Thomasville, Georgia on a visit there to the “Sweet Grass Dairy” (at the time they offered both goat and cow cheeses, but now only cow). The restaurant could have been Liams, but now that I think about it, it was probably Jonah’s (right next door). Their silverware was large, in the hand, and when I returned to Fayetteville, on my next visit up to the Oneida store in Smithfield, I saw and bought the pattern I currently use. [NOTE]: In writing the paragraph, I recalled that I had bought my current pattern at the Oneida Outlet Store in Smithfield. I don’t see the pattern on their web site, but haven’t looked at all their offerings. The Oneida Outlet Store left the Outlet Shopping Mall many years ago, now.

[ADDENDUM 02/06/24]: I thought that I might not be able to find the exact Oneida pattern that I use for daily use, but I finally saw four forks online that were for sale, and I immediately recognized them as the pattern I use. I believe it is called Oneida Stafford 18/10 Satin Flatware. There is a Stafford Mirror version which appears to be shinier.

I also have a sugar spoon, and a slotted serving spoon and serving fork. I lost my regular serving spoon by taking it to work one time to serve whatever dish I was taking, but then forgetting it and never seeing it again. Not often, but more often than you might think, I have needed a larger serving spoon (not slotted) to dip something, like soup, and the slotted spoon wouldn’t work. This flatware has a hefty feel and is a little larger in the hand, which is what I had liked about the flatware I used down at Jonah’s in Thomasville, GA. [end ADDENDUM]

On my first visit to Sweet Grass Dairy, and Thomasville, Georgia, I ate at Liam’s Restaurant. Jonah’s Restaurant didn’t exist yet. I think I’ve been to Thomasville three times, and I think because Liam’s was closed on one of those visits, I ate at Jonah’s which was right next door (with a little alcove between the two). I may have had a Lobster Bisque soup at Jonah’s and enjoyed it very much. And yes, I think it was Jonah’s that had the larger cutlery for dining. *And later when looking at the two restaurant web sites, I noted a “Christian” vs “Not Christian” vibe between the two establishments. At that time, Liam’s had named some of their menu items in a distinctly, “non-Christian” jibe at Jonah’s.

On my first visit to Thomasville, I was able to drive to the dairy where there were goats (not sure if the cows were there or elsewhere), and cheeses (both cow and goat cheese at the time), and a fat, old, white bulldog lounging on the cool concrete porch. I had come prepared and bought a bunch of different cheese and had an ice chest to bring it back to NC. I met the founding couple and a younger couple, that was son & daughter-in-law, or son-in-law & daughter. *On my next visit, you could no longer drive down to the dairy. There was a newly constructed store a short distance from the dairy. I think I bought some Pecan Oil, mostly as presents for friends & family. On my last visit to Thomasville, I think the only location was a restaurant in town, and now Sweet Grass Dairy was only producing cow cheeses, which appears to still be the case.

Oh, the other thing I collected was the Pfaltzgraff “Winterberry” pattern of Christmas dishes.

Garlic Cauliflower

January 28, 2024January 29, 2024 bgibson135

Beef Liver, Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli & White Mountain Bread

Garlic Cauliflower I steamed my cauliflower first and in a separate small skillet I made the Garlic Sauce with Avocado Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, chopped garlic, smoked paprika & some Equal sweetener. I normally will “turn” anything with vinegar with a little sweetener, and this worked well.

[NOTE 01/29/24]: I am making a note regarding the term “London Broil”. Somewhere online, not very long ago, I read an article that said that “London Broil” wasn’t a type of meat (steak) but a way of cooking on high heat and close to the burner. I explained this idea to Jeff Mitchell yesterday when I was visiting to watch the NFL Playoffs. But this morning, early, I am not finding that article and it seems that London Broil is steak that has little fat content and needs to be cooked on high heat, near the burner, to keep the meat tender. But, I may continue to use the term “London Broil” when describing how I cook the Round Bone Lamb Chops and the Pork Chops in the oven, on high and near the top burner. Cooking it this way provides an amount of “char” on the meat, which means “flavor.” [end NOTE]

I cooked the lamb in the oven as London Broil. The round bone lamb chops normally are sold in pairs (not always) and usually I eat one and put the remaining one in the fridge for another meal. This time, I cut the larger chop so that I should now have two meals remaining. I’m trying to eat a little less, because I know that less weight makes it easier to control my Blood Glucose Level. The Garlic Cauliflower was just mildly sweet but I could see this and German Potato Salad (both have vinegar & sweetener) as being interchangeable as sides. I added some dried tarragon to my garden peas, and a little sweetener. I think I also drained the original liquid from the canned peas, and added Chicken Stock back and maybe a dollop of margarine. *I also went to the extra trouble of making a slice of garlic bread (white mountain bread slathered with margarine, and sifted generously with garlic powder). This toasts in the oven quickly.

I don’t do this always, but sometimes I add lime juice & sweetener to my steamed broccoli. I first learned of how good the steamed broccoli could be with lemon juice & sweetener at Red Lobster. I would order the steamed broccoli with the blackened fish lunch special. At some point I wanted a different flavor for the broccoli than just salt & butter and found the citric & sweet combo worked well.

[NOTE 01/29/24]: I just noted in the paragraph above, that I was writing the word “cauliflower” but actually talking about “broccoli.” And oddly enough, I had written “steamed cauliflower” three times, but the last sentence (without even noticing) said “broccoli.” [end NOTE]

I probably first had a baked sweet potato, with sour cream, cinnamon and sweetener at one of the steak restaurant chains. Maybe Longhorn. I think I first ordered it with a cheap steak and liked it. But, I also like a “loaded” baked potato (Russet) with sour cream and butter. *It was probably America’s Test Kitchen where I first learned of the trick to a tasty baked potato. You pierce the potato skin all around the potato and then roll the potato in a saline solution (salt & water). The salt in the water sticks to the skin of the potato and forms a salty skin.

I like steamed cabbage, but also like cabbage slaw (with mayo & half-n-half, sweetener, vinegar). *I don’t usually add carrots to my slaw, but I have added sweet onion before and like that. I’ve also played with slicing the cabbage into thin, long slivers but sometimes have put the chopped cabbage in a blender with plenty of water and blending the cabbage until it is all just little fine bits. The water keeps the blended cabbage from becoming total mush, and each little sliver of cabbage is a consistent size. **I do like using Duke’s Mayo and some Half-n-Half and sometimes either a little vinegar or lime juice to thin it out.

The Liver Pudding shown above is a breakfast dish for me. I heat the liver pudding up in a small fry pan, on the stove top, in a little bacon fat. I peel the skin off the liver pudding and mash it down. It softens quickly. I also slice a couple of half inch wide polenta slices and put them in my waffle iron & press them down. Sometimes the polenta waffles brown just a little, but usually they just get warmed through. Still, I like these polenta waffles with the liver pudding and with the chipotle/avocado/chicken soup I make often. The chipotle/chicken soup has Southwestern flavors, so polenta, which is corn, works well, as do adding chopped cilantro leaves, or some chili or cumin powder.

The round scrambled egg is made in the microwave in my onion cooker. Currently, I have a bag of shredded 4 Mexican cheeses and I like adding that to my egg as it cooks. The cheese melts inside the egg. *I bought the 4 Mexican Cheeses blend with the intention of making a Southwestern Salad, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, mainly because the simple salad has a lot of calories. It includes: black beans, romaine lettuce, onion, ranch dressing & the Mexican Cheese blend.

I made a Cilantro-Lime Dressing when I fixed a salmon steak about a month ago. The dressing was good, different, but pleasant, but the next day my weight & resting Bgl jumped way up. I attributed the jump in the wrong direction to the dressing, but also wasn’t sure if I had eaten a larger portion of salmon than needed. Oh, salmon is pleasant, but it’s not something that I would repeat often. I will stick to my meat rotation of ground beef, steak, pork chops, lamb and roasted chicken (which I get from Publix). I do make a delicious tasting Seafood Chowder, which I do like to repeat. But, I prefer a little heat to the chowder and the end of the summer is when I can get some delicious peppers up at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.

The savory rice thins crackers are delicious. They go good with salad and soups, and as a snack they take the Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate and the two goat cheeses I really like, Bucherondin and Capricio de Cabra (sp). I had forgotten about the Bucheron Goat Cheese until about 3 months ago when I saw some in Wegman’s. I took a hockey puck of the Bucheron cheese home and when I tried it I recalled that this was one of the special cheeses I had tried years ago and liked. It might have been more than 30 years ago when I first tried this cheese, while I was living down in Jacksonville, NC. I probably couldn’t find it after I moved to Fayetteville, almost 30 years ago, and so I forgot about it. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but these crackers do not get soggy quickly when moisture hits their surface, so they provide a nice crunch with either soup or salad veggies.

I’ve found that Sprouts sells a cheap bottle of Pomegranate Juice. It does have a lot of sugar, but this juice also is supposed to be good at controlling blood sugar levels. *It is difficult to find low-sugar dried cranberries, but I like these with chocolate drops & either cashews or walnut pieces. When you do find low or no-sugar dried cranberries, they are much more expensive than the sweetened dried cranberries.

I was just watching TV, as I normally am, even if I am reading or doing something else on the laptop, and I saw a phone commercial. I don’t recall which company (AT&T I think.), but they have the young woman that was rather chesty, but has toned that down. What I found exceptionally funny was that the two women were looking at wedding dresses, and there were three white dresses displayed on mannequins with a sign that said, “Buy Two, Get the Third Dress Free.” One woman asks the other woman, “Is that a good deal,” to which the reply is, “No.” I started replaying this in my mind and suddenly thought that whomever wrote this commercial was very humorous. Ludicrous to think about buying two wedding gowns, and then to offer a third gown, even more idiotic, but how funny!

Great Gravy? Maybe Not. Good Gravy? Yeah.

January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 bgibson135

Recently I have made pretty good gravy from hamburger, steak and pork chops. I pour out most of the grease from the meat I have cooked (in a pan on the stove-top), turn down the heat, and then sift in some Wondra fine flour. I scrape the bottom of the pan and remember TV chefs saying to make sure the flour is cooked long enough to lose it’s raw flour flavor. I then add some Chicken Stock and try to make a thick gravy. I may add some marjoram and/or thyme, and if the gravy is bland, some salt. Seems like the pork chops make the best gravy.

My cousin, Mary Ann, has always been a good cook, and she does make good gravy. One of her secrets to flavorful gravy was using some Morton’s Nature’s Seasons. I think she also used Morton’s Season All but I don’t recognize the current packaging for it. *But, one Thanksgiving it wasn’t the gravy but the mashed potatoes that she made that we both still remember to this day. She mashed them, and added some butter & cream, and mashed them some more, and some more butter & cream and blended them. At the end they were so silky smooth and flavorful that we had extra helpings and its something we mention on the holidays and agree those mashed potatoes were exceptionally good that year.

I heat up a slice of wheat bread (to soften it) in the microwave (about 10 seconds usually does it).

I did make a slice of garlic bread the other day, slathering margarine on it first and then sifting a generous amount of garlic powder on top, and then toasting it in the oven. I don’t recall what I ate the garlic bread with, but I do recall that it was delicious and worth the extra effort. *Without looking back at what I’ve eaten recently, I know that I would have enjoyed garlic bread with spaghetti, but I haven’t had spaghetti in quite a while.

For years, I made my homemade spaghetti sauce by starting with the $1 can of starter sauce (Delmonte or Hunts). For a while I would add a small can of mushroom bits, and some ground beef. At some point, I had some Italian sausage, and read somewhere that fennel seeds were a flavoring spice, so I started adding fennel seeds to my sauce, even if I didn’t have Italian sausage. Once I used ground beef, pork and lamb. The ground lamb was expensive. The end result was a little more flavorful, but I decided it wasn’t worth the extra money and effort so I went back to just ground beef. I do add oregano, thyme, bay leaf, S&P.

But about two years ago, I saw a chef on TV using Rao’s sauce as a starter, and not too long after that I bought a jar of Rao’s in Walmart. The jar of Rao’s was about $8. When it came time to use it, I only used half a jar, but the end result was definitely worth the extra price. I’m not sure what I like about Rao’s (and they do have an assortment of sauces) but the extra cost was worth it.

The Sesmark Savory Rice Thins Crackers go good with the Bucheron Goat Cheese and the Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate. I like them with my Greek Salad also. They are crispy and flavorful, and they stay crisp even when wet.