Tag: food

I had a really good pork chop, polenta, steamed asparagus and Greek salad.

bgibson135

The truth is that the Shrimp Burger with coleslaw and a side of fried okra & a cold Diet Pepsi (and a small plastic cup of Cocktail Sauce), was really delicious and… I just made dinner with a pork chop fried in bacon grease, steamed asparagus, polenta & a Greek salad and it was really delicious also. So was the gravy I made from the little bit of grease in the pork chop pan mixed with some Wondra flour and chicken stock. The gravy went well with the polenta and a little slice of pork chop, each bite.

The Greek salad was delicious, and the homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, Italian herbs, and sweetener) is spot on. The salad is simple: romaine lettuce, sweet onion, assorted olives, grape tomatoes and Feta cheese. Simple, yet easily repeatable, and consistently delicious.

And this homemade Greek salad went really well with the Lamb Gyro sandwich that I got from Pharaoh’s Legacy in Fayetteville (other side of town) last Wednesday. The next day I drove to Jacksonville, NC and had lunch at Marakesh Restaurant, and I had another Lamb Gyro there, with their small Greek salad. That was delicious also, but just a hair below the flavors of the previous day. Celebrated our birthdays, I together. I was born on Mary Ann’s 16th birthday, so she is now 86 years old, and I am 70 years old.

As far as I know I am in good health. I do have the pacemaker, to keep my heart from beating too slowly, and am taking one or more drugs to make sure it doesn’t beat too fast. Both of those seem to be working. And my Type 2 Diabetes has been better kept in check, until just recently when my resting Bgl has started to inch upward, I think because I am having trouble getting a refill for my Trulicity 4.5. Seems Trulicity is on back order across the board, not just CVS, but several CVSs, both n town and out of town (Erwin & Lumberton), and Walgreens (who said they were told not to order before February 23rd). That’s a full month from today. I’ve lost about 10 pounds in a little over 2 months, and my average resting Bgl has dropped about 30 points. My lows were just hitting about 150 about three months ago and for the last two months, just a few highs have been above 150. Quite a jump.

So, I feel relatively good. I’m able to live without assistance. Able to drive myself wherever, and daily to at least a couple of grocery stores (Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Publix, Fresh Market, Sprouts, Lidl, IGA, Walmart & Pates Farmer’s Market), and plan, days in advance, and cook my meals, with a relative sense of control of what I am eating, and varying the meats & veggies enough to not tire of any of it.

On the fly, I can change what I have scheduled to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today, I replaced a salad for baked beans at dinnertime.

I’m enjoying reading the Connelly’ Bosch novels and am currently on my 5th, “9 Dragons.” 

Still wondering what happened to “the Overlook,” which I thought I had bought down in Washington at the Brown Library Book Sale last Friday. But, either I didn’t buy it, or I bought it and it has “magically” disappeared. I marked four novels (that I didn’t already have) on my phone as having been purchased in Washington. But, now I can only find 3 of them. I bought 10 Connelly hard backs in Washington. *Now, having mixed the books I had, with the new ones purchased, I can’t tell which is which, or even if one is missing.

From reading online, Eleanor Wish, Harry’s Ex, is murdered in “9 Dragons,” and Harry is exposed to radiation, which eventually leads to cancer, in “the Overlook.” I recall the Overlook story from the Bosch TV series. A woman’s husband is set up to steal radioactive material from a hospital, and then is killed by his wife’s lover (an FBI agent), which sets up the story to be told and the crime to be solved in that story. *The actress played a Princess of Mars (is that Barsoom) in the unsuccessful Disney movie. I liked the movie, but apparently the rest of the public did not, or at least not enough to pay for the exorbitant special effects. **The actress, Lynn Collins, who successfully played a “goddess” of Barsoom, is proof that movies can make “an ordinary looking woman” into a goddess, using makeup, wardrobe, lighting & camera angles.

So, at my age, I am facing, “the next moment” in which my life is severely changed, and in a negative way. I won’t be alive, or I won’t be able to live on my own, or cook for myself, or drive myself around (and that may be as few as five years more), or perhaps think clearly.

Sometimes I make homemade hummus (garbanzo beans, lime juice, olive oil, cumin seeds, S&P). I like to cut up some sweet bell pepper (assorted colors), a little sweet onion (Vidalia), halve a few grape tomatoes, add a few assorted olives and open a can of smoked oysters. I may even pour the oil from the smoked oysters into the hummus. I can make a meal off of this.

The replacement I bought.
Oneida Golden Julliard Cocktail/Seafood Fork.

I gave my whole Oneida Golden Julliard pattern away including the flatware box, and then I realized how dependent I had become using the above Cocktail/Seafood Fork, so I bought just one from the Replacements Showroom, just outside of Burlington. I use this fork a lot when eating olives, or the smoked oysters, pickles, or maybe even Spicy Chili Crisp out of the jar.

Southern Seasons & Chapel Hill Library

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[ 01/04/24 ]: I was looking for library book sales online yesterday and came across the online site for the Chapel Hill Library (friends) bookstore. I saw there was a pickup area where book purchasers could come to pick up the books they had bought online. *I did drive all the way to Chapel Hill and drove into the Staff Parking area, where there were a couple of “pickup” parking spots for the two days designated. I then drove around and parked in the Library parking area and made a call to the Publix in Fayetteville to reserve a “Roasted Chicken – Original.” I told them I would stop by to pick up the chicken at about 4:30 pm, and within a few minutes of that time, I was there. They were busy, but I saw what I wanted on the hot counter. I took the bag with the roasted chicken in it and went to the Service Desk, where I was able to pay and where I asked them to notify the “Prepared Foods” section that I had already picked up my order.

While looking online, Google Maps, for the Chapel Hill Library location, I viewed the aerial view of the location where the old Southern Seasons store was located. But, there was nothing there, or very little. The store was gone, or a good portion of it. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at a view from a long time ago, or something more recent. But, when I actually drove by this location later in the day, “Yup, it’s gone.” And, I just checked online and they started to demolish the Southern Seasons building back in March 2023.

I liked visiting & shopping at Southern Seasons. The store was large, had a cafe/restaurant section accessible from inside, but maybe not a part of Southern Seasons proper. There was a large coffees/teas section, cheeses & deli meats, a wall of candies, a wine and spices section and a large area of kitchen utensils. I think this is where I first purchased “Grains of Paradise.” They also had “tongue” baloney. They had the Hot “Chinese” Mustard that you could add water to, for egg rolls. 

Once, I seem to recall buying the various ingredients to make a sandwich lunch in my car. I had a tongue baloney sandwich and I think I bought a single serving bottle of special ginger ale.

As it was.
As it is.

On my way up to Chapel Hill, I stopped by Golden Hex in Cary, walked up and down the various isles, past the cheese and deli meats section, and only ended up buying some pickles. As I am watching more closely what I am eating, I know I don’t need the fatty sausages and deli meats. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the different flavors, but I know at this time I don’t need to buy any more. I wish Golden Hex well though!

After Golden Hex, I drove over to the Cary Wegmans and went in. I had been thinking of buying a single Miami Onion Roll (@$1.10) but when there decided against it, and although a large blueberry bagel would have been delicious, I didn’t buy one of those either. I looked at the Andouille sausages, but didn’t buy those either, although an Andouille & Lentil soup would be good (today is much colder than yesterday).

I did buy a puck of Bucheron (semi-soft, tart, goat cheese) and also some yellow/orange grape tomatoes. I looked for unsweetened dried cranberries, but they only had sweetened ones. I did buy dried Currants that were supposedly unsweetened, but later noted that they had a bunch of natural sugar.

I walked out to my car and drove to a less crowded section of the Wegman’s parking lot and ate the lunch I had brought with me, along with a little of the Bucheron cheese. I had carried my homemade Greek Salad, with dressing, a cooked hamburger patty, a slice of sweet onion and a slice of wheat bread, cut in half and dressed with my mustard/horseradish/sweetener on one slice and Duke’s Mayo on the other. I had a couple of the rice crackers I like with my salad. They don’t become soggy, but these had become tougher to chew.

This Wegmans is in the flight path for RDU Airport and it is amazing how many large jets fly overhead in a twenty minutes period of time. There must be at least two runways, set slightly askew, because all the jets took one of two different angles toward the airport.

After going by the Chapel Hill Library, I headed back through the UNC Campus & Chapel Hill on a slight “scenic” tour. I drove past my old dorm (Aycock), who’s name was changed a few years ago because Charles B. Aycock was racist. But in his day, he was the next Governor of North Carolina after Lindsay Russell (Republican and distant relative). But, they had a mutual respect for each other, and Russell left the Governor’s Mansion better kept and stocked for his successor.

When I lived in Aycock Dorm in the early 1970s (1972-74) it was a standalone three level building (4 if you count the basement). I lived on the 3rd floor, 318 I think. But some years ago they built a connector to an adjacent dorm and completely got rid of the small courtyard and bicycle parking area at one end of these dorms. Oh, there was a Lewis Dorm at that time. Probably still is. But, I had a slightly younger roommate that would call out from our 3rd floor window and say, “Lewis. Leewisss…, Lewis.” And someone from Lewis Dorm would inevitably say, “What,” to which my roommate would reply, “Eat Shit!” *This roommate also taught me the art of cussing.” I think to that point my cursing vocabulary only consisted of “shit,” “damn,” and the occasional “fuck.” But this roommate would string together a bunch of dirty words in a quite artistic manner.

I don’t recall the name of this roommate (he wasn’t Keith Smith, my first roommate at Carolina, and Keith a Senior), but he was a very good tennis player and had nice rackets. I was never interested in tennis while there, but only a year or so later when attending Campbell College (it was a college then) did I take up the sport of tennis, and after several years was an okay player, and even taught both youth and adults (through Onslow County) tennis.

New Years Day 2024

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If I should live so long, I will be 70 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2024. I think I am supposed to live to be 82 years old, but that might not be correct. 

For about a month and a half, I have been paying a lot of attention to what I have been eating. The MyFitnessPal web site has made it easy for me to keep track of & to plan my food intake. I think FitDay provided more precise creation of food items, but MyFitnessPal has many items already, if you just search for them. But, it was nice to be able to enter the nutritional values for each food item.

I had Seafood Chowder for lunch today and some of the left over Grilled Salmon Salad (minus the salmon). The salad wasn’t as delectable as I had thought yesterday. I picked over the seedless cucumber slices. I fixed some blackeyed peas with seasoning meat, and white potatoes. I also doctored up some canned collards. Still, Mary Ann’s collards, from scratch, are much, much, much better. I made a meal off of her collards and slices of tomato the last time she fixed them.

This morning was a bump in the wrong direction for both my weight and my blood glucose level. My weight jumped from 251.8 up to 255.2. Not sure if it was the salmon, and/or the cilantro-lime dressing on the accompanying salad, and/or the “tasting” that I made while cooking for today’s meals early this morning. My Bgl jumped from 125 resting yesterday to 145 resting this morning. Now some of that might have been the “little tastings” that I made while cooking the blackeyed peas and the collards. Also, if I drink my “Bill’s Drink” after midnight, that has some real fruit juices (orange and cranberry) in addition to the artificial flavorings which affect my Bgl. *A note on my Bill’s Drink, is that it is also delicious when hot (microwave it). I have drank a bunch of this drink for several months and have not become tired of it yet.

I’ve lost about 10 lbs. although that jumped back up by about 3.5 lbs. this morning. I expect that to be an aberration, that I can correct. But I have also noted that my resting Bgl each morning has been averaging at lower levels. It is a little less than 140 Bgl.

The above graphics look very positive to me, even with today’s blip in the wrong direction. I wanted to add fish (salmon) to the meats I cook at home, but for whatever reason, either the salmon, or the salad dressing cause the negative reaction. I have been eating “right” and the above graphs are showing the positive numbers.

For years, I have said that if I had a choice for my last meal, I would have a “mess of” blackeyed peas, seasoned with ham hock and diced Vidalia (sweet) onion, at this was true until now. I had some good blackeyed peas for dinner today, but that’s not what I would want for my last meal. I’ve been enjoying a Greek Salad, with homemade dressing (simple: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning, sweetener). This dressing is deliciously tart. The salad ingredients include: Hearts of Romaine Lettuce, Kalamata olives, sweet onion, grape tomatoes, Feta cheese and Pepperoncini peppers. *I almost have a need to eat this salad at least every other day. Love the flavors. 

I like the Greek Salad at Pharoah’s Legacy along with the Lamb Gyro, but I am thinking that I may make my own Greek Salad with the homemade dressing and take it with me and order just the Lamb Gyro there, and eat it all together out in my car. I can’t do the shaved lamb, but the salad & dressing, hmmm. I’m especially loving the tartness of the Pepperoncini Peppers with this salad.

I found Hearts of Romaine lettuce at Walmart for less than $3. The package is small, but I haven’t been able to use it all before some of it turns brown… until this last time, when I wrapped the lettuce in a paper towel and rolled it up tight in a plastic bag & twist tie. I also found a deal on Pepperoncini Peppers at Food Lion and bought one, maybe two jars of those. Oh, and I’ve finally found a cracker (made of rice) at Harris Teeter that has good flavor, isn’t wheat based, and stays really crisp even when the surface becomes wet. I like these crackers with my salads. They provide a crunch.

[NOTE 02/16/24]: I was eating a Greek Salad at least every other day, and was using Romaine lettuce in it. But as I said above, the Romaine lettuce, even in the small packages, turned brown before I had finished using it. So, I happened to see a whole head of Romaine in Food Lion and decided to buy it. And, that has proven to be the answer. I pull off a leaf or two and chop it up for each salad, and the rest doesn’t turn brown, except for maybe the last little stalk end, and I get rid of the small amount of brown lettuce each time I chop a leaf or two. [end NOTE]

Library Book Sales

  • Wilmington, NC 1241 Military Cutoff Rd 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 10 AM – 5 PM
  • Washington, NC 110 Gladden Street 01/19-20/24 Fri-Sat 9 AM – 5 PM
  • Durham, NC

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/323+Foothill+Lane,+Fayetteville,+NC/1241+Military+Cutoff+Rd,+Wilmington,+NC/110+Gladden+St,+Washington,+NC+27889/@34.8844746,-78.6231736,9z/am=t/data=!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x89ab6e440ee35ec3:0xb99d4fca50e39953!2m2!1d-78.8674125!2d35.1666756!1m5!1m1!1s0x89a9f35d9d82d493:0x3d39b6e073f1411!2m2!1d-77.8282555!2d34.2329298!1m5!1m1!1s0x89af22604bf2dd53:0x4ed8a27ad1c9d474!2m2!1d-77.0579071!2d35.5443954!3e0?entry=ttu

[NOTE 01/21/24]: I ended up getting to both library book sales, first to the Wilmington location and then to the Washington location. I found more Connelly novels in Washington than Wilmington. I bought 10 hardbacks in Washington. I also ate lunch at “Down on Main Street” in Little Washington and it was extremely delicious. Shrimp burger with coleslaw on the sandwich, and fried okra, with a Diet Pepsi.

[NOTE 08/05/24]: Actually, I ate at Pharaoh’s Legacy for lunch today and had the Lamb Gyro Pita with their House Greek Salad. But as I have at least once before, I took a sandwich baggie with some sweet onion, a few Kalamata olives, a Pepperoncini pepper and a few yellow grape tomatoes.

I only have about 30 pages left to read of the Sully Sullenberger bio. And ironically, there was an Air Disaster episode on TV this afternoon featuring the “Miracle on the Hudson.” I understood a great deal more about this event by having freshly read the details in the bio. [end NOTE]

[01/01/25]: Another year has passed. If I should live so long, I will be 71 years old in 17 days, January 18, 2025. I was just down at Mary Ann’s over the Christmas holiday, but am already thinking that I will go back on our birthday, if she is feeling okay.

Oh my, my the changes

bgibson135

I’m enjoying my retirement (about 4 years into it now), but I am aware that I am an old man, and even if you are good, changes, bad changes do occur. 

I love cooking, and trying new things but I just thought the other day that I could become incapacitated and lose all the wonderful freedom I currently enjoy. Two things: not to be able to cook for myself, and not to be able to get in my car and drive, where I want, when I want.

I got in my car yesterday and headed up toward Dunn, the back roads crossing over the Cape Fear River near Linden, and then instead of heading down to Dunn, I headed up toward Buies Creek and Campbell University. As I got there, Campbell, I drove past the dorm in which I lived in my only year there, 1975, Sauls Hall. Then past the new Student Union, around the traffic circle near the new gymnasium and past the running Camel statue. *I did think of an attractive student who had “smiled at me” shortly before (days) getting a new boyfriend. I went past the old Post Office building, and that sparked the memory of the day, in the Spring, I think, when several of us (in another student’s car) drove down to Fayetteville and went to the new Mall. It was so new that there were still a few businesses completing the construction work before they opened.

The other thought was that every day, at Campbell, I would go to the Post Office looking for a letter from Debbie. We weren’t a couple at the time, but I had such a hard time letting her go in my heart & mind. But on this day when we went to Fayetteville, it was a time where I forgot about my longing for Debbie and enjoyed the activities. We returned home late and I went to bed, and this was the first day in a long time in which I did not make it to the Post Office.

What do you know? Yup! The next morning I went to the Post Office and there was a letter from Debbie.

[ NOTE ]: Another thought was that I used the same Accounting Book (Intro to) at Campbell College as I had used at UNC-Chapel Hill, although my accounting professor at Chapel Hill had helped write the textbook. But, the mental image I just had was that at the end of the year, when I no longer needed the Accounting book, I tried to sell it to the Campbell Book Store. Whatever amount they offered me was so little that instead of selling it to them, I kept it and seems like I was outside, on campus, when I ripped the Accounting book apart.

But, that also reminds me of a little brown Bible that I owned. It had been given to me by Piney Grove Baptist Church as a Senior Graduation present, and because I wasn’t attending church much my Senior Year at Swansboro, the pastor stopped me and said something to the effect, “I think we have something for you.” He went up to the pulpit and the little Bible with my name imprinted on it in gold letters, was laying on a shelf there. He gave it to me. *I think I was near the end of my college life, at UNC-Wilmington, and I found myself standing next to a bookshelf in my bedroom, cleaning out my old books. I took the little brown Bible off the shelf, holding it above a trash can, and thinking whether I should throw it away or not. I said something to myself to the effect, “Well, I don’t believe this stuff, but I might be able to get a quarter for it, if I sell it.” I kept the Bible, and perhaps in six months was reading it, “in the Spirit.”

I stopped at the Harnett County Library, but the door was locked, and it was about 30 minutes before the listed closing time. I’m guessing it might be because of the holidays.

I then drove over the Cape Fear and went down to the IGA. I was actually looking for some of the canned Smoked Oysters (that I like with my homemade hummus), but didn’t find any. I did note how beautiful the vegetable section was displayed, and mentioned this to a girl who was working in another section. She said she would let the guy in charge of that area know. I did buy a cabbage, and I took several pictures of the veggies.

One thought was that a lot of joy would go when I am no longer able to drive myself around.

But, another thought came, and that would be when I could no longer cook for myself. And, I guess with the cooking comes the going out and buying all the ingredients. I currently visit about seven or eight different grocery chains/stores a week, and almost every day am going to a couple to pick up things that I specifically buy at that location. IGA, Food Lion, Walmart, Harris Teeter, Pate’s, Publix, Sprouts… and out of town maybe Whole Foods or Wegmans or the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh, in season. Publix has good bread and also imported lamb (round bone) chops. Sprouts has nuts & dried fruits, selected veggies and Pomegranate juice. Pate’s in season has fresh okra, corn on the cob and sometimes seasoning meats for flavoring beans, etc. I like the Campari Tomatoes, but also get some of the yellow or red grape tomatoes at several stores. 

I don’t know if I will lose my mind or my mobility first, if not both, before I die. But just sitting at home, or in a nursing home, not able to “get out” and galavant, or be able to get up and plan and prepare the daily meals will be extremely disheartening. Galavanting about the country is something that my Aunt Sis (my mother’s sister, Carrie Kellum) instilled the joy of, in me. Through the years, I often would prefer to get in the car and drive around, not necessarily stopping or going anywhere in particular, instead of watching a movie or TV. Although, I do love watching TV & movies.

MyFitnessPal is a web site that I found a little over a month ago, and it is replacing the FitDay site that I use for several years to track my weight, blood glucose readings, and list my meals & foods. FitDay eventually stopped doing its thing and I didn’t find a replacement immediately. But then I found the MyFitnessPal web site, and it had enough of the FitDay elements that I started religiously tracking my food intake again, and weight & Bgl resting levels. And, it’s working! I have lost about 10 lbs. in a little over a month, and my Bgl resting levels have dropped and are now averaging just below 140. This morning was exceptional at 125 but lately they have been in the mid-130s range. *If I can keep them where they are now, I shouldn’t have to go on Insulin, which I have agreed with my PCP Dr. Norem, that I would start taking the shots if she told me to, if I hadn’t brought my A1C down significantly.

But with me tracking my intake, and planning days in advance what I would be eating for each meal, both my weight and Bgl resting levels have begun to dive, downward.

Oh, and I have just started my 4th Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) novel, “Dark Sacred Night.” I’ve put the books in the basket near my toilet and read a few pages each time I go. I did start to read, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” but realized the storyline from having watched the Bosch series on TV, and stopped reading that because I just wasn’t interested in that story again.

Liver Pudding, Scrambled Egg & Polenta Breakfast

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This breakfast cooks rather quickly. 

I remove the liver pudding casing, add some bacon grease to the pan and press the liver pate down onto the cooking surface (relatively low heat). Maybe a couple of minutes to heat through.

I slice a couple of polenta rounds, thinly so that I can put them in the heated waffle iron and press them down. I’ve already brushed some cooking oil (now normally Avocado Oil because of high smoke point) on the two sections of the iron that I plan to use. This will take a couple of minutes to heat up the polenta cakes.

I break one egg into a bowl (one of my black bowls that has a rough texture inside the bowl) add a little Half-n-Half, some S&P, cayenne, and garlic powder and whisk with a fork. I can’t scramble an egg normally… in a pan, on the stove top. It just doesn’t come out like at a cafe. But, I can put this egg mixture in my onion cooker that I bought at the Agri Supply Store, put it in the microwave and it is done in about 1 minute (sometimes just a little longer to get all the runny stuff, but 2 minutes would make the egg hard). *As I’ve probably said elsewhere, this microwave onion cooker can cook a varied assortment of foods: baked potato, sweet potato, onion (medium or pearl), and eggs.

I was over at Pate’s a week or so ago, and walked past the liver pudding. It looked good, but as I came back to it, I couldn’t see a price. There was a butcher nearby stocking an opposite shelf and I asked him the price. He came over to the counter and pointed the price tag (very small & white above the products). If you know where to look, the price tag was obvious. I think it was about $3.66 or so.

I didn’t try this, but I’ve been thinking of making some spinach rice. I just bought some brown rice yesterday, and I have several packages of frozen spinach. I think I’ve used white rice when making this previously. I don’t need a lot of rice in my diet. Through the years I’ve loved all types of rice, but in the last several years the rice I cook seems to take on a grainy texture (not pleasant to me). I don’t know if the rice is old, because I don’t cook rice very often any more, or if it is the method I use to cook the rice. *For most of my life, I cooked rice by measuring out just a little more water to cover the uncooked rice, and hoping most of the water would cook off by the time the rice was ready. But a few years ago I saw a cooking show and they suggested a different method. Put way more water in the pot than you think you might need, and add the rice. Bring to a boil and cook for exactly 9 minutes, pour off the excess water, and viola, perfect rice. And, it did seem to work. It was only later that I would note the graininess of the cooked rice. I still enjoy the Sushi Rice I get at a restaurant. It is moist and a little chewy.

NOTE [05/30/24]:

I entered the following comment on a web site that had a posting regarding liver pudding/mush:

“On the coast of North Carolina, where I grew up, this was called “liver pudding.” In the western part of our state, and in South Carolina, it is called “liver mush.” Either way, I love it, with some sauteed onions. I’ve bought it in “block” form, where you slice off some to cook. Lately, I’ve been buying it in a casing, like link sausage. I have a box cutter near the stove, and I slice the casing and peel it off before I start cooking the liver pudding. I like a scrambled egg with cheese with my liver mush breakfast. I have a microwave “onion cooker” and I beat the egg, and cook briefly to get a firm base for the egg. I then add some shredded cheese to the partially cooked egg and finish cooking. What this process does is allow the cheese to melt in the middle of an egg patty. The rounded egg/cheese patty would fit perfectly on an English Muffin, so you could just add Canadian Bacon for a McMuffin-like sandwich. Or forget the muffin and enjoy the liver pudding & sauteed onions.”

[end NOTE]

Steamed Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower

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I don’t recall what I paid for it, but this was one of the best purchases I have bought for my kitchen, a Revere Ware Steamer Insert. *I see that there are used ones for about $20. 

I just had some steamed cauliflower tonight, flavored with some salt, margarine and bacon grease. Delicious! And that has prompted me to write this posting.

I steam way more cabbage than either broccoli or cauliflower, combined, but I do like the flavors and textures of all three steamed veggies. Currently, I am steaming cabbage and then flavoring it with a little Splenda and salt. But I also really like Toasted Sesame Oil… and bacon grease. **I eat a lot of bacon. In fact, almost every other day, I have bacon either with fried apples, or with a waffle, or with egg salad. ***Toasted Sesame Oil is what I consider the base flavor for fried rice. When I thought of adding the toasted sesame oil to my steamed cabbage, I thought about the shredded cabbage that is found in egg rolls. It made sense that the toasted sesame oil and soy sauce would go well. I haven’t added soy sauce to my steamed cabbage yet, but I will.

I think the steamed cauliflower would be my second favorite of these three steamed veggies, although I have probably steamed more broccoli than cauliflower, over my lifetime. I am qualifying favorite veggies by being either steamed or not. I really like sauteed okra. I don’t have to bread it although I sometimes add some of the Wondra fine flour. I like sauteed okra with onion.

In the past, I have eaten a great deal of corn on the cob, which I fix in the microwave. But, now that I am eating “more healthy” with an eye toward reducing my A1C levels, I will re-think whether I want to eat as much corn on the cob when it comes in season next year. ****Recall that I normally buy my corn in the husk, cut the stalk end off so just a little corn is showing on that end and then steam it in the microwave for about 5 minutes. At the end of this time, I turn the spray on my faucet and take the steaming corn out by the silk end and squeeze that end. What happens is that the corn on the cob slides out the stalk end and all the silks are left inside the husk. This is a trick that I just learned this year, and it works!

Oh, I just had a mental image of one of my favorite summertime meals: fried okra, corn on the cob, a tomato chutney and sliced raw tomato. No meat involved, or needed for this one.

Instead of a tomato chutney, I used tomatillos & onions above. The thought being that the flavor of a tomatillo was similar to a green tomato.

I ate a bunch of corn on the cob this past year, and I also ate a lot of fried okra. There had been several seasons that okra was scarce and expensive, but Pate’s had good looking okra for many weeks this year. I even added fresh okra to my soups also.

What would I eat with steamed broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower? Well, some calf liver, a hamburger patty, a pork chop or round bone lamb chop would be good. 

And having written all of this, I finally thought, “Oh yeah, steamed asparagus.” I love steamed asparagus!

So this steamer insert has served me well. I have used it a bunch over the years. I may have had this steamer insert for close to 30 years, but not a long as I’ve had the Revere Ware frying pan that I bought back in 1978. 

I’ve said it elsewhere, if I had married, I probably would not have kept this Revere Ware or my Gibson dishes for anywhere as long as I have, but they have served this old batchelor well for a long time. I’ve also got six classic beer mugs that I have had for more than 30 years. They were donated to the “Hem of His Garment” by Russ & Deborah Savage when I was still working there, and I came to Fayetteville State in August of 1995 and worked there until I retired 24 years later. I saw them and bought them, and have used them ever since. 

[ NOTE ]: As I was writing this, I got up to go to the bathroom. I have a temporary, new habit, and have a copy of a book I am reading in the little basket near the toilet. I say temporary because I just started reading (non-technical) books for fun. I had read “Fig Pudding” and then got hooked to read the Matthew Perry memoir because of his recent death, and now have read one Michael Connelly/Bosch novel, “The Crossing.” What was interesting to me was how the Bosch TV series differed from the Connelly book. After I finished “The Crossing,” I started to read “The Wrong Side of Goodbye.” But, about 30 pages into this second novel, I recalled the storyline from the TV series and knew that I didn’t want to waste my time on this novel. I then started another, “Two Kinds of Truth,” which I recalled the storyline, but am now about 245 pages into a 402 pages book. And, the last few days, I have rewatched the TV episodes that cover this storyline. I must say that I like Connelly’s writing better from his books than from the TV series. Also Mickey Haller offers a richer interaction than Honey Chandler.

But after the bathroom, and before I made it back to my easy chair, I stopped in my bedroom closet. Even this short time later, I don’t recall why I stopped there, but I tried a sip of Peach Schnapps, a sip of Disaronno, a sip of Tanqueray Gin and I think it was Smirnoff Vodka. This is not the usual. I rarely taste either the vodka or the gin, and most times not the Disaronno. I do like just a small sip of the Peach Schnapps. If it weren’t for watching my blood glucose levels & weight, I might drink a little more alcohol, but I don’t have any desire for it. It is a large bottle of Disaronno, but I have had it for several years. I like the flavor, but have no desire for it.

I also ate one clove hard candy, which I first tried from a vendor at the State Farmer’s Market in Asheville, NC. That is where I got the yellow grocery bag that I use at Wegmans & Sprouts sometimes.

Oh, another tangent: I think my current main TV has a 40 inches screen. It is positioned diagonally across the room from my easy chair, and often I take naps while the TV is on. But, the size of the characters on the TV must be close to “actual size,” and more than once, or twice, I may wake up and see the image on the TV, but in my stupor, I may say something like, “My laptop has really good video,” but then realize I’m actually looking at my TV. 

Earlier today, I awoke and there was some black & white show on, and there was a human being crawling toward me on the screen. But not realizing the image was on the TV, I jumped as I tried to process what I was seeing, and actually thinking, “Is this happening, or on TV.” I have a broken TV still on the wall, just behind the current TV which is on a long, low table. The darkness of the monitor on the broken TV blended into the black & white video on the new TV.

Liver Pudding Soup

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No, I don’t see where anyone has listed a liver pudding soup online. I had bought some liver pudding this afternoon, just because it looked good, and was in link form. I think it cost $3.99 plus. 

I bought some Red Swiss Chard at Fresh Market for about $2.99 a bunch. For some reason this Chard looks good there, and seems to be very reasonably priced, although I think most of their other pricing on both vegetables & meats are a little high. It may be the dark green leaves with the bright red ribs that set it off to me. 

I had bought Red Chard there previously, and had combined that with Borlotti (Cranberry) Beans and some seasoning meat, and that had turned out really good. Sort of a unique, earthy flavor not already in my repertoire.  Uncooked the beans have burgundy streaks on a brownish gray bean, but once cooked they lose the streaking and just become a plain brownish bean (but flavorful). *I have written about the Borlotti beans elsewhere, and recall that it was on an episode of one of Jamie Oliver’s cooking shows (of which he has had many) that he brought these beans to my attention. Since then I have seen & bought them dried, but also seen them cooked & canned (15oz.) at Walmart. I think they are called Roman Beans in those cans, but I have seen them advertised as Cranberry Beans, and they are also Borlottis.

So, I wanted to use the liver pudding as the meat flavored base for this soup. I started with some bacon grease and sliced onions in a pot on the stove-top. I then added chicken stock to the pot, cut some of the Red Chard, first de-veining the leaves and then chopping the red ribs up into smaller cubes, while choosing to chiffonade the leaves into little ribbons. Now, I had a Roma tomato close at hand and diced just one of these. But, the really odd thing that I chose to add, and this was mainly because I had a medium Avocado which was about to “go to waste” as they often do in my house. *With my increased attention to the meals & foods that I am eating, and am scheduling to eat, I know when there is no room for extra food items. And even with this soup, I don’t actually have it scheduled in any of my upcoming meals yet. However, I have already tasted it a few times, and it has a good flavor.

Surprisingly, the avocado didn’t break down immediately, so there were good sized chunks of it floating with the dark green Chard and a few of the diced tomato still intact. The liver pudding has long since dissolved into a browning base for the soup. And, I just tried another few tastes, and “Yes, this is good soup!” The beans probably have another 30 minutes to an hour to cook thoroughly, but they are edible even now. The rest of the ingredients are cooked well. 

NOTE [ 12/27/23 ]: I’m not going to eat a lot of this soup, but it was a test. Much more successful than the three bean test I did a few years back, where none of the 3 actually made a better soup. I had about a cup full of this soup for lunch. It wasn’t bad, and I had it with some sweet onion. The liver pudding isn’t distinctive enough to carry the meat flavoring portion of the soup. The Red Swiss Chard and Borlotti beans provide an “earthy” flavored base. I think the Borlotti beans do have a distinctive flavor, not necessarily a distinctive look after cooking. They go from brown with burgundy striations to just a plain brown cooked bean. Both times I have cooked the Borlotti beans and Red Swiss Chard, the result is a thick soup. This would be a good side dish, but would try to find something “lighter,” like a salad or steamed asparagus/cabbage.

[ NOTE ]: I had substituted this soup for baked beans in my eating plan, but at the last decided to substitute something else. This says to me, whether I want to be honest with myself or not, that I don’t really like the taste… or I would be eating it.

The Best Stewed Tomatoes…

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I found this recipe for “The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever” online. I did make a few modifications, but this just proves that it doesn’t take much for tomatoes to taste good, really good!

I’ve used Roma Tomatoes both times, and did the simple boil (for 30 seconds-1 minute) and then a quick “ice” bath. I only do 5 or 6 tomatoes total. I would have done six tomatoes the last time, but one of them had already begun to rot, and I only bought them a couple of days ago.

It is amazing how the boil/ice bath works to make a tomato easily peeled. 

I had part of a red sweet bell pepper that I large diced into the tomatoes, which I had cut up into smaller chunks. I also fine diced a regular onion and put that in the mix. I added some parsley flakes & salt, according to the recipe, but I also added some dried basil leaves (which I had grown last year, and then dried and put in a re-closeable sandwich baggie), and a little Splenda sweetener.

I bought a can of mushroom stems & pieces yesterday and then I went looking for a healthy “diabetic friendly” recipe. I had originally imagined stewing the mushrooms down to make a delicious mushroom gravy which led to thoughts of adding them to some Cream of Celery soup, but then I thought that the cream wouldn’t be as diabetic friendly as I would like. Not to add Half-n-Half to make this creamy, hmmm. 

I had some leeks, so I chopped up one small one, and some onion, and some sweet bell pepper. I think I added a diced carrot, some dried tarragon and just a little Splenda sweetener. I ended up eating this concoction as my dinner, along with some of the steamed cabbage I had cooked for lunch. 

*Beef Polska Kielbasa, waffle polenta cakes and steamed cabbage make a good, comfort food meal. I have recently started flavoring my steamed cabbage first with just a little Splenda sweetener. Then I may add a little margarine while it is steaming. Some S&P and some Celery Seeds. Once the cabbage is done, I put them on the plate, and flavor one portion with some bacon fat and another portion with Toasted Sesame Oil.

This worked. I had calf liver, with sauteed onions, some of the best stewed tomatoes (.5 cup is just enough), roasted cauliflower seasoned with smoked paprika & margarine, and a slice of the Tuscan Boule Loaf bread from Publix. I would do this combination again because it all worked together very well.

One surprise was that the sauteed onions complimented the roasted cauliflower.

Polenta

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I haven’t fixed polenta in a while, but I do love the flavor and that it is an excellent vehicle for gravy. I’m not sure if “Trillium a Bistro” in Asheville, North Carolina was the first time I tried polenta, but I do recall that Chef Leisa Payne fixed some delicious alligator sausage, gravy and […]

Cabbage with Mustard Sauce

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I’ve eaten a bunch of steamed cabbage recently. I love the flavor, and if you give it just the right amount of sweetness, it is a delicious side dish. But, salt & margarine, and maybe some bacon grease can only go so far. I thought, what might spiff up steamed cabbage, and immediately thought of adding a mustard sauce. *I really, really, really don’t know why I thought of a mustard sauce. I hadn’t seen anything, recently about this, and I don’t think I’ve ever had steamed cabbage with a mustard sauce. It may be like the time I was walking down an isle in my local Walmart and thought that I might like to make hummus at home. There were the cans of garbanzo beans on the shelf, so I chose one (may have been Hanover), took it home and googled on how to make hummus. I like making hummus, every so often, and having a veggie meal, with olives, smoked oysters, sweet bell pepper and sweet onion, carrot sticks, etc. Surprisingly, even though I like celery, I don’t like celery and hummus. **Not all canned garbanzo beans are equal;-) I found that some companies cooked their beans longer, some shorter. So the canned product may either be too hard, or not. And, when I first made hummus at home, I was using my older, smaller, Braun chopper (came with a chopper, whisk, & stick blender) which wasn’t powerful enough to grind an entire can of garbanzo beans into hummus. I since bought a larger Braun unit which has no problem with a whole can of garbanzo beans. ***The chopper also does excellently on making homemade salsa.

So, I thought “mustard sauce” and googled for a recipe, if that was a valid food combination. Sure enough I quickly found a Cabbage with Mustard Sauce recipe online and looked. It seemed to be a very easy recipe. Steam the cabbage wedges. Sautee diced onion in olive oil. When translucent, remove the onions from the oil. Add a small amount of flour to the oil, then some milk, and finally add the onions back to this sauce. Pour the sauce over the steamed cabbage wedges, and then sprinkle with black pepper. *The recipe is simple, and I even wrote the above from memory. That is something I just memorized about 30 minutes ago. And since, I’ve been online buying microplane spice grinders, Grains of Paradise, and Indian Long Peppers for Christmas presents, via Amazon.com, but came back to write this entry.

I have no illusions that these gifts will be appreciated, or even used, except for the Grains of Paradise. This was a gift that I gave to Danny a couple of years ago, and he mentioned it to me in thanking me for it sometime later. So, I’m planning to give Danny another package of Grains of Paradise seeds this year for Christmas. **I did see online that there is an Alligator Pepper from West Africa. They appear to be pods, which have seeds in them. But then I noted that these seeds are actually Grains of Paradise. Who knew? Certainly not me.

I gave a small sample of the Indian Long Peppers last year as Christmas presents, and no one let me know, “yea or nay” as to them. But, they are difficult to process, with a special pepper mill, or a mortar & pestle (which most probably do not have). I even found using the mortar & pestle mildly difficult. You had to hold your hand over the bowl so that the pepper being ground did not jump out.

So, I’ve been happy with the special “microplane” grinder that I found online. This grinder will grind nutmeg (probably the most “wear & tear” on the grinder), Indian Long Pepper, cinnamon, and various other hard spices. This grinder was well planned and even had a storage compartment in the top grinding handle… but, it is made of a hard plastic, and the threads to the storage compartment seized up and I haven’t been able to twist it open for quite a while. I just add my Indian Long Peppers from an external source and the grinder works fine!

NOTE [ 11/17/23 ]: So after several months, probably 4 – 6, I tried again to open the storage part of the grinder, and today, the seal broke and I was able to get to the contents inside. I found quite a few Long Peppers in it, and took them out and put most of them in the grinder. But later I found that the grinder wouldn’t function properly with too many items, so I took all but a couple of peppers out, and the grinder works fine.

From a comment that Lawrence made some time ago, I’m not going to give him an assortment of flavored teas… although, I wouldn’t mind getting an assortment. Well, I probably wouldn’t want an assortment because I already know what I like and have a pretty good selection at home of what I regularly like: Constant Comment & Earl Grey being my longtime favorites (probably the 1980s and Rick & Linda Bell). Finding Chris, what a horror that must have been. And Raspberry Royal from my trip to Lynchburg, VA. I have several other flavored teas, but none repeatedly satisfy like the three mentioned above.

This microplane grinder was extremely well thought out. I put it in a similar category to the old Northwest Airlines logo, which I deem as the perfect logo for an English speaking audience. Their old logo consisted of two interconnected images. There was a circle with a small triangle pointing to the northwest quadrant, signifying a compass pointing NW. But, the small triangle also helped form an italicized N into a W. Wow, what a brilliant creation. I’ve never seen any other logo that spoke so well, with no wasted space. “This was poetry.”

So, I made the mustard sauce this afternoon and hated it. There wasn’t enough mustard, and I’m not sure if there ever could be enough mustard. I tried adding some horseradish and that wasn’t the right direction. I tried adding some Splenda, because I do like a sweetness to my steamed cabbage, but nothing actually worked. I did try some other BBQ type sauces, and mixing horseradish with them, but had no steamed cabbage to try those sauces on. One sauce had a tomato-ey base and the other a mustard-ey base, and I like both, but not sure either would add to steamed cabbage. **Just saw a suggestion to flavor the steamed cabbage with Soy Sauce. I like Soy Sauce, and that would be a different direction for flavoring. But that also gets me thinking about Toasted Sesame Oil, which I equate with fried rice. Perhaps Soy Sauce & Toasted Sesame Oil together would be a good combo with steamed cabbage. But, might be too overpowering depending upon what else it is served with.

A Well Thought-Out Spice Grinder
Another Flavored Tea from Bigelow
The Perfect Logo
Mustard Sauce on Steamed Cabbage

[NOTE 02/16/24]: As I said above, I hated the mustard sauce from the recipe above that included flour, but just recently I wanted to try mustard (yellow) on some steamed cabbage. I added some of the Creamy Horseradish from Inglehoff, and some Splenda Sweetener, and put this on the cabbage, and it was good. [end NOTE]