vacation

With Galya in town, work continuing, the JPFitness Summit, kids, and Galya in town, I sometimes go the whole day without turning on the computer.  So, I'll call this a vacation and leave it at that.

When not even my backlog (backblog?) can save me...

I've got like a million blogs ready to go in my "drafts," or so I thought.  Hmm...  none are ready for the public eye.  Note to self, next time I have a three a week, spurt, go for one a week on the "publish" button.

Pandora is great for when you hear a new band, song, or artist.  Plug it in to a new station and fine tune from there and see where it takes you.  It doesn't let you listen to specific songs, though.  You have to rely on it's algorithms and thumb ups/downs to take you where you want to go.

I'm sure there's a better way (place?), but youtube.com is good for seeing the relationships between songs, bands, artists.  The six degrees of separation/Kevin Bacon things.  I still haven't seen that movie...  I like bacon.

Here's a fun (for me) find.

The Move, a precursor to ELO. Here's Wild Tiger Woman.  Sweet clothes.



It's a little reminiscent of some "Flight of the Concords," but these guys at The Move guys are serious.


Here's some ELO, although the song is brought forward from The Move.  Do Ya is the name.  ...and there's some serious cowbell!



No video, but I didn't care for the live versions.


Here's the Traveling Wilbury's. A lighthearted and fun group (again, I think ELO was trying for serious, despite Do Ya) with an amazing lineup, including Jeff Lynn from ELO/The Move.



Handle Me With Care

Busy, busy, busy...

I've been soooo busy with work.  I wish I had more time to write, but until I do, all I can do is keep scratching down my ideas.  The list grows long...

In the meantime, a work related thing you might find interesting.  We (Xerox) use a company called Direct Smile to provide customized images that are specific to a customer.  It might have your name, company name, etc. worked into the picture.

It's pretty cool and you can try it for yourself if you like.

Direct Smile

Obviously, it's not manually done when we contact thousands of people at once, but you get a feeling for the underlying technology.  Enjoy!

It actually IS cold in Starbucks

I got tired of thinking it's just me, so I brought a thermometer with me.  66 degrees and cold air blowing right down on top of you equals "yes, it's cold."

If you check around the internet, you'll see the conspiracy theorists say that the colder temp of a Starbucks is designed to make you buy and drink more coffee, but that seems smart, well planned, and complicated to keep up without employees spilling the beans (haha).

I'm sure it's bad A/C and thermostat placement, combined with the recent addition of the blast furnace sandwich ovens that are positioned pretty near to the HVAC controls.

I'll admit that I'm probably more susceptible to cold than many people, being fairly lean and having a shaved head, but when my hairier friends head to the car to get jackets and stare menacingly at the vents blowing air imported directly from the North Pole, I'm inclined to believe that it's not just me.

The good news is that Peet's coffee is nearby and not cold.  They have free wifi and their coffee is often better, too.

The bad news is that Peet's is a little more expensive and their desserts are better.  I'm taking the chance and risking the good desserts so I don't have to wear three layers of clothes and a beanie, just to keep computing, like I am right now (in Starbucks, actually considering how much more comfortable I'd be if I also had a pair of gloves and a scarf to keep the FUCKING cold draft out).

My Newest Starbucks Name

I thought I had them all pretty much all listed.  Today, I add "Rola" to the list.  She didn't even say "what?" and try again.  She asked my name and wrote it down like she hears that one all the time.

nom is the new meh

I know this will just be annoying to those of you who regularly nom things like seared ahi salad on mixed greens with wasabi ginger dressing, but for some reason the bad usage and overusage of "nom" has bugged me from day one, almost like "meh" used to. The use of "meh" bugs me a little less now, because now it's ubiquitous.  People no longer use it to be clever, they just use it. 

I think this post is my first experience typing the word "nom."  I've never had it in me to use it.  Some people can get away with nom, some can't.  I don't want to try.  It's like my dad saying "lol."  Oh please...

Is it possible that I was influenced negatively by my first encounter with "nom?"  Someone telling me that they were nomming a fanciful feast that's best savored, not eaten with abandon?

I get what nom is supposed to imply; one could, I suppose, nom pizza, ice cream, cookies, salty snacks, junk food, and all that stuff.  But, if you're nomming "porterhouse steak in drawn butter and Stilton cheese, broccoli, and sweet potato fries" or "vennison, morel, and parsnip stew,laced with rubbed fresh mojave sage" and telling the world about it on facebook, then you're just soooo awesome. 

Don't get me wrong, I like that you're having that stuff, but you're eating it, not nomming it.  Eat it slowly and tell us the recipe, please.


From what I gather, the term "nom" comes from our friend Cookie Monster.

Cookie noms cookies, not Lindt 99% dark chocolate chunk with pan roasted English walnut cookies.

Keep that in mind before haphazardly nomming again.

Median Flowers

 
On Southern California afternoons, the freeway onramps and median strips take on a tiny marketplace atmosphere, with men and women selling whole bags of fruit or nuts, balloons, and other little things.  On Fridays, they really focus on the flowers.  The flowers are basic, and are set out in big black buckets on the side of the road.  Basic, but they look like the tiny premade bouquets you might get at the grocery store checkout line while you're picking up the steak for tonight's dinner.

At the intersections, cars slow and stop, windows go down and up as flowers and bills are traded.  The stop lights turn to green again and the line of cars moves on.  Sometimes a car pulls slightly to the side to buy something, blocking traffic a little bit.  No one honks; that seems a good sign.  Maybe people forgive the little inconvenience when they think it's for a good cause?

Every Friday I drive by, wondering if the man with the bucket will still be there.  I also hope he will be there in six weeks, or in three months, next year, and forever after.  Whenever I need him...

He's there this week, and wishful thinking makes me look at the bucket again, like every time.  I usually slow but keep moving.  This week, next to the bucket is a stack of oranges, bagged and ready.  It's a lot of oranges for one guy who doesn't really eat fruit, but I slow and stop anyway, put the window down, and I trade five dollars for the huge bag of navel oranges.  Before I pull away, I stop and point to the flowers, too.  Usually, they are red roses, but this week they are gerbera daisies.  More dollars are exchanged, and I have a little bouquet in hand and head on home.  ...to eat the oranges I didn't really want and water the daisies I don't really need.  ...yet.

Why did I buy these?  Practice makes perfect?  Build it and they will come?  ...stick any other trite little saying you can think of there.  Either way, I hope I'm at least doing my part to keep the guy in business until I do need him.

In a mellow mood...

No hidden messages, the Embed strings just happened to be in my clipboard.

Waiting For You




Forever




Woman In You

Synchronicity and Life's Little Unappreciated Material Things

It starts with something small. The modern day equivalent of a cool Cracker Jack prize.  ...and for you youngers out there, Cracker Jacks used to have actual toys in them.  Small, yes, but dice, a plastic ring, a little game, etc.  Not just the stupid sticker or temp tattoo like you find now.  I think I might have had the very last little plastic ring EVER to come from a Cracker Jack box, but who knows?  Anyhow, I gave it to this girl in 2nd grade.  She was waaay cute, with dark hair and cute hypnotizing lips and sat next to me in the 70's equivilent of GATE class.  Friday's Cracker Jack romance, Monday's heartbreak, since over that very weekend, my Mom basically picked up the household and we moved down the street, but to a totally different city, unbeknownst to me.  Who saw that coming?.  Fuck!  Cracker Jacks used to have more peanuts, too.  Jerks!  I hate Cracker Jacks.

Ok, back on track.

Anyhow (and that's a word that's a sure sign that you don't know how to properly structure your writing; a an overused tool to jump subjects where you really shouldn't have jumped (but I digress).).*

So, back to that something small that so exciting**...  it's hard to explain what I mean, so I'll illustrate.

My friend Tony once said he was going to have a good day because there was an extra drumstick toe in his drumstick bag.

If you don't know (I didn't), the toe is the pointy part of the cone, deliciously filled with a nugget of chocolate.

The toe from another Drumstick had broken off and made it's way into his Drumstick bag.  What are the odds of that?  That means somewhere someone else got shafted.  Anyhow, it's one of the best parts -- delicious AND keeps the melting ice cream contained -- although I'd never heard it named before.

By the way, the Drumstick toe is a new thing.  When I was a kid, the cone tip was just an empty tip which collected melted ice cream until it eventually sogged out enough to start dripping through onto your pants.  I love Nestle!  I hope they take over Cracker Jack and bring more joy back to my life.

Here's a short list of things that bring unexpected little joys to my life.

• Slightly popped popcorn kernels -- after the wholly popped ones are gone, these are the ones you eat before you throw out the ones that did nothing.  Crunchy and tasty little treats.  Trader Joe's actually makes whole bags of these things.  Never tried them...  It's just not the same.  However...  
• Change in the newspaper coin return
• Change in the payphone coin return
• An extra treat falls from the vending machine spirals
• Two bottles of Diet Pepsi come out of the machine! OMG!
• Starbucks runs out of drip coffee right as you order, so you have to wait five minutes, but it's free OR they offer up an Americano! 
• As they pick up the cookie, it breaks, so they toss it and a WHOLE one in the bag!  Road to fatness, but come on!.  If it's meant to be, it's meant to be!
  

I'm sure I'm missing a ton of obvious ones, but that's off the top of my head.

There's a weak moral to this blog, as illustrated by the Drumstick toe.  One person's loss is another one's gain.  Don't let that go to waste, and always check your bag, lest the universe go spinning out of control as one person's loss turns into no one's gain...

Oh, and also...   One person's loss is another one's gain.  I said that already?  Can't be said enough.  Next time you're saddened because you get home and realize that you forgot your change in the coin return, think of the guy who finds it later.  When a quarter rolls under your car and you're not dressed to crawl under there, think of the kid who'll find it and do more with it than you ever would have.  When the bag of trail mix gets stuck hanging in the vending machine, remember that trail mix only sounds healthy, it's not -- some skinny kid who actually needs the calories will now get two.  Synchronicity.

If you think of something good to add, post a comment.

Here's the astrisked things, in case you forgot. 

*  I gave up on the sentence.  It's my blog, I do my own thing.  Bet you didn't even notice that the whole sentence was "Anyhow."

**  girlfriend excepted, as that's another blog post entirely

Escabeche (Mexican Pickled Stuff)

$6 for a jar of pickled veggies doesn't sound all that bad until I tell you that I'm going to eat it in one sitting.

I love pickles, and Mexican reigns #1 with escabeche.  Italian is a close 2nd with giardiniera.  Either one is a good side dish or snack, but that bottle's pretty much one serving, despite the label's claim of 14.

It Mexican places, I always hope for some good stuff besides salsa at the salsa bars, but it's usually just carrots, onions, and jalapenos..   At Rubio's it's just jalapenos.  Oh yeah, with a sliver of carrot per hundred jalapeno rings.  Why do they even bother with the carrots?

Enter Taco Mesa!  Last week at Taco Mesa, I had some amazing stuff.  Cauliflower, carrots, onions, garlic, chilies, spices, oil, vinegar.  Faced with a delicious bowl full of raw ingredients, merely mixed together into a heavenly pickly treat, I was forced to admit that there's really no way that it could be hard to make.  So, I decided to make my own.

Here's take one.

This tastes less blurry than it looks

Escabeche #1

Makes 1 or 14 servings

12 oz cauliflower
10 baby carrots
1 pasilla chili
8 bay leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
lots of ground pepper
1 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Get a saucepan that's big enough to hold all of the cauliflower and carrots, plus water.  Fill the pan with water about 3/4 of the way and bring it to a boil.

Cut the cauliflower into bite size florets.  Cut the carrots into strips or disks.  Add the cauliflower and carrots to the boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Drain.

Put the cooked veggies and all the rest of the stuff in a zip lock bag.  Squeeze the air out and seal the bag.  Refrigerate overnight or for a few days.  Eat in one or fourteen sittings.

Nutrition for one serving:  400 calories, 31g Fat, 25g Carbs, 5g Fiber, 2g Protein.

or

Nutrition for one serving:  29 calories, 2.5g Fat, 2g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 0g Protein.

Caramelized Banana Pancakes

You can make these with any pancake batter, but I take my Oat Bran Pancakes and banana them up a little further.

Again, mmm... banana pancakes...


Caramelized Banana Pancakes

Makes 4 servings

3/4 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
104g of protein worth of vanilla protein powder (yes, that's 4 scoops of Body Fortress Vanilla)
4 omega-3 eggs
water
2 tbsp chopped walnuts or pecans

1 large ripe banana
2 tsp butter

2 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup sugar free syrup, divided

In a bowl, mix the oat bran through protein powder together.  Add the egg and stir until combined.  Slowly add water until you have it the consistency of pancake mix.  Stir in the chopped nuts.

Slice the banana into rings or cut it into 2-3 inch sections and then lengthwise into thin slices.  Your choice. Rings are easier, but you get a more raw (the word "rustic" is in my mind, but I don't think it works for food...) look with the slices.  Anyhow, I like the less than perfect look of the slices better.  Again, your choice.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  If it's big enough, add all the bananas and the 2 tsp butter.  If the pan is small, do it in batches.  Cook the bananas until they are browned and darkening on one side, then flip them and continue cooking.  Remove the finished bananas to a plate.

If using the same skillet, clean it enough so the surface is smooth again and heat it over medium heat. It's ready when a drop of water dances on the surface of the pan.   If desired, spray the pan with cooking spray between batches of pancakes.  Even the smallest bit of fat seriously effects the look of the pancakes.  They look so much better with a spritz of spray, but assuming your pan is actually non-stick, the pancakes flip and cook the same.  Try it both ways and see.

Pour pancakes to desired size -- I made two for each serving.  After pouring, nestle a few bananas down into the pancake.  It doesn't have to be perfectly flat, and the bananas are supposed to show.

As bubbles start to form, check the bottom by gently lifting the edge with a spatula.  Flip when lightly brown.  The second side cooks faster, so check regularly!

Nutrition:  289 Calories, 12g Fat, 23g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 37g Protein 


Spread with butter and topped with sugar free syrup...  Here it is.  Eat up!

Nutrition:  378 Calories, 19g Fat, 31g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 37g Protein

Oat Bran Pancakes

Oat Bran Pancakes

No wheat, no flour, still "fluffy."

These things are surprisingly filling.  Kids probably won't like them unless you take the flax out.  Do what you will... 

Makes 4 servings

3/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup flax meal
1 tsp baking powder
104g of protein worth of vanilla protein powder (yes, that's 4 scoops of Body Fortress Vanilla)
4 omega-3 eggs
water

2 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup sugar free syrup, divided

In a bowl, mix the oat bran through protein powder together.  Add the egg and stir until combined.  Slowly add water until you have it the consistency of pancake mix.

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  It's ready when a drop of water dances on the surface of the pan.   Pour pancakes to desired size -- I made two big ones per serving, but you can do silver dollar size, too..  As bubbles start to form, check the bottom by gently lifting the edge with a spatula.  Flip when lightly brown.  The second side cooks faster, so check regularly!

Nutrition:  274 Calories, 12g Fat, 17g Carbs, 7g Fiber, 37g Protein 


When spread with butter and topped with syrup.  Eat up.

Nutrition:  324 Calories, 17g Fat, 25g Carbs, 7g Fiber, 37g Protein




Banana Oat Bran Pancakes

Mmmm... banana pancakes...

Makes 4 servings

3/4 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
104g of protein worth of vanilla protein powder (yes, that's 4 scoops of Body Fortress Vanilla)
4 omega-3 eggs
1 ripe banana, very ripe
water
2 tbsp chopped walnuts or pecans

2 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup sugar free syrup, divided

In a bowl, mix the oat bran through protein powder together.  Add the egg and stir until combined.  Mash the banana very well, then mix it into the batter.  Slowly add water until you have it the consistency of pancake mix.  Stir in the chopped nuts.

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  It's ready when a drop of water dances on the surface of the pan.   Pour pancakes to desired size -- I made two big ones per serving.  As bubbles start to form, check the bottom by gently lifting the edge with a spatula.  Flip when lightly brown.  The second side cooks faster, so check regularly!

Nutrition:  287 Calories, 12g Fat, 23g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 37g Protein 


When spread with butter and topped with syrup.  Eat up.

Nutrition:  362 Calories, 17g Fat, 31g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 37g Protein

Stout Braised Beef

In the end, you're going to eat this as sort of a stew, but what you have with it is up to you. Bread, potatoes, noodles, or even oats are options. If you're not one with the carbs, you're covered, too.

For the meat, choose a flat cut roast that's about two inches thick. If you can't find one, buy a roundish roast and plan to cut it into large, two inch thick portions for braising.

This is a great crock pot or slow cooker dish.  Use one if you can.

Stout Braised Beef

2-3 lb flat cut bottom round or chuck roast (boneless optional)
2 onions, any color you like
3 cloves garlic (6 if you're using a crock pot or slow cooker)
1 bottle of stout (Guinness, Black Hart, Murphy's, etc. If it's a black beer, you're good)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dry thyme or 1 big sprig of fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
lots of fresh ground pepper (I cranked it about 10 times, but whatever)

If you're doing this on the stove, you'll need a large pot or deep skillet with a lid.  The bottom of the pan needs to be able to fit the beef without stacking, piling, or cramming.  It needs to be deep enough for the beef, onions, and enough liquid to almost cover it all.  Got one?  Good.

If you're using a crock pot (crockery base), you'll need a skillet for browning.  Slow cooker with a removeable metal pan that can also go on the stove?  Just that.  What a smart purchase!

Ready?  Let's go.

Heat your chosen pan on the stove over medium high heat.  Add the beef, browning very well on both sides. 

While the meat is browning, peel and cut the ends from each of the onions, and cut each into four wedges.

Mince or press the garlic.  If you're using a slow cooker, you really can use a lot of garlic.  The extremely long cooking really breaks down the garlic afterstench.  Try it.

When both sides of the beef are good and browned, remove to a big bowl or platter (the smartest of you, with the metal based slow cookers, can probably just put the beef in the cool glass lid!).

Add the onions to the pan and cook until slightly browned and translucent.  Crack open the beer, but don't put it in the pot yet.  Just be ready!  Add the garlic, stiring  constantly for about 30 second.  It's important that it not burn.  Now!  Pour in the beer to stop the cooking!

Return the beef to the pot, adding enough water to almost cover the beef.  Add the thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.  Cover and simmer on very low heat for about two hours.  Crock Pots on low all day or overnight.  Slow Cookers on medium low all day or overnight (mine goes from 1-5, and I used 2 for 8 hours.  It would have been fine even longer.)

When it's done, salt the broth to taste and serve with bread, mashed potatoes, noodles, steel cut oats, barley, etc.  Add a salad or some steamed vegetables and you're good to go.  If you like turnips, parsnips, or rutabaga, but never know when to use them, this is the time.  These root veggies are almost born for beef and beer.

Low carb options would be mashed or steamed cauliflower and maybe some asparagus.  All go good with this dish.  Steamed cabbage wedges would be good, too.

I made some thick steel cut oats and chopped steamed asparagus  and ladled some broth and onions over it, cut a big slab of beef and laid it right on top.  Knife, fork, and spoon.  Full belly.

No pictures because it's just a big slab of stewed beef.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I cooked a lot the other night. I made two big frittatas and some cream of broccoli soup. The frittatas look pretty good, but they're worth taking another shot at before I post a recipe.  Buuuut, the soup turned out really good.  No pics, though.  It just looked sorta greenish.  Use your imagination.

This is another recipe where I used what I had on hand.  One definition of a perfect dish is the act of just making a great dish from "miscellaneous."


Cream of Broccoli Soup

Makes 4 side dish sized servings


Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
20 baby carrots (or 4 regular carrots), chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups (~85g) broccoli (fresh or frozen), chopped
2 cups whole milk
4 tbsp light sour cream
salt and pepper to taste


Directions

Heat a large saucepan, with a cover, over medium high heat.  Melt the butter, then saute the onion until translucent.  Add carrots and broth and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer for about 15 minutes, then stir in the broccoli, cover, and continue simmering for another 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

Using a blender or hand blender, blend until smooth, adding milk slowly to incorporate.  Add the sour cream and blend a little more, just until the sour cream is mixed in.

Return the soup to the saucepan and heat gently, making sure not to allow the soup to boil.  Add water, if necessary, to bring to the desired consistancy.  Salt and pepper to taste, and serve.


Nutrition, per serving

Calories 237, Fat 13, Carbs 24, Fiber 5, Protein 10

Not Good Enough For Its Own Blog Post #1

These things keep popping into my head, and since they aren't all that interesting, I'm just sticking them up and leaving them out there.

1.  When I was a kid, my brother and I would walk to the lapidary shop to buy stones.  Right next to the place, was H Salt Fish & Chips.  For a dime, you could get a whole tray of those batter drops that failed to attach to the fish and ended up floating in the oil, only to be fished out and saved for kids with dimes.  OMG good.


2.  We used to play One Eyed Car, where the object of the game was to spot cars with one burned out headlight.

   One Eyed Car

When you did, you yelled "one eyed car" and punched the other person's arm.  It's not as much fun anymore, since headlights don't burn out all the time like they used to.  However, the other day, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw THREE cars behind me, driving abreast (hehe), each with a light out.  Weird.


3.  Slug Bug was another game of cars and punching.  Whenever you saw a VW Beetle, you yelled "slug bug" and its color, and punched.  In this game's heyday, I went on a trip to Mexico.  Walking out of the airport, I spotted a blue bug and started hard.  BAM!  Another step outside, and I caught a view of the parking lot, where seven bazillion bugs were parked.  BAM on my arm.  BAM back.  BAMBAMBAM!  OMG!  BAM!  We put our hands up!  "Truce!" "Surrender!"  "I quit!"  The bug was like the only car they HAD there.

Slug Bug Blue!  Slug Bug White!  This one's a bonus!

Slug Bug was featured in some movie not too long ago. I can't remember which one, but google puts it at "3,000 Miles To Graceland," which I've never seen, os that's not it.  If you know the name of the movie that I did see, let me know.

New Bug

I am happy to report the return of the game of Slug Bug.  Since VW reincarnated (hehe) the bug, it's been open season in my family.


4.  You know those sink sprayers, attached to a hose next to your kitchen faucet?  If you take a rubber band and make sure that it's really, really tight over the trigger, then aim the nozzle in the general direction of where your victim will stand to turn on the water, it's pretty funny to watch.  Tony's idea, Allie's implimentation, my wet shirt.  This one just happened.




  

debbie

Debbie, I've got about 30 minutes left in today, February 19th, so I gotta hurry with the typing!

I've got nothing funny to share today. Instead, I share something that I'm thankful for (besides your grace in forgiving the classic "preposition at end of sentence").

I've said before that I'm thankful for the internet, and it's not just because of the girlfriend thing. We'll just call that a bonus.

In a nutshell, I'm thankful for the people who I've "met," who I'm sure I'd never have met without the internet. I'm not going to name names, since I don't want to exclude anybody important. ...or make the others feel squirmy.

Anyhow, Debbie, as an illustrious member of one of the groups of people previously mentioned, I'm happy to have exchanged comments with you, and hope we get the chance to meet someday. You're inspirational from a distance, and figure it's probably even better up close.

Perhaps I've been subconsciously effected by you, too. A few days ago, I downloaded a bunch of songs for my mp3 player. Tonight, I find that seven of them are on your blog playlist. An interesting mix you have there, and I do forgive you for the Nickelback, since you have more than enough Tull to make up for your transgression.

There aren't a lot of timely songs on our mutual list, so I pick a long time favorite that has no significance, other than we both like it.



It was really hard to pic a video, since Ian Anderson is such a freak, so I picked this lady, KarenEng, who inexplicably dances to a variety of songs, including Delta Dawn and Freebird.

Lentils with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

This is not a perfected recipe.  It's more of a recipe posted to show what you can do with things that are just in your pantry and fridge.

Lentils with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Ham

Makes four side dish servings

8 sun dried tomatoes (the dried type)
1 cup lentils (I prefer the red ones)
4 bay leaves
6 oz frozen spinach (usually one 85g serving from the bag)
2 tsp butter or olive oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek powder - or a commercial curry powder
Salt to taste

Instructions

Bring a cup of water to a boil.  Cover the tomatoes with the boiling water and set aside.

Rinse your lentils, then place them in a saucepan and cover with water.  I was planning to add salty ham to the lentils, so I didn't add any salt at this point.  Lentils break up a bit when cooking (unlike beans), so salting them after cooking works pretty well. 

Add the bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Red lentils cook pretty quickly, so check them after 10-12 minutes.  Brown lentils take 20-30 minutes, but check anyway.  Add water as necessary.

When the lentils are tender, add the frozen spinach and stir.  Cover the pan and turn the heat down to low for 5 minutes.

Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and chop or cut them into slivers.  Add the tomatoes to the lentil mixture.

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat.  Add the butter or olive oil.  Add the cumin seeds, stirring constantly until the are dark and very fragrant.  Stir in the fenugreek powder and let it become fragrant. If this is a side dish (no meat), scrape the spices into the lentils, then deglaze the pan with a little water to get the good stuff.  Stir well.

Or, if you are going to add some chopped or shredded meat TO the lentils, you can heat them in the pan with the spices.  So, if that's you, add the meat and heat through.  When it's hot, add the meat mixture to the lentils.  Deglaze the pan with a little water and pour it into the lentils, stirring well.

If they are soupy from the water, simmer a few minutes, uncovered, then salt to taste.

Serve and eat.  I was out of yogurt, but that would have been an excellent garnish on the top.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but my talent is not in snapping pictures of food.  I'll be importing that talent from Eastern Europe.


Nutrition, per serving

Calories 213, Fat 3, Carbs 33, Fiber 16, Protein 15


Notes

Red lentils cook faster than brown, but overcooked, can get mushy, fast.  You choose, red or brown.  Both are good.

Use any leftover meat you like.  Shredded chicken, ham, or pork are all good here.  I suppose two sunny side up eggs would be good, too!

Oil packed sun dried tomatoes would be fine, but will obviously add some fat.  Not a problem, just know it.

Fenugreek is a major component in most supermarket curry powders, which are merely blends of spices.  We're not going for perfection here.  Use it if you got it.  I have multiple jars of curry powder in my cupboard, so sometimes I use it, too.

Valentine's Days - The Best & The Worst

No suspenseful story here.  This one, 2009's Valentine's Day, is the best and the worst one.

It's actually been really and mostly good.  I have a girl that I love with all my heart.  That makes it the best.  The worst part is being apart, yet feeling like we're not, but,yeah, we are apart...  So, it's the best because of her, it's the worst because of her.  ...she's not here.  The positives absolutely outweigh the negatives, though.  No doubt!  It's a wonderful feeling of misery, to live and love in this modern day world, with it's modern day technologies. All that "living like our ancestors" is crap.  So, I'm thankful.

I'm particularly thankful for the internet, without which I would not have my wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, short, funny, talented, cute, sexy, girlfriend (who, for those of you out of the loop on this one, lives in Bulgaria).  Yes, we met via the internet years ago, became friends, years later, met in person, then, eventually, became much more than friends.

For all the good of the internet (email, IM, webcams, etc.), there seems to be something of a lag in how we perceive people at the other end of the wire.  Our minds simply don't comprehend that the person we're seeing on those webcam isn't right here in the room with us.

In the days of yore, we had messengers to carry letters.  Kings, Generals, Apostles, and other important people would round up some poor sap to carry a scroll or two a very long distance, hand delivering it at the end.  In some cases, he'd wait around for the return trip with the answer. That's a long time between the send and receive.

In a Bulgarian antique store, Gal found a card from a man to his woman, It is dated 1917.

He says : "my dearest love, I regret to inform you that I am very very busy with work, so I will not be coming now, but in a few days I will be free and I will come home, so please start getting ready for me. I am sending you my kisses..."

Underneath, apparently, it says "please deliver personally TO HER and by train immediately."

That's what she says it says, anyway.  If there's anyone reading this who speaks Klingon or whatever that is, don't ruin this for her.  I'm going to go with it.

For the sake of argument, let's assume it's all true.  Well, that's quite a difference from calling from the office to say you're going to be late for dinner.  I guess we have the long distance relationship pretty easy compared to people who used runners, the Pony Express, wagon trains, actual trains, and ships.

Fast forward to 'yesteryear," and even our parents, who relied on airplanes to deliver mail and had phones had it pretty hard.  Calls were short because they were extremely expensive, if not prohibitive.  Letters still took from days to weeks to arrive, depending on the "to" and "from" locations.

I love this Bulgarian girl, and will not give her up for the world.  I thank God for Al Gore and his invention of the internet, which makes our long distance relationship possible.  The guy who invented the webcam (big thanks, Gregorio Y. Zara!) deserves a thank you card, too.  With Skype and the webcam, it's like we're in the same room.  But as good as looking through a camera across the world to Bulgaria is, it's somehow really bad, too.

It's not even the obvious parts, like the opposing timezone thing - when she's going to bed, I'm eating lunch, and when I'm leaving for work, she's just getting home from her day.  I'm awake when she's asleep.  She's awake when I'm asleep.  I almost posted a Björk song about that feeling, but it's just too grim.  Björk gets the feeling, but she talks about "ending things" ...dramatically, and that's way more "cry for help" than I'm feeling.  I have no such thought or intention...  But the angst is there, deep and felt.  Hang in there, Björk

The feeling of "together, but not," also causes the "we can see, but can't touch" effect.  It's almost like being in a dating relationship back in the "days of yore," with a grizzled old woman (sorry, Mom) sitting at the table next to us, keeping us from touching.   I wonder if Skype offers a virtual chaperon service to make the archaic dating sensation complete.

But, even these problems are pretty minor compared to the unseen, and unimagined problem caused by the damn webcam and f***ing inexpensive, ubiquitous, high speed, broadband internet access.  (and for that, I say "screw you, Al Gore!")

What's the problem?  It goes back to that feeling of being in the same room.  Only we're not.  The miracle of Skype lets us talk like we're in the same room.  Free of charge.  Webcam's are running, and we can chat, work, clean, and simply hang out, long distance.  We're in our own homes in two different countries.  ...but she's right there, too!  On one Sunday, I looked down and found that the timer said 7 hours had passed!  Wow, who knew?  Call this a miracle, a blessing, whatever you want to call it, but it's amazing.

Amazing, yes.  But, after a few days like this, your mind plays tricks on you.  You go to work on Monday, as usual, but then as you pack up your desk at 6 o'clock, you almost fight the urge to call home and say you're on your way, to let her know to "start getting ready."

Our minds do not yet fully comprehend this phenomenon.  Do you get it, or should I write a couple of paragraphs using cool words like "paradox," "spacial," "awareness," and "dichotomy?"  I hope not, because I gotta get home, see how my love is doing on my dinner.  Oh wait...

So, what does the future hold in the realm of interpersonal relationships?  How long does our species need to put up with this bullshit?  I'm sure our brains will catch up to our technology at some point, if the past is any indication.  Our caveman ancestors wouldn't have understood the spyglass, and my great grandfather would have freaked out a mere television broadcast.  But we understand those things today.  We get it.  We've "evolved" alongside changes in our technology.  Our brains are bigger, most of us stand  erect, and I'm quite a bit taller than my great grandpa.

I'm hoping that this is where it ends.  What's the next step in dating technology?  Teleportation?  Not really an issue.  If you can set aside the conversion of matter to pure energy, then the reassembly at the other end, you're cool.  Once we're to this point, the long distance part of the relationship is pretty much wrapped up; the other side of the planet might as well be next door.

It might be a while for teleportation.  We don't understand the "pure energy" thing yet.  We don't even have fusion down yet.  So we continue to evolve and force our brains to adapt to these technologies and the dichotomy (I know, but I just had to use it) that comes with it.

Sadly, I fear that our species is doomed.  If science fiction is any indication (and it seems to be pretty accurate in some cases), we're looking at evolving into people with huge heads with weird, thick veins and an obvious pulse that you can see across the room.  Either that, OR living as beings of pure energy.  The latter probably means that the teleportation and long distance issues are moot, right?  But can we get there without first growing immense noggins?

Hmmm...  I sense a problem.  If we grow the huge head thing, that could just be the end.

 Yes, I got a swelled head because you

could love me, but this is just not good!

Who's going to travel around the world to date that guy?  Uh, no...  As soon as that webcam turns on, someone's turned off!  Long distance relationship?  Done.  Over.  Kaput.  But I digress.  This is an issue for our future psychiatrists, therapists, and physicists.

So, with this in mind, I put the worry about our collective future aside and concentrate on my own future with my Eastern European chick, and settle into this, hopefully, short term long distance thing until the long term, short distance thing takes over.  I'm in it for the long haul, I just hope it's not all that long.  As of today, said chick's been gone for four weeks.  (Is that really all?)  And there's something like nine weeks until she comes back.  That's forever.

Oh, and I've had a few headaches lately.  Is that my brain growing inside my head or just the coffee cutback?  I can't risk it!  Hurry back, Gal!

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day, love.  I've never been happier.

Happy Monday!

Brief updates...

1. I have so much to do, and so much of it uses my brain, so blogging takes a back seat. Short and sweet is all I got. Mostly because a long, lengthy blog will drive the guilt-meter through the roof!

I do have a huuuuuuuge long list of things I want to write, so one day...

2. Met Jamie and Michael down in San Diego on Saturday night. They were nice enough to spend a portion of their 10th anniversary celebration with me. Happy Anniversary!

3. It's been months since I took my kids to school or even had them at my place on a school night. I did fine, they did fine! Food, teeth, clothes, and on time. No yelling, tears, or stress. I'm getting better, but I'll admit that the girl helps with her brother more than she knows. I know it. I hope he does, too.

Later! Happy Monday!

Mom's Ashes

Mom's Ashes

About two weeks ago, we (Galya and I) took my Mom's ashes down to San Diego.  I'd promised my Mom that I'd take them down to my brother's grave after she died.  My Mom died almost six years ago, so it was about time.  It was a pretty good experience, with no tears (from me, anyway).

I have nothing touching to write, either.  I just want to state the facts.

My brother was a baby when he died, four years before I was even born, so the biggest thing for me was really taking care of the mom part. I'm not the "ashes on the mantle" or the sentimental on "resting places" type, but it's nice to have in a more final resting place instead of that plastic box in the red velvet bag.

This problem could have long ago been solved by a short car trip, but I kept putting it off.  In the meantime, I didn't really know where to keep her, so finding a respectful place around the house that wasn't creepy was tough (*cough*garage*cough*).

I know, I know. The garage seems like the perfect place for her, but it wasn't.  I'd put the box in a high cupboard, but I always needed other things from that cupboard it seemed ("Hi, Mom!".  Inside another box of things that I'd never use again?  Turns out I did need those crystal candy bowls ("Hey, Mom").

For the longest time, there was an air hockey table that got quite a lot of use, and the puck always seemed to find her box (it was on a shelf, behind some boxes of old pictures and slides) with a resounding and unusual thunk.  It wasn't uncommon for me to toss out the little quip of "Hey, don't hit my mom!" to throw off the competition and take that final point for the win!

That Mom and I make a good air hockey team was no reason to hang onto the past.  Plus, the past can't be the past while the "past" is still hanging around the present.  So, I added the San Diego trip to my calendar and then rolled it week to week for about five years.  I'm such a good son, huh?  At least Outlook and I never forgot...

Finally, Gal offered to go down there with me while she was here.  A few weeks later, we found ourselves down in San Diego, only slightly lost and slightly late, but there at the Cemetery.

My father was in the Army back in 1964, so my brother is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.  Like the other National Cemeteries I've seen, it's beautiful, with row after row of white headstones.  We got down there pretty late -- around sunset -- so it was pretty dark and cold.  It took a long time, lots of walking, and lots of shivering to find the spot where my brother is buried. 


I didn't cry, and I still feel weird about it.  But, my mom died a long time ago, and Gal reminded me that I'd put her to rest years ago.  True, we'd had a funeral and a memorial with her friends in Montana, years ago.

But, here I was, and I thought it would be hard once I got there.  But, it wasn't hard at all.  It was quiet and calm.  It was weird to see my brother's name there, carved into the headstone.  Anthony Robert Denzel.  I'd never been there before and even though I knew the name, I never really thought about it.  My son's name is Anthony.  My grandfathers' names were Anton and Robert on my Dad's and Mom's side, respectively.  I knew all that, but it was still quite a moment.

I took the ashes out of my backpack, kneeled, and spread them out.  I felt like I should say something, but I had nothing, so I just stayed there, kneeling, "deep in thought" for a minute.  Soon, I got up without saying anything, and we walked back to the car.

On the way back, I crumpled the bag that had contained the ashes.  "What do I do with this?' holding the bag up.  "It's not totally empty."  It seemed wrong to throw it away like that.

"We're going to rinse it in the ocean," Gal said, reminding me of our discussion from the drive down.  I had forgotten.  That was a good solution, although it means another trip...  It was already dark and we weren't near the beach. 

In the meantime, where to keep the bag?  In the garage, I guess.