still going

A thousand titles for this, but the reality is that i am still in therecovery phase of the whole thing with the eyes.
Many issues were worrying me, but it turns out that some was due to improvement...now over 3 years since the operation.
This is not something that is typical, but prob\pted the doctor to tell me she expects still more by summer.
Wo!
I can say little more...

Stamford Restaurants - the proliferation of "Mexican"

 The word Mexican is in parenthesis for a reason...
I cook at little Mexican, but is more Tex-Mex than anything - iNever needed anything else because growing up there was just so much very, very good Mexican food around me (in Houston).
Then i came to Stamford and there was nothing...I mean nothing. 
A few years later i found two that could pass and they are still in buisness, nothing fancy, just simple everyday Mexican and in a style that i was familiar with.
Now suddenly there are 6 new  "Mexican" restaurants - I can not stand any of them.
Maryann's - Good place to get drunk - margaritas are okay - i found the food to be tasteless.
Riviera Maya - a step up from Maryann's, but still issues with taste - one other friend called it horrible - i did not find it horrible, but not great
Bar Rosa - I have not been there and do not know anyone who has.
Lolas - I also have not been there, but again i noticed it is absent from OmNomCT .
Now we get a new player - Picante -  They opened last week and gave out samples of Chips and salsa during the Bedford Street Festival.  Based on that taste, i won't be back.  Perhaps i am unfair.
And soon to open, Bar Taco on lower Summer St.
If i am in Stamford, I think i will stick to the following - The Taco Truck near Yerwood center - very, very good, simple California style Mexican
Ole Mole - very good Moles - well put together and taste!
Tacos Guadalajara - simplicity at its best for a Mexican taste.

Outside of Stamford there are many good ones and there are a few smaller places i have not gone, but the new set is the pits!

I am only cook, not a chef - The chili cook-off

Many times you will see different recipes posted - my creations and they are good, but that is on a good day and i have more bad than good.
When i cook well, i do not have an equal..when i don't...call Dominos!

Anyway the purpose of this is for all those who see me posting about food at restaurants.  A chef does things every day and is a professional, i do not profess to be that.  Neverthe less, when some restaurant serves something i cook, it better be at least as good as my best or else they will hear about it!


Anyway, talking of cooking, my house it filled right now with the smell of raosting garlic and i am think of the chili contest to sponser the lower Fairfield County food bank on October 15th From 12 to 3 at the Unitarien Church on 20 Forest St (across fron the Avon).  They will ask for a donation of non perishable food or cash to be a judge/participant/taster.

I will make more so i can get to the 3 Pm end time!

This is me and Irene Hahn last year

This is the day to post

It is a rainy, misty type day and i figured that i would show-off my insect collection

Almost in time for Halloween

Getting the last of the nectar

Cicada Killer - formidable looking, but harmless

A mighty traveler preparing to leave!

Mill River Park

The Mill River Park, "as is" , without carousel or ice skating rink or other man made obstruction is very inviting.



In The Early Morning!
Note the native fall flowers in purple

This is the "Purple" Pedestrian bridge - closed by a state inspector for some odd reason - note that it is with standing much debris left by the Hurricane and Tropical storm damage - much more of a problem than a few pedestrians!

Anticipation and nervousness

perhaps two sides of the same coin, but his is what i am feeling..
I have 2 docotor appointments next week - one will do a blood test and the final determination of the sideeffect fro the triglyceride medicne "Trichlor' will be decided.  Additionally we will see if the fish oil suplement is effective on my diet.
Of course i don't and that is the thing - my emotions just do not support a "diet" in any sence of the word.
The other will be again with the glasses - still am unconvinced that the lenses are not switched and want real proff.  my balance stability has been poor and that does not help things.
So with trepidation, next week is doctor week.

Red skies in the morning

Following this Red sun we had wind, rain and cold (below 50 weather) and i began to think of fall.

This does not life my spirits.
This does not make me happy.

The colors of fall are beautiful, but i still want to bask in the sun.

A dream last night

I was with friends
In this distance i see my mom and her sister getting in to her van.
I tell my freinds "let's go have luch with them".
As we approach the dream ends.
I did not want it to end,
I was so sad...
I guess she will be with me always now,
just out of reach.

Medicine man

well not really.
As my garden begins to fade, it find i am left with the seeds and leaves of some of the plants that have been traditionally used for medicine.
Anise -the seeds with a strong licorice flavor, was traditionally brewed as a tea to calm a stomach and relieve mild respiratory distress in Greece.  My mother passed that on to me and i use it.
The chemistry of it also includes a high vitamin C contant and a mild laxitive.
Mint -Sperment especially is used in cooking all over the world, but makes a wonderfully relaxing tea and the chemistry - menthol relaxes lungs in small doses.
Dill - another wonderful spice, but looking at the seeds, i am seeing a possibility of some insecticidal properties - for flies!  Dead ones seem to be trapped in the mass of seeds as they dry.
My neighbors are ll excited as i collect and dry or procss each, because the history is well known for each of them.

The Mill River Park

So it seems there is to be some sort of ground breaking ceremony soon.
This is now the stage where they change a beautiful park into a circus 9again, the big apple was here).
The paln to put an ice skating rink and carosel and other things (that people will need to pay for to use)  Is now to begin and the beautiful park for us to enjoy will be gone...
I am not happy.

Garden Bounty

Here in CT, it is coming to the end of all harvests - cucumbers have stoped, tomatoes do not look good, basil if finishing, but my pepers are still going strong!
small red italian peppers
1 red anahiem
3 poblabo
2 larger italian green peppers
tomatos, oregano and basil






Also the Hybiscus (i over winter every year) is doing really good!

Farm Markets and food safety

This is a tough call and will probably post in both my blogs.
I love Farmer Markets - items from local farms are always my favorites.  The produce is usually fresher than any thing i can get in the store.  My preference is to shop for my vegetable and fruits at a farm market.
The new thing is to have other things at the markets and while i have no problem with bread and olives and soaps and other things of the like - poultry products and meats and dairy seem to be mishandled by these same people.
Like with everything, i always wash what i buy because transport is a problem no matter what.


The picture shows Quiche in a cooler - no ice, there was no thermometer and the sun was on it...
I do not want to get sick!
Not for me

A shout out

Since the end of May, i have had an "intern, a high school student senior, working with me in the lab.
This has been one of the most pleasant experiences i have had with an intern.
She learned quickly, took guidance well and did all that was asked with a minimum of direction or supervision.
She plans to become a doctor.
She will be one.
This has been a rare pleasure for me to have someone so interested and today she showed the true meaning of learning by teaching a new intern, who will take her place, how to do what she learned!
Rare to find and wonderful.

just life

I am glad I let Kevin post. Hearing his daughter's story many times brought me to tears.
He and his daughter have been fighting a valiant fight and they are some of the people I draw my courage from.
Now I go back to daily living and work because Friday was a tough one.
Some where in the midst of Government, I have been declared their expert in well water issues. They may be right, but all it does is bring floods of calls so I can barely do my regular work.
There obstacles that do make my head quite literally spin. I was grabbing a lot of furniture on Friday. I left cooking to David tonight, I was too tired.
It was cool today (36 F in the morning), but warmed to 60 in the afternoon. Fall is coming and I can see the reds beginning on the trees. Soon I will be clearing the garden, Oh and yes I do work this weekend also.

Games in the sky

The sun and the clouds and the rain are playing games today.
If it is hide and seek
or cat and mouse
or tag,
i can not tell!
...First the dark clouds come,
then the sun,
then the clouds again,
then little drops of moisture that do not wet the ground.
What game is this, they play today?

A story is in order

Mom

The dark skies
And the snow piled up,
Leaving me dark and grey.
The struggles with for my mom,
Came in rolling waves.
Some where, amidst confusion, there was truth.
No, she has not died,
yet,
But she will.
She continues on now as she has all of her life
And so a story is in order.

She was born of 2 Greek immigrants in Norfolk, Virginia,
So many years ago, I can not fathom, 1922.
Her mother dies when she was 11.
This left her and her brother and sister in the care of an aunt.
There is a story of her,
that she did not know where her mother was,
no one told her that her mother was dead,
Until the funeral.
They brought her in,
to see her mom,
laid out for a burial.
She cried out “Mommy!”, but they hushed her.
What did that do to her, I can not imagine,
But at 16, she got a pilots license, she was still in high school.
A Greek woman doing this? 
Unheard of!
At 17, she went with other girlfriends to New York City, to see the Worlds fair,
Basically unchaperoned. 
That was 1939, for those who are counting.
She went and got a nursing degree and moved to Washington DC.
She visited Cyprus in 1949, for 3 months.
She lived with 3 other girls in DC and while we would not call them wild by our standards,
They knew how to take care of themselves.
She met my dad, who was working at a jewelry shop.
They got married and moved to Houston Texas in 1953.
I was born in 1954 and it did not change too much,
But somewhere she decided she needed to get a drivers license.
A woman who could fly, but not drive makes me shake my head.
Somewhere, during my college years, a passion for painting was reawakened.
Reawakened because she produced beautiful sculptures in high school.
She painted, mostly in oils,
But was not afraid of any media, sculpture or paint.
She was well known in South Texas, she was commissioned and sold many
And she was very good at something I am not, portraits.
When I left for the wilds of Connecticut
And my dad retired,
They moved to Colorado.
When my dad passed,
She continued to live, alone, taking care of herself in Colorado for a time.
I could not convince her to move back to me,
but did manage to get her to move to Virginia.
There she was with the rest of her family.
Oh, I did not tell you that when her father came over, he opened at small grocery store
And was very well off.
He brought over many, many relatives from Cyprus
And so if you are in Virginia Beach or Norfolk
and you run into a person of Greek decent, they are probably related to me.
Headstrong, able to make her own way, willful, these are all traits that allowed my mom to survive and to live,
Why should I expect it to be any different now?
Stage 4 COPD, I was told. The source was probably smoking as a young adult.
She quit long ago, but there was damage.
I will be down there very shortly
And will not be posting for a bit.

Allergies, Mistakes and side effects!

When i was coming out of the hospital a bit under three years ago, i complained about a particular triglyceride controlling med i was on and it was switched to trichlor.
What i did not know is there was an unusual side effect that has not yet been verified, but is under study, of increasing levels of a particular chemical in the blood that is usually associated with muscle fatigue.
Well , i have been off of it know some month and a half and i think i can verify it. I suddenly have much more energy and am completing full days...but of course there is still more.
It had been bothering me, but the wrong side of my glasses seemed to have more "prism". This is why i experimented with the "upside down" glasses just to see.
Finally i got a micrometer and measured and sure enough, the wrong side of the glasses have the most prism...i have a call into the doctor.
Allergies - they seem to be much worse this year, but we all knew that, didn't we????