Friday, March 30, 2012

i've been tagged

it is all in good fun, but Alwayshomeanduncool tagged me to answer the following questions and ask me to tag others to do the same:
All in good fun and i will go with it.
To answer these questions:


Ginger or MaryAnn?
Ginger (from Gilligan's Island if i remember correctly) - she was a bit diggy and i think i liked that.

What would you use to dilute water?
alcohol - preferable ethyl.

What mnemonic would you use to help you remember how to spell “mnemonic”?
mnmnc

What is your theme song?
They're coming to take me away Ha!

Cake or pie, and what kind?
Pie - cherry - big fn of cooked fruit'

What’s the worst movie you ever saw in its entirety?
Ultraman - so bad that i laughed all the way through it.

What celebrity would you NOT mind your significant other having a one-nighter with?
no significant other so me!

Six of one or half a dozen of the other?
6 of one!

What you gon' do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk?
No car, no trunk, no junk!

Vampires or zombies – which would you try to kill first?
Zombies - cause if the vampires got me i wouldn't mine being a night person again.

Who are three people who’ve never been in my kitchen?
The president, the vice president and the speaker of the house, but everyone else is welcome!


In accordance to these rules:

  1. You must post the rules.
  2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in the post, and then create 11 new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
  3. Tag 11 bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs.
  4. Let them know you've tagged them!
  5. Have fun!

Eleven questions to answer and explain your answer for the following people:(this part is actually difficult)
Clarity in Muddy waters
Subdurual flow
Gail
so shiok
Granny Annie
Arroz con Mango
I really can not do anymore without being silly!

  1. The most awesome place you have visited (it does not have to be beautiful, just awesome).
  2. Favorite thing to eat.
  3. Good book or Movie?
  4. beach or mountains?
  5. Hot weather or cold?
  6. hot dog or hamberger?
  7. restaurant or home cooking?
  8. popeye or superman!
  9. best movie you ever saw?
  10. Best trip you ever took?
  11. Mom or Dad as your favorite?

Monday, March 26, 2012

Documenting Recipes

There are a number of typical Recipes that i do on a regular basis, but have never recorded them.
Given the oddity of my memory i have transcribed 2 here:
I served the first one tonight to the raves of all and realised i never wrote it down.
The socond has been a long work in progress and requires a smoker.
The tomato sauce is a medium thickness type of sauce and works well with linguine.  I choose the linguine because it is a "lighter" pasta.

Pork Chops
with vinegar peppers and black olives

 4 pork chops (thick cut is best)
1 can pureed tomatoes
1 cup wine (rose or white, cheap)
1 can Pepperoncini peppers
1 can pitted black olives (oil cured are best, but regular black olives work well)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 lbs linguine

Begin tomato sauce by heating garlic and oregano in olive oil.
When garlic just begins to brown, add tomato sauce.
Bring to a simmer and cover.
empty cans of olives, peppers, wine and crushed red pepper with all the liquid into a large baking dish.
Place pork chops on top of olive and pepper mixture and salt top of chops.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Turn chops and add half the liquid to the sauce.
Continue baking until brown and 165 F inside the chops.
Remove from the heat and let rest.
Bring pasta water to a boil, salt the water and add pasta to cook for 6 minutes.
Drain and add the remainder of the pork chop liquid to the drained pasta.
Serve the linguine with the tomato sauce and the pork chop with peppers and olives on the side of the linguine.

This second recipe has gone through a number of transformations, but this is the one i like the best.  It also contains learned methods for smoking fish (the salt cure) that i have learned.


Smoked Salmon
maple orange glaze

After learning some new tricks about smoking fish, this is what i came up with
All that is left
Salmon fillet - 2 to 4 pounds
salt
raw sugar
cumin
smoked paprika
maple syrup
orange juice
orange zest
Hickory wood soaked in water
Grill with aluminum foil or smoker
There are no true measurements - there are ratios

Blot the Fresh salmon with a towel or paper towel to remove excess moisture.  This needs to be cured over night in the fridge (at least, a full day is better) with a mixture of salt and raw sugar (equal parts), 1/8 part cumin and smoked paprika covering the fish.

Rinse excess salt off and blot dry.

mix 1 cup orange juice with 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon raw sugar, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon cumin.
Place salmon meat side down into this mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour.
(This re hydrates the salmon a bit with this flavor)
Take liquid and reduce by 3/4 over low heat.
Soak hickory chips in water.
Start the grill and let the coals burn down to white.
Add fresh wood and the drained hickory chips.
Cover the bottom part of the grill to prevent direct heat and place salmon skin side down on a greased upper rack.
place a water pan below the meat and smoke for 1 our at ~ 180 F
remove the pan of water and the foil and let the fire increase to crisp the skin (5 to 10 minutes)
remove and cool down in the refrigerator.
Serve with sauce.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Turning around and Embracing that which we run from

I simply have no other way to describe it...
we run from thigs that are painful,
but the only way through them is to turn around
and yes embrace that which would hurt us.
They lose their power.
they become something good
or the good in them is now apparent.
There is no more to say...

Saturday, March 24, 2012

An Anniversary

She loved our dinners!
She was funny in the cold and that is what i want to remember
But not one i want to celebrate,
for the day i will truely remember my mom,
is the date of her birth,
not the date she left,
but it now has been a year
and so much has happened
and not happened.
Life goes on,
 but i have her in my heart
and will not forget.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Brilliant

In many ways, including the sarcastic one...




fercifia

daffodils
We have had a beautiful spring
 and the early flowers are out in full force:





On the other hand...
One of the many things I used to do was laser shows for large events.
I might have been one of the few who understood the dangers
and i have a few small ones left from the day.
The morning was foggy and so i thought i would show the "line" a laser makes...
small green laser
The dark spot is the "burn" spot....
Note the second picture where the reflection of the laser has burned the screen of the camera...
think what it might do to eyes!





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

okay, i did not post the recipe!

so here it is:

Black Bean Soup
slow cook method

1 bag of dried black beans
1 can crushed tomatoes (16 oz or more)
1 bunch cilantro (minced)
1 cup corn (frozen is best)
6 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon salt
2 Anaheim chili peppers (chopped)
2 jalapeno peppers (sliced)
juice from 1 lime
1 beer (Dos Equis preferred)
1/2 cup chopper sweet peppers (mixed yellow, green and red)
2 red onions (minced)
1/4 stick of butter
1 diced fresh tomato

wash and clean the beans in cold water and then let soak for several hours (overnight is best)
place the half the cilantro, cumin, dry chili powder and salt in the crock pot and turn on low
add beans, garlic, 1 onion, hot peppers (seeds and all) and canned tomato and water to cover 2" over beans
cover add let cook 6 to 8 hours
add corn, lime, butter, sweet peppers and beer
taste and add more salt if needed
Cook and additional 2 to 3 hours.
Serve with a mixture of onions, cilantro and tomatoes.
Add a dollop of sour cream if you want more fat.

embracing change

The joke goes the only thing constant in life is inconsistency...
Yes, we all acknowledge this,
but we fight it,
tooth and nail...
we do not like change,
it frightens us,
but when things happen so far out of control we have no choice ,
but to embrace it or
become bitter.
this is my lesson for a season and know this...
I am not bitter.

BTW today is black bean soup day - i have posted the recipe before, but will re post if someone asks.

Monday, March 19, 2012

newness

there are days i think i am complaining an awful lot in this blog.
The difficulty i seem to have with it alll...
Then i heard a sermon that struck me deeply -
it was simple, for it talked of complaining and how it festers and grows and spreads...
Then it got to the heart of the matter, that the basis of our complaining is fear.
I heard that well...
because with out a doubt,
my life has changed, but it did not end.
I am stil groping my way past all that goes on,
but my life did not end...
in many sences, it began.
Some thing new is happening and some times i hang on to what "used to be",
but that is no more.
The fear is like all of us, the unknown.
I know that i will not be doing chemistry till i die...
the joke that old chemist never die, they just fail to react is no longer true for me.
all of this past life is coming to a close.
I do not know what it will be, but i am okay with it.
So if at times,
i sound like some one whinning and complaining...
I am, cause i am afraid of the new, but i already know...
It will be better.
So like spring every thing is coming up
and it is beautiful

Saturday, March 17, 2012

streched

how do i say the week was rough.
The struggle for me is in the week that i took off...there was amazing improvement
in sight and balance.
In clairity of thought
and as i seem to go backwards with the clutter or work and life.

I try to stop.

I try to think.

Yes i was relaxed previously and now i am back in the struggle,
but i have seen what can be and i want it again.
It is up to me to find it...

Sunday, March 11, 2012

yes i go there

For myself and the people i cook for, during the lenten season i like to do special things without meat on Wednesdays and fish on Fridays.
It is as much of a disipline as a spiritual statement and i think of those who can not have a protien and a regular basis.
But i do make it taste good and here is one recipie.:

Lenten lentil soup


1 bag of dry lentils
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon fresh minced hot pepper
6 cloves garlic
3/4 onion sliced
1/4 onion minced
1 cup sliced sweet peppers
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup orange
8 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
5 whole allspice berries
1 beer (Dos Equis)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup bag fresh carrots
10 black peppercorns
5 whole allspice berries
1/4 cup rice
1 stick butter

clean (to remove stones and unwanted debris) and then soak lentils with cold water 3 inches above lentils
soak over night
boil 1 cup of water and soak bay leaves, peppercorns and allspice berries with 1/2 tablespoon salt over night
add lentils and strained bay leaf water to crock pot set on low
discard bay leaf mixture, but add fresh peppercorns and allspice to the lentils
Add sliced onions, butter,1 tablespoon hot peppers, sweet peppers, garlic, salt, orange juice and zest, celery and onions.
Add enough liquid to cover the lentils 1 inch.
cook covered for 6 + hours and then add 1 beer
cook an additional 2 hours and add rice if the soup is not thick enough.
serve 30 minutes after adding rice topped with minced peppers and onions
a dollop of yogurt or sour cream is also an option.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

its chilly outside and in!



The sights at night are a bit erie,


more like Halloween, than spring.






The worm moon is true to its name ...
this year.
the ground is not frozen
and the daffodils are poking their head up and singing to the sun and warmth.
It is chilly outside
and inside,
on the stove is chili in the making!

Simple things in life are good.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

the writing of this blog

there seem to be many prolific writers out in blog land,
many post a day,
where i am lucky to share my heart and life but once in a great while.
The days have been a bit troubled,
but only in the sense that i can not any longer rely on me.
Oh the brain functions,
sometimes too well,
but the memory is confused and mixed up.
It is not Alzhiemers nor old age...
It is from the effects of that operation,
the one that saved my life and removed that tumor
and openned up another door that some times i still am unsure of.
A door that i see without seeing.
know the right place without remembering.
following a trail of a still small voice that my life was once too big and loud to hear before.
There is a comfort in not knowing, but still being sure.
That statement confuses me, but it is truth.
I seem to live it more than ever before.
of course,
 i am even more confused that
the scientific,
analytical mind
remains intact and working a a level that leave most people bemused.
But now the heart seems first and foremost
and i think this is good.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

yesterdays news

My adventure yesterday,
awakened something primevil within me,

fear

being lost and feeling ill equiped to find my way out of a situation,
shook my core.
The worry is real,
i can not trust what i think.
i feel blind searching for a cold light.
This does not feel good.
I laughed yesterday,
but was it joy
or nerveousness?
I do not have an answer yet,
 but i feel reporcusion reverberating along my spine.
Tomorrow will bring what it will,
tonight...
i sleep.

Monday, March 5, 2012

its only a brain - right?

today, i was gong to a Doctor appointment for a pre-proceedure appointment.
Nothing, but a routine test that comes up every 6 years or so,
but i got the wrong name of the doctor in my head,
i got the wrong location.
I had,
of course,
 remembered the old doctor
and google obediently gave me the old location,
which only reinforced my forgotten memories.
As i was wandoering,
with an old phone number that was not valid -
of course!
A lost motorist stopped and asked for directions...
being total confused myself,
 i spoutted some nonscence about having no clue and the motorist left
and i,
i began to laugh...
and relax
and then my other sight took over
and brought to where i needed to go,
with the wrong doctors name still prominant in my mind.
The appointment was fine,
but i did not remember the doctor, but the office was familiar.
As he had to hear the history of where i have come,
he remarked that i was doing remarkably well for what i had been through.
i laughed again.
brainless or not,
i am still doing fine.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

return to normal?

for the week i was away,
I was in a place that can not be described,
The person's home, where i stayed,
is set up to exude PEACE...
all the decorations and the furnishings,
cluttered at first glace,
all combined together in harmony.
it all brought quietness to my soul.
Back to daily life, now,
as it rushes past,
with so many interruptions,
so much chaos,
so much strife.
I long for that peace,
i thirst for it.
I get annoyed at the interruptions,
the challenges of each day.

And yet,
yes, you know what is coming...
It takes effort each day to bring that peace,
to drive the constantly gnawing chaos from our doors.
Entropy is real,
you must impart energy to find peace.

Friday, March 2, 2012

some what out of touch

emotional days off,
heavy work days,
it makes me kind of diminish
and there have been few posts
and fewer visits as of late.
Maybe this will change again soon...
so tired!