Happy Birthday, No. 1!

First day of Spring and it snowed last night ... in North Texas.

So much for keeping the seeds outside to catch the sun.

Decided today that I'm going to experiment with not shaving this summer. The hair under my arms is now long enough that it doesn't itch at all and (as usual) I haven't shaved my legs all winter. It's a test of freedom more than anything else, I think. It's not like Em cares at all, so it's a question of whether I can maintain confidence through my daughters chiding me.

I think it was 26 or so years ago that we camped at a Coast Guard campground on the East coast. The kids were small, playing in the dirt of the campground. My husband was a CG reserve and this was the annual two-week duty training. A young, female CGer stopped by our campsite to show us a newspaper with our son's picture on the front page. He'd met a goat at the Bluebird Farm and the paper's photographer took one of those human-interest photos. She stayed for a while and discussed how she'd decided to stop shaving. I didn't have the self-confidence when I was young, but I'm willing to experiment with how I feel "going European" in this, my 63rd year. Could dispense with extraneous plastic and save money.

2010 garden seed starting and garden progress ... March 2010.

I started so many tomato and pepper seeds this year that you'd think I had a farm.

I am SO tired of starting seeds!

Done now, and sitting outside.



Peppers: 1. jalapeno Ixtapa ( have 3 from Diane - 3 planted 03/10/10) 2. hot salsa (home-saved from my 2009 garden) - 3 planted 03/08/10 3. chiltepin - (home-saved from my 2009 garden) planted 3 seeds 03/11/10 4. Sweet pepper kaleidoscope mix - planted 3 seeds 03/08/10 5. Romanian Rainbow Sweet Pepper - planted 3 seeds 03/06/10 6. Peter Pepper - planted 3 seeds 03/11/10 7. Hungarian Black Hot Pepper - planted 3 seeds 03/13/10 8. Serrano - planted 3 seeds 03/13/10 9. Sweet Pepper Kaleidoscope 3 seeds 03/16/10 10. Hungarian Yellow Wax 3 seeds 03/17/10 11. Gourmet Sweet Pepper 3 seeds 03/17/10 12. NuMex Big Jim Hot 3 seeds 03/19/10 Tomatoes: 1. Tomatillo - planted 3 seeds 03/06/10 2. Beefsteak (Walgreens seed) - planted 3 03-12-10 3. Large Red Cherry (Walgreens seed) - planted 3 03-12-10 4. Black Prince (Diane 2005 seed) - planted 3 03-14-10 5. San Marzano (Diane) - planted 3 03-14-10 6. Taxi (Diane) - planted 3 03-14-10 7. Stupice (Diane) - planted 3 03-14-10 8. Opalka (Diane) - 3 03-16-10 9. Mortgage Lifter (Diane) - 3 03-16-10 10. Porter (Diane) 3 03-14-10 11. Tommy Toes(Diane) 3 03-16-10 12. Tiny Tim (Diane) 3 03-16-10 13. Stupice (Diane) 3 03-14-10 14. Mirabell (Diane) 3 03-16-10 15. Banana Legs (Diane) 3 03-17-10 16. Hillbilly (Diane) 3 03-17-10 17. Aztec (Diane) 3 03-17-10 18. Reisentraub (Diane) 3 03-17-10 19. Super Sioux (Diane) 3 03-17-10 20. Cherokee Chocolate (Diane) 3 03-17-10 21. Costaluto Genovese (Diane) 3 3-17-10 22. Brandywine (Diane) 3 3-17-10 23. Taos (Diane) 3 - 3-18-10 24. Peacevine (Diane) 3- 3-18-10 25. Snow White (Diane) 3 3-18-10

One would think I had a farm based on all the attempts, but I'll be happy if 10 survive the process. Thanks to Diane for most of the seeds (even if they don't have her name in the credits).

The garden is starting to come to life for the 2010 year. Here are some asparagus w Day Lillies at left. Thanks again to my friends, Bob and Judy, in Illinois for the Day Lillies.



As usual, one peach tree starts blooming well while the other pretty much stands still. They alternate years.





Kale is still doing well from the 2009 garden



Last year's strawberries sent out runners which are now starting to bloom near more cilantro.



While it looks like Spring is springing and official Spring is Sunday, we're scheduled for another freeze tomorrow.

Em felt good after eating a yogurt/cottage cheese mix every day for several days. Felt so good he got cocky and quit eating it, so I stopped making it. Now, his stomach is bothering him again. I'm not one to nag, but the handwriting's on the wall. If he asks me, I'll make it again.

Cataract Surgery - What to Expect.

Em's in the middle of getting cataract surgery. That means that he's had the surgery on one eye, but not on the other eye. That means that he can see pretty well out of one eye WITH his glasses and pretty well out of one eye WITHOUT his glasses, but he can't see out of both eyes either way. We'd thought that replacing one lens with clear glass would help in the interim before he gets his other eye done, but it doesn't ... because his correction is monocular. His left eye is corrected to be his reading eye and his right eye is corrected to be his distance eye and he's trained his eyes for years to work independent of each other. He had the surgery on his left eye (his reading eye), so he can read perfectly without glasses. He could read perfectly without glasses before the surgery, too, if he got the material within 2" of his eyes, so no BIG change there.

It seems that if you live long enough, pretty much everyone eventually gets cataracts. It's nice to know what to expect. Em was very, very scared. First, the thought of someone sticking a knife in his eye wasn't comforting. Secondly, he heard his doctor talk of possible complications in a louder voice than he heard how safe the procedure is. He found no reason to believe that he'd be one of the 999 of 1,000. Third, he was told that the procedure would be performed under local anesthetic and he thought that meant he'd be aware that they were sticking a knife in his eye. I assure you he wasn't aware of much that day. They gave him some GOOD drugs and while he could walk and talk, the day of surgery is pretty much a missed day in his life.

Surgeries for each eye are spaced out with two weeks inbetween IF there are no complications. The eye doctor gave him some pills and drops to use before surgery and 3 types of drops to use 4 times/day after surgery (for two weeks). In addition to the drops, he's scheduled with two doctor visits ... one the first day after surgery and (if everything looks okay) another a week and a day after surgery. While it's out-patient surgery, it's treated as "SURGERY!". He had to get his regular doctor's approval for the surgery, which his doctor only gave after a complete physical exam complete with chest X-ray and EKG. After surgery, he's advised not to do anything much in the way of physical activity. He can't lift anything 25 lbs or more, can't lean over, can't rub his eye, can't allow water to get in his eye [no showering facing the shower], no hot-tub (smile), etc. To ensure that he doesn't rub his eye, he has to wear a patch whenever he sleeps.



This Thursday we go back to see if he screwed up his eye lifting or bending. It's hard to stop yourself if you feel okay and you're accustomed to doing things like tying your own shoes.

If that eye is okay, he'll go through the same procedure next week on the other eye. THEN, after the two week period is over, he should be in a position to know if he'll need to wear glasses in addition to the lens implant (to correct his astigmatism) or if he'll be able to see good enough without them. Some people see well enough for a while and then get corrective glasses later.

Fortunately, Astrid doesn't weigh 25 lbs yet, so Em was able to swing her our first day of baby-sitting her. She's a good baby, but we enjoyed holding her even when she didn't demand it.

More dietary experiments; this time we cut back on food AND try to eat the evening meal earlier.

Em and I both have been having some stomach problems lately which we felt were associated with eating too late and having too heavy a meal.

So, he threw down the gauntlet this week. Starting yesterday, we'll try to eat lighter and earlier in the evening so we can sleep with no problems.

A few days earlier, I'd made up some Cajun Trinity. Froze two quart bags of that, which will work out well for these dietary experiments.

Last night (first night) we had :



Cauliflower, asparagus tips, mushrooms and tomatoes tossed in at the end ... served with 4 frozen Armour meatballs that got nuked for 3 minutes.



Doesn't look like much, but that's the point.

Tonight, we're going to have something similar with different vegetables using quinoa as our protein source. Gonna also add some of that trinity I froze earlier in the week.



Good week to start reading Omnivore's Dillemma. I'd previously been concerned that Em might hate me if I took away his meat. Now, he seems to be saying, "I want to eat lighter meals; I'm looking for an alternative."

I'm thinking we'll try this "cutting back" approach to it all and see how that works before making a rash decision on dietary changes.

More Jamie Oliver (because ABC will have a special with him soon).

I'd already posted Jamie's presentation at TED, but it seems he's to have a series premier on ABC March 26.

Here's a sneak preview:



I wonder how many US adults could answer his questions.

h/t Crunchy Chicken.

Freezing Kale.

Yesterday we visited No. 1 and Astrid, so picked up some produce at Fiesta, which is near her house. Fiesta produce is always fresher looking than other groceries and most foods aren't in packages, so I can bring home just what I need with no packaging to discard. The girl who bagged our groceries was obviously sick, so I put everything I bought in a sink full of water with a little bleach, rinsed it off and let it sit on the counter to dry. Also still on the counter was that bowl of kale I'd picked before the snowstorm that never came, so today I'm committed to doing something with all this food.

This morning I tackled the kale. I'd read yesterday instructions on freezing it at Not Martha. It looked straightforward enough, so I got out all the things I'd need and went to it.

Some people cut and some people rip, and I cut some and ripped some. I didn't save the stems for anything, although some people eat them. Some people eat broccoli stems, too, but we're not hungry enough for that yet, either. They feed the dirt in my gardens just like asparagus stems.

First step after cutting is the blanch. Some people don't blanch, but I'm new at this, so I did.





Following Not Martha's instructions, I took each batch of kale from the salad spinner to the towel.



Once all the kale is processed and on the towel, the towel gets rolled tight and squeezed to remove as much moisture as possible. My largest bowl was the perfect amount to fit on the towel after processing.




The kale is then transferred to a baking sheet (covered with parchment so there's no sticking) and put into a freezer for 30 minutes.



We got 3 quart freezer bags of kale from this batch. Each bag will be more than enough for the two of us at one meal. Takes the guesswork out of it for me, as the kale is already cooked down from the blanch.

Copycat White Castle Cheeseburgers, among other things.

No. 1 and Dave came for supper Sunday night with Astrid. I cooked up a pork loin I'd had in the freezer since 2007 - [Em and I defrosted, reinventoried and reorganized both the garage freezer and refrigerator freezer last Saturday.] I used THIS RECIPE with changes based on reviews and we really enjoyed the meal. Em and I had leftovers yesterday. Here's "Poppy" with Astrid from that evening. No. 1 had an absessed tooth and looked like she had a tennis ball in one side of her mouth, so we didn't take photos of her or Dave; details below.

Spent a fair amount of time cooking yesterday. Made a stovetop pea-soup for starters. No. 1 had a molar that my dentist had "fixed" which absessed so badly that she had to have the tooth pulled yesterday. I can't save her tooth from the dentist I recommended (who I'm not going to use again, either), but I could make her some soup to eat while that side of her mouth heals.



We'll drop it by today or tomorrow. It's currently snowing, so I'm not sure we'll venture out today, but anticipation of snow encouraged me to cut a big bunch of kale yesterday.



I didn't cut all of it, but more than I could fit into the largest bowl I have.

Maybe it was because No. 1 and Dave ate some White Castle Cheeseburgers for lunch that Em had bought when they stopped by earlier in the day Sunday, but when Super-bowl bites came to my attention, I wanted to give it a try, so took out a pound of lean angus chuck to defrost in the morning. Having read that King's Hawaiian Savory Butter rolls worked really well for buns on the "sliders", we bought a package of 12 on our morning shopping trip.

We only needed 1/2 lb of chuck for 12 sliders, so I found a recipe for a spicy meatloaf that would accommodate the second half of ground beef plus the 1/2 lb sausage leftover from last week's pizza.

The meatloaf was really easy to make. Usually, I throw all kinds of veggies into it, but I had other things on my mind, so made it as stated, wherever it was. We haven't tasted it yet; that's for tonight's supper. We had some leftovers from that pork meal for supper last night.

Most interesting of the meals made, IMO, was the White Castle Cheeseburger copycats.

I used the method of one reviewer and first laid out the 1/2 lb beef chuck mixed with 1/4 pkg of Lipton onion soup mix, a handful of shredded cheese [I think I used a Mexican blend, but I don't think it makes a difference] into a 6x8" rectangle.



This rectangle was cut into 2" pieces with a pizza cutter and placed into a 9x13 glass baking dish which went into a 350 degree oven for 17 minutes.



While they were baking, I sliced open the Hawaiian rolls, took three slices of Kroger American cheese and cut them into 4 parts each. Cut myself slicing the rolls, and used the pizza cutter to cut the cheese. My aim wasn't very good in either task.



Once the patties had cooked, I took a paper towel [gasp!] and wiped out excess oil from the glass pan [not much from lean Angus chuck] and put the completed buns into the same pan, covering it with tin-foil before putting back into the oven for another 13 minutes.



Last step was to let them cool for a few minutes, wrap two into a paper towel for nuking after freezing (just like the real version) and putting into a freezer bag. 12 fit nicely into one gallon bag. We had to taste one first, so this batch only has 10. "Close enough!", we both said. Next step will be to duplicate the taste of King's Hawaiian Savory Butter Rolls.

Dealing with food waste; when life throws you carrots, make carrot-raisin salad and carrot-cake.

This month has been designated by the Crunchy Chicken the month of the Food Waste Reduction Challenge. Notice the badge on the sidebar?

I always have the best intentions of incorporating more fresh fruits and vegetables into our diet, buy them on sale, and then ... mostly what happens is that Em cooks supper several days in a row and I forget all about the food I'd bought that's been sitting in the refrigerator for ... well, for example, No. 2 flew down to attend No. 1's wedding shower in April of 2009 (last Spring) and I bought some spinach/artichoke dip for her to eat while here. She's a vegetarian and I wanted to be sure to have something besides peanut butter/jelly sandwiches in case she got hungry ... except she preferred peanut butter/jelly sandwiches to that dip and we just got around to eating it this week. No kidding.

I found a ball of homemade pizza dough on the freezer door and a container of that hot pork sausage that Em likes on his pizza. I didn't have any bell peppers or onions, though, and I like my pizza to have SOME vegetables. We had a 2-lb bag of carrots that I think I was gonna use for the baby shower last month, but Dave's mom made so many food dishes that whatever carrot dish I was gonna make got changed into something else that filled the few gaps left ... so I asked Em if he'd like carrots on his pizza. His face contorted into what I took to be a "NO!", so I thought, "Well, that dip has spinach and artichokes in it at least" and spread it onto the pizza dough. Worst thing that could happen was food poisoning, right?



Em had made spaghetti (with no veggies) the night before, and there was some sauce with ground beef left, so I put that on next.



Rest was pretty standard fresh ingredients and the pizza was quite good although it stuck to the pan a bit (which had more to do with not enough oil on the pan than old ingredients).


We both woke up the next morning feeling fine, so NO food poisoning! Makes me wonder if that dip was actually a food or more like a twinkie.

So, Diane was blogging about making a carrot cake and I thought, "I wonder if they use any carrots?" and it turned out they did and Em likes carrot cake (oh happy day), so I looked around for some recipes that didn't involve 12 cups of sugar, and found some capable of being tweaked to lesser amounts without losing the taste or using artificial sweeteners. I had a plan for the carrots.

The next day, Em said, "So, you want to get rid of those carrots?" Thinking he'd found a new public dumpster, I said, "I want to USE the carrots." He said that his very favorite salad is carrot-raisin if I could find a recipe for that on the web. With Google as my friend, I was able to make


and



from



and Em liked BOTH very much.

Tomorrow I see what I can do with apples and cantaloupe on their last legs.

Punk Gardening Tips (or how to make biodegradable pots for zero dollars).

The video from which I got this idea made smaller pots using half a roll, but either way seems like a good idea to me.

I'm sending some of my friends/family up north a few starts this year, the weather here is 63 today, and I found myself starting to make some of these "pots" today. Em is SO grateful! I think I've told you how he just can't stand how I save things for no apparent reason and ... empty toilet paper rolls???

The half rolls get cut about 1/2" on 4 sides and don't quite hold the square shape of those in the video, but I was going for them to keep their round shape anyway. I'm NOT handy, so my pots came out looking like they were cut from the hands of a non-handy person with some even requiring a tad of tape to cover the hole from my inability disorder, but the whole point is to make quick, cheap, makeshift, biodegradable pots, so they made the cut.



I lined the shipping box with bubble-wrap to keep the box from getting wet when I water the starts that I put in the little makeshift pots. What? You don't have a closet full of boxes and bubble-wrap? Em would be so proud of you.

Saving pop-tops for No. 2's Theatre class, too.

They're good for extra credit. Not sure when they need to be sent, but I'm hoping it's soon, because between the toilet paper rolls and the pop-tops being saved, Em's fairly sure I'll be on one of those TV reality shows soon.



That difference in color on the TP rolls in the final product is the difference between cottonelle (which always seemed to have coupons) and Angel Soft (now my preferred TP even over Charmin). We don't use recycled TP ... YET.