This is what I found this morning. How could you not want to do something with this living stuff?
Can you believe I ignored these beauties for three full months?
While I have you here, this is what I have done with the recipe book. Let me know what you think.
The book is divided by large folders titled American, Asian, Indian, Italian, and Mexican. Then each specialty is subdivided by Beef, Bread/Pasta, Chicken, Pork, Rice/Sauces/Soups, and Seafood. Some of the subs have very little in them; and some are bulging. Very few of them have I made yet, mostly the egg bites, and goulash. We really enjoy goulash.
We are thinking that we will start out making things in the Asian folder first. There are still a few ingredients we need to purchase, however, we have yet to find the Oriental stores, here in town. And, who knows if they are even open. Well, it will be a fine time, driving around the city, looking for the stores. Yay. An adventure!!
I will post photos of any, and all accomplishments, as soon as I accomplish them!!!
Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.
Happy Valentine’s Day. You may be glad to know that I am keeping my husband.
We have not been to the grocery store in a few weeks, so the staples are gone. No eggs, milk, cheeses, or veg. We did find a can of SPAM. What more does one need? Am I right?
That we had for our dinner tonight; SPAM sandwiches. We both smiled!
When I was very young, we used to have Mac and cheese, (with Velveeta cheese), and SPAM. Not in the way most people have Mac and cheese, with SPAM. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, my father used to sprinkle sugar on the Mac, and mom sprinkled brown sugar on the SPAM. Why none of us are diabetics is also unknown. Let me tell you what, though, they were both amazing.
Whether I would still feel the same way, now, I cannot say. Although, I have not made Mac and cheese in years, I have had a small dish, from the cafeteria, while I was still working. And, yes, I sprinkled it with sugar, and yes, it was great.
Speaking of cooking, I just took a photo of the recipe of the recipe book I am compiling. Obviously, it is not full of my recipes; these are more than one hundred recipes I have found online, that I want to try.
Today I made another batch of egg bites, with only three eggs. That is all we had left. Do not do that. You need the cheeses, the eggs, and whatever proteins, and veg you want for it to set up in the egg mold. Without all of the required ingredients, there are but a few, the bites do not stay together. Yuck.
Tomorrow, I have made quite the list of things to do: kombucha, sourdough bread, and Apple Squares!!! I cannot wait. Apple Squares, I assure you, are addictive.
While I wait for tomorrow, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones. Please.
I have found an amazing hack that has changed my plants, and my plant care routine forever.
What is it, you ask? Diluted coffee. Every other week, water your plants with diluted coffee, and see what happens.
Our poinsettias are still beautiful and red; the Wandering Jew has two new shoots, and the Peperomia has a new petal.
The smaller poinsettia. We have had these since the beginning of December. This is the bigger of the two but has a tendency towards a white powdery fungus. This Wandering Jew has two new shoots. This Peperomia has a new little leaf, to the left.
I forgot one; our new Kaffir lime tree. We just got it, a few days ago. When you see the photo, understand, I have not had the time to clean off the water spots from the leaves. I will get around to it, eventually.
This is our new Kaffir lime tree. It has just arrived. You can see the tiny little limes. We will be using these leaves to explore foods from other countries.
Soon, we will be exploring foods from other places, all around the world; America, Asia, India, Italy, and here, in Mexico.
I have purchased a three ring binder, folders, etcétera, and have started putting together recipes from each of the aforementioned parts of the world into the binder.
We have also sourced most of the ingredients needed, for the Asian and Mexican recipes, that is. Hence the kaffir lime tree.
We cannot wait to get going on this new adventure so, while we wait to begin, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.
Before I start my ramblings, I want to express our condolences to our best friend, Enrique, who has lost another brother. His brother, Armando, died recently of the CoVid 19 virus, and was only seventy years old.
I, one the other hand, it may interest you to know, am slowly getting a bit of my spark back.
Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the sourdough starter I worked so hard to get healthy, is still alive, and producing bubbles like crazy. I mention this only because, in the last few weeks, while I was in my funk, I left it in the fridge, for three months, unfed, and, uncared for. I feared I would be unable to fix it, revive it.
I took the jar out of the fridge, mixed in the two centimeters of grey liquid floating on top of the starter, took out one hundred grams, put that in a new, clean jar, and fed it the same weight of water and flour. After a few hours, I put it back in the fridge.
This morning, the starter is happily forming bubbles, smells very happy, and will become a loaf, or two, of bread this weekend.
Similarly, we have two containers of kombucha brewing on the counter; both are happy and healthy. Five gallons of fermented probiotics, a drink that tastes differently with each batch.
The towels are to keep out the tiny little fruit flies.
The first nine bottles of this last batch, all of them, were flat, no carbonation whatsoever! So, last night, I opened bottle number ten, about ten feet from my glass, and proceeded to spray my lovely kombucha all over the kitchen!
It was everywhere– on the counters, on the walls, on the stove, even on the open swinging door to the kitchen. It took about half an hour to find, and clean it all up. Plus, I only got to drink what was left; half a glass.
On the up side, I have just made the best batch of egg bites to date. I ate them, for the first time, when I was in New Orleans, attending a conference for Operating Room nurses. There were two bites per portion, and cost five dollars a pop. They are available at Starbucks to this day.
As I am not interested in finding a Starbucks here, nor do I want to spend five dollars for two bites, I searched the internet for a few recipes and tried them.
These are the silicone molds I use, though others have used four ounce Mason jars in a water bath, in the oven.
These are so soft, and smooth, and made with two different cheeses, plus cottage cheese; so, actually that makes three cheeses.
They are made in my favorite appliance, the Instant Pot, and take less than thirty minutes, start to finish. The recipe is called Best Damn Instant Pot Egg Bites by Recipe Teacher. It calls for gouda cheese and heavy cream, neither of which I have on hand, so I improvised. Try them. Amazing.
That is it for today. I will try to find little things to tell you here on in. While we wait for that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.
