Month: March 2021

Have you ever cooked with a Middle Eastern spice called Turmeric? It is used, not only to flavor a dish, but to change the color to yellow, or orange, depending on the amount used. Here is it called cúrcuma, (COOR coo ma).

This is what Turmeric looks like before it is dried, and ground into the powdered form most often used in cooking. I know, they look like cocoons, but, really, they are small knobs of the spice.

The white mesh that you see is a reusable produce bag that we use to put our produce in at the store. We try not to get many plastic bags, if we can help it. We have about a dozen, or more, of the mesh bags. They come in different sizes; small to large.

I wash them, then cut them up to be put in the Kombucha. They give the drink flavor, color, and nutrition. I use them with fresh ginger, and pineapple; they combine to make the most carbonated drink yet. It foams like a beer, poorly poured. (It has been so long since I typed the word “poured”, I had to look it up 😉

Here are a few herbs, you may, or may not know by sight. Let us see how many you can identify. The answers will be at the end of the post. So, the next time you use the dried form of any of these herbs, you can see what they looked like in their natural form. (I cannot make the answers go upside down, but that would be fun.)

Since it will take a few minutes to upload the photos of some different herbs, I want to show you a photo of the hearse, in the form of a converted Mustang. Shield the photo, from the swath of the funeral logo, and you will see that it truly was a Mustang. I chuckle every time we drive by it. (I just realized that I have been typing the word ‘past’, when it should have been ‘passed’. What a dufous.) Anyway, here is the hearse.

I am done waiting for the photos to upload, and you are too, I suspect. So, continue to stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Answers to which herbs are which? L-R. Basil, Oregano, and Thyme. Bay laurel, Chives, and Thyme.

Everything is in bloom, and it is gorgeous. Let me show you, if I can.

There is another tree, one that I thought was the Poinsettia, but, in reality, is a Bottle Brush. They are blooming as well. I do not have a photo of them yet, maybe another time. They have long leafless branches with a red flower on the very end. Each looks like a “bottle brush”.

Caution! Subject change!

I have been in such excruciating pain, about a twelve on a scale of one to ten; especially at night, for the last three weeks, that has awakened me every night, leaving me unable to go back to sleep for hours. Do you remember that area of hardness I developed, by the ring finger of my left hand, that I thought was arthritis? It is almost completely gone. Right at the moment it is about a three, or four.

I have no idea why; the only thing I can attribute it to is that I am no longer drinking hard alcohol, though I do have an occasional glass of white wine, or a beer. I am also drinking at least one, if not two, sixteen ounce bottles of Kombucha everyday. I think the probiotics, and general goodness of the Kombucha may be healing whatever that was that was causing so much pain.

While I was waiting outside, on the sidewalk of the Inspection center, I just happened to grab hold of a metal post with my left hand, and noticed that I had very like pain; some discomfort, but nothing like even yesterday. Yay!

I am keeping tabs on what is happening to it, and will keep you folks apprised, rest assured. However, in doing so, you need to stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones, alright? Perfect.

This afternoon, eight small Sansevierias were delivered; I am so excited. I have been wanting these for years, and now, we have them. Both of the two other bedrooms have a “chemical” smell from whatever Martín coated the wood that he used.

Here are the newest plant addition; my favorites, anyway.

Of all of the plants we have purchased that are hard working, the Sansevierias are one of the hardest workers of all. They filter the air of Formaldehyde, Xylene, Benzene, and Trichloroethylene. Am just wondering who really wants to breath those things in the first place? As an added bonus, they give off oxygen at night, replacing the toxins with fresher air.

Normally, I would open the windows to the bedrooms, fully, but that lets in so much black dust it is hard to keep up keeping it vacuumed, and dusted. And, you know how much I hate dusting!

As of this post, I have placed one small plant in each of the two unused bedrooms, and will put two in our bedroom. We gave one to Jesús and Liz, for their living space, and one will go to Enrique, for his apartment. That leaves two; one for each bathroom, I think. They should survive in the darkness without any trouble. Time will tell.

Until that time comes, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I started my day doing pest extermination. Here!!! Where there are no pests. Or, so I thought.

First, there was this tiny, little, green, inch worm on the underside of one of the sage leaves, having eaten it, almost, completely. It met with an untimely, but, immediate “pool” date. None to soon, I can say!

Then, there was this! Powdery mildew; all over the sage leaves.

It was not there yesterday; fortunately, it has not touched any of the other plants. I decided, immediately upon seeing it, that if I have to remove all of the sage, I will.

Until such time, however, I have found a DIY solution that will, hopefully, rid the sage of the mildew. It is made by simply using one teaspoon of baking soda, a few drops of Dawn dish soap, in a quart of water, and is to be sprayed on the affected plant.

I will also try not to overwater the plants, as I have a habit of doing. I have made out a “watering schedule” but have failed to even look at it, as I am sure all of the plants are in need of watering; daily.

Tomorrow, the rest of the plants should be arriving; eight small Sansevierias. I am waiting, quite impatiently. They are a type of plant that many people have in their homes; just not ours.

Well, that is not entirely true; we have that very large one in the corner of the living room, which is, probably, several years old. I mean the cute, smaller ones; ones that sit on the bedside table, or on the chest of drawers, or on the shelf, in ones office.

Until they arrive, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

The most recent batch of Kombucha was incredible. This batch had just the ginger, (gengibre, pronounced, hen HE bray), and turmeric, (cúrcuma, pronounced, COOR coo ma). And it tastes wonderful.

As much as one can get in the glass, that is. Most of it was expressed from the bottle as carbonation. Well done, I say, well done.

The combination of the ginger, and turmeric was just right. I have found several different flavor combinations on a website I frequent, ProHomeCooks, by Mike Greenfield. He has Master Classes on his website dealing with anything sourdough, as well as kombucha. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned from him.

That said, I wanted to show you a photo of the inside of the Mandarin cake, after one slices into it. Let me see if I can get the blasted thing to upload. Here goes nothing.

You may be interested to know, the inches, (here, centimeters), seem to be leaving me with regularity. This “baby” does not have much “back” anymore. Too bad for me. Hahaha. So much easier to eat correctly when one is not trying to recover from drink of the night(s) before. I think I will even be able to start wearing my own clothes in the very near future, if not now.

Until that happens, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I want to show you the recipe for the Crema de Chile Poblano soup. Again, if you make it, let me know what you think of it. I did not use the potato, and probably will not in the future as it will decrease the spiciness of the soup.

It is easiest to remove, and discard, the burned skin with a paper towel, using a wiping motion, as if you were wiping off dust, or dirt, from the outside of the chile. Do not rinse the chiles under tap water; it removes quite a lot of the flavor of the chiles.

The “stems” of cilantro really means stalks, with the leaves. And, here, we have to disinfect all produce before using it; if one cannot drink the water because of the bacteria in it, one needs to disinfect anything that one expects to eat, having been rinsed in said yucky water.

Trust me when I tell you this. You may remember, that, last year, I made a guacamole, using cilantro, that I had forgotten to disinfect. I was bedridden, with diarrhea, for almost a week! Never again.

All of that said, the soup was delicious; the cake definitely needs work; but, the kombucha is just right.

As I continue to work on the cake, and begin making other desserts, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Here is something new, for me, anyway. I baked a cake. (Knew you were coming.)

This is a Mandarin Orange cake, and is relatively easy to make. It requires that you have the ability to whip egg whites, though it does not say for how long, fold the other ingredients into the egg whites, and then bake all of the above in a springform pan, but it does not say how big the pan should be. Annoying, those “little” things.

Another thing I made for the first time, and that was Crema de Chile Poblano soup. Oh, my goodness, was it ever delicious. We are fortunate to eat this, every once in awhile, when we go to Toks, and it happens to be the soup of the day. It is my favorite soup of theirs because it is so smooth, and creamy, with just the right amount of heat from the poblano chiles. So,

I found a couple of different recipes on line, and decided to take what sounded good from each of them, and ended up with a bowl of soup I think many of you would enjoy.

It does not look like much but packs a punch of flavor, with surprisingly little heat. You can always decrease the heat, which is really quite mild, by adding a bit more milk, and, decreasing the water by the same amount. I will post the recipe, with some “working” photos in an upcoming post, because it is taking forever to upload the photos, at the moment.

I hope you will try it, and let me know what you think. But, while I am waiting to hear from you, and, for things to upload, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

My first baking class began this morning, and ended just a while ago.

Lizbeth, from upstairs, wife of Jesús, came down, and I showed her how I make the sourdough bread, complete with feeding the starter. Then, after that, I showed her how to make a regular loaf of bread; one that would be more suitable for their little guy, Gaby.

The kitchen was a “cool” two hundred sixty five degrees Celsius, yet, with my fan blowing on the wind chimes in the laundry area, towards the kitchen, and the exhaust fan on medium speed, it felt like it was only two hundred and sixty degrees Celsius. Such a relief 😮

It was so hot because I was getting ready to bake another loaf of sourdough bread, as I am almost completely out. I give at least a half loaf to whomever asks for it first, so I only have a half loaf for the few days in between baking. Ivan is still unable to eat any. But, soon he will be able.

While we wait for that day, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We bought a foldable table, from Costco, a few weeks ago, which has since become my new office; pending the end of Phase three of the remodeling.

Phase three will begin sometime in the coming months; exactly when that happens will be completely determined by how quickly Phase two is finished. For now, however, it is what I need in order to keep up with the plants, bills, deliveries, recipes, etc. So busy, yet, all according to my schedule.

I have spent the last several hours trying to download more information on taking care of the jungle that was just delivered, but alas, I could not. The internet is so slow, again today, that, when I was able to download the information, it took about five minutes per plant. As we now have eighteen new plants, it was quite time consuming. However, I do not want anything to die because of my ignorance of their needs. Everything, now, is so beautiful, and lush, and, green.

One of the things I am doing is taking down, by hand, (remember, slow internet?), all of the information I will need in future, in bullet form, in my new little notebook. That way I will be able to refer to it easily, and quickly. For example; the botanical names of each plant, plus, the common names in English, and Spanish. When to water which plant? How much light does each plant need? When do I need to wipe off the large, dusty plant leaves to keep them shiny? How do I propagate this plant, or that one? Which ones need to be misted daily, and which need to dry out completely before watering again?

Soon, this afternoon actually, I will be able to have all of that information in my newest journal, that will also be delivered today, along with my new watering can. Wait until you see that.

It is exactly what I wanted without even knowing it was what I wanted. Hammered copper, to match our copper vase, and copper carnitas kettles, and it will be here today, as well.

I have to say that I absolutely love being retired; having the time to devote to whatever I want, whenever I want, and for as long as I want. If I want to spend ten minutes dead heading my primroses, then I do. If I want to spend five minutes enjoying the rich, earthy smell of the freshly watered soil, in the flower boxes, I will. And, if I want to spend hours on the internet gathering the information I will need for the future of these beautiful plants in my care, then, I will that, too. And, I do. Multiple times every day.

While I wait, somewhat impatiently, for my journal, and watering can to arrive, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: have I mentioned that I have not had any hard alcohol since the twenty seventh of February? My mind is so clear, and my spirit so light, I feel I need to wear heavier shoes to keep my feet on the ground. I cannot remember ever feeling this wonderful. Ever. My joy for living is back in abundance. Amazing.

I am going to post a bunch of photos of the newest batch of plants we just bought. Let me start with this.

I found a gentleman, Luis Valderramma, by name, on Mercado Libre, that gave me his website address, so I ordered directly through him, this afternoon, around one. It is now five twenty, and the plants are here.

Luis was very helpful, taking my order from the online account I made, then, filling, and delivering the order in about four hours. Who does that these days?

Today is a special “get out of work” day, here in Mexico. Most workers were to stay home today. That means that internet traffic is horrendous. That means that the plants I wanted to pay for online, have to be paid for in cash.

Fortunately, for me, anyway, I happened to have the cash I needed for the plants. The other day, I ordered some others, small Eschevieria’s, that will be here within the next week. I ordered a couple of taller plants that will be easy to care for, and enjoy the climate that we have here.

Until everything is settled, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.