Month: July 2024

I made my first, ever, pot of homemade roasted red pepper, and tomato soup a few weeks ago now.

Ok, so mine didn’t look exactly like that.

It was delicious though, as we both agreed. The recipe was so easy to follow, though I did do just a touch of tweaking. After blending everything once cooked, I passed it through a sieve to give it a creamier texture, and added a swirl of cream to the top just before serving, leaving off the basil. We didn’t have any fresh.

After roasting the tomatoes, and onions, which were in imminent danger of spoiling, due to the extreme heat, I roasted chicken parts for some chicken soup to be made in the next few days.

FYI- If you ever make chicken soup from scratch, be sure to roast your chicken pieces first. The depth of flavor is completely different. I season them just as I would if we were eating them as the main protein of our dinner. Then, I remove the skin, (and eat it; cooks treats), before adding the shredded chicken to the soup.

I have to tell you that “cooking by the seat of my pants”, as my husband likes to say, is getting much easier these days. I’m fairly sure it’s because I’m not hungover all of the time, and having a bit more educated palate.

I’m doing my best to teach my tastebuds different, yet tasty combinations, and trying to keep them in the forefront of my memory.

We’ll see.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Has any company in the US begun using biodegradable bags for their bread?

As much bread as is sold every day in the US, the outer bags should be able to biologically degrade normally, not fill up the landfills.

Here, the country of México has been separating organics from everything else, plastic, glass, paper for well over 45 years. When we came down here in the early 70’s, there were already 3 separate bins at every socially significant place we went; glass, plastic, and organic.

At that time, paper was included in the organic, and why not? It is organic. It took a bit more education, on the government’s part, and a bit more money, to collect paper separately from organics.

Let me show you 2 examples of what I mean.

You may laugh at the name Bimbo, but, here, it is synonymous with WonderBread, with none of the degrading connotation of the US. Also, it is pronounced as BEAM-boh.

I should have shown you the front of the full bread bag on the left as I have, temporarily, switched to Artesano Bread instead of the multigrain that you can see. The seeds of the multigrain look exactly like the little bugs, (I think it’s some sort of beetle), that is in our kitchen.

We are both doing better every day. There are marginal changes, but changes nonetheless. We’re taking any change as a win.

Actually, today I actually tasted a bit of V8, peanut butter, and honey, and a bit of Valentina, a spicy condiment. Yay!!

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. WASH, (it’s really the only thing that works), cover, (not helpful really), and protect yourselves.

Post script: normally I have 2-3 weeks worth of subject matter scheduled to post. As we/I have been ill recently, there may be a bit of a lag in content. Please bear with me. I put up content as I’m able.

Short, not sweet.

Not much new to say except that I pray for anyone having gone through this, and everyone yet to come. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Am still with a heavy chest, somewhat productive cough, but still no appetite, or senses of smell, or taste. I eat because I know I must in order to survive but it’s only a portion of baked potato, or an English muffin. No point in wasting tasty food when one has no sense of taste. Am I right?

I have used up 2 small bottles of cough syrup, one box/20 tablets of a Tylenol/Paracetamol combo, and have more coming. We haven’t had cold/flu meds. in our home in years. No I don’t ever want to be without them.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Of being tired.

Actually, since I got sick last week, I am amazed at how I have no sense of smell, or taste, and absolutely no energy. As I said a moment ago, I’m tired of being tired. Exhausted really.

I don’t even have enough energy to comment on the political machinations going on in the US. That aught to tell you something. Right now, it’s all about me.

I can be incredibly lazy at times, but this is 180º from that. This is internal batteries at 10%, without ability to recharge. I felt pretty decent last night, able to go to bed, to lie down for a while, and rest. Then my nose stuffed up, again, and I was up for another 2 hours. Got to bed about I can’t recall what time, and was awakened at 5:30 am. with yet again a stuffed nose.

The cough medicine I am using does a bit to help with that, temporarily, then, like clockwork, stuffy nose is back. Since suffocation is my arch nemesis, this is very concerning to me. I have minor panic attacks when I put on the nasal mask of my CPAP machine, and can’t move the air in, or out of my nose. Switch to mouth breathing.

All well, and good when one’s throat isn’t being shredded with glass shards, as it was all of last week. My lips are peeling, though I now have a tube of medicated Chap Stick.

I think once I get to feeling better, I’m going to stock a bit of medicinals; cough syrup, lip balms, Vicks VapoRub, in ANY form, etc. Maybe having them around will stave off anything like that again.

Unless you read to the contrary, know that I’m getting better, and should be back to rights by the end of this week.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: I thought I’d Google this, just as a guide. Turns out I have had every symptom. Who needs a test!

I have to tell you that I didn’t actually believe it, or even know of what I was speaking.

The other evening, I went to the kitchen to make Ivan a bowl of oatmeal, when I looked up into one of the cupboards, and on the shelf was one of my kombucha bottles that had a dark amber liquid in it. I thought, at first, maybe I had put away a 1/2 cup of Ivan’s brandy so I’d have it the next time I made carnitas. I took it down, off the shelf, opened it up, and smelled it.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I couldn’t believe it. What was going on? I put the cap back on it, and looked at the bottom of the jar. It was foggy with the “mother” of our apple cider vinegar. It was apple cider vinegar I was smelling, but had no idea. I took the bottle of white vinegar off the same shelf, opened it, and again, nothing.

I put that aside, and finished making the oatmeal, but as it was cooking, I took a small taste on the tip of my spoon. Nothing again. No sweet, no oatmeal, no butter, no nothing.

I have never had a time in my life that I was completely without taste, or smell, never. When I would get sick, as a child, and later as an adult, there was always a hint of what I was given to eat.

Not anymore. I had heard, and read that people that have/had CoVid lose those senses for a while, but I never expected that I really had CoVid. Others had it, but not me. I wash my hands every time we go anywhere, but I haven’t worn my mask.

Too late.

I’m pushing through this, and will, as I said, hopefully be done with all of it soon. Don’t wait until it’s too late to wear a mask indoors. I can’t imagine how else I would have gotten it.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves. Please. This has been horrible. I would hate to hear that it got you too.

It’s actually funnier now that it’s past, and neither of us is in jail, than when it was at its apex.

You see, our water bill comes every 2 months, or it’s supposed to. However, we haven’t received a bill, looking back on it, since July of 2021. Duh!

The bill, when we did receive it, it was in a prior occupants name, not Ivan’s. I remember, quite some time ago, that we went to the water department to inquire about changing the name, but we needed this form, and that bit of whatever, and we never followed through with it.

Alas. We received a letter informing us that the matter needed to be corrected immediately, so we collected the folder containing the water bills that we had paid in the past, and off we went to the department of all things water. I will include that down here, you must save every receipt for every utility company forever. Not sure why, but that’s what we do; we save everything.

As there were only 3 other people in the office, we were taken right up to window #3, where a very nice young lady helped us. As water is a necessity here, the cost of it is very inexpensive. In fact, our bills have been about $100 MXN every 2 months, or about $5.00 USD. Our total outstanding bill comes to $7556 MXN, or about $428 USD, depending on the rate of exchange. Not too bad for 3 years worth of unpaid usage.

Suffice it to say, we are gathering all of the paperwork needed to prove we are who we say we are, and that we do, indeed, own the apartment that is declared on the bill. In fact, we even have to take a copy of the purchase agreement for the apartment.

That’s all I have for today folks. Hopefully all will be taken care of by the time you are reading this.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: in case you have some interest, I actually made it to 69 years old yesterday. I’m hoping for about 25 more birthdays. We’ll see.

No better, really, but no worse either.

I pray to God that whatever this is it doesn’t last much longer. I am exhausted.

I did get a few hours of sleep last night, finally. It was alcohol induced but sleep none the less.

Until Monday,

I don’t have enough energy to finish it. You know what I would say.

That is going to be my next adventure; potato bread.

I watched an episode with Chef Jean-Pierre, on YouTube when he made a loaf of this bread, and it looked amazing.

It was so soft, and moist looking that I have to try it. The recipe calls for russet potatoes, of which I am currently without, however, I do have instant potatoes, so I’m going to try using that until we go to Costco, and buy another bag of the russets.

When he cut through the loaf, it didn’t all fall apart like my sourdough loaf does. It looks like a brioche bread, sweet, and buttery.

As soon as I get around to making this I’ll post a follow up photo for you to see. We’ve only a couple more slices of the soft crust sourdough left to finish. Can’t wait.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: it’s the morning of the 18th, and I still feel like crap. My throat is so sore from coughing, and my abdominal muscles are tight as a drum, not to mention painful. I’ve coughed so much it feels like my uvula is swelling. I have almost no voice, or appetite, and got one hour of sleep last night, sitting in Ivan’s swivel rocker, from 2:30-3:30am. Nasal spray comes today. Please hurry up.

With chills, cough, joints, and muscles aching, heads full of snot, headaches, backaches.

Need I continue?

It hit us both on the night of the 15th of July. Ivan started by coughing, and sneezing like he meant it. I started with the sinuses, and a stabbing pain in my lower back. We have since escalated from there.

Here it is, the morning of the 16th, and we’ve been in, and then out of bed all night; neither of us has had any sleep. Neither of us can breathe while lying down. Fever, then chills, then coughing. My sinuses are too full for me to lie down, much less sleep. The CPAP machine can only do so much.

On our bed, we have a top sheet, a mid-weight cotton blanket, a fleece blanket, and as of last night a Mexican blanket. We’re both still freezing.

He’s sure it’s just a ”summer cold”; I’m yet to be convinced. Hopefully the milk, and water kefir grains I ordered won’t be delivered until tomorrow. I might have enough energy to go down, and receive them.

Hope all of you are well. I’ll keep you posted. For now, I’m going to try to sleep sitting in my nest.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: alas, the grains were delivered, and I did go downstairs to receive them. Not a good idea.

It is now 7:20pm on the 16th, and I think we’re actually worse than this morning. If you have a spare minute to include us in a short prayer, they’d be very much appreciated. We don’t have access to the same style of healthcare as we did in the US.

Thanks in advance.

Pronounced chee-cha-ROE-nes, these are about the best things to eat in this life.

Especially if you can get them fresh.

What are chicharrones? Fried pig skin, or pork rinds, of course. Any problem with that?

We buy them, normally, in a huge commercial bag from Costco, though they’re processed, not fresh. We have, recently, bought them from our favorite carnitas vendor, about a 2 kilometer drive from our apartment. Worth every peso. Here’s what a bag looks like.

As I’m typing this it’s just after midnight on June 22nd, and we’ve almost finished the bag.

In our defense, these fresh rinds have absolutely no comparison to the processes ones. These melt in your mouth, and have such an amazing flavor of pork that defies an explanation.

We go to the carnitas vendor only a few times a year though they aren’t expensive, just addictive. Let me show you the outside of their establishment.

Not much to look at but I’m telling you that they do an amazing business.

Each of these small neighborhood “shops” is the size of a single car garage, in every respect. Front to back, side to side, it’s a garage. They even have a garage type front closure.

In the 3rd photo, you can see 2 such garages that they have turned into eating areas which seat about 30 people in each. They are close to capacity each time we’ve been there. How amazing is that?

The ingenuity of people never ceases to amaze me.

The food is amazing, the people working there are amazing, it’s just a great place.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.