Author: iagardener55

Try this one day soon, and let me know what you think. It’s absolutely delicious.

Ingredients

2k pierna de cerdo (pork leg, w/wo bone) 

Manteca de cerdo, (pork fat, or whatever oil you want) as needed

12 oz. bottle of Mexican beer, (I used Bohemia) DONT USE WATER. The alcohol cooks out, and leaves an amazing flavor.

1/2 white onion, sliced (next time I’m going to use a whole onion)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 handful freshly ground oregano, this is most important

S&P to taste

1. Heat Instant Pot (IP) on Sauté feature, add about 3T. Manteca. 
2. Cut pork into large chunks. Season with S&P. 
3. Add pork to IP, and brown on all sides, doing this in several batches. Set aside. 
4. Meanwhile, slice onion, and mince garlic. Set aside. 
5. When pork is done browning, add more Manteca to IP, and add onions, cooking about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic, stir frequently, for about 1 minute. 
6. Return pork to the pot, and add the beer, and oregano. 
7. Change IP settings to slow cook, on low heat, cover, and cook for at least 12 hours. (If you do this at night, it’s ready when you get up. Or, put it on medium heat for 8-10 hours when you leave for work.)
8. Lift the lid, and enjoy. 

We like this with Fritos corn chips, or over a baked potato with sour cream, shredded cheese, and minced cilantro. The “sauce” is rich so be aware of that when you decide how to serve it. 

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy.

Post script: I just made sliced fried potatoes, added some of the leftover pork with the juice, and added some frozen corn. Yum.

R.F.K.Jr! Heck YES!!!!

How amazing is it that the current president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has set a focus on Robert F.Kennedy Jr. to lead the HHS!?! Thank you Lord.

This is a man who has spent his whole life/career trying to make the people of the US healthier, and more productive members of society.

HE WANTS GOOD SCIENCE, GOOD SAFETY STUDIES ON ALL VACCINES.

According to a recent interview with Laura Ingraham, of the Ingraham Angle on Fox News, RFK said “most vaccines are exempt from pre-licensing safety studies”!!! How can this be? We vaccinate our children from birth but we’re giving them injections of what?

He’s not going to disrupt vaccine administrations, or cut the use of vaccines. He wants to educate the public about the makeup, and manufacturing of the vaccines, and the time schedule for injecting them. (I’ll post 2 photos of the changes in the vaccination schedule at the end of the post.)

He has spent years of his career bringing lawsuits against those companies, and organizations that are harming us by adding food additives to our foods that are unnatural, addictive, unsafe, and potentially dangerous.

During the nomination hearings he was being purported as being a money grabber, as someone who is trying to change things for his monetary gain. He was said to be “antivax”, yet all of his children were vaccinated.

Seriously???

Thankfully, he’s since been confirmed by Congress, and is assuming his role as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

Thank you Lord.

Our nation, specifically the developing children in our country, will no longer be subjected to additives that cause diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and mental decline.

Have you seen the ingredients on a box of Fruit Loops lately? Or Lucky Charms? Or any cereal manufactured in the US? There are frequently more than 10-15 ingredients, many are harmful chemicals, all designed to addict you to the contents.

Have you seen, or heard, what’s in the same cereals that are exported to European countries? Usually there are only 4-5 ingredients. Why the disparity? Because Europe has declared that the multiple ingredients the US uses are illegal in Europe. They don’t want their children brain dead, incapacitated, unable to think for themselves. They want the best for their children/communities/countries.

Wake up America. You are being drugged into compliance, ill health, an early death.

Appreciate what RFK, Jr. is going to do for the US- bring it back to its former healthy glory.

Until next time, enjoy your health, and the happiness this administration is bringing back to our nation.

Are all telling you the truth about what is going on in our beautiful country.

NOT!!!

If you’re still watching any of those news outlets, looking for honest information, you’re drinking the Kool-Aid that the Rev. Jim Jones prepared, and drank on November 18, 1978, as did his 900 followers, in Jonestown, Guyana all of those years ago. He’s dead. They’re dead. They were led to believe the lies that they were told.

Don’t do the same thing. There are hundreds of free channels, led by competent commentators, on the internet. Find them. Listen to what they have to tell you. They will open your eyes to the TRUTH about what is happening in our government these days.

If you want a few suggestions, I’m happy to provide some. Here they are, in no certain order.

PowerfulJRE, (the Joe Rogan Experience), the Shawn Ryan Show, Sean Hannity, The Five (on Fox News), Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, featuring Laura Ingraham, Dave Rubin of the Rubin Report, Benny Johnson, Bret Weinstein, Eric Weinstein, Candace Owen, Charlie Kirk, Doc Rich, Forbes Breaking News, Freedom Frontline, Glenn Greenwald, Jordan B. Peterson, Lionel Nation, Megyn Kelly, Newsmax, Piers Morgan, Rabbi Pinchas Taylor, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Russell Brand, Sky News Australia, The Dershow with Alan Dershowitz, The Glenn Show with Glenn Beck, The Jimmy Dore Show, Tucker Carlson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Winston Marshall, Yishai Fleisher, to name but a few.

The above are some of the more meaningful channels/people Ivan, and I watch/listen to daily. They are informative, honest, and open about what is happening in the world today. They aren’t paid for their views, they aren’t compensated for their opinions, they are well educated, well informed people that live on our planet, and stand up for the Constitution of the United States of America.

Do you? Do you stand up when the Star Spangled Banner is played, even if it’s on the TV, or your computer? If not, WHY NOT? It’s OUR song, OUR history. It’s who we are as a people, as a nation. It’s commonly referred to as respect.

Until next time, enjoy the peace, and prosperity our nation is coming back to understanding.

I have answered 3 phone calls today, and was even able to return a phone call.

How amazing is that?

For me, very amazing. It’s the first time in all these 5 years that I’ve felt able to have a short conversation with an unknown person on the other end of the phone.

Thank you Lord.

Until next time, stay happier, and healthier than the past 4 years have allowed.

Never ever, have I cracked an egg, and found it black inside.

I almost got sick to my stomach.

I took a photo, showed it to Ivan, tried to post it here, but it no longer exists.

I bought brown eggs from the grocery store, 4 cartons of 18. Several in the second carton were either very dark orange, with the yolks turning brown, or, when cracked into a small bowl, the yolk splattered.

I have taken to cracking the eggs into a small bowl. I spilled a few drops of the black egg into a good egg that I was preparing for our breakfast one morning. I threw them both in the compost, washed the bowl, and tried again.

I can’t tell you what a blow this has been to my trust in the egg wholesalers, so, for the next little while, I’ll be buying our eggs over at the Mercado Taxqueña, where I know they’ll be fresh.

Until next time, stay safe. Wash your hands.

Oh, and a happy Valentine’s Day to any/all of you Hallmark heroes. We chose, 50 years ago, to celebrate our love for each other every day, without silly cards, flowers, or chocolates. Just a thought.

The light is slowly, but surely turning on in my brain.

I have been making some significant, for me anyway, Mexican dishes lately. I’ve twice made menudo, and bacalao, then tamales rojos, and pozole blanco.

What I’ve learned from all of that is that there is a basic formula used throughout the cooking experience that once one understands the complexity of those basics, as with any cuisine, you can repeat it, but change it up a bit so it becomes something else that’s a basic.

For example, the sauce used to make the pork tamales is almost identical to the sauce for menudo. The basic ingredients for the bacalao are almost identical, for the beginnings of the tamales, and the pozole blanco.

When I made the gochujang chicken, and the miso chicken recently, it was whilst making those sauces that I noticed the similarities in the ingredients. Yay for me.

It has taken so much of the worry for me when contemplating making any dish that’s got a bit of difficulty to it. Now that I have recognized the pattern of the dishes, using the same ingredients but in different quantities, etc., things have gotten so much easier for me, and it makes me feel ready to branch out, try more difficult dishes that will test my newly acquired knowledge.

What will I be making next, you ask? How will the next dish turn out?

Stay tuned. There’s more to come.

Until then, stay happy, and healthy.

And the purchasing thereof.

We used to buy our avocados when they were just becoming soft, getting into the dark green/black outer skin color. I cannot eat avocados when they are not almost too ripe for most, as I am somewhat sensitive the fruit at that stage.

Over the years I, I say I but I really mean we, have learned about the above sensitivity from a plethora of experience.

When I first started dating Ivan, in the early ‘70’s, we used to eat warmed flour tortillas with unripe avocado spread on them, just lightly salted, while we were cleaning the kitchen. About 5 minutes into this never-before-known-to-me lusciousness, my lips would begin to swell, my throat, as well, then, if that wasn’t enough, my ears, inside, would start to itch.

I had never had any sensation with which to compare this, so it scared us both. Obviously I stopped eating the lusciousness, though quite begrudgingly, and after 30-45 minutes, the swelling went away. End of story.

Until the next time. Of course it happened again. And again. And then again. I LOVE AVOCADOS.

Over the years, however, I have learned that, if I wait, and eat them when others discard them, when the skin is almost black, they don’t affect me at all. I can eat however much I want.

That said, I have also discovered, over many years of experimentation, of trial, and error, that if I buy them at their most unripe, less molested stage, when they have the brilliant green skin most look for, when they ripen in our home, the beautiful green flesh is just that, beautifully green. Let me show you.

I bought this beauty about 2 weeks before opening it to have it look like it does in the above photo. I buy them rock hard, put them in the hanging vegetable basket in the kitchen for about 3-5 days. Once they start to turn dark, I, very gently, try a bit of pressure to see how soft they are, though nowadays I can tell by the skin, then put them in the fridge on the top shelf.

When I want to open one, have it on a breakfast egg muffin, I take it out of the fridge the night before to let it warm up, open it in the morning, and spread it on the English muffin halves instead of butter. Sublime.

This doesn’t work 100% of the time, but pretty darn close. Closer to 95%. When there is a bit of the darker, less appealing spots, I cut those off, and continue with whatever I’m doing.

Hope this helps you avocado lovers enjoy the most of each of fruit you can.

Until next time, you know the drill. Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, if you do nothing else.

I wrote, some time ago, that I bought garlic, onions, and ginger in bulk to be processed, then stored in the freezer for future use.

I also showed you the receipt for the above mentioned veg that didn’t arrive, therefore could not be processed. I then ordered the same amounts of ginger, and onions from Walmart, which arrived as requested, and proceeded to process the ginger first. Take a look.

I didn’t buy any bulk garlic the first time out, with the above ginger, and avocados, but bought a small jar of garlic already processed, thinking the $3.50USD that it cost was a deal. The jar is only about 3” tall, and 1 1/2” in diameter. Not a deal.

Live, and learn, just don’t forget to learn.

I’m going to buy a kilo of raw garlic, and process it as I did the ginger, as above. We also have about a dozen bulbs of black garlic, and am going to process them as well. Whenever we want to add some luscious black garlic into a dish, bingo, it’s already to use from the freezer. Yay.

So, that’s been my adventure recently. I’ll post again soon.

Until next time, stay safe.

A year ago, or so, I pulled the clothesline main metal frame out of the ceiling where it had been affixed.

I was so proud that I had been able to stuff each of the 3 holes, (made by the screws from the clothesline frame), with silicone, and all along the metal frame, and replace it, securely, on the ceiling, all by myself. It has, however, been slowly pulling back out from the ceiling.

Recently, I was hanging some plastic bags up to dry, and pulled the entire clothesline down on top of me.

I can’t tell you how annoying that was, looking at everything lying on the floor there, in front of the laundry machines. There were plastic bags, socks, handkerchiefs, well, you get the idea. Also, not to mention, my collection of fresh, though dried chiles. (They’re easier to find at the moment if they’re hanging in plain sight.)

This is what I had left.

Whilst I was in the neighborhood, and had 2 drills at my disposal, I removed the broom, and mop holder from the far wall, just above the new cart, and put it on this wall, just inside the laundry/pantry area. The part of the wall it’s on now is a solid brick wall, but the far half of that wall was added on at some point, and is hollow.

Well, that concludes our fun for one day. Our arms were so shaky after having drilled the clothesline piece into the ceiling, in the second photo, it took us both about 30 minutes to get back to normal. Yikes we’re out of shape. I ended up finishing up the project because I wanted to get it done.

Next comes the 3rd bathroom that is only used as storage. We’re going to make it into a real storage area. That’ll be for another day.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy.

Post script: I had a tub of plaster repair delivered the other day, and filled in the holes. Not too bad, if I say so myself.

I like to buy whole chickens when I do buy chicken.

The difference in cost between someone else cutting up your whole chicken, and you doing it yourself, is staggering.

I used to preserve chicken by canning it, years ago, when we lived in Iowa, so cutting up a whole chicken is quite easy for me. It’s one of those skills that I’m proud to have mastered.

Lately I’ve been removing the bones from the breasts, and packaging them boneless. As we enjoy eating milanesas, or breaded chicken breast, it’s easier to just defrost the breasts, pound them out to cutlets, bread them, then fry them. (I could eat these just about daily).

The next batch I do will be using the newest vacuum sealing bags. I can’t wait.

All of the pieces in the bowl have been put in a vacuum bag, and placed in the freezer to be made into a lovely chicken stock sometime in the future.

Hope you enjoyed that little bit.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy.