Author: iagardener55

And my sister Martha.

I have had several weeks of trepidation with regards to this website.

I believe I posted that I opened the app called Jetpack, which is an adjunct to the primary site from WordPress.com, and everything disappeared in front of my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then, I didn’t know, or understand what I needed to do to bring it all back.

I have since discovered that what I needed to do, and what I did do, was to trust in the Lord, and do what He, and my sister Martha said I should do.

Take the problem to YouTube, and ask it/them what I should do to regain control of the website.

So, I did, it worked, and I’m back in the ballgame.

Trust in the Lord, listen to your siblings, and all will be made clear.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy in the Lord.

I was going to start by saying how grateful I am for so many things but then

I hit the return tab, and everything went away. And I mean everything that I have on this website. I have no idea what happened, and I have no idea how to reverse it. I am going to wait a while, and see what happens.

If I have a website with which to post this, I will. Then, I will continue to tell you all of the amazing things that happened this week, Holy Week.

Until that happens, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Follow up: I’m still able to access my site but it’s the way it looked at the beginning of my journey; very technical, not very welcoming. Better than the nothing I thought I had.

That it pours.

You know the saying, as above, it never rains that it pours. It’s pouring here, and I don’t mean rain.

The day before yesterday, we were reminded that our car registration was past due, and that we needed to take care of this right away. No doubt.

So, our friend Jesús contacted the mechanic in our area who always validates the cars in the condo. He sent me the form for what’s called the “multa”, which is the fine for paying late. Yesterday I walked to the bank to pay it, which was $2,263.00 MXN, or $113 USD. Ugh.

So, today the mechanic sent me a form that we pay yearly for owning the vehicle, which, this year is $2,756 MXN, or $136 USD. Unfortunately, when I got to the bank with this second bill, the date of expiration of that form, and probably the amount, no doubt, expired yesterday.

Back home I walked, a bit faster than my walk to the bank, found Jesús, told him what happened. He called the mechanic, while I was standing with him.

The mechanic proceeded to tell us that he would send me a current form, but did I realize that our license plate sticker also has expired? Really? What’s next?

I probably shouldn’t ask. I’m grateful to have a car to which requires all that I had put aside this month for “savings”. Ha!

There’s always next month.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Follow up: I received the updated form today as well, and I m happy to tell you I have until the 30th of April to pay the same amount as before. Thank you Jesus. And Jesús. Another walk to the bank tomorrow, and more sunshine. It gives me a bit of color, and vitamins. Win, win.

I got so much done this past week, it’s hard to believe.

I made English muffins, not great, like store bought muffins, but sufficient for the day. (They are now croutons.) I also made a small loaf of bread to be made into garlic toast tomorrow, to go along with a spaghetti supper. Yum.

I cleaned the stovetop with a cleaner you’ve probably seen advertised, (I bought it so you don’t have to), the purple tablet that you drop into the spray bottle, mix it with water, and spray your dirty surfaces which will magically drip off the grease, and dirt, leaving behind a sparkling clean surface.

Not so much. It’s supposedly made of “natural ingredients” which I’m always for, no chemical smell, no eating away at your hands. It cleans, yes. However, it took about 30 minutes to dissolve, and did not do as advertised, which I didn’t really believe it would, but there is no life without hope.

It’s also been kind of fun to open the refrigerator doors, and not have to move everything around, or take things out to see what’s in there. I have become quite enamored of the masking/freezer tape I bought a few weeks ago. Take a look.

It brings a smile to my face every time I open the doors.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Pineapple.

I love to use pineapple for the second fermentation of our kombucha, but it’s a bit difficult to remove from the shell. So, I went ahead, and bought a pineapple remover thing. Here it is. I’m sure you’ve seen it on commercials.

There is also a round plastic thing in the box that will cut all of the slices into pieces. I may, or may not use it to cut all of these slices into pieces to go into the kombucha bottles. But it was so much easier to remove the pineapple from the shell I had to say it again. What a time saver, for sure.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I have, once again, immersed myself in one of my favorite YT series.

MasterChef Mexico Celebrity 2024.

Obviously it’s entirely in Spanish, however, I am able to listen, and read, via subtitles, everything in Spanish.

As my lover isn’t interested in speaking Spanish to/with me, I have to find any other way to learn this beautiful language.

So, total immersion via MCMC 2024 is my way of doing just that. When I hear/read Spanish for any length of time, I feel so much closer to being able to speak it to whomever I meet; deliver people, neighbors in the condo, people on the paths in the park, the people at the registers in the stores.

I have signed up, bought, or trialed a plethora of language learning apps, but have not learned much from any of them.

This seems the easiest way to learn, not only Spanish, but how to cook amazing Mexican food. Win-win.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Now I know you know what rice pudding is, and what it looks, and tastes like.

I made the best batch of said pudding the other day, also a request, but the recipe Max sent me used sushi rice, or Arborio, which I didn’t have. I cooked the rice in milk, with sugar, and a cinnamon stick, not water, which is what I did the last time I made it, about a decade ago.

This batch is so good I’ve eaten a bit myself. I say this because I’m not much of a sweet fan; I’m more meat, and potatoes.

Here’s the recipe if you want it. I guarantee it’s the best you’ve ever eaten. Let me know.

I add the sugar in step 2, but not the raisins until the very end, with the vanilla extract. Next time I’m going to use dried cranberries with enchilada powder on them. They’re delicious, and Ivan agreed that they would taste good.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Yes.

I made English muffins, using my sourdough starter even. No, it wasn’t an April fools day joke, I really did it. I’ll show you a photo of how it started, then, when I griddle them in the morning I’ll take a photo of those as well. I can’t wait.

I’ve been wanting to make them, with the sourdough starter, for quite some time now. I finally got the chance. I started the dough about 9:25pm tonight as that’s when I normally feed the starter. I needed 150g of active starter, which mine is, but I didn’t have that volume, only 45g. I keep a 100% hydrated starter so it’s strong, and ready to be used in any recipe.

This evening I fed my 45g about 75g flour, and 75g water, making the 159g volume needed with the original 45g to maintain. I mixed all of the ingredients together making a shaggy dough, then covered it so it could nap for 30 minutes. This is called the autolyse, and is the starting of the flour absorbing the water, making the other ingredients easier to be combined.

After napping, I got to knead it by hand for 13 minutes, or so. I was too tired to get out the stand mixer. Anyway, here’s what it looked like after being beaten into submission.

In the morning, it should have doubled in volume, and I’ll cut the muffins out of the dough, cook on a medium-low heated griddle for several minutes on each side, and hopefully they’ll be done. If not, they’ll go into the oven for a few minutes until cooked through. Then they can be split with a fork to maintain the nooks, and crannies, toasted, and dressed in whatever way we want.

I’m anxious to see how they turn out. I’ll let you know.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: tomorrow is the birthday of our daughter. Happy birthday E.

I started cleaning the kitchen the other day, at 11:00am., and finished around 5:30pm.

I took all of the grains, and everything in a powdered form, out of the cupboard, washed, and dried several Mason jars, of varying sizes, then put all of the powdered stuff into the Mason jars, with new sealing lids. I wiped down the shelves as needed, did the dishes as I went along, and then fixed, and ate dinner.

Finally, I am able to sit down, and reflect on all that I was able to accomplish. Plus, my kitchen is clean, and God willing, bug free.

Next week, I’m going to tackle the pantry, and the 3rd bathroom.d

This is how it all ended up.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I used to think that a banana that looked like this was ready for the bin.

Not anymore. When I open bananas like this now, I’m excited to see the beauty hiding underneath the peel. I know it’s going to be sweet, and soft, but not too much of either.

Look at that beauty. Ready for a banana shake, sweet, and no blemishes. Justo, our grocery delivery provider, delivers our produce when it’s quite young, green, hard as rocks. Just the way I want them delivered. When they come here so green, they can ripen in peace on our counter, without being bumped around in the bin at the grocery store.

This is a perfect example. If any bananas are left when they ripen a bit more, I peel them, then freeze them. That way, when we want a shake, I don’t have to do anything else but pull them out of the freezer, open the vacuum sealed bag, (you know the ones), and blend them with milk, sugar, (for YKW), and cinnamon. Yummy.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.