Author: iagardener55

Years ago, when they first came out, I used these silver metal snap clips to hold my hair away from my face.

I absolutely hate hair in my face. Always have, and, apparently, still do.

I have tried just about every style of hair band, clips, rubber bands, you name it, with little, to no affect. So, back to the original hair clips I have gone.

You know the ones, they bend in the middle, snapping when you close them. The thing is though, even they don’t hold my thin, fine hair for but a few hours.

Here are the ones I mean. You’ll know them as soon as you see them.

You remember them don’t you? You may not be able to use them, or need to use them because you actually have enough hair that it responds to whatever you do to style it. Not so me, or mine.

I have very thin, see my scalp thin, and fine, baby fine hair, and always have. I have tried everything I know to change it, make it do something, anything, but it doesn’t. I used to dye it white blond so it was more difficult to see my scalp, but got tired of that after about 40 years, so I stopped when my hair started changing to white on its own.

Wearing a paper, or cotton shower cap on my head for my career didn’t help things either. I worked 30 years in Operating Rooms, in Texas, Illinois, and lastly, in Iowa, having to wear a head covering all day, each day I worked.

To say they were incredibly warm is an understatement. The only thing going for me was the rooms themselves were around 16ºC, or 60ºF. My poor scalp didn’t stand a chance.

Anyway, I have come full circle, back to my favorite childhood hair clips, only nowadays they come in pretty colors, and some with decorations.

The package I recently received came from Amazon US with 100 clips for $7.99, whereas the same clips, just less of them, 80 clips, from Amazon MX, are $28.28. Hmmmm. I say hmmmm.

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

Remembering those whose lives were lost on this day, and the many days, weeks, and months, that followed the attack on the World Trade Center in NYC in 2001. I wonder if we’ll ever know the truth about what really happened there?

While we have the opportunity, I have bought a bit of fresh asparagus.

‘Tis the season, as they say, for asparagus, and like the US, it is only available, fresh, for a limited amount of time; that’s always in the spring.

Recently, I bought 1 1/2 k of said asparagus, all the time having the idea of freezing it, making it available whenever we want. I always seem to want it out of season. No longer.

I bought 2 bunches of epazote to dry; done. 1k of broccoli to cut up, blanch, freeze, and vacuum seal; done, in (7) 1c bundles. 2 red onions, 1 to pickle; done. 2 green peppers to seed, burn, peel, seal, and freeze; processing.

I bought a head of Orejona lettuce, (oh-ray-HOE-nah), having no real idea what type of lettuce it was going to be, only to discover it is actually Romaine. It was, by far, without exaggeration, the largest head of lettuce I have ever received. The root base was at least 5”, maybe 6”, in diameter, the leaves 14” tall, and the top of said leaves, held tightly together, about 10” in diameter. What am I going to do with it all?

No idea.

It appears that a plethora of “wrapped” foods are in my immediate future.

We now have a freezer well stocked with many of the veg we like to eat, but don’t seem to have readily to hand. Now we do. All thanks to a bit of planning, ordering, and processing so that none goes to waste. I love it when a plan comes together, don’t you?

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

The first time.

That’s what the title means.

For me, today, it means that I am making my very first pizza crust with a sourdough discard, (I’ll explain, keep reading), and sprouted Einkorn milled flour.

This may not seem like much to you folks, but to me, it’s a red letter day!!!

I found a recipe that helps me use some of my sourdough discard, (I’m explaining now, what I started a moment ago), the stuff I have to get rid of so I can feed what’s left of the starter in order to strengthen it, and make it ready to make sourdough bread.

Daily, I have to get rid of at least half of the starter, and feed it with 40gm each flour, and water. If I didn’t get rid of at least half of it, I would have a gallon of starter in no time.

Now that my starter is strong, I can either discard the portion of starter not needed, or use it in a recipe, to create a sourdough something; pancakes, waffles, scones, pizza crust, etc., you get the idea.

This morning, (it’s 2:30am), I put together a simple dough, using a recipe that uses what would have been my portion of the starter to discard later in the morning, along with about 1/3c of my recently milled Einkorn flour, plus the bulk using All Purpose flour. Win-win.

Not only will the crust be unique, (the recipe called for whole wheat flour, which I don’t use, using instead my sprouted, dried, and milled Einkorn, Kamut, or Spelt flours), it will be ready to use whenever we want to make a pizza crust. I have a photo.

Anyway, that’s all for my first pizza crust using the Einkorn flour, and the sourdough discard. The rest of the Einkorn starter should go crazy after using the flour to bake in the kitchen. The yeast will carry to the starter, hopefully, and cause it to really take off. I’ll let you know. The more you bake, the more natural yeast is in your kitchen making anything needing yeast, (Kombucha), stand up, and take notice.

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

I’m going to learn to cook, and enjoy huitlacoche. Whee-tlah-CO-cheh.

In the US, it’s known as corn smut, corn mushroom, or Mexican truffle. It is actually a fungus, which, is easily obtained in any of the corn growing states of Mexico, and even in some of the Southern states in the US.

You need to understand that when faced with a crop of corn, grown to feed the family, or sell in the market, that has gone to fungus, what is a father to do?

Learn to use what you’ve been given, and deal with it.

Someone, in the distant past, found his crops full of what is called huitlacoche here, and figured out how to make corn smut into a Mexican delicacy.

When I first came to Mexico, in the summer of 1973, just after our high school graduation, Ivan’s cousin, and his girlfriend took us to a restaurant in a beautiful, but abandoned monastery just Northwest of here, called Desierto de Liones, or the The Desert of Lions. They have a restaurant there that served Crepas con Huitlacoche, or crepes with corn fungus. Doesn’t sound good, am I right?

Fortunately for me, I didn’t speak Spanish at the time.

The crepes were incredible. I have not had huitlacoche since, I am sad to say, but am planning to rectify the situation before you read this post. I have ordered a few cans of the stuff which will be delivered in the next 48 hours. Ever onward.

As I recall, the crepes tasted of mushrooms with a hint of corn. (I remember that but can’t remember what I did yesterday.)

First I’m going to try Huitlacoche en tortillas, something basic. I’ll move on from there. Stay tuned. It will either be a win, or not.

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

Seriously. You’ll thank me later.

In Mexican cuisine, it is the raw white onion that rules the dish; the white onion that Mexico embraces above all other onions. It is bright, and crisp, and it is essential as a garnish for almost any/every dish.

But first, it has to be rinsed, or “deflamed”, desinflamando la cebolla, (des-in-flah-MAN-do la seh-BOY-yah). Slice, dice, mince your onion, then put it in a sieve, and rinse it under cold running water for about 15-20 seconds. Shake it off, and you’re done. No more tears, no more onion breath, nothing; just the crisp flavor of onion. Remember, you only need to do this if you are going to eat the onion raw.

Lately, I have been watching chef Rick Bayless on YT; for those of you that don’t know the name, he has several restaurants in the Chicago, IL area, and his videos are all about preparing delicious Mexican cuisine at home.

He shares his life between his Chicago home, and a Mexico City condominium, and has since the early 1980’s. Their condo, Bayless, and his wife Deann, is in the same “suburb” as ours, not far from where we live. Obviously a huge proponent of Mexican culture, and everything having to do with Mexico, it is a joy to watch him cook.

He teaches his viewers many of the meals that can be prepared, with ease, in the kitchen of ones own home, and also educates viewers on the origins of the recipe he is preparing. He has a vast knowledge of the different foods from all of the states here in Mexico, which is amazing.

Another favorite of mine, British chef Diana Kennedy, unlike Bayless, lived the majority of her life traveling throughout Mexico, after her husband passed away in 1967. She lived with, talked with, and learned all she could from the people in whatever puebla, village, town, or city in which she happened to be. She gathered hundreds, and hundreds of recipes from the locals she lived with, and wrote several cookbooks, giving each person their individual credit for the recipes kindly given her. She passed away just last year at the age of 99 years old, here in Mexico, in the city of Zitácuaro, about 2 1/2 hours to our West. What a loss.

Both have written numerous cookbooks about Mexican cuisine, and, as I indicated, Bayless has a YT channel that is addictive, if you like Mexican food, that is. But who doesn’t?

Back to the onions: when you cut an onion, white onions in particular, and want to put them into a dish, one that is not cooked, guacamole, for example, rinse them under cold running water for a few seconds to get rid of the sulfuric substance that slicing said onion creates. Add them to the dish, and you have the bright, clean, snappy flavor of the onion without the sulfur. Neat, huh?!

Try it. Let me know what you think.

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

Bisquick pizza crust.

Have you tried it? Did you like it?

No we haven’t but we will by the time I post this. Did we like it? You’ll know when I post this.

I have watched multiple videos on YT that deal with making a quick pizza dough using the pancake mix known as Bisquick. I’m sure anyone reading this post has heard of, eaten, or used Bisquick to make their pancakes of a morning, or gosh, dare I say biscuits?

Yes, I have used it for pancakes, and waffles, but never, until now, a pizza crust. I am also going to try a breakfast pizza, using it, when I find a white gravy recipe I can use on the pizza as well.

Where we are from, the Midwest, there is a chain of gas stations called

I’m back. I had to Google “Midwest breakfast pizza’s”, and found the recipe from Kitchn, called Casey’s General Store Breakfast Pizza which is exactly the pizza our boss used to bring us, on rare occasions, when we had our monthly “unit meeting”.

It was absolutely the best breakfast pizza available. It had sausage gravy, breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, and tons of cheese; a heart attack to go.

It will be the first breakfast pizza I try, with Happy Joe’s being the next one. But first, I will be making small, individual pizza’s in case we don’t care for anything about the crust. After that, depending on the texture, and flavor, we’ll go from there.

Yes, I will also be making a sourdough crust, just as soon as my starter tells me it’s ready to fulfill its promise of a delicious, chewy/crunchy crust.

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

As you all know, I have, recently, started, and, restarted, 2 separate sourdough starters. One is from my sprouted, dried Einkorn berries,

and the other is from my original starter developed here, in CDMX.

Both are well, with the original starter having taken off like a house on fire. I did, however, get rid of the “fresh” starter I made from AP flour, and water, as the other 2 were doing so well, I didn’t feel the back up was necessary any longer. Let me show you.

In the jar marked CDMX, in the foreground, you can see the red line close to the top of the jar, with the arrow pointing downward. The line indicated where the starter rose to, then deflated after a time. The fresh was fairly active as well, but the Einkorn was amazing. In the above photo, the Einkorn starter was only 3 days old, whereas the CDMX, and Fresh, were about 6 days old. No need for all three, so Fresh is no longer being kept alive.

Here are a few photos of the starters yesterday.

It is rising so consistently that I will start feeding it twice daily, then bake a loaf Sunday, or Monday. I’ll show you how it turns out whenever I get to it. Remember, this will not be artisanal; it will be a soft sourdough sandwich loaf that, hopefully, will be soft throughout. Stay tuned.

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

Post script: I forgot to show you my newest “mill” for grinding the berries. It’s the latest attachment I bought for the KitchenAid mixer we have. It takes less than a minute to finely grind 1 cup of sprouted Einkorn berries. Yay!

Kombucha.

It looks as if the “mother” is ready to become a second ferment. And I know just the person to do it.

I have a “fresh” pineapple semi-frozen in the fridge, just waiting for me to get to making the fermentation. So, I guess I’ll get going.

Oh, gloryosky Zero! (My dad used to say that. Where it came from I have no recollection, but it always made me smile.) I cut up 4 yellow mangos tonight, (2 Ataulfo, and 2 Manila), that I can use as well.

There are 3 different kinds of mangos here: the Ataulfo, a beautiful yellow, which to us, has the perfect amount of sweetness to it; Manila, a pale yellow, not too sweet; and the Paraíso, the green turning to a beautiful red, that is most common in the US, which is nicely sweet. Fortunately for me, I am able to eat them down here.

I say that because, while in the States, I was unable to eat fruit with a pit without having an allergic reaction to them. Cherries, apricots, plums, avocados, peaches, nectarines- all off limits to me. I don’t know which came first, the fruit allergy, or the latex allergy. I believe, though, that it was actually in that order.

Though I would call it moderate, I remember having my first allergic reaction, in 1984, in Houston, TX. (Something not easily forgotten.) I was eating a small can of peaches on a break while working in the ED. It was fortunate that I was able to get back inside, and was treated for said reaction within minutes. Scary, but not the worst one, by far. More on that subject another time.

Not long after moving to Laredo, TX, in 1986, I discovered that when any part of a bra I was wearing would move from its original position, it would itch me like poison ivy. I ignored it for as long as I could, but, after moving back to the QC, in 1989, I couldn’t stand it any longer.

From then, unto this very day, I wear only undergarments that are cotton, with no visible, or touchable, elastic. It makes for a bit of researching to find these items, but when I find them, I buy them in quantity. I used to try to slip a regular bra in once in a while, only to have to give it away, or take it to the Salvation Army surplus. I just cannot wear latex against my skin.

As far as memory foam goes, we have a mattress cover that has memory foam, and a gel, but I try to put as much between it, and me so I can sleep, eventually. Someday, I am going to try sneaking the mattress cover off the bed, putting it on the guest bed, and see if YKW notices.

Back to the ‘buch. It is well approved on the NOOM way of life, so that is a plus. I can have at least two 8oz bottles daily. Yay. I really enjoy it. If you haven’t tried it, do. Not only does it taste great, it’s good for you. But, don’t let that stop you. They’re grossly expensive in the stores, but cost only pennies when you make it yourself.

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

I have taken so many photos over the past few weeks to show you folks that I hardly know where to begin.

Let’s start here.

This is another recommendation from me to you, about a wonderful product on Amazon. It is under cabinet lighting. It is incredibly easy to install, just make you measure, making sure it fits where you want it. It is inexpensive, to my estimation, and, the best part, IT’S BRIGHT AS DAYLIGHT.

The two recessed lights in the kitchen ceiling, are all behind me, and to the left. I put adhesive lights under the cabinets that were “ok” at the time, but of absolutely NO USE to me EVER. Busted.

These lights, however, are going to be a complete game changer. Let me show you what I mean.

When I chop veg, or meat, or whatever, I only had the potted lights above, and behind me. You’ve seen my shadow in photos I’ve posted, because of the lighting. I did a Google search for “bright under cabinet lighting”, and this amazing product was close to the first product offered.

The counter space you see is all of the counter space I have, so I need to be able to see what I’m doing, even during the day. There is about the same amount of countertop behind me, but it is too high for me to utilize.

With this new addition, I can see what I’m doing at any time, day, or night. That is a terrible photo of the product, but I’m not going to redo it. If you need UCL, check them out. Amazing.

While I am enjoying this lovely illumination, please, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: happy belated birthday sister mine. 🫶🏻

I have started another sourdough starter.

Three, actually. One with the last sourdough starter I bought from Wild-Life.com, one from just AP flour, and filtered water, and one, (tomorrow) from the Einkorn flour I sprouted, then dehydrated about a year ago.

The sprouting makes all of the difference when using whole grains for baking. It reduces the amount of oils natural to the grains, and extends the “shelf life” of the flour by years.

I purchased about 25 pounds of whole grain Einkorn berries, you may remember the post(s), sprouted about 2 pounds, ground that into flour, removed some of the kernel, but left most, and now, finally, with the help of my beloved, recipes with which to start Einkorn sourdough starter, how to make a soft, moist fresh loaf of Einkorn bread, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, well, you name it.

The results will be forthcoming, I assure you. The first will be the results of the starters, all 3, each with their own properties. Next will be the results of the baked goods resulting from the aforementioned starters, (each will be defined, and scored). The last will be the best of whichever I decide would be the best for any of you to try.

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

Post script: a quick update. This afternoon I went to check on the two starters that are on day 2. The results were amazing. The one I started without any assistance was bubbling like crazy for its first day. The one I started, having use a portion of the last package I have of the sourdough starter that I bought which was harvested here in CDMX had, at best 2 small bubbles. I’ll continue to update as I go along.