Author: iagardener55

Another busy day for the both of us. I have been in the kitchen, and, Ivan, with Enrique.

I started by doing the usual sourdough starter feeding, then, went in search of my box of Einkorn wheat berries. I am in the mood to sprout, then dehydrate them, making them shelf stable for years to come.

I am soaking them overnight, then, will drain them, tomorrow, and place a mesh cap over the top of the jar. The jar is laid on its side and rotated daily, until the berries sprout, only a few days after starting.

After they sprout, I will put them in our Breville Smart Oven, on the dehydrate setting, for a few hours, until they are completely dried. After that, I will have to learn how to use them in bread making.

They are the “original”, ancient wheat berries, several thousands of years old, and, completely unmolested. The berry is actually a single grain, not the double grains of the current, genetically engineered wheat berries.

The modern grain of wheat has been modified for a couple of reasons; it has triple the amount of wheat berries on each stalk as it had originally, because of the need to mass produce bread for the US, in the forties, and, fifties; to grow lower to the ground, because the weight of the grains had a tendency to cause the shaft to fall over, spoiling the wheat, plus, the farming equipment necessary to harvest it is also low to the ground.

Einkorn wheat is able to grow taller as there are so few grains on each shaft, but are harvested with a combine, just like regular wheat.

What else did I do today, you ask? I finished our “fermentation station”. You already know about the kombucha batches, (though the bottles are almost invisible on the counter), I have added the jars of vegetables I am fermenting to the top shelf. Surprisingly enough, each jar contains just the vegetables, water, and salt. Each jar is weighed- the vegetables, plus the amount of water, then multiplied by two point five percent, which equals the amount of salt needed to ferment each jar. The veg needs to be completely submerged in the water; anything above the water will spoil, possibly spoiling the whole jar.

From left to right are two jars of Roma tomatoes with onion, garlic, and rosemary. The next jar contains cherry tomatoes with the same onions, garlic, and rosemary. The fourth jar has yellow and green peppers. The fifth jar has grape tomatoes, purple onions, and rosemary. The next jar is the Einkorn berries, then the sauerkraut. Neat, huh?

Last, but hardly the least important, are the EGG BITES!! Yessiree, I made fourteen of the little gems, and cannot wait until I can have one, or two, tomorrow morning.

E is spending the night tonight as he has been having blood pressure issues today; he should be better in the morning.

Until we know for sure, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

As unproductive as the last several weeks have been, today, I believe I made up for them.

Up at eight thirty. Check. Apple cider vinegar with honey drank. Check. Vitamins, and, meds. taken. Check. On to the kitchen it is then.

The sourdough bread I want to make today is a simple loaf, from a loaf pan; nothing artisanal yet. That will come in time. Not quite enough confidence yet. This recipe calls for four hundred sixty four grams of fed starter, so that is how I started today. I fed the started two hundred fifty grams, each, of flour, and water, then watched it rise throughout the day. (Always better to have a little too much than not enough).

Since nine o’clock, when that was all taken care of, I got in my “groove”, as it were, and, peeled, cored, and sliced eight Granny Smith apples, for the much anticipated/dreaded Apple Squares. I absolutely despise the dough recipe. It just does not make enough dough, as far as I am concerned. It never has. Grrrrh.

When I finished rolling out the above dough, put it in the pan, (which is too large), I filled it with the sugared and cinnamoned apples, and topped those with butter, and, the other half of rolled out dough. I put it in the oven, and started on the bread.

The starter had risen beautifully, so I proceeded to combine the starter with the rest of the ingredients, and then on to kneading it for twenty minutes. Did I mention it needed to be kneaded for twenty minutes? I was going to use the Kitchen Aid, but it was all of ten feet away, in the pantry, under the new little table. As I did not want to lose my momentum, onto the lightly floured counter it came, to be loved for twenty minutes. (Could you hear the whine?)

The dough came together quite nicely. After the twenty minutes, it was very soft, and smooth. I put it in a marked, plastic, two quart container to let rise for one hour. (The marked container makes it easier to see when it has doubled in height).

Ivan, and I, invited Enrique for dinner, so, instead of the hamburger patties, that I would have made for just Ivan, and me, I made that into a meatloaf instead. I have some dehydrated Idahoan potatoes, and fresh asparagus. That is what we will have for dinner. Along with a slice of freshly made sourdough bread. And, Apple Squares for dessert.

Cannot wait to get into a couple of loaves of artisanal sourdough bread, because “the guys” are coming in a couple of days, to continue with the remodel. I would like to be able to give them each a loaf to take home.

While I build up my courage, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We bought some new plants the other day, for our condo. The poinsettia’s we bought in December both have white powdery mildew, for some reason, so they are going to the garbage.

We bought two different colors of primrose, one of my favorite indoor flowers, (they were five dollars each), and, one of the first of many bromeliads. The one in the third photo is called a Neoregelia Carolinae. This is what they all look like.

Our next acquisition will be very small cacti, and, tiny succulents of varying sizes, shapes and colors. I want to put them all around the condo. Hopefully, this weekend, we will have shelves in the living room, and, possibly, the new hutch. Who knows? We are happy for the surprise.

Now is the time to start bringing color into our living areas. We have been too long with the beautiful white all around us. It has always been our intention to have pops of color accenting our white background. Little by little, that is happening.

While we wait, patiently, to see what of the remodeling comes next, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I have, once again, rearranged the kitchen counter. I cannot stand leaving things in one place for very long. I think I get bored.

Think of it this way- if you rearrange things in a room, the room is new again; not the same room that it was. It is like moving to a new place, except you did not have to move.

So, this simple reconfiguration allows me more open counter space to form dough for bread, or roll out crust for apple squares.

It also allows me to stay in one place while I prepare food. I can go from the cutting board to the stove without wasting steps. Let me show you.

Now that I am exercising, again, and watching what I eat, let me show you what I had for lunch, and dinner yesterday. It was too much for one meal. Hah! I never thought I would ever say that.

It was delicious, and made for a better choice than the quesadillas I had originally planned to eat.

We are sitting under an umbrella, outside our favorite Toks, waiting to have poblano soup, and lemonade. While we wait, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

You cannot guess what I did this week; for the first time in ages.

If you guessed that I actually cleaned something, you would be correct. That was mean of you, but not the surprise.

I found an app called Fitter, that is taking me, slowly, back into exercising. I did one fifteen minutes of tabata the other day which left me short of breath but not really feeling better. Yesterday I did fifteen minutes of Fitter, and, today, I feel more compact, less Jobba the Hutt.

This time, I feel that I am in the correct mindset to see this through. The warmer weather is going to be here soon and I do not want to endure it at thirty pounds overweight.

Now, for those of you that guessed I actually cleaned something, shame on you for thinking such a thing. That said, let me show you what I did. Hopefully I have a “before” to go with the “after”. Nope.

We were hardly able to get through from the kitchen to the pantry. There was stuff everywhere. After an hour, or so, I finished, then had to lie down for an hour.

I still have trouble with dizziness, looking up, putting something on a shelf above my head; or, if I am on my knees, looking around for something underneath something. I break out in a dripping sweat, am nauseated, feel like I am going to lose control of my bodily functions, on top of my already spinning universe. Good times, right?

Fortunately, a good lie down helps, after about an hour or so.

I have yet to finish cleaning the bathrooms, and dusting. I hate dusting. I need to finish, though, before the end of the week.

Luis texted yesterday that he, and Martín, are finished with several of the pieces we contracted, and we be here to install same.

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

Happy birthday Mom.

Over the past weekend, Ivan, and “the guys”, Enrique and Jesús, went to the Carnitas shop, again, and bought a ton of carnitas, which were promptly distributed amongst the throng. Philanthropy, if it can be called that, especially during a pandemic, is essential.

They bought buche, (stomach lining), maciza, (the loin), cuerito, (skin, but not fried into chicharrón). They got blue corn tortillas, which were beautifully warm, and fresh; red, and green salsas, chopped onions, chopped cilantro/parsley mix, (yuck), and a liter of Coca Cola.

It is such a pleasant surprise to eat carnitas. And, who does not like pig? I think I would eat pork more often than beef, any day of the week. And do.

Not much more to report today, so I will end with my mantra. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

The other day, after replenishing our staples, I used the half purple cabbage we bought, and, made a small batch of sauerkraut with it. I added some peeled carrots to it as well.

Very simple recipe: shred your cabbage, weigh it, place it in a container big enough to mix it around, add three tablespoons of salt for every five pounds of cabbage, and mash it down every thirty minutes. It will give off water, so you need to mix it up then mash it. Continue mashing it until it is a softer consistency. Do not drain it, however.

When it is soft, place it in whatever container you would like, (I put it in a half gallon jar so I can watch it ferment). The contents need to be submerged completely, or they will spoil. I have put one of my new shower caps (I bought one hundred, the smallest amount I could find online), in the top of the jar, on top of the cabbage, and filled it with water, to maintain pressure. This will allow the carbon dioxide bubbles, that are given off during the fermentation process, an escape.

This will take about two to three weeks to ferment to a point when I want to taste it. Hopefully, it will be sour enough to be enjoyable. I will let you know.

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

Happy birthday Dad.

After finding the Oriental store, and, buying our necessaries, we went to an Asian restaurant called Izakaya-Sushi. It is a restaurant we pass every single time we go to the store. We have seen it dozens of times, but never stopped to consider the cuisine.

This is the front of the restaurant, the valet parked garage as well.

Below is the ramen bowl Ivan got; it is called the Tori Karague Ramen, with chicken karague, (breaded, and fried), purple onion, cilantro, pieces of lime, and sambal oelek, which is the red stuff ; a chile pepper sauce. (I tasted a bite of the chicken- weird texture).

Next, is Enrique’s bowl of a classic, Chasu Ramen; it has pork belly, pork loin, a medium boiled egg, spinach, cabbage, scallions, and naruto, (the white with pink swirl,.

Lastly, my bowl is a Spicy Duck Ramen; in it is duck, (it does not look like much duck, but I had some with every bite), spinach, egg, naruto, (the white with pink swirl), duck fat, (the white cube), cabbage, and, shichimi. The shichimi is the red stuff, next to the egg. It is a spice mixture that is supposed to make this ramen dish “spicy”, though it was not too much so.

This last photo is of our view, from our table, out towards the road we drive when we pass this restaurant. The tree with the purple flowers is called a Jacaranda, and they are all over the city. They are, as you can see, coming into bloom, again. In fact, when we go down this street next week, the whole street, for more than a mile, will be in bloom, both sides. It is gorgeous.

We cannot wait to be “forced” to go back to Izakaya, to say the least. We will force ourselves; for your sakes. Until we do, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

If you ever want to visit, or, better still, retire, to Mexico, you need to learn patience. If not, you will never survive here. You need to leave your Northern personality at the border.

Everything, and I mean that with all sincerity, everything takes so much longer to accomplish here. There is no sense of urgency whatsoever. For us, that is no longer a problem. We are retired, and, have more time than money. So, have at it, I say.

Once I let all that go, it was smooth sailing. Every once in awhile, however, I have to remind myself that we are here, finally; exactly where we have dreamed of being. Everything else is of little, or no, consequence.

When we have to wait in line everywhere, at the bank, the stores, etc., then, we do. I used to get upset, even angry, having to waste so much of my “precious time”, but, back then, I still had my Northern personality firmly attached.

Today, we have been driving around, looking for a good Oriental market to finish buying our supplies for making Oriental food. Fortunately, we were able to find a nice, big store only a few kilometers from us.

It does not look like much, but we were able to pick up a few things we needed, and, will soon be on our way to having lunch at an Oriental restaurant we pass on our way to Costco. Who knows what we will find there to eat?

While we are on our way, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Yesterday, after visiting the dentist, after shopping, again, at Costco, and Soriana, we, that is Ivan, our friend, Enrique, and I, had to go to Toks for an early dinner.

It was almost four thirty pm, for crying out loud. I was melting into my shoes, like the wicked witch of the West. We were able to eat at a table outside, which was perfect. There was a cool breeze blowing, we were sitting under the cement canopy of the mall, out of the sun; perfect.

For our dinners, Enrique, and I had the fish, with the red chile sauce; white rice; green beans; and, a carrot sauce, as in the photo below.

Ivan had the Mahi Mahi, that was covered with a slightly spicy sauce containing pineapple; rice, with greens in butter; in photo below. All three of us had a cup of chile poblano soup; a refreshing drink of tamarindo with ginger; and a cup of coffee Americano. Yum.

Below, is a photo of the piece of carrot cake Ivan, and Enrique ate, with the coffee. The cake was huge.

Ivan ended up bringing more than half of that bad boy home. He also had to bring home most of his fish plate, as he had to save space for the piece of cake!!

This is a photo of the cake for which he was hoping, for which he was saving the space!

When the time came, they were out of it! They both had to settle for the carrot cake. Too bad, so sad.

I have made a list of a several things I need to get done in the next few days/weeks. Until I get them all done, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.