Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

I should have done this from the start.

But I didn’t think of it until yesterday. As I have been doing quite a bit of fermenting lately, I’ve needed to use most of my Ball mason jars, lids, and rings. The lids, and rings have been in a small black grocery bag that I had hanging in the pantry just next to the kombucha jar. They have been a jumbled mess since I put them all together in said bag.

Not anymore. I had a moment of complete clarity yesterday when I decided to divide them up. I put all of them in my dish washing tub with boiled water, and he new organic dish soap I use now, and cleaned them all really, really well. I put the clean pieces on a drying towel in the pantry on the washing machine lid to dry, then took 2 of my reusable produce bags, and divided them up into regular mouth lids/rings, and wide mouth lids/rings. Yay. That only took 40 years.

This morning, however, I saw a half dozen “miscellaneous” lids on the towel. Well, damn. Where am I going to put those? In another produce bag, duh!!

So, here’s what I ended up with, besides no orphaned lids lying around the kitchen, and pantry, looking for a home. They all have a home now. Let me know what you think.

I want to let you know that I will be taking at least the first 2 weeks of September off to get some things done around here, and to get some posts saved to post when I come back.

Until then, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

The fermentation station is going strong.

Almost too strong. I’m having a bit of a time trying to keep up with all of the results from the milk kefir production. The sauerkraut is now in the fridge; the sourdough is healthy, both of them, and in the fridge resting; the water kefir is producing some amazing flavors from the second fermentation. Thank you Jesus.

Here are 2 results of my newest endeavors- my latest loaf of sourdough bread that I have added a bit of whole wheat flour, and then my first ever attempt with Lactobacillus Reuteri. It’s a difficult culture to conquer, and, as you can see from the photo, I haven’t done it yet. The yellow stuff on the top is whey, which, when I’m more motivated, I’m going to use it to start fermenting vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, onions, and the like. At the moment, I’m, sadly, out of energy.

I rode my bike about 3.9 k today, and have seen the route I took. Good thing too, because when I got to a certain point on the ride I had no idea exactly where I was. Nothing looked familiar, none of the buildings anyway, but I did recognize a few of the street signs that were not all rusted. I had to sun on my face in a direction that I knew would lead me to the main street that would lead me back home. And it did. Thank you Jesus.

So, until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I have taken up the fermentation mantle recently.

Full force, and full speed ahead.

Which is not accurate as fermentation takes time, and patience. I now have 2 thriving sourdough starters, a new water kefir, a milk kefir, and cabbage fermenting into sauerkraut. I plan on fermenting a salsa, pickling some vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, and serrano chiles.

I’ve been researching so many different types of fermentations that my head spins frequently. (Wow. Literally).The first batch of water kefir I want to 2nd ferment (flavor) with mango, maracuyá, (passion fruit), or mandarins. It takes only 24-48 hours to ferment the water kefir grains, once they get established, then another 24-48 hours for the 2nd fermentation. Much faster than kombucha, and, by the looks of it, much easier as well. I have the grains for both the milk, and the water kefirs, and have researched how to use them once they are ready, so here we go. Off to the races, (as the tortoise).

I’ll let you know, as I go along, how things are progressing. If I do this correctly I can have the grains for the rest of my ability to use them. In fact, if they are what I’m looking forward to, I’ll be putting my SCOBY, for the kombucha, in the freezer. It’s so sour, and the water kefir sounds just right.

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

I had another full scale episode yesterday, again on the way home from the small market.

I decided to get my bike out, and start using it again. It’s a nice little Schwinn that’s foldable, but not quite big enough for this old body.

When it’s folded, it is about a 14”x12”x16”rectangle, and about 8-10 pounds. The biggest problem I have is the connection for the handlebars to the frame. Since it folds at the handlebars, the connection is at an angle, offset from frame. It drives me absolutely to distraction. While riding, I keep trying to make that connection go straight forward, in line with the front wheel. My mind will not permit me to ignore it.

So I stopped riding the bike after about 4 tries. I couldn’t get past the misalignment.

Several months ago I thought to myself “why can’t I just put a headscarf around the connection, and hide the connection from my eyesight.

So I did.

I rode the bike over to the market I‘ve been telling you about, called Tienda Alex, and was able to ride home without any dizzy spell. Mission accomplished. It took my about 1o minutes round trip.

This afternoon I got on Amazon.com.mx, and ordered a chain lock, a left sided rearview mirror, and a basket to go on the carrier on the back wheel. The first two items will be here tomorrow, but the basket will arrive sometime the end of July, beginning of August. I’ll show you what it looks like folded, unfolded, then dressed. I’m hoping to do some 20-30 minute bike rides like I used to on the bike trail in front of our home in Iowa. I could, and did, ride for hours. Loved it.

The only bike trail I’ve found to date is made with pea gravel, and I wasn’t able to navigate it. It was too loose for me. I need more solid foundation to ride in a relaxed atmosphere. I’m going to keep looking on Google, and will let you know what I find.

Here’s a quick peek at what she looks like after my ride this afternoon.

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

A number of years ago, we decided to buy a bunch of Japanese dishes.

Ivan’s cousin, his wife, and their 2 kids, live in Japan, and have for several years, and we got into Japanese cooking because of them. I didn’t do a lot of it then, but have so much more time now that I’m getting back into it now.

I switched out our Amazon Basics white dishes for our beautiful, functional, heavy “Made in Japan” dishes. Here is what they look like.

The dishes are a much better size for us, and the weight of them is more secure as well. Using the white dishes, the dinner plates are huge so we never use them, and they barely fit in the cupboard. The salad plate just isn’t big enough but it was what we had to use. These dishes, the Japanese ones, just look at the size of the dinner plate on the left. Perfect. The bowls in the middle are perfect for a package of ramen. The soup bowls, next to the right, are perfect for most everything, and the small bowls are great for a side veg, a scoop of ice cream, or a side of cottage cheese.

On the top shelf are 3 different lengths of rectangular plates, perfect for a sandwich and a scoop of cottage cheese. Across to the other side, the small square dishes are for sauces, when I actually get around to making the Japanese meals. They’re just what I will need.

Probably the reason we bought them, huh?!

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

I’ve become the old lady walking home from the market with shopping bags in hand.

I went to the bank this morning, thinking only to withdraw some money for the association fees here in the condo.

Little did I know that I really needed some fresh fruit and veg. I ended up buying a small jicama, a small papaya, a cucumber, a melon, and a handful of epazote, thinking it was cilantro. (In all fairness, it was in a small clear plastic bag that had quite a bit of condensation on the inside of the bag so I wasn’t able to see exactly what was inside.)

I mention this all because, as I wasn’t expecting to buy anything in particular, I wasn’t wearing my backpack. Therefore, I ended up with 2 small plastic bags, the ones with handles, to carry home, one in each hand.

Of course, whilst I was walking home, and with the weight of the above items distributed nicely between the bags, I was able to get in a few bicep curls, triceps crunches, lateral arm lifts, and am all the better for them.

Another day in the life of yours truly.

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

(I’m writing this several hours after the ingestion of the aforementioned Ibuprofen 800 mg. I have also had a bit of “medicinal” spirits to help me with the fever I’ve been experiencing.)

I am at a stage, in whatever this is, where Ivan has come over to make sure I’m still alive, and going to be able to make breakfast in the morning. 😉

I jest, sort of.

Do any of you realize that we’ve known each other since I was 15 years old, and have grown up together, spending almost every hour of every day in each others company? We started out as friends, became lovers, and have been soulmates forever.

We often reminisce about things that happened in Junior High, and High School, things that one of us remembers more, and reminds the other one. I find it so joyful to have known someone my whole life who still loves me, and more importantly likes me, (sisters excluded) .

I’ve often said that we’ve always been in love, from the moment we met, but we’ve not always liked each other. I have no problem with that because we can get beyond whatever has caused the dislike, but I think trying to get past not loving your spouse would be impossible for us. I pray we never experience that type of torture, for that is what it would be.

I also pray that anyone that reads this can enjoy some of this special joy for themselves. It takes patience, it takes work, commitment, compromises, and at the heart of it all, love of God.

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

Post script: a very happy birthday to my sister Martha who is celebrating her 70 something birthday tomorrow. Hippo bird day M.

Not something I give much thought, but I was looking through the plethora of pens I still have from the days when I actually used pens, and found the odd blue ink pen.

I immediately smiled. I really enjoy writing in blue ink, not always black ink. It gives me a bit of a spirit boost. It makes me happy.

I don’t know if you know this type of pen, and may not be able to use it at your work place, but it’s the Pilot Frixion erasable ink pen. I use it without exception because I need to be able to change my mind, erase that silly thing I just wrote, and add something sillier. So I got three blue ink pens, that are not only erasable, but they “click” instead of removing the cap, and hoping to find it when you’re done writing with it.

Not much else for today. I’m still a bit under the rainy weather, and should be resting but there it is.

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

You want to laugh really, really hard?

Look up some of the Yeti comedy videos on YouTube. Some of them are over my head because they use words, or phrases that the current generation use, and I’m not familiar with them, but the gist of them is hilarious. This is what one of the Bigfoot, and Yeti’s look like.

Seriously, whomever is doing these videos needs some sort of major recognition. They are so funny.

Let me know if you’ve watched them, and what you think. There is some strong language in many of them so use caution around younger people. Enjoy.

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

Not until you see it anyway.

Here’s the follow up to the cleaning of the Breville Oven. Do you remember how it was before I started cleaning it? Let me show you.

Here it is, from the outside. Why I didn’t take an outside photo before I started cleaning it, I cannot say. No matter. I can tell you honestly, this is just about exactly what it looked like when we put it on the countertop the first time years ago. The inside is not quite as clean as I’d like, but it’s only the first go round. I will be doing more cleaning during the upcoming week.

This took me about 3 hours total- allowing the inside to sit under a paste of baking soda, Dawn, and water. I left that for about 1 1/2 hours, while soaking the 2 racks, and the air fry basket in a sink 4” full of boiled water, baking soda, and Dawn.

After the racks soaked for about an hour, I used a 000 steel wool on them, and really cleaned them well. I’m told I can’t do anything about the heating elements as they might break, then all will have been for naught. So, I will make another paste, apply it to the top inside, and the back especially, and possibly leave that overnight. Once that’s all wiped out, you put a container, I used a bread loaf pan, with water, and vinegar, in the oven at 120ºC for 15 minutes, leave it in there for another 10 minutes, then wipe down everything again.

This is how it looks inside now. I vow to all of you that I will never let it get so out of control again. Now that I know how easy it will be to clean if done more frequently, that’s exactly what I will do. Cripes, just getting the light panel clean was a win. That, and the front glass!

Yay! What an accomplishment. I’m going to go for a quick walk. See ya.

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

Post script: I was only able to walk about .29K and had to return home. The muscles around my hips are extremely angry. Another day.