365 Days of Trash
"Sustainable Dave" authors this blog, and apparently he eats, lives, breathes recycling and conservation. Great stuff - but it's a little creepy how diligent he is.... ;-)
I found this via my care2 email newsletter - fun to read (if you're a geeky tree-hugger like me) :-)
This comes from the Lunchbox Bunch Blog: Creamy Herbed Cauliflower Soup
It says it's "Organic" in the title, but that would be only if you used all organic ingredients. I like creamy soups very much, and this sounds delicious. I'll try it while the weather is on the chilly side still.
Here is an entry also from Lunchbox Bunch blog on tips and advice on Tofu
This is an outstanding reference article. Gives you the techniques and tricks to great results using Tofu.
I Lurve Red Bell Peppers, and I saved this recipe to my memories lately at a definite "must try"
Baked Peppers For A Summer Picnic (or Lunch)
I'm catching up on my Splendid Table Podcasts (they piled up since I was pre-occupied with weight loss and political casts). If you don't already know about this podcast (and you love food) - you might be glad you checked it out. You can listen at the website or you can download it to your iPod at iTunes. Sometimes it's hard to believe some of these Podcasts are free (sometimes.....not). :-) Anyway - - She interviewed the Lee Brothers regarding their, fairly, new book Simple, Fresh, Southern - and mentioned Radish Butter , Pickled Grapes, and Ginger Lemonade. You can get tons of recipes from the Splendid Table website - all are dishes that were discussed on the shows.
I would like to get Marcel to write out the recipes for some of his dishes. He makes a Chocolate Cheesecake that is so rich and delicious you feel like you've died and gone to heaven. He's got quite a few sauces in his repertoire that are out of this world too - - and don't get me started on his salad dressings..............
The good news is that I seem to have passed through that storm (with your encouragement and a small injection of cash from my loving husband) - and everything is a little more manageable now.
I sent my husband some recipes and articles I thought he'd enjoy from some of the food blogs I read. Here is part of his reply I got this morning regarding a vegan herbed creamy Cauliflower soup I sent him:
Thanks for the recipes. Did you know : in the classic french cuisine is a creme of cauliflower soup? The name is" Creme Dubarry". Madame Dubarry was a mistress of Ludwig XIV, the Sun King. She thought cauliflower would be an aphrodisiac. That is why the soup was served quite often. If it has worked in the expected way is nowhere mentioned.
This man was, truly, made for me..... :-)
Today I'm working a little overtime as well as Sunday (half day) and Monday (coming in early). I can use the extra $$$.
I'm starting some spinach seeds indoors - it's the last cool weather item. I start them inside because, for some reason, I can't get spinach to germinate outside - it's weird. In two weeks I will start warm season stuff (cukes, butternut and zucchini squash, okra, eggplant, etc.) These I start inside to get a jump on spring (it goes from frigid to blossom dropping hot fast here - so you have to cheat a little)
That's it for now.
Mostly because my throbbing headache has re-surfaced (temporarily beat back by meds given to me under the table to get me through work yesterday). My throat is also sore which means either whatever bug wanted to get in - might have made it. That or I'm just exhausted and my body is feeling it.
Then there is the random mix of annoying things that have all piled up to turn into one giant anxiety inducing issue for me.
1.) Cable bill went up over $4 without warning. This may not seem like much, but on my budget - it's a lot.
2.) I got another water bill - this one with yet another WRONG READING and showing a balance due for the amount they agreed that I DIDN'T OWE LAST MONTH - plus interest on that amount (I am coming to understand how customers go off the deep end and run their cars through company doors or worse). I am at wits end - I have made numerous calls and even begged this company to straighten this out. I don't even know who to go to at this point to get a result. I'm keeping track of the situation in a blog called WATER COMPANY WOES. I'm getting ready to blog the latest installment later today - and I'm going to make time to scan every document associated with this situation and post them as well. At least I'll be organized. I think I need to make copies of all the documents along with a letter giving the blow by blow to date - then mailing copies along with the blog web address to the water company brass, the better business bureau, my local rep
3.) The electric bill was $167 this statement. This is probably the largest electric bill I've ever gotten in my life. Needless to say I was sick over it. It was cold, and there were more people over the holidays - but I feel most of it is due to carelessness on the part of my daughter and her boyfriend. I told Sierra she would need to start paying the electric bill last month - but this one is so high I told her she could just pay half this one time. Her response was that she certainly didn't have THAT MUCH money. You can guess the responses to that which were swimming around in my head.
continuing on with the theme.....
3.) Got a phone bill with a $13.xx collect call accepted from Boston Mass. I'm pissed, and Sierra is sleeping - so I can't confront her with it. As far as I'm concerned she just lost the privilege to have guests over to the house. This kid is bleeding me dry - I'm really at my wits end here.
Right now I just feel like crying, and I'm sure most of it is because my head is throbbing and it's 5:30am & I've been up for almost 24 hours.
Vent over - - - I guess I feel a little better to get it all out - - - time to get some scanning done.
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Mindless Eating.
It was recommended in a weightloss podcast I listened to a couple of weeks ago.
Wow, while I won't go so far to say that I'm a changed person - I admit that I'm very much more aware now - and have some new tools to work with.
There'a a whole lot of info in this book, but
Here's what I hope I remember..................
Use smaller plates for food (no brainer and not a new idea)
Use taller and narrower glassware for beverages
Break down large packages into actual portion sizes (I can use the zipper snack bags for some)
Use established portions (not what I think is a portion)
Put away extra food prepped right away so there's less temptation to get seconds.
Package leftovers in portioned servings for future meals.
When snacking - don't pour a big bowl to eat from or eat out of the package. Portion out and know what calories you're eating and put that in the serving bowl.
Create Pause Points especially when snacking (ie - have a rule that you can only eat 10 m&m's an hour - or you can't put more than 1 cup of cereal in your plate and must get up to refill if you want more)
It's definitely worth a listen to if you are interested in losing weight or improving your eating habits.
* I don't care what the haters are saying - I think the iPad is very cool, and I wish I could afford one. Also, it makes perfect sense to call it an iPad - goes along with the "I" & "P" of the Pod and Phone. Did people go as nuts over Levono's ThinkPad? Geez.
* I lost another pound. Boy - it certainly isn't melting off - more like using a mini chisel on an iceberg.
* Time to get going on the spring/early summer garden. Need to get seeds planted indoors.
* I wish I had more time to share on my Livejournal.
The titles of the posts add to the hilarity. A couple of times I was laughing so hard I forgot to breath. This made my day much better (the laughing part....)
I wonder if any sociologists are studying this because to me it is bizarre and a little scary. I don't know what to make of it, but I'd really like to understand it.
I decided to brainstorm possibilities:
* Could it be racism - are people exploding with emotion because they are subconsciously racists and must come up with anything they can think of nasty to say about him (save the "N" word).
* Could these (I assume) conservative people have snapped because they feel so powerless given the liberals ha(d) a super majority and the ability to pass anything they want if they had a mind to (which, apparently they don't have a mind to)
* Could they be acting out so extremely because an administration is in power that believes almost the polar opposite of what they do?
I'd like to have a conversation with some of these people to find out what is motivating their ugliness, but I feel it would be impossible to get them to simmer down enough to allow themselves to really get to the heart of their anger - or be able to express themselves without the raw emotion getting in the way of communication.
or am I just over-reacting....... maybe I'm seeing hostility and hatred where there is none.
Thoughts?
* Working on the Restaurant Webpage using Microsoft live business pages online. Ugh - I suck at this, and the hosting service is very limited. At least I can get the content in - then beg for help when I have someone who can manipulate what is already there.
* Sunday I finally got the outdoor xmas decorations taken down - all Christmas stuff boxed and sealed and stored in the attic.
* I started my slim down journey Thursday. This morning I weighed in - lost 3 pounds. Yay, but I'm fully aware about the whole losing water first thing. I'm using the food pyramid to guide me, and I'm trying not to count calories. I'm also commited to burning 200 calories a day (which may go up because that's pretty easy to do). Discovered a Podcast called Yell At Your Fat. Funny stuff - and strangely motivating.
* The garden is struggling to revive itself after all the freezing weather we've had. Even the Collard Greens took a beating.
That's all for now :-)
The ticket agent at American could have charged Marcel $25 to check his bag since we purchased our flight from San Antonio to Dallas separate from the Germany flight.
She didn't.
Awesome.
At San Antonio Airport with Marcel. Hope it all goes smoothly today. Free airport wifi - :-)
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
- Location:US, Texas, Bexar, San Antonio
....especially our Lawyer-To-Be out there.... you know who you are.... :-)
Can sex offenders be held after serving criminal sentences?
I am more than all for keeping the streets safe (and anyone who sexually abuses a child should be burned at the stake), but this sure sounds un-constitutional to me.
Why not use a different approach -
1.) Sentence them immediately to life in prison.
2.) Just execute them to begin with if the crime is that heinous
3.) Begin their prison sentence with a "program" to help them.
I can't seem to get started. I am constantly eating - always hungry - making all the wrong food choices.
I need some direction, motivation, inspiration.......
I looked around at the diets and programs out there, and they are all too restrictive. I even went to the usda food pyramid site - and that's almost doable except it's uninspiring.
I'm thinking I might do something silly and put myself in the goofy hands of Richard Simmons and his Food Mover Program.
Must pull myself together and get a plan - and execute it soon, or I have no chance of meeting my year end goal.
I'm looking for another source for my online news. Currently I go to cnn.com, but I'm getting increasingly annoyed with what they have to offer - and how they are offering it. Anyone have any suggestions for online news content (please don't suggest Foxnews.com......) Also if there are any funny sites out there (like walmartpeople.com and failblog.com - sometimes I need a distraction from work.
I'm in Overtime mode until further notice. Except for Wednesdays (sacred time with husband) I'm going to volunteer for any and all overtime available. Why? Because 1.) I need to make up for the 20 hours of pay I lost during the holidays and 2.) In order for me to be able to move down with Marcel - we're going to either sell or rent out my house as soon as we fix it up enough to make this happen. I also want to pay off the loan my parents gave me for my daughter's car. I worked 7.5 hours OT this week. I'm working 8 hours on Sunday and 2.5 on Monday. I'm going to keep working it until I get caught up on things.
Marcel is leaving for Germany on the 13th (which is the 1 year anniversary of our first contact on Eharmony (I sent HIM an icebreaker that day - if I'd have left it up to him, we very well might not have connected) :-) Anyway, he's coming home on the 24th. He hasn't been back to Germany in 20 years; I'm so excited for him - and I've demanded many megabytes of pictures.
Happy Birthday
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
time_on_fire 
I wish I'd taken more pictures, and I managed (once again) to leave myself completely out of the pictures again (I'm sure Freud would have something to say about this practice).
Sierra's friend Roger came, and my good friend Tom ( texasts ) blessed us with his presence. Marcel's daughter Felicitas and her baby Kalob (not shown - how did I not take that doll-babies picture?).
We ate southwestern corn chowder, drop biscuits, Turkey, dressing, spicy sweet potato wedges, and braised greens - and for dessert.... Marcel made an authentic Black Forest cake. We drank Albarino - a Spanish white wine that was new to me, but everyone agreed it's a keeper.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!
I am sending this to virtually all my close friends and that includes conservatives, liberals, and everybody in between. Even though we disagree on a number of issues, I count all of you as friends. The proposal is to promote a "Congressional Reform Act of 2009." It would contain eight provisions, all of which would probably be strongly endorsed by those who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I know many of you will say, "this is impossible." Let me remind you, Congress has the lowest approval of any entity in Government, now is the time when Americans will join together to reform Congress - the entity that represents us.
We need to get a Senator to introduce this bill in the US Senate and a Representative to introduce a similar bill in the US House. These people will become American heroes.. Please add any ideas on how to get this done.
Thanks,
A Fellow American
***********************************
Congressional Reform Act of 2009
1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
2. No Tenure / No Pension:
A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund moves to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, Congress participates with the American people.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, server your term(s), then go home and back to work.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan just as all Americans..
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
7. Congress must equally abide in all laws they impose on the American people..
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
8. All contracts with past and present congressmen are void effective 1/1/10.
The American people did not make this contract with congressmen, congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.
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