Scattered Thoughts . . .

I 'm feeling well enough this weekend (not to be confused with feeling well...  I was just feeling well enough) to cook a larger than average meal today so we're having corned beef and cabbage today, St Patrick's Day. I put the corned beef in the oven about an hour ago and it will be in the oven almost all afternoon.  The house is already smelling delicious! Most recipes call for simmering corned beef on the stove but I'm not much a fan of boiled meats.  Back awhile ago, I tried a Dutch oven...  that was better than boiling but it still was lacking.  Besides, neither one of us likes cleaning the Dutch oven either! Then I decided to slow cook the corned beef in the oven, covered, with spices and fresh onions and garlic.  I add a bit of liquid to this too (beef stock, watered down to cut the salt a bit) and then seal it up in foil.  It slow cooks for at least an hour per pound. This is the same way I slow cook pork so I don't know why I didn't always coo...

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've been doing the Thanksgiving thing at home with no guests.  We did the same this year but when I think back to my decades of Thanksgivings, I can honestly say that this is a highly unusual way for me, and even for Sheila and I  since she has come into my life , to celebrate Thanksgiving.  This Thanksgiving, however, we continued the pandemic tradition of celebrating alone. Throughout my entire adult life, I've always been the one to arrange a Thanksgiving dinner with everyone who had no other place to go.  I've arranged and hosted some rather quiet dinners for four to eight people and I've arranged and hosted many more festive Thanksgiving dinners for upwards of dozens of people.  On a rare occasion, I go to someone else's home but that really is rare.   Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday for various reasons...  reasons I don't care to get into here or now...  and I think I cover up those horre...

S heila and I decided today would be a good day for a half pot of chili today.  I started early this morning by slow cooking the pork.  I got that done by lunchtime.  It was so tender and juicy that it took all my willpower not to eat everything as I pulled it apart!  Mid-afternoon, I got started on chopping all the peppers and onions.  Whenever I make chili, I add an assortment of peppers for some depth.  Today, we have three different types of peppers.   I started by sauteing about five cloves of garlic, the onion, and the peppers.  After a few minutes, I added some dark red kidney beans and black beans.  Once everything started warming up, I added a can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes followed by some beef stock with a bit of corn starch and cream.   After mixing it all together very well, I added the pulled pork from this morning.  I often just opt for ground beef because it is easier but I definitely prefer pulle...

Just like everyone else in the country right now, we are having difficulty stocking our pantry and keeping it stocked.  This, of course, is what people would refer to as a "first world problem" and they would be correct.  This is just one reason (of many) why I say that the United States is no longer a first world country.  Supermarket supply chains have broken down.  Many critically necessary supply chains have broken down.   Sheila and I realized in recent weeks that getting simple things like meat is difficult so we need to place orders of only meat that range from $200 to $300...  and that is just for two of us!  I don't know how families with children in the household are managing.   When it comes to purchasing meat, we can't seem to get much from Shaw's using InstaCart (I should point out that there is nothing 'instant' about InstaCart either...  it requires up to five days to get an order).  Schwann's has a two week ...

Sheila and I both have some issues with cholesterol plus additional dietary restrictions due to our own health problems so we've been fairly careful about what we eat in recent months.  Well, that is not entirely true.  We both have had dietary restrictions for years but now we have both added the high cholesterol dietary restrictions and limitations.   On the positive side, neither one of us has an appetite like when we were younger so cutting some stuff out of our diet has not been much of a problem.  We often can split a single dinner.  Eating less is not a problem for either one of us.   I've had significant dietary restrictions for about 15 years and, as a side effect of that and my health problems, I've been eating far less.  Adding in some cholesterol restrictions or limitations really isn't much of a change, to be honest.   Tonight, however, was something unusual for us...  a dinner without any meat whatsoever!...

Whenever we are traveling, obviously, we eat out a lot.  That being said, we always try to eat our meals in various restaurants serving different food from different cultures.  This year was no exception.  On this particular night, below, we were all (16 of us) eating at The Munich Haus German restaurant.  This is always a fun meal, albeit a bit noisy...  after all, it is a rather small German Festhaus... This may look like a rather weird salad but, I have to say that this meat-eater really likes this salad! We tried to sell Lukey on the Kangaroo Skewers or Alligator Poppers or Frogs Legs... we were greeted with one of these looks.  He was so picky on this particular night that our resident pickle lover (Lukey) wouldn't even touch a platter of fried pickles...   We had a table of 16 this year... Kenzie tried something new to her...  Kase Spatzle...  and she liked it! Our Saturday morning breakfast at Crac...

As always, when it comes to a good corned beef and cabbage meal, we both ate far too much last night! Last night's corned beef and cabbage was tasty! The previous time I made this meal, I attempted to cook it in more of a traditional way... everything in the same pot but each thing added at the appropriate time.  Uggg...  that was nasty. Everything took on the taste of the corned beef yet it all tasted bland because everything tasted the same. Last night I went back to my usual way of cooking this meal... meat in a dutch oven and slow cooked at 275 degrees in the oven. I cut up an onion, added spices, and added a weak beef broth to the pot... covered it... put it in the oven.   The remaining items are cooked separately. The potatoes are boiled but then I do a quick fry in a pan at the end with onion powder, salt, pepper and some paprika. The carrots are separate also... boiled until soft... then drain the water and add some butter and a little bit of brown s...

My health has been deteriorating consistently since my last doctor visit a month ago. My new specialist (for a little more than a year now) decided to attempt to simplify my myriad of medications. Some medications were eliminated while others were increased. He sort of consolidated similar medications while eliminating one or two he felt might be unnecessary and added one medication that he felt might help.  These changes did slightly simplify my four daily doses of medications but, unfortunately, my health has been in serious decline since my last visit a month ago. I was getting more and more groggy, exhausted and weakened with each passing day. I was spending more and more time in the bathroom sick (no more needs to be said about that here). I was dizzy and I wasn't thinking clearly. Oddly, even though I was overwhelmingly groggy, I was feeling exceptionally restless. I was groggy, exhausted and restless all at the same time. I slept... a lot... and still couldn't get ne...

Although the lake house is fairly close to our home (only an hour away), it is still a bit isolated. Being isolated means that we must travel over to New Hampshire to do our food shopping. This is only a half hour away but it is still quite different than our usual five minutes to the market from our home in Waterbury so , whenever we are at the lake house, we plan a trip to Woodsville, NH before and after every weekend so we can refill our pantry and refrigerator.  Woodsville is a nice little town so we actually enjoy making this food run twice a week. Plus, the prices in Woodsville are only 50-60% of the prices in Waterbury where we usually shop and the quality of the produce is far better in Woodsville! So we actually enjoy this little excursion from the lake house. Here is a short two minute video of the kids in the back seat of the car on the way to Woodsville... it is abundantly clear that they really do enjoy this trip to Woodsville... no fighting (okay... there is ...

Before a patient can be discharged from Post-Op Recovery, the patient must be able to effectively void their bladder on their own. Of course, they should also be able to get themselves to the bathroom without falling over to the floor and their vitals should be in a safe, healthy range. If everything checks out okay, then the patient can be discharged and sent home to continue recovery. One of the problems Sheila has had consistently in her previous two surgeries was bladder paralysis due to general anesthesia. Her team of doctors worked together to come up with a solution so Sheila would not again experience this excruciating problem again this time around. Both Sheila and I are very happy to report that her team of doctors succeeded in solving this problem this time around! When Sheila was able to effectively void her bladder on her own by mid-afternoon, we began our journey of checking out of Recovery and the hospital. Here, Whitney is wheeling Sheila out of Post-Op Recovery... ...

I haven't been eating much lately because of a stomach bug and typical Systemic Mastocytosis complications due to any added cold, flu or bug. I really haven't felt like eating and quite often I find myself holding back puke. Fun.  Anyway... I did shoot some food photos recently and I thought I would share them here while I have some time. Sloppy Joes served over mashed potatoes. We had Sloppy Joes a few days ago. To be honest, I'm really not a fan of Sloppy Joes (mostly because good rolls are hard to find around these parts) but we do make them occasionally just for an easy change of pace.  After having this for dinner the other night, we had leftovers as usual... I pulled out the leftovers the following day at lunchtime... I took one look at the Sloppy Joes and I just could not stomach another one of those things! I decided to find some other use for these leftoevers. The garbage can came to mind but there wasn't much else to eat in the house at this time! ...

Every Christmas season, we meet with a few friends for an afternoon and a Christmas dinner at The Whip Bar & Grill. This is something Frank started doing a number of years ago and it has become a tradition that we all look forward to every Christmas. Our annual Christmas dinner at The Whip was yesterday and we had a great time! We arrive at the bar around lunchtime each year... have some lunch... some drinks... some appetizers... some drinks... then we move to a large table for dinner. Last night's dinner was delicious, as always.  I have more photos that I'll share sometime later but, for now, I'll share a photo here of Sheila and me at The Whip's bar... a photo of me is a rarity since I am usually the one holding the camera but Christine helped out by shooting a few photos of us at different times throughout the day.  Thanks for the photos, Christine... and thanks, Frank, for hosting this dinner every year!   Merry Christmas to all!

I struggle with a wide variety of symptoms as a result of my illness, Systemic Mastocytosis... anaphylaxis and losing consciousness for no known reason... breathing problems... flushing... tachycardia... gastro-intestinal problems... nausea... abdominal pain/cramping... vomiting... dizziness... overwhelming fatigue... pain in areas where mast cells are degranulating... neurological issues (tingling, buzzing, tremors, twitching, numbness, weakness) due to mast cells degranulating near nerves and/or the brain... vision issues... cognitive difficulties... rashes (oftentimes so painful they feel like a bundle of nerves are exposed on my skin)... etc. I can't handle environments warmer than around 74 degrees for longer than 15-20 minutes without experiencing anaphylaxis (cooling techniques help for short periods of time in moderately hot environments). If I eat foods which are naturally high in histamine, I experience terrible gastro-intestinal issues and possibly anaphylaxis within m...