Another Trip Around The Sun

The title of this blog is a phrase coined by our dear friend Janet Cohen and an excellent one to describe at a year that has gone by. Thank you Janet. We miss you and we love you.

I think I'm going to break what would have been one blog into two segments. Today's piece will be about this year, and the blog tomorrow will focus on the future trip around the sun i.e., 2014.

So, today I'm going to reflect on this year. Note: there is no special order to these.

HIGH POINTS:
I turned 60 and had a great party w/my wonderful friend Erwin
I lost 45 pounds and changed my life, including the way a deal with food
I did the Dipsey
Completed two great classes at Laney College..learned a lot
Visited my friend Joey, Shelly, Julie, and baby Joey
Got some cooking videos up
1st trip to Escelan  for the Readers Write workshop...Sun Magazine
Haven't had a drink in 4 months
Got rid of the television reception, and I don't miss it
Geri bought me a bike for my birthday and I rediscovered cycling
Went to Hawaii, Maui, wowi, going back in 3 weeks, wowi again
Feast of the 7 Fishes w/Vicky and Cassius
Greek Easter and visits w/Charles and Kathleen
Britney, Paul and baby Ella visits
Blogging...I think I'm a better writer than a year ago
Christmas holiday ride in Alameda
Visit from Ocean and meeting new people
Almost finished the second draft of my screen play...I'm close
Vicky beating skin cancer
My family is all healthy and alive

LOWS POINTS:
Loosing my best friend Che
Michael trying to kill himself
My friend Mary Harlis passed away
My bike accident
Vicky's bike accident and fracturing her arm
Vicky getting skin cancer

It looks like we're ahead of the game. There were many goals that I had set for myself that didn't never got accomplished; like getting a solar unit on our Airstream trailer, and relocating it back to our property in the high dessert, or painting the teardrop trailer.

For me losing Che was lowest low. You can't replace a loved one. Losing 45 pounds was the highest high.

There are many things in the hopper for 2014.  Only time will tell.

Lobster tonight.

That's it for 2013.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

New Year's Meal, Bullets, Michael

There's a fish market in Chinatown, Oakland, that I go to every year for my crab or lobster. They have live Alaskan lobsters for $8.99 a pound. They look great. I'm going to buy one tomorrow. I'm looking for a 2 pound er. They have some nice local Dungeness crabs for $3.99 a pound, but I'm going with the lobster. You only live once.

Geri won't eat any, so I get the whole crustacean to myself. I got some salmon from the Farmer's market Sunday at Jack London Sq. for her.

We'll have black eyed peas cooked with onions in chicken broth, brown rice, salad, and a veggie. We've got a beautiful bottle of Champagne from my buddy Jack as a birthday gift and our neighbors Marilyn and Gisella are having folks over. It's close and it's safe.

 The lead will be flying in Oaktown tomorrow night. I got a couple of  cracks on my windshield of my truck that look to be from small caliber weapons, possibly a .22. I've been keeping it out on the street more because I ride my bike everyday now. It's easier to get the bike out of the driveway. The shit is just flying around in the air.

I'm happy to say our friend Michael is doing much better. I went over to see him today, and he is being moved to a nursing home tomorrow. We had a good talk today. His speech is actually better than it was before. That's good progress on the horizon.

Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll reflect a little about 2013, and write about my goals for the coming new year. All very scintillating stuff. Till then.

That's it for today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Two Down, One To Go + Sugar Fest

One more holiday to go in the grand season of holidays, and it's back to normal, or what passes as normal for us.

Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's eve, New Year's eve is the most obnoxious, and potentially the most dangerous in Oakland. I don't understand what all the celebration is about? Is everyone celebrating because they buy a new calendar?

If you're out reveling in Oakland you'd better be careful. Bullets are flying everywhere. The M 80's and the cherry bombs have started going off already.

The food of choice for the New Year celebration, if we have to call it that,  is crab legs and black eyed peas. This food is reported to usher in good luck by my dearly departed brother-in-law Micky. Geri and I could have used some luck in 2013.

This Christmas was a sugar fest for me. I made the peanut butter truffles. One of my clients gave me a a pound of See's candy and there was a ton of desserts at the 7 Fishes celebration this year, which I sampled.

Next up comes the evaluation of last year's resolutions, and the new resolutions to replace the old ones. Till then it's leftovers.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food, Not War

Cooking With the Spouse + Weekend Update + Last Game At The Stick + Merry Christmas

Geri and I put together that recipe I posted last week for chocolate peanut butter truffles. Very easy recipe to replicate,  and they are extravagant in the calorie department. 6 of those, and a couple of gallons of water and you could climb a mountain.

Constructing something with a spouse can be very frustrating for both the players involved. Lord hear my prayer, "Give us strength."

I also made a mac and cheese using Swiss Emathlor, Dutch smoked Gouda, Parmesano, and sharp Irish cheddar cheese. The recipe for this dish is somewhere in the blog archives? It's called tits mac and cheese, I think?

The Honey Baked is ready. The mac and cheese is, well, tits. We got the truffles, and Breyer's ice cream for dessert, Rocky Road. I'll make a salad dressing and we have Brussels sprouts for a veggie.

Tonight is the last game at the stick between the 49ers ad the Saints. Hand jobs, howling at the moon, and riots to name just a few. Too many stories about the Stick. Now that I think of it I should write a couple of those down. Go team. If you still have the memories you can still go back there.

Best of all it's just me, Geri, our friend Guy, 5 or 6 dogs, and three
cats.

Write at you Thursday.

Merry Christmas to you.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Bacon Review + The Weekend + Slicer Pizza + Honey Baked Ham

It's cold in Oakland and I can't seem to get warm. My hands are cold all the time, even when I'm wearing gloves. Old man syndrome.

Last Sunday at the Jack London Square's weekly Farmer's market I picked up a pound of bacon from a company named Boucherie Meats.  I told the man who was selling it, Peter Jackson,  that I would try it, write a review, and send that review to him. So, here it is.

I opened the packaged bacon to find one solid piece of fatback bacon. At least I think it's fatback and not pork loin. I say that because pork loin is leaner, fatback, is of course fattier. I like the fact that it was one solid piece so I could cut to my own thickness but I think a lot of customers might not like it that way.

Many people are not comfortable using a ten inch French knife. Fatback is not that easy to cut through, think of a slightly softer shoe leather, and for 10 bucks a pound people might think, "Shit, I can get Hobbs apple wood smoked bacon for 8 dollars a pound, cut, and with more meat on it.

There's was a lot of fat on this peace of meat, but the flavor from the hard wood smoke, and the taste from the crackling, the pig skin, was excellent. I'll give them that much. If it was learner I'd buy it again.

Now, of course I'll use all that fat. I saved all of it that I could. Next time I make French fries or a potato gratin I'll use that fat, along with other pork fat I've saved, but when I buy bacon I want more meat. It's just that simple. This was not lean enough for me.

Would I buy it again? Not the bacon. Next time I see him I will try his sausages, and do a review on those. They make an andouille sausage that I'd like to try. They can be found at; www.boucheriemeats.com 510 495-6584

I will give them a one joint review. It's better than no joints.

This weekend is like the rest. More cycling, date at the movies with the bride , life.

I went back to Slicer on Piedmont Ave. and they now have oregano, and possibly the most fragrant oregano I've ever smelled. Collin showed it to me, and you could smell it coming out of the shaker. So, take that dink off my check list.

Greek oregano has always been the most pungent to me. Maybe I have to change my thinking, or my source for oregano. I'll get the name of the oregano source next time I'm there.  In the package he showed me the oregano was dried, but still on the stems. I was at Slicer because -

I was over at Honey Baked Ham getting my ham for X MAS and the place was slammed. I'll make the mac and cheese, dessert, salad and the dressing next Wednesday. I can bake a smoked ham that will have you coming back for more every time, but it's a lot of work. HBH got it down. Buy it or make it? This year I decided I'd buy it. I just hope I don't eat it all before Wed. Falling off the bone. I love the swine, and it loves me.

Back to Slicer...The slices still need to be bigger. That's the only thing that standing in the way of a coveted three joint restaurant review from the Old Hippie Chef, speaking in the 3rd person.

As usual, I bought two slices. Bottom line. Slicer pie ROCKS! Bravo. My new favorite place to get a slice of pie this side of Oakland. Two and a half joints.

Have a peaceful weekend.

That's it.

Life is what happen in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Saul's Restaurant and Deli

You won't find a better NY style Jewish deli in the East Bay. I make a pilgrimage for my kosher pastrami sandwich at least once a year, and today is that day.

Geri and I rode over there on our bikes and back again, plus all around Berkeley, a good 25 mile run.

I did get a pastrami on rye, side salad and a bowl of fries, They make their fries shoe string style, just the way I like them.

You got to go if you haven't been. It's in the gourmet ghetto, same side of the street as Chez Panisse, and across from the Cheese Board.
Get there before the lunch rush or after. It gets slammed and don't forget the deli.

Saul's Restaurant and Deli
1475 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley CA 94709
510 848-deli

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Tuesday Dec. 17th...Peanut Butter Truffles

Here is the peanut butter truffle recipe that I raved about in my most recent blog post yesterday. Hope you like it.

Note; It is decedent and a little costly, but people will love you for it.

This recipe is brought to us from Kristen Todeschini and her blog is; when-i-went.blogspot.com I modified her recipe just a little bit.

Thank you Kristen.

I'm going to make these for Christmas eve dinner at our friend Deborah Roberto's home where we celebrate the Sicilian Feast of the 7 Fishes.

That's it for today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Peanut Butter Truffles (makes 36 to 48)

Ingredients;

1 pt. crunchy peanut butter
1 stick or 1/4 pd. unsalted butter
3 C Rice Krispies or pulverized rice cakes

2 packages chocolate chips
3 C powdered sugar

Directions;
1) Melt the butter and in a large mixing bowl add it to the peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated.
2) Add the powdered sugar and Rice Krispies mix well until all is incorporated.
3) In a double boiler melt the chocolate
4) Roll the PB mixture into one inch balls and dip into the chocolate one at a time. Remove them with a fork and place on a sheet pan lined with wax paper.
5) Place in the freezer for 15 so the chocolate can set up.

Back Again + Weekend Update + Thinking about 2013

I am back again after a week of no blogging. Our dear friend Michael Evans is recovering in the intensive care unit, and it looks like he's going to make it. He isn't out of the woods yet. Today he gets his gallbladder removed. When it rains for Michael it's a flash flood. This must be his 64 year tune-up.

Life does go on, no matter what happens. My good friend Erwin always says to me in his lovely Austrian voice, "I have a felling Marcel, that the world will go on just fine without me." and indeed it will. It won't miss a beat. It just keep on spinning.

This weekend Geri and I bicycled up to visit Michael in the hospital and into Berkeley. We got lunch at a street fair, bought a few trinkets, and then rode back home again.

Our dear friend Barbara and her husband Arthur made us a wonderful vegan noodle meal with 4 different kinds of sauteed mushrooms,  and a great salad.

Last night we rode over to Alameda with the East Bay Bike Coalition for the annual Christmas bike ride through Alameda. We started at the Fruitvale Bart station in Oakland. It was the highlight of the weekend. There were about 80 cyclists with 2 boom boxes playing Christmas carols.

The ride culminated at Christmas Tree Lane, which you can see on YouTube. There was a woman by the name of Kristin Todeschini who made the best chocolate peanut butter truffles I've ever had. I'm hoping she'll send me the recipe so I can share it with my little world.

The year is almost over, which will cause many of us, myself included, to reflect how the events of the year have it's impacted  our lives. For myself and my wife this was a roller coaster year. Big highs, big lows. If my ciphering is correct I think we're on the high side. At least I am at the moment I write this dumb blog. Thank god for Alice. Bottom line is you've got to tough out the hard times, and hope for the best.

We have a peewee Christmas tree on the mantle amongst a single string of colored lights. We've got two holiday door mats out. I've sent out two cards thus far, and I don't think I'll send out any more.

If someone asks me why I keep on keeping on my answer is invariably the same each time. There has to be another good meal left in this life, and that's worth living for.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Weekend Update

The best laid plans of mice and men. It was very cold this weekend. I didn't get much riding in. Fifteen years ago we had a cold snap that lasted almost 2 weeks that dipped into the 20's. The cold is one thing, but the wind chill fact is worse.

Food was our DOC, drug of choice, this weekend. It gave us comfort. We went into the City, and got a parking place in North Beach. We took Brit and Paul to Original Joe's and showed them all the our old bohemian hangouts. Finished the night with some cannoli. 3 cannoli without a generous tip cost 13.50. We kept running into people we knew.

Sunday our friend Guy brought over a delicious pan of sausage lasagna. It was food, food, and more food.

My friend continues to languish in the hospital.  He is not doing and, does not want to live. It's very sad. Life is sad, and beautiful. I have a lot of guilt, being Catholic. I've tried to be a good friend to him. Harsh words of the past can haunt us.

When he came to live with us I told him I would be here for him till the end, and I will honor that commitment.

It's too much for me to write about just now. This is the best I can do at this moment. We must go on. This has been a hell of a fucking year.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

A Tough Week

When Im feeling down I make food. Food does have the ability to comfort us, It's something that is familiar, something we love. Food is a central point of our lives. It's there when we celebrate, and when we mourn, at weddings, christenings, and funerals.

I'm making a huge pot of red sauce. We're out of the last batch I made.  Michael's daughter Britney, and son-in-law Paul, are coming in from Connecticut to help with Michael. I was there the day Britney was born. If I could have a daughter I'd want her to be just like her. Paul, her husband,  is a wonderfully kind, strong, loving man.

We visited Michael in the hospital last evening, and I had one of the saddest moments of my life seeing him there in the state he is in. The staff at Alta Bates are incredibly kind and informative. He's getting the best care anyone could get, and surprisingly his prognosis is good. He did not have another stroke. There is cause for hope.

So, I'm done blogging for this week. I'll eat, and work out like a mad man this weekend.

We might get snow in Oakland tonight. My hands have been cold for two days, old age.

That's it.

Life is what in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Blogging

I have returned to this stupid insipid form of journaling even though my heart is not in it. Our friend Michael is in the  intensive care unit at a local hospital on life support.

He tried to kill himself, and he failed. We don't know the extend of his condition. He is on life support systems.

I would love to write about the glories of the culinary world, succulent  roasts,  tantalizing desserts, but frankly I don't give a fuck right now.

Hang in there with me. I'll bounce back because what other choice do I have?

There people who wake up in the morning and say to themselves things are going to be bright and shiny today. These are the luck people in my estimation.  I wake up expecting the worst, and I hope for the best. In between the struggle you can find joy.

I was thinking yesterday that if there was a god and he punished all of mankind, which he supposedly made in his image and likeness, because man ate an apple when he was told not to, then he is not a forgiving god. But, all I have to do is to go to confession, and admit my sins andI'm forgiven.

Help me here someone. Because I'm confused. Why couldn't god forgive us in the first place?
Seems to me the set up the human race to fail right from the giddy -up.  If god is all knowing, all seeing, and all caring, and so fucking smart how come he/she/it didn't know we'd fuck up in the first place.  If you ask me god is not a forgiving god, he/she/it's a mean god, and apparently not an extremely bright god either.

This is why I did so poorly in Catholic school. No one could ever give me the answers to these big questions. 1) where do we come from  2) where do we go from this world when we die 3) what's it all about?  If you tell me you have to answer to these questions, then prove it to me. Then I'll follow you, and not until then.

If someone tells you they are the link in the chain to the divine, run from them as fast as your feet will carry you.

I've been told that the doors to everlasting life are open to us all if we heed the teachings of the lord, and praise his name. Here again, I got to admit, I'm confused.

All these things we have been told about god, they've all been spun by humans and what do we know? The bible was written 300 years AD of Jesus.

There's a reason newborn babies cry. It's because none of us want to leave the safety of our mother's womb for this world and why would we.

I'm still waiting for the aliens to come and take me away. You looking for people to abduct, here I am. Just don't probe me, you know where, please. How come everyone who's been abducted by aliens has been rectally examined?

I love you Michael. Please get well.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Michael Has Been Found

Our friend is safe and hopefully he will be getting some comprehensive medical and psychological help.

I'll be blogging again soon.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Michael Missing

Our friend and roommate Michael Evans left our home Sunday around 11:00. He went to his usual coffee shop in the Dimond district, and we have not seen him since.

If anyone has any knowledge of his wear abouts please contact the
information given below. Michael is physically disabled.

Till this matter is resolved there will be no more blogs.

We pray for his safety.

Peace,

Marcel & Geri
                                                MISSING
Michael David Evans; please report any information to the Youth Service Division Oakland report # 13-0G1433 phone 510 238-3641

Weekend Update + Turkey Pot Pie

Geri and I went over to Walnut Creek, a very strange land full of strange white people, with bizarre habits.

I went over there to check out Rivendell Bicycles. I was thinking about getting a touring bike. They told me they would be open, and when I got there no one was there so we hit the Iron Horse Trail for about an hour, and then came back to Oakland. Oakland is equally as strange, but at least we have some color over here.

I did wind up buying another bike, but I won't be getting it for another 4 months. It's on order.

Sunday Geri made pie crust, and we filled it with leftovers from Thursday's turkey fest. If I get time this week I will post Geri's pie crust recipe, complete with photos, but you can find that recipe in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. If you follow that recipe you can't go wrong.

If you are a person who collects cookbooks the Joy of Cooking should be one of the first books you buy.

That's all I got today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

One Down, One To Go

I give thanks that the holiday is over with, and there's only one more to go. I did well on portion control except for the desserts, and there in lies the problem with holiday meals for me. It's the pies, the cakes, the ice cream, the cookies.

So, now I take the carcass from the turkey breast, boil that down with some bay leaf. Then I strip it of any usable turkey, and use the  liquid from that for making more gravy, which will be used to fill the turkey pot pie that we'll make tomorrow.

 Christmas is the holiday that I dread more than holiday of the year. I literally hate it. It has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and anything he may or may not have taught use some thousands of years ago. It's all about consumerism, buy, sell, buy, sell.

If the box stores are waiting for me to up their quarterly earnings they're waiting on the wrong person. If I buy anything for anybody it will be from a locally owned and operated store.

Tonight we go to our friends Alex and Suzanne's for baked zitti. This is now a tradition in it's third year, and the food is spectacular.

After this weekend I need to watch my diet, which more or less, summarizes my week. I ate a ton of food, with sugar right up there at the top, but I worked out like a mad man, with more cycling to come Saturday and Sunday.

Have a great weekend.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Cuts & Burns + Turkey Etc.

I cut myself twice, on my left index finger, and my right  middle finger. Typing is different like this.
I slashed the middle finger on cat food container, and the left index cutting a piece of aloe vera for her two burns with my pocket knife.  All rookie moves.

Geri torched herself on a pie rack she used to make an apple pie. She used dry towels, but made the one mistake of not putting the actual towel on the rack, using her finger and her thumb muscle instead. Ouch.

Last year, this time, I did a blog about how felt about brining. I wrote that it was stupid, and this year I'm brining a turkey breat. Geri's request has been a turkey breast. I got a 7 1/3 pound double breast, skin on, bone in. The problem is there's no fat there for flavor, so I will be breaking my rule.

I'll defend my blog of last year by repeating what I said at that time.  Commercial grade turkey and chickens get two baths and are fast frozen before they ever make it to the market. Then we bring them home,  take the gizzards out, wash it again, pat dry it, season it, stuff it, and baste it every 20 minutes in it's own juices.

Next year maybe I'll just season it, and cook it in the friggin' dishwasher.

I'm going to give this turkey breast a dry rum of turmeric, herbs if Provence, more sage, salt, pepper, clove, garlic, onion powder, celery salt. I'll baste it with fresh chicken stock, add veggies the last hour, and finish it off with a honey, brown sugar, ginger glaze at the end.

I'll pull her out of the oven at 145 degrees, and let it rest for 40 minutes before I cut into it.

I made a double load of stuffing, and will make mashers with whole milk and goat's cheese, and sweet potatoes too.

Geri made a great apple pie, with photos to come later. We have pumpkin, vanilla and mocha almond fudge ice cream. Our friend Guy is bringing cup cakes and pumpkin pie. Geri makes the best flakey pie crust in the world. I married my mother. It's very Freudian.

I'll be cycling this meal off all weekend.

There's alway a lot to bitch about, but there's a lot to be thankful for.

That's it.

Life is what happen in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Pizza Parlor Review...Slicer + Merle and Callie

I've been meaning to get to this place for the longest time now, and today I managed it. I was riding back from Berkeley, and the route I bicycle takes me right to this pizza joint.

If you like a large selection of pizzas, and you only want to buy one or two slices this is a good choice. I was not disappointed in the pie. This is a stripped down operation, similar to a pizza joint you'd find back east, with a bay area flair of course. It didn't look like there were any Italians in there. They just sell pizza, by the slice, and beverages.

I got two pieces of pizza. Why would I only get one? This is what I'm living for. Some people eat to live, I live to eat. And the I on the keypad is right next to the O.  If you hit the O it would read I love to eat. Either way, both are true for me. I got a plain cheese and a sausage slice.

It was good New York style pie, even if Guido wasn't serving it up. When you pick it up, and fold it  the front end flaps over, and few drips of olive oil drips off onto the paper plate. The crust was thin, and the toppings sparse. Close to perfect if you ask me. The slices could have been bigger.

I only have four gripes about Slicer. They had no dried oregano, no tooth picks, the slices could have been bigger, and the price.

Regarding the price of pizza, let me breakdown the profit margin on pizza. This doesn't include labor costs, rent, insurance, taxes, advertising, la de da,.

It costs $3.00 for a slice of pizza.  That's $24.00 if you cut the pie into 8 pieces. That would be at least a $21.00 profit margin per pie. This is why people go into the pizza making business.

If you can sell 100 pizzas a day that's $2,100.00 a day, or $630,000.00 a year, operating 300 days a year. Back east people take two days a week off. Franchise that, and you're pulling down some serious cash.

Regarding the size of the slices this is my take on it. There's a pizza joint, in Santee CA, just outside San Diego, called Giant NY pizza, and that's the size they made in CT and NY when I grew up. They're at least twenty inch pizzas. You had extra large, large, medium and small. The extra large pies you used for slices.

This is an old hippie thing I have to drop on you. One summer in New York there was the pizza wars. There was a pizza joint where you could get a slice of good Neapolitan pizza, an extra large piece, for 9¢. A coke, in the bottle, 5¢ from the machine. A Mac Donald's hamburger was 11¢.

I'll leave it at that.

I give slicer two joints, out of three, for their pie.

Will I go back there? Yes.

My advice,. Get some tooth picks and dried oregano, Greek oregano, for Christ sake. A pizza parlor without oregano? A black, gay, republican? Make bigger pies and bigger slices.

With the inclusion of Slicer, this makes 6 place on Piedmont Ave. you can get  pizza. I got an idea. Let's have a pizza war.

Slicer is located at 4395 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland, on the north side, at the east end of the avenue, just before the light. I'm sure there's all the, like us on face book, twitter, BS associated with a business these days. That's cool, but it won't get you an actual slice of pizza in your mouth. I'm going to ride my bike over and work it off on the way home, next time I go back. Gotta watch the pizza. Pizza = pounds.

Our cat Merle can still get it up, and he and his sister Callie are mating again, for 15 years now. Callie seems to like it so why stop them? Good thing their both fixed.  Incest, a game the whole family can play.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Biketopia & Pizza & Weekend Update

We had a small gathering of cyclists Friday night. Our new friend Ocean stayed over with us this weekend. He's now in Portland and working his way back to his home, business, and life in Corvallis, Oregon.

Ocean brought with him other cyclists; Caroline, Johnathan, Lu Lu, and Francisco. Also, a new friend that we met at the Sun writers retreat in Big Sur a couple of weeks ago, Tim McKee, and his son Rio.  I wish I could transfer the energy that boy had in his body to mine.

Tim was the editor of the Sun magazine for eight years, and is now living back in Oakland, right around the corner from me and Geri, small world.

Caroline and Lu Lu are writers, and just produced their latest zine titled; Always Look a Dog in the Eye, which  was about their cycling journey from Brandon to Brookings and coming from a dog trainer good advice.

After a bunch of wood fired pizza, and salad on the patio we retired to the living room and Ocean led us in a writers read.

Lot's of fun. Thank you all for sharing your stories of the road and life. Geri read poetry from her late grandmother Elsie, and Tim read from his blog.

I did a lot of riding this weekend, and today for that matter. Love the road. I may have lost a couple of pounds. I'm going to wait till the first of the month to weigh myself.

Our friend Ocean did a great blog about our weekend. To read it, and see some cool pictures check out; http://vintagebicycleodessey.com/2013/11/22/bicycle-writer/

I think I got that right.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

The WInd + Pizza Night

The wind came to the bay area in a big way yesterday and today. I just recently took the dogs up in the hills and the gusts were at least 50 miles an hour.

Down yonder in the lower bottoms we have a lot of wind breaks, so it's relatively calm.

It's pizza time tonight.  Our friend Ocean was with us last night and is here to dinner tonight. He owns a pizza parlor in Corvallis Oregon called Fire Works. So, we're putting on the dog tonight.

I got a nice ride in cycling today and the headwind was manageable. The rest of the day was spent doing miss en place.

That's all I got today. Have a peaceful  weekend.

Life happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Busy, Busy

Today was a very busy day, which means I don't have time to blog. We have a party of writers coming over tomorrow night, so I had to get the place cleaned up and in shape for them.

The wind is howling tonight like crazy. I had originally planned to make wood fired pizza tomorrow evening, but if the wind continues it might not be a good idea. Hot coals blowing in my beard doesn't seem like fun.

So, that's my dumb blog for today. If you missed yesterday's blog it's not a bad idea to check out the bread recipe. If you have the patience to make it, it's well worth the trouble.

That's it.

Life is what happens in  between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Rain and Black Russian Rye

Winter came in to the Bay Area today with cold temps and some sorely need rain. I missed riding my bike today, but I could use the rest. Maybe I'll hit the stationary bike before the day is over.

So much for the chit chat. Here's the recipe I've been threatening to post. It's a real pain the ass to make, but if you can pull this off you can call yourself a baker.

If you're of Eastern European descent this is a must have.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace

Make Food/Not War


Black Russian Rye Bread (makes two big loafs)

Ingredients;
3 tbs bread yeast
3 3/4 cups warm water
3 oz. white vinegar
3/4 cup molases
7 tbs cocca powder
3 ounces or 3/4 a stick of unsalted butter
1.5 tbs salt
3 tbs instant coffee
3 tbs dehydrated onion
6 tbs crushed caraway seeds
3/4 tsp crushed fennel seeds
8 cups of rye flour
6 to 7 cups of whole wheat flour
cornmeal
3/4 cup cold water
1.5 tsp cornstarch

Instructions;
Combine the warm water, yeast, coffee, dehydrated onion, caraway & fennel seeds, and 2 cups of fresh whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl, Allow to sponge for 15 minutes. In a small saucepan combine the vinegar, molasses, cocoa powder, salt, and butter. Heat to lukewarm. Add the warmed mixture into yeast mixture. Add the rye flour, and mix well. Gradually add most of the whole wheat flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of mixing bowl. Do not allow the dough to get too stiff (too dry).

Knead 8-12 minutes, adding flour as needed, or until the glutten is developed. It is a common mistake for beginning bakers to add too much flour. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough into two portion, and form into spherical shaped balls. Place on each end of the baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel, and let rise to double. (Do not put free-formed, round loaves in a warm oven to rise. They will flatten.)

Bake in a 350˚ oven for 45 to 50 minutes. While the bread is baking combine the cold water, and  corn starch in a small sauce pan. Cook until it's thickened. remove the bread from the oven , brush with the cornstarch mixture, sprinkle with corn meal, and return it to the oven for an additional 2 to 3 minutes to set the glaze. remove from the baking sheet and place loaves on a cooling rack to cool.

Delicious with cream cheese or or fresh goat chevre.

Blogging

Not much time these days for me to do any blogging. I had dogs today here that took up all my energy and attention.

That's my blog for today. Tomorrow I promised a recipe on Russian Rye bread, and it will be so.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Meat Failure + Winter

I failed on on meat boycott. I had a cheese burger and fries in Alameda when I cycled over there on Saturday. I have to say it tasted great.  

Sunday,  myself, Geri and her sister went to the Brown Sugar Cafe, and I had chicken and waffles.

So much for the great meat fast. I am going to try and stay off of red meat and stick with chicken.

It was a typical weekend with a lot of cycling.

Wednesday I am going to make Russian rye black bread.

That's it.

Life happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Soup + Exercise + Weekly Health Report

The soup came out fantastic. That's what we'll be eating for the next several days.

I did a lot of cycling and hiking this week.  More cycling this weekend. I rode my bike everyday this week.

I also ate a pound of bacon this week. I had 5 pieces this morning, and I felt ill. I could have trimmed off more of the fat, but it just tastes so friggin good. I decide today I'm not going to eat any meat  until next Friday. Maybe I should lay off it for a while, and let my creatitve vegan side come out. The one I'm not in touch with.

It's short and sweet this week. Just the way you all like it.

Next week, dark Russian rye bread recipe, and weary road warriors.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not Way

Vegetable Barley Soup

That's what's I'm cooking now for dinner tomorrow evening, and I thought I'd give you all the recipe for this dish. It's simple to make, doesn't take too much time, and it goes a long, long way.

Traditionally I have made this meal with beef, which is how my mother made it. I decided to go completely vegan this time. 

I made it super easy on myself this time and bought some organic vegetable broth because when I went shopping for the ingredients there it was, on sale. This dish with a side salad, and maybe a chunk of garlic bread, and you'll be good to go.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

                                                            Vegetable Barley Soup

Ingredients;
1/2 gallon vegetable stock (your own or store bought)
1/2 gallon fresh tap water
1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tbs kosher salt
1/2 tbs herbs of Provence
6 Roma tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion medium diced
3 large carrot halved and cut on the bias
3 celery stalks cut on the bias 1/4
2 cups of barley
olive oil for cooking
4 bay leaves

Directions;
1)In a large Dutch oven add the cut celery, onion and carrots with a little olive oil and saute for about 2 minute, just to sweat them.
2) The add the vegetable stock, the water, and all the other ingredients except the barley and bring to a rapid boil. Let this cook for about 45 minutes, constantly skimming off the unpleasant schmegma from the top.
3) Rinse the barley in a China cap then add it to the soup and cook for another 45 minutes. When the barley cracks it's ready.
4) Rapid cool, refrigerate overnight.
Reheat, add water if necessary to thin,  and bring to a boil and serve hot. This is a thick soup after it cools.

Enjoy!

                                                                               

New Format + Recipes

I'm going to do a new format to writing this blog. I'm going to eliminate the food consumption/exercise portions of the blog on a daily basis. I feel confident that after of year of changing the way I eat, and the inclusion of rigorous exercise regime that, I've accomplished the goal I set out to reach.

I also realize that I and don't want to go back to eating the way I was a year ago. I'm really happy with the way I feel and the  look for that matter. I was a 44 waist, now I have a 38 waist. I was a XXL, and now I'm a large/extra large.

I'm in control of food now. I still believe I can get that other 30 pounds off, but it will take another year realistically. I know I can slip back into old habits easily. I'm an old backslider from way back.
Getting that extra weight off could only improve my life.

What I will do is give a weekly update on Friday's of how I'm eating and exercising and a monthly update on weight loss, if any.

Also, I found some old recipes that I though I lost in this leather folder I keep song lyrics in.  I'll be making these recipes in the next several weeks, and posting those on line. One of these recipes is for dark Russian rye bread, like you get back east. It's my favorite bread of all time.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Muscles + Death

I tried to make it up two steep hills today. When I got to the about 1/10 of the way up I had to stop. I just rested for about 15 minutes before I attempted to climb these hills. I realized that my muscles had relaxed so much during these short rest stops they weren't properly stretched out enough to pull those hills. The muscles probably didn't have enough blood flow and oxygen in them.

It doesn't matter how much you're in shape. Just let a couple of days go by, and the body starts falling apart again. In this case just let 15 minutes go by, and you're toast. I knew I'd get something about food in this food blog.

I'm not using the truck a lot less these days, because the weather is incredible. 70 degrees again today and if I got the time and I can ride there, then that's how I'm going to go.  This is why I live here, and not NY, where it snowed today. Good luck with that, aye.

Check out the band Death, on YouTube. Circa 1976,  black punk rockers. If you like good old hard core rock and roll these cats can bring it on. The name of the LP is: For The Whole World To See. The songs; Keep on Knocking, Politicians In My Eyes, Rock and Roll Victim. The rhythm changes in the song Politicians in my eyes from the verse to the bridge will transport you.

If you don't like punk rock don't bother. There is a live video of the band now, in their late 50's or early 60"s I'd imagine.They still got it, better than ever. This is my tip of the week. I hope these guys come around. I'm going to do my research on these guys.

That's it folks.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Veterans Day + Weekend Report + Amy's Frozen Organic Pot Pies + Anniversary

I'd like to give a shout out to all our fellow soldiers, both past and present, who have served our country. Whatever I think of the government, which isn't much, I still reserve greatest respect for our men and women in uniform, and their sacrifice to us.

It was a typical weekend. We cycled to Berkeley and stopped at REI to buy some more crap which I convinced myself that I can't live without, and apparently I can't. I ate three pieces of pizza at Gioia in N. Berkeley, then we made our way back to Oakland. It was a nice 25 mile trek. I wasn't tired when I got back home, and stayed up till midnight.

We did eat Amy's frozen organic pot pies this last Friday evening for dinner, and overall I would give a review of decent, just below good. The soups are a much better bargain.

In terms of joints, 3 joints being the best, I would give it 1/2 a joint.

The crust was what you might expect from a mass produced product, not as flaky as a homemade crust of course, and it couldn't brown it as well as I would have liked, but again, it did the job. The filling was dense, and chock full of veggies.

 This product has 50% of our daily ration of fat, and more salt than any one needs, but like I said,  "Good in a pinch."

I don't care how much you the love to cook or how much you love food, sometimes you just don't want to go out, and and you just don't want to cook. This is a decent substitute for those times. If I was much older I might eat one of these every month or so.

I actually went looking for a Marie Callender's pot pie, but this was what was in the frozen deli case at my grocers.  I'm going to keep an eye out for a Callender's because their pies are the old fashioned, real deal. Also, they are good to their employees. Not all corporations and chains are ruthless money grubbers, just the majority.

Last and most definitely no least, today is my 19 wedding anniversary. Geri and I have been living together for almost 24 years now. Time does have a way of slipping on by you. I have no idea what I would do without her.

I remember a great story that Paul Newman once told.  He and his wife, Joanne Woodward, had a fight,  he was walking out the door, and when he got outside he said to himself, "Where the hell am I going." My grass has has never been greener, than it is right here. Metaphorically speaking that is.

And that's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/ Not War

Food consumption

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, 2 pieces of buttered toast, black coffee, one sugar

Lunch; medium Pizza w/mozzarella di buffalo and fresh basil at Dopo

Dinner; pasta marinara w/salad and steamed Brussel sprouts

Exercise; 5 miles walking, 20 miles cycling

Apple-A-Day

I've been drinking my fair share of apple juice these days.  The only thing that's wrong with that is none of it has been fermented. We picked up a half gallon at the framer's market in Jack London Square last Sunday, and we went through that in one day.

I picked up another half gallon the brand that has the same name of the title of today's
blog, Apple-A-Day. This brand is local, and is produced in Sebastopol. It's 100% apple juice, and nothing else.

Their phone number is 707 823-0538 to find out where you can get wonderful product close to your home. Sebastopol, of course, is famous for it's Gravenstein apples, and groves of Gravenstein apple tress that can be seen all along the, Gravenstein Highway, of course.

This product is my tip for the week.

I'm going to do review of Amy's organic frozen Pot Pies next Monday. I will also produce Geri and my recipe for pot pie after thanksgiving.

That's it for this week.

Life is what happens between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 pieces of brown bread, 2 eggs over easy, 1 small potato pancake

Lunch; turkey sandwich w/mayo on Ciabatta bread.

Dinner; Amy's organic vegetable pot pie, salad

Exercise; 7 miles walking/hiking

Light Me On Fire

Since this is my stupid little podium I pretty much get to say what I choose. By now everyone has heard about the young man, Sasha, who was lit on fire on an Oakland bus while he was sleeping by a juvenile black kid. I only mention the perpetrator's his race because I need to point out that racism isn't mono directional. Living in Oakland I get it all the time.

I'm an old white male, with a long white beard. I'm type cast as a honkey, cracker, white trash, racist, Santa Clause, ZZ Top mother fucker, all the time. "Mommy, that man looks like those men on Duck Dynasty." I take everyone on, one at a time. You treat me like shit, and that's what you'll get back in return. Black, white, green, I don't care. I use discretion with everyone. I assume all who enter my space, besides my old faithful loved ones, are cool, till proven otherwise, and I don't trust anyone, in general. Fuck with me and I will defend myself. I will not go quitely into the night. Peace and love only go so far.

Two white women freaked out when they saw me walking dogs in Piedmont today. I've been walking dogs on that same route for 15 years. Everyone is afraid of everyone.

I feel sorry for this kid, for Oscar, for Trayvon, and all of us, because we live in such a fucked
up country. We can't advance past things that happened a hundred and fifty years ago. We keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over. We are divided by class, by color, our sexual orientation, political and religious beliefs, our creed, and the color of our skin.

We're not safe here in the bubble. Racism, bigotry and bullying is all around us, and it's coming from all the races, and sexes, not just one. We're all still typecasting and profiling each other.

I hope that Sasha, and all the other people who are closely affected by these acts of cowardice,
don't carry the scars of these foul people on the insides of their bodies, as well as the outside. Heel well Sasha.

Please, let's respect each other.

We got a long way to go baby.

That's it for me today.

Peace,

Make Love/Not War

Wednesday

There was no time today to do anything but survive today. Maybe I'll have something captivating to write about tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in.

Life is what happens between meals.

That's it.

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 piece of toast, 2 poached eggs, 1 cup black coffee, one sugar

Lunch; Vietnamese shaking beef sandwich

Dinner; salad w/avocado, beets, carrots, s & p,  salami, cheese, olive oil, lemon

Exercise; 1 hr. cycling, 5.5 miles walking/hiking

Baia Pasta

I defrosted some of the marinara sauce I made a few weeks ago, and was planning on making some pasta for our Sunday evening meal. I was talking to Geraldine about stopping at the local market near our home, and picking up some pasta for dinner. We were cycling through Jack London Square and, lo and behold,  there was a local pasta shop right in front of my face. How many times have I walked past this shop? Once again, I'm late on the scene. I'm so glad I found this shop.

It's name is Baia Pasta and is made right here in Oakland, in Jack London Square, from 100% organic durum wheat semolina. The flours they use are grown in California, Colorado, Montana, and Utah. There are no eggs in Baia pasta. It's completely vegan.

We came home, and I made a pound of their Gnocchetti Sardi pasta, and it was in a word, delightful. It was as close to Italian hard pasta as I've ever had. These tiny little shells, that resemble gnocchi, are dense, chewy, and full of flavor. The two guys who started this company know what they're doing, as does Dario our sale's person.

They have a nice web site that's easy to navigate at baiapasta.com. Their pasta comes at a price, like all good things. One pound of this pasta was $6.00, but well worth it if you ask me. When we buy artisan foods we can expect to pay more. We're paying for quality and craftsmanship. There were no broken pieces of pasta in this box.


I also found out I can get this pasta at my
local grocery market right down the street.
It just keeps getting better.

Life is what happens in between meals.

That's it.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; black coffee w/one sugar, 2 eggs over easy, 1 piece of seeded brown bread, 2 oz. Italian
                 sausage

Lunch; peanut butter sandwich

Dinner; quesadilla suiza, beans, rice

Exercise; 5 miles walking/hiking

Chobani Yogurt In The New Yorker

The November 4th issue of the New Yorker is all about food. I have been picking my way through         it slowly since it's arrival last week. There are so many things to read around this house that it's damn near impossible to read a whole book or magazine, completely, front to back.

Of course, I gravitate towards the the articles that speak to me personally. Ones that I have some connection with. Which leads me to the article titled; Just Add Sugar, by Rebecca Mead, about Chobani yogurt.

Chobani derives it's name from the word coban, Turkish, for shepherd. This yogurt has been our yogurt of choice lately. It's a typical American immigrant success story that people love to hear, myself included. Man comes to America to study, was disappointed by the lack of of good yogurt, develops his own brand, works hard, triumphs over adversity, and with 800 K from the Small Business Administration, becomes a billionaire.

As I mentioned, this is the yogurt we have been eating here at our home for the last couple of months. I just had some. My favorite is the strawberry. Unfortunately it is made from cows milk, and I would much prefer sheep's milk.

The title of the article confuses me. Is the writer telling us we need to add sugar because real
yogurt is too tart for American tastes? Or is she saying that that's what the company' s founder did to make it salable?  The label for Chobani says there is honey in it. If there's honey in it, is that what she means? Honey is sugar. I'm confused.

What I don't like about American yogurt is that it's made from cows milk.  Hamdi Ulukaya, the owner and founder of the business insisted on only using cow's milk that doesn't have antibiotics or steroids. I applaud him for that, but it's still cow's milk. Real Greek yogurt, and real Greek feta cheese, is made from sheep's milk. Does anyone know where I can get real Greek yogurt, besides traveling all the way to Greece? Here we can get it Greek Style, but not really Greek. The grass is nice and sweet in New York State though.

Till I find the real thing I foresee staying with Chobani, even though it's cow milk. At the end of the article Ulukaya says, "Someone should do something about butter in America." I couldn't agree more, please do. We don't need more antibiotics and steroids in our food. Come on already.

That's it.

Life is what happens between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 1 pieces of brown bread w/butter, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/4 cup granola

Lunch; 1 piece of Thai chicken sausage, piece of brown bread and cheese

Dinner; cup of French country soup, piece of brown seed bread from Village Bakery in
             Freestone., 3 ounces smoked salmon

Exercise; 1 hr cycling, 4.5 miles walking

Halloween & Weigh Day

We only had two, that's 2, tricker treaters last night, and I thought Halloween was dead. When I went to a client's home in Piedmont this morning to walk their two dogs, and I was greeted by two ecstatic people who informed me that they had 500 tricker-treaters last night. I am happy to hear that
Halloween is not dead.

It was much better news than what was on the  evening news all night about the police checking on people with pedophile records. We can't thank you enough. We all feel so much safe. It's nice to know that the main stream media hasn't changed their format from sensationalism to something kinder, and gentler, maybe even happy.  

Today is weigh day, and I'm not surprised with my lackluster results. I did lose 2 pounds, and that is positive results. Considering the fact that I broke all the rules that I laid down at the beginning of October. Almost all the rules. I still haven't had a drink in 7 weeks.

What can I say. I'm not gaining weight. My new lifestyle, I hate that damn word, of more exercise, less/better food, is what I needed. I'll keep working towards my goal of 180 pounds. So, it's going to take me more than a year. This isn't a fucking reality TV show, Biggest Loser, whatever. This is real life, and real life goes up and down. It's part of my whole new attitude in life about trying to mellow out. Take it slow, one moment at a time. And not take anything besides a life threatening problem, to
serious i.e., lighten the fuck up.

I'll stick by the program I started almost a year ago. In order to lose weight, and keep it off, one has to exercise, and watch your food portions, and WHAT I'm eating. That's what has worked for me so far, and that's what I'm going to keep doing. I feel better than I have in years.

The holidays and winter are approaching. Holidays means food indulgence, and winter means early sunsets, and rainy days. I'll have to do more exercise indoors. This will be a challenge. I think life is about making constant adjustments.

We need the rain badly. This drought is not good.  As much as I hate the rain we need it. I predict another dry season, and I hope I'm wrong.

That's it.

Life is what happens between meals.

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs sandwich, 1/2 cup yogurt w/granola

Lunch; 2 handfuls of nuts, banana

Dinner; Out with Geri

Exercise; 6.5 miles walking/hiking,  40 minutes biking

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

The Red Socks pulled it off, and the good folks of Boston can celebrate their Halloween in style. 

Peace...Make Food/Not War

Wednesday 10-30-13 Go Red Socks

I'm not a Boston Red Socks fan. Growing up in Connecticut you would think I was, but not so, I was forced to root for the Socks for four years during Catholic school. All our nuns were Sisters
of Notre Dame, Irish Catholic, and from Boston. I loved the nuns, the sock, NOT.

Mom and I were Yankee fans, and Dad was a Dodger fan being from Brooklyn. I'm now a Mets fan, and there's not much to speak about there.

I am even less a fan of St. Louis, so I have been rooting  for the Socks.  I'm hoping the Red Socks will put this series away in Boston tonight. But, it is baseball, and anything can happen.

The other reason I hope the Socks win is that Boston has a tough year, and they could use some good cheer. Last, but not least, they have never won a series in Boston in 95 years.  They're due.

That is my stupid blog for today. If this is not the most boring blog I've ever written, it's right up there.

Life is what happens between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption,

Breakfast; black coffee 1 sugar, 1/2 cup strawberry yogurt, granola, 2 piece of sour dough bread
w/butter

Lunch; peanut butter sandwich, apple

Dinner; chicken and dumplings with carrots, onions, and  green beans

Exercise; 5 miles walking/hiking, 1 hour cycling

Scraps

I had something to write this morning and then it was gone. I didn't write it down. Of course my desk in the office is littered with little scraps of paper. One such notation to myself says; pick up avocados,  Esalen, tiramisu, buon compleano (happy birthday in Italian), Sid Arthur, some arithmetic, a note from our house sitter telling me to check out Caro Emerald on YouTube, which I still haven't done.

There's a great article in the October 24 issue of Rolling Stone about the right wing of the
Republican Party. I have two incomplete movie scripts, 4 months of business receipts that need to be entered into my accounting ledger, and notes from Geri to herself that make absolutely on sense to me at all.

So, there you have it. This reads like an Andy Rooney piece.

That's it for today.

Life is what happens between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 pieces of dense sour dough bread w/butter, black coffee, one sugar

Lunch; general Tao's chicken w/shrimp fried rice, 6 pot stickers

Dinner; shrimp fried rice

Exercise; 1/2 hr. biking, 5.5 miles walking/hiking

Monarchs and Merigolds

I have always wanted to witness the mass migration of the monarch butterfly and I got my chance this last weekend I got my chance. I din't mention in my previous blog Thursday exactly where the writing seminar Geri and I attended this last weekend was, but it was at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, where the monarchs stop to rest and copulate in the marigold bushes.

After all these years of hearing about other people's experience we finally had our Esalen cherries popped. It's a great place to go and commune with nature, eat great organic foods, meet wonderful intelligent people, and learn about so many things, not the least of all one's self, and the monarchs. 

It is a bucolic, Upton Sinclair, uptopian socialistic existence that is truly captivating. I could have used a couple of more days, or maybe years, there. 

The writing seminar we took was sponsored by the Sun magazine, a reader/writer publication that has been in production for 40 years now.  Sy Syfransky is the founder of the magazine. A kind, funny, gentle, compassionate human being. 

Our time was spent in workshops writing, reading our works, and listening to other writers 

read their works. In between the workshops there was food, or you could schedule a massage, go for  a swim in the poll, take a hot-bath in sulfur spas, or go for a hike. There were people from all over the globe there, and quite a few people from the Bay Area. We met one of the former editors of the Sun magazine living right around the corner from our home. 

From Oakland you can get to and from Esalen on a tank of gas. Once your're there you don't need to, or want to, go anywhere. 

Located on the central coastline of the Pacific, and perched on a few hundred acres of flat land above the cliffs, one looks down on a magnificent kelp bed ocean. A mixture of salt water, sulfur, and patchouli oil fills the air. Above us were higher cliffs I feared would come crashing down on me at any moment because I was guilty of having way too much fun. 

When we did arrive back home, after dropping a fellow traveler in San Francisco, we were greeted by happy furry family members. Of course Merle had just vomited on the bed. It was feeding time

again.  The thin thread that connected me to the other world was broken. Still, there is no place like

your own space.

Special shout outs to Ocean. Please come and rest your body after your cycle to Baja. Tim, please keep in touch. I'm ready to write. The woman from PA who's name I cannot recall who was there every time we turned around, and who I was always happy to see, please come visit us next time.
And of course Alex, keep in touch.

It was an old hippie's dream come alive.

Life is what happens between meals.

That's it.

Peace, 

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast;  2 egg sandwich on wheat toast, black tea w/honey

Lunch; grilled pannini  sandwich w/French ham, gruyere cheese and artichokes and a small salad

Dinner; turkey sandwich w/avocado, lettuce, mayo, & mustard  

Writing

There will be no blog this Friday or this weekend. Geri and I will be  attending a writers seminar.  Hopefully this rather expensive experience will give me some sorely needed skills to write more exciting new blogs, bla, bla, bla.

My life is basically the same as everyone else, more or less, it's boring. I get up early, do the chores, walks dogs, have breakfast, walk more dogs, see cats, ride my bike, have lunch, go for more walks, have dinner, walk again, come back, do this stupid blog and write other crap, watch some TV, try to sleep, get up again and do it all over. To extract something of interest out of that is, at least for me, a minor friggin miracle.

If anyone finds these small snippets of my dull life of any value or interest is another minor miracle which truly humbles me.

I never understood why Sidarthur, aka the Buddha, went through all those years of self imposed
suffering to become enlightened when all he had to was just lead a regular life. Life for me, in my definition, is struggle. I don't care who you are, how famous, rich, poor, talented, simple minded, healthy, or disable you may be, you are going to have to struggle to make it through this world. What the Buddha did figure out was how to completely block out the material world that surrounds us from his brain, and just be.

I was raised to believe that life was hard, and that success was what you defined it to me, not  what anyone else shoves down our throats. That the road best traveled was your path alone.

I think pop culture sucks. I see too many people doing what other people tell them they should
do, especially by the government, who has done a wonderful job of brainwashing people into believing that it will provide, protect and defend us, and what's worse is they believe it.

In Oakland, neighborhoods have taken to hiring their own security companies to patrol the streets because the police don't, won't, or can't do it, even marginally. Millions of people are in prison for non-violent crimes, mostly drug possession. We have a puppet government totally unresponsive to the needs of the citizenry, beholding to multi-national corporations and special interest groups, all in the name of the glorious "global"  economy. The mass party line to the people of America is, "Don't worry about anything, we'll take care of everything." The same way they did for the Indians and New Orleans. When will the wealthy pay their share?

I refuse to let anyone tell me what to believe or think. I don't want to fit in with the crowd. I'm in with the out crowd. I don't want to work 80 hours a week for Google or Microsoft, and I have no idea of how I got to this spot, or should I say on this downturn, in today's blog.

I guess I just look around me and I'm as much saddened as I am angry at the state of the world. We have to tools to make this a better planet, but it's not happening. If this is intelligent design then  stupidity design must be really fucked up?  Why has it always been so fucked up?  Are we incapable of all getting along with each?

Talk at you Monday.  It will be nice to depart from the real world for a few precious days with my beautiful bride.

Life is what happens in between meals.

That's it.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, 1 piece brown bread, potato pancake, black tea w/honey

Lunch; 1.5 handfuls of cashews, 3 ounce smoke salmon

Dinner; pizza from Lanesplitter...why not?

Exercise; 5 miles walking/hiking

CATS

Not everyday is going to be a good day. That's a given. Yesterday just sucked, and why bore people
with the details of how it sucked when they have problems of their own. It's all so unpredictable. Let's move on to today.

Every morning at 3:00 AM, two of our cats, Merle the male, and his sister Callie, vomit.  That's right vomit. Welcome to your new day folks, here's a little present,  now get to work. They generally vomit on the floor next to the bed so that when someone gets up to clean it they can step in it. Geri usually gets up and cleans it up with paper towel and a spray bottle of simple green. We often have difficulty finding the spray bottle  because we leave it at the last vomit site. They also vomit during the day, but the 3:00 AM vomit is a given. I should say that a good day at our home is when none of  the cats vomit.

Last night because I couldn't sleep Geri decided to retire to the office/spare bedroom. I like to watch TV before I sleep. The drone of the television makes me drowsy. Of course the TV satellite went out, par for the course of the day. This left Geri's side of the bed open. She had her dog Westy with her in the office, I had Frida, my dog, and the cats with me.

At 3:00 AM again, like fucking clockwork, Merle decided that Geri's side of the bed was a good place to dispel the remains of his stomach right out to the bedspread. These daily episodes always elicit  a barrage of foul  language from me. Once up I investigated and there were two other areas of the house where Cal and Merle decided to deposit their stomach waste. More paper towels, more simple green.

The reason this whole little daily ritual occurs is that the cats want to be fed at 3:00 AM  they vomit the excess  digested food, so they can stuff themselves with more goodies. I should also mention that if Callie doesn't get wet food she will make our lives an utter nightmare. Likewise, if we don't feed them, they will not let us sleep, jumping on the bed, sitting on our chests, head butting, and caterwauling like drunken hillbillies until they are fed.

It's difficult enough for old humans to get to sleep, but once we're awake it's even harder to get back to sleep.

I love cats. I love Merle and Callie, and I take care of cats and dogs for a living. I'm not giving up my day job to become a blog writer. But, I am tired of hearing about a) how clean cats are b) how independent they are, c) how much wiser they are than dogs.

Before I wrap this up, I should mention we have another cat in our home. His name is Zeus. He was a feral Manz cat. He is Merle's best friend and cuddle buddy, the cleanest of the three cats, the healthiest, and the least trouble. He never vomits. He's also a lover boy.

Our cats are old, almost 16. They've had a good life here, and they have given us many precious
moments, but we won't replace them when it's their time. We will stay with them, care for them, feed them, pick up after them ever morning, and comfort them all the way till the end. We won't replace them though. I like to sleep.

Remember, life is what happen in between meals.

That's it today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; black tea w/honey, yogurt, granola

Lunch; pinto beans and rice

Dinner; smoked salmon, Irish cheddar, a handful of cashews, black tea w/honey

Exercise; 5 miles walkinghiking

A Day When Nothing Went Right

There are days where nothing can go your way. Today was one of those days, and I'm going to quit while I'm behind.

No stats. No nothing.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Weekend, Dinner Guests, More Pizza (not that again)

It was a regular weekend with nothing special happening. We went for a big ride Sunday, and had some wonderful neighbors over for pizza. Yes, that again, that's what I do. I'm a pizza cook. Our neighbor Josh made the best tiramisu I've ever had with a crushed amaretto topping . I had three helpings, and another one today.

I did a lot of exercising today to try and compensate for the overeating. I did well on the pizza consumption last night, but blew it with the tiramisu. Give here, take there. Such is life.

That's it.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption;

Breakfast; 2 pieces of pizza, 2 cups of black tea w/honey

Lunch; 1/2 calzone, 1 serving of tiramisu

Exercise; 7.5 miles walking/hiking, 45 minutes biking

Friday 3-18-13

Nothing to report to the foodies of the world today. I stayed home mostly today, and every once in a while you got to rest.

That's it.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; yogurt, granola, 1/3 apple, black coffee one sugar

Lunch; large bowl of leftover spaghetti, one chicken thigh

Dinner; salad, 6 ounces of steak, bread, cappuccino one sugar, small dessert

Exercise; 3.5 miles walking, 1 hour biking

Fig Recipe

As promised yesterday, this is Geri's recipe for fig bars, that she got from last Sunday's San Francisco chronicle. I love the recipe in the Chronicle.

This is a lot of work, so this is my blog for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, small potato pancake, 1 piece brown toast

Lunch; peanut butter sandwich, 3 fig bars

Dinner; Bowl of pasta w/marinara

Exercise; 5 miles walking/hiking, 1 hr. cycling

FIG BARS (makes 16)

Fig jam
1 pint figs
3 tbs light brown sugar
2 tbs light brown sugar
large pinch of salt
1/4 cup water

Dough
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly pack light brown sugar

1 large egg.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

For the figs...cut off the stems, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Combine those in a small saucepan with the sugars, salt and water. Cook over medium heat until the figs are soft and jammy, about 10 minutes. If the mixtures gets dry before it get jammy just add a little water. If you add too much don't worry it will cook off. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Set aside to cool.

For the dough... Preheat oven to 350˚. Line the bottom sides of an 8" sauce pan w/aluminum foil.
Beat the batter and the sugars until smooth. Mix in the egg and the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir into the butter mixture until well combined. Turn the dough out onto a smooth surface, and divide in half.
To finish...With you finger, press half the dough into the bottom of the foil-lined pan. Spread the cooled fig jam on top. Sprinkle small pieces of dough all over the jam. With your finger press lightly so the dough covers the top of the pan. Do not press so hard that the jam comes through the dough.  Bake until light golden brown, about 30 to 40 minues. Cool then remove from the pan by picking up the edges of the foil.
Calories per bar..189, go lightly my friends

FIGS

Oakland is full of fig trees. There are at least 3 neighbors on our little street that I know of who have fig trees, old fig trees, with big fat figs that the squirrels feast on for weeks and weeks. The red squirrels in Oakland are fat and happy.

There was a  recipe, which I will post tomorrow, for fig bars, that Geri made last night that are out of sight. When they came out of the oven I had two pieces.  Geri's sister Victoria kept saying let it cool, it'll taste better. Sorry, let is cool yes, 10 minutes, and then I'm digging in. Geri is a great baker, and Vicky has won awards when she worked in the bakery in Sabastapol. She was also a pastry cook at Firefly in S.F., not to mention  Folie Douce in Arcata. No small accolades by any means.

I've been riding my bike everyday now, and it feels great. I'm shifting less into lower gears, which means I'm using more of my muscles, and I'm climbing some hills that I didn't climb before. In fact, I'm looking at hills that before I would say, "No way will I make it up that." Now I look at them and say "I might be able to make it up that hill", or, I'll be able to make it up that hill before too long.

I'm never going to be  speed racer or  marathon man, but it sure is fun riding again.

Tomorrow fig bar recipe.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption:

Breakfast; 2 small fig bars, 1 handful of salted cashew, 2 cups black coffee, 1 sugar

Lunch; small bowl of pasta, chicken thigh meat, sauteed zucchini.

Dinner; quesadilla souza carne asada, whole beans, rice, salsa

Exercise; 6.5 miles walking/hiking, 1.5 hrs. cycling

MEATBALLS

I started out yesterday with 14 meat balls and 5 mild Italian sausages. I can account for Geri and our roommate Michael eating 5 meatballs but I reckon I ate the rest.

When I started this sauce I  braised the meat  in a large 12 quart, Dutch oven, and that is the foundation of the the entire marinara sauce. Then I add the garlic, and cook it for one minute, then the tomatoes, basil, dried herbs,  6 bay leaf, salt, a little sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes, and then I cook the meat in the sauce, over low heat for 4 hours.

The meat balls I bake for 12 minutes in the oven, and add those to the sauce as well. They're so friggin' good I can't stop eating them. It's a good thing I'm cycling everyday.

All that's left is the 6 chicken things, which just fall off the bone.

That's my world today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; Greek yogurt, banana, granola, black tea

Lunch; small bowl of pasta, 3 meatballs, sausage

Dinner; pasta again, 2 meatballs, salad w/carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, romaine, frisee,
            olive oil, lemon, s & p

Exercise; 7.5 miles walking/hiking, 1.5 hrs. cycling

Monday 10-13-13, Weekend & Marinara Sauce

Nothing spectacular happening this weekend, and I'm glad I didn't do any stupid blogging. My diet was what it normally is, and I exercised pretty much like I would any other weekend.

Sunday we started out in San Bruno, and rode to Burlingame, had lunch at Il Fornaio, and then rode along the south Bay shoreline to the San Mateo bridge. We made the mistake of following the Bayshore road by SFO airport on the way back. Never again. The nose from the airport, the smell of jet fuel, and diesel fuel exhaust was enoughto gag the most ardent support of global warming.

Today I'm making a simple marinara sauce. A client of mine gave me a bunch of tomatoes.  I'll combine those with some Italian canned tomatoes that are on sale at our local grocery store. I'm also going to cook a half dozen pork sausages, and a half dozen chicken thighs in with the those to give the sauce  added flavor from the meat. To this end I will also make some turkey meatballs for Geri who won't eat red meat, and for good reasons.

When Geri and I first started living together we would go out for burgers all over San Francisco, trying to find the BEST burger in the city, but she gave up read me, again for good reasons, and so no more burgers with Geri. We went to the old Hamburger Mary's, Bill's out in the avenues, and the best one we ever found was West Lake Joe's, hands down, cooked to perfection.

The recipe for marinara sauce are already in previous blogs, and I believe for meatballs as well. The difference with turkey meatballs is that when I make my regular meatballs I use equal amounts of ground pork, veal, and beef.

Another great way to cook the turkey meatballs is to poach them in chicken stock, add a little soy sauce, ginger, and greens onions.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; cup of yogurt, granola, black tea w/agave

Lunch; 2 hot dogs on whole wheat buns, dijon mustard, sauerkraut, 2 turkey meatballs

Dinner; nothing

Exercise; 5.5 miles walking, 1.5 hrs. hiking



 

Why The A's Lost Again

Starting a rookie pitcher in a playoff game. It's that fucking simple. I said to Geri when the game started I got a bad feeling about this game. I hate it when I'm right. It's a Gray day in Oakland because another bad coaching decision. He didn't have his stuff last night, and you could tell by the placement of his pitches. Sunny has a hard time throwing to left handed hitters. Why can't these coaches see the problem when it's happening right in front of them. You don't leave a pitcher in when you got a whole bull pen full of guys.

Verlander pitched a good game. Of course the offense sucked as well. You have to get hits, get on base, and you have to score runs. If I was the batting coach I'd have my players swinging at first pitch, which percentage wise are almost always fastball strikes, but everyone lays back on first pitches to see what the pitcher is going to do. But, you already know what he's going to do i.e., throw a a fast ball right over the plate on the first pitch. So, what the fuck are are you waiting for?  It's your turn at bat, so plant your feet and swing. Verlander's got great stuff, but he's predictable. Everyone can be beat.

It's just a baseball game. Life goes on. The city of Detroit could use a little pick me up after having gone into bankruptcy.

The end of baseball marks the end of summer for me.

No blogging this weekend, not even stats. Well, maybe stats.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, 1 piece of brown toast, 1 potato pancake w/Irish cheddar

Lunch; 2 peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat

Dinner; beans, rice, quesadilla souza carne asada

Exercise; 6.5 miles walking/hiking, 1.5 hrs. cycling

Thursday 10-10-13

We went out to Rumbo Al Sur, a tapas restaurant on Park Blvd. in Oakland, and the food, once again was rocking. The service was exceptional as well. It was a slow night so we got a lot of attention from the wait staff.

The big game is tonight w/the Detroit Tiger. Go A's. That's all I have to write  today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, 1 potato pancake, black tea 1 sugar

Lunch; nuts, chocolate covered raisins

Dinner; peanut butter sandwich

Exercise; 1 hr. biking, 5.5 miles walking

Wednesday 10-9-13

There is not much to blog about today in my world. It's all work and no time for anything else. Even as I am writing this I'm thinking about what else has to be done, what I didn't accomplish today that I have to reschedule for tomorrow, and the rest of the week.

Work is good. Maybe I'll have something tomorrow.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 eggs over easy, 2 pieces of sour dough w/butter

Lunch; chocolate chip cookie, large salad w/leftover baked chicken, radish, cucumber, shredded carrot, fresh lemon, olive oil, s & p

Dinner; going out, who knows

Exercise; 4 miles walking, 1.5 hrs cycling

Back on the horse + A's Baseball

I got back on the horse today, and I was much more conservative in my riding. I think I've learned my lesson about cowboy bike riding. It's time for old man bike riding.

The Oakland Athletics are still one game away from advancing in the playoffs. The difference is Detroit is also.  Tuesday's euphoria wore off fast today in Michigan.

So, we shall know Thursday night, here in Oakland. The city of Oakland is the little town that doesn't. It's not that it couldn't, or shouldn't it just doesn't. I think we'll go to a sport bar up the hill, and root for the home team. I can envision an A"s v.s. Red Socks series, with the A's kicking the shit out of Boston, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I have mixed feelings about weather or not home field advantage is an advantage. I'm not a betting man, that was my dear old dad Rocco. He was the odds maker actually, a better job.

I'm tired.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 2 pieces of toasted sour dough bread w/butter, black tea with honey

Lunch; big salad w/2 oz. smoked salmon, 1/2 oz. shredder Irish cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, cucumber, 1 radish, frisee' and romaine, salt, black pepper, fresh lemon, olive oil

Dinner; 6 ounces of Italian chicken sausage, steamed white rice and parsley.

Exercise; 7 miles walking, 1 hour biking

Mending + Pizza + Thanks + Love

I have to say that the old body came right back. I feel pretty damn good today considering I fell off a bike and hit the pavement yesterday. The fluid went back into my body and the rib is the most bruised part of my body.

Pizza last night was great, but I couldn't limit myself to just half a pie. I'll give up something else during the week to make up for the excess intake of calories last night. That oven just rocks. I think my friend Ron was the big eater of the evening. The thing about the pizza that comes out of this oven is, people are stuffed, but I keep making the pies, and they can't help themselves, they just keep eating more. Geri's chocolate chip cookies were a big hit, because I saw everyone take seconds. I left the toasted chestnuts on top of the fence for the squirrels.

I'd like to thank, Chrisinte, Guy, Sarah, Ron, Ryan, Sarah, and Peter, for coming. It was wonderful to see you all. Peter, thanks for the beads, and coming all the way from Hawaii to be here with us. It's nice having the young adults around to give us tired beat up old fucks some energy. Their youth and vitality picks me up, even if they're were hung over from the previous night of revelry. Love you guys.  And as Guy Haralson always says, "All you need is love." How true.

Tomorrow I get back up on the horse.

That's it for today.


Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption;

Breakfast; black tea w/honey, yogurt, banana, granola, chocolate chip cookie

Lunch; cookies....hey I'm on the mend

Dinner; 4 pieces of leftover pizza,

Exercise: 6.5 miles walking

Crush the Tigers + Bike Crash + ER + No Stats Today + Happy to Be Here

We're right back where we left off last year in the AL West. The Oakland A's are facing the dirty Detroit Tigers. See you tomorrow Detroit. Just because were underpaid don't mean we ain't good, or bad.

This is how my blog started today, then we decided to go for a bike ride, and that's where the day went directly into the shit hole.  While Geri stopped short while I was tailgating her, I crashed, hit the pavement, burned, and then spent 4 hours at the ER with every kind of crazy person known to mankind. I got some great dialogue from that place. Just sit and listen and man the stories, the tragedy, you hear. Nothing is broken. My right elbow swelled up like a black and blue golf ball, and one of my ribs is bruised, a couple of minor scrapes, but I'll live. My bike survived without a nick.

The accident occurred just as we had completed our leisurely peddle through the canals of Alameda. We were at the shopping center parking lot where Safeway is, across from the golf course, right in front of a Synagogue when people were heading in, as Geri said, "to go to church",  "no sweetie, that's temple."  If I had asked "is there was a doctor in the temple?" at least 12 people would have raised their hands. But, people don't really help people these days because they're terrified of being sued. People were very nice, but I got right up, feeling like, you guessed it, a court jester, or in this case the Temple Goy Jester.

It's comical how when people make blunders they sense embarrassment. I know I do. Riding too close, and why? You in a hurry fool, and for what, to get yourself killed?

At the ER, they tried to drain the am biotic fluid from the golf ball, but it wasn't ready to leave the sanctuary of the golf ball. This only took four hours. And, if you have to be in an ER having your own private nurse, Geri,with you, isn't a bad thing, if you can pull it off.

 After the ER visit I came home, had a talk with Alice, and cooked pizza for 10 people. I must say I did quite well on my falling. Those early years of playing sports paid off once again. It could have been much, much worse. My head, legs, feet, hands, and most of my torso, except for that one rib, came away unscathed. I was only going 5 miles an hour, but I do have to be more careful. I take a lot of chances and I cowboy out there. I'm going to be sore, really sore, tomorrow.

Such is life. Sometimes you fall. I'm eternally thankful I'm doing OK.

In the wise words of my dear sister Helene, "Any accident you can walk away from is a good one. Ain't it the truth.

That's enough for one day.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Exercise; 25 miles cycling

Oaktoberfest In The Dimond

No, I didn't spell Dimond incorrectly. It's actually pronounced De-mond, origins of which are Irish.

It's appropriate that the Dimond has Oaktoberfest because there was once a beer garden in the Dimond at the corner of Lincoln and MacArthur, and a French whore house directly across the street. So, you could get drunk, stumble across the street,  and get laid, all in the same block. Life was much simpler in the 19th century.

NO I didn't drink any beer. It was tempting, but I don't need the calories, it's no big deal, and it's not in the menu plan. What do I need Sam Adams for when I've got Alice B?

There was a guy down at Oaktoberfest with two, not one but, two pit bulls that wanted to kill every dog they saw. And you brought those to a beer festival with thousands of people for what reason? Yet another reason why I avoid crowds at all costs.

There was a lot of fried food stands there.

I went down, and I got out as fast my my overweight ass could carry me. Fuck crowds. Americans can't handle their liquor, speaking from experience of course, and these micro brewers amp up the alcohol content at these beer festival to 9 or 10 percent, specifically to get people good and drunk. Anything over 6%, and I mean, come on.

Geri made chocolate chip, oatmeal, raisin, nut, cookies today, stupendous. I did mise en place for pizza Sunday.

That's it.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption;

Breakfast; 1 savory morning bun, 1 chocolate croissant

Lunch; turkey sandwich w/honey mustard, mayo, lettuce, onion

Dinner; 3 choc. chip cookies, turkey sandwich again w/avocado, onions, mustard, mayo

Exercise 4.5 miles walking

High Winds = Chestnuts

The high winds brought down the chestnuts. I got to them before the squirrels and the Mexican landscapers. Sunday we're having people over after Hardly Strictly Bluegrass for pizza and I'm going to roast them in the pizza oven for dessert, along with ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. It's my one extravagant meal for the week.

Chestnuts are an acquired taste, like everything else I suppose. I think if it's something you grew up or is in your heritage it may be more appealing to the palette. And of course if you wash them down with some grappa anything tastes good.

The high winds are also reeking havoc with my allergies, and that's my complaint for today. This is allergy season, and it's starting out as a killer.

Have a great weekend.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption-

Breakfast- 1 piece of bread, 1/2 small baked potato fried, 2 eggs over-easy

Lunch; 1/2 orzo pasta, 1 piece of pita bread w/hummas

Dinner; leftover fish, white rice, brussels sprouts, salad

Exercise; 8 miles walking

Thursday 10-3-13

I never got a handle on writing anything for this blog today, and I have no great ideas. The details and duties of everyday life never stopped today. In other words I've been working since I woke up this morning, and now my energy for blogging is spent.

I have a nice piece of Atlantic cod, white rice, green beans with red onion, fresh garlic, lemon and a nice salad for dinner. Then we're going for our nightly constitution with the dogs for a couple of miles, and that's all she wrote for the 3rd of October.

I do want to say that I feel sorry for the federal employees who have to take a furlough, without pay, not to mention the ripple effect all of this shut down has on the general economy, all because we have a legislation that can't work together. Hang in there.

To the idiots who say the Affordable Care Act is a failure, hello, it's just begun. Give it 3 years and if it's a failure then start crowing. Till that, shut the fuck up, and get back to work.

Keep your pipes filled, your powder dry, and your corks popped.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption;

Breakfast; black tea w/honey, 2 eggs over easy

Lunch; small leftover turkey burger on 1/2 piece of pita bread

Dinner; same as above

Exercise; 7 miles walking, 1 hour cycling