Shrimpy Shrimp

It was one of my more interesting days off.  I woke up with a headache around 7?  I had to take some Excedrin for that. 

I got online and watched some TV.  When I felt a little better I ate something and took my pills. 

I decided to tackle the beans.  Ron wanted black beans, cooked with ham.  He did not want tomatoes. 

I wanted to make some with chili powder and rice. 

I poured off the soak water and rinsed the beans, then divided them.  We each got about a cup.  Ron's went in my nonstick saucepan with garlic, onions, 2 cups water, and some ham seasoning. 

The ham seasoning is found in the Mexican grocery section with their other boullions.  It is 10 packets of powder, ham flavor, msg, and salt.  I put a packet in Ron's water.  Then I added half a (small) can of ham.  I put that on to simmer. 

I had read online you could cook beans in a rice pot.  That would be great, I thought.  Let's give it a try, I thought.  I put the beans, the right amount of water, some rice, enough water for the rice, onions, garlic, and some chili powder (one thing I did learn today, I like 1.5 t chili powder for a cup of soaked beans).  The chili smelled very good. 

I turned the rice pot to cook and closed it.  Pretty soon I saw steam coming out of the vent and the smell of chili powder. 

I turned my attention to Ron's beans.  The ham had turned a disgusting shade of gray from the black beans, but that won't bother him.  Nice thing about a blind husband.  "The meat is gray?  Who knew!"

Ron woke up.  He said he would like some rice in his beans, so I added the dry rice and enough water, covered it and let it cook.  Mine had "finished" so it said, but the beans weren't done.  I added more water and hit the cycle again, something that would sadly become an ongoing occurrence over the next hours. 

I checked my email.  Swanson had sent me a cheerful message that I'd gotten my package.  I had?  I put my shoes on and opened the front door.  Oh, there it is.  I went ahead and checked the mail.  When I came back I opened my package. 

I had gotten one deodorant stone.  Those things are good for over a year.  They are great, I love them.  I had a regular size and a travel size.  I put the travel one in my traveling bag.  I had 2 bars of soap.  I smelled them and put them in the bathroom.  I had a bottle of Oregano oil (great for immunity) and one of Wild Yam.  I am seeing good results with Wild Yam so I plan to keep taking it.  I put everything where it belonged. 

I have a box for the supplements I have had for about 20 years now.  Everything I'm taking goes in the box.  When I do up my pills I take the bottle out, fill up my days of the week, and put the bottle on the floor.  It is a sure way to know I have gotten everything. 

I take things like the oregano oil as needed, so I keep the bottle in view from my chair. 

My rice pot clicked.  Now the beans were very watery.  I put it on cook to reduce it.  Ron's beans looked great.  I tasted them.  Tasted great.  I diced up the remaining canned ham and stirred it into the beans and rice.  I have noticed that cooking with canned ham, the flavor leaves the meat.  That is good for whatever you are cooking it in, but not so good for the ham!  So I wanted at least half the ham to be fresh and perky.  I cooled Ron's down and put it in the fridge. 

I laid down for a nap.  I made sad noises until Torbie came out of her hiding place and got into bed with me.  I gave her a lot of petting as she purred.  We had a good time for a while.  She likes to love on me while I'm in bed.  I am happy to pet her.  It is a lot better than getting left alone with what can be bad thoughts. 

Biscuit came and laid on my foot for a while, too.  He's a good boy.  Baby Girl was with Ron. 

I tried, but I couldn't sleep, and I kept thinking I smelled burning beans.  So I got up.  Beans = still watery in the rice pot.  Well, crap. 

I bitterly wished I had tried lentils instead.  No, I had to do black beans, which needed an hour and a half on the stove.  I couldn't sleep: I was manic. 

By the way, last night I got on the computer shopping for the grapefruit spoon and that's all I got: a single grapefruit spoon and $5 worth of curry powder.  So at least I am behaving. 

I unplugged the rice pot, which was a mess.  The design of the pot makes it difficult to clean.  I prefer the rice pot that has 3 parts, the base, the pot, and the lid which is all separate.  The pot I have (must have bought it when manic) has an integrated design, base and lid are one, with a difficult to clean hinge.  Then there is a pot, but when you take it out, there is no lid to put on it.  Because the lid is built into the base.  It also has a strange latch, etc.  They over improved it in my opinion. 

And I don't have room for a lot of appliances.  I have a crock pot and a mixer.  That's it.  No blender, no food processor, just the crock pot and the mixer.  I would like a nice rice pot I can use to cook lentils.  That's all.  So I may get rid of this one (God knows I couldn't get it clean, even by my standards) and replace it. 

Ron has a toaster and a toaster oven on his side of the kitchen.  But we haven't used the toaster in ages.  I don't even keep sliced bread in the house. 

I had one of those enamelware (also bought when manic) pots on the stove.  I rinsed it off (it was a little dusty), and ladled (more dishes!) the runny soup into the enamelware pot.  I turned it on at one of the lowest stove settings. 

The nonstick pot had no problem with that setting, but soon enough I smelled burning beans again.  I stirred it and discovered a large amount of the beans had gotten baked onto the bottom of the pot.  Well, crap. 

I did manage to cook the rest of it down, standing over it and stirring, but I was absolutely done with black beans in a rice pot.  Or enamelware.  Done, done, done.  Agh. 

At the end of the drama (I've tortured you enough) I ate a bowl and they weren't even that good.  The only thing I learned today, aside from the seasoning, is that it's easy to add some rice to a pot of beans and cook it in the broth. 

The enamelware pot will probably have to be tossed.  I am not sure about the rice pot but I found another model I like, that has what I want, for $15.  That's looking better and better the more I think about it. 

I ate the beans, put some in the fridge (Ron didn't want his beans right now and went back to bed), and got online. 

When I had been snuggling with Torbie earlier, I noticed her back hips are stiff.  They have been like that for years.  She has to do warm up stretches when she gets up.  Whenever Ron gives treats I always tell him to wait on Torbie because she is coming.  She can't move very fast, but, according to the experts, she is probably around 13-15 years old. 

I bought her a warm little house she enjoys.  I got her some glucosamine treats, years ago, but she wouldn't touch them.  I was so disappointed because I felt they would really help her.  Both Ron and I have benefited from glucosamine. 

And I need another bag of cat food.  Ron would really rather not take me to the pet store if he can avoid it.  So I went to Chewy and put the food in the cart.  I found some glusosamine treats.  I read the reviews to Ron, who was still awake at this point.  I found one that had good reviews and is a national brand.  The only bad comment on the treats seemed to be the need to break it up.  And it was $10.  I would spend way more than that on something if it made Torbie feel better.  That went in the cart. 

I had to spend about $10 more to get free shipping, so I looked around.  My guys are very partial to Temptations.  I found a small bag of "Shrimpy Shrimp".  They like seafood flavors so I think it will be popular.  Plus, whatever they add to those treats keeps the cats coming back!  I added that to the cart, then got our usual "Surfer" in a large container.  That put me over the minimum for shipping and I checked out. 

So, I got my Swanson box today, Amazon grapefruit spoon will come tomorrow, then probably the Chewy box, and then my curry comes Monday.  That is pretty busy. 

But using Chewy saves me a long ride on 2 buses, or a $20 cab ride, to the pet store.  That's one way.  So it would be four buses and a mile of walking, including past the aggressive dog's house, twice, or $40 in cab fare. 

And the Chewy price was pretty comparable to what I pay at the pet store.  That's an all around win.  I just hope the food is fresh and has a good code.  But they have a high turnover so I imagine it will. 

I plan to go to bed early (didn't get my nap) tonight, as I get up at 4 tomorrow for work.  Not a horrific day planned but a longer one.  I got an email from my health insurance saying they got my payment, and when I did my bank account reconciliation I had enough I didn't know about, to pay for the Chewy.  I left my phone off all day.  I like doing that on occasion. 

I just need to go wish list that "good" rice pot on Amazon.