But I can work.
My friend from the Caribbean said the plantains I bought would be good in a veggie stew (the starchy green one) and some rice with coconut milk (the sweet, black, one). I'm going to try that this weekend.
Next week it gets interesting. I work weekends, etc but I would rather have time off during the week. So that's fine.
At the time of Ron's accident, we had two, level-one, Trauma centers. They flew him downtown.
He was released after several weeks, I took care of him after that. He went back in the hospital a few times after that but he always came home.
Anyway, after Ron's accident I heard the trauma center did a "Trauma Survivor's Day" to showcase the patient and the people who cared for them. They invited, they said, all the trauma patients every year.
Ron never got an invitation. I'm not sure why. Maybe they didn't see him as a positive outcome. He was a lot better to me after the accident but that's not saying much.
But I've been thinking about that lately, how many of us are trauma survivors. I had a lot of issues with food, for instance. I always had to have a lot of food in the house. I always bring more than I'll eat for my lunch. Some of that, I share, but a lot of it I bring home.
I see people at work, who have obviously had food insecurity, take food from the lunch room not because they're hungry but because it's there. Old donuts, things like that. We get donuts from the bakery every Friday. They're not very good. But some employees will get a paper towel and stash 6-7 donuts in their bag in addition to the 1-2 they're eating. It's obvious they've suffered want. They don't want the food but they feel compelled to take it.
I was surprised how fat I was in a lot of the baby pictures I got from my sister, particularly ones after my Dad remarried. I leveled out at some point. I was about 130 pounds and five-seven at seventeen when I met Ron.
But we never really recover, I think. We move on, we adapt, we adjust. We make it look easy. No one would ever guess. But we carry the scars.
Well my gut is about 80%. I'll be able to work tomorrow which is a good one as it's a long day. I am a little revolted at the food commercials on TV. I think I'm just going to make some rice or pasta for my lunch tomorrow.
I'm still not hungry for today.
The Original Gangsters were very cuddly today. Scrappy has been in and out.
I almost always have a terrible migraine when I call out. I had a moderate headache when I got up at 7 but the Excedrin is doing a good job. I keep running to the bathroom, I'm not over this yet. Happily I did not have a vomiting food illness although it was pretty close a few times last night.
I feel like I should be up, cleaning the house. I have a hard time just resting. Good news, I did just buy 4 quarts of chicken broth. I have veggie soup in the fridge but I'm going to go on my old rule of not eating until I am actively hungry.
I did have a a banana when I took the Excedrin as I wanted something coating my stomach. I have plenty more bananas, oatmeal, pasta. My stomach is fine but my gut is not.
I think I'll get some probiotics when I get paid.
My one (the "good cop") Team Lead tried to call during my nap but I had it on silent. The lady who brought the food also called. With her I'm going to either blame the people on the bus getting me sick with a norovirus or "bad leftovers" (they are fine).
I am battling a moderate headache.
I was up all night with what I believe was food poisoning. It was very unpleasant. I called out. I only worked 5 hours today anyway. It's a shame because I would have only seen the spicy boss for a half hour anyway.
She is up to her old tactics. Supervisors can get printouts from people applying for positions. Someone had quit about a week ago. She did that and put application printout papers where the associates would find them "I can replace you, too!" But that is a major violation of employment law as the papers have confidential information, like full socials, on them. They are not supposed to give us access to that kind of stuff and little Ms Nosy (not me) was browsing them yesterday.
She also said I was "in trouble" for doing the thing they have been demanding I do, and not training me on at all despite repeated requests on my part. That if I "kept it up there would be consequences".
What? The work getting done? I believe the place I send it after it's done is complaining because now they have actual work to do. "They have to review it" (I did it correctly!) "Before they will let me do more". Fine, in the meantime it continues to pile up.
If there's a real problem with how I'm doing it why not train me directly so I can do it "their way"? This is why I won't buy Walmart stock. They're not efficient. Everyone is trying to save their job they're not focused on making the company money.
Anyway I'm going to hydrate today. I have been flushing all night there can't be much left now. More later.
It makes me sad I had to cut myself off for so long.
My orange glop turned out very well. I had some for breakfast and I'm still not hungry at 4 PM. It's not heavy though but it does have a lot of fiber.
I think I put the recipe up already so I won't, again.
Friday I think it was, I was wanting a veggie stew, some beans, potatoes, carrots, in a rich broth. I am working on that now. I didn't figure it out until after I started it but it will be great for those nights when I come home from work wondering what the hell to have for dinner.
I have potatoes, carrots, barley, diced tomatoes in it. The nice thing about cooking for myself alone I can add or remove things according to my taste. I don't like cooked celery, for instance, so I don't have to use it. I have bay leaf, thyme, oregano, and sage in it. A little black pepper.
This is another nice thing about living alone. I have a nice, 4 ounce, jar of black pepper. We have some great, regional, spice companies in addition to the imports and national brands. This was Bolner's, they're headquartered out of San Antonio. Spicy World actually imports spices and repackages them for retail sale in Houston - good stuff. Bolner's is a good spice brand on single spices but I have found many of their blends have MSG. Anyway, I got a nice jar of pepper from them.
My cheaper spices have a screw cap. Undo the cap and there's a flimsy shaker top. The top is easy to remove and stick my measuring spoons in there. The Bolner's has a very stubborn shaker lid. The main lid unscrews easily but I have spilled the pepper twice now trying to get it off.
So, when I got it off, I threw it away. I don't shake pepper on my food. I use measuring spoons to get it out and put it in what I cook. Why keep the annoying lid and spill all my pepper? So I threw it away. No one's going to object.
That's the kind of thing Ron would have been livid over.
I'm watching NCIS reruns on ION. After Ron died, the first thing I did was turn off the cable TV. I have internet of course and it's Rico but very reliable. I watch TV on my day off (one day) while I cook. It's over the air tv with my antenna.
Anyway two characters were talking. A terrorist tells Ziva "You've spent the best years of your life in prison" and I thought, wow, that's entirely true. But I still have a good 30 years left and I'm going to enjoy them. Share the Gospel. Be kind. Love my cats.
It's been very nice today and Scrappy has been out more than in, but when he comes in he meows very sweetly, finds me (I talk to him), gets some pets, checks out the food situation.
My washer was making very unhappy noises and then got out of round on the spin cycle. Horrible noises. I've decided I'm going to do what I can to fix it. I'm very sentimental when it comes to things, my fridge, the washer, my vending machines. It's 8.5 years old but maybe I can fix it. I'm going to look into it, at least.
Ron called an appliance repair company to come work on the fridge. They charged us $200 and didn't fix it. So much for that. He found a commercial refrigerator repair technician who thought it would be great fun to work on a household fridge for a change, especially when he found out it was made in 2001 (my food is still cold!). It was having an icemaker issue. He came out, had a look at it, and said "It's going to be cheaper to replace your built in microwave" (when he saw it was dead) "Than repair it. Also they don't make parts for this fridge anymore. Just use it as long as you can if ice doesn't matter to you." It didn't, to me. Ron and I had some bitter arguments he wanted to replace it. I wouldn't allow it.
I don't have his number. And I have zero faith in the appliance repair guys in Houston, now. So I'll call the Sears Repair #. They are about $200 to come out I think. But I want to at least try.
Sentimental, I know. If I really do go full time (boss says she wants it) I will be able to afford it. I think I'll do that first, Scrappy is OK for now.
Then I'm getting his little furry butt neutered, a chip, shots. He's not full grown yet I'd say between 6-9 months. Old enough.
Of course he'll get fat once I do it but that's OK. I love black cats and he is very, very, sweet.
I have been talking to Spotty who is conflicted about this and we had a good nap together today.
I decided to make red lentils today, with sweet potato, carrots, and pumpkin (all orange vegetables). I'm going to season it with cinnamon and Kashmiri Chili powder and finish it with a little coconut milk. I think it will be fantastic. If it's a fail it isn't a lot of groceries.
I also bought a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters, the old poverty special. Basically every bill I had came due at payday. Even with vegetables and work snacks my total only came to $15. That will last me a while. I really love lentils, they are filling without being heavy. It's a wonderful meal at work, heats up quickly and sticks around without making me sleepy.
I'm also going to make a veggie stew with pretty much all my favorite veggies (no meat). Sometimes I just don't want meat. I grew up in a household where Dad wanted very heavy, meat and potatoes, type dishes every night. I am not afraid of fat in my cooking but not all the time. I like lentils, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Stir fries, soups, etc.
And the budget grocery store came through on that. I even got some good work snacks, pretzels, little cups of flan, and lemon sandwich cookies.
I'm going to take a nap, I got a late start.
I forgot about the pork chops. I got a package for $5. It had 6 chops. I took the first one out, threw a little lard in my skillet, cooked it and cut it up for Cleo. Scrappy had some, too. A lot of rescues got accustomed to eating people food in their street cat days.
Pork chop photos:
I made "pilaf" with 1 cup white rice, some leftover chicken broth, water, about a cup frozen mixed veggies, a teaspoon of salt. Rice cooker.
I basically just pan fried the chops in the skillet, in lard. I had plenty of drippings left so I made gravy:
I do love a good gravy. I just used cornstarch I don't like flour gravy.
I had 6 chops. One to the cats, one for dinner, one in the fridge, and 3 meals prepped for work.
For the glop:
I used old lentils so it took about 3.5 hours to cook. It probably could have been half an hour if I used fresh.
.5 t Kashmiri Chili powder
1 t cinnamon (this was fresh if you use older I would go up 1/2 t)
2 T fresh ginger root, chopped (or could use 1 t dry) add this at the start
1/2 t powdered ginger root (add later)
1/4 t salt
I/2 can plain pumpkin puree (find on the baking aisle)
I measured - 6 ounces (or about one medium) chopped carrot. Make it as big or small as you like for boiled carrots. I made mine pretty small.
1/2 medium (or 6 ounces) chopped sweet potato (I left the skin on)
1 cup red lentils (the mistake I made tonight I used older ones, you want fresh ones for this). I have gas issues with beans if I don't soak them first so I did soak them. That removed some of the red coloration but again, these were old.
I soaked the lentils and poured that water off (really cuts the gas I even do this with split peas). I cut everything up and got out my spices and measuring spoons. I boiled 4 cups of water in a larger pot (4 quart). It expands a lot I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 3 quart saucepan if you follow this to the letter.
Once the water was going I added half the cinnamon, all the chopped ginger, and half a teaspoon of chili powder. I added the vegetables (can use more by the way but make sure they are orange), waited for the water to boil again.
Once it had I added the lentils. If you use fresh lentils this will be over in half an hour. I used lentils that "expired" 4 years ago. Fresh.
Cook until lentils are soft and falling apart, adding water as needed. Add the rest of the seasonings about halfway through.
They have an amazing kick to them.
As you know I get a lot of migraines, many food related. So I tried a little "glop" with some coconut tonight. If I get a headache it probably won't be awful, and I'll know not to use the coconut milk. It was amazing, though. If I can do coconut milk I'll use half a can.
When finished:
