Cucumber salad

Cucumbers are refreshing and delicious in the summer. You can eat them just as they are, like a banana, unpeeled, or you can get a little fancy and toss them into salads. I like them slightly pickled and I think they make a great addition to any BBQed meat you happen to be having that day.

My mother used to just slice them thin and add salt and vinegar and let them marinate for a few hours before serving. My mother-in-law does the same, but drains them and adds sour cream and dill, and maybe some mayonnaise. I find that it's good with all their additions as well as with some prepared horseradish.

If having guests over, I like making cucumber sandwiches. Eyeballing everything, I mix sour cream, cream cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, prepared horseradish, white pepper and some salt. Then I mix in diced cucumbers and spread it nice and thickly between two slices of white bread with the crusts cut off. This is my version of the cucumber tea sandwich.

As you can see, given all the fatty condiments listed above, I don't make these very often. So it's a nice treat every time I put it on the table. Or you can just keep it simple like my mother did with the vinegar and salt. Not very fattening there, but still delicious!

The Complete I Hate To Cook Book

When my family moved to our second house, the previous owners left a stack of books behind. In the collection was The Complete I Hate To Cook Book by Peg Bracken. I was only 10 at the time, so I didn't have much interest in cooking or in cook books. Still, after browsing through it, I found the writing and illustrations witty and fun. I have never found another cook book quite like it. Sadly, all of Peg Bracken's books are now out of print, except for the 50th Anniversary edition of the I Hate To Cook Book.

As a teenager, I went through the whole book and bookmarked recipes that I thought would be within my abilities to try. I found some real beauties that I continue to use to this day and still get rave reviews. One of my all-time favorite recipes is the 6-Minute Cheesecake, which is both very simple and very creamy. Another favorite is the Maui Bread, a fantastic banana bread recipe I always turn to when I have overripe bananas.

Now that I'm even older, I decided to revisit the book. I still love the humor and the funny illustrations, but I found the recipes dated and much of it uses processed foods. The original book was published in the 50s, which would account for why the recipes are what they are. The author certainly didn't take into account how many calories, cholesterol, sodium or preservatives are in her recipes, but I'm sure they're probably pretty good when that's all you've got in the house and you really want to put something on the table.

After revisiting the book, I found some more recipes I'd like to try, some with alterations:
Hellzapoppin Cheese Rice
Curried Spread
Florida Dip
Your Basic Meat Mix or the 4-Way Meatloaf
Dr. Martin's Mix
Hurry Curry
Cheese and Wine Bake
Sole Survivor
Let 'Er Buck
The Neitzel Grinder
Danish Almond Sheet
Eddy's Oyster Loaves
Really Southern Corn Bread
Tomatoes Provencal
Armenian Sandwiches
Riviera Sole
Fake Hollandaise
Blender Hollandaise
Simple Beans
Sour Cream Cabbage
Guest Chokes
Tomartichokes
Shakel Egg Supper!

Any recipe that calls for soup mix, bouillon, condensed soup and processed cheese, I'll be making adjustments. 

Pasta Primavera is easy

I love pasta primavera. It's also pretty easy. I like to start the pasta cooking while I start cooking the veggies in my wok. I use whatever veggies I have on hand and add garlic. Once the pasta is mostly cooked, but still firm, I drain and dump it into the wok and toss with lots of grated parmesan, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serve after everything is cooked through. Easy, right?

Return of the Sun Oven fun!

Now that the weather is warmer and the sun is once again trailing across my back yard, I broke out the sun oven. I've been able to use for two days before it started raining for the next 3. The first day was very sunny and the second was on and off cloudy.

On the partly cloudy day, the temperature in the oven would rise quickly when it was sunny and would cool to about 200 degrees when it got cloudy. I was able to get water boiling hot and cook diced potatoes, carrots and hard boil some eggs. I could have roasted them dry like last year, but I actually prefer the texture of them boiled in water. They came out very nicely, in fact. I also sauteed some onions and garlic in butter and tried to make a frittata, but it was too late in the day to finish. I had to finish the frittata in the toaster oven. Still came out wonderfully! The boiled items took all day to cook since there was no consistent amount of sun.

On the sunny day, the temperature easily broke 300 degrees. I was able to quickly reheat some leftover pasta for lunch, and defrost and heat up some frozen cabbage soup for dinner. For the cabbage soup, I tried something a little different. I aimed the oven for the afternoon sun and didn't readjust after that. I left the oven out until 7PM to see if the soup was still hot. As it turned out, the soup was still warm, but not hot. I had read online that you can leave the sun oven aimed towards the midday sun in the morning before work, go to work, come home and dinner would still be warm and ready. My guess is that you'd have to make it home earlier than 7PM and your dinner would be warm, but not piping hot. Maybe the oven would keep the temperature longer if the weather was hotter. That day, the temperatures were mostly in the 40s. Also, the temperature may have dipped in the afternoon due to condensation building up on the inside the oven glass.

The problem with condensation is that it prevents the sunlight from reaching the cooking chamber and lowers the temperature. Apparently, others have also encountered this problem and I found a post online that offers 3 different solutions. I have yet to try them out, but I plan to the next time we have a sunny day.

Actually happy to be cooking again

Since I got pregnant, I admit that I've been lazy. Either that or I've been too tired to do anything. Seriously, the fatigue was pretty rough. I'd find it almost impossible to stay awake at times. Now that I've been feeling better, I've been more active around the house, taking walks with my hubby on nice sunny weekends and cooking again.

Honestly, I didn't think I would get out of the rut of not cooking, but I've been enjoying it. Last night, I made a fantastic creamed spinach recipe I found online. I spread it over toast and topped with tender scrambled eggs. The recipe is posted here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/creamed-spinach-recipe_n_4911268.html

Originally, I just cooked the spinach in milk or cream, but the above recipe is soooooo much better! In the past, I also liked added mustard to the creamed spinach before putting it on the bread, but this time, I wanted to try it without the mustard. Maybe I'll add it next time.

Been on hiatus

I've been on hiatus due to repeated miscarriages and now I'm pregnant again, but this time, it seems to be sticking around! I'm currently nearing the end of my fourth month. The previous 3 were torturous, with constant fatigue and constant nausea. Needless to say, I had no appetite and lost a few pounds. I am happy to say that I am much more comfortable now and am simply thankful to be able to enjoy eating again. :-)

It's strange to me that I still feel like it's early on in my pregnancy, but already a linea nigra just appeared on my belly and I am already wearing maternity clothes. Speaking of maternity clothes, I'm so glad I made the switch. I was wearing a belly band before that, but have now found that maternity clothes are much more comfortable. I haven't gained back the pounds I lost and yet my belly keeps sticking out more and more.

So now, I'm researching cord blood banking, doulas and birthing classes. I am also thinking about enrolling in a cloth diaper service and starting to think about what things the baby will need. My mother has collected some hand-me-downs from friends who've given birth before me and I hope to be able to use some of that.

15 Major Retailers That Haven’t Signed the Bangladesh Safety Agreement

Some on the list are not surprising. Have a look:
http://www.ecouterre.com/15-major-retailers-that-havent-signed-the-bangladesh-safety-agreement/

People vandalizing national parks

Seriously, what the heck is wrong with people?!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/us/as-vandals-take-to-national-parks-some-point-to-social-media.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0

Great idea for dealing with irresponsible dog owners

We have a fair amount of dog owners in our neighborhoods. Although most are good about picking up after their dogs, some are regularly bad about it. What's terrible about owners that don't pick up after their dog, is that their leaving the sh*t in front of someone else's house to deal with and that's just not cool. We've even had one time when someone tossed the bag of dog poop into our recycling bin after the garbage people had finished with their pickups. So we were left to deal with it until the next pickup. Because of irresponsible dog owners, we now use plastic bags to put our garbage and recyclables out. I would love to be able to put out our bins instead of bags, but we often come hope to people tossing disgusting things in random bins, like chewing gum and dog poop. I don't own a dog and I assume that not owning a dog means I don't have to pick up dog poop.

Anyways, it appears NYC is not the only place that have irresponsible dog owners who don't pick up poop. Check out how one town is dealing with the problem:
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/town-mails-dog-defecation-pet-owners-who-dont-clean

10 ways to breeze through laundry

I don't know why, but laundry is one of my least favorite chores. Anything that will make laundry faster and easier is a good thing! Check out this article here:
http://lifehacker.com/5993006/top-10-ways-to-breeze-through-laundry-like-a-boss

I particularly like the folding methods. My favorite is folding a T-shirt in 2 seconds. Hubby goes through a lot of T-shirts and a lot of socks. This makes me think the sock bankruptcy idea might be a good one.

Cable Companies Can Now Force You to Rent Set-Top Boxes

How aggravating is this?
http://lifehacker.com/5994508/cable-companies-can-now-force-you-to-rent-set+top-boxes-here-are-your-alternatives

How to tuck a shirt

Supposedly, this method of tucking a shirt will keep the shirt tucked. I can't tell you how many times my shirt has become untucked as I move around throughout the day. A nice blouse or shirt coming out of my suit pants or skirt is not a nice look!
http://agoodman.com.au/how-to-tuck-in-a-shirt-so-that-it-stays-tucked/

Gunk remover

I tried this out on my toaster oven, which was quite overdue for a deep clean and it worked very well!
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/03/2-ingredient-homemade-kitchen-cabinet-gunk-remover.html

How to hang a sweater

If you have more hanging space than dresser space, this might a useful link:
http://snapguide.com/guides/hang-a-sweater/

Worrisome trends

I was in denial for quite some time, but I now think it is inevitable that our concept of privacy and our right to privacy is ending. There are just too many in power who do not think such a thing is worth protecting. The average person has no recourse and will have to accept that the only thing they can do is suffer these trespasses. Why the glum outlook? There are number of things that, when added together makes me sad about the direction things are going in this country.

For one, traveling should be fun experience, unless you fly. After all, the TSA can grope, disrespect and steal from you with impunity. If you protest, they can make traveling a horrible experience for you. Yes, some agents have been caught doing bad things and were fired, but those were just the ones that got caught. How many are out there that didn't get caught? Plus the fact that airlines are nickel-and-diming their customers just to bring some vacation essentials along and if they lose or damage your stuff, there isn't all that much you can do. You can try getting some money, but they'll aggravate your efforts at every turn. So really if you fly, your physical person and your stuff is subject to another's wandering hands.

Drones can now fly within the U.S. Yes, sooner or later, the local police can spy on you by flying a remote controlled aircraft by your window or follow you around, even if they don't have a warrant. Technically, the thing is in public space, right? Again, nothing you can do about it.

The government can kill you, even if you're a U.S. citizen if they think you're a terrorist and don't even need to prove it in a court of law. They just label you the right word and bam! You're dead, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. By the way, they can do this while you're on U.S. soil. We might as well throw the Constitution out the window.

Combine the power above with the fact that the government knows pretty much everything about you cause they have been spying on everybody's email, telephone and social media activities for the past 7 years and you're probably f*cked if you have ever even hinted at thinking about something they don't like. The problem is if your own government chooses to target you for any reason, you won't know and there's nothing you can do about it and there's no way to defend yourself. Probably you'll just end up dead or disappeared and nobody will even know why.

It's not just the government, but social media and other companies can know everything there is to know about you too. Companies sell your data to other companies and round and round it goes until everything about you is known to everyone.

Even your physical body isn't sacred with the more and more hotels, resorts and cruise lines making use of biometrics. Soon, all you have to do so go somewhere and doors will either open or lock itself based on either accurate or faulty data. After all, despite the advancements in technology, they do sometimes fail or get things wrong. What if you have an identical twin? What if the systems were hacked and now everything in your life is f*cked? What recourse do you have? How can you, the average person with average income, correct this?

The issue here isn't just invasion of privacy, but also potential for abuse. The fear is what if, in our hysteria to make life appear safer, we cause suffering to thousands or millions of innocents? How many 5-year-olds had to be groped by the TSA before guidelines were changed? Where is the common sense? The government defends their ability to suspend habeas corpus, do away with the right to a trial by peers, reach into your life and spy on your every move without need for "reasonable suspicion," and this is only the beginning. Life goes on, but when will our over-reaching government stop reaching? When will it become apparent that, although nothing unbearably bad on a mass scale has happened, these are the steps to create a situation where unbearably bad things CAN happen on a mass scale? Have we learned nothing from history? Or have most of America stopped teaching it?

Fight against the patent troll threatening podcasting!

Seriously, something needs to be done about patent trolls.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/help-save-podcasting

Some men are beyond disgusting

Disgusting behavior. Makes me feel nervous to be wearing skirts whenever I hear about these stories, which seem to have increased in frequency lately.

http://www.thelostogle.com/2013/05/30/oklahoman-reporter-zeke-campfield-was-arrested-for-allegedly-taking-upskirt-photos-at-the-moore-high-school-graduation/

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Court-accused-told-police-trying-light-fart-film/story-19146205-detail/story.html

Navy switiching to fire-resistant uniforms

Since our military is generally around combustibles, you would assume their uniforms are fire-resistant. Apparently that is not the case for current Navy uniforms, which are not only flammable, but also melts. So basically, if you wear one of these things and you catch fire, it will melt itself onto you so you can’t get it off and proceed to “burn robustly until completely consumed.” Scary, no?

http://wtkr.com/2013/05/30/navy-announces-plans-for-new-fire-resistant-uniforms/

Rose bush is blooming

Our rose bush has started to bloom. I trimmed it down aggressively last fall and it has already grown back what it lost. I am taking time out every week or two to keep it under control or the thing will take over the entire yard! I am having fun clipping the roses as they bloom so far, but since they're not long-stemmed roses, they don't seem to last. Still, it's nice to have flowers around. I think once this round of blooms have been spent, I'll trim it back again. Last year, the thing just kept growing and growing and I don't want it climbing over the garage or into my neighbor's yard, which it threatens to do already.

In other news, our strawberries are turning red! Can't wait to try some! I am also happy to report that our garlic is doing well, our potatoes have finally sprouted green shoots, our bean are still alive and our citrus trees are regaining their lost leaves with a vengeance! I am cautiously excited and rather afraid of these promising signs ending in more failure. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Peppermint

I love peppermint! I remember when I was little, a friend said she hated peppermint and I didn't understand why. I wonder if she's changed her mind since, but I sure haven't. I still love peppermint!

Not only do I have a peppermint plant growing in the back yard, but I also have peppermint essential oil stocked in the house. I love picking sprigs off my plant in the summer and grinding some raw sugar into it, then adding some rum and iced water. Or even just boiling the peppermint sprigs with some sugar for a sweet peppermint tea, which is good for an upset tummy.

I use the essential oil on my temples and ears to relieve tension and headaches, I add it to my tooth powder and I rub it into itchy bug bites to relieve the itch. You can add it lotions to make your lotions minty and I sometimes, I just love sniffing it.

Yes indeed, peppermint is a wonderful thing.