Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dailure-60 degrees and steady

For the last month or two the temp in the am has stayed at about 60 degrees. For South Florida this is considered "chilly". But for a true Wisconsinite that ain't nothin. It's invigorating. I wish it would stay. But summer is approaching and we will go back to hot and sticky. So I'm gonna seize the moment. My neighbor and I have been walking, every morning, at five. I love having to actually don sweater and sweat pants.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

What's cooking

(Editor's note: meant to post this to my other blog, but then I thought, what the hell, maybe these other people would like a recipe or two...)

Made a couple good dinners that I thought I'd share. Last night's was throw whatever vegetables I had on hand into a stir fry, and put it over brown rice. I used asparagus, red onion, snap peas and cauliflower. First I sauteed garlic in sesame oil, then I added the onion, then the cauliflower and then the peas and asparagus. I tossed in some Thai peanut sauce I had, some hot spicy red sauce like Tabasco or that Chinese one I can never remember how to spell, and then added chopped cashews and sesame seeds. I think if I'd added tofu it would have kept my belly full all night. As it was, I felt great after eating it but hungry in the middle of the night!

Tonight was more filling: fried 1/4 lb. of pancetta (can also use bacon). Drained it on towel and then added 2 cloves of garlic to the hot pancetta oil. After a minute or two, I added 2 cans Canelloni (white kidney) beans. I let it sit while I made the dressing, then added 1/3 finely chopped red onion to the beans. I mixed the beans/onion with a bag of Arugula. Here's the dressing: 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan and 1 clove of garlic (all of which I put in the blender). To the dressing, I added 2 TBSP freshly chopped basil. Toss the dressing with the beans/onion/arugula. On top of that, put the crisp pancetta and a bunch of grilled asparagus. (I par boiled the asparagus first for about 2 minutes til tender, then plunged them in ice water, then dried them and added olive oil and salt and grilled them for about 3 minutes til they blackened.) We had this with a bottle of 2004 Argentine Merlot.

I am adding to my garden every day. I have a bunch of seedlings, but am so anxious to get planting my herbs and vegetables that I can't stop myself from buying a few more every day. They're doing pretty well, although looking a little yellow so I added organic fertilizer to my organic mulch and soil. Fingers crossed. I thought my tomato seedlings were ready to plant (3"), so I did...and now they're very sad looking. I think it's still too cold for them (40 degrees). They were all flopped over today, so I tried resurrecting them with a covering of plastic wrap! We'll see how they look tomorrow. I might have done them in for good. Good thing I didn't plant them all!

Enjoyed half of a Toblerone bar while I wrote this post. Seems I can't eat so healthy after all. Still need that fat and sugar!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Dailrag

I do it, pretty much, everyday and it's one of those necessary pain-in-the-neck tasks, flossing. I really hate to floss. I do it because I go to the dentist, every six months, for a cleaning and it hurts, like hell if I don't floss. I'm still not sure if the waxed or non-waxed floss works the best.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Dailure-Jasmine



Started walking again, with my neighbor, and the Jasmine is in full bloom. It's ubiquity fills the air with the sweetest smell. It makes walking a pleasure, even at 5:00 AM.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Dailure-flowers


fresh flowers arranged by moi gives me a boost. Sometimes I like putting just one, in a bud vase, on the kitchen counter, so I can look at it while I cook. I love corals and purples together or white tulips in my funky red vase; simple, inexpensive and lovely.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Dailure-The Daily Show

I must admit I don't watch everyday, but I do catch up, on the weekends with Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. I think he really is one of the most intelligent journalists (and I mean to use that word, journalist, in it's true sense). I feel as if I get more informative news from him than any other outlet. Jon Stewart is smart, funny and tells it like it is. Always good for a laugh and god knows we need more of that these days.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Dailure

Met with the head of the physical therapy program, at UM, today. She is very interested in getting an inter-disciplinary program going at the Lowe, which will bring students in to help hone their diagnostic skills. She's even taken the initiative to reach out to the graduate nursing school prof. Good stuff.

Dailure

The bar for what is considered good news is pretty low when I think it's great that Jordi's blood tests were "good". That made it okay for him to have round 2 of his chemo treatment. He was doing alright until he decided to take a three mile hike. Whatever was the man thinking!? And so he crashed at 7 pm. I just can't and don't want to try and imagine what it feels like to have that poison drip into my system. Certainly explains his somewhat out of sorts behavior.