Oh the Sweetness of Corn

Oh the sweetness of raw corn-on-the-cob. I used to love it boiled to death, or even nuked in the microwave, then covered with butter, a bit o' salt. Then one day, I took a bite of fresh corn, just shucked and not cooked. I was hooked. Good sweet corn does not need to be destroyed with excessive heat. It does not need to be slathered in butter or sprinkled with salt. It just needs to be eaten in its natural oh-so-sweet state.

YUM!!!

Seussical

Headed to the Parkway Playhouse with my friends Judith and Chrissy tonight to see Seussical. Can't wait. Our friend Stephanie is in it as well as our friend Suzan's daughter, Myra. Love all the Playhouse actors. This will be my second musical this year, fourth overall performance, and they impress every time. I'm really enjoying this theatre thing. It's a great way to get your mind off the day-to-day stuff that can often bring you down. And you sure can't beat spending time with friends.

Next up in August is Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood.

Notes From The Confusion

What do you tell someone when they ask how you are during a long illness that many people don't believe in in the first place? What do you tell someone when they ask how someone you love who is in that situation is doing? How do you explain something that has no exact known cause and no known cure? Something that causes a myriad of symptoms including depression and lots of pain.

My husband has had several health issues for the past two years. He had his gall bladder out in 2009 and was also diagnosed with hemochromatosis of the liver at that time. (Basically, he has too much iron in his blood.) Then depression hit along with muscle and joint pain over his entire body. A diagnosis of fibromyalgia soon followed. Here we are, two years plus in, and still no end in sight. He regularly sees his GP plus three specialists, with a fourth one soon starting. (I'm making him an appointment with a pain clinic.) He is also starting a second round of physical therapy that we are having to fight tooth and nail to get done, even though he did so much better during the first round.

Don't get me wrong, some things are better. The liver issue has really improved. For three months, he had to have a pint of blood taken every week. Now he's down to every three months. That might even get better, but ever three months is a major improvement.

And the stomach issues he had before and after he had the gall bladder removed have greatly improved. He can pretty much eat what he wants, although I do try to not give him many iron-rich foods for obvious reasons. Most days he even has a decent appetite, although he still has days when he doesn't want to eat anything at all.

The pain is the worst part. He hurts all over most of the time. Trips to the doctor's office two miles away are torturous, and don't get me started on the ones to doctors in Linville or Asheville (23 miles and 52 miles away). He feels every little bump in the road, and those of you who live up here know how these roads are.

Of course there are also medications. Many medications. All you can do is treat the symptoms and each doctor works with their specialty, and they all have their list of meds they start with and work through. So many pills.

Fibromyalgia is a real disorder which causes pain, fatigue, sleeplessness, concentration problems.....etc. The biggest problem is that some people, and even some doctors, don't believe it's real. I wish those people could be in my husband's shoes for just one day. I wish they could feel the way he feels for even one hour. They would change their minds very fast.

A Cheesy Deal

Hello cheese fans. And when I say "cheese fans," I mean those who like/love cheese of all kinds, not those who love cheesy jokes and such. (You know who you are.)

I love cheese. It's one of my favorite food groups, right up there with bacon and chocolate. Any time I make a trip to my local Ingles grocery store, I check out their little gourmet cheese section looking for markdowns. Why markdowns? Have you ever looked at the regular prices of that stuff? Then you shouldn't have to ask.

A few weeks ago, I came across a small block of cheese marked down to .99. It was going out of date the next day, which is of course why it was marked down. How drastic was the markdown? Well, this little block of cheese normally costs $14.99lb. Yep, you read that right. $14.99 for a pound of cheese. Don't know who actually pays that much, but it sure ain't me.   :)

Anyhoo, the cheese I got to try that day was from a German company called Kaseberg, and the cheese is Butterkase. Buttery cheese? Well heck, I knew it had to be good. And for just under a dollar, what have I got to lose?

What indeed? OMG, I was in heaven. This cheese is so creamy and oh-so-freaking-good. And of course, I knew it would be a long time before I could ever get it again. Every trip to Ingles took me over to the gourmet cheese to see if maybe, just maybe, they had more marked down. But alas, it was not to be. Not for weeks and weeks.

Then, there it was. The beautiful image of an orange "Special Today" sticker on several packages of the wonderful cheesy goodness. I immediately rushed over and picked them up, only to find that the "Special" was a markdown to $7.99. There were several days before the sell-by date, and I guess they were trying to get them out of there as fast as they could. But still, $7.99?!?! Not this cheese eater. So I put the packages down, noting the sell-by dated listed. I had a plan.

The day before the sell-by date, I made a trip to Ingles. There were two "Special Today" packages left. Just two. And they were still marked $7.99. I grabbed my booty and approached a deli worker. I explained the situation. The cheeses were going out of date the next day and would not be able to be sold. I had bought some for .99 before and wondered if they might mark these down as well. He took the packages, thought for a moment and proceeded to affix a sticker for .99. I thanked the polite young man profusely and left the store that day a happy camper.

For $1.98 I got two packages of a wonderfully delicious cheese that would normally cost a bit over $11 a piece. Now that is what I call a cheesy great deal. (I did also check the other packages and the next date is mid-August. I will be watching.)

Independence Day

So, today we celebrate our Independence Day. There will be food, fun and fireworks...if your town hasn't had them already the way many have, including mine. That is one of my little frustrations. We should celebrate the holiday ON THE HOLIDAY. But, that's just my opinion, and we know all about opinions, don't we.

Nothing really special going on at the Bell house today. Just another day, although I am going to bake some of my super famous Chocolate Mint Chip cookies and maybe some brownies. Yes, I am baking in the middle of July. Can't help it. I like to bake. And as for it being too hot, well, that's what air conditioners are for.

I would like for everyone to remember something today. We are a great country that has made some mistakes. But in the end, we are all in this together. Our opinions may differ, but that shouldn't matter. Healthy debate is good, compromise is a necessity and name-calling is just plain stupid. Stop it.

Have a great holiday, y'all.

Wordless Wednesday (Floral Edition)

Things to Do

Ah, Tuesday. The week isn't even half over, but at least it's not Monday. Woke up two-and-a-half hours before the alarm was set to go off, and couldn't go back to sleep. Oh well. The morning/early afternoon is filled with a med appointment for the hubs and pet sitting for Jack the Parkway cat, a wonderfully delightful client I must say, then it's back home for.....a nap. Yes, I see a nap in my near future.

Google here has the right idea. But then, he is a cat after all.

Green Bananas

I have a bunch of bananas that just will not get ripe. They sit there, all pretty green,  mocking me. So, I decided to look up recipes using green bananas. Now, I know there are ways to get these things to ripen. For instance, I've read that if I put them in a Ziploc bag with some tomatoes or apples, that will do it. But am I going to do this? No, I'm not. I decided to go the unconventional route of actually using these bananas as they are if possible. Why not? I love to experiment after all.

So, off I went on the great green banana recipe search, and I actually found some interesting sounding dishes. Like Samoan Green Bananas on All Recipes. It contains just 3 ingredients (green bananas, onions and coconut milk), which sounds a bit like an odd combination, but I'm willing to try it. Why not?

Also on All Recipes, I found a recipe for Green Banana Fries. What an idea, to cut green bananas into strips and fry like French Fries. Another interesting sounding one to try.

Then on the Cooks.com site, I found recipes for Green Banana Chips (just like fries only cut into slices), Green Banana Salad, Green Banana Pie and various others that sound equally good....or at least interesting, depending on your tastes.

There are other recipes out there. Just glancing down the search results page shows Green Banana Curry (not too sure about that one), Boiled Green Bananas (sounds kinda dull) and even a Green Banana Smoothie (um, maybe). I've even seen a recipe or Mackerel with Green Bananas (probably NOT).

I'm sure if I keep looking, I'll find a green banana recipe that uses some form of chocolate. Now that one I would definitely try.

365 Project

I've been working on something called the 365 Project. The idea is to take a picture every day for a year to show what you were up do basically. It can be a picture of anything that you happen to see and want to take a picture of. I post the pictures on my Facebook page, and thought it would be nice to share some here with y'all.

This was taken on February 14th. I was driving down the road and when I saw this vertical cloud and how it was casting a shadow on the clouds behind it, I had to stop and take a photo. It looked so cool.

The camera was sitting on top of the truck for this one, which is why it's a bit crooked. This is me with Jack, one of my pet sitting clients. I've been visiting him twice a week since last September while his owner is in Ireland. The owner will be coming back soon, and I'm really going to miss my visits with Jack. He's such a good boy. (Although, you can tell from the picture he is not much for being held, especially when he's outside.)

I just like this one...the bright yellow against the old gray house. Would love to know the story behind that house. Maybe I should just make one up.

I almost always have my camera with me and take several pictures most days, not just the one for this project. The problem is deciding which one to use for this.

Today is day 103.

Going Nuts?

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just plain losing my mind. Today is one of those times.

Last year, I lost one of my little kitties, Yahoo. I swear I remember posting about that. I remember putting up his picture and talking about the loss, etc. I even remember people commenting on that posting. Now, when I look back to March of 2010 in the archives, that post is no longer there. Other posts seem to have disappeared as well.

I find this fact rather disturbing. Could it be my mind is merely making this stuff up, that it never actually happened? Or is Blogger for some reason taking down certain posts? Odd either way.

I have to wonder, have any of you had this experience? Or is it just me? If it's just me, I will simply file it away as one of those odd quirks of the human mind and let it go at that. If it's not "just me," although I'll still be angry about my posts having disappeared, at least I'll know I haven't totally gone off my rocker....

...yet.