a few photos

 

goat out in the fenced in yard on a very cold morning

she is peeking out from behind the tree 

two dogs out there, too - but you can't see them laying down in the sun in the leaves

an elephant flower pot Mark made on his 3D printer, but he wasn't sure it would hold up to soil and water.  I'm not sure what else to use it for, but it is cute.  That is a tote bag I am crocheting in the background in the box

seared pork with lots of spices on it, and some zucchini added at the end, if I use a sharp knife and cut the meat up into shreds, I can eat it.  The zucchini wasn't quite done enough to mash, but I was able to eat some of it.

 

another picture of the same little goat from about a month ago, she is totally blind in one eye and can see some light in the other, she wasn't supposed to live past a few months old - they didn't think she could get past weaning onto solid food etc.. but she is over four years old now
 

Our unconventional Christmas tree, because when we had the hvac installed this summer the stand went missing and we cannot find it.  Didn't let it stop us - Mark and Esme both said 'Australian Christmas' without hearing the other one say it.  This is the same little tree and ornaments we have had forever, and it is on a switch so I can turn it off at night.

 

entras intrarea

 Cold, working through the anxiety and the dentures still hurt here and there.  I'm making sure to cook things I can eat - but so often I just want to get dinner done so I can take the teeth out, huddle in warm, and sleep for the rest of the night.  I am eating a good variety of vegetables, and making cake/loaf like mixtures to make sure there is something easy to bring with me to work.  I made a batch of peanut butter cookies, as well, which bears repeating.  I actually do have to work at having enough calories during the day.

 Took Grandma's little dog to the vet and got it spayed - and held it for a few days, to make sure healing was doing good.  Esme went to her college orientation session, and she had to do a few more things before next month.  She is trying hard to keep her math grade up because that is what her graduation hinges on.  

 Last week I had pulled my shoulder out badly somehow on the postal route - probably actually know the mailbox that did it - one of those that is too low and on the edge of a large ditch, so there is no doing it except pulling close and then leaning out the window awkwardly.  I did exercises but was still quite annoyed by it for two days - then one morning it just went 'click' again like a bungee cord being drug over another one, and it felt much better. I was worried it would be injured further by getting our propane cylinders, which we have to refill every few days and are very heavy and awkward.  So far, I haven't done anything worse to it taking those in and out of the car, but I'm aware of it.

 Doing Romanian lessons on both systems, somehow segued to that and I've kept at it.  We haven't went Christmas shopping yet, and I haven't put up the tree yet.  I did buy a few things for Esme last week that I need to wrap up - bought the roll of wrapping paper today.  It is going to be severe cold tonight - so we had put some insulation on Grandma's hydrant and ran the little car around a bit to make sure it has had a good charge.  I have hardly even been running it around the block much, because there is just too much going on and there are only so many hours in the day.  I ran it a good distance tonight.  Now dinner is in the oven, and I have a little language lesson to do, some budget figures to put in, and again, crawl into bed as soon as I think isn't too early.

 

The 'what is this, falafel?' chickpea loaf I made and brought to work with me four days in a row

although this was a very similar process to the black bean meatloaf - it did not act at all the same when stirred up - the rice flour is a very different texture than the whole wheat flour, and the chickpeas had a thick flavored sauce with them instead of the black bean aqua faba 

 

1/2 can of seasoned chickpeas, ground up

about 5 tablespoons of cooked carrot, ground up - this is less than what was in the black bean loaf

more of the orange beef seasoning packet

1 egg

1/2 package of saltine crackers, crumbled and smashed

a few tablespoons to a 1/4 cup of brown rice flour

about a tablespoon of bacon grease heated in the bottom of the pan before spreading the mixture in it

cooked at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, uncovered in a glass pan and then brought it down to 350, when the top of the crust started to get brown, I removed it from the oven and covered it with aluminum foil for a while until I could cut it up and put it in another container.   I wondered if I should have put another egg in it, but then it firmed up really well after it cooled.

 

also made some zucchini soup with two kinds of zucchini, kielbasa and bacon  

 

I found a new seasoning mix that says it has toasted onion and red bell pepper flakes in it, with chili pepper flakes - it is quite good.  I had to look at a couple of places in order to find it - after someone had brought some to work for a grill out. 

The other night I dreamt of blueberry pizza, with spinach, cheese and I drove a block away to a pizza shop to ask them for a cup of tomato sauce to put on it - as it had all blueberry sauce on it instead.  I poured it on right there at the counter and they told me the pizza box would be all soggy - so I started to eat it right there.  I have no idea what that is about except that I did buy blueberries that day after a long time of thinking about them.  In honor of this strange cooking dream, I opened spinach last night and had it with some blueberries and the last of the 'falafel' chickpea loaf. 

neurodivergent cooking : wheat flour and acorn squash edition

 I bought a bag of whole wheat flour last August - and have finally used it up and bought another.  I scored some pad thai sauce and another acorn type squash at the same time.  I've been eating a lot of acorn squash, as well.  I cook with what I have - and the leftovers of cans that I opened for one thing in the fridge get used to make the next recipe etc.  We've saved some bacon grease recently and I've used a bit of it here and there instead of butter or oil.

 

 Neurodivergent cooking : wheat flour and acorn squash edition

 

Simple Whole Wheat pancake / flatbread

1 cup whole wheat flour 

some salt and garlic parmesan seasoning mixed through the flour 

2 large eggs (we have chickens, so I use all the eggs I can)

a splash of milk to make the right consistency of pancake batter

 

butter and heat a small pan

cook in two to four portions to make flatbread pancakes.

simple - easy, when they begin to bubble up and the edges are firm, flip them over, and store them in a glass container for a few days to eat with soup and sauces.

 

The excellent encuacadora sauce : (full of peanuts) 

1 large guajillo chile, with seeds, stem discarded, torn up 

five spice powder (cinnamon, garlic, cloves, ginger, black pepper) 

bit balsamic vinegar

bit of brown sugar (optional)

bit plus a bit of olive oil 

honey roasted peanuts, a few tablespoons or so, ground up

frozen chopped onion, to equal peanuts, ground up 

1/2 small can of tomato paste

1/2 small can of tomato sauce

heat that all up together and mix through blender well at end

 

 black bean 'meatloaf'  I've been thinking about doing this for a good while, but I didn't want to fry it in oil - so I finally got my thoughts together today with the rest of my cooked carrot in the fridge and put it together - it was really good, and both of my dogs wanted me to give them the entire second half (which I didn't - I put it away for later) :) 

1/2 can of black beans - put in the grinder

a few tablespoons, 3 to 4, of cooked canned carrot

1/2 a stack of saltine crackers, crushed up

spices (I used al pastor seasoning and brown mustard and some orange/beef seasoning)

extra black pepper

1 large egg

whole wheat flour to make the proper consistency

1 tablespoon of bacon grease mixed throughout

spoon into a greased ceramic pan and make a smooth top  

cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes (I used our toaster oven) 

 

 

use a small brush to put olive oil on the orange parts of the squash

acorn squash and rice congee (this was SO good I couldn't believe it was easy)

roast, mash and store acorn squash (cut open, scrape out seeds, cut into pieces, brush them with olive oil and roast at 350 to 400 degrees until a fork goes in nicely, let cool a bit, scrape squash from rind with a spoon and store in a glass container)

add cooked rice to acorn squash in 1 to .5 quantities, add a raw egg, cook over medium heat or in a microwave stirring often until egg is completely cooked, add a bit of soy sauce and mayonnaise on either side of the dish to eat if you wish 

 

rutabaga and carrot soup with kielbasa, fresh garlic and onion

chopped and cut up a rutabaga  boiled with kielbasa and onions and some bland summer squash for body - blended that and it was still a bit thin and watery - then I read that carrots are an excellent addition to 'swede' rutabaga soup, so I used the second half of the batch with 2 cloves of fresh garlic and 1/2 a can of cooked carrot - brought that to a boil and then blended that together - and that was so much better!  Still not as good as the turnip soup the other day - but still pretty good.

Cooking lots of things

 

omelet with bacon and spinach/whole wheat flour / egg mixture fried in the bacon grease

I had another half of the spinach mixture that I fried separately in butter and it turned out much more cohesive - pan difference, I think.  All of them tasted wonderful, but I also think I needed the nutrients and that is why I was drawn to cook it.  The cans of spinach had sat in the cupboard for nearly a year without me getting into them...

1/2 can of spinach (I put the other half in the fridge with the liquid in that)

1 large egg, beaten

I don't know - less than a 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, it is supposed to be oats in the original recipe but I'm using what I have 

cook 1 slice of chopped bacon on low to medium until bits are crispy - keep all that oil  

cook 1 more egg as an omelet in a separate pan, in tandem that you can add the bacon in at the end (start bacon, gauge when is right, make omelet, add bacon keeping the oil in the other pan)

form large spoon fulls of the spinach mixture and place in the hot oil to cook, turn over, cook until well done.

but : I found that greasing the omelet pan with butter after the omelet was finished and then putting the other half of the spinach egg mixture in that in a layer made a much better finished product - so, have to try that again.  the bacon grease one was all fluffy and dry, but the butter one was a pancake like structure all smooth on both sides.

 

the lasagna without noodles

And today I am using the sweet potato tomato soup (below), the whole wheat pancake (also below) layered in a pan with this other half of the spinach omelet, mashed sweet potato layer and some mozzarella cheese to make a 'lasagna' - put in the toaster oven in a glass pan at 300 degrees.  1/2 pancake, 1/2 omelet laid on top of that, covered in mashed sweet potato, covered in mozarella cheese, other 1/2 of pancake, pour tomato sweet potato soup over it all to drench well and sit in bottom of pan - bake

 

sweet potato and tomato soup that I made yesterday and saved some of.  With the rest of the wheat flour/rice flour pancakes.

chunks of cooked sweet potato

half a can of 'chili fixings' tomato mixture - with onions, garlic and spices but no beans

a handful of onion

a handful of yellow squash, previously cut up and frozen

some 'orange beef stir-fry' seasoning packet that had orange peel and citrus in it and smelled very interesting - about a tablespoon of that

black pepper

water

cook until well-combined and bubbling, let cool just a bit, use the stick mixer to smooth into a consistency 

 

I have some whole wheat flour that is in the freezer, and some brown rice flour, and I've been using both of them up.  This is three eggs well beaten with whole wheat flour added to it, some brown rice flour (much less, just to smooth it out a little) some baking powder and salt, and a little garlic-parmesan grill mixture (I think it has some texturizer in it, because it does things to eggs when cooked with them.. and it tastes good).  Made three tamagoyaki pan sized pancakes with it.  Mark looked at the batter and said he didn't think that would cook up - but I buttered the tamagoyaki pan (a small Japanese omelet pan) and put it on as an even layer, turned it over when I saw bubbles and a nice edge around it, and it cooked up wonderfully.

was this a black plum or a nectarine?  they are related, so it is hard to tell.  It tasted like a VERY mild slightly harder nectarine.  Mark says it doesn't matter - I saw it, I took it home and ate it, so that is all that mattered.

 

 

Update on the teeth : Not where they should be yet, but I'm still wearing them every day and it only hurts a little now to put them in and take them out, but I don't want to wear them much longer than 14 hours or so because my lips and tongue just get irritated - but I missed my fitting appointment because of the holiday - the office cancelled and tried to move it up a few days earlier, but I got this sinus ick and just put it off now until after Thanksgiving.

 

Sinus ick : It's been annoying, especially in the morning after I wake up - but I'm getting throught it.  An allergy medication helped a lot for the first bit but now I'm letting it flow more to get rid of it.  I can smell everything even through it - which is a bit odd - it feels like my sense of smell is cranked UP with this even though it is making it hard to breathe through my nose.  I'm eating good foods and keeping down on the milk and sugar because I know those things make it worse.

 

Languages : studying French and Czech and a little Japanese here and there.  Reading more Japanese cooking things, and watching a lot of little French videos 

 

bits with vegetables, or fruits

 

 

 

 

We spent three hours at the DMV this morning, but now we have a permit holder and a renewed driver's license in the house.  We'd been trying to get those done for months.  We stopped and did the shopping on the way home and I got fruits/vegetables to prepare.  Ate half the avocado with lots of spice and bread, and then cut up the others to use in soups.

 

It is now 5:30 pm and it feels like night.  It is full dark out, as goes November.  I have already been giving in and going to sleep about 7:30 pm lately because of the temperature - and because I need the sleep.  The healing situation with my oral surgery has done quite well, except in that one place where I think the tooth shard might be.  My next check-up is next week.   Yesterday was the first day in all that time I hadn't taken any pain medication (ibuprofen) at all, although I still hissed like a cat when I took the teeth out at night.  That part still feels like pulling off skin each time - but it isn't, because when I rinse it out there isn't any blood or etc.  It's just that sensitive.  And I note that I'm still 'grinding my teeth' some in my sleep, but since there aren't teeth on the top, I woke myself up biting hard with a bottom tooth into the top gum in one place.

 

I dug a frozen chopped apple out of the fridge, and put it with some split peas, kielbasa, some of the yellow squash and onions in a pot to make soup this afternoon.  I still have some pumpkin, onion and chili-bean soup in the fridge from yesterday.  I can eat softened bread and cookies soaked in coffee with the dentures in, but nothing really hard, because of that spot with the potential tooth bit hurts a lot, then the plate slips.  I haven't lost a lot of weight, even though I've been eating less quantity - probably eating a bit more condensed calories in the soups?  Considering it's winter, that is good, as I really need what I've got to stay warm.  It's all doing fairly well, considering these little bits and my tendency towards inflammation with hEDS.  I didn't know how it was going to be at all in specific, which is why I am writing it down now as I go.

 

dental surgery soup recipes continue: 

 

1 small red delicious apple (I had cut up and put in a freezer container three months ago)

2 cups of water or more 

a half cup of green split peas, washed

a handful of onions

a few pieces of kielbasa

a bit of butter 

a handful of chopped yellow squash

spices 

 cooked until everything was soft and then pureed with a stick mixer.

 

 1/2 can of pumpkin puree

1/2 can of chili beans

handful or more of onions

bit of shredded pork (Mark was heating it up for him and Esme)

lots of spice

lots of hot madras curry powder (specifically)

some butter

2 cups of water

cooked until everything was soft and then pureed with a stick mixer.

 

Last night I dreamt that I had to leave my old mail truck on a long road by a little town - after working a full shift at the hardware store (where the computer system in the dream was absolutely not realistic and I found it eyebrow-raising) and driving out in a little dark blue car I don't have at all trying to go find my truck - and I knew where it was but it didn't make any sense, because it was a right-hand drive and it was parked on the right side of the road right up against a guardrail. I could see it in my mind's eye in the dream - and was driving along waiting to see it, knowing I'd have to turn around and come back and get it.  

 

I was supposed to go back and get in it and drive off, to avoid someone following me from the store.  But then when I got there - the plan was jacked and it was a trap - there were five trucks there and none of them were mine, all on the same basic model plan - red, gold or white, but all left- hand drives and none of them were even the same make - which I told the person in the dream that tried to catch my arm and ask which one was mine.  None of them, mine was a 'X'.  And I pulled away and ran further down the road towards the town, looking behind me all the way, although no one seemed to be following.  Then I walked a bit further into town and went to their post office, and asked them if they had seen a truck parked there.  The two ladies there told me my truck was out back, that the postmaster had had it reported to them and towed it there waiting for the owner to show up, but I didn't get that far to actually see it, as I couldn't find the actual door into the post office the door to the left said 'city hall' and the window said 'post office' and I was wondering if I would have to walk all the way around the building.  At that point, my alarm was going off.

 

 I've had a few of the 'remember this number/ address' type dreams, as well - but the info doesn't really mean anything when I wake up.  They told me it was my phone number, no it wasn't and I wouldn't actually say my number in the dream, although I wrote down the one they told me.  Addresses, same thing.  I run through routes and mail cases (in the post offices) in my dream that I haven't seen before - I can remember it when I wake up but can't remember the exact names and numbers, although they were all there when I was running them and trying to match up packages.  /sigh - like my brain thinks it doesn't have enough to do when I'm getting some sleep *ha

 

Studying Czech, French and Spanish.  Have laid the Japanese aside for a little bit, and haven't studied the Lithuanian vocabulary while I've been awake (although I played it in my sleep, too). 

bits

 We took hours insulating the washing machine wall the other day - but it got done.  Esme had to test a lot of her measuring and cutting skills - and we had to keep pressing through until every step was done the way Mark wanted it done.  I smashed one hand a little on something (still can't remember what) and cut myself with the utility knife, but only a little bit.  Mark always says if you don't bleed on a project (jokingly/sarcasm) it wasn't done right.  I was a bit hangry and really wanted to just be done with it - but he kept finding more details for us to do in each layer before proceeding.   I had come home from the postal route and was making soup in the other room in tandem.  It was good soup - turnip, with zucchini, onions and kielbasa.  I made some lentil with pork fat and red bell pepper today, but the turnip soup still won out as much better.  Mark was making a pork roast for him and Esme - I ate about a tablespoon of that with an avocado for dinner.  It is going to get below freezing tonight, and we've gotten the elderly mama cat in - she slept on my lap while we watched StarGate.  

 I haven't run the little car all week, but will have to see what happens tomorrow after work.  We have run the suv and it was doing well.  We did a major animal feed run in it and got the propane bottles refilled.   I am not going to try to take the little car to work tomorrow as I don't need the anxiety of not getting there in time.  That is a big reason we needed another car that was more reliable, but I can't just let the other one sit all the time either, as it needs to be run for it's battery etc.

 I've been trying to deal with the teeth all week and done a fairly good job.  I'm still grinding most things or making them into blended soup - and bread and cookies that have been soaked thoroughly in coffee.  I've mashed up bananas and peaches.  I've still worn the teeth every single day, and I'm down to just a few painkillers a day (ibuprofen), mostly before I put them in the morning and just before I take them out at night.  I'm fearing there might be a tooth shard in that one place that still hurts so much. Once in a while when the plate slips a little trying to bite something, I can feel a hard bit slide on the plate there - and it would be pretty severe if that was my jaw bone doing that in just that one place - but a bit of tooth shard makes a lot of sense.  That would explain things, including a slight swelling just above it that has not went down.  

Why am I not running into the dentist and asking them to x-ray now that I've thought of that?  Because me and my stupid pain tolerance - it isn't quite so bad that I know something is wrong, but it's annoying.  And to me, what is annoying, is probably their 'what can you give me to get it to go away'... like Spock raising an eyebrow in mild annoyance at somebody rushing him with a sword.  I spent an entire summer with a fracture from falling out of a treehouse, because my mom didn't think it could possibly actually be an injury, because I only cried a little right afterward.  At the ER after another injury, the nurse wasn't sure I could possibly be injured because I was laughing uncontrollably - then she saw the x-ray - that one required a splint.  I held a gushing wound closed on a finger cut down to the bone from my house all the way to the clinic and the doctor there could not believe what he saw when I finally took my hand off it - 'have you been holding that shut the entire time since it happened?' Of course I have.  Why wouldn't you?  Then he gave me ten stitches with lots of superglue over them and a splint on that so I wouldn't move it while it healed.  There is still a long white scar on that finger that if someone looks closely at they stop and ask 'what the hell happened there'.  I have another check-up for the dental in a few weeks, but I will keep in mind that there might be something there that needs to be looked at.

My nose DID stop hurting, finally - after being an added torment to the other mouth pain for almost all of the past two weeks.  I can now do the 'bunny rabbit nose' thing without a shooting pain, and the mobility of my upper lip has also returned, which you don't really realize how much that is used in talking, drinking and eating until you have about half-capacity in it (or none) and that still hurts when I move it a lot, but mostly around that spot I think the tooth shard might be under the plate.

 Most of the rest is going well.  I spent several hours today reading a silly book.

When I brought the turnip in from the store, Esme and Mark looked at it and asked 'what IS it?'  I was surprised - the lady at the store was young, and she knew what it was.  I said: 'C'mon people, it has purple on it, it's a turnip!'  Mark said 'Those don't turnip around here often'  *groan*  I had to try to tell Esme as much as I know about the differences between turnips, rutabagas, and everything else.  Info-dumped on her and I know she understands that is just how mom is *ha*  I cut it open and had her smell it, too, as she likes the smell of onions.  I told her I couldn't explain it but that, to me, it smelled something between an apple, an onion and maybe a radish.  The soup turned out excellent, but I couldn't convince her to try it.  Especially not when Mark had pizza to offer.  It will be a good while before I can eat pizza, or even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without a knife and a fork (but I did do that today, and did succeed).

The turnip soup:

1 turnip, about 1.2 lbs. according to the grocery receipt, washed, peeled and diced

in enough water to cover in a big pot

added a tablespoon or so of olive oil

salt, black pepper, rosemary garlic seasoning

let that boil on medium for at least an hour

added some zucchini, onions and kielbasa from the freezer

let that boil a bit longer, maybe another forty minutes

removed from heat, then blended smooth

poured up in a clean glass jar

 

It is sweeter than potato soup, and has less of that 'mealy grainy' taste that potato soup sometimes has.

 I've been studying mostly Czech, Welsh and Spanish the past few days.  The Czech is in review mode, the Spanish is normal and the Welsh is in super-hard 'Am I going to use this vocabulary? mode'.  I haven't done too much with the to do list, but I did remember to do a few of the things that I had on it, like take the garbage up, and do some laundry things.