Tag Archives: cooking

Beautiful Family

Freepik

I had the most delightful evening with my new family here in Thailand who ‘adopted’ Harvey and me as honorary grandparents for their family. Their mother is visiting from the states and is staying in a condo right next door to mine, so we’re neighbors, too, for about a month!

They came after dinner, bringing me a ‘treat.’ I’LL SAY! It was an exquisite tiny chocolate piece of cake that was ‘low carb!’ With it was a small container of homemade chocolate avocado mousse made by Brian’s friend’s wife.

I carefully divided the piece of cake in half, plus used half of the mousse before bed. I HAD to text her to say that it was absolutely delicious!!!!!!!!! Her daughter loved an avocado chocolate bowl they got for her recently and so she MADE some for her. It only has a small bit of syrup in it, so I don’t have to feel guilty. AND – I get to enjoy the other half tonight!!!!! YUM.

The grandmother is a delightful lady, full of energy and easy to talk to. We had a really good time talking, and will try to get together soon to do something. (She’s a real dynamo, though, so I warned her that I’m old, just finished with some back pain, and low on stamina right now. That didn’t seem to bother her a bit!😁

We’ll go to the family’s place for dinner sometime this week, so I’m really looking forward to that.

The dad (Brian’s friend) brought his son for a few minutes, so I took the opportunity to give my adoptive grandson the dinosaur I painted for him. I have no clue whether he liked it or not – he’s 3 years old and very shy – but I hope he did.

I’m still smiling about the wonderful time we had. What a lucky woman I am!

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No Joke

Simply Suwanee

Jok (โจ๊ก, pronounced joke), or the Thai version of congee also known as rice porridge, is about as comforting as a Thai breakfast can come.

When we visited Harvey at the nursing home, he was very positive (amazing!) about the breakfast he had eaten. He called it, “Fish Soup,” but nodded when Brian found a picture to show him on his phone.

It’s actually a very popular Thai dish called Jok and is routinely eaten as a fortifying breakfast. Brian got us some this morning so that I could try it. (Next time we order, we’ll get half as much because they super generous.)

Since it is known as a porridge, you won’t be surprised that we used up my carbs quota for the day and more with our breakfast. I’m not sorry, though. I wanted to taste it, and every once in a while, when I’m celebrating a milestone, I’ll treat myself to more. Ingredients are rice, pork, chicken, or fish chunks, mushrooms, onions, and other spices. Really, really nice.

The one thing that was difficult for me was the fresh ginger. I bit down on it and my mouth was on fire. Brian insisted it wasn’t spicy, but I had to try to swallow the rest of it whole and also drink the whole glass of water with breakfast.

Brian sent me a message later, which said, “Yes, ginger is spicy. Comes from a compound called gingerol, which gives it a hot, peppery, and warming flavor. While not as intense as the spiciness of chili peppers (which contain capsaicin) gingerol does create a noticeable “hot” sensation on the tongue.”

So I’m not nuts – just a bigger wuss than we thought. 😛 Other than too many carbs for this lady trying to lose the lard, this dish is a definite winner!

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Filed under THAI FOOD!

Food in Thailand

Brian ordered delivery of some chicken tenders recently to go with the fruit and salad we already had. It came in a box with this message on the lid. I’m not sure if he had ever ordered from this place before. They just take the information from the electronic order and make the experience personal and pleasant.😊

Food is literally everywhere in Thailand. There are small stalls up and down every street, shops everywhere, people cooking on the street, restaurants, etc. Brian is trying to help us get healthier by sticking to a simple low carb diet for us since we are wusses about hot or spicy food, and we’ve had such incredible health problems starting in February when we were still in the states.

We can order almost everything – a whole cut up roasted chicken, slices of pork, salads, eggs and bacon, chicken tenders, soup, and more. Brian orders and pays for it via his phone. A few minutes later, his order has been delivered to the lobby/office/mail area downstairs by Grab (their Uber) and he is notified. He goes down and retrieves it. And the prices are really amazing. My husband and I had chicken, pork, fruit and salad for a total of $6.00 – delivered, within 20 minutes. We created a chef salad recently for the three of us by ordering salad with hard boiled egg and all kinds of other things, plus some chicken strips separately. We cut up the chicken into the salad, divided shares, and dug in. All for a bit over $6 for the three of us.

We are weird here, not liking spicy/hot food, AND we are trying to get healthier, eat low carb, and I’m still trying to lose the lard. We are also walking most days until my husband had his stroke. Now my ‘exercise’ is walking in the hospital to ICU where Harvey is, out to the waiting area when they need us to leave, downstairs for a hot coffee to warm up, as we did for the first time yesterday, etc. We will try for more when life returns to normal.

Happily, just looking on his phone, Brian comes up with a lot of variety for us with different meat, eggs, fruits on the Keto approved list, and salads. We have been delighted with our meals since we came, thanks to him. When we move into our new condo around the end of the month, I will have an extremely small kitchen, augmented by equipment we can get, such as a crockpot, a vous vide (equipment that allows precise cooking on everything known to man, including meat, fish, veggies, etc. in a sealed pouch and water.) I had never heard of this and am eager to try it. We’ll get a hard boiled egg cooker, a hot water pot, and maybe an air fryer. We’ll look at things carefully.

Honestly, as cheap and delicious as whole cooked, cut up chickens, and sliced pork done to perfection are, it’s hard to fight simple continuing to order those. Most people here seem to have one main deep skillet they use to cook lots and lots of things. It’ll be fun.

Did I make you hungry yet? 😜

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New Year’s Eve 2024

Her Zindagl

Happy New Year’s Eve! Whether you have wonderful plans for a big party, a ball drop, fireworks, or will have a quiet celebration at home like us, I wish you a happy day of anticipation of a bright new year. The end of a year should bring shedding of old ‘baggage,’ a lightening of your load, a filling of your spirit. Enjoy remembering the good things about 2024 today, then wish it well and welcome 2025.

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Accountability – If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’m trying to lose my lard and get stronger and more flexible. I promised to report to you – as a way of trying to keep my goal active and hopefully reachable one day. As of today, I have lost 46 pounds and there are 48 fewer inches of me. I’m yo-yo-ing around in a 3-pound range these past few days, but I’m inching toward my interim goal and hope to meet it soon. The scales still smirk at me most days, but I will win.

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GeniCook

I told you my nice husband got us two rectangular stainless steel containers with glass lids recently. I always try to cook for more than one meal and we store the leftovers in individual portion containers in the freezer. These are large enough to hold TWO portions of the leftovers, so when I cooked recently, I put double portions into the two containers, snapped on the lids, and put them in the freezer. Yesterday I took one out and put it in the regular fridge. Last night I took the lid off, put the container in the microwave with a paper towel over it, closed the door, and held my breath. The food heated up just fine. No explosions or damage to the container or the microwave! I did use my hot pads to remove the container from the microwave. Last night the lid and the container went into the dishwasher. Sparkling clean and ready to use this morning! This is a really nice thing – to be able to use it so it saves us effort and time. I really didn’t believe what they advertised could be true, but I was wrong.

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This is my latest wood burned and hand-painted piece from the art room. I’m delighted to tell you he has been adopted! He will be mailed to his new home today. I couldn’t be happier. It was joyful to make him, and he will live on their front porch, hopefully bring good luck to his new owners for many many years. :0)

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We are running errands on this, the last day of 2024. When we get home, I’ll write more posts for the blog and may even get up to my art room this afternoon.

I wish you a happy day, full of fun, family, and celebration!

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Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________

Day’s Work in 2 Hours

DepositPhotos

I’m just now back at the computer after errands and chores.

We went to two grocery stores, then got our mail on the way back. We carried things in and put everything away.

I then got the makings of chili in the crock pot for tonight and then cut up a humongous Honeydew melon my husband grabbed. It took three large storage containers to hold all the chunks.

Then we cleaned up and started the dishwasher. WHEW! That’s a lot for these years-challenged people.

Now I’m resting, drinking both ice water and coffee at the same time. I know, it’s weird, but I need the coffee to stay awake until I can fix and eat lunch and then I’ll take a nap. I need the ice water to re-hydrate and cool off.

BoredPanda.com

The rest of the day, once lunch stuff is cleaned up, will be devoted to fun stuff.

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Balmy 9 Degrees

Pinterest

Our local weather station in Fort Smith is listing 1 degree now, but OUR thermometers are showing 9, so we’re breaking out the swim suits and are preparing to enjoy the balmy weather.

I feel guilty when I whine, so suffice to say this cold is unusual for Arkansas. We’re dripping water so hopefully our water pipes don’t freeze. With snow predicted to start at noon and continue through tomorrow, my articulate comment is “UGH.”

My husband asked if I would make my hamburger casserole, so I’ll do that today. Unbelievably, our dog, Amber, is still shedding at a fantastic rate, so I’ll put vacuuming the tiled areas on the list for today, as well.

I’m planning to spend part of the day in my art room, experimenting and scheming, if not actually trying to produce something with my new wood-burning (pyrography) tools.

Another thing I was forced to notice, since we’re running water in the bathrooms and keeping the cabinet doors open, is that I need to clean out the under-the-cabinet areas in the two half-baths on our first floor. They are embarrassingly jammed full of ‘stuff’ that I’ve been ignoring for far too long. With the doors open, I can’t ignore them now, so that will go on the list for today, too.

I hope that wherever you are today, you are safe and warm, doing something fun with your day.

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Sunny Tuesday!

Walt Whitman – Facebook

The sight of the sun yesterday and today is really bringing up my spirits. I usually enjoy rainy days, but lately it seems we’ve had more of our share. We’re due for storms tonight-into-tomorrow. :0)

Petr Vaclavek – Dubanci.cz

I bought 12 tomato plants yesterday afternoon and got them planted. I’ll take pics in awhile and share them with you. I’ll also check on my garden. My plan is to use each sunny day to clean out ONE planter in the yard. We have 14 of them, so this will take awhile. We’ll see how I do. We have errands to run first, so we’ll get some fresh air and sun while we’re out.

I was feeling a bit off yesterday, so only did the tomato planting and my yoga for exercise. I’ll try to do my full list today. I’m doing a month-long exercise plan by Mike of MoreLifeHealth.com and I’m eager to see what the new workout is for the week. I’m supposed to do this every other day during the week.

Unsplash

I’ve been cooking up a storm (for me) lately, trying to rely on meals I make, rather than only the Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ meals. They are too high in carbs for me right now. Two days ago I made a bunch of ‘Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Chicken Breasts” by Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto. Yesterday I made her “Keto Chili.” Tonight I’m making bacon-wrapped hamburger patties. I’m freezing the leftovers in individual serving (or one meal for two) packages so that I won’t need to spend a lot of time in the kitchen for awhile. This saves me work, plus decreases the temptation to eat something I shouldn’t.

Have a great day. I’ll check back with you when we’re back from errands and I have pics to share.

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________

Projects for the Day – 1, 2, and 3

PROJECT 1 – FOOD –

I –

  • grocery shopped and put stuff away, then
  • made sausage balls and
  • got a chicken and veggies dinner going in the crock pot,
  • fixed baby carrots and cut up celery for lunches this week, and then
  • fixed lunch

 

 

PROJECT 2 – CLEANING UP AND ORGANIZING –

I cleaned up the table beside my chair in the living room

Before –

After –

PROJECT 3 – PAYING BILLS –

I’m doing that as soon as I finish this post –

AND THEN

I’ll tackle cleaning up my desk in the office. There is so much ‘stuff’ on it I may not finish it today, but if I do – I’ll post pics.

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Filed under Cherishing the Quiet Day, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob, Organizing/DeCluttering

Rain and Smiles

Nino Chakvetadze - Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Nino Chakvetadze – Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

We’ve enjoyed a cold one today. The temperature hovered in the 40s with a bit of rain off and on. Tomorrow is supposed to be the better chance, and then a freeze with a chance of snow!

I just came in from harvesting the rest of my fall garden. With three days of hard freezes this coming week, I’m taking it down a bit at a time. I’ll post pics in a bit.

This has been the perfect day for seeking comfort – with a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner, lemon pudding made for my husband, chocolate pudding for me, sausage balls for lunches and snacks and a nice pot of hot coffee to ward off the chill.

My hands got so cold while I was harvesting, I’ve been sitting here for several minutes with my hands around my coffee cup – not drinking, just enjoying the warmth!

I wish I could tell you I did all kinds of productive things today. I enjoyed reading a favorite book, tried to take a nap under my cozy throw, but basically did only what I felt I had to do.  I happy to say I enjoyed every minute of my sloth, though. :0)

Hope you’ve had a good day, too.

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Filed under Mother Nature, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds