Movie: Caffeinated

Saturday we watched "Caffeinated" on Amazon Prime. This is a
"Farm to Cup" documentary about the coffee we drink. There was a lot of good information about good coffee. Not mass-roasted and sold Folgers, but the small batch coffees we drink at our local coffee shops and roast in our homes. (Yes, I'd love to get into that.)

The documentary allowed us to meet a couple of families who grow coffee, taking us from the plant to the bag, and then we followed the coffee to the roaster and ultimately the cup.

Oh, and this film confirmed what I've always sort of half thought: sometimes the worst cup of coffee you can have is in the place where it is grown. Most growers send their best beans to the U.S. and other countries, and they drink the leftovers at home for the locals.


If you like food movies and documentaries, this is a great one to watch.

A New Home for My Knives

Yesterday Mensa Boy put up my new knife magnets. I'm delighted with them! Last year I received my first Shun knife from Taylor for Christmas and since then I've added a couple more, along with a Victorinox slicing knife.

We have pretty much no wall space in our kitchen, so we really had to think about where to put them. The options were: on the side of the cupboards by sink (our choice), underneath the cupboards, or inside them. Because the slicing knife is so long (the blade alone is a foot), and to avoid accidentally snagging one doing things around the kitchen, this location seemed best. It's slightly creepy having sharp knives hanging at eye level, but we should adjust ok. The magnetic strips were $15.95 each and are 10 inches long. They come in a variety of lengths and you can buy them at Lowes and other places, but the shorter lengths are harder to find. Be sure you read reviews. Some strips out there don't have magnets that are strong enough to feel secure. 

The Best Offer

I keep thinking about how much I enjoyed this movie the other day. Geoffrey Rush plays a renowned fine art auctioneer (with a secret), who is hired by an agoraphobic heiress to auction off all her art and expensive pieces. He suffers a range of emotions in his dealings with her, from disdain to skepticism, from anger to compassion and finally love. I wish I could tell you WHY I was so fascinated by this movie, but that would reveal the ending and that just wouldn't be right.

Just watch it. Really. Netflix.  

The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah

As much as I'm a little worn out on WWII novels, I have to admit I've enjoyed listening to The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah.

Yes, I know it's been on the NY Times Bestseller list for a while, so really who cares what little old me thinks about this historical novel?

But here goes: the book does often veer into the tried-and-true narratives about the Nazi occupation in France, as well as the brutal mistreatment of members of the resistance in the camps. BUT, the really great part of this book is the story of two women who worked to help people.

The bolder, brasher sister helped down ally pilots escape the Nazis, escorting them over the Pyrenees on foot to safety. These pilots, from various ally countries, met up with their units, allowing them to fly again.

The older, milder and more cautious sister, stayed in her hometown with her daughter as she waiting for her husband to be released from prison. She had Nazi officers billeted at her home, and ultimately saved more than a dozen Jewish orphans from certain death in the camps.

There many readers who say they chose their book because it was compared with another bestseller, "All the Light We Cannot See," by Anthony Doerr. I don't really see a resemblance, other than that both take place during the same time and same place. I personally didn't get to finish "All the Light," as I returned it to Audible after attempting to listen to it for 4 hours. I might try it again, but I got bogged down by the author's extremely detailed descriptions. There was just so much painting of the scene, that I couldn't hang out long enough for the real story. Maybe I'm shallow? I always feel a little shallow when this happens.

Weekend Breakfast

My weekday breakfast always happens around 8:30 or 9. At home I make a bowl of oatmeal with all the goodies and no liquid. At school, after all the students are tucked into their first block classes, I add hot water and cook it a couple minutes in the 'wave. Most of the front office staff eats breakfast around 9. And a lot of them eat oats or grits. 

But on weekends I like eggs over easy. Normally I slide them onto toast, but this morning I got to thinking about grits:

These are stone ground grits cooked with water and leftover cream from Thanksgiving. I stirred in some shredded cheese and set it aside. I cooked my egg and slid it on top. 

Will there be lunch in my future today? Most likely not. 

Oh, and don't tell Bear. I forgot to give him a piece of the egg.

Tolja

Richard Blaise, whom I've always thought was a leeeedle full of himself, apparently shares my opinion of Grayson, the chef I talked about on this blog the other day.

Here is link to his comments about episode three of Top Chef: I Have to Call it the Way I See it and Taste it. He refers to her as playing with a "chip on her shoulder." Good observation, Richard!

In other Top Chef news, here is a great, entertaining blog about it, written my Max Silvestri

First Visit: Smelly Cat Coffeehouse & Roastery

Mensa Boy and I went "bummin'" Sunday and needed up in NoDa at Smelly Cat. I had some vegan chili and a pourover of their grind of the day. It's a nice little coffee shop, and on Saturaay they have a little artisan market behind them.

The chili was good but had soy crumbles in it...not my favorite way to cook vegetarian or vegan. 

They have a separate little bar for pourovers, which is nice, since they take some time to make. 

When He Wants to Spend $100 on a Tree Stand

Let him.

Last year our stand leaked and we didn't catch it for a day or so. It soaked several board feet of our bamboo flooring and Mensa Boy had to replace it. 

So he searched high and low and came up with this super-de-duper stand with a foot pedal you use to lock the tree in place, and a FLOAT that tells you the water level! It's the Krinner Tree Genie XXL, and I won't have to put water in until it tells me to!

Top Chef: California (SPOILER ALERT, Ep 2)

Ominvores cooking vegetarian....

In the second episode of the new season of Top Chef, Chef Grayson, from New York, ends up in a group doing a pop-up restaurant that is vegan. She proceeds to whine her way through the episode, stating several times that she like meat and, at one point, says "I put in meat in everything."

Well, her team pretty much sucked and she did not get sent home that time.

Here's thing...I think it takes real skill to cook vegan. I told Bob, "I can make anything taste good if I throw meat in there."

Just sayin'

Does This Seem Wrong to You?

Me too. 

Carolina Bison (and Elk)

Carolina Bison has really made my life, as head cook of the Paulson household, a lot simpler. I have two meat-seekers in my home and they really don't mind my attempts to use something other than big industry's beef, chicken or pork. Carolina Bison has been a hit here when the weekly red meat involves something ground.

Last night we had a simple goulash (macaroni, beef, tomatoes) using Carolina Bison's ground elk. It was fantastic, if a little lean. I usually use 90/10 ground beef in my goulash, but thought I'd try the elk this time instead. Harris Teeter carries Carolina Bison and had it on sale for $8.99 for one pound package. I guess it turns out that goulash really could use a little more fat in it to get that great flavor. I drizzled ghee in mine and that helped quite a bit.

I think the next time I use it, I'll buy a pound of Elk and a pound of their beef (yes, they have bison, beef and elk), mix the two packages together, and then freeze half. That is what you'd do with venison, which is also very lean, so I'm thinking that could be just the ticket.

Incidentally, all three of our grocery stores, Publix, Harris Teeter and Food Lion have carried Carolina Bison. Food Lion has always been a dollar cheaper on it than the other two, so yesterday I went there first. But there was NO SIGN of it anywhere in their meat case! I'm hoping they were just out of it, and not that they've decided to stop carrying it.

Is it Time to Write More?

I met another like-minded person yesterday. Actually I've known her for a couple years, but only in just a drive-by sort of way through the school. She's a parent and was in for a routine visit with her daughter and School Counselor. After her meeting, we were chatting and the subject of food came up. Then acupuncture, then doctors, then more food. Nutrition, cooking...and so I found another person who cooks for their family, dislikes processed foods, watches what she eats, and is generally a food nerd. Huh. She texted me today and said she has a Facebook page devoted to healthy living and food and such, and I thought, "I used to do that. Write about food and this and that." And so I pulled up this site and saw that the last time I gave up on this page was mid 2012. Maybe nobody will read this page, but I'm thinking I should write on here some more. Maybe it will be good that nobody reads it, because then I can express my more outrageous opinions...that I don't believe in Capital Punishment, but I'm ok with the Confederate Flag...as long as it's shown on private property... or displayed in museums that have displays about American History. Maybe I'll talk about how I'm not really in favor of incorporating Indian Land. Or maybe I'll just write about food and link stuff to this page about it...things to eat...places to eat... Maybe.

Breadmaking, Weimaraner Style

A Happy Accident

The other day I commented on my Facebook page that I end up with stuff like bacon-flavored cheese because sometimes I reach out to pick something up and my hand doesn't coordinate with  my eye. I'll see something, I'll reach for it, and somehow my hand strays slightly to something else. Which, of course, I don't notice until I get home.

But it's not all bacon-flavored cheese. Sometimes I end up with something better than I intended. And that's what happened here. My favorite grocery store, Earth Fare, has been carrying one of my favorite Rieslings, Dr Loosen, for some time now, and I've made a point of picking up a couple of bottles when I'm in there. The vintner is located in the Mosel Valley of Germany. I'll buy any Riesling sight unseen from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwar region.

I like this wine because it's not too sweet and not too dry. I can't really tell you stuff like fruits you'd taste, because I kind of suck at that, unless it's something so obvious that it can't be missed. But this Riesling is just crisp and clean. I like it with everything. Literally, everything.

But this bottle? It says "Sparkling!" That was the accident. I swung by the wine shelves to pick up a bottle or two and noticed that the top was different. "Hm, must have changed that," I thought. I didn't read the label. I just paid for it and brought it home. So I was pretty surprised to see the champagne cork. It fizzed up wonderfully and buzzed my mouth deliciously. The best of both worlds! And $13 a bottle, too. It did keep the effervescence for 2 more days after I opened it (I'm the only wine drinker), that was an added bonus.

Don't. Just...Don't.

Low-impact packaging, non-toxic ingredients. Got to be a good switch for us, right?

Wrong.

First Taylor mentioned that he has been using dryer sheets because otherwise his clothes smell.

That made me think, "Hmm...maybe it's not me. Maybe it's my clothes."

Then Bob apologized for the stinky-ness of his workout shirt one day. "All of them smell this way now," he said. "Maybe I need some new shirts. They just don't seem to get clean anymore."

I threw out half a bottle of this stuff and went back to All Free & Clear. Re-washed all our laundry in hot water.

Problem solved.

Now, I do have to say, I switched to this one just because the packaging. For a couple of years I've used Charlie's Soap (image from their website), and loved it. I bought it at Earth Fare and it used to come in drawstring bag.

But the bags went away and all there was left was this hard plastic bottle.

Words with Friends (& Strangers)

I finally decided to try Words with Friends. I kept seeing Facebook updates from friends talking about how they just had to stop watching baseball to respond to Words. (Ok, it was one friend.) I hadn't even opened the application, and didn't know it was Facebook. I thought it was strictly a phone thing. 

So I asked my sister if she played it and received an enthusiastic "YES!" from her. She doesn't play it on her phone. Strictly on FB. I downloaded the app and asked it to find me a random opponent to create a game. And so JohnnyBravo76 entered my life.

And promptly blew me out of the water. 

So I set out to find someone who might be more compatible. Yes, I love to write, yes, I love words, but I pretty much suck at games. Anything with strategy is pretty much not for me because I don't have the patience. I'm also not very good at unscrambling words. Or so I thought I wasn't. When you play Scrabble in person, you don't necessarily take the time to move all the letters around and around. Mainly because your opponents tend to sit there and stare you, tap the table, sigh...there's a certain amount of pressure. But with WwF, you can just hit the "shuffle" button over and over, and you can take all the time in the world to respond.

So I started searching through my FB friends to see if I could find some people to play with. I quickly found you should avoid anyone who hasn't played in a couple of days. They probably were just trying it out and now don't play. So I tried my sister, an old college friend, my library director buddy, and a couple others. I also went to my friend Jeannie's house, helped her download the app, and sat and played with her. 

It turns out Jeannie and I are most evenly matched. I'm not really that surprised, since she and I have always had a brain connection...completing each other's sentences, echoing each other's thoughts...and I also am pretty even with Carla, my old college buddy. 

So far I have developed one rule about WwF. I don't use cheat sites to help find words unless:

A. My opponent is a "JohnnyBravo76," and is killing you by almost or more than 100 points.

B. All bets are off if I don't my opponent at all.

Yes, I have surfed through Scrabblefinder looking for words with J, but I have stuck with the above rules and not entered my tiles and board letters to put together new words (unless it was the JohnnyBravo76 game). So I feel a little righteous. For the most part, however, I have to say I've been able to come up with fairly decent words on my own.

I sure don't want to play with my baby brother Ted, though. Any time I've played Scrabble with him, he's just totally killed me. I can't imagine the damage he'd do on WwF. 

No Shortage of Helium Here!

Today we are starting to clear out the downstairs rooms so I can paint and repair walls and woodwork. On June 20, our friend Mark will come and work with Taylor to install bamboo flooring. Mensa Boy thought now would be a good time to get rid of an old helium tank we've had sitting around for a couple of years. He thought it might be almost empty, so he filled a few balloons. After he got tired of that, he just went outside and started holding the nozzle down to empty it.

30 Years! Or is it 23?

Mensa Boy and I had our 30th anniversary on the 29th. This
year the answer to my question: "How long does it seem like it's been?" was "More like 23." he said it's because we have son who is 22 and he can't hardly remember what it was like not to have kids!
My friend Cassie and I made 100 cupcakes on Saturday and MB and I
handed them out I everyone as they left church on Sunday.

In Search of Fitness

So a year ago I quit Jazzercise for the second time. I just couldn't keep up. It was frustrating. I'd feel the energy drain away about halfway through the second song. And there I'd be...stuck for the rest of the hour, not wanting to walk out because that would cause my classmates concern.

I concentrated on yoga and walking, but it just wasn't enough.

Finally I asked Mensa Boy if he'd train me. He's been studying personal trainer programs with the goal of eventually being a personal trainer part time, or for retirement. He's fun and inspirational to work out with, and creative.

So we started at the little gym here in Indian Land. Right about that time I also decided to try running. I began following a couch-to-5k program. I bought some Brooks shoes that are intended for forefoot running and have minimal structure underneath. It was hard to start, but there was a lot of walking at the beginning with timed, not distance, runs. I ran on the treadmill for the most part. No issues with my knees or hips, I was working on the breathing. 4 weeks or so went by and then I had an issue with left foot. It felt just like it had when I experienced a stress fracture in the metatarsal a couple of years ago. So I rested it and began thinking about my options. I wasn't sure if it was the running or some of the things we did during the resistance work...step-ups, jumping, etc.

We hauled out my old Raleigh C30 hybrid bike and took it to a bike shop for rehabbing. I started to ride the stationary bike at the gym. Thursday I took my bike out for the first time and rode it 4.7 miles to the gym, worked out with Bob, and then rode home with him and the bike in the car.

Saturday I rode 6 miles and this morning 8.8. I like it. I'm using MapmyRide online to keep track of my rides. I can draw my route and it will tell me the mileage. I downloaded the app to my iphone but it doesn't work very well. It takes a lot of memory, which drags down my iphone 3gs, and it freezes up. The first ride I used it for, Thursday, it froze at .27 miles!

The only kink in the riding is my gears. I'm having trouble with the chain not hooking up completely in my 14the gear. I only use the middle 7 gears, and then I'm about to go down a hill, I switch to the hardest gear so I can pedal well as I near the bottom of the hill. The chain doesn't seem to want to switch well there and  I end up pedaling air until I either stop and slip it over, or switch around the gears until it catches. We took it back to the bike shop and they say there is nothing wrong with it. But it sure is putting a damper on my enjoyment.

We are doing strength training 3 times a week now and I can tell I'm gaining strength in my upper body. And I really haven't had too many fatigue issues. Just a day here or there.

So here is a wobbly, poorly-narrated video of my backyard garden. This is mainly for my mom. Hey MOM! I got stuff growing!