Fitness Challenge

Converting to a plant-based diet.

I find that I really don't miss meat all that much.

Except bacon.

Crispy bacon.

Bacon. Bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon.

The darn stuff is addictive.  So I try to get the uncured, no nitrites, no preservative kind. $$$$$.

Stupid bacon.

I had bacon this morning. The house still smells like bacon.  After 15 hours.

Actually, I feel kind of sick. I'm going to bed.

The Distant Hours (Reading Challenge)

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

This Aussie has some serious talent.

Having read The Forgotten Garden by the same author, I was prepared for jumping back and forth through time in this NYT bestseller.  Stifled, dysfunctional families, secrets, intrigues, castles,  mental collapse, lost loves, and murder span the generations of two oddly connected families impacted by The London Blitz. Slow at first, but persevere--I sat up to finish the novel. I was right about the ending, wrong about the motive, and didn't expect...well, I'm not going to spoil it for you, now, am I?

Tagged, I'm It. Now What?

I've been tagged. Whatever that means. I'm not really sure how to respond to this.
Apparently, I'm supposed to come up with 11 random thoughts about myself. 11? Why 11? And then answer questions that I don't know how to find. I'm a freakin' dinosaur, fer cryin' out loud.

OK.

Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them that you have tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’ blah blah blah, you legitimately have to tag 11 people!

Now here’s the questions for my tagged friends:
1. What is one hairstyle you’ve always wanted to try but have stopped yourself for one reason or another, be it a different hair color, extensions, whatever?
2. What is your ideal pet, whether real, or mythical?
3. What is your favorite kind of foreign food?
4. What is your favorite herb?
5. Have you ever played a musical instrument of any kind (and that includes playing jugs, spoons, chimes, etc.)?
6. Do you have a book of shadows, and if so, what is it, such as spiral bound notebook, 3-ring binder, leather bound, etc.?
7. What is your favorite spell, if any?
8. The most positive memorable moment of your life, thus far?
9. What is your favorite movie of all time?
10. Do you have a favorite Pagan/Wiccan/Witchy book? If so, what is it?
11. Do you have, or have you ever made, a witches’ bottle?

I bactracked and found the rules. And some questions.

1. I love the silence of the night and revel in the starry light.
2. I do not accept the concept of duality in nature.
3. I have to bite my tongue when ill-informed people talk about equal and opposite reactions applied to energy manipulation in the craft. Newton's 3rd Law of Motion has absolutely nothing to do with energy.I teach Newtonian physics, too.
4. It's strange how much we love our companion animals.
5. I make my own toothpaste.
6. I like to till the garden in my bare feet.
7. I use a dip pen and inkwell when I write in crafting.
8. I am staggerly non-artistic (I'm talking stick trees, stick people, and stick amoeba here).
9. I have seen the face of the Earth.
10. Tea. 6 days a week.Coffee on Saturday only.
11. Sometimes, I just know. It drives my son nuts. Poor man is doomed. He's expecting a daughter in a month or so. Guess what gift he passed on, and the first 2 don't count.

Magaly said to answer questions 3 aand 9.. OK.

Favorite foreign food. Asian, I suppose. I spent my early childhood in Japan. I adore a good pho. And I use chopsticks. Asian food tastes funny on a fork.
Favorite movie of all time. I truly don't have one. I don't watch that many movies. I don't know the current actors/actresses. It just isn't that important to me.

So what do I do now? I don't follow that many blogs. Those I do follow have already been tagged.I'm not even sure where to send this, so I'll post and someone will help the antique through it all.

NYT Best Seller: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This is a first.
This is a first novel.
This is an original presentation.
This is an original story arch.

The story has a mysterious island off the coast of Wales.
The island has an abandoned orphanage, bombed during World War II.
The orphanage contains a box of photographs of children.
The photographs are rather odd.
The children are gone.
Sort of.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

The ending was a bit of a surprise.

Plant -based diet

I love my pumpkin chili.
I love this veggie stew.
Other recipe (cauiflower "mac" and cheese) later.

Morocco Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
•  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cups finely shredded kale
• 4 (14 ounce) cans organic vegetable broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 large carrots, chopped
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

Directions

1.     Combine cinnamon, cumin, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, turmeric, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl, reserve.

2.     Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion in the butter until soft and just beginning to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded kale and reserved spice mixture. Cook for 2 minutes or until kale begins to wilt and spices are fragrant.

3.     Pour the vegetable broth into the pot. Stir in the tomatoes, honey, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, garbanzo beans, dried apricots, and lentils. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low.

4.     Simmer stew for 30 minutes or until the vegetables and lentils are cooked and tender. Season with black pepper to taste. If desired, combine optional cornstarch and water; stir into stew. Simmer until stew has thickened, about 5 minutes.

Footnotes

• 200 calories per serving. 

• Make Ahead Tip:
• If making ahead or freezing, prepare stew through Step 3. Simmer for 5 minutes over low heat; remove from heat and cool in the pot or in freezer-safe container. Transfer to the fridge (store for up to 3 days) or freezer. The vegetables store better if not fully-cooked prior to refrigeration or freezing. When ready to eat, (if frozen) thaw in refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, then pour stew into a pot, bring just to a boil, and simmer until heated through.

With apologies to Sid and Marty Kroft

Challenges, Pallenges; There Ain't No Rhyme for Challenges

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind is a  Sid and Marty Kroft show with "Witchipoo" singing "Oranges, Poranges", a Cockney speaking  kid in a Dutchboy bob, a magical flute and (my favorite) "Evil Trees".

I know someone in the blogosphere will enlighten me as to show title, actors, characters, etc.

I wish they wouldn't, but someone will. Some things are inevitable and must be accepted with grace.


My cousin, Hal, lost his battle with cancer on January 17th in Eugene, Oregon. Today I took my mother, the last of her generation, back to the homestead in Eakley, Oklahoma for his service at the little Methodist Church.

It's a two hour drive (one way). We couldn't go the usual way because of construction on the interstate, so I mapquested an alternate route on my iPad, closed Safari, took Mother to breakfast, and started out to the homestead.

We couldn't get the app to open on the road.

So I called my brilliant sister-in-law and had her give me directions from her computer, that I relayed to my 90 year old mother to write down as I drove north trying to meet the 1:00 deadline (no pun intended) for getting "to the church on time" (Sorry, Lerner-Loewe). It's just that the directions didn't seem quite the same as the ones I had stored...

I got lost. Three times, I got lost. Two convenience stores and one saloon later, I made it to Eakley, Oklahoma. 1:06 in the afternoon.The service was to start at 1:30 and had been moved to the church, as opposed to the originally proposed graveside. No problem.

It was a very simple service. The urn was at the front of the little white clapboard church.  Only one song on the tape player (Amazing Grace), Hal's exwife gave a glowing eulogy. His friends told stories of hunting and fishing in Canada and Alaska. The service ended with Masonic Rites. It was quite nice. Hal would have liked it. It's a pity he wasn't there.

Literally. His ashes are still in transit somewhere between Eugene and Eakley.

Going back home I did not get lost.  I saw a red tail hawk on the right side of the road perched in a tree top, and at the next intersection I turned right. I was on the 281--where I was supposed to be. At every intersection I needed to turn, a red tail hawk perched on the correct side of the road. Then a bluebird flew in front of the car. I didn't think much of it until a large crow flew in front of the car. Mother asked me why I slowed down and I told her to look for a cop car. Four tribal complexes and three casinos later, there was the sheriff's car in a speed trap. Thanks to the wee birds for the heads up on that!

Healthwise:
I bought "Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health" by Gene Stone on the recommendation of my doc. (Kindle edition, $6. The basic premise is that big pharma wants us to be unhealthy for the sake of profit). He had asked during my infamous follow-up about my diet, and I told him I was in the process of reducing/eliminating animal protein in my diet. It also turns out we are both going 90 miles to the nearest Whole Foods store to do our shopping. I have eliminated beef, reduced dairy to 2 ounces 1% milk with my oatbran, but the cheese will be hard to give up. Wheat I can do without, now that I have found rice pasta. I am still consuming bison and venison, but only once a week. Eggs will be reduced to twice a week. It is a work in progress.


Completed Reading:
Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's MOther & Other Botanical Atrocities
Now to build a Borgia Bed of poisonous plants.

Najood Ali's I Am Najood, Age 10 and Divorced
I know it's poorly educated men and women, I know it's cultural tradition, I know it's an alien concept of family honor, I know, I know, I know, but...STILL! I want the weight of a Louisville slugger in my hands and the opportunity to teach some men the true meaning of honor. Some women, too.

Still reading:
Gene Stone's Forks Over Knives (I'm in the recipe section now).
Palin's Craft of the Wild Witch
Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

The Reading Challenge

This week in reading paradise:

The Primitive Witch's Handbook: The Essential Guide for the Primitive/Country Witch in a Modern World
compiled by Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc.

As I dance a primitive path, this little gem resonated with me. The author doesn't yield to man-made redes, pageantry, rituals, ritual garments, priestess hierarchies, and a slew of other directives commonly found in the published works concerning the craft. The only deity is oneself. Do  what you feel is right, and ignore the opinions of others--this is your craft.

I like her.


Dracula in Love, Karen Essex.

A light, easy read. I was irritated at Drac at the end of the novel, though. Never before have I wanted to bitch slap a character in a novel.

You decide.

Currently reading Poppy Palin's (no relation to the godzilla of Wasilla) Craft of the Wild Witch. Also, Nujood Ali's I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced--OK, not "crafty", but women's rights are up there and if someone doesn't like it, bite me. "Forks Over Knives" was reccommended by my doc. Apparently, I was doing this anyway.

I need to wash my hair before Downton Abbey comes on.