Baking with Steve and cute winter boots

Today I had to go back to the radiology place to pick up the disc with my xray on it, to give the Ortho at my Valentine's Day appointment.  They were so ready, took about a minute including signing for receipt.

Do you have an appointment?

Here for pickup 

Medical records?

Yes

For yourself?

Yes

You called ahead?

Yes

Perfect, id please, here's the stuff, sign here, bye 

And I was on my way. In the car I read the notes from the X-ray doctor. Advanced (!) osteoarthritis, such an overachiever, with some things which I looked up -- bonespurs!!

I refuse to have that in common with T***p.

Anyway I'm all set to see what's next. 

Meanwhile here's my bread adventure, from a new source, artisanbreadwithsteve. Using simple recipes and tools - bowl, spoon, spatula, I'm making cinnamon raisin bread.

This has to proof, covered, till tomorrow. Then stir a bit, then proof again. Then bake. 

Some for afternoon tea, toasted and buttered, some to Gary for breakfast, some saved for Handsome Son when he visits next week.

On the boots front, today's actions:

Messaged Gov Pritzker of Illinois,  to thank him for banning Jan 6 rioters from Illinois State gov jobs.

And by end of day got an acknowledgment, yes, boilerplate, but counted.

Messaged Kristi Noem to ask she reinstate TPS for Venezuelan refugees in the US. 

Tried repeatedly and failed to message DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, about their ban on Black, women's and LGBTQIA observances. Either they've disabled their contact function or they're flooded.

This afternoon I'm knitting, drinking tea and reading Hamish Macbeth on my Kindle. 

Happy day everyone, do your bit and then take time off to live.

Online with friends this evening.

Misfits, King Arthur branches out and the return of the Sterno

Misfits arrived today, one item missing and already credited, the miso tofu.

So, no miso tofu,  I rethought today's menu, and ended up making a thick soup using all these carrots, the rest of the yellow potatoes and the last of the chicken stock.  With a container of hot cooked spices including ginger, I found in the freezer, cumin, umami seasoning and some of the coconut milk you see here. Enough for five bowls. Today's lunch was one bowl, with cheese toast.

The tomatoes will go in a tomato egg cheese bake in the toaster oven.  Spinach will probably be steamed with a poached egg on top. And included in cannellini bean fritters,  that's if the beans are correctly labeled. But, as Tigger's Mom pointed out, if they're at least in the same food group, it'll work.

I haven't baked recently, but I'm thinking about raisin bread, since I haven't made bread much either. Nice for breakfast for Gary, too. And afternoon tea when Handsome Son visits next week.

In the baking world, I just received a fancy catalog with products, largely mixes, and expensive lovely equipment from King Arthur flour. 

I think they've saturated the market of people baking from scratch starting in the pandemic, and now they're moving on to people with less time, so mixes. Also income, so fancy equipment. 

I really like some of the beautifully designed measuring spoons and cups, and the ravioli pan, where you press the pasta in the depressions to fill, then cover.

Then I realize my battered old measuring cups and spoons are still operational, and I can make, and have made,  ravioli without faffing around with a special pan. 

I can make a nice cheese filling without three kinds of flour and cheese, come to think of it. And I don't think I'm in the market for a stand mixer, beautiful as it is. But it's lovely to page through anyway. Baking porn.

Speaking of my primitive kitchen, I pulled out my old Sterno stoves, of our long ago camping history. One's a two-burner, posh, and there's this, which was stored flat and took ages to figure out how to fold it right.

Nice to set a pan or kettle on, and I'm thinking of using it on the deck in warmer weather, to make my pot of tea on the spot instead of carrying it, boiling,  through the house and outside.  

I need Sterno fuel, the outdoor kind is fine, no need for the caterer's indoor sort.  It's a plan. Handsome Son loves this kind of idea and I've no doubt he'll endorse it. I'm surprised Sterno is still available, decades since we used it.

So that's my Outward Bound summer plan. Making tea on the deck, life in the fast lane.

Happy day everyone,  January has been fast and agonizingly slow at the same time.   Be like Billie, small but determined. Hang in there.

Breaking: word is my Senator Booker supports RFK. I've written demanding to know if it's true and if so, be ready to be primaried.

Cute winter boots and other useful dodges

 I had a routine doctor's appointment today, and, while confirming I'm up to date on vaccines,  she expressed her fear about future vax availability. I told her about cute winter boots, code on tiktok for resistance,  and my current resistance work.  She's very grateful that I'm using my time well, from my sofa!

The hip is still an issue, so while I was there, full service doctor, I got bloodwork to see if the gel continues to be safe, an xray, walk in downstairs, done. And I have a ref to an orthopedic practice, to see what to do next.  So it's all good and I continue to get excellent prompt medical attention, thanks to Medicare and geography. Home in time for lunch.

Update: I'm sure you're all clustering around eager to hear. No? Too bad. Anyway turns out I can continue with the gel, and it's not bursitis, at least not now, it's arthritis. Anyway everything I've been doing is appropriate for this finding.  So there's that. 

Speaking of resistance and boots, you do realize that every time you use FOTUS' actual name you're teaching the algorithm and increasing the power of searches on his name? That's why for a long time I've resisted, by writing it as T***p, and not speaking it in audio spaces online.  Tiny effort but at least it doesn't increase the damage.

Here's today's resistance or rather acknowledgment of thanks 

Anyway today's resistance was a note of thanks, receipt above, to our State AG for being in the forefront of demanding tthe illegal  federal fund freeze be rescinded.  Thanking officials for doing a good job is helpful to them to keep on doing a good job.

The freeze is  rescinded, and I believe Medicaid portals are now functioning again.  I expect it was a trial balloon to see if it worked. Massive backlash said not today.  And we now know to respond instantly when they try again, as they will.

I've also messaged both my senators to insist they vote solidly against all future cabinet candidates. I expect Booker will, Kim will have some corny reason not to. But they've heard from this constituent.

Now we need to fight Noem on the TPS issue. That's temporary protected status given to people in severe danger in their home countries, think Haiti. I'll find a way to message her, you can too.

To my amazement considering how far up my dander is, my blood pressure was fine in the doctor's office! Action must suit a person.

And, if you're affected by the rollback of negotiated drug prices, you can contact the pharma company directly, or try Mark Cuban's reduced cost drug program at

https://costplusdrugs com

Happy day, everyone, we got this! 

Lunar New Year, of the snake (trigger warning, picture)

 

The snake symbolizes wisdom and creative success among a lot of other things.  Let's hope for both of those.  

I love snakes, such beauty, and I also get that some readers fear them, so I'll make this a standalone post, and wish you a happy day. 

Made it to Tuesday knitting group, and Textiles and Tea,Hope Wang

I made it to the knitting group, no pictures, no stuff you haven't seen before, and it was a great session. Talk ranged over a new spinning group underway at another library, I'm invited, online scams, granny squares, teaching singing to disabled students, retirement communities, speeding, local police finding dogs, a cat reunion with owners, car batteries, and more.

Home again to Textiles and Tea with Hope Wang, weaver, painter, photographer, poet, who founded the Chicago LoomRoom. It's a communal space for renting time on looms such as the wildly expensive TC2  Jacquard loom, that huge white one in the pictures. This puts it in reach for weavers without access to university-based equipment, and brings loom and weavers together.

She combines her talents in her own weaving practice to create cotton and silk artworks -- Chicago readers note there's a solo show soon, Asunder, see the picture with more information.  And she gave the best explanation of how the TC2 works that I've heard. 

She's a hugely talented and personable artist, who's next going to center her poetry, rather than the weaving. 

So that was a very good day. Helen held up well with the library furniture, too. Public furniture is often a snare and a delusion!

Happy day everyone,  whatever you're doing. I'm hearing great resistance stories. And cute winter boots feature in them! TikTok code for guess what word, to dodge the algorithm, since it's cracking down on free speech.

Got my cute winter boots laced and ready to go!

Yeung Man again and mystery cans

Today I postponed my plans for making curried chickpeas after I found I had no ginger, coconut milk and various other vital ingredients. Instead I went to another Will Yeung recipe, for chickpea fritters. 

Those extra cans of chickpeas Misfits sent in mistake need to be used. So I assembled the cast for the recipe

Will loves spices, and with a base of onions, garlic, chickpeas and mashed potatoes, you can go wild. 

So then I opened the chickpea can and 

Out came black beans. Oh. I've notified Misfits, complete with picture. It's not a problem, I can use them, but they need to know they've got a labeling issue. 

So I opened another, and this turned out to be chickpeas. Which made terrific fritters, baked in the toaster oven, and I created some sort of sauce to go with it.

Grey poupon, kalamata olives, mayo and horseradish. I could also have used plain yogurt instead of mayo. Anyway it was pretty good.

The black beans I put with various spices into a quart of chicken broth I'd found in the freezer, and made a quick soup for supper with toasted seedy bread croutons.

Enough for more of all the same tomorrow.

It pays to be nimble around here.

And I thought since it's milder today, people might be interested in a bit of Freecycling.

Within minutes of posting I had competing requests.  I'm surprised really, these being a niche material, but I'm glad someone will be happy with them.  I have a lot of other threads, so I won't miss these. 

I may sort beads soon, too. 

Happy day everyone, you just never know what comedy might happen at any time.

Nothing to see here, folks

I was talking about the small change of life in Sandra's blog, how much more interesting those blogs are than the blogs full of a  curated life of traveling and taking pictures and setting up IG type scenes.

My own life had some small change last evening when I went to the kitchen and found what looked like a crime scene.

Red liquid dripping from the fridge. Opened the door and found red all over, shelves, everything. I was too verklempt to take pictures.  

Anyway I established that a small container of soy sauce had fallen over and run between door shelves and door, then everywhere.  So evidently when I had last shut the door it sent it all flying further.

So there was a sequence of emptying the shelves then trying endlessly to remove them. They seem to have been factory welded. YouTube videos were no help, they just said airily oh, lift them out. Right.

I did eventually find a button thing hidden under the middle and got them out to wash. Not easy, they're a lot bigger than the sink.

Anyway, here's the cleaned up version 

Shelves removed, washed, replaced -- much easier than removing them 

Contents waiting to go back, and I found a couple of items I'd forgotten about, so that was good. I have horseradish, which I need to make tartare sauce, and had forgotten.

Status quo now quoing again. Full disclosure: aside from an occasional swipe, my fridge only gets cleaned when something spills dramatically. Note the new safety feature: the remaining soy sauce now sits in an old yogurt container. 

Today I'm refraining from social media, even Spoutible, too many people doing misspelled outrage, so I need to use my time today better. It's so easy to find time has gone by and your mood isn't a happy one. The weather's milder, and Helen's not too noisy, so there will be walking.

Yesterday while I knitted I watched Hamish Macbeth, good old FreeVee, and noticed despite a lot of people saying they needed captions, had no difficulty at all with every word Hamish says. 

I looked up the actor and found out why. He's from Maryhill, Glasgow, the very neighborhood Handsome Partner was born and grew up. Ah, fifty years of exposure to a broad Glasgae accent will do it.

Tangential memory here: during our endless search for help during our son's younger years, one doctor, after talking with us both, asked about Handsome Partner's "severe speech impediment" full of glottal stops.  We explained that it was a standard Glasgow accent, and he looked a bit flustered.

Then yesterday I caught bits of Downton Abbey on YouTube and quickly searched for captions.. those Grantham people are nearly unintelligible..

Happy day everyone, from shelves to language, easy when you know how!

Sunday resistance and a small personal victory lap

Yesterday I found that Sen Kim, my Senator, whom I supported for years, back when I campaigned to get him into the House, then voted him into the Senate, we needed all the Dem seats we could get, despite his treachery to Biden -- too old, should go away -- where was I? 

Oh yes,  after FOTUS* "fired" all the inspectors general, the agency guardrails, K*m voted in favor of Noem for Homeland Security.  

He, who ran as the son of Korean immigrants, in search of the American dream, voted for someone whose position will enable her to deny that dream to other people. 

Yes, she would have got in anyway, but that was not the time to break ranks and not the vote to do it on, either. I suppose after he backstabbed Joe, he showed us who he is. 

*Felon of the United States 

So yesterday's resistance was a furious message to his Washington office mailbox denouncing his move and promising to help primary him next time around.

Realistically, the chances of my being able to do that are slim, given my age and the length of a senatorial term, but he doesn't know that. And I trust you will pick up the torch, dear blogistas, when I put it down.

Then, onward, today's work was trying to calm the fears of people online about all the attention-seeking wildly unlikely legislation getting a lot of attention. 

Proposals about transgender people, immigrants, snitch lines, and more. They're getting headlines for unknown legislators seizing their chance in the sun. 

It's frightening people with very little chance of ever being enacted into law. You could drive a truck through the "thinking", as a number of other GOP legislators are already pointing out.  

Meanwhile I've been through stuff like this before, and I'm putting some energy into encouraging and calming scared people to whom this is, if not new, more severe than ever.  And reminding them we're not helpless and people like me have their backs.

I've also helped put in place, in an audio pod on Spoutible I'm active on, extended time just for people to express their fears in a safe place, and report on their resistance, too. 

My default, as you may have noticed, is action, but I do get that some people get paralyzed by fear. 

And thank you to all the brilliant people who've emailed to tell me what they uploaded to the NASA  snitch line! Everything from the complete text of Bishop Budde's sermon, to the Declaration and Bill of Rights!! It's great. Good sand, everyone!

Meanwhile back home, I talk big but I get very anxious about driving, going out, especially after enforced home time in the recent cold and ice. 

Today I seized my keys and drove off to shop for more gel for Helen. It sounds minor, but it's really important and I'm happy I managed it.  Once I get back into the pattern, it gets easier, but it's getting into the pattern that's the thing.  The milder temperature, up to the 30sf today, literally didn't fasten my coat, helped a lot.

Helen Hip is very glad I finally realized how the gel works. No wonder I thought it didn't work, doing it wrong. Several times a day required, not just when I remember!  Doh. User error.

And here's where the latest sock is 

Watching Marion doing some kantha embroidery, with a pot of tea, knitting along. 

Happy day everyone, any victory, any size, counts! What are your recent ones, if you want to say?

Nomads of Iran, their life and textiles

 

Today's presentation of TMA and NERS, by collector Paul Ramsey,  was a gallery of images of the nomadic people of parts of Iran, their lives, culture and textile arts. Mostly the captions present enough explanation, so I will refrain from too much commentary. 

I got in too late for the zoom room, so I was in the overflow livestream on YouTube, which gave less ability to edit as I went, but I think it came out intelligibly.

They're such handsome people, and dress in great woven clothes. Girls and women are the spinners and weavers, and you'll see them with Turkish drop spindles, working as they walk together. 

They use backstrap and vertical looms, very portable, to create the bags used for their biannual treks. This is when they bring animals from summer to winter pastures and back, using camels, horses and mules as pack animals. The bags hold all their possessions safely for the journeys.

I included a couple of images showing how to construct the bags and how the weaving varies, including different structures and knotting. This is in case any blogista fancies trying their hand at it.

You'll see bread baking out of doors, and the portable houses they erect each time they move. This way of life is threatened now by modern society and politics, but for now they live as they have for centuries.

The tea making you see in one image, a mom closely watched by her kids, was part of the hospitality they showed to this presenter. The older boy guided the collector to his home and introduced them.

I really liked the insight Ramsey showed in his choice of images, giving us a few, respectful, glimpses of nomadic life.

Happy day, everyone, I hope you liked this. I found it a good distraction from current doings.