food

Red Flag for Cardiac Disease

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ED as a Precursor to Cardiac Disease

Erectile dysfunction is not a trivial symptom and not necessarily normal as men get older. This information for me is new and eye-opening.

After my recent heart issues, surgery and eventual recovery I have spent hours reading various medical articles in addition to my usual Wall Street Journal and New York Times early morning perusal of the newsy items presented there. During one of these excursions I tripped over (my phrase for it) an article about erectile dysfunction which is a topic of discussion every man gets during an annual physical with his primary care person.

In my case it is often phrased – Do you experience erectile dysfunction? And my answer often is – I am a 76 year old man, what do you think? I have often, maybe always, made a joke about it and the young female medical assistant who is filing in the standard questions required by the medical hierarchy laughs along with me.

A few days ago I discovered this gem from the Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/urology/news/erectile-dysfunction-a-vital-sign-for-cardiovascular-health/mac-20585074

The 2023 Princeton IV (P4) consensus guidelines bring a game-changing message to clinicians: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is not just a quality-of-life issue but also a red flag for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This multidisciplinary expert panel urges healthcare professionals to view ED as a risk-enhancing marker for silent coronary artery disease (CAD), especially in younger men who appear otherwise healthy. The consensus guidelines were published in a 2024 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

More: Why ED deserves serious attention

ED often occurs 2 to 5 years before men experience heart attacks. Because the penile arteries are only 1 to 2 mm wide, they’re among the first vessels to show signs of atherosclerosis. In many cases, ED is the earliest — and only — visible symptom of cardiovascular disease.

Wow. Had I an inkling of this connection I would have asked for a cardiac stress test. Or maybe this test referred to next.

The P4 panel recommendations confirm that ED is a strong, independent predictor of cardiac events, even when traditional risk factors such as cholesterol, diabetes and blood pressure are controlled for. In short, ED is the body’s “check engine light” for heart disease.

New guidelines: Reassess risk with better tools

Dr. Kohler and the P4 team advocate using coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring in patients with ED and borderline (5% to 7.5%) or intermediate (7.5% to 20%) 10-year atherosclerotic CVD risk. This quick, noninvasive CT scan is one of the most sensitive and specific ways to detect subclinical CAD, especially in patients ages 40 to 60, whose risk is often underestimated.

Finding a high CAC score (above 100) can lead to early intervention: statins, aspirin, lifestyle counseling and, in some cases, cardiology referral. This single test can turn a routine men’s health visit into a lifesaving diagnosis.

Too late for me. I found my blockage while riding on my favorite bike trail. I could have found it before that day. I’m complaining about not figuring it out sooner. And perhaps my own complacency is complicit here. PCPs only see their patients once or twice a year and it is up to the patient to discuss the things that are not working correctly. (Men generally are shy about discussing their reproductive equipment. I am no exception.)

Both of my parents had heart problems. Mom had bypass graft surgery in her mid-seventies and lived to be 95.

I miss her whenever I throw away a cardboard box.

Carpe Diem.

Back To Baking

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More Bread Recipes

Recovery gives me a lot of time to think about breads and cooking. It occurs to me that I am more recovered from this heart thing than I realize. I spend more time reading recipes. I have more interest in doing that and making those. It occurs to me that I am once again focused on living.

Changes in attitude are small and subtle.

Interest in in other things beyond yourself and what you feel leads to renewed interest in life.

Two breads: Same Recipe, Different Technique

4-Ingredient Homemade Bread

Only FOUR ingredients! Anyone can make this crusty, bakery-style bread at home. I’m sharing this recipe in exchange for a simple “Yum” — Recipe in First Comment → as you can tell from this text I spent a great deal of empty time cruising through Facebook and YouTube. Both of the next recipes are in the category of what I think of as psuedo-sourdough. Yeast spores exist everywhere. When I get excited in winter to make sourdough I start with whole wheat flour (usually Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur).

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1½ cups warm water

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp instant yeast (a small amount of yeast, so it will take awhile)

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and yeast.

2. Add warm water and stir until a sticky dough forms.

3. Cover and let rest 8–12 hours (or overnight – awhile).

4. Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C) with a covered Dutch oven inside.

5. Carefully place dough into the hot pot, cover, and bake 30 minutes.

6. Remove lid and bake 10–15 minutes until golden and crusty.

7. Cool slightly, slice, and enjoy!

Crispy outside, soft inside—no kneading, no stress, perfect every time.– The Facebook comment and it works.

Another…

  • 1 ½ cups warm water
  • 1 tsp yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3 cups plain (all purpose) flour
  • 1 tsp salt

1. In the warm water, add your yeast and sugar and stir let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy (like me this chef likes to proof the yeast in sugar water. Carbs are carbs – I often use a small amount of flour.)

2. Put 3 cups of plain (all purpose) flour in a big bowl. Add one teaspoon of salt and mix. Add your yeast mixture and mix together. Should look like a shaggy mess. Let rest 30 minutes covered

3. Do the stretch and fold clockwise four times turning the dough as you do this, let it sit for 30 minutes and repeat three more times

4. Put the bread in the fridge and let it rest overnight

5. Take the bread out and let it sit to room temperature about one to 2 hours

6. Preheat your oven at 230°C, putting in your pot, which you will cook the bread in. Should (must) have a lid.

7. Put your dough on a flowered bench top and do one last stretch and fold then put it in a bowl with baking paper in it, and let it sit for two hours till it doubles in size (reverse 6 & 7 – my oven does not require 2 hours to heat up.)

8. Put it in your pot score the top of your dough and pop the lid on and into the oven for 30 minutes then take your lid off and cook for another 20 minutes

9. Let bread rest for 10 minutes before devouring – bread is best warm and directly from the oven.

The first reel I watched on Facebook was from a gentleman who measured everything in grams. 500g of flour, 400g of water. He insisted this was best. On my scale 500g of flour is 3 cups of it – maybe a smidge more depending on how it settles in the measuring cup. And 400g of water is 400ml which is a bit more than 1 ½ cups of water, more like 1.69 but close enough as they say.

This recipe has no oil or butter or any other fat which to me merely means you need to use it within 48 hours of baking it. It can be frozen for a couple of days but it becomes croutons pretty quickly.

The whole process is sped up by using the normal amount of yeast for this volume of flour which is about 2 ¼ teaspoons and using bottled water instead of tap water. This is a pretty basic recipe and is referred to as Pain Ordinaire in my bread book. The french knead their bread.

The lid traps much of the moisture in the loaf.

Carpe Diem.

The New Pot

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Life is certainly off to a good start this week. I cooked dinner last evening for Debbie. Her day was filled with grandma activities with one bunch and then the final solution of the car that turned into a tumble weed in a snow storm. It turned out to be the best roasted chicken I have had in awhile. Using the right equipment makes a big difference.

As I reported in an earlier post I purchased a new Staub cocotte from King Arthur baking. My original thought was to go all in on sourdough but I am thinking about stews and other pot recipes while we are still experiencing cooler temperatures in Ohio.

Roast Chicken in the NEW pot

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 (3 1⁄2-to 4-pound) chicken
  • Salt
  • 1 1⁄2 pounds fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise if large (or quartered if larger)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 lemon, cut in half
  • 1 head of garlic, cut in half, horizontally
  • 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
  • 1 tablespoon assorted chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme and rosemary
  • 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

HOW TO MAKE IT:

  1. Place the chicken on a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Liberally sprinkle salt all over the chicken, loosely cover the chicken with parchment paper, and refrigerate for 24 hours. — [I started and stopped the preparation of this a couple times and eventually allowed the chicken to partially thaw overnight in the fridge. In the morning I thawed it the rest of the way in a bowl of brine,]
  2. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Let the chicken come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before roasting.
  3. In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with 2 tablespoons of the oil and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer in the bottom of a large cast-iron cocotte. Add the lemon halves, garlic halves, and red onion quarters. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. — [I skipped the lemon and added cloves of garlic.]
  4. In a small bowl, stir the herbs into the butter. [no butter here, just olive oil and Old Bay seasoning. My favorite shortcut.] Gently separate the chicken skin from the meat and rub the butter mixture under and on top of the skin and all over the thighs and breasts. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the cocotte [smush the potatoes to the side to get the chicken it – breast side up] and roast for 20 minutes.
  5. Decrease the oven temperature to 350°F and continue roasting for 30 to 40 minutes, until a meat thermometer reads 165°F when inserted between the thigh and the breast. [mine was actually 180 or so because of extra snuggling]
  6. Remove the chicken from the oven, tent with aluminum foil, and allow the chicken to rest for at 10 minutes before carving and serving.

As a side dish I was able to successfully replicate Debbie’s Green Beans. This signature dish of hers is only served during holiday dinners and requires two trash can sized cans of green beans. During an emergency run to a close by Target for coffee, I purchased two smaller regular sized, not-for-feeding-many-kids sized cans of Delmonti green beans. In a 3 quart pot I fried a strip of chopped bacon and a little of the red onion from above. I drained one can of beans of its water and then added both to the pot after sizzling the onion for a bit in the bacon fat. I put the lid on and let them simmer while the chicken was doing its thing in the oven and we snuggled on the couch and talked about the day.

When I got up to change the oven temperature, I warmed up the giblet gravy that I had started previously and finished it with some cornstarch to thicken a bit. I am a big fan of gravy and meat broths. This version to me is heavenly.

A good sourdough would pair perfectly with this dinner. And perhaps a nice Chardonnay.

Carpe bon appetit Diem

Thoughts

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I bought a cocotte from King Arthur’s baking. A few weeks ago I re-interested myself in sourdough bread and other similar recipes. Although I used my dutch oven for this in the past I felt the need to up my game.

The cocotte is red and made by Staub in France. Ou la la – but here is an intriguing thought – check out these definitions from and online dictionary and Merriam Webster’ online dictionary:

co·cotte – (/kōˈkät,kəˈkät/)

noun: cocotte; plural noun: cocottes; noun: en cocotte; plural noun: en cocottes — a small heatproof dish in which individual portions of food can be cooked and served; a Dutch oven.

And M-W

cocotte (kȯ-ˈkȯt)

noun: Definition of cocotte: as in prostitute; a woman who engages in sexual activities for money

Those are very different definitions. M-W gives examples of use in a sentence;

The skillets, cocottes, braisers, and baking dishes are all oven-safe and come in a uniform matte black finish. — Clint Davis, People.com, 15 Mar. 2025; The dishes available in the Gourmand collection include cocottes (with and without lids), mini braisers (with and without lids), oval bakers, rectangular bakers, and skillets. — Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Feb. 2025; Get some cute the itty-bitty pans, like GreenPan mini egg pan, or a tiny cocotte from the maker of our favorite Dutch ovens (these are perfect for baked eggs). — Wilder Davies, Bon Appétit, 16 July 2024; At under $100, this adorable cocotte set won’t break the bank. — Amber C. Snider, Peoplemag, 25 May 2024

Down the rabbit hole I went. One is a pot. The other is a word for the ladies that General Joe Hooker, coincidentally buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, brought to his troops to be assured that his men were satisfied in every way. (You can laugh.)

From the American Heritage Dictionary – affectionately known by me as the big dic – a clue! The etymological entry writes – French – originally a baby’s word for hen.

AHA! The connection between available females and chicken pots. One of the recipe photos included with the pot shows a roasted chicken in the pot.

Off to find recipes for my new pot to christen its use, I found this one I had saved previously:

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew – By Molly O’Neill – Updated Sept. 30, 2024

Ingredients (Yield:4 servings)

  • • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • • 1 pound beef stewing meat, trimmed and cut into inch cubes
  • • 5 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • • 1 cup red wine
  • • 3½ cups beef broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
  • • 2 bay leaves
  • • 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
  • • 5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch rounds
  • • 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
  • • 2 teaspoons salt

Step 1 – Combine the flour and pepper in a bowl, add the beef and toss to coat well. Heat 3 teaspoons of the oil in a large pot. Add the beef a few pieces at a time; do not overcrowd. Cook, turning the pieces until beef is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch; add more oil as needed between batches.

Step 2 – Remove the beef from the pot and add the vinegar and wine. Cook over medium-high heat, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the beef, beef broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.

Step 3 – Cover and cook, skimming broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1½ hours. Add the onions and carrots and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more. Add broth or water if the stew is dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle among 4 bowls and serve.

Sadly, I am out of onions and potatoes. I purposely used them up before going to Florida two weeks ago. I will go shopping very soon. Stew seems like a good idea when it is cold outside.

This is fancier than my stew but it is my new cocotte.

Carpe Diem.

Diet Ideas

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Another Stuff Soup:

Winter is the time of year that I find myself scrutinizing the number on the bathroom scale when I stand on it. I have found that it matters not if I stand on it everyday or if I stand on it at random times or if I stand on it once a week, it always reports the same thing. A lot of food has gone into me and only a small amount did not stick to my skeleton.

I like to eat. I admit that. Debbie and I have been eating out more of late. Much of that is last week’s trip to Florida.

RFK jr. and the boys say I should eat more protein because I am older. His math reports 127 grams (4.5 oz.) per day. A handful of peanuts, I like roasted peanuts and I have roasted my own, contains about an ounce (28g) with about 170 kilo calories and 8g of protein.

The tasteless skinless gargantuan frozen chicken breasts I have in my freezer come in at 200 kilo calories and 38-ish grams of protein. This comment, “A standard 3.5-ounce (85g) raw breast has about 102 calories and 19g of protein” from Google’s AI made me laugh. The chicken breasts I have are much more robust than this assessment, so I cut them in half before freezing them. I have often wondered if the chickens that I have purchased were able to walk upright.

Chickpeas (46 kcal/3g) per 28g and beans (36 kcal/2.3g) of any kind are generally a good source of plant protein with the added benefit of fiber to fart with and feel full.

I detect some soup coming on. Chicken noodle soup with chickpeas and veggies. All of my home made soup recipes fall into the category of “stuff” soup, as in, find some stuff and make soup. Or empty the left over fresh veggies in the fridge into a pot and make soup. It is a remarkably easy process.

For this version:

  • 3-4 oz. Chicken breast – skinless and uninteresting
  • 12 oz. Can of peas and carrots – also uninteresting
  • 12 oz. Can of chickpeas – leftover from a hummus experiment
  • 32 oz. Box of chicken broth
  • 10 oz. Bundle of Thai wheat noodles – from another cooking caper
  • 1 tsp. cardamom – a great background spice for chickeny stuff
  • 2 chicken bullion cubes
  • salt and pepper as needed – taste it for this step (Do not burn your tongue!)

Dump the stuff – except the noodles – into a dutch oven or other suitable pot with a lid. Lid on. Thirty minutes or so to simmer after bringing to a low boil. Chop the chicken however you like it. After the thirty minutes toss in the bundle of Thai noodles (lid back on) and wait another ten minutes or so before tasting and adjusting the salt and spices. Leave the lid off and bring to a low simmering boil for twenty minutes or so.

Oranges are low in kilo calories and protein but I ate one while waiting for the soup to simmer to the end.

Lunch is ready. Crackers are good with this soup. Almost no protein in crackers.

Maybe I will stand on the scale tomorrow.

Carpe Diem.

Baking and Memories

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This is the time of the year when I pay more attention to baking and making breads and pasties and pie. It is a winter time past time and it makes my little condo smell divine for a day or two. Lately I have been focused on a pecan pie recipe that I received from my daughter-in-law who is an excellent pie maker and shares my love of sweets.

I started this morning by tweaking my stash of recipes with the Karo syrup pecan pie recipe that I copied off of the world wide wait (that’s an old term – these days it is the Wha Wait What?). When I saved it to the correct folder on this laptop I found the following piece I wrote a while ago. It is a good memory of mine.

As I re-read the yellow bag story, I could hear Cheryl. At first, after she died, I was anxious that I would lose the ability to hear her voice. He works in mysterious ways. Gladly He helps me to hear her voice. (Sometimes, of course, being male, I do not want to hear it.) … on to the cookie story.

She’s Done it to Me

A couple years ago, when Cheryl was struggling physically more with Parkinson and her struggle with the dementia aspects of it was taking away her ability to follow simple directions, she coerced (maybe too strong of a word) me into helping her make cookies. I did not want to at the time.

Once or twice these were Snickerdoodles. And a couple other times we made chocolate chip cookies, the recipe is on the two pound bag of Nestle’s morsels. “You have to get the yellow bag!” she said to me once when I when I returned from the store by myself in the midst of the COVID pandemonium and price-shopped for supplies. “Those won’t work.” I was disheartened. I had purchased the store brand of chocolate chips. I argued my case for twenty-two milliseconds before realizing that there was no point in contesting the issue further. I returned to the store for the correct chips (“Morsels! It will say morsels on the bag. The bag is yellow.” She spoke to my back as I left.)

I can hear her voice. Little stories like this help me to recall her voice.

Yesterday, because I could avoid it no longer, I went to the grocery to restore my larder to its previous vigor. At the beginning my list had only two things, dried cranberries and raisins. Both of these I add to overnight oats which has become a new favorite breakfast treat. I have a pint Ball jar that is just the right size to contain a half cup of rolled oats, a cup of milk and whatever else I put in with those usually raisins or craisins some honey and chia seeds to set in the fridge overnight. I have also added at times cocoa powder, cinnamon, cardamon, vanilla or tahinni and used brown sugar instead of honey. This mixture goes well with my assembly of the coffee in the evening as well as drinking the coffee in the morning.

While putting all away I discovered that the bag of dried cranberries that I purchased would not fit into my quart jar I use to save dried fruit. Alas, some remained in the Ziploc bag that only zips most of the time. I left them on the counter to become a healthy evening snack near the apples and bananas.

After preparing some lunch I hunted for some sweetness to satisfy my heritage and hit upon spreading the Nutella look-alike I purchased at Aldi sometime in the past on a saltine cracker and sprinkling cranberries on top. That tuned out pretty good. (If you are not a believer, try it.) I realized that I was inventing a variety of cookie – biscuit or digestive to the Brits out there – and heard Cheryl say, “You could try making a chocolate cookie with stuff in it.” I blame Cheryl when I hear these inventive thoughts about cooking. She was not very inventive with ingredients but very inventive with technique.

I launched myself into search for a basic chocolate cookie that I could modify with extra ingredients. Below is the final product:

  • 2 C. all purpose flour
  • 2/3 C. powdered cocoa
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1 ½ C. white sugar
  • 1 C. unsalted butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 C. chocolate morsels (in the yellow bag)
  • 1 C. dried cranberries
  • ½ C. smashed walnuts (crushed in the bag but I smash them further)

I creamed the butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar for a bit. Whisked the flour, salt, soda and cocoa together in a separate bowl dry and then dumped them into my mixer. (I bought a new mixer.) After a bit of mixing I tried out my folding paddle and dumped in the rest of the ingredients.

Bake in a 350F (177C) – medium oven 8 to 10 minutes. This lump of cookie dough makes about 4 dozen if you use a teaspoon from your table wear set to scoop and spoon some on to an UNgreased cookie sheet like I did.

After 8 minutes on the timer, I rotated the cookie sheets in the oven and added 4 minutes to the time. This worked for me because I dislike (maybe hate) chewy soft cookies. There is something special about just the right crunch that makes me smile.

Cheryl! You turned me into a cookie recipe experimenter. It is all your fault. (Dammit.) I love you and you are right. These are good. The tricky part will be spreading them out in my eating habits. I have eaten three while writing this story. They go well with coffee.

I wonder which wine pairs well. Pinot Noir? Chardonnay?

A conundrum.

Carpe Diem.

I will miss her always. I promise to only buy chocolate chips in the yellow bag that say morsels on the bag. Yes, Dear. I love you and miss you on holidays like this. Be safe and well in heaven. (Yep, I teared up when I wrote this.)

Carpe the baking Diem

Cherry Tomatoes

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I came home last night with no more thoughts or inspiration other than remembering to put out the trash for the early morning pickup. Attached to the kitchen door of my condo was this ziplock bag of goodies fresh from our garden. My neighbor, Joe, had harvested our first two cherry tomatoes. (He kept one. Drat, But it is an endeavor for which he provides most if not all of the effort, so I celebrate that with him.)

I left it on the kitchen counter, put out the trash, read about Gilgamesh for awhile and went to bed. I had visited earlier with my son and my daughter-in-law and grandson Luke. I had not seen or talked to Luke for some time. (He is a long haul truck driver and spends a lot of time on the road.) Big gaps in time enable me to see how he has matured. Cruising the countryside in a big rig takes him to other places with new experiences. He is an intelligent mature man comfortable in his own skin. And I slept well.

I found this mature little tomato back this morning and celebrated its existence. I asked Copilot – a fun thingy on this laptop – to write an ode to this lowly tomato. It gave me this:

Ah, noble tomato, blushing on the vine,  
First jewel of summer, how proudly you shine!  
You rise from earth with unassuming grace,  
Green shoulders sun-kissed, red with pride of place.  

Not yet a bushel, just one brave lone flame,  
The garden’s herald, whispered in by rain.  
A promise in pulp, in seeds tightly curled,  
You carry the sun and scent of the world.  

Your skin so taut, like hope held in suspense—  
We wait for your fall with mouths, not pretense.  
For in your flesh lives warmth, both sweet and tart,  
A tangy hymn sung straight to the heart.  

Let poets chase roses that bloom and fade,  
I toast you instead, in salad or braid—  
Sliced on warm bread with salt like a spell,  
You speak in flavors no words dare to tell.  

So here’s to you, red comet on the stem,  
First of your kind, a botanical gem.  
The season begins when you ripen bold—  
A lowly fruit, and a miracle told.

Kind of corny. This sounds a little like Willy Shakesperson with his panties in a wad. But Copilot cannot understand whether it is talking about a fruit or a girl friend. It picked both. It swings both ways.

I decided to celebrate the tomatoes existence with breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and skillet potatoes which is the reason – I am certain of this – why God added fat to bacon. Potatoes and onions are much better fried up in the leftover bacon fat.

I know. I hear you. I am a very religious guy when it comes to observations like these. We all know that the good things come from God. He sent those animals with cloven hooves here to cook the potatoes. (Potatoes fried in beef tallow are pretty good also.) Amen to that!

I wrote a text to my neighbor, Joe, thanking him. I also reported that there only enough for a garnish,

Burp. Sorry.

Carpe (well fed) Diem.

Some Men have not Eaten Quiche

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Real Men don’t Eat Quiche

Yesterday my nephew, Jeff, and his family came to visit. It was a spontaneous phone message in the dark of the movie theater. “I’m in town for a few days on business. Can we get together for breakfast or lunch?” He lives in California and I have not talked to him face to face since his wedding three years ago. I invited him to my little condo and spread the word to my kids. It was a wonderful spontaneous family gathering.

When I mentioned it to my neighbor Jane later she remarked, “Serendipitous!” Yes, it was.

I made a quiche out of some random components that I had in the refrigerator. Quiche and frittata are in the same category of use what you have, I think. And of the two I think quiche is better. It could be the pastry crust that is required for an excellent quiche. One can make a crustless quiche but that is just lazy and in that other country it is called frittata, so, go over the mountain and call your crustless quiche by the correct name.

Jeff told me that no one had ever made him a quiche before. (It made me feel good inside. I was proud of myself.) The title for this essay jumped into my head after they were all gone yesterday. It is from a satirical little book that I recently found was written in the 80s. (Wow, I am getting old. I thought it was written just a couple years ago.) I had almost said it to him when he said, this is pretty good.

This quiche was bacon, Italian sausage, broccoli and onions with sharp cheddar and mozzarella, eggs scrambled with a little sugar and buttermilk over a pie dough made with flour and butter and a little salt. It was good.

Sometimes us real men eat quiche and pronounce it to be good. The accompanying picture is AI’s version of real men eating quiche. You can tell they are real people because they are washing down their quiche and other green substances with lager. (Never mind the fact that they all have the same mother and they were all born within 15 seconds of each other.)

Beer and quiche, Could be the breakfast of champions.

Carpe the serendipitous Diem.

Not Perfect but Better

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“Not perfect but better than it was” is my new answer to the question, “How are you doing?”

A good friend told me recently (In my thoughts, I used the verb accused.), “You are good at thinking about what you are thinking about and communicating that…” I thought to myself, huh? I do not understand what that means. My second thought was, is that a good thing?

Maybe that is why I am here talking to the computer (me really) and maybe putting these thoughts on my little blog. Maybe I do think about things more deeply than others. Maybe I do not. Caring for someone every hour of everyday with a chronic disease which gets steadily worse has turned my attention to finding grace and meaning in the little things and simple things around me. I suppose that fits with Carpe Diem.

Carpe Diem is how I sign these blog posts. And these are more and more about me, which fits because Cheryl is no longer here. And down the rabbit hole of meditation and thoughts about life and where it is going and where it was before, I have fallen. Alas. I can consume much of the day thinking about it. I hope I am not mired in grief. I do not think so. I do think that I have a predisposition to helping others if I can. I suppose I learned that from my father. (Ahh! another stream of conscience.)

If you are not used to doing this thought process on your own (finding your space and place), seek out a support group, either face to face or on Facebook. It is helpful with whatever difficultly you are encountering. The anonymity of Facebook works for many. Talking person to person about a mutually experienced disease or issue works for others.

This will sound like a tangent but stay with me. I have a notepad I keep on the kitchen table that I use to take notes about various vegetables and other items that I cook for a meal. I roast many things in the oven because I find it a convenient way cook. And while the oven is cooking there is often a convenient fifteen minutes or so for a glass of wine. Alas, I have digressed. On this pad I note which combinations of ingredients seem to work for me, so that I can repeat them in the future if I desire. (Cooking for one can be a chore.)

My first note is; brussel sprouts / tomato / carrots / salt, pepper, toss with olive oil / roast all 375F ~ 20 mins. This is pretty cryptic but this is a combination of vegetables that I like roasted together. There are others. Trying to eat healthy is a personal goal. I quartered the tomato and roasted it along with the rest.

My second note is; What’s in that soup? And a list of ingredients that I put in the soup. Several days ago it was a list of ingredients for beef, vegetable, barley soup. Today’s soup is a butternut squash recipe modified from the Mind Diet cookbook. I used orange lentils (1C.) instead of tofu and not so much ginger. My scribble tells me what marsala curry powder is made from.

My point is this: I have given myself the opportunity and place to note to myself about what is working. I do not feel the need to keep notes on what does not work in cooking a meal or in life. (Laments are not my style. I just throw away any leftovers… did he mean food or life? Yes.) It must be my personal reason for journaling and exposing my emotions to the blog-o-sphere.

I am not attempting to convince anyone of this method. I just know it works for me. I keep notes about what works for me when I am cooking. I keep notes about what works for me in life – my journal and this blog.

I rarely notice my own habits and attributes and other things that I do to help myself during the day. I used to have Cheryl to do that for me and it is, no doubt, another reason that I miss her so each day. (I know you are reading this , Cheryl, so there you have it.) It seems that I have others who do that for me also and I did not know they were there.

Others have told me that my words help them. If you are one of those, you are welcome. I only know that my writing helps me.

Look for grace where you can find it. (Cheryl often told me, there is grace in accepting help from others.) There is grace in simply being present for others.

Carpe Diem

Where are the Pasties?

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Fast Food lovers Unite!

Has anyone noticed or even thought about the sad state of fast food? The universe is full of burgers and fries. These are chips to the Brits out there. Why is that? Are fast foodies complacent? Why put up with that selection? Yes sometimes the burger is made from chicken and sometimes it is made with pork the other white meat and sometimes the burger is shaved or sliced instead of ground but it is still a burger. Where are the falafels? Where are the pitas? There are other fast foods folks. Where are the pasties? You thought I was stuck on middle eastern cuisine did you not? Pasties are a big deal with Cornish miners. Where are the shrimp tacos?

I am ranting. I struck out on a spontaneous couple of days away from any preconceived commitments to just be by myself today. In a conversation I had over several days decided to simply leave. I told my kids. I told a couple others that might wonder where I went. I told my niece who cleans for me every couple of weeks. I am gone this week – well most of it. I have digressed.

Traveling south on a main artery in the U. S. should bring one in contact with a vast selection of fast food choices. Nope. Just burgers and fries exist in the two hundred-ish miles I drove today. What a disappointment this was to me. I had planned to drive thru somewhere and snag something different. Fast foodies are complacent. Or asleep maybe.

Frisch’s, a local fast(ish) food chain is closing in an agonizingly slow fashion. An out-of-state crowd bought the restaurants and real estate and leased the real property back to the restaurant operators. Probably some percentage of the profits deal was put together. The pandemic pandemonium ensued and everyone operating on half a shoe string struggled to stay alive.

What doe that have to do with anything? What does that have to do with food choices on commercial goods arteries in the U. S.? Nothing except that I saw a billboard ad for Frisch’s as I was driving along and I thought I might stop there. That thought drifted into burgers which morphed into anything else but burgers which made me think about what comes with a burger/chicken/pork-patties, just fries. All are on a bun. Not rutabaga, not squash, not carrots, some places have sweet potato fries, and some places do have mushy onion paste rings but where is mustard greens? Where are rice cakes? Where are fried green tomatoes?

Why is it always a bun? What’s in that flour that buns are made of? I looked longingly for a burrito sign and was overwhelmed with burgers.

A pasty can contain anything but its usual form is beef stew in a pastry shell. This picture from the Daring Gourmet. I think I will try it when I get home. All I need now is skirt steak and a swede or two.

I long for carrots or rutabaga and now I am hungry.

Carpe Diem.