Friday Randomness
So much randomness this week…this one is going to be scattered. Let’s dive in.
Eggy Goodness
Let’s start with eggs, shall we? Maya and I watched a video on YouTube the other day about egg cooking hacks. If you need a lot of chopped up hard boiled eggs for egg salad or something, she has a tip where you crack raw eggs into a baking dish, bake them until they are set, then chop them up. That looked pretty good, but I can’t tell you the last time I needed a bunch of chopped hard boiled eggs. She had a trick for making poached eggs in the microwave that I had to try. I love poached eggs and I am shite at making them.
1st, get your old scratched up glass container – in my case a glass measuring cup. Put in some water, then a few drops of vinegar, then crack your egg in. You can cover it if you’re worried about your egg exploding in the microwave, but I didn’t. Pop it in the microwave and cook for about a minute. All microwaves are a little different, though. Mine wasn’t set at 1 minute, so I hit the ‘add 30 seconds’ button.
We had a pretty decent grocery store tomato laying around – why have I not been to the Farmer’s Market yet this summer? Likely because I’ve mostly been going to protests on Saturdays, but we have another market on Sunday, so clearly I could make it work if I were more motivated. Gotta work on that. Anyway, I sliced up my tomato, popped it on a slice of sourdough toast, then the egg and some lemon pepper. What do I want in a poached egg? I want a set white and a runny, jammy yolk.
Results? A little jammy, definitely delicious, but cooked a bit more than I would have preferred. I’ll have to give it another try. What about these Sakura plates, circa 1993? Jane on the original Melrose Place has some that are pretty close. (Sidebar…I’ve been watching Melrose but have gotten to the point where the characters are changing too much and I quiet quit. I got through season 4, but not sure I can take any more. Maybe.)
In other recipe news, remember the leftover chicken chili I made recently? I was so happy with the flavors and the use of the Penzey’s fajita spice blend there, I used it the next week to make taco salad. Meh. I think I’ll stick with my homemade taco seasoning for that.
Fighting the Good Fight
I liked this sign at one of our local protests a few weeks ago. There has been talk about making our county a ‘sanctuary county’ because people are being nabbed at immigration court when they show up for their hearings, as well as other places, but our stupid Sherrif is against it, so it’s unlikely to happen. Tomorrow’s protest will be in front of the immigration court, though mostly symbolic because they are closed on Saturdays.
Also this one, which really spoke to me this week with the National Guard being deployed in DC. And now the Police Chief there is changing the policy, saying that local police will cooperate with ICE agents. It’s all so damned depressing. And people are still starving in Gaza and Sudan, dying in Ukraine, and it is all entirely avoidable and what the hell is with humans anyway.
Onward.
Doing All the Things
What else? How about a bunch of health stuff? Being a Woman of a Certain Age means I have had my mammogram, my bone density scan, my mole check, all of the things that are due this year. I’m back to daily yoga after my weekend break in Portland, continuing with my 5 days a week strength training, and I take walks 6 or 7 days a week. Some changes I’m making…
Collagen Powder
I was chatting with my friend Janet the other day, and she said she has been taking this collagen powder. My doctor recently diagnosed me with osteopenia, and Janet said that she has turned her osteopenia around with that and a good calcium/D3/K2 supplement. So I’m on board.
Estrogen Cream
Janet suggested that I might listen to a well known doctor about the use of estrogen. Janet is a cancer survivor, and this doctor was specifically talking about safe estrogen use after having cancer. I went and found this podcast, an interview with the doctor, about how the study that got everyone so freaked out about a possible cancer link years ago was interpreted badly. Side note, Janet sent me this book a few months ago, but I am lazy when it comes to reading non-fiction, and it sits on my desk. The podcast referenced it as well. If you’re interested in HRT for peri-menopause or menopause, you might check it out. Back to the podcast. In it, Dr. Corinne Menn mentioned some other uses for estrogen beyond oral HRT, which was in improving vaginal health. As we age and the tissues down there thin, we are more prone to UTIs and other problems, and they continue to get worse, so we then become more prone to really serious issues like sepsis. So I went to my doctor and asked her for some estrogen cream, and she gave me a prescription. Janet says you can use a bit of the cream on your face too, I haven’t tried that yet.
Actinic Keratosis
The other reason that I went to the doctor was to have her remove some pre-cancer blobs on my face. The result of being fair skinned and spending a lot of time tanning when I was young and stupid. That hurt, but not as much as I thought it would. They burn them off with liquid nitrogen, but the keratoses were so small that it felt kind of like a pinch or a poke, but not bad like when I had a mole removed a few months ago.
Measles
There has been a lot of talk lately about measles and how it’s on its way back due to people not being vaccinated. Which got me thinking, have I been vaccinated? I know I have never had measles, though I did have mumps and chicken pox as a child. My mom was a strong believer in vaccination, but when I look online, the vaccine they were giving out back then may suggest a booster. I asked my doctor, and she said getting a booster wouldn’t hurt me any, but as I was going to do a bunch of routine bloodwork anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to check my immunity. So she did, and yay! I have immunity. Good to have that off my mind. I’ll confess that I was a little worried about it before I went on my cruise in June. I decided that it was unlikely that I had never been vaccinated, I likely had a shot for Rubella when I was pregnant, but I could not remember.
Probiotics
After I listened to the podcast about estrogen and HRT, I listened to another episode about probiotics. Listen, this Dr. Stephanie woman could be a quack for all I know. She’s a very slick chiropractor with products to sell. The episode was about spore based probiotics, and how they survive the trip to your gut much better than the probiotics that we are used to taking. I take probiotics anyway, as the treatment I am on for my Rheumatoid Arthritis is long term antibiotics, and it just makes sense to keep things in balance, you know? So I decided to give them a try. In my own little act of rebellion, I didn’t buy the brand she was pushing, I bought a different brand.
After all of that, I think you deserve a photo of the woman in our neighborhood who walks her cat along with her dog. You’re welcome.
Last Weekend
Saturday was stupidly hot around here, upper 90s, and Ted and I had no plans, so we decided to go to the other side of the tunnel (aka, Oakland/Berkeley border) to get a break from the heat. It was lower 80s and LOVELY there. We browsed an upscale hardware store, which was more fun than it sounds, then a specialty food market. Then we started slowly moseying (can you fast mosey? I don’t think so.) toward a restaurant Ted’s been wanting to try for a while. We stopped in at a Cole Coffee, where Ted bought some whole bean French Roast that he has declared delicious, and then we browsed the Thelma Harris Art Gallery, which features art by (I think) local African American artists, and made me wish I were rich. Some art, you look at it and you know it’s good, but it doesn’t grab you. Then there’s art that grabs you. The painting above spoke to me. It was a bit out of my price range, but I enjoyed looking at it for a while.
Re-reading all of that, I realize that for me, time spent wandering around with Ted, window shopping and just looking at some of the wonderful things our world has to offer, is really fun. Quiet fun.
Then we moseyed over to the restaurant, Wood Tavern, thinking that by getting there at 4:30, we’d have no trouble getting a table. Wrong. The restaurant is smaller than we thought, and extremely popular, so we went with it and ate at the bar. Generally I’m not a fan of eating at the bar, but it was fun to watch the bartenders make drinks and chat with the regulars. The bartenders were skilled, and I liked the tiny touches like peeling the citrus garnish fresh for each cocktail.
We started out sharing a delicious bleu cheese plate, then shared a really good Greek salad, and listened to the bar patrons who said the pork chop and the chicken were the way to go. Everything was top notch, and I suspect we will go back. The chicken was even better as leftovers.
Sunday we went to Ted’s company picnic. Ted was taking pictures and chatting with coworkers, and I chilled in the shade with Gabby the very good girl. She is shy, and was overwhelmed by the crowd. She permitted me to pet her and scratch her back a bit, but she didn’t like it. One toddler was getting a bit too friendly with her and she had her tail tucked in tight and I was starting to worry about that situation, but someone came and distracted the toddler, and Gabby’s human never seemed worried.
I liked this little popcorn cart – you could take fresh popcorn, and then mix it with candy in a little bag. Fun. I liked watching the teenaged girl make bags for everyone like she was getting paid to do so. Also the toddler who was similarly serious about her job, moving water and ice from one drink bucket to the next. We stayed for about an hour and a half, then went home to cool off.
Million Dollar Idea
You know what program I would like? (I don’t think it needs to be AI, just a regular computer program) – Something to go through my blogroll and tell me who wrote about what. I don’t keep track of who suggested a particular book (though Lisa’s idea of creating tags in Libby has me thinking…) and I likely should. But also, one of you will post something and I’ll think about it a day or two later and want to go back and say something more, and I’ll be damned if I can remember who talked about what.
Buried Treasure
Among the things I have of my moms are letters written to her by my dad, mostly written in the first years of their reaquaintance. When we went to Portland last month, my stepmom Julie gave me a bunch of letters that she had found in the basement, letters from my mom to him (and some from me as well) from that same early period. She sent him one of my baby shoes! Oh, my heart. One project I am going to have is to put all of these in chronological order, and read them in order. For anyone new around here, my parents were friends in High School and College, and were ‘more than friends’ only once. It’s a long complicated story, but the important thing to know is that I finally met him when I was 21. I’ve never lived in the same state as that part of my family, but we built a wonderful relationship, and I love my stepmom and my sisters and their families dearly. When they became reacquainted, they wrote letters a few days a week and had epic (like 6 or 8 hour) phone calls. I cannot imagine their phone bills. Reading their letters is probably an invasion of privacy, but I figure I missed out on 21 years, and neither of them are here to tell me not to do it. I don’t expect to find any bombshells, from what I’ve read already.
If You Like Pina Coladas
I spotted this situation the other day…what’s the story? Did someone get robbed of their groceries? Did someone decide they were craving pina coladas, go get some coconut and pineapple and also bananas and apples and avocados because why not, then decide, damn, this bag is too heavy. I don’t know. I do like that the coconut is open, and I hope someone got a drink out of it.
Time to Celebrate!
Tonight we are taking Ted’s parents to dinner to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! It’s been a rough time for them for the last 9 or 10 months, but his mom finally has had her hip replacement surgery and is well on the road to recovery, and his stepdad has been absolutely wonderful caring for her. We’ll have a nice dinner, then go to my BIL’s house for cake and champagne.
40 Comments
Birchie
I am here for random and long chats!
I only like poached eggs if someone else makes them. I have been too traumetized by my own failures to ever want to attempt to make a poached egg again in my life.
My next vaccine is birthday related. I’ve known a few people who got shingles, and their stories have inspired me to get it ASAP. I know it’s going to make me sick for a few days, but I will take that over getting shingles any day.
I’m glad you got some time with Gabby. Doggo can be very uneasy with other people, and taking her to social events is always a balancing act between trying to get her more comfortable with people and making sure that she’s not overwhelmed.
J
I hope my calm demeanor helped Gabby to cope with the toddler, who wasn’t touching her much, just kept bringing her water and then dumping it out. But it was a lot of activity for a stressed dog.
Do you usually get sick from vaccines? I don’t, and I didn’t have any trouble with the shingles vaccine. Ted almost always gets a fever, and I think this was no exception. But it wasn’t horrible for either of us.
Poached eggs are indeed traumatizing. I’m so glad to have come across this method, though I haven’t yet mastered getting the time right. Practice, practice, practice.
AC
First thing I did was steal the first pic and post it on FB. I read the rest, but I must say the lady wlaking both her dog and cat is worth it by itself.
J
I feel lucky to have seen her so I could take that picture, for sure!
nance
Wow! This could have been several posts, but I admire you for Going For It and putting all of it into one. And, as usual, the graphics/memes were stellar and well-chosen.
The painting that grabbed you also spoke to me. There’s so much happening in it–not in a chaotic way, but it seems to have several themes. I’d have looked at it a long, long time.
I feel bad for Gabby (who I think looks a lot like Hannah, Engie’s dog). It’s clear that she’s not happy, and I wonder if she’d have been better off at home.
The photo of the cat going for a “walk” with its family is absolutely fantastic. I would have had to stop her and chat and ask how that whole thing came about. It’s going to be the best thing I see on the internet today, so thank you.
J
I think poor Gabby likes being left home alone even less than she likes crowds, or he was going to be gone too long, I’m not sure. He said he didn’t have a choice but to bring her. He kept her on the periphery of the gathering. He said it was unusual for her to let strangers pet her as long as I was, which to me said that she was indeed stressed and needed some comfort. I also saw some Hannah in her.
NGS
Whenever I see super ambitious and successful people (and I am jealous because I’m not a nice person inside), I remind myself that they too will die one day and somehow that makes me feel better.
Poor Gabby, She IS like Hannah, but I would NEVER take Hannah to an environment like that. Poor baby just wants to be at home in the quiet. I get it, Gabby. You’re not alone.
J
Some super ambitious people could die sooner rather than later, right? I mean, I have champagne in my closet, WAITING.
I felt bad for Gabby, I hope it was good for her to be around people and learn that it can be OK. Clearly she would have been happier at home.
Margaret
My dad loved making poached eggs and had a special pan for it; the whites were always a bit too slimy for me. I prefer the soft boiled egg in your photo or even a bit runnier yolk. I’ve been to an upscale hardware store in Gig Harbor and it was fun to look around. I sometimes enjoy sitting at the bar; it’s great for chatting with random people and the bartender. But I have to be in the mood!
J
Agreed about being in the mood for talking to random people! It was fun this time, but next time we might not get so lucky.
Kat
I am charmed by the idea of a company picnic, of all things, haha. Esp one with a popcorn/candy maker. I remember going to my dad’s as a kid and enjoying the novelty of meeting his coworkers. My workplaces have never had them (well, technically we had kind of the opposite of one once… a picnic was planned (just at a local park during a weekday, so no families/pets invited sadly) but then unceremoniously canceled a week prior for unknown reasons. I think that is worse than not scheduling one at all!)
It’s great you were able to drive so easily to much better weather! And days like that really are so fun.
Enjoy the anniversary celebration w your in-laws! My parents’ 50th is next yr and I’ll need to think of something special to do for it.
J
Oh goodness, they planned it and then cancelled it? I agree, better to not have done it at all. I worked at a hotel when I was in my 20s, and one year we got a 1 cent increase in pay. We said we would have rather had nothing, that was ridiculous.
Lisa's Yarns
That poached egg would have disappointed me, too. I love a runny yoke. That’s more like a soft boiled/hard boiled egg yolk consistency. All that said, I have never poached an egg! My preferred method is eggs over easy which I can deliver on 90% of the time.
It is hard to remember where you read about something. Was it in a blog? Was it in a comment section?
Have you read The Correspondent? Your project of putting the letters together in chronological order made me think of that book which I LOVED. I gave it 5 stars and it will make my best books of the year list! My mom and dad exchanged letters when my dad was in the Navy during Vietnam. I am pretty sure my mom destroyed the letters. She told us she would never want us to read them… they must have been racy or something (which I wouldn’t want to read either… lol.) When I see her next week I’ll have to ask what she did with them.
J
Thankfully these letters will not be racy. I think that would scar me for life!
Nicole MacPherson
I’ve recently wondered if I need a measles booster, I am going to the travel clinic soon to get Hep A&B and thought maybe I should get a measles shot too.
I love popcorn and I would have been so into that little cart!
Now I’m sure this is not going to be the case for you but still, it makes a funny story. A podcaster I follow recently lost her mother, and her father had already passed a few years prior, so she’s been cleaning out the house, dealing with the estate, etc. In one of the bedside tables, she found two vibrators and a gun. Then she found a box of old letters and she peeked at one and it was a letter from her mom to her dad which basically said “I’m so horny for you” and contained a drawing of a penis with ejaculate. So. I think after that she did not go through any more correspondence.
J
OMG, I think I would just burn it all. That’s hilarious though!
Elisabeth
I love eggs in every single form, but poached is one of the best! I want to try this microwave hack asap. I know you can buy little molds to make them in the microwave, but I don’t want something else to store. This solves that problem because I have multiple glass measuring cups.
I really do want to know the story behind all that spilled fruit. I occasionally see an entire bag of groceries spilled somewhere and I puzzle about that one. Did the bag break?
Enjoy the celebration <3
J
We had some silicone molds that were supposed to work in a pan, but they really didn’t. I’ve tried cooking them in a little ramekin for a minute or two until the white just starts to set, and then pouring the egg in the water…it’s all worky. This method seems to work, if I can get the time figured out so the white is not at all runny but the yolk is. But even as a barely set hard boiled egg, it’s delicious!
I’m surprised that you see a bag of spilled groceries where you are. It’s pretty urban here, so doesn’t seem like such a surprise.
Melissa
I love having poached eggs that someone else cooks. We sometimes have breakfast after our run at a friend’s place, and he does great poached eggs. When he comes for breakfast at our place, we make him cook the eggs if we’re having poached. Those letters will be fascinating reading, I wonder what you will find.
J
Thanks Melissa…I’m thinking today might be another poached egg day for me.
Allison McCaskill
I don’t even know which parts of this to confine my comment to. but I’m here for all of it. So interesting about your parents – I agree about invasion of privacy, unless they left strict instructions for the letters to be burned (and even maybe then), have at it.
The wandering dates ARE really fun – I’m a bit unclear on why it was so much cooler where you went, was it far? I also love that painting. OH, the cat riding along for the dog walk – can’t even articulate how awesome that is.
The abandoned tropical fruit salad? These things that we will never know the answers to haunt me. HAUNT ME.
J
No instructions on the letters, and I 100% know my parents would be OK with it.
The SF Bay Area is a series of microclimates – there are a set of hills between our town and the one we went to. When the fog comes in to San Francisco, it cools the area off…but if the high pressure system is strong enough, it holds the cool air down. So we drive 20 minutes, and it’s a beautiful 20 degrees cooler.
We will never know about the fruit, will we. Sigh.
PocoBrat
I love stories of your adventures with Ted whether slow moseying or just moseying… And thanks for protesting almost every Saturday. I’ve fallen off the protest schedule what with one thing and another… your post reminded me that I should get on that.
Thanks for sharing the story about your parents, J–that’s QUITE the story!I hope the letters bring you more specifics to slot into the story. Your stepmom sounds like a good person as well.
I think I do a good poached egg (water, in Shakshuka, or flipped in a fat) but mostly by vibes. I’ll make notes to share the next time I do in case that’s useful.
J
Oh, I love shakshuka, and I can certainly poach an egg that way! It’s the water that messes me up, because the white goes everywhere.
The letters…I know I will enjoy reading them, they will give me glimpses into their brains at the time. But parts will surely be boring daily stuff. They were both working on their self employment enterprises, and talked a lot about that.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
That piña colada pictures gave me giggles. Waht is this. I want to know the back story.
Also how exciting for the letters. However it must be a little weird reading them.
J
It’s a little weird reading them letters, but also not. I haven’t ordered them yet, just read a few at random. The ones from me are weird, I was trying to get to know my dad and my sisters, and it was my first year away from home, living in the big city, falling in love with Ted…
Stephany
I don’t know why but I find it so relaxing to watch bartenders work. The same is with baristas. There’s something almost ASMR-like about it. It’s one of my favorite things to watch because it’s something I don’t know ANYTHING about but love watching other people do it so easily!
J
I like that, Stephany! Yes, I know nothing about bartending (or baristaing) and I enjoy watching people do it as well. Ted enjoyed learning about the drinks, and we liked that they were candid. There is a drink there that is popular because it’s a pretty color (purple maybe? I don’t remember) and they both said ‘meh’. But once someone orders it, people at other tables want it too.
Ernie
Oh wow. There’s so much in this post, and I’m here for it. I’m so confused by the lost grocery bag. What happened there, I wonder – but who knows?
I’m so happy that you have those letters. What a gift. Your baby shoe? How sweet. I love that they reconnected and had such long conversations. Sheesh – remember when long distance bills were a thing?
The time with Ted sounds delightful. How great to treasure just quiet wandering around time. The photo of that meal looks so tasty. No wonder the restaurant was crowded.
I hope you enjoyed the 50th wedding anniversary.
You do always have the best memes. That Mount Everest one is hilarious. I love it.
J
Thanks Ernie! I am on Facebook and see a lot of excellent memes there. I just save them to use here.
coco
Can you please tell more about the lady who walks her cat and dog? soooo cute!
I also want an app/program that shows me what I wrote exactly a year/years ago in the same date, like some of those photos apps that show that. it’s so fun to remember our mindset from a year ago right?
oh…. estrogen, I think the HRT discussion has dismantled the talk about that. peter attia, my god on all longevitiy topics, has several topics of that. I’m definitey going for it when the time comes.
i used to love poached eggs, but takes so much work to get it right, your microwave method looks simple. I like runny yolks on a avocado toast.
J
A runny yolk and a firm white on avocado toast is my favorite as well.
I feel like I have missed my window for HRT, since I will be 60 in December. There is increased risk for heart issues, which is what everyone in my family dies from. I recommend it for most people, though!
StephLove
I live in a sanctuary city and it just means the police don’t co-operate with ICE, not that ICE can’t come and kidnap people. Several people (I think construction workers doing road work) were taken from my street earlier this summer, a 10-minute walk from my house, and just last week some more who worked at a Mexican restaraunt on the same street were snatched on their way to work. It’s heartbreaking. I can’t stop wondering what happened to them.
I love the cat on the shoulder.
How nice you can drive to cooler weather. It’s not much cooler anywhere within day trip driving distance from here, but you can get to water. (The Bay is an 1-2 hours away and the ocean is 4+ hours with summer traffic.)
J
Thank you for the clarification on Sanctuary Cities. Some of the cities in our county are sanctuary, and yes, people are being stolen off of the streets there as well. After I posted this, I saw an article about our Sheriff on the issue, and he says for the most part they do not cooperate with ICE, but I don’t know what is true and what is not.
The SF Bay Area is full of microclimates, and we can experience a huge difference in temperature from our neighbors to the East and West, depending on how far the summer fog comes in.
Gina
Happy 50th to Ted’s parents!
I adore that painting as well!
I remember attending a county fair many years ago and really clicking with some of the photography entrants. I thought, oh, it’s just some county fair photo contest entries, how much could these be? Oh my gosh, so very much! No way could I afford them. It makes me sad to this day.
I hear you on the bar seating, we rarely sit there as well, usually because I just kind of hate perching on the higher bar stools/chairs. I can never get comfortable, I feel like I need my feet need to be on the ground.
And people never cease to amaze me with their creative signs at the protests. I love to see it!
J
I have found myself daydreaming about that painting, I’ll tell you. Then I think, “Where would I put it? Would I rather have the painting or a plane ticket to France or something?” And the answer is the plane ticket, so I guess I’ll save my money. Sigh.
Diane
What a cozy, catch all post!
I like the *idea* of a poached egg, but in reality, I feel like I lose too much of the egg white whenever I try to make one, and the egg turns out soggy. I much prefer a nice soft boiled egg. When I was growing up, I called soft boiled eggs “water eggs” because that was the literal translation from Mandarin, but no one knew what I was talking about at school when we had to talk about our favorite way to prepare eggs.
J
Losing so much of the white is definitely an issue for me, too. I don’t think I lose much at all with the microwave method. And obviously the egg was wet when it came out of the water, but I just dried it with a paper towel.
A ‘water egg’ sounds kind of perfect, I’m always afraid the white won’t be set or it won’t peel right. Usually I just cook them over easy!
Daria
So much good stuff!! For me, the My. Everest meme and the “how about never?” meme stood out!
I am 44, and still get my period regularly but I also have night sweats and started having some joint pain. I get mammogram and breast ultrasound yearly but no skin check or bone density. Not sure why not… I keep hearing how women in their 40s must increase their protein intake but I can’t keep eating chicken every day. I do love bread and want to put my face into a plate of pasta each time I see a plate of pasta… anyway, I’m a work in progress.
J
I am with you on the pasta, for sure! I love pasta and bread. Protein I don’t care as much about, unless it’s cheese on my pasta. HA! Well, I do love beans.