It's been a few weeks

A crazy few weeks.  All sorts of things going on, from work, to getting together with friends, to a rush trip to Sioux Falls to go to the doctor with mom.  Her pacemaker has needed a "tune up" to try to get her heart going stronger, so she had surgery to fix it on Wednesday.  She was supposed to go home this afternoon, but started having deep muscle spasms in her lower back, so onto a bit of morphine to control those.  And that delayed her release.  Dad went back home, and will drive back and forth until she is released--hopefully soon.  I had already sent her flowers (thanks to a snafu in the gift shop, she got double the flowers), but wanted to get her a pick me up.  So I sent her a MONKEY!  No, that is not a typo--I sent her a little stuffed monkey.  Now she can see monkeys in the hospital too.  Wonder if Dr. A can go tell her it isn't a heart transplant monkey?

Anyway, here is a little something for mom.  Thank you for making sure we always knew this.

What a Wonderful World

I LOVE Fall

I love the crisp smell in the air.  I love the sound of the drying leaves rustling as the wind blows through them.  I love the thought of baking an apple pie, or a stuffed squash.  And the fact that I got to eat turkey dinner with all the yummy things that go with it (B&G Produce roasted carrots!) for dinner--before they ran out of food just an hour after starting to serve.  What do I love most about fall?  The cooler temperatures and no humidity.  I just feel better.  And I apparently looked better, since my (she makes me say this--"favorite") aunt stopped by my office while she was in town today and she said I looked much better then the last time she saw me.  Apparently in June I looked "scary."  Hello!  I'd been sedated and had tubes shoved down my throat, stuck in a large scan tube, and had everything from my neck to navel echo tested.  And lost a ton of blood because the idiot nurse didn't know how to draw from an IV tube.  There was blood all over the side table.  Still went shopping both days though!  Some things a girl just has to do.   

And I'm very happy tonight--my Lefse 101 class is officially filled!  The class is November 3 at Faith Lutheran Church. Attendees will take home lefse, coupons for lefse equipment from Hogen's Hardware Hank, and a booklet of authentic Norwegian recipes from my very own family.  YAY!  And now it is time for bed.  Snuggled under a huge pile of blankets.  Ahhhhh.

We need a medic!

I will admit that I am slightly obsessed about my garden.  Even when I haven't felt quite up to par, or had my arm in a sling, everything got watered.  I currently have a good number of inappropriately shaped cucumbers!  Very odd.

I also have 6 tomato plants in 5 varieties. The Roma plants are producing well, and the cherry tomatoes are going crazy.  There are 41 little tomatoes on the cherry tomato plant.  Hopefully they will all start turning red.  A few are getting to be an orange-hued green,  In the wind last weekend, one of the vines (on which a tomato and several blossoms were residing) got bent and nearly broke off.  I didn't want to lose the tomato, so I decided to see if I could save the vine and the tomato.  So I wrapped it with white cotton sports wrap and taped it with white paper tape, then tied it a stake for support.  After several days, it looks fantastic!  See--pretty ingenious, right?

Now if only the frost will hold off until the tomatoes and peppers have produced enough to earn their keep in watering.  Otherwise, it's going to be just cucumbers next year, and herbs in the raised planters.  I had a dream a couple nights ago that it had snowed overnight.  Yet the snow didn't hurt the tomatoes.  And I didn't even eat anything weird before going to bed that night.  Weird!  Normally I just have pretty normal dreams, and don't even really remember them.  But every now and then there is an odd doozie.

Now out to harvest herbs before I go to work for the day.  Hoping that today goes smoothly.  Please . . . .

The Tale (or Tail) of the Monkey

Please could I have regular insomnia instead of having it tied to an event?  A year ago, I was in the immuno-suppression wing at Avera McKennan (after a $3,258 ambulance ride from Pierre under the influence of lovely quantities of morphine).  I’d had a very high fever, and my labs were totally out of whack (my MELD had jumped to 20+), and I was having bad headaches.  They called in a neurologist with the worst bedside manner ever.  I told her I wanted to see my own neurologist since he was also affiliated with Avera.  She just blurted out “oh, he died.”  Umm, thanks.  I didn’t realize that Wal-Mart did the physician training in bedside manner.

 

She sent me down for an MRI.  To the MRI lab which was closed for Labor Day weekend and only had some dim passageway lights on.  Ever seen Flatliners?  They take people to the deserted basement to do experimental medical procedures on them.  So the tech put the head-immobilizing “Jason” mask on me and handed me a thingy to squeeze if I wanted out.  She slid me into the tube.  She never said “keep your eyes closed.”  Squeezed that thingy so hard it almost exploded in my hand.  I made her take me back upstairs.  The neurologist decided to give me some kind of med that she didn’t run past the transplant surgeon first. 

 Thanks to the pharmacy not listening to me about one of my prescriptions, I had begun slipping into another encephalopathic bout.  Add freaky med.  Result equals delusions.  Dobbie (from Harry Potter) was hiding under the bed and only popped out when I got up to go to the bathroom then disappeared back under the bed.  I became agitated.  The Estonian nurse thought it might help to calm me if she spoke to me soothingly in her language.  Wrong!  She instantly became the German version of Tokyo Rose, there in the VA hospital to hurt the other veterans.  I am not a veteran, nor was I at the VA hospital of course.  I knew I had to go for help.

 

Earlier in the day, they had disconnected all the tubes and such, although the IV line was still in my arm.  So I put on my traction socks, and my robe, and stealthily (or so I thought) left my room and made a break for it.  I went down the hallway I thought the ambulance gurney had come in through.  Guessed wrong.  Nurse Ashley saw me and tried to stop me and have me sit in a chair in the hall.  “No, the bad peoples will see me!”  I kept walking.  She guided me into a conference room and tried to get me to sit at the table.  “No, they can still see me!”  So I sat on a chair in the corner, by the coat rack, huddled behind some kind of projector thing (I think).  She called the doctor to find out what he wanted to do.  The Estonian nurse came in with a pill.  “No!  She’s one of the bad peoples!”  They assured me she was not and got me to take the pill.  I would not go back to my room because Dobbie was still in there.

 

So I got to go sit at the nurses’ station in a comfy chair, looking at magazines (because reading didn’t make sense at that point), and eating cubes of red jello.  Drat Wal-Mart for discontinuing carrying the Winky sugar-free black cherry gel bites!  After a while I was tired and went back to my room.  This is the part that is still a bit fuzzy.  Somehow I became convinced that the reason they had taken me to the MRI lab (a/k/a experimental medical procedures area) was to give me a monkey liver.  I could not be talked out of this.  Even the next day, I was still convinced.  I argued with Dr. A that if they used pig valves for heart replacements, they could easily use monkey livers.  He assured me they didn’t use pig valves, and couldn’t use monkey parts, but if they could, there would be an endless supply and therefore no need for waiting lists.  I guess I finally believed that.

 

After returning home several weeks later, I was greeted by my staff giving me monkey bandanas, texting me monkey pictures (I told you I would get even James), and eating bananas at their desks.  So much love and support!  To this day, I detest monkeys.  Their looks, sounds, nasty bug-infested fur.  I have, however, decided that the classic old sock monkeys are cute.

 

A good portion of last summer has returned to my memory, although not all.  And it possibly never will.  I’m just grateful that memories from prior to that seem to have almost fully returned.  There are still occasional blank sectors on the hard drive of my brain, but I hope that’s just because it was something that I should have deleted anyway.

 

So now you have it.  The full story of the monkeys, or at least as much of it as I can recall.  Or have been told.  For now, I’m just trying to stay healthy so I can put off the transplant as long as possible.

Perfectly Peachy

Today was Bountiful Baskets pick up day.  While I did not purchase a basket, five of us did chip in on a box of peaches on a co-worker's basket ordeer.  Freestone peaches from Utah!  After dividing them up, here was my portion:

 

A little less than half a box.  A few days to ripen, and they will be delish!

The Colors of Healthy

Have you ever found yourself in the produce aisle of the supermarket, just fascinated by all the beautiful colors, shapes, and smells of fresh produce?  The overhead mister keeping everything fresh and crisp with it's fine droplets of water, which drip then off the leaves of kale or lettuce or the fronds of fresh fennel.  When everything is freshly stocked and looks like nature's rainbow of food.  Ok, not so much at Wal-Mart where it's picked over and you've never heard of some of the countries from which they purchased.  But at your local grocery store--where you're more likely to get USA-grown or local produce.  Or being the first in line to buy at the farmers' market.

I did the farmers'market this morning.  I missed last week due to the break in of my car.  But I was there today for "free large zucchini day.'  And, I may even try it, armed with inspiration from my brother's zucchini boat concept.  I figure if my ultra picky nephews eat it, there must be some merit.  But I will not bake today, as it is supposed to be 110 degrees.  Instead, I will get organized, rotate my canned good that I've started stocking up on for fall and winter cooking.  I'm a FIFO kind of gal (first in, first out) for stock rotation.  Weird, I know.  But I have to have my canned goods organized.  I attack my mom's every time I'm there since she has soup in the same row as fruit.  Horrors!

So I arranged some of the produce on Farmer Ralph's table to make a pretty picture of just how yummy produce is.  You can't see the onions, potatoes, okra, and all the squashes--but you can see a couple.  And his watermelons were on the ground.  The world's heaviest, juiciest watermelons!

 

I think those are some of the most beautiful eggplants I've ever seen.  Don't you feel healthier just looking at it?  Or at least like you should go eat some fruits and veggies?  I've got cantaloupe, pineapple (yeah, thanks Curtis for renewing my pineapple fetish), and super crisp red grapes in the refrigerator.  Later today I'll pick up a 24 pound box of Utah-grown freestone peaches we chipped in on at work.  We LOVE Bountiful Baskets!  www.bountifulbaskets.org brings a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to communities through the power of buying cooperatives.  Everything so far has been yummy!

Finally . . . Tomatoes!

I finally have a few ripening tomatoes on the Babycakes Cherry Tomato plant.  It has zillions of green baby tomatoes on it, but until this morning I hadn't noticed any ripening.  Now they are starting to turn:

The one in the upper corner is starting to turn, and the left one if already fully orange!

All 9 of these are on one vine, like a cluster of grapes!

Little baby green bell peppers.  19 of them between the two plants.  Don't stuffed peppers sound good?  I will have to post a recipe for sodium-free stuffed peppers that were good enough to fool my office into eating them without adding unneccesary salt.

Thought I'd post some positive photos tonight, since yesterday's post was kind of a bummer one.  I'm thinking 'Salsa' sounds good.  I even have a sodium-free seasoning packet I found at Lynn's DakotaMart.  I love my DM and especially their pharmacy.  They still deliver for free!

It can only get better from here

What is on my mind? That the world's stupidest car thieves hit our parking lot last night. My car was locked but I'd left the front windows down a smidgen. Someone chose last night to go looking for what Officer Cole said was likely "money, electronics, that king of thing." HELLO! It's a 1988 Ford Taurus with more than a bit of road rust. The only things in it were scrapbooking stuff since I had planned to go to a crop last night but wasn't feeling up to it. Wound up with a very high fever, a little head haziness, and stomach spasms. Fine this morning, but was about to go ballistic on my neighbor Mary when she woke me up this morning to tell me what happened. Her can got hit, too.

So if you know of anyone whose car was broken into recently, make sure they notify the police. Officer Cole Martin was very nice (and cute).  If you park outside, make sure that your cars are locked with the windows all the way up.

This was not how I wanted to start my day after being miserable all night.  I slept for 12 hours.  100.6 fever finally broke at 2:40 this morning.  The fever wasn't the worst part--it was  the stomach spasms.  My stomach gets tight and I start arching.  Haven't done that for over a year. Not fun, but I knew they would stop if I got warm enough.  Went to bed at 7 PM and realized I had a fever.  Came out and took it and knew why I was burning up if I touched my skin.  I knew if I went to the hospital they would just shove an IV in my arm and send me  home after so I decided to skip that.  Felt totally fine when I got up about 7:30 this morning.  No traces of anything.  Temp is back at my normal 98.4.

Conrad's Clan Update

A week or so ago, I posted about Conrad's Clan, a community support group for cancer suffer Conrad Adam who will be a junior at Riggs High this year.  Here are a couple of pictures of his friends showing their support and solidarity for Conrad:

 The guys before their haircuts.

Notice anything other than the number of bald heads?  The guys all stod in the same places as the "before" shot.  Great job guys--everyone should be so lucky as to have friends like you!

Conrad's Clan

With my own health problems, I feel strongly about doing what I can to help others experiencing major health problems.  Especially if I "know" that person.  While I may not know Conrad Adam well, I do have a connection in that I once rented an apartment to Conrad's father Karl, and I now rent from Karl.  Recently Conrad was diagnosed with a form of cancer for which he must undergo 29 weeks of chemotherapy.  After 10 weeks, the tumor will be removed.  He has a long road to travel, but his wonderful friends have created Conrad's Clan.  They are selling t-shirts and wristbands.  Shirts are $15, and the wristbands are only $2.  ALL of the proceeds are being donated to the family.  Our office ordered the wristbands,  which are white with green lettering.  One side says "No One Fights  Alone" and the other says "Conrad's Clan."  They can be purchased by sending a Private Message (not a comment) to them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/ConradsClan.  If you do not have Facebook, you can still order at conradsclan(at)gmail.com.  This is not a link, and the (at) should be replaced with the usual @ used in email addresses, but is not being shown that way to prevent web viruses from spamming their mailbox.

These are some seriously motivated kids helping to raise money for their friend's fight (they will be juniors this year at Riggs High).  They went so far to organize as an official non-profit agency 501(c)3.  If you are reading this, please spend the $2 to help support Conrad--a great kid from a good family who has quite a fight ahead of him.  Thanks!  And it you are interested in knowing how the organization of "Cupcakes for Conrad" is going, please leave a comment and we will update you as soon as we have approval from the family.

Blackhawk Down!

I will be taking about a week or two off from blogging as my rotator cuff heals.  I totally wrecked it yesterday throwing a tomato for a friend's dog to chase.  Turns out I'm no longer 13.  Anyway, since it is taking forever for me to type this, I will be back in touch soon.  In the mean time, you can contemplate how well you would like this:

Would you drink a cucumber soda?  I found this at the local grocery store, so I bought one for us to try.  At first it was hard to identify the actual flavor, other than all of us agreeing it was cool, light, and refreshing.  Plus it is all natural.  Not bad, but I wouldn't necessarily drink it on a regular basis.  If you are interested in trying it for yourself, it's next to the Jones Soda in the beverages aisle at Lynn's DakotaMart here in Pierre.  Just $1.09 a bottle.

It's all in a year . . .

I couldn't help feeling all day Wednesday that there was something I was supposed to remember.  Well I finally remembered it at 2 AM on Thursday, and now I can't sleep.  It was 8/8/11 when I returned to work after having been gone for about 2 months for hospitalizations and my transplant testing.  I made it 3 whole weeks before going back to the local hospital and then being transported by ambulance to Sioux Falls.  I'm still convinced that was brought on by an attack of colitis from eating WAY too much taco salad at the office potluck.  I'll take something much healthier to this week's.  I remember feeling fine until about 3 PM, when the office manager took me to the hospital.  She was familiar enough with me and my condition to rattle off what I was and wasn't doing, saying, and feeling.  So thanks, Ash, for taking such good care of me that day.  And may you never receive monkey parts for any illness,

Third Time Lucky @ RedRossa

I love bruschetta.  I always have.  I’m kind of a snob about it.  So when a bunch of friends and I went to the RedRossa here in town last week, and my bruschetta was basically just slices of their standard dipping bread with a couple of chopped tomatoes on top, I wasn’t happy.  I would have told our server to take it back, but she was obviously not suited to the profession of waitressing.  Unfortunately I’m unaware of any legal profession where women get paid for flirting with male customers.  None of us were happy with our food or service.  I believe the waitress received 2 cents as a tip, rather than the $25 she could have made as a tip from our table had we received proper service.  Admittedly, the sub-par food was not her fault.

So being the nag that I am, I contacted the corporate office and got a response quickly.  I also received an email from the manager.  Three nights later and we were back.  The food was better, if not quite on target, and our server Allie was awesome.  I don’t know what her total tip was, but the table spent about $175 on food and drinks.  OK, so mine was one iced tea since I don’t drink alcohol.

Last night was the third visit in a week.  Yes, even I am nearly bruschetta’d out.  But it was cheap burger night or cheap appetizers during happy hour, and my brother likes to eat cheap when he’s in town.  I did order the bruschetta again, and made sure to tell the server that I would like it prepared as the menu states, and their recipe and menu photo show with the bread lightly charred.  And that is exactly how I got it.  Right down to having garlic in the topping this time.  You could tell the topping had time to marinate before being put on the mozzarella.  Now if the bread had still been warm when the cheese was placed on it to allow a little melting or softening, it would have been perfect.  If they could prepare it that way, I’d eat it every night for dinner.

One of the reasons I was so tough on RedRossa is that I like their food.  It’s fresher than a lot of Italian places, and I don’t feel weighed down by it or as though I’d just eaten part of a salt lick.  So thank you, Kelsey and RedRossa, for addressing the problem and proving you can do it right.  And now I can have bruschetta anytime, thanks to finding their recipe on the Internet.  Ya just gotta love those “Interwebs” as one of my staff calls it.  Of course, she still uses a rotary dial telephone . . .  and of course I had to tweak it to add a bit more flavor.

Bruschetta with Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients: 
8 each - slices French or Italian bread, cut on slight bias
8 Round slices - of fresh mozzarella
8 Tablespoons - tomato bruschetta mix (recipe follows)
few drops - olive oil
Balsamic Reduction- Garnish (recipe follows)
Shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese- Garnish

 
Brush the bread with just a bit of olive oil and toast or char-grill the sliced French bread on both sides.  Cut mozzarella into slices approximately the size of the bread. Place on bread and top with tomato bruschetta mix.  Sprinkle Parmesan on top.  In a small mixing bowl toss mixed field greens with small amount of olive oil and toss.  On a large round plate drizzle with balsamic reduction.  Serve with additional olive oil and balsamic for dipping.
Tomato Bruschetta Mix
4 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 ounces fresh basil sprigs
2 Tablespoon olive oil 
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh garlic2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch kosher salt

In small bowl combine all the bruschetta mix ingredients   Mix with spoon until well blended and set aside until ready to plate

Balsamic Reduction:
2 cups balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Place balsamic vinegar into a sauté' pan with sugar and turn on medium heat.  Bring to a medium simmer and continue to reduce by half the volume (5-7 minutes).  Cool down in an ice water bath (half water/half ice).

RedRossa bruschetta according to the photo on their menu and Facebook.

My bruschetta last night.  Finally, charred bread!

Little 'Mater finally ripened!  It's a real Roma tomato!  If I had a few more,  I'd have whipped up a batch of bruschetta tonight for dinner.  But instead I enjoyed the benefits of onions and peppers in my salsa.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

Springerridge at Farmers' Market this past weekend.  Lots of awesome produce!  I'm going to try to go vegetarian this week to use up some of my produce in the refrigerator and what is coming in from the garden. 

Going to try mini pizzas on slices of grilled eggplant from Farmer Ralph (Ripley Gardens).  Here is my eggplant (closest to buckets), cucumbers, and Valiant grapes.  I love grapes, but not 5 quarts of them!

Hi Julie!  She's helping Ralph with the produce, and helps to make sure the weekly market emails go out.  Sign up to get them at www.capcitymarket.wordpress.com.

All Hail the Amazing Corndog!

When most people think of a corn dog, they think of a hot dog on a stick dipped in a cornmeal batter and deep fried.  Fair or festival food.  Gross  I read the package of hot dogs when I was 11 and haven't eaten one since.  Well, Shiloh can't read, and will do just about anything for fresh vegetables (especially raw potatoes and sweet potatoes.  And I must say, he does have impeccable manners while eating . . . are you ready?  Corn on the cob!  Dad eats almost all of the ear, leaving about half a dozen kernels on the cob for the little poop.

In his tribute to the English always raising one pinkie while drinking tea, Shiloh raises one paw as he nibbles 

Well, a thunder storm is coming through, the thunder rumbling nice and so it is time for me to head to bed.

I grew a pickle!

I went out tonight to water the garden, grumbling at the futility of it since only the herbs have been harvested.  My one tomato is still green on the vine--with no apparent need to hurry to ripen.  Well, we've had some rain the last few days, so I haven't had to water.  Still no tomatoes.  When I hit the Regal cucumbers with the water, a couple of leaves moved and I saw, no, it couldn't be!  A cucumber.  Somewhat like papa in his search for the cause of the clatter on  the rooftop, I threw down the nozzle, tore over to the plants and pulled back my vine, and what to my wondering eyes did appear?  One giant pickle, and a half dozen more little babies on vine!  My other vines on the other side of the patio (Marketmore and Picklebush) also have some babies--and those are the ones I grew from seeds. 

It's Herman the Pickle, after his first bath.  He's about 7 inches

long, and I don't know his weight.  Isn't he just adorable? 

And look at that healthy fingernail.  Lovely crescent at the bottom with a slight growth of white at the top.  No, I do not have a French manicure, that is the way my nails look every day.  I do have to trim them once a week so I can type and text, due to the iron supplement I take.  Usually it makes my hair grow, too, but I got it cut a month ago, and I think she buzzed me.  Four weeks later and it still sticks straight up.  It's too short to even try to style, so I just hit it with some mousse and I'm out the door!

I'll have to make sure the nails stay looking nice for my trip to Sioux Falls on Thursday.  I get to meet with the head of the Milwaukee transplant surgery team (Aurora St. Luke's).  Dr. Steers will be in Sioux Falls for the week to provide coverage while the two surgeons there are gone.  I guess I'm not a common diagnosis for the liver disease center in Sioux Falls, and I've just been hanging out on the wait list for over a year now.  So I'm one of the patients he asked to meet.  Wonder if he likes cucumbers?

Things that are gross in the night

I will no longer water my garden at dusk.  Monday night there was a small bat chillin' in the raised planter.  I hope I drowned him or made him squish when he fell off the planter wall.  Last night it was an ugly brown toad hiding in the coils of the hose.  Yucky!  Bats are beyond scary, and toads are just creepy.  From now on, I will  water no later than 6 pm.  Again, yucky!

More Odd Sounds

It rained and stormed last night.  Enough that my car windows were still wet this morning.  Shortly after getting to work, it started raining again!  I love it!  But of course that means really high humidity today.  It may only be 84 degrees right now, but it is so humid that it's hard to breathe.  But rain!  I may not even have to water the garden tonight, which would be a good thing since I don't want to risk the bat that was in the garden last night coming back.

The car windows were still wet this morning.  This is the entrance on the back side

of the building.  The front entry is where I have my "garden."

 Rain coming down this morning across from my office.

Look at those raindrops jump.

The dried dill weed from this weekend that Georgette and Quinten dried for me.

Rain, Glorious Rain!

As I've said before in the past week or two, I'm tired of the constant heat and drought-like conditions we have been experiencing this month.  I guess if forced to choose between this and last year's flooding, I'd take this heat.  But I'd like a happy medium.  So I went to bed at 10:00 last night/tonight.  10:01 to be  precise . according to my atomic self-setting alarm clock.  I work up to the strangest sound what turned out to be less than one hour later. 

Was that--no, it couldn't be!  There it was again!  Thunder.  Lightning.  And the pinging sound of rain on the window.  I got up to look, just to make sure I wasn't having a delusional dream.  No, I wasn't.  It really was storming.  I immediately scampered back to bed, pulled up the covers to get cozy, and drifted back to sleep.  There is nothing more restful to me than the sound of a thunderstorm (as long as it isn't severe enough for the emergency sirens to go off).  I slept for another couple of hours before waking up.  The storm had passed, but it had rained enough that everything was still wet.  I guess that means we get a blast of humidity with Tuesday's heat, but that's ok.  We got rain.  I now have greater expectations for my tomatoes.  I even "shook" the plants according the the Texas wives' belief that hitting your tomato plants lightly with a broom handle to get them to set fruit.  One of my staff insists she did it for years.  We'll see.

G'night for now.  More soon.  On topics other than gardens and produce!

Rose gets Rhubarb Radical

My aunt and uncle (thanks Pat and Liz!) hauled a cooler full of produce from yesterday's Farmers' Market and Bountiful Basket post back to my parents today.  I think they were a bit surprised by everything I got stuffed into that Styrofoam cooler.  They said the cantaloupe had a very thin rind and was super sweet.  Drat!  And I didn't keep it for myself. 

What you didn't see were the two huge bags of rhubarb they also got thanks to my friend Maria's garden.  Hail at the beginning of June nearly destroyed it, but it did grow back so tender and colorful.  So of course mom (Rose) got right on it and chopped rhubarb for 2 HOURS.  That's 4 quarts or 16 cups of rhubarb, now filling the freezer.  Once this unbearable heat passes (yup, still over 100 degrees), she will make some rhubarb strawberry jam and this rhubarb dessert they love.  Personally, I have never liked rhubarb and never will.  Last year I even hauled a rhubarb kuchen to South Carolina for the Michaels to enjoy.  Yes, you can take packaged food on the plane under current FAA guidelines. 

The variegated green and red stalks of rhubarb.  Never eat the rhubarb leaves, as they

are poisonous.  Even to the baby bunnies we always tried to rescue as kids.

Starting to chop the rhubarb.  Here the fruit looks mostly green inside.

But here is the inside of the fruit with the beautiful red color.

So here for you to enjoy is the infamous (and sodium-free) rhubarb dessert.

Rhubarb Cobbler

Mix until crumbly:

1 cup oatmeal

½ cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 ¼ cup flour

Pour ½ of this in a greased  8x8 or 9x9 baking pan – cover with 4 cups of diced rhubarb.

Cook until thick and clear :

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

Pour this over ingredients in pan and put remaining crumbs over the top.  Bake 1 hr in 350 degree oven

Farmers' Market and Bountiful Baskets, Oh My!

Today was all about produce.  Started happily when a made a quick run to DakotaMart and found they had California grapes that were big and snappy crisp and juicy.  Then it was off to the Capital City Farmers' Market.  Springerridge was back this week, as was Farmer Ralph, so I hit pay dirt on local produce.  Here's a look around their booths:

Sorry about the off-center and less than great quality on this one, but the sun was

SO bright I couldn't see the screen on my phone to see where the sign even was. 

 Springerridge has great produce and uses no pesticides or herbicides, so my liver

doesn't have to filter out a bunch of funky stuff.

They also have lots of great baked good and canned items like jams and relishes. 

Resisted buying the fudge.

Yellow squash and some other kind, and zucchini (a/k/a "garden garbage").  Not something I eat, but it's still great to see such a variety of produce coming in.

I don't do the Swiss chard, but I'm all about the leeks!  Can't wait until my leeks and fennel come in at my boss's farm.

Baby onions and heirloom varieties of lettuce.

Beets!  I got some pickled beets from my neighbor Miss Helen.  I like Harvard beets.

Green and yellow beans.  Not a big fan of beans.  But I do like fresh green beans with some crispy bacon, drizzled with a little of the bacon grease.

Little carrots!  I bought a bunch of those, and plan to roast them with some

onions and potatoes.  I LOVE carrots.

 

Farmer Ralph's cucumbers, new potatoes, dill and chokecherries.  $3 for a "bunch" of dill.  I assumed a "bunch" was a few stems  It was a Hulk-sized armload!  I've given some of it to friends, and I plan to freeze a lot of it to make pickles when my cucumbers come in.  And to make some cucumber salad!

Chokecherries up close.  The berries are free, but you pay for picking  Gotta love Ralph!

And later this afternoon after work, I picked up my first Bountiful Basket.  You pay $15 for an assortment of fruits and vegetables.  This, too, got split between a couple of us.  We figured out what the retail cost of the basket items would be.  Here is a list of what we got:

1 head broccoli

5 small yellow squash

2 English cucumbers

1 head Butter lettuce

1 pound of carrots (real carrots, not the processed baby carrots)

4 ears red sweet corn

1 pint red raspberries

1 quart strawberries

2 pounds seedless black grapes

6 plums

1 cantaloupe

At the store, this would be $38.87.  But we paid just $15, and everything is super-fresh.  And this is the first time I've ever actually seen the red sweet corn.

After splitting the basket this is what I kept, along with my add-on loaf of sourdough

bread.  For $10, we got 5 loaves and split them between 3 of us.

The Rainier cherries we bought.  Five of us split the 18-pound lug that we added

for $25.  That's $1.40 a pound, or a 66% savings over the recent sale price at the

store.  Next time someone comes from our office in Yakima, WA, we're hoping for

more cherries.  These came right from Yakima.

The beautiful variegated kernels of the red corn.  The red color gives the corn extra

antioxidants, so it's healthier than standard yellow or yellow/white corn.

And for the easiest corn cleaning/shucking and cooking, watch this video.  It truly does work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBF6bv4Oe4

After giving dill to 5 people, this is what remains from my "bunch."  Get ready to can some pickles, mom!

I'm going to have to take it a little easy on the fresh produce, and not dive in the way I want so that I don't give myself a stomach ache.  I can't use up the Bountiful Basket in one week, even with splitting it, but maybe every few weeks.

I guess we got a little bit of rain overnight, but not enough to keep the soil damp for the garden, so I still had to go outside to water everything.  Now I'm cooled off, even though I never did sweat today, even running around in the 100 degree heat.  Hopefully it won't throw off my sleep tonight.  I've been doing pretty well with the exception of last night.  So, time to go take my meds and go to bed.  And dream of dill since my house smells like a vat of dill oil.

Choco-holics Rejoice!

Oh rapturous joy!  The heavens have opened and produced the perfect new business for anti-new business Pierre.  Rejoice!  It's an entire store devoted to chocolate!  And while I can only enjoy a small bit from time to time, it's a sublime treat.

http://www.bhchocolates.com/

And they have a Pottery 2 Paint located right next door where you can walk in and paint pottery, go to events, or schedule a private group party.  Let's go girl--it's time to get our paint on!  You can take food and beverages in with you (coffee and chocolates, or chocolates and a soda from Coolers?).  And they have air conditioning!  Who doesn't love that?  Ok, so I didn't turn on my air until after 8 pm yesterday.  Even though it was 105 or 106 degrees.  I looked over at the bank across the street at 1:00--100 degrees!  It makes me long for my winter coat, scarf, and boots.  

I was dreading having to run all the way out to Wal-Mart for just 6 items.  I decided I could wait until Sunday morning around 9:30 when it's pretty empty to go.  It's certainly not as though I'm starving or anything.  I just whipped up a batch of chewy, creamy caramel rolls to take in for the callers tomorrow.  First, of course, I need to run to the Farmers' Market, then the grocery store, the scrapbook store to get some coloring paper for my Copic markers, then work.  All between 9 and 9:45.  Hope I sleep well again so I'm charged up for this!  G'night!

Hot, Hot Hot and Cool Summer Produce

We're now at eleven straight days of 100 degree plus heat.  And no rain in my part of Pierre on the Missouri.  I'm going to melt.  One day it's unbearably humid, and the next day as dry as a brick oven.  They always say that this is South Dakota and if you don't like the weather, stick around for 5 minutes and it will change.  Apparently "they" need a new watch battery, since it has been WAY longer than 5 minutes.  And the good news is there are only about ten more days like this until we get a break.  Yay!  NOT.  I admit I get cold easily, but can we please reach some kind of compromise?

And the heat is affecting my tomatoes.  I water them thoroughly, and have tons of buds, but until the night temps go down, they likely won't set fruit.  Same with the cucumbers.  So it's back to the Capital City Farmers Market this weekend for produce (please have green onions!)  I also get something new to Pierre, but not new to other parts of the country.  It's called Bountiful Baskets.  It is a cooperative venture providing fresh, seasonal produce (fruits and vegetables both) for a really decent cost.  You can get a regular basket for $15, or for an additional $10 upgrade to organic.  They also have some great add-ons like breads or fruit.  This week, you can get an 18 pound lug of Rainier cherries for $25.  That's roughly $1.40 a pound.  Last week the local grocery had them on sale for $3.99 a pound.  Talk about a whopping savings!  A couple of us went together to get the cherries plus a 5-pack of sourdough bread.  I can't wait to see what is in the baskets.  I'm kind of hoping for some of the red sweet corn featured on their site's blog link.  I have to be careful about eating too much corn though, or I have gastric pain and issues. I will take pictures of the basket and post them next week!

For now, time for a quick popsicle before I scamper off to bed for another night of good sleep and confusing dreams.  Hopefully the pineapple acid burn inside my mouth will be better by tomorrow!

Fresh Produce!

Aside from having my first tomato growing and ripening on the vine, I've harvested herbs three times now.  The tomato plants have loads of blossoms, as do the cucumbers that are vining like some sort of alien plant life!  But the Farmers' Market has also started to have some wonderful things in.  I've been buying truckloads of green onions, some baby spinach, and funky fun lettuce varieties.  This week my favorite vendor was out of town, but some of the others picked up the slack.  Here's a sneak peak at some of what was there:

One of the booths just setting out produce.

Farmer Ralph with his eggplants, cucumbers, and chokecherries.  The cucumbers were

4 for just $1.  Yummy creamy dill cucumber salad will be made!  The chokecherries

were $3 a bucket.  They went very fast.

Oakleaf Lettuce (Foglia Quercia Rossa) is a strongly-flavored red-tinged leaf lettuce that really does look like oak leaves.  It is best in the spring and fall to avoid bitterness caused by the heat of summer.  Very lightly dressed in a vinaigrette dressing with pear, Gorgonzola and walnuts is a good use for this lettuce.

I'm hoping that there will be more variety there next week.  I'll have to check their blog on Friday to see what will be in on Saturday!   Other than the baked goods of course.  I find those a bit pricey, and I'm not always pleasantly surprised with the taste or texture.  Better get busy now, since I need to make a salad and a cake for the potluck at work tomorrow.  Eat well!

I'm not the only one!

If you look through the previous posts to this blog, I recently wrote about the judgemental aspect of having liver disease.  Apparently, I am NOT the only one ticked off by the short-mindedness of others upon hearing that I have liver disease.  Read this post, and see if you don't agree.

http://carlanddawn.blogspot.com/2011/02/passing-judgement-liver-disease-is-not.html

And if you happen to share this attitude, shame on you!  You are an AJ (the previous friend who can't handle my being ill).  And the funniest part is I haven't had hepatitis, but AJ has!  And hers was due to her sister's lifestyle choices.  So how dare she act the way she does.

I'm a farmer!

I replaced some of the plant stakes with longer, stronger ones tonight, and then watered the garden.  What I thought at first was a curled up leaf is actually about a 1" baby Roma tomato.  Not ready to eat yet, so poor Shirley will have to wait a bit longer.  I should have plenty more soon!  And some cucumbers to go with it.

Isn't baby 'Mater cute!  About 2 finger widths long.  Romas only get to be about 3 ounces, so it won't take long to mature.  The big 13 to 18 ounce ones haven't set fruit yet.  But soon, in all this heat and humidity!  And the cucumbers won't be far behind.  Lots and lots of cucumber.  Have to find some recipes

Good news travels fast!

When so much of today’s news is so negative, it’s nice when there is something positive to report!  The Youngberg girls’ “little” lemonade stand has raised more than $6,000 to help pay for transportation for the family to their dad’s medical treatments.  And the news is nationwide, being picked up by the wire services this morning.  I found these posts on Fox News, a San Francisco news site, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper!  And all because everyone spread the news and gave what they could to help out another Pierre resident.  Wow!  What an inspirational way to end a week.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the respite from the sweltering heat!

Children’s creativity helps out father

By Michael Neary michael.neary@capjournal.com | Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2012 10:30 am
When Rylee and Sydney Youngberg found themselves grounded – the first time ever, said their mom – they had a choice: They could stay grounded, or they could figure out something nice to do for someone in need.
“This is what they came with,” said Jen Youngberg, their mother, motioning to a lemonade stand set up on Tuesday afternoon near the corner of Church Street and Highland Avenue.

Rylee, 10, and Sydney, 8, teamed up with their 16-year-old brother, Ty. to create the lemonade stand so they could raise money to visit their father, Michael Youngberg. He’s slated to go to the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Fairview next week for cancer treatment. Jen Youngberg, his wife, said he’s endured a kind of cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma since he was a child, and it has recently traveled to his brain.

Michael Youngberg directs the Division of Securities in the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation.

“His prognosis is excellent,” Jen Youngberg said, but she noted that he’s scheduled to undergo six to eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It’s a treatment, she said, that he’s had to undergo several times in the past.

“We can’t afford to be out there as a family,” she added, “so they’re trying to raise money so they can go out and visit Dad.”

According to Rylee, the whole idea for a lemonade stand was not hard to concoct.  “It just came to me,” she said.

Jen Youngberg said that by middle afternoon on Tuesday, the children had made $1,500 from their stand – and the sun was still high overhead.  “People are donating,” she said. “And they’re not asking for change back. They’re just handing money to these kids.”

http://www.capjournal.com/news/children-s-creativity-helps-out-father/article_5efd87fc-c6b6-11e1-85e9-0019bb2963f4.html  Pierre

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/06/daughters-sell-lemonade-to-help-with-dad-cancer-treatment/  Fox News

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Daughters-sell-lemonade-to-help-dad-s-treatment-3687568.php  San Francisco

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/daughters-sell-lemonade-to-help-dads-treatment/387061b8f2a44186893085744a355d9c  New Orleans

Down on the farm

Ok, not a REAL farm, but my apartment-sized mostly container garden farm.  I had to go to Running's yesterday to get larger tomato cages.  The crazy tomato plants from Farmer Ralph at the farmers' market have really taken off in the heat and humidity.  So have the cucumbers.  My herbs are mostly doing well, although the dill seems a bit frail, and the chives are not doing well.

The cucumber plants I rought from Farmer Ralph are about a foot long, with big, beautiful blooms on them.  The cucumber seeds I just sprinkled on the ground one day are growing, and I have a 6" one.  And this noon, I harvested my first crop of parsley and basil.  I didn't need either just now so I took it to work for one of the gals there.  I now have a waiting list!  And Shirley won't  be happy until she has her fresh cherry tomatoes.  Here are the pictures of the little tomato plant on Memorial Day weekend, and again this past Tuesday (before it got its snazzy new red cage)

Not bad for one month's growth!  And the ground wasn't actually as dry as it looks on the right.  It was still moist, but not just watered.  Those are the cucumbers growing crazy at the base.  I hope it isn't too long until we have tomatoes and cucumbers! 

And here are the parsley and basil I harvested today:

I can't wait until everything is ripe and ready to eat, freeze, or can!  Look, ma~I's a farmer!

A pasta state of mind

All week I've been looking forward to going out with friends last night.  We planned to go to RedRossa Italian restaurant.  It's good, and the decor is decidedly "un-Pierre" like.  So all week I've bee making pasta.  I have been using different types of pasta, and adding all sorts of things like green onion, broccoli, prosciuto, sliced Italian sausage, herb/garlic marinara, butter, and Parmesan.

So Thursday night's concoction was the best.  Green onion, broccoli, butter, sliced sausage, and butter. 

Looks good, right!  I had the leftovers Friday noon.

Friday night I ordered chicken Parmesan.  I ate about two-thirds of it and brought the rest home.  So I got 3 meals for my $14 entree,  At noon today,  I did a "leftover makeover."  I cut up the chicken with the angel hair pasta, and added some prosciuto and green onions.  Toss it in the microwave, and 3 minutes later, I had lunch!

Again, looks delicious, and I think it was better than the original meal.  Plus this time I had exellent service--me!  Our server last night was dreadful.  She was getting people'd drinks mixed up, never asked if we wanted dessert, then proceeded to give me an $82 check.  What?!  I had a $14 entree and iced tea.  Was she on crack?  No, just screwed up the checks and gave mine to someone else.  And they politely added 18% gratiuty to our checks.  We were actually happy.  Most of us tip 20% to 25% so she got less from us than if they hadn't added it.  Or maybe they just give the lousy servers the big tables so they don't earn as much.  If she'd been any good, we probably would have left extra.  But we sure didn't!

I also got the chance to show Doc P that I do leave my house in something other than jammies in need of an IV or other immediate medical attention.