Mods to the blog

"To whom it may concern," he began, with mock gravity in his voice, "I've started a new blog called Effervescent Cooking. You'll find my future really groovy cooking experiments there. Good luck and godspeed."

And all the people were amazed. They couldn't imagine how he could speak and insert a hyperlink within his conversation.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The end.

Leadership ~ An unknown concept to US managers

U.S. CEOs Could Learn From Their Asian Counterparts

Great op-ed by Friedman

Time to Reboot America

See cooking stuff below...

Effervescent Turkey w/ bok choy ~ no picture

[See other posts w/ pix below this one.]
[And if you can eat (or enjoy dreaming about eating) wheat flour, you might enjoy this post: Lord Vitamix Seizes Weight Gain Initiative]

Today's protein choice was turkey.
Today's lettuce was leaf.
Today's grain was amaranth.
Today's fruits and nuts included peanuts, raisins, grapes, cranberry, mango and (I'm hoping this is okay) pear.
Today's cooking oil is olive.
One of today's condiments was cinnamon.

I cooked a turkey burger low and slow in olive oil. I added sage and some white pepper to the meat while cooking. Meanwhile, I put some amaranth on the adjacent burner in some water to boil, then simmer.

After cooking the first side of the turkey burger, I turned it over and, when it was just a bit cooked on the new side, cut it into chunks. I added some diced bok choy (just the white part first) and added a bit more olive oil, then turned up the heat some more. Once it started sizzling, I added the bok choy leaves and some peanuts. I cooked it a little while and called it done.

After you bring the amaranth to a boil, you let it simmer, covered, until most of the water is absorbed by the amaranth. Then it's done. It's almost like grits or Cream of Wheat or something. It's a base kind of thing that you can modify as desired. If you want something spicy, add spices. If you want it sweet, add sweet stuff.

I had the amaranth as a side with no seasoning except for the last couple of bites of the amaranth, to which I tried adding cinnamon. I think that might be a good combo if I also added a sweetener like xylitol or agave nectar. Next time.

The turkey and bok choy were great. A definite repeater. I really liked the added peanuts.

For juices today I had a mango/pear combo, then tried a cranberry lemonade. Quite nice.

Effervescent Cooking ~ Mystery stir fry

This is a modification of an idea sent from my wonderful Mom.

The protein of the day was supposed to be fish or shrimp, but we got busy and I didn't thaw any out. Plus, Mom had sent me this interesting idea involving spinach and bacon. Hmmm...

The oil of the day was safflower. My veggies of the day included beans, peas, and spinach. A nut of the day was pistachio. The grain of the day was rice. Hmmm...

So I cooked the spinach* in the safflower oil, added some basmati rice, some sugar snap peas, and called it done. Tasted it. Pretty good. Added pistachios. Nice. Decided it was good enough after one serving to cook up the whole thing again. This time I added the nuts when the rest of it was cooking on the stove.

Ahhh...very, very good.

*I'm trying to remember if I added any seasoning to the spinach as it was cooking and I can't remember for sure. I'm trying to avoid using salt and pepper all the time. However, there's a chance I added a tiny bit of sea salt and white pepper. I'll make it again and experiment because it sure was good. The pistachios added their own salty flavor, so I may not have used anything else.

Effervescent Cooking - Chicken w/ herbs

[Future cooking posts will be on Effervescent Cooking, my new cooking blog.]

I'll post more on the 'whys' behind the cooking images you'll see later. Meanwhile, the quick skinny on some alternative cooking.

We cooked the chicken breast on the skillet in extra virgin olive oil.
We seasoned the chicken w/ herbs de provence and nothing else.
That's bibb lettuce you see.
I added peanuts, raisins, and cranberries to the top of the salad.
Those are pear slices you see around the sides.
...and filtered water to drink.

Good stuff.

And Zoe Makes Two

Her name is Zoe. Since it's pronounced with a 'y' sound on the end, we'll likely just spell it Zoey like her previous owners did. Makes it easier for everyone. She's a cute little Chihuahua we estimate is going on two years old. Raffi is delighted to have the new playmate. There have been very few dominance issues and Raffi is already sharing food with her new buddy.



More pix and flix to follow as time allows...