DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

 I am busy today with dehydrating.  I removed cocoa nibs out of the dehydrator this morning, cleaned it, let it rest and then got it working again dehydrating some buckwheat.  I am super excited to see how it turns out. These are two parts of a compilation dish I am making (hopefully) tomorrow. 

cocoa nibs

 

buckwheat

Lucky and I went on a walk.  Yesterday we hit a 20 mile mark.  Since we have been going outside we walked 20 miles.  

I did a big online food shop today.  It will be delivered tomorrow.  I needed so much.  I had so little food in the house. Okay that is a lie.  I have tons of food in the house but not the food I need to make the food I have.  I ran out of things like peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, bread, sugar and soy sauce.  You know the important things.  Hard to have a vegan burger without ketchup.  Hard to make vegan stir fry without soy sauce.  You get it.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY OF COOKING COURSE

 Today was Kombucha day.  I opened the container and poured the Kombucha into two jars and a glass to drink.  I tasted my first taste and I like it.  Since I put peaches in the last fermentation, it tasted very peachy and tasted a bit like peach juice.  I also put dates in the last fermentation so I think the tartness people warned me about went away.  

I had sweet potato leftovers from the taco's last night.

 I started on my next compilation dish which is a dessert.  It is going to take a few days to finish it. 

Lucky and I went on a 2,000 step walk late in the day.  

I dealt with a few small tasks today.  I ran out of syringes and had to get my pharmacy to ship me a batch of new syringes.  There was a short discussion about whether they were able to ship me syringes but they were.  I use the syringes for my B12 injections.

I got my check situation figured out.  Last time I ordered my checks there was a screw up and the checks arrived with no address and the wrong kind of checks.  I was not able to fix it myself and had to call the bank.  Ergh... They fixed it but I had to call twice because I got disconnected.

I dealt with a credit card envelop that was probably opened in transit and the person called to authorize the card.  I had to call and cancel the card and get them to send me another. 

Until tomorrow...

TACO TUESDAY

 I made tacos tonight.  I used TVP which is Textured Vegetable Protein a highly nutritious soy product.  It is tasty when I put taco seasoning on it.  

These tacos were so good.  

Lucky and I went for a long walk today.  It was a nice but windy day.  

Until tomorrow...

FAILED THE INSPECTION ON SOLAR

 The solar inspection did not go as planned.  I am not sure what part failed other than the inspector wants another electrical thing changed.  So now they have to schedule to come out and make the change and then schedule to have another inspection.  I think part of it also probably stems from the scrutiny my area is going through with the director of a department of inspectors just being indicted on fraud.  I am not saying this would not happen anyway and I am glad they are being ultra careful so my house does not burn down but I know what the inspection situation was like when I did my construction and they normally just had them send in a photo not have the inspector come out so many times.  Anyway, it will get sorted.  

I held off on cooking anything because I had to be available for them, then work some and then I had a meeting about my ex-foster kid.  Then the day was over.  

If I didn't say it before, Lucky is fully recovered from her dental surgery.  She is playing with her plushies and eating all types of food.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE OF COOKING COURSE

 Today was the day I flavored the kombucha.  To do that I had to take out the scoby (which is the slimy disk that was put in the jar to make the kombucha) and put it in another jar to save it until I want to make kombucha again.  Then I put some dates and peaches in the remaining liquid for 24-48 hours.  At that point I should have a fizzy peach flavored kombucha.  Fingers crossed.

Lucky has been very unhappy that I took her toys away since her dental surgery.  The dentist didn't want her to pull her stitches out so he asked me to take her toys away for a few days.  This is the look I have been getting:

She wants to play but with no toys she is confused. She sits there and she stares at me and whines.  Today I gave her the toys back.  She wore me down.  I think her stitches should be fine today.  

We went on another walk today.  On our way back I remembered that a local street concert was happening a block from my house.  It was on our walk so we went by.  People were pretty much bunched up so Lucky and I stood 20 feet away from the others to listen for a bit.  It was some okay folk music.  We stayed for two songs.  

Until tomorrow...

NOT MY BEST DAY

 So I am not feeling too good today.  I think part of it was eating so much raw food.  It did my stomach in.  I was up part of the night and couldn't eat in the morning.  I had to drink a ginger ale. I finally ate around 11 am.  Then for linner (lunch and dinner) I had rice and tofu.  My version of comfort food.  

I tried to watch 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close but I fell asleep.  When I woke up I went outside for a bit and read my book.  It was one of those days.  TV, reading, sleeping and drinking tea.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT OF THE COOKING COURSE

 I have been having issues with my hands, feet and legs.  I thought being back on the Orencia would help but so far it has not.  I am not sure what is going on.  I wonder if it is still blow back from the vaccine or from going off the Orencia.  

I also have a weird bump on my left shin.  It doesn't show if you are looking at my shin except for a red sort of mark or rash.  I can feel the bump when I touch it.  It also hurts when I touch it and when I walk.  It is very bizarre.  At first I thought I banged my leg on something but a bruise never showed up and I bruise for any reason.  Then I thought maybe I got bitten or something but there is no sign of a bite or puncture.  I think if it is still the same way next week, I may have to call a doctor.  It is right in the area where I cross my legs so it is a bit of a pain.  

Last night I heard a loud bang.  It was garbage night so I didn't think too much about it.  Today I went in the garage to get something and found the cabinet that holds all my paint, etc. broken and paint cans all over the floor.  I guess the last time the handyman was in the cabinet he was less than delicate in how he put the paint cans in the cabinet and last night the cabinet "called it a day".  All the shelves collapsed on each other and the back panel was broken.  Three paint cans opened slightly when they crashed to the ground and there was paint on the ground drying.  Granted the cabinet was not the most secure but I thought it would last longer.  I have to have paint type items locked up if I have foster kids in my home.  So, I guess I need to figure out what to do about this.  I cleaned up the paint as best as I could and stacked and closed the paint cans.

I finished the Harvest Bowl dish today.  It included the items I made in the last week: Fermented Cream Cheese (I flavored it with lemon), Tomato Crisps, Turmeric Sauerkraut, Savory Herb Granola and a vinaigrette. Today I made Massaged Kale and Romesco Sauce.  Then I put it all together in a Harvest Bowl.  

Dehydrating the Romesco Sauce

Harvest Bowl

I took a walk in the middle of all of this.  

Update  on Lucky:  She had a really rough night.  She didn't eat anything until this morning.  She had horrible diarrhea until 2 am.  She kept crying and staring at me wanting me to fix it.  Of course I could not.  The doctor told me she was not allowed to eat hard food and play with toys for a few days.  She is not liking this.  She did go to the park today under strict orders to not chew on anything and no hard treats.  Tonight she seems much better after eating two meals.

 Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN OF COOKING COURSE

 What a day!  I need a day that is relaxing.  Today was not that day.  

I had to get up super early to get Lucky to the veterinarians office by 7 am.  She needed to check in for her dental appointment.  I got back home and had breakfast.  Then I went for a walk.  Around 11 am I got a phone call from the vet and he said Lucky's appointment went well.  She had a lot of plaque but only one bad tooth.  Only one!  That is the least amount of teeth she has had removed in all the years she has been with me.  But now she has tipped the scale. She now has less teeth than she had pulled out.  

I was told to come and pick her up at 1:30.  I showed up and she had her catheter in.  I was told to come back in an hour but call first.  I called at 2:30 and they said come at 3:00pm.  So you can see where my day went.

Finished my Seaweed Cracker plating.  This includes garlic fermented cream cheese, smoked mushrooms, pickled spring onions and greens.  I was wary that this would not taste good.  I don't like onions, I didn't like the taste of the fermented cream cheese before I flavored it and I don't like nori seaweed.  But I was surprised how good it all tasted when it was put together.  I ate all three crackers that I made.  I am going to make more tomorrow they are that good.

The last picture was me smoking the mushrooms with my new smoker.  So cool. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX OF COOKING COURSE

 This day did not go as planned.  First the solar people showed up at 10 am and stayed until 12:45pm. That threw me a bit.  I was expecting them earlier and didn't expect them to stay so late.  So I could not really do anything all morning.  Plus they turned the electricity off for some of the time.  Then when they left, I had to jump on a zoom for an hour.  Now it was 2pm.  The day was mostly gone. 

I needed to get to cooking.  I had to make the Seaweed Crackers.  They had to be mixed and then hydrated for 24 hours.  They smell pretty good.  It is made out of cashews, nori shredded, hemp seeds, spirolina powder, and flax seeds.  It is green from the spirolina.  

I should have done more cooking and gone for a walk but I was tired and I wanted to spend time with Lucky since tomorrow is her dental appointment.  She older and is going under anesthesia.  She is also going to loose more teeth so I needed to get ready.  I froze some rice and I have baby food ready to go for her to eat.  

Going to bed early since we have to be at the vet super early.  Also she can't eat after 10 pm.  Got to get her to bed early.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE OF COOKING COURSE

 This chapter Raw Fundamentals is so creative.  I have to do so many different things.  I have four jars fermenting in some sort of way. 

Today I made fermented cream cheese that sits for two days.  Then I have kombucha that sits for at least 4 days.  Turmeric sauerkraut that ferments for 4 days.  Then today I made pickled spring onions that needs to sit for 2 days.  I have post-its on each jar so I know when they are done fermenting or when they move to the next stage.

The Dehydrated Tomato Crisps are done.  They dehydrated for 24 hours.  They will be used in a dish later this week.

I have been having fun with all these different types of cooking.  You will see the dishes later this week.

I took Lucky on a walk at the end of the day after she returned from her day at the park with the dog walker.  I ended up carrying her 1/2 way because she was tired.  I don't think I will do that again.  She has been knocked out since we got back 4 hours ago.  I think two hours walking with the dog walker and then 2,500 steps with me is too much for her.  Poor baby.  She is getting older. 

Until tomorrow...