DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

 I finished my first pastry.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.  It tastes amazing.  Yesterday I made the dough and the pastry cream.  Today I put it all together.  I rolled out the dough, put on the vanilla pastry cream, cut up some strawberries and shaved a tonka bean.  Then I rolled up the edges and put on a wash.  Then in the oven it went.  I made a Galette with Strawberry Tonka Filling.  It came out so golden and delicious.  It is a tiny galette for three maybe four people with little pieces.  I ate a quarter of it already.  

I spoke to my Rheumatoid Arthritis doctor today.  He said he has not seen other patients who have had my reaction to either the vaccine or not bouncing back after going back on the Orencia.  But he said he only sees so many patients and it has only been weeks since many have taken the vaccine.  He said time will tell if others are in the same boat as me and research will tell in months or a year if others have had the same issue.  He, of course, wants me to increase the prednisone.  He always does.  I need to think about it.  He caught me rolling my eyes when he said it.  I forgot we were on video chat.  I will see how it goes.  He sent the meds but I want to wait longer and see before I increase the prednisone.  

For those of you new to this blog, I have increased prednisone before and I am very sensitive to prednisone.  I have a very hard time decreasing it.  I can increase it really well.  I eat like crazy and gain weight.  But then I can't get off it.  Even decreasing 1/2 mg takes me years because I will get thrown into a flare and/or I get sick.  So I usually want to plan when I decrease during a time that nothing is happening like a trip or work or holidays or I am sick.  Pre-Covid those times were few and far between.  Now I don't want to flare during Covid because I am house-bound and I don't want to flare when my access to doctors, friends, and everything is limited. I have to wait 48 hours for a prescription.  I don't want to get sick and having a bad flare leaves me open to that.  

Anyway we agreed that I would think about taking the prednisone and he agreed to send me a prescription.  We will check in in three weeks if I am not better.  He then seemed exasperated that I might have to change from Orencia if it is not working since it took him jumping through medical hoops to get me on this medication.  I am so limited on the medications I can take if I have to get off Orencia, I don't know what I will do.  This is one thing people don't talk about.  What happens when you have a disease for so long, you outlast the effectiveness of the drugs available??   I think people think you get on a drug and you stay on it forever.  That unfortunately is not the reality in my case.  I seem to run through drugs and get weird side effects, reactions, etc. But I am sure there will be a new drug created soon and I will be the perfect candidate.  

I did walk with Lucky today.  She walked 3/4 of the way and vomited.  She ate right before we left for the walk and I think it was all too much for her.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY OF COOKING COURSE

 I finally got up the nerve to start the next chapter Vegan Pastry Essentials.  I finished Mouthwatering Vegan Desserts the other day and took the chapter test and passed it.  I was happy to get that chapter over with.  It was fun but not all the desserts were mouthwatering.  

So today I got up the nerve to start the pastry chapter.  It was not as hard as I thought because the first recipe was three steps and I was not wanting to do three things.  Then I read the recipe and I could do two of the steps today and leave the last step for tomorrow.  I made the pastry cream and the dough today and tomorrow I will cook the dough and put the whole thing together.  That was so much easier.

Pastry cream

Making the dough

Dough

I also took a walk.  Today I walked alone.  I needed to mail a bill.  

I also had to work in the morning.

Until tomorrow...

PCT SECOND GOAL MET

 I spent my morning working on a logo for my social media.  I am super proud of my logo.  This is the second logo I have designed and they aren't super crazy but they do the job and I am happy with them both.  This new logo is not anything I ever thought I would ever like since I don't really like the color green hardly at all but it looks really good the way it is.  

Lucky and I went for a walk.  I met my goal of 42.8 miles today.  That is the second pit stop of the Pacific Crest Trail.  

Lucky was quite ill last night and we were up most of the night.  She seems fine today.  Poor baby.  She had an upset tummy.  She just wanted her mommy to make it better.

I called my RA doctor and made an appointment for later this week.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE OF COOKING COURSE

 It has been a while since I cooked anything for the cooking course.  I took a little time off since I needed some items to be delivered and my avocado needed to ripen.  Plus I was not feeling well.

Today the avocado was ripe and I could finally make the Avocado Chocolate Mousse.  It is a raw mousse that tasted pretty good. It is made from avocado, walnuts, cacao, and dates.  After I made it I added some agave to sweeten it more. It is chocolately and creamy and delicious.

I am still feeling not so great.  I spoke to my therapist today and he said I should talk to my RA doctor.  It has been 6 weeks since I went back on the Orencia and I am still not feeling 100%.  Not even 80%.  It is time to find out what to do about it.  He also suggested I do some other things to get some stressful stuff off my plate.  Finishing the solar inspections was a good step.  It is finished and paid for and done. 

Now I just have to get my schedule changed to doing things like running the dishwasher and the laundry during the day which is not my normal time.  I need to get used to doing these things first thing in the morning.  

Lucky and I went for a long walk.  It was cold and windy so it was a nicer walk.

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY PRIDE DAY

 Happy Pride Day!  I spent my day watching two more GLBTQ+ movies.  The first was Firebird.  It was a real story about two gay soldiers in Estonia at a Soviet Air Base.  If they were found out they would have been thrown out of the military and thrown in jail or worse. It is shown over many years.  It thought it was fantastic.  

The second film was Milkwater.  I am not sure why this film is called Milkwater but I loved it.  My favorite movie this weekend.  It is about a 52 gay bar owner/drag queen who tried for years to get a child and it didn't work.  He meets this 30 something year old woman one night drinking and they agree that she will be his surrogate.  It was a really good movie with twists and turns.  

I had another hard day today.  I am hoping I come out of this flare soon.  I am not sure why it is taking so long this time.  I have been back on the Orencia for about two months. I thought I would be back feeling better now.  I am not sure why I am not bouncing back this time.  

No walk today.  I didn't even get out of my PJs.

Until tomorrow...

PRIDE MOVIE SATURDAY

 This was a day of watching Pride weekend movies.  I watched one last night and I had three to watch today.  The one last night was super boring and I fast forwarded through it.  It just wasn't for me.  

The first one today was a bunch of shorts put into video form so they were one long movie.  I thought some were good and some were funny.  I especially liked three of them.  

Sunday Dinner was hysterical!  It was about an Italian family having their typical Sunday dinner.  One has news.  You would think it was him saying he was gay but no it was that he is a vegan.  It was a bit like a SNL skit recently.  The family goes berserk.   

Another short that was funny was Thank You For Being There.  It is two roommates where one thinks she is pregnant and she has to pee on the stick.  It was just funny since the whole thing is filmed in the bathroom.

The third short I thought was funny was The Test.  It had a funny ending.  Girlfriends are in a doctors office because they are getting a test.  For what?  You don't know.  I won't ruin it for you but it has a funny and surprise ending.  

Then I watched another movie called Invisible about lesbians in country music.  You might say what lesbians in country music??  I would say watch the documentary and you will find out why there are no visible lesbians in country music.  It was very insightful and proved what I figured all along.  Gays and lesbians are everywhere, you just don't know it. 

Then I watched Jump, Darling.  Not sure why it is called that title.  It is about a drag queen/actor who breaks up with his boyfriend and moves in with his grandmother (played by Cloris Leechman as her final role).  It was well written and entertaining.  It felt like a movie I would see in the movie theater.  Cloris Leechman was fabulous.  It had a great story line.  

Tomorrow I have two more movies to watch to finish out my Gay Pride Weekend extravaganza!

Lucky and I had time to take a long walk in the middle of these movies.  It was hot and humid today so it was not much fun.  Plus we had to rush because Amazon was coming.

Until tomorrow...

BANANA ICE CREAM

 Two things: I made banana ice cream and I passed the solar inspection.

I used some very ripe bananas to make some banana ice cream.  It tastes really good.  I had some tonight with some chocolate sauce. So decadent.

This morning the solar inspector came and I passed the inspection finally.  Now I have to wait a few weeks for the paperwork to go through and then the process is finished and I am 100% solar (mostly).  That is the goal.  We shall see how I do.  I looked at the app today and I saved 6 trees today.

I took a long walk with Lucky.  I waited until she came home from the dog walker, ate and took a short nap and then we went for our walk.  

I gave a neighbor a piece of the berry roll and she so kindly bought me some tin foil when she went to the store.  She heard me say I had run out.  Wasn't that nice?  

Until tomorrow...

MADE SOME SPICY PEANUT DIP FOR THE WEEKEND

 Today was a day of planning on what to cook next since I have one recipe left in my chapter but the avocado I need is not ripe yet so I have to wait.  I was going to go on to the next chapter but the first thing to cook was a bit intimidating and I had so little time, I called it off.  Tomorrow seems like I will have more time.

I had a webinar this morning and then a doctor's appointment on zoom.  The doctor's appointment was my gut doctor that I had the appointment with last week but the new scheduling system got messed up and my appointment got lost.  We met today and all is good.  I have a tentative colonoscopy scheduled for November but that all depends on where things are with Covid.  November is a long way off in Covid time.  The doctor is so funny.  She wants to hear all about my cooking adventures.  I keep telling her that I should let her go and she asks more questions about what I am cooking.  

I made some of the Spicy Peanut Dip that I made months ago for this weekend.  It is Gay Pride weekend and since I am inside and there are no festivities, I am watching some of the GLBT festival movies.  I bought eight movies and watched two of them already.  I have six left to watch.  Some are longer than others.  The one I watched tonight was funny and then saddish at the end.  It was about an old drag queen/hairdresser who was in an old age home.  He used to be quite well to do with a boyfriend, a big house and business.  Then his boyfriend died of AIDS and it got around the small town they lived in and no one would come to the business so he lost everything.  That is only part of the story.  It was called Swan Song.  I liked it but it moved  slowly.  Don't watch it if you are tired. 

Lucky and I walked over a mile today.  She was sound asleep after our walk.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT OF COOKING COURSE

 Today was a long day.  I had to work in the morning.  Then I got rid of Lucky when I sent her off with the dog walker and I started this recipe.  It was Raw Mixed Berry Jam.  This took an hour.  

 Then I made Mixed Berry Roll.  It was called Mixed Berry Cinnamon Roll but there was no cinnamon so it made no sense to me.  I guess they mean like a "cinnamon roll".  Basically I had to work with yeast again.  Ugh.

I made the yeasty dough and put in to rise.  Then I rolled it out and put the mixed berry jam on it.  Then I rolled it up and cut the roll in half.  Then I braided the two half's.  Then twirled it like a snail and put it in a pan.  45 minutes later I had a beautiful roll. 

I put some of the Coconut Rum Cream Sauce on top.

It tastes so good.  It is made from whole wheat flour so it is earthly and heavy.  If I made it again I would use regular flour and make it lighter.  

This took most of the day.  It was make the jam and then wait an hour.  Make the dough and then let it rise for an hour.  Then do another step and wait 15 minutes.  

Lucky and I took a short walk today at 6:45pm.  It was so late.

I am just finishing this and then vegging out.

Until tomorrow...

STILL FEELING NOT SO GOOD

 I am still not feeling that well so I didn't do my cooking course today.  I am reserving my energy.  My next cooking recipe is complicated and long and I just don't have the energy for it.  I did make a new recipe for dinner and will post it another day.  

Lucky and I went for a little walk just to get her outside.  Now that we have been going outside she is spoiled and wants to go out every day.  She cries if we don't go for a walk.  

It was just not a good day again.  I am achy and sore and I have inflammation all over.  

I got a few Amazon deliveries today getting ready for the next chapter.  I needed things like pastry flour, marzipan, and cardamon pods.  

Until tomorrow...