I am sitting here eating bread pudding from Mountain Mama's deli made with challa. It is unbelievably good. I also bought some roasted red pepper hummus (they make it there) and a sprouter to grow my own bean sprouts. It's something I did years ago but stopped for some silly reason like not having the time, energy or something to continue. I also used to make my own yogurt in a very primitive way (without special kits or yogurt makers) and yesterday I looked at yogurt/kefir makers with the idea of doing that again. I have not made kefir before but it sounds like a good thing to add to my morning soy protein-frozen fruit and banana drink.
One thing I have noticed since eating more sprouts, especially of the alfalfa and sunflower variety, is that I have fewer bruises that don't last as long. Last weekend my knee locked up on me and I took a tumble into a set of concrete steps. Ordinarily I would have ended up with a big ugly purple, red and black bruise on my shin where it barked the concrete step and my knee would have been similarly colored and sore, but the bruise didn't show up for two or three days and it was already green and yellow. I haven't been that lucky with bruises since I had the blood transfusion eight years ago when I nearly bled to death.
More and more I am interested in doing things simply: sprouting grains, making yogurt, trying kefir, growing food plants, honing my survival skills and learning to make crystal and tube radios in case of who knows what. I want to get back to where I was before I moved down here -- self sufficient. I am self sufficient now, but not nearly as far along as I should be. I want to be able to survive in any kind of climate, political or natural, and be able to make what I need for any and all occasions. In fact, I'm buying an ATS-3 and building it myself. It's an ambitious project, but I have to start somewhere and this seems like a good place. I can take the little radio rig anywhere, even camping, backpacking and hiking, and communicate with other hams all over the world under the right conditions. Today the ATS-3 and tomorrow my own home brewed tube and crystal radios. I'm in an electronics frame of mind.
I am also looking into recipes for baking with sprouted grains and the memory of homemade yogurt makes my mouth water. I tolerated yogurt until I made the first batch of my own and then I was hooked. I have stayed away from most dairy for a long time and I miss certain things: ice cold buttermilk (no ewwws please), cheese, cottage cheese and the like. Since getting the cheesecake baking itch I have had more dairy in the past 30 days than I have had in the past year.
The landlady and I took a walk to Front Range BBQ last night past Cucuru, a new art gallery and espresso/dessert bar that opened up a couple weeks ago. Guillermo, the owner, invited us inside to take a look at some jewelry and the paintings and he offered us a piece of chocolate mousse cheesecake when the landlady told him I was sort of an expert and made the best cheesecake she'd ever tasted, and she doesn't particularly care for cheesecake. It was all right. The texture was a little dry, but that happens when you mix cocoa powder with a basic cheesecake. It's important to increase the moisture so the dry cocoa doesn't suck it all up, ending with a mealy cheesecake. The flavor wasn't in question, although it was a little flat, again being an issue of balance. The chocolate shouldn't overwhelm the creamy texture and subtle flavoring of the basic cheesecake.
OMG, I'm beginning to sound like a foodie. I've been spending way too much time reading
I'm going to attempt a chocolate raspberry cheesecake, maybe even this weekend, and I'll let you know if I get the balance right. I might even talk Guillermo into trying my cheesecake, especially the key lime variety. Cucuru even has wi-fi and an outdoor patio and would be perfect on weekends or latter week evenings to sit, drink some juice (I don't do coffee) and sample a coconut cream pie or fruit tart while absorbing the local color and people watching. I might even take my new sketchbook and pencils along (when I take them back to Office Max and get the pencil sharpener they left out of my box of pencils) to sketch a little of what I see. I might even spring for some pastels; I used to be pretty good with those.
Dinner at Front Range BBQ was good, as always, but the one margarita I ordered was not very good -- pretty bad in fact. I left half the margarita in the glass and finished all my water -- both glasses. When the landlady and I walked home we passed Bancroft Park where the summer concert Old Colorado City sponsors on Tuesday nights was just beginning. They played a martial air by John Phillip Sousa and followed it with MacArthur Park, a song I know by heart because it is part of my youth when I listened to the radio and records every chance I got and sang along. The music is hard wired.
It was a soft summer evening with a BBQ and green summer scented breeze that flirted with us all the way home. Last night was one of those evenings I hate to go inside and would gladly sleep outside under the stars if I had a sleeping bag.
And now it's time to get back to work and finish the pay period with a bang instead of a whimper. My bread pudding is gone and there are jobs waiting to be transcribed.
That is all. Disperse.
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