Thursday, June 4, 2020

Three Beautiful Things 06/03/20: Monthly Blood Draw, Loved Cooking Dinner, Fired Up by Music BONUS A Limerick by Stu

1.In support of my candidacy for a kidney transplant, I stopped in for a quick visit at the Shoshone Medical Center this afternoon. I carried my little white box with a blood draw kit inside. Brandy drew a vial of blood from my left arm and it goes to a lab in Spokane. It's not tested. It's on hand in case an organ that looks like a match for me pops up. I do this blood draw once a month. It's easy. My feeling of relief when finished is out of proportion to how simple and painless and pleasant this visit turns out to be, every time.

2. I also made a quick trip to the liquor store where, among other libations, I purchased, for the first time since moving back to Kellogg, a bottle of Jameson's Irish Whiskey and a bottle of ginger ale. Later, I started a cooking project and, to add to its pleasure, I poured myself a whiskey ginger and got down to the business of making a pot of black bean chili.

The recipe I used called for carrots and potatoes and I said, "No way. Debbie and I love sweet potatoes." I had just purchased a couple so I poured some cans of black beans, a couple cups of water, a bay leaf, and two chopped sweet potatoes into the Dutch oven and let them simmer for a while.

In a skillet, I cooked up chopped garlic, onion, celery, and miniature orange sweet peppers and seasoned it all with coriander, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and red pepper flakes. I added in some Triple Sec and honey. Once cooked, I added this mixture into the Dutch oven along with a can of diced tomatoes and let it cook very slowly. I'm not sure how long it simmered, but when Debbie finished her FaceTime session on the deck, I boiled a batch of Mrs. Miller's Old Fashioned Kluski Egg Noodles and served the black bean chili over the noodles. We loved it.

This dinner was another attempt of mine to fix something like my hot lunch favorite, Witches Brew. Fixing this meal tonight also grew out of talking with Debbie about wanting to make something akin to Skyline Chili (the Cincinnati treat!) -- but we'll wait on that for when we have ground beef in the house and I'll serve that batch of chili over spaghetti, not egg noodles. (By the way, one of my regrets in life? During a week long visit to Cincinnati in 2005, we stayed just blocks away from Skyline Chili on Ludlow Ave. and I didn't eat there.)

3. I was fired up late this afternoon. I was fired up while cooking dinner, really happy to be making some (quasi) Witches Brew. I loved the switch from one favorite, George Dickel Rye Whiskey, to Jameson, another favorite.  I hadn't sipped on a Jameson/ginger for months. Peak pleasure.  I upped my fired upness with music: first, while cooking, I played Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were Here and then put on one of my favorite Pandora stations, Edgar Winter, and listened to songs ranging from "Radar Love" to "Midnight Rider" and, of course, "Free Ride"!

In today's limerick, Stu pays homage to some nicknames that were well-known at one time in Kellogg. If you were around here back in the day, I hope you'll remember them:

Nicknames are used now and back when.
Like “Jake” is used time and again.
Perhaps, “Facts”, can apply,
Policeman labeled “One-Eye”!
Or one fellow who bowled a THREE-TEN!

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