Three Beautiful Things 01-30-2024: Encouragement at the Gym, Relaxing at the Casino, Leftovers and Debbie's Work Day

1. After I finished my workout today in CdA, I took my chart to Claudia, one of the staff members, to tell her that I had increased the levels of demand in a few areas of my workout. We then looked at what I weighed when I first weighed in at the gym back on November 7 and how much weight I've lost in the last two months. I heartily welcomed her praise and encouragement. 

2. Ed picked me up outside the facility and we blasted over to Airway Heights for a fun afternoon at the Spokane Tribe Casino. We made our modest Super Bowl wagers and then played machines. The two of us had vastly contrasting luck on the casino floor. Since my luck was, well, awful (!), I quit playing and headed over to the casino bar and relaxed at a small table. I very slowly and happily enjoyed two half pint glasses of Hop Valley's Kraken Stash IPA, a smooth and tasty beer, easy to drink. Ed's luck was running pretty good, so he kept playing and I chatted with Stu online, enjoyed the casino's house music, watched people having fun on the casino floor, and monitored my beer drinking so that by the time we left and Ed took me back to CdA to pile back into the Sube and drive to Kellogg, the beer was out of my system.

3. Back home, I heated up the creamy lemony spaghetti left over from a few nights ago and then fixed myself a fresh vegetable salad topped with fresh squeezed lemon juice and cottage cheese. Debbie told me about her day at work. She experienced some fun success today and, as always, faced challenges, especially on recess duty. It's remarkable to me how demanding her job is and with what fortitude and joy she persists in doing all she can to make her students' classroom experience a positive one. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-29-2024: Afternoon Workout, Fixing Dinner Early in the Day, Copper's Deep Relaxation

1. I spent the morning getting a few things done around the house and waited until early afternoon to go to the Fitness Center. It feels more leisurely to me in the afternoon out there -- always feels like I've got more time -- and today, with the help of Spirit's superb album, The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus and then a mix of music from a variety of classic rock artists, I got in about seventy minutes of cardio, worked on a couple of resistance machines, and did some work with hand weights. It was a very good session.  

2. When I decided to wait until the afternoon to exercise, I also decided fix dinner this morning. Debbie asked me to augment the left over Spanish rice with ground beef and some tomato sauce and that was very easy to do. I browned the beef, added in the leftovers, stretched them a bit with tomato sauce, heated it all up, turned off the heat before going to the gym, and, when Debbie arrived home, all we had to do was heat it all up again and dinner was ready.

3. I told Debbie tonight that if I can't do anything else well in life, at least I know I can make Copper happy. Copper had been alone a lot today and I joined him in the bedroom, worked the Tuesday NYTimes crossword puzzle (the daily crosswords are always available the evening before), and he relaxed, purred, napped, and settled into his own kind of Copper bliss. 

I enjoy being in the living room with Debbie in the evenings, but with Gibbs unable to not pester Copper, I can't bring Copper out to join us. This evening, I decided to be with Copper. His contentment makes me happy and I skipped out of the bedroom periodically to see what Debbie was up to and to chat a bit. 

I tried to have the best of both worlds. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-28-2024: Super Bowl Wagers, Pickling Red Cabbage, Pasties for Family Dinner

 1. While I was pushing and pulling on the NuStep machine this morning, Ed called me. We'd agreed on Friday that just for the fun of it, we'd go to a sports book in Spokane and lay down a modest wager on the Super Bowl. I lost interest in watching football about eight or more years ago -- I had to go to Wikipedia today to find out who has won the last several Super Bowls --, but it'll be fun to go over to the Spokane Tribe Casino. I'll place my wager on the underdog, spin a few reels, possibly have a bite to eat, and enjoy hanging out with Ed for a few hours. He'll pick me up on Tuesday when I'm done at the rehab gym in CdA.

2. I prepared my contribution to today's Family Dinner on Saturday. Carol assigned me to bring pickled cabbage. This was a new endeavor for me. So I chopped up about a pound and a half of red cabbage, followed the recipe's directions and made a brine, mixed it all together, and put it in a sealed container to pickle for about 24 hours. 

My effort was successful and got me thinking that I'd enjoy using the same brine to pickle other vegetables, like, say, baby carrots or cauliflower and see if this way of doing it works with them.

3. Carol and Paul hosted Molly, Christy, and me this evening for a seriously much-anticipated pastie dinner. We started with mixed nuts and a honey whiskey ginger cocktail and moved on into the dining room and enjoyed our delicious pasties with the pickled cabbage. We ended our dinner with a piece of crustless cheesecake that featured homemade lemon curd. 

Discussion tonight was wide ranging -- we talked about church and the challenges of budgeting money, novels and tv shows and movies that tell stories about acting troupes and the theater, and even some political history. It was fun. 

Debbie stayed home to rest up for the start of a new semester at school and I brought pasties home. She enjoyed one tonight and packed another in her lunch for tomorrow. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-27-2024: Finally -- the Resistance Machines, Crosswords with Copper, Spanish Rice and Two Conversion Experiences

1. I finished working three puzzles and blogging this morning and dashed out to Smelterville. I put a playlist called "Cream Radio" on and did cardio exercises for 70 minutes. I had hoped to also work a bit on the resistance machines and I did. I left myself time to work my abs and my back. Had the gym not been closing at noon, I would have done more and that's the plan going forward -- to give myself enough time for exercise on the cardio machines and the resistance machines. (The rehab gym in CdA only has cardio machines. If my will is strong enough and I figure out an eating schedule,  I will follow up my CdA workouts with resistance work in Smelterville.) 

2. Back home, I realized that I had fallen a day behind in completing NYT's crossword puzzles. I was kind of stoked because the Friday and Saturday puzzles are the most challenging and I knew I had good, mind bending session ahead of me. 

I do these puzzles online, so I took my laptop into the bedroom and spent a great stretch of time keeping Copper company. I swear. Along with food and water, company is all he really wants (well, and he'd love to go outside) and I loved how he relaxed into deep contentment and fell into some periods of deep sleep while we were together. 

3. A month ago, when our family enjoyed a Basque Christmas dinner, Debbie's contribution was Spanish rice. She made it from a Basque recipe Carol sent her. 

Today, because we still had some of the ingredients left over from that dinner, Debbie made this dish again for our supper tonight. 

It was awesome. 

She used beef chorizo that was perfectly seasoned it and of itself and it paired perfectly with the dish's smoky bacon. I am almost certain that the chorizo's seasonings included paprika, a spice I wasn't that fond of in recent years, but tonight I experienced a total turnaround. I loved the paprika and I think I'm back on board the paprika express. Just for the record, I've recently experienced a similar turnaround with green onions. For years, yes, YEARS, I was indifferent about green onions and only bought and used them if a recipe called for them. But this past month, I've come not just to like green onions, but love them, and I include them every time I make myself a green salad (which is almost every day after I exercise) and those little scallions delight me.  

Three Beautiful Things 01-26-2024: I Must Make a Checklist, The Wildcats and The Lounge, Creamy Lemon Spaghetti

1. I'm going to make myself a checklist of what I need to remember to do before I leave the house and of what I need to take with me when I leave. Thursday morning, I forgot to take my medicine before going to the rehab gym and I left my water bottle at home. 

Today, I was 70 minutes into working out at the Fitness Center and I suddenly couldn't remember if I'd turned off the burner after fixing my breakfast. I had planned on following up my cardio exercise with some time on the resistance machines, but I returned home instead to make sure I had turned off the burner. 

I had. 

But if I'd gone through a checklist before leaving, I wouldn't have been seized by the sudden worry that I'd left the burner on.

So, I'm going to make one. 

2. Ed swung by shortly before four o'clock and we watched the Kellogg Wildcat junior varsity play Priest River. Priest River got off to a fast start with sharp shooters hitting a bunch of shots while the 'Cats were Foreigner ("Cold as Ice") and before the Wildcats scored their first points they were down by about fourteen. Kellogg tired to claw their way back. Once they got within ten points of Priest River, but the hole they were in early on was too deep to recover from. I don't remember the final score, but Priest River won by between ten and fifteen points. 

We stayed for the first half of the varsity game (which Kellogg won), but rather than watch the whole game we decided to go uptown and join in the good cheer at the Inland Lounge. 

As we walked in, Debbie was walking out, having been there since she left school. Debbie was smiling and happy after spending time with a variety of people and having had an uplifting time.

I had an uplifting time, too, seeing a bunch of people I've know for many, many years, yakkin with Ed and Jake at the bar, and enjoying a shot of 1910 Pendleton Rye Whiskey with a couple of Mountain Fresh Rainier beers. 

3. Before I went to the basketball games, I fixed myself (and ate) dinner and put what I didn't eat in the fridge for Debbie to warm up when she returned home. 

I tried a new recipe called Creamy Lemon Pasta with Crunchy Breadcrumbs.

To start, I toasted panko in butter in a pan on the stove until the breadcrumbs were crunchy and set them aside.

Next I sprinkled olive oil, salt, and pepper over some broccoli and put the broccoli in the oven to roast.

Meanwhile, I boiled spaghetti.

While the broccoli roasted and the spaghetti cooked, I sautéed minced garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes for a couple of minutes and then added pepper, butter, pasta water, grated hard cheese, and lemon juice and stirred and cooked it. 

This was the sauce for the spaghetti and once I drained the pasta, I folded this sauce and more cheese into the spaghetti. 

Once all blended together, I served myself the spaghetti, covered it with toasted panko, and topped it off with pieces of roasted broccoli. 

It worked! 

Debbie thought so, too. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-25-2024: Car Care and Fred Meyer, Back to the Rehab Gym, Bountiful Green Salad for Dinner

1. I piled into the Camry this morning and eased over the splendid roads on the 4th of July Pass and took the car in for an oil change. The guy who checked me in told me the car would be ready in an hour. No problem. I planned on that. To my delight, however, the Camry was ready in under half an hour (and everything checked out positively). 

That the pit crew finished up so quickly meant that I could dash over to Fred Meyer, pick up the handful of items on my list while having time to not be able to find certain things (eventually I did), and make it to the rehab gym in plenty of time for today's session.

2. I'd missed two rehab sessions in a row because of weather and my doctor's appointment last week and driving Christy to her appointment this week.

Everything at the rehab gym was good. My blood pressure was golden, my lungs sounded clear, and my weight was the lowest it's been since I started going there. 

Once again, I turned to The Cars and Candy-O to lift my spirits while I blasted away on the cardio machines and worked with hand weights. 

I topped off this most successful and satisfying trip to CdA with a quick stop at the Beach Bum Bakery shack in the Runge Furniture parking lot and replenished our bagel supply with a three pack of sesame and a three pack of everything.

3. Back in Kellogg, Debbie texted me that she was bringing home green salad and I augmented what Debbie brought home with strawberries, cucumber, feta cheese, and other delicious items and enjoyed all the different flavors and textures of my creation.  

Three Beautiful Things 02-24-2024: Cardio with *Candy-O*, Preparing for Life After Death, Mediterranean Pleasures

 1.  I enjoy going to the Fitness Center or to the rehab gym daily. After not going to either place on Tuesday, I was stoked to drive Christy to the Center for her last day of physical therapy and to get in some exercise. 

It was back to The Cars and their second album, which meant I did cardio with Candy-O. 

2. I got to work today on creating a guide for Debbie in the event that I should die before she does. She needs to know how to access my computer, use my password manager,  what accounts and policies I am invested in because she's the beneficiary for all of them, and so on. It's good for me to do this work. It's making me double check that I know what Debbie's benefits are and what she will need to do to secure them.

3. Tonight's dinner turned out to be one of our all-time favorites. Debbie and I love food from the Middle East and the Mediterranean and tonight I fixed HelloFresh's Crispy Falafel with Pistachio Couscous, Garlic Herb Crema (a topping for the falafels), Cucumber Dill Salad (with grape tomatoes and accented with lemon juice [I put way more fresh lemon juice on this salad than HelloFresh recommended]), and Butter Pita.

I mixed up the crema, made the salad, roasted the pita bread rounds, cooked the couscous, and fried the falafels until they were crispy. The dinner was a terrific blend of flavors and textures. Neither one of us expected this meal to be so delicious and when we finished our helpings and began right away to look forward to having more meals like this one -- whether via HelloFresh or of our own creation. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-23-2024: Trip to Post Falls, Transplant Status and a Deep Nap, Steaming Barramundi

1. Christy and I piled into her Subaru and I blasted us to Post Falls where Christy's surgeon gave her all good news about her knee, about her recovery from knee replacement surgery. I won't go into detail. Just trust me. The news was good.

We then had a delayed birthday lunch at Capone's in Post Falls where I enjoyed a chicken breast, bacon, spinach, red onion, and boiled egg salad with poppy seed dressing called the Popeye along with a cup of creamy chicken soup. 

It was a delicious lunch followed by an easy drive back to Kellogg - the roads coming to Post Falls and returning home were wet and easy to drive on. 

2. For having easy drives, just sitting for a short while waiting for Christy, and eating a good lunch while drinking soda water, I was not expecting to be so tired when I returned home. 

I took a coma nap, to Copper's delight. 

I'm wondering if making the decision to return to active status on the transplant list might have tired me out. I've been pondering the timing of this decision for a couple of weeks or more and now seemed like the right time, especially with Christy recovering well.

3. Our HelloFresh box arrived today with two meals we've never had before. I'll write about the second meal tomorrow. 

I decided to fix the fish meal tonight. 

Until today, I'd never heard of barramundi, but there it was in the box, and I decided I'd follow the instructions and fix us Steamed Canonese-Style Barramundi with Rice, Roasted Green Beans, and Sweet Soy Sauce. 

Roasting the green beans was easy. So was cooking the jasmine rice. 

Mixing up and cooking the sweet soy sauce with sugar, water, ginger, scallions, and ponzu sauce was also a snap.

I had never, however, steamed any kind of fish before.

The cooking instruction that came with the box outlined a steaming process. I read it and decided not to do it HelloFresh's way, but my way.

I got out our superb steamer basket and accompanying pot, put over an inch of water in the pot, put the fish in the steamer basket, brought the water to a boil, put the basket in the pot, turned down the heat a bit, and steamed the fish as if it were broccoli. I checked the fish about three minutes before it was supposed to be done. My method worked more quickly and my first attempt at steaming fish was a success.

So was the meal.

For each of us, I laid a bed of rice half the bottom of a bowl, put a chunk of fish on each rice bed, filled the other half of the bowl with roasted green beans, and topped the fish with the sweet soy sauce.

It worked!  

Three Beautiful Things 01-22-2024: The Cars and Cream and Cardio, Copper Relaxes, Delicious and Different Spaghetti Sauce

1. Christy and I piled into her Sube this morning so she could meet her 9:00 appointment and I, once again, put The Cars on and got in some good exercise. Once The Cars' album was finished, I switched to The Best of Cream with plans to go right back to this album during my next go around in the Fitness Center.

2. Back home, Copper purred and relaxed when I lay down beside him, rested my hand on him, and took a nap. Later in the evening, after Debbie and Gibbs went to bed fairly early, Copper joined me in the living room and had another relaxing time, lying on the living room rug not far from where I sat. He continues to be uninterested in lying on my lap. 

3. At Debbie's request, I sautéed several zucchinis and combined the disks in a pot with tomato sauce, kidney beans, and black beans, seasoned with cumin and garlic powder. We had spaghetti left over from Saturday's meal and Debbie and I both poured the zucchini-bean sauce over a bed of spaghetti. I heated mine up a bit with Frank's Original Hot Sauce.  

It worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-21-2024: More Cardio--More Cars, Toasting Molly and Paul and Carol, Fish Chowder Family Dinner

1. While a lot of back streets and lesser used roads are a snowy, slushy, icy mess, my route from home to the Fitness Center was in good shape. I arrived there in time to exercise for an hour and fifteen minutes and burned just the amount of calories I'd hoped to. 

Once again, I turned to The Cars' first album to make my workout all the more enjoyable and let my mind wander as many great memories of living in Spokane, dancing alone in my tiny basement apartment in Eugene, and first hearing cuts from this album while listening to the radio, driving home from taking a 1st year French class in the summer of 1978 at Eastern Washington University.

2. At tonight's Family Dinner, I initiated a toast to Molly for having been installed as a member of the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce at Friday night's banquet at the Elks. In addition, we all toasted Carol and Paul who were named the Silver Valley's Volunteers of the Year at the same banquet. Christy, Debbie, and I either couldn't or didn't attend the banquet, so this was our way of joining with Cosette and Taylor to congratulate our family members' achievements.

3. We started dinner with an appetizer plate of cheeses, some Triscuits, and a variety of Carol's pickled foods. We migrated into the dining room and enjoyed Christy's fish chowder, Carol's homemade baguette, and Debbie's zucchini salad. We topped off dinner with the banana cake Christy baked. 

I had a good conversation with Taylor and Cosette about their wedding ceremony. I'm officiating it and now I have a much better understanding of how the ceremony will proceed. It was an easy and thoughtful chat. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-20-2024: The Cars and Cardio, Kind of a Witches' Brew, Celebration at The Lounge

1. Almost immediately, upon its release in 1978, The Cars' debut self-titled album became one of my very favorites. My love for this album continued well into the 2010s. When Debbie and I would hang out at the Old Line Bistro (RIP) in Beltsville, MD, I could be yakkin, drinking beer, eating a casual dinner and the house music would be like white noise to me. But three artists always grabbed my attention, moved me to say, Oh My God!, it's Tom Petty. OMG!, it's Mumford and Sons with Jerry Douglas performing "The Boxer.  And OMG!, it's The Cars! 

So, today, at the Fitness Center, as I increased the level of workout on the NuStep machine, I put on The Cars' first album and it was, ahem, just what I needed. I plowed through 40 minutes on that machine and did an interval training on the treadmill for half an hour, propelled by the Talking Heads' album, Stop Making Sense. In between my workouts on these two machines, I did some exercises with hand weights. 

If the Fitness Center didn't close at noon, I would have rested for a few minutes and worked out on the resistance machines. This is my next goal -- to give myself enough time to work out on the cardio machines and the resistance machines. To make it work during the week, I think I'll need to do cardio in the morning when Christy has appointments at the Center and when I go to the rehab gym in CdA and then return in the afternoon to complete my workout. 

Slowly -- and more slowly than surely -- I'm figuring things out. 

2. After working out, I once again built a delicious green salad with plentiful vegetables around the rest of the penne and hot sauce from Wednesday night. For dinner, Debbie and I decided that I would boil a pot of spaghetti and then we'd each put on the spaghetti whatever we chose individually. I heated up black beans and tomato sauce, seasoned with cumin and garlic powder, put this sauce on a small mound of spaghetti and topped it with grated hard cheese. 

It worked! 

3. Tonight, people from across Shoshone County (and maybe elsewhere!) piled into the Inland Lounge to surprise Tamie Lewis Eberhard. Tamie is retiring (has retired?) as the Shoshone County Clerk and she was stunned and full of joy when she walked into the packed Lounge and realized that all these people were in the house to extend their appreciation for her work and celebrate her retirement. 

Debbie and I went up to The Lounge over an hour before the retirement party was scheduled to start.

Diane joined us and, when we parked and slipped/slid our way into The Lounge, Ryan was also slip/ sliding in (he'd already fallen once outside his workplace, CdA Bike Co), but we managed to stay on our feet both leaving and returning to the car. 

I had a blast yakkin' with Ryan about breweries, football, and the pros and cons of living in the Silver Valley, among other things. I also had fun yakkin' with Harley and, among other things, having him update me on the upcoming Crab Feed at the Elks -- it will coincide with Cosette and Taylor's wedding rehearsal on Friday and wedding ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17.  I'll miss out on the Crab Feed this year, but I might buy some crabs to go that we could crack open at a later date. 

We didn't stay long at The Lounge, but we agreed that seeing so many people gathered so happily together to extend congratulations and gratitude to Tamie was the epitome of what makes the Inland Lounge such a profound center for fellowship and togetherness in our area -- pretty much like a church. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-19-2024: Christy Returns to Physical Therapy, Labs Look Good, Fish and Rice and Salad Again

1. When it's wintry, I park the Sube in the driveway, out of the way of the plowers. So, this morning, I moved the Sube out of Debbie's way just before 7 so she could get the Camry out of the garage and go to work and, as long as I was out, I made sure Christy's porch and sidewalk to the street were deiced and I shoveled the small amount of light snow that had fallen overnight off our sidewalks.

This little bit of work paid off. Christy had no problems walking from her front door to where I was waiting for her in her rig in front of the house. 

We blasted out to Smelterville. Christy went through her physical therapy paces and I had a good 45 minutes of exercise.  

2. Back home, I received notification that my lab results from Thursday were available and everything looks either really good or, where my kidneys are concerned, still stable.

3. Debbie enjoyed our salmon/rice/3 bean salad dinner so much on Thursday night that we repeated it tonight. We had leftover salad and rice and, instead of salmon, I baked two filets of tilapia and we very much enjoyed the results! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-18-2024: Medicare Wellness, Monthly Blood Draw, Salmon Dinner

 1. I went up to the clinic for Medicare Wellness check up this morning, got my ears flushed, and had a blood draw done to see how my cholesterol, liver function, and prostate look. I had called the rehab gym in CdA to tell them I wouldn't make it -- I didn't want to drive the wintry roads today -- but, as it turned out, things took a while at the clinic and had I gone to rehab, I would have barely had time to eat. Having blood drawn for a lipid panel required fasting for 10-12 hours. I started a medication today that could help me not have to go to the bathroom, especially through the night, so often. 

2. Next up: a quick trip to the Shoshone Medical Center to have my monthly vial of blood drawn for the lab in Spokane that tests blood for kidney transplants. The phlebotomist at Shoshone Medical Center is now accustomed to me showing up every month and she's got the labeling and packing and mailing of the blood sample down pat, so it's an easy process.

3. Earlier in the day, when I asked her about dinner, Debbie said she wanted salmon. We have salmon burger patties in the freezer, but I sensed that Debbie really wanted salmon from the meat counter at Yoke's. I stocked up on our groceries today and included a filet of salmon. 

For dinner, I baked the salmon. All I did was put olive oil on the skin and on the meat side I rubbed some butter and salted and peppered it. I also heated up olive oil in a pot, cooked up some green onion, added sesame oil to the pot along with jasmine rice, stirred up the uncooked rice and green onions and oils, and then added water and cooked the rice. Debbie had made a three bean salad earlier and the salmon, rice, and salad combined to make a delicious dinner.

I dressed my salmon filet with some sour cream and yogurt sauce and sprinkled capers on top of the sauce. 

That worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-17-2024: Snow Shoveling Day, Debbie Found the Exit, Dinner Inspired by Billy Mac

 1. I shoveled Christy's and our walks this morning. Then I shoveled again. And again. And again. Then I shoveled our driveway. Oh, by the way, it snowed all day today.

2. Debbie drives very cautiously on the wintry roads. That doesn't stop me, however, from being relieved and happy when I hear the garage door open and she's back home from work safe and sound. Tonight, I was especially relieved. The unrelenting snow not only made traction on the freeway a challenge, visibility was also very limited. Thanks to this combination of snow on the road and in the air, Debbie could barely see the exit she takes to leave I-90. She did see it, however dimly. And she made it home, in the dark, safely. I was relieved, happy, and thankful.

3. Back in the good old days of mirth and scintillating conversation, along with excellent food and drinks, at Billy Mac's, the menu included at appetizer called (I think) simply Hot Shrimp. As I remember, it was like ordering Buffalo Wings, but was a shrimp dish instead of chicken.

That appetizer came to mind today as I pondered what to fix Debbie and me for dinner. I knew we had shrimp in the freezer and I knew we had leftover penne in the fridge. 

Hmmm.

Hot shrimp, I thought. It won't be exactly like at Billy Mac's, but Debbie and I really liked the sauce I made last night for our chicken wing dinner and I decided to whip up another batch of that sauce, cook up some shrimp, heat up the penne, and combine them all in a bowl.

It wasn't Billy Mac's, but it worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-16-2024: Clear Roads to the Rehab Gym, My Salad Experiment Worked, Awesome Buffalo Wings

1. The cold snap we shivered through over the weekend was dry (unlike in Eugene -- OMG!). Consequently, the freeway from Kellogg to CdA was in perfect condition and I was very happy, once I deiced the interior windshield of the Sube, to drive easily to the rehab gym and have a good workout at 11:00 this morning. Once again, The Oysterband's album, Ride, energized me, helped my mind wander with delight through the more demanding phases of my exercise, and I left the gym feeling renewed.

2. Back home, I decided to take the leftover penne from Sunday's dinner and layer it on the bottom of one of our larger serving bowls, I topped it with the last of the combination of beef barley mushroom soup and Bloody Bull mix, cold, and on top of that I built a green salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

It was an unorthodox salad, to be sure, but did it ever work! 

3. I am kind of crazy about the new cookbook, Small Plates, that Adrienne gave us for Christmas. For a couple of days, I've had my eye on its recipe for Oven-Baked Buffalo Wings and tonight I made them. All I had to do was put baking powder coated party wings on a wire rack sitting on a foil covered rimmed baking sheet and roast the chicken pieces for about 30-35 minutes at 475 degrees, turning them over halfway through. Then I turned on the broiler and broiled both sides of the party wings, about two minutes per side.

In the meantime, I had whisked together Frank's Original Hot Sauce, molasses, and a chunk of butter in a bowl. When I took the chicken out of the oven, I tossed the pieces in the sauce I'd made and Debbie and I devoured every delicious piece of chicken, along with eating an assortment of raw vegetables. 

The molasses added depth and richness to the chicken. Debbie and I also thought it just slightly mellowed the heat of the hot sauce. I mean the wings were spicy, but not fiery, and we thought America's Test Kitchen's idea to include a tablespoon of molasses in the sauce worked beautifully. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-15-2024: Back to the Gym, Brilliant Use of Leftovers, Cocktails with Sen. Howard Baker

1. Christy had an appointment at 9:00 at the clinic in Smelterville. It's in the same building as the Fitness Center. I stayed home Saturday and Sunday, so it felt really good to get back to exercising this morning. The cold snap is loosening its hold on the Silver Valley a bit and I welcomed that -- it's kind of odd how having it be 5 degrees outside can feel pretty good after a few days of subzero temperatures! 

2. Back home after working out a bit, I warmed up leftover beef barley mushroom soup. I didn't eat all that we still had. On the spot, Debbie had an ingenious idea. Why not combine the rest of the soup with the leftover Bloody Bull mix, the rice we have in a container, and the last of the chuck roast and serve it over pasta?

So, that's what I did.

I combined those leftovers in a pot, boiled some penne, poured the mixture over the pasta, and PRESTO! --we had a delicious dinner. It took all my willpower to resist eating about twice as much as I did, not for nutrition, but for indulging the pleasure of how wonderful this meal tasted! I did resist and will enjoy what we have left for lunch tomorrow. 

3. Debbie and I return to programming dealing with Watergate often. Tonight, for the nth time, we watched the last two episodes of the documentary series, Slow Burn. I like the way this series focuses on how the secondary, behind the scenes figures helped shape the Watergate story. The second to last episode of Slow Burn focused on the work of the teams of attorneys working is support of the Senate Watergate Committee. The last episode focused on the team of attorneys working for Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, and, after he got canned, Leon Jaworski. The last episode also focused on Elizabeth Holtzman, a first year member of Congress from New York, who was on the House Judiciary Committee, and her reflections upon and insight into the Committee's process of arriving at their decision to forward the Articles of Impeachment to the full House of Representatives. 

In the course of watching tonight's episode, I casually mentioned to Debbie that I once had drinks with Howard Baker. 

"You what? We've been married for 26 years and you've never told me this before!"

"I guess not. Yeah -- Howard Baker spoke at North Idaho College in February of 1974 and I was one of the students invited to join him and others over drinks -- I think it was at Templin's, but it might have been another place where the CdA Resort is now."

I don't remember anything about the conversations during that social occasion -- nothing more than I got to be a part of it. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-14-2024: Warming Up with Bill and Diane, Making Bloody Bull Mix, Firing Up the Gas Furnace

1. What's one good way to warm up on a frigid Sunday morning? 

First of all, retire to the Vizio room where the heat pump unit heats the room beautifully.

Second of all, leap on the ZOOM machine and have great conversation with Bill and Diane.

It was fun talking about the current arctic blast and Bill and Diane both told great stories about their experiences back in 1990 when Seattle got whomped by a snow storm that paralyzed much of the city's mass transit system and both of them survived arduous, Odysseus-like journeys from work back home again.

We also talked about David Lodge's book, Small World. For Diane, the book brings back her experiences working as a staff member at the University of Washington and witnessing the behavior, not all of it flattering, of different professors. 

We also talked about the extensive work that will be done on Bill and Diane's condo in the coming months. It will greatly improve their residence. 

It was a warming conversation, indeed.

2. Debbie and I hosted family dinner tonight. Debbie spent part of the afternoon putting together a superb enchilada casserole, baked in a cast iron skillet, with a cornbread bottom and a cornbread top. 

My job was to make the mix for tonight's cocktail: A Bloody Bull. It's a drink served hot. It resembles a Bloody Mary in that it tomato based with lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, but it also includes beef bullion (or beef broth/stock). So I heated up the mixture of these ingredients. (Next time I'll puree the canned diced tomatoes.) I combined the mixture with vodka in coffee mugs and garnished the Bloody Bull with cucumber spears. 

This cocktail really worked for me. I love hot drinks during cold snaps and I found the combination of beef boullion and tomatoes, brightened up with lemon juice and bolstered by the Worcestershire sauce not only tasty, but heartening. 

Carol and Christy rounded out our dinner offerings. Carol brought a delicious cabbage salad and Christy contributed a bottle of blended white wine bottled in a winery near Julietta, ID. 

3. Nearly two years ago, we had a heat pump system installed in our house. It works beautifully in every kind of weather with one exception. The unit in the living room simply cannot keep that room very warm during extreme cold snaps. We kept our gas furnace operational as a secondary source of heat and, until this weekend, we hadn't even thought of using it.

On Saturday, I tried to get the furnace started, but the thermostat wasn't working. The thermostat uses AAA batteries and we had just used our last ones. I took a couple of batteries out of another device and tried them in the thermostat. No luck. 

I concluded that the thermostat had crapped out.

When Paul and Carol arrived for dinner, Paul looked at the thermostat and asked me if I'd changed the batteries. I told him what I'd done and then said, "Well, I bought new AAA batteries today. What do we have to lose? Let's try a couple of those."

They worked! 

With five of us in the house and the oven having been on, we were all comfortable before, during, and after dinner with the heat provided by the heating unit in the living room.

Once the house cleared out, I went to the basement, turned on the furnace, and lo and behold, it worked.

We have a secondary heat source for the living room (the gas furnace provides little heat anywhere else -- one of the principle reasons we had the house wide heat pump system installed).

It's a relief being able to turn off the heat pump unit in the living room and to let the gas furnace do its job. 

All we needed were brand new batteries. 

The thermostat seemed to reject the hand me downs!  

Three Beautiful Things 01-13-2024: Dealing with the Arctic Blast, Hot Water and Brandy at The Lounge, Chinese Appetizers from Wah Hing

1. Debbie and I did our best to endure the subzero temperatures today and pretty much succeeded.  I drank hot beverages, mostly coffee and chicken bullion. I worked puzzles, read recipes, read the first essay in my new Jill Lepore book, and was grateful that we had as much heat as we did in our house. 

2. Late in the afternoon, we decided to drive uptown. We sought a change of scenery and good company at the Inland Lounge. It worked! Debbie and I grabbed a stool at the bar. It wasn't too busy so we had fun yakkin' with Cas. I was next to Seth D. and he and I yakked about the upcoming fantasy baseball season and about the National Football League of our respective youths. I was really happy to drink mugs of VSOP brandy and hot water, a most warming and tasty drink on such an arctic day.

3. I've been mindful in my eating and drinking habits over the last several weeks as I've tried to shed some weight. Today, however, it seemed to me foolish to even care about counting calories. I needed to feed myself in ways that kept me warm. I was elated that I'd made this decision when Debbie and I decided we didn't want to leave The Lounge and decided to order potstickers and the appetizer plate from Wah Hing. Debbie chose these items for our dinner and the variety of appetizers, the potstickers, and the dipping sauces made for a perfect meal. When we left The Lounge, I was warmed by the brandy, the food, and the company and arrived home happy to have had such a great time in uptown Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-12-2024: Braving the Chill, Clear Sidewalks at the Salon, Warming Up at The Lounge

1. I wondered when I woke up to subzero temperatures and sidewalks covered with compact snow and ice whether Christy would feel safe venturing out to meet her physical therapy appointment at 10:15. I shoveled the small amount of feathery snow off of our sidewalks and deiced Christy porch steps and her sidewalk leading to the street. 

Christy was ready to brave the freezing cold and she felt secure with her ice pick cane and improving knee. I got the snow off her Subaru, leapt in, positioned it in front of her house and Christy walked steadily to the car.

Christy isn't quite ready to leap into the passenger seat, but she got in just fine and we rocketed out to the Fitness/Wellness/Therapy Center in Smelterville. 

I tried a new program on the NuStep machine and walked rolling hills on the treadmill, one again invigorated by the Oysterband and their rock style accordion and driving rhythms. 

It was a blissful session of exercise and upbeat folk rock tunes.

2. Christy was not done going out into the world. She had a 1:00 appointment to have her nails done.

No problem. She made her way back out to the car. I drove her uptown and she appeared to me to have little problem making he way into the salon, thanks to the perfectly shoveled and deiced sidewalk leading into the shop.

3. Debbie called me when she finished school and was headed to The Lounge. At first, I thought I'd stay home and cook, but I finished making the HelloFresh Mexicali Black Bean Soup. Ed had called me earlier in the day to see if I would be going to The Lounge and I called him back and he agreed to pick me up.

Ed and I bellied up to the bar and I ordered my favorite sub zero weather drink. It's simple. Brandy and hot water. It really hit the spot. Ed and I yakked about a bunch of stuff. Cas joined in as he could. Grebe joined us. Later, we joined Jake at his table with Jim and Simon Miller and Danny Kenyon. 

Yes, it was frigid outside, but not in The Lounge. The Lounge was not only well-heated, but the was warm with a crowd of people enjoying one another's company and having a grand old time. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-11-2024: No 4th of July Pass Today, Shoveling Snow, Fixing Pasta with Zucchini and Bacon

1. Well, Christy and I had plans to blast over to CdA together this morning. I'd go to the rehab gym. She would go to the Verizon store. Thankfully, we both agreed to take the advice of several people who braved the 4th of July Pass and posted online something to the effect of "If you don't have to go over the Pass, stay home!" My days of sledding over that hill no matter what are long gone. I burned calories shoveling snow and Christy took care of her business with Verizon online. 

2. I would much rather shovel more than once than wait for the snow to subside and do one big shovel. This approach worked beautifully today. Both times I shoveled, the snow was not very deep and, it being chilly out, it was light snow. Mission accomplished. 

3. I was in the mood today to fix a spaghetti meal for dinner. We had a couple zucchinis in the fridge and so I went to the NYTimes food section and found a recipe for Creamy Zucchini and Bacon Pasta. I could tell the recipe wouldn't be difficult to make and I imagined it making a tasty meal.

I was right!

I cut up slices of bacon and cooked them, put them on a plate atop a paper towel, and poured the fat into a measuring cup. I returned half of the fat to the skillet and sautéed finely chopped onion and half the zucchini I'd sliced in the bacon grease. After a few minutes, I added minced garlic and put the cooked zucchini, onion, and garlic in a bowl and repeated this process with the rest of the zucchini, onion, and garlic. 

I was boiling spaghetti at the same time. When the second zucchini batch was done, I returned the first batch to the skillet and added butter and the juice of half a lemon and stirred it up.

Once I drained the spaghetti, I returned it to the Dutch oven, poured the zucchini mixture over it along with more butter, the juice of another half a lemon, and a cup of pasta water. I stirred this altogether for a couple of minutes until the liquid thickened and coated the pasta. I then folded a cup of grated Parmigiana Reggiano cheese into the spaghetti. It was ready to eat. 

I served Debbie and me each a bowl of the pasta, topped with the bacon bits that started this whole process.

It worked! And, as a bonus, we had plenty left over for Debbie's lunch tomorrow and to snack on another time.  

Three Beautiful Things 01-10-2024: The Oysterband and *Dirty Linen*, Moroccan Carrot Salad, Beef Barley Soup

1. Back to Smelterville this morning -- Christy continued her physical therapy work and I hit the aerobic machines for 45 minutes. I changed up my programs a bit with mixed results, mostly good. I made myself very happy while exercising by listening to one of my favorite all-time albums. It's the Oysterband's Ride (1989). It's an invigorating folk rock album I've listening to for over thirty years. It took me back to 1991 when I went to my first Richard Thompson concert in Portland and also subscribed to a publication that began as a Richard Thompson/Fairport Convention fanzine called Dirty Linen, but expanded into covering a wide range of folk musicians and folk rock bands. I went a little nuts buying Richard Thompson and Richard and Linda Thompson recordings and began listening to Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, The Battlefield Band (what a concert they gave!), The House Band (saw them live in Eugene and Portland -- OMG!), as well as Ian Matthews, Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy, June Tabor, Sandy Denny and many others. 

I enjoyed the Oysterband and reliving the Dirty Linen days so much that I barely noticed that I was giving my legs and lungs a pretty good workout. 

2. I've been thumbing through the America's Test Kitchen cookbook entitled, The Small Plates Cookbook that Adrienne and her family gave Debbie and me for Christmas. I've been imagining all kinds of dinner possibilities. For now, I focused on two recipes. First, I decided to follow the Test Kitchen's recipe for making easy to peel hard boiled eggs, using a vegetable steamer to cook the eggs and, after they've been steamed for about thirteen minutes, putting the eggs in an ice bath for fifteen minutes. 

I also decided to make the cookbook's Moroccan-Style Carrot Salad. I grated about a pound of carrots and added two the halved segments of two oranges and a bunch of minced cilantro. I tossed them together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, I combined fresh squeezed orange juice, olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice, honey, and red pepper flakes in another bowl and poured it over the salad. After it sat a few minutes, I strained the salad to drain of excess liquid and put it in the fridge, ready to eat.

It worked! 

3. We've had a package of dry beef barley soup in the cupboard for a while and I decided to make it, hoping it would pair well with the salad.

I sautéed a bunch of sliced mushrooms, added about three quarters of a pound of beef stew meat, let that cook for a few minutes, and then added the contents of the soup package along with beef broth and water. I brought it to a boil and then let it simmer for nearly an hour.

Debbie and I enjoyed the soup and it worked really well with the Mediterranean flavors of the carrot salad.

The success of the salad encouraged me to try more recipes from this new cookbook of ours as soon as possible. 

Three Beautiful Things 02-09-2024: Good Roads and A Year of Living Tumultuously, Plateaus, A Favorite Spaghetti Dinner

1. Since moving back to Kellogg, I no longer have much of what it takes to drive on snowy or icy roads. If I have to, I will, but it's not like when I was younger and drove on winter roads without a second thought. So, this morning, if driving condition between Kellogg and Coeur d'Alene looked at all dicey, I was ready to call into the rehab gym and cancel my appointment. 

The driving conditions, however, were almost ideal. Yes, wet. Yes, a bit slushy. Overall, though, the roads were free of snow, traction was reliable, and I breezed over the pass and arrived in CdA in plenty of time to pick up a couple of things at Pilgrim's and meet my appointment at the gym. I-90 was even better on my return drive. 

Back in the spring of 1982, I spent a lot of time listening to The Alan Parsons Project's album, Eve. The year 1982 was tumultuous for me, a combination of exciting academic success and utter failure in my life at home as everything there disintegrated into divorce. The album brings back a lot of memories, both enjoyable and difficult, and also calls up much deep gratitude I feel to this day for friends who were supportive and sympathetic to my situation and who joined me in having some really fun times. 

2. During my workout in CdA, staff member, Claudia, and I discussed what she called my "weight loss journey". I've lost some weight, slowly, and we discussed how to work through a plateau when the weight loss levels out. She advised me to add some variety to my workouts in Smelterville and so I'll start doing some exercising on the weight/resistance machines. I had done a bit of reading about "plateauing" and Claudia's insights and recommendations were in sync with what the Mayo Clinic published about this issue. 

3. Tonight, thanks to our HelloFresh shipment, Debbie and I enjoyed what's become an old favorite dinner: Lemony Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts Sprinkled with Toasted Panko and Chives. Debbie wondered if this were a meal I could fix on my own, without the HelloFresh bag. HelloFresh provides a packet of cheese roux and if I can learn how to make that on my own (I haven't looked into it yet), then, yes, I can definitely recreate this delicious meal. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-08-2024: Trips to Smelterville, Sweet and Sour Steak Stir Fry, (Mostly) Quiet Evening

 1. I started my fifty minutes of working out a little early today. Christy had a 9 o'clock appointment at the clinic in Smelterville for an hour and I huffed and puffed to Machine Head and Thick as a Brick until we were both done at 10. 

Later, after a post-workout Greek-ish salad, I blasted out to Walmart and picked up a grocery order for Christy and brought the goods into her house. 

2. Sunday night, after Family Christy's Birthday Dinner, we brought home a piece of leftover steak. I consulted a favorite recipe site, Spruce Eats, and found a recipe for a sweet and sour stir fry using steak. I made the sweet and sour marinade, cut the steak into strips, and marinated the meat for about an hour and a half. Then all I had to do was warm up the steak in hot oil and then stir fry onions, garlic, sliced mushrooms, red bell pepper strips, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. I poured the marinade over it all, heated it up until it thickened and served the stir fry over jasmine rice. 

It worked! 

3. We had a quiet evening. Debbie relaxed after her first day back with students after a two week break. I switched gears and worked on acrostic puzzles along with a crossword. We kept the television off, Gibbs protected us from any activity outside the house by barking his head off, and Debbie went to bed early, opening the way for Copper to roam around the kitchen and living room and to have a dish of wet food. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-07-2024: Christy's Birthday Dinner, Christy and Carol's Focus for 2024, Keeping My Mind Fit

1. This afternoon, Carol and Paul hosted Family Dinner, which was really Birthday Dinner for Christy, two days before her actual birthday. We visited in the living room for a while and enjoyed a shrimp cocktail appetizer with an adult Shirley Temple.  Paul broiled New York Loin (bone-in) steaks, Debbie baked us each a potato, Molly brought a green salad, and Carol made her current version of Mom's bleu cheese dressing, patterned after the Sunshine Inn's roquefort dressing. Christy asked for a pie rather than a cake and Carol baked a cherry pie fashioned after the Old Fashioned cocktail -- so it was an Old Fashioned cherry pie. 

For quite a while, we had movie talk at the dinner table, prompted in part by Molly and Brian's ongoing dive into movies featuring Nicholas Cage. 

2. Christy opened gifts. She and Carol and others begin each year by choosing a word to focus on. Carol's word this year is PURGE. Christy has chosen a phrase that includes the word LIGHT. Those who participate in this venture also create vision boards. Christy told us about her plans to go in a different direction with photographs, a perfect way to work with LIGHT. 

3. I took a day off from the Fitness Center today and rested my legs. I tried to keep my mind fit by working for a couple of hours or so on the NYTimes Sunday crossword puzzle and I succeeded in finishing it with help a couple of times from the World Wide Web. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-06-2024: Longer Workout, Stewed Zucchini with Teff, Zags Defeat Two Inferior Teams

1. I arrived at the Fitness Center early enough today (it closes at noon on Saturday) to get in about 80 minutes of exercise. It felt good to have left the house early enough to not only get in a longer workout, but to give Debbie a lift to Pinehurst Elementary School where she worked for about five hours, further preparing for the students' return on Monday. 

2. After Debbie and I dropped in for a quick, no alcohol visit at The Lounge, I went to work preparing a dinner I was hungry for. When Debbie taught in Eugene during the 2018-19 school year, she often made herself a dinner similar to what I made tonight, but I added a variation. I made Stewed Zucchini with Tomatoes and Chickpeas -- all I had to do was cook some onion and garlic, add sliced zucchini and mushrooms and when they were tender pour in a can of diced tomatoes and a can of chickpeas and season it with paprika. That's the stew. Usually we would serve this stew over rice, but I was scanning the food we have stored in the basement and realized we'd never opened the package of Teff we had down there. Teff is an edible grass seed, grown mostly in Ethiopia. Preparing it is similar to how I've prepared couscous over the years. I thought it had an earthy quality and enhanced our stewed zucchini. 

3. I don't know what to think of Gonzaga's men's basketball team after watching them play two weak teams, Pepperdine and the University of San Diego. The Zags won both of these games by a wide margin. They were the far superior team in both cases. Coming into the Pepperdine game, I'd heard and read analysis about the play of point guard Ryan Nembhard, most of it negative: he was dribbling too much, turning the ball over too frequently, and shooting poorly.

Knowing this, I gave Nembhard a lot of my attention, especially because I'd very much enjoyed the Creighton teams he played for during his freshman and sophomore years.

The Zags had eight days without any games before the Pepperdine game. Watching Nembhard against Pepperdine, I wondered if the Zag coaching staff instructed Nembhard to dribble less, pass more, and be more selective with his shots. Against both Pepperdine and the University of San Diego, his mindset seemed to be to pass to teammates early in each possession, shoot only after the ball had moved around and he was in better position to take shots, and he had many fewer turnovers.

BUT, these improvements came against inferior competition.

All the same, I hope it's a sign of better play to come as the season marches on.  

Three Beautiful Things 01-05-2024: Deep Purple and Calorie Burning, S-L-O-W Shopping -- A Luxury, A Fun Hour (or So) at The Lounge

1. I revved up Christy's Sube and we blasted out to the Fitness/Rehab Center. I did my best to make smart use of the forty-five minutes or so I had to exercise while Christy worked with a physical therapist. I burned about as many calories as I'm capable of in that amount of time. I'm looking forward to Saturday and Sunday. I'll spend more time in the gym and not only work on aerobic machines, but get in some time with the hand weights, too. Will I return to Deep Purple's Machine Head again? It's likely. I've loved that album for over fifty years and now I think the music is as aerobic as my workouts! 

2. Debbie had a two hour appointment this afternoon in CdA for a haircut and other good things. I dropped her off and headed straight for Costco to purchase a few items for Carol and Paul. Since I had two hours of shopping luxury available, I lollygagged in Costco. I went up and down aisles, filling Carol and Paul's short list, but also seeing if anything jumped out at me that I might purchase for our home. (Nothing did.) The mood in Costco was good. Every shopper I encountered was polite and friendly as we nearly wordlessly negotiated who should get out of whose way. This almost always my experience at Costco. 

I checked out and buzzed over to Fred Meyer for another hour of s-l-o-w, fun shopping. I loaded my cart with a variety of produce, herbal teas, eggs, and vinegar and bopped over to the men's clothing area and picked up a couple sturdy short-sleeved T-shirts and a pair of knee length workout pants. 

3. Debbie and I got done at right about the same time. Upon returning to Kellogg on clear roads -- the looming winter storm had not moved in yet --, we popped into The Lounge where Brian and Molly were at the bar. Cas thanked me for arriving as soon as I could so that I could help him get Molly under control (ha ha) and that joke continued for the duration of our visit. Brian, Molly (now behaving herself [ha ha]), Debbie, and I grabbed a table, yakked, laughed, were joined by Ed, said hi and yakked a bit with Jake, Carol Lee, and Cindy and had a good hour or so of socializing and relaxation.

We had a very good afternoon. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-04-2024: Remembering Purple Pig-Times, Kidneys Update, Sweet Chili Chicken Thighs

1. From about January or February through the end of the semester in May, 1973, I hung out almost daily with Bruce Alldredge (RIP) and his roommate, Robert, along with Sluggo, Liz, Jane, and others. Bruce and Rob lived in an old apartment house near North Idaho College that they nicknamed the Cockroach Castle and Bruce drove a van nicknamed the Purple Pig. Those four months or so had to be one of the most invigorating and fun periods in my entire life. Memories of reading aloud from National Lampoon, hectoring President Richard Nixon as he spoke about Watergate on tv from the Oval Office, a dollar pitcher celebration of the Knicks' NBA championship at the Rathskeller, listening to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and other albums, having fun times out with Liz in her trusty old Ford Falcon (I think), discussing poetry and politics, dancing to "All Right Now" as we closed down the Steinhaus, and many others made this time unforgettably awesome. Time seemed to stand still and the loving feelings I have about those months came pouring back to me today. 

You see, someone posted a picture on Facebook of the old Fish Inn located out in the Blue Creek/Wolf Lodge area several miles east of Coeur d'Alene. Parked at the fish's mouth, in the picture, was a van that looked remarkably similar to the Purple Pig -- although the pictured van was more maroon than purple. I emailed the picture to Liz and Jane and both of them remarked on how much they think and talk about the Purple Pig-time. I loved hearing back from both of them, knowing how much we loved that brief, influential, ecstatic time in our lives. 

Here's the picture that sparked our memories and our words of love:

2.  I saw Dr. Bieber, my nephrologist, this morning. We went over my most recent bloodwork and, once again, things are stable. All but one of my numbers are within range. My kidney function slipped a little bit to 15%, but I've been at 15% before, even as low as 13%, but without experiencing any symptoms of kidney disease. That's the case right now -- no edema, no metallic taste in my mouth, etc. I'm working out 5-7 days a week, losing some weight, and feeling great. At some point soon, I'll ask to be returned to the active status on the transplant list, but, for now, I don't want to be offered an organ while Christy needs help with transportation after her knee replacement. 

3. Tonight's HelloFresh meal was a, hold on, it's a long one, Sweet Chili Chicken Rice Bowl with Chicken Thighs, Sesame Slaw, and Quick Pickled Cucumbers. 

In the past, when HelloFresh meals have included quick pickled cucumbers, I've thought the cukes didn't pickle long enough. So, today, I immersed thinly sliced cucumber pieces in sugar, salt, and water about a half an hour before I started cooking the rest of the meal. Likewise, this recipe called for the chicken thigh pieces to be marinated in soy sauce and I prepared this part of the meal in advance, too.

While I was doing things in advance, I decided to fix the pear, cabbage, and sesame seed slaw ahead of time and once I finished following the recipe, decided that a slug of Nancy's whole milk probiotic yogurt would make the slaw I prepared taste even better. 

I was correct! 

The rest of the meal was very simple. 

I cooked the jasmine rice. I added corn starch to the marinated chicken, tossed it until the chicken was coated, then cooked the chicken. I transferred the chicken to a clean bowl and topped  with a packet of  Sweet Thai Chile Sauce. 

I divided the rice between our two bowls and topped the rice with the sweet chili chicken, pickled cucumbers, and slaw. 

The sweet and the heat along with crunchiness of the cucumbers and slaw gave this dinner a tasty combination of flavors, sensations, and textures. 

It worked! 

Three Beautiful Things 01-03-2024: Burning Calories, A Fun Ragu and Spaghetti, First Rats -- Then Feral Cats -- Now Cane Toads!

 1.  While Christy went through her Wednesday physical therapy session, I ducked into the gym and got in a solid forty-five minute workout powered by Deep Purple's Machine Head. I didn't burn quite as many calories as I'd hoped, but I probably set my goal for this session a little high given my time frame. 

2. I had fun late this afternoon making a Ground Turkey Ragu and Spaghetti with Zucchini and Parmesan out of a HelloFresh bag. Once I browned the ground turkey, I add grated zucchini and a packet of Tuscan Spice Blend followed by tomato paste and marinara sauce and chicken stock. Later I enhanced the sauce with sour cream, cream cheese, and butter. 

It worked. 

3. This evening I took a break from James Gray's movies, a break from corruption, violence, and family conflict in dark neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn and, instead, furthered my recent interest in animals that are prolific reproducers. Not long ago, I read an article about feral cats. Tonight, I turned my attention to the amphibian world and watched Mark Lewis's documentary, Cane Toads: The Conquest. It's the 2010 sequel to his 1988 short documentary, Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. 

It all takes place in Australia, beginning in Queensland. Humans committed a major ecological blunder in 1935. Cane farmers were suffering terrible losses because beetles were destroying their crops. Thinking these toads would eat the beetles and save their crops, the farmers had the toads imported from Hawaii. One problem became two.  The cane toads showed no interest in eating the beetles. Instead, the cane toads proliferated. And proliferated. And proliferated some more with stunning speed and efficiency. Moreover, being a non-native species, the cane toad had no enemies (except human beings). They were not the prey of any other animals. 

Nothing got it the way of their voracious ability to reproduce. 

These two movies tell the story of the proliferation of the toad frog and their westward movement across the northern regions of Australia. We learn of one failed human effort after another to stem the tide of the indomitable cane toad's proliferation and rapid movement as they invade more and more areas. 

Cane Toads: The Conquest is at times whimsical, at times scientific and informative, always fascinating. Mark Lewis interviews people who hate the toad frogs, others who love them, still others who try to capitalize on them, and others who see the folly of human beings trying to control or manage the natural world. 

I see Mark Lewis also has made a documentary on rats! It's also available on the Criterion Channel. Before I return to watching dark movies of corruption and crime set in New York City, I think I'll watch this rat documentary. It also involves New York City. 

By the way, recently I read a 1944 New Yorker article written by the inestimable Joseph Mitchell on rats in Manhattan entitled, "Thirty-Two Rats from Casablanca".  That article, as it turns out, set my efforts in motion to read about feral cats and watch this latest movie about cane toads. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-02-2024: Good Workout, Superb Lunch at Daft Badger, A Long Caitlin Clark Trey and Another James Gray Movie

 1. The Fitness Center in Smelterville was closed both Sunday and Monday, so I was eager to get back to the rehab gym this morning. My workout was really good. I increased the intensity of one of the machines,  increased the size of the hand weights I use, and the results were good when I weighed myself. My blood pressure was up a bit, but once I worked out and returned home, I got a good reading.

2. Debbie and I went to CdA together today. After I was done at the gym, we made a quick stop at Fred Meyer and then had a superb light lunch at Daft Badger. I had a cup of chili that included brisket, ground beef, kidney beans, and perfect seasoning alongside a Mediterranean salad with among other things, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, and a terrific vinaigrette. I enjoyed eating a robustly flavorful lunch that didn't make me feel uncomfortably full, but simply satisfied.

3. Debbie fixed us a superb dinner of roasted green peppers, baked sweet potato, and baked salmon. We had some leftover yogurt, sour cream, and garlic sauce from Monday's dinner and I used it to lightly dress my piece of salmon and the sweet potato. Later on, we were fortunate to have the women's basketball game of the day (week? month? season?) on the television and saw Caitlin Clark sink a three pointer from about 40 feet, from the fringe of the half court logo, with just the slightest tick of the clock remaining to catapult Iowa to a 76-73 victory over Michigan State. 

A little later in the evening, I turned my attention back to James Gray and watched his second directorial effort, The Yards. 

It was an intense story about a young man played by Mark Wahlberg returning from prison to his neighborhood in Queens, hoping to leave criminal life behind him and find legitimate work.

That doesn't happen. 

Ignorant of his uncle's and longtime friend's corrupt activities in the New York City world of subway train repair and maintenance, he gets sucked into being a watch out man while his friend and a gang of young men carry out the sabotaging of a competitor's maintenance work on trains in the Sunnyside Yards in Queens. 

While what transpires that night is at the center of the movie's story, this is also a movie about family love and loyalty, neighborhood friendships and loyalty and betrayal, and the way criminal conspiracies can fold in on themselves, pitting members of the conspiracy in violent conflict with one another. 

I won't say how it all works out. I experienced this movie as violent and tense. It frightened me at times.  I enjoyed that the cast included, along with Mark Wahlberg, stellar actors: James Caan, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, and Steve Lawrence.  

In the two James Gray movies I've watched this week, Little Odessa and The Yards, I've found his explorations of street life, family life, corruption, and crime in neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn to be dark, compelling, and, at times, enthralling. 

Three Beautiful Things 01-01-2024: Quiet New Year's Day, Fish Filet Dinner, I Discover James Gray and *Little Odessa*

1. It's hard for me to imagine ringing in a new year any more quietly than Debbie and I did today. I lost interest several years ago in college football so I did not relive the days of my youth when bowl games dominated New Year's Day. Debbie made squares on a pin loom and did some work for school. I worked puzzles and made a trip to the store. 

2. Late in the afternoon, I seasoned two filets of tilapia with lemon pepper and baked them. Meanwhile, I boiled Yukon Gold potatoes and sautéed zucchini seasoned with tarragon. I also made a sour cream, yogurt, and garlic white sauce. When the fish pieces were cooked, I smeared the white sauce on top of them. Debbie and I each seasoned our potato helpings in our own way. The zucchini didn't need any more seasoning. It was a simple and satisfying meal. I only had one small regret. I wish I'd bought lemons when I went to Yoke's. 

3. I've mentioned several times ever since I subscribed to The Criterion Channel that I thoroughly enjoy a regular feature of theirs entitled, Adventures in Moviegoing. Each new episode features an actor, director, or a lover of movies from another field. A host interviews the guest for 20-25 minutes about their history watching movies, who shaped their love of cinema, and how other filmmakers have inspired and influenced their work. Following this interview, the guests discuss a handful of movies from Criterion's collection that are among their favorites and clips from the movie accompany their reflections.

This series has introduced me to countless movies I wouldn't have known about otherwise and has introduced me to movie directors, especially, that I'd never heard of.

Case in point: today I listened to the interview with film director James Gray. I thought and thought whether I'd heard of him somewhere along the line and concluded I had not. His first movie, Little Odessa,  hit the theaters in 1994 and he's directed a string of movies since then, including the recent science fiction story featuring Brad Pitt, Ad Astra.

The interview was fascinating as were the movies he discussed from the Criterion Collection. His understanding and articulation of the complexities of the human soul invigorated me and his willingness to see how darkness and beauty co-exist in us and, in the movies, this means that we often find ourselves feeling empathy for characters who do things we despise, but these characters are not fully defined by the awful things they do.

I spent the rest of the evening watching Little Odessa, James Gray's first movie. It's set in Queens and Brooklyn. It's about a hitman who returns to his Russian Jewish neighborhood in Brighton Beach (also know as Little Odessa) where he continues his career as a killer and visits the members of his family from whom he's estranged. Tim Roth plays the hitman brilliantly and I enjoyed seeing the young Edward Furlong playing the role of the younger brother. The mother and father are played by Vanessa Redgrave and Maximillian Schell -- I mean, James Gray, not even twenty-five years old, was able to work with superb actors in making his film debut. The movie is a violent portrayal of crime and family tensions, but also portrays tenderness and love, bringing to life the very complexities of the human soul James Gray discussed when interviewed for Adventures in Moviegoing.

This month, The Criterion Channel introduced a collection of New York movies by James Gray and I'm hoping, over time, to watch them all. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-31-2023: Year in Review on ZOOM, Short Visit to The Lounge, Pork Chop Dinner

1. It's been many months since Bill, Diane, Bridgit, Colette, Val, and I were all able to jump on the ZOOM machine together, but this morning we all joined in. This past year was challenging at work, for different members' (and family members') health, both physical and mental, and because of tumult in the world. I wouldn't say we had a Festivus session. We didn't air grievances. But, we spent time talking about things that were difficult and painful in 2023 and discussed how we live with difficulty while, at the same time, do what we can to be buoyant. Almost inevitably, discussing these matters also moved us to talk about aging, not only how we are growing older, but about older men and women in the movies and our admiration for Judy Dench, Helen Mirren, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson (RIP), and others. 

We are, to my way of thinking, an irrepressible group of friends, unwilling to be controlled and restrained by the difficulties we experience, always seeking and often finding ways to maintain a realistic and loving way forward in our lives. 

2. Debbie and I are not party animals on New Year's Eve. In recent years, when Jake, Carol Lee, and Al performed at the Elks on New Year's Eve, we had some fun times with lots of people enjoying a big potluck and dancing. Now, however, we stay close to home. Late this afternoon, we went to The Lounge for an hour or so to socialize and wish Bob and Tracy a Happy New Year. We were back home by around six or six thirty.

3. I then fixed dinner out of our last HelloFresh bag of the week. I fixed a small pot of rice, steamed broccoli pieces, and cooked a couple small boneless pork chops and an apricot ginger sauce. I served the meat and sauce over the rice with broccoli on the side. 

It worked. 

A fireworks display started around 9 o'clock just as we headed to bed.

I heard a couple bangs.

I slept through the rest.