Three Beautiful Things 12-05-2023: Three Favorite Things, Staying on Task at the Fitness Center, Yucatan Citrus Turkey Bowls for Dinner

1. Admittedly, they aren't worthy of song, like raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but late this morning I did three of my favorite things: I heaped the recyclables into the Sube and blasted up to the Transfer Station and put them in their proper bins; I picked up a few necessities at Yoke's; and, I bought Luna and Copper a big bag of their kidney care cat food. 

2. Riding high on the wild surf of these accomplishments, I rocketed out to the Fitness Center and with the help and inspiration of The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Steely Dan, and other combos on my workout playlist, I spent sixty minutes, combined,  huffing and puffing on the recumbent cross trainer and the treadmill. 

3. Back home, I combined green pepper and onion with ground turkey and a Tex-Mex sauce souped up with a Southwest spice blend, lime juice, and mandarin orange juice I also pickled an onion and made a simple smoky crema. All of this went on top of jasmine rice and Debbie and I thought very highly of our Yucatan Citrus Turkey Bowl.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-04-2023: Exercise and Calories, Billy Mac Recipes and Eugene Memories, Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

1. I decided this morning that it would be wise to give myself some rest before going to CdA to the rehab gym. I decided not to work out twice. I'll never really know if that was a good decision, but I do know that my workout went very well at Kootenai Health. Today's lesson was about calories, burning them, and working to slowly lose weight. I'm trying. 

2. I keep forgetting to write about an uplifting book I ordered and that arrived last week. For the last several years that we lived in Eugene, I joined a group of friends for Thursday dinner at Billy Mac's. This bar and grill, which shared a building with a convenience market, became one of my spiritual centers in Eugene, not only for the excellent food and drink, but, even more enjoyable, for the great company I got to be a part of and for the friendly relationships that developed between people who worked there and Debbie and me. It was also the site of my 2012 retirement party, a most memorable event! 

Billy Mac, the bar and grill's proprietor and head chef, has a full name! It's Billy McCallum. He has a long history of cooking and catering in Eugene. He retired in December, 2021 and Billy Mac's closed.

His sister, Molly McCallum, wrote a combination cook book and family history entitled, Living Legacy: Stories of a Restaurant Family. I'm thrilled to own a copy. 

The book combines, with stories, photographs, and lots of recipes, not only Billy McCallum's life as a chef, but also the history of Billy and Molly's parents and siblings and their beloved restaurant, The Treehouse, which was in business from 1977-1999. 

The recipes are Billy's. 

It is now possible for those of us who loved Billy Mac's (and for those who loved The Treehouse) to take a stab at fixing many of the appetizers, soups, salads, dressings, sandwiches, entrees, and desserts we enjoyed at Billy Mac's. 

In fact, not long after this book came out, some of the people in Eugene who used to gather for the Thursday night dinner sessions went to a reading and book signing of this book. Days later, as a way to celebrate Pam Dane's birthday, they joined forces to prepare a potluck birthday dinner that featured food prepared using Billy McCallum's recipes. 

I've spent some heart warming and nostalgic time reading Molly McCallum's book, going over the recipes, and remembering the many happy evenings I spent at Billy Mac's on Thursdays and many other nights of the week. 

3. I enjoyed the "everything but the kitchen sink" Debbie cooked up tonight in one pan, combining small amounts of food we had left over from earlier meals along with other food that needed to be cooked. This potpourri included eggplant, chicken, onion, some black beans, a bit of gravy, some leftover broccoli, potatoes, and other things. She also added some tomato pesto to the mix and we ate it over jasmine rice. We didn't eat it all. Debbie had had enough of it tonight so she didn't pack up the leftover rice and mishmash for her lunch. That means I'll get to have another crack at this meal in the next day or two. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-03-2023: Zooming About How Then Becomes Now, Another Work Out, Hosting a Tasty Family Dinner

1. Bill, Diane, and I leapt onto the ZOOM machine and had a superb discussion. I came away from it firmly convinced that history isn't so much a way of understanding what happened as a way of gaining insight into continuation. We talked about how we see the USA in 2023 and essentially everything we talked about is not unique to 2023 but a continuation of elements of our nation's life that have been with us all along. 

2. Often our ZOOM conversations last a couple of hours, but today I bowed out around 10:45 because I wanted to get in a workout and the Fitness Center closes at noon on Sunday. I intensified the demands on myself slightly which felt fine while I was on the machines, but by about 2:00 in the afternoon, I felt tired, in need of more recovery than just sitting and resting gave me, and I joined Copper and Luna in the bedroom for a nap that refreshed me and that reassured them that we belong to each other.

3. Debbie and I hosted family dinner tonight and Debbie decided she wanted to fix everything we, as the hosts, contributed. She made one of the best meatloafs I've ever eaten, presented us with delicious twice-baked potatoes, fixed a vegetable plate with dip for an appetizer, and mixed each of us a gin martini. She also bought the table's two bottles of wine. Paul brought a delicious broccoli and cheese side dish and Debbie, Paul, Brian, Molly, Christy, and I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. Carol was at a party with high school friends that happens every year, so she wasn't with us. 

Conversation tonight covered a galaxy of subjects ranging from The Pogues and Flogging Molly to the Idaho Vandals' playoff success to questions about gift giving and receiving at Christmas and the importance of traditions and being with family. 

And a whole bunch of other discussions, too.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-02-2023: Shoveling Snow, Meeting Ed at The Lounge, Roasted Chicken Dinner

1. It wasn't a heavy snowfall, but enough piled up that it needed to be shoveled. So, instead of going to the fitness center, I got my heart rate up and huffed and puffed a bit shoveling snow. I'm not sure how long I was at it, but I'll tell whoever checks me in at the rehab center on Monday that I exercised for twenty minutes.

2. Ed and I met at The Lounge at 3:00 and had a fun time yakkin'. The snowy weather inspired me to have a pour of brandy alongside a couple pints of Pulaski Porter, a very satisfying combination for a wintry day.

3. I returned home, took a whole chicken out of the icebox, let it warm up to room temperature, and then covered it in butter and seasoned it with a combination of salt, pepper, basil, rosemary, red pepper, thyme, cumin, garlic powder, dry mustard, celery seed, and paprika. I put the chicken in a roasting bag and about 80 minutes later it was ready to sit. Debbie turned the juices in the bag into a delicious gravy and I steamed some broccoli and boiled a handful of baby Yukon golds. 

It was a fun, delicious, and comforting meal on this bleak-ish December night.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-01-2023: Double Workout and "Shining Star", Coma Nap and The Lounge, Skyline Chili and Sobering TV Programming

1. I piled into the Camry and, on my way to Smelterville, listened to Jeff play some awesome cuts from a live Jerry Garcia Band performance from November 1973 on his radio program, Deadish. Until today, I didn't know that the Jerry Garcia Band performed "Shining Star", and, for whatever it's worth, I enjoyed the performance Jeff played more than any I've ever heard -- yes, even more than Earth, Wind, & Fire. 

The Jerry Garcia Band put me in a great mood to work out twice today: I dropped in for a quick twenty minutes at the fitness center in Smelterville and then blasted over the wet, easy to drive Fourth of July Pass into Coeur d'Alene for my Friday hour of power at the rehab gym.

I got out of Coeur d'Alene and back over the pass before a little hell broke loose later in the afternoon when the snowfall picked up and a semi jack-knifed and was high centered on a jersey barrier. I don't think this was the only accident, but I saw more pictures of this incident than any others. 

2.  Back home, the double workout hit me and I fell into a coma nap for a while. I woke up in time, though, to make plans with Debbie on the texting machine to head up to the Inland Lounge for some gin, relaxation, and yakkin'. Debbie swung by after she was done at school and we had a splendid time, happy to be part of a good crowd of good people, enjoying a few libations and along with lively conversation and laughter.

3. Back home, I made some spaghetti, heated up a can of Skyline chili along with a can of black beans and opened a bag of grated sharp cheddar cheese, and Debbie and I each enjoyed a bowl of Cincinnati chili. We decided to continue our recent habit of watching documentary programming and watched most of the first episode of Ken Burns' Civil War. If we needed something sobering to counter the gin we enjoyed at The Lounge, this documentary fulfilled that mission and more. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-30-2023: Ground Beef and Pinto Bean Soup, Solid Workout, *Frontline* and Lee Harvey Oswald

1.  Over the last ten years, I've been asked quite a few times what I'm doing now that I'm retired. For some reason, I almost never think to answer with the most obvious two words: I cook.

Today, I had some ground beef thawed and I cooked it up with chopped onions and then added diced fire roasted tomatoes, baby carrots, chopped red potatoes, and finely chopped garlic to the pot along with cumin, paprika, oregano, and some red pepper flakes. I let this all cook for a few minutes until fragrant and then added two cups of water and some beef Better than Bullion. I cooked this for about fifteen minutes and then added a couple of cans of pinto beans and let this soup slowly cook until the vegetables were tender. 

It worked. 

I made enough for dinner tonight, Debbie's lunch tomorrow, and for me to have some more when I return home from the rehab gym on Friday.

2. Once I got the soup assembled and cooked, I turned off the heat and bolted out to the Fitness Center and worked out for about forty minutes, the same amount of time I work the machines in CdA. I was a little rubbery from yesterday's double workout, but it was not a problem. It felt really good to get this session in before returning to Kellogg and giving Christy a lift to Silver Valley Tire.

3. After dinner, Debbie and I continued our effort to learn more about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 2013, Frontline ran an updated version of its 1993 documentary Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?. We watched it tonight. I'd say that Debbie and I agree that this story is so murky, so convoluted, so rife with possibilities that the more we learn,  the less we know for certain. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-29-2023: Two Workouts, My Workout Playlist, Chickpeas and Lee Harvey Oswald

1. I followed through. 

Yesterday I wrote that since my food hangover kept me from going to the Fitness Center, I would go to Smelterville, work out, and then go to Coeur d'Alene and work out again at the rehab gym.

Tha

t's exactly what I did. 

I arrived at the Fitness Center in Smelterville around 9:00 and exercised on two different machines for 45 minutes.

I then rocketed to the rehab gym at Kootenai Health and went through my regular routine.

Yes, I walked out of the second gym a bit rubbery legged and more tired than usual, but part of my rehab program is to log about a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise a week, and I'm right on target to do what I want: exceed that 150 number.

2. While I work out at the CdA gym, one of the staff comes to me with educational material about all kinds of things ranging from home exercise to dietary information. In addition, someone often comes around to listen to my lungs or to check my heart rate and, on occasion, my blood pressure while I'm huffing and puffing away. Therefore, I don't exercise with my wireless earbuds at the rehab gym.

At the Smelterville gym, it's a totally different story, and today, for the first time, I listened to the new workout playlist I created on Spotify while I worked out and it was fun listening to The Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others while I huffed and puffed away.

3. After fixing a very interesting and delicious HelloFresh chickpea and rice bowl featuring blistered tomatoes, roasted carrots, and both a schug sauce and a lemon aioli, Debbie and I listened to the next episode of the podcast, Who Killed JFK.  Soledad O'Brien and Rob Reiner guided us through a convoluted story narrating the mind boggling comings and goings of Lee Harvey Oswald from the time he became a Marine to when he moved to the USSR to when he married a Russian woman and they resettled in the USA. This episode posits that Oswald was under the employment and direction of the CIA during this time. Listening to this episode was, for me, like watching a spy movie where I have a lot of trouble keeping up with just what's going on who is working for whom. 

Next week, the podcast will continue to probe the Lee Harvey Oswald story. Before then, I just might listen to tonight's episode again and try to get all the details and twists and turns of his story, as presented by this podcast, straightened out.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-28-2023: Getting Christy's Support Organized, My First Birria Tacos, A Food Hangover

1. Christy has knee replacement surgery coming up in two weeks and she, Carol, and I got together for lunch at Casa de Oro to go over Christy's schedule for when she needs rides to the hospital, physical therapy, and a post-op follow up appointment. We got that all taken care of and veered off into other subjects -- ha! 

2. I had read recently that Casa de Oro had just begun serving Birria Tacos. I'd never heard of this style, looked into it, learned that it features spicy stewed beef (or goat) in a pan-fried tortilla. The Birria Taco comes with a bowl of seasoned consommé for dipping the taco in. If spicy means peppery or hot, my Birria Taco was not spicy in that way. Rather, it was seasoned with spices. I enjoyed my three Birra Tacos and only wish I had ordered them a la carte. The rice and fried beans that came with my tacos was way more food than I wanted. If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have asked for a box and taken home one taco and at least half of the beans and rice. 

But, acting as if one of the teachers at Sunnyside Elementary school was hovering over me, threatening me with detention during noon recess if I didn't clean up my plate, I ate the entire meal.

I can't work out after eating. I'd planned on going to the Fitness Center this afternoon, but even by six o'clock, the heaviness of my lunch was still with me and not only did I not exercise, I didn't eat another bite of food the rest of the day. 

I decided that I would make up for missing my workout today by working out twice on Wednesday: once around 9:00 at the Fitness Center and again, at 11:00, at the Pulmonary Rehab gym in Coeur d'Alene. 

3. I managed to get some shopping done at Yoke's and mail a package at the Post Office. But for much of the afternoon and evening I read newspaper articles online, worked a couple of puzzles, talked with Debbie about her work this week, so far, and simply recovered from eating too much food at lunch. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-27-2023: Positive Hour at the Gym, Soup and Salad at Moon Time, Tomato Tortelloni Bake

1. I checked in with Eddie at the rehab gym, happy to report that I had worked out for 200 minutes on my own over the last week. I also lost a little weight. Today, on both of the machines the staff has assigned me to use, I increased the level of difficulty slightly and I liked how these levels pushed me harder, but didn't leave me feeling depleted or sick. I also moved up to five pound hand weights. My blood pressure upon arrival was great. 

It's working splendidly for me to work this program, primarily because I do better when I have someone to report to. This was true several years ago, back in Maryland,  when two of my former LCC students who were earning their nursing degree emailed me,  needing a "patient". All I had to do was report to them my weight, blood pressure, and number of steps. Working with both of them at separate times helped me take better care of myself. I do better when I have someone to report to.   

2. On the spur of the moment, as I was leaving CdA, I decided to stop in at Moon Time for a cup of soup and half a salad and a couple glasses of water. The soup was a delicious, moderately spicy pineapple and shrimp curry and I ordered half a Thai Crunch salad. Even though it was a half a salad, I had to box up about a quarter of it or so and bring it home. It was delicious, but I couldn't eat it all in one sitting. 

3. It sure didn't take much effort to fix tonight's HelloFresh Tomato Tortelloni Bake. All I had to do was briefly heat up some oil, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, and finely chopped garlic in a pan and then add two diced tomatoes to the pan. I let the tomatoes cook for a few minutes and then added a packet of tomato paste. After it cooked for a couple of minutes, I added a cup of water, vegetable stock, and cream cheese and when these ingredients were combined, I dumped the tortellonis in the pan and cooked them until tender. I added a hunk of butter to the tortellonis and sauce and once it melted, stirred it all up.

I had already combined panko, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil in a small bowl and now I spread this mixture over the tortellonis and tomato sauce and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes and ABBACADABRA!, Debbie and I each had a delicious bowl of food for dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-26-2023: Back on the Wellness Trail, Hiking with *Deadish*, Comic Tales by P. G. Wodehouse

1. I had to put myself to a moderately challenging test today. The Wellness Trail winding up the hill just east of the hospital is only a half a mile long and, in descriptions of it, is considered easy.

Well, it has enough incline and gains enough elevation that it gets me breathing hard and works out my legs.

When I saw Dr. Jespersen back in the spring, I happily reported to him that I'd hiked this trail recently and thought I did pretty well. He told me that consistent physical activity was the key to keeping my pulmonary system functioning well and told me about a patient of his with low functioning lungs who keeps himself getting along well by riding his bicycle everywhere.

Inspired by that story, I took my bike to the shop, made sure it was in good shape, and started riding. I didn't ride everywhere I went, but I took rides on the local Trail of the CdAs.

Then one day in June, I got sick from riding in moderate heat in the sunshine and never rode my bicycle again -- nor did I hike the Wellness Trail. I didn't want to experience that sun/heat illness again.

When I saw Dr. Jespersen near the end of October, he recommended that I start a rehab program in the Cardio-Pulmonary gym at Kootenai Health and I'm going into that gym three days a week now and I've rejoined the Fitness Center near Smelterville and workout there on the days I don't go to CdA.

Today, however, instead of going to the Fitness Center, I returned to the Wellness Trail for the first time in over six months.

Walking to the start of the Wellness Trail, I'd become a little short of breath walking up The Trail that goes from Riverside Ave to Kellogg High School.

As I worked my way up the Wellness Trail, I stopped a handful of times to stop panting, but I thought my recovery time was pretty good. My legs, which had become weakened from inactivity over the summer, felt good going up this trail. I was glad to be doing this hike alone because I was so slow, but I made it to the end of the trail, rested at the picnic table for a short while and had a good hike back down the hill and a good walk home. 

2. Listening to the first hour of Jeff's Thanksgiving Day Deadish show on kepw.org made my hike even more enjoyable. He played songs from a show on 11-23-1973. Early on, Jeff  featured songs with Bob Weir on lead vocals.  I thought Bob and the band sounded terrific on "El Paso", "Mexicali Rose", and "Looks Like Rain".  Lately, Jeff has been playing a lot of live "Deadish" music from 1973, not just the Grateful Dead, but Jerry Garcia Band performances, Traffic, Old and in the Way, and other stuff. Is it just me -- or were these groups sounding really good fifty years ago? I sure think so.

3. Back home, relaxing in the living room, I put in my wireless earbuds and listened to a couple of stories by P. G. Wodehouse. One was a detective story about a boarder at a place called The Excelsior having been murdered under mysterious circumstances -- it involved bananas, a cobra, a harmonica, and a cat. The other story was an early Bertie Wooster tale that barely included Jeeves. It was hilarious. Bertie's overbearing Aunt Agatha sends Bertie to NYCity with orders to rescue his cousin Gussie. Gussie has fallen in love with a vaudeville singer. Aunt Agatha disapproves. Once Bertie is in NYCity, a series of madcap events occur and the story comes to a surprising and most comic conclusion.  The title of the tale is "Extricating Young Gussie". 

Three Beautiful Things 11-25-2023: A Good Workout, Afternoon Time with Copper and Luna, Exquisite Turkey Soup

1. After driving out to the Fitness Center on Friday, only to discover it was closed, I wised up today and called out there. It was open from 8-12, so I blasted out and got in some good exercise. While on a couple of machines, I listened again to Episode 3 of Who Killed JFK? and then powered my way to the end of my workout with ZZ Top, Free ("All Right Now"), and Pink Floyd ("Shine on You Crazy Diamond"). 

It might be time to make myself an exercise playlist on Spotify.

2. It was chilly outside today. Copper and Luna seemed very happy that I joined them in the bedroom to work on Saturday's NYTimes Crossword Puzzle and to take a nap. I was happy to be with them, too.

3. Debbie bought a couple of turkey backs and made a very delicious turkey soup this afternoon. It was like having a certain kind of turkey dinner in a soup. She added sliced yams, chopped potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and topped the soup with dumplings. I especially enjoyed how the yams sweetened the broth and were balanced by the Brussels sprouts. My favorite way to enjoy turkey is to eat turkey soup and this was one of the tastiest turkey soups I've ever eaten. Debbie made enough so that we can have some more soup on Wednesday. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-24-2023: The Lounge Instead of Exercise, Leftovers and Tiny Tim and Australian Mammals, Plans for Christmas Time

1. I buzzed out to the Fitness Center to do some exercises, but discovered it was closed. Disappointed, I returned home and Debbie and I decided to wash my sorrow away with a trip to the Inland Lounge. The Lounge was buzzin'. We planted ourselves at the bar. I enjoyed some gin screwdrivers, some yakkin' with Cas, Ginger,  Dick G, and with Debbie. It was a boisterous and mirthful scene at The Lounge. 

2. Next up: Leftovers at Carol and Paul's. I enjoyed that not only were there food leftovers, but I also enjoyed another glass of that Mezcal/cider cocktail Paul mixed for Thanksgiving. Brian E. had been with his family on Thanksgiving Day, but joined the leftover shindig and we had fun talking bout a bunch of stuff while we revisited the Thanksgiving food. Debbie helped bring surreal randomness to our yakkin' by talking about huge mammals that went instinct in Australia and her experience interviewing Tiny Tim in Eugene about 30 years ago. We also squeezed in a little talk about the Basque region and where we might go to purchase lamb meat for Christmas. 

3. We also, I think, pretty much figured out what we'll do where over the Christmas holiday. It's a crowded time -- Debbie and I both have birthdays at that time, we got married on the 24th, we have an international Christmas dinner that we hold on the 26th so that Cosette, Taylor, and Saphire can join in -- Christmas Day is a big work day for Cosette. 

And there's more -- so we'll have our first family get together on Christmas Day with a gift exchange and a brunch and return to Carol and Paul's on the 26th for the annual international dinner and another gift exchange that includes Cosette, Taylor, and Saphire. Debbie and I are leaving things open for possibly doing something together for our birthdays. There will be a party for Cosette on the 28th. I'm sure all of this is subject to change, but this evening we established the first draft!

(Christy will also be recovering from knee replacement surgery.)

Three Beautiful Things 11-23-2023: Fixing the Appetizer, An Hour or So at The Lounge, Family Time and Thanksgiving Dinner

1. I'll let the cat out of the bag right away.

We had a calm, satisfying, and delicious Thanksgiving Day.

Carol made the food assignments. She gave me an easy task: Loaded Sweet Potato Bites. 

Well, I used yams! 

All I had to do was peel the yams and slice them. I put the slices in a bowl and poured olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder, and cinnamon over them, and tossed them.

I put the pieces on cooking sheets, baked them for ten minutes, flipped them, and baked them another ten minutes.

I finished by putting a dab of Frank's RedHot Sauce on each slice, sprinkling grated cheese over the slices, and then adding finely sliced green onion and a dab of sour cream on each one. 

Presto! 

We had a Thanksgiving appetizer.

2. Annually, on both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, Cas and Tracy host a buffet dinner at the Inland Lounge. Debbie and I dropped in before the dinner started, enjoyed Bloody Marys and had great conversations with both Cas and Tracy before other people started to arrive. 

3. We arrived at Carol and Paul's about the same time Christy did and we joined Molly, Zoe, Carol, and Paul in the house. We all settled into the living room and Paul served us each smoky cocktail, a mix of Mezcal and apple cider -- and I can't remember what else. We munched on the vegetables arranged by Molly and Zoe on a platter to look like a turkey, with the word  THANKFUL  spelled out with carrot sticks along the top.

We had a superb discussion of the play Arsenic and Old Lace. We'd all seen it. We'd had time to think about it. Paul had a great stuff to say about directing the play. It was really fun to have a sustained family discussion about something we were all involved in, having all either seen the play or been a part of its production.

Before long, we took our places at the table, sang a verse of "We Gather Together" (a favorite hymn of Mom's) for grace, and enjoyed turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, cranberries, and rolls for dinner -- with wine.  

We returned to the living room for pies -- pumpkin, pecan, and/or a salted coffee shoofly pie.

Six straight hours of social interaction, a few cocktails, and a delicious dinner wiped me out! 

I went to bed earlier tonight, almost immediately upon arriving home, than I have in ages. 

Copper and Luna probably wish I would get wiped out like this more often! They were very happy to have my company so early in the evening. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-22-2023: Bagel Run, Remembering No Crime Day While Exercising, Podcast Episodes at Home

 1. I decided to add to our Beach Bum Bakery bagel stash and on Tuesday I ordered a half dozen sesame bagels. Beach Bum Bakery no longer sells wares out of its shack behind the Furniture Exchange -- and wares are no longer baked out of the owners' home kitchen. The bakery now operates out of the Silverton Mountain Manor, so I buzzed up to Silverton today and picked up the bagels I ordered. Back home, I toasted a sesame bagel and topped it with almond butter and honey. 

It worked. 

2. Am I ever happy I purchased wireless earbuds some time back. It means that when I go to the fitness center in Smelterville, I can give myself both a physical and a mental workout. Today, I turned to Slate's season of podcasts focused on the year 1986. During that year, Detroit Piston's point guard Isiah Thomas organized, with the help of Mayor Coleman Young, a No Crime Day in Detroit. Detroit, like many cities at that time, was experiencing a high volume of crime, much of it associated with crack cocaine. This episode told the story of the crack cocaine epidemic, examined Isiah Thomas' idea of declaring Sept. 27, 1986 No Crime Day, and reviewed what happened on that day. The podcast also presented people in the present day who reflected back on No Crime Day, a day of enthusiasm and grief in Detroit. 

3. Today, the podcast, Who Killed JFK, released its third episode. We listened to it after I'd worked out, enjoyed a pint of Hammerhead Ale, and eaten a bowl of leftover corn chowder. I fell asleep, so when I go back to the gym on Friday, I already know that I'll listen to this episode again while I exercise.

We also listened to the first episode of a podcast entitled, American Terror. Today's episode unfolded the thinking and plans for destruction of a Neo-Nazi organization called The Base. The Base was infiltrated and the infiltrator turned over recordings he made of phone and face to face conversations he'd had with leadership of The Base and this first episode was built around what the infiltrator recorded and learned. 

It's chilling. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-21-2023: Working Out with Wireless Earbuds, Fixing Chickpea and Rice Bowls, Artificial Intelligence and Then More Watergate

1. I like to work with words first thing in the morning and exercise either later in the morning or in the afternoon. Therefore, having an 11:00 slot at the rehab center in CdA and going to the Shoshone Fitness Center at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon works perfectly for me. Today, at the Fitness Center, I took my wireless earbuds, hoping they wouldn't fall out while I was exercising (they didn't), and listened once again to Episode 2 of the podcast, Who Killed JFK?, and to a past episode of Fresh Air featuring Brian Stelter talking about recent changes at Fox News -- the firing of Tucker Carlson and what it means for Fox that Rupert Murdoch has, to some degree, stepped aside. 

2. Once I returned home, I made our next HelloFresh meal and it turned out to be one of my favorites. The meal has kind of a long name: Vegan Street-Style Chickpea Bowls with Yellow Rice, Garlicky Hummus Sauce, and Pita.

Do you want to call this a Mediterranean meal? Middle Eastern food? Whatever you call it, it might be my favorite style of preparing food. 

And, it was simple. 

I heated up some olive oil in a small pot and added turmeric to it and then added water, vegetable stock concentrate, and jasmine rice and let it cook.

I chopped up a cucumber, tomato, and a couple of green onions, put them in a bowl, and seasoned this little salad with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

In another bowl, I combined hummus, olive oil, garlic powder, and lemon juice. 

In a pan, I heated olive oil with some chopped green onion whites, garlic powder,  and Shawarma Spice Blend (turmeric, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, paprika, allspice, and black pepper) and then added chickpeas and a couple packets of vegetable stock concentrate. I let this cook until the liquid was gone. Then I added lemon juice and some salt and pepper to the chickpeas. 

When this rice was done, I added a packet of sliced almonds to the pot and fluffed it.

While the chickpeas cooked down, I topped two pitas with olive oil and garlic powder and toasted them in the oven. 

Now it was assembly time. I put a layer of rice in the bottom of Debbie's bowl and mine. Next I added the chickpeas and the simple salad. I drizzled each bowl with hummus sauce and hot sauce. Last of all -- guess what? -- more lemon juice! 

I cut each pita into quarters and put them on top of the rice, chickpeas, salad, hummus, and hot sauce.

We loved this food! It was pretty close to ordering a tasty rice and bean bowl from a food truck! 

3. Debbie and I relaxed after dinner with a podcast episode and another tv episode of Season 1 of Slow Burn. We listened to an episode of Code Switch and learned how Artificial Intelligence and search engines are not neutral, but have the same racial biases built into them that we humans do. We learned about this from UCLA professor, Safiya Noble. Then we watched a Slow Burn episode focused on the aides who worked behind the scenes during the Senate Watergate Hearings and on John Dean looking back at his work in the Nixon Administration and his testimony before the committee.   

Three Beautiful Things 11-20-2023: Solid Workout, "Morning Dew" Bliss, Corn Chowder

1. I zipped over to CdA today and enjoyed a solid workout at the rehab gym. I returned home right away. 

2. It's a blast using my phone to play Jeff's radio show Deadish, thanks to KEPW.org archiving his Thursday night show for a couple of weeks and Bluetooth technology in the Camry.  Lately, Jeff has been playing excerpts from Dead shows from November 50 years ago. The band sounded especially good on I-90 yesterday when Jeff played a "Morning Dew" growing out of "Uncle John's Band" and then returning to "Uncle John's Band", growing out "Morning Dew". 

3. Back home, I got out one of our latest bags from HelloFresh and made an Old Bay seasoned corn chowder accompanied by a toasted mini-baguette, cut in half, and topped with a mixture of Old Bay Seasoning, a hint of sugar, and butter. It was a perfect November evening supper. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-19-2023: ZOOM Time, Watching the Movie *Arsenic and Old Lace*, Risotto is Slow Food!

1. Bill, Bridgit, Diane, and I jumped onto ZOOM this morning. Both Bridgit and Diane are either about to face or are in the midst of medical treatment and that was a central focus of our yakkin'. Bridgit was recently evaluated at her workplace and her hard work garnered her stellar reviews and evaluations. She hired on as a supervisor in a broken department and has, with months of diligence, focus, intelligence, and humaneness, resurrected it and was evaluated most positively for it. Bill didn't sing at a recent open mic, but he read poetry, an outgrowth of his Tuesday night Poetry Break, available live on Facebook. 

2. Debbie was curious today about how the play, Arsenic and Old Lace, was made into a movie and so she rented it.  If you know the play and watch the movie, you'll realize very quickly that the movie version is based on the play. It's not a film version of the play as performed on stage. This movie was made during the heyday of the screwball comedy and Cary Grant plays the screwball hero to the hilt. As the psycho Jonathan Brewster, Raymond Massey cuts a chilling, cold-blooded figure, focused, intimidating, and remarkably quiet. Peter Lorre plays Dr. Einstein perfectly and it's hard to imagine anyone playing the aunts, Abby and Martha, any better than Josephine Hall and Jean Adair. 

WARNING! I AM GOING TO GIVE AWAY THE ENDING OF BOTH THE PLAY AND THE MOVIE.

The movie is much more committed to the screwball tradition than to the original play. The original play concludes ghoulishly with the aunts killing one more lonely old man (or in the Sixth Street production, a woman), making the farce even darker than it had been and, again, teetering on the edge of tragedy. 

The movie has a bright ending. The newlyweds head off to honeymoon at Niagara Falls and the movie ends on a high comic note, not a dark one, with one last unsettling murder committed by the two homicidal Christian spinsters. 

3. When our HelloFresh box came last week, we got three meals -- not sure why. What that meant for us, though, was dinner time rolled around today and we had another bag of ingredients for me to turn into a meal.

A while back, HelloFresh introduced me to the slow, steady process of making risotto. I got to do it again today. This particular risotto dish included roasted zucchini and grape tomatoes along with sautéed garlic, shallot, and sun dried tomatoes. 

I stood over the risotto cooking for about 25 minutes, stirring the rice and adding half cups of water one at a time until the rice soaked up the liquid. The payoff was splendid. This risotto dish was creamy, full of delicious vegetable flavor, and accented with Parmesan cheese. 

It's slow food. 

My favorite kind. 

Three Beautiful Things 11-18-2023: Paul's Birthday Party, *Arsenic and Old Lace*, Debbie and I Yak About Farce and Tragedy

1. Paul Roberts turned 64 years old today. He requested a taco salad birthday party. So at 1:00 this afternoon Paul, Carol, Christy, Zoe, Debbie, Cosette, Taylor, Saphire, and I sat at Carol and Paul's dining table and made ourselves each a custom made taco salad, choosing from a variety of ingredients. After eating our salads, we gathered in the living room and Paul opened his gifts, which emphasized primarily his love of hot sauce and of Amaretto. Carol roasted a pumpkin she plucked from one of hers and Paul's gardens and made it the centerpiece of Paul's birthday cake. It was called a Delicious Pumpkin Bundt Cake. 

2. After Paul's birthday party, I was wiped out and took a nap. It helped refresh me to watch the Sixth Street Theater and Melodrama's production of Arsenic and Old Lace in Wallace. If I'd ever seen this play acted out before, I sure didn't recall it, and, to my delight, I'd kept myself about 95% unaware of what happens in the play. Paul directed this production and he played a lead character, the psycho Brewster brother named Jonathan. Carol played a small character role at the story's end and gave the play its finality. 

3. Debbie and I returned home and each poured ourselves a nightcap. Almost always, when we go to a movie or a play together, we don't talk about it right away. But, by the time we traveled back to Kellogg from Wallace and got settled into the living room, we began talking in earnest about Arsenic and Old Lace. Before long we were discussing a favorite subject, the fine line between farce and tragedy. I couldn't remember who first introduced me to this idea. I thought it might have been T. S. Eliot. But like dramatic tragedies, Arsenic and Old Lace is a story about death. Invariably, tragedies focus on the demise of a central character who lives by some kind of illusion. The tragic character's delusion develops into the source of the character's demise. Likewise, Arsenic and Old Lace is a farce built upon the delusions of the Brewster sisters and their nephew, Teddy Brewster. 

This idea that farce often teeters on the edge of tragedy led us to discuss the television show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77), a dark satirical, often farcical send up of the soap opera that often hit serious social problems so directly that it could be a painful comedy to watch. Later, the program, Soap, did much the same thing. It was a farcical comedy, a cutting satire, but often took its viewers to the brink of tragedy, if not occasionally crossing over into the tragic, and was often moving and unsettling in ways usually reserved for tragic drama. 

We also talked a bit about the self-referential bits in Arsenic and Old Lace, how the play was a play about plays, even poking fun at plays that had much in common with Arsenic and Old Lace itself. We both agreed that Arsenic and Old Lace could be regarded as an absurdist play and I remarked that I thought at one point a character had referred to someone who had the name of Pirandello, who wrote the superb absurdist play, Six Characters in Search of an Author. 

Last of all, the character of Jonathan's face has been surgically altered. He looks, in the play, like Boris Karloff. 

Well, guess who played Jonathan in the original cast of Arsenic and Old Lace?

That's right, Boris Karloff! 

Self-referential city, man! 

Three Beautiful Things 11-17-2023: Slight Ramping Up, The Cursing Man at Costco, Conspiracies and Cover Ups

1. So my workout assignments at the cardio/pulmonary gym at Kootenai Health are called prescriptions. One of the staff, on Wednesday, decided to ramp up my prescription a bit for my workout today. I think my workouts could be ramped up a little more after today. I did very well with today's challenges and look forward to continuing to search for the workout that makes me work a little more but doesn't make me double over, fighting for breath, or make me barf.

2. After my workout and a light lunch at Moon Time, I got some Thanksgiving shopping done for Carol, Paul, and me at Costco. One man passed me in an aisle, cursing shoppers under his breath who were blocking the aisle. (They were enjoying offerings at a sample table.) I don't enjoy getting agitated and was glad that I enjoy the crowds in Costco. Always have. I mean, I am contributing to the mob scene, right? Anyway, I watched this guy until he was out of my sight, practicing red-faced, grumbling indoor road rage as he headed toward the check out stations. I hope he got home all right and found some time and a way to settle down, relax, take it easy.

3. Debbie and I listened to the second episode of the podcast, Who Killed JFK? and had a fascinating talk about cover ups and conspiracies. Debbie cracked open a can of Skyline (Cincinnati) Chili which we enjoyed over spaghetti with grated cheese and green onions and we watched two different episodes (again) from Season 1 of Slow Burn, taking in more programming about conspiracies and cover ups.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-16-2023: Signed Up at the Fitness Center, The Camry and Bluetooth, HelloFresh Chicken Dinner

1. These sessions at the heart and lung rehab gym at Kootenai Health motivated me to rejoin the Fitness Center at Shoshone Medical Health today. After I signed up, I did all I could to replicate the workouts I do in CdA. 

2. I've been driving the Camry this week and Debbie has been driving the Sube to school. In addition to having superb headlights, I love being able to use Bluetooth in the Camry. Recently, I switched from Mose Allison and started playing music from nearly fifty years ago recorded by Michael "Popsicle Toes" Frank. I loved getting back in touch with his smart, clever, erotic, and imaginative writing and the superb musicians who support his vocals. After working out, though, I sought a different kind of music and rocked out to the best of ZZ Top -- "Give Me All Your Lovin'" had come over the house sound system while I was on the treadmill and helped make my workout very enjoyable. 

3. I didn't take much to make a delicious dinner tonight of chicken cutlets and roasted Yukon golds accented with a Parmesan and chive cream sauce accompanied by a mixed greens salad dressed with a Dijon Mustard dressing. It might have been the simplest HelloFresh dinner yet and one of the tastiest, too.