Food Blogs (313)

This is a Butternut Squash from my veggie patch. This type of squash is called a winter squash. That is because, unlike summer squash such as the zucchini, the winter squash can be kept for months after harvesting them. They are easy to grow and quite tasty roasted or sauteed. They also can be used to make an excellent soup. The plant itself is a vine with runners that can fork or grow 40 or more feet in length. It can climb shrubs or just lay on the ground. The squash don't care. Four or five squash on average can be produced by each runner. There are gardener's tricks that can sometimes increase the yield to seven or even more squash per runner.

At long last, they are finally beginning to turn red..

On Sunday after worship food awaits me at First Unitarian Universalist Church, on Tuesday and Thursdays at LifePittsburgh and at a Subway when I have "sufficient funding" !

A new weight loss device offers a novel approach to cutting calories: draining them from the stomach before they are fully digested.

The AspireAssist system consists of a thin tube implanted in the stomach, connecting to an outside port on the skin of the belly. About 20 minutes after finishing a meal, users connect the port to an external device, which drains some of the recently-consumed food into the toilet.

The manufacturer—Aspire Bariatrics based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania—says its system removes about 30 percent of food stored in the stomach before it begins causing weight gain.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the device on Tuesday for adults who are obese, with a body mass index of 35 to 55, and have not been able to lose weight with other methods.

I found this today and expect you all to find benefit in it.



First for those eating meat..





For those still unconvinced and eating veggies..

Love this! :)

What foods you ladies and gentlemen love it could be at breakfast lunch dinner or even snack

There have been so many uplifting blogs and people saying nice things about each other I couldn't help being motivated to share my contented thoughts!!

It's getting to be almost summer here and my first one in Arizona. I have lived in Southern California and Colorado for so many years I finally decided to get away from the big town noise and the small city freezing winters.

I really intended to live in Laughlin, Nevada but I picked up a small town newspaper at the hotel we were at when we visited Laughlin and it said that "Bullhead City, AZ was on of the most cheapest places to live". So I crossed the river and I looked around. It wasn't the nice looking look that Laughlin had, but sure enough, the prices were right.

The basic needs for one was also easily available so I just settled here. In short time I found a nice cheap apartment just made for a single irresponsible man like me. Things were rolling.

The winter was mild, kind of windy at times with "El Nino" kicking up some rain but it wasn't cold. I didn't have to put the heater on one time.

Spring sprang and it started getting warmer with lots of small rain showers. The beauty of just warmth and the clear skies made me start looking around at the fauna. The fauna coupled with the natural beauty of the Colorado River and the remnants of the formation of this valley also includes the widest array of rocks.

Now I know that rocks, by themselves, may not mean too much. But these rocks are different. They are round and smooth & rough and craggy as the water that rushed down to the Sea of Cortez tossed and turned them into what they look like now.

These rocks are very beautiful. They are full of color and details so wonderful I find myself just relaxing looking at them. THEN!!! Add the fauna I spoke about earlier and you have NATURE at it's best in the desert.

These plants are not the manicured non-native plants that can make a yard in Southern California look like a garden and a garden resembling what the plant architect intended. Nor are they farmland plants in Colorado. The sad point about Southern California faunas is you need tons and tons of water to keep them looking nice. Unfortunately after awhile that gets tiresome and they turn weedy and dead!

The plants here are actually the weeds sprouting as they have for centuries. These flowers, which I will refer to them as, have a flat plant base with spindly arms reaching upward. They're probably about 5 inches wide at the base and the arms are also maybe 5 inches high. And at the end of each arm are the blossoms.

These blossoms are rich red blossoms about 1/4" in size. They look like small roses. They are also bright yellow resembling daisy's or perhaps sunflowers! Then there are the pink ones and the white ones.

Yes, they are sparse but still just as beautiful. And in the dusk hours I sit in my patio chair and look at the bats as they swoop and turn abruptly picking mosquitos and flies out of space. You can call it "Meals on Wings"!!

There is so much more and then the finale. The enjoyment and contentment I have just being here makes me so happy. Yes, I miss my kids and G-kids but they are just a 4 hour drive away.

I wished you all were here and we could journey over to the Colorado River and enjoy a BBQ and some cold ones.

I am going to do a tribute "Robt787" closing. This blog is just for fun!! No offence intended!! To all of you --->

I’m very fond of sardines and the other day I bough a few cans of very cheap sardines for R7.00 (about US$ 0.47) per can.

Back home I noticed that it was imported from Canada. I normally buy the Norwegian sardines at double the price. Granted, it is not as good as the Norwegian sardines, but certainly no worse that our locally produced sardines that also sell at double the price. I wonder how much it retails for in Canada. How on earth can Canada produce a product that is not inferior to our own, transport it… what… probably 15,000 miles to South Africa and still sell it at half the price?

But this is not the only fish that is imported. Baracouta (we know it as snoek), imported from New Zealand, is readily available at most our supermarkets at R30.00 (about US$ 2.00) each. Okay, they are rather small but a fresh locally caught snoek of that size will easily set you back R40.00 to R50.00 each. Once again produced at the other side of the world and transported all the way here, to be sold cheaper than our local product. How’s that?

Is our labor too expensive or our taxes too high?

And then there still is the ethic side of the matter. We have a large fishing industry but most our fishermen live under the breadline. What has happened to protecting your local industries against cheap imports?

No, I’m not pointing finger at anybody. I’m guilty too, but should government not block imports like this. We can produce enough fish for the nation without importing it.

Have a great day, and eat some fish. It is good for you.

My sister is playing old man’s marbles today. I don’t like the game, so she did not even bother to ask me along. My father will be having lunch at his retirement village and will be joining her after lunch, so I have the place for myself today.

And I’ll be making my own food for a change.

I asked Bea to come around for lunch with me; she undertook to bring a salad or two and will provide the dessert. She’ll be here early to give me a hand.

I’m not very fond of chicken but today I’m in the mood for it. I’ll be off to the supermarket to get some after posting this blog. I don’t like the white meat of a chicken; too dry. I only eat the thighs, drumsticks and the wings and only if the skin is nice and crispy. I’ll be cheating today. I’m going to do the chicken in the microwave before putting it in the oven.

I don’t know yet what we’ll have with it, I’ll have to see what is available, but spinach, butternut, and green beans will probably win. Those are my favorites. I have potatoes in the house and with a helping of rice it should make the meal. And not to forget the wine. I have a crisp dry white in the fridge since last night.

We’ll probably spend the rest of the afternoon listening music. We share the same taste in music and never bother with the TV. In all, I’m looking forward to a blissful day. I always enjoy it when she’s around; it’s a pity she is just a sister to me.

Have a great Sunday!