Carthage Rehab, Food I Ate, What I Did Today

 So much has been going on. I wish I was disciplined enough to work through my tiredness and make daily entries. 

Acorn squash, seasoned and oven roasted. Later I'll fry it up with onions and Jalapeños.

The Better Half continues to recuperate from her broken femur and subsequent removal of blood clots in her lungs. Saturday, January 21, she was taken from SUNY Upstate Hospital to a rehab center in Carthage, NY. How that went is a story in itself.

This morning I roasted a couple of acorn squash in the oven to consume in a couple of days or so. I like to scoop the squash out of the tough skins and later fry it with chopped onions and Jalapeno Peppers.

I got my haircut at the Sportsman's Barbershop. $14.00 hair cut, very reasonable and a good cut. I alway give whoever cuts my hair a $6.00 tip. Worth it. I've been going there since I was in my 20's. 

I went to our Clay St apartment house where I'm using a vacant unit as  place to work. I'm staining & finishing a 12 foot pine railing to be wall mounted in the stairway of our Chaumont house. Again, this project is directly related to the broken femur.

This morning I ate a couple of avocados and a small frozen dinner that was courtesy of Aetna health insurance plan. 

This evenings repast. Shrimp, cocktail sauce, sliced avocado, Medjooli Dtes and Colby Jack cheese.

I visited the BH at the rehab center, getting there bout 4:00, leaving 7:30, home by 8:00.

Very hungry I finished the evening of with a Thomas Jefferson Ale from Yards Brewery. That was followed by a cup of chamomile tea and a plate of shrimp , cocktail sauce, sliced avocado, Colby Jack cheese and some Medjooli Dates. What a wonderful array of flavors and textures. 

Tom and Jerry time at The Crystal Restaurant in Watertown, N.Y.

View of my neighbors house as seen from my front porch through the snow covered Lilac bushes. This is what we woke up to this morning. It certainly sets a festive tone for Thanksgiving and approaching Christmas.

One sure sign of the holiday season is when the Crystal Restaurant in Watertown, NY, starts serving Tom and Jerry's. It's a great, tasty holiday drink. People stop in just to have a couple at the bar. Today I went there with my Celebrity Brother and brother R the Builder. As you can see by the photos there was some snow today. It mostly came last night. It is the heavy, wet, slushy type of snow.

Tom & Jerry drinks served up at the Crystal Restauran in Watertown, NY. photo by Gary Walts

The  Crystal Restaurant sign, downtown Watertown. The restaurant is a landmark in the city and has changed little for many years. 

Go here for a Tom & Jerry recipe
Go here to learn more about this Christmas Cocktail

I Make Pickled Eggs

Fresh eggs from step daughter B's chickens. Some of the eggs in the photo have a bluish tinge, that is from the light and the iPhone camera. They are actually all of a brown hue.

Pickled eggs ready for the fridge. Can't wait to try them in a few days.

I made some pickled eggs this morning before going off to do guitar lessons. My step daughter B, The Pharmacist, got some chickens earlier this year and they have recently begun laying eggs. So I got a couple dozen from her, nice and fresh. I boiled the eggs for 11 minutes. Shelled them and placed them in jars, packing them alternately with sliced onions and slices of a large Jalapeno pepper. The brine is 1 & 1/2 cups of water, 3 cups of vinegar, 4 teaspoons of salt, 3 teaspoons of dried Dill, 3 teaspoons of whole Mustard seed, about 6 garlic cloves cut in half, 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper, all placed in a pot and boiled for a few minutes. I then ladled it into the two jars of eggs. I will let them stay in the refrigerator for 3 days before I try them. A week or so will probably make them even better.

Praski cookies, Macedonian peach cookies

Today I went to St. George Church in Syracuse to photograph the start of thei Macedonian festiva. I was photographing it for The Post-Standard and syracuse.com. Of interest was a woman making Praski, which are Macedonian cookies decorated to look like peaches.
They are quite colorful.

Woman making "peach cookies" at St. George's Macedonian festival in Syracuse, NY. Photographed by Gary Walts for syracuse.com and The Post Standard.

Praski, cookies decorated to look like peaches, at St. George's Macedonian festival in Syracuse, NY. Photographed by Gary Walts for syracuse.com and The Post Standard.

This link takes you to a gallery of other photos from the event posted on syracuse.com
 http://photos.syracuse.com/4456/gallery/st_georges_macedonian_festival/index.html#/0

You can also view a video I made at the event by clicking on the link:

http://videos.syracuse.com/post-standard/2013/08/st_georges_macedonian_festival.html

Pineapple upside down cup cakes

Just got done mowing the lawn. My celebrity brother and his son T stopped by. We grilled some Hoffman hot dogs and I made a pot of bar b q beans based on the Dinosaur restaurant recipe. We also enjoyed a couple of Burning River beers, a pale ale from the Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland Ohio.



The Better Half made us some pineapple upside down cup cakes that were fantastic! I snapped a photo of them with the iphone.

Saturday Snap Shots

I am a chronic snap shooter. When something catches my eye I often just make a quick snap of it just to see how it looks photographed. In this digital age I can judge right away if the subject warrants more of my time. I then go about working the subject. That is, photographing it from various angles, adjusting the composition by changing lenses and that sort of thing. The following pictures were all made on the same day.

It was Saturday morning and I was sitting in a Watertown NY parking lot waiting for the music store to open. I saw blossom on a tree. Then I noticed the green trees and buildings in the distance. It was raining. I lowered the drivers side window and made those two snaps.




The music store I was waiting for to open is Musicology. I teach there on Saturdays. So, after snapping the above two photos I started looking at a music book that I had with me. The book is a collection of guitar etudes written by Mauro Giuliani. For what ever reason, I cannot analyze it, my eye was attracted to the dimples where the last page of the book meets the cover. So I photographed it. Notice how you can faintly see the music notes through the back of the page. I actually like this photo:



Later that day I get home and a cheese cake that the Better Half made was sitting on the kitchen table. Again, it looked to my eye like it needed to be photographed. So I did. Then it got eaten. It really was a lovely Saturday.

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Spaghetti and Hot Dogs

I found this idea floating around on Face Book. I don't know who to attribute it to.
Looks like a fun idea for kids. The photos are not mine. When I try this myself I will, of course, photograph it.

Guacamole

Have been busy, busy lately. On Friday I shot a freelance job for United Way in Syracuse. Got home from that and finished burning CD's of a recent wedding, packaged them up for Sturday's mail. Then I cut mats and framed photos for the North Country Arts Council's annual art show which is held at the Dulles State Office Building in Watertown. Of course I screwed up some of the window mats and had to re-cut them a few times. So I didn't finish until midnight. I was beat. I hit the sack and wake up at 6:00AM. I prefer to get 8 hours of sleep, but 6 was it. Saturday morn I had to drive my celebrity brother to the car rental place before my guitar lessons.
I had ba solid block of students from 11:00 to 3:00. Then I needed to shop for some item's. I got home about 5:00. Brought in firewood. Then the Better Half & I went to The Blue Heron, a nice restaurant here in Chaumont.

Blah, blah, blah... Then comes Sunday morning(this morning). I have some Avacados that were not getting used. A couple were over ripe & I thre them out. The other 3 were just perfect for guacamole. So I made some and that is where the photos came from today. The upper one is the finished product. The one below is scraps of tomatoes and garlic that just caught my eye and I felt was worthy of a snap shot.

After the guacamole I dropped my art entries off at the state office building and proceeded to Syracuse to photograph the NY State Field Band Conference. So that's pretty much a snapshot of my life this weekend. Tomorrow is Halloween.

Day 208: Cooking With Beer & Love

So today it's Sunday? Where did Saturday go? Well, actually it went well. I spent a couple of hours at my friend Tom Bintz's home on Pillar Point. He has a guest with him for a few day. He was a film and photography major back in hid college days. So, over a few beers we had some good conversation about life, art, promoting your work, inspiration, and other good things. Most enjoyable.
The beer was Thousand Islands Pale Ale from the Sackets Harbor Brewing Co., Sacket Harbor, NY. A fine beer indeed. My first time drinking it.


So that brings me to Sunday. Well today I finally got down into the basement to take apart the pipe that runs from my furnace to the chimney. I needed to clean it out. You see, it tends to get rusty inside and then the rust flakes off and gathers on the bottom of the pipe. If ignored the debris will build up to where it affects the draft and cause the furnace to short cycle. Never mind why this happens, that's too much to get into right now. But anyhow, one of the elbows rusted apart at the joint & I had to replace it. Lucky for me the local;l hardware store is open on Sunday's until 3:00. So off I go. Then it occurred to me, I may as well stop at the local grocer and get a beef roast to slow cook in the crock pot. That can take place while I'm doing other chores. By the way, the Better Half is off for the day visiting one of her daughters so this will be a nice surprise for her to come home to. So here is the deal: I had so9me fresh produce from a local farm market and the crockpot idea seemed a good way to use the stuff. I placed small red potatoes on the bottom, added the beef roast, then sliced up fresh carrots, onions, garlic, and tomatoes tossed them in. Added spices, some water and there it was. In a few hours, great eats!.

Now here are a coup-le of my secrets about cooking. I cook with Love & with Beer. What I mean is I do not cook unless I want to. Not because I have to. There in lies the problem with many women in relationships. It seems the are REQUIRED to cook. That is terrible. I do not want my better half to cook ever, unless she is truly into it and wants to do it. Now of course things are different if you have kids. They must be fed, and fed on a schedule. It's also important for the family to eat as a group. But we are at a point in life where we are not obligated to eat at any set time. I would NEVER demand that she prepare my meals. And vice verso. The idea is to enjoy cooking. Most of the time I cook for me and the bonus is that I am also cooking for her. In other owrds, I simply cook with Love in my heart. It is what I want to do and it is what I want to share. I don't ever want to eat a meal if somebody felt coerced into preparing it. Do you get it? I am cooking with Love, and as best as I can tell thye Better half does the same.
Now, about the beer. When I cook, I like to drink beer. There's nothing better when it comes to peeling onions, washing potatoes, chopping carrots, and the like, than to do so while slugging a couple of beers. Suddenly it becomes festive. I think the problem many women have is that they do not drink while cooking. Break out the wine or the beer and dive in to the work. Enjoy it. If your better half walks in pour them a glass. Cheers! While you are at it you can always throw a splash of wine or beer into your recipe. It will never screw it up. You see that photo of the beef roast in the crock pot? I just put that together an hour or so ago with the great company of two of those Thousand Island beers. I loved it. Now, after posting this I am going back down to the basement and finish my furnace pipe cleaning job. Life is good. Thank you Lord.

Day 206: Puffballs

A week or so ago a couple of puffballs appeared in my yard over by the wood pile. I have not seen one in quite few years. I was excited becaue these things are edible. I have not eaten one since I was a teenager. However, when I opened it up it was allready permeated with brown streaks inside. You don't want that. The inside should be firm, solid white. A week later two more appeared, but they are not round like the puffballs I am familiar with. In fact, it may not be puffballs at all. Or, perhaps they are a varity of puffball, or maybe puffballs sometimes sprout with an odd shape such as the one in the lower photo. It's too bad it is unfamiliar looking to me, because I would love to slice it up and fry it with some butter & garlic.
You can see how different these two fungi appear, but the size of the odd shaped one makes me think it is a form of puffball. The round one in the upper photo was about the same size as the one in the lower photo. If anyone out there sees this post and can enlighten me I would love it.