Musings

I’ve been trying to cook/eat lower on the food chain, as in more plant protein. My go-to these days includes a veggie bean stew, which has endless variants. When I heat leftovers, lately I’ve been microwaving some fresh spinach in the bowl first, then adding the stew and heating it all again. This bowl has bonus cheddar.

Plus, I recently found out that since the beans (and this is true of cooked grains, too) have been chilled, their grams of resistant starch have somehow increased—and that’s also good for the gut. Apparently, in some chemical magic, the chilling reorders the starch molecules in a process technically called retrogradation (and that’s enough science for today).

Posted at 9:30 PM | Comments Off on Eating better in 2026

You may have heard about this nasty storm system—2K miles plus wide. We’ve been hearing about it for at least a week, along with warnings to Prepare. I got these household must-haves on Tuesday. Tuesday, mind you. Yes, we’re Prepared.

Yesterday, I visited the drug store for non-groc items. I did not buy one of these. The coming storm is a rain-becoming-ice storm, so snow shovels not effective.

However, the storm coming after this one, yup, it may snow on us. Let’s get through this weekend first, though. I am not looking forward to it At All.

Posted at 8:55 PM | Comments Off on Blueberry extras

Getting clean…a fine idea for beginning the new year.

Traditional Southern New Year’s meal, also a fine idea.

As to the title, we were driving back to ATL from our tasty luncheon in the late afternoon. It turned out that we were driving into the sun, which on several stretches was directly in our eyes. This was additionally tricky because we were on a two-lane relatively rural road with no extra space between the pavement and the ditch. Tricky. The technical term is a sunshine slow-down.

A bit further along, we happened on lines of cars pulled off the road (just barely: narrow road, remember) and parked almost in the ditch, with people standing next to road or walking in the lanes to join clusters of loiterers. Very strange. We eased our way along, passing dozens more vehicles. Increasingly strange. Then, coming at us, driving slowly, we encountered a police car with flashing lights. And around another curve, we found a line of walking Buddhist monks, maybe a dozen, with a dog on a leash, following the police car.

I’m taking all this as good omens for our 2026.

Posted at 9:03 PM | 1 Comment »

We had a potluck dinner this evening, and these sage leaves were part of a fabulous salad that others contributed. I brought a big pot of veggie bean stew that some people might call chili, and many others would never call chili.

Posted at 10:00 PM | Comments Off on Collective action

Once again I began the day enjoying the early-day sky.

We jaunted to a nearby neighborhood to partake of a small family brunch that ended with an offering of an assortment of kooooo-keys. Throughout we laughed and laughed.

Posted at 9:13 PM | Comments Off on Stupendous

Saw cranberries; had to buy them, then sauce them. Mmmmm.

Posted at 9:58 PM | Comments Off on Selfish?

Grocery shopping almost always tops the chore list after a trip, as it did this morning. I looked in the fruit fridge display and thought, hmm, blueberry prices are cheaper, just a bit, but cheaper. Then, it hit me: the packages are the same, but now they have 11 oz, not 12. I’m still hot about it. [I tried to include the “flames” emoji, but my software won’t post it.]

Posted at 8:34 PM | Comments Off on Short-changed again

We motored east sometimes close to Lake Erie, sometimes a few miles inland, and finally saw Cleveland in the distance.

Over on the east side, we met up with a college buddy of The Guru at a lovely Thai restaurant. My dish: Siam salmon…salmon wrapped in a napa cabbage leaf with veg and a rich yellow curry sauce. Oh, just yum. Perfect. Thanks, FK.

We continued east, still under the lake effect smear, and, while in Amish territory dodging horse-drawn buggies, spotted this pair of planes that looked to me as if they were slowly degrading. I did not see a for-sale sign.

Then we turned south, and outran the snow-smear, and are now on the PA side of the OH/PA line, enjoying temps just a smidge above freezing. We understand that a winter storm is headed this way tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll be out of here before it ramps up.

Posted at 9:38 PM | Comments Off on Lake Erie environs

Our evening began with this platter, and the yumminess continued. Mmmmm.

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments Off on We gave thanks

On today’s grocery expedition, we found autumnal antioxidants, the red and blue flavors. I was particularly excited by the early cranberries, early meaning before T-giving week.

Posted at 7:11 PM | Comments Off on Toothsome fruitiness