Category Archives: cooking

50 Kilometers

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

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I got to the 31 mile mark (50Km) today. I did not want to swim. I was tired. But I went to the Y, got in the pool and began. I finished and was proud that I stuck to it. Nine miles to 40 miles. Seven days to finish.

At AA today, one of my gardener buddies was giving away squash and tomatoes. I thought a winter squash was a summer squash. Boy was that rind tough! But I managed to make a tasty dish.  I managed to clean up the kitchen after dinner while I still had the energy.

Feeling the sleep coming over me. 

Quest for 40 Miles And Other Stuff.

21 Friday Jul 2017

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I am swimming an awful lot this month, averaging six days out of seven.  At one point, I saw that I could swim a total of forty miles this month.  Then, when my sister and her husband went on vacation to Florida, I saw that this goal was readily within reach. You see DH, my brother-in-law, usually takes D my stepmom to the Y on days when I don’t. So with going to the Y daily darn near mandatory, there was no reason for me to wheedle out of a swim.  As of yesterday, I have swum 26.4 miles (42.5km). This leaves a little over thirteen miles left with ten days to finish. At 2500 meters per day, this is readily do-able.  The good news is my repaired parts, especially my rotator cuff, are holding up.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen,  I have been trying new stuff.  I had some leftover slow-cooked cilantro lime chicken I made pulled chicken tacos with. I did cheat and use a packet of Old El Paso Chicken Taco Seasoning.  I found Ortega Blue Corn Taco Shells.  Even 60+ year-old Adults like Taco Night.  I also made a sweet & sour red cabbage/apple side dish, spiced with cinnamon, clove and coriander that was also yummy. Real easy to make: slice or chop the red cabbage.  Core a Granny Smith apple and cut in rings.  Put in a non-stick skillet over medium heat, turning frequently. Add the spices. I don’t measure. I use the “That tastes good.” standard. When good and cooked down, I add a tablespoon of turbinado sugar (brown sugar would also work) and a tablespoon of vinegar.  Maybe more, if that sweet/sour experience is your “thing”.  Turn down the heat to warm or thereabouts. Remember to eat it.

At three A.M, when I couldn’t sleep, I woke up and read a story in a Lesbian BDSM anthology, I “inherited” from my deceased lesbian cousin’s cache of books. The Second Coming  is a collection of stories essays and photographs compiled by Pat (now Patrick) Califia and Robin Sweeney. (Alyson Books, 1996). The story “Possession”  by Sorel Husbands is a pretty powerful gang rape fantasy, that works because of how it deals with emotions and psychology.  Not for the squemish, but the author emphasizes that it is fantasy.   My erotic sensibilities and experiences are, more or less, on hiatus.  So I read a lot of stuff, somewhat dispassionately.

The balance of today will consist of the Y and a swim, AA, finding something for lunch, and dreaming up something to fix for dinner. Salmon appears to be winning. I’ll find some asparagus too.

Life is good.

Hug your children.

Love your lovers .

Make sure your pets are well hydrated.

Keep cool.

 

Eating In Lisbon

12 Wednesday Jul 2017

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I am watching a video on YouTube of a gastronome ( fancy word for Foodie), eating in a bunch of restaurants in Lisbon. I don’t need to watch this after my recent weight loss successes. If you ever doubted the accuracy of the term “food porn”, this video will dispel all scepticism.  The guy doing this video is thin as a reed. He must either have a turbocharged metabolism or he vomits a lot!

I have wanted to go to Lisbon ever since I became a devotee´ of Fado, Portugal’s version of the blues.  Maybe there is nothing to do in Lisbon but eat and listen to Fado.  If so, you could do much, much worse.

The surprising thing about the cuisine is how much they use codfish in the dishes. Actually, not surprising, when one pauses to consider the Portuguese have fished off North America for nearly five hundred years. Cod, bacalao, is salted, then rinsed, and prepared. Also I noticed the humble garbanzo bean, chickpeas.  As one of the world’s preeminent spice traders since the time of Columbus, Portuguese cuisine is anything but bland.

Lisbon, anyone?  We don’t need no stinkin’ Weight Watchers! (Just kidding)

What A Day. 

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by in Bloggers, Catholic Life, cooking, Exercise/ Fitness, Family, sleep

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There is a phrase around AA that talks about packing much into the stream of life. I felt that today was one of those fully-packed days. I did not sleep all that well, waking up around Five AM, after sleeping maybe four hours.   I made coffee, texted with a friend,  and decided the 8:00 AM Daily Mass was in order. So I went.

I was hurting a little, OK a lot, and was not up for the standing and kneeling during the Mass. Today is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, so the Mass included the Gloria and Credo, usually omitted on weekday Low Masses. Getting out around 8:45, I went shopping. I got a deal on a pork tenderloin and will fix it real soon.

After creating a breakfast that took parts of an Egg McMuffin, eggs Benedict, and creamed chipped beef, I made a poached egg sandwich on a whole wheat toasted English Muffin with chipped beef  and goat cheese. I ate it open-faced with a knife and fork. The protein made it quite satisfying,

Now I was sleepy, I slept another three hours. I woke up, spent some time on the computer, then went swimming at the Y while D, my stepmother did her exercise. Very satisfying experience. I told D that the worst part of driving was simply getting in and out of the car.

When I got home, I made a fresh tomato sandwich, using without hesitation or regret, real mayonnaise. FULL FAT. No feeble substitute. Worth every calorie.

During the day, I read blog posts, hoping my friends in the blogosphere triumph over their hardships.

After another nap, I whip up a satisfying supper from leftovers. Life feels pretty good right now. What I feel is love and connectedness to the world about me.

Rambling Guy

25 Thursday May 2017

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So about 2 weeks ago, I went back to Weight Watchers. My weight was climbing upward, because I rebel against the idea of managing what I eat. So I’ve been toying around with program. My first weigh-in showed I lost about 3 lbs and my second weigh-in had me gain back about 1.5 lbs. That was yesterday. 

I finally admitted to myself I wasn’t being rigorous enough. I know what I can and should eat to have a sustained weight loss over time. I’ve purged a lot of crap from the pantry, freezer, and fridge.  This morning I went to Richmond’s best produce store, Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market and the fruits and vegetables practically jumped into the cart. Leading the way was a quarter of a watermelon. Seriously yummy,

I came home started dinner, a slow-cooker prepared chicken rosemary and mushroom stew-like concoction with tomatoes. I found these great canned tomatoes at Tom Leonard’s, Sclafani’s from Norwalk CT. Sclafani imports these tomatoes from Italy. They are delicious.

Next I started some red beans, Cajun style. With Cajun spicing in beef stock, slow cooked. Added only garlic and shallots.

I went to the Y w D, my stepmom. My swim of 2500 meters was three minutes faster than yesterday. And the weight gain I showed yesterday was gone today.  Go figure. Weight varies daily, that’s about the first thing one learns at WW, so it’s the trend that matters.

My stepmom wanted me to take her by KFC to pick up some dinner. I just offered to bring some of my chicken stuff over. She said yes. Nothing like a good deed done to make one’s day,

Tuesday: Random Thoughts

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in cooking, Depression, Exercise/ Fitness, Sport

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Last month, we ponied up the money to get FIOS.  So far, I am happy with it for both the internet speeds and the television package. My new favorite sport is Women’s College Softball. The women are great athletes and competitors and the game is very interesting and fun to watch. It’s worth the cost of FIOS to watch these athletes. 

I did some house cleaning, floor mopping, tub-scrubbing, deep-down cleaning. I worked up a good sweat and had a generally fun time. 

I fixed some salmon steaks for dinner. Used the convection oven  feature. Nice fish. I went with the wild sockeye salmon rather than the farm-raised kind.

It was a good day that included a 2500 meter swim. Life is good. 

When I do positive things, I feel positively about the state of the world. It’s not as if there are no problems and concerns.  Rather, I feel that there isn’t an issue that can’t be resolved. Enemies? None that I’m aware of.

Treading Water

15 Saturday Apr 2017

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Well, not literally.  As water goes, I’ve been swimming fairly consistently.  I have swum for the last four days, 2500 meters each day, a total of a little over six miles.  The opportunity to exercise is the best aspect of retirement for me.  I would have made a marvelous English gentleman of La Belle Epoque .  They made an art of not working, a worthy avocation if there ever was one.

I have a fruit salad to make this morning to bring to my Thomistic Philosophy discussion group at Church.  Bananas, pineapple, strawberries, and maybe a pear or two, should make a tasty treat.  I’m so tempted to say “Eff-it!” and go buy some donuts, but this is the wiser course of action.

Mrs CorC? and I will attend the Easter Vigil Mass.  It has a quiet dignity that is quite compelling.  Maybe, if we are lucky, the choir will chant the Litany of Loretto, in Latin. Tomorrow we will go to brunch at the local Maggiano’s. We have gotten out of the habit of elaborate family get-togethers at Easter and Christmas because my sister, a church musician, has a pretty demanding schedule.

My dream is to have the family here.  That would require that we get the house presentable. Mrs CorC? has given no indication that this is a priority for her.  To be quite frank, I consider her reticence a lack of interest in my family and my needs. And I am hurt.  Communicating my needs is a fruitless activity, I’ve learned.

My needs.  Every damn day, I long for affection, sexual intimacy, a little politically incorrect banter.  However, I have the relationship/marriage that I have.  Any change will have to spring from both her and my own personal transformation.  Dammit.

Where Have I Been?

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

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It’s been six days since I last posted. Too long.  There are things I want to say, activities I want to recount, dreams I would like to reveal. I need privacy.  I can’t write when my wife, partner, spousal unit is around. I don’t know why.

I have been consistently exercising again, as in 35 days out of the last 49.  Good old discipline. Good old nonkinky discipline. My swimming workout is now 2500 meters free style per day. If I don’t swim, I will walk four miles in my townhouse circuit, resting 2 days per week. It feels great.  Sometimes, while swimming or walking, I let my mind wander.  I fantasize about being in a sort of BDSM “fat camp”, where Trainer/ Dominatrices push out-of-shape males into top physical condition.  Lurid. Silly. But all fantasies are absurd,lurid, and silly to some degree.  Maybe the silly fantasies will find their way here as blogposts.

My cooking has been uninspired,  treading water in the culinary sense.  I imagine fixing a gumbo with chicken, Andouille sausage, red beans and gumbo (aka okra). Okra is verboten around Das alte Haus, but I think within the context of soup I may be able to pull such a daring venture off.

The Verizon door-to-door solicitors came by this afternoon. It is colder here than a well-digger’s toe. These intrepid lads out canvassing deserved some reinforcement. So I finally scheduled a FIOS installation. This means I have to take the lead in sprucing up the old  mini-storage unit we call home in order that the Verizon guys can do their job. MrsCorC? may not like this, but she will get over it. Or she won’t. Worse things can happen.

Life is pretty mundane. No blizzard. It’s been a fairly mild winter with just one decent size snowstorm. But that’s OK. Other than needing roads safe for emergency vehicles to operate, snow removal is waste of time.  It usually melts within a week here in Richmond.  The daffodils, croci, Bradford pear are all blooming or have bloomed.

“Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone”- John Mellencamp

Football, Amtrak, Walking. A Hodge-Podge

06 Monday Feb 2017

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So here it is Monday.  I did watch part of Super Bowl LI yesterday, but I had better things to do so I turned it off. Then I found out the Patriots won in overtime after trailing 28-3 at one point. Quite frankly I was not surprised.  I am just glad football is over and done with for another few months. Pro football season is like sitting down to a long meal with many courses. Then, when dessert comes (in this case, the Super Bowl), I just can’t eat (or watch) any more.

My good friend JK texted me that he found out he could go to Montreal from Richmond on Amtrak for $84, one way. That is if he books now for a June 30 departure.  Sounds like a deal.  Mrs CorC? and I might take that trip.  The only fly in that ointment is a nearly seven hour layover in New York between trains.  That is if one arrives in New York at 1:40 AM and departs for Montreal at 8:15 AM.  Penn Station just isn’t that interesting.  I would have to plan on more time in New York.

JK’s intention is to spend more time in Canada, perhaps going to Quebec City and Toronto at the very least.  Canada has to be cooler than Virginia in the Summer, temperature-wise.  For ambiance, Canada must be way cooler than Virginia. Plus there is the access to Cuban cigars.  I understand Montreal is a restaurant paradise.

Mass yesterday was rather somber, with the passing of my friend Mike M on everyone’s mind. The funeral isn’t until this Friday.  I don’t know why.

I have resumed my walking in earnest.  I did not realize how much I missed it. I like being connected to the World when I walk.  Swimming is great and I groove on the isolation when I swim.  Swimming lends itself to contemplation

I did some cooking last night, grilled salmon and steamed asparagus. No bread, rice , potatoes or pasta. I’m going for some major starch reduction here. I had fruit for dessert.

More exercise. Better dietary choices. This mindfulness might stick this time.

Fantasy At Tea Time

30 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in cooking, Fruit, Love and stuff, seduction, Tea

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I hear the kettle begin its slow deliberate rumble as it approaches its boiling shriek. I consider my choices of tea in the multiple options: black, green, or herbal, bags or loose, hot or cold. The delicious, exotic names tempt the imagination before they please the palate. Lapsang Souchong, Gunpowder Green, Golden Assam, peppermint, Red Zinger.

Today Gunpowder Green wins. When the water boils, I fill the pot to warm it, swish the boiling water about, empty the pot and add the four teaspoons of the dried specks of Gunpowder Green Tea. I set the timer and let it steep. When  I return, the tiny specks have grown to large leaves, more reminiscent of spinach than of mundane old tea.  The bitterness I soften with two teaspoons of turbinado sugar, the tawny crystals, dissolving in the hot brew. I have a navel orange I have sectioned. I think of the line from the Leonard Cohen song  Suzanne.  “And she brings you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.”

And now I am not the one who brewed the tea or sectioned the orange.  It is my lover. I smell the patchouli, from the incense or is it her perfume?  I watch as she pours the tea from the classic Japanese pot into my handleless cup. She offers a section of orange. I savor its sweetness as I gaze into her eyes and move to her lips to kiss them 

Our tongues twist and explore these places, these mouths, they know so well.  I now kiss the back of her neck , the top vertebra exposed, unbutton her shirt to show the splendid, naked flesh and now place a decade of kisses down her bony, beautiful spine.  

And if more should come and if tea time flows to night and the bed becomes our sanctuary and our shrine, then it is a day well spent.