Things I would love to see: recipes where little or no part of any ingredient is discarded.A good example: told to consume much more fish than I had been, I was making a cod chowder. Correct that: I did make a cod chowder. And I had actually cut the recipe out of Prevention Magazine (February 2015, page 85, one of the components of their article on the Scandinavian diet), so you would think that they, of all people, would have considered using all parts of the ingredients they had in the recipe.
Nope. The recipe instructions called for me to only use the white and light green part of a leek ... and for those of who don’t know – the leek is a large vegetable. I had a leek with a good 8 inches of dark green leaves well beyond the white and light green part of it.
My first question was: why am I not using the whole leek? Look up leeks and you’ll find they are extremely healthy vegetables, filled to the brim with all sorts of health benefits. And here these people were suggesting I toss a good 8 inches of vitamins, minerals and fiber into the garbage? Why? Not going to “prevent” much of anything in the garbage can, is it?
I stopped what I was doing and looked leeks up online. Yes, I absolutely could use the whole leek, the greener parts just needed to be cooked longer, that’s all, since they’re a little tougher than the lower portions. Then they’re just as delicious and nutritionally beneficial as the rest of the vegetable. Cooked the green part a little longer, and the chowder is absolutely delicious.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit there are parts of ingredients you are not going to consume. Example: the top of the carrot. Excess fat. Bruised sections of vegetables or fruits. But what can you do with them? Replant them and grow more? The non useable parts of vegetables, a compost pile. But what about other things? Fish bones you’ve removed. Chicken bones. What can you do with other parts of food you might discard? No, I’m not suggesting you save it all and stink up the kitchen ... would just love to see ideas about using every part of something you’re eating and actually needing to discard precious little.
Before all of that, though, I had gone to physical therapy. Therapist was not pleased at the way the visit to the orthotics office had gone – said they were being “cheap” by trying to fit me into their stock, as opposed to spending time making the brace molded for my leg. The orthotics office coldly told me if he had a problem with their suggestions he could call them directly. THAT side of things did not make for a productive day.
Finally got the ball inflated and have been spending time doing crunches, butt lifts, rolling back and forth and keeping my legs centered, the whole works, all the while wearing 5 lb. ankle weights. Will let you know if I accomplish anything with this new regimen – I’d better, for as long as it took me to inflate that stupid ball!
Spent more time with C’era una volta and the annotated Paradise Lost. The reference to “Siloa’s Brook” baffled the hell out of me. Supposedly, it means the Pool of Siloam, a well known site in old Jerusalem, and also the site of a Biblical fable about a blind man being made to see, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how this connected with the “fall” Milton was introducing to his readers, or even to the story of “Paradise”. Nothing like getting stumped on Line 11, is there?
Also spent time re-reading the horrific story of the triad patriarch ... since ol’ Abe there seems to lie at the foundation of all three branches of one particularly overly zealous religious overgrowth, taking up valuable space in the Torah, the Quran and the Bible. What a horrific story that is ... and no one (and I mean NO ONE!) thought to question any of it? Instead, all three of them waste an enormous amount of pen and ink (or quill and ink, that’s how far back their attempts go) trying to make sense of that story ... “What it REALLY meant was ...”, instead of just saying, “This is the most horrible story I’ve ever read, why am I paying even a modicum of attention to it?”, the way most intelligent, morally sane people would.
The guy rapes the slave, pimps his wife, lets his wife beat the pregnant slave until she runs away, lies, cheats, is perfectly willing to slaughter his own son .... it’s reads like the horrifying story of a textbook psychopath. But noooo ... I’ve read more ridiculous “interpretations” of the actions of that one psychopath lacking even a fiber of moral backbone than I can count, written by so-called ‘theologians’ from all three threads twisting themselves into logical and religious knots trying to do it and holding this guy up as some sort of beacon of honor. And not one of them had the wits to think, “What deity in their right mind would condone all of this?” Stand apart from it, and that’s how it reads: like a horror story too awful to imagine, guaranteed to give you nightmares for days on end.
That seems to be the true starting point of any “Paradise Lost”, considering you now have three awful global threads of belief trailing after the guy like toilet paper stuck to his dirty shoes.
Found a novel where the protagonist – a professor – tries to free his daughter from the underworld by interpreting Paradise Lost – swiped it up for $.01 ... not so much interested in the storyline as much as I am on the interpretation, however fictional it may be.
So ... I may be back on the road in 9 days. Yes, I have completely and totally lost my mind. I still don’t have my leg brace; and I’m considering doing this again? Well ... stay tuned.
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