“An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.” – Eric Hoffer
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Vegetarian Weekend
Sometimes, without really meaning to, we have vegetarian weekends. This tends to happen most often during the hottest days in summer when we are looking for light, easy-to-cook meals. (Of course, BBQ is also an alternative.)
Last year, I think we went 5 or 6 days just eating veggie meals. This year, we just had a streak of 3 days.
Here are a few of the better recipes that we gravitate to:
- Italian Zucchini Pie
- Corn Fritters with Roasted Tomatoes and Lime Aioli
- Tomato Tart
- Zucchini Cakes with Diavolo Sauce
- Watermelon Gazpacho
- Mushroom Stroganoff with Goat Cheese
- Grilled Veggie and Humus Wraps
- For a veggie burger, try: Southwest Pinto Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise
- This is refreshing for lunch by the pool: Strawberry and Arugula Salad with a Balsamic Dressing
- And, of course, dozens of other salads
For the Tomato Tart, for example, we just use store-bought puff pastry or make a simple savory pie dough then spread a little Dijon mustard on it. Add some grated Gruyere cheese and top with slices of fresh tomato. Salt and pepper on top and bake it. That's it. You can decorate it with some basil or parsley if you want. Simple is best. Of course, this basic recipe could use mushrooms instead of tomatoes, or even asparagus or caponata!
Or, put your favorite veggie ingredients on pizza dough and cook it on the grill.
Posted under: Food and Cooking • by Rick on 07/18/2013 at 11:55 AM
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Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Great Swim Tonight
Water temperature is about 86 degrees. Wonderful. Swam 40 lengths tonight, will go for 50 tomorrow. I know that is not much, but the best of the season. Swimming is my favorite way to get exercise.
We have committed to a pool heater. Should get it installed this summer. Going with propane, so need tanks, etc. Will set it at about 82 to 84 degrees and extend the early Spring and late Summer seasone by a few weeks as well as keep the mid-Summer temperatures very comfortable. We'll see!
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/17/2013 at 07:26 PM
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Monday, July 15, 2013
Sleep Number 0
We have a Sleep Number bed. Have had it since we moved to New Jersey in April, 2006. A Sleep Number bed is nothing more than a glorified, permanently installed air mattress. Still, since I like a firmer mattress than Lynne does, it has allowed us each to select our own level of comfort.
Recently, I noticed my side would deflate some overnight and throughout the day. Each night I'd need to adjust my side from a number of 45 to my comfort level of 60.
So, yesterday I decided to follow some troubleshooting procedures to attempt to isolate the leak. I was not successful, but in the process did something that caused my side of the bed to completely deflate overnight. I tried pumping it back up a couple of times, but within minutes would be back to an empty air bladder. So, I had an uncomfortable night on a mattress with a Sleep Number of 0 -- not fun.
This morning I took it apart enough to refit all the plumbing and inflated it back up to 60. We'll see what it is tonight, but I can't spend another night tossing and turning in the equivalent of a hammock.
I hate mattress shopping, so am not sure of the next steps if I can't fix the mattress we have.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/15/2013 at 08:58 AM
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Sunday, July 14, 2013
Day Lily Blooming Time-Lapse
Here is a short time-lapse video of a day lily blooming in our back yard. Actual time was probably about 1-1/2 hours. Taken with the Brinno camera that Lynne got me for Christmas last year.
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 07/14/2013 at 07:45 AM
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Saturday, July 13, 2013
Mid-Summer
I think we are mid-summer. Tonight, out by the pool we saw only a few, last fireflies. They have moved up into the trees. Their blinks are bright and long, but there are very few of them. And, I think we heard the first (non-17-year) cicada tonight. It only lasted a few minutes, but is a signal of the noise to come. Next week is historically the hottest week of the year, and it is not going to disappoint this year. We will be in the 90s all week.
That means lot of pool time!
The pool water has been evaporating, so tomorrow I may add an inch or two of cold well water--something I always hate to do because it lowers the pool temperature by a degree or two. But, the hot weather will warm it back up.
Tonight we swam some. I did 10 laps, Lynne did 20. The water is about 83°. Not bad at all, but I've grown to love 86° or 87° 
Alex is doing great today. He has now had two chemo treatments, but the first seemed to kill off most of the bad cancer cells. We are celebrating his strength and progress while enjoying the nice evening.
Oh, and we got the canoe back today. Andy did a phenomenal job of giving her a spruce-up with new varnish and polished fittings. I left her on the truck tonight with the plan of taking her out some tomorrow. We'll see.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/13/2013 at 07:19 PM
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