Pizza Sauce and More...

 As the weather changes, thoughts turn to canning... Or at least they do in my house! We usually make our own pizza sauce, and we make our own jams and preserves. We tend to do them in batches - so we have supplies for a couple years at least. 

This time, it's pizza sauce. Though, in the search for jars in the basement, Hubby found two cases of old sauce - like embarassingly old. Which we pitched. Canned goods - home-canned, I mean - don't last forever, in spite of what we'd like to think. But luckily, the rings and the jars are reusable. The lids aren't - or at least for the canning part. I like to have a few used lids, so that if I'm using a canning jar to shake up some salad dressing or the like, I can have a spare lid or two around. I don't re-use them for hot water bath canning. 

So my recipe is simple: I cut tomatoes up and freeze them as we go through the season. I don't bother blanching them or anything, but I try to use home-grown, because I think that, for the most part, store-bought tomatoes taste like nothing. So I've also been known to scrounge from friends - "do you have tomatoes that you're not using?" And usually, I'm rewarded. 

I also buy organic peppers, mostly red and yellow, because they're more ripe (though it looks like a small bag of green peppers made their way into the sauce). Core them, cut into quarters and freeze them. I use home-grown leeks (if we're growing them), home-grown carrots, and home-grown celery. I roast garlic and squeeze the cloves into the sauce. This time, we didn't have leeks, so I used shallots, which I sauteed lightly. Add 4 Knorr Vegetable broth cubes (mostly because I don't have home-made veggie broth), salt, pepper, Italian seasoning. If you can get away with it (and I forgot this time!!), toss in some shredded zucchini for extra veggie power. Make it vegetarian/vegan by sauteeing everything in either olive or avocado oil. 

Herbs, you may ask? Okey-dokey.... Parsley, rosemary and basil -- again, from my garden. Lest you think I'm Martha Stewart, I'm a person who likes to grow herbs mainly because they're pretty. 

A bit of lemon zest, just because. And adjust as you go, because it may need more of something. Also add about a quart of water. This time, we had a HUGE pot. I mean, insanely huge, which Hubby bought because he thought it was a good idea. Well - it's so tall that I can't stir it without getting my tender bits too close to the hot pot! So he's really handling it all. I'm doing the recipe mainly from memory, as my tastebuds are still shot, thank you Covid. 

He ended up, on a trip to get some groceries, stopping by the local restaurant supply place to get an extra-long spatula to stir the pot because nothing I had was tall enough! When it's reduced down by about a third or so, we usually add 2-3 small cans of tomato paste. Then, turn on the stick blender and whiz till your preferred texture. 

You could, if you weren't making a Lake Michigan-sized batch, whiz it up in a blender - and of course, only fill the blender about half-way because hot sauce + a fuller blender container = an explosion that seriously causes burns as well as some amazing "sauce splatter patterns" on the various kitchen surfaces (ask me how I know this...). 

We think that, this time, we'll get over 40 pint jars (update: we got 50 pints!!!). That's a lot of sauce. The pot just keeps giving. I started calling it "Mary Poppins' Pot" but Hubby refers to it as 'The Loaves and Fishes" because the sauce Just. Keeps. Coming. 

In the next few weeks, we'll be doing jams/preserves. I'll have to see what we have in the freezer for berries. I know we at least have blueberries and strawberries. Hubby says we may have apples...in which case, I'll make some applesauce. Extra chunky, which I love with pork. Or over ice cream. It's all good!

The Spurtle Is Found...

Well, my great-granny wouldn't have called it a spurtle, because that's a Scottish term for the spoon they stir their oatmeal with. But it looks like a spurtle - it's her polenta spoon. For years, we thought it was lost. My mom has been doing her Swedish Death Cleaning - she'd been at it since before her hip replacement. Actually, since my sister died, my mom has been on that tack. It's kind of making me crazy because she's giving me stuff. I have no idea what to do with it, because my kids aren't going to want it. And I can't bear to toss it just yet. But I know it's a lost cause when I'm dead...to be honest, I'm just about the only one old enough to remember the people associated - and as well as remembering, CARING about them and the history behind some of these items and pictures. There's maybe ONE other person who would be interested, but that doesn't mean that anyone younger than me actually wants stuff.  Anyway - she gave me an apron of my granny's, and I do honestly wear her aprons because they're big. Great-granny was a substantial woman, and the aprons were nothing fru-fru...they were meant to cover her up when she was in the kitchen and those aprons meant business. 

Lo and behold -- wrapped in the apron was the Polenta Spoon...in reality, a wooden spoon which she had my grandpa (my mom's dad) carve down into a smooth stick. Because, in the Old Country, you used a stick to stir your polenta. 

To be honest? THIS thing will be something one of the kids will latch onto. Not the china or silverware or pictures. Now I have to grab a pan and make some polenta, especially with the weather getting cooler. And with the pizza sauce? Yummy! Or for breakfast, with butter and a touch of honey. 

The Knitting Continues...

I'm plugging away at the knitting, and for some reason, it's just dragging. On. And. On. And. On. It shouldn't be like that, but sometimes, knitting just is a tremendous drag. I have a few WIPs that I am not sure I want to complete; and I'm not sure I want to frog them either. It's a quandry for sure.  

I'm torn. I have start-itis, and I need another WIP (work in progress) like I need a hole in my head. But the socks aren't doing their usual magic. I feel like casting on another pair, but the singletons are mocking me from their project bags: "Finish ME for Pete's sake!!" and I should - that way, I actually get a PAIR that I can wear! 

I'm in knitting ennui. A slump, if you will. I hate slumps. 

I had wanted this tee (the pattern says it's a tee - I'm considering it an "overlay" to a tank top or long-sleeved tee) to be done so that I could wear it this summer, since it's linen. But all kinds of crap interfered with my knitting mojo and I'm actually forcing myself to work on it. That's never good, in my opinion, but it's sort of where I'm at right now. 

I got a lot of compliments on my Fluoromania socks when I finally decided that it was now cold enough to wear socks again and posted a picture of them on Facebook - that yarn that was all the rage a few years (or more) ago where the colorways were actual fluorescent blends in outrageous combos, such as flamingo pink and electric blue, and a vibrant tie-dye blend of violet, lime green, yellow, and magenta. I have one hank of this Regia yarn left and it's in chartreuse with lime green. I really, really want to whip up a pair of socks in this, just for the shock value alone. I kind of wish it was still "in" because these days? Who doesn't need shocking socks? 

Right now, none of my projects are "portable and mindless." Which is why socks are drawing me in again. I can just do a vanilla pattern and let the yarn do its thing. The "let the yarn work for you" thing is why I do a lot of vanilla (plain) socks. And when I do patterns, they're usually only on the leg, mostly because I don't like the feel of patterns across the top of my feet. It's just me; there are stunning sock patterns all the way down to the toe decreases, but if I'm knitting it, the pattern stops when I start the heel. 

Maybe if I can whip up a simple shawl, it'll take the edge off? Seriously, who am I kidding? 

The Thing is Now Legal...

Well, not like I was NOT legal, but this past weekend, I did an assistant teaching gig with my teacher, Linda, and I officially picked up my 500-hour certificate. So now, I'm good to go. I actually got confirmation a few weeks ago, so technically, I was "legally" a 500-hour teacher. And now, I've got the paper to prove it. 

I'm glad it's done. That, with the Prenatal Yoga certification, means I'm good for a while. I do have enough CEUs for a couple years! 

As yoga teachers, it's up to us to keep up with continuing education. Things change. When I first trained, in 2014, one of the cues for Trikonasana (Triangle) pose was "as you move your spine over your front leg, imagine your body pressed between two panes of glass." Well, first off, that's a horrible cue. Second, that actually takes your sacrum (lowest part of your spine) and jams it in bewteen the pelvic bones. 

AND - it assumes that every body is the same. That nobody has any issues in their spines, that everyone moves the same way. That all students look like cookie-cutter figures. Which is patently untrue, and it has been untrue for many years. 

After some years of studying biomechanics and the history of yoga-related injuries, we now know that you should let the top hip "roll over" a bit - so that your lower spine can move a bit... THAT is why you continue to train. You don't have to go nuts, but attending at least one workshop a year isn't a bad idea and it doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars. You can attend some great workshops for under $100, most of the time. 

And now that I'm 500-hour certified, I can actually teach workshops to other teachers. That's pretty cool!

Random Picture...

Every morning, Raisa greets me with her giant Kong bone. Usually by chucking it at me. Thankfully, she waits till I'm out of bed - when I'm in my chair, that's her cue. 

She thinks it's fun to tug and for me to toss it to her. She'll either catch it in mid-air, or I can sneak it past her and she's got to go find it. 

This is an endurance test for her and a reflex test for me: am I awake enough to not get smacked in the noggin with a slimy rubber bone? Most mornings, I'm actually good. Surprising, isn't it? 

She's quite an efficient "pitcher" and has only missed a couple of times. This picture was the result of one of her throws. 

Yes. Right on the arm of my chair. She's pretty cautious about going after the bone if it's near Hubby's orchids, near the TV, or near any of my stuff, so I'll give her credit. And this was right next to my arm. She waited patiently for me to take the shot and then I tossed it back at her. 

It's those little routines every morning that start your day out the right way...

Looking for yoga, but no studio near you? 

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Pregnancy Begins With a Penis...

 ...so perhaps THAT should be regulated by the "party of small government." (See what I did there??) My postcard campaign continues, and honestly, I don't know whether to smack Lindsey Graham upside his entirely EMPTY head, or... THANK him for galvanizing women young and old. Because he's such a chuckle-headed nitwit. Great move, dude...national abortion ban? Great strategy. 

Pink Tsunami, here we come. Duck & cover, Lindsey. You own this one. 

The party of small government wants to get into my uterus (even though my child-bearing ship has sailed a while ago), but perhaps they ought to look at the teeny-tiny penises. They're all so busy bloviating and thinking that they've got the biggest one in the room. 

Got news for you, boys. (And girls, where IS your common sense?) The uterus brought you into this world. Women voters will take you out. 

And while I'm at it, let's talk about student loans. I have a disclosure to make: I have never had a student loan. I had a grant. Hubby had loans, but the interest rate was 1-2% - whereas now, they're the equivalent of a mortgage. My kid doesn't have student loans, but friends do. People I know have declared bankruptcy because the loans are basically usurious... Seriously, do some math and understand DAILY COMPOUNDING OF INTEREST. 

Have you ever seen a closing statement for a mortgage? Or a car loan? I have. You buy a car for $30,000 and after you tack on interest, your loan paper says you're paying upwards of $60,000 for that car over the life of the loan. And that's calculated on SIMPLE interest. The interest is figured in with your payment, and is amortized through the life of the loan. 

But with student loans, interest is compounded DAILY. Daily compounded interest means interest is accumulated daily and is calculated by charging interest on principal plus interest earned daily; therefore, it is higher than interest compounded on a monthly/quarterly basis due to the high frequency of compounding. So think about this, because the math looks "small" but if you consider that the rate is DAILY, you can see how this is just...insane. 

You first take the annual interest rate on your loan and divide it by 365 to determine the amount of interest that accrues on a daily basis. Say you owe $10,000 on a loan with 5% annual interest. You'd divide that rate by 365 (i.e., 0.05 ÷ 365) to arrive at a daily interest rate of 0.000137. That daily interest rate looks pretty tiny, doesn't it? Well, it's different from your car loan, which is calculated MONTHLY - every 30 days. This student loan interest is calculated DAILY, so you can see how that would add up. 

Anyway... Look at the postcard above. Good old Marge Greene got $180,000 in PPP loans FORGIVEN. And she's screeching like a stuck pig about $10,000 in student loan forgiveness. A bunch of  'em got HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in PPP loans FORGIVEN. But hey, why would you want to give someone a hand up, when you can kick 'em while they're down? Is that the new "christian way"? Seems so. 

I've gotta sit with DeathSentence and The Texas Idiot for awhile before I talk about the racist, abhorrent, disgusting, dangerous thing they've done. All I can say is that I hope that the backlash from this is like a herd of elephants, butt sides facing an industrial fan on high speed, with said elephants having the runs. Simultaneously. 

Hip, hip hooray...

So my mom's total hip replacement has occurred. She's home, after an overnight in the hospital. I'm very glad she stayed. 

We got her to the hospital at 6 a.m. and the surgery was scheduled for 7:30. I stayed, with my hospital knitting (see the sock). And I had a fully-charged Kindle, and they had HGTV playing in the waiting room. And I could people-watch - which was weird. 

Because about 60% of the people IN THE HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM couldn't quite figure out, nearly 3 years into this, that a MASK GOES OVER THE NOSE, TOO. Seriously, people. The signs (with pictures) are all over the place. 

Anyhow, as I was waiting. And waiting. And waiting, I noticed that there were a lot of codes being called, but I was ok because none of them were "code blue," so I wasn't too concerned. But the time came and went for her to have been done, and I was still sitting there. Then, the manager was coming around asking for various families...turns out that somehow, the hospital was full. As in "no room in the inn" full - no rooms available. So if you lived close, they suggested that you go home. Anyway - I got to see her for a few minutes in the recovery room. She cracked an eye open, said, "I've been hit by a bus," and fell back asleep. That was my cue to go home. 

I got home and took a nap; then they called me around 4:30 p.m. and she'd finally gotten a room. I'm so glad I wasn't stuck there all day. I wasn't doing any good; just taking up space. 

Her neighbor is helping her out, we have the food lined up, and all systems are go. She hates the compression socks. "If they come up any higher, I might actually have a perky bustline." Yep, no filter... 

Now it's time to focus on fixing MY hip. Doctor's appointment on Monday to figure it out. 

The Garden...

I was poking around the back pot of parsley and found...caterpillars! I usually do flat-leaf parsley in the front yard for them, but somehow, they made their way to the back (curly-leaf) and have taken up residence. Started out with 5 of them, and I'm down to 2...so I hope that 3 of them have gone on to be chrysalis-to-butterfly, and not bird food. It should be safer back there, because the birdfeeders are all up front. 

These are Swallowtail butterflies in the making. My milkweed never even bloomed. So Hubby tells me he prefers the taste of the flat-leaf parsley, but I warned him to still be careful about the caterpillars. They blend in so well that they take you by surprise!

The birds have been enjoying the seeds from the coneflowers and the Brown-eyed Susans, and the hummingbird feeders were reorganized. I pitched the ones that weren't working or were ignored. Usually, it was because hornets and bees could get to them, or -- my favorite one finally broke down beyond repair and I couldn't find a replacement. So I have three that they seem to like and we're sticking with them. 

And at work, my wild flowers in pots have done well, considering that they're somewhat neglected. I bought a bubbler. We have a "flower pot drain bowl" that we've been using as a bird bath, and I added a bubbler to it so as to cut down on mosquito eggs. The birds seem to enjoy it.

When the office door is open, the sound of the bubbler is quite soothing. And of course, Flat St. John had to pose to show himself off in this "water feature." 

We have nasturtium, salvia, begonia and windflowers, so it's a nice assortment, as I said - considering that I've virtually ignored the whole thing all year. It's been busy...

We're planning The Great Tomato Sauce Canning for the first weekend in October. I'm considering something that I've seen another friend do: roasting the veggies and then puree them in my Vita Mix. Or I'll do it the way I always do: in a huge stock pot, simmering for hours. We'll see. I think it's about the same amount of time, maybe less doing it via the roasting method. It might be worth it to do 2 batches, one in each method, to see how it goes. 

Welcome...

To the new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Paula Clark... The first woman, and woman of color, to be a bishop in this diocese. She's had a long, hard road since her election and we waited for nearly 2 years to have her consecration ceremony. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was heading the service. 

Her vestments, hand-made, honored her membership in the International Order of the Daughters of the King, and the ceremony was planned specifically by her.  

Hubby and I were going to join the choir, but after looking at Covid numbers, looking at my own risk factors, and the fact that my mom just got out of the hospital and we're her primary humans...we decided, reluctantly, to withdraw. Which is a shame, because the music was pretty awesome. 

You may recognize Bishop Curry from his preaching at Harry & Megan's wedding. He's pretty dynamic, to say the least. 

Bishop Paula wore some awesome red kicks! And some purists objected to the tennis shoes. OK, let's break this down... About 18 months ago, she had a traumatic brain injury, brain surgery, a long and difficult recovery, and then her husband died. She's got some lingering mobility issues. She's lucky to be alive, through much prayer and dint of hard work on her part...What did you expect? Manolo Blahniks??? Get real. Comfort and ability to walk and stand -- that's important. She's not here to make a fashion statement and those folks who object to this? They can kiss the north end of a south-bound horse. Or my pasty white rear end. Whichever...

Random Picture...

This is Quinn, getting a Saturday Skritch. She turns into "oozy dog" and just melts. she loves her belly rubs, for sure. She's healing up very nicely from the nasty cysts she's had lately. 

She turns 12 soon. She's really getting older, and I can see subtle signs, such as a little less spring in her legs when she gets up on the couch, and sometimes a bit of deeper sleep where she startles. And her tail is not curling - that's kind of a classic Norwegian Elkhound "old dog" phase, when their tail stops curling over their rump. 

Shyness has never been her problem. When she's in "flathound" mode, she's totally relaxed. 

Looking for yoga and there's no studio nearby? We have Zoom classes!

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text/call us at (815) 546-2770 if you have questions about which class is the best one for you. We are a safe, inclusive space - and welcome you as you are.