Celebrate Life!

Jun 19 0 comments

Healthy Living

Seafood Appetizer; Baked Crab balls

Although I’m veggie, I do make non-veggie dishes. My daughter isn’t veggie, although she mainly eats veggie dishes. Also, most of my loved ones are non veggie.

I must say my willingness to prepare non-veggie dishes for those I care about has actually worked in that they eat more veggie dishes. The dishes, although not 100% veggie are healthy, and there’s always a veggie component. Non vegetarians/vegans can be healthy too, it’s all about the choices you make. As I’ve mentioned many times, there are plenty of unhealthy vegetarians/vegans/raw foodists, etc.,… those that are unhealthy are making poor food choices.

But back to my food post…

Late yesterday afternoon you could find me making baked crab balls. In total, it took about 1.5 hours to make…

That’s because I made over 100.

Four pounds of backfin crab meat

The shells were picked out of the backfin crab meat. That process was tedious!

Seafood: Baked Crab balls. Adding more Crab balls. My daughter had a few, she loves them!

I then moved onto the other extremely slow process of making all those crab balls. The crab balls were baked not fried and it was all crab meat with just a touch of seasoning, I wanted to let the sweetness of the crab meat shine. Before my pre-veggie days one complaint I had about eating some restaurant crab cakes was the amount of filler included. It made you think, “Where’s the crab?”

This dish was made for a 50th birthday party for my Lutheran pastor. The dish received a lot of compliments and I made enough so that people could freely get a lot. Which is how it should be you know? You shouldn’t have to worry about holding back so others can eat. Eat until you get your fill. I really love cooking, but I don’t eat too much.

Seafood: Wrapping up the baked crab balls

In total I made over 100 baked crab balls. It took a lot of time.

There are three layers of crab balls in this pan; 40 walnut sized balls on each row, separated by aluminum foil.

My daughter received about ten of the baked crab balls, but the bulk was wrapped up and taken to the party today. However, I promised her that I would make some for her tomorrow. Of course, this means I have to stop by the store tomorrow and purchase more backfin crab meat and that’s ok, she’s worth it. I’ll be sure to make enough for my father too. My mom works tomorrow and even though she’s left plenty for him to eat. He deserves something special too, right. After all, I only have one dad!

…would tell you straight away that the food would be really good. As they say, never trust a skinny chef! LOL!!! For one thing, he was really fast and the dishes were served in no time at all.

Although I’m not overweight, as I told suituapui on one of his recent posts, thin people an cook too. When I prepare a dish for others, it rarely lasts long.

My only regret is that I didn’t make homemade tarter sauce. I thought I had the needed ingredients at home, but I didn’t. This morning, on my way to work I purchased tarter sauce <shudders> those that know me well know I rarely purchase prepacked food. I’d say 90% of the food in our house is made by me.

Jun 18 4 comments

Beekeeping

Hive Building; Tanzanian Top Bar Beehive

The past few weeks I have been searching the internet for hive plans. I decided this time around that I didn’t want a Warre hive. I love my hive, but I want to try out other hives also.

Kenyan Top bar Hive

The Kenyan Top Bar Hive is really appealing to me, but I since I’m getting nucs at the end of June, I know this isn’t the best option. The nuc will be in a traditional Langstroth box. I still wanted a Top Bar Hive and did a search to see if there was such a thing as a “Rectangular top bar hive” I thought this would be ideal since I could easily transition Langstroth frames into the hive.

Tanzanian Top Bar Hive

Turns out there is, and it’s called the “Tanzanian Top Bar Hive!” This weekend, I’ll be purchasing the wood and hopefully I’ll have time to build my own Tanzanian Top Bar Hive. Since I love the observation window, I believe I’ll add one to my Top Bar Hive. My daughter is excited since I told her that she can help.

I’m also thinking of ventilation tray at the bottom of the hive. Something I can “open” during the summer months and close once the weather gets cool.

Jun 17 4 comments

Family

How could I have forgotten a Father’s Day post?

Yesterday, I told my dad Happy Father’s Day. I also said that I didn’t need a special day to let him know how much he’s appreciated. He’s awesome every day of the year. I knew I was forgetting to post something…

But I did forget to make a Father’s Day post here.

To all those awesome fathers out there, you’re appreciated. I’m thankful for my father and I’m still a “daddy’s girl”. I’ve enjoyed following him around since I could crawl and that still hasn’t changed.

This year, for Father’s Day, my daughter and I got my dad things that he can use when he’s outside puttering around. Like most within my immediate family, he likes useful things and doesn’t really do anything with “frivolous items”. In fact, his items (which I ordered online) will come tomorrow. I didn’t order them earlier since I knew he’d be out of town on Father’s day!

Jun 16 7 comments

Healthy Living

Neem oil; effective in reducing our mosquito population

A few days ago, I wrote about the mosquito issue we have. It makes sitting outside unbearable with those pesky critters munching on your skin.

I use a variety of natural remedies to combat the problem; essential oils (citronella, mint, lemongrass), garlic, apple cider vinegar and more recently neem oil. I’ve only started using neem (outside of homemade skin remedies) within the last six years. So it’s my “newest natural remedy” that I use to combat pests. Since I really wanted to spray a large area, I figured the most economical route would be to use neem oil. I use the Dyna-Gro neem oil. I use about two tablespoons of neem per two gallons of water.

It was my first time using the Stanley Lawn and Garden Steel 2-Gallon Sprayer and I must say it did an excellent job! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the plastic sprayer that I’d been using needed to be replaced. I decided to go with a steel sprayer that should last even longer than my trusty plastic sprayer. I look forward to using my Stanley sprayer (to use natural treatments on our land) for many years.

Early this morning, I sprayed about fifty feet away from our Warre beehive. My daughter and I enjoy watching the bees but with the the rainy weather we’ve been having that hasn’t been an option since it also brought out the mosquitoes in droves. About an hour ago, when my daughter and I went outside to check on the honeybees, we found we didn’t have to swat at the mosquitoes, they flew off to neem free areas.

I’ll be posting my Neem recipe soon

And although I meant to post my neem recipe that I use in the garden and in areas we hang out, I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet. It’s been a busy week/weekend. Our family, from out of town, arrived this past Wednesday for my aunt’s funeral (which happened on Friday.) It was great catching up with them, preparing meals for them to eat, but it didn’t leave time for much else. No worries, I’ll post the recipe within a few days. The recipe is simple and mine only has three ingredients.

Jun 14 4 comments

Beekeeping

Adventures in Beekeeping: Queen, worker bee larva, and honey spotted

Early this evening, I went back into the Warre hive to see if I needed to change the top bar feeders.

Much to my surprise, I saw that they were over half full! That really had me curious since I wanted to know what was different this time around. I was feeding them in about the same length of time, but in the last two hive inspections they were almost out of the sugar syrup. Hmm… it seems the honeybees found reliable sources for their nectar? I know one source is our chestnut tree since I’ve seen a lot of them around there and I imagine they are happy with the multitude of pollinating crops on our property too and the surrounding properties/farms also. I doubt that the honeybees are hanging around our mulberry tree, since from my readings it seems they are wind pollinated. It’s nice to see that the honeybees aren’t as dependent on the sugar syrup.

You know what’s even better? I was pleased to see capped worker cells and I even spotted the queen! There she was on the last frame I’d inspected in the top box, surrounded by her workers. I even saw her going to an empty cell to lay an egg! If you remember, a few days ago, I mentioned that I hadn’t seen the queen on earlier Warre hive inspections. I “knew” she was in there somewhere based on the clump of activity I was seeing, but I didn’t actually spot her.

Outside the Warre hive I saw a flurry of activity from some ants! With the recent rain the cinnamon deterrent is now gone, time to do some outside maintenance tomorrow.

Naturally, this was the only occasion that I chose NOT to bring my camera! Sighs… oh well, let’s hope there will be other occasions.

Jun 14 2 comments

Humor

If you’re thinking of tasering yourself, dont!

Here’s a humorous post that I saw on Facebook…

Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse- sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety….??

WAY TOO COOL!!!

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I’d get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs.

AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target.
I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taster in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I’m looking at this little device measuring about 5″ long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself… ‘no possible way!’ What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best….?

I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, ‘don’t do it dipshit,’ reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ‘ol thing couldn’t hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it.
I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and …

HOLY MOTHER OF !!! . . WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT THE HELL!!!

I’m pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs? The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to ‘mug’ yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor.. A three second burst would be considered conservative?

IT HURT LIKE HELL!!!

A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I’m still looking for my nuts and I’m offering a significant reward for their safe return!

P.S… My wife, can’t stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it! If you think education is difficult, try being stupid !!!

Jun 13 10 comments

Healthy Living

Vegan: Sauteed mushrooms with vegetables

Last week I made a big dish of sauteed mushrooms to which I added lentils and vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, corn, etc.,

Vegan sauteed mushrooms with veggies

I didn’t have time to arrange it on a plate and make it look pretty (before I took the picture.) My daughter was hungry and so I quickly snapped a few shots and served her this dish.

I added a variety of seasonings and I remember cumin was in that mix. I love cumin. A simple dish that was nutritious and delicious too. I didn’t use a recipe I just tossed things together and I must say, it turned out very well. My daughter liked it so much she had a second helping later that day.