October

 

October has been here, and is nearly gone.  I don't feel lately like I have too much to say, but thought I'd do a little update as I have more to think about today than some days and am not actually asleep or working.  Still just trying to get through every month on the way to the other one.  But, Esme's birthday is coming up, as well... and I'm not even that sure what she wants to do!

 

I had to replace the front brakes on my mail truck last month, and the fix is *still ongoing* with problems, and I'm still paying on it, to boot.  The other day, the tire was actually *on fire* in my driveway when I got home... well, a spot behind the axle that has a lot of grease on it was on fire with orange flames - but it was highly distressing.  I've had it in to them four or five times trying to get it fixed - but she is an old truck, and does not have anti-lock brakes.. so here we are, trying to 'get her to good'...

 

In August I started a supplement to try to help my hEDS, and it seemed to work well, but I can't get it around here, and need to order another bottle.  I've been off of it two weeks now.. after being on it for two months.  I do see a difference.  But it was difficult - because while I was on it they also had me working almost every day straight for weeks on end.  I began to wonder what it would have been like without that supplement... if I would even have made it through it.  But I'm just not sure.  The supplement didn't stop the afternoon drag-down that would make me nap.. but it stopped some of the 'revenge muscle' problem I was having, and the intense cravings for strong spice were less.. although the cravings for protein were still there.  Now that I'm off of it I'm covering my food with pepper and putting an entire family's meal portion of curry into a single serving of food again.  But overall, I'm not eating as much anyway (we'll see how the cold weather affects that) and some of that is still to do with my sinuses and that extra 'nowhere place' in my throat that food gets caught in - sometimes I just want coffee and soup for the entire day.

 

So, it's like that lately.  I'm just bumping along and studying Japanese, Welsh and Spanish, with smatterings of Czech and French.  I've been doing WaniKani for kanji and am up to about 170 kanji, although I don't know the entire 150 for N5 yet.  I tested to A1 in Spanish, which is new.  I did not retest French.  I tried a Czech test and realized just how much I still have to learn there.  DuoLingo did that hearts thing the other month and it has really limited what I do on there - I feel like I'm missing that as a major activity I had been doing - but I don't want to pay money for it, not yet.. although I've been thinking about subscribing to one language thing or another sometime when I can talk myself into affording a month.  

 

I've been trying not to spend more money, because it is always going somewhere... lately - to this truck fix that is not fixed.  But I'm also trying to work as much as they need me... because I know the $ are always needed later.  As always, I worry that I am not doing enough for Esme, as she is a teenager and doesn't really tell me what she wants - I have to draw it out of her like cobwebs and she is a bit like me, that she will *not want* to make it easier on everyone but then I've been there.. such a hard thing to figure out from both sides.

 

I've been watching some TV shows in Welsh because our internet is fiber now, and much better without the data limits.  But it's not like I'm suddenly all about the videos all 24-7... another thing to ponder on.  I read the book Tyrannosaur Cavern.  I've been reading this Food Heroes Ramen, Soba & Udon book (I see they have a series).. and just started Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid.   I found a really great way to boil eggs and put them in ramen with green onions and finely shredded carrot for Esme and I, and she actually liked it.  She likes the miso soup packets that are now available again at the store - used to be something I was surprised she liked when she was little.  I learned to make sushi rice and onigiri rice balls and have made those with brown rice nearly every week, and eat them with wasabi, red curry paste, nori sheet and sesame seeds.  

Cooking:

Etre ziti : made directly in a ceramic pie pan, 350 degree oven

Recipe : 2 mashed overripe bananas, 2 eggs beaten, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, bit of milk, then added brown rice flour until it was pancake batter consistency +1 (just a bit more than that), put in oven, about 40 minutes or less... take out and cut into eighths and put up in glass container, has sort of a floppy moist texture but good with peanut butter and so forth.  I eat a lot of brown rice now - trying to avoid wheat and white rice, and I also eat a LOT of peanut butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, olives, cheese and eggs.  Of course, there are vegetables, and we eat pork often and other meats but if I'm cooking what I'm going to eat - it is the above things, and I'm eating the rest with other people to share meals.  

 sushi rice substitute: wash long-grain brown rice, boil as normal (2 times water, bit of salt, bit of rice vinegar in water, raise to boil, lower temp and cover, cook until water absorbed), then while still warm stir in a bit more rice vinegar, white sugar (amount depends on rice) and salt.. let cool down some, press into onigiri balls, with sesame seed and/or nori sheet embedded on top, cool and store in glass container with cover in fridge

The supplement info I read a few months ago said methylated folate was possibly the key, and avoiding folic acid supplements that are overabundant in foods like white rice, breads and pasta.  Other ways to get better folate (more usable by the body) are avocadoes, olives, bananas and eggs.<--ding ding, my diet powerhouses for years already.. but now I have an idea 'why'...  The choline in egg yolks is probably something I've been making extra use of for years - I do this thing where I cook the whites to 'just' congealed and keep the yolks runny, add all the heavy fat-soluble spices to the yolks (paprika, turmeric, black pepper) and eat what someone else would consider 'too spicy to live' with relish.