I've been avoiding FEAR ANTS largely because I'm going through another bout of "Do I actually write about anything?" and "This is boring" and "I haven't been up to much anyway". I can be pretty harsh on myself, even if this is just a retrospective blog that I share with family/friends. I think it's this paid writing I've been doing. That stuff is awful!
It's been so grey, it's green.
The haps:
1. I am just so sick of storms. Sleepless nights of terror. And the distant sounds of a thrashing wind chime or siren is horrifying.
2. I have a second job now. I start Tuesday eve. Pizza slingin'. It's what you do when you want to travel to New Zealand. New Windows. New Kitchen. New Bathroom. New Records. New Camera. etc. Inflation. I don't know if I've ever lived my employed/tax-paying life without it. "It" "isn't" "supposed" "to" "be" "this" "way". Thankfully, Job #1 pays the bills/mortgage and most else, but we are only treading water and not saving as much as I'd like. Job #2 is supposed to help us enjoy life a little more.
3. New Memphis restaurant crush: RP Tracks! We tried the legendary BBQ tofu nachos and BBQ tofu sandwich. ATM & I, with gratitude, noted how much easier it is to be vegetarian these days. RP boasts about their "world famous BBQ tofu" above all else on the menu and it isn't even an exclusively meatless restaurant. Brilliant.
2. I figured out how to make the perfect omelette. It's easier than I imagined. Omelettes are currently my favorite food, so I eat them too much. My ideal kind is topped with pesto, spinach & ripe Arkansas tomatoes. Heavenly!
3. I got my Memphis back! BWAAaaeeeuuuh!
4. Dreaming of Glasgow New Zealand! We've been on a steady diet of Surf City, The Clean, Tall Dwarves, et al. I'm throwing as much money as I can at our savings which essentially means I don't know when we are going, but we are.
5. Surf City!
6. Tofu Happening! A vegetarian dish & a vinyl record gains you entry. Probably a good idea to bring your own cold drink & chair, too.
7. Full-time tea drinking. My being sick makes ingesting coffee complicated. Or ingesting coffee make my being sick complicated. Either way, coffee is just way too heavy right now. Tea Party. I've turned it into a leisurely pastime at my job. All work ceases. I inhale the steam & aromas. I check out for minutes. I'm a goner. Celestial.
8. HAPPY BIRTHDAY @KMHD. DIRTY THIRTY! XXX (But, you are still 10 in my mind.)
9. Camping!
10. Dragging out the VCR player and watching 120 Minutes and Cure videos.
----- I am actively avoiding writing the vegetarian guide. Writing for $$$ is horribly boring. But, I need the money. I actually applied for more work on Thursday. A couple nights a week at a restaurant will, perhaps, get us where we need to be to as far as saving funds for traveling goes. This is my main focus right now.
The homemade ginger ale is not really ginger ale, but a fizzy ginger drink. It's good, not great. Next time I make it, I will juice the ginger instead of grating it. I only like my orange juice pulpy. It's totally refreshing and not too sweet, although I'd probably make it with scant less sugar next time.
After reading about it on one of my favorite undisclosed websites, I decided to try my hand at making my own ginger ale. The directions are straightforward and simple.
You will need a 2-liter bottle. (Buy 2-liters of anything and either drink it or dump it.) Rinse well. Take 1/2 tsp of yeast (Fleishmann's, et al.) and 3/4 c sugar -- funnel it into the bottle. Grate 2 T of fresh ginger root; add to bottle. Add the juice of one lemon. I added a pinch of cayenne pepper for thrills. Add (not tap) water to 1-2" from the top of bottle. Cap. Shake bottle well to mix sugars and yeast. Let the bottle hang out for a day or so. Ours is chilling in the living room, underneath the side table, so I can keep an eye on it.
Later this evening, I'll check the sides of the bottle for tautness. If it's ready, I'll stick it in the fridge to slow the metabolic action of the yeast. And then I'm gonna crack it!
The push to make my own ginger ale came when I realized that most commercial ginger ales are made with high fructose corn syrup. They put that rubbish in EVERYTHING. Of course, there are exceptions, like the natural, hand-brewed ones. They're brilliant! I just wanted to try my hand at homemade.
I'll probably start making my own BBQ sauce, too. In a pinch, I'll buy sauce from Whole Hog Cafe, but I had to make a run to the grocery store this weekend. Every single bottle from the store contains HFCS, which is prompting me to go homemade in this arena, too. I'm feeling inspired and it's another teeny step in the direction of eating better. I'm hoping after some experimentation, I will make my ideal sauce: smoky, sweet & spicy. And then I'll make the best BBQ tofu you've ever had.
In other inane news, I'm trying this new thing where I don't wash my hair on a daily basis. At most, I can go four days before I start feeling disgusting. It all started when my hairdresser told me to be bold and wash it once or twice a week at most. It takes some getting used to, but it does improve hair quality. You have to 'train' it to get accustomed to not being washed daily or even every other day. Being a longhair can be tiresome. I'm hoping to save gallons of water and time from even dealing with it as additional benefits.
