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I'm back again to talk about diabetes. Some of you know that a friend of mine just died from sepsis, due to an uncontrolled infection which was a complication of having diabetes. She left a 21 year old son and 25 year old daughter. It's very very sad. While it sad, it's partly her fault. It hurts me to write that. I don't want to write it. But she would never try to change her eating habits relying on doses of insulin instead. She refused to stop eating white bread, processed foods or alcohol. She was never much of a person to have sweets however. It sucks having diabetes. My husband does. Frankly I'd love to be on the HoHo's, Wagon Wheel and McDonald's diet if they said it wouldn't kill me. I love junk food, but I no longer eat it. And nowadays I don't miss it. It's funny when you stop eating things like that and start cooking fresh decent meals, that you lose the cravings for crap. I beg people to eat right. Learn to cook. Think about the future. I recently read about an 89 year old man, who has had diabetes since he was 12 years old. People with juvenile diabetes back then rarely lived long. He did. But there was no testing at home then, no real belief that humans could control their sugar levels. He studied and became an engineer and married a doctor. Eventually a portable blood monitor became available to doctors only. He was tired of being at the mercy of this awful disease. So his wife ordered one. He started taking his levels up to 8 times a day carefully recording what he'd eaten. Eventually he understood. But no one would listen. So at age 45 he went back to school and became a doctor in hopes that someone would hear him. His approach is rather radical, but the proof is in the unsweetened pudding. As I read it, I felt afraid, seriously afraid of not being able to eat this or that. I wondered what Michael would think. But then I realized that lately food is just food to us. We don't crave things, we eat because we are hungry, and not because we are tempted. There are a lot of chapters of Dr. Bernstein's books online. I recommend you read them. His story is here: http://www.diabetes-book.com/ Diabetes is not just diabetes. Read the online chapters, learn to cook and eat well. You're worth so much more than your next sugary hi-carb snack. Be well ... tim

Food We all need it. We all buy it or grow it. This blog is a few of my pet peeves. Michael my poor dessert-deprived husband needed some pie. So, rather than ask me to bake him one, he bought one. It cost him $2.50. It came in a box. The list of ingredients did include pumpkin, but it also included 20 other ingredients, several i can't spell or pronounce. This pie tasted disgusting and very chemically. One bite was enough for me. Mike on the other hand ate his piece and eventually the remaining pie. He paid for that, details not required, but it sure wasn’t worth the money he would have wasted if he didn’t eat it. I have trouble understanding the resources we waste on ‘food’ like this horrible processed pie and other things that are full of chemicals and additives. Do we do it because they are cheap to purchase? As a poor person I didn’t waste the little money I had on crap like that pie. Not that I ate well, because I really couldn’t afford to. The best meals I got then were from the missions. But had I had some place to cook, I’m sure I could have eaten better than I did. Another big problem with our food is looks. How food looks has cost us flavour and nutrition. Think: Big tasteless strawberries. Sure they are pretty, but have no flavour. So why bother eating them??? I asked the produce manager why we only get these and not local strawberries (in season, of course). He said we have to buy the USA’s strawberries in order to get their lettuce in the winter. Huh! Imperfect fruit and veg, is a thing now. You can buy it in many stores for a cheaper price than the perfect option. It’s silly not to sell it or buy it. That curved potato tastes no different than does the smooth round option. Often those go to animal food, or to rot. What a waste. Last fall Mike and I were in a No-Frills grocery. They had farm fresh cauliflower. They were beautiful, huge examples but they would have been rejected by most stores because of their size and colour. They were on the yellowish side, not pure white. But it was delicious, tasted no different that the white version. They also came with a lot of green. There was a staff member there to cut away the leaves, but I said no thank you. The green helps to keep the head fresh. Just like tomatoes on the vine. I shake my head when people pluck them off their vines because they don’t want to pay for whatever that vine may cost when weighed. Leave them on, pay the extra 1cent. The fruit will continue to ripen. Mine last for a week or two on their vines while sitting on the counter. I don’t have the answers for everything. But we can teach about food. How to buy it, store it and cook it. Sadly few schools do that anymore. Maybe it’s time to bring that back. But you don’t have to be a kid to learn. And there is nothing as satisfying as baking your own bread, or serving your family a healthy and tasty meal. It’s not hard, you just have to make an investment of time and some effort. Now… I have a dark sweet cherry coffee cake baking… smells done to me. Eat well!

Some of you may know of my recent passion. Well Michael, writing, poetry- those are given, but this is about food and my latest and possibly most favourite gadget. Not sure if that is a fair name for this machine because it's amazed me from day one. Frankly it's a pressure cooker, a good one, and very safe one, invented or maybe reinvented by a Canadian. I like that, so i put it in here. I am talking about the Instant Pot. No I'm not a food blogger (okay, i am today) and I bought and paid for my Instant Pot with my own credit card. But I love the darned thing. It has helped me in the kitchen more than most other things i've tried. Rice is a miracle in there. Seriously. Unbelievable. Pasta al dente in 3 to 4 minutes. Lemon chicken thighs with potatoes in 15 minutes. I'd swoon if it wasn't so unmanly. Right now i am cooking beans, simple red kidney beans. I love them and I know dry beans are less expensive and healthier than canned. I have prepped them the usual way on other occasions. That means, soaking and then cooking on the stove, but I've never gotten them to be how i like them. My preference is buttery soft beans. Crunchy and under done is not my cup of tea. Other bean issues are the bloating and gas they can cause. But they are so good for you. You can de-gas them. Why not do that when they are cheap, healthy, fill your belly, help with cholesterol and are full of good things? Why am i writing this? Well, i wanted to make chili. The recipe i found said you can just throw the beans in dry. When I related this information to a fellow food loving friend, he said, "Hmmm. Well let me know how that works for you." I could tell he was chuckling. Beans don't really affect me in that way, but my sleeping partner, well that's another story. I said to my friend, "Well, if I'm sleeping on the sofa, you'll know why." He replied, "Yes. Yes I will." He has his own husband, and they enjoy beans, too. This chat led me to do some research. There are lots of opinions out there, such as, yes, it's fine to put them in dry. Others said, soak and then pressure cook first. Other said, when you cook beans from dry don't cook them in acidic things - um, tomatoes are kinda acidic (sarcasm isn't attractive, i know). I thought, I have to rethink this. I don't want Mike taking chili for lunch and killing the rest of the squad an hour later. So I soaked the beans overnight. This morning, I put them in my Instant Pot with a clove of garlic and some bay leaves, covered them with water and cooked them for the recommended time, on high pressure, for 25 minutes. They are done now and I am letting the Pot cool and release pressure naturally. There is a quick release option which vents the steam. It looks like something out of a video game!! But the slower method is still part of the cooking process and in this case slower is good. I'm going to pause writing here. And wait until the beans have cooled, so i can tell you what they are like!! Can't wait. See you soon!! Back .. well the beans are buttery soft and delicious. I think I may reduce the cooking time by 5 minutes next time but I am very happy. Time to go and put the chili together and then let The Pot do its thing. I never really thought about pressure cooking but it is terrific. Now, the Instant Pot isn't a one trick pony. It has multiple settings including Soup, Meat/Stew, Rice, Beans/Chili, Yogurt (on my list to try), Mulitgrain, Porridge, Poultry and it is a Slow Cooker and Steamer, too. So, some bang for your buck. We bought one for our nephew when he moved and he tried it here before he moved .. he likes it but I fell in love. Thanks for reading and happy Potting!! AFTER CHILI UPDATE: Okay, i like this. I've eaten two bowls .. well one must try it right? This is not the chili from the chili mix package. It is not super thick and gloopy. It is fresh tasting, mildly spicy and not full of that chili mix/spice flavour i'm not so fond of. But it is moreish and I really have to NOT go back to the kitchen to get more of it. However some will be coming with me tomorrow when I start work.

On our recent trip, we did some antiquing and I found several fun old cookbooks. I think I will present some of my most interesting findings over the next couple of weeks. If you like cooking, eating, history, or goofiness, it should be enjoyable. Of course I am easily amused Let's begin our old cookbook adventure. I started collecting these chestnuts from history because I love eating, the past, and of course reading. Soon I found so many interesting things about how food, cooking, and the interaction with technology and sociology shape culture. My first example I present from this past vacation is a tome entitled 'Housekeeping in Old Virginia'. This book was first published in 1879. The copy I purchased is a reprint, but it's the content that matters to me most. This book is a compilation of many cooks' contributions much like a church cookbook from today. What's unique about this collection is the depth of its study into the recipes. Until this point, previous cookbooks were concerned about managing a household along with general food preparation. This book almost exclusively deals with actual recipes and not how much it costs to employ a maid or what silver to use with oysters. From Marion Cabell Tyree: "It will be seen that she is indebted to near 250 contributors to her book. Among these will be found many names famous through the land. Associated with them will be discovered other of less national celebrity, but who have acquired among their neighbors an equally merited distinction for the beautiful order and delightful cuisine of their homes." I find this fascinating for several reasons. Perhaps one of the most important is the author felt compelled to support her writing with celebrity endorsements. She is also concerned with pleasing others with her cooking. Not too much different from today, it appears. Anyway, here is a tasty recipe if you'd like. Brunswick Stew About four hours before dinner, put on two or three slices of bacon, two squirrels or chickens, one onion sliced, in one gallon of water. Stew some time, then add one quart peeled tomatoes, two ears of grated corn, three Irish potatoes sliced, and one handful butter beans, and part pod of red pepper. Stew altogether about one hour, till you can take out the bones. When done, put in one spoonful bread crumbs and one large spoonful butter. - Mrs. M.M.D. Now, I don't expect most of you to run out and trap or hunt down some squirrels for stewing. I also think it speaks powerfully of the era. Keep in mind, chickens for stewing weren't the nice, tender spring chickens we see in the grocery store today. A stew chicken would be an old bird that needed as much cooking as a stringy and bitter squirrel would to become tasty. Brunswick stew is a recipe to redeem rather marginal ingredients to become something sustaining. In addition, I love the fact we are using both butter and bacon in this recipe. Delish!!! Until later...

tim shared his Apricot-Almond baked oatmeal recipe, and I thought ... "Yeah, there are eggs, cream and butter in it, but ... the oats and nuts will help with the cholesterol. It should be okay if I don't go crazy and eat half the pan. Okay, let's go to the store for ingredients!" Off I go. I spend forty minutes in total driving there, walking around with my barely acceptable "I don't care" hair, selecting stuff, then driving back home. Once back here, I begin the process of prepping the dried fruit and nuts. Then I put the dry ingredients together in a big bowl, while the wet ones and sugar are in the other. I'm very slow in the kitchen. I'm not afraid of it, I'm just plodding and methodical. One thing at a time is how I work. Music is playing, and I'm drinking a latte so, it's not exactly a bad time - I rather enjoyed myself, actually. Anyway ... another forty minutes go by before I'm done. I pour the dry ingredients into a 9x9 baking dish (as instructed) then pour the wet ingredients on top. By this point, I'm pretty proud of myself. I can tell, this is gonna be great. I turn to the oven, my dish of soon to be baking oaty deliciousness in hand. "Oh, shit. SHIT!" Our oven is broken. And I had literally spent almost an hour and a half gathering and preparing ingredients, only to remember the oven was busted right when I needed it. So ... now, two loaf pans of oaty unknown are probably not even close to the right temperature in an old, cantankerous toaster oven. Some days ... you just gotta laugh.

Dear all GA members, as most of you know now, I absolutely love cooking that's is one of the reasons why I became a chef. But I doesn't matter if you have had 4 years experience or 40 years experiences you still make mistakes. the other day I was making a cake for my mates birthday, it was going fine until I began to bake it. I put it in the oven and left it, as I went to do some reading and half way through my book I could smell something burning. So I made my way downstairs and was greeted by a cloud of smoke coming from the kitchen, I made my way in to the kitchen opening the front door and windows as I pass to let the smoke out, as I open the oven my eyes begin to sting as a cloud of smoke hit me directly in the face. I leave the kitchen and head outside to stop my eyes from stinging, I go back to the kitchen and was greeted by an exploded cake covering every inch of my oven. have any of you had major cooking disasters like mine please leave comments in the space below and I look forward to hearing from you. yours, scotty94