Why, “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” Is A Phrase…..

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The phrase is credited to baseball great Yogi Berra, and anyone watching the Super Bowl last Sunday couldn’t help but think it. With my New Orleans Saints having another poor season, I was glad to see the underdog Falcons, (Hubby’s home team) overcome odds and make it to the Super Bowl. Everyone who watched knows the outcome, but if someone didn’t – it was a double-stunner. The Falcons surged and had a blow-out going. The idea they could keep the New England Patriots scoreless until deep in the third quarter was definitely not expected. And then it happened. It’s called a momentum shift among other things and now the stunning part was all to the Patriots as they roared back and won. If you were not emotionally invested in the game, it was amazing.

There are other phrases, too – like, “You have to play all four quarters” or “Never Give Up”. Now, in all fairness to most of we mortals, the Patriots were favored to win and have a powerhouse team that comes with a multi-million dollar price tag. Their players are some of the highest performing in the sport. For those of us who may be facing obstacles, our resources are likely to be far more limited. On the other hand, there are also times when what we need is encouragement to see our ability and recognize that getting behind doesn’t mean something is hopeless. We can all lose sight occasionally of a goal and absolutely encounter set-backs that cause to want to give up. That doesn’t mean the game is over though. Here’s to anyone who may be going through a bit of a slump.

Women in Agriculture…..

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I attend different community events and today was one of those annual gatherings you don’t find in every part of the country. Well, actually, you might these days. As I have mentioned before, the modern history of deep South Florida only dates to the late 1800s due to a lack of roads and the difficult environment of thick foliage, heat, humidity, bugs, and snakes. Once Henry Flagler extended his railroad, getting goods to markets was improved and big packing houses were commonly seen close to the tracks. The large agricultural area here is still “hidden” from many people in Miami who don’t realize the sheer number of acres being grown. And the face of agriculture has changed over the decades. Small family farms have never been easy to keep going and there are new challenges for multiple reasons.

With that said, twelve years ago the Dade County Farm Bureau Women in Agriculture Committee looked closely at the statistics of agriculture in our region and realized numbers backed up something they already knew – women were a significant force in local agriculture. They had the first annual luncheon to publicly acknowledge a woman who made special contributions for that year. These are women who farm along side husbands/parents or in some cases, start their own business. They participate in programs like Ag in the Classroom, helping plant gardens at schools, are advocates for agricultural issues and much more. I didn’t know until today that more than 36% of our farms are owned by women. Today’s honorees were in fact a mother and daughter representing the 3rd and 4th generation of a family who came south in 1917 to plant their first local fields. Although the mother did marry into the farming family, the daughter started with chores and responsibilities at an early age and plans to continue with the family tradition. Right at 100 people were present today at Schnebly’s Winerary and Brewery which is the perfect setting for such an event. It was a delight to be surrounded by these strong women, and yes, there were men there as well.

A Soup Kind of Day….

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We do get spoiled in the Sunshine State. When we have rain, it generally comes in bands mixed with partial clouds and sun, but we do have days like today with overcast and little break between rain. Although it’s not pounding rain, it is winter and our temperature did drop. No threat of ice or snow of course, which still puts us in far better shape than having to deal with that. Not to mention it will all clear up within a couple of days and return to our “normal”.  We had already decided on the Spicy Mediterranean Seafood Stew for tonight (I’ve posted that recipe before). Chili will be next week naturally as the Superbowl meal.

In continuing to work on lower carb soups, I thought to try a version of cream of vegetable. I was going to do cream of broccoli and saw we had a bag with a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. We also had some extra Pecorino cheese since I had accidentally grabbed that instead of Parmasean not long ago. What I hadn’t realized was the silken tofu I was going to sub for cream was past it’s “use by” date. However, it wasn’t too much of an impediment.

So, the bag of vegetable mix (4 cups) into 8 cups of vegetable stock; some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Turn to low heat, use the stick blender to “cream” the veggies. Add 1/2 tsp of each: dried red pepper flakes, oregano,basil, thyme. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir 1/2 cup (happened to be the amount left in the container) finely grated Pecorina cheese and cook another 5 minutes.

It’s obviously low in fat, although I didn’t do  a calorie count. It comes in at 17 carbs per bowl, which in this case held four ladles full (standard soup ladle). Granted, that’s higher than the turkey and sausage soup I previously posted, but it’s also packed with veggies. It just depends on what you’re in the mood for.

Snuffle and Sigh……

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Our temperate winter weather doesn’t keep cold germs from being transported in. Well, maybe they come plenty of other ways, too. Anyway, Hubby got it first and initially I thought I would escape, but no such luck. Before I continue, let me say I’ve become more cautious about differentiating between a common cold and something worse. A couple of years ago, I ignored what were actually pretty obvious symptoms and went through nearly a month of bronchitis bordering on pneumonia. This go-round, the usual TV ads were on about colds and medications and I decided to give a try to one advertised as helping shorted the severity and length of a cold. Remember, the standard cold lasts 7-10 days. With this method, you can use nasal swabs, a nasal spray, tablets that dissolve, or crystals you put on your tongue to dissolve. The clear warning though is to start treatment the minute you feel the first symptom. In my case, it was pretty close to that. I chose the dissolving tablets and later picked up some of the nasal spray.

The first four days I was very nearly won over, then Day 5 was like going backward. I was also told, however, I shouldn’t have used that product alone, but could have combined it with a standard product as well. Hmm, didn’t think about that. I have swapped back to regular products. At the moment, it seems as if I will come in at the 7-day mark instead of 10, although we’ll see.

Along those lines, what I have been doing when traveling is using another of the products advertised. I start taking it 3 days prior to travel, throughout the trip, then for 2 days after. It’s difficult to know if that has had any impact. All I can say is since I’ve been doing this, I haven’t picked up a cold during travel. On the other hand, I know an older lady who swears a daily dose of apple cider vinegar and honey is the best prevention you can use for a number of things. Thoughts?

Something About the Blues…..

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Despite not being quite myself with battling a cold last night, we’d had tickets for weeks to see Muddy on the Waters, A Blue’s Tribute at the Seminole Theatre. I grabbed a nap and we had dinner at home instead of out as we usually do as part of a theater evening. It was the Nighthawks performing with Muddy Waters’ son, “Muds” Morganfield joining them in the second part. I had debated about going, but I had also booked us a seat on the aisle so that meant I could be on the side and not breathe on anyone other than Hubby and it was his cold that was passed to me anyway. What a fun performance it was and a really talented group. In looking around, there was definitely a preponderance of Baby Boomers. There were some younger people too, but it got us to wondering if the Blues as a music genre is fading. I certainly hope not.

In fact, we sat next to a couple visiting from Iowa.The gentleman is a big National Parks fan and they’d been to the Everglades earlier and will be headed down to Dry Tortugas. They are major Blues enthusiasts and assured us the Davenport, Iowa Blues Festival is well attended every year. It’s actually the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival put on by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society and this past July was their 31st. Having been to the area multiple times during my Army days, summertime is when you want to have an outdoor festival. On the other hand, that’s also peak dive season here, so I doubt we’ll be headed up there. Then again, we haven’t tried the Blues, Beer, and BBQ Festival at Fruit and Spice Park since that first year. I’ll have to see if it’s still an annual event.

A “Modern” Classic…..

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One of the reasons we added Kindles in our household is because like so many people, we cannot bring ourselves to throw away books and there really are limited places to give them to. By the way, for those who might not know, the Homestead Kiwanis have a marvelous “Just One Book” program where they give books away at different events. They mostly need children and young adult books though and we have none of those left around.

Anyway, back to the main point of the post. We have a stationary recumbent bike we both use 2-3 times a week. When Hubby is on it, he watches a lot of webinars. I pop in a DVD and depending on the DVD, may also read. The other day, when I was looking through the numerous filled bookshelves, I saw Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig. Published in 1974, it was praised as, “The Fabulous Journey of a Man in Search of Himself”, and sold quite well. Bear with me for another aside because it’s pertinent as to why I didn’t read the book before. Most of you who follow this blog are aware my first husband, my son’s father, was killed in an accident when our son was only four months old. The wonderful man I married eight years later is the one I usually talk about in these blogs and he has been a terrific stepfather. I was a Captain at the time of my first husband’s death and through one of those quirks in Army assignments, I wound up in a special training course several months later. Let’s just say I was still going through emotional adjustment. During a discussion with some friends, as the topic turned to unexpected blows most of us encounter at some point, one guy said, “I suggest you read  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I think it would be of interest.” I politely said I would, not particularly planning to. About three months after, I was settling into the new house at my new assignment, and having put off unpacking multiple boxes of books, decided to tackle that task.

And there it was, in the second box I opened, right on top – a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I certainly hadn’t bought it, so it had to have been one of the many books my first husband had when we merged households. I was startled, but still wasn’t ready to read it. I did, however, keep it all these years and am just getting started on it. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll post later after I finish.

And Four More Days Slip Past…..

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Goodness, gracious, I’ve managed to let four more days elapse without posting. I do try to post every three days and more in between if there’s something extra special. Part of it though is I really did fall behind after almost killing my travel notebook computer. As it turned out, I only killed the keyboard and there is an on-screen one I can use. Well, that’s assuming I can adapt to the keyboard, which happens to be another of the technology things I don’t do well with. Hubby, however, is okay with it and now comes one of the interesting aspects of technology. Please excuse the use of name brands this time, but it’s directly applicable to the subject.

When Hubby was trying to decide if he wanted a Surface like I had or an IPad, he gave it a lot of thought and finally decided on the IPad. When my Surface began to have problems, we took a look and unlike technology that normally falls in price as new generations are released, that hasn’t happened with the Surface. So, for me, we swapped instead to a little notebook computer which I enjoyed all of the ten days I owned it. Getting back to me actually killing only the keyboard. Hubby showed me the on-screen keyboard and it quickly became apparent this was not going to work. Since replacing the keyboard would cost about half as much as buying another notebook, he’ll be getting me a new one. However, he’s fine with the on-screen keyboard and the partially crippled notebook computer allows him to do things he couldn’t with the IPad. So, it hasn’t been a complete loss as he now has his IPad and the notebook in addition to his regular desktop and of course we have IPhones. I’m not going to say the house is beginning to look like an electronics shop, but there certainly are a lot of devices and cables around.

Why We Love Underdogs……

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As I have mentioned before, I’m a morning person and Hubby is a night owl. So, when the College National Championship game was on Monday night, it wasn’t likely I would have stayed up to watch it anyway. It was an all-Southern match-up with South Carolina’s Clemson Tigers going up against University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide. As can happen, this was actually a re-match of the previous year when Alabama won in the fourth quarter of the game. Clemson came into that meeting undefeated so it was not, “the Disney  ending” they were striving for to repeat 1981 when they had been undefeated and went on to win National Champion.

To have the rivals go head-to-head again this year made for a great story. Because Hubby is a GA Tech Alum, that makes us an “ACC Family”, but we both like Alabama even though they are an SEC university. Clemson was not faring well as it was approaching my bedtime and I felt a bit of a twinge they weren’t doing better. Later as Hubby came to bed, I roused enough to ask if things had improved for Clemson. That’s when he told me about the fourth quarter surge and thrilling last second victory over Alabama. Unless you have an emotional or financial interest in a particular team, this is what you want in a game and it always makes for terrific post-game discussions.

Likewise, unless you have an emotional or financial interest, there is a tendency to root for the underdog. Culturally, we appreciate a powerhouse team, but when a “lesser” team scraps their way to a head-to-head challenge and wins, it reminds us we can overcome odds no matter what the experts say. Sometimes, the more highly rated team simply underestimates the opponent and they can’t play catch-up. At other times, there is an extra spirit that rises to a strength that won’t be beat and it’s always exciting to see.

You Really Can’t Always Tell By Appearances……

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Carnivorous alert! It’s funny how your memory is sparked at times. Hubby was prepping rib-eye steaks for dinner last night and it reminded me of Joe Allen’s BBQ in Abilene, TX. That was where I had my ROTC assignment and as always, restaurants were high on my list of places to identify. It didn’t take long to hear about Joe Allen’s, but it wasn’t on a direct route for me getting back and forth to work. One day I drove past at a time when it wasn’t open and sort of shrugged. It was the ramshackle side of rustic and I wondered if maybe the reputation was overblown. Then a friend who was helping me get acquainted with the area took me there for dinner.

As a longtime, multi-generational resident, she explained.  Food was what mattered at Joe Allen’s, not ambience. There was BBQ and steak, and a big galvanized tub of ice for the long-neck beer bottles. The point about the steak though was it was rib-eye with a secret rub then grilled over mesquite. Period. The deal though was the steak was cut according to what you chose – from 1/2 inch to 4 inches thick. You wanted sauteed mushrooms or peppercorn sauce – go to another restaurant. You wanted a nice wine list – go to another restaurant. You wanted one of the best steaks you would ever eat and an icy cold beer – sit down and enjoy yourself. I have no doubt the BBQ was excellent, but I admit I never had anything except the steak – my friend and I usually went for the 1-inch.

Other places with stuccoed walls, timbered ceilings, good steaks, and a larger menu were closer to where I lived and where I usually met with friends. That didn’t prevent me from going to Joe Allen’s though and I was always quick to recommend it to newcomers.

Ah, Computer Woes….

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As I’ve mentioned before, we have become such a connected world (well, many of us anyway), when we lose those connections, it can really upend our schedules. I’ve returned from my trip where I was plagued with multiple computer and electronic issues. Now, in all fairness, most of those were my own fault. The mishap that knocked out my travel computer was totally on me and I’ll see today if it is recoverable. The second issue of not being able to have access on my I-phone while at the hotel was probably my fault. (I haven’t told Hubby about that one yet so he can explain what I was doing wrong.)

Anyway, I returned late last night and did in fact get catfish and hush puppies in during the trip. Th cold snap that descended was only going to last a few days, but 40 degrees and mist was distinctly uncomfortable. I do realize there are plenty of other places where that would be quite welcome at the moment. On the other hand, if you’re planning a ski vacation, lots of snow is on the wish list instead. Today and the weekend will be catch-up for me with multiple tasks. Ah well, it works that way at times.