Thirteen Things I bought at the International Food Store

We have many small international grocery stores throughout this area, usually specializing in Mexican, Indian-Pakistani, or Chinese items. However we have one large grocery store that carries, I believe, every food available across the world. It is not very close to my house, so I only get there a few times a year. I mainly like to stock up on flours that are not made with wheat, but I love to wander up and down the aisles and see how other parts of the world eat.

I went to that store yesterday, and I couldn't beleive it, I bought exactly thirteen things. That must be a sign I thought so I will share them with you.

First the various flours and cooking basics.

1. 8 Pounds of Rice Flour

2. Glutinous Rice Flour - This is like Rice starch or Sweet rice flour

3. Gram (Besan) Flour - This is Chickpea flour, not Graham Flour.

4. 5 Pounds Rose Rice

5. Ginger Paste - If you like fresh ginger, this is a nifty short cut.

6. Yellow Split Peas

7. Dried Dark Kidney Beans

8. 6 pound can of Chick Peas



Next I bought a few unusual items that we enjoy.

9. Preserved Mango - Dried Mango rolled in sugar and chilis

10. Wasabi Rice Crackers - Crunchy with a real WOW. they are great fun at parties.





And then there are the items that I bought just out of overwhelming curousity

11. Toasted White Chick Peas - They look a bit like corn nuts.

12. Instant Tapioca/Taro - Tapioca Pearls with instant coconot milk. I made this last night and I threw the Taro away (I am not sure how it should have looked after it was cooked but it didn't really taste very good), drained the pearls and mixed with the coconut milk. It was not a pudding consistency like I thought it would be but tasted really good. (The boys HATED it.)

13. Coffee Agar Mix - Can you believe this: Coffee Jello!

My Favorite Tree

Please don't tell the other trees in my yard, but this tree is my favorite.

It is a Red Maple and I love the bright orange red leaves in the fall. The red buds in the spring are very pretty too.

But the main reason I love this tree is I found it on final clearance one step before it was trash. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown and Linus when I look at my tree, "All it needed was a little love."

Sunday Dinner

Sometimes when I list my sons' food allergies, people ask, "So what do you eat?"

So this is what we ate last night, Lasagna and Salad. Yum.

To be honest the boys are not much into salads, but Mr. Geek and I enjoyed it.

Saturday night we splurged and had steak and ribs on the grill, with baked potato and asparagus. It was worth barbequing in the cold rain.

See diet restrictions aren't that scary.

How I Learned About Safety

I was an undergraduate in the early eighties, it doesn’t seem that long ago, but in the field of safety education, it was light years ago. We had some general instructions on chemistry laboratory safety to try and keep us from blowing up the lab or each other. There was no talk at all about industrial safety, we had no information on how to stay safe while we were working in our chose field and even more importantly how our role as engineers could keep other people safe.

One of the Safety pages I subscribe asked this question today: How did you learn about safety?

This story is more how I didn’t learn about safety, but it is where I first realized the lack of safety.

My entire engineering safety education consisted of one part of one lecture in one course. (To contrast I teach an entire semester of process safety.) We first watched a video that was primarily about laboratory safety, a humorous video about a klutzy professor in the lab and the problems that ensue.

Then we had the big slide show. I think the guest speaker was from the university safety department, he was a young guy from the rural area and had little or no industrial or engineering experience. This was my one and only safety lecture and I have recreated as best as I can from my imperfect memory.

He began, “We had a bunch of unlabeled compressed gas cylinders. Regulations were in the works that would require all chemical containers to be properly labeled and stored. Also these regulations would require that the contents of these containers would have to be properly treated and if the contents were unknown the material would have to be identified and treated appropriately so as to not be a danger to the environment or the community.”

The italicized words are my addition and were not in the original presentation but they should have been.

For those unfamiliar with compressed gas cylinders, here is what they look like. They can contain anything from helium gas at Chuck E. Cheese, to poisonous chlorine gas at the swimming pool, and various gases used in industry.

He continued proudly, “So we took these unlabeled cylinders to an empty field in the middle of nowhere. And we shot our twenty-two rifles at them. That way any vapor would be released far away from people. And if any materials was corrosive or toxic we made sure we stood upwind, I am sure by the time it the vapor drifted near to people it was diluted enough to be safe.”

{gasp}

Let’s list out what happened shall we…

First- they shot rifles at containers of possibly toxic or flammable materials

They took pictures of the entire event

They brought these pictures in as a slide show to TEACH us about safety.

Even more unbelievable, only one student raised their hand and said, “I don’t think that was a very safe thing to do.” I am sorry to say this student was not me.

Thirteen Things I tried and couldn't do while my Internet access was down

Yikes, life without the internet was scary this morning. This is what I tried to do this morning only to remember, oh yeah, internet is down (in the order they happened).

1. Check email. Isn't that the first thing we all do?
2. Read all my morning blogs. Hi, how are all of you?
3. Look at picture of house where our company did surveying to finish final report. I had emailed it to transfer it between computers.
4. Find friend's work phone number. It is always in her signature line on every email.
5. Find phone number for restaurant I am planning on meeting friends at next Monday. (What is a phone book?)
6. Look up front page of the newspaper to tell friend the location of a flooded building near her house. I had read the actual "paper" newspaper earlier this morning and I was trying to quote it.
7. Find the heat of vaporization for gasoline. (I am writing an exam for later today.)
8. Look up the story of the rail car accident that was emailed to me the other day. (Would that make an example to use for the exam?)
9. Pay car payment.
10. Renew Libray books.
11. Check Televisionwithoutpity.com and Bravotv.com for recaps of Top Chef last night.
12. Read more Blogs, I really miss you all.
13. .... Yeah- the internet is back up!!!

Two weeks of Spring - Wordless Wednesday

How about now? Can you see my lettuce growing yet?

Sunday is a Day of Rest?!!?

What did we do on Sunday? Well thanks for asking...

First out of the door was Mr. Geek on his way to the Half Marathon.

It was his first time and he ended up with a respectable time of just over two hours. What is even more incredible is he made it to spinning class at 5am the next morning! Yikes!

Not to be outdone, I was next out the door for a 7:30 am (!!!) band practice.

After Church (where the band played) and Lunch, it was time for the children's activities.

The youngest went horseback riding.

While the middle son had a soccer game..

Followed by youth band practice and youth group.

And how was your Sunday?

(Note: These are not actual photographs from Sunday, because my camera is broken. AAAARGH! I pulled these from the archives.)

Random (and Even More Weird) Thoughts

Manic Mommy started a tag of unimportant facts and began an outpouring of embarrasing situations from everyone.

Meanwhile Drewpy Drew finished his last post with this thought for the day: No matter how many ways you try, there's really only one way to wear a pair or underpants.

So here is an embarassing fact about me:

I love PeeWee Herman. I watched his show every Saturday even though I had no children, just because I liked it. When I read Drew's thought, I IMMEDIATELY thought--

Not if they are GIANT UNDERPANTS!

And then I found this. Enjoy.


OMG, Kathi I forgot all about Jambi. Okay everyone, this continuous rain must stop, repeat after Jambi...

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day

For more information check this out.

You might be asking what the previous post had to do with Autism Awareness (Look below for picture). Well the boys in the picture (not the mascot, I don't think, well I can't be sure of course) were diagnosed at age 2 and 3 with Autism and PDD-NOS (a lesser autism spectrum disorder).

At that time, the thought of a "normal" trip to a hockey game was so so far out of the picture.

We were lucky, we were able to get information that lead to the healing of their bodies.

We were lucky, the boys bodies responded to changes in diet (not everyone does).

We were lucky, we were able to find the combinations of supplements that allowed their mind to learn.

We are lucky, the limits placed on my boys are disappearing.

We are lucky, we have come out of the end of the Autism tunnel with an intact family and financial resources, only a bit beat up. (Not many families effected with Autism can say that)

It has taken alot of work by the boys, help and encouragement from friends, and endless support from people I know only from cyberspace.

Thank you to all of the researchers and doctors that are working to make the lives of all of these kids better and healthier.

For those looking for information on the medical treatment of Autism, I highly recommend Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies by Kenneth Bock and Cameron Stauth.

Guess what we did last night?

Blues Hockey!!!

TURNING THE TIDE!

A Prayer Thrust forAutism Awareness Month April, 2008
See the details at Children of Destiny or here

Join us and thousands from around the world as we come together in a unified concert of prayer to see the tide of autism turned!

Since the early '90s, autism, which was once considered to be a rare disease, exploded within the human population. With each passing year greater numbers of innocent children are diagnosed. The epidemic has grown to a staggering 1 in every 150 births. Today, as you read this, it is conservatively estimated that over 100 children will be diagnosed with autism worldwide

I believe along with those at Children of Destiny that now is the time to join together in prayer. Together we can see the relentless tide of autism turned back once and for all! The Bible says that God "heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Ps. 147:3).

Did March Go Out Like a Lion?

Or go out like a Lamb?

The Rainbow in between Thunderstorms....

What's in a Geek's purse?

I know you are all dying to know the answer to that question.

Blame OhMommy for bringing up the story . Melissa showed us hers . And although she didn't specifically call me out I felt the need to share (or perhaps overshare).


Please refer to what I wrote in the about me section of this page. There you will see this is one area that I will look incredibly like a geek when compared to normal people, but I live on the edge.


Here is my purse. You can tell right off that I carry a purse for a long time. In fact the only time I get a new purse is when my mother gets tired of seeing my purse and buys me a new one. If she sees this post, remember mom I have a birthday coming up soon. (I honestly love getting new purses, but I just NEVER think of buying one for myself, not while the one I am using works just fine...and I realize how geeky that sounds, thank you very very much.)



Do you want to look inside?

First the important stuff. Credit card holder, check book and insurance card holder.






I try to carry a small purse because the larger the purse my more junk I fill in with. In fact look how much stuff I crammed into this purse.


Extra keys, emergency health and beaty supplies, and "important" receits and business cards.

My garden after one week of Spring

The other two beds look the same as last week. But check out my lettuce. Can you see the slight tinge of green? mmmmm, I am so ready for a fresh salad.

Tagless Meme 123

No I haven't really been tagged, so to be fair I won't tag anyone, but if you feel so inclined please leave sentences from your books in the comments...

The rules are:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. (No cheating!) Find page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.

Okay here it is...

90 percent of all childrn who have asthma have allergies. Allergies, infact, are now known to be the single most common trigger of asthma. When people with asthma have an allergic reaction, it often tends to localize in their airways.

Healing the new chilhood Epidemics Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allegies by Kenneth Bock

I walked upstairs to get another book I am reading. Let's try it....

Like all great philosophical ideas, this one is simple to understand but virtually impossible to imbibe. OK-- so we are all one, and divinity abides within us all equally. No problem.

eat pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Comments?