According to health911.com, sore throats are an acute inflammation of the mucous membrane of the lower pharynx. Tonsils and the soft palate may also be inflamed. The main indication of a sore throat is pain when swallowing and sometimes a burning sensation and a tightness in the throat. Secretions may be discharged from the mucous membrane or the throat may be very dry.
Causes
Catching a cold is the most prevalent cause for sore throats, but they may also be the manifestation of other diseases.
Breathing through the mouth, allergies and/or pollen in the air are other possibilities.
Remedies
Folk
Aloe vera juice Gargle with aloe vera juice two times daily.
Apple cider vinegar (ACV) According to Dr. Jarvis in his classic Folk Medicine, the remedy to use to get rid of a sore throat is to gargle with ACV. The acidity should kill the bacteria on contact. Mix one teaspoon to 2 tablespoons in a glass of water. You can mix it as strong as you can stand it. Gargle one mouthful every hour, swallowing afterward. Repeat twice each time. This treatment can cure a streptococcic sore throat in 24 hours. The acid in the ACV is very helpful in soothing and minimizing the sore throat, and, if you swallow it, the extra potassium is also beneficial. Note: After using this remedy be sure to rinse your mouth with water to prevent the acid from eroding the enamel on your teeth.
Combine one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, one teaspoon of cayenne pepper and three tablespoons of clover honey in a glass of warm water. Gargle as often as necessary.
Betony is a useful astringent which reduces inflammation. Make a tea and use as a gargle.
Cayenne pepper Add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to 1 cup of boiling water; stir well and gargle while mixture is very warm. This brings more circulation to the area and helps draw away the infection. To this formula you can add 4 parts echinacea, 1 part garlic bulb, and 2 parts peppermint leaves to 1 part cayenne.
Or another remedy is to add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to 1 cup of boiling water; stir well and sip slowly.
Chamomile tea Make a tea adding 1 or 2 teaspoons of dried chamomile blossoms to a pint of boiling water; steep and drink a cup every few hours.
Chlorophyll Use ½ teaspoon to ½ cup of water and gargle three times a day.
Echinacea/goldenseal Add 30 drops of echinacea/goldenseal combination to one cup of warm water; drink every two hours.
Ginger Peel the skin from a small ginger root. Slice the root into thin coins and place the pieces into a small pot of water. Boil the pieces to make tea. The tea should turn a yellowish (straw) or tan color. Add three tablespoons of your favorite honey to sweeten the tea. Sip the hot tea slowly. The tea gives a sharp tingle to the throat after swallowing it. After you sip it, gently clear your throat.This tea also works for trying to get your voice back after a cold. This remedy compliments of Cathy Ekaitis.
Goldenseal Boil a pint of water and add ½ teaspoon of powdered goldenseal root. Drink hot. Goldenseal is well known for its antibiotic properties.
Grapefruit seed extract This extract is a powerful all-around antimicrobial product and is an excellent disinfectant and antiseptic. Add five drops to a glass of water for a soothing gargle.
Honey/apple cider vinegar Mix ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar and ¼ cup of honey. Take one tablespoon every four hours or as needed for pain relief.
Honey/lemon juice Take several tablespoons of this mixture several times a day. Let it sit in your throat a little while. This remedy will also help alleviate that irritating throat "tickle."
Hyssop Steep two teaspoons of dried hyssop in one cup of boiling water, covered for ten minutes; strain and drink cool for an expectorant or hot to relieve coughs, congestion, and sore throat. The oils in hyssop are good for mild respiratory problems. Hyssop contains marrubiin, the same compound that makes horehound an excellent expectorant.
Lemon Add the juice of one lemon and one teaspoon of salt to one cup of warm water. Gargle three times a day for one minute.
Licorice Either suck licorice candy or drink licorice tea made by steeping one teaspoon of licorice root in a cup of hot water for three minutes. Drinking the tea will help clear mucus.
Marshmallow root bark Make a tea by putting one or two teaspoons in a cup of hot water. Drink several cups a day or as needed. This tea will coat the throat and relieve soreness and coughs.
Mustard Grind one tablespoon of mustard seed and combine with the juice of half a lemon, one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of clear honey, and 1 1/4 cups of boiling water. Leave this mixture, covered, for 15 minutes and use as a gargle.
Myrrh It can be made into a tea. To make the tea add 2 sprigs of coarsely chopped parsley, 3 whole spice cloves, 1 teaspoon of powdered myrrh, and 1/4 teaspoon powdered goldenseal to 1 pint of boiling water. Steep. Stir occasionally while cooling, then strain and use as a gargle or mouthwash.
Pomegranate Boil some pomegranate rinds and drink as a tea. The pomegranate contains astringents.
Slippery elm bark Make a tea by putting one or two teaspoons in a cup of hot water. Drink several cups a day or as needed. This tea will coat the throat and relieve soreness and coughs. Slippery elm lozenges may also be used and are much more convenient if you are going to be away from home.
Thyme Make a tea by lightly crushing five fresh or dried leaves; place in a cup and fill with water cooled to just below boiling; cover and leave to infuse for five minutes; remove leaves and drink. May also be used as a gargle. Thyme has antiseptic properties.
Water/salt Mix a teaspoon of salt in eight ounces of quite warm water. Gargle the whole mixture several times a day. This will increase the blood supply to the area by washing away mucus and dilating capillaries, thereby enabling better circulation of infection-fighting antibodies.
Just in case you forgot... it's here. It's time. It's super dynamic daylight savings time! You know that little phrase Spring forward Fall back; well, at 2am this evening (tomorrow morning- I know) your atomic clock will jump ahead an hour which means we're losing an hour of that all too precious commodity - sleep.
So what's the trade off? Well for starters we are losing an hour of sleep but gaining an hour of daylight. Yes!!!! Summer is on it's way baby! More daylight means more people will be driving home while it's still light out which means LESS accidents. More daylight means more visibility which means LESS crime will be taking place. More daylight means more time to go for a neighborhood jog which means LESS calories will be stored as fat on your body. More daylight means LESS use of electricity, which means LESS bad stuff is happening to the earth (ok don't get me started on how more daylight might actually mean more driving which means more less good things are happening to the earth) Let's try to stay positive shall we? ::wink wink::
Sacrifice and Gain Daylight savings time. What a wonderful time to reflect upon sacrifice and gain. How easy it is to focus on what we are losing. How easy it is to blame the loss of an hour for missed meetings, missed calls, missed appointments... missed opportunities. But you and I both know leaders don't take the easy way out. Leaders lead. Leaders take one for the team. Leaders suck it up. Leaders adapt.
Adapt, Adopt, Adhere Whether it's sacrificing an hour of your sleep to gain a few more hours of sunshine or sacrificing 500 calories a day to gain a leaner physique - we must adapt. Adapt to your circumstances. To be successful we must also adopt. Adopt a positive attitude of gratitude. Have you ever heard that saying, "I'm too blessed to be stressed," well, it's true. When you count your blessings instead of your stressors something physiological happens in your body. A shift occurs that will push you forward. It's hard to stay positive when you feel oppressed by fate, debt, weight, chance, pressure, etc. but adopting an attitude of gratitude works. People don't heal themselves of cancer by thinking about how much their life sucks. They adopt a positive attitude. They can't afford the luxury of a negative thought. They adhere to a game plan. When you start to think of how much you are missing that hour of sleep in the coming weeks, remember to adapt, adopt, and adhere. Whether it's monthly budget you need to stick to, tracking your calories in a journal, or writing down your leadership goals for the coming months- adhere to your plan. Adapt to your circumstances. Adopt a positive attitude.
Lose an hour and gain.... A LOT It's easy to see how losing an hour of sleep is a hassle and a pain in the neck. But losing an hour of sleep means you gain more time to spend awake with the ones you love. It means you gain more time to play, to dream, to create, and to work on your goals. It means you gain more productive time in the day to live, to learn, to lead. Lead in that extra hour of daylight you are gaining... as my hardworking Grampa G. used to say, "You can sleep when you're dead."
It’s March and that means its Women’s History Month! In this month we reflect upon the great women of our past and present and hope to inspire those emerging female leaders who are among us in our families and neighborhoods.
Yes this is a blog post about Women’s History, but that doesn't mean that I feel obliged to comment on the top ten, twenty, 100 list of spectacular women who have made history and have changed history. If you want a list like that, well- that's why Al Gore "invented the internet." Google it. What women’s history month means to me is this: One person can make a difference. One person does make a difference.
Whether you want to start an organization within your university, or fight to end homelessness within your city, or invent an innovative way to do something, or stand up for yourself against an oppressing force… YOU CAN DO IT!
Yes, “We’ve come a long way baby,” but there is sill a long way to go with regards to gender equality. The women whom we have come to know as the history changers are proof of this. Each and every one of them has demonstrated to us that women have, and will, continue to do great things!
The greatest of women leaders have sprung forth from the farthest reaching locations across our globe at assorted times in history. Each of them embraced, struggled against, and endured through dissimilar circumstances while triumphantly pursuing their cause; and in so doing, have aroused and empowered generations of other women to do the same. But dissimilar and assorted as they were, all of these women had one thing in common. They were true to themselves.
“This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”-Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Remember the story, the Emperor’s New Clothes? It was a parable about a vain monarch whose only concern in life was to wear the best garments constructed by the most popular designers. He hired two rascals posing as tailors who then made him clothes using “invisible magic fabric.” When the royal leader parades down the street in all of his stark-naked glory, nobody can see his clothes… because there aren’t any!
But the townspeople didn't want to look “stupid” and didn't want to embarrass the emperor or themselves, so they all pretended they could see his fabulous new wardrobe. Finally a young girl, who wasn't concerned about fitting in with the crowd, cried out, “But the emperor has no clothes!” At times we too have pretend to go against our own beliefs to avoid being labeled as a weirdo, a freak, a prude... or the biggey- ::whispers:: a bitch.
When we do this, we find ourselves following along instinctively with the crowd, not noticing that what we are saying and doing is in fact stupid, or wrong, or disingenuous to our beliefs. To our values. To our self.
The townspeople in the Emperor’s New Clothes were afraid to go against the crowd, afraid to buck the system; but by pretending to see clothes that weren’t even there, they only robbed themselves of true power. The majority is not always right. Rosa Parks would tell you that. Susan B. Anthony would tell you that. Joan of Arc would tell you that. Erin Brockovich will tell you that.
What did all of these women who changed history have in common? What can we learn from these magnificent creatures? They were true to themselves. They stayed true to SELF.
True to self in the face of danger.
True to self in the face of ostracism.
True to self in the face of exile.
True to self in the face of obscurity.
True to self even in the face of DEATH.
Each of these women was true to HERSELF. Are you the next woman to make history? To change history? Be courageous today and follow your heart! Let yourself be guided by what you know to be deep and true.
Ever hear of Lilly McElroy? I looooove Lilly. Love. Love. LOVE. Her. Why? Because she rocks. Yeah. She does. She's tender and tough. She's cute, quirky. She kicks arse. She's authentic. She's a performance artist with humility. Check her out!
I gave myself a throbbing headache today because I allowed myself to be overcome by worry. Have you done this before? It could be worry about anything really. Worry about a test. Worry about memorizing lines for a play. Worry about the economy. Worry about a family member's health. Worry about your own health. Worry about what kind of job you'll have when you graduate. Worry about not being able to afford the lifestyle you want. Worry about being single forever. Worry about being trapped in an unhappy marriage. Worry about letting down your family. Worry about letting down yourself. Worry about not achieving your dreams. Worry. Worry. Worry. BAH.
When do I feel the least worried? When I think of my Grandma's kitchen. My gramma (like many of yours I'm sure) was a survivor who ENDURED so many things: decades of balancing family and labor, endless nights caring for a spouse whose lungs were rattled with emphysema, countless days raising an extensive network of children and grandchildren, fearlessly surviving the Great Depression, battling life with arthritic hands and knees...
She was more than just a grandmother. She was a teacher, a nurse, a caretaker. She was my friend. My grandmother had the weight of the world on her shoulders and yet... she was always pleasant. Always loving. Always wise. Not just always... but in all ways. This lady had it together! And she never failed to help me GET A GRIP.
Now when I was in college and I started to feel overwhelmed or worried or scared I'd go visit with Grandma P. We'd have lunch which was promptly followed by hot tea and krumpets. She'd sit at her kitchen table wearing her plaid "house coat" snacking on a MiracleWhip, tomato and ham sandwich. Leaning back in her chair she'd take a sip of RC Cola, and peering at me over her pink acrylic eyeglasses she'd say "Look Red, worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you busy...but it doesn't get you anywhere."
Worry is like a rocking chair. Heh. Makes sense, eh? So what's your rocking chair? Is it despair, jealousy, fear, rage, anger, wrath... hey it happens to ALL of us. Something or someone sets us off and these feelings instantly have power over us; or worse yet... it doesn't happen in an instant... it brews. POWERFUL emotions are these, but AUTHENTIC power they are not. In the theatre we are trained to harness these states of mind and summon them at the appropriate time when sensory recall is in order. But what about in real life? How can we get a handle on an emotional tsunami and resist the urge to freak out? How do we bail out of a tidal wave when all we have is a teaspoon? How can we can we use our energy to unleash the authentic power we each have inside of us?
Below are my 4 A's for reclaiming your authentic power. I like to think of them as a meditative device; only here I'm using the meditative sound of AWWW instead of OMMMMM.....
AWARENESS:
The first step towards authentic power is creating awareness. When a painful feeling washes over you. STOP. DROP. AND ROLL. Becoming aware of the feeling is key to owning it.
AWESOMENESS:
Ladies and gents now that you are aware of this painful feeling - please place your tray into the full upright position and kindly remind yourself that the plane is not crashing. FEAR is a powerful paper dragon. The thoughts and feelings whirling about your heart and mind are coming from a part of you that's FRIGHTENED by the false belief that "you are not good enough". It's a LIE. You are awesome. FEAR stands for Fake Experience Appearing Real. Let's resist comparing ourselves to anyone. There's only 1 me. There's only 1 you. The world doesn't need another so-and-so. The world needs YOU.
AUDACITY:
Webster's defines audacity as: bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints .... Now realize that the decisions we make when we are jealous, angry, or fearful come from a place (from a part of you) that is FRIGHTENED. Ask yourself- "Really? Do I want my decisions to be made by a part of me that is frightened? Do I want to allow this terrified part of me to react to this situation? What audacity!? What's up with that?" I didn't think so.
AUSPICIOUS:
In the theatre we use an exercise called "It's as if..." This exercise helps the actor to imagine how an ordinary being would behave under extraordinary circumstances. Webster's defines auspicious as: attended by good. With that in mind, ask yourself "How would I handle this situation IF I were compassionate, graceful, and wise?" What would Mother Theresa do? What would Michelle Obama do? WWJD? In other words, what would the calm, loving, servant leader in me do?
Remember that within every decision we make there is a leadership moment; and part of being a leader is accepting responsibility for those decisions.
My efforts to get to ze gym today have bested me and me thinks the likes of Street Fighter 4 will not equate to a deficit of 500 calories this afternoon. Hrmph. Lückily for me I have a movement class tonight which will indeed bürn several kilocalories.
In other news... this morning I had my first go at baking a new bread recipe. This is challha bread. It is an egg bread that is braided.
Challha is not the type of bread but acutally refers to the "challha" - a part of the bread that is broken off or torn off before the rest is baked and is toasted and burned in a separate oven to symbolize a temple burning. Or something along those lines... Check out that challha... not half bad, eh? Recipe below. Time to toast it up with some lashings of fresh cream buttah and apricot jammy! <3> Üdo
Üdo's Happy Challha Bread
2 pkgs. dry active yeast
1 cup of lukewarm water
Dissolve the heast into the water. Let stand 5 minutes.
2 tbs. honey
1/4 cup of soft büttah
4 large eggs, beaten
1 tbs. salt
6-8 cüps of unbleached white flour ( I used 6 cups)
Set aside 3 tablespoons of the beaten eggs to brüsh onto bread before baking later. Beat the honey,salt, eggs, and about 2 cups of the flour into the yeast mixture. Gradually mix in the remaining flour. Careful here. I had to toss out my first batch because I loaded too much flour in at once... Dough should be light and airy not crumbly! If it gets crumbly then someone made a boo-boo. Toss it out and start over. Just make sure you add the flour gradually and keep that light airy doughy texture while mixing (at first using a wooden spoon and then using hands as it gets thicker).
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 15-20 minutes until smooth, uniform, and unsticky. Place the kneaded dough in a large buttered bowl covering with a damp towel and let it rise in a warm dark place until doubled. I put mine in the oven where the pilot light keeps it warm. Punch down the risen dough and return it to the floured surface. Knead 5 minutes and divide into thirds. Knead each third into a 2inch thick snake. Line the snakes up and braid. Let rise until double. Seal the ends with a teeny bit of water and pinch closed. Brush with egg and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.
Baking bread once a week is a great tradition.... Fiddler on the Roof- Tradition
consternation \kon-ster-NEY-shuhn\, noun: sudden dread or paralyzing terror
With the economy so poor, there's been talk of job loss in nearly every field. Much to my consternation, the division in which I work (within our department) has been put on high alert for possible reduction or complete elimination.
Now, what better way to combat those feelings of consternation than to laugh right in its face? What better way to poke fün at dread than to... well... let's see... what would tick off dread? Ahh, I know! Make it cüte! That's right- CÜTE. Give dread & doldrums ::the finger:: by putting a little bow in it's hair.
Yeah! Go ahead and tie a pink ribbon around it's toe. Put it on a swing and give it a püsh! Make a flower grow out of it's head! Make it sing and dance on a withering tree branch!
And that's exactly what I did. Introducing Blik Wall Graphics...wall art that you piece together. Some can be re-stuck... some can not (alas this one is not re-stickable so it's up for the long haül). This is my personal favorite and most recent addition to our happy home.... The Happy Creatüres graphic by Threadless Designs.
This cürious little creation is one in which to lose yourself. I can sit and marvel at this cranky and cute masterpiece for hours pretending that I'm a part of it (can you guess which creatüre I am?) marveling at my ability to make it my own which was no easy task to construct mind you, despite the simple instructions. Each piece of the graphic must be separately cut from the roll it comes on and coaxed off the sheeting and onto your wall in a pattern that you choose. That's the best part- it's up to you to tweak it to your specifications.
So here I conquered two crabs with one apple... 1). amüse myself while coping with consternation... and 2). turn TV into art.
Why turn TV into art? You know there's something about a television that really irks me. I mean really, what was I to do with this gaping black plate plopped in front of the pristine white canvas of our wall? We've gone without a telly for the last two years and now we finally have a real beauty! But when it is inanimate it sits there.... knowing...seeing... gawking.... like an ebony eyeball in the middle of the room. Aye.... like ze eye of Mordor. Nevermind the fact that the Playstation has turned me into "he who is known as Smeagol".... mmmmmyyyyy precccciouuusssssss.... but I digress...
So what to do to remedy the dark one?
In a previous post I talked about creating a "cozy" for your TV.... but after pondering upon the matter, I finally decided to work with the darkness rather than against it... This Blik wall graphic is a fairly quirky and endearing alternative to covering up ze television with a granny quilt, eh? Cozy up to this... emo.
Kind of reminds me of a nightmare before Christmas...
A few Valentine's gifts for my brilliant hübby carried over from last night into this morning's festivities.... hehee... Check out the cüteness! Cute v-day mügs brimmed with steaming tea, a crisp red bowl (with hearts on the bottom!) filled with his favorite cereal, a porcelain heart shaped dish of his favorite fruits, a heart shaped ice cübe in his favorite OJ (check out the totally hip depression-era jade vintage Coke glass it's in too!), a peachy crepe made from (almost) scratch (we had these on our honeymoon in St. Lücia at a french patisserie called Josephina's it was just divine!), and an egg-white omelet made with sauteed onions and peppers served on glittered heart shaped plates. Ahhh! Fun or what? Last Valentine's was spent at the Settler's Inn but with the economy so icky and with our trip to Thailand on the horizon we decided to make our own little bed and breakfast experience at home. It was an absolute delight! Last night we had a piggie süshi fest at Blü Wasabi where we feasted on coconüt shrimp appetizer, miso soüps, a Black Dragon Roll, a Kyombie Roll, and an Autümn Roll... then we had Mochi for dessert and two Lychee Bellini's (I also had a cosmojito while we waited). Madone. So, sooooo delicioüs. We are off to walk the lake! Who needs the gym when you can fill your lungs with fresh suburban air, get some vitamin D to brighten the skin, a long hike up a steep hill to develop our muscles, see the blues and greens and hear the birdies sing! XoXo <3> Üdo
Ohhh yümmy rüg! A true classic, the Williams-Sonoma genuine 4000-gram-weight flokati is exclusive to Williams-Sonoma Home. It is made of ivory New Zealand wool that is hand loomed into long, luxuriant pile then rinsed for 40 hours in the spring waters of the Pindos Mountains. The result is an exceedingly thick, fluffy, character-rich rug. Don't they have the most wonderful product managers? Who comes up with this stuff? This product description is marketing brilliance... and oh yeah- it's free! (the description- not the rug) har!
Long John Üdo's Chicken Strips Defrosted some chicken breasts and tired of the same ol' same thing. So I cut the breasts into strips and figüred out a cockamanie new way to make deliciousness!
In one bowl flour up your strips and sprinkle with Goya Adobo seasoning.
Dip the strips into skim milk.
Then dip the strips into crushed corn flakes.
Sautee the strips in a shallow pool of Wesson.
Cover.
Cook thru and flip with tongs until finished.
Near the end, add a swirl of white wine and turn the heat up a bit to cook off the alki and leave the flavor. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm with side of cous cous and spinach.
Tonight I made a homemade cherry pie! Crüst and filling all from scratchers. Yahooo! I made a small boo boo by brushing the crust with egg yolk instead of a beaten egg with milk and thüs my crust looks a bit browny toasty. I wanted to use up the egg yolks I have because we've been eating egg white omelets in the mornings and I don't know what to do with these yolks! :\ But other than that it came out just peachy. Check out the little cherry decal I made with the left over pie dough! Pretty nifty, eh? Yeah, I love it! =D
4 cups pitted cherries (I used frozen cherries that I had on hand)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons buttah
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place bottom crust in pie dish.
In a large mixing bowl combine tapioca, salt, sugar, cherries and extracts. Let stand 15 minutes. Turn out into bottom crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, flute edges and create lattice work. If desired, create a decal from remaining pie crust.
Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown.
Serve warm with a side of creme brulee ice cream! Oy.
My Italian grampa was a big fan of this lentil dish - especially düring lent. Fridays were the day for fish and lentils... this yümmy family recipe is one of my hübby's new favorites too! This is a mild, light dish with protein, carb, legume, and very little fat. It can be as bland or as flavorful as you like. I also roasted some garlic to have on hand (we use it instead of büttah) on our toast. Roasted garlic is sweet and delicious and does not give off an offensive garlicy odor. I used a muffin tin and 12 heads of garlic. Here's how to make your own:
Üdo's Roasted Garlic Cut the tips off 12 heads of garlic keeping the root in tact. Place each head of garlic into a muffin tin. Dazzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Cover with a tiny roof of foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. When the garlic looks and feels soft take it out of oven and let cool. When cool, squeeze the garlic out of it's paper shell into an airtight container and save for use as needed. Variation: Drizzle a small amount of honey on to a few of the garlic heads. Sounds gross, but believe me - if you are a garlic lover the taste is to die for!Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Grampa Giancini's Lentil Bake 1 loaf of fresh french or italian bread torn into pieces 1 small bag of dried organic lentils rinsed in a strainer 3 large organic onions diced
5 stalks of celery diced 3 large cloves of garlic diced (not minced) 6 cups of home made organic free-range chicken broth 1 dazzle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil 1 swirl of white wine Black peppercorns and sweet sea salt grind to taste
Spray a 13 x 9 cooking dish (I use the french white porcelain dish with the glass lid) with non-stick spray. Tear up the loaf of bread into bit sized(ish) pieces. Pile it into the baking dish.
Meanwhile, dazzle some olive oil into a pot on the stove (if you use non-stick wear you can probably use less olive oil) sautee your onions and celery until soft. You want to sautee the onions first so that they can create a bed for the garlic to sweat on- otherwise you risk burining your garlic. Always sautee your onions before your gahlick. Once you see the onions and celery are soft and nearly translucent add the garlic and swirl it a bit with wooden spoon. Now you want to grind sea salt a few turns- this will cause the onions and garlic to "sweat" to release their natural flavours ... ahem... their UMAMI if you will. ;)
Next, add a swirl of white wine and turn the heat up a bit to burn off the alcohol but leave the flavor of the wine. For more flavor, you can add a packet of dried onion soup mix here if you want. Toss the lentils into the pot adding 6 cups of your broth; creating an onioney soup mix... let this cook for a while... until lentils are tender.
When most of the water is absorbed into the lentils and it looks fairly "thick" you move on to the next step. Spoon the lentil mixture on top of the bread. You will have extra lentil mixture so don't panic if you can't make it all fit into the dish. Keep spooning the mixture in to the top. When you reach the top of the dish take your ladel and make 6 depressions into the lentils (3 rows of 2). Crack an egg into each depression. Cover with lid. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until you see the eggs are set.
When eggs are set take dish out of oven and let rest for 1o minutes removing lid. Grind sea salt and black peppercorns atop the dish before serving with a fresh spinach salad or sauteed spinach with olive oil and garlic. Mmmm Mmmm! Jüst like grampa's! PS: this dish ages well... it's even better the next day and tastes pretty good served cold too!
Candy is dandy but cookies sure are cüte! Sügary goodness! Yes, I know it's still a week away, büt I've been overcome by hearts and all things pink and red! A John Lennon and Yoko Ono poster (which is on my refrigerator) inspired me to make cookies like mad today... here they are... all red and pink and ready to eat. Yüm, yüm lüvah!
And for all of you Gregory Peck fans... one of my Hemmingway novels: The Snows of Killamnjaro..... "Please luvah!" 1:49
If you live within proximity of NYC and/or have ever visited the farmer's market in Union Square- you know Joe.
Our old buddy Joe Ades passed away. :( Here's a great tribute to him.
PERFECT PITCH
STREET HAWKER JOE ADES IS NEW YORK'S
GREATEST PRODUCT MOVER - BUT DON'T CALL HIM A SALESMAN
By CHRIS ERIKSON
I'll show ya 'ow this works!
That's how it begins. And if you're one of the many New Yorkers who've run across Joe Ades at work, you know more or less what happens next. After years of selling the same item - a $5 stainless steel vegetable peeler - he sticks to a set script, though like a jazz singer performing a standard, he never does it quite the same way twice.
Now when you peel a potato, it doesn't matter if you're right-handed, left-handed or, like a politician, underhanded.
Crouched low on folding stool above a Lucite cutting board, he grabs a potato from a nearby tub and puts it through the paces, peeling it in a few rapid-fire moves, using the peeler's "eye" to carve out a handful of french fries, and then, switching the tool to his left hand and using it like a mandoline slicer, reducing the spud to a heap of paper-thin slices. Put those in some hot oil, and when they turn brown you'll have a lovely chip! By now a crowd has typically gathered to eye this bearded, dapper Englishman in a hand-tailored suit, silk socks and gold cufflinks. Ades grabs a plump carrot and juliennes it in a flurry of slicing, while crowing in his broad English accent about the glories of his instrument.
You couldn't slice a carrot like this with a knife. I wouldn't know where to find a knife sharp enough, but anyone can do it with my machine.
He picks up the pace now, extolling the Swiss craftsmanship ("They don't make cheap things in Switzerland") and the blade's eternal sharpness ("You'll never buy another one as long as you live!"). Now it's closing time - the moment of "coming to the bat," as Ades calls it. He pulls a thick wad of bills out of his pocket and riffles through it while announcing the price: "Five dollars each, and worth every penny."
At this point, more often than not something extraordinary happens. In this crowd of jaded New Yorkers, purses fly open and hands reach into pockets as though lured by magnets. Hands clutching bills reach out one after another, Ades plucking them while delivering a stream of quips. When the wave subsides, the roll returns to his pocket, the spent peels get swept into a tub, and within seconds the whole thing starts all over again. Anyone watching this scene unfold might conclude that they've just seen the greatest salesman in New York City in action.
Ades, though, doesn't care for the word salesman, which to his mind summons up images of a wage earner making client rounds with a sample book. "I'm a grafter," he says. Since he picked up the trade as a lad, grafting - pitching goods in the street, or at gatherings like fairs or marketplaces - is the only profession the 74-year-old Englishman has ever had. And for the last 15 years he's plied it on the streets of New York, where except for a lucrative stint selling children's books, the peeler has been his sole item. On any given day he might be reeling in "punters" in Union Square, or Chinatown, or Downtown Brooklyn, or Herald Square, bringing in $500 or more (quite possibly a lot more) a day. Anyone who's seen Ades (pronounced like Addis) haranguing a crowd and figured him for an eccentric who must sleep under a bridge somewhere would be thrown for a loop to see him after quitting time.
That's when the devoted father of three (whose children include a Brooklyn schoolteacher) returns to a spacious, tastefully appointed apartment on Park Avenue near 88th Street. An erudite gentleman with a love of jazz, classical music and Woody Allen movies, Ades was long in the habit of following days on the street with nights spent stepping out to haute haunts like Jean Georges and the Café Pierre, sipping champagne with his fourth wife, Estelle, an artist. Since she died of breast cancer last November, though, he's spent his nights in the rent-controlled apartment he inherited from her, where paintings and sculptures line the walls and a piano sits in the living room by a marble coffee table stacked with art books. Sipping coffee there on a recent morning, Ades spoke to @work about how he fell into life as a grafter, and why after all these years the call of the street is still strong. ********************************************************
My father died before I was born, and left Mum with six kids and me on the way. He was a textile importer and exporter, and he lost most of his money in the slump of '29. When he died it was such a change. Before that they'd lived in big houses and had servants, and all of a sudden it went away. I started working when I was about 12. I'd started smoking, and when you smoke, you need money for cigarettes. I had a paper route, I used to cut hedges. I was always conscious of the need to get my own money if I wanted it. Nobody was going to give it to me.
I did quite well in school, but I dropped out when I was 13. I had a mastoid, and I lost about six months schooling, and by the time I got back I was so far behind I lost interest. Mum said you've got to get a job at an import/export company like your father, so I got a job at a shipping firm, where my job was to post letters. On the way I used to walk past this big bomb site in downtown Manchester. It was a derelict site, and all the spiffs, as they called them in those days, had set up and impromptu market. But it wasn't the sort of flea market you see in this country. Everybody was a grafter. It was tremendous - a very colorful scene with an amazing array of characters.
They were all performing, and I used to stand and watch it for hours and hours and hours, and it just fascinated me. They'd sell fake medicine in those days, cure-alls, but the wonderful stories they'd tell with this crap! It was so convincing. They'd be doing what we called a ring pitch, just standing there with no props, no nothing, and they'd have 60 people in a circle all around them, and they're holding them.
Can you imagine the talent that takes? I got in with fellows who were much, much older than me - in their 50s and 60s - and they were so adept at what they did, and so eloquent. I learned it by watching. And I knew how to do it from day one. I could open my mouth and get a crowd. There was a chain of six coffeehouses in Manchester, and each one was a meeting place for different workers. There was one for the clappers, or antique dealers; there was one for the textile merchants; there was one for the racing people - the clerks and the tic-tac men - and there was one for the grafters. And that was my college.
We'd meet there before work in the morning, and that's where you'd hear the stories, who went there and who did this. There were gamblers and there were alcoholics, there were family men - they were all different. But they had the common trait of living on their wits.
I'll give you an example. Someone goes into the druggist and buys a big block of inexpensive soap, what we called carbolic soap, and cuts it into tiny cubes. (In pitchman's voice) "Excuse me! Sir, looks like your glasses could use some cleaning" (mimics cleaning the glasses). And he sells the bits of soap for a shilling, when the whole block costs a shilling. At the end of the day he's got three or four pounds. That's initiative. There were many who'd work just long enough to get enough money to go sit in the pub, but for me it was all about treating the game as a business.
Because it is a game. How much am I going to get today, and nobody's going to stop me? That's the game. I like the excitement of it, the challenge of it - the fact that if you do it right you get paid, and if you do it wrong you don't. When I told my Mum what I wanted to do she was horrified. It was a bit below the level of respectability, definitely. But I laughed at that, because I knew I could go into the best restaurant and have the best meal and wear good clothes. To go out broke in the morning and drink champagne in the evening, that's always been my thrill.
I got a stall in a market, and worked there with a board and trestle, or just straight on the floor. Comic books were the first thing I ever sold. I sold tea towels and pillowcases. I sold bedding for a long time, sheets and blankets. I traveled all over the country - I went to fairs, I went to markets, I went to agricultural shows. We moved to London and lived there on and off for a couple of years. In '69 somebody sent me a letter from Australia saying there was an opportunity to work. It arrived around Christmas, and in the winter it's cold and miserable on the streets in England, and you can't make any money. So I went.
Coming from Manchester, the sunshine of Australia was lovely. I was there about six months and I called Shirley, my wife, and said get rid of the house and get out here as quickly as possible. I worked in Sydney first, selling fancy goods.
Then I went up north to Newcastle and set up a business with a truck, selling everything. Sheets and blankets and toys and pots and pans and giftware and china and crockery - everything, everything. All off the back of a truck. I sold really, really cheap, and people used to come from miles away, with no advertising - it was all word of mouth. I bought a Rolls-Royce, and I used to park it next to the truck. It was lovely. You know why I left it? I was bored. It was like fishing in a trout farm. It was too easy.
Honestly, I could have had blocks of flats, if I had been that way inclined. It was never my forte to pile money up, or invest it, or become wealthy. I like the challenge of going out every day and getting enough money for the day. Though it hasn't always appealed to the women I've been married to. I first came to New York City in '83, on a trip with my first wife. I moved here permanently when my third marriage broke up, in '93, and started working the peeler.
At first I didn't realize its potential. I thought, it's a thing that must burn out, because everybody has one, you see. But it's not that at all. It's a consumer item. Experience has taught me that, because people throw it away by mistake with the peelings, or they give it away, or somebody steals it. They always need another one. Once they've used this, they need another one if they lose it. It has to be a very quick demonstration, a very compelling one in the street. At a fair or a carnival, people are quite happy to spend ten minutes, but if you've got people on their lunch hour, or rushing from one place to another, ten minutes is an eternity.
I've managed to boil it down to a two- or three-minute pitch. And that in itself is quite an art, to gather a crowd, and hold them, and convince them in such a short period of time. The pitch is never exactly the same - there's always a slight change.
Which is thinking on your feet. You change according to, the crowd is out there, or they're here, are they moving away, are they not moving away. You're fine tuning all the time, making little adjustments - timing, body language, intonation. And it will make a difference. This is the beauty of it, you get told right away if it's working, with dollar bills. I got arrested quite a lot early on. You take it in your stride.
It's a misdemeanor - you can't go to prison for it. They may lock you up for a couple of hours, but they have to let you out. I've always treated the police with respect, I've always showed up in court, always paid my fines. And I don't have much trouble with them anymore. It's like I've told them: They'll get tired of chasing me before I get tired of running. I usually work four or five days a week. It depends on the weather and how I feel.
I've worked seven and I've worked two, there's no rule. I'm working more now, since my wife passed. She died last November, and it's really the only thing I have, you know. And now I'm saving, because I've got three granddaughters, who go to St. Anne's school in Brooklyn - and I've taken on the challenge of sending them to college. My oldest is 17 and she's applying to Yale, and she may get in; she's very academically inclined. My wife and I were very close, a very happy couple. When she was alive I spent all the money I'd got taking her out and spoiling her. We'd go out to good restaurants every night, party and have a nice time. I don't do that any more, so I work, that's my relief. I haven't had a drink since she died. There's no value, I don't think, in getting drunk by yourself, and waking up on your own. And I've really got no desire, no interest in meeting anyone else.
Not at my age. I don't think there's room in my life for it, at this point. I've got my grandkids, and I've got my game, my business. And I love it. I just love it. I look forward to getting up every morning. It's not simply a way of getting a living. It never has been. It's the excitement, it's the challenge - the glorious uncertainty. Every day is fresh. The only time I'm really happy is when I'm set on that stool.
An old Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A battle is raging inside me ... it is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The old man fixed the children with a firm stare. "This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
Twirl and trumpet your way through my magical menagerie of delectable dinners, delicious desserts, and divine domestication! A speck of decadence, a snip of style, a personal anecdote or two... go on! Add a dash of Udo Umami to your day! All the cool kids are doingit!
My efforts to get to ze gym today have bested me and me thinks the likes of Street Fighter 4 will not equate to a deficit of 500 calories this afternoon. Hrmph. Lückily for me I have a movement class tonight which will indeed bürn several kilocalories.
