The Magic of Miso
(Image courtesy mediafocus.com)
Growing up on the west coast of the USA is like growing up in an international zone. When I was very little, in Alaska, we had lots of Scandinavian foods, along with – no, I am not kidding – mooseburgers, deer, fresh shrimp and king crab, lots of clams, and of course, salmon and halibut. Our Dads would go out in hunting season, and alternated garages for the cleaning and cutting up of the deer. We would get the eyes or tail to take to school for show-and-tell. Yeh, it sounds gross now, but we were kids, and it was a part of our life.
We waited to be 10 years old, when we could go to Rifle Club and learn to shoot. You can’t imagine how delighted I am to see a Women’s team in Kuwait, top-notch riflewomen!
In Seattle, there have always been huge communities of immigrants. One community, Ballard, is – or was – primarily Scandinavian, mostly Norwegian. (I had to look up the spelling on that one!) There is an area called Chinatown – the more politically correct call it the international district, and now, it is truly international, with Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Gambian, Nigerian, Cambodian, etc.
I don’t know exactly when I came to associate miso soup with good health, but last night, I had a small dinner planned, and Adventure Man said “Why don’t you let me bring you some miso soup?” He knows miso soup is one of my comfort foods when I am sick.
I was so sick, nothing sounded good to me. Better, though, that he bring me something than that I have to get up and cook!
He brought the miso soup. I didn’t even want to eat it, but I did. Then, before he had even finished his dinner, I excused myself, went back to bed and slept for three hours, really slept. Until then, I had been sleeping fitfully, waking often, never feeling rested.
At 10:30 I woke up and felt . . . better! I chatted with Adventure Man, took care of a few things, then went back to bed and slept peacefully through the night.
Today – I am not totally well, but I am mostly well. Thanks be to God, and . . . Miso soup!
“Madam, Too Many Words”
We were working together in the garden, and I was explaining what I wanted done with the bougainvilla starts I had collected from various colored shrubs on the compound. It doesn’t take much to get bougainvilla going, but you have to do it right.
When I was done explaining, I said “was that clear? do you understand?”
He shook his head sadly and said “Madam, too many words.”
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
Mom’s Cranberry Salad
I printed this last year, and it is so good and so simple I am sharing it with you again. It’s probably my favorite Thanksgiving food.
1 1/2 C cranberries (They have these at Sultan Center; wash, pick over and cook until soft)
1 1/2 C water
add 1 Cup sugar and boil one minute
add 1 small pkg lemon jello (I use raspberry or cherry or strawberry because I like red)
When all is dissolved, add:
juice of one No. 1 can of crushed pineapple (Mom’s recipe says a #1 can – use one of the small cans.)
When cool, add:
diced pineapple from can
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Stir, put into mold or bowl and refrigerate until firm.
One small buffet mold. How easy is that? 🙂
(This recipe is from the 1950’s. I double everything, Pour into mold for the holidays, or into a crystal bowl from which it can be served without having to unmold.
Here in Kuwait, I can’t find crushed pineapple, so I buy the chunk pineapple and cut them to be smaller sized. You can’t do it in the food processor because it gets too mushy.
The cranberry salad is in the center of the photo:
Paying the Price
I had two wonderful days, Thursday and Friday, out and about all day in this wonderful Kuwait weather. Saturday was out again for a short time with Adventure Man and felt a tickle in my throat. No big deal, I figure it is just allergies, or the change in seasons; I drank some ginger tea and figured that would be the end of it.
Wrong!
Yesterday, it was hanging on, getting stronger. Here come the sneezes, the swollen sinuses, the watery bleary eyes, the sneezing and the coughing. Having a cold totally grosses me out. I’m not a person who gets dramatically and romantically ill, lying beautifully in bed while people bring me hot drinks and speak to me in soft voices. I look terrible! I want this cold gone now! I’ve upped the arsenel to Strepticils, Zinc tablets, Cranberry juice and antihistimines. It doesn’t matter; I am a wreck.
I’m better during the day, it’s night time that gets me – I wake up choking and coughing, my sinuses hurt, my nose is running. . . and I sleep fitfully, with weird dreams, so sometimes I can’t tell if I am dreaming or awake.
The Qatteri Cat faithfully follows me everywhere I go. I am sleeping in the guest bedroom so Adventure Man doesn’t have to suffer through this with me, but QC just makes comforting noises and snuggles up to me.
I have a lot to do this week. Please keep me in prayer for a speedy recovery!
Study Finds Working at Work Improves Productivity
My friends, remember as you read this that it is from The Onion and it is SATIRE.
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity
WASHINGTON, DC—According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working.
“Our findings are astounding: By simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services,” said Deputy Undersecretary of Labor Charlotte Ponticelli, who authored the report. “In fact, ‘working’ may revolutionize the way people work.”
Perhaps even more shocking, the study reveals that not working significantly decreases worker productivity, sometimes even resulting in no work getting done at all. Similar findings were reported in the areas of avoiding work, putting off work, complaining about work instead of actually working, pretending to work, and ****ing around.
You can read the entire article HERE.
St Anthony, St Anthony, Please look around
I am in a muddle. I have put something in “a safe place” which at the time it seemed a very logical, very clever place, and now I can’t find it.
There is an old verse that keeps running through my head.
St. Anthony, St Anthony, please look around,
Something is lost and must be found.
So this morning, I looked up who St. Anthony was, after all, I need his help. St. Anthony was a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, and was sometimes called the “hammer of heritics.” He is reputed to be the patron saint of lost things because a valuable book went missing and he prayed for it’s return. As he was praying, the person who had the book saw an apparition of St. Anthony, and quickly returned the missing book, or so the legend goes.
I found this on a Catholic Education Page by Fr. William Saunders where you can find more information on St. Anthony.
A Heavenly Day in Kuwait
Adventure Man and I spent the whole day together yesterday, a true sabbath day, worship and play, and very little work. I hope you had the same kind of day. The weather is perfect for strolling along the Corniche, the beautiful blue sky was perfect for taking photos, and the haze over Kuwait made it a little bit dreamlike.
Hawally Park:
We love the Marine Science Center – total WOW:
We think this is place is amazing – we think it might be used for parties, but we don’t know. Anyone?
Dinner at Al Manshar – on a perfect autumn evening.
On What Grounds?
Let’s see. This guy was convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment, and upon appeal, his verdict was upheld. Then an upper court of appeals judge reverses the conviction. When the Arab Times prints a story like this, they need also to report what the judge said, on what grounds he overturned the conviction, dont’ you think?
Bedoun acquitted in kidnap, sale of maid to Asian pimps
KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Appeals Wednesday overturned the verdict of a lower court and acquitted a Bedoun taxi driver, identified as Mohammed S., who had been charged with kidnapping and selling an Asian housemaid to three Bangladeshi pimps.
On March 4, 2007, the Criminal Court had sentenced the driver to life imprisonment in absentia. He submitted an objection letter to the same court, but the court upheld the verdict.
According to case papers the driver promised the victim a better job and lured her to run away from her sponsor. On June 17, 2006, the maid escaped from her sponsor. The accused waited for her in his taxi with two Bangladeshi men and the ‘four’ drove to an apartment in Riqei. There the maid was introduced to another Bangladeshi.
The man, who gave her shelter in his apartment, informed her that he had bought her from the driver for KD 150. The confused maid discovered she had been tricked and requested to go to the bathroom. In an attempt to escape by climbing down from the drainage pipes, she slipped and fell to the ground.
The building caretaker informed the authorities and police investigations revealed the apartment was rented by the driver, who reportedly went underground after the incident.
The session was presided by Judge Ibrahim Al-Obaid.
Obesity Fuels Cancer in Women
This is not good news – From BBC Health News:
About 6,000 middle-aged or older women in the UK develop cancer each year because they are obese or overweight, a Cancer Research UK-funded study says.
The study, which looked at 45,000 cases of cancer in 1m women over seven years, says this is about 5% of such cases.
It is published online by the British Medical Journal and blames excess fat for 50% of cases of womb cancer and a type of oesophageal cancer.
Last week an international study warned of the link between cancer and weight.
Cancers Linked to Obesity:
Womb
Oesophagus
Bowel
Kidney
Leukaemia
Breast
Multiple myeloma (bone marrow)
Pancreatic
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Ovarian
You can read the entire article HERE.
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Comment on Obesity Post
I normally won’t post a comment as a new post unless it meets two criteria – the author has a blog that is legitimate and the post is so well written that I don’t want it buried in the comments. This response to the Obesity Fuels Cancer in Women Post only meets the well written rule, but the reference blog was non-existent. Too bad – the comment is so full of good information that this commenter should be writing her own blog, and I hope she is.
Guess the link between obesity and breast cancer is significantly higher in comparison to other cancers because fat has an oestrogenic effect, which stimulates the lining epithelium of the mammary glands. The more stimulated the gland the greater are the chances of spontaneous mutations happening which could result in cancer.
By that metric, women with rather large breasts could also be at risk. Suddenly, breast augmentation doesn’t sound like a brilliant idea anymore.
My prof. would insist you could cut your breast cancer risk in half simply by taking a brisk walk daily for 45 mins and cutting back on red meat, smoking, alcohol and spicy food.
This after undergoing molecular testing for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation analysis if a first degree relative suffers early onset breast or ovarian cancer ( before age 45) so that you can begin annual screening by mammography alternating with an ultra-sound, a full 10 years ahead of the rest of the population starting at 30.
What’s useful to know is that you should not change your radiologist or the mammography machine as there can be wide variation in result interpretation with different machines and/or operators.
A final word of caution – ladies, don’t let’s apply deodorants under our armpits. Studies claim a higher incidence of cancers in the left upper quadrant of the breast due to such an application in mostly, right handed women. It is a truism – every little helps; baby steps can go a long way.
Monthly self-examination of both the breasts with flat of the palm; taking care to avoid the time of monthly periods can enable the detection of small pea sized cancerous lumps.
It is a step in the right direction that Q8 is slowly but surely awakening to the need of mass public education on breast cancer through TV and print ads, as well as through sharing space with commercial ads in cinemas and the distribution of flyers and brochures with the testing of perfumes and cosmetics in malls and shopping arcades across Kuwait.
It is unfortunate that similar campaigns are not being directed at men for lung and prostate cancer as well as to raise the awareness of the rare breast cancer happening in men with a far worse prognosis.
November 10, 2007 Posted by intlxpatr | Blogging, ExPat Life, Health Issues, Living Conditions, Women's Issues | blog comments, cancer, Obesity | 11 Comments