Back on Rubber!

This week I've been on a bit of a hiatus from doing fiction... My novella needs eyes other than my own to edit it and I got jumped by several other projects that I will talk about in this post. Typically if I put in a video it's at the end of the post (or close to it...) but, this time it's going at the top because it kind of describes the week.

So a big thank you to... well, this one has been attributed to three different people besides the makers of House and The Dandy Warhols (who own the song...). So thank you to Dutchie88, Spoenk, ZdenekLU, the makers of House, the Dandy Warhols, and the people who actually read this blog (you deserve thanks too...). And here we go...



First off this week... a bit of actual medical science! I'm down to three units of the long acting insulin and zero (0) units of the short acting on a daily basis. If I can bring the sugar numbers down a little bit (and not very much!) I can skip the insulin completely. So I've been figuring out how to do that. Fortunately I have several weapons I haven't dragged out yet!

Words N' Stuff!

I'm currently engaged in two different diabetes related writing projects (which I won't talk too much about here because I don't want to give away details that could cost me). One is filling a niche that no one seems to have noticed and the other is an improvement on already existing stuff. The second one is pretty close to being released so I'll talk about it more when it hits the market. Yep... me making money with my words... scary ain't it?

Food!

Two myths I would like to dispel right away 1) diabetes means you have to avoid sugar... No, you have to control your intake of carbohydrates including sugars and starches. And I can still have them I just need to watch how much. 2) you can't eat Asian food if you're trying to control carbs...

This is fried rice. I made it. I ate it. I lived to tell the tale. The reality is there are a lot of things in Asian (particularly Chinese) cooking that you do have to watch. There tends to be a lot of corn starch and sugar in that stuff. But, if you cook at home you can control the sugar and starch levels and you actually know how much is in there so you can know how much you (or the diabetic you love...) can eat. and in this case I've cut down the rice and upped the protein and non starchy veggies so people watching carbs can have more than they think they can. And, because I use good spices it tastes good too.

Metal!

On the subject of making stuff I've also been working chainmaille. This week I finished the son of the chainmaille belt. This time it is lighter and went together faster because I used about 55% rubber rings, which are lighter, faster to work with, and stretch to fit the buckle without having to pull out rings. The belt will also stretch to fit waist lines (or so I thought...). The son of a belt looks great, but the rubber rings stretched more than I thought. When the belt is actually tight enough to wear it's got even more left over belt than the original (which I made when my waste was 4-6 inches bigger....). So that one is not exactly a complete success (but I did make a cool thing...). The mark 3 belt is already in the planning stage (more steel, less problems (I hope!)) and the mark 2 will live on as part of another project.

Specifically the Mark 2 belt will live on as a component of a chainmaille scabbard for a cane. No pictures yet because it isn't done, but soon. Why would I want such a silly thing? Well that will be revealed even sooner than the pictures.

Words and metal!

Another of the writing projects is that I'm writing up (and will soon be selling) patterns for chainmaille projects. I'm only going to make a buck or two per copy on these, but hey that's a buck or two I didn't have.

Why I want that scabbard...

This actually ties in everything above (except the rice...)
I've been working on one of my biggest weapons to fight the blood sugar, and get rid of that last three units of insulin. This is also the $15.00 project Lisa talked about last week... I recently went down to the DI store and bought a BSO (Bike Shaped Object) which I have been working on...

It was a BSO because the shifters, the brakes, the chain, the tires... they all didn't work.
Well, the tires were actually good, but one of the tubes needed to be fixed. The chain was recoverable and now works fine. The shifters... well... the front shifter and derailleur work just fine (with a little adjusting maybe). The rear shifter lever needs to be replaced (but the derailleur seems to work just fine...).

And then there were the brakes! Some nearly intellectually gifted person tried to fix them and messed them up... The fact that I was able to figure out how to fix them with a minimum of swearing suggests that the previous person wasn't quite as smart as he/she thought.

I do need to fix that rear shifter, but the bike is a bike again! And now I'm coming up on the level two issues; like the fact that the handle bars need to be better aligned with the front wheel, it needs a rack, I'm really out of shape...

Actually that last one is how the defeating the blood sugar levels (getting of insulin) and the cane scabbard fit into this... Two of my big weapons for dropping these last three units of insulin are losing weight (they tell me that a 5-10% weight loss can have a major impact) and getting more exercise (which helps the body use glucose in spite of insulin resistance...). Unfortunately I'm me and and sometimes my knee or back hurts (this is where the video fits in...). Dr House has a cane mount on his motorcycle... I couldn't figure out how to mount the cane to the bike conveniently so I decided to mount it to me (in the scabbard).

The bike (now dubbed 'Alley Hawk' (why must I name everything?)) is a part of my diabetes fighting regimen, a project, a story, and something to have fun with (and occasionally swear at...). It kind of ties everything from the post together and brings us back to the start.

So... One more video. This one is by Ghost Dog and the song is by Sabaton. In addition to being literally about one of my favorite WW2 battles it describes where I feel I'm at with the fight with my diabetes.



You can guess for yourself how this fits in. I've actually found several ways it symbolically fits. One that helps it tie the post together... let the Japanies (who eat a lot of rice) stand in for the high blood sugar. And the Americans, well that would be telling wouldn't it.

That's it for this one (more to say but I've said too much).
Till next time. Make, do, just don't get into too much trouble (I'd hate to miss the fun!)

Mini Breakfast Sandwiches, snow, and blocking

I'm finally jumping in and posting something.  Patrick has done a great job keeping you updated with the happenings around here.

This past weekend began with a new breakfast experiment, little sourdough biscuit breakfast sandwiches!  These were a roll out and cut type of biscuit as opposed to the quick drop biscuits he normally makes.  They were definitely good!  I kept eating the biscuits with butter and honey!

We had a little bit of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning, but were not expecting our front yard to look like a bean bag had exploded!  It has been a rather mild winter.  I understand there was snow over Christmas, but as we were in California, we missed it.

In January Patrick posted some strange looking wood pieces that he made for me (See 

What did he do this time...)  Now to add some more strangeness, I used them this past weekend to block a shawl I finished in January.  As is is a triangular shawl, I only ended up using two - although I was prepared to put the 4 together and use string for the angle.  It all worked out well, and the shawl was blocked and dry within 24 hours!

Patrick did keep asking why we had a hang glider in the house.  While it was a bit cumbersome, as I was trying to get the two lengths to stay at a nice angle, this was definitely easier than flat blocking - and I didn't have to clear off the table (which is currently piled with various other project components.)

Writing is coming along, slowly.  Thanks to Patrick and his amazing statistical support, I think my prospectus took a good turn and has settled into the use of a MANCOVA (don't worry if you don't know what that is.  All that really matters is that I'm comparing 6 groups across six measures to see if there are any differences, while controlling for the effects of 3 other things.  Not that that is much clearer.)

Next week you will hopefully get to see some of the pictures of the project that Patrick has in process.  It has really turned out pretty amazing - if I don't say so myself.

Sourdough, sweet DOH!

This wasn't the post I'd initially planned to put up today but a couple of things were said yesterday that got me thinking.

One of the things I have been working on is sourdough recipes. When I say working on I don't just mean go on the internet and find a couple, I've actually been doing enough that I am now combining and modifying recipes to get the specific result I want.

One of the specific things I'm working on is sourdough pancakes. I started with a recipe that I found, but they turned out more like crepes than the thick fluffy ones I used to have a recipe for and I wanted fluffy ones (and so did Lisa). So, I dug through a book and found another one that worked better and Lisa liked better but still wasn't what I wanted.

One of the biggest problems was they didn't brown fast enough on the one side so they were almost completely set on the second side before the first side was browned enough to flip... and they still weren't fluffy and thick enough.  So I start thinking. Could I boost the leavening? Probably, but I also realized I was loosing leavening power because they took so long to brown on the one side I was failing to capture gas bubbles that were cooking out. That pointed to the slow browning problem.

Ok, I know a couple of things about browning...one of the main forms of browning is a thing called the Maillard reaction which creates good flavors and comes from heat effects on surface sugars. Hmm no sugar in the recipe except the natural occurring ones in flour and milk. Solution add two tablespoons of brown sugar. Why two tablespoons? because that is how much was in a couple of biscuit recipes I liked. Why brown sugar? I know (from watching way too much Food TV) that brown sugar contains molasses which is slightly acidic. Slightly acidic is also good for the Maillard reaction and gives any baking soda I decide to add later a little more acid to work with. While we are on biscuits, those recipes have a temperature range of 400-450 that's hotter than I've been working with the pancakes. So I crank the  griddle to it's max (400).

Between the two it worked! The first side browns faster and I can flip and trap more of the gas generated by the mix. Lisa and I both agree this is the best of the recipes so far. But I'm still not done because they aren't there yet, fluffy wise, so I'll be pulling out more tricks. And I want to experiment with additives like apples, berries, nuts and so on. But, this one is the best so far. I'm including the recipe at the end of the post but we have other things to talk about first.

What does this all have to do with comments on Sunday? Well, I realized that some of my experience with pancakes also applies to people. We all have things within us that can enlarge us, make us grow and be better. This is important. All of us have the capability to be more than we are!

Any person who considers him or her self to be a Christian would agree that Jesus Christ was (and is!) the best of us. I know Jews and Muslims that consider him to have been a prophet so again he is in the best of us class. I know a couple of Buddhists that could be reading this and I know stories from that religion of people transcending what they are to become something better.  Ok, so no arguments that we can be more than we are.

We know from scripture that Jesus Christ grew:
Luke 2:52
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

By my understanding and belief, the best of us got better. A true part of his message is that the rest of us can be better too.

Proverbs 9:9
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

But, someone has to do something for us to get better. Who? Us!

Isaiah 54:1-3
1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

We have to do something for ourselves to be better than we are. And sometimes we have to do things for others too.

2^nd Corinthians 6:11
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

When we take hold of the good that we have, when we use it, act on it, share it with others. We are enlarged. When we seek after good we can obtain it, and again we are enlarged.

In saying these things I am in no way denying the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. I have sought for truth and understanding about this with my heart, mind, and science and have obtained some true knowledge of what our Savior did for us.

So, the Savior, the best of us, made an atonement for us with which we can be saved and without which we could not. So, why can't he just fix us??? I can make my pancakes brown faster and be flipped sooner to make them fluffier, I can add other things to them. So why can't Jesus Christ just fix us?

Simple (sort of!) answer... pancakes can't choose anything, we can.

Moses 7:32
The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency

2^nd Nephi 2: 16,27
Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.
27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

What this means is that while I can make the pancakes more fluffy, by adding things and changing conditions, that doesn't always work with us. The pancake can't reject the apples, or baking soda, or changes in temperature, but we can choose to act according to that which we know or believe is right and good, or we can choose to do otherwise.

Deity can change conditions, or place things in our lives; and the consequences that must come from our actions will come. But we get to choose what we will do and how we react to the results. If you decide to jump off a bridge you fall; period end of sentence. That is not God, or anyone else, smiting you, that's a consequence of what you decided to do. On the other hand if you decide to donate part of your hard earned income to help someone, there are consequences of that too (positive ones) which you may accept or reject as you will. (Actually as I was writing this I realized I was 45 minutes late pulling my sourdough starter out of the fridge so it can warm up for tonight's biscuits so either I wait 45 minutes more to cook them or they might not raise as well See: actions, choices, consequences!)

It is our job as people, human beings, sons and daughters of God, beings who can be more than we are, (insert your own term here) to think about who and what we are; decide what we want to be and act accordingly. We have the ability to choose to be better, more loving, more capable, greater, richer, (again insert your own term here), or anything else we want to be. We can also choose not to be those things and waste our efforts on things that aren't real or don't last.

No, I am not preaching to be LDS, like me, or anything else. My point is that we can be more than we are and that we get to choose what we want to become and move that way. Think, choose, think, act, and become that's it!

Here's another scripture on that one straight from the old testament:

Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

So sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant, but I just needed some time and space to celebrate the fact that we can choose and become more than we are (and some good pancakes!).

Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life (2^nd Nephi 10:23), and to have breakfast (me).

And as far as breakfast goes here's that recipe:

Slightly More Fluffier Sourdough Pancakes by Patrick

The night before cooking mix up
2 Cups flour
2 Cups milk
1 Cup sour dough starter

Use a fairly large bowl 1) you'll be adding more to the bowl and 2) if its warm enough, your starter is strong enough, and the bowl small enough it will try to take over you kitchen! Let it stand over night at room temperature (I like to cover it with a towel to help control it's environment and prevent ideas of world (or kitchen) domination (I hate competition especially from single celled organisms!))

When you're about ready to cook heat up your pan or griddle to 400F.

When the cook surface is just about ready mix into your batter 2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder (actually the original called for baking soda but I misread it, I'm trying baking soda next time (see the note below))
1 teaspoon salt

Butter your griddle/pan
I use 1/3 cup portions and it makes 12 pancakes that way, but use your own initiative on size of cake and when to flip

Note: this is a race against time to get them on and cooked you want to cook them before the leavening mojo runs out. If your cooking space is limited you might want to mix up a half batch at a time (just split the original batter add half the additional ingredients to one half and then do the other half when you've finished cooking the first. This will be particularly true if you are using baking soda...baking soda does it's gas thing when it contacts acid (like the acid in the sourdough and the brown sugar's molasses...) where as baking powder reacts more slowly unless you add heat.

Baking, Baking and some more Baking...

Within the past couple of months baking has been happening a bit more often.  The first endeavor was by Patrick.  He loves sourdough, so he set about to make a sourdough starter.  He carefully measured and nurtured the starter for a week and then made some biscuits. He made three batches before letting the starter go.

Here is a picture of the man at work.

On my baking front I decided to attempt to make my own bread.  The first week I tried this recipe.  It looked easy. Now I know that this may not seem so terribly exciting to others, but you see I have not done that much baking with yeast.  I worry about the whole kneading thing and then there is the bake time and worrying about too crispy of a crust.  Just plain too much worrying.

The bread was good!  I couldn't believe it I actually made bread!

The following week I turned to my new favorite cookbook Joy of Cooking.  Wonderful birthday present from Herm and Frederica!  The very first recipe was white bread.  It stated that this recipe was in the very first Joy of Cooking in 1931.  I figured, it must be good if they've kept it around for the 75th anniversary cookbook. (That's the one I have.)  It also said it "stales slowly and cuts well for sandwiches."  I also learned that if you cover the cooling bread with a damp cloth it makes a nice soft crust.

So for the third week in a row I have two homemade loaves of bread cooling in the kitchen.  One will get wrapped up and put in the freezer and the other will make some wonderful toast in the morning.

As I was brushing butter on the warm bread (that's the other thing you do to make the crust soft).  I started to think about my great grandmothers.  I thought about them brushing their bread on their bread making day.  (Yes it does take about 1/2 a day.)  I knew most of my great grandmothers and I wondered which one would be the most proud of me.  I then I remembered that my Great Grandpa Gray was a baker.

Of all my great grand parents he is one that I knew the best. He said that if he could do it again, he wouldn't be a baker because they have to get up way too early.  I thought of him mixing dough and getting the ovens ready for the bread.  I  think he would be proud that I've tried my hand at baking bread.  I wonder how different his bread recipe was the one I've been using. I don't recall any of his bread - but I DO remember his shortbread cookies.  I wish I had his recipe.

In the meantime I will try to continue to bake bread on Saturday.  We'll see how that works out during the summer.  If it gets too hot, I will definitely pick it up in the Fall again.  Hmmmm homemade bread and soup.  I think that is a good combination.