And nothing much to show for it. Except, of course, another sinus headache and flowing nasal passages — just a nicer way to say a runny nose. I’m thinking hard about having my nose pierced and hanging a bucket under it. That would be a lot cheaper than going thru a box of tissues a day. It might look strange for a while, but I really think people would get used to it. After all, when I shaved my head they got used to seeing me in hats. I still wear the hats because the only mirror in my apartment is in the bathroom, above the sink, so every time I wash my hands I see my hair. And my hair sticks out in places. So…I grab the scissors and start snipping. That means I end up bald in spots and have longer hair in some places. And each time I promise myself I’m going to let the hair grow long enough to go to the hairdresser and get a professional cut, there’s another strand sticking out.
I canned my ketchup this morning. Six beautiful pints of it, with half a pint in the fridge that I’m using now. Dee-lish. Told you I come from a long line of great cooks on both sides of my family. And that’s one recipe I don’t fool around with. Except once when I didn’t have cloves, so I substituted coriander. Now don’t laugh. I know they have nothing in common, but the ketchup with the coriander was pretty darn good too. This time I used onion powder instead of taking the time to finely dice an onion. Just really wasn’t in the mood to handle a knife at the time. It also took longer to cook down the full recipe than it did when I cut it in half. That makes a weird kind of sense, now that I think about it.
Went to K-Mart about noon to get some jeans, but found the sale wasn’t on the kind I like. The jeggins were on sale. They look good on younger people, but on an old woman like me??? Don’t think so. Ended up buying a box of envelopes, almost got some chocolate, but decided I have too much real food in the fridge to eat up, so put the candy back. Felt so righteous on my way home, but now I’m kicking myself and really wanting chocolate. Guess I’ll be making fudge before the night is over.
A friend in Colorado sent me this calming picture today. I love it. I’ve been to Colorado a few times visiting my sisters, but I sure wouldn’t want to live there. There’s no oxygen or humidity, so it was really hard to breathe, and I used a tube of lip balm each day I was there. Love mountains, but I’ll take our own Eastern Kentucky mountains, or the Smokies any day. You can see the moonshine in the stills here. Oops, I mean the moon shining in the hills.
I had some ‘shine once. Hubby came home with some, woke me up with a glass of clear liquid, and asked if I was thirsty. Thinking it was water, I took it and chugged about half the glass before it hit my stomach. You could say, I didn’t like it much. He thought it was hilarious, until it came back up all over him. And some people wonder why we got divorced. Just the little things like that, among others.
Made some country ham fried rice today. I would have taken a picture of it, but it really looked horrible. Tastes good though, so I’ll be eating that for a few days, along with the leftover meatloaf and collards. The collards are almost gone, and I sure would like to have more of them. To think, all these years I’ve avoided every green except spinach, and all this time I could have been enjoying all these others. Could be the secret is in the cooking liquid — I used a can of beer. Why not? The alcohol cooks out and I’m sure the rest of the stuff I put in there covered the beer taste, because I’m sure I don’t taste it. Haven’t had any for so long I’m not sure what it tastes like any more.
I’ve been thinking about making sauerkraut this year. Found this picture and just started wondering how many gallons this head of cabbage would make. And just thing about all the stuffed cabbage leaves!!! You would need a whole cow to stuff one leaf on this head. But I am seriously still thinking about making kraut. Just not sure where to store it while it ferments. I know it’s a stinky process, but since I have no sense of smell it wouldn’t bother me a bit. Might send the neighbors running for the elevator, but I wouldn’t smell it. So, would that make it their problem? Hummm, maybe I had better keep thinking about this one.
A.
Angie's Place 
I’ve been wanting to try to make kraut as well! I don’t know much about it though. One day I am sure I’ll get to it!
It’s easy, actually. Just shred the cabbage, then layer it in a crock with salt and keep on until the crock is full. Put a plate on top with a jar of water, or something heavy to keep it weighed down, and set it in a dark, cool place for about 6 weeks while it ferments, then strain off the juice, put it in a pot with water, cook until heated thru, put in jars and process them about 20 minutes. Be sure there is something under the crock to soak up the juice that will bubble out of the crock as it ferments or you will have a really bad mess. My only problm here is that my apartment is so small I would have to keep the windows open to let the odor out, because I remmber it really smells strong while it ferments.