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Lenten Fast Post #3

On Saturday, I fasted all day. I did have a breakfast in the morning after sunrise b/c I legitimately felt hungry, so I had 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal, some blueberries, an apple, 3 dates, and a banana. I did not eat again until well after sundown when I got some chicken nuggets and chicken fries from Burger King b/c I was waiting on a locksmith to let me in house b/c I had locked myself out.  Sundays are "feast days" in the Methodist tradition so I had a balanced breakfast and then did not eat until after 7pm, when I had spaghetti, salad, and 4 St. Louis style ribs.  I have eaten nothing today, so I'm very much looking forward to dinner, which I expect will be a roasted potato cubed with carrots, leftover ribs, and a salad. Prior to the breaking of the fast, I will of course offer up a prayer and then break the fast.  All for today. 

Lenten Fast Report Day #2

I realize today is day #3 of my lenten black fast, but this is a report of yesterday.  Yesterday, I didn't quite make it to sundown before breaking my fast. Actually, I wasn't even close! I made it to my lunch break yesterday at work and then I decided that I needed to eat a chicken caesar wrap and some cookies that were on special. When I came home, I was able to wait long enough for sundown for my meal of a banana, an apple, three dates, and 2 hard boiled eggs. I then proceeded to fall asleep on my sofa at ~8:15pm, wake up an hour later, and head straight to bed. I'm feeling very satiated still so I will attempt another full day fasting. My evening meal might be different because today is when I'm scheduled for my side-job....ride-share driving.  The side effects of this fast have been interesting so far, particularly because I'm also fasting from my daily coffee. On Wednesday, I fell asleep on the sofa as well, but I woke up yesterday feeling incredibly clear in

Ash Wednesday and the Start of Lent

 Today is Ash Wednesday and it is the 1st day of the Christian season of Lent. Now, I have never been much for fasting during Lent. About 10 years ago, I fasted as best I could from sugar and after 40 days, my pants were quite bigger than they used to be. Growing up, my Methodist church would distribute little coin banks in the shape of a loaf of bread called "Love Loaves" and it was in these little coin banks that we were expected to deposit our spare change. On Easter Sunday, we would bring these banks to the church and deposit them in the collection plate for some kind of obscure or lesser known charity I was not aware of at the time. Fasting or giving up something during Lent was never something stressed by my parents growing up.  This year, I'm trying to do what is a called a "Lenten Black Fast". Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this kind of fast:  Historically, using the early Christian form known as the  Black Fast , the observant does not consume

The COVID Chronicles #84: Turmeric Roasted Chicken

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  I have been experimenting and perfecting a recipe for the perfect roasted chicken. Now, I admit, I've had a lot of help from the Tasty website and their recommended roasted chicken recipe so I do follow the basics from that recipe, but what I like to do is experiment with flavors and seasonings. Today, my experimentations led to Turmeric Roasted Chicken You start with a whole chicken. I actually prefer to purchase whole chickens because it is the cheapest way to purchase chickens. I'm not kidding! The nearest Fry's often has whole roasting chickens for $1.49/pound, which means I  can purchase a whole chicken for less than $10. I often buy 2 at a time and I always look for the heaviest chickens, which are usually anywhere from 6 to 6.5 pounds.  I start by patting the chicken dry with a paper towel. Then I salting my chicken. This is called brining. Normally I like to leave the brine on for 8-12 hours prior to cooking to really dry out the skin which will make it very crisp

The COVID Chronicles #83:

 The number of daily reported cases was updated today to 2,306 (with 5 new deaths) and it has increased each day this weekend.  Like the rest of the country, it seems Arizona is also going in the wrong direction.  Our county has reported today an increase of 24 new cases, but thankfully no new deaths. 

The COVID Chronicles #82: Backyard Clean-Up Post Photo & Other Saturday activities

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Yesterday, I posted a picture of my backyard before weed whacked it and here is the after picture that I just only a few minutes ago this evening. You can see quite a difference. I'm confident I will need to do it again before the end of the monsoon rains.  As I was taking the the after photo the backyard weed whacking, I saw this thunder cloud forming off to the east. It's quite blurry in the picture above, but here's a better shot of it. I love the monsoon season in Arizona! We get beautiful shots like this one with the western setting sunlight reflected off the cloud. In my opinion, simply stunning  I did some more yard work today in the front yard; more weed whacking actually. I then went to the Fig Tree to see if any more were ready for picking, but none were ready for picking, so I took a drive through Old Mining Town's historic & touristy part, then to The Town Too Tough to Die, and made a loop back home again. All told, I was gone for the better part of 3 ho

The COVID Chronicles #81: Volunteer Potato Harvest & The Backyard Jungle

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Wife and I did not plan on growing potatoes in our garden this year, but the area where I buried our compost apparently had some potatoes in it so I left them alone to grow and this was the result!  These are Yukon Gold potatoes, which you may remember we planted 12 plants last year. A lot of them are small, but that's okay, I plan to eat all of them because potatoes are full of vitamins.  This is what our backyard looked like this morning before I took the weed whacker to it. The summer monsoon rains are in full swing (and much better than last year) and I had let the back yard kind of get away from me. I'll post an after picture tomorrow after giving the cuttings a day to dry out so I can rake them up and put them in a garbage back.