Garden -- I was wrong

September wild white asters aren't biennial.
They're annual or perennial.
Mine are blooming right now. 
So is the basil I planted this year; different plants have been blooming for months now,
spinning off new branches which pop their little white flowers.
I get a whiff of them once in a while when the wind blows just the right way.
As the spikes turn brown, I'm running a lightly closed hand over them, hoping the seeds fall into the planter.
Maybe I'll have a couple of dozen plants next year if I'm lucky.
MMMMM pesto.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

Outdoors -- I'm just a lonely boy

I think my mockingbird's wife divorced him.
He's been traveling for a block in every direction advertising himself.
He's really good.
He's loud but not too loud.
He's versatile; yesterday I heard him "do" both a Carolina wren and a blue jay.
Mockingbirds don't normally do blue jays because mostly they are enemies.
Also mockingbirds prefer to imitate musical calls, and blue jays just scream.
My guy is showing off.
He can show her a cozy holly tree to nest in.
He can show her lots of pokeberries for winter food.
He can show her a big bird bath for drinking and splashing.
But he's still out there advertising so I'm guessing he hasn't had any takers.
I'm enjoying it but I'm not a mockingbird.
If you know any single lady mockingbirds, send them my way.
I'd love to watch a few more chicks grow up in my yard next year.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

DIY -- Basic Cooking VI Frying

It's been six months since my last basic cooking post, and sometime before that I mentioned frying.
When you fry food, one thing is crucial.
You have to get the oil very hot.
You have to get it to at least 300 degrees, and 365 is better.
What people don't realize is that to do that, you have to use vegetable oil.
Not olive oil.
Not canola oil.
If you try to heat olive or canola oil hot enough for frying, it will start to smoke long before it gets to the right temperature.
It has to do with chemistry.
Now some of you are saying, I thought high temperatures created trans fats in fried food.
Absolutely correct.
That's why you shouldn't eat much fried food.
Use olive or canola oil to sauté and caramelize vegetables but NOT to fry.

The second clue is only fry small pieces of food. 
Frying a whole turkey is a recipe for a heart attack.
The reason you need small pieces is so they cook fast.
The shorter a time they're in the oil, the less they soak up and the less transfats you get.

And unfortunately, if you fry breaded things, the breading soaks up tons of oil.
So chicken nuggets, batter dipped fish, even fried green tomatoes are things you should have maybe once a month.

Next time you make French fries, use vegetable oil, get it boiling hot, cut your potatoes no more than one quarter inch thick, and pull them out as soon as they get brown.

And then wait at least two weeks before making French fries again.
Maybe you thought you would get a pass on frying if you DIY'd,
but I can't do that because it's not good for you.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

The World is Coming to a Beginning!

The world begins again tonight.
It's been a good beginning.
The blog has posted nearly 7000 real-people pageviews.
If you're new here, see these pages for the big stuff:

The Mendel Beilis trial transcript English translation -- first ever end-to-end.
Fact-Checking the Torah -- busting those urban legends.
Bit at a time Bible Hebrew -- trying to teach you to bust urban legends for yourself.
DIY -- how to save money by changing your habits, including basic cooking for yourself.

Plus all my garden and outdoors fun.

How about you?  If what you're doing isn't working the way you thought,
what about doing something you've never tried before?
Or trying again something you thought you failed at?
Only do it differently this time.

You have a chance to begin again every day.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

Knitting -- jumper/pullover assembly

You are ready for this stage if you've finished knitting both sleeves.

For each sleeve, fold it so the right sides are together.
The right sides are the ones with the loops that you looked at when you were KNITTING a row.
Sew the underarm seam using the backstitch from the bottom of the cuff to where you bound off stitches for the underarm.
Now turn it rightside out.

Turn the body rightside IN.
Fit the sleeve into the armhole, matching the bottoms where the stitches are bound off.
Find the middle of the top arch of the sleeve and fit it to where you bound off the shoulders.
I often use a big tapestry needle as a pin. YMMV.
Use backstitch to sew the sleeve into the armhole.

Now do the sleeve on the other side.

Now try it on.
If you have about a 40 inch chest it ought to fit your body.
If you measured your arms and used enough rows the sleeves ought to come to your wrists.
If you did enough increases in the sleeves, they shouldn't be tight on your arms.

If all of these are problems, now you know how much you need to add or subtract on your next jumper.  Or pullover.  Whatever you're calling it.

Email me if the problems are bad, and we'll figure something out.  But I might have to ask you what your measurements are, and I know some people wouldn't want to give them.
That's why I gave you some hints how to calculate rows and increases for yourself.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

DIY -- I admit it

It took me a while to work up to trying the russell that I made some time ago.
But last week I had some homemade beef stock and decided to stop being a wuss.
So I scraped the mold off the top (it had been in the fridge the whole time)
and spooned out some of the beets
and stewed them in the stock.
It's a little funkier than straight beets but it's not bad.
And obviously I survived long enough to post this blog entry.
So now I can add another item from the list of recipes in my old Jewish Festival Cookbook
to my list of accomplishments.
But I don't plan to put in a special request with my kosher butcher so I can try gebratene euter.
Look it up.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

Outdoors -- blackbirds

Monday, it was the blackbirds.
Only a few days after the starlings left, the blackbirds took their place for less than half an hour.
I heard them calling to each other,
saw them collecting in the trees.
I went out to convince myself it wasn't crows.
Crows will mob a small tree and break it down.
These birds sailed spread-winged into the branches of the big elm and oak to perch.
Crows mostly have to flap every stroke to get their big bodies along.
These birds maneuvered neatly, steering with their wedges of tail feathers.
Crows mostly fly a straight line, not trusting to their tails for maneuverability.
These birds came to the ground and I could judge their sizes.
Crows don't like to fly low over my backyard because I go out and clap my hands so that my palms pop.
The sound is just like a gun going off and the crows have been pretty well trained to stay away.
So that they don't eat our baby goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, blue jays.
Which they have a habit of doing.
Anyway, after I was sure it was blackbirds, I went in.
It was chilly.
I turned off my ceiling fan, which I run almost constantly in summer.
It's autumn for sure.


© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved