Tricks, Elections, Quitting the Weed, Conning the Aged

Yesterday I went to my usual Shockwave site to do their daily jigsaw and the pieces wouldn’t go where I wanted them to, when I touched them with the mouse pointer, they skittered all over the place. Eventually I got an apology – April Fool’s. Bloody Hell. It turned out that several places on the internet had indulged in jokes. I mentioned Google’s joke, there was also one from YouTube celebrating their 100th birthday with little vids and music from 100 years ago!!! If you didn’t see YouTube here it is http://tinyurl.com/3jf2u2l There were also lots of false reports on TV programmes too. When I was a youngster, these jokes were only supposed to go on til noon, otherwise it was the jokester who was the fool. That doesn’t seem to apply any more, not that I am sure how it could on the internet.

I have mentioned before that we are not politically minded. I know there is an election taking place, but I am generally teed off at the moment that we keep getting phone calls about meetings and campaigns, if you want to use my phone this way, you can pay my phone bill. I also recently discovered that, by law, we cannot keep campaigners out of the building. I think this is wrong too. But, I suppose if I lived in a house, the campaigners could knock on my door. This will be the next thing I guess, inescapable campaign ads on one’s PC.

I have been watching (and not watching) TV ads for Nicoderm the quit smoking patch, for years. It just impinged on my brain that it takes 10 weeks for you to stop smoking, always assuming it works. The gadget I used, which I purchased from Lifesign some 16 or more years ago, took about 5 weeks. The first week I punched a button every time I lit up, the next 4 weeks it told me when to smoke and I punched another button again to confirm when I lit up. I had the odd cigarette more than I should and the machine made necessary adjustments. After the last day, when I had two cigarettes not the one I was allowed, I haven’t felt the need or desire to smoke since. In the page shown, the gadget on the left is the one I used. It is expensive, but look how much one spends on cigarettes. I have saved its price probably a million fold over the years.

There was a programme on Market Place last night about how easily people are conned. One particularly horrible segment was an actual recording of a woman being badgered for money, she had already lost money to cons, and the cops had a recording device on her phone. The con reduced her to tears – for 2 pins she would have sent money again – and because she finally didn’t, she had none left, he told her she was useless. Luckily he was arrested, but that doesn’t really help this woman who’s self esteem took a beating. These people prey on the elderly who are often lonely and obviously gullible. If someone has been conned once, they often get targeted again. We have had many a phone call telling us we are the lucky winners of cruises or something. We just put the phone down, but some of the tricks shown last night, on TV, would very likely have caught me. There is a woman mentioned on the news locally who has been conned out of $50,000 which is absolutely dreadful, but there is little or nothing which can be done. Warnings are frequently issued, but……

The following recipe came with my dLife newsletter, i.e. a Diabetes recipe

Asian Spring Rolls

Ingredients

3tbsp fresh lime juice
1tbsp hoisin sauce
1tsp sugar
1tsp salt , to taste (optional)
3oz rice stick noodles
1medium carrots , grated
1medium cucumber , peeled, seeded and julienned
1whole jalapeno pepper , seeded and chopped
1/3cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts
8wonton wrappers
1/2cup fresh cilantro , loosely packed
2medium garlic cloves , minced
1/2tsp hot red pepper flakes
2tsp vegetable oil
1/4cup hoisin sauce
1/4cup natural creamy peanut butter
2tbsp tomato paste
1/2cup cold water , hot

 Directions

1 Whisk together lime juice, hoisin sauce, and sugar; reserve.
2 Boil a large pot of water with salt; boil noodles 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Strain and run under cold water. Move noodles to a bowl and drizzle 2 tablespoons of lime juice mixture overtop.
3 In a separate bowl, mix together carrot, cucumber, jalapeno, and peanuts and drizzle with the rest of the lime mixture.
4 Soak spring roll wrappers in cold water for 5 minutes. Carefully pull apart and lay flat. Lay cilantro leaves in the center of each and top with carrot mixture and noodles. Fold both ends up and roll tightly; arrange seam side down on a plate. Cover with a damp towel until ready to serve.
5 Combine garlic, pepper flakes, and oil in a pot and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in hoisin sauce, peanut butter, tomato paste, and water and cook until thick, about 2 minutes. Serve as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.

Additional Information

Add a variety of proteins to these spring rolls from shrimp to chicken to tofu.

Have a great day