TIA, Diet Pill,

I am teed off, as in miffed and fed up. We spent several hours in the local hospital yesterday - this time for me. They think (as did I which is why I went) I had a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or mini stroke. Damn and blast it, I was perfectly happy to leave those to Matt, I didn't need to start copying him. Actually we were pretty lucky, we walked right in, there were very few people in Emergency anyway which is a real change. Most of the time in the hospital was waiting for blood test results which always take hours to get. The blood pressure cuff in triage was so very painful and I was told later it was probably too small, OK but get a bigger one, I was in agony and it was giving readings of 226 or so over 90 I think. When I actually got into Emerg the readings dropped to a reasonable level and the cuff didn't hurt nearly as much. Grrrr. So they have put me on a stronger blood thinner and set me home, however, that has buggered up our health insurance for our North Carolina trip so I now will have to get on the phone and see what I can fix up. I need 60 days clear, we are currently at 53. What a bummer, couldn't have happened a week ago could it??? This morning on GMA they were talking about a new diet pill which it is expected will be available next year. It is called Contrave and is a combination of two existing drugs, one for depression and one for smoking. It is supposed to stop the food cravings. If you would like to read the article click here it is not exactly a miracle drug but it does apparently help, in trials the patients lost something like 8% of their body weight in a year. Here is another recipe from Mastronardi Produce using their Sunset Campari tomatoes. In the picture these look like ordinary tomatoes on the vine, but they are quite a bit smaller and certainly much, much, sweeter. Sunset® Campari® Tomato Chicken Creole 2 tbsp Olive oil 1 Large yellow onion, chopped 2 stalks Celery, chopped 1 Medium Sunset® red pepper, cored, seeded and diced ½ cup Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 cloves Garlic, chopped ¾ cup Chicken stock 3 tbsp Red wine vinegar 1 lb Sunset® Campari® Tomatoes peeled, seeded, and chopped 2 tbsp Tomato paste 1 tbsp Brown sugar 1 tsp Hot pepper sauce 6 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts ½ tsp each Salt and pepper ½ cup Dry white wine Heat olive oil in large heavy casserole over medium heat. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Add Garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock, vinegar, Sunset® Campari® tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden, 5 minutes. Add white wine and tomato sauce to chicken. Simmer until chicken is cooked, 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. Have a great day.

From the Internet to Mosquitoes

Yesterday, I booked our hotel in Virginia for our one night stop on our travels to North Carolina going and coming back. It is so easy these days to find what accomodations are available where and for how much. Then with just a couple of clicks you can book, get a map and directions and check out anything else you may want to know. This is the pool at the hotel which I don't suppose we will have time to use, but it looks nice doesn't it? I don't understand people who don't use the internet and I know they are legion. People I speak to at bowling, for instance, often say they are too old to learn - poppycock, you are never too old and anyway its not that difficult. Matt is the same, he just doesn't want to learn - mind you as he points out, its just as well as we would both be fighting for the computer although maybe he could make do with my older laptop LOL. Banking online is another thing, paying bills ordering products, there is, as you know, no end to what you can do. Some people question giving one's credit card number on the net, but they don't hesitate to let a waiter disappear with their card. I often go to get our mail and other people comment on whether or not they have received bills in the mail - we rarely get bills in the mail, only on line. On GMA this morning they had a segment about mosquitoes, with a discussion on bug sprays click here and particular emphasis on getting rid of standing water in your yard, anything, but anything, which has collected rainwater should be emptied - if you have a birdbath it should have the water changed regularly. We had one in NC which had a dripper so the water was continuously changed. It also had the advantage of being very attractive to birds and we had them drinking and bathing all the time. All kinds of natural repellents were discussed, however, they have to be applied more often; those containing Deet, although effective, are not recommended. Having written about Kumato the other day, I wrote to the local growers Mastronardi Produce who kindly sent me some information about the fruits and also a couple of recipes. Obviously I had to share the recipes with you. Having written this, they then sent me some recipes for Heirloom tomatoes as well. Sunset Kumato Caprese Salad 4 Sunset® Kumato™ brand tomatoes, sliced 8 oz balsamic vinegar 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced 1 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced (chiffonade), with 8 whole leaves reserved for garnish 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil coarse sea salt & fresh cracked black pepper 1 Procedure: In a small saucepan, heat the balsamic vinegar and simmer until reduced to half of its original volume, and it becomes thick and slightly syrup-y. 2 Cool until ready to use. 3 On individual plates, stack the tomato slices alternating with the mozzarella slices, starting and finishing with a tomato. 4 Each plate should have 4 slices of tomato and 3 slices of mozzarella. 5 Sprinkle each tomato/cheese stack with sea salt and cracked pepper, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with basil. 6 Artfully drizzle a stripe of balsamic reduction on the side of the tomato stack and garnish with basil leaves. 7 This salad is remarkably simple, but impressive in its presentation! Dazzle your friends with this dish as a gourmet starter to a meal Servings: 4 Source: Mastronardi Produce (Sunset) Have a great day.

Tomatoes, Fetal Memory, Men's Health,

Matt popped down to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, we were out of tomatoes, big crisis here - and came home with some Kumato tomatoes. Never heard of them before - they are virtually brown in colour. This website Kumato will tell you about them; it appears to be a European site. It is obviously a fairly new product in this part of the world. They are grown by Mastronardi Produce in Kingsville, Ontario although funnily enough there is nothing about Kumato on their web site. They also grow the Heirloom and Campari tomatoes which we like very much so as these are supposed to be very sweet too, here's hoping. Isn't amazing, I have been bitching about the quality of tomatoes in this area for a few years now and suddenly there are some tomatoes with taste available. Three cheers. It turned out that the Kumato were much sweeter than the normal grocery store tomato and we will probably buy them again although they are quite expensive, I cannot decide if I like them better than Heirloom tomatoes or not. As Heirlooms are not so expensive in our grocery store, we may well stick with them most of the time. Today on Good Morning America there was a segment on Fetal Memory, doctors are now saying that in the third trimester, the fetus in the womb has short term recall, i.e. when the fetus is about 30 weeks or so. The Church of Scientology has been saying this for years!!! The article and video can be seen by clicking the above link, but the basis of their experiment was making a buzzing noise for the fetus to hear and it reacted the first time and then reacted less as it realised there was nothing to worry about. Sounds a tad inconclusive to me. Another segment this morning covered the five most crucial health tests for men starting with the premise that men do not look after their health properly. The listed check ups are Heart Tests, Testicular Exam, Rectal Exam and PSA Test, Colonoscopy and Skin Exam. The article is, of course, directed at US males who don't necessarily have the coverage to pay for such exams, but in countries with socialised medicine, or if you have good medical insurance, it is a good idea to follow such advice given here as much as possible. I have mentioned that I love lamb chops before and Eating Well have come up with a good recipe. Herbed Lamb Chops with Greek Couscous Salad Makes 4 servings Ingredients 1 cup water 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley ¼ teaspoon salt 2 ½ pounds lamb loin chops (about 8), trimmed of fat 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup whole-wheat couscous 2 medium tomatoes, chopped 1 medium cucumber, peeled and chopped ½ cup crumbled feta 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill 1. Put water on to boil in a medium saucepan. 2. Combine garlic, parsley and salt in a small bowl. Press the garlic mixture into both sides of lamb chops. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the lamb chops and cook to desired doneness, 5 to 6 minutes per side for medium. Keep warm. 3. Meanwhile, stir couscous into the boiling water. Return to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add tomatoes, cucumber, feta, lemon juice and dill. Stir to combine. Serve the couscous with the lamb chops. Salad Tips Cover and refrigerate the salad (Step 3) for 1 day. Have a great day.