Comfort food, well sort of

In my previous post I wrote about all my changes, all that having been said, onward and forward, a guy still has to eat, and perhaps still make 'grub' for others.
So I've been thinking more about the food question and one thing is that I'm not really motivated by is big preparation time these days so I'm finding that raw stuff is quick and easy and eggs are easy too.
One thing that has kept me going is the combination of apples and old cheddar slices, I particularly like Gala apples. It is so simple, quarter the apple, core the pieces, cut them so that you have 16 slices from the whole apple that you can lay out on a plate and add cheese slices and there you go good and easy and healthy.
Another thing that I really like is spinach salad, that being an excuse to eat bacon in the evening too.
The salad is also fairly easy,
fry up some bacon and boil 4 eggs (two are for some time later).
While bacon is frying and eggs are boiling you can prep the spinach and the dressing.

For the dressing,
put 3 tablespoons of Mayonaise into a cup,
add Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the spinach, put in a bowl and add fresh sliced mushrooms
then top with sliced egg, crumbled bacon and the lemon dressing.
That's it, that's all.
(oh and the other two eggs are for egg salad sandwiches or just to snack on)

Cheers,
Andreas

Oh the changes...

It has been 10 months since my last post here, and this posting is a confirmation that a life can change, dramatically.
Sometimes things just don't work well...
My relationship has ended from the strains presented by a series of circumstances, and I have now moved out of province and am slowly rebuilding what I can out of what morsels that I have salvaged from the debris.
This post is about me sharing my truths with myself and my world around me, there is sadness wrapped in these truths and some judgement surrounding work definition and valuation through income, and such like...
I have been shown and told that my head should hang low and that I could have and should have done a better job of things...perhaps... but then, what if I believed that I had been ...
what then?...
Like sand in your fist, the tighter that you try to hold on the more steadily it slips through your fingers... the 'life' that I've tried to build has slipped away in the same manner.
A second image that comes to mind is of two hands together open, cupped, as in holding water, either in receiving or offering... this suggests 'two working in concert'...

So where does this leave this 'happy House Husband' ?
First, I have been hiding and licking my wounds, and wondering how did all this come to be?
I own that I have left 'me' with very few options and little to work with, still unemployed, owning a business or two that are still in the building stages and not sustaining me,
and finally, quietly and delicately shut out from where I do not wish to be shut out from.

This is a possibility that I hadn't imagined. I imagined fearlessly pulling through, together with my partner and making it through the hard times.

So... this 'happy house husband' has been shown by the universe that it can indeed get worse before it gets better...but the trick is, as in the words of singer/songwriter Michael Franti, ''...You don't stop, you never give up''...
that having been said,
If you are in this same boat, you are not alone. I imagine that there are a few of us these days... and that we can help each other through, until we come out on the other side. a
This blog is my little part.

Finally contrary to what dudes do, I send this out for reflection and inspiration, with solid heartfelt 'man hugs'
to you, wherever your corner of the world is,

Jasper Friendly Bear says,
''Stay calm, be brave, and , wait for the signs''

Stay well,
Andreas

The Zen of Chores

I think that nobody likes chores, but since they need doing, how do you make them manageable? Well I have worked at changing my perspective towards chores, it’s almost a Zen thing, or perhaps like prayer or quiet time. In fact years ago I wrote about it and called it ‘the Zen of taking out the garbage’ which now I would call,’ the zen of chores’. It sounds odd, I know, but consider this, at home we are in a job of service, and accepting that without resistance will allow the parts of that job to go smoother and not need to be qualified as either ‘fun’ or ‘unpleasant’. They just are what they are we are just doing them as a service to ourselves and the people that we care about, our family. From another perspective, don’t we say ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’, So for me, I actually enjoy vacuuming, cleaning and folding the laundry, even doing the dishes (we are dishwasherless here). These are the activities when I can work on automatic pilot and use the time for thinking, and at the end I have a sense of accomplishment pride. All this is easy to write about and it works for me for most things... I have to admit though, that I’m still working on tranforming the way that I feel about the cleaning of the Bathroom...

The best French Fries ever

Honkin’ good homemade french fries are easier to make than we think. I learned this trick in Quebec. There is no deep frying or hot pot of oil that you have to deal with later. And this is so easy... you simply need;

6-8 med potatoes
3 table spoons of real Mayonaise
1 tea spoon of our garlic mix(if you wish)

..and that’s all. Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then peel and cut the potatoes into french fry strips. put them in a big bowl and mix in the mayo and garlic, being sure to completely coat the potatoe strips. put them like pickup sticks onto a cookie sheet, we use a pizza tray, and bake them at 375 for about 35-45 minutes until they get golden brown and crispy. After about 20 minutes stir to flip them over a bit.
Of course this gives you about 30 minuted to prepare the homemade Hamburgers that will go so well with the fries. You even have time to cut all the toppings, pickles, onions, tomatoes... Quick and easy homemade 'takout' supper and, the kids will love you for it...

Ends and Crumbs

All in the name of saving in the grocery budget we do food ‘repurposing’ too... one thing this family loves is Nacho’s and salsa, we get them when they’re on special so that they are on hand most of the time for good, wholesome snacking. What is a shame though is the crumbly half cup worth of nachos that are way too tiny to even consider dipping, that are left at the bottom of the bag. What I do is save them in a Jar in the pantry(remember the usefull jar posting). I also do this with the dried out bread loaf ends to make bread crumbs later with the blender or moulinex... these crumbs get used for things like pork chops, kentucky style baked chicken or Mexican Lasagna...All three of these are easy and delicious recipes which I will poste in the next few days...

Double tasking

Double tasking at the best of times is not easy for a fellow, but, I have discovered that there are ways of double tasking that are very manageable. One way is by taking advantage of stuff that does itself, for example, a laundry cycle takes about one hour the same as baking a casserole or a chicken for dinner so if you fill and set up the machine and prepare the casserole and get them both started early then they will be busy doing themselves giving you an hour to do a third thing that requires more hands on like tidying up a bit or passing the vacuum. Now after an hour with three things completed, you can put laundry in the dryer (another ‘does itself’ hour)while you make some lunch for yourself and the kids (if they come home for lunch). Then after lunch you are free to fold the laundry while watching a show... oh one last thought , put on the oven timer for the supper, I do this because I get so involved that I forget the stuff that’s baking...like anything we do, we get better at it the more we do it...

Family Bulletin Board

Voluntary simplicity is an idea that few people payed much heed to, but now in this time of economic challenges it makes alot of sense. Basicaly it is all about consuming less, wasting less and the best part, spending less. Keeping the gang occupied and ad finding no cost or low cost activities is one way to cut the budget way down. You can check out the local community events calendar or the community center, YMCA, Church Groups or even the local Lions club or Optimists for good family events year round... Keeping all this organized is important, so fellas go out there and get a calendar and a bulletin board to tack it onto. We keep ours in the kitchen and it is large enough to pin on mail, grocery coupons, kids school notices, bus tickets, postage stamps... it functions well and helps keep things running smoother...

If you don't already have this, you can turn it into a family event, setting up your information central together...

Good luck have fun with this :0)