I've never been much of a Journal-Keeper....

...so I really need to try a little harder to post here from time to time.
First I want to say THANKS! to everyone who expressed concern about the lost doggy. We never did find him. We just try to fantasize about Dozer in his new home out on the farm, chasing rabbits and snoozing by the fire. I can't wrap my brain around anything more realistic in relation to his situation.
I am still maintaining my gluten-free lifestyle. I have ups and downs, as I imagine everyone does. For the most part, though I am healing. I did finally get tested. I chose to go through Entero-labs, because they have tests that you can take even after being gluten free for quite some time. I was positive, but the fat absorption test was good, which suggests I'm getting more benefit now from the food I eat.
One other piece of news: I have discovered CREPES!! This is a big discovery for a little ol country, hillbilly girl like me. When I was growing up there was cornbread, biscuits, tea cakes and the dreaded "store bread", which unfortunate children had to eat. It usually meant Momma was sick or had to work outside the home or go visit sickly kinfolks, and the eldest girl (me) was not yet allowed to work the stove alone.
For the celiac though, CREPES could become indispensable no matter how you were raised!
They are bendy enough to make sandwiches, and are good with both sweet and savory fillings and spreads. They can be folded or rolled up and taken along on trips, making gluten free food portable and neat to eat. They freeze well, empty or filled. And I just love em!
I will post my recipe and technique soon, along with a picture. You DO NOT need to buy the expensive kits and tools that are sold in kitchen stores to make good crepes. You probably already have everything you need right in your own little ol kitchen. You can make perfect crepes after just a little practice.
Another newsy thing: I want to post about my new local Celiac Support Group!! Isn't that exciting?!?!? A nice lady here in our small town, K.M., started it by putting an ad in the paper. I was the first to respond, and now there are about 5 of us! YAY!
Well I am going to go and make REJUVALAC right now... Curious? Well maybe I'll post about that soon, as it is Very good for you, celiac or not.
So, go forth and uhm...de-glutify...uhh...un-glutenize?...m m m...just avoid gluten! Yeah! Awright!

Stolen Dog! Please help if you can!

Dozer was stolen from my son James, Tuesday, January 30th, from the cab of his red Toyota pickup.
They were parked outside a truck stop off highway 40, westbound, about an hour to an hour and a half from the Oklahoma line. Please keep your eye out for Dozer. We are heartbroken over this.
Here is a picture of Dozer. This was when he was pup, but he looks the same now, just bigger.






If anyone has any suggestions, we are open. Unfortunately, he was not microchipped, and we don't know if a local took him, or someone traveling on I-40.

I'm a naughty blogger.

I have never been very good at journal keeping of any kind, and digital journal keeping is no easier for me.
But in my defense, I have been going through some major changes in life, and I guess I've been a little busy.
My Mom died in May. (You can see her picture as a girl on this page.) That was enough, but then my dog died in August. I had been with my Mom for almost 50 years, and with my Slipper dog for nearly 16. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I learned I am gluten-intolerant, gluten-sensitive, Celiac, or whatever you want to call it.
I really am not terribly bummed about the diet changes I have to make, because I knew for a long time that food was not good for me. So since I had no idea it was only ONE substance that I needed to avoid - I ate a very restricted diet. Now there is a whole wonderland of foods out there that I can eat SAFELY!!! I am really excited about that. I just wish I could have let my Mom in on the reason I was so sick all the time.
But I will get to tell her someday.
I was planning to post all the labels from the GF products I like, but the scanner is down (HP -I'll never buy HP anything anymore!).
So why don't I just tell you what I'm enjoying? (I think I remember that in a Seinfeld episode. The one where Cramer plays Mr. Movie Fone Man.)
Today for lunch, I am having one of my own inventions, which I will call... uh... why don't I just tell you how I make it?
Put some butter or chicken fat in a small saucepan, and saute some chopped shallots (which I dearly love). I spose you could use onions (which I also LOVE).
Then when the shallots have gotten soft, and a little brown, I put in some good chicken stock or broth. Don't use that crap you find on the shelf at wallyworld. For one thing it's not GF, and for another thing it tastes crappy. Either make your own, which is relatively easy to do, or use Imagine brand. It's so good you could drink it right out of the carton.
Now add some Tabasco sauce or other GF hot sauce you like. You could also use GF chile oil if you have that on hand. The point is you need to chunk in some HEAT baby. I also put in freshly ground white pepper, and salt to taste.
Now go do something else for a while and let that simmer.
Now comes the fun part. You need to add a biggish glob of natural peanut butter, and stir it in really good. Use as much or as little as you want, but mo be betta.
Now put in some lecithin, just a little. This will make it nice and creamy.
After that kind of melts, and the soup is hot, add some heavy cream, and heat it back up but I guess you really shouldn't boil it. If you use milk, which I discourage, you really can't boil it I don't think.
There ya go. It's good! Please believe me! I think it is low carb, too.
Let me know if you try it, and whatever changes you make, or if you have seen anything like this before. I think I invented it, but I used to read cookbooks like they were novels, so I may have seen it somewhere and just forgot about it until I got really hungry and started flinging stuff into pots.
Buenas tardes, y hasta luego my frins.

Amy's soop is gude...and...Learning to post pics to my blog!

This soup is one of the good things to eat I've found recently. I will get some more. I bought one can, because I didn't think it would be very good, frankly. It was. I added some leftover chicken, and a little half-n-half. YUM
Amy's also has some frozen Mexican meals that are really good, and I can get them at wallyworld. The soups? Not yet. I just don't feel well enough yet to cook 3 meals a day. Hopefully soon. If I stay gluten-free long enough my small intestine will heal and I will absorb more nutrients from what I eat. I will feel better and better, hopefully.
Ceeyalader

Changes to this blog...and Outback review

The changes reflect a change in my life. Recently I was advised to try a gluten-free diet, and the changes to my life have been profound. I can eat without pain. I can eat without fear. I can eat without guilt.
I just need to talk about it I guess and share the things I'm learning.
I recently got all the mercury removed from my mouth, and although that helped with a lot of things, I still had pain after meals. So I complained. (I have always thought the squeeky wheel thing was true.) I complained to a couple of natural doctors, I don't know their exact designations. The first one made me want to throttle him. The second one said I looked like a classic case of gluten-intolerance to him. I have done lots of research into different diets, conditions, syndromes, etc., but never that one. So, I went home and went back to the drawi- er- researching board. I found out a little about a disease known as Celiac Sprue. I have no idea why it's called that, it seems to be something no one talks about. (I am always curious about names and where they come from.) ANyway- I went gluten free for a few days just to see what would happen. Well I felt much better. But, what if the betterness only lasts for a while and then goes away, like so many other things I have tried in the past???
I am still going strong, and its been -- well I don't really know how long exactly. I'll have to check the calendar. I know I started before the 20th of October, because that was our anniversary. We went to Outback Steak House in Las Cruces, New Mexico, because of their GLUTEN_FREE MENU!! It was VERY GOOD! You do have to ask for it, but once I figured that out, it was smooth sailin. I had a Manhattan, shrimps broiled on a skewer, baked potato, and veggies. Then for dessert, we shared a flourless brownie with icecream, and fudgey sauce!! WHOA! Blew my mind! Rice pilaf comes with this meal but the menu is clear that the pilaf has gluten ingredients. The meal came out with the shrimps sitting on top of the pilaf, which was the opposite of what I specifically asked for, but when I pointed this out to the server, (who was not the waiter who took our order), she took it right back. The manager came over to assure me that new shrimps would be prepared for me so that I would not have to worry about gluten contamination. Then later he came back to say that they took my meal off the bill, and that he wanted to buy our dessert! I said he didn't have to do that, as I understood that they were very busy that night, and that the GF thing was brand new for them, but he insisted! How great is that? The waiter apologised too, and asked for some more information. She said they hadn't had many GFs come in and use the new menu. I had kept the menu to read a little more and later the manager came by to ask if he could have it back, as another GF had come in and requested it. Isn't that funny? They only had one menu!
Overall, my experience at Outback Steak House in Las Cruces, New Mexico was 9 out of a possible 10 twinkies.
I have no affiliation with Outback Steak Houses, I just eat there sometimes.

Whassup

Hi its me. The collage to the left is by me.
I got a new dog, she's great. She's a Boxer/Great Dane cross. Solid Black and very sweet/bad. I love her, she loves me. My ol man left me. It's OK, it will be better that way.
I'm listening to Los Lobos. I'm feeling ...lonely.
I'm drinking wine, and eating pork (rinds) skins, YES PORK SKINS. I like em. Live with it.
I am making paper beads. I still can't paint. I'm growing lots of tomatoes, though...
I had a bad experience at a local art gallery. If I had it my way, no artist would EVER have to go through that. I hate snooty gallery owners who know NOTHING about art, artists, or the process of making art. This one just wanted a good story for her customers. I'm not a writer, I'm an ARTIST. I love you all.


I thought this Danish guy's site was interesting...I don't understand it all but still. See what you think.
I can't remember how to include links, please forgive me.
Colorful News for Colorful People

http://www.lonvig.dk/colorful-news.htm#christmas_2004

Here's some of what he says...

My dreams.
I dream that I never more have to exhibit far from home.
I dream that I never more have to exhibit in foreign countries.
I dream that I never more have to make art works that are not sold on beforehand.
I dream that I never more have to print brochures and flyers.

I dream that I can make my art works in draft in my studio and exhibit it on the internet.
I dream I can exhibit on 10 online internet galleries simultaneously all over the world.
I dream I can offer prints of my drafts to anybody in the world.
I dream potential buyers will download my different flyers and brochures in multiple languages.
I dream about making my fairy tales in multiple languages and exhibit them online.
I dream about showing my storytelling concept - illustrations and writing - online.
I dream about building a network of freelance art dealers - served by the internet.


My dreams have come through.
My apology to the the lady in sable, who has no place to go. The grand openings are disappearing.
No more wine drinking with little fingers pointing into the sky,
no more gossip showing that the lady in sable is someone with style and knowledge on art.
No more piano music covering the gallery owner's enthusiastic efforts to sell multi million
canvases to the lady in sable.


Do I challenge art traditions?
Sure.
Indeed I do.
Some traditionalists are deeply choked when they hear that my online images in exhibitions on galleries world wide and on my own web site are digital images. Not all are painted.
I use the potential of the new technology to the extreme.
Why?

A Painting a Day

A Painting a Day

Corn Snakes 4

Corn Snakes 4

HIDDEN� ENEMY, Humane Society of the United States, PETA, HSUS, humaniacs, animal rights

HIDDEN� ENEMY, Humane Society of the United States, PETA, HSUS, humaniacs, animal rights: "The HSUS long ago separated itself from all the smaller regional societies around the country, sharing no funding at all with them now. You are doing nothing to help your local community animal shelter by donating money to the Humane Society of the United States ! "