Woah There Nellie

 So yeah, after the events of this week any Zen I had is completely gone. So much so that my nerves are completely fried, I’ve kinda stayed stoned during the day to not deal with the stress of what happened on Wednesday. I even started writing this post from my phone because I am too lazy to get up.

So, Wednesday January 6, 2021 a new date that will live in infamy. Not since the war of 1812 had our capital been stormed. Think about that. In over 200 years. All because an idiot refuses to accept that he lost. I’ve tried to keep politics off my blog, but when someone does something that affects me I have a right to respond. His decision to tell his followers to march down to the capital. Saying he was going too. And his crony lawyer saying trial by combat. What did you think was going to happen? That act sent me and many people, even those who don’t suffer, into a deep, dark place. The kind a lot of people don’t come back from. Trust me I feel the hands trying to pull me down. I’m not a restless person, far from it. I used to consider myself a lazy person. But now I’m on edge and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

I think what scared me the most about the situation is how many people are ok with what happened. Or the ones who say will BLM burned down city blocks during the summer. But you see to the average American the two aren’t even close to the same thing. Both are wrong! One was an assault on racial injustice. The other a domestic terror attack on the United States Capital! Wake up! Sorry!

On the bright side I have out my restless energy into a project I’ve been meaning to tackle at home. I cleaned out our foyer closet which is part of a larger project to turn our kitchen/dining room into a great room. With 7 people living in the house 1 fridge/freezer was just not enough, so we purchased a spare (now I can stock up on meat when I see it on sale) fridge freezer and I put it in the closet next to the pantry. As luck would have it there is already an outlet in the closet (go figure), so I don’t have to use a long extension cord. This is one less thing that I have to do when we start the kitchen redo. Now I just need to finish going through the crap I pulled out of the closet. I’ll finish off the closet when we are doing the kitchen.

Added bonus I found my Black Belt and a hat I had been looking for. But, now my dining room is a mess. Guess you win some and you lose some.

Worked Very Hard For This

Zenuation

 Hahaha, get it Zenutation? I combined Zen and continuation, oh never mind. So today I sat down to do a post over on StooBBQ about my chili recipe. Yes I was actually going to share my World Un-famous Chili recipe, but Super Hero Supporter, was just calling my name. I'm guessing my brain had something to say, but at the moment I'm not quite sure what it is. So I'll just type until something comes out. Hopefully it makes sense.

I saw a sad story on The Today Show about Tommy Raskin. His father, a member of the US House of Representatives. This bright young mind, lost his battle with depression on New Year's Eve Day. Leaving a note saying, "Please forgive me. My illness won today. Please look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for me. All my love, Tommy". Now I don't know this guy, nor do I know his family, but hearing those words on TV shook me. I actually had to stop what I was doing (making my bed) and catch myself. It literally knocked the wind out of me. 

Can't wait to redo our kitchen

So of course what do I do when I need a release, well now I clean (my mom is completely stunned). Day 5 in the Facebook group is give the coffee maker a good cleaning. So that is what I did. I started by collecting all of the trash and taking it out to the curb, then I moved on to giving the Keurig a good cleaning, next thing I know dishwasher is loaded and running, sink full with more to go in. Counters cleaned and wiped down. Once first load of dishes are done, I'll empty and reload it. BUT, what I think is funny is that I am now doing the things I ask my lazy teenagers to do and not wait for them to do it. Except bathrooms, I won't touch their's! Which, I used to yell at my super hero wife not to do, because she would get angry at me that they weren't doing it. Well not no more baby!!! I am leading by example.

Example, this morning I woke up and saw their bathroom completely destroyed!!! So what I do? revoked their access to said bathroom. That's right I locked the door and I am the only one who has a key. A lot of money was spent fixing up that bathroom and I am going to be damned if I am going to let them trash it. Hahaha guess I did have something to say. Guess we'll find out how locking the bathroom goes as the days go on...

I Think I Found My Zen

The Finished Product

 Hey, so that's right I think I found my zen. The last 3 days I've been a cooking machine. More like a cooking and cleaning machine. First my super hero wife invited me to the cleaning Facebook group hosted by my sister, that has gotten me cleaning my kitchen on a daily basis. It bothered me so much that my kitchen was a mess that, after doing the cleaning challenge for the group (the microwave) using this amazing cloth and water. I decided to wipe down the counters again, sweep the floor and then mop the floor. Next thing I know our first Christmas tree is out the back door and on the side of the house. I somehow fixed the vacuum and vacuumed up all the pine needles and fake snow. 

I'm telling you I have no idea what happened. I didn't get a lot of sleep as per usual, but I actually had a more restful sleep then I have had in a long time. So whatever I am doing, it seems to be working. Saturday night I made a roast (no I did not smoke it, but I did put my own spin on it. Unfortunately, I didn't get it until late in the afternoon so I did not have the time to fully cook it. Sorry I didn't take any pictures. Sunday I used the left over roast and onions to make my Non-worldwide or locally famous chili. As well as using the potatoes and onion as part of a hearty brunch. I'll share the unofficial recipe over on my other page StooBBQ.

Gala Apples and Water

Today I started by making some homemade sugar free apple sauce, because my super hero's weakness is sugar. So we need to get our health back on track. I gotchu babe!! Then I moved onto something I had purchased a month or two ago, because we are always looking for good keto products (maybe we become keto testers?). My super hero's other weakness is cinnamon rolls. The girls loves them! The girl can't have them! So guess I'm learning to bake. 

I'm sure if I really wanted to I could come up with my own recipe for it, but I have to admit the using the Keto Bakes Cinnamon Rolls product was very convenient. Like a good budding keto blogger I took a picture of everything along the way. Instructions were very easy to follow and hey did you know that butter sticks and cream cheese bricks have measurements on them? That is so cool!!!!

The Starting Five

So I followed everything to the letter and even added my own twist. Instead of using regular water I used the water I cooked the apples in for my homemade apple sauce. The best part is I put my new headphones on and danced around and sang to good old classic rock radio on Apple Music. Yes I have come to grips with the fact that I am old. However I don't have to be a grumpy old man.

I dumped the ingredients in to the bowl and added the additional ingredients. I have now determined that I need a hand mixer, because mixing by hand isn't a lot of fun when you have a bad shoulder on one side and elbow tendinitis in the mixing hand. Not sure my super hero is going to be so happy having to keep buying all this stuff for me, but she is sure going to eat good and healthy. I too need to eat healthier, so I guess it's good that I am cooking the food now. 

Top of the pic is the cinnamon roll mix Keto Bakes sends, on the left is the icing package and on the right is the cinnamon package to make the filling. I add 2 tbs. of melted (should have been very soft) butter, 3 tbs. of Apple Water, 3 tbs. of Heavy Cream, 1 tbs. ACV and 3 eggs to the mix from Keto Bakes. Completely off topic (and I know it probably doesn't belong in this paragraph, but I'm not operating under profession grammar rules), but finding my Zen over these past 3 days has really made me think. In  my search of what's next for my life one of the things I a looking for is happiness in what I am doing. So when thinking about how at ease I seem to be when I am in the kitchen I recall that I actually have spent a large portion of my youth and young adult life working in restaurants. Maybe my son got his love for cooking from me, I just didn't know it. Or maybe seeing him do it rekindled it in me. Either way all I know is lately the kitchen now seems to be my happy place. Who knew??? Now trust me I know that singing and dancing in my kitchen is a whole lot different then cooking in a restaurant. I don't know it's something to think about... Anyway...

Once mixed the all the ingredients, I let sit for 5 or so minutes (forgot to set a timer). Then I placed the now keto cinnamon roll dough into a rectangle shape on a piece of Saran Wrap (using water to keep my hands wet so the dough wouldn't stick, I never knew that trick) and smeared the cinnamon mixture on to the dough. Now came the tough part and something I never in my life thought I would be doing. I used the Saran Wrap to slowly roll the dough so the the cinnamon filling is in a few layers of the roll. Again this is all completely new to me and I am learning as I go, but I feel the more I do it the better and more comfortable I will get. You can't tell from the picture, but the dough was to thick, so I didn't get as many swirls as I would have liked. Oh well I'll know for next time.

Get Your Minds Out Of The Gutter!

Once rolled it was time to cut the rolls into slices, another place I need improvement. So mixing, shaping, rolling and cutting all need work. Pretty much everything to do with cooking. Hahaha! It was supposed to make 9 rolls, I some how ended up with 12. Ooops! Then I placed it on a large baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper on it. I don't want my amazing creation to stick. Then it's into a preheated to 350 degrees oven for 23-26 minutes. I recommend checking on it at the 20 minute mark and keeping an eye on it from that point on. I feel they got a little to well done at the 24 minutes for my liking.

Before Icing

Overall I am very happy with how they came out and should my super hero wife like them I can say I will probably be buying them again. I even reached out to them about them offering an affiliate program. So there's that. I'm definitely going to be looking into finding my zen and  the kitchen being my new happy place. I'm curious to see how long it actually lasts. I know my pattern, I tend to start strong and then lose interest after a while. Like I did with learning to play guitar at the beginning of lock down. Until next time... I gotta say Today was a good day.