More Blogging for the sake of blogging; Don’t Panic

A while later….
I guess I am not as good as a blogger as some, but it isn’t a job and I am sure that my readers number in the few. But I do appreciate the ones that actually read my blog and I would hate to make tolerating my musings to be a daily chore. I have been involved in reading a book which for some reason inhibits my desire to write anything; kind of like I don’t have anything to say yet because I am not finished with this book.

My regiment of daily blood pressure pills affect my ability to rest, because I am supposed to take this one pill twice a day and it makes me sleepy. Taking it during the day creates a problem staying awake then you don’t sleep through the night. Reading has helped. Now I am awake in the middle of the night drinking a pot of Community Coffee, half New Orleans blend and half Between Roast laced with Half & Half, it’s good.

I have several things to do today to prepare for my trip this Sunday and Monday to Shreveport transporting a couple of kids to the Shriners Hospital for Children located there. Making these trips does take up two days of your life but it also recharges my Shriner batteries. I am taking another Shriner with me so he can be ready to help out with our transportation program. It will be two full days and I also have a meeting in Starkville Tuesday night. I have a lodge meeting Monday night and hope to get back in time to make it to lodge. My Facebook activity will slow down except for what I read and post from my phone. At least my wife will have some quality computer time while I am gone. I wonder if Facebook will shrivel much while I am gone? (facetious question by the way)

My wife is baking a cake for her grandmother’s birthday tonight, so I will be cooking supper for her this evening. I am planning on fixing roast beef, steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes, carrots with onion. I have been trying to figure out how to use some of the fresh basil I have growing on the back porch, so I might fix a simple baked tomato with fresh basil and mozzarella. After looking at Mark Bittman’s iPhone application “How to Cook Everything” I will probably use lemon zest and lemon juice to dress up my steamed asparagus. I like cooking for my wife and making her happy. She is a good wife. I know, because I have experienced a bad wife. Now to have to kitchen clear and oven ready when she starts the cake baking. Her plan is to have it for Sunday to take to the nursing home. This is by request from her father, so I am glad she is able to bake one for the occasion.

I have been reading the “Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” which is five complete novels and one story all by Douglas Adams. Amazing writing, it is totally original and fun. I bought this “classic” edition a few years ago, but kept pushing aside until lately when I was looking for something to read until Daniel Silva’s latest novel come out in July. I should have read this collection of work long ago. Like all good books this one is an experience; one of a different caliber more “avant-garde” than you will normally find. I can understand how the various series of this work became so popular. “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” is a book that needs to be experienced; it will blow your mind.

I am almost done with the fourth novel part and about ready to put it down for a bit. Mainly for two reasons, one my brain needs a break from the wild ride this writing generates and secondly I am anxious to start two other books on the food world. One is the recent “Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook” by Anthony Bourdain. I enjoyed his “Kitchen Confidential” book so I had to get his latest book just published. Bourdain may piss a lot of people off, but the man can write. His No Reservations series on the Travel Channel is enjoyable as well. I don’t get the Travel Channel on my cable but I can see his shows though the On Demand portion, which is better, low commercial content. I previewed the first pages of this book the other night while waiting on a computer to update at my bother-in-law’s house and I’m expecting it to be another good read.

The second book I have on deck is “Heat: an amateur's adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta maker, and ...” by Bill Buford. I hadn’t heard of this one and found it in the bargain book section; actually it was a resold library book from a library in Ontario. I think I paid three dollars for it or something. Sorry Bill, I guess you don’t have Bourdain’s connections, but the other day I also saw Hemingway in the bargain section. From what I have previewed in the book it should prove interesting, especially for a foodie person. When I Googled the book, I found it got decent reviews; I guess I will find out. I will probably read the Bourdain book first.

I am a cookbook fanatic. I always look though the cookbook section of a bookstore and I have five or six iPhone cookbook applications on my phone. While looking at an Ina Garten thirty-five dollar slick page edition I found a Moosewood cookbook next to it that looked really interesting. With what I already own plus the vast resources provided by the Internet and my phone, I don’t usually need to buy a lot of cookbooks anymore. I guess Ina is going to have to get an App like Tyler Florence has now. I can’t even find Ina on Twitter and I thought everyone was on Twitter. I guess living in the Hamptons means you have so much money you don’t need to tell people what you are doing every day.

The Food Network is all over Twitter and Facebook, the Food Network Twitter account has over 136,000 followers but the much more interesting part is that they are following 1098 different people and groups on Twitter. Is there someone at the Food Network monitoring all of these Tweets? Is it them just participating in the on line world by clicking on everything food related or corporate paranoia? I wonder if Monday morning a report will be on someone’s desk at the Food Network that will include that Melvin from Mississippi used lemon zest on his asparagus this weekend. Probably not but they are following Britney Spears and Conan O’Brian though.

The sun is up, my wife left for work and I made more coffee. Kharma Jean the Phenobarbital dog is on the couch after her morning dose wondering why I didn’t share my rye bread toast with her. After six hundred dollars in vet bills in the last six weeks, she is going to eat that blankety-blank expensive dog food we had to buy.

I haven’t written anymore articles for my Shrine Club newsletter lately because I had photographs from the fishing rodeo for June and we aren’t meeting in July, so I will put out a single page July edition. I have one in my head, but it isn’t totally created. This past month I went to a funeral home visitation of a ten year old girl I knew as a Shrine patient. She had several things medically wrong with her from birth. I want to write something about her but the sadness of her life and loss is overwhelming. She didn’t talk and was blind but she was a pure angel. I felt real bad for her parents, whom are also nice people. I am not sure how to write down what I am thinking and feeling about her. She obviously touched a lot of lives because the funeral home was full of people.

This has been Shriners International Awareness week, I hope many were aware. I am going to drive a couple of children to Shreveport tomorrow for their appointments Monday. I am aware of what we do for children. Time to start my day…..