Kitchen Confusion

 I think there is a lot of kitchen confusion in our local restaurants lately.  In the past 2 months I have had to send food back about 80% of the time.  The confusion seems to be what exactly is milk and what products contain milk.  So I thought I might try to clarify this for restaurants.  

Milk is Obviously milk, cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, yogurt and anything that contain those ingredients.   Your kitchen needs to know what contains milk.  Item that can contain milk are breads, coated French fries, almost all desserts.  Here is my plug to put fresh fruit on the menu for dessert. 

Milk is not mayonnaise, yes it is white but mayonnaise it is an emulsion of eggs and oil. 

For those of us allergic to milk we get tired of sending our food back.  Various reasons that I have sent food back.  My meal was coated with cheese, this is very common. Sour cream was covering my meal.  Butter was liberally applied to a milk free bun, not my meal.  My dry potato with chives on the side was covered with cheese and sour cream. My salad was covered with cheese and or sour cream.  

Now I always say I have a milk allergy and request that milk items be left off. I even go so far as to call them out.  I have done my part. Now it is time you do yours.   I even go to restaurant websites to see what is allergy friendly.  So I know what to order.  

By making my order right the first time saves you money.  It leaves me less frustrated.  You can also turn your table faster.  This all adds to your bottom line in a very tight economy.  

Breaking Things

 I thought I was only good with breaking electronics.  Well tonight I thought I broke the pantry door.  It just stopped opening and closing for me.  So it turns out my husband who just lays hands on electronics to fix them can also troubleshoot and fix pantry doors too.  No laying of hands though.  

First I checked all the hinges and they seemed to be in place.  So I could tell the door was not falling off the hinges. That hit my limit of door fixing. I can handle hinges. This was definitely not a hinge problem. So hat in hand I went to tell my husband that I had broken the pantry door. I told him that it was not the hinges. 

So he came out and double checked the hinges and said they looked fine.  He sent me for screw drivers and he got the flashlight because something on the floor looked odd. 

It turns out that a thumb tack landed on the floor earlier today and went missing.  I can tell you exactly where that stupid little thumb tack went.  Straight to the middle of the pantry door. Just in the right place to give a solid jam.  So with the screw driver he managed to get the thumb tack out. Other than the tile getting scratched everything is working and fine. 

The husband is a keeper.  I really wanted to throw the thumb tack out.  Since the thumb tack only annoyed us. Since we did not step on it, the thumb tack went back on the cork board. 

So how was your evening?

The Stasher Hat - Part 2

 The Stasher Bag hat was finally finished this morning. Boy were there a lot of end to weave in. That is to be expected with a scrappy hat. However I got the hat finished in time to make it to my dentist appointment on time.  I was very surprised that I had no cavities, I had a lot of jaw pain earlier this year for a health issue, so I assumed that I would have a lot of cavities.  

To celebrate, I went straight to the grocery store to buy some fresh fruit, a roasted chicken and purple potatoes for dinner.  Well I did buy 2 packages of cut up watermelon, of which one did not make it to the fridge. It was a light very late lunch.  It was my treat for the day.  I was debating between a cherry turnover or watermelon. The healthy choice won out.  

This was also my most active day since the beginning of February. If I can repeat this for a couple more weeks I would be elated.  

Tour De Fleece Part 2

 My spin for the second third of the Tour de Fleece is complete.  I finished plying and skeining the last 3 skeins tonight.  The last skein is chain plyed.  I am still not very good at chain plying.  I do however feel that it is passable.  In case you are wondering the chain plyed skein is the one on the left   I used a 1 yard knitty noddy on it   

Tomorrow I start the last section of the spinning.  With the daily spins compressed. This means that I will open more than one packet a day.  

Without further ado here is the second section of spun yarn.  I am getting a little more finished yarn than I thought that I would do so a shawl might be out of the question.  Or maybe multiple shawls is the best answer.  

The Stasher Hat

 The hand knit hat below was knit entirely with scraps of yarn that I put in the Stasher bag.  I started keeping the Stasher bag in my hat knitting bag.  Before I started using the Stasher bag I just dropped the tiny scraps of yarn in the of my bag.  With the yarn in the bottom of the bag I found it hard to find the right combination of colors for a hat like this.  

With the yarn in the Stasher bag, it holds a little more than enough for a hat.  It also has the advantage over disposable bags, in that it won’t fall apart and make an unintended mess.  Once this hat is finished I will start another hat and start refilling the bags with the next batch of bits and pieces.  

I bought this Stasher Bag. I am not receiving compensation for this post   

First Day Back

 Today was my very first day back at exercise since I got sick in mid February.  I did my elliptical for 20 minutes.  I did the elliptical until I got tired.  That took all of 20 minutes.  Then I took a 2 hour nap.  It’s a start.  

Life Choices

 The thought occurred to me this morning that every single person in the Saturday spinning group had a vastly different childhood than mine. My childhood tormenter is near the end.  Which made me wonder what it must have been like if I was not waiting for my next misstep and the ensuing battle royal while growing up.  Even if I did not do a misstep and took the unwarranted blame and punishment for a siblings actions. 

Would I be more sure of myself and my choices in life? Would I have the courage to say no when I really wanted to? Would I still be so insecure about my whole life?  Would I have a stupid autoimmune disease that has been blamed on childhood trauma? 

What I do know is despite everything, I have tried to change the trajectory of my life. Sometimes with overwhelming success and other times with abject failures.  I did my best to be the complete opposite of my tormentor.  Sometimes being a little bit too ridged in hindsight.  I prayed everyday that I could get it right. Some days were better than others.  I also know that if my life had been different, I would not have a stupid scar on my left hand 63 years after a punishment.  I can’t even think about why anyone would do that to a toddler.  

I don’t know if I will ever get rid of my insecurities caused by my childhood.  Even the feeling that I will be all alone because my tormenter called me a bad person and their life and the world would be better without me. As an adult I know that this is totally out of bounds remark that I heard at least once a day.  

I hope and pray everyday that I am worthy enough to be part of my husband and children’s lives.  That my friends can accept my foibles brought about by my less than desirable childhood.  That I can make the world a better place.  That I am a much better parent and human being than my tormenter ever was.  

That the statement that childhood abuse lasts a life time is so true.  Ask me how I know? Many details have been left out to protect the guilty at the end of life.

Please make the effort to treat all children with the respect that they deserve. Please remember that “All G’d’s children are special all the time. “