Guess Who is Having an Electrocardiogram?

Add caption

I am.  on Friday at 8:30 AM.  This will be a new experience.  I was just reading the instructions this morning which were given to me by the appointment scheduler and it seems like quite an involved procedure.  I am having an ECG with a Nuclear Exercise Stress test rather than just an ECG.  There are many habits which need to be modified, beginning tomorrow, for a successful outcome.  Things like, avoid all products containing caffeine for 24 hours before the test.  You must even avoid decaffeinated coffee since it contains trace amounts of caffeine.  No tea, colas, Mountain Dew or chocolate.  They specifically mention Mountain Dew!!  I thought that was funny.  I guess I didn't know there was such a large portion of the population of the United States who drank Mountain Dew.  I am not one of those drinkers.  Then it goes on to explain how and when to take your normal medications and they explain the IV through which they inject the radioactive tracer.  It is all very fascinating.  Let's hope that the final results of the test are good.  More on how this all goes next week.

Guess Who is Having an Electrocardiogram?

Add caption

I am.  on Friday at 8:30 AM.  This will be a new experience.  I was just reading the instructions this morning which were given to me by the appointment scheduler and it seems like quite an involved procedure.  I am having an ECG with a Nuclear Exercise Stress test rather than just an ECG.  There are many habits which need to be modified, beginning tomorrow, for a successful outcome.  Things like, avoid all products containing caffeine for 24 hours before the test.  You must even avoid decaffeinated coffee since it contains trace amounts of caffeine.  No tea, colas, Mountain Dew or chocolate.  They specifically mention Mountain Dew!!  I thought that was funny.  I guess I didn't know there was such a large portion of the population of the United States who drank Mountain Dew.  I am not one of those drinkers.  Then it goes on to explain how and when to take your normal medications and they explain the IV through which they inject the radioactive tracer.  It is all very fascinating.  Let's hope that the final results of the test are good.  More on how this all goes next week.

The Banana Trees Arrived





A few weeks ago we talked about ordering a couple more banana trees since we have had such good luck with the one we already have.  Well, those banana trees arrived last night. Now don't be alarmed at how they look in this picture.  I have ordered plants through the mail before and you must stay calm when you first remove them from the package.  The leaves are damaged primarily from the rough treatment along the journey to Crest Avenue.  But the soil and the rootball are still intact.  I will clean these up and plant them in a sunny spot in one of the front gardens and I believe we will have great success.  Remember, these are the banana trees from Burgess Seed and Plant Co. (www.eburgess.com).  They are advertised as being winter hardy.  Here is the description taken from their website:

Tropical Banana Grows in the North!

The hardiest of all bananas, this tropical can be grown in almost anywhere in the USA and does not require lifting in the winter! The bright green leaves of this 12-18’ ornamental tree add a tropical look to your landscaping or bring inside for a showy, 8-12’ container plant. Give plenty of water and sunlight. Requires winter mulching in colder climates. Not edible.

These are item #3317 - Musa Basjoo.

What you have to remember is that this is what you will ultimately end up with, and even bigger:

 

I cannot wait to get these planted.  Watch for an update on that over the coming days!

The Banana Trees Arrived





A few weeks ago we talked about ordering a couple more banana trees since we have had such good luck with the one we already have.  Well, those banana trees arrived last night. Now don't be alarmed at how they look in this picture.  I have ordered plants through the mail before and you must stay calm when you first remove them from the package.  The leaves are damaged primarily from the rough treatment along the journey to Crest Avenue.  But the soil and the rootball are still intact.  I will clean these up and plant them in a sunny spot in one of the front gardens and I believe we will have great success.  Remember, these are the banana trees from Burgess Seed and Plant Co. (www.eburgess.com).  They are advertised as being winter hardy.  Here is the description taken from their website:

Tropical Banana Grows in the North!

The hardiest of all bananas, this tropical can be grown in almost anywhere in the USA and does not require lifting in the winter! The bright green leaves of this 12-18’ ornamental tree add a tropical look to your landscaping or bring inside for a showy, 8-12’ container plant. Give plenty of water and sunlight. Requires winter mulching in colder climates. Not edible.

These are item #3317 - Musa Basjoo.

What you have to remember is that this is what you will ultimately end up with, and even bigger:

 

I cannot wait to get these planted.  Watch for an update on that over the coming days!

Baxter Goes to Richmond!!

We drove to Richmond on Saturday.  And guess who was ready to go early in the morning.  Baxter!!  Here he is in his seat, buckled in, and ready to get this show on the road.  In the background you can see a coffee table turned upside down.  Turns out I had one too many coffee tables and my sister has use for this one, so we took it with us.  I bought this table from Horchow more years ago than I can remember.  It is from Lane and an extraordinarily beautiful and well made table.  She will get many years of use from it.  We had a wonderful time and I will post more pictures from this trip later in the week.

Baxter Goes to Richmond!!

We drove to Richmond on Saturday.  And guess who was ready to go early in the morning.  Baxter!!  Here he is in his seat, buckled in, and ready to get this show on the road.  In the background you can see a coffee table turned upside down.  Turns out I had one too many coffee tables and my sister has use for this one, so we took it with us.  I bought this table from Horchow more years ago than I can remember.  It is from Lane and an extraordinarily beautiful and well made table.  She will get many years of use from it.  We had a wonderful time and I will post more pictures from this trip later in the week.

Insulation Is Our Friend

Finally some relief from the humidity today.  It was actually quite pleasant when I stepped outside this morning to place the recyclables at curbside.  We are enjoying a cool front down from Canada.  Thank you Canada!!!  Prior to this respite, we have had several weeks of unbelievable heat and humidity with the heat index well over 100 degrees.  A difficult summer indeed.

As we have discussed here in the past, I have a small window air conditioning unit in my bedroom which I use in the summer months to help take some of the stress off the main central air conditioning unit.  This 5,000 BTU unit helps the main cooling unit run less, thereby saving me money.  You would not think that adding an additional unit would bring down cooling costs, but it did.

To further help with cooling costs during the particularly hot summer, I decided to add some insulation to the side panels on the window unit.  I added insulation to these side panels once before on the inside.  But I became less pleased with how that looked over time.  So I removed that insulation and decided to insulate the side panels from the outside.

Very simply, I bought a package of Duck Brand insulating foam blocks.  Then I went outside and placed a ladder on the patio and measured how far it was horizontally and vertically from the side and top of the window to the air conditoining unit.  I transferred those measurements onto the insulating foam with a silver marker and cut out the section with a pair of household shears.  My measurements were 7-1/2" wide by 12-1/2" high.  Yours will be different depending on the window size and the size of the unit.

Prior to this project, the only thing keeping out the hot, humid air was this thin accordion style plastic panel, which is probably not very energy efficient.

I positioned the insulating block in place and used a putty knife to push it into the crevices for a nice, tight fit.  I cut it a little larger than needed so it would fit snugly in the space.

Finally, you can see here that I did the same on both sides of the air conditioning unit.  A nice clean installation.  I placed this air conditioning unit in a window that faces the back of my property because I did not want it to be seen from the street.  But a neat installation is a must whether it can be seen or not.  This is a neat installation.  This will help keep the cool air in and the hot, humid air out.  In the winter, it will keep warm air from escaping to the outside.  I have a cover I put over the exposed part of the air conditioner every fall, so that helps to further insulate things.

If you have a window unit and would like to save a few dollars on your electric bill, this small change can make a difference.  We all want to keep as many dollars as possible in our pockets.  Plus it is just the right thing to do to save precious natural resources. 

Insulation Is Our Friend

Finally some relief from the humidity today.  It was actually quite pleasant when I stepped outside this morning to place the recyclables at curbside.  We are enjoying a cool front down from Canada.  Thank you Canada!!!  Prior to this respite, we have had several weeks of unbelievable heat and humidity with the heat index well over 100 degrees.  A difficult summer indeed.

As we have discussed here in the past, I have a small window air conditioning unit in my bedroom which I use in the summer months to help take some of the stress off the main central air conditioning unit.  This 5,000 BTU unit helps the main cooling unit run less, thereby saving me money.  You would not think that adding an additional unit would bring down cooling costs, but it did.

To further help with cooling costs during the particularly hot summer, I decided to add some insulation to the side panels on the window unit.  I added insulation to these side panels once before on the inside.  But I became less pleased with how that looked over time.  So I removed that insulation and decided to insulate the side panels from the outside.

Very simply, I bought a package of Duck Brand insulating foam blocks.  Then I went outside and placed a ladder on the patio and measured how far it was horizontally and vertically from the side and top of the window to the air conditoining unit.  I transferred those measurements onto the insulating foam with a silver marker and cut out the section with a pair of household shears.  My measurements were 7-1/2" wide by 12-1/2" high.  Yours will be different depending on the window size and the size of the unit.

Prior to this project, the only thing keeping out the hot, humid air was this thin accordion style plastic panel, which is probably not very energy efficient.

I positioned the insulating block in place and used a putty knife to push it into the crevices for a nice, tight fit.  I cut it a little larger than needed so it would fit snugly in the space.

Finally, you can see here that I did the same on both sides of the air conditioning unit.  A nice clean installation.  I placed this air conditioning unit in a window that faces the back of my property because I did not want it to be seen from the street.  But a neat installation is a must whether it can be seen or not.  This is a neat installation.  This will help keep the cool air in and the hot, humid air out.  In the winter, it will keep warm air from escaping to the outside.  I have a cover I put over the exposed part of the air conditioner every fall, so that helps to further insulate things.

If you have a window unit and would like to save a few dollars on your electric bill, this small change can make a difference.  We all want to keep as many dollars as possible in our pockets.  Plus it is just the right thing to do to save precious natural resources. 

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, . . . Or Something Like That!

I found the most interesting item that I must share with you. 

They are called Downspout Safety Caps and they come in sets of four.  They are available in white and brown, depending on the color of your downspouts.  My downspouts are brown, so I got the brown.  The idea here is to slip these little covers on over the exposed edge of each of your downspouts to keep yourself of a child from getting cut.  Quite honestly, I bought and installed these purely for aesthetics.  I am not generally anywhere near my downspouts.  There is really no need for me to be.  I have no children.  And I do not have people visit who have small children.  So while this item may have a completely different intended use for some of you, for me is is purely decorative.

So, you see here the end of the gutter as you would see on most any house in America.  The rain comes down, exits into the splashblock, and is carried away from the house.  This end piece is crimped on the cormer because this end was designed to be inserted into and corresponding piece of pipe.  But it doesn't matter.  With the use of a pair of ordinary household pliers, you can easily form the corner to meet the dimensions of the rubber cap.

And finally, after a little time with the pliers and the installation of the rubber ring, we have a nice, clean look on the end of the downspout.

Here is another downspout which needed some attention.

And afterward with the addition of the safety cap.

All of this back and forth dealing with the downspouts, I couldn't help but take this shot of the banana tree.  Just magnificent this year!

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, . . . Or Something Like That!

I found the most interesting item that I must share with you. 

They are called Downspout Safety Caps and they come in sets of four.  They are available in white and brown, depending on the color of your downspouts.  My downspouts are brown, so I got the brown.  The idea here is to slip these little covers on over the exposed edge of each of your downspouts to keep yourself of a child from getting cut.  Quite honestly, I bought and installed these purely for aesthetics.  I am not generally anywhere near my downspouts.  There is really no need for me to be.  I have no children.  And I do not have people visit who have small children.  So while this item may have a completely different intended use for some of you, for me is is purely decorative.

So, you see here the end of the gutter as you would see on most any house in America.  The rain comes down, exits into the splashblock, and is carried away from the house.  This end piece is crimped on the cormer because this end was designed to be inserted into and corresponding piece of pipe.  But it doesn't matter.  With the use of a pair of ordinary household pliers, you can easily form the corner to meet the dimensions of the rubber cap.

And finally, after a little time with the pliers and the installation of the rubber ring, we have a nice, clean look on the end of the downspout.

Here is another downspout which needed some attention.

And afterward with the addition of the safety cap.

All of this back and forth dealing with the downspouts, I couldn't help but take this shot of the banana tree.  Just magnificent this year!

A Healthy Dinner

What to have for dinner during these hot days of summer?  A question many of us ask each evening.  Honestly, some days it is so hot and humid that I lose my appetite.  This past Saturday night I could not decide what I wanted for dinner.  Everything I thought of was just not appealing to me.  So I started a search of the refrigerator and pantry and finally put together a nice summer dinner.

I started with an iceberg lettuce wedge.

Just take a head of iceberg lettuce and quarter it.  Place one quarter on a plate and cut off the stem end.  Slice down through the wedge with a sharp knife about 1/2 inch apart.  I dressed this with a cucumber ranch dressing and some bacon bits.

A few minutes later, no more lettuce wedge.  Very, very delicious.

To go with my lettuce wedge, I found a can of tomato soup in the pantry so I added that to the dinner options.  I made the soup on the stove top and then let cool to room temperature.  Some shaved parmesan added just the "oomph" this needed.

And finally, I added a bowl of chopped, fresh tomatoes and a little low fat, olive oil mayonnaise and Himalayan salt.

Himalayan salt is so much better for you that regular table salt.  It promotes blood sugar health, helps regulate the water content in your body, and promotes vascular health.  I got mine at Whole Foods in the spice aisle.

This was a delicious summer dinner.  And even though you may think it would not satisfy your hunger, it does.  I was on the treadmill on Saturday morning and decided to weigh myself once I was done with my 20 minute workout.  I was expecting an "unpleasant" number to appear on the scales.  But I was most happy to find that I have lost 4 pounds since my last visit with my doctor in early May.  Since I am due to see him again next month, let's hope that trend continues.

A Healthy Dinner

What to have for dinner during these hot days of summer?  A question many of us ask each evening.  Honestly, some days it is so hot and humid that I lose my appetite.  This past Saturday night I could not decide what I wanted for dinner.  Everything I thought of was just not appealing to me.  So I started a search of the refrigerator and pantry and finally put together a nice summer dinner.

I started with an iceberg lettuce wedge.

Just take a head of iceberg lettuce and quarter it.  Place one quarter on a plate and cut off the stem end.  Slice down through the wedge with a sharp knife about 1/2 inch apart.  I dressed this with a cucumber ranch dressing and some bacon bits.

A few minutes later, no more lettuce wedge.  Very, very delicious.

To go with my lettuce wedge, I found a can of tomato soup in the pantry so I added that to the dinner options.  I made the soup on the stove top and then let cool to room temperature.  Some shaved parmesan added just the "oomph" this needed.

And finally, I added a bowl of chopped, fresh tomatoes and a little low fat, olive oil mayonnaise and Himalayan salt.

Himalayan salt is so much better for you that regular table salt.  It promotes blood sugar health, helps regulate the water content in your body, and promotes vascular health.  I got mine at Whole Foods in the spice aisle.

This was a delicious summer dinner.  And even though you may think it would not satisfy your hunger, it does.  I was on the treadmill on Saturday morning and decided to weigh myself once I was done with my 20 minute workout.  I was expecting an "unpleasant" number to appear on the scales.  But I was most happy to find that I have lost 4 pounds since my last visit with my doctor in early May.  Since I am due to see him again next month, let's hope that trend continues.

Shhh! It's a Surprise

My mother's birthday was July 7.  I did what all sons are expected to do and sent her a card and a nice arrangement of flowers.  She called and told me she loved the flowers.  It was a smallish arrangement.  Something that would fit easily on her bedside table without taking over the entire room.  I try to choose the size of the arrangement I am sending based on the event.  Smallish, intimate arrangements for birthdays.  A medium sized arrangement that can be placed on an entry or hall table for Easter or Christmas.  Large arrangements if sent to a church or hall.

What my mother did not know was that, in addition to the card and flowers, I bought her a pair of garnet earrings.

She has a garnet ring that belonged to a great grandmother or great, great grandmother.  I am not certain of the story behind the ring other than it has been in the family for years and is now in her possession.  I bought these from Jewelry Television.

I do not know if any of you have heard of or watched Jewelry Television, but it is the most entertaining show on the air.  If you are interested, you can visit their website at www.jtv.com.  I have ordered jewelry from them prior to this order and I have to tell you it is of high quality and very beautiful.  I bought a gorgeous blue diamond ring for myself a couple years ago.  Sometimes they sell loose gemstones at ridiculously low prices and I have some of those also.  I enjoy watching all the personalities.  If you get a chance, check them out on your cable line-up.

We will be taking a road trip to Midlothian later this month and I will be delivering these to my mother at that time.  I hope she likes them.  I, of course, will be blogging about the day-trip down south, so come back for that post some time after the 27th.  And, as usual, stop by every weekday for something new that is going on at Crest Avenue.

Shhh! It's a Surprise

My mother's birthday was July 7.  I did what all sons are expected to do and sent her a card and a nice arrangement of flowers.  She called and told me she loved the flowers.  It was a smallish arrangement.  Something that would fit easily on her bedside table without taking over the entire room.  I try to choose the size of the arrangement I am sending based on the event.  Smallish, intimate arrangements for birthdays.  A medium sized arrangement that can be placed on an entry or hall table for Easter or Christmas.  Large arrangements if sent to a church or hall.

What my mother did not know was that, in addition to the card and flowers, I bought her a pair of garnet earrings.

She has a garnet ring that belonged to a great grandmother or great, great grandmother.  I am not certain of the story behind the ring other than it has been in the family for years and is now in her possession.  I bought these from Jewelry Television.

I do not know if any of you have heard of or watched Jewelry Television, but it is the most entertaining show on the air.  If you are interested, you can visit their website at www.jtv.com.  I have ordered jewelry from them prior to this order and I have to tell you it is of high quality and very beautiful.  I bought a gorgeous blue diamond ring for myself a couple years ago.  Sometimes they sell loose gemstones at ridiculously low prices and I have some of those also.  I enjoy watching all the personalities.  If you get a chance, check them out on your cable line-up.

We will be taking a road trip to Midlothian later this month and I will be delivering these to my mother at that time.  I hope she likes them.  I, of course, will be blogging about the day-trip down south, so come back for that post some time after the 27th.  And, as usual, stop by every weekday for something new that is going on at Crest Avenue.

Spinach and Cheddar Souffle

On Sunday of last weekend, I decided to make a Spinach & Cheddar Soufflé.  I love cheese soufflé.  I could eat it everyday.  A nice slice of cheese soufflé made with gruyere, fresh from the oven and a little caviar and crème fraiche and some mini blinis on the side?  My dears, that is heaven on earth.  I made a crab soufflé a couple of years ago using fresh crab and gruyere.  It was, well, . . . not my favorite.  It did not rise like a plain cheese soufflé rises.  I did not care for the taste of the crab and the cheese together prepared as a soufflé.  Maybe as a casserole with additional ingredients.  But not together in a cheese soufflé.  That behind me, I wanted to try this Spinach & Cheddar recipe.  It was good.  But again, as with the crab, it did not send me over the moon.  It did not rise – at all.  The egg white were very fluffy and I was careful not to deflate them when I mixed in the cheese and spinach.  But, in the end, I was a bit disappointed.  I think I need to just stick with cheese soufflés.  Choose which soft cheese I like best, and just make good old cheese soufflé.  I am going to share with you the preparation of this Spinach and Cheese Soufflé and let you be the judge of whether or not you would like to try it.  I hope you do and I hope you have better luck with it than I did.  If you make it, and you do have good luck, please email me and let me know.

I started out by finding my stainless steel storage bowls.  These are handy to use to hold the ingredients for your soufflé.  One for cream of tartar, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, butter, etc.

Here you see them filled with various ingredients and the salt and pepper mills ready to get started.



I used regular dinking glasses to hold the egg yolks and egg whites until ready to incorporate everything together.  Salt and pepper on the little white plate.  One half cup of cheddar cheese in the measuring cup.  And one box of frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly squeezed to remove as much water as possible.

Now that is a bowl full of perfectly beaten egg whites for a soufflé.  You want stiff, glossy peaks.  I don’t know if the picture really shows that off, but I had stiff, glossy peaks.  The Cream of Tartar helps with this.  Plus I like for the bowl I am mixing them in to be cold.  That helps with the volume also.

And here we are folding  the cheese and spinach mixture into the egg whites.  Don’t over stir.  You really are not stirring but rather using a down under/up over move to gently incorporate the two mixtures together.  If you vigorously stirred this, you would deflate the egg whites and then you would have a big spinach and cheese pancake because it would just flatten out.

Next step, butter and thoroughly coat the inside of your soufflé dish with parmesan cheese.  This bowl is perfectly coated.

Into the dish.  Ready for the oven.  Oven is heated to 400 degrees, then turned down to 375 just before putting in the soufflé.

And this is what emerges from the oven some 30 minutes later.  It is quite beautiful.

And this is a cross section on the soufflé once is had cooled and fallen.

Maybe I should not be so hard on this recipe.  It actually was very tasty.  It just was not a soufflé in the way that I have come to know and expect soufflés.  So I would make it again, but with the expectation that it will be more dense than a traditional soufflé.