Monthly Archives: August 2015

Speedy Recovery

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“A Jewish woman had two chickens.
One got sick, so the woman made chicken soup
out of the other one to help the sick one get well.”
Henny Youngman

Speedy Recovery

This evening I wanted to roast a whole chicken, but I didn’t want to use the oven. So, I decided to try roasting the chicken on the gas grill.

I rubbed the inside and outside of the bird with a lemon garlic chicken marinade from Bristol Farms.

Then I took one orange, quartered it and squeezed the juice over the chicken. I then took the four orange slices, four sprigs of rosemary and placed them in the cavity of the chicken. Our grill has a temperature setting which I set at 350 degrees and placed the chicken on the grill for one hour. So the bird would roast evenly, I rotated it several times until it was a golden brown.

For side dishes, I made my famous mascarpone mashed potatoes, as well as my sautéd spinach with roasted garlic infused olive oil.

From now on, all my whole chickens will be roasted on the grill. The chicken was juicy, flavorful and you could taste the rosemary with every bite.

My husband loved the dinner and appreciated all the pampering. I love that my husband is feeling so much better. All this pampering with his favorite food is helping him to a speedy recovery.

Shine On

Comfort Food

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“Food is a lot of people’s therapy
– when we say comfort food,
we really mean that. It’s releasing
dopamine and serotonin in your brain
that makes you feel good.”
Brett Hoebel

Comfort Food

The past few days my husband was in the hospital with an infection. He must have dropped ten pounds in those few days. He just couldn’t eat the food they presented to him at the hospital. Why is hospital food so awful?

When I picked him up at the hospital, the first thing he told me is that he hadn’t eaten a good meal in days. He also told me he missed me and would I please cook his favorite Italian dinner.

It just so happened that I had all the ingredients to cook up an Italian gravy made with fresh Italian sausage, onions, tomatoes, Anaheim and Jalapeño peppers simmered slowly. The house smelled like one of our favorite Italian bistros.

Nothing warms one’s heart and makes you feel better than good old-fashioned comfort food.

Shine On

The Eye of The Beholder

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“Since we cannot change reality,
let us change the eyes which see reality.”
Nikos Kazantzakis

When you look into someone’s eyes or an animals eyes, what do you see? We are now able to know if the eyes are from a flight or fight species.

A scientific study recently analyzed the eyes of 214 species of land animals. What they discovered is that pupil shapes are directly linked to an animal’s ecological niche.

For instance, animals with pupils that are vertically elongated, like domestic cats and gators, are more likely to be ambush predators – hunters active day and night who use stealth, not strength or speed, to overcome their prey.

Animals with horizontally elongated pupils, such as goats and sheep are herbivore prey animals, the researchers found. Circular pupils, found in humans and birds, provide good all-around vision and are linked to animals that chase down their prey.

Species that are active both night and day with slit pupils provide the range they need to help them see in dim light yet not get blinded by the midday sun.

In fact the sideways orientation which the horse has, is very important for his survival when he is grazing. When he drops his head to graze, its pupils rotate (in opposite directions) by up to 70 degrees to stay horizontal, the researchers found.

While prey animals need to be able to see all around them, predators need binocular vision to see how far away their prey is. Vertical-slit pupils maximize binocular disparity, and blur, in which objects at different distances are out of focus, the scientists found.

But not all predators have vertical pupils.

What is surprising is that the researches noticed from their study that the slit pupils were linked to predators that were close to the ground. Domestic cats have vertical slits, but bigger cats, like tigers and lions, don’t. Their pupils are round, like humans and dogs.

This amazing research teaches us how remarkable the eye and vision can be for us as well as all of nature. Who knows, maybe in the not too distant future we will be able to simulate and see through the eye of the beholder.

Shine On

Giving Back

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“Goodness is about character –
integrity, honesty, kindness,
generosity, moral courage, and the like.
More than anything else,
it is about how we treat other people.”
Dennis Prager

Giving Back

Lucas Hobbs Giving Back.

How would you react if someone gave you one wish for anything you wanted? What would you wish for?

Well, there’s a young 12-year-old cancer survivor from Minnesota who was granted such a wish. The interesting thing is, he didn’t use the wish on himself.

When the Make a Wish Foundation contacted Lucas Hobbs to grant him a wish, Lucas decided to thank all the people who helped him during his battle with cancer. With the help of Make A Wish, he commandeered a fleet of food trucks to feed as many doctors, nurses, patients and staff as he could to thank the hospital he credits with saving his life.

Lucas has always aspired to become a chef and he is known for being a foodie. With his love of food he cooked up all his favorite dishes and even named some of his favorite dishes he was serving, like The Perkins Dog, after his oncologist, Dr. Joanna Perkins.

It appears Lucas found the perfect recipe for a smile. He also found a great way of saying thank you while giving back.

Shine On