Will it kill me?

testing fate?

Since the holidays were approaching, I bought the obligatory foods for Christmas and New Year's celebrations that I like. That's right, I can celebrate alone, just food and me. The night I bought all this, I rushed in with half a dozen plastic bags, dumped it on the couch and ran to the bathroom.

 It was chilly and getting colder, so I turned on the heater, changed out of clothes I wore out and bundled on some warmer clothing. I grabbed a few bags and went to put the contents away. As the night wore on, I brought some items from the dryer and dumped those on the couch. The dried laundry was not freshly dried and hot.

As hours and days rolled by, I sporadically searched for the sour cream. The refrigerator was the target of one search. Nope. The sour cream was not to be found.

Finally, on day four or five I accidentally found the little container all alone in a bag and sort of scrunched down, looking as though it were an empty bag on the sofa amongst other bags I put there to fold away and put into another bag for reuse.

What to do?

hmmm

I opened it and looked in. Some of the tiny bit of liquid spilled on me. Hence, the bowl.

What to do?

smells okay

I smelled it.

Again.

Again.

Since it was not separated, did not smell unlike sour cream and had no mold, I contemplated eating it....for about five seconds. It was okay!

When exbf came in from the yard, I posed the question to him: "Smell this. Do you think this sour cream that has been on the sofa and not in the refrigerator is safe to eat? 

He was bending slightly to smell and sort of recoiled and bent to smell, "It might be spoiled."

It is fermented milk, "spoiled" milk, to begin with, just milk. I make buttermilk by putting it on the counter on a warm day and let it sit for 24 hours. This has been on the sofa covered, well-insulated, but clothes and plastic bags. That sofa sits on the coldest wall in this part of the house and is not near the heat, not that it ever gets warm in here. It was still cold!

"I don't know. I don't think I want to eat it."

teaspoon of liquid when dumped to mix
in French's Onion Soup Mix

still firm

no colors within

 

 

onion soup smells good



So, I ate it.

 

I did not die and don't think I took a chance. The odor was fine. There was not a breakdown in the texture of the sour cream with lots of liquid. It tasted like it should. There was no visual evidence that mold might be forming. I was 100% positive that I would be fine even though the sour cream spent 4 or 5 days out of the refrigerator. I don't believe the temperature was over 50, maybe 40 degrees these days it lived on the couch.

 

The sour cream would not be fed to anyone who did not have a chance to make a decision. Oh, I would serve it but reveal my slip. Let me make this clear--I would serve this to others, BUT I would reveal what happened. I would never serve food not stored properly and keep it a secret! People do need to have a choice as to whether to take a chance or not.

 

Your turn

Would you have been afraid to eat the sour cream? What other steps would you have taken to ensure the sour cream was okay to eat? Do you ever eat things that was not stored according to the "rules?"

 



 

 

30 F Indoors

9 am
16 F outdoors.
40 F in the den.
30 F in my bedroom.
Ice 2 inches thick outdoors.
1 heater just turned on.
This hurts.
Back to your regular programming.

Subsidize the Rich

trying again

I originally posted this today, January 2, 2014, but it shows I posted it on Dec 31. 2013. What gives?

Okay, the post in the right place now!

Laughter

For at least the past year, maybe more, I have been obsessed with watching Criminal Minds. I discovered it after I got TV transmission after about 4 years without. In case you are not aware, the series deals with many horrendous serial murders, accompanied by graphic scenes, grisly crimes, and people, usually women, being tortured and dismembered. There is lots of blood!

To make matters worse, every Tuesday it plays one episode after another for at least twelve hours. It is like a marathon that I cannot turn away from. So, oftentimes Tuesday is a do-nothing day. It leaves me numb.

Other days I watch Law and Order Without a Trace, Cold Case as often as it plays.

I had already written this post about laughter and then saw the news that laughter lowers high blood pressure. Was that not news several years ago?

My usual fare when it was on TV or in syndication was: Alf, Third Rock from the Sun, M*A*S*H, Frazier, Cheers, Monk, Friends, Andy Griffith, Laverne and Shirley, and probably a few more I cannot remember.

I cannot watch Chicago Fire  because I witnessed my house burn to the ground when I was four. I was sleepless after an episode. Grimm just terrifies me. I hate Office. Sorry, don't think it is remotely funny.

Reader's Digest has a feature--Laughter is the Best Medicine. It turns out this is true. I am not talking about laughter that makes fun of people is cruel or harsh.

The Mayo Clinic tells us how laughter is good for health.  A few ways: relieves stress, lowers blood pressure and more, improves immune system, relieves depression, etc. The Discovery Channel discusses laughter Here.  My last blood pressure reading was 145/57, but I want to keep it low, if not lower my blood pressure. Who could not benefit from these results of laughter?

Usually, there are people in my life, friends and acquaintances, mostly friends, who say that they laugh more with me than anyone else they know, that they feel better even though exhausted when we finally calm down because of hours of laughter.

My mother was a master of telling jokes and funny stories, only good, clean jokes or stories. My father was not a joke or funny story teller, well not like my mother. He might tell a funny story but not a joke that I ever remember. Maybe I got her gift. Right now, I feel I have not been so funny or had good laughs with others. Or, that I need to watch more laughter...something.

My mother and we three girls would close the kitchen door and dissolve in laughter over just about anything. The four of us would be in tears usually from ribbing each other or from scenarios we would imagine for whatever we were discussing.  So, I do have a great capacity for laughter and finding anything funny.

Two of my friends with whom I laughed died. Another two have been cruel about my disability. Others moved.

I am going to limit my viewing of Criminal Minds and try to focus on TV viewing that is more about laughter than angst.

My DVD player has lost its cord or something, so I cannot play funny things on it. I can only afford limited TV, so there are few choices for me.

Your turn
What place in your life does laughter have? Do you ever get too much seriously grave TV?  What comedy do you watch on TV?

Blackeyed Pea Drop Over Mont Blanket

Pea Drop

 

Maybe I should say Mont Blanc to make it sound French and fancy. It happened right here, folks. And the blanket was pink, not white. Mont Pink is not three miles high but more like three feet. It should have gotten news coverage like the Moon Pie Drop. sigh.

Your turn
What drop did you watch or execute?

What was that?

broken breakfast

As I closed the hens' door to their pen, I fed them so they could eat before sleep. Moments before, I had found the first egg since December 16th, and was so happy I could have it for breakfast. Usually, I eat two, but I will eat one. Patsy Cline lays eggs only half the size of Thelma's so it takes two eggs for breakfast.

 

I did not want to climb the steps to put the egg in the kitchen, so I put  the precious egg in the yogurt container that held their dinner of oats. I put it carefully in the car so it would not break.

 

When I got out of the car back at home, I was foolish and carried a "lazy man's load"--too much. I put one foot out of the car , stood, and dumped the egg due to having too much in my hands and arms.

 

I felt something touch my pants and heard a tiny noise. What was that? It was pitch dark, so I had to bend so far to even see it. My heart sank as I looked down. Breakfast was broken. I have no more eggs.

 

Three hours later, nothing has eaten it.

 

Today, exbf will fetch me some of my frozen eggs, frozen for just such an occasion this winter when egg production dropped off. I hope these hens get enough light as sunrise comes earlier each day since the winter equinox.

 

I know--to others it's just an egg. To me it was my breakfast.

UPDATE: I have another egg today. So, maybe the few minutes of extra daylight are helping the hens lay. Plus, exbf got a half-pint jelly jar with five eggs out since I want to make pound cake.  I asked him to bring in two jars 4-oz. jars with two eggs in each one. So, I will be set until he comes next week, even if the hens lay no eggs.

 

Your turn

Have you ever ruined or had ruined the last of anything that you planned to eat?  Have you broken your only egg? Tell me and entertain me, please.

 

 



Subsidize the Rich