Dear So and So

[Bethany1]

Bethany,
Are you OK?
Please pardon my big mouth, but you sound stressed and irritable.

I've been stressed for about a month. It's like everything hit at once and my body and mind hasn't adjusted. Between my basement flooding, not having heat for 3 days, schools begging for money, anxiety/depression, a significant drop in income and the last straw was finding my cat had (has been) peed all over my cycling clothes has me completely frazzled. I had washed them a couple of times and they still reeked of cat urine. I lashed out at the lady in the pet store only because I was trying to purchase cat cleaner and couldn't think straight with her yelling at the manager who was doing my sale.

Turns out apple cider vinegar mixed with laundry detergent does the trick and my cycling clothes are back to normal. At least I feel better about that.

Today the weather was nice and doing about 2 miles before my body gave out helped with the stress. I'm wondering if I have exercise induced asthma and need to see a doc. Either that or I somehow manage to burn through energy so fast I bonk and don't know why. I have a love/hate relationship with cycling.

[Owlie]

I've been stressed for about a month. It's like everything hit at once and my body and mind hasn't adjusted. Between my basement flooding, not having heat for 3 days, schools begging for money, anxiety/depression, a significant drop in income and the last straw was finding my cat had (has been) peed all over my cycling clothes has me completely frazzled. I had washed them a couple of times and they still reeked of cat urine. I lashed out at the lady in the pet store only because I was trying to purchase cat cleaner and couldn't think straight with her yelling at the manager who was doing my sale.

Turns out apple cider vinegar mixed with laundry detergent does the trick and my cycling clothes are back to normal. At least I feel better about that.

Today the weather was nice and doing about 2 miles before my body gave out helped with the stress. I'm wondering if I have exercise induced asthma and need to see a doc. Either that or I somehow manage to burn through energy so fast I bonk and don't know why. I have a love/hate relationship with cycling.

Have you been sick recently? Food? Either way, ((hugs)). That's a lot to throw at you in one go.

Dear parents:
Why, for the first 15 or so years of my life, were you convinced that the only way to cook vegetables was to boil the living daylight out of them? I would have eaten far more vegetables had they been roasted! (Roasted cauliflower is delicious, everyone!)
Me.

[tangentgirl]

Dear parents:
Why, for the first 15 or so years of my life, were you convinced that the only way to cook vegetables was to boil the living daylight out of them? I would have eaten far more vegetables had they been roasted! (Roasted cauliflower is delicious, everyone!)
Me.

No idea what they were thinking back in the day. None. Why won't tangentgirl eat her veggies? Oh, because boiled frozen peas are freakin disgusting. How was that enjoyable to them, as adults?

+100 on the roasted veggies. And sauteed, and grilled. And lightly steamed.

[OakLeaf]

Roasted parsnips. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Just sayin'.

[snapdragen]

Roasted anything! I recently did roasted baby bok choy -- yum!

[Biciclista]

Gosh, Owlie
your parents are pretty old school. most of us figured out how to cook veggies in the 1970's!!!

[jessmarimba]

I'm pretty sure most of my veggies growing up came out of a can.

Then again, most of the food I remember from my childhood is "camping" food, and Mom didn't make anything too complex in the motor home.

[Becky]

We roasted some cabbage wedges last night- fabulous! In fact, I think I liked them more than the roasted brussel sprouts that accompanied the cabbage...

[indysteel]

We roasted some cabbage wedges last night- fabulous! In fact, I think I liked them more than the roasted brussel sprouts that accompanied the cabbage...

Red or green cabbage?

[indysteel]

Roasted parsnips. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Just sayin'.

+1. I like to roast a mixture of carrots, parsnips, new potatoes and red onions together with just a bit of olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.

[ultraviolet]

(Roasted cauliflower is delicious, everyone!)

Curry roasted cauliflower is one of my favorite snacks. I alternate it with roasted kale "chips" as a popcorn/chip substitute when watching movies at home.

[OakLeaf]

What's the trick to keep kale chips from getting bitter? I usually wind up with a pile that are half delicious and half nearly inedible, and I don't know what makes the difference.

[tulip]

What's the trick to keep kale chips from getting bitter? I usually wind up with a pile that are half delicious and half nearly inedible, and I don't know what makes the difference.

What's your starting kale like? I made a huge batch over the weekend and it was so awesome. I used the last of my winter kale from the garden. Most of the leaves were pretty small. I spined them, tossed them in a bit of olive oil and sea salt, spread them on a cookie sheet and baked them at 350F for 15 minutes. How are you making yours? Is your kale fresh?

[jessmarimba]

Regarding airline tickets, searching "City A to City B flights" on Google will give you an option to see daily prices 6 months in advance. The Google travel thingamajigger has all kinds of cool bar graphs.

Dear cat:
I love you dearly, but I'm sleeping with my right shoulder up because it's sore. When you decide to come make biscuits on that shoulder while I'm sleeping, it's not going to be a happy response. I'd love a foot massage though!

[Biciclista]

I wonder if you shouldn't taste the kale before you cook it. Some Kale is pretty sweet,some isn't