The Roasted-Corn Solution

This is the first solution I will publish. There will be many more. This one is a pretty simple one, but I'm kinda proud of it. Beth wanted to make some chicken tortilla soup, and the recipe specified roasted sweet corn. This was not really practical, since it's January, and there is no fresh corn in January. Not here, anyhow. I told her not to worry, I would find a solution.

 I don't think she even doubted at all that I would. So I spread the bag of frozen white corn (thawed) out on some heavy-duty foil, and I went over it with a propane torch until I caused a Maillard Reaction on the surface of the kernels. This is exactly what happens to the corn on a cob roasted over an open fire.

 So, how did it work? As you can see in the photos, it looks just like it should. And it smells and tastes exactly as it should - like fire-roasted corn. Just that easy.

You can do this any time, with any kind of corn, I'm sure, and use it in any kind of recipe. I would think that it would work nicely with carrots, peppers, etc., too. In fact, I like to make recipes using fire - roasted peppers, and they can be made in a similar way. It's actually easier with peppers, because you can just roast them directly on the burner grate of your stove top until they are all black, then put them into a zip-lock bag for twenty or thirty minutes. They will finish cooking in the bag, and the blackened skin can then be easily removed, leaving the nicest fire-roasted peppers that can be made indoors. Next time I do it, I will post the recipe I like for chicken stir-fry with fire-roasted peppers. 

Delinquent. As usual.

I really need to be more diligent about writing in here. I get distracted so easily. I'm going to figure out how to do this. Hang in there.

$1.00 tacos on Mondays

We found a very nice Mexican restaurant about a mile away that has $1.00 tacos on Mondays. Yep. And they are good. Chicken or beef. They come with free tortilla chips and salsa, even. It's nice to find good things, even little things like this. Thank you, Mexico.

Stupid knowledge!

Ignorance is bliss. That's what they say. I can tell you for a fact - that is usually true. I was once really smart. I mean super-smart. I never, ever stopped thinking, even when asleep. I was always stressed, and always making everyone crazy with all of my thinking, and talking, and questions, etc. Then I got a few traumatic brain injuries, went through an accelerated program of relationship-training, and tried real hard to be rough on myself in general for a few years. Now, I'm slightly less smart, a whole lot less sharp, and my memory is pretty much ruined. Am I happier? I certainly am.

  Well, I was. Everything was going just fine, until I decided to write a blog. At first, I thought to myself: "How hard could it be? It's simple, right?". Then, I decided to do what I always do - I would learn everything there is to know about writing a blog. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for me. Yeah, right. As it turns out, there is a LOT to know about writing a blog! Arrrrrgh! I currently have about 30 tabs open in my Firefox pertaining to blog-writing (plus another 40 or 50 for other things, mostly wikipedia). It seems that I am doing it all wrong. I can't continue writing my blog this way! I have to go back to the very beginning and start all over! Crikey!

  So, here I am. What, now? I guess I have to design and build a whole new blog, while continuing to write in this one. Also, I have to do all of the other things that I have to do, such as: get my car inspected, dress myself, make stupid food, shave, answer my phone, and all the other tedious, seemingly unimportant nagging chores I have to live with. I also have to be awesome for Beth, try to pretend I like people when I go to the store, Be funny on facebook, and convince my kids that I'm not the worst daddy ever. It's a lot of hard work, doing all of these things that require thinking. Oh - I'm also continuously learning languages, science stuff, stock-trading, medicine, dentistry, *astrology, metallurgy, geology, and 20 other useless, random things. On top of all that stuff, I'm trying to plan our world tour.

  What ever happened to my big plan to simplify my life? I guess I'm gonna need another traumatic brain injury. This cognitive-function recovery is getting out of hand!

 *Exploring scientific validity

Dental disappointment.

Richest country on Earth - with the crappiest health care. That seems suspicious to me.

I have to go to the VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) dental clinic tonight. Yeah - tonight. Actually, at 2:00 A.M. They only take the first 10 people in line when they open at 7:00 - AND I have to have $75 in hand for the cost of x-rays only. How am I going to stand in line for 5 hours without going to the loo? Also - why should anyone have to? It just doesn't make sense. Greatest country in the world, my ass! America is like a bully who talks a lot of crap, but really has nothing behind the facade of awesomeness except self-proclaimed greatness. I have been to the E.R in 5 or 6 hospitals in 4 states, at huge expense, just to deal with dental emergencies resulting from lack of dental care for 12 years. I am simply too poor to go to a dentist in the U.S. I think I will end up going to Mexico to get my teeth fixed. Maybe I will stay, too. That's just pitiful.