Tuesday Open Thread ~ The It's Too Hot Edition
It’s a sure sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do. ~ Walter Winchell
Good Morning Fellow Caucusers!
Welcome to the It's Too Hot Edition of Tuesday's Open Thread. How hot is it? Hot enough for me to brave L.A. traffic this past weekend and head to the beach where I sat at the waters edge enjoying the sea breezes while sipping a pineapple and coconut smoothie. Ah, yes. The smoothie. Fruity, chilly, and refreshing! Can you guess where I might be going with this?
You've Come a Long Way Smoothie
Jack LaLanne and my Mother's fitness regime were the gateway to my first smoothie introduction. Back then smoothies were pretty simple: just fruit, fruit juice and ice. But for my Mother, that was merely a starting point. She preferred adding a combination of fruits and dairy, a little avocado to give it texture, as well as extracts, spices and nuts for flavor. Experimenting with different ingredients is something I like to do too. Sometimes I make my smoothies healthy by adding protein powder, spinach, or other baby greens. But for today, the recipes I'm including are really more of a sweet indulgence on a hot summer day, featuring very distinctive flavors and a variation of fruits and dairy alternatives. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 cups frozen pineapple
2 cups TJ’s organic coconut milk
¼ cup Rum Syrup
Instructions:
- Take out rum syrup from the refrigerator and place container in hot water to soften
- Add frozen pineapple, coconut milk, and rum syrup to blender
- Blend well and serve chilled
Serves 2
What other foods can you pair with rum syrup, you ask?:
- TJ's Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream
- Banana pancakes or french toast
- Bread pudding
- Apple or Pear Tarts
- Fruit salads
- Roasted sweet potatoes
- Pecan Blondies
- Banana nut pound cake
Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
½ cup frozen pineapple
½ cup frozen mango pieces
2 cups TJ’s Tumeric Ginger Coconut Beverage
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients in a blender
- Blend well and serve chilled
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 cups frozen bananas
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
**¼ cup unsweetened creamy peanut butter
Sweeten to taste with either Stevia, Honey, or Agave
**Variation: If you don't want to use peanut butter, the rum syrup will work beautifully with the frozen bananas.
Instructions:
- Prep frozen bananas the evening before making this smoothie by slicing up 2 medium sized to large bananas and freezing in a sealed container
- Add all ingredients in a blender
- Blend well and serve chilled
Serves 2
Ahhhh… Do you mind if I get in on that action?
Comments
Tip Jar
So what are you all doing to keep cool? Any special treats you're enjoying?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Cool idea
about the Tumeric / Ginger smoothie. Have been ingesting both regularly, albeit in a different formula.
Turmeric Supreme Pain combines Turmeric with other traditional herbs that support the relief of occasional aches and pains in times when you overdo it.*
Turmeric is Gaia Herbs' #1 best-selling herb.
Combined with Black Pepper to aid absorption.*
With Devil's Claw, Ginger, Feverfew, Jamaican Dogwood and Rosemary.
There's strong evidence that ginger may ease osteoarthritis pain. It may also help with:
Rheumatoid arthritis
Muscle and joint pain
Headache
Lab and animal studies have found that ginger may, theoretically:
Lessen swelling
Lower blood sugar
Lower cholesterol
Protect against Alzheimer's disease
Prevent blood clotting
Clinical evidence shows evidence that ginger may be helpful in lowering blood sugar and blood pressure.
I chop-up the root and pressure cook it down with peppercorns, whole cloves and a small amount of raw cane sugar to make a tonic. On ice with seltzer makes a great ginger ale.
Cheers!
question everything
Good Morning QMS
I use ginger for medicinal purposes too. My mother used to give it to me when I was feeling nauseous. I wasn't aware of the other benefits. Thanks! Hope you enjoyed your time off!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
@QMS Ginger is an excellent
Ginger is an excellent remedy for nausea. Feverfew and rosemary also reduce inflammation and contain active ingredients that show promise against cancer. Feverfew in combination with lemon balm can be helpful with migraine. One caveat: herbal anti-inflammatories can interfere with platelet (ie, clotting) function and cause stomach upset, so people trying to avoid over-the-counter NSAIDs should use caution.
There is some interesting research on the carnosic acid in rosemary relating to autoimmune disorders and IBD. If anyone is interested in the technical details, let me know.
Good info
Thanks
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
@Anja Geitz One other caveat:
One other caveat: both turmeric and its cousin ginger are often grown in lead-contaminated soils in India. There have been major recalls of spices and herbal products in recent years due to lead, so try to buy organic from a reputable source. I am currently experimenting with growing my own ginger from sprouted organic root. A lot of grocery store ginger has been treated to prevent sprouting.
Is ginger difficult to grow?
If not, that sounds like something I would like to try. Did not know about the lead contaminated soils. How does soil get contaminated by lead?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Lead in the developing world
Alas, a great number of the world's people suffer lead poisoning as a result of the twentieth century industrial revolution, and India only introduced unleaded gasoline in 2000 (see Enhydra Lutris's excellent thread last week). There is also a lot of pollution from recycling lead acid batteries and other industries. As always, the poors suffer most.
Here is a ginger-growing link:
https://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html
ginger
abjures frost. It can be grown indoors in pots, though.
Thanks Hecate
Good to know!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
in
frost areas you can also grow it in greenhouse conditions. That's what my friend did. She also had Hawaiian ginger. But they burned in the fire.
:-(
The main source of environmental lead pollution was
leaded gasoline, which basically sprayed lead ... everywhere.
The Neil Degrasse Tyson reboot of Cosmos had a great episode on the battle to get lead out of gasoline. Bottom line: People are stupid (and lead makes them stupider).
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Pressure cooking
I had read that heating to 100°C increases the bioavailability of medicinal compounds relative to raw turmeric/ginger, so cooking/tea is desirable. But I also have heard that it is better to add at the end of cooking to avoid lowering the curcumin level. Do you have any information about the higher temps of pressure cooking, or are you just using the pressure cooker for convenience, QMS?
Yea, no = not sure
Use the pressure cooker to save on gas and time. Seems to break down the root better than simmering all day. Have no noticeable change in the tonic effect betwixt the two methods. Thanks for the pointers about lead heavy Indian produce, BTW.
question everything
Ahhs tea
A group of friends got together in Michigan for a dinner party. One of the characters brought her husband from the deep south. Drink orders went in, said southerner orders ahhs-t. Waiter brought him an Asti Spumante. He was quite surprised at the northern version of his beloved iced tea.
[video:https://youtu.be/eZNTHJ6DjCU]
question everything
Asti Spumante
Was that really true, or did you just want to make me smile?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
True story
In the caint make this shit up department. BTW, sailing the briny blue is not a holiday for me. Bill paying work. Will tell of the flying fishes story next time. And the upside down porpoises. Is it just me, or is life strange?
KEEPKOOL
question everything
I was hoping you'd say that
As a true story, it's so much funnier. Hope the waiter thought so too.
Ah, yes. Sailing the briny blue is work for you. Talk about upside down! That's someone else's vacation, dude!
Would love to hear about the fly fishing and the porpoises. No, it's not just you. This world is strange.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Fishing for flies
Winged pisces critters are of what I speak. Thanks for confirming the strangeness.
[video:https://youtu.be/3GE-sfEbJ7I]
question everything
How funny
I saw it as fly fishing. Not flying fish!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
I’m living in
Atlanta where the temperature is below average today with a cool front passing through to reduce the humidity. I will avoid people today so as not to hear global cooling jokes and other idiocies.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Good Morning Lily O'Lady
I'm glad to hear the weather is tolerable where you live. I have friends in New York who are just broiling.
Sorry to hear about the "jokes". I had a customer the other day tell me the oceans are not "as bad" as people think. Sometimes avoiding the stupidity is the best course of action. But hard to do in my position.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
My husband worked part-time in retail, but has mostly
quit. The MAGA hats were killing him.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Some people seem oblivious
That having a political conversation with any employee is not a fair fight. The hats are tiresome, but if they keep their mouths shut, its easier than when they don't.
But it isn't even political conversations that make you shake your head. On the Fourth of July, I had so many customer say "oh, how terrible that you're working today", without the slightest bit of self awareness that were they not compelled to come to our store and purchase items, I would not be there to take their money.
Weird, eh?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
in
the true-life documentary film The Robe, Richard Burton is a Roman tribune whose life takes a turn when he oversees the crucifixion of Jeebus. After, Burton makes the mistake of handling, then hanging onto, the nailed one's robe. The garment infects him with a sort of spiritual fungus, which causes him to question everything he is and knows. He is wracked with nightmares, wherein he is back on Golgotha; he awakes wild-eyed, bathed in sweat, grabbing the first person he encounters, shouting straight into their face: "WERE YOU OUT THERE?" I understand this man. For though I have never knowingly extinguished any deities, those are the words—"WERE YOU OUT THERE?"—that I yearn to shout, whenever I come in out of the Hell of the Heat, to try to communicate the Pain.
Smoothies help.
Within you
Without you. Beat the heat.
Beatles peppered band
[video:https://youtu.be/HsffxGyY4ck]
question everything
Good Morning Hecate
Can't say I've knowingly extinguish any deities either, but if I ever do, I won't hold onto their robes. That's for sure.
Always enjoy your word odysseys
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Oh, I think I remember that movie
I was just a little kid so I didn’t understand very much, but a big deal was made of it being one of the first movies to be filmed in “CinemaScope” (IIRC, a way of getting wide screen format on normal 35mm film using anamorphic lenses).
Hola Anja. We don't do smoothies that often, even though our
stick blender came with a custom container for blending small quantities of stuff and making smoothies. The addition of the rum syrup, however, might revitalize our interest. Other additives that come to mind are Framboise, Kahlua and Baileys.
All that aside, on a completely different tack, I feel that this topic literally cries out for inclusion of the ages old traditional workingman's breakfast smoothie.
In a Schooner, mix
1/2 - 1 can chilled V-8 juice or Snappy Tom tomato juice (however much fits)
1/2 t protein powder
1 raw egg
1 12 oz. can of MGD or similar light lager
mix well
Have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good Morning EL
Thanks for the recipe to the working man's smoothie. While I'd probably substitute the lager and add a little fresh horseradish instead, the entire concoction is a thing of true beauty.
The idea of making rum syrup came about simply because I had a bottle of rum in my fridge that I knew wasn't going to drink. Love the idea of making a framboise syrup too! Yummy.
Tomorrow, I'm bringing my rum syrup to work where I will pour it over our coffee bean blast ice cream and share it among fellow crew members. When the weather gets this hot, rationalizing why eating ice cream is "good" for me, is not difficult to do
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
I think Budweiser co-opted your recipe
And mass-marketed it as Bud-Chelata.
F#ckers.
Counter-intuitive
Southern tables normally include a home made 'peppa sauce' as a normal condiment, along with the standard salt, pepper, sugar and napkins. It's almost always hot there, so why would one have the need to heat the eats? Hotter inside than out is my theory.
Peppa Sauce ~
Pick the hottest back-yard peppers you can find, wear gloves. Remove stem.
(I like Carolina Reapers or Manzano).
Peel a head of garlic.
Throw a few peppers and garlic into a sealable quart size jar.
Add enough vinegar to fill the top.
Allow to 'cook' on the shelf for a few weeks.
Pour liquid into a table friendly small carafe.
Refrigerate the rest. Lasts almost indefinitely.
Occasionally add more vinegar to top-off stock.
Use on eggs, poultry, meats, veggies, pasta, beverages or whatever.
Except maybe sweet smoothies.
https://www.cayennediane.com/big-list-of-hot-peppers/
question everything
It is to laugh.
I always get a chuckle when I hear Angelenos complaining about the "heat".
I live in Southern AZ and, believe me, you have no idea.
You could get a taste by driving north to the Antelope Valley but even that
is not that fearsome since, unlike the Sonoran desert, it cools off at night in the high desert.
I drink cold beer, eat cold cherries and pray for rain.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Last summer Arizona came to SoCal
With temps in the San Gabriel Valley topping 115 degrees. Thanks a lot Arizona!
Cherries and beer sound refreshing. But not necessarily together.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Cherry Beer
Kriek lambic is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries.[1] Traditionally "Schaarbeekse krieken" (a rare Belgian Morello variety) from the area around Brussels are used. As the Schaarbeek type cherries have become more difficult to find, some brewers have replaced these (partly or completely) with other varieties of sour cherries, sometimes imported.
question everything
Ya neva no till ya try
Sam Smith's Organic Cherry is good. Has a 86 overall rating and it is easy to find in MA.
Cherry Adam from the Wood, New Glarus Belgian Red, and Central Waters BA Cherry Stout are all awesome, lots of real cherry flavor (not artificial) but not cloying.
question everything
Okay, I'll give you that exception
Does actually sound good. Can I take mine in a frosted pewter mug while floating in the ocean next to a luxury sail ship that had fresh lobster waiting for me when I was done with the beer?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Why not?
Remember the magic word!
question everything
I have to go to work now
But will check back when I can. Thanks to all for stopping by!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Smoothies . . .
I have not yet entered the smoothie world yet, but the young females in my household have.
There hasn't been much of a fruit harvest this year. Temps got into the 20s after blossoms came so that was probably the culprit. We do have figs ripening now though. Anyway . . . back to smoothies. Sometimes we have a spectacular plum harvest. Historically you made them into jam. We don't eat much jam, however. Last year we had gobs of peaches. I pealed them and froze them fresh. Great for cobbler. But I think I am going to freeze all fruits in that manner and use them for smoothies. An experiment yet to happen.
Thanks for the great OT and comments!!!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Good Mornng Marilyn
I've never made myself a peach smoothie before. That sounds wonderful. I'll bet adding a little cinnamon would be lovely too.
Hope you're keeping cool these days! Thanks for stopping by
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
At the risk of
Being a wet blanket, I would like to add a caution to this great conversation. If you are on any medication, check with your Dr. before using herbal remedies or teas. I know two people whose close relatives had horrid reactions after doing that. There can be unsuspected and dangerous interactions.
That's smart
Good to keep in mind. Sorta the other way too. If natural meds react with lab pills, maybe there is something wrong with the pharma script?
question everything
It's not about something being wrong with
one or the other, it's about the interactions between two drugs -- whether the drugs are naturally sourced herbal extracts, or synthesized pharmaceuticals.
One of the most common and well-known (and well-understood) problems is St. John's Wort, which affects a very specific enzymatic pathway in the liver, altering the liver's ability to metabolize particular chemicals. (Grapefruit juice is another culprit, by the way.)
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
My smoothies are pretty much still just
fruit, fruit juice and ice -- plus dairy, because Wisconsin.
I usually toss in a little vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg as well.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Good Morning UR
Fruit Smoothies are all about the fruit. No reason why keeping it simple ain't delicious too. Anything to keep cool in the summer works for me!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
An entirely different kind of smoothy ...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezpmH_uwFQU]
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Songs about ice hockey
Are a nice way to keep cool
Speaking of songs to keep you cool, what did you think of my surfing while singing video?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
By chance it’s also very hot in Germany this week
So a German family I know took me along to one of those lakefront recreation areas over toward the Polish border, where back in the day the East Germans turned a lot of opencast mines into lakes.
I've always visited Germany
In the winter, so I've never experienced how warm it can get. Is the heat there humid as well?
Spending time at the lake sounds lovely. Sometimes it's difficult for me to choose between cooling off at a lake up in the mountains, or at the ocean down by the beach. That's why I included both scenarios with the video and the picture that followed.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier