A Touch of the Tropics

There is no escape.

Everyone travelling or staying in the tropics gets hit by it sooner or later.

The situation where your poor western stomach says,enough is enough of this eastern food.

You don’t really know whether it was the deep fried cockroaches you had for dinner the night before,or the cheddar cheese sandwich with Branston pickle which is also available here.But whatever it was you had better make sure a bathroom or bowl is in easy reach. Having established that they are near, you can lie back and wish to die.

You don’t of course, but it certainly feels like it,and in fact you will probably hope for  your passing at the acute stage.

Luckily it is usually something that takes at the most 48 hours to get over.Afterwards you will sleep and sleep,then greet the next day, a couple of pounds lighter and with a stomach that is now immune to the ‘joys’,of in my case,Asian cuisine.

A thought that went through my head while I was suffering was,

“now you are alone”

there is no family to accompany you on whatever journey this was going to take you,nobody to hold your hand,or make sure you got some fluids into you.It is all up to you.

But I managed it,and survived.

Although being alone when you are in need of care might be something that stops women doing what I did, this incident showed me we are all strong.It’s just fear that is the inhibitor.

A Trolley Full of Calories

Probably it is a trait found more in woman. Inquisitiveness. But then you could say it’s because we are just more interested in certain things.

Standing in line at the Supermarket for instance. I don’t know about you, but I always look at what everybody else has in their trolley,and in the few seconds it takes to look, I build my opinion about them,which I must admit isn’t always noble. Maybe because there are more and more people buying things who are having difficulty fitting in the food lines.

Yesterday the very overweight young woman in front of me put a large packet of Florentines,a delicious,toffee type cookie of fruit and nuts coated with a heavy layer of milk chocolate on one side. (Yes I will post the recipe) Plus a jumbo pack each of M and M’s, and Maltesers, a one kilo bag of refined sugar and a bottle of red wine. (Nothing against a glass of red wine of course)

There are people out there,like my blogging colleague Joe Felso who have started counting calories,and I wonder why more people can’t do it, for we all Know what obesity brings us, and it isn’t as though the food that make us fat is cheap.

Why can’t the food stores scan the calories as well as the price.

In Switzerland all medical care must be paid for. It is very good but very expensive,and health care insurance costs rise each year. We now have thousands of families in the county where I live alone, who can’t afford health insurance or pay for a doctor to treat their sick children, because others can’t discipline their eating habits and are making themselves chronically ill which we all have to pay for.

I think it is time Insurance companies gave some kind of bonus to people that could verify a certain weight loss over a years period,then there might be an incentive to count calories and eat healthier.

A Bad Wife

Can’t seem to concentrate on anything these days. Time doesn’t flow by, it rushes like a raging torrent towards the last day of September.

Last week,even the pain returned,that which always makes itself evident in some kind of joint or muscle in my body when I am going through a bad patch. The medical practitioners call it wear and tear at my age. I call it something else. Whatever it is,it is something that is influenced by the cold and my mental attitude.

I have now done something which I don’t think a normal wife does, even when she has been married to the same man for thirty eight years. Maybe a normal woman wouldn’t either, I wonder if I am normal.

I saw an ad. in the paper “Apartment to rent in Thailand ”

My husband and I are both retired,and are lucky enough to be still in good health,with two lovely daughters who don’t need us any more and a cat that does.

We are not alike,in fact we don’t have the same interests in many things. But we did enjoy travelling, and always said we would do it more when we retired,and definitely we would go somewhere warm in the winter.

But we didn’t and we aren’t going to, for Hubby has become a home bird and quite satisfied to potter about in the garden. He likes the Swiss winters,with the cold and the wet,and his body doesn’t rebel them.

We talked about it, and we went to see the owner.The flat could only be let on a years basis but it was at a very reasonable price.

I could do what I liked he said,but he couldn’t see himself going there for more than a month.

I rented it,and I now have a ticket. Return of course.

I also have a very bad conscience.

The devil in me says I shouldn’t have, for thirty eight I have looked after home and family I have a right to do what I like now within reason, while there is time left.

But the other dutiful side of me,says wives don’t do that.They stay at home they cook and they clean,they shop, and they nurse for ever. and they don’t usually teach their husbands how to do it for themselves like I did.

Should I stay here because I once said “I do” is it my duty?

He could fly directly from Zürich if he misses me. I will be twelve hours away.

Lick It

No need to worry anymore if there is no disinfectant around when you cut yourself.

Just lick it.

Laboratory tests in Holland have shown that a certain protein called Histatin which is present in saliva, besides having an antibacterial effect, also accelerates the healing process.

The Dutch scientists hope that from their new knowledge better treatment can be found for chronic wounds and burns.

So when you next tell a child who has cut themselves to “lick it better”,you can now be sure it will help.

Birchermuesli, Perfect Food For The Olympics

Although I vowed I wouldn’t watch any of the Beijing Olympics, I found myself sitting in front of the television,excusing myself by saying I had to wish Roger, who was carrying the Swiss Flag,Happy Birthday.

The Swiss have now managed to win a bronze medal,so I am now committed to watch us beat the Chinese !

I live in the land of the original Birchermuesli.Nothing out of packets for me. It is the perfect food for watching the Olympics on TV. Nourishing, quick,easy and you don’t get a bad conscience looking at all those perfect bodies,because it doesn’t need to have many calories. It usually tastes better though for a good lashing of cream and sugar, brown of course.

Dr.Bircher-Benner 1867-1939, pioneer of whole food health and Birchermuesli introducer, might raise his eyebrows at mine, but basically it is the same as his, which is still served in the sanatorium he founded in Zürich.

You need;

A cup of dry rolled oats

soak in

2-3 cups of fluid, milk, milk/creme, milk/yogurt, or evaporated milk as preferred for about 30minutes.

add

2 apples,grated unpeeled,

1tablespoon of lemon juice (optional)

a handfull of chopped nuts (I like pecan or walnuts),

lots of berries, whatever you have,raspberries, blueberries,strawberries,etc

2 bananas sliced

other fruit if liked, peaches,plums,apricots,mango,chopped. (oranges or pineapple don’t combine well)

Sweeten with honey,brown sugar,or molasses.

Add more fluid if too dry, and serve with whipped cream if you are not counting calories.

In Switzerland Birchermuesli is often eaten with wholemeal bread and butter as a complete meal.

En Guete and let the best man (or woman) win.

Who Do You Share a Bed With?

It is safe to be choosy about who you share a bed with,and it pays to get your priorities straight,especially in the summer season.

Before you read further this post has nothing to do with “Sex in the City” I’m just saying it may help to sleep around a bit and find out if your partner passes the test, if your are aiming at sleeping that is.

Daily high temperatures and hot sultry nights,will bring them out, whether you are fat or thin they just love your body. The adoring Mosquito.

Nights,when you reach that sublime feeling between awareness and well earned dreams, that’s when they like you best.

An unmistakable high pitched siren breaks the silence and you know you have a new admirer.

That’s when you can only hope that your bloodsucker prefers the taste of the person lying beside you. If you don’t belong to the lucky ones there is nothing you can do but get up and go hunting if you don’t want to be covered in itchy spots in the morning.

Werner Rudin a Biologist from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Basle,Switzerland, and Mosquito expert says, finding a partner that Mosquitoes like is the best deterrent.

If you are not in the happy situation of having one, there is nothing for it but to buy a Mosquito net,or spray yourself every three hours from head to foot with a chemical spray repellent .(Don’t forget to set the Alarm!)

Natural aromas like Citronella in candles or sprays are apparently ineffective. The insects don’t like the smell says Rudin but it won’t stop them biting.

Mosquitoes don’t like dark colours,so if you have any clothes on see that they are white.There is no point in sleeping in your jeans, thickness of material is no problem to them.

I don’t suppose any of us will escape a bite or two this Summer,but if you are out hunting, Cherchez la Femme, for it’s only the women that bite.

How to make Dandelion Soup

Everyone seems to love Dandelions.
I saw this Recipe in the Le Menu. Try it if they aren’t all picked.

Dandelion Soup

1 Bunch of Spring Onions, chopped
1 Handfull of Dandelion Leaves,chopped
2 Soup spoons of Semolina
600ml of Vegetable Bouillion
100ml of double cream
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Fry Onions lightly in Butter,add Semolina and Bouillion.
Cook slowly in pan half covered by lid for 15 minutes.
Mash together if possible with a mixer.
Add cream and heat,add finely chopped dandelion leaves.
Add salt and pepper as liked.
Serve in warmed bowls,decorated with a swirl of cream and what else-
a small dandelion and leaf

How to make a Dandelion Pizza

From my earlier Dandelion post you will have read that Dandelions are good for you.
A salad made with the young leaves, picked before the plant starts to flower and mixed with an Aceto Balsamico salad dressing tastes really delicate and willl do wonders for your liver.

Salad might not be for you, but try Dandelion Pizza.

Roll out a round of Pizza pastry,
Spread with Tomato Sugo,
Cover with cut pieces of Mozzarella Cheese (about 100gr.)
Sprinkle with crumbled bits of Pecorino Cheese (about 50gr.)
Lastly cover with 3-4 slices of Parma Ham,and freshly milled pepper.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 2oo° C

Make a salad dressing with 1 Tablespoon of Aceto Balsamico,preferably rosso,and 2Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Salt and Pepper.

Mix with 50gr. of clean dry Dandelion leaves.
Spread over cooked hot Pizza,and serve immediately.

En Guete

Dandelions are good for you but don’t wet the bed.

Yesterday I saw a Dandelion in bloom for the first time this year.

What a promise it made of warm weather and blue skies.

It reminded me of my childhood when we played in the fields and got the milk of the plant all over our hands and clothes.

Our Mothers were angry because the stains wouldn’t come out, and we feared that we would really wet the bed-for that’s what they said about picking Dandelions.

We didn’t have Coke in those days,but my Grandmother used to buy something that looked like it from the Lemonade Man who came around twice a week. It was called Dandelion and Burdock and I thought it was horrid.

I knew then that Dandelions were not poisonous,but I certainly didn’t want to swallow them in any form.

Now I know that there is hardly a plant growing in our fields that is more versatile, and like many spring flowers detoxifying.
From the first leaves you can make a delicate salad.Cooked the leaves are a bit like Spinach.

If you have a lot of patience you can even make a type of sparkling wine.

Roast the roots in Autumn and you can use them to replace Coffee grains. You can also make a kind of savoury paste if after grating them you mix them with Olive Oil.

The flowers are also known as “Poor man’s Saffron” and gives a Risotto a new note.

Dandelions are probably the first flower that children learn to love. Not only for their colour in a bunch but as a plaything when they are in seed.

Did you know that the seeds of a “Parachute” if blown into the air can travel up to 10 Kilometers.

Just the things for gardeners.

Is anyone there now that Easter has gone?

Easter has come and gone again. The heathen eggs eaten, and the taste of chocolate still deliciously on our tongues.

But was it also a religious festival for you?

The existence of God can be neither proven nor disproven.But experts agree that whoever believes in God lives longer.

But the power of prayer when used for others is of little or no use.

A study published by the “American Heart Journal” in 2006, and until now the biggest on the subject, showed that Bypass patients for whose good health was regularly prayed for didn’t improve more than that of others who hadn’t been the subject of prayer.

However on your own health religious belief has an undisputed positive influence.

According to a team from the University of Copenhagen,Denmark people who regularly attended a religious service lived on average 83,4 years,and by women the influence was even greater.

Intensive religious activity prolongs life is also the consensus of Ralph Kunz, Theology Professor at the University of Zürich,Switzerland. Brought about he says by a generally higher motivation in difficult situations. Ressourcen were better mobilised and bodily resistance to negative influences higher.

Religion as a general cure? Recipe for a better society?