Just one more reason to hate "three-two" beer

I live in Oklahoma. ::slight shudder:: Yeah, yeah....it's not that bad. Actually, I'll even confess to enjoying it here. However, Oklahoma's liquor laws cause me some serious angst.

When we first arrived in Oklahoma my husband's work friends cued us in. Here you cannot buy alcohol on Sundays or after 9pm on any day, all beer sold in liquor stores is room temperature, you cannot buy liquor or wine anywhere but a liquor store, beer in grocery stores is no more than 3.2% ABV (your standard domestics run between 4.2% and 5.0% ABV), and most everything served in a restaurant, sporting event, etc. is "three-two". You can, however, find imports (at room temperature) that contain their proper alcohol content (typically 4.8%-5.6% ABV) in liquor stores. Call me a Yankee, Yupee, whatever...but I want to be drinking the real deal when I choose to partake.

My better half would get embarrassed when I narrowed my beverage selection at a restaurant by asking, "What's NOT 'three-two'?" It'll be a long life with that attitude, baby. Give credit where credit is due - I haven't made the 45-minute commute to Arkansas for the real stuff. Yet.


But the dietitian in me got to thinking...there's gotta be something good about this "three-two" stuff (one source actually reported 70% of alcohol-related deaths being attributed to the consumption of three-two beer!). Anyways, I deduced that because there's alcohol missing, this beer must be lower in calories compared to its domestic brothers and sisters made right. Logical, si?

Wrong.

For the record, my bachelor's is in "FOOD Science and Human Nutrition", not "Food and Beverage Science and Human Nutrition". Luckily, too. The latter wouldn't sound as impressive on a resume. (Although, my undeclared minor was certainly beverage-related coughcough). Anyways...

What makes a light beer lighter is not the (large) reduction in alcohol content, but rather the carbohydrate content. While my logical side thinks, "But how many more carbs can you take out of a Miller Lite containing a mere 3.2 grams of carbohydrates in a 12-ounce serving?". No wonder Bud Light wins my vote. It comes in at 6.6 grams of carbs per serving, doubling its archrival Miller Lite. Dammit! At least Bud Light has drinkability. Moving on...

A standard 12-ounce bottle contains 355 ml. If a domestic beer serving is typically 15 ml of "alcohol" (1/2 ounce), a "three-two"beer has 11.4 ml of "alcohol" (juuussst shy of 2/5ths ounce). Not a huge difference despite it's "three-two" contents. If you don't believe me, Google "milliliter".

At least we're not the only deprived ones -- Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, and Utah are in this with us. In all seriousness, true source of all my angst surrounding this issue revolves around the fact that until Oklahoma liquor laws change, there will be no Trader Joe's in our new home state. Sigh.

Gotta jet - off to Arkansas.

vacation pictures!

Most of the vacation pictures are up on my flickr account now. Facebook has some, but I have to go to my in-laws to finish uploading those sometime. Here is the link for my flickr account. www.flickr.com/photos/godsflower enjoy!

Pork and Leek Sausages and Mash with Red Onion Gravy Recipe

Sausages and mash is a very common dinner in the United Kingdom. The problem is that, unfortunately, the quality of the sausages more often than not leaves a lot to be desired. Usually, they are made with bits of the animal carcass which people would never otherwise eat, as well as a whole host of artificial chemicals and preservatives.

The sausages which I am using in the preparation of this recipe are of very high quality and high meat content, made with free range, organic pork and leeks and, although more expensive than the supermarket budget sausages described above, were priced at a level which should be well within the budget of the vast majority of people.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

6 free range, organic pork and leek sausages
1lb of potatoes
1 large red onion
1oz unsalted butter
1/4 pint of fresh chicken stock

Method

Add a little sunflower or vegetable oil to a non-stick frying-pan and put on as low a heat as possible. Add the sausages and cook for one hour, turning frequently. Note that sausages should never be pricked prior to cooking them as this allows all the juices and thus the flavour to escape. Cook them extremely slowly in this fashion and they will not burst.

When the sausages have been on for about half an hour, put your peeled and chopped potatoes in to a large pan of salted, boiling water and simmer for the remainder of the sausages' cooking time.

Next, peel your onion and slice it across ways to a thickness of about 1/8", so that each slice can then be separated carefully in to rings. Gently melt the butter in a non-stick pot or pan and add the onion rings. Heat on a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions begin to sweat and take on a transluscent quality. Turn down the heat and simmer gently for about fifteen minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the chicken stock and simmer for a further five to ten minutes.

It then remains only to drain and mash the potatoes with a little butter and plate up your delicious, healthy option bangers and mash.

If you are for any reason having trouble getting the quality of sausages you desire, why not make your own? You may be very surprised as to how easy it can be!

Happy Father's Day!

( I lost this geeky eyeglasses during my trip at Melbourne, Victoria, AUS)

Compound myopic astigmatism. A vision defect called near sighted in layman’s term. Sadly I was diagnosed with this defect 6 years ago. Slowly my eyesight is deteriorating. I can’t see or read signs from a far. They appear blurry to me. Since that day I have to wear eyeglasses so that I can see objects from a distance clearly. But seeing objects close to me are fine. They are vivid and clear. Wearing my eyeglasses regularly makes my eyes feel so heavy. So I’d rather wear it when needed. Sometimes people see me on the streets without my eyeglasses they perceive me as a very snobbish person. Actually I am not.

Two weeks ago my Dad finally braved himself and went on an eye surgery because he has cataract on both eyes. Thank God it was a success. I always pray that his vision will be ok so that he can still see all my dreams come true. I always have been proud of my Daddy. The man with beard and mustache is the greatest influencer of my life because I inherited his talent and his philosophies in life. So now, unconsciously I tend to be prone to men with beard and mustache. I denied that for quite some time, but now based on my observation about realities of human subconscious mind, I think I agree. The subconscious mind takes up 88% of our brain's capacity, and could be compared to a massive computer system that stores all of the information regarding our location, situation, feelings etc. It controls our Autonomic Nervous System such as our heartbeat, breathing, organs and glands - in other words all of the things we do not have to think about. The subconscious mind has no reasoning power, and cannot reject anything that it is told. Now it makes sense right?

(With my Daddy and my niece Chelsea)

For other people my Dad is a good billiard and dart player (the Efren Bata Reyes among his peers), a chain smoker, a beer drinker, a good artist, a videoke singer wannabe and now a Grand Pa. I always respected him and will always be thankful how he raised me. He sent me to a good school and he’s always there to help me since I was this little girl. Up to these days He still helps me in many ways. I know I can never pay all the things He has done for me. What I can only do is to return the favor, now that I have all the blessings in life---it’s pay back time. Now that Dad is old and He can no longer treat me to good restaurants and buy cool stuff the way he did before, it’s my turn for me to do those things for him. Actually I’ve been doing that since I started earning and I intend to continue that as long as we both live.

No matter what, I will not exchange my Daddy to anybody. He’s unique in so many ways. And one great reason why I admire my Dad so much, the way he stood up beside my Mom in spite and despite. I think that’s Love. Now I am having my silly grin writing that sentence. To wrap things up, I will be proud to have my one and only Daddy in this little life that Joanie has.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy and to all the real father in the planet! :-)

hugs,
joanie xxx

Egg Yolk Makes Everything Better

Last night I made breakfast pizza. It's something I've been meaning to try since seeing this awhile back. Pizza...eggs...cheese...what's not to love?

I can't believe I waited so long to try it. Eggy yolk oozing over everything, perfect for dipping pizza crust* into. It was so good with the asparagus, tomato and spinach on the pizza, topped with mozzarella and a sprinkling of fresh parmesan. De-lish.


My only issue was that the egg made my pizza a lot more filling, which meant I could eat less. And this clearly isn't a problem at all. Yum.

*I do seem to have an issue with my pizza crusts. I think I need to either try NOT using whole wheat flour, get a pizza stone or knead a lot more. They're just too bready. I'll work on it.


Breakfast pizza with Asparagus, Tomato and Spinach

Pizza dough
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Farenheit, or the hottest setting your oven has. Apparently you're supposed to do this about an hour before you bake the pizza. I don't generally have this much patience - maybe that's the problem with my crust.

2. Combine warm water and yeast; mix until yeast is dissolved. Set aside for a few minutes until foamy.

3. Mix dry ingredients. Make a well, and add water/yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until it's too hard to stir. Knead in the bowl until a dough forms, then turn onto a lightly floured countertop and knead for about 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and kind of tacky by the time you're done. Leave on the counter and cover with the bowl while you prepare the pizza toppings and sauce.

Pizza
Pizza sauce (I already had some from a previous batch in the freezer)
Asparagus stalks, ends snapped off (I heard you can thinly slice the tough bottoms and saute for frittatas, omelettes and whatnot. I did this and threw them in the freezer for future use)
Baby Spinach leaves
Tomato (diced)
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Egg(s)

1. Roll out pizza dough as thin as you want. If you're making thin crust pizza, roll it out as thin as you can without ripping when you pick it up. Move to a parchment-lined cookie sheet

2. Spread pizza sauce on dough, leaving about a half inch for the crust (unless you don't like a lot of crust)

3. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella; top with asparagus stalks, baby spinach, tomatoes and more mozzarella.

4. Place in pre-heated oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven, crack an egg or two on top, sprinkle with salt, pepper and parmesan and put back into the oven for 5-10 more minutes, until the egg is set and the crust is browned.