Another Useful Toy!

I have to admit that my favorite toys when I was little had to do with food: toy dishes, toy food, tea sets, Easy Bake ovens, etc. I envied a neighbor girl who had a mini-kitchen with real running water. When Jordan was little we bought her a Little Tykes kitchen with everything to go with it, and you guessed it, I played with it more than she did. If you think I grew up to be a great cook, you're mistaken.

Several posts back ("Eureka! Housecleaning Kauai Sis") I wrote about how my $20 toy-like vacuum cleaner got my house cleaner than my $1200 Kirby (whose contemporary, by the way, costs twice as much). One of my friends who read that blog post thanked me later because she bought that mini Eureka Boss for her apartment and loves it.

Well guess what, I found yet another helpful toy-like appliance! When we went shopping at the Keeaumoku Walmart at 4 a.m. on Black Friday--which, FYI, is way too late for the blockbuster bargains--my sister bought two $4 electric mini-choppers. She gave me one and I reluctantly accepted it, saying, "Well I already have a regular blender and a Cuisinart hand blender with a bowl attachment--both of which I never use." My sister, however, has a way of finding things that suit me.

I brought it back to Kauai and it sat in its box on the storage--err, I mean diningroom--table until Christmas Eve day when I was running around stressed as usual. I was behind schedule preparing the two dishes I was taking to the Kaui's party. I had shrimp, kamaboko, carrots, and green onion to chop and suddenly I spotted the mini chopper sitting in its box. See, isn't it a good thing I didn't put it away like an efficient housekeeper would have?

The little $4 chopper saved my day, was simple to use, lightweight, and easy to clean. Somehow using something little and simple--no fancy settings or attachments--appeals to me. It's low cost means low stress because you don't care as much if it breaks. Certainly a fancy food processor is probably more versatile. For instance, I would've liked the kamaboko pieces to be a little bigger, but judging by the way the kaki age (shrimp fritters) disappeared quickly at the party, it was not an issue.

And typical of the way Life kids with me, when we played bingo that very night at the party, I won nothing (I don't recall ever winning at bingo!), but the young lady across the table from me did. She went to choose her prize and came back with---ta da!---the same Walmart mini chopper!!!! I swear I hadn't mentioned my mini chopper to her, it just appeared like magic in front of me. I shouldn't be surprised since I've always said my life is like a sitcom.

Movies, Books, and Food and Food

This will be the first time since I moved to Kauai in 1978 that we haven't gone to Honolulu for either Christmas or New Year's. Blame the economy which caused the car rental companies to reduce their fleet of cars and my refusal to pay $100/day for a car. We did manage to go for Thanksgiving, though, so as not to totally neglect our families. Ok truthfully we also didn't want to neglect our need for the amenities of Honolulu (restaurants, stadium-seating movie theaters, Krazy Karaoke, Ross, Rumors, etc.).

Thanks to Wes and Trinette Kaui again for their fabulous annual Christmas Eve party! Unfortunately it rained this year, but that did not prevent everyone from having a good time and it certainly did not detract from the huge ono buffet or fun entertainment.

Then on Christmas morning Cousin Rose called to ask us to an early dinner. Rose is incredible at preparing a fabulous and healthy spread in record time. She can prepare 4-5 dishes to my 2 in less time. Imagine we decided at 9 a.m. to have this get together at 4 p.m. and we managed to prepare: grilled pork with tomatoes and onions (ok we have to credit Errol for that!), prime rib roast, baked potato seafood salad, black cod with cabbage, mussels fettucine, Kauai greens salad (There were probably 10 fresh ingredients in it, from spinach to avocado to fennel!) and lau lau. Everything was made fresh except for the lau lau.

We had been planning on going to a hotel buffet, but no problem, we had a dessert buffet that was just as delicious. Just nine of us and yet with Aunties Helen and Lucy contributing, we prepared six different desserts: Apple Crisp, Lemon Pound Cake, Cancanin (I see it spelled "kakanin" online) coconut mochi rice, Haupia Cake (ok, this was from Safeway), Double Chocolate Cookies, and Peach Pie. I still feel guilty 3 days later...not to mention I'm still eating the leftovers we brought home.

To make things worse, a kind soul gave Leonard a whole box of Omaha Steak's Apple Tartlettes. We haven't tried them yet, but they look irresistible! The Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream is waiting patiently to accompany them. And then that darned Costco just had to put Haagen Daz vanilla/almond bars on sale. I mean come on, you can't pass up a sale like that. (I just had this vision of Richard Simmons looking into our freezer--yikes!)

Omigod, I've been eating too much these past few weeks and put back the few pounds I lost since October. Ugh! I have something interesting to share that I read: When you don't get enough sleep, you feel hungrier and eat more.

I seem to be proving this true because I've been getting less sleep the past few weeks and do notice that I'm constantly hungry. For instance, last night we went to see "Sherlock Holmes" and got home late. I got to bed at 12:30 a.m. and for some reason (the Pepsi I drank?) I took a long time to fall asleep and woke up groggy at 6 a.m. I was hungry all day today and I'm still hungry now at 10:30 p.m. so I'm eating Doritos. This isn't something I normally do.

By the way, "Sherlock Holmes" was great except I had a hard time understanding what they were saying at times for the first half of the movie. Either it was the English accents or my hearing is bad, or both. By the second half, however, I didn't have as much of a problem.

One reason I'm getting less sleep these days is I'm reading more books. My current read is "Harvest" by Tess Gerritsen. I love medical thrillers and I'm loving this one! I'm thrilled to have "found" Dr. Gerritsen because I ran out of Robin Cook and Michael Palmer books.

And lastly, another "health alert"--the first being get enough sleep to decrease food cravings--comes from the latest Dr. Mercola newsletter. To read the details, click here. This is a summary of "Avoid These 7 Foods and You're Off to a Healthier New Year":

1) Canned tomatoes--the acidity of the tomatoes causes the BPA's in the can's lining to leach into the tomatoes. Canned foods as a whole should be avoided when possible for this reason. I'm bummed because we like to make our own salsa with canned diced tomatoes.

2) Corn-fed beef--Grass-fed beef is much healthier.

3) Microwave Popcorn--again, you're ingesting the toxic BPA's from the plastic-lined bags. An Air Popper is very inexpensive, by the way!

4) Non-organic Potatoes--oh my goodness, not only do potatoes absorb all the toxins from pesticides already in the soil, but the vines are sprayed again before harvest and the potatoes are sprayed AGAIN to prevent sprouting. Chew on THAT when you're eating your McFries (my favorite...Leonard prefers BK's fries).

5) Farm-raised salmon--I did NOT want to know that farmed salmon are fed soy, poultry litter and CHICKEN FEATHERS. Whaaat?!!? Consequently they're full of contaminants and carcinogens. Dr. Mercola adds that most fish, even "wild" are full of mercury or contaminants, so he doesn't recommend a fish-heavy diet.

6) Milk produced with artificial hormones--which can cause breast, prostate, and colon cancer.

7) Non-organic apples---apples win the "most-doused with pesticides" award and are linked to Parkinson's Disease.

This list was prepared by various food experts and appeared in the "mass media" and Dr. Mercola agrees with it. He does recommend adding the following:

8) Unfermented soy--Americans are under the impression that soy is good, but on the contrary, it's considered an "anti-nutrient"!

If like me you're unable or unwilling to buy everything organic, Dr. Mercola prioritizes them for us. He recommends "...looking for organic meats, eggs and dairy products before anything else."

Ok, I've done my good deed for the day...except that I apologize for listing the desserts, that can't be helpful!! *LOL*

Avatar: $20 Plot Making Millions

Life is so interesting, I am never ever bored.

Tonight we went to see "Avatar" and perhaps partially because Kukui Grove Cinema on Kauai never shows anything in 3D, I was a bit disappointed in the movie. For some reason I have yet to figure out, special effects in any movie do not impress me. Maybe because I'm a gullible person who accepts everything I see on a screen as a given? "Yes, flying dragons are flying among helicopters, no biggie. Totally possible," or "Sure, aliens climbing massive rock islands suspended in the air...well hopefully nets were used."

Yes, the movie was beautiful and I loved seeing this new world with it's amazingly- colored fantasy plants, bugs, and animals. I just wished they had spent some of the hundreds of millions of their budget on a good screenwriter! As I have learned in the past two years as a "sort of" writer, there are thousands, if not millions, of good writers around. I'm sure out of those thousands, there are hundreds who can write a story which isn't so predictable and/or with less "holes" in it.

I've learned that there are freelance writers who can write whole articles for $5 in just a few minutes, and it seems to me that one of those freelancers made maybe $20 on this script! The old "foreign" guy meets princess and her boyfriend gets jealous plot plus "good guy" from Establishment switches sides to fight Establishment plot pretty much indicates that. Or am I just too jaded from watching TV and movies for 50 years?

Judging from what I witnessed on RottenTomatoes.com, perhaps I am. Out of curiosity I went to the site to check the reviews and it scored an 83%. That wasn't the surprising part. What surprised me is that each "rotten" critic was severely attacked by readers (I hope they were mostly teenaged boys) who took the time to log in and criticize the critics for giving Avatar a "rotten" review! Oh my goodness, if only those people would expend as much energy railing against something that actually mattered. Of course I had to waste a few minutes of my own precious time to log in and complain about those complainers. Too funny! On second thought, not funny....scary!

So as I said, despite "Avatar" being rather disappointing, I was not bored. I was entertained some of the time looking at the beautiful---or weird---sights of the planet Pandora and entertained at other times predicting what would happen next. Lastly, but not least, discovering how passionate some movie fans can be when their movie is criticized. You'd think they were all somehow involved in the making of it--although the possibility can't be dismissed, judging from the looong credits at the end of the movie. There were literally hundreds of names listed, if not thousands! [And yet sadly, I think only one writer was listed---for that $20 plot!]

Aged Eyes: Do Not Shake

Two posts ago I mentioned having an eye issue and as you can see, I am still able to see despite "stuff" swimming annoyingly by in my right eye every so often. I was diagnosed to have a "vitreous detachment" rather than a more serious retinal tear or detachment. The two eye docs I saw--yes, I was worried enough to get a second opinion--said the cause is aging. I also suspect is was caused by my jumping up and down the previous week.

I had this crazy idea that since I hate exercising and always finding some reason not to fit it into my loose (as opposed to tight) schedule, that jumping up and down is a quick way to get my heart rate up and at the same time it was twice as weight-bearing as walking, which would benefit my osteoporosis. Hmph! So much for efficient exercise. As much as I dislike Sally Field, I may have to take her advice and resort to taking Boniva if my next bone scan is not good.

As a reminder, if you suddenly start seeing a lot of new "floaters" across your vision or flashing lights, see your eye doctor as soon as possible to make sure you don't have a retina tear. If caught quickly, it can be repaired before more serious damage occurs. Click here for information on supplements for eye health as 25% of people over 60 experience this problem.

On a happier note, I was watching "Regis and Kelly" as I usually do and Anderson Cooper gave out "Crack Pie" samples to the audience. He says he's addicted to it. Being a foodaholic, I immediately googled it and found this yummy page that describes the goodies of Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar. Gee, it sounds like a natural for Honolulu! What's more, Momofuku's owner/chef is David Chang, who is one of the most celebrated chefs in New York, and from what I read, he's Korean although I thought "Chang" was Chinese, and he trained in Japan. So hello, it seems to me he belongs in Hawaii! [Hmmm, you know how people are always saying 'hello' in that ironic way? Should we in Hawaii should use 'aloha' instead?] What's more, before learning that he's from the East Coast, I saw David Chang on Martha Stewart and he sounded to me like he was from Hawaii.

Well I must dash off to do some recycling since on Kauai we still don't have recyclables collection. I will try to post more often so stay tuned for another post soon!

Quick Post--Cooked in One Minute

Just letting my 3 readers know that I'm still alive and sewing. I'll be posting here sometime next week because my last craft fair of the year will be on the 12th at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. Hurray!

By the way, I haven't gone blind and hopefully won't in the near future. More on that next week. My minute is almost up--I'm a slow typist!

Meanwhile, check out this link if you want to see if your beauty products are toxic. The name of the website is Skin Deep. I'm considering switching to henna and bought some henna cream, only to find that it has the same rating as semi-permanent hair dyes such as Loving Care by Clairol. (Henna POWDER is healthier, but from what I've read, a lot messier and difficult to work with, plus the results aren't as good).

Please leave me comments if you have any experience with henna. Mahalo!