I went to the doctor today. The office has introduced walk-in hours. Other than that, I stayed up too late, slept too late and read quite a bit outdoors in 70 deg windy overcast. Won't be a day like that or yesterday for weeks, maybe months. Tomorrow promises to be sunny in high 40s which is nice. I'll go to the book swap at the recycling center. My car is already loaded from yesterday. By all rights I ought have gone to recycle today. Friday, I must be ready to get to the antique mall to tend to my booth and do the money stuff. It's Feb 1, after all. Perhaps I'll wear red.
Anyhow -- from the doc, I got cough syrup (codeine) and antibiotics. Again no culture or CBC. I keep bringing up sinus and chest congestion, rather chronic. I keep getting handed antibiotics. They've worked. Do I get sick more often than I should? I've often wondered --- even imagined AIDS, but my time as a blood donor has put to rest those suspicions. Of course there's CFIDS. I'm not even sure that's really a thing. It's not a thing that brings much in the way of relief. Just recrimination. Like most of what ails me.
After the doc, got myself to Whole Foods and the oriental grocery. Got my ferments -- kimchi and sauerkraut, both live culture. Also got miso for the first time. Serious miso, made with barley and aged two years. I specifically sought barley (muji) based on macrobiotic diet book. Got a few other things... papaya for one. Gonna have another go at it. I picked the ugliest yellowest one this time and not the shiny green that confounded me last time. I finally did make good use of all that one. At the oriental grocery I got some tamari soy sauce, again a macrobiotic thing. I got bonito and what I assume to be kombu, just labeled seaweed. And some buckwheat noodles.
Anyhow, I filled a small crock pot with about a quart of water and a couple four inch squares of the seaweed that I had rinsed off a whitish film. When that heated up good, I added just a few tablespoons of bonito (What I bought had 5 premeasured packets). Bonito smells pretty strong. Both the bonito and kombu sat in the water for a couple hours. No salt or anything added. I shredded some cabbage, carrot and jalapeno and salted it. It's hours later and I checked that -- not much maceration yet. I'll leave it in the fridge and see what tomorrow brings. I sauted some mushroom -- plain button mushrooms -- and onion. I decided to leave out the pickled veggies, and make a soup with the saute, some shaved celery, some ginger, a tablespoon or so of miso -- all together in a bowl into which I ladled some dashi. I LOVED IT. I let the dashi seep some more then removed the kombu and drained through a coffee filter. I'll put that in the fridge and make soup with the veggies and some noodles tomorrow. Probably simmer together after draining whatever liquid forms -- maybe rinsing the salt. Then pour over some miso. I bet I'll love that too. I hate restaurant miso, so this is a wonderful surprise. Next time I make the dashi, I see I've not quite done it right. I'll remove the kombu before adding the bonito. As for the kombo I removed, I cut strips from it, added some vinegar, and put it in the fridge. I'll likely put it in the last of the chicken soup. I thought it might be a good smoothie addition too -- speaking of which, I've yet to get to that. I did buy celery hearts and beets, intended smoothie ingredients. Papaya, too.
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