My parents were children of the Great Depression, so leftovers were a regular feature at our dinner table. My mother never threw everything into one pot, like a “hobo stew,” but instead served the drips and drabs on a night we called “Druthers.” It got this name from the question, “Would you druther have this or that?” She believed a little bit of food shouldn’t go to waste if there were children starving in China. We lived far away from China, but her missionary heart invited us kids to consider the plight of others and be thankful for leftovers. After all, we should be glad for the food on our table.
Medically Approved!
Of course, we were children of the prosperous 1950’s, and were brought up on Tang, the drink of astronauts, and Wonder Bread, which builds bodies eight ways with added vitamins and minerals. We wanted interesting food, not recycled food. Yes, we were spoiled. Our parents weren’t having this conversation. Instead, they insisted we remember our humble origins and eat leftovers.
The Jif peanut butter brand was created in 1958
This family drama could have played out in several ways in the next generation. We children could have decided we weren’t going to inflict such indignities upon our own children. We might have done this by “short order cooking” meals to everyone’s taste or getting takeout for every meal. Or by cooking just enough so we had no leftovers (my favorite). If people were still hungry, peanut butter and crackers were in the cabinet and fruit was in the fridge. I also would plan my meals with a soup night in mind, so I could have the leftovers appear as a part of that recipe.
Veggie Soup with Chicken
My traveling nurse neighbor recently went back home to the East coast. She cleaned out her ice box before traveling home. I made a good soup of her “leftovers” and enjoyed it very much. I hope she takes an assignment here next year. She was a delight to have as a neighbor.
Another option is to realize we Americans toss out 30% of our food each year. Repurposing our leftovers is the best way to avoid the greenhouse gasses and economic loss to our pocketbooks. Which brings me to leftover blueberry donuts and bread pudding. I’ve always known how to make rice pudding and stale bread pudding, but donuts are a new favorite recipe.
Leftover Blueberry Donut Bread Pudding
INGREDIENTS:
3 leftover donuts
1 Tbs unsalted butter
2 large eggs
170 grams 5% plain Fage Greek yogurt (3/4 Cup)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup wild blueberries (small enough to get into the nooks and crannies)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Lightly spray a small baking pan with cooking spray. Add in the doughnut chunks.
In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, melted butter and vanilla. Mix well. Add the wild blueberries. Pour the egg and fruit mixture over the doughnuts. Press on top of the chunks of donuts to combine. Allow to sit for around 5 minutes so that the doughnuts absorb the liquid. (I didn’t wait and it turned out great).
Cover the baking pan with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for an additional 25 minutes, or until the pudding pulls away from the edges and the center tests “clean” when a toothpick is inserted.
This makes 3 servings.
Tasker, William, Artist. Help US Preserve Your Surplus…food . Pennsylvania Philadelphia, None. [Philadelphia, pa.: wpa war services project, between 1941 and 1943] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/98518439/.
My old Nannie, who saw rationing in two world wars, was fond of saying, “Waste not, want not.” As a steward of God’s creation, caring for God’s resources so everyone can be full is one way we can live out our Christian witness. Enjoying leftovers is a plus in my book.
Nutrition Information
Joy, peace, and a Happy Thanksgiving to all my Kitchen family!
I’m declaring my Independence from housework, moving fast, cooking on the hot stove, and outdoor exercise. I’m celebrating American Independence Day on July 4th, and National Ice Cream Month all month long. Usually at Cornie’s Kitchen we celebrate all the holidays, but due to the Heat Dome of Doom lingering over my neck of the woods as I write this month, I’m also declaring my independence from my normal themes.
Massive Milkshake for a Patriotic Fourth—Las Vegas style
In the days before air conditioning in the heat of a Louisiana summer, my brother rabbits and I resorted to whatever shade we could find. Under a tall pine or a neighbor’s spreading magnolia tree, we called a truce to whatever sibling squabbles in which we usually engaged. Our mother bunny had banished us from the house because we were on her last nerve and it in our best interest to survive until the cooler days of autumn and school had begun.
At least we all had the evening’s relative coolness to soothe all our frazzled nerves, as well as giant pitchers of Kool-Aid to refresh our thirsty bunny bodies. At night we’d sleep under the ceiling fans with only a sheet covering the least of our bodies possible. Maybe in the depths of our sleep, we might pull that cool cotton over our bodies and enter the depths of our dreams of cooler days, but it might have been our rabbit parents covering us up before they turned into bed themselves.
We added our own sugar. Notice the ice trays in the small freezer.
Our whole neighborhood looked forward to the Fourth of July picnic, even though the weather was always “hotter than a firecracker on the 4th of July.” My daddy always brought this saying out at this time, even though we young bunnies weren’t allowed to shoot the firecrackers, because he didn’t want us to lose our “lucky rabbit’s fingers.” We always got the sparklers, with his admonition not to touch anyone, for these bright wands can burn up to 2000 F.
My pottery kiln in the art room heated between 1800 and 2400 F, so I never turned it on until my youngest students had left for the day. We always train our small ones not to go near a hot oven, but then we put even hotter sparklers in their hands every Independence Day. This ought to be a supervised celebration. After all, one in four rabbits who end up in the emergency room on the Fourth are there due to a sparkler burn.
I always tried to write my name with brilliant light against the black of night.
My family always hosted this neighborhood celebration, since we were located in the middle of the city block. All the families brought food, but what I remember best is the churning of the ice cream maker. We had a hand cranked system. Our mother poured the cream, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and seasonal fruit into the inner container. The outer container held the rock salt and ice. The whole thing went into an aluminum washtub with more ice, since it was shared with several other hand cranked ice cream machines.
Our ice maker was avocado green.
We children lined up early to take our turn at cranking the handle, for once the concoction inside began to set up, only the biggest rabbits could move the handle. Every one took a turn at the crank, for making the ice cream was a communal event, just as the holiday was a community celebration. This is one of the important aspects of the American Democratic Project. Our forebears didn’t individually decide to secede from Britain and the King. Instead they joined together as a group. As Benjamin Franklin may or may not have said, “We must all hang together, or … we shall all hang separately.” Those of us with gallows humor reflect that the King might have gotten a volume discount on rope and planks for his rebellious colonists.
For those of us today, raised in a media age, used to tidy storylines wrapped up in half hour, one hour, or two hour movie spectaculars, and with attention spans clocking in at 22 minutes on average, we might have found our early war for independence excruciatingly drawn out, much like the ongoing defense of the Ukrainian people’s sovereignty. In the late 18th century, the British Stamp Act imposed a tax on legal documents, newspapers, and even playing cards. “Taxation without representation!” became a rallying cry among colonists who resented their lack of voice in Parliament.
When other goods were added to the tax duty, the colonies began an import boycott and started manufacturing locally. They would have said, “Buy American,” but there was no America yet. The final insult was the Tea Tax, since it served no purpose but to bail out the East India Tea Company, whose prosperity was integral to the British economy. The first independence skirmishes began in Boston with the massacre in 1770 and in 1773 with the Tea Party dumping the goods into the harbor.
Grant Wood: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, oil on Masonite, 1931, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Still, the groups weren’t at war yet. Britain sent a general and an army to enforce Coercive Acts in 1774 to bring these rowdy colonists back into line. Gone were colonial governments and in were Quartering of the British Army in citizen’s homes without reimbursement. By April of 1775, the shooting was real. General Gage took his army to Lexington to seize arms and ammunition, and hoped to capture several of the leaders of rebel colonies. Because his plans were leaked, his army took greater losses and the leaders remained free.
From October of 1775 through January 1776, the British navy bombarded two ports and burned them to the ground. George Washington denounced the burning of Falmouth, MA, and Norfolk, VA, as “exceeding in barbarity & cruelty every hostile act practiced among civilized nations.” Leaders of the rebellion seized the burnings of the two ports to make the argument that the colonists needed to band together for survival against a ruthless enemy and embrace the need for independence. This spirit ultimately would lead to their victory.
John Trumbull: Signing of the Declaration of Independence, oil on canvas, 1826, 12’ x 18’, rotunda of the Capitol.
Not until June 11, 1776, did our founders meet to declare their independence from Britain. Six years of negotiations and struggles for recognition had passed before they were sure they had irreconcilable differences. If this were Netflix, it would be an extreme binge watching event with buckets of popcorn and multiple Door Dash orders. (This rabbit can’t go that long without bathing, but that’s TMI.)
When we rabbits gather in a group to come to a consensus, we don’t always agree on everything, but somehow we find a way to get common agreement on the biggest issues and save the rest for another time. In my family, I have at least one rabbit relative that’s always “my way or the highway.” We sometimes have to let him travel solo, since he doesn’t play well in groups. We still invite him to Thanksgiving dinner, even though he’s irritating, because he’s our kinfolk, and we can stand him in small doses. He probably thinks the same about us.
When the five-person committee appointed by the Continental Congress committee was writing the Declaration of Independence, they gave the lead to Thomas Jefferson. This is why Jefferson is often called the “author” of the Declaration of Independence, but he wasn’t the only person who contributed important ideas. The committee also included besides Jefferson: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.
When writing the first draft of the Declaration, Jefferson primarily drew upon two sources: his own draft of a preamble to the Virginia Constitution and George Mason’s draft of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights. Mason’s Virginia’s Declaration of Rights inspired: “all men are born equally free and independent” and listed man’s “natural Rights” as “Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.” Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Jefferson also listed man’s “inalienable rights” as “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
After Jefferson wrote his first draft of the Declaration, the other members of the Declaration committee and the Continental Congress made 86 changes to Jefferson’s draft, including shortening the overall length by more than a fourth. As my old rabbit preaching professor once said, “You don’t have to tell folks everything in one sermon or talk.” I imagine Jefferson merely wanted to make his case completely and with no logical gaps.
Original draft of the Declaration of Independence
Jefferson was quite unhappy about some of the edits made to his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. He had originally included language condemning the British promotion of the slave trade (even though Jefferson himself was a slave owner). This criticism of the slave trade was removed in spite of Jefferson’s objections. Sometimes we have to set pride aside for the sake of the common good. If our goal is to bring all the colonies into the independence effort, then we may have to live with what we see as imperfections in the cause. The good in this case is declaring independence from Britain, even though the slave owning southern colonies have their primary markets with the homeland. As Voltaire once said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
Only John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress, signed the Declaration on July 4th. Most delegates signed the Declaration on August 2, and one didn’t sign it until 1781. No one who signed the Declaration of Independence was born in the United States of America, for the USA didn’t exist until after the Declaration was signed. All but eight of the signers were born in the colonies that would later become the United States.
The two youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence were both from South Carolina. Thomas Lynch, Jr. and Edward Rutledge were both born there in 1749 and were only 26 when they signed the Declaration. Most of the other signers were in their 40s and 50s. The oldest signer of the Declaration was Benjamin Franklin, who was born in 1706 and was already 70 at the time of the Declaration. Franklin went on to help negotiate the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778 and the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783. This was a seven year war for independence. No wonder people today get cold feet when even a just war drags on “too long.”
The first public reading of the Declaration took place on July 8, 1776, in Philadelphia. In the summer of 1776, some colonists celebrated the birth of independence by holding mock funerals for King George III as a way of symbolizing the end of the monarchy’s hold on America. Philadelphia held the first annual commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777, while Congress was still occupied with the ongoing war. Concerts, parades, and the sounds of gunfire from muskets and cannons could be heard during this first celebration.
My rabbit daddy had an old muzzle loading rifle, which he only fired on the Fourth of July. I think he enjoyed bringing out this bit of history for his bunny children and their friends, who would encircle him in awe, at a safe distance, of course, as he poured gunpowder into the barrel, tamped it down with the dowel, and placed the wad and shot. Then he tamped the whole again before raising the stock to his shoulder and aiming for the moon high in the night sky, he pulled the trigger. The whole thing went off in a mighty blast, with fire shooting from the muzzle, much to the delight and screams of the assembled crowd. My daddy always grinned. I think he lived for this moment.
As I think back on this scene, wars must have been very different back in the time of our forebears. Today missiles fly from afar and automatic weapons fire multiple rounds per minute. Then again, life was slower. Or perhaps life was more dear. People had time to write letters and keep journals. They considered the moments of their lives as if they had unique meaning, rather than as experiences to be ravished at an all you can eat banquet until all things began to taste alike. If all we had today were these “original weapons to solve our current disagreements,” my guess is we’d do a lot more of talking folks to death than actually killing them dead. But the originalists who interpret our history and laws today aren’t frequenting my bunny world.
King George III in Hamilton, the Broadway musical.
One thing was certain, the people in the New World wanted to determine their own fate, elect their own governments, and have a say in their own affairs. They were no longer willing to be ruled by an unelected tyrant, especially one who ascended to his position by reason of birth, and not by the will of the people. They were going to begin a new experiment, a representative democracy, or a republic. We know this because of the initial paragraph of the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
Elizabeth and Samuel Powel’s house at 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia
A decade later, in a journal kept by James McHenry (1753-1816) while he was a Maryland delegate to the Constitutional Convention, McHenry records the events of the last day of that convention, September 18, 1787: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy – A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.” Then McHenry added: “The Lady here alluded to was Mrs. Powel of Philada.” Elizabeth and Samuel Powel’s house at 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia, was where the conversation between Elizabeth Powel and Benjamin Franklin might have taken place. She was a socially connected woman who entertained many of the movers and shakers of the new nation.
In honor of the Fourth of July, you might want to try Thomas Jefferson’s recipe for ice cream. The rage for ice cream came over from Europe to the New World in the early 1700’s. Several books on confectionery had been produced and included recipes for ices and ice cream. Our historical records show ice cream was on the menu in colonial America as early as 1744. Housewives would serve these treats to guests in the shape of vegetables, fruits and animals, thanks to special ice cream molds. Scholars believe the first major cookbook written by a woman, in what was until then an almost exclusively male domain, was Mrs. Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Easy (1747).
Jefferson’s handwritten recipe for Ice Cream
One of only ten recipes surviving in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, the recipe for ice cream most likely dates to his time in France. People have been making frozen desserts since before 2000 BCE. Of course, these ice and fruit concoctions weren’t like our ice creams of today, but more like sorbets.
Lantern slide, showing an ancient ice house inside a defensive wall. Iran. Photographed by Gen Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes KCIE. Around 1900. British Museum, London.
How did people actually making ice cream before freezers? The primary piece of equipment was a sorbetiere, a pewter vessel nestled into a mixture of ice and salt. The ice cream mix was then poured into the interior and agitated using the handle, or a flat spoon, known as a spaddle. This technology was surprisingly effective, freezing the mixture in a shorter amount of time than most contemporary ice cream machines. The machinery relied on a supply of ice, but was otherwise simple and portable.
Pewter Sorbetiere with Spaddle in Tub of Ice
Jefferson had traveled to France as the ambassador for our brand new nation, and there he developed a taste for ice cream. Today we’d call it “frozen custard,” since the French recipe has more eggs and a higher milk fat content than even the recipes for our current deluxe ice creams. When he returned home to the young United States, he brought several moulds for this sweet treat, which he served at the White House during his presidency from 1801-1809. Today’s recipes use different stabilizers and fewer eggs, but if you want to try Jefferson’s recipe for ice cream, it resembles my grandmother’s “boiled custard” which was the best comfort food of all time. It was served chilled, but not frozen.
Jefferson’s Ice Cream Equipment
Thomas Jefferson’s (Modernized) Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe:
Beat the yolks of 6 eggs until thick and lemon colored. Add, gradually, 1 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil 1 quart of cream and pour slowly on the egg mixture. Put in top of double boiler and when it thickens, remove and strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Temperature should be 170-180F. (Don’t overheat or it gets grainy.) When cool add 2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla. Freeze, as usual, with one part of salt to three parts of ice. Place in a mold, pack in ice and salt for several hours. For electric refrigerators, follow usual direction, but stir frequently.
However you celebrate this long holiday weekend, remember to hydrate with water, since alcohol is a dehydrating beverage. Also use plenty of sunscreen and keep your cold foods cold and hot foods hot. You don’t want to have any bunny tummy troubles that keep you out of the fun. I’ll be inside chilling with cold iced teas due to a past bad experience with heat exhaustion that has ruined me forever. The bad heat is a bad bunny for this rabbit. I plan on making Jefferson’s peach ice cream as a diversion.
5 – The art of cookery made plain and easy; : which far exceeds anything yet published. Containing … to which are added, by way of appendix, one hundred and fifty new and useful receipts, and a copious index. / By a Lady (Hannah Glasse 1708-1770)—ice cream recipe. Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822031021678
Back when I was in art school, the fancy pants Pepperidge Farm bread loaves cost a whopping 39 cents. I lived with some fellow students in a third floor walk up apartment without air conditioning in the Deep South. We all agreed this was far too much money to pay for a loaf of bread. Back then a dozen eggs were 62 cents and a loaf of white bread was 23 cents. Of course, the minimum wage was $1.60, and we were starving artists.
The Old Days: Bread at a Bakery
I shop for food, just like everyone else who doesn’t subscribe to a weekly box delivery. I’m a sale shopper, which means I buy what’s in season and what the grocer is promoting. This doesn’t always mean I get what I want, but I don’t shop at Burger King, I shop at my local supermarket.
Grocery Store Inflation is Down
The good news is omelettes are back on the menu at Cornie’s Kitchen! When eggs were at close to $4 per dozen, I rationed them as if they were gold. Now a dozen large eggs are $1.49! Here’s some good news:
Inflation has fallen for 11 months in a row, and grocery prices have come down over the past few months with a sharp and welcome drop in egg prices – that’s some breathing room for middle class families.
Annual Inflation Rate as of June 13, 2023
Back about 1974, I was working in a local grocery store when President Gerald Ford tackled inflation with his WIN campaign—Whip Inflation Now. Inflation was running at 12% annually and Ford proposed it could be brought under control if all Americans refused to buy products from merchants that raised their prices. Alan Greenspan, a top economist, realized this was like “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” It would only harm the economy and merchants, plus people wouldn’t have what they needed. People began to wear the buttons upside down: No Immediate Miracles.
An idea that went over like a lead balloon
At Cornie’s Kitchen, our inflation fighting tools remain the same. We still recommend checking the app, flyer, or website of the store you frequent. Then clip the coupons, make a list for your weekly menu, buy only those items, and ignore impulse purchases. If you’re not going to eat a whole quart of something, you don’t save money by buying the larger size. Buy the pint instead.
If this seems time consuming to my kitchen peeps, I’d like to quote Tom Hanks in Castaway: “Time is money!”
Custom Made FedEx Box
If we’re going to fuss about how much things cost, let’s take action about it. Otherwise we’re just blowing into the wind and making ourselves sick for nothing.
This has been a word from your great grandmother, who has a cookie always ready to sweeten whatever hard talk she dispenses to her younger kinfolk. Let’s all bake in the early morning or late at night, to save on energy costs. OR—buying bakery cookies in the summer is a good solution also, since they can heat up their facility and you can keep your home cool instead.
This Saturday passed without my seeing the sun once again. No, I haven’t taken to sleeping all day and being up all night like some vampire of the dark. Instead, our neck of the woods, which has suffered from a drought, is now getting all our past due moisture in one fell swoop.
1930’s Vamp with Vampire Noodling on Neck
We did see about 2 inches of rain in October, 1.78 in November, and an extra 1 inch in the first 10 days of December. Today we got another inch in the thunderstorm that rolled through. What’s a gal to do? I used most of my morning to drink coffee and winnow down my disregarded emails from my month long vacation out west. I didn’t read them, but just deleted all that were over a month old. I’m retired, so if anything’s truly important, I know folks will get back to me. Then I gave myself a well deserved pedicure.
Half Caffeine Coffee and Rain
I needed this selfcare, for my life has been chaotic of late. When I get stressed, I get the premonitions of an oncoming seizure. I see floating across my eyes colored designs which look like cut paper snowflakes, doilies, or geometric shapes. I can either pay attention to this early warning system known as an aura, or I can power through and do the things others think I should be doing.
A seizure disorder is one of those hidden conditions which we often can control with major lifestyle changes and proper medication. I may want to be someplace for my own enjoyment and to support and encourage others, but sometimes I’m not able to do that. I regret this, but a lifetime of stressful situations has lowered my seizure threshold. If I start having seizures again, I lose my driving privileges. I’m not ready to give up my independence yet.
Ragged Omelette: a metaphor for my day
Perhaps the slow patter of the rain was good for my soul and my body. I decided the couch and quiet Christmas music would help heal my stress. About 2 pm I began to feel hungry. My technique was off, but my appetite wasn’t. Andouille sausage, spinach, and sharp cheddar cheese with rosemary garlic seasoning made a great, if ragged omelette. Once I was no longer hungry, I could get into other kitchen trouble.
Stress always sends me straight to the chocolate aisle. I have one cabinet shelf dedicated to chocolate, which I usually buy when it’s on sale. Good chocolate is even better when you don’t pay full price for it. I like to chop it up and use it in recipes, as well as eating it as a treat. I knew I was getting bad off when I put the big bag of fun size variety M&M’s in my cart. If the apocalypse comes, I have the chocolate!
M&M’s Variety Packs
This afternoon, as the rain dripped down my windows, I turned my back on the gloom outside. In my brightly lit kitchen—I have enough light now to land Air Force One, but not enough distance—I set my oven to 350F to preheat. Mr. Oven and I would cook up some trouble this afternoon.
I modified a recipe from the Joy of Cooking for a Nutty Sugar Cookie, but I switched out half of the flours and half the sugar. This recipe makes 13 very large cookies. It can also make 6 dozen (72) small cookies, if dropped from a tablespoon.
Plate of Giant Christmas Sugar Cookies
Here are the directions for the Giant Christmas Sugar Cookie:
Whisk together the following flours into a large bowl: 1/2 cup each of oatmeal, quinoa, and whole wheat flours, plus 1 cup all purpose white flour. Add the ¼ tsp salt and ½ tsp baking soda to the sifter too.
In a separate bowl, beat together 2 sticks of melted butter and 1 cup of coconut sugar (brown sugar) plus 1 cup Splenda.
Add into the sugar mix 2 large eggs, 1 Tbs vanilla, and then stir the dry and wet mixtures together.
Stir in 85 grams of plain M & M’s. (64 grams carbs)
Roll out on flour dusted parchment till 1/4 inch thick. Use large jar lid to cut out disks. Recombine scraps to make new slab and repeat. (Wide mouth mason jar lid)
Cook on flat greased cookie sheet for 13 to 15 minutes. Bake till golden brown.
Cool on sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to wire rack till completely cool.
Know your ingredients:
Inquiring minds may ask, “Why bother with the complicated flours? Shouldn’t I just go with 100% all purpose white flour?” My short answer is “No.”
The long reason is the other three flours have more protein and a lower glycemic index than the white flour. By substituting the other flours, we cut 28 grams of carbs from the flours. We also gain 10 more grams of fiber in the recipe, plus 6 additional grams of protein. Spread over multiple cookies, this is negligible amounts, but when we get to the main offender, sugar, we’ll really see a difference. I was out of my almond flour, which I prefer both for its nutty flavor and its lower carb count. The only downside is its lack of gluten, so baked goods don’t rise well with too much almond flour included.
If we used 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour, our carb count would be 230 grams.
By using the ½ cups of the other 3 flours, we take our carb count down to 120 grams for the other flours and 92 for the all purpose flour, for a total of 212 grams of carbs in this recipe. Divided over 13 cookies is 16 grams carbs each, which is a smidge over a standard serving of 15 grams.
Per ¼ cup of flour:
APW—23 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein QF—18 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein OF—20 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein WWF—22 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 3 g protein
When cooking with Splenda, I never reduce the true sugars below half, since sugar affects the texture of your baked goods. The total carbohydrate count, just for the sugars alone, would have been 256 grams for this recipe if I’d used straight sugar. By substituting half of the sugar with Splenda, the sugar content comes down to 152 grams of carbs.
Per 1 cup/16 Tbs each:
Coconut Sugar—128 g carbs, 128 g sugars Splenda—24 g carbs, 24 g sugars
The same reasoning applies here to carb cutting. If I’d made this with two cups of sugars, I’d have 256 grams of carbs added. Splenda, when measured by the cup, rather than by the teaspoon, actually has calories, so it has 24 grams of carbs. This is because Splenda is actually made from sugar. This substitution brings the sugar carb count down to 104 grams of carbs. Over 13 cookies that adds 8 more grams of carbs. Splenda doesn’t turn bitter in heat, so it’s the best alternative sweetener for cooking. All of the other natural sweeteners all have the same carb count as sugar.
Of course, the M&M’s count for 64 grams of carbs, which add about 5 grams of carbs per cookie. Given this is a giant cookie, worthy of a Tim Allen Santa Claus belly, it’s more of a sharing with your best friend cookie.
Nutrition of the Giant Cookie
Advice from Cornie’s Kitchen:
Some of you are probably thinking, “There’s no way I can have a cookie with sugar and chocolate in it. If I take one bite, I’ll eat the whole plate!”
As you begin to think of your New Year Resolutions, may I entreat you to consider a healthy eating plan rather than a restrictive diet? If you put too many “NO’s” before your foods, soon enough you’ll begin to crave those very things. Then feelings of guilt and failure set in, along with the overeating behaviors that caused you to choose this all or nothing diet plan in the first place.
When I was in art school, my roommate and I decided to become vegetarians in our pursuit of higher consciousness. The mysteries of Indian religions were all the rage back then. We did well until we attended a picnic on a hot summer afternoon. Someone brought a huge bucket of KFC. The thicksummer air hung heavy, not only with the sweat of many human bodies playing in the sun, but also the fragrant aroma of fried chicken. My friend and I took one look at each other and made a beeline for the bucket. That was the end of that experiment in enthusiasm.
The experts who study this behavior claim the “best diet is the one you’ll stick to.” It will also include many green plants, plant proteins, lean meats and fish,vegetables, fruits, and little, if any fried foods. The Mediterranean diet and Blue Zone diets come highly recommended. Eat breakfast, lunch, and a light dinner. Walk more.
Of course, I belong to the tribe of Icandoitmyself
I ate one cookie on Saturday when I made them. On Monday, I rotated my queen mattress all by myself, even though the Internet advised two persons should do this. I was in a two year old mood of “I can do it myself!” Afterwards I understood the reason for the extra pair of hands, but I chose to take my one pair into the kitchen to rescue a Giant Christmas Cookie from Jack Frost. I’m feeling pretty proud of myself now, but I can leave the rest in the freezer for an emergency stash. Who knows when I will need a cookie and coffee again? Plus, I need a cookie to leave for Santa, as I want him to know I’ve been a very good girl this year.
Enjoying The Season with My Peeps
I hope each of you have had a very good year. May your Christmas be full of cheer and your New Year be the happiest ever.
Just in time for the feasting season, Cornie’s Kitchen comes to remind you of portion control. Yes I know I’m a nag, but I have science behind me. How many of us will attend not one, but two or more thanksgiving meals this year? In this era of blended families, young people can have two sets of parents and at least four sets of grandparents if they’re still living. I hope they all live close together or the car gets good gas mileage. This is why we need to practice portion control.
Turkey Leg Dinner
When I was young, I ate a full thanksgiving lunch at one grandparent’s home and a full thanksgiving dinner at the other’s. No wonder as a small child I fell asleep, head down on my plate, with the giant turkey leg in my hand. Before my aunt passed on, she reminded me of this every single thanksgiving, and now my first cousin has taken up that duty. No doubt, each of you in Kitchenland have some ancient trauma about which you’ll be reminded on thanksgiving. All I can say to you is “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” Also, “this too shall pass,” for thanksgiving comes but once a year. As my mother used to say, “laugh it off, you’re better than the people who try to make you small so they can feel big.”
Time for Super Stretchy Pants
Thanksgiving is usually when we wear our stretchy pants, so we won’t feel the after effects of the feast. My mom always wanted to serve dessert directly after the meal, while we were still at the table. None of us had a bit of room for that. She was met with groans. We’d clean up the table, put all the food up, and settle in for the Cowboys game on the tv. About halftime, coffee and pie would begin to sound good to everyone. After the game, we’d “glad the leftovers” to those traveling onward.
Thanksgiving Pie by a Famous Arkansan Baker
The bad news is the feast this year will cost about 20% more, due to several factors. Farmers have to pay larger fuel costs for their tractors and harvesters, just like we’re paying through the nose at the pump when we fill our vehicles. Also, many commercial fertilizers use petroleum byproducts, which also have increased in cost. The flour shortage, affecting stuffing and rolls, is a direct result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to statistics by the US Department of Agriculture, Ukraine was the world’s seventh-largest producer of wheat in 2021/22 with 33 million tons.
American Drought Map
We also have to factor in the long running drought in the USA, which has not only diminished crop size, but also has shrunk the rivers on which the crops move. The Mississippi River is so low now it’s only about eleven feet deep in places. Its mighty width, once a full mile, has shrunk to half of that. Barges are now running lighter loads so they don’t run aground. Moreover, since 2019, the cost to ship grain down river has gone up over 2,000%. My Kitchen math doesn’t go into those stellar realms. My calculator just screams “Holy Cow!” and melts down like a popsicle in the Arabian desert.
Cooking Together in the Kitchen
Now for the good news: cranberries will cost less, due to overproduction. Also, smaller turkeys will be available, which will cause less of a hit to our pocketbooks. If you have a larger group for your feast, think about cooking a breast along with the smaller bird. Then you’ll have plenty of pan drippings for real gravy. Please don’t buy that instant packaged thing. Real pan gravy is way too easy to make, and so much better. Plus you’ll get your merit badge for Making a Roux. The word is French, from beurre roux, or “brown butter.” Read on for Pan Gravy:
First Cook the Turkey or Chickens
What you need: pan drippings, flour, chicken broth (canned or reconstituted bouillon), wooden spoon or wire whisk, white wine (optional), and 15 minutes max. If you are watching your salt intake, omit the chicken broth and use water with added herbs.
When you’ve taken your turkey out of the oven, pour the drippings left in the roasting pan after cooking the turkey. This includes fat that has melted and any bits of meat that have fallen off. from your turkey into a large bowl. Tip the pan away from your body and be careful not to burn yourself!
Now let the drippings sit for a minute, allowing the fat to naturally separate from the rest of the drippings. You’ll notice the fat will rise to the top, leaving the drippings and liquid on the bottom. Use a large spoon or ladle to skim/remove most of the fat from the top of the the drippings.
To make the gravy, use a large sauce pan and add 1 cup of drippings to the pan over medium heat.
Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour to the pan and whisk flour and drippings together until you have a smooth paste. At this point, you’ll need to use a little of your own judgement. If yours seems a little greasy, add more flour.
Making a Medium Roux
When you’ve found the right consistency, whisk the mixture slowly over the heat as it begins to brown. You’re creating a roux. You should be feeding a little giddy now!
Once you get a nice golden brown color, or a “medium roux,” slowly add 4 cups of chicken broth and 1 additional cup of drippings. Keep stirring!!
Allow the gravy to cook, whisking constantly for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until thickened.
Once you’re happy with the consistency of your gravy, taste it. If it’s too salty, add a squeeze of lemon to offset the saltiness. Another trick to take away the saltiness is to add a wedge of raw russet potato and simmer the gravy with the lid covered for about 10 minutes. Add pepper for sure. If the turkey was brined, the gravy might not need salt.
Store leftover gravy covered, in the refrigerator.
As an option, you can heat the chicken stock with 1 dried bay leaf, 1/2 sprig of rosemary, 2 sage leaves, and 2 sprigs of thyme if you want more flavors. Discard these before adding stock to gravy.
No matter what you cook for your dinner, or if you buy all or most of it precooked from the grocery store, remember the one ingredient necessary to make your meal complete: a heart full of love of God and neighbor. This love allows us to express our gratitude for the blessings in our lives and to share with others who have less.
From my Kitchen to yours, I wish you
Joy and Peace,
Cornie
In Cornie’s Kitchen, everyone gets the bigger wishbone!
It’s October first, also known as National Hair Day. When my daughter was young, Princess Leah buns were all the rage. This hair do from the Paris Couture Fashion House Spring Collections may or may not find public acclaim. If not, I invite you to try it for your Halloween look.
Puppy Ear Twists
My old daddy rabbit used to say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It’s an old saw or epigram, first recorded in 1849 by the French critic, journalist, and novelist Alphonse Karr in Les Guêpes, a monthly journal he founded: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” The month of October, we rabbits know, is the season of Pumpkin Spice. Everything and Everywhere.
Pumpkin Spice Oreos: because it’s not chocolate!
Once limited to muffins and pies, this ubiquitous spice now appears in Greenies pumpkin spice flavor dog treats, Pumpkin Spice Oreos, and Pumpkin Spice Peeps, among others to numerous to name. I’m not biting on most of these, since adding sugar to a salty food isn’t in my taste palette. If it works for you, then you’re welcome to my share.
Lovely Harvest Home Décor: I admit, I have “door envy,” since I no longer live in a house. I don’t get to decorate my condo hallway since it’s a Fire Hazzard.
House decorating is in full swing, however, since we can decorate our rabbit dens in full pumpkin harvest mode, or go extreme “spooktacular” with high haunted house décor. Or you might find your humble rabbit abode decorated with streams of toilet papers, as mine once was when I taught school back in the day. I’d just returned from trick or treating with my kindergarten child, when I met two of my junior high students dressed in black garbage bags walking past my home. Their giggling, guilty faces told me I needed to walk up the block to visit with their parents. We had a nice drink and a little chat while they sent their son and his friend down to clean up my TP’ed tree and house. They were a tad old to be out trick or treating. At their age, they were mostly up to tricking. Also, high pressure water from the garden hose is the best way to remove the high remnants of the evidence. The folks who used fire risked damage to their tree and a spread to both their home and to their neighbors’ homes. Conflagration isn’t a rabbit’s best choice.
Toilet Paper Trees: A Pre Pandemic Pastime
Dressing up in costumes is always loads of fun. Parents and holiday hosts are of two minds about the “dark side” of Halloween, even though this holiday has its roots in the ghouls and goblins which haunt the world in advance of All Saints’ Day. The same rabbit parents, who only allow “positive costumes” at their Harvest Festivals, most likely spare their bunny children the traumatic stories of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I wouldn’t expose the very youngest bunnies to these often frightening stories, but older rabbits (age 6 or 7) can learn to face difficult situations and address important issues in fiction before they have to meet them in real life. We do see these same themes in Disney movies, however. Our young bunnies can learn to be resilient heroes by imagining themselves as part of these stories.
Every year when I was a young bunny we made our costumes, but now people love to buy their dress up outfits. In my closet, I always had a “pile of dress up clothing,” cast off from my mother. It was a literal pile, for I wasn’t exactly a neat child. My mother used to scare me into cleaning it up by saying, “A rat will come out of there one day!” Children are always afraid of boogeymen and monsters, things that go bump in the night, as well as creatures both real and imagined. I was in college before I could sleep with my closet door open.
We small creatures have real fears, as Peter Rabbit was right to fear Farmer Brown in the garden. When we watch Sharknado movies or Japanese horror movies about atomic energy creating Godzilla or other ginormous monsters, we can let these vicarious experiences carry our fears about real things in our world. Yet we also have “unfounded fears,” which are figments of our imagination. In this harvest season, some think no matter how much they gather, they’ll never have enough. They live with an attitude of scarcity, while others have faith in God’s providence and abundance. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:8—
“And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
In my spiritual formation training, I’ve been impressed by the Enneagram system. It’s named for the Greek words for Nine and Writing. According to the Enneagram, each of the nine personality types are defined by a particular core belief about how the world works. This core belief drives our deepest motivations and fears— and fundamentally shapes a person’s worldview and the perspective through which they see the world and the people around them. Our core beliefs aren’t necessarily incorrect, but they can be limiting and operate as “blinders” for people.
Enneagram Pattern
Understanding our Enneagram type and how it colors our perceptions can help us to broaden our perspective and approach situations more effectively.The Enneagram represents personality patterns as defense mechanisms, which are fundamentally driven by certain basic fears as explained in “The Wisdom of the Enneagram” (Riso & Hudson, 1999). Each of the nine Enneagram types therefore is likely to show the following inherent fear:
Type 1s: Fear being wrong or lazy—Perfectionists aim to be principled, good, controlled and intentional. Not having high standards or being unexceptional is unacceptable to these individuals. They can be expected to overextend themselves in order to achieve, and to steer away from what is wrong towards what is virtuous.
Type 2s: Fear being unloved and unwanted—Helpers feel that they need to be strong and generous towards others. They prove themselves worthy of love and acceptance by taking the responsibility to help and support others to the point of sacrificing their own needs.
Type 3s: Fear being worthless and disrespected—Achievers or Performers strive to achieve success and recognition by being ambitious, competitive, persuasive and adaptable. They feel that they will earn the admiration, trust and love of others through their reputation, image and self-image and impressive achievements.
Type 4s: Fear meaninglessness—Romantics or Individualists avoid being boring, normal, superficial, uninteresting, average or mediocre. They seek depth, meaning, intimacy and self-expression and earn love by being emotionally intense, creative, expressive, artistic or dramatic. They may also come across as temperamental or spiritually inclined.
Type 5s: Fear not knowing—Observers or Investigators aim at being in control by understanding their world. They are ruled by the head as opposed to the heart, seek learning and insight, and avoid feeling ignorant, inadequate, helpless and clueless. They earn the respect and acceptance of others by being competent and effective.
Type 6s: Fear chaos—Loyalists or Guardians deeply engage with others and their environments to ensure that all is well. They have a strong sense of responsibility and respond to their inner distrust and doubt by being vigilant, supportive of others and controlling. They are loyal and strive for security and connection with others.
Type 7s: Fear deprivation—Enthusiasts seek sensation, fun, stimulation, variety and fulfillment in order to avoid disappointment, pain, sadness and/or helplessness. Their spontaneous and versatile behavior is aimed at pursuing desires that they fear will not be fulfilled by others.
Type 8s: Fear being controlled—Challengers come across as assertive, willful, self-directed and confident. Their core fear is to be controlled, violated, betrayed and/or limited by circumstances. They avoid this by taking control in a powerful and self-sufficient way to ensure they get what they want.
Type 9s: Fear being confronted—Peacemakers are fearful of conflict, disharmony and being disconnected from others. They therefore refrain from questioning or challenging themselves or other people and instead accommodate others to maintain peace, harmony and stability.
A Tale of Two Gold Foil Covered Chocolate Rabbits
One fear all bunnydom can lay to rest for the future is the authenticity of their chocolate Easter bunnies, the ones wrapped in gold foil. Other chocolate products are also sold at Easter time—crosses, eggs, and nut or cream filled eggs. Only Lindt gold foil wrapped chocolate bunnies are copyrighted. When another manufacturer began to sell a nearly identical product, of course the rabbits brought in the lawyers and a yearlong court battle ensued.
The Rabbit Lawyers
After a years long legal battle, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland sided with Lindt and found that Lidl’s chocolate bunnies could be confused with Lindt’s chocolate bunnies, which are protected under Swiss trademark law. (This rabbit was even confused by the chocolatiers’ names, which look similar at first glance. I had to remind myself not to speed read!) In one case lasting eight years, Lindt and Austrian rival Hauswirth fought over their chocolate bunnies (and whether chocolate bunnies could even be trademarked). The court ruled in favor of Lindt and ordered the latter to stop making its product. But it wasn’t until 2021 that Germany’s federal court ruled that the gold-colored wrapping for Lindt’s chocolate bunny had trademark protection. Lindt also won this latest case, so any remaining Lidl chocolate bunnies will be melted down and find new life as eggs or other shapes.
So Much Candy
Some of us bunny types will eat ourselves sick, unless we portion out our Halloween Haul of treats. My parents introduced us to “restrictive eating” when we were young bunnies. Of course, they couldn’t account for what we ate while we raced eagerly from house to house in the gathering darkness, but once we got home, they gathered up the goodies. I always ate my ration of the chocolate and nut items from my collection, and was glad to share the pure sugar candies with my brothers. I was a chocoholic from an early age, and unrepentant at my current hoary age.
St. Francis believed All Creatures were Our Brothers and Sisters On October 4, all bunnies and other living creatures celebrate St. Francis, who recognized the hand of God in all of creation. This day also marks Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins with a feast before sunset, continues faith fasting for 24 hours, before resuming with another meal. National Grouch day is the 15th, so we can get the grumps out of our system before the holidays come around.
The 17th is National Pasta Day and World Trauma Day. My recommendation would be for the cook in your kitchen to make a hearty whole grain pasta dish and savor each morsel in prayer for the hungry and displaced by war and famine in Africa, the Ukraine, and also for those fleeing Russia. These groups are the worst in need right now. You can add lean meat, mushrooms, fresh spinach, or precooked beans to your dish for extra flavor and nutrition. If you have extra, a gift to your community food bank will help the hungry through the winter.
Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, begins on October 24th and lasts for five days. Each day is dedicated to a different god or goddess, and the whole holiday is full of generosity and love. Believers celebrate the victory of light over darkness and life over death. Closing out October are National Pumpkin Day (26th) and Halloween on the 31st. Pumpkins grow on most continents, with the United States producing over 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins every year. The Chinese actually lead in pumpkin production and have a proverb to match: “One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other.”
If life gets too chaotic as we approach the season of successive holiday celebrations, this old bunny suggests breathing deeply and simplifying your list of things to do. Not everything is a life or death situation, or a hair on fire moment. Sometimes we bunnies are just having a bed-head day, so we don’t need every fire truck in the county to show up at our front door. Some things we assign a 10 on the scale of 1 to 10 are actually 3’s. Not everything is a 10 all the time. Of course, when I was very young, I hadn’t yet learned I could survive these “#10 crisis events,” so when I was older, I had some history of surviving them. As we know from 1 Corinthians 10:13—
“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and God will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing God will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”
Fire Engine To the Rescue!
May the ghouls and goblins do you no harm and you find no candy corn in your Halloween bucket.
B. B. King had a great song about losing your mind over a lost love. The first verse of regret, like so many blues songs, expressed his recognizing too late what a good woman he’d lost:
I’ve lost the right to say that I love you, I’ve lost the right to say that you are fine Yes, I’ve lost the right to say that I love you baby, and I’ve lost the right to say that you are fine I’ve lost the right to say that I need you like I do now baby and I’m slowly losing my mind.
There are days I think “I’m slowly losing my mind,” but this has been a constant problem since my early thirties, usually brought on by too much stress with not enough sleep. That combo will do it to anyone. My guess is I don’t have to be anxious about the onset of early Alzheimer’s disease, or else I’ve got the “glacial subset,” of ordinary aging.
A healthy adult brain has about 100 billion neurons, each with long, branching extensions. These extensions enable individual neurons to form connections with other neurons. At such connections, called synapses, information flows in tiny bursts of chemicals that are released by one neuron and taken up by another neuron. The brain contains about 100 trillion synapses. They allow signals to travel rapidly through the brain. These signals create the cellular basis of memories, thoughts, sensations, emotions, movements and skills.
I ❤️ Pluto.
I need more caffeine if I’m going to count beyond ten before 10 AM! I always say I don’t have enough brain cells to be intentionally losing some, especially since I have a few brain cells which seem to fly out to visit Pluto on occasion. Yes, Pluto was once a planet back in my day, but every August 24th, I remind folks of the anniversary of its demotion to a dwarf planet. After all, Pluto is about 10X the size of Alaska. It should get some respect, for Alaska is bigger than Texas and California both. Sadly, in space, the object must clear all other objects from its path. The day I forget this fact will be a sign of my diminishing mind, something that happens to many people as they age.
@BrilliantMaps compares Pluto with Alaska
Approximately 6.5 million people aged 65 years or older in the US are living with Alzheimer disease, and that number is expected to nearly double by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. This link below gives you a great booklet on Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. However, we don’t have to throw in the towel and surrender to the inevitable. We can be proactive and care for our health, both body and mind, as we age. Of course, the best time to begin is when we’re young, but “better late than never,” my nanny always said.
Here in Cornie’s Kitchen, I like to emphasize wholistic health habits. I have no pills to sell you, no secret diet plans for a fee, and no processed or prepared foods for your subscription pleasure. As most of you have realized, my Kitchen isn’t an actual restaurant or cafe, but my home place, where I test out recipes and study how we can live healthier lives.
Then it wouldn’t be “Secret” anymore…
This is Cornie’s Secret Sauce: If you sleep well, you have more energy. If you have more energy, you exercise. If you sleep well and exercise, you have better self-esteem and you care about what you put into your body. When you’re feeling good about yourself, eating and sleeping well and exercising, you’re much more interested in socializing. This gives you a better attitude, better behaviors, and better consequences (better health outcomes). It’s not magic Twinkie dust, but a long journey. Sharing it with others makes it seem shorter and more like a pilgrimage, rather than a forced march from a place of comfort to an unknown destination.
The National Institute on Aging is supporting 131 studies of non-pharmacological (drug free) interventions focused on cognitive training, sleep, and exercise, among others. One NIA-funded phase 3 trial presented at the Alzheimer’s Association conference evaluated whether regular exercise could benefit people with amnesic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which primarily affects memory and increases the risk of Alzheimer disease or related dementias.
The Exercise trial: 296 adults were randomly assigned to either moderate-intensity aerobic training or low-intensity stretching, balance, and range-of-motion exercises for 18 months. (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02814526)
YMCA exercise for all ages
Exercise sessions took place at a YMCA 4 times a week for a total of 120 minutes to 150 minutes per week. In the first 12 months, a trainer supervised 2 sessions a week, while the other 2 were unsupervised. All exercise was unsupervised in the last 6 months.
The good news: Neither group showed significant declines from baseline in the primary measure of cognitive function over 12 months, suggesting that both the moderate- and low-intensity exercise, and, possibly, the socialization participants received with it, stalled cognitive decline.
The bad news: For the control group, in contrast, cognitive function did decline over a year in which similar adults with MCI participated in a large “usual care” observational study.
So what can we take away from this?
“Move it or Lose it” takes on a whole new meaning when we talk about our exercise and our minds.
Most likely getting more oxygen to the brain by increasing heart rates and “moving the blood” is good for brain health.
Sitting for long periods is debilitating both to the body and mind.
Getting out and about with others stimulates our minds.
Engaging in new experiences stimulates our minds.
I might think of a few more positive things, but I hear Mr. Microwave calling me to stir my morning oatmeal. Plus my coffee cup is empty.
Y’all have a good rest of the week. Let’s all aim for 150 minutes of movement each week. That’s about 22 minutes per day or 5 days of 30 minutes each. Break it up into 5 minute segments if you’re starting from zero. You don’t want to overdo it!
5K on May 2016—you don’t have to be fast or first, but being in the race is important. I often finish last with a smile on my face!
Joy, peace, and mindfulness,
Cornie
The photo of B. B. King is from Into The Lightby Jérôme Brunet. Signed copies of Into The Light (Deluxe and Regular Editions) are available at: www.IntoTheLight.photo
This bunny will be close to the fan until the frost is on the pumpkin.
When I attended seminary, I quickly memorized the phone number for the campus heat and air guys—all the prefixes were 768 and the extension for the environmental control center was DAMN, as in “Damn, it’s hot or damn, it’s cold!” Who says the phone company doesn’t have a sense of humor?
Here in Arkansas we rabbits have just experienced a July with multiple consecutive days of 100+ F high temperatures and evening lows never never touching the 70’s. We can’t even go to the beach to swim out into the deep water because SHARKS! They’re not just on Discovery channel, but in the water beyond our waistline. And what is it with those jellyfish blooms off Israel’s beaches? We can be thankful we weren’t living in 1934, when the record high temperature in Hot Springs hit 109 F. I imagine our famous hot springs were even hotter back in the day!
Jellyfish bloom swarms off the coast of Israel, summer 2022.
The weather gurus say the omega block system currently affecting the central states and another one affecting Europe is the current cause of our record heat. An omega block is an upper-level pressure pattern. It gets its name because it looks like the Greek letter Omega. Omega blocks are two cut-off low-pressure systems and a blocking high pressure system in the middle. The west-to east flow has a difficult time going around the high pressure because of the strength and size of the high. Omega blocks lead to stagnant weather patterns for a matter of days or weeks. The area under the ridge with the high-pressure system typically experiences dry, warm temperatures, and calm winds. The areas on either side, or the “feet of the omega,” have the low-pressure systems, which tend to experience rain and cooler temperatures.
The typical Omega Block in action
This is why we hear about “fires and floods” on the evening news at the same time. It’s not the Apocalypse, even if our air conditioning bill makes us wish the Lord was coming to take us away from all this. This is Summer, my rabbit buddies, not the Second Coming of the Lord. We’re merely living “hell-adjacent,” but not quite ready for the weeping and gnashing of teeth place yet. August should be a few degrees cooler, as in “my oven is cooler than a blast furnace.”
The year 1934 was much closer to the Apocalypse for many reasons. Not only was it smack dab in the middle of the Great Depression, but it was also a very hot year in the United States, ranking fourth behind 2012, 2006, and 1998. In 1934, there were forty days over 100 degrees, with some going as high as 118 degrees. Then again, we rabbits today could live in Texas, with their notoriously quirky independent electrical grid, which “isn’t suited for extreme cold,” but also has an “on and off relationship issue” with extreme heat also. Melting butter on countertops is not my favorite kitchen flavor. I’m keeping my cond at 74F for the summer, but I’ll be glad to go back to 68F this winter.
Tree Rings show the Mega Drought in southwest USA is the longest in 1200 years, with wildfires increasing because of human induced climate change.
Despite the U.S. heat in 1934, that year wasn’t as hot over the rest of the planet, and it barely holds onto a place in the hottest 50 years in the global rankings (today it ranks 49th). Growth rings of a tree in Nebraska showed 20 droughts in the 748 years before the 1930s. In 1931, the middle of the nation was in the midst of the first of four major drought episodes that would occur over the course of the next decade. Still, the 1930’s drought and heat aren’t an argument against global warming, for global warming takes into account temperatures over the entire planet and the U.S.’s land area accounts for only 2% of the earth’s total surface area. Most areas of the country didn’t return to near-normal rainfalls until nearly a decade later in 1941. The outbreak of World War II also helped to improve the nation’s economic situation.
Steam shovels load rocks blasted away onto twin tracks that remove the earth from the Panama Canal bed, 1908
Most of us rabbits today remember 1934 for the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, when so little rain fell, the sky turned black with the dust from the Great Plains. April 14, 1935, was Black Sunday, a day when twice as much dirt blew away as was dug out of the Panama Canal, a great project which took 7 years to dig. More than 300,000 tons of topsoil blew away.
Panama Canal excavation, 1913
In 1933 there are 39 dust storms. The the color of the dust told where the storm came from: black soil came from Kansas, red soil came from Oklahoma, and gray soil came from Colorado and New Mexico. 350 million tons of soil left Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma and was deposited in eastern states. One night, Chicago alone got 12 million tons, or 4 pounds of grit for each person in the city. In New York and Boston. The dust darkened the sky so much, the street lamps were lit in the daytime.
Black Sunday Dust Storm of the Dust Bowl Depression Era
Robert E. Geiger, a reporter for the Associated Press, gets credit for naming the Dust Bowl. After a dust storm delayed his journey, he wrote an article for the next day’s Lubbock Evening Journal, which began: “Residents of the southwestern dust bowl marked up another black duster today…” Another article, also attributed to “an Associated Press reporter” and published the next day, included the following: “Three little words… rule life in the dust bowl of the continent – ‘if it rains’.” These instances are considered the first-ever uses of the phrase by which the events of the 1930s have been known to history ever since: The Dust Bowl. Dust from these storms would travel as far as the nation’s Capitol and even into the Atlantic Ocean, when ships would get covered up by topsoil brought by the offshore winds.
Dorothea Lange: Migrant farm worker’s family in Nipomo California, 1936
2.5 million people left their farms in 1935. Some just went to nearby town, but 300,000 traveled to California. This was the largest single migration in U.S. history. Grape pickers in California worked 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for $4. Children were paid less. The WPA paid 18¢ an hour and the CCC paid 20¢ an hour in Edwards County. Horses made $1.00 per day or nearly twice what an adult made. In January 1937, gas was 22 cents per gallon. It took a full day’s work on a government road job to fill a tank. A 1930 Model A held 11 gallons and cost $2.42 for a fill up.
For reference, $1 in 1935 would be about $18.55 today. The $4 weekly wage, or $8 if both adults worked, didn’t go far, just as today some are taking a second job to afford the gas to get to their day job. For instance: Milk was 47¢ per gallon, Eggs sold at 36¢ per dozen, and Ground beef was 25¢ for two pounds.
We recognize August 14, 1935, as the birthday of Social Security. Although by 1934, 30 States had responded by providing pensions for the needy aged, total expenditures for State programs for the aged that year were $31 million—an average of $19.74 a month per aged person. As the Depression worsened, benefits to individuals were cut further to enable States to spread available funds among as many people as possible.
A Depression-era “Hooverville” in the old Central Park reservoir in New York City. Undated photograph. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Homelessness was a big problem also. Many lost fortunes in the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929, while others lost homes and farmsteads due to the shrinking economy or the drought and poor farming techniques, which destroyed their crops. The unemployment rate was 25%, which was bad, but those with jobs were often working only part time, with reduced pay. This led to labor unrest.
October 1929 was rough on the stock market and American economy. This man represents the millions of Americans who were directly affected by the economic issues at the time and ended up out of work for months to come.
Up to two million able bodied men roamed the country looking for part time work, often by hitching a ride on train boxcars. As the United States emerged from the Great Depression and the country entered World War II, the nation needed every able-bodied young man it could get to help the war effort. Hobos could give up their transient lifestyle and trade their economic instability for a military career or full-time factory job. Although some hobos refused to give up their carefree lifestyle, most did, and the number of homeless, unemployed men drastically decreased.
Feeling Bad: Attitude Affects Behavior and Results in Consequences.
Today all the nattering rabbits on my television screen are worried if we’re in a recession or not. Like the Field of Dreams movie, the mantra, “If you build it, they will come” rings true here. If we feel good about the future, Americans go about their business spending like there’s no tomorrow. If we begin to worry, we start cutting back, and then the dollars don’t flow. The next thing you know, we’ve jumped on the recession train like hobos of old.
My old daddy rabbit often said, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job.” We tend not to worry about the things which don’t directly affect us. This is why we complain so much about the weather—it affects everyone!
People do worry about the cost of gasoline. We can do something about this cost if we combine our errands into fewer trips, instead of joy riding about town like gasoline only cost 22 cents a gallon. If we have work commutes or if we’re driving our kids to school, we might look into a carpool. As a young rabbit, our city block had several girls of the same age, so our mothers shared carpool duty. One single mom took two mornings and my mom took two afternoons, since my friend’s mom was still at work. We made it happen.
Those were also the years my daddy cried at night because people paid their doctor’s bill last. We had a brand new 1957 Ford station wagon we couldn’t fill with gas except for Sundays, so we walked to the grocery store every single day. We had our meals daily, and didn’t worry about the morrow.
Of course now I’m an old rabbit and don’t buy processed or prepared foods because they have too much salt and often too many carbs for my health. I learned long ago a can of mushroom soup, a bag of noodles, a pound of ground beef, a half onion chopped, some garlic, Italian spices, a little cheese, and some fresh mushrooms made a far tastier dinner than a macaroni helper in a box. It also made more food, something I always like! It won’t be less expensive, but it also won’t give you half your daily intake of sodium in one meal to raise your blood pressure. If you spend your money on healthier food, you have a better chance of having a healthier body. (P.S. I’m not a real doctor, just a bunny doctor.)
There’s a Bugs Bunny Doctor in the Kitchen
1.79 hamburger helper 6.99 Simple Truth Organic™ 85% Lean Grass Fed Ground Beef—sale $8.78 Total cost—claims to make #15 1/2 cup servings—most folks eat 1 cup, making this a package of #4 adult servings
1.50 sale Campbell mushroom soup 12 oz 0.50 medium onion 1.38 Manischewitz Fine Egg Noodles—12 oz 2.08 —8 oz only (4 oz left over) 6.99 Simple Truth Organic™ 85% Lean Grass Fed Ground Beef—sale 0.83 Kroger Italian Seasonings (1.99/3 ) 2.99 whole Portobello Mushrooms—8 oz—2 oz per serving $14.19 Total cost—4 servings—$11.20 if you omit the fresh mushrooms
As we rabbit families prepare for school, let’s set a budget for the clothes for the older bunnies in our groups. They’re old enough to share in the choices for this new normal. If they pick out one outfit for the whole amount, you can ask, “Do you plan on wearing this every day between now and Christmas?” That will turn the bunny wheels in their brains and they’ll reconsider their choices. That way we aren’t the “bad bunny” for imposing difficult choices. I never liked being the harsh bunny, but sometimes I had to draw the line.
Sic Transit Gloria Choco Taco 2022
When it gets hot in August, a recipe I recommend on the 4th, National Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookie Day, is a frozen chocolate chip cookie sandwich with your choice of ice cream inside. Mine would be chocolate, of course, but peanut butter, vanilla, or banana would also be good. It won’t be a Choco Taco, but it’s hard to beat chocolate chips and ice cream.
The full moon in August, called the Sturgeon Moon, will rise on August 11, 2022 and will be the last full supermoon of the year. This full Moon is traditionally called the Sturgeon Moon because the giant sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were caught easily during this part of summer, but now due to overfishing, are a rare catch. Native American peoples gave this moon different names such as Corn Moon, Ricing Moon, and Chokeberry Moon, all related to natural harvest cycles.
August 12 is Middle Child Day. Many middle children feel overlooked or unappreciated, since parents often seem to focus on the first and the last child. This is a day you can acknowledge your sibling and affirm their sacred worth.
May 4, 1912—Suffragette parade, New York City
Speaking of worth, August 26 is Women’s Equality Day in the United States, a day to commemorate the 19th amendment of the Constitution which, in 1920, gave women the right to vote. Before the Civil War, only white men with land could vote. The 14th Amendment gave all men born in the USA the right to vote, and the 15th of 1870 ensured no man could be denied this right due to prior slave status. Although the fight for women’s rights in the United States had begun on July 19, 1848, with the Seneca Falls Convention, the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote wasn’t passed by Congress and the States until 1920. This bunny hopes we don’t slide back to those dark old days when women were without a voice or agency.
The best way we can do this is to make sure our children attend school. Send your bunnies with food in their tummies, and please apply for free breakfast if food is short at home. When we work, we pay taxes into the great pot, so when we fall on hard times, we’ve already paid for the help we need. We’ll be paying taxes again once we get back on our feet. This will fill the “need bucket” once more for others. There’s no shame in this. Our little bunny babies learn better when they aren’t hungry. Every bunny deserves the best chance at a good education, for it’s the meal ticket to a better life.
Sharks aren’t in the shallow water
Until September, stay cool, stay hydrated, and watch out for SHARKS!
When I turned 40, my brother covered my office desk with dying plants and black balloons in honor of my “Going Over the Hill” in style. He did remind me not to return the favor in two years when he reached the same milestone. That’s what I get for being the oldest: I get to put up with little brothers.
The decades were bad enough, but billions of seconds?
Baby Boomers have always been a big demographic: we wrote the book on youth movements, reimagined “middle age” by pushing it an entire decade into the future, and now are rewriting retirement. We’ll also be the largest group ever to enter our twilight years, or experience cognitive impairment. Of course the generations behind us all say, “Hold my beer. None of us will ever SEE retirement, what with college loans and mortgages being like they are.” I nod my head, having said the same thing when I was their age.
With the aging of the ‘baby boom’ population and the high costs of providing health care for many cognitively impaired individuals, the next decades are going to be imperative to develop interventions to delay and/or blunt the age‐related development of cognitive impairments. Indeed, without effective intervention or treatment, the prevalence of dementia worldwide could exceed 135 million individuals by the year 2050. The United States alone will have 13 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias at a cost of $1 trillion dollars. And you thought climate change was a pressing problem.
In my years of ministry, I’ve known many older people who were dealing with the progressive decline of the various dementias we humans have to suffer. I knew one man who was a brilliant scholar, top of his field, and a leader in his community. We “came a caroling” one Christmas season, and the disturbance from his routine upset him so much, his wife had to place him in a special care home to get him settled down again. None of us, his wife included, thought he’d have this response to our seasonal attempt at good cheer.
I knew another gentleman who would drive around town until he remembered where he was going. He’d get lost going to the grocery, the church, or the barber shop. A woman in another town would drive down the middle of the road on the yellow stripe. Everyone knew her vehicle and pulled over to let her go past. Her grown kids didn’t take the keys away until the insurance company canceled her after multiple accidents in one year.
My dad was afflicted with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, both of which affect cognitive functioning. Often he saw people who weren’t there. I would find him standing at the front door. When I asked why he was there, he’d reply, “That Chinaman doesn’t want to leave.”
“Is that all? Let’s just open the door and let him go on his way.” I’d open and close the front door, then I’d say to my daddy, “We can go back now. He’s gone.” Compassion is a must when your loved one’s mind doesn’t work in the same way as it used to.
Diabetes, both recognized and undiagnosed, is a contributing factor to cognitive decline. Today, an estimated 37.3 million U.S. residents have diabetes, including about 8.5 million who have not been diagnosed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, about 96 million American adults have prediabetes, meaning they are on the cusp of having full-fledged diabetes. Some have said diabetes is a precursor disease to Alzheimer’s Disease, since insulin dysregulation affects the materials which clog the brain in dementia.
Insulin Resistance and Inflammation are at the center of the two overlapping disease burdens of our age
In older people with Type 2 diabetes, the brain appears to age at an accelerated rate — about 26 percent faster than normal, according to research published in the journal eLife.
Relying on brain scans, brain functioning tests and other data from 20,314 people, ages 50 to 80, the researchers compared neurological changes in those who did and did not have Type 2 diabetes. In both groups, they found declines in executive functions such as working memory, learning and flexible thinking, as well as declines in brain processing speed.
The declines, however, were greater and occurred faster in people with diabetes. Executive functions declined 13 percent more among those with diabetes, and brain processing speed decreased 7 percent more than for those who did not have diabetes, causing earlier cognitive decline than seen with normal aging. In a Religious Order Study, those who had diabetes had a 65% increase in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease compared with those without diabetes mellitus.
Use it or lose it. Staying sharp is the key to independence.
As I age upwards, I consider daily whether my brain has gone to Pluto for a short diversion, or an extended vacation. I’m getting closer to my parents’ life spans, but I’ve had better medical care and nutrition than they did. I also didn’t go through the Great Depression, an experience that would negatively affect anyone. I have led a stressful life, given my occupations, however.
Nevertheless, I was always good about sleep. I wasn’t so good about my food choices, having never met a doughnut I didn’t want to devour, but now I’m all in on this healthy food choice habit. My doctors have made me a believer. Exercise, a good habit of my youth, I’ve now come to appreciate once again. I identify it now as any movement that gets me on my feet and moving, so even vacuuming can count. One of these days, I’ll be old enough that lifting a coffee cup will count as exercise if I’m standing up.
The average adult needs 7 hours of sleep each night.
Studies have shown while the brain deteriorates and degrades when we engage in unhealthy behaviors, it also can be enhanced by participation in healthy behaviors. A sedentary lifestyle and the ‘Western’ style dietary pattern, characterised by high intake of red meat, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates, increases the risk for cognitive impairment as well as a wide variety of chronic diseases. On the other hand, physical activity and following a Mediterranean style dietary pattern are two lifestyle behaviors known to promote and support the brain’s structural integrity and function. We call this ‘brain health’.
Exercise may prevent age‐related deterioration of cognitive and brain function and reduce age‐related brain atrophy (loss). People who maintained regular physical activity show a lower incidence of cognitive impairment, depression and dementia. Regular exercise also helps decrease inflammation, and improves insulin resistance and general metabolic conditions.
Consequences of the Seated Life
When we retire, if we take to sitting and surfing the internet or the television, our couch potato life will be shortened. Engaging in regular cognitive activity helps to ward off dementia by exercising the frontal cortex, or the decision making part of the brain. Even more successful are activities done in a social group. Maybe “getting out and about” has something to do with keeping our brain cells perking.
The Nun Study (not the Nun’s Story) found that nuns whose diaries revealed greater time spent in reading, writing, and other intellectual activities had a lower incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease than their less academic counterparts. Another study found increased time spent reading, playing board games, and doing puzzles is associated with a reduction in dementia as diagnosed by neurological and neuropsychological exams.
Audrey Hepburn in The Nun’s Story
Another way we can modify our lifestyle is by diet. If we want a different outcome, we have to change our behavior. We don’t get to do the same old things and expect a miracle. Along with physical and cognitive activity, choosing a healthy food plan is a third lifestyle factor linked to overall brain health and attenuated cognitive decline.
One diet in particular, the Mediterranean Diet, is characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, fish, nuts, and olive oil. It’s received particular attention in the literature because adherence to this diet has evidence in both epidemiological studies and clinical trials. The Mediterranean Diet shows reduced risk for developing cancer, metabolic syndrome, and vascular disease as well as lower incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Four veggies and 4 oz lean chicken is a typical Mediterranean diet plan for supper
Results from the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea (PREDIMED) study showed that risk of stroke – a major risk factor for cognitive impairment – was reduced by 46% during the 4.8 year follow‐up period (median follow‐up time) in participants who followed a Mediterranean style dietary pattern including 30 g daily of mixed nuts (7.5 g hazelnuts, 7.5 g almonds, 15 g walnuts).
In addition, in a subsample of the participants that were tested for neuropsychological function, higher intakes of olive oil, coffee, walnuts, and wine were associated with better global cognition and memory function, with walnuts in particular linked to better working memory function.
Almonds, mixed berries, and Greek yogurt
Berry fruits are another example of food high in polyphenols shown to contribute towards brain health and preserve cognitive function in ageing. Impressively, a large epidemiological study concluded that high consumption of berry fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries – rich in anthocyanin polyphenols – actually delayed cognitive ageing by 2.5 years.
The conclusion is the older adult brain retains its capacity for plasticity, and a triad of healthy behaviors is a likely key to maintaining this fundamental neural property. We can build up a reserve through physical and cognitive activities and by adhering to a diet rich in healthy fats and plant phytochemicals so we don’t see the earlier clinical manifestations of ageing and neurodegenerative disease.
If we adopt a brain health‐promoting lifestyle, we may even improve current cognition function, as well as attenuate any decline, in addition to preventing the development of other age‐related diseases. Remember, the most promising effects on cognitive performance were found when physical and cognitive activities were combined. If we added the Mediterranean Diet as a third leg to the stool, the whole would stand firmly.
Drink a little coffee or tea daily in the morning
As a parting encouragement from Cornie’s Kitchen, I remind you, it’s never too late to start. Perhaps your journey will be slower and more hesitant, and if you’re already impaired, you may not see great changes. Then again, you may not see more degradation, and that would be a plus in your life. The Mediterranean Diet is a healthy diet for most people, if you keep it within an appropriate calorie allowance. (Also, just because it allows wine doesn’t mean you get to drink the whole bottle by yourself. Portion control, people!)
Forward into the Future
So we go into the future, one day at a time, always hopeful, for as it’s written in 1 Corinthians 2:9— “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Arvanitakis Z, Wilson RS, Bienias JL, Evans DA, Bennett DA. Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Alzheimer Disease and Decline in Cognitive Function. Arch Neurol. 2004;61(5):661–666. doi:10.1001/archneur.61.5.661 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/785863
My Thanksgiving cactus has decided to become a resurrection cactus, for it began blooming in late February, as a precursor to the coming springtime, which arrives on Sunday, March 20, at 10:33 AM CST. Yes, we rabbits will mark the Spring Equinox for 2022 in Northern Hemisphere with joy and carrot cake. Punxsutawney Phill has nothing on Cornie’s Cactus. Just because our recent Arkansas February ice storm gave us another taste of winter, we know springtime is only days away.
Cornie’s Cactus
Of course, February is a very short month due to the early Romans, who used an agricultural calendar, and lacked a need to keep time in winter. Later, the kings organized society, but superstition kept the months and years at odd numbers. Finally, Julius and Augustus Caesar made the last updates to synchronize the calendar with the sun and moon by taking days from other months and naming them July and August in their own honor, as all dictators are wont to do. Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, announced calendar reforms for all Catholic Christendom. As a result, the Gregorian calendar solar dating system is used by most of the world, while the Orthodox churches use the old Roman Julian calendar.
The word “equinox” is derived from Latin and means “equal night.” On the day of an equinox, day and night are of approximately equal length all over the world, as the Earth’s rotational axis is neither tilted away from nor towards the Sun. At all other times the length of day and night will be different. For those of us who see the world as a contest between the light and the dark, good and evil, and all other dualistic categories, the spring equinox is a time of reckoning.
The Gilded Age
After a long winter, many of us feel dead inside. Those of us who suffer from SAD—seasonal affective disorder—will likely find our moods lifting with the extra daylight. Of course, in this pandemic era, many of us have lost touch with friends and relatives. If they’re in your contact list, just call them. Don’t wait for an engraved invitation from them. This isn’t “The Gilded Age,” so we don’t have to wait for formalities.
Mardi Gras begins on March 1 this year. It’s also known as Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Rabbits once went to the local priest for absolution from sins, and then ate up all the rich foods in the pantry as a preparation for the 40 day fast of Lent before Easter. All the Sundays were “feast days” because they were mini celebrations of Christ’s resurrection. This is like having your King Cake and eating it too. The day after Mardi Gras is Ash Wednesday, or March 2 this year. Ash Wednesday is calculated backwards from the spring equinox.
New Orleans King Cake by Willa Jean Bakery
The date of the vernal equinox is significant in Christianity, since it’s important for the calculation of Easter, the great resurrection story. As the Council of Nicaea decreed in 325 CE, Easter always falls on the “first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.” Vernal, as we rabbits know, is from the Latin vernus, or spring.
My daddy could always rattle off this definition at will. He had a gift for arcane bits of knowledge unrelated to the practice of medicine. Perhaps it was due to his scientific mind’s ability to memorize the Greek and Latin terms for the over 200 bones of the human body. An interesting fact, he and I both had the same Latin teacher at the high school from which we both graduated in our hometown. Old Latin teachers never die, they just decline (their nouns and conjugate their verbs).
Some rabbits say Latin is a dead language, but many of our words are derived from it. Especially if we rabbits have a run in with the law, habeas corpus becomes important, so we aren’t held in a cell forever (have you a body?). The romantics among us can hardly name the constellations without this dead language, or else we just call Ursa Major the Great Bear. Medicine and the sciences are redundant with Latin root words.
March 4th is National Grammar Day. We rabbits can march about the greening fields and say this motto in unison: “It’s not only a date, it’s an imperative: March forth on March 4th to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!” Then on the 21st, World Poetry Day, maybe you can write a poem with a few of these dynamic and delightful words.
Practice for Easter Oreo Cookies
We rabbits can feast on Sunday, March 6, which is National Oreo Cookie Day. You may have your own favored way to eat this snack: whole, outside first, or licking the crème filling. Some rabbits freeze this cookie for extra crunch, or break it up into their favorite flavor of ice cream. Whether you’re a nut milk, oat milk, or dairy milk aficionado, Oreos are a great snack. This rabbit recommends you don’t eat the whole pack.
Daylight Savings Time
On Saturday, March 12, Plant A Flower Day is a good day to work in the garden outside if the weather is good, or to plant seeds in a greenhouse or an indoor garden for later transplanting. On the following Sunday, Daylight Savings Time Begins on the 13th. We set our clocks at midnight to “Spring forward one hour.” I heard an old story as a child about the old woman who complained to her neighbor, “This extra hour of sunlight is burning up my garden.” I always laughed when I heard it, for my teachers had already taught me about clock time and sun time. Today I wonder if my daddy was just checking up on my progress at school.
A different kind of Madness begins on March 13th: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Razorbacks have an outside chance to advance, but perennial and overall favorite is Gonzaga. We rabbits know fortune favors the bold, or “audaces fortuna juvat.” Go Hogs!
Pi Pie for Pi Day
March also has Pi Day. In the American month/day way of writing a date, Pi Day happens on 3/14. Since 3.14 are the first three digits of Pi, if you love math, you can have your Pi Day celebrations at exactly 1:59 AM or PM, so that they happen at exactly 3.14159. This rabbit will choose the sensible afternoon hour of celebration, but recognizes the young rabbits among us may be up partying in the early AM hours.
The Jewish holiday of Purim gets celebrated annually on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). Purim 2022 begins at sunset, March 16 and continues until sunset on the 17th, extending through Friday in Jerusalem. It commemorates the divinely orchestrated salvation of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian empire from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”
In the book of Esther 4:13-14 (NRSV), the Queen heard this message from her uncle:
“Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. In the Old Testament, springtime was the time for war:
“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” (2 Samuel 11:1)
As I write this blog, the Ukrainian people and their president are standing strong against a foreign tyrant, just as Esther and her people stayed loyal to their faith. David suffered for not going with his men into battle.
Somewhere in the recesses of my cobwebbed mind, the ghost of that ancient high school Latin teacher rises to chant, “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.” And I remember translating the following words, “Caesar, having removed out of sight first his own horse, then those of all, that he might make the danger of all equal, and do away with the hope of flight, after encouraging his men, joined battle.”
The Ukrainian president may not have sought this moment, but he has risen to it. May each of us rabbits, wherever we are, find our inner strength and courage to be an Esther when our time comes.
As Mark Twain remarked in the 1874 edition of “The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day:”
“History never repeats itself, but the Kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.”
St. Patrick’s Day Parade Fire Truck
March 17th is the date of the First Ever 19th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It happens every year (except for last year due to COVID) and follows a 98 foot long parade route, with marching bands, dance troupes, and a super spud 28 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 11.5 feet tall. French fries for life!! Maybe we’ll spot a rabbit near the flamingo on the city’s fire truck, which is almost as long as the parade route. Oh, and green beer, green food, and trinkets galore. It’s a hoe down in the hot town party!
St. Patrick’s Super Spud on Wheels
If you aren’t happy after a visit to Hot Springs on St. Patrick’s Day, you can always rest and recover at one of our new boutique hotels or at one of our historic venues or B&B’s. You should be finally in “the zone” by the 20th for International Happiness Day. The next day is International Day of the Forests. Hot Springs is a National Park, so the city is in the middle of a forest. Forests are home to about 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, with more that 60,000 tree species. Around 1.6 billion people worldwide depend directly on forests for food, shelter, energy, medicines and income. The world is losing 10 million hectares of forest each year, an area about the size of Iceland.
On the 26th, let’s celebrate Earth Hour at 8:30 PM, by turning off our light sources for one hour of darkness. A Dark World saves energy, calls attention to light pollution in heavily populated areas, and reminds us we rabbits can work together to find renewable sources of energy.
Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness
That same day is Wear Purple for Epilepsy Day: epilepsy is a neurological disorder that impacts the brain and the central nervous system, causing recurrent epileptic seizures, which can vary in length and severity. There are different causes and types of epilepsy, with varying degrees of seizures, with the most common reason from traumatic brain injury. One in 26 people will be affected in their lifetimes.
Epilepsy can affect anyone regardless of gender or age. It’s the fourth most common neurological disorder, affecting around 50 million people worldwide and 3.5 million in the United States. While there’s still a lot of misinformation and stigma surrounding this condition, it’s also highly treatable, and 70% of those who live with epilepsy can be free from seizures just with the help of medication. For the 30% who have epilepsy that doesn’t respond to medication, there are other effective treatments that control or even eliminate seizures.
Despite all this, there’s still a lot of misinformation about epilepsy, and those who are diagnosed with it are often discriminated against because of this. However, people with epilepsy can still take control of their disorder with treatment, and live normal lives. I was diagnosed with a seizure disorder in my early 30’s. With medication and adherence to a structured lifestyle that included moderation in most things, I managed to have a full working life until age and accumulated stress caught up with me in my early 60’s.
Diet and Lifestyle can help a person stay well.
Epilepsy isn’t a death sentence, but a wake-up call. In a sense, it’s a resurrection moment for individuals and families to reset their lives to more human and humane models. Why do we think of ourselves as tools to be used until we’re no longer useful? If we pour ourselves out until we’re exhausted, or let ourselves be used up before we rest, then we don’t have time to fully recover before we’re up and at it again. If we work for someone else, they’ll notice we’re no longer bright and shiny, but dull and worn. The Goodwill Store has plenty of secondhand tools available, which were turned in by those who found it expedient to get a pretty, new tool to do the work. We should take care of our tools (our bodies, our minds, our spirits) all during our life, not just when we’re relegated to the shed or the secondhand store.
The Adventures of Doctor Rabbit
Let’s celebrate National Doctors Day on the 30th. They’ve been working overtime to keep us well during this long pandemic, and before that, they worked to help us lead longer and healthier lives. In 1860, our life expectancy in the USA was 39.5 years, but dropped to 35.1 by the end of the Civil War in 1865. In 1915 it was 54.15, but after the Great Flu Pandemic, 53.22 years was the average in 1920. We’ve been on a steady upward rise since then, even with another world war and multiple “conflicts and engagements,” hitting a high of 78.94 years in 2015. The first year our life expectancy hit 70+ was 1965. Now with just a year of the covid pandemic in the statistics, our life expectancy has dropped to 78.81 years.
“Harvey the Rabbit,” posing here with Kansas City A’s groundskeeper George Toma, the deus ex machina which delivered baseballs to the home plate umpire until a flood rendered him useless in 1971 in Oakland, CA.
The last day of March is supposed to be Major League Baseball Opening Day—if talks go well, the first pitch will fly towards home plate. Otherwise, the owners will lock the players out and opening day will be delayed, with no makeup days and loss of pay. The parties are at loggerheads over starting pay. While it looks like a lot of lettuce to us ordinary rabbits, the average ballplayer may only be active at the national level for 5 years or less. In fact, 20% of the rookie class won’t be around for their sophomore season. These negotiations don’t affect the minor leagues, where players are paid less than $200 per week in season.
Finally, we close March out on the 31st with World Back Up Day. Really, how many times do you wish you had an iCloud or Google drive account for your computer or mobile devices? Just back everything up All. The. Time. You really don’t want to lose those important cat videos, do you? And while you’re at it, turn on Two Factor Authentication, so hackers can’t access your social media without your code from your phone.
Blueberry Whole-wheat Almond Flour Pancakes with Uncured Bacon and Maple Syrup. It’s an occasional treat, not my every day breakfast.
You can thank this old rabbit by having extra salads during Lent and eating more fiber. That’s a good Lenten habit, by the way, to reduce meat and eat more veggies during this season. I’ll be eating pancakes and bacon on Fat Tuesday.
The Essentials of Epilepsy and Seizure Disorders: An In-Depth Guide for Patients, Friends, and Families – De Caro & Kaplen, LLP. https://brainlaw.com/epilepsy/
Cornie's Kitchen 