Uncategorized – Page 13 – in thriver words

Spring…Rolls

It’s spring, why not eat Spring…Rolls? Like the many plants that begin to bloom this season, there are many versions of Spring Rolls.

They can be fresh or fried. They can be served with a variety of sauces. There are Shanghai-style and Cantonese-style. There are Vietnamese-style and Thai-style as well. If you don’t enjoy the first version you try, sample another. With all the variety, there’s sure to be a combo you like!

I prefer fresh versions to fried. They taste lighter and more refreshing. Even the rice paper wraps have a light touch. Many packaged wraps are made with tapioca and rice flour making them naturally gluten-free. Of course, it’s still wise to read the label to make sure.

If you want to make Spring Rolls at home, you can choose any combination of fresh vegetables and herbs you enjoy that fit your eating plan. I’m partial to red, yellow, and orange peppers, cucumber, cilantro, and mint. Beyond that, red cabbage and carrots are favorite additions. My son enjoys adding tofu.

It’s easy to keep Spring Rolls vegan, but not required. Pork is common in fried Spring Rolls. Shrimp is sometimes added to fresh ones.

Another common ingredient is rice noodles that are rolled right in with the vegetables and protein.

No matter what’s inside, much of the flavor will come from dipping sauce. Thai-style is typically accompanied by peanut sauce. Shanghai-style may be dipped in plum sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, or Worcestershire-based dipping sauce. You can also mix and match to suit your taste. I have some toasted sesame oil that could find its way into a bowl.

You may not eat Spring Rolls regularly, but tubular wraps are common. There are taquitos, burritos, sandwich wraps, and cannoli. There are also similar wrapped items like sushi, enchiladas, tamales, and cheese blintzes. And then there are foods wrapped in dough that are not tube shaped – pupusas, empanadas, gyros in pita, salmon en croute (or beef, brie, etc.), jelly doughnuts, eclairs, and even fortune cookies. This delivery system is popular.

Wrapping contents can make food more party friendly and easy to eat on the go. If the wrap is fried, it can also add another layer of crunch.

Although wraps are appealing, you can also keep things simple and skip the wrappers in favor of a Spring Roll Bowl or Spring Roll Salad. It will be harder to get a cohesive bite, but you won’t have to worry whether you’ve left the wrappers in water too long or not long enough.

There’s something about spring that makes me crave lighter, fresher food. Spring Rolls are a delightful way to enjoy a variety of herb and vegetable combinations. Pair those with a flavorful dipping sauce, and boom…spring rocks with Spring…Rolls!

Soothing Drinks

I find life more pleasant when it includes a soothing nonalcoholic drink. Being under the weather recently made me especially appreciative of drinks that offer warmth and delightful aromas. Holding one in my hand, slowly sipping became a daily ritual.

Some beverages have additional benefits:

Peppermint tea settles my stomach. I keep peppermint tea bags in the pantry whether I’m home or traveling in my RV. I enjoy it both hot and iced. I don’t know if it will work for everyone, but studies have shown peppermint relaxes tissues in animals’ digestive tracts.

Passion tea makes me sleepy. My favorite way to drink passion tea is unsweetened, mixed half-and-half with green tea and served over pellet ice. In that form, the only effect I feel is refreshed. But if I consume a significant amount straight, it makes me drowsy. That’s not surprising given its history as a sedative.

Earl Grey makes me feel sophisticated. I’m not sure how big a benefit that is, but the slight citrusy flavor of the bergamot reminds me of lemon curd and scones. And in every British TV show I watch, tea seems to solve a lot of problems. I’m a pretty good problem solver, so maybe it’s working for me too?

Ginger tea helps me feel calm and well. What I make is the simplest version of ginger tea. I place a piece of peeled ginger root and a squeeze of raw honey in a cup and pour boiling water over it. A simple stir and steep and it’s ready. The flavor is mild and pleasing. Sometimes, I pull the piece of ginger out and chew it.

Ginger is helpful for some with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) as well.

Chai tea makes me feel happy. I love the spices in chai tea! Actually, I love them when no tea is involved. One of my sons introduced me to chai milkshakes when he was in college. So good!!

Constant Comment tea reminds me of the holidays. The aroma of orange and spice is always a favorite. I prefer it hot.

Black coffee evens things out. I’m certain one of my responses to coffee is more psychological than physical. The moment I smell coffee wafting from a Starbucks window, I feel my body calm down. And yet I drink coffee every morning to get me moving.

I have no significant memories attached to coffee other than I enjoyed the smell long before I liked the taste. This makes my level of response mysterious. But I’m okay with both responses so it’s not a mystery I plan to solve.

Hot chocolate tastes like the ultimate warm hug. There’s nothing better in the winter when you’ve come in from the elements. I’ve been known to make a knock-off version by melting a snack-size milk chocolate bar in coconut milk and put marshmallow crème on top.

Cilantro tea reminds me to pay attention. Mint leaves in black tea come as no surprise, but cilantro, that’s something that says wake up and pay attention to your taste buds.

It’s common to discuss favorite Happy Hour selections, but other beverages have appeal as well. And most can be enjoyed daily without adversely affecting your health.

Meringue

I’m sitting here looking at my lemon tree thinking of lemon meringue pie. I rarely eat it, but I LOVE it. Growing up, it was what I asked for every birthday instead of cake.

The bright lemon filling looks like light to me. It tastes bright and happy and makes me smile. If the meringue were missing, I’d still eat the pie, but it would be missing that little somethin, somethin that makes it extra special.

If you’ve never made meringue, it’s egg whites, sugar, a little cream of tartar, and lots of air. Sounds simple. But I remember overhearing my mother’s friends discussing how hard it was to keep it from burning or weeping or turning out chewy instead of light and fluffy. Then they’d share tips…in person.

It sounds quaint now to share domestic tips in person, doesn’t it? How could your friends possibly know better than Google? Apparently, my grandmother’s friends did. Hers was perfect – light and airy with swirly tan peaks. And she was the person who made my birthday meal, so I was always in for a treat!

In general, the tips people follow from the internet are good tips:

Separate the eggs whites from the yolks while the eggs are cold.
Separate each egg in a secondary bowl so that accidental contamination with a piece of yolk is limited to that egg and not the other bowl.
Allow egg whites to come to room temperature for as long as an hour before beating.
Make sure your bowl and beaters are clean and dry.

But if you’re reading tips and the tipster says you must have an electric mixer with a metal bowl, you could come away believing that you can’t make good meringue without those items. Don’t let that deter you and don’t rush out to buy something you don’t want.

You do not have to have a metal bowl. Glass works just fine. And you can use a hand mixer or a crank-powered egg beater. In fact, that’s what I use. It’s powered by nothing more than my hand turning a crank and it works just fine for creating stiff, glossy peaks.

Egg whites will support their own weight in sugar without your meringue going flat, but you must add the sugar slowly. You could see instructions that say to leave the mixer on and add half the sugar, then fold in the other half with a spatula. That may work if you have a stand mixer.

I don’t do that. I add the sugar more slowly and beat between additions. Once you have stiff peaks that do not collapse, stop. It is possible to beat for too long which will cause the meringue to fall.

If you’ve had difficulty making souffles, don’t worry. The sugar in meringue helps stabilize the peaks so this should be easier.

When you look at photos of pie on the internet, you’ll see some with meringue that sits 3 times higher than the pie filling. Proportionately, I prefer less meringue than that. I like for each bite of pie to include crust, filling, and meringue.

Under and overcooking may cause the dreaded weeping my mom’s friends hoped to avoid. Paying careful attention to time and temp will help prevent it. You can also put a little cornstarch in the recipe for an added measure of prevention.

My grandmother’s friends must have known all these secrets because her meringue was perfect – light and airy with swirly brown peaks. And lucky for me, she made my birthday pie with that perfect meringue on top. Yum!

What is Normal?

If something is normal it’s nothing to worry about, but what is normal?

It seems experiencing dark during the middle of the day has me thinking about normalcy more than usual. I feel like the idea of what falls within the normal range has narrowed through my lifetime increasing the list of things that fall outside the lines.

Whether that’s true, or just my perception is impossible to determine. Everything’s subjective. Sometimes things that feel normal to me may feel totally foreign to you.

But things that fall outside the normal range are worrisome. It’s possible that a narrower view of what’s normal is causing tiny variances to seem bigger than they did before. Some may even feel catastrophic. We certainly seem increasingly anxious and fearful.

On the flip side, we have normalized behavior that was previously considered improper and abnormal. Some of it crosses the line into cruelty or violence. That leads to fear and anxiety as well.

We find ourselves in a world that changed swiftly because of a pandemic. Nothing has really felt normal since it began. You could say, so what? Things change. That’s true. They do. But normal or not, why is it so hard to feel grounded, peaceful, and calm?

First, there’s the noise in general. It’s difficult and time consuming to vet every piece of information that crosses your path.

Secondly, we’re being misled. Sources like the WHO and CDC have proven themselves less than trustworthy sources of solid science-based recommendations. No matter your philosophy, this creates distrust.

Third, politicians are making use of grievance politics. This appeals to the worst in each of us. We all have a beef with someone, sometime. Fueling grievances leads to anger and division rather than cooperation and consensus.

Fourth, we aren’t well grounded in history and view the world in an egocentric way. Everything is much bigger than any one of us.

Fifth, we’ve let the measure of success narrow to the matter of money. Integrity, service, productivity, innovation, and beauty have taken a step back in value. It also tempts people to take advantage in order to achieve monetary success.

Carving a path of normality when surrounded by chaos and division is hard. It can be traumatic. It requires curiosity, fortitude, and conviction. But if you can shut out enough noise, you will know in your core when something feels right. As long as that path leads to your best self, follow it and forget these myths:

Normal means always happy. In “Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole,” Susan Cain posits that we miss out on beauty, wonder, and compassion when we avoid sadness, sorrow, and longing. It takes effort to resist societal pressure to only embrace positivity, but perpetual positivity may not be normal.

Depression is something to fear. Long ago, I read “The Secret Strength of Depression.” One point it makes is that depression is a normal response to change. It’s not the only response, but it’s part of adjusting from the old to the new. As such a response, it should be temporary, but it isn’t always clinical, chronic, or dire. In fact, at times it is a normal state.

You can medicate your way out of everything. Medication is one option for treating illness or pain. It is not always the most effective long-term solution.

Will anything feel normal again? I don’t know. But you can feel more grounded, peaceful, and calm if you follow a path that you know in your core is in tune with your values.