Photo-Finish Friday--The Painted Sky

A hawk listens against the painted sky.

My Gluten Free Experiment

I had an idea that the gluten free biscuits I'd made last week would make a toothsome pizza crust.

I was right.

The recipe I consulted called for two cups of flour and used a half-cup each of sorghum and sweet rice flours with a half-cup of tapioca and potato starches. 

Instead for the biscuits I used a half-cup of brown rice flour, a half-cup of sorghum flour and one-quarter cup of coconut flour.

It's important to note here that coconut flour drinks a lot and expands. A quarter-cup of it is equivalent to a full cup of most other gluten free flours such as the above-noted rice and sorghum.

I used a whole egg instead of only egg white as the recipe called for, and added an extra tablespoon of liquid as well. It worked out fine.

For the crust below I used soya flour in place of the sorghum, but that was the only change from my version of the two recipes.

I added two teaspoons of guar gum even as the recipe called for a half-teaspoon of xanthan gum. ( They are interchangeable. Guar is one-third the price, but use xanthan if guar upsets your stomach.)
I also added a tablespoon of psyllium fibre. It helps with stretchiness and it soaks up liquid.
When using coconut flour and/or psyllium it's important to let the dough rest a few minutes. It will set. Liquid will soak up.
It rested about three minutes and then I spread it out on the pan using the back of a spoon. I had to wet the spoon a few times to help things along.
That sort of thing is normal.
I did the crust at 425F for 13 minutes. I'd set the stove timer for 17 minutes, but decided --correctly-- the crust was done.
I made it early in case something went terribly wrong.
It was fine.

Sausage with mushrooms, peppers, and onion.

A light and fluffy crust that supports the toppings.
What more could one ask? 

Gratitude Monday--Tranquility Base

Despite all assurances and my research, I still had a silly fear of the spinal anaesthetic on tap for me for my recent hernia surgery.

It's safer than knocking me out completely because it made monitoring my blood pressure easier.

I have a heart condition. Monitoring is important.

Yet there I was, uneasy.

Further, I read that it is safer in general than general anaesthetic.

But it bothered me for a silly reason. I feared being awake while being unable to move my lower body.

The idea that I'd be physically half –dead made me jittery. It's absurd, but feelings don't concern themselves with logic.

In the OR the anaesthetist explained to me what was going where and why.

He was thorough, he was calm, and his scrubs cap had hockey players on it.

That alone eased me.

Then he reached over me from behind.

Tranquility flowed over me.

Tranquility flowed through me from inside out.

With it came the scent of flowers coupled with the fresh air and scents of the forest.

For a moment I was out in nature filling my lungs with the sweet, fresh air of trees and plants.

Everything was fine and I was totally at ease.

The ease stayed.

The hospital is a scent free zone.

Even if it weren't the fragrance carried no base chemical odour.

It could not have come out of a dispenser.

Years ago after a heart operation I had my spirit guide visit me in the hospital so I'm open to anything.

This time, it was a higher up coming to help.

You can believe or dismiss the following as you see fit, but

after a bit of research I have an honest belief the scent was provided by the Archangel Michael.

I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday -- A Rare Sight

You have to get up plenty early to see this:



Because it usually looks like this:



We were fortunate to have a hotel room cater-corner from Voodoo Doughnut, the popular doughnut shop in Portland. The lineup is at least as long as in the second photo from just before 9 a.m. to well past 1 a.m.
Note please the entrance to the shop is on the corner. The line forms in two directions to it.
The shop is open 24 hours each day except some holidays such as Thanksgiving.
The first pic is at 6:34 a.m.
The second at 2:48 p.m.

I will post about our doughnut escapade in the near future.

What I'd Like To See At The Sochi Olympics

The Sochi Olympics are in the social media sights right now.
This is good.
President Vladimir Putin's hateful stance on gays in Russia appalls me. His purported reasoning for it which includes their lack of contribution to the Russian birthrate is specious at best.
Many people are appalled and there's a petition to sign asking for the games to be moved to Vancouver.
This is fine and admirable. It would send a message as to our thorough disgust at this stance.
But I have an alternate idea.
A wonderful, beautiful, logistical nightmare of an idea whereby every athlete from every country marches into Olympic Stadium, Sochi waving a rainbow flag.
It would convey how wrong and out of touch Putin's stance is while showing worldwide solidarity against him and for the rich diversity of human life.
It would be difficult to organize, but it would be even more difficult for Putin and all who agree with him to ignore.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Elk

A trip to Jasper National Park is not complete without an elk sighting.
This magnificent bull was browsing along the side of the highway near the townsite. He was kind enough, or blase enough, to let us take his picture.



Here's another look.


He ate his way up the hill.

A Silly Law

We were just pushing off from shore on our lake paddle Sunday when I realized what was missing: we hadn't put our life jackets on.

We pulled back in and put them on, then went about our way even though legally we didn't have to wear them.

This I find silly in the extreme. Under the regulations we're obligated to have enough life jackets on board to kit out each person on board.

We do not actually have to have them on.

Every season we hear about people drowning on rivers and lakes. Most of the time said drownee wasn't wearing a life jacket.

Now I'm all for using common sense approach as opposed to legislation. But in this respect common sense is not the least bit common.

This applies to both sides of the story. Common sense would dictate using a life jacket not just having it handy.

Common sense would also suggest if one is going to write a law concerning public safety then one should go the whole hog with said law.

But that does not seem to be the Province's way.

That said, Alberta likes to stick its legislative nose in everyone's business be it needed or not.

We've got some silly laws that serve no purpose and others that are window-dressing at best.

Laws get changed or created all the time and in many cases it's to make the Province look like it's doing something.

Sometimes in the late nineties a young adult riding in the back of a pick up truck got thrown out and killed as the result of an accident.

His mother got the legal ball rolling and got the Province to declare it illegal for anyone to ride in the back of a truck.

This was annoying.

Riding in the back of a truck can be safe if one does not do anything stupid.

Further, as I recall the truck driver was drunk.

This was the real issue.

Not the rider in the box, the driver.

Also, we have no idea if the young man was minding his own business and died as a result of simple misfortune and the drunk driver, or if he was drunk, too, and did something stupid while riding.

The above sounds like blaming the victim. I'm sorry. It's not supposed to. I blame the driver.

We can see how one person can make a difference, but I've yet to hear of a drownee's loved one making a fuss about wearing life jackets. That would be a sensible change.

We can't ride in a truck box.

It's against the law to have your expired insurance card in your vehicle.

It is, or at least was, against the law to have a copy of your driver's license for use.

Frankly, those last two laws are nonsense.

But wear a life jacket?

Nope, that's your call.

Do I want this changed?

Actually, no.

In this matter, sad as it may be, the only law I'd care to see applied here is survival of the fittest.

Paddling while wearing a life jacket.

Sensible enough to wear it, not just have it.