Quiche

This morning, my wonderful wife made this quiche.

Homemade Fettuccine Alfredo

My wonderful wife made homemade Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner.

1st Loaf

Here is the first loaf of bread that my wife made in our new electric bread maker, which is a Christmas gift from me to her, as per her request. I think that the loaf looks like a snow-covered mountain. We agreed that making our own bread will be healthier and less expensive than bread from a store.

Chicken Teriyaki For Dinner

My wonderful wife made Chicken Teriyaki for dinner.

Homemade Soup

This afternoon, my wonderful wife made this delicious soup. The ingredients are: yellow corn, green (sweet) peas, red kidney beans, garlic, white (sweet) onions, orange carrots, dried barley, olive oil, ground black pepper, dried bay leaf, and beef broth. I enjoyed a bowl of it with shaved Parmesan cheese on top.

Belgian Pancakes: Breakfast

For breakfast, my wonderful wife made Belgian pancakes. I enjoyed two of the smaller ones with butter and real maple syrup.

What are Belgian pancakes? ... none other than pancakes made with Belgian waffle mix. They are definitely lighter than regular pancakes.

Three Lost Hats

I used to wear hats in the 1980s and 1990s. These days, I occasionally wear a brown Roots (brand) cap made of hemp that I purchased on a vacation with my wife to visit her friends and family members in Ontario.

When I moved to Florida in 1998, I drove my car from Jersey City, New Jersey, where I was living, to Boca Raton, Florida, where my mother was living. I lived with her until I could get settled with a job and an apartment.

Anyway, while en route, I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car that was packed with my clothes and other stuff. For some reason, I placed three hats on top of my car: two green loden hats that I had purchased on two of my many vacations in Austria to visit my many Austrian cousins and to go skiing in the Austrian Alps, and one Australian Outback hat that I purchased on a trip to visit my mom in Florida. Needless to say, I totally forgot they were there and drove off. I was heartbroken.

Dinner: Baked Farfelle

For dinner, my wonderful wife made farfelle (bow tie pasta) with ricotta cheese and marinara sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese, and then baked.

R.I.P. Robert Bly

I just discovered (during a search on Google) that one of my heroes passed away in November 2021: Robert Bly. He was 94 years old when he passed. I don't remember if I already knew this; I don't think I did.

I read Bly's 1990 book "Iron John: A Book About Men" soon after I became a Men's Rights Activist (MRA) in the early 1990s. (During the early and mid-1990s, I read several books on Men's Rights and about "reclaiming the male spirit," which was the slogan at that time during the resurgence of the Men's Rights Movement.) While I still consider myself to be an MRA, I am now mellow in that regard.

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-11-22/robert-bly-poet-dead?_amp=true

Medical Update: Heart, Feet

MEDICAL UPDATE (this week, so far): regarding my heart and my feet

Monday, January 10, 2022 - appointment with my cardiologist: everything good

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - appointment with my podiatrist: diabetic ulcers on both of my feet look good; still healing; feet repadded and rebandaged; next appointment (every 2 weeks) on Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Today (Wednesday, January 12, 2022) - call from cardiothoracic surgeon's office, regarding my pending coronary bypass surgery (4 or 5 bypasses): All elective surgeries are currently not allowed due to covid. I will require the installation of a balloon one day before the bypass surgery to strengthen my heart. Also, the nurse there will check with my surgeon to see if I need to schedule an appointment with an electrophysiologist regarding (possible) surgery to install a defibrillator to increase my heart's efficiency. My Heart Ejection Fraction (the amount of blood that my heart is able to empty into my blood vessels) is dangerously low.

For about 6 weeks, I have been taking a prescription pill (twice per day) to dilate my blood vessels. It makes my already low blood pressure even lower, so I am often lightheaded. Also, I recently restarted taking a prescription statin pill (once per day) to lower my triglycerides. Also, since I was hospitalized with congestive heart failure, including severe edema in both of my legs, in August 2021, I have been taking a prescription diuretic pill (once per day).

My Dinner: Tofu, Peas, Curry

My Dinner: organic super firm tofu and green peas in a (jarred) korma curry sauce

Memory: Balloon Festival

In 1991, near the start of my professional journalistic career, I was a reporter, writer, and photographer for the Olean Times Herald, a daily newspaper in upstate New York. I was based in our bureau in Wellsville, New York. One Saturday morning, I was assigned to take photographs starting at 5 a.m. of a famous hot-air balloon festival in Wellsville. I shot the photos and then drove west 32 miles to Olean because I had to get the film there by 9 a.m. for that afternoon's edition. (This was before digital cameras.) While I got a speeding ticket, I was still able to get the film there at 8:30 a.m. I was quite thrilled that a few of my (color) photos appeared on the front page of the entertainment section of the newspaper.

I came very close to going up in a balloon that day. As per Times Herald tradition, one of the two Wellsville-based reporters would go up in a balloon and the other would take photographs. I lost the coin toss, but it worked out well. She went up in the balloon, which is what she wanted, and I got my photos published in a daily newspaper, which is what I wanted.

Homemade Pizza For Dinner

For dinner this evening, my wonderful wife made this homemade pizza: baked onions and green bell peppers for her and pepperoni for me.

Homemade Biscotti

My wonderful wife made homemade biscotti.

Video: Our Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree (Jan. 7, 2022)

Here is a short video of our Christmas tree.

There are two strings of blinking lights, which can be set on various blinking settings or on a setting of solid lights, and one main string of solid lights throughout the whole tree. Part of the main string wasn't working, so my wife decided to get the other two strings to fill out the darkened section.

In the background, you can hear the song "Sleigh Ride," which is my favorite song on the 1961 album "Holiday Sing Along with Mitch" by Mitch Miller and The Gang. I have listened to this album every Christmas season since I was born in 1961. I still have my parents' original album on vinyl, plus two copies of it on CD. The original album came with several lyrics sheets so that a whole bunch of people could "sing along" at the same time.

(Legal Disclaimer: I do NOT own the rights to this song.)

https://youtube.com/shorts/9HmqEI3DmxQ?feature=share

Good Medical News

The results of a blood test from a couple of weeks ago are almost all favorable. Here are the highlights:

Slightly High: Triglycerides

Slightly Low: Hemoglobin & Iron Saturation

Normal: Sodium, Potassium, Total Cholesterol, White Blood Cell Count, & Red Blood Cell Count

In December 2020, I was hospitalized with dangerously low potassium levels. In 2021, I was hospitalized (separately) with dangerously low hemoglobin levels and with a white blood cell count near zero.

The real surprise from my recent blood test is that my HbA1C (A1C) is 7.3. Controlled diabetes is marked by an A1C of lower than 7.0, so I am just about there. The last time I had my A1C tested, it was 9.5, down from 10.5, down from 10.6. I continue to inject myself (in my belly) every day with two types of insulin.

Also, my creatinine level, which is an indicator of kidney health, is in the normal range. In January 2021, I had kidney failure (both kidneys) which required a week in the hospital followed by six weeks of dialysis, seven days a week, four straight hours each day. Thank God (and the doctors and nurses) that I recovered.

Pending (sometime in January 2022): coronary bypass surgery (4 or 5 bypasses) ... Twice a day for the past month, I have been taking a prescription pill to dilate my blood vessels. My blood pressure is low, and this pill lowers blood pressure, so I often feel lightheaded. Also, I have been taking a prescription diuretic pill once a day since I was hospitalized with congestive heart failure in August 2021. I have an appointment with my cardiologist on January 10, 2022. I then have to meet with my cardiothoracic surgeon to schedule a day for my surgery.

Continuing (typically every two weeks): appointments with my podiatrist for lingering diabetic ulcers in both of my feet

Continuing: A new prescription (inhaled powder) for my asthma/COPD has me breathing much better. In 2021, I had a thoracentesis procedure that drained 650 milliliters (22 ounces) of fluid surrounding my right lung.

Epiphany: "Befana" Arrives

Happy Epiphany, also known as "Little Christmas" !!!

Do you know the woman ("witch"?) pictured below?

My heritage is half Italian, so, yes, I do know who she is. Her name is "La Befana" or just "Befana."

In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5) in a similar way to St. Nicholas/Santa Claus and the three magi kings.

A popular belief is that her name derives from the Feast of Epiphany. Epifania is a Latinized Greek word meaning "appearance" on the surface.

Returning To Regular Normalcy

This early evening, my wife and I went to the nearby Publix Super Market here in southeastern Florida. As you may suspect, I did NOT wear a mask. I am proud to do my part in returning my little section of the world to normalcy. I do NOT mean the so-called "new normal." Uh, the "regular," old-fashioned normal will do just fine.

Frittata Florentine

For breakfast, my wonderful wife made this delicious Frittata Florentine: eggs, half & half, roasted spinach, roasted onion, roasted potato, honey ham, cheddar cheese, ground black pepper, and a little canola oil.

Phone Call To Rita

At 2:15 p.m. yesterday afternoon (January 1, 2022), I spoke (in English, in German, and in Italian) on the telephone with my Austrian cousin Rita at her house in Dornbirn, Austria, to wish her a Frohes Neues Jahr !!! (Happy New Year !!!), as per a decades-long tradition.

Actually, I attempted the actual tradition, but it was actually a day later than the actual tradition was supposed to be. Let me actually explain.

I twice attempted to call Rita, once at 6:15 p.m. and again at 6:45 p.m. (Eastern Time) on December 31, 2021. The time in Austria (Central European Time) is six hours later than here in southeastern Florida, so it was already the next day and the next year there. I reached Rita's answering machine twice, but I only left a message the first time.

My father started this tradition in the early 1980s by calling Rita's husband Hans from our home on Long Island, New York, every year as Hans and Rita celebrated with friends and family members in their home in western Austria. When my dad passed away in 1997, I continued the tradition. I had been calling Hans from my various homes in southeastern Florida since I moved from New Jersey in 1998. Sadly, Hans passed away in 2013, so I have been call Rita directly since then.

(Hans is Austrian. Rita is Italian. To be honest, the only Italian word that I spoke to Rita was "Ciao.")

Since the early 1980s, I have visited my many Austrian cousins across Austria seven times and have gone skiing with them in the Austrian Alps on several of those trips.

In the early 1980s, I think it was 1983, I celebrated New Year's Eve with my father at Hans and Rita's house on the side of a snowy mountain in Dornbirn, Austria, in Vorarlberg, the westernmost Austrian province, with several other Austrian cousins and a few of their Austrian friends. At midnight, we watched the fireworks from above the city.

On December 26, we had flown overnight from New York to Zürich, Switzerland, and then took the train east for about 90 minutes to Dornbirn. We returned home on January 8 after skiing for a few days at a nearby resort in Lech, Austria.

I remember the wonderfully subdued feeling on New Year's Eve as we gently raised our Champagne-filled glasses and quietly spoke the words "Zum Wohl" (a toast which literally translates from German as "to the benefit") and "Prost" (meaning "Cheers") as the clock struck midnight in their living room. We then went outside their home to watch the fireworks explode below us in an array of colors. It is my most memorable New Year's Eve celebration.

On April 10, 2005, my wife and I shared Champagne with Hans and Rita in their house with two more of my Austrian cousins to celebrate our wedding engagement. I proposed marriage on a snowy mountaintop around 11 a m. in Bregenz, Austria, with Hans and Rita nearby. That two-week trip across the northern part of the country, visiting my Austrian cousins in Dornbirn, in Lustenau, in Salzburg, and in Grinzing near Vienna, was the last time I was in Austria.

https://youtu.be/APG_1KSiims

PROSIT NEUJAHR !!!

Here is my lucky New Year's coin that I purchased from the Austrian mint in 2001. Obverse Side: PROSIT NEUJAHR 2001 (Happy New Year 2001), with the lucky frog. Reverse Side: "BIN ICH AUCH NUR KLEIN UND RUND, BRING DOCH GLÜCKICH JEDE STUND," which means "I'M ONLY SMALL AND ROUND, BUT I BRING HAPPINESS EVERY HOUR." (translated from German)

Enchilada & Maduros

As a late lunch/early dinner, my wife and I decided to have Mexican food delivered.

I ordered the "Enchilada de Mole" with yellow rice and refried beans topped with cheese, with a side of maduros (sweet plantains). See photo below.

The enchilada is actually two corn tortillas filled with shredded, spiced chicken and topped with mole sauce and melted cheese. Mole (pronounced "mo-lay") is a spicy, sweet sauce made with chili peppers and chocolate. Whenever mole is on the menu of a Mexican restaurant, I will order it. While I once purchased a jar of it at a supermarket, I would like to attempt making a homemade version. I absolutely LOVE it.

My wife ordered the Chimichanga (chicken) with yellow rice and refried beans.

UPDATE: You know, I think my enchilada was exclusively with refried beans. I could not distinguish any chicken.

Charcuterie On New Year's Day

My wonderful wife created another charcuterie in celebration of New Year's Day today. She made one yesterday for New Year's Eve; the ingredients are about the same. As per Italian tradition, we have fresh grapes and dried fruits, specifically figs and apricots. Plus, there's my favorite cold-cut meat: hot capocollo, sometimes called coppa or capicola, and better known to Italian-Americans like me as gabagool. The cheeses are blue and Swiss. Also, there are crackers, strawberries, black pepper-encrusted salami, shrimp with cocktail sauce, and, for me, pickled green olives stuffed with garlic. The only variation from yesterday's charcuterie is the omission of ham and brie cheese, both of which we had already finished.

UPDATE: The blue cheese is Gorgonzola.

CORRECTION: That's provolone cheese, not Swiss cheese.

Good In 2021: I'm Still Alive

Someone posted this picture on Facebook, so I answered it in the following way. I just wanted to share it with you to find out what good thing or things, big or little, happened to you in 2021.

(from Bill): I am still alive. Actually, that's a big thing. I was in the hospital six times in 2021, plus once in December 2020, with such fun stuff as dehydration, dangerously low potassium levels, kidney failure (both kidneys) with six weeks of daily outpatient dialysis, thoracentesis which drained 22 ounces of fluid surrounding my right lung, congestive heart failure with severe edema in both of my legs, three of four surgeries on my left foot for osteomyelitis (bone infection), bouts with pneumonia (twice) and covid, dangerously low hemoglobin levels, white blood cell count near zero, and more. Yes, I am bragging that I survived all of that. Now, it's January 2022, and I need to schedule coronary bypass surgery (4 or 5 bypasses). I made it this far by being strong. I hope that I can continue being strong.

Buon Anno !!!

Buon Anno !!! / Happy New Year !!!