Category: Food

Thanks to some people hitting the tip jar, I do indeed have a new pair of Red Wings. Next on the list is a new pair of sneakers, some clothing, and a wire rack storage unit.

Now, me being me, I went and got the new shoes Wednesday afternoon. Managed to get in about three miles of walking with them, as I started the break-in process. Yesterday I got in six or more miles of walking in them. Ouch. Between that and pushing my little grocery cart around all day (shopping day), I was moving like I was 90 by dinner time.

Hope to get a more substantive post up later, but today is baking day. As I work the bread, I’m also doing laundry, some other cleaning, and pretending to clean my room. In addition to bread, cooked up a batch of English muffins. Not only some for me to eat, but am trading them for rides since I have no car.

The young man who bought my car still hasn’t transferred the title, so got to send him a certified letter yesterday. Hoping that this gets taken care of quickly, as it not being transferred raises legal liability issues. Joy.

More later as getting the post done between stretch-and-folds. I still do everything by hand, and I get pretty good results if I say so myself. Even better, several people at Church have been letting me know they think it’s good.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Okay, I screwed up a bit today and overdid it. Part involved missing a bus while the bread was on first rise and betting I could walk to my destination before the next bus got there. Did it. Then walked back. Then took another walk later. If I thought I was tired before…

So, wanted to do a real post but decided to do a semi-funny story because a post on X reminded me of it. The post was a joke about the mafia running a pizza chain and giving up crime as the pizza paid better. Which reminded me of some really good Italian food that came to Huntsville many years ago.

It was the first time I did work for NASA (sub sub contractor??) and several of us were into food. When word came of a new Italian place that was supposed to be fantastic, I was a bit skeptical. Keep in mind that I lived a summer in northern Italy with an Uncle stationed there a while back, and had gotten to travel a bit besides. On top of that, I’ve had some of the best Italian in Boston and NYC (when the undercover cops tell you that X has the best Italian food in the city, and the restaurant is essentially neutral ground between the Mob and the cops, trust me it is indeed quite good).

So, some of us went to check the place out. Going in, you had to actually go through the kitchen to get to the dining area. Part of which was inside, part of which was outside and included a Bocce Ball set-up. Going through the kitchen I looked at what was being cooked, how it was being cooked, and did a bit of sniffing. Think my comment was along the lines of ‘this is going to be good.’

Yes it was. In fact, I would have stacked it up against almost any Italian food I’d had in the U.S. It was really good, and the rather flamboyant and loud owner and host was a bit of a hoot. He taught people how to play Bocce Ball, how to eat certain dishes, and have a good time. I really enjoyed the place despite his over-the-top antics. The food was just so good.

Then reality hit. Word went out quietly that the restaurant had closed. Louder words soon followed, and the true story came out.

Turns out Mr. Flamboyant had been in the Witness Protection Program, and had testified against the Mob. Accountant type, not a Pistol Pete or more. Don’t know for sure, but got the impression it was the Sicilians though some plumped for the Irish Mob. The attention coming to the restaurant, even in Huntsville, was not good. His not paying taxes or any withholding on his employees got the IRS involved, and well, they apparently had to move him again. Still wonder if the prime protection for so doing was in regards the Mob or the IRS. Prefer to deal with the Mob than the IRS to be honest. Seem to remember that he gave investment advice to employees and others too. Ah well.

I had some dealings years before that with someone else who had been in the WPP. Don’t remember why she was in the WPP, but do know that when they had to do an emergency relocation on her because of her being a ***** to so many people, and stiffing so many people, no one was surprised at her being in the WPP. That person was such that many felt she should have just been left hanging in the breeze. By this point, she’s long gone, and I’ve said a prayer for her soul.

It was a loss to culinary Huntsville, and frankly a bit more given just how good it was. Right now, can’t think of a place in NYC that matches it (even in the new Little Italy) and only a couple in Boston. As much as I do love Little Italy in the Bronx (Little Italy in Manhattan is mostly a tourist place now IMO), they would be hard pressed to match it. Sometimes wonder what happened to Mr. Flamboyant, but if he is still around and they relocated you to Indiana, drop me a line. I won’t say a word.

Thought I would share a funny and mostly pleasant memory this Friday evening. May your weekend be good, and tasty.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Last week, I had volunteered to help with food for a national conference being held at our Church. Officially, I signed up for one three or so hour shift I think. Unofficially, I had already talked with the Chef in charge of all the food for the event, and pretty much signed a blank check. Yes, my mind does still think I’m 20, why do you ask? <smile>

Some of you have figured out a good bit about my Church, but I try to keep them out of the line of fire. Short description of what went on is this: An open annual meeting was hosted by my Church that is in practice national but open to all Churches in our denomination that fall within our diocese. Our diocese covers the United States, Canada, and Australia (!), and apparently a couple of other odd countries. Have sort of gotten the feeling that when they don’t know where to put the Churches in a country, they stick them in our diocese while they figure things out. So, while all of the Churches in these countries can take part, it really comes down to it being the Churches in the U.S. Sometimes there is participation by Canadian Churches, but even that is rare I am told.

Now, the conference is more focused on nuts-and-bolts of operations, though there is some discussion of theology and theological considerations. As a result, the — call him Archbishop though he has a different title — over the diocese (that is all the Churches in the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc.) attends. From a religious perspective, this is — of course — a big deal. Those that have met him before told me a lot of good things about him, but for those that are Roman Catholic or understand their system, you are talking effectively a Cardinal. I had hoped I might get to meet him at a service, maybe get a blessing as part of such, but really didn’t expect more than that. More on that in a bit.

The Chef (and I use the initial cap VERY deliberately) who was in charge of the food is amazing. I’ve met her briefly before, and the short version is that upon coming to America she got a job as a dishwasher at a higher-end establishment, quickly got promoted to cook, and I understand she owned her own restaurant for a while. In short, she knows what she is doing, how she wants things done, and while she may have a small penchant for micromanagement, she’s earned it. I have no objection to being told ‘cut this way and to this size’ and in fact I like it when I am working for someone else if I know EXACTLY what they want and how they want it. Makes life much easier.

Now, it wasn’t one meal. It was an introductory supper; breakfast/brunch, lunch, dinner; breakfast, lunch, (dinner catered as it was also a dance/celebration held elsewhere); then, brunch/lunch. For those who have done restaurant or food service work, it was effectively cooked to order. For those who don’t know what that means, here’s a quick breakdown.

We started food preparation on Wednesday. While some things were bought commercial and pre-made (desserts, chips, etc.), everything else was prepared from scratch. What this really means is that the clock started ticking Wednesday and it is a very complex clock. Some of what I did Wednesday was to prepare ingredients or to prepare to create ingredients that would be needed on Sunday for the final meal. It is a complex process to ensure everything comes together at the right time so that the final products come out at the right time, at the right temperature, and in the right condition for each meal.

Now, to add to the fun, each meal had a different number of people signed up for it. We also had to take into account that there were fasting requirements in place. My Church takes fasting rather seriously, in that during the average week there are two fasting days where depending on circumstances you can’t use meat; you may or may not be able to use oil or wine; and, there may be other restrictions. Also, some of the monastic orders have dietary restrictions on members. So, the whole menu has to be planned around this.

One example. The opening day was an open day, so anything went. The next day was a fasting day with no meat, no dairy, and some minor considerations. We did a salad on the first day native to the home country of the Archbishop, which included a special cheese. Great in that respect (and he was quite happy at seeing it); but, it could not be used in any way on the second day. The Chef did an outstanding job of threading the menu needle with the planned dishes. She also did an AMAZING job of timing things out so that every dish was on the table at the right temp and right condition at precisely the right time.

Which of course meant that almost immediately we got the dreaded ‘can you do this 30 minutes earlier/hour later’ well after the clock had started in earnest on that meal. Unless you have worked food service or cooked professionally, you don’t know what a big hairy warty deal that is, or how much it sucketh more mightily than an 10-to-the-negative-16th TOR vacuum. The clock on that meal starts 8 or more hours before that meal. When you have multiple dishes (and most meals literally have six to 10 dishes/components), you are talking a very complex operation. A good Chef can handle 5-15 minutes even if it is a major pain in the patuchas. Beyond that, only the really good ones can handle it and not at the very last minute. You get much beyond 30, well in advance, and most are going to laugh at you. Thirty minutes, we handled, though the “customer” didn’t have a clue how much work that entailed. When you have a good team, the customer only sees the result, not the massive amount of extra work and sweat. We had a good team.

Now, we did have to change a couple of things on the fly to accommodate both changes and issues. The latter is expected, and you account for it in planning. An ingredient may not be available, a product not delivered on time, etc. Changes are a major, major, pain.

*****

Which leads me to something I want to say to everyone: When you do something like this, and they ask on the flippin registration form if you have dietary issues (for any reason), tell them. If you are going out to eat and have special requirements, call ahead and ask/notify. Please, for the love of all, do not wander up and demand/ask people to stop setting up the meal service to tell you what dishes do/don’t have X in them. If you are massively allergic to dairy, shellfish/iodine (my issue), or peanuts, or whatever TELL THEM AS FAR AHEAD OF TIME AS POSSIBLE.

When you don’t, and we have used prepared ingredients, say a store-bought sausage we did not make ourselves, when you wander up at the last minute we then have to dig through the garbage can (and/or the dumpster, potentially) to find the package and check. This is a bit of a disruption to getting the meal out on time as you then have to have everyone not only stop to try to find every ingredient label from everything used all freakin day, then clean up, sterilize areas, and wash up and sterilize ourselves, and well, if you don’t get it, it is a major pain in the rump and a MAJOR legal liability for those doing the food. In short, if we can’t find all the labels the default (legal and the court of public opinion) is that we have to tell you that a given dish has to be considered as having dairy/shellfish/nut/etc. in it as we can’t prove it DOESN’T. And, no, having just cooked food for 50 to 200 people, we can’t just whip up dishes to accommodate your needs in five minutes. Even if we have the staff, you are talking 30 or more minutes to send someone to the store and hope it has products that meet your specific requirements, prep time, cooking time, and serving time. TELL THE PEOPLE AHEAD OF TIME ESPECIALLY IF THEY FLIPPIN ASK YOU!!! If they ask and you wander up at the last minute, you are either seeking attention or are an idiot. DON’T BE THAT CUSTOMER!!!

Also, if it is not from a medical issue, don’t be that customer who goes into a barbecue joint and demands a vegan option. That’s just being something I’m not supposed to call people these days, and frankly if you do it you get what you deserve. Choices are not medical issues. If you have a medical issue, you should know to check ahead. If it’s not a medical issue, don’t be a jerk. Period. No, we did not have any of those, thank goodness. We did have a couple of people that should have notified us ahead of time on the registration form when asked. We could have at least has signage out saying that X dish was dairy/nut/shellfish/etc. free. Signage is easy. Scrambling at the last minute is not. Be considerate. Also, just a reminder, ask early rather than trying to stop service to get an answer. Again, be considerate.

*****

Oh, and a few extra people showing up usually isn’t an issue. More than seven or so gets to be a problem, but a few is okay. If a few don’t show up, well, your food staff is usually appreciative as it means they get to eat. (smile)

In our case, everything went relatively smoothly. Some changes, some timing changes, etc. Nothing too far out of the park. Which was good as we were usually starting full prep on the next meal before the guests were finished with the one being served. Again (and again) the Chef in charge ran the operation like a restaurant and I really appreciated and enjoyed that. Lots of good reminders.

Also, some good lessons. Her method of cutting/preparing fresh pineapple was much better than what I had been taught. Quicker and less waste. Picked up a few other new takes on how to do things. I’m not as fast as I used to be with some of the prep, but can still get the job done.

I did have a bit of a (pleasant) shock the first day when setting up the food table for the first dinner. A gentleman in robes wandered up and was admiring the table, we chatted a small bit, and I froze as I realized I was talking with the Archbishop and had not been briefed on protocol. I think it amused him that I froze up for a moment, but he just went on and made a couple of nice comments on how good everything looked. I then dove back into preparation and he got ready to eat. Had the impression, and heard from others later, he was very happy to see the salad from his home country on the table, and apparently enjoyed it very much. I did get a more formal blessing later, and he was kind enough to describe the food as “manna” and was quite happy with all the meals from what I could find out. Came away with the impression of a laid-back and even humble man, though he was quite emphatic in the areas that truly counted.

So, it was a week of long (very) days. I’m still exhausted and could tell it both walking to/from the guitar lessons and even with the lesson this morning. Other than this, trying to take the day off and recover a bit. Might have even had a glass of wine. Going to cook up something quick and easy for supper soon. If the weather was nicer, would walk back down to the taco truck, but the weather isn’t nice and the walk to the guitar lesson was a PITA from the humidity and from having to push things because of weather. Really glad I didn’t do anything in the kitchen yesterday as I attended Matins then Liturgy. Was so tired, and voice was off, so made no attempt to sing in the choir/chorus. Besides, let me focus on the services, which were unusual as we had more than 20 priests and deacons (40+???) taking part in addition to the Archbishop. When they sang or chanted in chorus, wow! I did get asked to hold a large bowl of blessed bread at the end of service, which I did as it was just standing there holding a large bowl. Easy.

Because I was in the kitchen so much, didn’t get to mingle and meet quite as much as I would have liked. That said, did get to meet a few new people and was amused at one young man who saw my hat (straw Panama) and thought I looked like an archeologist, which is what he wants to be. Have some invitations to attend other Churches around the U.S., and who knows, I may take some of them up on that one day. Wish I could have met more/spent a bit more time with the crowd, but had a great time in the kitchen. Kitchen is home in many ways.

So, while I’m sorry I didn’t post a whole lot since last Tuesday, I was a touch busy. Today will be a bit of a let-down food-wise, but that may be for the best.

I hope you all had a good weekend, and there is more to come.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Sorry for the silence, but having to deal with ensuring all doctors are aware of what the others are doing, etc. Also trying to arrange a ride to the day of cardiac testing, would help if I had more (any) faith in the service my insurance provides. Or that it wasn’t such a (needlessly) complex and convoluted process that requires you to jump between phone, computer, and text within a poorly designed system.

Also, while I’ve had more than one close brush with death, I decided last year to combine all the alive days and my birthday into one big Alive Day. That day is 30 June, and it is the day lightning hit me and by the Grace of God I got up and walked away. As I noted on GiveSendGo, not unscathed, but still moving and fighting. Slower and weaker perhaps, but I ain’t dead yet.

Circumstances are such I will not be doing a celebratory meal or such on it this year. While I will be giving thanks for it in Church, am putting off anything else until after the next round of cardiac testing and such are completed. Besides, budget isn’t great right now and I need to see how some things go.

More soon I hope. Right now, have to go see about using a blender to grind some grains for bread. My Godmother wants some rye bread made by a certain recipe, and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. I also am going to grind some red and white wheatberries once done with the rye, as I want to see how it does in the sourdough bread. The Dijon-style mustard turned out good (!!) and I will share the recipe soon. If anyone knows a good source of bulk mustard seeds, do let me know as I see a lot more mustard in my future. 🙂 Also, need to share an updated chili-lime mayo recipe with you as it and regular mayo are easy to make, tasty as all get outs, and a LOT healthier than what you will find in the store.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Been a little tied up, but more “serious” posting is to come. Right now, thought I should share a bit about some of the baking I’ve been doing. Pretty sure I’ve talked about this a bit before, but am really enjoying the baking. Friday’s have become my baking day, which also means it is laundry, cleaning, etc. day given that doing all the preparatory mixing, stretching, folding, spindling, mutilating, and such ends up taking about eight hours since I do everything by hand right now.

This morning, I tried my hand at making sourdough English muffins. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Ended up eating a good bit more than normal, but boy howdy was it good. I also do sourdough pancakes, biscuits, and am hoping to try some other new things here soon. Not only tasty, but none of the additive junk that is in pretty much all commercial baking these days. Also, less salt, sugar, etc. as I rarely use any sweetener and when I do tend towards maple syrup or honey.

I am very much a novice and just getting started. A lot of what I do are experiments as I try recipes and production methods to see if and how they work. I’m standing on the shoulders of giants, and give huge thanks to my friend Snarksalot for her guidance, suggestions, and encouragement. Between her and Lauren Gruel, I was enticed into culturing a starter from scratch and it’s gone from there.

Right now, I have two starters working. The first is Audrey, and yes she is named for the Little Shop of Horrors as while culturing her I could have sworn I heard a little girl voice going “Feed Me!” Rachel started as a clone of Audrey but it is interesting how each now behaves and tastes differently. Teasing both of them of sleeping on the job as the discard jar has been going gangbusters and I’ve even used it for some of the bread. Which is something to point out: your discard jar from feeding the cultures makes excellent pancakes, biscuits, English muffins, pizza crusts, etc. My goal is to eliminate pretty much all store-bought commercial bread and related from my life.

So, to share, I thought I would give a couple of basic recipes with you. The bread has become my basic for specialty loaves, with the only thing changing is either adding items like chilis, cheese, olives, etc.; or, changing out some of the AP flour for rye or other specialty flours at need. This recipe came from Lauren, and works well overall:

950g AP flour

650g warm (distilled) water (note below)

200g active starter (I tend to use a bit more, in fact up to 20g more)

20g salt (I use a mix of half smoked salt and half PHSS most of the time, otherwise sea salt)

Mix flour and water and let it rest for 30 minutes. Then, add starter and salt, and combine for five minutes. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Then do three sets of stretch and folds 15 minutes apart, then do three sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart. After the last, cover and put in a warm place (our oven has a bread proofing setting) until it doubles. The recipe says 1.5 hours, I find 3 works better for me in our temperature/humidity/etc. conditions. Lay dough out and cut in half, work both halves into balls and then let rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Then use a bench scraper, keep rounding the balls and building tension. Place into banneton baskets sticky side up, cover, and put into the refrigerator overnight. Next morning, preheat oven with dutch ovens in them (empty) to 500 degrees. Flip dough out of the baskets and onto parchment paper. Place a bit of flour on the ball, score, decorate as you like, then put into the dutch ovens and bake for 20 minutes with the lid on. At that point, take the lids off and bake for 15 minutes at 475 (if you remember to drop the temp, sigh, stupid lightning) or until you get the color on the crust you desire. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack for two hours (or longer).

Now, a few notes. Above you can see one of the enameled dutch ovens (blue) I use for baking (and general cooking too). I have two of them and want more. They do come in handy for so many things, and am also wanting to add just a plain cast iron dutch oven to the mix for camping and other delights. One where the lid is designed to have coals up on it.

I use distilled water for almost everything these days, especially the baking. City water has lots of chemicals, some of which don’t play nice with sourdough yeast (or other living things); and, well water around here tends to be a semi-fluid state of limestone. I may miss a few minerals here or there, but what I don’t get makes distilled well worth using (pun intended).

The amount of salt is low, and you really can’t take it too much lower and have edible bread. As it is, with the two loaves, it is well within most dietary guidelines including most cardio guidelines. I use a mix of smoked and PHSS most of the time, as it adds flavor and complexity. When making specialty breads (olive, chili-cheese, etc.) I may vary the ratio and will also use salts smoked with different woods. It is fun to play with it, so have fun!

Yes, I do use the rattan baskets, and want to get a stone for the oven so I can do loaves here soon as well as the rounds. Really want to do a marbled bread here soon, especially if I do more homemade pastrami.

Today’s English muffins were an experiment, and combines a couple of recipes.

100g starter (I went between 120g and 130g since using discard)

20g maple syrup

240g distilled water

360g AP flour

5g sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until combined. Cover with a thin (tea) towel and let rest for one hour. Dump the bowl onto a floured board and knead for five minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let sit out on a counter or other secure location (darn cats) overnight. Next morning, turn out onto floured board and press out to .5′ to .75′ thick. Dust with flour as needed to eliminate sticky parts. Cut into rounds with 3″ cutter or pint glass (what I used today), and put into cast iron or non-stick pan that has been heating on low, cover, and cook four minutes a side. If being precise, use an instant read thermometer to get 200F in the center.

Now, I used water instead of milk as I want to be able to eat these on fasting days, and it avoids other dietary issues. I did put a little oil/grease on the bottom of the pan, but did not need to do so. Leave some space between the rounds as they are going to expand — which is why I prefer the .5″ thickness to the 1″ thickness that one recipe recommended. Find what works for you, but the thicker you go the more likely you may have to finish them in the oven to ensure they are cooked all the way through. Oh, and the maple syrup I used came from a monastery in Michigan, and is delicious. Again, about half and half smoked salt and PHSS.

If I get the chance, I will try to add some links to some videos I’ve found helpful as I explore.

If ya’ll are interested, I will post more recipes like this with notes here soon. If I can get someone to help me with the video, might even do a video or two. Let me know in comments if interested.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

A truly substantive post is not likely today, just a head’s up. My schedule has gotten a bit awry, and I still live by routines, schedules, and lists more than I care to admit.

I got my smoker back from the housemate and got it into place and cleaned as necessary yesterday so as to be ready to go this morning. What I did not do, that I should have done, was to do a full function test. When I went to get started this morning, no go. I could not get it to light and limited trouble-shooting did not help. Given all I have to get done today, schedule demanded I drop back and punt, and as such am doing the pastrami in the oven.

Now, on the bright side, it guarantees even heat and it is the way it is done in several of the better pastrami places in New York. However, the smoke adds flavor and helps with preservation, which was the point behind pastrami in the first place. It was a way of preserving meat (and making a tasty product) in the days before refrigeration was commonplace. Really wanted to do it that way. Oh well.

This has thrown off the baking schedule rather badly, to the point I’m not sure I can do my normal baking today given that the oven really was needed for proofing and such. The pastrami takes 5-6 hours to cook at 250, which is way too warm for bread proofing, so, rethinking a number of things. So, recalibrating.

Also, need to spend some time today trying to figure out Monday and Tuesday. On Memorial Day, it is my tradition to go have a drink with the guys as it is the one day of the year I’m buying. I usually do this at Oaken Barrel down in Greenwood, but without a car…

I’ve decided to try to get the zombie car to at least get me to the consult on Tuesday. It may be that I’m there an hour or less; but, there is also the chance per the doctor’s office that I may get sent for some tests while I am there. As such, not keen on asking someone to potentially give up a day to help me. Renting a car is out right now (Memorial Day and Indy 500 have cornered the market as it were), and the cab companies are rather unreliable (per painful experience). So, will see how it goes.

May you have a good Memorial Day weekend! Enjoy yourselves, but take the time to remember why we have this holiday. As long as we remember them… For me, thinking that if I can’t make it down to Oaken Barrel, I may just pick up some really good hot dogs and enjoy them. Take care, be safe, and keep your things where you can find them in the dark.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.