Cyprus diet

I call this my "Cyprus diet" because it's what I lived on while I was on a temporary duty assignment at the British base on Cyprus back in my Air Force days.

It's main feature is that it's cheap (or at least it WAS when I was there)!  Unfortunately, it's also kinda boring, so make sure you mix it up with the fruit and veggies.  It's also VERY high in sodium; to the tune of 1800 mg a day from just one item!  Thus, if you hae been sodium restricted by your doctor try something else.

Breakfast was the same every day:  A half a melon, plus 1 or 2 seasonal fruits in addition to an egg (mine were boiled because it was just easier) and a slice of whole wheat toast with butter.

Twice a day, for lunch and dinner, I had a packet of ramen noodle soup and a can of veggies (I know; ick, but like I said, I was going for cheap.  Anyway,  sub fresh or frozen if you want to) along with a grilled slice of Haloumi, the local cheese, which was de-LISH....and horrendously expensive as an import, so I usually sub in a half a can of tuna instead.  If you can get Haloumi near you, try it at least once.  It is truly amazing stuff!  It's so densely packed, you can just plop it on a hot pan and grill till browned on each side and it won't melt!

Here at home, I usually add a romaine salad with shredded carrots, radishes, and red onion slices for lunch, with a lemon vinaigrette.

You'll notice there's no meat.  Meat's expensive, so I restrict(ed) it to once a week, subbed in for the tuna, usually Saturday evening.  Here in Iowa, pork is subsidized, so I usually go for a boneless chop, but I'll mix and match if I can get it for a dollar or less for a 4 oz serving.

It all comes up to around 2000-2100 calories a day, and as I said, really cheap!  Like 30-35 dollars a week depending on what fruits you choose!

Sure it's probably not the healthiest diet you could eat, but its not a life-long thing to follow.

Cucalenco soup

I saw a request for lentil soup on a veg(etari)an group I belong to on Facebook, so instead of writing it there, I'm writing it here, so I can just give anyone the URL for this page.

So, here's my Cucalenco Soup (CUrried CArrot, red LENtil, and COconut)

1 cup of red lentils,
4 med  carrots, peeled, diced (reserve trimmings)
 2 med onion, diced (reserve peels and ends)
3 cloves of garlic, minced/pressed
14 oz coconut milk (regular, lite, or coconut beverage)
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1 T curry powder
1 bay leaf
1" piece of fresh ginger, minced/grated

Soak lentils in 4 cups of water for at least 10 minutes;  drain and reserve soaking water.
While the lentils are soaking, prep the onions, garlic, and carrots.  Drain the lentils and add all the veggie trimmings to the lentil soaking water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes then strain.  Measure out a 4 1/2 to 5 cups, adding water if necessary to make required amount (I usually make do with around 4 1/4 to 4 1/2).

Heat a soup pot over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Toss in the onions (NO OIL!  Don't worry; you won't miss it!)  and saute over medium high heat, stirring often, until onions start to brown, about 10 minutes, adding some water when the onions start to stick a bit.  Add the broth, lentils, carrots, coconut milk, 1 tsp salt and bay leaf.

Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer partially covered, until carrots are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small skillet, heat 1 T oil over medium heat.  Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, and cilantro.  Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add to soup.

Remove bay leaf* and in a food processor or blender, puree soup in batches (a blender produces a much smoother textured soup).  Taste and add a bit more salt if desired. Serves about 6.

*Make sure you remember to remove the bay leaf!  Bay leaf shards are NOT pleasant to swallow.  I can't remember how many batches of this soup I've ruined because I forgot to remove the leaf before I blended it.

New tech and card games

There's a lot of talk out and about concerning the death of social interaction among today's youth because of all the electronic goo-gahs that are available. Just sitting around and shooting the breeze is a thing of the past (supposedly).  I've seen it happening in my own life, but thank goodness I've been able to keep it at bay for the most part.

One "death" I'm particularly sad over is that of the "card party."   For you young'uns out there, people used to get together in the evening and play card games.  There'd be snacks and lots of "chewing the fat" or chit-chatting to go along with the card games.  We'd get to know each other a little bit better and have fun while we did.

So, for the benefit of the younger generations, who seem to have a phone or tablet or something like it connected to their hand, here are some card games that I like to play:

1.  Canasta.  there are plenty of websites that have the rules on them, so I won't reiterate them here

2.  Crazy Rummy.

3.  Euchre.  I particularly like Cornish euchre (not sure if that's the actual name).  You use a joker and it's the top trump card, even over the right bower.  After the second round of biddng for trump, if still nobody names a trump suit, the hand is played as a "no trump" hand with the joker as the only trump card.

4.  Kings Reverse.


Any others that people like to play out there?