Recipes: Hot Toddy Cold Remedy

Mar22

GrandMa Great’s Hot Toddy Cold Remedy
I’m not sure where we got this recipe, but it’s a Holland favorite. We’ve used it on several occasions and it truly works on a sore throat and helps you rest during a cold.

We think Gary found it in his GrandMa Great’s papers. So we’re going to attribute it to her.

Preparation time: 5 minutes Ingredients

2 oz Jack Daniels Whiskey (not Jack Daniels Honey)
1 tblspn honey
1 tspn lemon juice
4 oz water

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Recipe: Southern Hot Toddy

Mar22

Maw Stoots’ Hot Toddy
Maw Stoots had this in her recipe box, but she couldn’t remember where she got it from. She said it might have come from her sister Pearl. Or it could have come from her mom Martha, which would put this recipe around the late 1800s.

Maw said they used to drink it when it snowed to keep from getting a chill and catching a cold. But she thought they drank it just to stay warm on those cold winter days.

Which ever works for you, it’s just what you need to run away a cold, or knock out a chill.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 teaspoon brown sugar
A dab of butter – 1/4 teaspoon will do
Add a jigger of rum – 1 1/2 ounces
3 oz of spring water
1 slice of fresh lemon
Optional: Sprinkle of ground cloves

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Recipe: Got The Blues Brew

Mar22

Maw Stoots Got The Blues Brew:
For those rainy day blues, here’s an apple a day to keep the doctor away drink. A great old homeopathic remedy to help you feel relaxed and warm inside.
Preparation time: 4 hours to prepare, add 6 hours to allow mixture to stand before serving

Ingredients:

2 quarts cut apples
4 quarts water
3 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 orange, cut into small pieces.
3 cups of sugar
Makes about 4 quarts of brew.

Directions:

Freshly picked apples are best. Harvest enough to make 2 quarts of cubed apples.
Core the apples, but do not skin them.
Wash the apples in cold water then slice them into 1 inch cubes.
Select a large orange and peal the rein.
Separate the slices and if necessary, remove the seeds.
In a large stew pot, mix the water and sugar to boiling for about 1 minute.
Reduce heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly.
Add the cut apples and cook for approximately 3 hours. Stirring often. But do not let mixture come to a strong boil.
Add white vinegar and orange slices. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring frequently.
Turn off heat and let mixture cool upon the stove.
Once cooled, strain the mixture through a double ply cheesecloth, squeezing the leftover fruit pieces to remove all the juice.
Pour the liquid into a jug, such as a glass cider jug.
Cover with a lid, but DO NOT screw the cap down tightly.
Store in your refrigerator.
Drink over ice, or you can warm single cups adding a cinnamon stick for additional flavor.

The Left Overs
You don’t have to throw away the ‘mushed’ apples and oranges. Use these leftovers to make a taste apple sauce.
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Drop the leftover fruit from the cheese cloth onto a large cookie sheet.
Using a spoon or potato masher, flatten the leftovers over the sheet.
At this point it should be fairly easy to find the remaining orange skins and remove them from the mixture.
Return the remaining ingredients to the pot.
Add 2 cups of water and ½ cup brown sugar.
Cook over medium heat, stirring the brown sugar into mixture until melted.
Top with marshmallows and bake for 10 minutes
Cool until warm and serve.

America Isn’t Easy

Oct18

Image via Getty/Michael Zagaris/Contributor

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag.” – The American President 1995

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved,” wrote Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in The Pennsylvania Gazette.

You can’t claim to be a Patriotic American and then oppose the First Amendment of the Constitution and those American values. Sorry, you don’t get it both ways. You want to complain about disrespect of the military, then remember what those Military forces have and continue to fight for. Anything less, is the true disrespect. #LetThemKneel!

How NASCAR Fans Watch Baseball

Nov3

2016 World Series – Game 7
Last night, like a lot of people, I watched the final game of the World Series with the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. And also like a lot of people, I watched it while following my normal Twitter feed. Now for me, that means I watched a Major League Baseball game with a bunch of NASCAR fans, tweeting about baseball. Talk about some funny tweets.

But it wasn’t until the final 10th inning when I realized these two sports are more a like than they are different. That’s when the Chicago Cubs brought in their pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. You see, in NASCAR we have a Carl Edwards too. And he is also in the final playoff races to the NASCAR Championship. And that got me thinking about how a NASCAR fan would call the game on Twitter.

Baseball From A NASCAR Tweeter:
The baseball Tweets are provided courtesy of The Wall Street Journal – World Series Game 7: Live Updates. Continue reading →

Words That Touch The Soul

Oct30

The Magic of Poetry

Every now and then you may come across a phrase out of no where that you can’t let go of. Perhaps it’s a poignant moment in a TV show, a movie, maybe even an Internet meme. What ever it is, the words touch you in a way that grabs hold of your mind and you need to know more.

Thankfully in today’s world your only a little search tool away from looking into the Library of Alexandria and discovering more. That happened to me tonight.

While watching a rebroadcast of Inspector Lewis, one of the characters recites a line from a P.B. Shelled poem “And the moonbeams kiss the sea“. There was something magical in that phrase and I felt drawn to finding where it comes from.

It wasn’t hard to find. And I’m glad I made the effort. It’s that last paragraph that truly touched my soul.

P. B. Shelley
CLXXXIV

Love’s Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle—
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain’d its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea—
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

2016

Get Help For Drugs Dropped from Insurance Plans

Oct5

The Price Of Medication Going Up

Tonight on NBC Nightly News, they shared a story about prescription drug prices and the fight between insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations to cut costs for prescriptions. As the pharmaceutical industry increases prices on drugs people need to survive, everyone is trying to find ways to save money, including Insurance companies.

Congress can act like they’re offended and concerned about the greed being shown by pharmaceuticals. But let’s face it, IF they do anything about it, it won’t help us afford our necessary medications for several years to come. Those average citizens who have a terminal disease can literally be put in the position of choosing life or death because they can’t afford their prescriptions. Those people who have a disease that can be managed, like diabetes, may also be forced into that same position because of the cost of their maintenance drugs.

Now the insurance companies are making a case that they’re trying to “help” us average citizens by forcing the pharmaceutical industry to lower its prices on commonly used medications. Ok, I can understand the concept. If you want to force any industry into lowering its prices, hit them where it hurts most, in their bottom line. But at the same time, you know the insurance companies are doing the same thing to customers that big pharma is doing. Continue reading →

Next On The Ænigma Project – Brazilian Scientists Study Psychics

Aug15

The Ænigma Project
Mondays 8 PM Eastern

The Ænigma Project – Mondays 8 PM EST

The Ænigma Project is a discussion group focused on the realm of the supernatural, paranormal and mysterious events that sometimes take place in our lives. Through multiple view points and experiences, we seek to enlighten our listeners and elucidate that which has become hidden beneath the many layers of misunderstanding and fear.

Join Paul Cagle and his co-hosts Sushi and Springwolf as we share our research, knowledge, insight and humor of the spiritual and paranormal. Be part of the Ænigmite Crew and play “Truth or Tale”, see if you can tell the stories that are real, from those that are made up. And find out what the latest strange or paranormal is being talked about for the week as we discuss the “News of the Day”.

Tune in tonight for our LIVE broadcast. The radio link on our ListenLIVE page will update for tonight’s show as soon as we go LIVE. You will see the Listen bar change and update for tonight’s scheduled topic. This is your queue to tune in, sit back and enjoy our discussion.

To get into the chat room, scroll down below the radio Listen Bar and you’ll find our new chat room. You can join in the chat to share your perspective on our topic or ask questions for the panel to contemplate and address. You can also sit outside the room and simply watch the discussion. No need to sign-in if you don’t want to. Our chat room regulars are always posting pictures, sharing some laughs and even having thoughtful discussions on their own.

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