I ran into my old dentist at the supermarket. I don’t go to him anymore because he was not on my insurance plan. He is the dentist who works on his own car. I was never sure if he was a renaissance man who took an interest in everything or if he just liked working on his own car. Anyway it was always refreshing to talk about cars while he worked on my teeth. His office was pretty simple. It was an inspiration to me to see someone who went to dental school, and still took the time to work on his own car. We talked about how messed up my teeth were. I picked up the habit of using mouthwash after scrubbing my teeth from his dental hygienist. And it has helped my dental health. Actually getting into the habit of flossing helped also. I read recently that flossing, brushing and using mouthwash in combination significantly improves dental health. Eating a lot of cheese helps too. Something about making you salivate more, diluting the acid caused by the bacteria in the mouth. So much for dental health.
I made a batch of solar yogurt on the roof yesterday. And I left it on the roof all night. The temperature yesterday was around 89 degrees but on the roof the temperature read around 100 on the thermometer. Perfect temp for yogurt. I woke up this morning and heard it drizzling out so I ran out and grabbed the bowl of yogurt. There is nothing quite like the taste of fresh homemade yogurt. For this batch I added a cup and a half of nonfat powdered milk to a quart of regular, 2% milk to thicken it. Since the live yogurt organism is turning the milk into yogurt, the further you let this process occur the more tart and the thicker the yogurt becomes. This batch was not real thick and it had a real sweet flavor from the milk sugar. It was so good that I spooned a couple dollops of it into a glass and drank it down. Then I put a heaping teaspoon of it into a cup of coffee. The coffee turned into a interesting latté. With a bitter sweet flavor that I liked very much. Any people living in the southern climates should be making solar yogurt year round. Even a tool shed in the back yard should suffice for a warm place to make the yogurt. And up here in the north we can make it all summer. I eat it so fast that I don’t even bother to refrigerate it, I just leave it out on the counter. I think that it tastes better at room temperature. When making the yogurt just remember to cover the bowl with a dark garment to absorb the sun’s rays and to keep direct light away from the yogurt producing organism. When you have consumed all the yogurt you do not even have to wash the bowl. Just add more milk and put it in a warm place. The old yogurt left in the bowl will act as the starter and the whole process will continue. And the whole procedure will continue indefinitely. Just remember to keep some powdered milk around to add to the mixture to get a thicker batch. Anybody who can get their kids into this habit will find out what a healthy habit this can become. And how easy this kind of eating is on the pocketbook. Not to mention that the heat from the sun is free….
I have to say something about music here because I have to justify my cd collection. Its starting to outgrow my house. Besides music and movies the only things I spend money on are food and tools. I gave my parents a Louie Prima album to try and cheer my mother up who has been depressed lately. And my dad told me that he never had time for music. And I told him that I need it to write this book. And he told me to do whatever you have to do. So I just thought that I would take the time to say that a lot of the motivation that I have gotten for this book has come from Bob Marley, Mark Knopfler, John Prine, Adrian Belew, Ani Defranco, Annie Lennox, Frank Sinatra, Tom Waits, Rochereau, Mbila Belle, Billy Bragg, Sade, Sting, Neil Young, Emmy Lou, Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, Dixie Chicks,Southside Johnny, Robbie Robertson, Lindsay Buckingham, Alanis Morissette, Indigo Girls, Proclaimers, Warren Zevon, Iris Dement, Majek Fajek, Steve Forbert, Richard Shindell,U2-Me2, Kd Lang, Paula Cole, Pretenders-with strings, Aster Aweke, Peter Gabriel, Johnny Cash, OMC, Chris Cross, Counting Crows, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan, Toby Keith, Michelle Shocked,a-ha-ya-hoo,Joey Ayala-rganik,Billy Holiday, Jewel, Janis Joplin, Cyndi Lauper, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Billy Joel-Angry Young Man, Whoever wrote-Poke Salad Annie, Sonny Landreth, David Bowie, Sinead, George Harrison, Roseanne Cash, and that is just what is laying on top of my speakers…