Kathleen Rowland's Blog, page 43
October 23, 2012
Places– of Charm
Worried your house may be haunted? Spooked by mysterious sounds, cold spots or other odd, paranormal-like activity? Relax, there are real, scientific explanations for:
MYSTERIOUS RAPPING– If it sounds as if someone (a ghost!) is knocking on a wall or door, the heating ductwork makes pounding noises as the sheet metal expands when warm air blows through it or contracts when heat is turned off. Or, plumbing pipes can make pinging or hammer sounds when pressure inside changes.
A SUDDEN COLD SPOT THAT GIVES YOU THE SHIVERS– Get goosebumps every time you pass a specific area in your home? While a drop in temperature is said to be a sign of an apparition, the more probably cause is a draft due to an air leak or insufficient insulation. To check, light a stick of incense. If the smoke blows sideways when you hold it up to nearby windows, doors or air ducts, it means air is seeping in or out, causing a temperature change.
DOORS OR DRAWERS OPENING ON THEIR OWN– Surprised to find a cabinet door or drawer wide open after you are sure you’d closed it? Blame winter’s low humidity. As the air gets drier, it shrinks wood, making doors and drawers looser so they’re less likely to stay put when you shut them.
Friends, this was not the case in DEEDS OF DECEIT when Bayliss Jones’ ex-fiance, a set designer, created a ghost to gain control over her. Living alone at her mountaintop estate, the sheriff knew this day would come.
October 22, 2012
Places– of Charm
Our bedroom, redecorated with sea-foam green. The window treatments let in light, but the back of our house faces a busy street, Culver, that feeds into the 405.
Eat– for Good Health
A neighbor friend told me this morning about her infestation of flukes and other parasites. She loves raw sushi and hadn’t known the Japanese eat it with a large amount of ginger and Wasabi because these spices fight parasites in raw fish. Public health concerns have been raised over the risk of parasitic helminth (roundworm, tapeworm and fluke) infections from eating raw fish, an increasing US consumer trend. Hawaii consumers eat seafood at nearly 3 times the US national average rate, with a long tradition and high level of raw fish consumption. The local fish species commonly eaten raw in Hawaii include tuna (bigeye, yellowfin, albacore and skipjack), marlin (blue and striped) and deepwater snappers (long-tailed red, pink and blue green). Forty-eight Hawaii based physicians (gastroenterologists, internists, general and family practitioners) were surveyed to count known cases of parasitic worm infection. Cooking fish thoroughly is a smart idea! We enjoyed a fish dinner last night, tilapia which I coated with low cal mayo and then panko crumbs before frying with butter spray. I served it alongside peas and a tossed salad.
October 20, 2012
Eat– for Good Health
Confession: I was diet-lazy, and ten pounds creeped up on me! Intent on supercharging weight loss, I started journaling with a calorie budget. Mine is 900 calories a day. I’m 5’4″ and feel my best at 120. At this moment I’m at 130, and jeans are tight. By writing down how I’m feeling and what I’m eating in quantity/calorie, I’m getting the magic back with steady results. Putting myself first, I swim laps from 6 to 7 am. I started this a month ago when I learned I had a pre-cancerous skin condition, solar keritosis. After a couple spots were “liquid nitrogened”, I started a regiment with a new product, Solaraze gel, from my dermatologist. For awhile I need to stay out of the sun.
Back to weight gain, I made the two classic mistakes, 1) Lack of portion control and 2) Skipping breakfast which means eating more later in the day. Now I’m front-loading calories. My breakfast today was an orange sectioned, 1 piece of flourless whole grain toast (Oasis Flourless wheat, all-natural sprouted bread) and a deli-style fried egg (with a scant of butter).
Supercharge a diet plan by keeping a journal.
October 13, 2012
People Craft– taking care of yourself
The light-up-your-looks secret that erases years! How do makeup artists turn back time? “With light-reflective makeup that instantly hides imperfections,” reveals celebrity makeup artist Berta Cama. Copy her tricks to look younger instantly. Take ten years off your face with luminizing lotion. Sweep a shimmer cream such as Le Cosmetique Liquid Shimmer, $12.95, over precise points on your face to make skin radiant. Dab it between your tear duct and nose to counteract dark shadows your nose can cast around your eyes. Add it to your brow bone, under your brows to give your eyes a glow that offsets sagging. Pat it at the tops of cheek bones. Another way to take off ten years is with gloss. Top lipstick with a high-shine gloss, recommends Camal. Don’t forget your hair. Shiny hair is youthful. Mist a lightweight shine spray from mid-shaft to the ends. Take years off your hands with a shimmer polish. Some polish now contains glitter, and that’s pretty particular for pedicures.
October 12, 2012
Eat– for Good Health
Rx for hay fever? Tuna! Are you one of the millions who suffer from a runny nose, watery eyes, and other hay fever symptoms? Here in SoCal we have eucalyptus trees what smell so wonderfully fragrant but drop pollen affecting many people. Eating tuna, salmon and other oily fish can help. German researchers found that folks with the highest intake of EPA (one of the omega-3 fats found in fish) were less likely to suffer from hay fever symptoms. This fatty acid helps keep your immune system from overreacting. Tuna sandwich, anyone? 
October 10, 2012
Eat– for Good Health
Do you love creamy asparagus soup? Here is my low calorie recipe– 
1 lb fresh asparagus
1 butter spray “shot”
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 cups nonfat milk
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Take one asparagus spear, hold at both ends, and bend it until it breaks.
Use the broken spear as a guide and cut the remaining spears to approximately the same length, discarding the large ends.
Slice asparagus spears in 1 inch lengths.
You should have about 2 cups of asparagus pieces.
Cook the asparagus pieces in a small amount of boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender.
Drain well.
While asparagus cooks, place (unmelted) butter, flour, and garlic into a blender container.
Top with cooked asparagus, then add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
Pour into saucepan and heat gently until soup thickens.
I like to use thinly sliced green onion tops, low-fat sour cream and a couple of croutons for a garnish.
Places– of Charm
Do you enjoy seasonal outdoor decorating? I’ve told you about the ghost I made prior to writing DEEDS OF DECEIT. It is currently listed as free if you’re interested in reading it– just click the link at the left. (The ex-boyfriend of the heroine is an unemployed set designer who has reasons for scaring her as a method of control.) Back to the task at hand, we don’t have as much autumn color in Southern California as we’d like, at least for those of us who are transplants from the Midwest and East Coast. With Halloween on its way, I had one more spot that needed attention. A smiling scarecrow made out of a flower pot was the perfect solution, and today I will perch him at the corner of a low brick wall containing a hedge. My cute, country-chic scarecrow is cheery. If you’d like to make a girl scarecrow, make the hair longer. Add a straw hat if you like and decorate it. Most of the crows I’ve seen in crafts stores are too big, but sunflowers are a nice touch.
Materials:
- 3 1/2” clay pot
- Acrylic paint: White, Red, Midnight Blue
- Doll head or small ceramic pumpkin
- red felt
- 4 blue pipe cleaners
- Raffia: about 100 pieces, 2” long
- Craft Glue
-Scissors
-Permanent Craft Marker
How To Make a Claypot Scarecrow
Paint your 3 1/2 inch clay pot Midnight Blue – let dry
Paint your doll head orange (or use a ceramic pumpkin as shown
Wrap strips of Raffia with blue pipecleaner. 
(Two pipecleaners per arm) once you are done wrapping trim the “hands” with scissors to make them even.
Cut a small tringle of red felt and glue to the inverted clay pot to create a bandanna
Glue arms to inverted pot .
Design a face on your scarecrow with a craft marker. (I had the children use simple circles for eyes, triangle nose and half circle mouth and circle cheeks.)
Waste not those trimmed pieces from the “hands” glue them on for “hair”
October 8, 2012
People Appreciation
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec became friends with persons he painted– artists, entertainers, street people and prostitutes. Lautrec is well known for his street posters of Paris nightlife, and this is one of his favorite subjects, Jane Avril, a singer and dancer at the famous cabaret, Moulin Rouge. This 1899 poster captures the provocative essence of the cabaret. Avril’s sensuous silhouette is composed of simple, fluid shapes filled with bright, flat colors. The coiling snake emphasizes her curves and suggests she’s a temptress, Eve to Adam. Don’t you love her back bend.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), Jane Avril, 1899, Colour lithograph, 56 x 38 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection, 1953.6.137.
October 7, 2012
Eat– for Good Health
Are you always on the lookout for vegetarian dishes that taste meaty? I try to limit bad cholesterol, and even chicken, turkey, and other lean meat contains some. My vegetarian recipe below can be baked in muffin tins or could be meatballs. I find it is time saving to use some nearly completed ingredients such as below, veggie burgers and uncooked polenta. It’s hard to make perfect meatloaf slices with vegetarian meatloaf. My husband hails from New Jersey and puts ketchup on everything.
Ingredients
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 cup mushroom, cleaned and chopped
2 cups veggie burgers
1 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup uncooked polenta
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 dashes vegetarian worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 (5 1/2 ounce) can tomato sauce
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8×8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8×8 pan makes a crisper loaf).
Grind the walnuts into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Sauté any vegetables you’ve chosen in the vegetable oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.
Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through. Add the tomato sauce to the top of the loaf during the last 10 minutes.
Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.
Cold leftover slices of make a great sandwich filling.
