A call to 911 is answered and it wasn't me complaining about my bug bites.

When your back is hurting life just seems to speed up and expect you to hobble along with it.  I went on two walks yesterday hoping to jump start the healing process and today it feels more nervy so I hope that is good.  I clearly missed my calling as a physician.  Today I going to try some hot yoga to loosen release some of the tension there. 

On the topic of tension...I was walking into a FCA staff meeting yesterday and there was an accident in front of the office.  The damage was minimal but the guy that crashed into the car in front of him went ballistic.  Like "rage" ballistic.  I ended up calling 911 and the guy that answered my call (immediately) couldn't believe how loud this dude was.  I blushed from the language he was using, it was obscene.  He was trying to get into the other car at one point (the owner rolled up the windows and locked the doors but was still inside trapped), I just couldn't believe it.  Lots of police cars pulled up and it seemed like the street was flooded with officers all of a sudden.  Phew.  It was nuts.

Saw this sign over the weekend at a bar in our 'hood.  Love it.

We have a family at church that is struggling through a major life trial right now and I had signed up to bring them a meal.  They requested a low sodium, low fat, high fiber meal to meet their special medical needs.  Bob Harper had prepared me for this very moment in recipe creation. 

I got some tin to-go containers from Publix and cooked up some brown basmati rice <--superior to all other brown rices (rices is a word and this rice cooks up in 20 minutes), I added some minced garlic and onion and cilantro at the very end to mimic Chipotle rice, aka, the gold standard.

To make some Cuban black bean soup to go along side the rice, I started by making a sofrito of one green and one red bell pepper, two onions, and 10 cloves of garlic (holla).  After sauteing that in a little water (no oil) I put it all in a blender to puree for the soup.  I poured one pound of dried and sorted black beans into my crock pot with about 5 cups of water.  I added two bay leaves and a half teaspoon of smoked sea salt for the iodine of course. 

I made a tray of toppings for the rice and black beans with fresh corn, green onions, LOTS of cilantro, avocado, some fresh tomato salsa, and some hot sauce if they were feeling spicy. 

A simple salad of mixed greens accompanied it and I put labels on each dish with the ingredients listed clearly. 

I got a little carried away but it was kind of fun to have a mission to create something good with parameters of what it could include.  Matt and I had it for dinner too which was a bonus that I didn't have to cook.

You should try fresh corn raw, it is one of my favorite parts of summer, I eat it right out of the fridge off the ear like a bumpkin.