You may have noticed my obsession with vegetables. I frequently go a long time on just meat and potatos. Eventually I start craving veggies. I think that's my body telling me what I need.
Just to clarify, I'm not a vegetarian.

I might  however, be a vagitarian.😉

I made this Tuesday night.  https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/szechuan-chicken/
Ive never found szechuan pepper corns in Chinese stores, but Amazon to the rescue!  I also ordered some sambal oelak (not in the recipe but my favorite chili paste). None of the local stores carry sambal oelak anymore.
My takeaway:
The sauce was a little too sweet. Maybe not so much sugar next time.
Scechuan pepper corns aren't that hot but have a numbing effect on the mouth. A tablespoon was plenty. I might cut back a little on those next time.
25 little chili peppers was maybe a bit too much. Left intact they didn't add much heat but chewing them up was a little intense. Next time I'll use maybe 10 of them but cut them open to better put the heat into the sauce.
All in all, it wasn't bad. Hopefully I'll remember how to modify it to make it more to my liking next time.
Oh yeah, if you can't tell, I'm on a Chinese food kick with lots of veggies lately. I might add some broccoli next time.
A tiny bit of sambal oelak on the fork with each bite helped out a bunch for heat. Near as I can tell, sambal oelak is salt fermented hot chilis, much like you'd ferment cabbage for sauerkraut.
I almost forgot. Chicken breast is too easy to overcook and turns out dry I used boneless skinless chicken thighs. It's much more forgiving.

For about the past year I have been developing pretty painful arthritis in my left hand, my doctor told me to take ibuprofen. I am not a big fan of ibuprofen or any other pain killer but I tried it and it was no help. The pain wasn't lessened and my strength wasn't what it used to be. So I did some research, you know looked at the internet and came across something that people were swearing by for arthritis pain. Borax. Yes, 20 Mule Team borax, like the stuff you put in laundry. So then I did more research and found that it is less dangerous than table salt and would take about 3 times more to probably kill you than salt. And then I went down the rabbit hole and started reading research papers that tested borax as a treatment for arthritis.

Those research papers fall into 2 categories, 1/2 of them say that borax is poison and shouldn't be ingested. Invariably, these papers are sponsored by the  government or big pharma. The other type says, "It works but we don't know why". This lead to a whole other rabbit hole of all the things borax can help with. Cardiac issues, kidney issues, diabetes, weight loss, osteoporosis and a whole host of others. 

So, I tried it. 1/4 teaspoon in 1 quart gatorade each day for 5 days and then a 2 day break to allow any excess to clear the body. For a couple of weeks I didn't really notice any difference, but after 3 weeks I noticed my thumb wasn't hurting so bad. 6 weeks in an there isn't enough pain to bother me. But that isn't the only change. I suffered a compression fracture in my T12 vertebra 25 years ago and it has bothered me since. I can predict what the weather is when I wake up in the morning just by gauging the pain in my back. Sadly, I have now lost that ability because I don't wake up with my back giving me pain. '

Almost everyone is deficient in their boron intake through diet because of eating processed foots and vegetables that do normally carry a lot of boron with them don't because plants strip it from the soil and it just isn't there anymore after decades of farming the same ground repeatedly. One of the articles I read was about a doctor in Australia who noticed many of his patients were deficient in boron so he started making borax pills and giving them to his patients for arthritis. The patients were the ones who pointed out to him that in addition to helping with arthritis is helped them with other issues. It got to the point where he couldn't make enough borax pills to fill the demand so he went to a pharmaceutical company and asked them if they would make the pills for him. They asked what it helped and he went down the list and the said it would hurt their other sales if people were using it so they wouldn't make any borax pills for him. It was shortly after that Australia banned the use of borax in foods. It has actually been used a long time as a preservative  Borax is actually added to some animal feed because it has the effect on pigs of more efficient utilization of what they eat. They don't eat as much and still produce the same weight as pigs not fed borax. Within a couple of years the US and EU also outlawed it for human consumption. France went completely bonkers on it and now a prescription is required to even buy it for use as a pesticide.

Anyway, I thought some of you old f@ckers here may want to hear about it because it has worked so well for me. Look into it yourself ask your doctor, though they may say, "It's poison". I told my Mom about it and she asked her doctor if it was safe, he hadn't heard of it before so he looked into it and gave it what I consider to be a stamp of approval. He has a bad back too and he is going to give it a shot.

[FPC News] UPDATE: California Files Brief Defending "1-in-30" Firearm Ban at Ninth C

<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (May 14, 2024) – The State of California filed their opening brief today in their appeal of FPC’s district court </span><a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/firearmspolicycoalition/pages/5882/attachments/original/1710186934/2024.03.11_069_OPINION.pdf?1710186934"><span style="font-weight: 400;">victory</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in </span><a href="https://www.firearmspolicy.org/nguyen"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Michelle Nguyen v. California Attorney General Rob Bonta</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a federal lawsuit challenging California’s ban on more than one firearm purchase within a 30-day period. Individuals who want to support this and dozens of other cases can join the FPC Grassroots Army at </span><a href="http://joinfpc.org"><span style="font-weight: 400;">JoinFPC.org</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>


http://www.firearmspolicy.org/california...th-circuit

Our attorney general, Bob Ferguson is running for governor.  Some republicans found two other residents with the same name and convinced them to run as Democrats.  Both have now withdrawn from the race.  That is some serious outside the box thinking!
https://mynorthwest.com/3959932/3-bob-fe...-governor/

https://youtu.be/3GRm_35rHlo?si=mZGvNqTDNauHEKSk

[GOA News] Gun Rights Only for ONE Class of Citizens?

There can be NO FAVORITISM When it Comes to the Second Amendment We just learned that Republican members of Congress are making plans right now to pass HR 354 – a bill that would expand a special national carry permit which applies ONLY to off-duty and retired police officers. Please make no mistake: Gun Owners of America would NEVER oppose …<br/> <a class="postReadMore" href="https://www.gunowners.org/na05032024/">Read more<i class="fa fa-angle-double-right"></i></a>


https://www.gunowners.org/na05032024/

[FPC News] UPDATE: Fight Over California’s “1-in-30” Firearm Ban Kicks Off at

<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (May 13, 2024) – Today, the State of California will file their opening brief in their appeal of FPC’s district court </span><a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/firearmspolicycoalition/pages/5882/attachments/original/1710186934/2024.03.11_069_OPINION.pdf?1710186934"><span style="font-weight: 400;">victory</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in </span><a href="https://www.firearmspolicy.org/nguyen"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Michelle Nguyen v. California Attorney General Rob Bonta</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a federal lawsuit challenging California’s ban on multiple firearm purchases within a 30-day period. Individuals who want to support this and dozens of other cases can join the FPC Grassroots Army at </span><a href="http://joinfpc.org"><span style="font-weight: 400;">JoinFPC.org</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>


http://www.firearmspolicy.org/fight-over...th-circuit