For the record it is an anti-candida diet that we are on. The first few weeks came with quite a roller coaster ride. As you get on the diet and take the supplements the candida dies off and with each die-off you experience a variety of side effects. For me it has primarily been depression, which at times has come on fiercely. There was no way I would be blogging during those times and I’ve had a hard time getting this thing back into gear.

If there is one thing I’ve learned thus far, it’s that the journey we are currently on towards better health is not so much a diet as it is a lifestyle change. I have realized that even after we reach the end of the “diet” regimen and we have overcome the battle we will likely continue on eating like this. It’s just so good and I indeed have been feeling much better over all so why go back to it? I hope to be able to enjoy some of the tasty treats (and drinks) I used to without any drastic change in well being, but if not then I’ll be OK with that. At least I’ll try.

Please take some time to visit our blog following our footsteps to good health at www.battleoftheyeasties.com where we share updates on our health as well as recipes that we have found or have created on our own.

I’ve also added new photos on my facebook page as well as my flickr page that you’ll want to check out. We went to the Road to Olustee 2012 Civil War battle re-enactment at Camp Milton last Sunday and I took a good handful of photos there. You’ll also notice I started a new set on flickr called “noise” where I’m exercising my creative mind a little with just average places and things.

Eggs are one of my favorite foods.

Now and then creativity rears it’s head in unusual ways with me. This morning it just so happened to be with a tub of leftover white chili. Our food supply is low as we are purging out a lot of foods that will no longer be acceptable in a diet we are soon to start. We will be cutting out all sugar, starches, alcohol, dairy items, grains, and other various foods for a while. So at this point we have already rid our cupboards of a lot of stuff.

So I’m looking for something extra to eat with my eggs this morning and I find nothing, and I mean nothing, to eat with them. I used to eat eggs and toast. Now I have to find a new companion for my eggs. I rummaged around for a short while wondering what in the world to have with them. Then I noticed a small tub of leftover white chili (which already had rice added the second day for leftovers) and creativity struck. “What if I spooned a little of that chili into the skillet with some butter?” I pondered. At first I thought “no that won’t work”, yet once the idea had a hold of me it wouldn’t let go. I tried it.

Fried chili anyone?

I heated up the iron skillet and dropped a dollop of butter in. Grabbed the chili from the fridge and nabbed a spoon from the drawer and I was off to cookin’. I spooned some into the delicious butteryness and added a touch of salt. I used a spatula to form it into a round shape. It held it’s form fairly well thanks to the rice, but did come apart some when I flipped it.

After it was golden brown on both sides I removed it and placed it on my plate. Then I fried up three eggs and laid them each atop the “white chili patty”. Turned off the stove, got a glass of water and sat down to try it out. I was mildly skeptical, but I knew it would be edible whether I like it much or not. Boy did my skepticism leap out of my brain and run down the hall after I tasted it! It was darn good!

Sometimes it is good to just follow whatever crazy ideas may pop into your head, even if you are fearful of the result.

The finished product!

I have a hard time with this. On one hand I am sad and feel rather sorry for the folks that lived in this town. I grew up in a small town myself, albeit a little larger with a population of around 4,000. My hometown was, and is, also dependent on such businesses which employ such a high number of the locals. In fact, this past few years has seen businesses shut down in much the same way and to the detriment of the town.

I can remember when I was just a young child how busy my hometown was. Downtown was still bustling with small businesses, even a Penney’s store, a theater, and a pet store that was owned by one of my neighbors. The Wal-Mart had just moved in on the outskirts of town and downtown began dwindling. Over the years it declined. The population dipped from over 4,000 (4,261 to be precise – strange how some memories just stick to our minds isn’t it?) to under 4,000 (currently 3,863 according to Wikipedia). I visited in 2007 and again in the early spring of 2011. It’s still the same little town, but not near as busy as I remember from my early days. If things don’t change I can see it becoming one of those ghost towns you hear about on the news, sorta like Empire, Nevada.

At any rate, I know what it’s like for a town to be dependent on big businesses. I do feel sorry for the people in Empire and for what they have experienced. I can only imagine what it was like when they got the news that the biggest business and primary employer was shutting their operations down there.

However, on the other hand, I find myself slightly confused. We live in America which boasts of being the land of the free and home of the brave. So many foreigners have come here from thousands of miles away seeking the freedom that we have and they have attended school and become doctors, lawyers, businessmen, etc. They have found great success and continue to do so. Yet here in this small community of Americans we have so much dependency on big business that if big business leaves, the town has nothing. What happened to that freedom, liberty, pursuit of happiness? What happened to independence?

Why not take this new found independence of a small town and turn it into something bigger and better than what U.S. Gypsum could ever have done? Let the community turn into a community where the people are dependent only on themselves and one another rather than a big business. If only a handful (or maybe two handfuls) of them were to start small businesses they could begin to experience freedom, liberty, and pursuit of happiness on a community-wide basis no? They could find independence and perhaps truly begin to understand what it really is.

We as a nation are facing difficult times. Money is tight for many of us. I suppose the big question to ask ourselves is do we want our nation to end up like Empire, Nevada? We can sit back and let the big guns continue running us into the ground or we can stand up and fight; work our tails off and break the grasp of big corporate business. We can turn these trials into something productive and restore our nation to it’s former glory. Let’s not allow the “American Dream” to fizzle away with the flame of hope, but rekindle it with good old fashioned hard work. Let’s reclaim our country and declare our independence.

Along the Main Street Bridge

I went downtown yesterday and walked the river walk and then across the river to Chamblin’s Uptown and just so happened to have my camera in-hand. Here is one of my favorite photos from the walk. I’ll have to scour through the others to pick others to share.

Chef Paul putting the finishing touches on a platter.

While on our trip to Texas this past couple weeks I made a slightly vague post on twit-book (twitter + facebook) that I had eaten a meal to brag about. It was last Friday evening’s meal leading into the Sabbath. Being a holy day we always suit up in our nice garb and feast on a nice meal. This is always a treat being that we are at a feast with like minded people whom we have grown very fond of over the years. Having a professional chef as part of the church also has its perks.

At the feasts he goes by “Chef Paul”. He is a superb chef and restaurant consultant/developer. He’s been trained by some big cahonies over-seas, apparently some of the best chefs around as I understand… I don’t care if he was taught by Ronald McDonald. The man can cook. Keep reading and you’ll see what I mean…

This Sabbath meal was prepared in large part by the kids who assisted Paul with cooking, serving, and doing announcements for each of 7 courses. It was to be a meal something like what the Israelites may have eaten in biblical times, of the Mediterranean variety. Here is the “playlist”, if you will.

A list of the 7 courses.

It all started with a cup of red wine sitting at each spot on the table. We had the blessing over the meal and then took our seats. The tables were dressed up for the meal too. White table cloths with blue ribbons weaving back and forth about the middle of the tables. The kitchen crew and kids did a wonderful job making things look good! In the Bible the colors blue and white represent truth and purity respectively, hence the blue and white. These colors remain consistent among the church’s flag, website, and literature.

The first course was the appetizer composed of flat-bread and hummus with garlic goat cheese filled dates. As a youngster I never would have touched these much less tasted them, but thankfully I’ve grown up, and so have my taste buds. In recent months I have gained an affinity for hummus with pita chips. Having it with the homemade flat-bread made my taste buds dance around. The sweet dates filled with goat cheese I cannot say enough about. If you have never tried this you may find it odd, but I say to you now, it is a magnificent combination. I could have eaten a dozen of them, but I stopped at about half that.

Course two introduced other flavors that I never would have thought belonged together; lemon and soup.

A platter of the goat cheese-filled dates and Taboule with garnish.

I honestly have no idea what all was in the soup. I didn’t ask, but I’m bankin on a chicken stock base, rice, lemon juice, and herbs. It was simple and it was pretty tasty. Not among my favorites varieties of soups, but I enjoyed it.

Course three: Couscous/Taboule. I know what Couscous is as I have eaten it several times before, but not like this. Taboule refers to the way it was prepared here.

According to Wikipedia Taboule is

“a Levantine salad traditionally made of bulgur, tomato, cucumber, and finely chopped parsley and mint, often including onion and garlic, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.”

I think that pretty much covers it. I liked this dish, but it was a bit cold. Not “been in the fridge all night” cold, but more “been sittin on the counter a while” cold. I think I would have liked it more if it had been a touch warm.

My bowl of lemon soup.

Course four brought out a smallish bird that I have always wanted to taste, but not yet had the opportunity, grilled quail. To say that these tiny birds are delicious cooked on a grill would be holding back. I absolutely loved this stuff! I could just sit all day and eat an entire platter of grilled quail. Not because I was that hungry, but because it would actually take all day to eat around the little bones. You know how bony some fish can be? Yeah it was like that. Bony like a fish, but it’s a bird. Similar to a cornish hen, but smaller. The meat was ultra tender and quite delectable. Why do restaurants not offer quail on a stick? Chef Paul?

Course five was cucumbers soaked in somethin or another; some sort of watery juice or something. Maybe vinegar. I am not sure. I don’t care for cucumbers. I ate one and let it go at that. Had to at least try it…

Grilled Quail and Couscous

What was good got even better with course numero six. I didn’t get a pic of them, but if you have seen a salmon cake (patty) then you know what it looked like. Crumpled up fish smashed into a patty and fried in oil with salt and herbs. I believe Paul said they used Tilapia for these. It was scrumptious. I love fish. I always have. When I was a kid fried catfish was my favorite food. I don’t eat it anymore as biblical law does not permit it, but there are lots of other fish to choose from. Tilapia is not my favorite, but cooked like this it was great.

To finish off the 7 course meal Baklava was served. Most people have probably ate Baklava at one point in their lives. If you haven’t you have got to try it. Filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and the sweet goodness of syrup or honey. Paul glazed over the top of it with something, but I am not sure what. I love it though!

The platter of Baklava.

So that polished it off and in the midst of a wonderful feast (Feast of Ingathering – or Tabernacles as we commonly refer to it) we had one of the best meals I have ever partaken of. For us eating is a part of worship as we pray over the meals and enjoy great food and fellowship with one another. Eating with family and friends is one of the finer things in life that I love to do. It really is a “lost art” in todays society. So many families have lost touch with what it means to be a family. Eating together is one of the most important parts. Sitting by yourself on the couch in front of a tv or alone in a fast food restaurant just isn’t the same as sitting around a table of loved ones enjoying one another’s company.

A tremendous thank you to Chef Paul and the kids for this meal to be remembered! It was a great time for everyone and I can’t wait to get together again come next Passover.

My second maternity shoot (the first was my wife’s), and really my first paid shoot all around that wasn’t done for friends. My experience is somewhat limited in regards to portraiture, but I was excited despite my apprehensions. I actually arrived a few minutes late. NOT cool with me. The clients, also clients of my wife’s doula business Chara Doula, didn’t seem to mind all that much. They were utterly cool.

I surveyed the area, Memorial Park in Jacksonville, briefly as I walked in with my assistant (my wife) and thought for sure we would get some good photos. It took a moment to get comfortable, but the clients seemed very kind and willing to take our instruction. Early on I did some test shots to get things set up on the camera. Then we got moving.

I got a few with them in the direct sunlight and those turned out fairly well. I think things really began to move when we got into the more shady area. The light was just right there and I snapped some good ones. The shade is friendly, especially if you aren’t getting any bright spots in the background, however those can sometimes add to the feel of the shot significantly.

Taking advice from Carmen Cay, another local photographer, I utilized the natural light throughout and only used flash sparingly. That seems to give the best result near all the time in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great photographers out there who really know how to use the flash and do it well. My current favorite is Neil van Niekerk. That guy amazes me and he shares so much of his knowledge on his blog titled “Tangents“.

Being my first paid portrait shoot, I am pleased and the initial feedback from the client was very positive. They really were awesome and so very kind. I cannot thank them enough for giving me this opportunity and I hope to do more photos for them in the future! Thanks to the Hellard family!

Have a look through the gallery and be sure to comment with your thoughts!

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Over the years we have learned that the cycle just works that way. The forces of the accuser are at work attempting to discourage our attending of the feasts. We still go no matter how tough it gets. We had a minor fall-out a couple years ago, but we are in it for the long haul.

As things are getting into full swing we have much preparations to do before we leave for this coming Feast of Booths. I may not get to write or record another blog until we get back in the middle of October. If not keep an eye out anyway because there will be some bloggin’ goin’ on. Look out for some sneak peeks from my recent maternity photo shoot soon! I’m pretty excited about it what with it being my first maternity shoot n’ all.

Until then take care folks and in honor of the hectic times here’s a tune for you by one of the most rockin’ bands to ever come out of St. Louis, The Urge, which by the way, have reunited as of this year!