Saturday, April 30, 2016

A Great Recipe- Greek-Inspired Quinoa

Hi gang-

I had to share this recipe with you.  It's one of our new favorites.

I've been on a Quinoa kick for the past couple of months.  It's a grain that's packed with protein and very versatile.  It's great for a meatless dinner once or twice per week.

GREEK QUINOA

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups quinoa
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup sliced pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup minced red onion
 Sliced pickled pepperoncini
1 can of garbanzo beans- drained
4 ounces chopped feta cheese, or more to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, halved
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring broth and quinoa to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl and set aside to cool, about 10 minutes.
Mix tomatoes,garbanzos, pepperoncini, parsley, kalamata olives, onion, feta cheese, olive oil, vinegar, and garlic into quinoa. Squeeze lemon juice over quinoa salad, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Chill in refrigerator, 1 to 4 hours.

(I marinated my veggies separately for a couple of hours before mixing it in with the Quinoa.... wanted to get my garbanzos tasty!)

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As it's just the two of us, I only cooked 1 cup of Quinoa, (Use half as much chicken broth) but basically used all of the original measurements.

This was out-of-this-world.



Friday, April 29, 2016

California Widow Sues Monsanto For Killing Her Husband



Teri McCall of Cambria, California, lost her husband of 40 years, Anthony “Jack” McCall, to terminal cancer in December 2015. For nearly 30 years on his 20-acre fruit and vegetable farm, Jack had used Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup.

Now, Teri has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Monsanto Co., alleging that Monsanto had known for years that exposure to glyphosate—the main ingredient in the agribusiness giant’s flagship weedkiller Roundup—could cause cancer and other serious illnesses or injuries.

And she just might win.


A growing body of evidence is accumulating, which indicates that Jack’s death might, indeed, be linked to his exposure to glyphosate.

Glyphosate, which is the most widely applied pesticide worldwide, was declared as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in March of 2015 by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Besides the “convincing evidence” the herbicide can cause cancer in lab animals, the IARC also found:

“Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the U.S.A., Canada, and Sweden reported increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustments to other pesticides.”

Teri’s husband, Jack, died shortly after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The evidence linking glyphosate to cancer is continuing to mount.

California’s Environmental Protection Agency issued plans in September of 2015 to add glyphosate to the state’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer — making it the first state in the U.S to do so.

And then, just weeks ago, a team of 94 scientists co-authored a report, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, which stated:

“The most appropriate and scientifically based evaluation of the cancers reported in humans and laboratory animals as well as supportive mechanistic data is that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen.”

Glyphosate is applied to 89% of U.S. corn crop and 94% of the soybeans, as well as being used with dozens of other crops. Since the herbicide (and the genetically engineered crops that were created to withstand its use) is a core component of today’s industrial farm landscape, the results of this debate will have far reaching consequences.

The United States now uses about 280 million pounds of glyphosate per year, compared to only about 30 million pounds a year before genetically engineered crops were first commercialized 20 years ago.

Thanks to genetic engineering, we’re now literally spraying our food crops with a pesticide that, increasing numbers of scientists believe, is causing cancer.

The truth is that Jack and Teri McCall are just the tip of the iceberg. How many farmers and consumers, are being exposed to glyphosate on a daily basis? And what is real the impact of 280 million pounds of a probable carcinogen being sprayed on our croplands?

Monsanto and its spokespeople insist that glyphosate is completely safe. Some have even said you can drink it. Although, as this hilarious video illustrates, they may not actually mean it.

Jump for Video and Links

If you want to avoid eating glyphosate, the top thing you can do is to choose organically grown foods. And when you avoid GMOs, you’re also making a big difference.

Monday, April 25, 2016

What is multiple myeloma?

What is multiple myeloma?

Multiple myeloma is a disease of the immune system. The cells that normally make antibodies, which are proteins that bind to germs, those are called plasma cells. In multiple myeloma these plasma cells grow unrestricted and they make too much antibody protein.

Why is that bad?

That is bad because the antibody protein circulates in the bloodstream and it causes problems with the kidneys and other organs. The ... plasma cells, they grow too much and they crowd out the normal cells in the bone marrow. Normally, the plasma cells only occupy about 5 percent of the cells in the bone marrow. In multiple myeloma, it’s much higher. It can get greater than 20 percent. In can be 100 percent. So the cells of the immune system that make too much protein, not only are they making too much protein, but the plasma cells are growing in an unrestricted way.

So they’re bigger?

No, they’re not bigger. They resemble normal plasma cells. But there are just too many.

So they grow in number?

Cancer is cells that grow and don’t stop growing. Normally, when cells grow they touch each other and when they touch each other, that sends a signal to stop the growth. What happens in any cancer is the cells don’t pay attention to that. They grow unrestricted and make tumors. Same thing with multiple myeloma. The malignant cell is the cell of the immune system called the plasma cell and this grows too much. It doesn’t stop growing. It ends up occupying most of the bone marrow. When it does that, it crowds out the other cells of the bone marrow. Usually people have low white cell count and low red cell count and low platelet count because the plasma cell is squeezing out all the normal cells of the bone marrow.

The word ‘grow’ is confusing. Do they get bigger?

Maybe a better word to use instead of grow is divide. They divide. Instead of one cell just staying put, one cell will divide into two cells, and then it will continue to divide. It grows, meaning divide.

Normal cells will divide also, right? But they divide in a more restricted way?

Controlled. They stop when they touch each other. What happens in cancer is that feedback mechanism doesn’t work. They don’t stop dividing. That causes a lump, a tumor.

On the spectrum of common or rare cancers, is this more to the common side?

It’s more common. It’s seen frequently.

Men more than women?

It’s similar, and as someone gets older the incidence increases. I’ve seen it in people in their 20s and it can occur at any age. It’s more common in people older than 60.

The other unique feature of MM is it affects the bones. Myeloma, for some reason, causes holes in the bones. It can cause problems with the bones, where people have pains in the bones, bones can fracture. The classic presentation of somebody with MM is they present with back pain because of the bones being weak, and the red cell count is low. That’s called anemia.

It has this characteristic protein in the blood. So there is a specific blood test that can be done to look for evidence of too much of this protein of the immune system. That’s what clues us into multiple myeloma.

So let's go back. MM is a blood cancer in the bone?

It’s a cancer of the blood in the bone marrow. There’s a proliferation of these cells of the immune system called plasma cells. And they start occupying a good part of the liquid center of the bone, the bone marrow. But the unique feature of multiple myeloma is that it makes too much of a protein that circulates in the blood and can cause problems with organs.

In leukemia, what happens is the leukemic cells grow in the bone marrow but they spill out in the bloodstream and it causes white cell count to go high. In multiple myeloma, the plasma cells do not spill out in to the bloodstream. Only the protein.

Some people don’t have symptoms, some people have a lot?

People who have full-blown MM usually have symptoms. They’ll either have bone pains or they’ll be fatigued because their red cell count is low. They’ll have anemia. That causes fatigue. The other thing that happens, because it affects the bones, it can cause the calcium from the bones to be high in the bloodstream and that can cause you to be confused and sleepy and it can affect the kidneys. That’s somebody with full-blown myeloma. There are disorders that are not really myeloma but could turn into myeloma where you just detect the protein in the blood stream but the bone marrow is normal. That happens a lot. … Sometimes when you detect this protein in the blood, you’re not sure whether that’s all there is to it or that’s the tip of the iceberg of a full-blown multiple myeloma. So you have to do a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy and X-ray the bones and see if there are other features of multiple myeloma.

LINK

Thursday, April 21, 2016

What’s for Breakfast? How About Some Monsanto Weed Killer?

A study finds the world’s most widely used herbicide turning up in a bunch of morning favorites.

Just how much of Monsanto’s most popular weed killer are you eating every morning for breakfast?

In an unsettling report released Tuesday by the Alliance for Natural Health, the nonprofit advocacy group details the results of a study that shows a host of breakfast foods—from cereal to eggs to coffee creamer—contain residues of glyphosate, the chemical herbicide more commonly known by Monsanto’s trade name for it, Roundup. The report comes one year after the cancer-research arm of the World Health Organization made headlines by classifying glyphosate, which has long been regarded by U.S. regulators as posing little risk to public health, as a probable human carcinogen.

The ANH tested 24 store-bought breakfast items, including organic products, and found glyophosate residues in almost half of them. Given that glyphosate is the most widely used agrochemical on the market, sprayed on upwards of 90 percent of staple crops such as corn and soybeans, the findings might at first glance seem like a surprise that really comes as no surprise.

But what’s alarming is that glyphosate residues were found on a bunch of products that either in and of themselves or based on their primary ingredients aren’t typically associated with heavy use of the herbicide. Conventionally grown wheat, for example, which would be used to make whole-wheat bread, isn’t a crop on which glyphosate is often heavily applied, and you’d certainly expect organic multigrain bagels to be free of the chemical. Yet both were shown to have traces of the herbicide. Furthermore, the ANH analysis found glyphosate in organic dairy-based coffee creamer and eggs—and the amount detected in cage-free organic eggs actually exceeded the federal government’s tolerance levels for the chemical. Overall, the results further underscore the out-of-control pervasiveness of glyphosate across the American farmscape.

JUMP for more

Pro Bono Resources for Veterans

Resources for lawyers & veterans to assist with medical care challenges, disability benefits, reemployment rights, consumer, housing, criminal & family law matters, & obtaining legal counsel


National Resources:

Statesidelegal.org

Legal help for military members, veterans and their families.

Center for Veterans Advancement

Public Counsel's Center for Veterans Advancement (CVA), a national leader in veterans' advocacy, is driven by its core mission to uphold our nation's promise to veterans and their families. CVA provides legal representation to veterans and their families at both the local and national levels.

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program provides pro bono attorneys to financially qualified veterans with meritorious claims when their benefits appeals reach the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. In addition, we provide training for the volunteer attorneys as well as support them with mentors and materials once they accept a case. Information on our program is available at http://www.vetsprobono.org/ .

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program
2101 L Street, NW, Suite 420
Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-628-8164
Toll Free: 888-838-7727
Fax: 202-628-8169
E-Mail: mail@vetsprobono.org
www.vetsprobono.org

*Please contact the ABA Commission on Homelessness & Poverty at amy.hortonnewell@americanbar.org to add or amend your program to this directory.

Interactive Map and Links HERE



Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A Fun Visit from a Facebook Friend- Dustin P.

We became fast friends with a Newbury, OH Facebook friend, Dustin.  He's a 26-year-old Marine who bravely fought in Afghanistan.

His job found him in Pass Christian, MS.  About an hour away from us.

The little rascal kept us up drinking beer, shooting pool and having big fun on Saturday night.

He and Dom took a drive on Sunday morning so he could buy a fishing rod.  He caught a monster!  Much to my delight, he threw him back in the pond after pictures.

I was sad to see him leave.  He's my new "favorite Newbury Boy".















Thursday, April 14, 2016

Last Day in Ohio... El Patron with Sheila

Amy and I met Sheila at the El Patron Restaurant in Chardon for lunch.  Really neat place and great fajitas!  We indulged in Cuervo Gold Margaritas.

Note to self......  Nanette-  Do NOT drink margaritas when you have to fly home in the morning!  (I was like a zombie until I got to Atlanta)








Archie and Rosemary picked me up on Tuesday morning and dropped me off at the airport.

What a wild trip!

Sunday's Mimosa Brunch with my Darling David

Much to my delight, I awoke to a lot of snow.  YIPPEE!

I put on a nice little brunch.  Mimosas flowed.  I made creamed hard-boiled eggs and asparagus on English Muffins, Sausage Gravy on English Muffins and a great Poppy Seed Roll from Balaton.  Was tickled to see my dear David and finally meet his girlfriend Barbara.   Very pleasant day!









Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Balaton Hungarian Restaurant on Shaker Square

Archie took Rosemary, Amy and I to a great Hungarian Restaurant in Shaker Heights on Saturday night. It was a first for me.  http://www.balaton-restaurant.com/

YUMMY.  I had a half of a roasted duck with red cabbage and spaetzle. Don't recall what everyone else ordered... I was too busy inhaling my duck!

Picked up a delicious Poppy-Seed Roll on the way out for my Mimosa Brunch on Sunday.  Mom always had Poppy-Seed and Nut Rolls during holidays.  It was yummy!  (Another blast from the past).

It started really snowing on the way home.

Thanks again, Archie!  It was WONDERFUL!







Newbury Bars....Zeppe's, Ramble Inn and Hickory Lake Tavern with My Boys!

I went to dinner with Amy, Kirk, the girls and Archie on Friday night.

Had a nice Lake Erie Perch dinner.  Afterwards, Kirk, the girls and Archie left.

Amy and I met some old friends in the bar..... Craig, Dan and Bob.  I haven't seen these guys for probably 40 years!  Too much fun! Zeppe's

Kirk, being the dutiful husband let us have our fun and picked us up later.

Craig and Dan

Bob






On Saturday "morning" (12:30 pm), Craig called to say that he was on the way....Went to 2 old favorites....  Hickory Lake Tavern and Ramble Inn.  Such fun memories!  And to top it all off, it began to snow!






Monday, April 11, 2016

More Fun at the Falls

Loved the cooler at Yanks
Niagara Brewing Co.

Handsome Travis at YANKS

Boston Pizza

Boston Pizza

YANKS

YANKS

British Pals at YANKS

YANKS

Clifton Hill

Niagara Brewing Co.

We basically hung out at Yanks Old Niagara on Clifton Hill and Niagara Brewing Company which was located next to our Sheraton.  Had a fun lunch at Boston Pizza on Clifton Hill.  Neat, neat place.... bars, video games, bowling alley, pool tables... reminded me of Rock It Lanes in PCB.

Also had a great lunch at Casino Niagara which was part of our complex.