h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is a tradition that we try not to mention too often at work. It seems that a major piece of equipment (usually refrigeration) will fail over a holiday weekend.

We started to notice when the meat freezer died the week after Thanksgiving, before we could sell all the turkeys for Christmas. We (meaning me) baked the turkeys, all six or so, in two days and sold them by the pound cooked. The owner let us take some home too, so it wouldn't be wasted.

A few years later it was a different freezer over the New Year weekend, and just four turkeys (and lots of other stuff).

The produce cooler has participated in this as well as the air conditioners.

Just today, the Mgr. of the other branch called me to say the computer had the blue screen of death. That computer is the database and cash register for that store. I told her how to boot in safe mode and do a system restore. I haven't heard from her since. I hope that was all it needed. Later, I found out that one of our delivery vans isn't working. No one said anything until it was almost too late to find a mechanic that would be able to do anything before next week.

Can't wait till Christmas.

Ah, know all about the BSOD. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

In recent years, I've always made stuffing for Thanksgiving. (Never mind that there would always be at least two *other* kinds of stuffing there as well.)

This year I'm not going to try to make anything special for the family gathering. Even without my efforts, there will be a turkey and numerous side dishes to go with it. There will be at least three desserts; I gave up trying to bring a dessert long ago, because it was like trying to bring snow to the Arctic in January.

More on the BSOD in today's journal entry. Where do I get one of those t-shirts?

I'm planning a quiet holiday at home. Doing my best to not have to commute to Baton Rouge, until next Monday.

I usually bring cookies (M&M, Chocolate chip, Pecan) to the big family party on Christmas Eve. My aunts bring potato salad (with & without), a salmon dip or cheese balls, cokes, chips, rice etc. My cousins bring or make Seafood Gumbo, lasagna, crawfish fettuccine, fudge (chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge), Mississippi mud pie, banana split pie, coconut cake, lemon pies, a Christmas cake etc. One year, a cousin brought a whole Turducken with seafood stuffing.

It's tough being a vegetarian at Christmas, here. I can't eat the seafood gumbo (allergies). I do not eat beef or pork, by choice.

Correct me if I've remembered wrongly, but didn't you mention a couple of years ago that you have some disorders that are aggravated by vegetarian foods such as soy products?

As for myself, I find that vegetarian menus are fine if I'm not getting much exercise. I don't even have an appetite for meat or poultry. I had a meatless supper last night (it was a soup based on chicken cacciatore, but with the chicken). It was perfectly fine. I like a lot of vegetarian dishes. I crave peanuts and triscuits, or just peanut butter on toast. I could just about live on it if I was bed-ridden.

But if I'm working out a lot, I crave something more substantial. I eat poultry sparingly, with occasional meals containing red meat or seafood. So, though I'd prefer not eating meat or poultry at all, I just can't. Dr. Weil, the doctor/author who straddles the divide between conventional and homeopathic approaches, has said that individual need for protein is quite variable. No one knows why, but it can't be ignored. We're all different. I try to combine different plant foods so that the proteins can complement each other, but it's not necessary to go to a lot of trouble over it. The body finds the missing amino acids it needs in ingenious ways. It even borrows from the bacteria in the gut. or so I hear.

You are correctly remembering. I have a difficult time digesting unfermented soy. Tofu and tempeh, seem to be ok. Soy milk, soy powder, soy flour, tvp and the 'meat replacements' bother me. Almond, rice and oat milks digest ok, some taste better than others. Quorn products, which are mushroom based work for me. http://www.quorn.us/Home/

I did the total vegetarian diet for a few years. Almost four years, I think. The digestive problems got worse. I gradually and carefully added fish back. This started because of allegies to some seafoods. Turns out crustaceans and the bottom feeders that contain lots of mercury are the problems. This includes: Crawfish, shrimp, crab, shark, and probably more I haven't tried.

Salmon, Codfish, Pollock, farm raised Catfish, Trout, Tilapia, Anchovies, Sardines, Oysters and probably more are ok.

Later, I added chicken and then turkey back into my diet. I haven't eaten beef or pork since January of 2004.

If you need to add protein to something or feel you need a supplement, there are amino acid supplements which contain up to 15 grams protein per serving.

Up until recently I was adding soy milk to my cereal, but I've stopped doing so. The last quart of soy milk tasted funny, and I didn't care for the taste.

Almond Breeze's Almond milk is nice. I've even put it in my coffee. And, I'm very particular about .