Rosemary

I found it odd that a spice would have a person’s name. I bought it for that fact alone, ‘cause I knew nothing about the spice. Once home, I opened it and took a sniff. Wow! I couldn’t wait to cook with it. So I began by asking gardeners about the spice. I had no idea why I wanted to use the stuff. I just knew the scent was strange enough to want a second sniff. It was something about the smell that intrigued me.

The gardeners talked about studies that show red meats like steak, when cooked at high temperatures, create heterocyclic amines (HCAs), potent carcinogens implicated in many cancers. Using rosemary extract (a common powder) with red meats, and soaking the meat for an hour or two before cooking, destroys the HCAs. Rosemary contains carnosol and rosemarinic acid, two powerful antioxidants. Studies show tumors dislike rosemary.

Aside from red meat, I sprinkle rosemary on fried potatoes when they’re almost done. I use it on my toast and in soups. Like no other spice, I always felt the need to sniff it before using it and didn’t know why. I finally met a gardener who said, “when you sniff rosemary, cortisol, the stress hormone in saliva, drops.” That’s a good thing, because the hormone increases blood pressure and suppresses the immune system. Studies show sniffing rosemary gets rid of radicals, the perky molecules believed to speed aging and disease. Keep sniffing.

Tea

If you think bottled and instant teas are the same as brewed teas, think again. The US Department of Agriculture states that brewed teas offer more disease fighting amounts of antioxidant. In my childhood, women loved having tea parties. When I was a child I didn’t understand why mommy enjoyed them. Instead of preparing herself, she could have used her everyday cup and she wouldn’t have needed to get dolled up in her high heels. I just thought mommy liked to have tea with my Godmother Ann and their friend Violet. The three of them had tea parties all the time. Sometimes they would go to tea parties with lots of ladies. Each lady brought her best china or crystal cup and saucer. The ladies hoped the other ladies took note of their tea set and how lady-like they drank their tea. When I got old enough to go to tea parties with my mother, I asked her the reason behind dressing up. Mother replied, “sweetheart, it isn’t the taste of tea nor the benefits tea has to offer. Tea parties offer women a reason to use their heirloom china and crystal and remember how to be lady-like. And of course ladies dress up.”

Jell-O® and Nails

Jell-O it tastes good, it looks good, and it’s wiggly. Nails need gelatin or keratin, which is a protein. Nails hold water. If they’re full, they are soft and tend to split.

When I was very young and learning to talk, I called my fingers sombers and my toes putzies. I was too young to understand how good Jell-O was for nails. I just liked it ‘cause of the wiggle.

When I got older, I asked my mother why she didn’t mind me calling my fingers and toes the wrong name. She said, “there’s a good reason. If I seen you licking your fingers while eating I would say watch your sombers. That meant stop sucking your fingers. Use your napkin as if you were at the President’s table. If I saw you not watching where you walked, I’d say, watch you’re putzies. That meant if you want to walk in the White House you best not step in dog doody, oil, puddles, or trip and scrape your knees. No one ever knew that I was correcting you. Sometimes people would ask what the words meant. I’d laugh and say, it’s utterance to make my daughter laugh.”

I enjoy Jell-O® with my grandchildren as my grandmother did with me