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This and That
I know that a lot of you enjoyed the "Green Revolution", previous Column, so I do not want to overdo a good thing and am going to spare you the "NO-sugar" Column! Yes, that came out as well. I really think that if you test too much, you will find "too much". Right! In any case, I am quite annoyed at the sugar bit; I know that at our stage in life, most of us have been told to stay off sugars, exactly when we need them most! Who, does not need a bit of "sweetness" now and then, especially, when they tell you that "old-age-sucks"? I think I once mentioned to you-ALL that we had a wonderful doctor many years ago; he always preached: "eat everything, but in moderation!" So, I now buy chocolate, and hide it for the times we really need a piece. My great fear is, of course, that I will forget where I hid it!...

I must add a PS to the baked apples we made in Column 322; they are very good the way we made them, but I made them again, and this time, after stuffing the apples and flooding them with Calvados, I took some butter, yes, you can use margarine, a pat will do, diced it into the Calvados; just adds another dimension. The sauce which you pour over the baked apples; very special!

Did you know that a cucumber, yes, one of those green things that some people can not eat, including the Wacky One, is a dozen miracles in one? A friend send me this incredible list: a cucumber contains most of the vitamins you need every day, yes just one cucumber has - B1, B2, B3 B5, B6... I did not even know we needed so many "Bs", did you? It also contains Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium. ALL of them?... A Real-blooming miracle! If you are tired in the afternoon, eat a cucumber! It's a great pick-me-upper! If you feel a cold coming on, are loggy, eat a cucumber! Anything you can think of that bothers you, eat a cucumber! Remember how your mother used to put her face over a steaming pot of water and cover her head with a "shmate"?... Well, add a sliced cucumber to that boiling water, and you will be bushy-tailed in no time; your face will look nice too. There are 13 long paragraphs about what you can do with this green miracle! I will spare you. just remember, it cleans mirrors, relieves head-aches and hangovers, removes cellulite... like, WOW!.. I think we got it; it's cucumber time!

Did you know that honey is medicinal? I have no idea what happens to our insides when we eat honey, but there was this bee-keeper on TV the other day, giving us all sorts of stuff about honey and how it heals, including skin blemishes, burns and cuts; honey kills bacteria and keeps the skin sterile. If you have a burn or cut, just brush some honey on it. It's apparently good for the wrinkles on your face as well! Eh, no; I shall not! Let me know if you do.

We have been discussing tomatoes lately; the "green-revolution" sort of brought it on. We can always have tomatoes, we said; they are RED! Well, no; I mean, yes! Absolutely! The tomato, like the cucumber, have all the vitamins and minerals and more! They even have something called Lycopane. No idea what it is. But, yes, I could look it up and find out what it means, as it is very good for you and not for me, I will leave it to you to look it up and let me know! You get Lycopane from cooked tomatoes... I can not eat them because they are highly acidic and bad for you if you have any stomach problems or have arithritis. Yap! I am one of the 'lucky' ones; I have both! I still do eat the cherry tomatoes though. And while we are still with tomatoes: did you know that tomato paste will cure a boil? Just make a compress with it; the acids from the tomatoes will sooth the pain and burst the boil!

Did you know that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances her hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers?... And quite a few other cancers?... All we know about that wonderful fruit is that its fattening! And, true, it is, and maybe that is why the L&M and I look so "rounded"! I used to put an avocado into our daily salad; everything is at a hold for the moment, but, I still think it can be done because inside a ripe avocado, it is not green, its quite yellow! It is supposed to be very good for your heart. Google calls it a powerhouse of vitamin E, which is very good for everything! So, cut back on something else and do have avocados; they really are incredibly healthy and when added to salads, quite delicious.

And, this sounds just too good to be true: Listerine Mouthwash is such a powerful antiseptic that you can use it on your toes if you have a fungus on them. Yes, the one you use for your mouth! Quite scary!... But, true; just soak a piece of cotton wool with it, "mount" it on your toes and leave for a while... Hey! What have you got to lose?...

And did you hear about the Jewish woman who went to see her Rabbi and said to him: "Yankele and Yosele are both in love with me; who should be the lucky one?" The wise old Rabbi said to her: "Yankele will marry you; Yosele will be the lucky one"!

Send your questions to The Wacky Cook: email: POOP_1@netvision.net.il      

Debbie Morgenstern is the author of "My Life in Israel" and other short stories.