The 70% solution... ?

I was planning to post something about chocolate anyway, and then there was a news story today about its health benefits-- especially for the cardiovascular system-- which included a link to a peer-reviewed article with lots of details, many of which were over my head.

However, I did catch the one about consuming 100g per day for two weeks in order to lower one's blood pressure. (Mine's gone up a bit since I've been eating butterscotch like it's going out of style.) And, I thought it might be worth a small trial of my own. Especially, since my favorite bar comes in exactly that "dose." And apparently there is a dose-response. At least in elderly Dutch men. This will mean a trip to CVS, where I can both take my blood pressure, and purchase a larger supply of Lindt bars than I usually have on hand. Further updates will follow...

And, in the meantime, another story on some surprising relationships between food and health arrived in my emailbox via The Progressive, and this one went much further than merely advocating for chocolate...

UPDATE ~ Same Day:
Today's BP: 138 over 74 w/ a heart rate of 76.
[I always use to be well under the "normal" 120 over 80.]

UPDATE ~ March 5th: [I decided to measure it twice.]
1st BP: 137 over 76 w/ a heart rate of 71;
2nd BP: 132 over 74 w/ a heart rate of 66.

Breakfast began with saffron-flavored rice

I wanted something simple for breakfast, but with enough complexity to be satisfying. So, I started off by cooking a package of saffron-flavored rice, to which I added some peas at the very end. Meanwhile, I cooked three slices of bacon (which was a 2-for-1 special sale), poured off the excess fat, and lightly browned a small amount of finely chopped onion, which also deglazed the pan and incorporated all of the leftover bacon flavor into the onions. They needed a little bit more fat, though, so I added some olive oil. Once the onions were done, I set them aside on a plate, and added more olive oil to the skillet (non-nonstick, stainless steel). While it was heating, I beat a couple of eggs, and when the oil was very hot (almost smoking), I added the eggs in a stream, while stirring, and quickly stirred them in the pan, since it was pretty hot, and I didn't want them overcooked.

On a bed of the saffron rice & peas, I added a layer of the onions, then the scrambled eggs, and topped the whole thing with crumbled bacon.

More Braising...

Well, I braised the beef short ribs last night, but I still haven't eaten them yet. I would have had them for breakfast this morning, but I wasn't hungry enough to eat them and still go out to lunch with a couple of co-workers, one of whom is leaving for new pastures. The good news is that I had some leftovers from lunch, including a nice serving of brown rice, that will be really good tomorrow morning when I add it to the short ribs. For breakfast.

In the meantime, I did some more braising tonight: two lamb shoulder chops, and a beef shin bone, but in separate casserole dishes. The vegetables I used were similar, onions, celery, shredded carrots, garlic, in and canned tomates, plus a bit of tomato paste, and some olive oil, but the beef was cooked with more of the tomatoes-- I used just a bit for the lamb-- and the lamb dish also included some parsnips, and some worcestershire. A small amount of white wine went into both. The short ribs were treated similarly last night.

Such abundance. Three kinds of braised meat, packed in individual servings in the freezer. I'll report back on the results.