Darkoshi

Not having cooked methi before, I thought it was okay to include the stems. Wrong - the chopped up stems remained tough and fibrous even after cooking.

I had cooked the greens with mustard seeds, which in spite of my familiarity with their popping action, made a bit of a mess on the stove.

Because of the stems, I told Qiao that he didn't have to eat his portion. Then, after meticulously picking out all the stems, I ate the remaining good parts up all by myself, just to get rid of the mess and be done with it. That was Sunday evening.

I didn't notice the methi having any strong flavor. Raw, it tasted simply like mild greens to me. This seemed odd, as I had read that it had a distinctive taste. I recall fenugreek seeds not having much of a smell either - only a light butterscotch smell.

Cooked, it was like spinach. Most of the taste was from the mustard seeds.

Fast-forward to Monday afternoon. I was surprised by and self-conscious of a smell emanating from my underarms, even though I had washed and used deodorant like usual that morning. After getting home in the evening, I washed and applied more deo, but the smell persisted. I worried that my deodorant was no longer working for me.

Tuesday morning, I showered and again applied deo. I even re-applied some deo before and after my lunch-time walk outside in the 100-degree heat. But I still noticed the odor. It's not even a very bad smell, but definitely unfamiliar. It's not the normal smell of my sweat.

So I wondered if it was from something I had eaten. I've been trying out SAM-e supplements... but I had started those over a week ago. Furthermore, I had gotten sweaty working in the yard on both Saturday and Sunday, without noticing this odor.

Then I remembered the methi and mustard seeds. I had eaten mustard seeds in the past without any ill effect. Could it be due to the methi? Yep, apparently so.


Fenugreek pungent sweat, how to get rid of it?
(from a comment on that page) Fenugreek contains an aromatic compound called Soletone. It smells sweet like maple and a bit curry-like. It is the scent that people notice wafting off of people from certain countries where it is commonly eaten. These people do not notice it since they and those they know mostly smell like it, so to them it isn’t an odd thing. Some Asians have commented that Americans all smell like rancid butter, which is probably true based on our diet. Some Asians smell like fermented cabbage to other people. The fact is that most of us shower every day and these smells have nothing to do with hygiene (although this can be a separate issue).

The Mystery of the Maple Syrup Smell

ETA: My body odor continued to smell of fenugreek for a whole week, even though I had only eaten it that one day!

After bad results with both a cake and a batch of brownies, I've discovered that I don't like the smell and taste of unrefined soybean oil. It tastes sickly sweet to me.

All I found on the subject is this statement on a few webpages: "Unrefined soy oil has a strong, distinctive flavor and aroma - some like it, some don't."

Next time, I should taste an oil before using it.

I do like the taste of extra virgin olive oil, but it doesn't seem like that flavor would go well in cakes and cookies. Have any of you tried baking with olive oil? Anyway, I now have some "naturally refined" safflower oil, which should be mild flavored. I used to buy Canola oil, but I began to notice it having an unpleasant stale smell and flavor, even when it wasn't particularly old.

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After months of testing different deodorants, I finally found a suitable replacement for the one I used to use. (More details on that possibly forthcoming.) But last weekend, I found out that the store I bought it from no longer is selling it. I may have to buy it online (luckily it doesn't seem to be discontinued).

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I ended up doing 2 saliva hormone tests (as referenced here and here). I took the saliva samples for both tests on the same day at the same times. Each test was processed by a different lab. I figured that using 2 different labs would give me an indication of how reliable the results were - if the results agreed with each other, that would give them more credibility than otherwise.

But the results did not at all agree with each other. So much for that. I suppose I'd need to get a blood test done somewhere for (possibly) more trustworthy results.

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I had headaches every day for 2 weeks, and then they stopped, even without me taking any meds. They must have been after-effects of the stomach bug virus. Now I'm occasionally getting headaches again, but these are more like my usual ones, and not every day.

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Qiao is now walking with only the aid of a cane. In fact, he is beginning to walk short distances even without a cane!

He recently bought himself a Sony Tap 20 portable PC. It's a giant tablet. It has a very nice screen.

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You know what would be useful? A website along the lines of "These are various sounds your car may make, along with an explanation of what part of the car may be making the noise and why". Well, actually, sort of like this, this, and this, but with actual car sound samples rather than human reproductions of them.

The new version of the deodorant smells different than the old one - like a typical feminine deodorant scent - and stronger. I don't like it. And my underarms feel slightly itchy. Please let it just be in my mind, and let me get used to it. WHY do they take a well-liked, tried-and-true product and then change the formulation like that? The old version had triclosan, whereas the new version has zinc ricinoleate. Maybe triclosan does have some negative qualities, and Hain Celestial Group, which bought out Para Labs, the maker of this previously fine product, felt that using a different ingredient would be better. But I wish they had not changed the scent.

I hope they didn't change the formulation of the Mint Julep deodorant too. Surely they wouldn't change the scent of that one. It wouldn't be mint julep anymore if they changed it.

I've gotten some holiday spirit back. The thought of putting up a christmas tree even has a bit of appeal.

I made some wonderful creamy vegan macaroni and cheese yesterday. Yum.

I've been given a used metal file cabinet. It will let me store some of the stuff I still have standing around in boxes. Yet it seems so big and .. not very pretty. I don't know where I will put it. I've gotten used to the existing spaciousness in my house, and anywhere I put that big thing will no longer be as nice and spacious.