"I've Got a Feeling"

 I will admit as I get older, the heat and humidity seems to bother me more. Just doing simple things outside makes you sweat. I've got a feeling I need to find simpler things to do. I was suppose to go to a concert with my nephew Brandon but I knew I would not survive the many hours we would be at the old Citrus Bowl. I had to back out and I regret that, I am sure the bands Def Leppard, Journey and Cheap Trick were all great.

I did go out to watch the release of a 375 pound loggerhead turtle at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach. I think everyone else in the county also showed up. Biggest crowd I have ever seen at one of these releases, co-sponsored by Brevard Zoo. There were so many people it was hard to get shots of the event.

Here is Bubba, heading toward the roped-off crowd.

The crowd was so big I had to take two pictures...

There was one lady from the Lazy Turtle, a local restaurant and bar in Palm Bay, dressed as a turtle. She was getting a lot of advertising with plenty of photos being taken.

There were many volunteers at the release. The 375-pound male loggerhead sea turtle, named Bubba,  was heading back to the ocean after a 3-month rehabilitation at the Sea Turtle Healing Center at the Brevard Zoo.  Some , like the lady below, were answering questions the crowd may have.

Finally, just a few minutes pass 4PM, the ATV arrived with young lifeguards and a very large turtle.

Earlier, I had a great spot near the water but decided to get a different angle. Wrong decision. They drove right to the water and unloaded the turtle. Usually, they make the larger ones walk a ways but part of Bubba's injuries were to his front flippers, so his mobility in sand would not be great, and it was very hot out.

As he got in the water, he quickly started paddling but then headed toward the crowd. One of the workers help guide him back in the right direction.

Within a few minutes, Bubba was heading out to deeper waters. I saw it, but I got no picture, was Bubba doing a jump out of the water, as if saying goodbye. Either that, or a shark was chasing him. They guessed Bubba to be between 50 and 75 years old. My age. Maybe he was just checking out all the girls in bikinis. I hope he will be okay.

One of the photographers from the Florida Today/USA Today was Malcolm Denemark I talked to him as we were walking out. One of his front page turtle release photos included me, I think I shared it a while back. He told me it is rare to have your photo on the cover for a good thing. Usually it is bad. I sent him this photo in an email, and he wrote back, "Who is that old fat man taking pictures? Me!". 

In a previous post I mentioned many of the local restaurants I enjoy going to and here is one more: Main Street Pub in downtown Melbourne. The sandwich in the photo is a Turkey Brie Press;  Turkey, Brie cheese & apples pressed between locally fresh baked bread. They also gave a small container of cranberries for the Thanksgiving touch. My side was the Potato Salad. If you like beef, they have their Famous Kummelweck Sandwich, which comes multiple ways. The fruit in front of me is used in the drinks they make. If you get a Screwdriver, the oranges are squeezed into the glass. They also have an outdoor Tiki bar that opens in the evening.

Early in the pandemic I bought this book titled Cool Beans - The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World's Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes by Joe Yonan, published in 2020. Joe Yonan is the two-time James Beard Award-winning food and dining editor of The Washington Post. He is the author of Eat Your Vegetables, which was named among the best cookbooks of 2013. Joe was a food writer and travel section editor at The Boston Globe before moving to Washington in 2006 to edit the Post's food section. 

 

It is a vegetarian cookbook but I bought it because I wanted to try more beans in my diet. This is the recipe I tried recently.

Basically, it is too separate parts. First, here are the ingredients for the red beans (which had been soaking over night).

I could not find Kombu, a dried kelp (i.e.. seaweed) so I used what I could find at Publix (front left).

Of course, I do not use the full spice container but the Creole Spice was purchased for this recipe. Everything above ended up in the pot at some time and only cooked for five hours. The picture is early in the cooking.

Second part was the rice. Here I should have halved the recipe since I have found other uses for the red beans. It did call for Jasmine rice, and the whole onion was included.

Here is the rice at the end of 20 minutes.

The chives were grown by me, and here is the final product. It was totally vegetarian and I was amazed at how good it tasted. I think that seaweed adds an interesting flavor.

Since it makes a lot, the second night I added some Andouille Sausage. I never said I was a vegetarian.

It almost tasted better the second time. I think I may make it with some shrimp or chicken.

Keep cool everybody!

About Title

"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was recorded on 30 January 1969 during the Beatles' rooftop concert. It is a combination of two unfinished songs: Paul McCartney's "I've Got a Feeling" and John Lennon's "Everybody Had a Hard Year". The song features Billy Preston on electric piano.