Natural antioxidant to prevent or delay onset of Alzheimer's Disease - Alzheimer's 20

Natural antioxidant from fruits

It is the last day of 2019. I am looking back what I had done and will do some corrections and revisions about some goals of life.

Like yin and yang, black always partner with white. After dark there is shine, night with day. Up and down, success and fail. Both are complementary.

For my personal, I failed to reach my goal to lose weight back to normal range of BMI (Normal weight = 18.5–24.9). My BMI is 25.4,so I am slightly overweight. Needed to lose my weight about 4 to 6 lbs.

Gaining weight affect my blood pressure, my blood pressure a little bit elevated. Needed a correction to reach my goal to lose gain.

In Alzheimer's series, I posted about to prevent or delay onset by take attention in the life style and about to choose diet, which is Mediterranean diet.

“The Mediterranean diet is considered to be one of the healthiest diets in the world, and is found to be beneficial not only for the heart but also for the brain” (Agatonovic-Kustrin).

Natural antioxidant from vegetables

Mediterranean diet is also rich antioxidant which able minimize the cell damage that may lead to Alzheimer's disease and heart disease as well.

There are some vegetable and fruits that rich of anti-oxidant. They are natural antioxidant.

Many anti-oxidant supplement in the market, such as vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Selenium, but some studies that evaluate those supplements effect found negative, meanwhile excess of antioxidant can cause harmful to our body.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2020, Wishing You Stay Healthy!

Judee's Potato Latkes Hack and Judith

Frozen hash browns

Judee posted and shared about her Latkes for Hanukkah over a week ago. Happy Hanukkah to Judee and all of you who celebrating Hanukkah. 

As we know that Latkes are a kind of pan-fried potato pancakes. They made from grated potatoes, an egg, and a binder (breadcrumbs or matzo meal)

Based on her experience, Judee found out how to save time, avoid pain, sore, and red on knuckles because of shredding potatoes and squeezing excess water from potatoes. 

Here, her easy potato latkes hack: My Easy Potato Latkes Hack 

This potato latkes hack use frozen potato hash brown. She is right, her “hack” cuts down the bleeding knuckles and save time. 

How about the result from this “hack”? You can see my awesome latkes below. I cooked this latkes based on Judee' recipe, I used frozen hash brown. There is no difference from hand shredded potatoes.

My awesome potato Latkes hack

These latkes are tasty, crispy, and oily; and oil makes it meaningful. 

Latkes sometimes remind me about paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes. 

The paintings seem sadism. One of paintings shows Judith with no hesitation and calmly slaying Holofernes's neck and blood all over on bed.

Judith's characters amazes me, she had no fear. She was incredibly brave woman. She save her community. 

Have you tasted Potato Latkes Hack?

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to You and Yours

 A Christmas decoration

It was yesterday when I had been quite busy working on pinwheel and peanut Christmas cookies. 

I got to back and forth to the grocery store, Walmart Neighborhood. Actually not that far from my home, about 20 minutes.

I did grab and pay for the Hershey's Kisses holiday for decorations, but when I was about to use them, I could not found them. No where to be found.

I spend over than one hour to look for them. So, I run back to the grocery store and got them, another hour (20 minutes to go, 20 minutes to search and pay the items, and another 20 minute to drive back home). 

Hectic days!

A Christmas ornament

It is Holiday Season!

Getting closer to the Christmas Eve! 

Now, Holly Jolly Christmas!

Wishing you and family have wonderful holidays and very Merry Christmas.

Louisiana is One of Rice Producer States in the USA

The Louisiana rice sold in groceries

I knew many of my Louisiana friends have consumed rice several times in a month. Rice can be easily found in almost groceries, even in the Supercenter such as Walmart.

Some well known culinary relate to rice are:

1. Gumbo

- A strong flavor of stew contains rice, vegetables (okra, bell peppers, onions and celery) and proteins (meat, fish or seafood)

2. Jambalaya

- It is rice with with slightly acid flavor, compose of rice, meats (sausages, smoked sausages or chicken) and three kind of chopped vegetables (bell peppers, onions and celery).

3. Dirty Rice

- It called “dirty rice,” because its color look like “dirty” due to cooking method in broth with proteins such as beef or chicken or other proteins.

Nutrition fact of Louisiana rice

USA produced 178.2 million cwt ( 9,979,200 ton) rice in 2017. Louisiana produce 27.6 million cwt (1,545,600 tons) in the same year.

Top 6 states produce rice in the USA are following:

- Arkansas

- California

- Louisiana

- Mississippi

- Missouri

- Texas

Do you know that USA is a rice exporter country? 6 rice exporter nations are:

- India with value of US$ 7.4 billion

- Thailand with value of US$ 7.4 billion

- Vietnam with value of US$ 2.2 billion

- Pakistan with value of US$ 2.0 billion

- United States value of US$ 1.70 billion

Finally, have you ever eaten rice? To taste delicious dishes of Louisiana Gumbo or Jambalaya?

Catching Christmas - Alzheimer's 19

Catching Christmas

I have read some Christmas books for entire this year. My favorite one is Catching Christmas, published in October 2018. This is a sweet read, small book with the light and humorous conversations. I really like this book and I could not put it down.

The author of this book is Terri Blackstock, New York Times Bestselling Author. Her books have sold over seven million copies worldwide. She graduated from Louisiana University at Monroe. She is a Christian writer.

In Acknowledgments, Blackstock explained how this book inspired her. She was in the waiting room of a hospital for a doctor's appointment, a huge waiting room with with a couple hundred people in that room.

Then she saw a man with the old lady on wheelchair. He checked her in at the desk. During that time, the lady said embarrassing things very loudly and made all of them laugh.

When checked in had done, the man wheeled the lady right next to the author, and she can see that the lady had dementia.

When the man about to leave the lady, he gave a card and told the lady to call him when she'd done. The author talk to the man and he should not leave her, the man said that he just a cab driver.

Terri Blackstock, the author of Catching Christmas

So, this book was inspired by this experience. In this book, there are three characters Finn, a cab driver; Miss Callie, dementia grandmother; and Sidney, granddaughter who takes care her grandmother, Miss Callie.

Terri wrote and pictured about a person with dementia is sweet in the very light problem, seems in the early stage dementia. Emotional feelings came from a cab driver who deals with Callie with all of her forgetfulness.

Even Callie suffers with her disease and dementia, she is a nice and fun lady and always make people chuckles.

Together, they are catching Christmas. 

A cute giveaway from Anies the Great, Malaysian Blogger

Gift from my Malaysian blogger friend, Anies the Great

I am so excited to get a gift from one of my blog friends, Anies the Great. She said I won the “game” from her blog. Yay!

Excited, this is a “side effect” as a blogger! Sometimes, I never know something pop up!

I had never realized how fun I am with this blog activities. Most the time I go to bed at late night, enjoying read the texts and look the photos.

I am fascinated with handcrafts and artworks, amazed with beautiful photos, bemused with the poem and rhymes. There are so many interesting topics and very eclectic.

Reading and knowing daily activities from the bloggers are very memorable. I learn something when I read some nostalgic posts or just a simple things in their daily activities.

One of the blog that like to share her life is Anies, a blogger from Malaysia. Thank you so much for the gift, Anies! They are so cute! 

Packet landing at home

Anies is happy and spontaneous person, but she has sensitive feeling. She loves to take a part in any activities in her town, Kuala Lumpur, and she shares her experiences and thoughts about those things.

Reading her post, I feel like know Kuala Lumpur in every corner and what is going on in the town. 

A unique pen made from bamboo. 

In late entry she also share her experiences plus tips based on her experiences during visit Vietnam and some part of Indonesia. 

Finally, I would like to thank for all my blog friends for all your precious time to come by and put some comments on my blog. I appreciate you for all of those. 

Psychedelic Artist Peter Mark and Alzheimer's Disease - Alzheimer's 18

Liberty and Flag (Credit: Peter Max)

Have you heard that the dementia fuels creativity?

The New York Times in the middle of this year revealed all about the Artist Peter Max and delivered the essential point what we need to know about the the artist and his ability for life.

It was shock news!

Peter Max is an American artist. He was born in Berlin and grown in China, then landed in New York. He is known as psychedelic artist.

The New York Times investigated about his financial exploitation. Peter max is 81 year old and he is struggling with his advance dementia. By 2012, his mental faculties declined but he “kept” his activities as an artist.

For four years he was not able to hold the brushes and create any paintings but in the fact his paintings were produced and cash flowed better and better from year to year.

Just for last year, 2018, the profit was $ 30 million from his paintings. The painting mostly sold in the cruise line.

Screen shot from the Norwegian's Travel blog on August 2014.

What was going on? The artist severe with his disease, so who had done the paintings? The investigation couldn't find that something wrong doing about the original paintings.

“His dementia leads him to be a prolific painter” is such a statement from some people when they sell Peter Max's paintings. This statement gives you a shock, doesn't it?

Here, what is giving you another shock: “They bring people off the street to mass produce of his paintings and paid minimum wage”.

Then they hold out the artist hand to sign all of those painting as “if they were his own”, was described by the New York Times from people who witnessed it. 

Umbrella Man (Credit: Peter Max)

One lady bought one of his paintings about four years ago said that this creative man surrounded by “hundred of leeches feeding of him”.

The reporter of the New York Times met him in his apartment, he just quite and confuse, remember nothing. Peter Max could not talk to him, then he just left him.

After 12 days I read this news from the New York Times, I got the other shock news: the last woman that he married with committed suicide.

Egret Sanctuary in Louisiana Avery Island

Community of Egrets in Avery island, Louisiana

I just posted the Tabasco sauce, its head quarter is in Avery Island, Louisiana. The island could be reached by car from my town.

The distance is 81 miles (130 km) from my house, take about 2 hours by car. The island is actually a land surrounded by small rivers (muddy rivers) and swamplands.

Avery Island well known for one of birds sanctuaries in Louisiana. Birds sanctuary known as bird city in the “jungle garden.”

What interest me is Egret, a white bird with long bill and feet. At least, there are 3 kinds of egret in the island:

- snowy egret (Egretta thula)

- cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis)

- great egret (Ardea alba)

The egrets are migrating birds, come to island in the spring for nesting, then left the island in the fall. 

A colony of egrets in Avery Island

What are differents of snowy egret, cattle egret and great egret?

Snowy egret is taller than cattle egret, and then, great egret is greater than snowy egret.

In term of bill colors, snowy egrets have black bills, whereas cattle and great egrets have yellow bills. Interestingly, young cattle egrets have black bill, then color change to yellow when they are adults.

Do you have favorite birds? What kind of birds do you love?