My Mobile Home Gourmet Blog
Wednesday 2025.10.22
Thank you again, Luke
I forgot to mention Luke in Sunday's blog post. He sent me some items from my Amazon gift list. He is one of the most generous persons I know.
More Kirkland Signature
On Sunday morning I rode my scooter to Costco with a short shopping list. Whatever I buy has to fit in my scooter's basket. I looked for Jose's brand Columbia Supremo whole bean coffee. Uh-oh. I checked twice, but there was none. That's my favorite coffee. I've been drinking it for many years. And then I saw a gray bag of Kirkland Signature Columbia Supremo. I bought it. I'll know in a few weeks if it's as good as Jose's brand.
I also looked for Benefiber. I add it to my coffee and it seems to improve my blood glucose numbers a little. Then I saw another green jar, Kirkland Signature Optifiber for a much lower price. It appears to be the same product. It dissolves completely in water without adding any texture or flavor. So, I bought it. I added some to my coffee when I got home and it works the same a Benefiber. My future blood glucose numbers might tell me what I want to know.
By Invitation Only
I've mentioned my Kentucky friends with whom I play miniature golf every week. On Sunday I saw they were online playing golf. I joined their room, but maybe I shouldn't have. I got this vibe I had party crashed a family game. I didn't enjoy playing.
I stuck a sign on the case where I store my VR headset, "By Invitation Only." If I see them playing golf and if I get an invitation, I'll join them; otherwise, I'll go into my own solo game. Or, I'll play one of the other games I have loaded on my headset.
We'll keep our regular Tuesday game schedule.
YouTube
My YouTube projects continue. Later today I'll remove another video from my SmoothieTube channel and add it to Mobile Home Gourmet.
Meanwhile, I am still adding end screens to my videos. I try to do at least 10 videos per day. I'll be finished with that project by the end of November.
The Tomato Chronicles
Last week I mentioned putting four clippings in water, hoping they would root. None of them looked vibrantly healthy. One clipping turned completely brown and was discarded. Another looks like it's struggling to cling to life. The other two look good, so far. When I see roots start to form, I'll hook up my grow light. For now, they're near a window that gets afternoon sun.
As I've mentioned too many times in the past, these might be the tomato plants I'll pot outdoors in the spring. And if these clippings do really well, I'll plant them in small pots indoors during the winter. If they grow branches, I might harvest another clipping or two to root. I hope to have two or three healthy plants to transplant outdoors.
Sunday 2025.10.19
All's Quiet
I am enjoying the way things are going with YouTube and this website. I still monitor Google Analytics, mostly because I enjoy seeing the decline in traffic. This website was seeing around 50 visitors each day. Now there are fewer than ten.
On Thursday I did more cleanup. There was a folder of Food Photos in which were the photographs I included with my recipes. With the recipes gone, there was no need for the photos. I deleted all 412. There are still pictures in the Smoothie Photos folder. Those will eventually be removed after I move all my smoothie recipes to YouTube.
And yesterday I started the process of adding end screens to my videos. The goal is to encourage visitors to look at other videos I created, thus keeping them on my channel and maybe increasing my revenue a little. I am seeing a slight increase. It's only about $5, but it's enough to put me above the $100 threshold to be paid.
Vine
Amazon Vine continues to be mostly a wasteland, with only about 1/5th the number of items available compared to about six months ago. 23,000 might seem like a lot, but with 99% of those items being made-in-China POS schlock, there is almost nothing worth requesting. But who would have thought?…
This morning I saw a corner rounder on Vine. If you're not familiar, it's a punch-like device that cuts the sharp corners off of things, making them round. Look at your credit cards. The corners are rounded. I do a fair amount of laminations. For years I've wanted a good corner rounder. I've seen them on Ebay, but I never saw one at a reasonable price. The one on Vine retails for $119. I requested it.
As I've mentioned before, I satisfied my quota for my current six-month evaluation period, which ends on November 3rd. After that, I'll limit myself to three items per week. And if I can't find anything worth owning, I'll request the cheapest junk I can review and then discard it without conscience.
And, because it might be worth mentioning again for those who are new to this blog, the items are not truly free. The retail value counts as taxable income, which is reported to the IRS. That reduces my refund, or in the case of the past two years, resulted in my paying a little additional income tax.
SmoothieTube
My current goal is to upload a smoothie video to YouTube every Sunday and Wednesday until all the SmoothieTube videos have been moved to my Mobile Home Gourmet channel. Then I'll delete the SmoothieTube channel. With 41 or 42 videos, that should take me through December and maybe a little into January. That's good. November and December are the busiest months for my channel because people search for recipes for the holidays.
Today I uploaded my Avocado, Cucumber, and Lime Smoothie video. And that brings up a point.
Back when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my doctor said no more smoothies. They contain too much sugar. Okay. However, I'd like to make smoothies again, but sugarless. I can use stevia when I need some sweetness, or I can make savory smoothies, like the one mentioned above. Which brings up another point.
For one of my green smoothies I used cold green tea rather than water. The tea adds a little more flavor and it's supposed to be healthy. Costco sells green tea.
Weight
On the negative side, weight loss wasn't great this week. That's understandable. I splurged a little by buying a bag of fish sticks at Costco. Those are gone now. However, I lost more than half a pound for the week; so, it wasn't a setback.
On the positive side, I am back to a healthy diet of mostly vegetables now. I recorded my lowest daily weight on Friday, 193.5 pounds. That was the first time my weight dropped below 194. It wasn't surprising. My body shed a lot of water weight on Wednesday — more than two pounds in one day. And, I went a little lower on Friday. 193.3.
I am also increasing my exercise a little. I still try to do 1,000 stair steps every other day. However, on arms days I am doing two sets of ten for each exercise. My goal is three sets, then I'll try adding more exercises. Now I do biceps curls, military presses, and bench presses. I'm thinking of adding sit-ups soon to strengthen my abs.
My blood sugar numbers increased. One change that might explain it: I ran out of Benefiber, which I stirred into my coffee everyday. I wondered. So, I looked online. Although Benefiber is not a cure for high blood glucose, the addition of fiber can reduce the absorption of carbs (sugar is a carbohydrate), thus lowering blood sugar. I added it to my Costco shopping list.
Wednesday 2025.10.15
Testing Done
I can't remember when this website was ever tested as thoroughly. Of course, now there are almost no recipe pages to test (just smoothies, currently). However, there are hundreds of links and hundreds of buttons that trigger links. Every single one was tested on Sunday. It took all day.
There were a few fixes to make, but as I said in Sunday's blog post, those were mostly cosmetic. For example, when you hover your pointer over a button, it's supposed to change color. A few didn't. The buttons worked; they just didn't change color.
I must admit, it feels good. It's like an onerous burden was removed from my shoulders. I monitor the data on Google Analytics. There is almost no traffic to this website now. That was the goal. As I said in previous blog posts, I was seeing about 1,500 visitors to this site each month. Now, they are being directed to YouTube, which generates some revenue to help support this site.
A little appreciation goes a long way. Yesterday the park gardener cleaned my yard where the juniper tree drops debris. I went outside and handed him a ten dollar bill.
Weather
We did indeed get some rain this week, mostly on Monday and Tuesday. There were warnings of possible flooding in low lying areas. The forecast included the possibility of thunderstorms, high winds, and potential power outages. I prepared. I lit one of my oil lamps to burn off any wax buildup. That makes the lamp easier to light, if I need it. I didn't, this time.
I checked the county rainfall summary this morning. Where I live, we received an inch of rain from this latest storm (number 3 of the season). The most remarkable statistic is the "Countywide percentage of 'Normal-to-Date' rainfall." It's currently 482%. We are well ahead of our usual rainfall, and this is supposed to be a La Niña year, which means lower than normal rain.
SmoothieTube
Yesterday I began the process of moving my smoothie videos to my Mobile Home Gourmet channel. SmoothieTube never became popular enough to monetize (only 514 subscribers). Therefore, the videos never generated any revenue. Mobile Home Gourmet is monetized (currently 58,400 subscribers).
The last time I uploaded a video was one year ago. I needed to remember the process, and a few things have changed. However, now that I know what to do, I should be able to move the smoothie videos easily.
Other Tasks
There is more to be done. There are more than 400 videos. I now need to add End Screens to each video to highlight others of my videos. For example, on my Salmon Jerky video I want to make visitors aware there is another video in which I demonstrate making the jerky in my dehydrator rather than the oven, and also a Beef Jerky video. That work will likely take weeks. There is no hurry.
Amazon Vine
Earlier this month I mentioned having fulfilled my Vine quota for this six-month evaluation period. Now I only order something I need or I can't live without. I did order yet another digital clock. It will replace an ugly one above my desk. And I saw another golf club that works with my Meta Quest 3 VR headset. I already have one, but the newer one looks so much better. The build quality looks really good. I waited all day, hoping someone might take it. When no one did, I ordered it.
The Tomato Chronicles
On Monday I took four clippings from my tomato plants and put them in water. To be honest, the clippings didn't look vibrantly healthy. However, they were free. So, I'll wait to see what happens.
Meanwhile, I pruned away all the dead and dying leaves and stalks. I also gathered my final crop of ripe tomatoes. There are still a few on the vines. This is the time of year when sunlight is rapidly becoming weaker. There might not be enough light to sustain the plants.
I'll keep watering the plants during the winter. Maybe new growth will begin from the roots in the spring. As for the clippings, I'll wait a few days before I put them under a grow light.
Sunday 2025.10.12
This was a good week.
Walkabout Mini Golf
The creators at Mighty Coconut, makers of Walkabout Mini Golf, released their newest course on Thursday — Forgotten Fairyland. I mentioned it in an earlier blog post. The course is based inside an abandoned amusement park. Fun and spooky, in time for Halloween.
My Kentucky friends and I played the course that day, taking extra time to find the lost balls, which unlocks the difficult course, and then solving the fox hunt puzzle, which grants us a new putter based on the course.
Every course is better than the last — more features, more details, and a few extra puzzles to solve. Where is the skeleton hidden? Where is the tiny skull? And where are the bananas? Every course has them.
The makers of the game also add some extras in the hallways beneath the caddy shack.
Keto Cheese Crackers
It works!
I followed, sort of, a recipe I found on YouTube. The crackers are made with only grated Parmesan cheese (I used Romano) and almond flour, plus a couple tablespoons of water (I used egg white because I had it in the refrigerator). I also went to the grocery store, riding my seated scooter, and bought a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese because I wanted the packet of cheese powder. I added a well-rounded tablespoon of that.
The recipe I started with was "1 Carb Keto Crackers" by Joe Duff. Search for it on YouTube if you're interested.
Surprisingly, the crackers cook in the microwave oven. The flavor was good — not as good as Cheez-its, but good enough to enjoy.
I added cheese powder to my Amazon wishlist and gift list. I can see myself making these crackers again and again.
Downsizing
This week was also good for downsizing.
Yesterday I was running on all cylinders. The website downsizing project continues, but it's getting a little more complicated. I am now seeing recipes I wrote for the site, but never published. I either never got around to making the video, or I didn't think the recipe was good enough to publish. These recipes were from a time when I was beginning to slow down anyway.
I finished the first stage yesterday, which was the basic downsizing by moving recipe text to my YouTube videos. Next comes the cleanup, because I'm seeing odd recipes that made it onto YouTube but were never added to this website. They were somehow forgotten. Or, just the opposite — recipes on this site but not on YouTube. For example, I never did a video of Noodles Romanoff. Where do I put the recipe? There is no place for it on YouTube; so, I deleted it. 'Sorry guys.
Let he who never made a mistake throw the first stone.
Testing Testing Testing
Yesterday evening I started testing every link on every Recipe Archive page. There were a few minor mistakes, but none that affected how the links work. Most of the fixes were cosmetic.
However, I still have a long way to go. I should be done testing before the end of today or tomorrow, depending on how many fixes I need to do.
Next Up
My next goal, after doing a lot of testing, is to remove smoothie videos from my SmoothieTube channel and upload them to Mobile Home Gourmet. I supposedly have 45 videos, but I don't know where they are.
Weather
The weather is finally getting interesting. The last time I looked (this morning), there was an 80% chance of rain on Tuesday, but the forecast changed from "rain" to "showers." I wouldn't be surprised if it changed to "chance of showers" and then to "slight chance of showers." I see that often during this time of year.
Weight
And speaking of downsizing…
I recorded some of my lowest daily weight numbers this week. I have been hovering around 195 pounds, which means I've lost 30 pounds so far. My average loss for the week was 1.6 pounds, slightly better than my target.
I'm shedding the weight slowly, which is okay because it gives me extra time to adapt to a new way of eating, such as shifting to a vegan diet (not there yet, but getting closer). I needed to adjust my target date again, from the end of February to the end of March. That's okay too. I'm not aiming for a date; I'm aiming for a goal weight. I'd like to be 165 pounds before summer.
Wednesday 2025.10.8
More Downsizing
Sunday was an important milestone for me. I've been working on recipes in the order in which I wrote them. I finally got to the potatoes. Those were important for three recipes — Au Gratin Potatoes, Scalloped Potatoes, and Potatoes Dauphinois. I moved those to YouTube on Sunday.
The holidays will be upon us soon. One friend said they went to the store to look for Halloween decorations, but those had already been replaced by Christmas items. People will soon start looking for recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The potato recipes mentioned above are among the most popular during November and December. Mom's Italian Christmas Cookies was moved to YouTube on July 26th. That one is popular too.
As for progress, yesterday I reached the 75% mark with recipes. 300 done. That doesn't include smoothies, which I will deal with later.
Even More Downsizing
And maybe worth mentioning: On Sunday I downsized my hair too. It was getting in my face and eyes. It was time to give myself a haircut. I'm thankful I have my father's barber tools. I did okay too. No chops. No dangling untrimmed tresses. A barber would find fault, but for a guy with two mirrors in the bathroom, I did well enough.
September's Stats
According to Google Analytics, there were 1,500 active users on this web site during the month of September. They viewed 9,149 pages. My blog was read 511 times. And no one was looking at the recipe PDF pages. Oddly, Noodles Romanoff was the most popular recipe, with 696 views.
Which reminds me: I keep a jar of mixed cheese powder and sour cream powder that I made up for Noodles Romanoff. On Monday I roasted some chickpeas that I seasoned with a spice blend and some of that Romanoff powder. They were delicious as a snack. Later today I'll experiment with making keto crackers.
I am hoping to have all my recipes moved to YouTube by the end of this month. Most of the traffic to this website is now being directed to YouTube.
Harvest Moon
It saw the supermoon yesterday evening. Thankfully, the sky was clear. You might remember those telescopic glasses I mentioned several weeks ago. They helped me to see the moon a little better. It was pleasant to see.
The Tomato Chronicles
I continue to water the tomato plants and they continue to show good signs of life. A few tomatoes ripened this week and I enjoyed them. The flavor is excellent.
Soon I will snip a few clippings and try to root them. If all goes well during the winter, those will be the new plants in spring.
Sunday 2025.10.5
October
This month is significant for two reasons, maybe three. This is the time of year when I create my calendar pages for next year. I print them on 8½x14-inch card stock. I like the size.
October is also the month for Halloween, which will be on a Friday this year. That's bad news for Isla Vista. The Del Playa parties are notorious. Occasionally someone gets too drunk and falls off the cliff. They usually die. The parties have been getting more orderly in recent years; however, when the holiday falls on a Friday or Saturday, the parties usually attract the most out-of-towners.
The month is also my time to watch Halloween movies. As usual, I'll watch my favorite, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, on Halloween evening. I might even dance the Time Warp along with the music. "It's just a jump to the left..."
I have more than two dozen movies I watch every October. Just off the top of my head I can think of a few Vincent Price movies, such as The Comedy of Terrors and The Raven. There are some zombie movies. One of my favorite animation films is ParaNorman. And, of course, who could forget The Addams Family movies?
And, I'm also working on a couple of LEGO-fake building kits. One is based on the movie Little Shop of Horrors. It features the man-eating plant, Audrey II, prominently. The other is of a haunted house.
I am gluing the kits together this year. With each assembly and disassembly, the pieces fit together more loosely and almost nothing frustrates me more than a kit falling apart while I'm trying to build it. In November I'll toss the kits into the recycling bin.
Vegan
Am I on a vegan journey yet? No, but I'm getting closer. I used the last of the chicken I had in the freezer. There are still some ground beef patties and some fish filets to use. There are also some eggs in the fridge. Eggs might be the most difficult to give up. Besides, I need them to make ant bait packets occasionally. If I have no animal proteins, what will I feed the ants?
I am learning to use black beans as my primary source of protein. Thankfully, I like beans. I've been using them in salads and soups. And speaking of soups, I added some chopped kale to yesterday's soup. It was good, and certainly healthy.
Vine
Yesterday I fulfilled my goal for the current six-month evaluation period, which ends on November 2nd. The goal is to order at least 80 items and review at least 90% of the items received to remain in the Gold Status. My ordered items are 80 and my reviews are 100%. I submitted my 80th review yesterday — coffee filters, which are easy. Make a cup of coffee. If the coffee tastes good and there is no residue in the bottom of the cup, give it five stars.
During the remainder of this month I won't order anything, unless I see something I absolutely cannot live without. I can always use another LED digital clock.
Weight
I did barely okay this week, losing only a tenth of a pound. Yesterday I recorded my lowest daily number, 196.5 pounds. My other numbers — blood glucose and blood pressure — were mostly in the "normal" range.
And I learned a new trick when measuring my blood sugar. If the number is too high, do another test. This morning my glucose was 135 mg/dL. That's too high. I tested again and got 117, which is elevated but safe. 100 to 126 is only prediabetic, not diabetes.
Wednesday 2025.10.1
Another short blog this time. I am spending most of my time working on downsizing this website. In fact, I've been so absorbed in this work, I forgot to post this blog. Thanks for the reminder, Cindy.
Something New
Earlier this week I received an email announcing the latest Walkabout Mini Golf course to be released. It is titled Forgotten Fairyland and the setting is an old abandoned amusement park. The children and their parents are gone. I'm not sure how many of the rides might still be working. The greens will be there.
The new course is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 9th. As usual, my friends and I will play the easy course, looking for lost balls, to unlock the difficult course. Then we'll do the fox hunt to get the new putter.
Something More New
I love when a project goes right. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I added a seat to my e-scooter. I didn't like the quick-release. Besides being a piece of junk (the metal was soft), the seat can be stolen easily
I live in a college town. Most of the students commute by bicycle. I've seen dozens of front wheels locked in a bike rack, with the bike gone. In fact, when I wanted to get rid of an old bike, I simply left it unlocked in a rack. Seats are stolen too. I've seen students take their seat with them to class.
I saw some threaded rods on Amazon Vine. I measured correctly to make certain one would work for me. With a Dremel tool, I cut one of the rods to the size I wanted. They came with nuts and washers. So, I got everything I needed. It took a while to cut the rod because they're stainless steel, which is hard metal. When the cut was made, I placed the shortened rod, with nuts and washers, on my scooter. It fit perfectly. Now, a thief will need two wrenches to steal my seat. In other words, they won't try. As one policeman told me, if you make it too difficult for them, they'll move on to an easier target.
Some Good News
In my last blog post I mentioned e-scooters and e-bikes, wondering if the state or city would enact new laws regarding their use and/or registration. A law was passed in April of this year. It allows scooters to be used on sidewalks if their speed does not exceed 15 mph. I ride at 10 mph. So, I can ride my scooter to the store using the sidewalk without worrying the police might stop me.