I don’t try recipes often, but occasionally I get a yen and hunt the internet for ideas. The funny thing about recipes is you can’t tell how good they are. Every blog brags about how good their version is, even if it isn’t. I found one that suited the ingredients I had, so I tried it.

Bad idea.

The recipe was for jicama fries. The blog said they were crispy and spicy. Well, they did have a pleasant spicy flavor because I used the same seasonings that I use on my California fries. However, the jicama gave off so much steam that the fries were never going to get crisp, even though I followed the directions and didn’t crowd them.

Raw jicama is crunchy and tangy. It’s excellent in salads and when dunked in ranch dip. Baking them did not improve their texture or flavor, so I won’t do that again. At least I won’t have to wonder if jicama fries are good. They’re not.

Do you use a lot of recipes from the internet? How do you pick a good one? Do you cook with jicama? I’d love a simple recipe that tastes good. For me, simple is essential.

There are a ton of  quotes from our first president, but it was hard to find universal thoughts. Most of his words were about war, government, foreign powers, and God. This makes sense, but those quotes belong in other blogs.

I did find a few that were useful in our daily lives. I like the worry quote the best because I try very hard not to worry about things. Apply whichever of these works for you. Good advice is good advice, even if it is over two hundred years old.

George Washington Quotes:

• “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

• “There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”

• “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”
• “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.”
• “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”

It’s the Saturday before Christmas, and I imagine a lot of people are going to shop today. Dealing with crowded parking lots, harried retail employees, and long lines can fray anyone’s patience.

Instead of feeling justified in letting out your frustration, remember that everyone is in the same situation, and they all want to be doing something different. Long lines don’t have to be frustrating if you smile at people around you and remember that it will eventually be your turn. Cashiers will still be harried, but they will be nicer to you if you acknowledge their efforts. Everyone responds well to a complement.

So have patience today with everyone you meet. You’ll find that you feel better and the people around you will feel better too. Patience is a gift to everyone that we should give every day.

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.”

Joyce Meyer

That seems pretty self-explanatory, which is good because I have big news to share.

Footle and Grok is now a podcast!

That’s right. Starting today, you can listen to Footle and Grok as well as read it. Right now, the podcast is on Spotify, and it should be on Apple Podcast as soon as they approve it. You can go to the website, www.footleandgrokpodcast.com, (as soon as it is up and running*) to listen to the podcast or to see where you can stream it.

Like the blog, the Footle and Grok podcast is short in duration and heavy on the weird. It will release Monday through Friday mornings, and each episode is about five minutes long. Unlike the blog, which is mostly random, each day of the podcast will have a different theme:

• Monday – holidays
• Tuesday – science and technology
• Wednesday – weird stuff
• Thursday – words and quotes
• Friday – fun stuff

I’d love for you to subscribe to both the blog and the podcast. They will not share the same topic on the same day, so you’ll get a double dose of all that interests me (and hopefully you.) Spreading the word and writing reviews is much appreciated and helps me grow my audience.

Like the blog, the podcast will be filled with positivity and inspiration. It’s my small way of spreading peace.

*I had a problem with my website, but it is on Spotify for sure. I’ll let you know when everything works.

Tape? What year did I make this list? I still have several Christmas cassettes, but this year I’m transferring them into iTunes as I have done with all my other tapes. I do have a cassette player, but I rarely pull it out, and it’s easier to play the music on my phone.

My dad had a speaker in every room that connected to his record player and stereo. In December, we would put a stack of 33s on the rod and listen to all the side A’s as they dropped. We’d then turn the stack over and listen to the other sides. Dad had Spike Jones, Mitch Miller, Elvis Presley, The Mormon Tabernacle, and others. It was fun to listen to as we wrapped gifts or hung lights.

When I went to college, I copied most of his records onto cassettes so I could play them in my dorm room. Some of them I have since bought on CD, but others are really hard to find, so I’ll just add them as they are.

I don’t know why I added the part about reducing road rage, but it’s probably true. It’s hard to be mad at other drivers when you are singing “Rudolf, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Whether you listen to the radio, an 8-track, a cassette, a CD, your phone, or SiriusXM, I hope you’ll play some festive music in the car and be courteous to other drivers. We’re all a little crazy this time of year.

It’s not that old, so I thought that a computer guru could clean it and get get my speed back. However, I was reluctant to give it up for however long it would take. Plus, what if something went wrong? I use my computer for too many projects to take the chance of it being ruined.

And then, last Friday, my power button broke, and I couldn’t turn on my computer. I found a local place to take my laptop, and the guy there seemed to know his stuff.

The part that broke needed to be ordered. Since my computer broke on a Friday and Monday was a holiday, the part wasn’t going to arrive for several days. I had no choice but to use an older laptop for a while.

However, there’s always a silver lining. The computer guy could turn my computer on from inside the unit, so I asked him to clean my computer since he was going to have it for so long. It was the perfect opportunity to get some speed back.

I picked it up on Thursday afternoon, and it’s like new. The power button no longer feels like it will break if I touch it, and the overall performance is much better. Obviously, I could have saved myself some frustration if I had done a wellness check months ago, but like going to the doctor, it’s easy to postpone things even if they make us feel better.

Maybe you can learn something from my story and get something fixed that you’ve been putting up with. Or just wait for it to break, like I did, and then look for the silver lining.