Time for white shoes and pants

This is the beach at Salvo, North Carolina also known as the Outer Banks.  It's my happy place.  Some of my happiest memories are the vacations I spent there.  I haven't been back for too long now.  I have great memories of vacations at the Jersey shore too, but OBX will always be my favorite beach place.  I also spent almost fifteen years living in Florida and the beach there was on the Gulf of Mexico.  So different from the Atlantic Ocean.  The water of the Gulf was always much warmer and the waves were really small.  You could actually swim out pretty far and never get knocked down.  The other thing I liked about Bradenton Beach,Florida; you could park on the side of the road and walk a short distance to the beach.  Have you ever been to Wildwood, NJ?  The beach there is another story, the walk is really far to the water.  One of the reasons my favorite is OBX, is you can drive on the beach with 4 wheel drive.

No long walk, carrying everything and then trudging back again at the end of the day.  At this stage of my life, I don't think I could handle a long walk in the sand on a hot day.  This year a trip to the beach is going to be different than any other year because of Covid-19.  In fact this summer is going to be different as well.  We just have to make the best of whatever comes our way and be thankful to be alive.  

Switching gears, I tried a new recipe last night that I'd like to share with my Keto buddies.  As I've said before, I will only share recipes that I've tried and rate as really good.  This one is no exception.  I hope you will try it.

Keto Lemon Mug Cake

1 Tbsp. Almond Flour

1 1/2 Tbsp. Coconut Flour

1 Tbsp. granulated sweetener, like Swerve

1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp. lemon zest

1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 large egg 

3 Tbsp. Milk (I used light cream)

Combine the dry ingredients and mix well.  Add the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.  Grease a large mug (I used coconut oil).  Pour in the batter and microwave for at least 50 seconds.  I did a full minute and it was perfect.  Cool cake completely before adding frosting.  A simple frosting is, 2 or 3 Tbls. softened cream cheese, 1 Tbls. sweetener and a few drops of vanilla extract.  Mix together and add some cream to get the desired consistency.  I also topped with a few slices of fresh strawberries.  Just the cake has 6 grams of Carbs.  The frosting adds 2 grams and the strawberry adds 1 gram.  You could also top the cake with whipped cream and raspberries.  Let me know if you try it.

Made in the U.S.A

The other day on Facebook a friend of mine from High School was talking about only buying items made in the U.S.A.  I agree with her whole heartedly.  Especially now since I feel it's the only way to get our economy back on track.  By now everyone has seen the posts explaining how to know if something we buy at the grocery store is made in the U.S.A.   Look at the bar codes, right?  And, I do that most of the time (pat on back).  However, what about everything else we buy.  Clothing doesn't have bar codes.  I was doing laundry the same day I saw my friend's post.  Just for curiosity I started looking at labels as I pulled items from the dryer.  Of three large loads of clothing, not one item was made in the U.S.A.  NADA, ZERO, ZILCH!  Some was made in India, Taiwan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and mostly China.  Granted, I don't buy expensive clothing but I was still surprised that even my hanes underwear was from China.

I was really disappointed in myself, to realize everything I wear took jobs away from America.  So, what do I do now?  I was wondering if there's a list somewhere of manufacturers/distributors that only sell American made clothes.  I did find one list of 100 Companies and I'll share it with you, but I didn't recognize very many of them.  Here's the link to the list:  https://clark.com/shopping-retail/american-made-in-the-usa/  I don't know about you, but I am feeling totally overwhelmed by just how dependent we have become on foreign trade.  It's not that easy to stop buying things not made here.  I don't have the answers and all I can do is try my best.