Sent to all lists. You are not required to read or respond in any way. Honest.
Before anything else, thank you everyone for the prayers and good wishes and advice on this thread. I know most of you have been through some scarey times and worse, so I appreciate this all the more. Thank you all again.
And now I HAVE to tell you one more story and ...(OH NO, YOU SAY, BUT BEAR WITH ME HERE.) This will close this chapter of The Perils of MestaMachine.
Wben I was a little kid, my godfather had a TV repair shop near my house with a two burner cookstove in the back. One day I walked in and smelled something fantastic cooking .
In a giant skillet, he was frying a ton of ground beef,onions, and butter, and on the other burner was a pot full of boiling macaroni. He said it was a secret, magic recipe, but if I wanted some, he’d teach me the magic ingredient and I could even sprinkle it on all by myself.
It was fun and of course I wanted to learn the magic. He drained the macaroni and poured it all into the skillet and then he handed me a pepper mill and showed me how to use it and THAT was fun...the magic ingredient...black pepper while saying abra cadabra.
He mixed it all together and told me to put some more on and not to forget the magic word. He mixed it and looked at it, smelled it, and said it wasn’t enough yet.
After that, he ground enough pepper to turn the entire top black. It tickled my nose but I was starving, It smelled so good. He mixed it all together again, said the magic word, and put the lid on with the stove off and we just waited.
And suddenly he decided time was up and pulled the lid off and OMG. My mouth was watering and I watched him put a couple of little spoonfuls into a bowl and hand it to me while he filled a dinner plate for himself and dug in. Looked at his. Looked at mine. And he looked over at me out of the corner of his eye while I filled a fork full and jammed it in my mouth.
Stunned is not the word. I gasped and couldn’t hardly breathe. He laughed and kept eating. Said it was the magic working. Slowly, I took another small bite. Then another. aSKED FOR MORE and ate it all.
For the rest of my life, every time I made that macaroni recipe without the pepper, without fail, I would HAVE to pour pepper on at least a plateful and say the ‘magic’ word.
Pepper otherwise was just for sunnyside up eggs. I never used pepper on anything else except on rare occasions.
Why am I telling you this?
About a week before they postponed my first check-in date for the hospital, I started craving Walt’s Magic Macaroni. I just couldn’t find the energy to make it. The craving was so strong, I dreamed about it.
Hardraade knows this is true because every day I would tell him that as soon as I could, I was going to make some...and he would laugh.
4 AM one night I couldn’t stand it anymore and decided if it was the last thing I ever did, I was having me some of Walt’s macaroni. And I did. I made a whole deep chicken fryer skillet full to the brim, separated out a decent container full for Vaeh, then covered mine with enough pepper to choke a horse. I ate like a starved beast and the skilletfull didn’t have a dent in it. I ate it every day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, in between, early, late, kept adding more and more pepper. Then it was gone...and I was still craving pepper. So I made the biggest soup pot I had of homemade chickensoup. Same deal except I added pepper almost after every spoonful.
Noticed I still had to go to the bathroom, but not as often and it didn’t hurt so much, but it was still loose. The nausea was minimal, and I could handle it.
My legs were a severe problem. Times I could barely walk. The swelling was painful and so frustrating and after doing some research, I decided that the lasix I was taking was dehydrating me to the point that my muscles were swelling to try and grab as much water as they could. I stopped taking it completely.
STILL craving pepper, I made a huge tupperware bowl of potato salad and pepper, pepper, pepper. Had dressing left when almost all the potatoes were gone so made more macaroni, added some tuna fish, and kept eating.
The pepper craving was still with me, and having stopped taking the lasix, my hands and legs started feeling a whole lot better AND the bathroom trips became more infrequent and nowhere near as loose. Pepper on everything and that is the way I was when I finally went to the hospital a month or so later.
Today I dumped pepper on beets and everything else that went into my mouth. Oodles of noodles is a staple ‘round here...and I spent a good part of the day researching pepper and its relatives. Some of you probably already know about the attributes of pepper, but I didn’t. Surprised the heck out of me.
The REAL miracle was how I started craving Walt’s Magic Mac and the strong insistence that I simply HAD to have it no matter what. Walt, whose magic lives long after his death, and G-d’s allowing me to hear his message. I think it saved my life...proving once again that G-d does indeed work in mysterious ways.
I still have a long way to go to win this war, but with G-d’s help and you guys in my corner, one battle at a time works for me.
If you made it all the way through this, thank you. If you didn’t, thank you anyway. For everything.
You aren’t likely to see a post this long from me for a while. This took hours and hours. Dang.
Without further adieu, allow me to present
tada
PEPPER
http://suite101.com/a/the-top-ten-health-benefits-of-black-pepper-a193900
I have always said that when you are younger, you see what you will be like when you are older.
Looks like your favorite Dish was your favorite for a reason!
May G-d grant you blessing and a speedy recovery. You have earned it far more than most :")
It sounds like Walt’s recipe was the pepper upper you needed...
Dear Lord, thank you for your sovereign grace and the mysterious way you moved in Mesta’s life - giving her a cure way, way back in her childhood! Please continue healing her each day until she is strong again!
God Moves In A Mysterious Way
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
William Cowper
Walt’s Magic Mac miracle :) thank you God.
Nice story, thanks for sharing.
Thanks. I never knew pepper had so many benefits.
Wow! Pepper of all things did the trick!
... read the article as well...amazing...I didn’t know this either!! Just WOW!
So glad it helped...with prayers continuing and hopeful now you can eat and build your strength without everything flushing thru!
This is good news Mesta...I know you still have a road ahead...but at this point good news is great to hear!
CW
You will continue to have my prayers, MestaMachine.
You really made me smile. Half way through reading, the old Dr. Pepper song popped into my head. Remember?
I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper, she’s a pepper, we’re a pepper, wouldn’t you like to be a pepper, too?
Not the same kind of pepper, I know but my brain sometimes doesn’t relate to things like it should.
Glad to have you back. Keep on doing what you’re doing to get better!
Consistent prayers kept for you, dear Mesta!
By the power vested in me, in view of your esteemed research, I confer upon you the doctorate degree of Pepperology.
Henceforth, you will be known as “Dr. Pepper”.
Especially at 2,4 and 10 o’clock.
What an amazing story! Thank you so very much for sharing God’s grace with us. God is indeed working miracles on you Mesta and you are hearing his wisdom and open to receiving His grace. THAT makes all the difference.
I am thinking of making a very peppery stew now myself!
Your posts are so very special. You pour so much energy into your posts that you share with us so generously. We are here and we are praying for you. Take good care of yourself.
C
I enjoyed reading this and am fascinated! God does work in very interesting ways and I see HIM in your story. So very happy to read this update. Keeping you in my prayers Mesta.
Well, you’ve convinced me! Tomorrow I add extra black pepper, ground fine, to my chili for lunch. ... BTW, I take it the magic word is PEPPER!
They have high concentration of capsacian but are still edible.
Gezuntheit!
Glad you’re feeling better, and may God continue to be with you.
Pepper and prayers. God is wonderful and mighty in the most mysterious ways! How blessed you are that God has you in his healing arms, Mesta! Thank you for the wonderful story and the scoop on pepper.
Prayers for your well being.
I always have a fried egg, sunny side up, and a strip of bacon, for breakfast. And a good part of the pleasure is to shake on some salt, and to use the beautiful pepper grinder one of my daughters gave to me for Christmas maybe ten years ago to give it a good sprinkling of pepper.
Fried eggs and bacon, with salt and pepper. And the pepper sure is better if you grind it on the spot. You can smell that wonderful smell of fresh pepper as you do it. Been part of my breakfast since I was six years old. Or, no, since I was four.
Praise be to God! He works.
This is divine intervention. As I read it a remembered a similar dish and my Great-grandfather and mother re: pepper.
Starting right now.
I’m going through a lot of issues as well.
Thanks MM