jmb3450's Journal, 21 July 2014

Day one of the no sugar challenge going well. There are some things I have in my diet that have some sugars - for example I include either a light or plain yogurt in my protein smoothies, protein powder has a gram or two of it, and maybe some other things to I'm not sure. What I had in mind was no alcohol, no candy, cakes, snacks, etc. Hopefully that's acceptable.

My wife had a bad night, lots of pain from her knee replacement. The therapy nurse reassured her today that as uncomfortable as it is, it's normal at this stage of the game. Her range of movement is excellent, 2 weeks post surgery she can get to a 108 degree bend on her own, the nurse says that is phenomenal. The end goal is 130 degrees, nurse says she'll get there no problems. So that's re-assuring, hopefully my wife will take that to heart. Also the nurse says she needs to move it more when it gets painful as that will lubricate and loosen up the joint.

Last night I started fermentation on my last batch of wine, a blueberry port. 8 pounds of berries for one gallon so it'll have lots of flavor. In 5 days I'll strain the fruit out, then keep adding sugar and let it ferment out until the alcohol level kills the yeast, probably around 16 percent or so. After that it'll get some oak chips for flavor, then sit to clear and let the sediment fall out of suspension. Some more aging, followed by adding some blueberry infused brandy to get the alcohol up over 20 percent....not sure what the final percentage will be as that will depend on taste. I'll sweeten it with grape juice concentrate, then bottling time. Hopefully I can wait at least 2 years before trying any, it should age very well.

Other than that here's a picture of what else in process:

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Left to right is Gewurztraminer, Strawberry, Peach, and Blackberry. The Gewurztraminer is about ready to bottle, strawberry needs to clear a little more than I'll rack it off the sediments. Peach is in the last throes of fermentation then it'll probably take a few months to clear. As for the blackberry I'm going to combine it with merlot which I think will result in a very nice blend. Maybe I'll do a bottle or two of straight blakcberry, probably a sweet dessert wine. If you can't tell, I enjoy doing this a lot! Kind of like a mad scientist...lots of fun.

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1486 kcal

Fat: 29.63g | Prot: 124.60g | Carb: 192.40g.   Breakfast: Gu Lucerne Greek 100 Black Cherry Yorgurt, Coffee (Dry, Powder with Whitener, Reduced Calorie), Carrington Farms Flax Chia Blend, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Milk, Spinach (Chopped or Leaf, Frozen), Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Packets, Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa, Top Care Whey and Soy Protein, Great Value Frozen Blueberries. Lunch: Low Fat American Cheese, Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water (2 oz), Schwebel's Aladdin's Plain Pocket Pita Breads (Large), Kraft Miracle Whip Light Dressing. Dinner: Pepperidge Farm Seasoned Croutons, Great Value Romaine Lettuce, Kraft 2% Mexican Style Four Cheese, Tostitos Medium Salsa, Benita Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles, Boca Meatless Ground Crumbles, Minute Instant Whole Grain Brown Rice, Goya Black Beans. Snacks/Other: Del Monte Mixed Fruit (No Sugar Added), Pistachio Nuts, Peaches. more...