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To D or not to D

 His Lordship Malarkey made some red hot chilli jam this week using some of the red hot chilli peppers grown this year in our greenhouse. As you can see, we still have a fair few red hot chillis peppers to go, but they freeze well, so no rush. Also, our son-in-law, Ollie, is partial to a chilli pepper, so we can share the crop and all the heat that goes with it. In fact, Ollie decided to try eating one WHOLE…and then thought perhaps he shouldn’t have. It’s the sort of thing Andy does, too. What is it with men and eating whole chilli peppers? Eh? The chilli jam is very hot, too. Only a smidge needed for lovely chilli effect.


Last year, as the Winter drew on, I decided to heed government advice and take a daily Vitamin D supplement. Well, I thought, I’m not getting any younger, my eggs have left the building and there’s all the hoo-ha about ladies of a certain age being more susceptible to bone breaks and the suchlike, and an extra dose of Vitamin D is supposed to be a protective measure one can take when one isn’t getting as much Vitamin D from the sun because the sun has cleared off to Australia for Winter. 

My diet is pretty Vitamin D friendly - a bit of dairy, plenty of eggs, nuts, seeds etc, but I thought that I could take the recommended dose of 10 whatever-units-vitamins-are-measured in on a daily basis for 6 months just as a boost. 

Last week, then, I went to pick up a bottle of Vit D tablets from Aldi. You can get 6 months’ supply for under a couple of quid, rather than spend £7-8 on the same elsewhere. Bargain! However, they didn’t have any 10 whatever-units. They only had 25 whatever-units. Two and a half times the recommended dose. Super Vitamin D Extra Plus. Presumably for very frail old ladies who spend their entire lives indoors under a duvet playing computer games, never seeing the light of day and subsisting on a diet of Haribo and Pringles. 

So once I got home I read up about overdosing on Vitamin D which freaked me out a bit, given my diet is pretty good. To D or not to D, then? 

And then I thought, don’t be ridiculous, this isn’t heroin/ tobacco/vodka/binge watching a TV series in one hit when you lose all feeling in your legs from sitting down too long. What you CAN do, you daft old bat, is take a tablet every OTHER day, thereby dividing the 25 whatever-units into 12.5 whatever-units, which will be FINE.

Of course, I’ve had to put little dots on alternate days on the calendar to remind me which is a D day and which isn’t, because I’ve got enough going on in my brain at the moment without having to remember stuff like that, too. But problem solved. If it was a problem anyway. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well, they won’t get scurry today. Got their vitamin C taken care off right then and there. I like a mild flavored chilly jam. We have something called a Hatch chilly out of Hatch county in New Mexico. It’s perfect for chilly jam. A bit of a kick but also a fruity flavor. They are only on the market for a few weeks each year. A friend of mine who grew up in New Mexico didn’t know it was a “thing” until she moved out of the state. It’s a “thing” alright! You have to be fast before they sell out. A bit like “hey! I saw so and do store has them now if you hurry you might be able to get some.” That is of course AFTER you have secured your own Hatch chilies. If you look online for chilly growers they are more or less all male. Bizarre what one fruit can do to MANkind.
KJ
Denise said…
Sounds a bit like when Seville oranges hit the supermarket here, KJ. Those being the best for making marmalade. They arrive around end of January/beginning of February and are available for about 2 or 3 weeks, then ‘pouff!’ - gone! They can be frozen, apparently, but in my experience this doesn’t bode well for a good standard of marmalade once they’ve defrosted. I’ve never frozen them, but my previous place of work did and guess who got the job of trying to wrangle them into marmalade??
Anonymous said…
I forgot about Seville oranges. Those too are rare to find. We did make batches of marmalade for a couple of years but found that we really just desired one jar once in a blue moon. Considering how much goes in making marmalade we let that go.
KJ
Denise said…
I make a batch every other year which is plenty for us. Occasionally, I like a marmalade cake.

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