Meyer Lemon Chutney

If you have never tasted a Meyer lemon before, they are sweeter than a regular lemon – a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.

January through April are the best months to either purchase Meyer lemons or pick them from your tree (if you are lucky enough to have one).

I’m going to show you how I make Meyer lemon chutney. Chutney is a traditional Indian subcontinent (India, South Asia, Caribbean, parts of Africa and Fuji) chunky spread. It comes in many different varieties, but is usually spicy in taste, and made with fruits, spices, ginger, and brown sugar.

Chutneys are wonderful as a spread for meats, a stand-alone side dish, or as a topping on rice or desserts. Really, it’s the ‘bomb and goes with anything as far as I am concerned!

Okay, let’s get started.

I use a simple recipe from Food 52 that I found on the web:

Ingredients

  • 4 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup of lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
  • 1 pound brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 8 lemons (for the mix)
  • 2 tablespoons sea salt

Directions

  1. Remove the zest from 8 lemons with a vegetable peeler, being careful to not include the pith (white part). Cut away the pith and discard. Chop the zest and the flesh fine with a good sharp knife. Transfer into a glass or earthenware bowl, mix with 2 tablespoons salt, and let sit overnight.
  2. On the next day, transfer the lemons to the pan and add all the other ingredients. Stir and cook gently over medium heat till it becomes thick (up to 45 minutes), dark brown and gooey. You will fill 4 to 5 medium size jars

As a side note, I found that 45 minutes was not enough time to get the mixture gooey. It was more like 90 minutes. Don’t worry too much as it will thicken up in the refrigerator overnight.

Zest from 8 Meyer lemons.

Finely chopped zest.

Ingredients combined in a sauce pan.

Enjoying chutney in the morning on bread topped with banana – so yummy.

Simply Amazing – Give it a try!

Can You Talk To Animals In Your Dreams?

News Flash – Man Communicates with Marine Mammals!

North America  – Mr. G (of mrgsmind.com) hopes to one day communicate with wolves using electro-mechanical ears fitted onto a headband – Earlingo – The Animal Assisted Therapy Headband, or signal to cuttlefish using a Light Emitting Diode (LED) communication display board – Cuttlefish Comm Board.  For now, both hopes are only dreams.

Currently, however, he does use his dreams to communicate with animals, specifically marine mammals.  This may sound a bit strange, but not to Mr. G, who has been studying dreams for more than forty years.

Mr. G, who describes himself as a “garage psychologist,”  became interested in animal psychology while a college student.  After graduation, he worked at the university as a research assistant, caring for and testing the hearing thresholds of California sea lions, under the direction of Dr. Ronald Schusterman.

Since retiring as a support engineer, he has focused his energy on working with animal communication in his dreams.  He utilizes several “tools” that he has invented to accomplish his goal.

Mr. G spends thirty minutes a day conditioning himself to have animal communication dreams at night, using his Pattern Disc Viewer – Pattern Disc Viewer and a Pattern Disc.  In this way, he says that he sets the theme of his dreams, which  enables his brain to “manufacture” a specific type of dream.  He says that this process can be utilized for any type of dream that one would like to have.  One only needs to create the desired Pattern Disc and practice.

Wearing the Pattern Disc Viewer, the Pattern Disc image is viewed and flashed with red LEDs during the day.  The disc image is also somewhat “camouflaged”  with a pattern over the image.  Mr. G says that the brain will quickly store the image in memory, and it will not appear in dreams as often.  Disguising the image makes the brain think that it is something new, and it “pops up” in the dream on a regular basis.

Pattern Disc Viewer
Pattern Disc Image

He also spends thirty minutes, three times a week, using his Alpha Generation Glasses – Alpha Brainwave Generation Glasses and/or Alpha Generation Disc – AlphaWAVE Relaxation / Performance Improvement Disk.  It has been determined that people who generate more Alpha brain Waves (7 – 12Hz) have more lucid dreams.  Both the alpha glasses and the disc create Alpha brain waves with their use.  The “Alpha State” is a very pleasurable state of mind, which Mr. G believes could be used to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or to enhance athletic performance.

Lucid dreams, which is where he communicates with the marine mammals, is his ultimate dream state.  In a lucid dream, one becomes aware that they are dreaming.  Once lucid, the dreamer can control the direction of the dream.  In Mr. G’s case, he has conditioned himself to utilize the image of the man (himself) communicating with marine mammals on the Pattern Disc, as the subject matter or theme of his dream.  Once lucid, he begins communicating with the mammals.  “Crazy he says, but fun.”

Alpha Generation Glasses
Alpha Generation Disc

But how is the lucid dream state initiated?  Mr. G uses an older device that he invented, with the help of an electrical engineer, Bob W. from Southern California.

The device, which he calls, “The Dream Trainer,” – The Dream Trainer is hidden within a piece of furniture next to his bed.  He opens up a side door and the hidden dream trainer becomes accessible for use at night.

The Dream Trainer

The Dream Trainer’s primary mode, although it has several, is to detect Rapid Eye Movement or REM, which occurs at the onset of dreaming.This is accomplished using a motion sensor mounted onto one side of a pair of goggles.  On the other side of the goggles is a ring of red LEDs, which will begin to flash over the closed eyelid once REM is detected.

The conditioning of the red LEDs flashing, while viewing the Pattern Disc during the day, now acts as a “cue” when the red LEDs in the goggles flash while dreaming.  The result being that Mr. G often becomes alert or lucid in his dream, but not awakened from sleep.  Usually, he is already dreaming of marine mammals because of daily conditioning, and begins a conversation.

What do the marine mammals talk about?  He said, “Mostly about their day-to-day activities.  How they find food, the things they try to avoid, or even the warming of the ocean.”

Mr. G  knows that the conversations are really just a manifestation of his own life experiences, but says it is still very exciting to talk with animals in an altered state of consciousness .  He says, “It feels like it’s really happening!”

He also knows  how important sleep and dreams are to one’s health, energy level and memory development.  Therefore, he only wears the dream goggles two nights a week, as it can be disruptive to the sleep cycle.

Why do this at all?  Mr. G says, “Mostly because it is fun, but also to learn new things about the brain, memory development, and possibly discover something new that could be helpful to other people.”

He is hopeful that one day that “dream” will become a reality!

– Carl G. Jung, Swiss psychologist