Food

Captain’s log, stardate 2019.334

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Misc thoughts from the holiday.

Despite how depressing my life might appear to some outsiders, I’m actually pretty happy. Thankful for the good things in my life, and hopeful that they stay that way. As the old prayer goes, “Grant me dexterity for things I cannot kill, Crit for things I can, And enough points in wisdom to know the difference”

Making reuben sandwiches reminded me just how damned delicious a good sandwich is. Didn’t find any cuban or rye bread when I went shopping, so I grabbed a loaf of Texas Toast in the hopes that it would at least hold up to the frying. Experiments in eating leftovers make me think, getting this again might be a good plan. It’s thick enough that I can actually pack a sandwich well, the kind my momma would make; without being as cost and space ineffective as a hoggy roll.

I might be a terrible human being if I’m inclined to share my sandwich with the doggos, and then threaten them with hugs as the price of giving me a “Hey, where’s the follow up treats?”. Or just a weirdo.  Yeah, I’m going with that last one.

Willow and Misty are definitely smarter than me when it comes to being comfortable.

Revising one of my old projects, I’ve come to two conclusions, well three but that’s another paragraph. First is when I do stuff at home: the working conditions are kind of brutal. A positive side of working on work stuff at work, is there is more encouragement to take micro breaks. You know, like drinking a cup of coffee or taking a piss. It’s very draining to code at home, and I’m not a seventeen year old kid no more.

The suffering of CMake while reviving one of my own projects, finally crossed the “Just live with it” point, and I spent my day making a really good start on a simple json -> build.ninja generator. It probably helps that C++ and I are long time companions, and that I’ve a high tendency of hand writing build.ninja files rather than using a tool to generate them.

And whoever the hell decided to wake the neighborhood up at 0400, better knock that shit off. My first thought was neighbor taking the family on a their own Vacation ’83, my second thought was wondering if they’re skipping town before rent’s due. In any case Corky and I didn’t enjoy the sleep disruption.

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An expensive but delicious smorgasbord.

Probably a 1/3 can of garbanzo beans (69¢), a bag of frozen peppers/onions ($1~$1.29) that had a seasoned date with a skillet, rice with furikake and soy sauce, and a baked yellowfin tuna fillet (usually $6.99 for 3 frozen fillets). I think the fish was on “Please, someone just buy it” or near BOGO level sale pricing last time I bought fish.

Willow was somewhat less thrilled when permission to taste the tuna fillet was denied, but got her own meat and veggie gravy yummy dog food after dinner. Followed by a regular dog treat, lol. Ditto for Misty and Corky, accept they didn’t try and put their snoot on my foot.

There’s two things that Willow has a high likelihood of attempting theft: fish and chicken. Other than that, she tends to be pretty good about not trying to steal off my plate.

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Hunger was banished by beefaroni.

Which happens to be a great recipe for food comas.

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I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for my efforts to only eat one helping for dinners, I’d be passed out on the floor, rubbing my pasta filled belly, and using leftover garlic bread as a pimple while I drool the sauce.
Needless to say, I rather like pasta.
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Discounting the seasoning things that last next to forever between restocks, I figure this works out to about $3.50 of deliciousness.

The beef cube steaks were under $5 for a package of two, and trivially fried with a smidge of sea salt and a nice helping of black pepper. I find it rather curious how my mother usually fried these, and made brown gravy because her mother  never used it in their cooking; my relationship to black pepper is pretty much the same thing a generation forward.

Much to my surprise, I found edamame in the frozen food section, and this was about half a $1.70 bag. Steamed, tasted, and salted. If it wasn’t my first time trying it, I’d probably have mixed it into the rice. The leftover half makes me wish I bought beer.

Some leftover rice was passing time in the fridge, so a little soy sauce and beef flavored rice seasoning solves the filler. The variety bundle of furikake packets I bought basically is the gift that keeps on giving, in terms of how long the packets last. Plus rice is basically free IMHO. The 5 and 20 pound bags work out to somewhere between $1 and $1.25 a pound, even with buying a kind that I can use for onigiri.

Willow’s number one problem is having to wait until after human foods before dog treats occur. Misty just wishes all food was belong to her.

But I am still forgiven for enforcing the pecking order, that their main treats come after dinner. Which tonight amounted to a helping of canned meat/gravy yumnums, and then a regularly scheduled dog treat, lol.

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Part of me thinks the genetics and upbringing assured that I’d be capable of eating like a proverbial horse. Part of me thinks of I wanna live to die an old fart, I should probably exercise more and eat less.

Willow on the other hand wishes she could swipe my tuna.

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While I can’t say that I’ve ever had much opinion of codfish, Kroger having frozen family sized packages (2 lbs) on sale for under $10, I couldn’t resist last time I went shopping. Plus some tater rounds, because why the frell not?

Thus, tonight went to frying four or five of the fillets. Which a were large enough to cut into about as many frying sized pieces, each. Working on the assumption that I don’t need to eat enough food to feed a family, in one sitting, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be having leftover fried fish for a good while.

Picture not taken because belly too full, and dog glares at life threatening levels between bribery with a chip.

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Even without eating the whole she bang, a food coma may not be optional, lol.

Kroger had frozen Mahi Mahi on sale again, and I finally gave in and bought some. Compared to the tilapia I often get, it’s still expensive when you consider the difference in servings per package. Took a quick Google, and decided to make a lazy adaption of this recipe for the seasoning and the results were very, very yummy. A package of Knorr Sides Spanish rice, and some onions/peppers in the frying pan round out the rest.

Not too bad, considering it’s the only time I’ve had this particular fish. Making this more an experiment than assured success. But I think it came out delicious 🤤.

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25 Old-World Italian Cookie Recipes Your Grandmother Made

I’ve probably had too many of these, at one point or another in my life. Also a nice find off Flipboard, because some of my mother’s baking recipes were lost or trashed during my last move. Among them the Italian sparkle cookies.

Maybe a decade ago, ma came across the recipe in a magazine or a website and it became yearly tradition to make a batch for the holidays. It was as close to a cookie one of the old Italian relatives used to make when she was younger, as she could find; I think it was one of my grandmother’s sisters that made them.

The difference is, our relative made them as huge cookies. My mother, made as many freaking dozen cookies as she could™. I think the recipe called for something like 6 dozen cookies, and she usually made a couple dozen more, demanding so when six eggs were involved in the process. We usually had plenty for Christmas,plenty to give others, and a few frozen to help tide us over until next holiday season.

While I stand by my grumbling about having to make so many extra cookies, it was fun helping my mother bake the sparkle cookies 👍. I’ve often thought, that I might take a shot at it if I ever found a similar recipe, someday.