Food

by

 One of the side effects of shopping hungry: I bought a steak for the first time in next to forever.

I also had the genius idea to put the broccoli and cauliflower and mushrooms in the cast iron skillet with the steak before finishing it in the oven. And thankfully didn’t ruin the steak. Since the veggies were already steamed yesterday: they were ready for a quick trip to the oven. Lacking potatoes, the udon stand in for filler.

Willow of course just wished she could have my food instead of waiting for her own food, lol

by

Faced with the clock telling me that I should cook dinner, and a disposition that feels more like going Barny Gumble on an Espresso machine: I opted for a plot involving fried rice.

I diced and pressed some tofu, something I’ve never worked with before. Interesting to me however the recommended way to prepare it for frying or baking is essentially the same way I was taught to prep eggplant for the same cooking methods.
But aside from that most of the ingredients were chosen based on leverage.
  • About 1/3 of the tofu block.
  • Half a can of peas and carrots, so that I can use the peas for flavoring something else.
  • A chunk of  steamed broccoli and cauliflower that leaves enough leftover for another meal or two.
  • About half a thing of mushrooms that were on sale when I did the shopping earlier this week.
  • Plenty of rice, and enough leftover for a meal or two.
Pretty much other than seasonings: everything was chosen because it’s something that’ll save time on another meal.

The dogs of course are always interested in food: but they love their extra special treat even more.

by

While the timing worked out well, I had to go pick up Misty’s prescription: so may as well do the shopping. I do think that the photos show the dangers of being so hungry you’re ready to drop, and finding yourself in the grocery store. Something like that, yadda, yadda.

The salad kit was probably a mistake, but speed was essential. The fried chicken will also last three or four meals if I have filler. Not to mention it’s shareable with the dogs.

Typically I’m too cheap to buy parfaits at the grocery store, and rarely have enough fresh fruit to make one. On sale for $2, I said screw it.

The cookies on the other hand were because I can only die once, probably, 🤣.

by

Can’t say that I have any recollection of eating tortellini before tonight.

But there’s only two things that really need to be known. Firstly: unless it’s filled with rat poison: anything that looks lie a dumping is likely tasty; and seondly: I love pasta 😀.
Willow of course agrees with my method of covering them in cheese, applying suave and cheese, mixing them up, and then applying more cheese ^_^.
by

The positive side of my day can be summarized as a series of meals, and dogs staring.

Having a coupon, I decided to splurge on breakfast from Burger King. It’s amazing how happy a little bit of hash brown will make a dog, lol.

Dinner was pasta, and I was much stared at. Sadly unlike breakfast there was no sharing.

Reactions to pasta didn’t stop Willow from being comfy but alert. Also helps that they got meat and gravy treaty goodness after dinner.

After a while, I wondered if Misty licking her chops was due to me thinking about cake, or it almost being time for her medication; which means peanut butter.

The decision to have some cake later lead to a hole being stared into my head.

Needless to say: I had to give everyone a dog treat to purchase some forgiveness, just to be sure I’m not found dead with teeth marks by morning.
by

Welcome to Applebee’s! Can I Get You Started With Some Disinfectant? Chain restaurants are rethinking food for diners who fear the virus — and one another.

While some of this is a bit much, I’m glad that people are at least taking this seriously. Dining environments are often filled under the concept of “Generally considered safe” than “Swimming in disinfectants”.
I’d like to think if you can pass the inspections from the board of public health, you’re going to generate safe food. Relative to your staff’s health. But common areas like tables, chairs, booths, and other customer touch heavy areas can’t be held to same standards as your kitchen service; least not in practical terms. But a little bit of calculated effort can go a long way to avoid and limit stupid.
by

This is the first time I’ve made a meatloaf in years.

My mother used to make meatloaf fairly often, but left to my own devices I haven’t made one in so long that I can’t remember what year it was, lol. Growing up in a household devoid of brown gravy, she never missed an opportunity for food that could be smothered in it; not that pasta sauce and meatloaf isn’t delicious, it very much is, lol. I don’t really do brown gravy, but opted to buy a few packets planning ahead for tonight’s meatloaf.

The pair of potatoes that didn’t make it into this weekend’s vegetable soup got baked, mashed, and turned into pure deliciousness. I forgot how much work it is to mash potatoes, and just how incredibly worth the effort it is! That I’ve switched from cooking with milk to using half & half hasn’t hurt any. Licking the potato masher was enough to prove my efforts were successful 😁.
Because I’m weird: the side is roasted brussle sprouts. My mother would usually make green beans out of a can, or in later years some mixture of green, white, and red vegetables cooked until soft, mushy, and seasoned Italian style. The latter was always far better than the former, and probably played a large part in why veggies are a focus of many meals around here. You can bet my habits of roasting sprouts and carrots share seasoning characteristics with my mother’s cooking, lol.
Also I think it’s time for Willow’s nails to have a trim.
To compensate for the time spent in the kitchen, I gave the hungry minions a regular treat before I started cooking. Then some of their meat and gravy goodies after dinner; usually they have to wait until after dinner for their weekday treats.
by

While I don’t think I will ever make a truly good soup, I was glad that there was plenty of flavor. Plus pretty much everything is a cheese delivery vehicle 😉.

Willow’s perspective was more about whether or not sharing was to be involved.

by

My first experiment making sweet tea involved a bunch of old oolong tea that I had sitting on a shelf, and was deemed successful.

Repeating the experiment with some fresh tea, well, it was successful—but it was more like a great success.

Personally, I’ve never cared very much for hot tea, nor regular iced tea. So much as dealing with friends and family caused me to tolerate them. And then there’s sweet tea. Now that’s something that I’ll drink with pleasure, lol.

by

Most nights, I cook dinner at home. And then there’s times for ordering a delicious food coma.

Plus there’s enough leftover for dinner tomorrow, after filling my dinner plate.