Des Moines Public Library, Main Branch with 801 Grand in the Background
Journal
2022 - Week 19 Cooking
With the weather about to do what its going to do, I keep thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the seasons pass and some of them skip over others. I’ve been barely able to open my windows and we’re expecting to turn on the Air Conditioning in a day or two. this morning my dreams were interacting with the loud ass thunderstorm that happening in the background.
The Mint has finally broken through, it has been a bit delayed to the extended lower temperatures, but I expect to be able to harvest some in the next week or two. the chives on the other side of the house have popped up. I mowed the lawn for the first time last week, and even though I’ve been debating if it is necessary at all, due to construction.
Sloppy Sammy’s
Ramen, Chicken, and Fried Egg
2022 - Week 18 Cooking Results
This week was definitely outside the norm. I headed to Cedar Rapids for a team meeting on Tuesday afternoon, and returned Wednesday evening, I stayed in a hotel for the first time since this whole mess started. It was nice to actually see and talk to my coworkers, though I am not really the type of person that needs a lot of face to face interaction, it was good to have a bit.
On Friday, I took the day off, as I am above the non-temporary max of vacation, so I got a hair cut, and went to my late visit of the Cheese Shop. Shannon decided to come home early so I, jokingly reluctantly, brought her home a sandwhich, after she discovered I went out to eat lunch.
Last of my lunch at the Cheese Shop
Stovetop Mac n Cheese n Spinach (p.380 Good Eats: The Final Years)
This was a quite good mac and cheese, though I did struggle at the end adding (half as much as called for after doubling the recipe) the spinach. So I should probably use a bigger pot the next time I use this. This did leave shannon something to eat for lunch as I headed off for my first in person meeting in a long time. As a side note, I used mass market Irish cheddar, because of timing, and I feel vaguely guilty about it.
Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe
I remember why I didn’t like this recipe. I get the paint of doing the extra work of separating the eggs, whisking the whites and all that. I’m just not going to do it. So I did it, the pancakes were fine.
Chickpea Salad Sandwiches
Needed more salt. And more spices. For some of the leftovers I added a wee bit of hot sauce and it was much better, served with Triscuit and ate some this morning for breakfast, and it was a lot better with the saltiness of the cracker and the heat from the hot sauce. It made for a good snack breakfast. On the other side, I think it often depends on the chickpeas to how cooked they are when they are canned. Some will be a bit more chalky in texture, than others.
Brats
BBQ version apparently (what I found open(ish) first). Good stuff.
Desk Reorganization
So when I was excited to switch to the new laptop and and turn in my, showing it’s age, However when I bought a monitor for it, for the desktop system, the 4k 24” monitor, just wasn’t’ big enough. there’s no way I could justify to myself, let alone Shannon, the PRO XDR, but with the induction of the Studio Display, I was able to see the logic of it, but the problem is that made the Desk really crowded.
The crowded desktop before.
So I thought about it for a bit, and thought I might have a plan, but when I started placing things, that made less sense, and adjusted a bit further. Originally I thought I could get the laptops and the wires boxes in the middle, but the monitors took up a bit to much space, so the wires are in the middle, and teh laptops behind the middle of the monitors.
Mid-progress
the organization was making progress, and I got the movement of the drawers and printer stand to the top of Shannon’s art supply cabinet. This was about the point where we started watching Top Gun, so my progress slowed a bit, but I was able to get everything eventually done, enough. The Lenovo USB-C wires to connect the monitors are…well…not very flexible. And the display port, mine, cable is just to long, sot the work area could use a bit more work. The ethernet cablles are also a bit long as well. Overall I think it’ll do for now, though I did add some stuff to my cart to think about, to perhaps finish ($80 of cords)
It feels a bit less crowded, and less distracting. I guess we’ll see how the work side is on Monday, though I did test and make sure everything came back up and works as expected.
2022 - Week 6 Cooking
After a significant amount of time nestling at home, we are planning a vacation, it does coincide with a family reunion, but judging by the most recent family reunion, we’re planning our own activities, because why would we go to a place and just hang out with family and not explore the surrounding area (we arrive before and leave after)? Honestly, it is because nobody wants to take leadership, including me, so it becomes a plan of: some one gets annoyed, forces a decision, then vague plans get put in place. At least some people are moving.
Bangers and Potatoes
Mortadella grilled cheese
2021 - Week 50 Cooking Results
To see this on a random day in December, is a bit shocking:
NWS Alert from 12/15/2021
As the last derecho caught pretty much everyone by surprise, we watched this one pass through. In Des Moines it wasn’t near as bad, since only a 8000 or so people lost power, as opposed to last time where 132,000 or so people lost power. Certainly it is an unpleasant experience to have the fears from last year combined with watching suspected/real tornadoes near areas you know, hearing the wind and hoping to keep power. Unlike last time where I was wearing headphones the entire time…well until I lost power.
Buttermilk Pancakes
Good Pancakes. I really like the pattern on one of the pancakes.
pancake
Gammy Brown's Deviled Ham
Ready for watching a movie and tweeting, we had snacks, crackers and cheese ready to go, unfortunately, the second Derecho of my life (and in 2 years), happened and this became more of a button down the hatches and watch weather for hours and hope for the best. Most of the people I know made it out fine. That being said, it was pretty good. A nice thing to snack on while avoiding the worst of it.
Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry
Chicken from the freezer, sweet potato from the counter. It was a pretty nice meal.
Brats
Good as always.
Leftover Turkey Pot Pie
Delayed. It was still a bit frozen and I didn’t really want to over cook.
2021 - Week 49 Cooking
I am uncertain as to how the conversation came about, but I came to a realization that has kind of messed me up, in that I am dwelling on it like I would do with things before I was on my anti-depressant. So I've been thinking about it so much, I’m tired. 16 days until my next therapy appointment.
2021 - Week 47 Cooking & Thanksgiving Results
Domestic Bones hand pies
It had potatoes, and a nice spice but beyond that, I don’t remember what it was when i ordered it. Pretty good.
Italian Sausage and Scrambled eggs
A bit of a spicy sausage and some eggs, probably more sausage than could be good for a normal ratio, but overall, pretty good.
Bratwurst
Good as always
Thanksgiving
I really need to find a way to get the amount of food per person right. So there’s more then enough, but not an overwhelming amount of food for everyone. Like 1.25x? or 1.1x. We have a lot of leftovers, which is fine.
I missed a handful of ingredients, that I just assumed I had the items for. I over bought a couple of things that I assumed I would replace something fatty with something very fatty for. I had just the right amount of unsalted butter (1.2 sticks to spare).
I like doing the sous vide of the turkey to just under done. I’m allowed to add fat, seasoning and salt, and not having to worry about over whelming the timing of the day off or having to watch it so closely. I did have to make adjustments to the water level when I took out the breasts (they were done) and added the thighs, wings, and drumsticks. But running them separately you have the same flavor and the right, underdone ness. So they can finish off in the final dish, without over cooking. That being said, I have a pile of turkey leftover, I may freeze it and make turkey soup in a week or two.
Due to space limitations, we normally would have people serve themselves through the kitchen, however, since we did not have the same limitations, we dished things out into serving bowls. This had positives and negatives. Everything was on the table which meant that most things were in reach or an easy pass away. On the other side, some things got cold, pretty fast. Frustratingly so.
I started the potatoes too early.
My gravy had lumps. I did however run it through a strainer and back into the pan, so tada! no lumps. I was still upset with myself.
Since the I made the stock, it was dramatically low in salt, so to get the things up to a tasteful level, I had to add a lot of salt. Like a lot a lot. But when you triple a recipe it can work like that too.
Overall nice to see my family that could make it. our house is relatively small so it’s hard to have a formal(ish) dinner for a lot of people. After a couple of years off (one due to health, one due to pandemic), it feels like a pretty good success.
21 loads of dishes. From 11/22/2021 at ~1:PM to 11/26/2021 at ~11:AM.
Time to start thinking about next year.
2021 - Week 46 Cooking
Iðunn continues to become more comfortable in the house, occasionally sleeping out in the open. She has started sleeping on or next to Shannon at night. However, I am still on the “I don’t trust you'“ so if I stand up, come in the room or even make vague gestures, she’ll run, even when eating. This is unpleasant for me, but as I’m the bad one that took her to the vet. Hopefully morning dental treats (which she has started demanding with the boys), will help build a connection.
I did menu planning yesterday because we are going to a movie with friends today…. before noon.
Iðunn makes progress, Amazon Associates boots me
I took Iðunn to the Vet on Friday. I forgot a few things while heading there. I was on a conference call, so I forgot:
Previous medical paperwork from the ARL
Fecal sample
My mask
Part of this was the distraction of being on the call, the other part was it was very hard to get her into the carrier to take her to the vet. She knew something was up, and being as skittish as she is, it was challenging to get her. I did get her in the carrier and headed to the vet, and as I got there to wait, I realized what I was missing. I asked if I had time to run back home to get it, and I did not. Shannon reminded me that I had scanned Iðunn’s medical records (as I do, I get to hoard paperwork, but they’re tiny digital files), So I emailed the vet the two items (medical record, rabies shot certificate). And got a collection take home sample (rubber gloves for kitchen use for the win). Iðunn as frightened and hid under the towel in the carrier.
After the clean bill of health (a minor note about tooth 104, growing oddly). I returned her to her room and she now trusts me a whole lot less. That night we opened the room door, and let her free to roam the house.
She made it into our room that night, and perhaps explored a bit more, but we didn’t much notice. Last night, however, she made it all the way to the basement (2 floors away), to join us while we watch TV. She started playing with the toys down there, and Loki and Máni to some extent.
After Shannon went to bed, play continued, and I got a couple of videos.
On the other side, after almost no activity for years, Amazon Associates justifiably booted me off their platform. It’s fair. I think over the course of this website I may have earned 75$? Anyways, I cleaned up links on the Books page and I may go back through and clean up links on other pages. I got rid of google ads a bit ago, when I realize this is something I do for me. I really should scrape the website and clean up some old links. Anyhoo, it happened.