Journal

2023 - Week 3 Cooking Results

We had some snow this week, and it was dense and heavy. I am grateful for the work the city does and the speed at which they do it, but they did leave 1.5 to 1.75 feet of snow in front of my driveway and it was quite heavy. Enough so I pulled something in my back. I’m starting to not notice it (days later), but it is still there.

Spicy Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas

This was the third and final use of the pork butt, made a lot easier by having the pork already cut into pieces, I made some adjustments, due to the herbs and spice on hand (jalapeño and ancho powder instead of chipotle). The cooking made for a longer, but easy cooking night for a Saturday. We ended up having small tacos instead of the tostadas, and it was pretty good. I suppose the tostadas would work well too, but I don’t particularly like frying things.

Slow-Cooker Pork Ragu

The previous week’s vindaloo, left me with quite a bit of pork butt left, so I picked a couple of recipes to do with it. I really liked this. I made my first trip to the Aldi’s that just opened near me, and one of the things I picked up was pancetta, which was about a dollar cheaper then across the street at the Hy-Vee. Could I have done all my shopping there? Only if I shopped first and planned after. There’s not enough ingredients for my taste. It is a smaller store I suppose, but I also picked up a bottle of wine for the ragu.

I prepped everything Tuesday night so I could dump everything in the slow cooker in the morning, and this morning, drive my wife to work (snow), go to my cardiologist. The night before, I didn’t want to drink any of the wine, just in case I had a blood test, so I did the tasting method and spit afterwards. I didn’t end up having any labs, though I did get an EKG (Fine for another year).

I got everything int the slow cooker, and started my day. When I got back from the doctors, the house was already smelling pretty good. As the day wore on, it was rightfully unfair as I had to sit here and smell the pork and tomatoes meld together.

It was quite good. I probably should’ve skipped the added diced prosciutto, which may have added a bit to much fat to the whole thing, even so, still good.

French Toast

I changed the bowl, and soaked the leftover dense challah a bit more, and got into the grove of making the toast. We used the last of the maple syrup in the house, but I just ordered more (Food Coop).

Skillet Cheeseburger Macaroni

I used a full pound of macaroni, a bit more broth, and quite a bit more shredded cheddar. Pretty good.

Pork Burger

Momofuku spicy seasoned salt, pork.

Hot Dogs

All pork, all good.

2023 - Week 2 Cooking Results

On Friday morning, I went for coffee with a friend and former manager. While the conversation ranged far and wide, one thing he did convince me of, use the nice things. If you have them, use them. The sense of joy you can get out of it. It came from three examples, one of moving his mom from her house to an apartment. One was she didn’t like her every day plates, so just use the really nice ones she likes, same with the flatware vs the actual silverware. How much time does one have left to not enjoy the things you like. The other was with a suit coat that he bought, but only wore maybe once a year, even though it was expensive to him at the time. He keeps it in his closet as a reminder that you use the things you have. On a mildly drunk whim, I bought a fairly expensive neodymium low ball glass. I have a number of glasses that I drink whiskey from, some more or less expensive, most bought on a whim, but I had trouble bringing myself to use this one. I used it Friday night and had some nice whiskey out of it.

Brats

Om nom nom.

Pizza

Making of my pizza after a we bit of a break. All the bread flour I had was well past their time, so I dumped it thinking I could get more and, I could not. None, not just of my preferred brand, but none, at all. So I ended up using AP, which, is not the same. I also may have forgotten to mix the salt in, so I added it on the outside., after getting a bit of advice from my brother. The crust didn’t rise as much, or was as chewy, but far more dense. Not unpleasant, but not right. Everything else worked out ok, just disappointed in the dough.

Cheese and Meat day

Of the two Rush Creek Reserve rounds I bought, I still had one left, so I cut up some cured sausage, and some other cheese and we had an unhealthy dinner. This is the first time I’ve actually baked it, which gives a different experience.

Goan Pork Vindaloo

Of the options of pork butt, I took the smallest one which was still way more than I needed. I should have prepped the butt earlier but I didn’t so I delayed dinner a bit longer then I planned, while I extracted the bone. I ended up cubing off the entire butt, so I can use some more in the next week or so (tossing in the freezer). I ordered the Kashmiri chili powder from Amazon, though I suspect I need to get more familiar with some of the local shops. I used apple cider vinegar, instead of the coconut, as it was an acceptable alternative. I ended up using smoked hot paprika, and Jalapeño powder instead of cayenne. The general method to combine everything was pretty easy and led to a bit of snuggle time with Mani. I did end up using more dried spices so I added more water to counter balance that.

After the cooking, I served them with naan that I had gotten from the food coop (then froze) a bit ago. Good Saturday meal.

Triple Garlic Chicken Ramen

I made adjustments…ok I only used it as a suggestion, vaguely. I ended up cooking the chicken with the garlic and ginger and spicy season salt. Then made the ramen and combined the 2 with a fried egg on top. So not the same, but inspired by.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

Ahh one of my favorite soups. Comes together well, takes a bit more time then a weeknight dinner, but not to bad. I always ad a bit of spicy hot sauce when I have leftovers, and it still does not disappoint.

2023 - Week 1 Cooking Results

Honey-Sriracha Shrimp over rice

Easy to do, good tasting, nice over rice.

Orecchiette with Shrimp, Pepperoncini, and Basil

I was going to make a general pasta a couple weeks ago, so this was the pasta that Shannon picked up. I didn’t end up making that pasta, so I figured, hey what can I do for this pasta type? And here we are. I made some adjustments, using dried basil, and less, since I don’t like basil. I added some Spicy Seasoned Salt, and used smaller shrimp then asked for.

Chicken Tikka Masala

I doubled the curry powder, tossed the chicken in the powder, rather than saving some for the pan. Turned out quite good.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

I perhaps added more chicken (I usually go by Costco pack) and then just made it mostly as it asked for. Good soup (insert meme here).

Lamb Burgers

Added Spicy Seasoned Salt, mixed in with the lamb meat and pan fried them. Good things.

Brats

The La Quercia sausage I got when I ordered the mustard, was up to bat again! Still excellent.

2022 - Week 52 Cooking Results

Pimento Mac And Cheese

It has been a bit since I last made this the last time. I purposefully chose hooks cheddar for the color. and went from there. I kind of wish there was an option at my local grocery store for a better quality, and more flavorful pimentos. Anyways, it came together well, and was eaten with joy.

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Chives

I thought I had more sweet potatoes, but when I went to make this I found a sweet potato, and then had to substitute the rest of that with potatoes. I added sour cream, and with the adjustment it came out pretty good. Certainly thick, perhaps even thicker then intended, but I had to get it done.

Chicken Cheesesteaks

I missed some directions here and there, and made corrections, and eventually made it work. I really think they should have better cheese options. I mean in this sliced “cheese” works, but do I really have to? Shredded cheese could have also worked here. A blend of Parmesan, cheddar and something more melty. I reduced the peppers in the mayo, and increased the mayo, for the purpose of making it less spicy for Shannon then added some of the extra peppers to my own sandwich. Good stuff.

Honey-Sriracha Shrimp over rice

Delayed! Shannon wanted to get Lucky Lotus, so we got Lucky Lotus.

Risotto Milanese

This is the most saffron I’ve used at one time, on the family thread where I had people guess the ingredient, and one of my brother’s stated, “I was thinking saffron, but it seemed like a lot”. I had some I had gotten from CostCo a bit ago and used the whole gram of it. A very simple recipe, but needed more attention then average, but over all quite good.

2022 - Week 51 Cooking Results

Pastitsio (for Holly and the boys)

I took the day off, with the idea that I’d make two of these, but as I needed to delivery it earlier then I would normally be able to finish it. My hours our flexible enough that I could have probably snuck out early, but I just took the day off. I got my hair cut, picked up some bread, Stopped by the Cheese Shop, then headed home to start making dinner. After making some adjustments for effectively doubling it, I used 2/3rd lamb and 1/3rd beef, then mostly followed along. Things came together well, considering.

While the plan was to hang out over there a bit, and catch up with Holly and the boys, the blizzard moved in with a bit of a vengeance, and while, we could’ve probably gotten away with hanging out, it didn’t really appear so at the time. I dropped the dinner off, said hello, said good bye and headed back through the blizzard and home.

Pork and Bacon burgers

New from Crooked Gap, took out, cooked ate.

Green onion Sausage Pasta

We still had leftover Pastitsio, so I mixed the half pound of green onion sausage, cooked them with a few leftover onions, then added eggs and scrambled everything together and served it with toast.

Taco Salad

Mostly beans as a base, but a bit of meat. Good as usual.

Brats

This was the evening where we planned to go see Die Hard at the Varsity. This got narrowed a bit, since Shannons’ schedule got changed a little so she’d have to work until 5, the movie starts at 6:15. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but it was bitterly cold. Fortunately, for our timing, Shannon’s work closed at 3, and so she had a bit of time to change and eat. I finished my work day, quickly made dinner and we ate, bundled up and quickly moved, taking account that it may be slick, into the theater, a bit early, hoping to park close. We watched the movie, noticed some things that I had not before. Then rushed through the cold to the car to home. Pretty good sausage, fun movie, good night.

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Chives

I planned to make this on the Sunday, but I decided I needed to take a break after visiting several stores, not for ingredients, but to replenish my stock of shampoo and etc. It was kind of frustrating as I drove over hoping to find a selection of Mead, where I was going did not, driving back across town visiting drug stores in hopes that I could find the other things I needed, which I did not. I finished my grocery list for the week and headed home. 5 or 6 stores were visited. I brought home burgers, we ate them.