Journal

Funny Girl - Des Moines Civic Center - 3/17/2024

So I think I’ve seen the movie, but judging by my wife reminding me that we saw another show already (coming to Ames), I have further doubts of my already knowingly terrible memory. I did definitely recognize the songs. The lead for our performance was quite spectacular. The whole performance was very nice.

2024 - Week 11 Cooking Results

Chicken Scarpariello

While I used boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, which probably reduced the unctuousness, over all this was a fantastic dish and the liquid left behind was quite tasty. after being delayed, this was a nice Monday meal.

Fettuccine Alfredo w/ chicken (from Crooked Gap)

I started by bringing the water to the boil and starting to do the Alfredo quite slowly. I seared off the chicken and then executed the rest of the dish. A clear birthday favorite, it fallowed a “more then I would normally eat for lunch” lunch which was good and not paid for by me. So I took a small portion and went from there. Because I made extra chicken, which the breasts were quite good, it allowed for Shannon to have leftovers twice, which makes me happy.

Chickpea and Poblano Quesadillas

I skipped the semi-guacamole part and then just made the insides and made the guacamole, and this went over well. I had leftovers, which was convent, as the next day turned out to be quite busy.

Tuna Melt (had not that long ago, still craving)

I used some scallions, the leftover cherry peppers and a couple of other herbs and spices along with mayo and yellow mustard. Once again, the cats did not come to hunt me over the use of tuna, but I was able to make some nice tuna melts.

Sausage and Egg Muffins

Instead of sunny side up eggs, I made them relatively fluffy but w/ no runny yolks, which is kind of sand, but certainly less messy. Still good.

Pan-Seared Pork Tenderloin Steaks with Gochujang Beurre Monté

I also made some mashed potatoes with butter, milk and some smoked cheddar. I started those first. Per the recipe I started the butter sauce. I think this wasn’t the best idea as it had to sit for a bit, while the pork was baking.

Generally it was successful, I would have the instructions prep the sauce first, prepare the butter etc, and then actually do it while the pork is resting waiting to be cooked in the pan. This way there is a lot less time between original sauce creation and usage.

Generally quite good. Would change the order a bit.

2024 - Week 10 Cooking Results

Sausage

The other hot dogs in the pack. All Pork, All Good.

Sous vide Pork Loin (Sunday)

First off I modified something I found the internet, and by modified I basically used their ingredients and modified that and ignore the rest.

  • 1 cup yellow mustard

  • 1 cup Dijon mustard

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

  • 1 tsp black pepper

Mixed together.

I then added a good chunk of that the varied sizes of pork loin that I cut down (before putting them back in the freezer, put that in the vacuum sealer and sealed them up and heated them up to a bit under cooked.

I took this out of the bag, brushed it with a bit more sauce and put it in the oven to finish off. I made some mashed potatoes and served it over that with mustard. I ate leftovers several days afterward.

Chicken Scarpariello

I got a rough day text message and we got something else, so this’ll have to be delayed a bit.

Chicken Juk

Simple, I used stock instead of water. I used sambel olek, since I have more then one container again.

Hamburger

Pork! a few spices and going from there.

Flogging Molly - Road to Rebellion Tour - Val Air Ballroom - 3/5/2024

With Amigo the Devil plus Gen and the Degenerates.

I took today off cause I decided I’m to old to work the next day after a concert. I thought about getting up when my alarm went off, but turned it off instead and slept for another hour and half.

We met up with Jenny and Nathan at Either / Or and had dinner. Afterwards I went off with Jenny and Nathan and Shannon headed home.

The venue, itself, which I haven’t been to in a while (Fall Out Boy maybe?), is definitely improved and more modern. I was reminded in the bathroom of how terrible it was before the remodel. The ceiling is covered in sound dampening tiles, which will help reduce the escape of sound, which made the neighbors a bit annoyed. A good refresh and I’m looking to go to more shows there.

The show opened up with Gen and the Degenerates, which, was not for me. I don’t want to rule them out yet, but I’ll listen to some of there music. Second was Amigo the Devil, which after a song that we didn’t get, immediately was definitely for me. Enough so, that I went to go get a shirt, even after my first exposure. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything close to my size, so I ended up with a bumper sticker. I added a bunch of the music to my library to parse and dive into.

Flogging Molly, my first time seeing them, came on and just put on a solid fast paced show. It was quite fun, energetic and even overrode the general body complaints that the rest of me started to feed back. Came away with a shirt, even after an explicit discussion from Shannon that I really need to filter out some t-shirts as they are taking up an entire closet and are packed in.

Organized closet

So I have been looking for my camera stands, not that hard, but a bit. so I ended up cleaning the front hall closet. I separated each of our gloves and winter hats in boxes, and there is a box of scarves. A separate box of non winter hats (ball caps that I can’t remember the last time I wore, and other sun protections). I demoted some coats to the back.