Community

[Fred588]

May I suggest that some increased posting, of the sort related to what we are doing while staying home, would be a good thing for this community. What are people doing? Have you made any interesting meals you would not have made otherwise? How is the cat coping with more people around all the time? What household projects have you finally gotten to after several years of procrastination?

While I am no expect on such things I think it is generally true that talking thongs out is helpful, especially if the talk tries to avoid gripping.

[Fred588]

One thing I like to do anyway but can now do more of is cooking. Today I made two things: one a traditional comfort food many here will recognize and one entirely new to myself.

The traditional comfort food is good old American Chop Suey. Well done and browned ground beef, sweet onions, carrots, shaped pasta, and tomato paste, plus garlic powder and a small amount of sweetened curry powder. Tomato sauce could be used in place of the paste but I prefer the flavor from the paste. Some might know this dish as slumgullion. If you made it on a scout camping trip it was probably horrible but you ate it anyway because you were rather hungry.

The new, to me, item was a salami and turkey soup. I happened to have some quarter-inch thick slices of salami, which I cut up into cubes and the turkey was frozen breast meat left over from a roast turkey several months back. Corn, peas, and green beans for vegetables and a mix of herbs and spices. I will make this again.

[Jumpoff_Joe]

Okay...I've been off onto other hobbies and interests...been doing some yard work...I think the cats are pretty much used to me being home all of the time, I am not sure they liked it so much at first.

[MadMax359]

i've heard it's good to clear out your spices regularly, they lose potency over time, so i've been working on that

[Fred588]

Something I have been doing a bit more frequently over the past few weeks is making a home made pizza. Pizza is comfort food and almost infinitely variable, and rediculouslky easy using a bread machine. I just dump in three dry ingredients and two wet and push the on button. In 90 minutes I have a ball of pizza dough. My pizzas are a sort of rough rectangle in shape so there is no playing around trying to make something round. I just role it out onto a baking sheet. I rather prefer a thick crust so its simple enough. For toppings I use some tomato sauce (although just plain catsup works very well) at least two kinds of shredded cheese - usually mozzarella and mild cheddar, a healthy dose of onions and a cut up bell pepper, and then a sprinkling of crumbled Parmesan cheese. Nothing to it. The only real problem is to temper how much I eat.
I use the smaller of the two recipes most of the time unless I have a need for two pizzas.

[Nessie]

When I bought my house, over 30 years ago, it was partly for the awesome three-season porch that had all these slitty windows on all three sides facing the outdoors. There must be a word for them -- they are a lot like blinds made of glass. They've got these knobs on every pane and when you turn it, all the little slitty windows on the pane open and close at the same time.

And I have to admit, it is very nice, to sit on my porch on a pleasant summer day, watching the curtains gently wave, and feeling a soft breeze, in privacy even though I'm in the city. Some of my quicksand artwork was even drawn out there if the weather was good.

But three decades later, I think the designer was insane. It's not just washing regular big windows. It's washing, I dunno, 500 long tiny windows, and on both sides too.

And they do get really grubby after a couple years!

They were scheduled for cleaning this year anyway but apparently I'm starting early, because nobody's going anywhere for awhile.

Nessie

[Nessie]

The traditional comfort food is good old American Chop Suey. Well done and browned ground beef, sweet onions, carrots, shaped pasta, and tomato paste, plus garlic powder and a small amount of sweetened curry powder. Tomato sauce could be used in place of the paste but I prefer the flavor from the paste. Some might know this dish as slumgullion. If you made it on a scout camping trip it was probably horrible but you ate it anyway because you were rather hungry.

That sounds tasty.

Nessie

[Fred588]

The traditional comfort food is good old American Chop Suey. Well done and browned ground beef, sweet onions, carrots, shaped pasta, and tomato paste, plus garlic powder and a small amount of sweetened curry powder. Tomato sauce could be used in place of the paste but I prefer the flavor from the paste. Some might know this dish as slumgullion. If you made it on a scout camping trip it was probably horrible but you ate it anyway because you were rather hungry.

That sounds tasty.

Nessie

If anyone here wants to try this, consider this: First, you want to get a good Maillard reaction with the meat. This is the browning, no burning, that you get when it Is fried. The reaction adds a lot of flavor. Second, use lots of onion. I always use sweet onion rather than regular ones so I can use lots of it without getting an overwhelming onion taste. Third, add some carrot or bell paper, or both. This adds a contrasting but complimentary flavor and the color adds to the presentation. Finally, don't over-spice the sauce. I just use a small can of tomato paste and a little garlic powder, and some sugar and curry powder mixed 6 to 1. You could use any tomato sauce but much of the commercial variety has way too much oregano and that changes the flavor. Experiment. Some black olives would not hurt.

[Duncan Edwards]

When I bought my house, over 30 years ago, it was partly for the awesome three-season porch that had all these slitty windows on all three sides facing the outdoors. There must be a word for them --
Nessie

Louvered windows - Popular in Florida and along the Gulf coast but I never considered them for your part of the world. I bet that's a great porch.

Having been designated as "essential" I've been going to work every day. They gave me the option of doing most of my work from home where I would be locked in with my wife and daughter as they viewed Hallmark and Lifetime all day. I offered to bring a blanket and pillow to work instead. I've got a small deck out back that was built by a hippie with leftover lumber about the same time you bought your house so the dog and I spend a fair amount of time out there. I grill a lot. Been walking a lot too trying to get back to proper running but that's been a work in progress for several years now. I'm making much better progress at becoming a grumpy old fat guy with long gray hair. Never thought that could happen but it just goes to show if you really set some goals and put some work into it you can do things you thought were impossible.

[Fred588]

When I bought my house, over 30 years ago, it was partly for the awesome three-season porch that had all these slitty windows on all three sides facing the outdoors. There must be a word for them --
Nessie

Louvered windows - Popular in Florida and along the Gulf coast but I never considered them for your part of the world. I bet that's a great porch.

Having been designated as "essential" I've been going to work every day. They gave me the option of doing most of my work from home where I would be locked in with my wife and daughter as they viewed Hallmark and Lifetime all day. I offered to bring a blanket and pillow to work instead. I've got a small deck out back that was built by a hippie with leftover lumber about the same time you bought your house so the dog and I spend a fair amount of time out there. I grill a lot. Been walking a lot too trying to get back to proper running but that's been a work in progress for several years now. I'm making much better progress at becoming a grumpy old fat guy with long gray hair. Never thought that could happen but it just goes to show if you really set some goals and put some work into it you can do things you thought were impossible.

The Hallmark and Lifetime thing is just their cover story.