Wow, I promised to post some more recipes months ago and still haven’t do it… Shocker… Can’t decide what should I post though, I only have a few in mind.
Soup. But not ready brand types. A good veggie-chicken stock soup or a spicy tomato soup is irreplaceable. Tomato soup goes really well with grilled cheese too.
I’d probably go for an air fryer if i was to fry stuff.
Pizza - still working on my bread machine dough recipe. Sauce is almost there. Trying to fine tune baking technique still (temp and time)
I have a general question. Like I said last year, we switched from cable to streaming services. The list we have is as follows…
We’re looking into getting a couple more but we’re not sure which ones should be on the list, so the question is, of Services not in the above list, what would you suggest we look into?
Just be aware that streaming services are starting to Crack down on password sharing.
Amazon Prime had a few good shows (The Expanse).
Spiderman No Way Home is currently only on Starz+. But, you can get that as a Hulu option.
I’ve only used the free version of Crunchyroll (anime).
There might be a few interesting shows on BBC. VPN might be needed due to geolock. (Mainly Dr Who before it’s released to US)
Paramount+ is a must for any Star Trek fan. Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Prodigy.
I can see clearly now the rain has gone!
Well… I promised a food recipe here. Let’s see what we have… It’s fall now so I guess before new year, it’s the sweet turn for the chicken and rice. I’ll serve it with some twist though; lots of spices and lots of sweet notes in the taste. That’s what I go for.
-Rice with dried veggies-
Ingredients:
2 cups plain white rice
2 to 2 and ½ cups of water (amount usually depends on the rice, read the instructions on your package)
1 cup of chicken stock (preferably home made, if you have no chicken stock then substitute it with another cup of water)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp dried veggie bits (You can find from spice shops easily. Dried and diced mixture of carrot, scallion, onion, spinach, sometimes broccoli or tomatoes are added too.)
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
Lots of tap water to wash the riceWe start by measuring, clearing and washing our rice. First, measure 2 cups of rice in a round deep bowl. This will be our washing utensil. Run your fingers through that rice to see if there are any small pieces of rocks inbetween. These small pebbles can appear as black, gray or opaque white unlike our rice with pearly white sheen. Usually rice packaging are much more clear and detailed to eliminate any pieces of rocks to be packed, but it doesn’t hurt to check.
Once we do that, we bring that big bowl of dry rice under the sink and give it a good wash from tap water. You’ll see how excess starch making the water cloudy as we soak it for the first time. Everytime we get it under the sink, we fill the rice bowl with water and rinse it away. We have to wash it at least three times to not end up with cloudy water when we rinse it. After a few rinses, water will come out almost clear. If you are using some wild type, making rice wait in water for 15-20 mins usually a safe way to get rid of excess starch.
To make this rinsing process easier, find a finemesh sieve that fit on top of your rice washing bowl. When you fill the bowl with water to wash the rice just enough, give it a stir by your hands then put the sieve on top of it by waving it aside. By holding the whole thing in place tilt it side ways for a quick workaround. If sieve is too large just hold it on top of sink instead as you rinse the water. No more losing pieces of rice to the sink anymore.
Now we get to the stove top and set medium flame at a small stove. Grab one of our fancy ceramic or tefflon pots that is a 9-9.5" large (22-24 cm) with a deep volume. Something with 4 quarts volume cooking utensil should suffice. Put it on the stove flame and wait for it to get hot and ready.
While this is going on, we make a last check for our rice in case we forget some fractions of pebbles in between and give it a pat and squeeze with our hand if necessary to remove excess water.Toss some butter to pot, listen it melt and sizzle then add our 2 cups of rice completely dry, spare for the humidity from washing them through. On low flame let them soak some butter in for a minute or two, by tossing them around with a wooden spoon. Add the olive oil as you toss them around, then keep this going for another 2 minutes. Now as you’re about to add water, pour 4 tablespoon of dried veggie bits.
I find veggie bits from spice shops, so I hope you have a similar market or a grocery that sell them around you. They are great for the aroma of white and red meat, stews, including soups and rice. Once dried veggie bits are in the pot all that is left to do is adding our clean 2½ cups of water and one cup of chicken stock then let this thing to cook.
Now open the stove to high flame from low and wait. Watch the pot closely, check in the first 8 minutes and observe water to boil over and become bubbly. While it still has a tiny line of water coating it and as it’s boiling we want to add our spice. When you catch that moment of bubbly look this is where we add our one tea spoon of ground coriander AND move the flame to low from high. This will mash the tastes of veggie bits and chicken stock together. That’s the secret usually.
We close the lid again and wait for a couple of minutes when it cooks over low flame, until water completely evaporates and our rice looks like each grain is held by a thread to each other. When you take a small scoop from the rice with a fork, it will feel mushy at first. If you see single grains lightly stick to each other but fall apart when stirred, this is how you ensure that it’s cooked. Shut the flame first when you see that no water left and grains are rolling around.
Now once close the stove from its low flame and saw that it finished cooking, don’t close the lid right away and get a few pieces of paper towel to cover the pot, then close the lid. Rice has to wait for 10-15 minutes before you can eat it without it feeling mushy.
That’s it. Enjoy some rice. Now spook season is approaching I may have a few other recipes laying around somewhere at the oncoming days. Mashed potatoes? Chicken? No idea.
Well, last year I made a post about Albet Pujols not being the same player he used to be and how Angels fans feel they didn’t get the player they paid for. I also mentioned that it would be nice for him to wind back up with the Cardinals to end his career but seeing as 11 years ago the ownership and he parted on not so good terms, I expected it to be a “one day contract” sort of thing.
While most of that post was on point, I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by his return to St. Louis and what he is doing this year.
I’m listening to Reds/Cards game tonight and he hit his 698th homer to tie the game which has been the case in all his recent homeruns, either tying or better late in the game.
I heard a pundit recently say that the difference has been that the Angels were never in the race for a division or wild card spot in the playoffs and so some players don’t get the same feeling when they show up at the ballpark as they would if they were in it.
I gotta say, that makes sense. I mean, he’s hit 19 homeruns so far this season which some players struggle to do in their prime much less in their age “42” season.
It brings back those old feelings when Pujols was hitting 30 homeruns, driving in 100 runs and scoring a 100 runs with a .300 or better batting average in each of his first 10 years in the league.
Point being, what a difference a pennant race makes. Get that magic 700, Mr. Pujols. I’m pullin’ for ya.
Edit: And tonight, September 23, 2022, Pujols is the fourth player to join the 700 homerun club with two homers vs the Dodgers in Dodgers’ Stadium.
Grats, Pujols!
The best enemies ever.
Thanks Roger for all this years!
Well, I got a new snowblower for my birthday a few weeks ago and the first couple of snows we got I just loved it. Saves my back from all the shoveling I used to do. Then a couple of days ago, we had a sleet storm and of course it was too slushy for my new blower. Wife had to help me shovel the driveway.
Was too tired to do the walk from the fence to our back door and of course all that crap just froze solid. We bought some grit so at least my wife wouldn’t slip on the way to the car. But now, wouldn’t you know it, it snowed again last night. Looks like good powder though so this time the blower will work, I think.
Gonna have to hit it here soon so I’ll be done by the time she gets home from work. lol
Just sayin’, it’s hell living in the Northland!. LOL
Happy Belated birthday and have fun with the snow blower today! Stay safe on that ice.
Just finished and it was a lot easier this time. Less than hour to do everything plus make a spot for my dog to go potty. Wife bought him a sweater yesterday that says “Merry and Blessed” near the tail. He’s so cute in it. lol
But back to the snowblower, it’s easily in my top 10 of birthday gifts maybe even top 3 or 5. I love my life. LOL.
I love the holiday season.
My wife has been worried that her work would be closed down because the state came in and found them in violation of some regulations so they put a freeze on them bringing in new residents.
They were having trouble paying some of their bills like for a food service company that provides the food that my wife cooks and what not.
Well, just today, they got a donation from some weathly family for half a million dollars. They not only were able to pay off their debts but are fixing or replacing some equipment in the kitchen.
They even decided to give all employees a Christmas bonus of a couple hundred dollars. All thanks to the generosity of a single family.
The Holidays Rock!
So it snowed again last night. Is it wrong that I’m now excited about snow now? I don’t think so. Still, it’s bright and sun shiny today and then snow off and on tomorrow though Friday. Good year to have gotten a snowblower. lol
Do you want to build a snowman…
[ Music kicks in ]
It’s freezing cold here but no snow. I lost my enthusiasm about it. Perhaps after the new year’s eve, it would.
What is MissC making for the weekend? Anything special?
Made pot roast last night for my parents and am making black bean soup today so we have a nice warm hearty lunch for the cold spell.
Trying to get my bread dough to rise though and that is not working for whatever reason.
Well for Christmas Dinner the wife cooked up two Cornish game hens with a peach, honey, Dijon mustard glaze. Homemade biscuits and peas with onion. Oh yeah forgot the Au Gratin potatoes (Thanks Idolis).
I took a picture of the table setting and sent it to my Daughter labeled two dead birds for dinner! She (my daughter) understands my sense of humor!
No one wanted to cook this Christmas so the family all met at a bar for dinner. I had ham, au gratin potatoes, vegetable medly and a biquit. Wife had swedish meatballs. We exchanged gifts and everyone went their seperate ways.
Our car broke down a couple of days ago (something to do with the fuel pump) so my brother-in-law came by and picked us up.
Got home and broke out the snowblower again to touch up where wind blew snow back in my path.
Got some swedish meatballs to go to have later and can’t wait to try 'em. Wife says they were really good.