Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

My little shortwave receiving station. The antenna really isn't what I use for an antenna. I clip a longer 25 foot antenna that hangs from the patio outside to it.

What is takes to get Jenn to put on a jacket:

That time of year again where I say "it's time to charge all the rechargeable batteries in the house" and other people say "I think you have a problem, Jenn."

It's funny how my handwriting has changed post transition. I didn't change it on purpose, but it's morphed over the years. I really slice the downstroke on the t, and something you don't see here is I really hook the crook on the letter "f."

It's kinda cartoony, but kinda cute, too.

Silly Jenn Fact: In high school, Steph decided my handwriting was so unfeminine, she made me practice writing like a girl. It didn't take at the time. Maybe it did decades later?

This Week's Meals (4/4): Chinese Sweet-and-Sour Pork

Yeah. This...I've had better. It's not BAD, but it's far more spicy than sweet, and certainly not sour. I have better recipes for this that I'll use moving forward....

Title: Chinese Sweet-And-Sour Pork
Yield: 7 servings
Category: Entree
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: 3/5 stars
Source: The Ultimate Chinese & Asian Cookbook

---
Ingredients
---
12 ounces pork
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground Szechuan peppercorns
1 tbsp dry sherry
4 oz bamboo shoots
2 tbsp flour
1 whole egg (beaten)
vegetable oil (deep frying)
1 tbsp vegetable oil (sauce)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 whole scallion (cut into short sections)
1 whole green bell pepper (seeded)(diced)
1 whole fresh red chili (cut into fine strips)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup water

---
Instructions
---

1 - Cut the pork into bite-sized cubes. Place the cubes in a shallow
dish.
2 - Add the salt, peppercorns and sherry to the dish. Marinate for 15
minutes.
3 - Dust the pork with flour, dip into beaten egg, then coat with more
flour.
4 - Heat the oil in a large preheated pan and deep fry the pork in
moderately hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring to keep the pieces
seperated.
5 - Remove the pork and drain.
6 - Reheat the oil and return the pork to the pan now with the bamboo
shoots.
7 - Fry for 1 minute or until golden brown. Remove and drain well.
8 - To make the sauce, heat the oil for the sauce in a clean frying
pan and add the garlic, scallions, green bell pepper and red chili.
9 - Stir-fry for 30-40 seconds, then add the soy sauce, brown sugar,
rice vinegar, tomato paste, and the water.
10 - Bring to a boil and then add the pork and bamboo shoots.
11 - Heat through and stir to mix.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Given what happened to the comal (currently still in Intensive Care with Lissa), I've become wary of using my "working heirlooms," but this fourth generation cook needs to grind some Szechuan peppercorns.

This Week's Meals (3/4): Shiitake Fried Rice

This recipe book is a mixed bag. So far, the food I'm getting is amazing. But the instructions are bad. Like in the Beef Noodle Soup, it never tells you when to put the beef back in. I made an educated guess and updated the recipe.

In this one, the recipe ended with fried rice, sure. But it was not hydrated rice. Just fried hard rice. It never asked for water to hydrate the rice. So I edited the recipe and added some water and instructions for steaming the rice at the end.

Title: Shiitake Fried Rice
Yield: 6 servings
Category: Side
Cuisine: Chinese
Source: The Ultimate Chinese & Asian Cookbook

---
Ingredients
---
2 whole eggs
3 tbsp vegetable oil
12 oz shiitake mushrooms
8 scallions (sliced diagonally)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1/2 green pepper (seeded)(chopped)
2 tbsp butter
1 cup long grain rice
1 tbsp sherry
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
salt
1 tbsp water (eggs)
1 1/4 cup water (rice)
pepper

---
Instructions
---

1 - Beat the eggs with the water and season with a little salt
2 - Heat one third of the vegetable oil in a large preheated frying
pan.
3 - Pour in the eggs and cook into a large omlette. Lift the sides of
the omlette and tilt the pan so that the uncooked egg can run
underneath to be cooked.
4 - Roll up the omlette and cut into thin slices.
5 - Remove and discard the mushroom stalks if they are tough.
6 - Slice the caps thinly.
7 - Heat another third of the oil in the pan.
8 - Stir-fry the scallions and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes, until
softened, but not brown.
9 - Transfer them to a plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
10 - Add the green bell pepper an stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes.
11 - Add the butter and the remaining oil.
12 - As the butter begins to sizzle, add the mushooms and stir-fry
over moderate heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until both vegetables are
soft.
13 - Pour the sherry over the mushrooms, then stir in the rice.
14 - Heat the rice over moderate heat, stirring constantly to keep the
rice from sticking
15 - Stir in the scallions, garlic, omlette slices, soy sauce and the
chopped cilantro.
16 - Add the water for the rice and cover. Bring to a boil on high
heat. Do not open the pot.
17 - Drop heat to medium, and wait five minutes.
18 - Drop the heat to low, and wait five minutes.
19 - Take the pot off the heat, and wait five minutes.
20 - Remove the cover, and fluff rice.
21 - Season with salt and pepper to taste.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Third windstorm in a month last night, and again, we just happen to be juuuuust in the right spot for nothing.

I was in Smokey Point an hour earlier though and it was super breezy.

Original Beef Stock is my fave Soda stream flavor.

This Week's Meals (2/4): Beef Noodle Soup

Tastes like Little Taipei's Beef Noodle Soup, except there are carrots and spinach. The book is from the 70s, so I'm assuming the spinach is a substitute for Bok Choi, which wasn't as widespread as it is now.

The recipe calls for "egg noodles" so make sure you're getting Chinese egg noodles, which look like Spaghetti, and not the ribbon kind of egg noodles.
Title: Beef Noodle Soup
Yield: 4 Jenn Sized servings
Category: Soup
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: The Ultimate Chinese & Asian Cookbook

---
Ingredients
---
6 whole scallions
2 whole carrots
12 oz sirloin steak
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 inch ginger (peeled) (finely chopped)
5 cups beef broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp dry sherry
3 oz thin egg noodles
3 oz spinach (shredded)
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
1/4 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2/3 cups boiling water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

---
Instructions
---

1 - Break the mushrooms into small pieces.
2 - Place the pieces in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Set
aside to soak for 15 minutes.
3 - Shred the scallions and carrots into fine 2 inch long strips.
4 - Trim any fat off the steak and slice into thin strips.
5 - Heat the oil in a large saucepan
6 - Brown the beef in batches, adding oil as necessary. Remove the
beef with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on paper towels.
7 - Add the garlic, ginger, scallions and carrots to the pan and stir-
fry for 3 minutes.
8 - Add the beef broth, the mushrooms along with their water, the soy
sauce, and sherry.
9 - Season with salt and pepper to taste.
10 - Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
11 - Break up the noodles slightly and add to the pan with the spinach
and beef. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
12 - Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

"'Shred your scallions.' How do you shred scallions? Oh, it's a knife thing I've never done before. Well, I'll just be careful and...."

Trying to get Jenn's Great Reset off and running despite all the stuff going on this year. Getting the streams back up and running are happening soon. Comics streams this week on Discord, eventually. Need to get started on the scripts.

I'm trying to get my creative butt off the floor, I just keep getting knocked back down....

This Week's Meals (1/4): Tangy Spicy Shrimp

This meal kind of has a story behind it. Heck even the making of this meal has a funny story behind it.

Right off the bat - I LOVE SHRIMP. De-vein and boil the heck out of it, and I'll eat it all day long. So when I order Chinese food, and something has shrimp in it, if I'm in the mood, I'll pick it up.

My main years in Austin were 2001-2006, and again 2014-2015. During those years, my main source of Chinese food was Super China - Austin and one of the appetizers I love love LOVED was "Tangy Spicy Shrimp." Oddly, I've never seen this offered anywhere else. After leaving Austin, I found my local Chinese place, Twin Dragon Chinese Restaraunt, pretty darned good but they didn't have it either.

Over the years, I've tried to make my own version, or look online for a recipe (I found stuff that seemed close, but when I got it, it wasn't). One seemed VERY close, but it was served cold, and mine wasn't cold, so I never made it.

Finally, I just got fed up and decided to go to the source. I actually called up Austin Super China and decided to ask them what the heck it was. I wasn't expecting an answer, honestly, but I just called in and laid it out on the line "I loved your Tangy Spicy Shrimp, but I live in Seattle now, and no one out here has it. Do you know if it goes by another name, or if you know the name in Chinese?" And the guy on the other end says "It's sometimes called Cold Shrimp." I asked if he had a recipe, and of course they said they couldn't give that out, which I was fine with. I had another name I could look online for....

..."cold shrimp." That reminds me that I saw a recipe for "Tangy Spicy Shrimp" served cold. What if THAT'S actually it? So I tried to remember the search terms for the recipe, and found it! From the New York Times of all things, in 1975! https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/29/archives/three-specialties-from-chef-wang.html

So, I decided to give it a try. And when I calculated the nutritional info, the recipe he gave was pretty miniscule, making barely one serving of what I'd want out of a meal. So I scaled it up to five meals, which lead to some ridiculous measurement.

Scaled up, I needed five cups of chopped scallions. I bought three bundles of scallions, which was about 21 scallions. That made only three cups. Holy cow. A third of a cup of garlic chili paste AND Hot Oil. And 7 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil.

Except it wasn't 7 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil. It was TEASPOONS. But when I saw "5 tablespoons garlic chili paste" and hot oil, 7 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil didn't sound ridiculous.

That said, even with FAR too much sesame oil, it still tastes good, and is far far FAR closer to what Austin Super China had as Tangy Spicy Shrimp. I'm not gonna call it just yet, but instead, I'll make it again with the right amount of sesame oil, since I think more of the garlic chili paste flavor will come through, which was the main flavor in Austin Super China's Tangy Spicy Shrimp.

# Tangy Spicy Shrimp

The New York Times
1.0 servings

0.5 pound raw shrimp
1.0 cup scallions (finely chopped)
1.0 clove garlic (minced)
1.0 teaspoon fresh red chili pepper (finely chopped)
1.0 teaspoon fresh ginger (finely chopped)
1.0 teaspoon dry sherry
salt
0.5 teaspoon ground white pepper
1.0 teaspoon five spices powder
1.0 tablespoon garlic chili paste
1.0 tablespoon hot oil
1.5 teaspoons sesame oil

1 - Shell and devein the shrimp. If the shrimp are large, cut them in half.
2 - Bring enough water to cover the shrimp to the boil.
3 - Add the shrimp and cook about one minute.
4 - Drain the shrimp and run under cold running water.
5 - Pat the shrimp dry. Refrigerate.
6 - Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the shrimp. Serve cold.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Watched a good deal of the new Urusei Yatsura series today with the girls. "My" Lum is the later 80s early 90s version of Lum with the fuller hair and more angular face.

But after watching the new series, I think the new lum is my fave Lum design. <3

How old was this chicken, KFC?

Oh no. Oh no no no.

Dinner with the fam.

The patient at the hospital recovering.

I AM IN THIS EPISODE AND I DON'T LIKE IT

Tonight's TNG was Future Imperfect. I really LOVE the combadges used in the "Future" here. I wish they'd used them more.