Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

When using an OCR to scan in a recipe, remember to go over it just to make sure everything's good.

"Oh, that's a cute outfit Iluminaughtii is wearing. I've always liked the oversized sweater and leggings look, but I just look a circus tent in them....but what if Digital Jenn wore it?"

::five minutes and $250 Linden Dollars later::

"Oh. That's cute. THAT'S REAL CUTE."

#secondlife

Finally got an direct antenna connection for my SDR radio. It's actually really NOT the antenna I intend to use for shortwave - it's more of a mount for my longwire to properly clip onto. A quick check on Shortwave and AM tells me it's working WAY WAY WAAAAAAY better than the kludge I made back in the other house.

I've already picked up a signal from Africa, as well as the local low power station Valley 104.9 which even my car (which is a DX monster) has trouble picking up in town.

I was talking with Erwin Zel about the Gillespie County schools on another post, and it got me remembering the last few times I was in Texas.

In 2018, I started planning my yearly "trip to Texas on my two month layoff." Seeing how the wind was blowing politically down there, I made it a mission to see everything and everywhere that meant something to me while I was there. EVERYTHING.

I put 9000 miles on my car during the 2018 trip (including going there and back from Seattle). And on every trip, I tracked myself with GPS.

There were still some things I didn't see, and when I went back in 2019, this time using my parents car, I made a list of everything else I wanted to see, and did that as well. I haven't been back since.

Given how the trans situation is down there, I don't know that I can go back.

Too many windows....

Listening into the Puget Sound Repeater Group on the 2 meter band for the first time in forever, now that I have the SDR hooked up to the laptop, and fixed all (most) of my interference issues. Can't kill power completely to the living room right now, but maybe some other time, I'll get more stuff on the shortwave bands.

Huh. The CDC has a Covid Exposure calculator, and it says that I don't need to stay home if I'm vaccinated and boosted and am showing no symptoms. I'm staying home cause I don't want to take the chance of infecting someone, but it's wierd it would say that.

I will be testing the morning of Jan 21st, and if I'm in the clear, I'm going SOMEWHERE, even if I just stay in my car the whole time. The cabin fever is strong.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/if-you-were-exposed.html

Oof, this DVD encoding is gonna take forever. Wait a second...I have three computers. What if....

I wonder what this is all about....

This Week's Meals (3/3): Walnut Prawns

These are supposed to be breaded, but I can't tell if I screwed up the breading (as I usually do), or if it's the paleo-ish recipe. Still, I've learned to make another one of my fave dishes, but I think I'm going to try again with a non-paleo recipe, and see if that goes better.

# Walnut Prawns

Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans
7.0 servings

3.0 tbsp mayonnaise
1.0 tbsp honey
1.0 tsp lemon juice
1.0 pound large uncooked shrimp (peeled) (deveined)
0.75 tsp kosher salt
1.0 whole egg white
1.0 tbsp cornstarch
1.0 cup vegetable oil
0.5 cup walnuts
1.0 tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)

1 - First, make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine the Paleo Mayonnaise, honey, and lemon juice, and whisk to combine into a sweet, creamy dressing. Set it aside.
2 - Toss the shrimp in a separate bowl with the salt.
3 - In a large bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy, and add the starch. Mix to form a smooth batter. No clumps, please!
4 - Add the shrimp to the batter and mix well, making sure they are completely coated.
5 - Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
6 - Once the oil is shimmering, fry the shrimp in separate batches. Cook the shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they're golden on the outside and no longer translucent on the inside.
7 - Transfer the cooked shrimp to a wire rack.
8 - When all the batches are done, place the shrimp in a bowl with the honey-mayonnaise sauce, and toss gently to coat the prawns before plating.
9 - Sprinkle the walnuts and toasted sesame seeds on the prawns, and serve immediately.

#thisweeksmeals

This Week's Meals (2/3): Broccoli Bagna Cauda

I knew this was gonna be good when I tasted the tossed broccoli BEFORE I toasted and tossed it again.

# Broccoli Bagna Cauda

Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans
3.0 servings

2.0 pounds broccoli (cut into florets) (stems peeled and chopped)
2.0 tbsp olive oil (for tossing)
ground black pepper
6.0 filets anchovies
0.25 cup olive oil (for cooking)
kosher salt
2.0 cloves garlic (minced)
0.5 tsp red pepper flakes
0.5 tsp lemon zest
3.0 tbsp lemon juice (3 tbsp per lemon)

1 - Preheat the oven to 400°F with the rack in the middle position.
2 - In a large bowl, toss together the broccoli and olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper.
3 - Arrange the broccoli in a single layer on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
4 - Roast the tray of broccoli for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tender and toasty, tossing the broccoli and turning the baking sheet halfway through the cooking time.
5 - In the meantime, make the bagna cauda. Cook the minced anchovies and olive oil in a small saucepan over low heat.
6 - Stir until the anchovies melt into the oil, which should take 3 to 5 minutes.
7 - Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes.
8 - When the broccoli’s done roasting, transfer it to a large bowl, and mix it with the garlic-anchovy sauce, lemon zest. and lemon juice.

#thisweeksmeals

This Week's Meals (1/3): Westlake Soup.

Accidentally set my recipe manager to six servings instead of five (and my scallions have gone missing, so I substituted onions), but that's fine. I get one bowl right now!

Basically this is a type of hot and sour soup, and is really good. Although next time I'll go a little lighter on the white pepper AT THE "season to taste" step. It's went from "could use some pepper" to "OMFG HOT."

# West Lake Soup

Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans
3.0 servings

0.5 pound flank steak (finely minced)
1.0 teaspoon kosher salt
2.0 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1.0 teaspoon fish sauce
1.0 teaspoon sesame oil
4.0 teaspoons ground white pepper
6.0 cups chicken stock
0.25 pound shiitake mushrooms (stemmed) (thinly sliced)
0.25 cup cornstarch
0.25 cup water
3.0 large egg whites (lightly beaten)
1.0 cup cilantro (finely minced)
3.0 whole scallions (thinly sliced)

1 - Combine the cornstarch and watter and whisk into a slurry
2 - Combine the beef, salt, vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper in a bowl.
3 - Bring the broth and mushrooms to a boil over high heat in a saucepan.
4 - Lower the heat to maintain a simmer, and add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the soup, stirring well to incorporate.
5 - Once the soup thickens, add the marinated meat and stir well. As soon as the meat is cooked through, about 30 seconds, turn off the heat.
6 - Season the soup with salt and white pepper to taste.
7 - In a slow, steady stream, pour in the egg whites from high above the pot, stirring as the whites hit the liquid. The whites will cook upon contact with the hot soup, forming ribbon-like tendrils.
8 - Mix in the cilantro and scallions. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.

#thisweeksmeals

This Week's Bread: Cinnamon "Rolls"

I woke up today and chose violence. And so did my gluten structure.

One of my problems when cooking is I tend to lock into the recipe. Cooking? Tends to work. Baking, not so much.

A lot of baking is "this feels right" or "this feels off." The instructions for the dough say to run it in a stand mixer until the dough pulls off the side of the bowl.

I did that but even I felt it was too soft and sticky. And I should have gone with my gut as the rolls collapsed. The good news is I have a gut which I can go with. I know what you look for. And the rolls will likely be fine.

So they're not so much cinnamon rolls as they're cinnamon volcanoes.

Because of course Walmart messed up the pre-orders. Again. The joys of haveing an exclusive at an unreliable store.

I remember as a kid thinking Corinne from Soap was so so beauitful, and I loved her long long hair. I wanted hair like that.

I was probably four when I saw this? So, yeah, trans from the beginning.

One of the joys of running Linux is finding out that applications you haven't even thought about since your college days are still being used and updated.

Along with my movies, I'm reripping my CDs, and forgot that the Star Trek: First Contact soundtrack has a small Data section. So I installed it on my Windows 3.11 virtual machine. I now have a copy of Internet Explorer 2.1! And Compuserve!

My original Windows 3.11 machine was NEVER this full.

Registered for Jury Duty. Got a long line of Works in Progress...setting them up and knocking them down now that I have the time.

Now that the Sidekick 3 is up and running (Although not able to connect to the phone system) at least I can get the sound effects off it, which is something I've wanted for ages.

This Week's Meals (3/3): Broccoli "Noodle" Soup

And with that, I'm done with this cookbook. The ingredients are expensive, it asks for expensive gadgets and is obviously aimed at someone WAY more affluent than me.

No recipe right now cause I'm angry at the cookbook.