Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Watching some Star Trek for Star Trek Day. While Trek is officially 58 years old, this episode is pushing 60....

So there were two Thai places in town. Normally I'd go to Thai Duvall, but I'd go to Pho Thailand specifically for Yen Ta Fo, one of my fave noodle dishes.

With Pho Thailand now closed, and Thai Duvall not having Yen Ta Fo on the menu, it looks like it's time I learned to make it myself....

https://www.marionskitchen.com/yen-ta-fo-thai-pink-noodle-soup/

Made a special treat last night off some Carne Guisada. Bare bones, but bare bones is still super good. I can never judge how long to stew it, but it usually comes out good regardless....

Finding a reliable source of good watermelon out here is changing my meal planning. Here we see four Jenn sized servings of watermelon....

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Creamy Pancetta Pasta

This was that crazy recipe I mentioned a few days ago that was 3100 calories per serving. In order to not die for 600% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of Fat, I took the recipe and removed the spaghetti from the equation and then broke it down to something more manageable.

I do think this recipe is really for a large amount of sauce, and they added spaghetti to the recipe because they did it in the video. Once it broke down to 10 servings, I then added back an appropriate amount of spaghetti.

What I ended up with was a pretty good creamy parmesan sauced spaghetti. If you like parmesan, you're gonna like this cause it's got a MASSIVE amount of it in the sauce. Careful with the saly and pepper, the parmesan is pretty salty as it is.

Served hot, it's great and creamy. But if it cools too much the sauce will congeal due to the amount of cheese in it. Reheating it also didn't seem to work real well, coming out more oily than creamy. In the future, I'd make it for immediate eating, but not for meal prep.

Yes, the recipe really did say "Boom Skiddly Bop."

# Creamy Pancetta Pasta

Mythical Kitchen
10.0 servings

0.5 pound pancetta (diced)
3.0 cloves garlic (minced)
1.0 cup heavy cream
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
8.0 ounces parmesan
10.0 ounces spaghetti

1 - Cook pasta as per box instructions.
2 - Add pancetta and garlic to a pan and cook until pancetta is crispy and the fat has rendered.
3 - Scoop out pancetta and garlic and set aside.
4 - Add cream to pan and heat over very low heat.
5 - Grate in a hefty amount of cheese and add salt and pepper.
6 - Add in cooked pasta and pancetta and garlic and toss.
7 - Boom skiddly bop, pasta’s done.

Makes 10 servings at ~400 calories per serving
Calories 395
Total Fat 26g
Total Carbohydrate 22g
Protein 14g

Normally only uses 2 ounces of spaghetti for one serving, but that could cause...death.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

You know, if Phase II had happened, I think we'd get something akin to Buck Rogers or BAttlestar Galactica effects wise (although Galactica had the benefit of John Dykstra doing the effects for the first "movie"). Those effects weren't too bad, the episodes are actually a lot of fun to watch. I think it would have done well given the scripts I've read.

But I do think it would have had the same end as those two...no more than two seasons, off the air and considered a twice failure. TOS Trek's jump to the big screen was big enough to jumpstart Trek again, and TNG came along late enough (and with that first run syndication, meaning low ratings weren't nearly as destructive), to allow for a "TV Branch" of Trek to survive.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1659186/gene-roddenberry-star-trek-phase-ii-unmade-series-details/

You know, this bread I made? Not half bad. Maybe I'm on to something this time.

@Mondobizarrro - The BBQ Pork Patty is really good and reminds me of a McRib without the bread.

The Asian Style Beef Strips were GOOOOOOOOD. Loved those.

A wonderful article on our bridge trolls....

https://livingsnoqualmie.com/duvall-artist-breathes-new-life-into-iconic-bridge-trolls/

@Mondobizarrro - I never had it, so I wouldn't know. The "Five Fingers of Death" was exactly that, though.

I really love the Breakfast MREs and wish they did more. This one had a maple muffin top (aka a pancake) with syrup , and maple bacon flavored spam slice. They used to also come with dehydrated cereal.

I can see why these could be comfort food for those out in the field. It's NOT quite what you get at home, but the flavors are there.

Fifty eight years ago....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCZLU7qlpYk

[Thoughts Before Bed]

One of the things become more and more apparent as I dig deeper and deeper into VR is the feeling of "embodiment."

I think I talked about how a few weeks ago, I locked my avatar into a T-Pose in order to work on her hair. I accidentally jumped into that locked body and had a minor panic when my movements weren't moving the avatar.

A few days ago, there was a major change in how Resonite animates it's avatars, and my avatar's movements were literally out of control. Everything was over driven, and my legs were stomping and moving far too jerkily and too powerfully.

It genuinely upset me because "this is not how I move." I spent two days talking with people on how to fix this, installing pieces and fixing movements. And while it's still not 100%, it's far closer to what it was.

But the tought process as I was doing this was "my body is not working." Not "my avatar isn't working" but "my body isn't working." The same feeling I got when my pinched nerve and suddenly my arm just wouldn't work anymore.

And I began thinking "is this how folks with dystonia feel? They try to move their arm a certain way, but the muscles and nerves don't do it correctly?"

Embodiment, proper embodiment, is a wierd sensation in VR. I know it's not real. And yet I react as it if it is. The pic below was literally me sitting in bed, as my avatar was sitting in bed, and realizing "these hands are MY hands."

I am deeply upset that my sour cherry candies are not sour at all.