Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

This Week's Meals (2/3): Mashed Potatoes with Cream Gravy

Came out a little more liquidy than I'd like. More of a puree, than a "dollop." I'd likely pull back on the half-and-half next time.

# Mashed Potatoes

Threadgills: The Cookbook
10.0 Jenn sized servings

4.0 pounds potatoes (peeled) (cut into quarters)
12.0 tbsp butter
2.0 cups half-and-half
1.0 tsp salt
1.0 tsp black pepper

1 - Boil potatoes until tender.
2 - Drain and mash with butter, half-and-half, salt and pepper.
3 - Beat until smooth.
4 - Serve with cream, brown or giblet gravy.

# Skillet Cream Gravy

The Austin Cookbook
2.0 cups

0.25 cup canola oil
0.25 cup flour
2.0 cups milk
salt
pepper

1 - Pour oil into the frying pan.
2 - Set the heat to medium and add the flour to the skillet, using a whisk to combine it with thed oil.
3 - Add the milk and cook, stirring, until the mixture is smooth and thickens to a gravy consistency.
4 - Season with salt and pepper.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Tonight's Max Headroom is "War."

I forgot how much I like George Coe as Ben Cheviot. He's the new less-cutthroat head of Network 23 aft3er Grossberg is deposed. He's sympathetic to Edison, Theora and Murray, and will go out of his way to help him...

...as long as it doesn't hurt the Network. He will ALWAYS choose Network over everything. I like that kind of ambiguity in characters. You know he's gonna try and help. But WILL he?

Well...I'm full up. Now what do I do if I get another paprika?

This Week's Bread: CORNBREAD!!!

As one of my uncles would say "Ohholygotdamn." This is GOOD. Could be a little sweeter, as I'm one of those heathens who prefers sweeter cornbread. But topped with a little butter, this is gonna be YUM.

# Southern Cornbread

Threadgills: The Cookbook
18.0 Jenn Sized slices

4.0 cups corn meal
2.0 cups flour
0.3333333333333333 cup sugar
2.25 tsp salt
0.3333333333333333 cup baking powder
6.0 large eggs
4.0 cups milk
11.0 tbsp butter

1 - Preheat oven to 350°.
2 - Combine corn meal flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
3 - Whisk in eggs and milk, blending well, and then whisk in the melted margarine.
3 - Coat an baking pan liberally with nonstick spray or pour in just enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom and rub it up on the sides of the pan.
4 - Put the pan in the oven until it is hot enough to cause the batter to sizzle when it is poured into the pan.
5 - Pour the batter into the pan
6 - Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until cornbread is set in the center and has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.
7 - Serve hot from the oven or at room temperature.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

DO. NOT. ELECT. THIS. MAN.

https://www.advocate.com/politics/donald-trump-transgender-rights

This Week's Meals (1/3): Threadgill's Southern Corn on the Cob

I'm eatin' Threadgill's this week! And trying a new meal plan.

My blood sugar isn't doing to hot, and my doctor wants me to drop my carb intake to 150g a day. So I decided, well, let's still eat whatever the heck we want, but cut it to 37g of carbs per meal, four meals a day.

There's not much here...only 144 calories in this meal. But it should hopefully keep my blood sugar a but more normal. And I have a lot of no-carb snacks if I get hungry.

# Sweet Corn Off The Cob

Threadgills: The Cookbook
6.0 Jenn sized servings

6.0 cups water (boiling)
0.25 whole yellow onion (diced)
0.5 whole green bell pepper (diced)
0.25 whole red bell pepper (diced)
1.0 tbsp Threadgill's Vegetable Seasoning
2.0 tbsp cornstarch
0.5 cup cold water (cornstarch)
2.0 pounds sweet kernel corn

1 - Add cornstarch to water, and whisk, making a slurry.
2 - In a 4-quart pot, put water, onion, bell peppers, seasonings and cornstarch.
3 - Boil, reduce to simmer, and add corn.
4 - Cook until corn is tender, about 30 minutes.
5 - Drain and serve.

# Threadgill's Vegetable Seasoning

Threadgills: The Cookbook
Makes a BUNCH.

1.0 cup salt
2.0 tbsp black pepper
6.0 tbsp white pepper
4.0 tbsp cayenne pepper
2.0 tbsp onion powder
2.0 tbsp mustard powder

1 - Mix ingredients well

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Sometimes critical thinking goes against what you want to do. But at the same time, critical thinking is more right than you may be.

Got in a nostalgic mood, and put on the Original ST:TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror."

In my Theory of the Star Trek Universe, I decided that the Mirror Universe was created when Edit Keeler survived the episode "City on the Edge of Forever." The Nazis win WW2, and a much more bloodthirsty humanity emerges. This also raises the possibility of Enterprise's "Stormfront" being a mirror universe episode.

Thoughts?

Apprently we had a power outage this morning. All my clocks are blinking and my LED lights were on when I woke up. Second surprise windstorm I've slept through....

There are a number of things I ordered for delivery before the layoff. Ironically, one is a statuette I bought for myself as a "I survived one year at Tableau" that likely won't get here until months after the layoff.

Cartoon Accurate Starscream was one of those pre-orders, and I finally got it, although not in the way I expected. I made the order in October, for delivery in January, which Walmart then delayed to February. Then I noticed their website said one was at the Walmart up the street. So I put in the order, it went through, and I picked it up. Then cancelled the pre-order.

Anyways, I love how the Cartoon Accurate Starscream looks on the right, versus the Vintage G1 Starscream on the left. The no-sticker looks was something I had already done with my original Ramjet and Thrust, never putting the stickers on, and leaving their cone-heads up to look like the cartoon. I do wish, however, they'd left his face black. In the cartoon, his face is darker than the other seekers who do have white faces and black "helmets."

Cartoon Accurate Hot Rod is still on delay, and doesn't seem available anywhere just yet, so I'll wait a bit longer on it. The money was already paid, so it's not gonna hurt me cash wise. But at the same time, I may need that cash later....

I always feel wierd when I interact with a trans woman I come across "in the wild." All my old support group instincts of "Don't call them out, don't bring them any attention don't get them read" come to the forefront. Even though I really want to. And those rules are ancient.

I did say "Thank you kindly, ma'am" and the grin I got back was ear to ear.

不好了！ 我完全無辜的氣球！

Jenn works on her grocery list: Hrm...this recipe calls for milk. I have milk. I wonder is it's still good. OOOF. Febuary 2nd. Well, I'll need Half-And-Half, too. Let's check on...December 20th. Oh my.

One of the reasons I'm glad my recipe program can scale recipes, is some of my restaurant recipes are GIGANTIC. Here's Threadgill's Mashed Potatoes nutritional info if I ate the whole recipe at once:

"2001: A Space Odyssey" As Directed by George Lucas

Funniest thing I've seen all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_suy7gARps

Dreamed I had made a new video game called "Strikers." It was supposed to be a fighting game, but somehow morphed into a game where, when you get to the VS screen, you and your opponent have to sing a duet.

Everytime you lose tempo. or waver, or go off key, a piece of the backgorund or yourself dissapears. If you completely dissapear, game over. the person with the most of themselves or the backround at the end of the round wins.

If you play tournament mode, against 12 people, you got really cool prizes like the characters costumes or recreation props from the game.

Well, now that it's February, Phase II of the job search begins.

Phase I was all of January, asking friends if they have any openings where they worked. I applied for most of them, usually days before their companies announced their own layoffs.

Phase II is still looking for work, but now seeking it out. I'm specifically looking fro full time employment, and from 60K to 80K a year. That's all this month.

Phase III is March, where we go into desperation mode and just grab onto anything that will get some money coming in. Contract, low pay, anything to just get an income.

After March, Phase III contiinues, but we're back into survival mode, too. Basically, just hunkering down, spending as little as possible, trying to run out the lease so I don't get hit with a massive penalty, and spending every minute looking for work.

During the first Dot Com bust in 2001, i spent nearly three years unemployed because there simple wasn't any work. I found work in 2003,m nd it took until 2008 to get my feet back under me.

I'm hoping that won't be the case here, but luck, hope and faith and I haven't been on speaking terms in a long time.