Try Not to Confuse it With What You Do to Survive

Quick-style semi home-made pizzas

A low band-width dinner.  No mozzarella, no energy.  Semi-home-made pizzas with cheddar cheese, Italian sausage, turkey pepperoni, green olives and canned pizza dough, spread into two crusts.  I spiced up a can of tomato sauce (in the can) by adding oregano, garlic and onion powder and red pepper flakes.  Stir it up, it's good to good, no need to heat it through, just pour it on the par-baked dough and spread thinly. 

I've watched some TikTok quickie meals lately that featured loads of processed crap thrown into a crock-pot as a quick dinner solution.  I'm all for time-saving measures, but I think we can do slightly better by grating our own cheeses, allowing limited processed salty additions and ensuring most ingredients in these weird concoctions stay real.  

Doctor My Eyes, Was I Unwise to Leave Them Open For So Long

About three weeks ago I woke up with my little finger in my ear and in extreme pain.  Apparently during sleep my ear began itching and in my groggy state I forgot the rules about keeping everything smaller than your elbow out of your ear.  I had done something bad. It hurt like hell and I couldn't hear.  Well, that's trying to heal now and so on this day, I was heading out to pick up my friend Hope to see the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.  I really enjoy this yearly visit when the cherry blossoms are in bloom and the lilacs are out in every shade. Seeing the Japanese zen garden.

And right before I was to leave I put in eye drops because I woke up all fuzzy from allergies and bleary eyed. But there was a slight problem.  They weren't eye drops at all but ear drops! I put ear drops in my damn eyes which is basically peroxide.  Holy crap they burned like all hell so I run to the bathroom and instinctively just begin dousing them with water without stopping, screaming all the while to P who's so good in these situations by the way.  He's just out of the shower but runs to the computer to check what to do and comes and reassures me it's gonna be okay. People apparently do this.  I keep rinsing and rinsing.  Since I'd just done it, it would be okay. I have a quick panic attack thinking what if I'd done that on the subway where there is no water!  Oh God! Holy shit! More adrenaline and assorted anxiety.  Finally I don't believe I'll go blind anymore and decide I can still head out to meet my friend.  I wore super dark glasses and by the expressions I got in the restroom by a couple of ladies, apparently also looked drunk off my ass.

I'm blaming all of this madness on Mercury Retrograde although I don't know enough about it to really speak but that never stopped me before.  I tried reading countless articles but couldn't seem to grasp the meaning and lo and behold being all fuzzy is one of the damn problems during this time.  I am deeply affected by the full moon so Mercury passing between the Sun and the Earth with all it's iron being able to cause havoc on behavior makes sense to me.  Plus an advertised possibility to change my future while within an ability to access my genius sounds very inviting.  Do I choose to believe it, or do I recognize it, like a deep intuitive understanding?  Either way, I'm down with this orbital backslide.

Part of the adventure was supposed to involve lunch at the park's cafe but this is one downside of skinny friends, they're never hungry.  Well I was near death by the time I arrived back home.  They don't let you sit down in that damn garden!  No benches and they asked us to get up when we tried to stop and have a drink and some nuts on the grass.  By that time I was tearing at the package with my teeth trying desperately to get at those delicious meaty nuts!

From this awesome sunny day my eyes felt like they were bleeding by the time I made to my door.  I quickly made a nice meal of leftovers by adding a little cheddar to my masa mixture, throwing it in the oven and calling it a casserole.  A side citrus salad of mixed greens gave it nice balance.

Running On Empty

When you just can't bare to get that kitchen dirty again after you cleaned it for what seems like the umpteenth time.  And putting on pants that don't just pull on feels way too much to bear and shoes that don't have fuzzy insides are out of the question.  When even running a brush through the hair is asking the world of you, then National Thai take out is the answer to your prayers!  Kang Kyo Whan Nuur sliced beef with eggplant, bamboo shoots, peppers and carrots in a green coconut curry sauce

Spicy Noodles sauteed fresh flat noodles with chicken or shrimp, mixed vegetables and egg in a chili basil sauce.
Because even people that love to cook can't get their spatulas up every single day.

Runnin' On Empty

I was talking online with my sister about food my mom used to make at home. I remembered something later that night called Chile Colorado and I did have pork, although I think she made it with beef? Anyway, this needed to be the Reader's Digest version because I was so hungry. Plus I had no idea how she made hers. In fact, this is almost another mash-up of several of her dishes as we were also remembering something she made with potatoes and ground beef in a thin chile sauce.

Basically, instead of a green chile gravy, this time I wanted to do a red chile but instead of making it stew-like, I wanted a thin sauce. The consistency you might get if you made it in a crock pot. I just diced the pork, browned it up, then added some of my chili powder mix, three chipotle peppers with some of the adobo sauce, cumin, and garlic before pouring in the chicken stock. Then I put in the cubed green peppers and onions, a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Brought that to a boil, then lowered the heat, put it on simmer for about an hour. Worthy of sopping up with warm flour torts! Adjust the salt at the very end.


Since I refostered my love for refried pinto beans I realized that I should figure a lower fat version. So instead of a bacon drippings start, I just used a little sauteed onion and fresh jalapeno in EVOO and smashed the canned beans together with a touch of chicken stock. Afterwards I added a bit of mild cheddar and chopped pickled jalapenos and just about a tablespoon of sour cream for creaminess.

Hearty!