What are you doing today?

Scepticalscribe said:
Well, my recipe prowling took two directions.

One was for fish: Do I desire something - a sort of broth - with an Asian flavour (that means, the world of mirin, soy, stock, chilli, ginger), or a somewhat spicy tomato, chilli, lemon and garlic dish in which to poach my fish, or the classic Belgian waterzooi (a northern European dish, root vegetables, stock, cream, egg yolk, which can be prepared with either fish - which was, after all, its ancestral, or, original version - or chicken, the modern version)?

The other was for Bami Goreng, the Indonesian/Malaysian dish with noodles, which I loved whenever I encountered a really good Indonesian restaurant that offered it; it occurred to me that as I now make a mean Nasi Goreng, that I might try my hand at, test myself with, its noodle based cousin.

And yes, nowadays, I do have both Sambal Oelek, and Kecap Manis, to hand, - and several online chefs (some of them Asian) were at pains to stress that if the desired Asian noodles proved difficult to obtain, well, linguine, or good old spaghetti, could stand in perfectly well instead.
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Yummy things there! I’ve found Bami and Nasi Goreng very easy in European supermarkets. As for Sambal Olek I loved it since I first tasted it in a Chinese restaurant back in Germany but it’s nowhere to be seen in other countries when you visit Chinese restaurants. Maybe it’s a very specific product than many regions just don’t have, or like.
 
ericwn said:
Yummy things there! I’ve found Bami and Nasi Goreng very easy in European supermarkets. As for Sambal Olek I loved it since I first tasted it in a Chinese restaurant back in Germany but it’s nowhere to be seen in other countries when you visit Chinese restaurants. Maybe it’s a very specific product than many regions just don’t have, or like.
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The combination of Sambal Oelek and Kecap Manis (I buy mine in an Asian store) - a recent (and welcome) discovery - offers a stunning flavour unmatched by anything I have ever encountered in any Chinese restaurant.

Then, there is the amazing (and yes, I have prepared it and it is delicious) sweet chilli sauce (courtesy of Gordon Ramsay): That recipe is chilli peppers (a few, finely chopped/diced), finely sliced (or minced) garlic, salt (generous sprinkle), sugar - also a generous dash, perhaps a half a teaspoon, or more.

These ingredients are all then mashed together in/with a pestle and mortar, to which - subsequently - are added fish sauce (2tbsp), rice wine vinegar (1 tbsp), olive oil (3 tbsp), spring onions (finely chopped), coriander (chopped), and juice of a (squeezed) lime.
 
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Visited the local shop to collect the organic milk (and cream) that had been put aside for me, and are kept for me each week.

Other purchases included butter, a few oranges, several lemons, a few pink grapefruit, French onions (scallions), crisps (chips to Our Transatlantic Cousins), marmalade, (three fruit, no sugar), and a bottle of wine.
 
Pottering around and preparing a winter meal, - nice, relaxed, cooking - a soothing fish stew from Belgium, that goes by the name of waterzooi.
 
It is a bit milder and warmer today so am thinking of grabbing the camera and taking it for a walk around the boardwalk, see what I can find.....
 
shadow puppet said:
Thankfully, I live in a legal state. 🙌 :)
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I live in a legal state and still can't legally indulge. I work in health care. We get federal dollars. Thus, as employees, it's not "legal" for us.

That said, we don't do routine testing. Also, while that's technically "the rules", I never really hear anyone preaching it at work. It was a one-time speech years ago when it was legalized and never mentioned again. If I remember correctly, the person who gave that speech to the team had no problem having a good time at my birthday party later that year. :LOL:

I just wish the feds would hurry up and pull their heads out of their asses. Someone in government needs to own a stake in a pot farm. Until it's putting dollars into someone's pockets, there's no reason for them to change the laws.
 
Phoned the German stall in the farmers' market; tomorrow will be their last day until spring, so I have asked them to put aside some vegetables and eggs.
 
Back from the farmers' market, where I purchased vegetables (carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, spinach, kale, potatoes, parsnips), herbs (parsley and coriander), chilli peppers, aubergines, olives, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and some fruit - apples and golden kiwis.

Plus a jar of homemade strawberry jam.

And also organic, free range, eggs.

And I also collected my bread that had been held for me in the French bakery, rye bread, campagne baguette, and brioche.
 
I'm going to put up my Christmas lights today.

In the evening, I'm informed we are going to be babysitting four of the younger (under 16) grandchildren so the parents can go on a date night. I imagine that's going to mean another Gotham marathon for the older ones (we're about to conclude season 2)*...and my wife will gladly handle the younger ones with board games and such.

Oh, crap, just remembered, I've got a pile of their Christmas presents sitting here. I've gotta find a good hiding place for them.

* I swear, I can’t keep track of shit anymore. We’re approaching the “winter finale”—the end of the first half of season 2.

I’m getting old. 😕
 
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Herdfan said:
I know some companies like to claim "drug testing", but it is only pre-employment testing. I like to call that a "stupid test".
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I think people are tested to get the job. Then there's always the threat of random testing. But in my 20 years there, that's not happened. Ever. And rightly so for desk workers. It's just more about they can do it if there's a need. Actually, I know of a situation where people were tested and people lost jobs. But it wasn't random. They had good reason to have them tested.

Alcohol is a big no-no as well. Still, when we (used to) have our Charity Auction every year, there was enough alcohol auctioned off to start a small pub. One department, every year without fail, filled a washtub with $500 worth of hard liquor. Probably 2/3 of the things auctioned off contained wine, or was a wine trip, or just a bunch of wine on its own, or visit a winery (they're everywhere here). Alcohol seems to be a fantastic method of raising money for charity. Still, it was a company event. You could win the wine. You just couldn't pop it open during the auction. :LOL:
 
Day two of a blissful four day weekend for me. I only did about three hours work yesterday which is good for me. But It meant I got my report done for Thursday's meeting nice and early.

So today I cleaned the oven for Mrs AFB (the self clean function takes care of some of it though). Went for a walk this afternoon. Bitterly cold wind though. Tonight I will enjoy MOTD (football highlights show), especially as my team had a great day.

Tomorrow I might give the car a good clean. A trip to a quarry on Friday has left it looking like I took it rallying.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Back from the farmers' market, where I purchased vegetables (carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, spinach, kale, potatoes, parsnips), herbs (parsley and coriander), chilli peppers, aubergines, olives, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and some fruit - apples and golden kiwis.

Plus a jar of homemade strawberry jam.

And also organic, free range, eggs.

And I also collected my bread that had been held for me in the French bakery, rye bread, campagne baguette, and brioche.
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Sun-dried tomatoes would be a personal favourite of mine on that list. Can't remember the last time I had some.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Do enjoy. I could do with a few changes to my diet. Chicken and rice again this evening.
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Actually, last week, when collecting my bread, I swung - briefly - through the market while I waited for my watch battery to be replaced.

The olive oil stall (which also sells the sundried tomatoes) were closing up, packing up, shutting down, and they offered me (as a small gift), - most of the stuff had been packed away, a small bag - it was all that remained at the end of the day - of semi-sundried tomatoes.

They were delicious; so, I decided to include them today.

In fact, today was the last day of the excellent German organic vegetable (and egg) stall, which was the main reason I headed in, as it was bitterly cold, and hailstone showers were threatening; they won't show their faces in the market until next March.
 
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