This entry is my first in my “life” category. Sorry if you are syndicating and this isn’t technology related.
Life has been strange. I have not used the home computer much lately, which means I haven’t been learning new good things. This depresses me to some extent.
The good is that I’ve been foccusing more on another hobbie. I made an excellent fish dish using the holy trinity of vegitables as a base. It turned out great, but in the process I learned that my lovely wife must be alergic to Pollack. Strange, because she has never had problems with other white fish.
Yes, cooking is a hobbie. I enjoyed it even before I started watching FoodTV, but FoodTV definitely fuels me. Alton Brown takes my interest to new levels. Unfortunately most of the things on FoodTV involve meat. I do eat meat, but not in our home. My wife is a vegetarian, so our home is meat free. Beyond meat, my wife is a health nut. She avoids hydrogenated vegetable oils. Something about the hydrogenation process triggers alergies and other bad things. She also has been slowly cutting out dairy, and thanks to Silk and Soy Garden. Butter was tough to replace, but a month ago or so, after a bad experience with a gross soy butter substitute and a year of prodding from a good friend, we tried Soy Garden. It is excellent.
So butter meant many foods that had been lost. Biscuits are mostly butter, flour, and milk. I made biscuits, they are delicious. My favorite new thing to make is also based on butter and flour.
This is the most fun thing I’ve done in a while. I’d wanted to make my own flour tortilla for years. I’d heard it is easy. I’d heard it is painful. I’d read elaborate recipes, and the need for special baking equipment. Finally, I just decided to do it. Man was it easy. Butter(even fake), flour, baking power, and water! Roll out flat, and cook stovetop on high heat in a cast iron pan.
Mmmm… completely homemade burritos are tastey! I made the refritos from dehydrated pintos. I made the tortillas. I didn’t grow the tomatoes, but they are natural. 🙂 I didn’t make the cheese either. But they were tastey!
So I quit my job and am starting a new job. It is focussed on Software Development instead of this strange mid level tech support and web development hybrid position that I am in now. The companies(I contract through one to another) that I am leaving are being most gratious about my exit. I heard some horror stories from people who had left recently, but I guess their situation was different. I actually got the “Is there anything we can offer you to stay?” question, which was very nice, even though I am already committed to moving.
This new job is 20-30min commute vs the 45-60min commute I have now. I figure I will gain an additional hour for myself each day. That is 5 hours a week, 20 hours a month, 250 hours a year that I won’t be driving!
These are the ups and downs of life I suppose… I think I’m pretty good at appreciating the ups, and making the best of the downs…
Last night was pretty cool, my wife took me to the University of Michigan’s Life Sciences Orchestera concert. The two Mozart pieces were great. The two pieces by someone I’d never heard of were great. The two Aaron Copeland pieces were miss and meh. It did give me time to focus on what I dislike about Copeland. The compositions are bipolar. I won’t try to explain it. You will either know what I mean, or you won’t.
I have to wonder if it isn’t these kinds of events, a free orchestral concert, that set the University of Michigan appart from other schools.
glad you like the soy garden. i only told you about it last year… imagine what you could have made if you would have listened to me then. 🙂
It is so delightful to read about other people’s life in the kitchen. Yours sounds similar to my kitchen. My husband and I enjoy cooking and eating healthy foods. We have been finding more and more ways to add healthier ingredients to our diet.