Ron

So many creatures and so little time. If you don't hear from me sooner, then you'll hear from me later (better later than not at all, I hope).

I'm listening to Bjork's Biophilia. I recall my first impression and experience of her in the movie Dancer in the Dark twenty-five years ago, now. I was extremely impressed with her voice. I've been an off-and-on listener over the years. I need to be in 'just the right mood.' I guess tonight's that night.

What are you on about?

Ah, ah! I bought a head of cauliflower for purposes to be determined. It was a big head full of promise, but ended up being one of little substance — on the inside it was full of air, meaning the gaps between florets were massive. My intention was for a couple of slabs of dense cauliflower simmered in a previously made amatriciana, pasta sauce until tender wasn’t to be. Instead I chopped up a half a head of airy cauliflower and with some additional no-salt-added chicken stock added to the pasta sauce, it would have to be enough. Taste tests indicate a ‘Bravo’ is in order. Experimentation is the mother of invention! Edited to correct a spelling mistake as pointed out by a friend.

I had a joke to share. It was right on the tip of my tongue. Really! But I somehow lost it. I guess the jokes on me. Ba dum tss.

I’m happy to see that you’re digressing, and the dart wasn’t so keen. 😉

How do werewolves eat lunch?

I made a random, jarred curry-mix of Tikka Masala for dinner. This reminded me of my time in Singapore. There was a government subsidized hawker-stall venue next to the condominium building where my former partner lived. Just beyond that was a stall that sold several versions of curry-based opportunities: Lamb; Beef; and Fish. Sometime, when my Ex was traveling, I would ask for the fish-based curry sauce, but without the fish in it (somehow, I always thought of the actual fish as sus, but I still ate the sauce ). I would dip their made-to-order roti prata bread (sometimes with an egg inside) into the curry and slurp it up while watching Game of Thrones on an Ikea shag carpet in front of a small Samsung TV with a wonky Wi-Fi connection, but at least there was a good sound system involved. I managed to never spill a thing and today I find that remarkable.

Oh, Honey! We've all been there at one time or another.

I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard when reading a story. I began by wiping tears away, then blowing my nose, and I ended up laughing and coughing so hard at one point I had to use my rescue inhaler. "This just in ... A man is found slumped in his chair, his face stuck in a rictus of laughter and with a finger pointing at his computer screen. More news at eleven." The culinary assassination list here is long and perhaps deservedly so in some respects. I recall watching the 2022 Netflix docuseries Down to Earth with Zac Efron: Down Under and being duly impressed by the efforts of those providers and provisioners attempting to get back to nature and sustainability with food sources. Very impressive if not always attainable. In any event ... Bravo. This was a very enjoyable read.

(I somehow feel both immortalized and dismissed at the same time. And damn it, Aaron got that line! It belonged to me; it was right on the tip of my tongue. ) This unexpected monster mash(up) of the authors was a surprise. It's good to have a story that fits the anthology: Monsters? Yes. Feelings? Yes. Comedic relief? Yes. The trifecta for late night viewing, er reading.

I like this partly because I'm a sucker for silly humor and the stories underlying skein. I might have liked it better in a different venue. As it is I see merely the thinnest of connections to the anthology theme, and for that please consider the shoe as having been chucked.

I wanted to like this more than I did. This anthology called for some pizzazz, I think, and I was expecting to read something more akin to that than the opposite.

I just finished watching Emma Stone in Easy A and I can’t remember ever seeing a clip of Huckleberry Finn used as a homoerotic interracial reference (of the ‘no-no’ kind), but there it was near the end of the movie. ( Questionable, yes). ( Anachronistically included, yes.) ( Unquestionably humorous at a perversive level, yes.)

I laughed, but what does that even mean? The mind boggles.

What do you give a guy that has everything?

If we combine Southern Africa with North America and South America and Russia with a side order of Australian seduction, what do we get? Meanwhile, in Massachusetts we are just sitting on one another’s faces.

A purveyor of pornography that just so happened to pop up on an internet feed I watch (What, how did that get in there? ) said, "We did our first 'Ice Raid Protocol' because ICE has been showing up and putting a chill on everything."

Sounds good. I’ll give your recipe a try next time.

Well, well, well. My chili turned out to not be as well seasoned as I might like, but it was nonetheless delicious considering its lack of oomph. I will not be using the prepackaged chili mix next time but my own mix of spices. I added a spoonful of Calabrian chili and reheated a couple of bowls worth for lunch, and I topped it off with some sour cream. Not bad at all. @Jason Rimbaud I will use your suggestion of tomato sauce rather than juice next time. While I like habanero in salsa and I have used them when making chili using stock (I like that they don't muddy up the appearance of things, with chicken stock especially), I like to work with something warmer like chipotles in adobo sauce with tomato-based chili (I unfortunately didn't have any on hand this time around). Do you have a particular beer suggestion? And what is your opinion on adding espresso or dark chocolate into the mix?

Not a typo. When growing up chili always had tomato juice as the liquid. I happen to like it. But I'm not wedded to tomato juice as I've made chili using both chicken stock and beef stock for the liquid volume. I usually make it on the stove top as well. And while I quite like the addition of sour cream to my bowl of chili, I might also add some Calabrian chilies for added heat and bright sharpness.

A friend of mine asked me if I thought a washer and dryer were just friend friends or just work friends.

Mea culpa, I left two diced onions off my ingredients list — sautéed until translucent of course. I’ve found that hot sauces are best added once chili is cooked and in your bowl for dinner.

I'm making chili in a crockpot for the first time. The outdoor temperature hit a high of fifty-two degrees, so I figured why not today, I have the ingredients. I'm using red and yellow bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, light-colored kidney beans, and black beans along with a store-bought meatloaf mix consisting of pork, veal, and beef. All mixed with diced tomatoes and tomato juice. And for the first time ever I'm using a premixed chili seasoning (testing - testing) from McCormick. It's stewing along low and slow for the next six hours. I'll give a verdict as my efforts bear fruit, er chili.

How did I find out that I was Gay?