And a Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!

I can’t believe the year’s already drawing to a close. These last couple of months have certainly been a whirlwind of holiday activity with Thanksgiving, visiting my folks, Christmas, and even my birthday. I even forgot to post this yesterday.

It felt like just the other day that I was starting up this blog but it’s been four months already! I’d had reservations about starting a blog in the first place because of questions like “What if I can’t come up with content?”, “How often should I post?”, “Will people like what I write?”, and the dreaded “Does anyone really care?”. I came to the conclusion that if I want to write, I should. If people see my blog and like it, it’ll be a pleasant bonus!

Another issue I had when starting my blog was the direction I would go. I initially planned this blog to be a place to post crochet and knit patterns that I made. However, I haven’t really made any recently. So now, as you know, I’ve been posting food that I make or games I review, and if things go well in 2019, I’ll add some drawings and maybe try to move to a different web host.

Christmas Time!

To get ready for the holiday, I made amaretto fudge (recipe)! I haven’t tried making fudge on the stove before but the final product was extra creamy. I pushed about a cup of leftover chocolate chips into the top, let it set in the fridge, and the Cat cut it into one inch pieces. The two tablespoons of amaretto are subtle but stand out more if you savor each piece or eat more than one.

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The Cat made some quick cheeseburgers with red onion, jalapeno, and Roma tomatoes. Looks like we forgot pickles and lettuce this time.

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We found out one of the local grocery stores sells fresh mozzarella for cheaper than we usually pay so we snagged some and made mozzarella, Roma tomato, and basil sandwiches with olive oil and balsamic. The mozzarella didn’t disappoint with its buttery cheesiness matched by the savory tomato and the freshness of the basil.

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The Cat reheated the leftover curry from last week with a can of coconut milk. Splendid over rice that can soak it up. I think I overate!

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On Christmas Eve, the Cat made my current favorite dish: spaghetti and meatballs topped with some Parmesan and mozzarella.

I also had a shot of butterscotch schnapps with a cup of cream soda = instant adult butterbeer! Warning: it’s very sweet. Very, very sweet.

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For Christmas, the Cat made a lot of mashed potatoes with roasted garlic (recipe; we only did two heads of garlic), butter, and milk mixed in. I made a key lime pie for dessert.

At my folks’s dinner table, I loaded up my plate with a bit of everything: turkey drumstick, green beans, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gizzard gravy, baked ham, and stuffing. I cleaned my plate.

And then came time for presents! For my family, I got a handmade Christmas ornament, some hand lotion, and some snacks. The Cat got a decorative desk plate. I got a baking set, a sweater, a camera easel, and a drawing tablet. I haven’t broken-in the baking set or tablet yet.

And a bit of after-present dessert. My folks gave me most of the pecan pie to bring home in exchange for most of my key lime.

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For my birthday, the Cat went the extra mile and fried chicken for me! We used this copycat Chickfila recipe except we skipped the marinade and combined the wet and dry ingredients into a batter. The batter is double-able! I bought two sauces I wanted to try and mixed half of the chicken with each of them. They were fantastic! Served with rice and steamed broccoli. I preferred the Panda Express Beijing sauce which had a good sweetness, strong garlic and ginger flavors, and a surprising amount of kick. The Cat preferred the Tsang General Tso Sauce which strongly reminded me of steak sauce: a bit sweet and ketchup-y with little to no heat.

Can’t have a birthday without a cake! The Cat bought me a simple frosted chocolate cake and it was delicious.

Since I love tacos, the Cat also got me a taco plushie that I’ve named Pachelbel or Paco for short. His long name may or may not be Pachelbel the Tacobel.

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No matter how this year was for you, I wish you all a happy new year and I’ll see you in January!

Cheers from both of us,

-Corgi and the Cat ❤

 

Post-Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving, and if you went out shopping for Black Friday, I hope you survived!

Cheers,

-Corgi

Engagement Ring and Food

Happy November! Hope y’all had a good Halloween and bought lots of discount candy/chocolate. I couldn’t get my hands on any since all the candy and chocolate disappears at midnight here. It doesn’t go on sale. It just gets removed from the shelves and replaced by Christmas goodies.

The Cat and I spent Halloween staying up late watching the first two seasons of Channel Zero on VRV. We thought it was pretty good and spooky with rich atmosphere and minimal jump scares. Personally, I preferred it to American Horror Story which has a lot of arguing amongst characters and rather weak character development.

I never thought I’d see the day that Creepypastas would become an official TV show, much less a well-made one. I hope they make more! Or perhaps they’ll turn SCP into a TV show. I’m interested in the subject enough that I’d even watch a mockumentary of how the SCP Foundation worked.

Some other interesting things we’ve been watching:

• Path of Exile (Twitch) – action RPG gameplay
  • Alkaizer
  • Zizaran
  • noob_exile
• Bob Ross (Twitch) – The Joy of Painting; very calming
• Rocko’s Modern Life (VRV) – silly 90’s TV show with a catchy theme song
• Kakuriyo – Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (VRV) – Japanese mythology mixed with a bit of stubbornness and cooking
• Stargate SG-1 (VRV) – a classic sci-fi experience from the late 90’s-2000’s
• Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma (VRV and Crunchyroll) – competitive anime cooking that’ll make your mouth water. Often contains near-nude characters thoroughly enjoying their food. I highly recommend — I’ve seen it twice already! Dub for seasons one and two also available.

Engagement Ring

The Cat and I got me an engagement ring! I used to have a silver-looking one but the finish came off and I was allergic to the metal so I went ring-less for a while. I still have the ring resting on my computer monitor stand. It’s a bit dusty and rather brass-looking now but it’s got memories attached to it. I smile whenever I see it.

I think I’m allergic to most metals except ones like stainless steel and titanium. I’ve even been allergic to my glasses frame before; not very pleasant. I chose a silicone ring because it was my favorite color and I knew I wouldn’t be allergic to it.

Food

The Cat baked two round red velvet sheet cakes and we frosted them with cream cheese frosting. I’ve never frosted a stacked sheet cake before but it was fun and the end product was tasty. I’d definitely try it again.

We also made a large pot — I think about 4-5 cups — of Italian sausage bolognese. It always smells wonderful simmering away in the pot. We use the second step of Nick Stellino’s “Baked Pasta with Sausages” recipe, cool the sauce down, refrigerate it overnight, and eat it over a couple of days with freshly boiled pasta. It reheats beautifully over a low heat.

Another item on our menu this week was thit kho, also known as Vietnamese caramelized pork. The Cat started it off with sugar cooked to a caramel color, then he added thick chunks of pork butt, some water, a spoonful of fish sauce, minced garlic, and sliced onion. Braised over low heat until cooked through and tender. We then took that meat and put it on soft taco-sized tortillas with pickled carrots, cilantro, and sour cream. Sweet, savory, velvety. For me, it’s a childhood treat my father would make but he would up the sugar; it was like eating candied pork.

We used this ga kho (caramelized chicken) recipe but added about 30-60 minutes of braising time to break the pork down, and this Đồ Chua (pickled carrot and daikon) recipe minus the daikon. If you don’t like a very slight fishy flavor, you can skip the fish sauce. It’s mostly to create an umami flavor.

Happy eats,

-Corgi

Post-Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael, a category 4 storm with wind speeds of over 150 mph, landed less than 100 miles from where I live. The Cat and I stuck around and the grocery panic was about the same as other storms hitting this area: bread, chip, Gatorade, water, soda, and frozen food aisles swept almost clean.

Chip aisle at the local Walmart

Apparently a category 4 hurricane hasn’t hit the panhandle of Florida since the 1850’s. Panama City was at the center of the hurricane and was hit very hard. If you want to help, please visit VoluteerFlorida to donate or volunteer.

-Corgi

 

Spooktober

Happy start of Spooktober, y’all!

I love October. I wish it got chilly here like it did in Texas, but I suppose that just comes with the territory. I already started buying some candy and my parents gifted us a large bag of chocolate. The store had these adorable little cauldrons. I snagged one and it’s now sitting proudly on my desk, brimming with chocolate!

Muahaha, it’s all mine! (and the Cat’s)

Food This Week

Pizza

Two pizzas made with store-bought pizza dough. The Cat rolled it out, added toppings, and popped it in the oven. We have a deal that I get the corner slices and the Cat gets the middle slices. Mmm, bountiful pizza crust. Toppings were sliced black olives, sauteed yellow onion, and pepperoni.

First pizza hot from the oven

Second hot pizza and remnants of the first

Chicken pot pie

We also had some pie dough we forgot about so the Cat made chicken pot pie. I forgot to take a picture of the completed pies but they had plenty of diced potato, peas, carrots, and velvety white roux. The chicken was perfectly baked. I didn’t even realize you could bake chicken breast without it getting dried out, tough, and chewy.

Toasty!

Doot,

-Corgi