July 2007 Archives
That wasn’t so bad
…of course they don’t do the drill-and-fill until next week, but I didn’t get lectured about how long it’s been since I have seen a dentist, and the dentist himself is cool and laughed when I started off my answer to that question with “bless me, Father, for I have sinned…”
People kept asking me if my tooth hurt. No, I kept saying, it doesn’t, but I’d like to do something about it before it does. Upon seeing it, the first thing the dentist said was “Oh, I’ve seen a lot worse than that, it should be pretty easy.” And then a nice lady came in to talk about how much all this was going to cost so I would stop shitting bricks about that part, and it’s not going to be bad at all. Then I paid the nice lady for the dentist looking at my tiny cavity and figuring out what to do about it, made the appointment for the drill-n-fill, got a blue raspberry sucker (sugar free, of course), and that was it.
But I do feel I should share this handout they gave me when they saw I’d checked “yes” on “are you afraid of the dentist?” on the new patient paperwork they gave me. Laughing at this thing actually did help to chill my ass out before I went back there.
Ohferfucksake.
I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time. A very long time. Partly because I am scared of the dentist. Partly because I am scared of paying the dentist.
Last week I discovered what sure as hell looked like a tiny cavity in one of my molars.
Fuck.
So I made the damn dentist appointment. I was to go in this afternoon, confess my sins to this man who wants to charge me piles of money to stick sharp pointy painful things in my mouth and make me cry, and have him tell me how much it will cost to fix the damn cavity.
I was supposed to go in around 3. The dentist’s office just called about an hour or so ago. The dentist has gone home sick. My appointment has been rescheduled.
This is a little like poking your head into a Death Row cell whose occupant has just finished his last meal and is just about to make that long walk and going “Oh, hey, the chair’s broken, we’ll just fry you first thing tomorrow morning, k? Have a nice day!”
ffs.
This lunch 100% spoiler free
As I suspected they would do soon enough, the fine folks at Bento Challenge called a Harry Potter theme week. I was ready for this one, oh yeah.
Clockwise from upper left of big box:
• Salad of mandrake greens and gillyweed (spinach and nori) with carrot Knuts, radish Sickles, and cheese Galleons
• Wand: wheat and garlic, six and a half inches, crunchy (breadstick)
• Every Flavor Beans (plain old Jelly Bellies, actually, but close enough)
• Grapes
• Golden Snitchburger (turkeyburger and cheese baked into a bun) with mozzarella wings
Yes, those are Harry Potter cupcake liners.
Side container: Polyjuice dressing for the salad (lite Ranch with mashed-up avocado and some wasabi mayonnaise)
Monday Link Roundup
For fuck’s sake, just make it prescription already and get it over with – I can walk into a sporting goods store and buy a box of .45 bullets with less hassle than this.
Why am I not seeing more rage about this? – No, seriously, read that shit-all of it- and then explain to me how this idiot can sit there all “o hai im in ur oval office ignorin ur 5th amendment but dun worry if ur not terrist, lol” and nobody even notices.
Let’s play “find the things that piss me off in this post” – Start here: where, exactly, are overweight people considered a “protected class?” Tell you what, why don’t I go outside in a bikini right now and let’s see how “protected” I am? Even better, why don’t we stand 5′ 4″-173 pounds-Me-in-a-bikini next to Miss 5′ 7″-115 pounds-in-a-bikini and see which one of us gets made fun of the most? Kindly shut the fuck up, you conceited bitch.
…no, I’m okay, I’m calm, really, I was just a little excited because I’ve just dropped out of the “obese” bracket into “just overweight” and this took a little wind out of my sails.
There is some freaky shit living in the ocean – The tiny octopus with the deadly venom is my personal favorite. Notice the poll at the end of the post. :D
Hours of Darkness – Night photography with a heaping helping of abandoned places. ♥
Unfortunately placed ads – whoops.
Pyrats – This is a student film. You’re going to have to keep telling yourself this, because it is some quality damn animation.
BUN VS. BUN, ROUND TWO
Well, the baked buns tasted better fresh from the oven, but the steamed bun is better after spending the night in the fridge. Everybody wins!
I’m going to try some pizza buns tonight.
Nice buns!
I had a whole bunch of ground turkey sitting in the freezer left over from the pile of gyoza I made this weekend, nicely portioned out and bagged and waiting to be used in something.
More gyoza? While not a horrible idea, I should, uh, probably eat the ones I have first.
Turkeyburgers? Hmm… nah, had one Saturday for lunch.
Hmm… didn’t I see a recipe for hoisin chicken buns somewhere that a) cheated by using frozen dinner roll dough and b) could very easily be adapted for ground turkey instead? Why yes, yes I did! And a bag of frozen dinner roll dough blobs is like a buck and a half at Kroger! Awesome!
Just for shits and giggles, I also poked a few steamed bun recipes on AllRecipes, not so much for the ingredients as the technique, as I have never steamed anything but gyoza and asparagus and had no idea how long to leave the damn things in.
I thawed out six blobs, browned up some turkey, and got to work. I had to flour my board a little to keep the blobs from sticking to it, and I was afraid they wouldn’t seal. This fear turned out to be unfounded. They sealed up just fine.
Now… steam or bake? How about both? Three blobs went into the steamer, three got brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds and kosher salt and popped into the oven.
Which ones turned out best?
STEAMED BUN VS. BAKED BUN
ROUND 1
FIGHT
Steamed bun strengths: oh god, it’s a bagel, it’s a chewy bagel full of delicious juicy meat. They seemed to stay sealed much better than the baked ones.
Steamed bun weaknesses: it was harder to tell when they were done, and a piece of bread that is still as pasty white as the dough blob it was born from just doesn’t sit right with me. Steamer basket is a relative pain in the ass to set up compared to setting the oven to 350 degrees and throwing the buns in.
Baked bun strengths: the egg wash + seeds + salt = crispy delicious outside, soft and fluffy inside till it hits the meat, then chewy and yummy. Beautiful golden brown tops. Easier to cook, just pop into oven.
Baked bun weaknesses: Maybe I just didn’t lubricate the cookie sheet sufficiently, but one bun had a blowout when I tried to remove it and another almost didn’t make it and had to be carefully coaxed off from all edges. Those two got eaten for dinner so it’s all good. They did seem to leak more juice than the steamed buns, which means the meat inside was a bit drier.
WINNER:
oh god I can’t decide they are both omnomlicious
One steamed bun and one baked bun are going to work with me for lunch tomorrow.
yikes.
I packed the box Mom gave me, the Mr. Bento wannabe, tonight.
There is a problem.
Top round tier: yakisoba, one metric shit-ton. Five–count ‘em, five–turkey gyoza. The container is half full.
Bottom round tier: Laughing Cow wedge. One full baking cup each of grapes, raspberries, and blueberries. The container is half full.
Very top: mini-bag of microwave popcorn, Hershey stick.
The problem: Señor Bento, as I’ve taken to calling him, is too fucking big.
I probably won’t be packing him for everyday use again. He would be v. handy for a shared meal, though.
Links And Stuff
Yeah, yeah, I’ve been slacking.
First the links:
Pilot who forgot to lower his landing gear still in gene pool, unfortunately – Still more proof that God looks out for fools and children.
Microsoft patents process to “unpirate” music – OH HELL NO!
Fluffy Bunny Weeaboo Pagans all butthurt about giant painting of Homer Simpson done in biodegradeable paint – That thunder you hear is not your OMG RAIN MAGJICKQSES working. That’s Herne POINTING AND LAUGHING AT YOU. Go eat a donut and chill. They’re like holey stones, but tastier. srsly, do some magic to give yourselves a sense of humor or gtfo my religion nao pls. :wtf:
Harry Potter-inspired band to play at museum event – I like it.
Funny signs and graffiti – Shut happens
Food of Wrong – Sort of a kinder, gentler “Steve, Don’t Eat It!”.
Oh dammit ThinkGeek y u do dis 2 me – I was reaching for my wallet when I noticed “spaztastic Geek Points,” damn you.
And now the stuff:
- This probably really belongs on Meadowmines, but screw it. The Internet Boyfriend is playing Shadow Hearts because I told him it was awesome and silly. In the interest of fairness, I am now playing Earthbound because he told me it was awesome and silly. It is. It is adorable and silly and proof that Japan got way more than its fair share of $2 crack in the 90′s.
- My mother went “here, take this” the other day and gave me something that is basically a no-name Mr. Bento. I’ll have to try it out this week.
- I have lost ten pounds. \o/
Miscellaneous WTFery
- I got another one of those “ready to kill myself and eat my dog” spams this morning, as well as one advertising “CHEAP HARLOTS IN [MY] AREA”. I don’t know about you, but I think a harlot, particularly a cheap one, would be the last thing I’d want to purchase over the Internet.
- Notice the “Ultimate Surf Shop” poll there? One of these–I’ll not name the name in case the son of a bitch has learned2google since I last saw him–would be my ex’s crazy acid casualty turned fundamentalist wingnut dad’s surf shop. To give you some idea how this guy runs his business, he once ordered a few thousand bucks worth of surfboards on credit… in Ex’s name… and didn’t pay the bill. Ex did not know about this until THEIR COLLECTIONS PIT BULLS STARTED CALLING HIM. Last I heard, he wasn’t paying his taxes or his employees. When I was out of work, he once gave us a check for part of our rent money… which bounced, and I think it may still be on my rental history to this day. And he had the balls to brag that he once put a hot check in the collection plate because God told him to. WHATEVER YOU DO, FREEPORT SURFERS, PAY CASH IF YOU MUST SHOP THERE. DO NOT LET THIS MAN ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR CREDIT CARDS. How he continues to stay out of jail, let alone in business, is beyond me. The sheer “WTF!?” that his shop made the list is nicely offset by the fact that it only has 5% of the vote. …no, no, I’m fine, really.
- Why yes, lady, of course I know who you are and remember the exact wording on a plaque I engraved for you over a year ago. Srsly, I am not a computer, don’t get huffy with me when I put you on hold to look your shit up.
