Randomness XIV: THE FLOOR IS LAVA!

[Cyradis]

And mind bogglingly, Chex Mix is delicious. Who'da thunk that fish gunk would make cereal so tasty? 

[Kangaroorex]

6 minutes ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

Fermented fish sauces have been used in many cultures for millennia. This includes ours, btw, since that's exactly what Worcestershire sauce is.

 

Fermented fish meat would probably not interest me much.

I always have found that fermented fish is best used for accents and flavorings, not as a primary flavor.  I have many uses of Worcestershire sauce but very little in the way of using fermented meat.  (Not a fan of fermented meats in general;  pickled pigs feet, pickled sausages and other things of that nature is never something I volunteer for...)

 

[Flit]

After a frustrating day shopping, I got some painting in. May get some pictures up soon for a WIP thread.

[Unruly]

19 minutes ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

Fermented fish sauces have been used in many cultures for millennia. This includes ours, btw, since that's exactly what Worcestershire sauce is.

 

Fermented fish meat would probably not interest me much.

 

Pass the garum.

[Kangaroorex]

Isn't that the chef in lord of the ovens?

 

Garum...Garum...Garum

 

[WhiteWulfe]

2 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Am I Crock-Potting right? I put in carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, chicken, quinoa, broth, and a crap ton of curry powder - now I wait a few hours and BOOM food happens? Wish I had some peas for it. Oh well. 

Sounds about right.

 

I tend to overdo it, and put 4-5lbs of beef (usually 2lbs stew beef, 1-2lbs of ground beef, and a flank steak), and then try to cram in 4-5 large potatoes that are cubed, 5-7 carrots, 4-6 stalks of celery, a bunch of spices, oh, and of course two tins of tomatoes.....  Good thing my lid has those click down fasteners, because lid doesn't get opened until the 12 hour mark!  Corn goes in in the last 15 minutes. 

 

In the past, I've also added split peas, but we found that was getting to the point of too much fibre and it also killed some flavours. 

 

But my beef stews are usually quite tasty...  Just expensive, and ignore the calorie count... Oh, and they tend to talk 18-20 hours to make too.. 

[Sylverthorne]

1 hour ago, Green Eyed Monster said:

In my way of thinking, you have a designated stash of  "emergency supplies" in a cool  dark place all the time.

That way you don't get caught unprepared, even if the local electric utility has one of those malfunctions that can knock out your local section of the grid without warning.

The only thing you should need is a quick check of your inventory [which should already be topped up right after the last need to dig into supplies]  and the addition of any stuff that needs to be "bought fresh" as convenience items to be used up quickly, just before the upcoming storm.

It's not difficult to build up such a stash over time.  You just buy one extra item to go into the stash every time you do your regular shopping and pretty soon you have a "food bank" of necessities that will see you through a few days up to a couple of weeks.  After you have this "savings account" of supplies in place it is merely a matter of keeping items rotated through, the ones being rotated out being used up as regular meals, so that your emergency supplies are always in top condition and freshness.

And don't forget such items as toilet paper and wet wipes.  You can do a good job of keeping clean [which is a great morale boost] with some wet wipes, and they also work to clean your kitchen/tableware after each use, reducing thenlikelihood of food borne illness striking.

The only exra expenses are acquiring vermin proof containers to put all the packaged goods into, such as tupperware style containers with air-tight seals and 5 gallon pails with snap lids for bulkier items or as additional sealing and protection for smaller containers grouped together.

A little common sense and advance planning makes a lot of situations easy to manage that those who haven't planned ahead will be panicking over.

GEM

 

Ahh.. speaking from experience, metal or glass, not plastic, if you have furry vermin.

When I was a very small Thorne, we lived in a place with a thriving mouse population (super adorbs, but also super destructive). Foods stored in plastic containers was not, generally, safe. Food stored in metal containers, or glass jars, usually made it long enough to be eaten.

 

That's part of the reason I've made something of a habit of picking up a lot of the old-fashioned glass jars with the spring-tension wired lids and rubber seals. We don't have mice here, as far as I know, but... habits. *shrug*

[haldir]

9 hours ago, Erifnogard said:

Froggy have you been dieting?

 

So some crazy guy came into work yesterday morning. He bought at least 1 rat like this. He also was using one of the motorized carts. Anyways, when I saw him the cart was parked outside the store, near a bench by the front wall. The guy was doing some sorta symbol gestures (co-worker said it looked he was making a cross sign), with the rat into the air.

 

The next time we saw him he was heading into the backroom bathroom & was walking normally (mainly used by employees as it right outside the break room. I was talking with my boss afterward & she asked if I had seen a crazy guy....Weeeeeelllll.......

 

[Cyradis]

5 minutes ago, WhiteWulfe said:

Sounds about right.

 

I tend to overdo it, and put 4-5lbs of beef (usually 2lbs stew beef, 1-2lbs of ground beef, and a flank steak), and then try to cram in 4-5 large potatoes that are cubed, 5-7 carrots, 4-6 stalks of celery, a bunch of spices, oh, and of course two tins of tomatoes.....  Good thing my lid has those click down fasteners, because lid doesn't get opened until the 12 hour mark!  Corn goes in in the last 15 minutes. 

 

In the past, I've also added split peas, but we found that was getting to the point of too much fibre and it also killed some flavours. 

 

But my beef stews are usually quite tasty...  Just expensive, and ignore the calorie count... Oh, and they tend to talk 18-20 hours to make too.. 

 

I'll have to pester you for recipes at some point. I'm going for a 4hr thing with this one. It is smelling like curry powder now. My crock pot was super cheap and doesn't have a sealing or latched lid. Just plop it down. 

 

I can't decide if I am hungry or not, since I smell the food, but I have a mild stomach ache due to eating too many grapes. 

[Sirithiliel]

the days work! i think he's coming along

[Crowley]

2 hours ago, sumbloke said:

Having a multicultural lunch at work today. So I made a multicultural dish - kangaroo curry pide...

That looks yummy! 

 

It always feels good to get some paint on something. While writing on my dancing girl (new wip thread posted) I also splashed some paint on this guy.

 

Tomorrow begins the final week of my class... Almost done...

[WhiteWulfe]

14 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

 

I'll have to pester you for recipes at some point. I'm going for a 4hr thing with this one. It is smelling like curry powder now. My crock pot was super cheap and doesn't have a sealing or latched lid. Just plop it down. 

 

I can't decide if I am hungry or not, since I smell the food, but I have a mild stomach ache due to eating too many grapes. 

 

Eh, why not.  This is as best I remember...  It tends to change slightly with every incarnation.  Yup, we play it by ear, aka tastebuds ^_^;;;

Spoiler

 

1x flank steak (my local butcher usually has these at 1-1.5lbs per pack)

2-2.5lbs stew beef (doesn't matter in my eyes whether low grade or sirloin, although sirloin doesn't require as long to become nice and tender, and practically fall apart)

1lb lean ground beef

4-5 large potatoes, cut into smallish cubes (about 1/2-3/4" in all dimensions, precision isn't necessary - usually enough to fill about 1/6th or so of the way to the top of my crockpot)

5-7 medium sized carrots, with about half cut into slices, and the thicker halves quartered, then cut into small bits

4-6 medium sized stalks of celery, cut however I feel like at the time (Usually sliced in half, and then chopped up, because hubby steals some as I'm working to munch on! :P)

1-2 stalks of green onion

1 796mL (26ish ounces, almost 27 US ounces) can of whole tomatoes - I usually get the Aylmer Whole Tomatoes with Herbs and Spices

1 796mL can of diced tomatoes - usually get the Aylmer Diced Tomatoes with Italian Spices (I think)

1 carton (900ish mL) of Beef stock (since we can't have the Vegetable stock as it has soy protein in it - vegetable stock adds a nicer flavour though)

5-6 splashes of Worcestershire sauce

4-5 splashes of soy sauce

1 341mL can of corn (niblets or peaches and cream, usually the second, added in 15 minutes before serving)

1-2 cups of frozen vegetable mix (peas, carrots, green beans, kinda mix...  Added in I think 30-45 minutes before serving?  Can't remember)

 

Dry spices: coarse sea salt (usually just a small amount, can add more later if we need), several "taps" of chili powder from a spice jar, a small pinch of cayenne powder, oregano, basil, a pinch of garlic powder, several pinches of onion powder, small amount of onion flakes, 2-3 pinches of celery salt, half a turn of pepper from a pepper mill (or a small pinch if using pre-ground), a tablespoon or so of paprika.  I feel like I'm missing something.

 

Used to put in, but can't in my current crockpot due to lack of space: 1 "small" tin of tomato paste (thickens the stock, so it's more like a stew, instead of halfway between soup and stew).  I'm going to have to try that next time, because it gives a nice rich stock/broth to work with.

 

To try (as I can't remember if I have yet or not): 1 thing of Knorr Vegetable Homestyle Stock for added flavour

 

Dry spices I've tried that didn't really seem to do much: Thyme (since it doesn't soften at all even after 18 hours)

 

Comes out looking like....

^At least that's how it came out last time, where I used mini potatoes as a quick cheat since I was really tired and sore that night.  Not taking that shortcut again.

 

Cook for 18-22 hours.  You'll have to turn the crockpot off at least once, leave it off for a few seconds, and then restart it if it's even remotely a new one, since new ones have auto-shut offs around 14-16 hours.  Feeds two gamers for like three days if consumed back to back (not recommended), or provides stew on demand for a month if you portion it out and freeze half of it....

 

 

[Kheprera]

Been sick today. Started last night and spent most the night and today in a semi-awake state. Stomach cramps and associated joys that come with it. Finally managed to keep ramen and 1 bottle of Gatorade down. Hoping to sleep better tonight.

[Green Eyed Monster]

6 minutes ago, Sylverthorne said:

 

Ahh.. speaking from experience, metal or glass, not plastic, if you have furry vermin.

When I was a very small Thorne, we lived in a place with a thriving mouse population (super adorbs, but also super destructive). Foods stored in plastic containers was not, generally, safe. Food stored in metal containers, or glass jars, usually made it long enough to be eaten.

 

That's part of the reason I've made something of a habit of picking up a lot of the old-fashioned glass jars with the spring-tension wired lids and rubber seals. We don't have mice here, as far as I know, but... habits. *shrug*

We've never had a problem with vermin of that sort getting into our stores, but the advice is good and I think I will also be keeping an eye out of those sort of storage containers.

GEM

[TripleH]

Well, my co worker "paid" me back for wrapping up his office when he was out back in March.

 

 

My desk from left to right:

 

 

 

I actually like what they did and will be trying to keep it display as long as I can get away with.