Inexpensive Hobbies
I read the following line a few months ago and it really stuck with me: Who will remember you a hundred years? It was an article about legacy and unless you are part of a microscopic minority, (Churchill, Napoleon, Manson, etc.) the reality is ... nobody. It's kind of jarring. He then offered this thought experiment: Who was your great great great grandfather? If anyone would remember him, that might be you, right? That's four generations. Eighty years. What was his name? His favourite food? Was he tall? A strong singing voice? Nothing ... right? I got nothing. So, every day, if you are not making yourself happy, then what are you doing? After that, bring a little joy to family and friends? Maybe make your community or the world a little better ... and that's it. The rest doesn't matter. A pen is not poised over a history book waiting for your next move. In a hundred years, what you do today will not mean spit to anyone ... but you. Today. This is your ride.
What got me thinking about this again was what I like to call "A Life Well Lived" The lady pictured above had a street food stand in Vietnam and she is discovered in 2009 by none other than Anthony Bourdain. He coins the phrase Lunch Lady on one of his No Reservations episodes and for her, it all takes off. A restaurant owner in Vancouver brings her food to his family restaurant and wins three consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards. She becomes part owner and they open up two additional locations. The latest is on Ossington Avenue and she is flying into Toronto for the grand opening last week. Shortly after landing, she tragically suffered a massive cardiac failure and, despite every effort, passes away. Tragic ... right? Sad? I'm not so sure. She got the full ride. She made the most of it. I am happy for her. Nguyễn Thị Thanh! Remember that name. Or don't. The restaurant is called: The Lunch Lady Toronto. Pop in if you get the chance and celebrate a life well lived.
My Optimum Week
I tried that banana leaf shrimp thing for ten bucks from last weeks' flyer. It was just OK. It's like eight medium shrimp in a sauce. You might want to do it yourself. Make it for half that price. Make it better. Sauté some peppers and onions until just getting an brown edge. Set them aside. In the same pan place ten thawed shrimp (from a PC frozen package, tails removed) in a bit of butter. Fry until one side just changes colour. Flip and add back in the veggies and some Memories of ... sauce. Do not flip the shrimp back over when stirring in the sauce. You can try the Goshujang chili variety but I still like the Satay Peanut stuff. Ready one minute later. I had mine over Momofuko noodles and fresh bean sprouts. Rice also works. $5 instead of $10 and I know what's in there.
Your List
A pretty great flyer I thought and lots going on in Optimumland!! Extra bonus redemption event over at Shoppers. If you go Saturday morning, you get those extra Saturday and Sunday flyer sale items. Buy everything you can from your fridge list, then stock up on toilet paper, paper towels, Windex, Gain, all your non-perishables. $500 for free when you redeem 350,000 points. Back up the bus!
Now, with that done, drop that load in the driveway for your partner and head on over to the garden center. Spend $100 for an extra 20K in points. Then head inside? I am still stocked with burgers as I have not started BBQ season yet, but they are on again with big time points if you buy two boxes. Member pricing on the Balderson cheese, family sized PC lasagna and the Butter Chicken. These are all great products and are good deals at $8. Boycott Cheese-It crackers, Poppi soda. Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Seaquest fish products and Veggie Straws. My Zehr's had those shrink wrapped frozen goat bones hidden in a corner. You can see the product, so if you get the ones that are mostly meat, it simply makes the best Vindaloo in the world. Watch out for the little sharp bones that come out in the crock pot. From the flyer, you might get the Korean Short Ribs? At twenty bucks a pound for what is basically half bone, they are pretty expensive but 50% off this week. Recipe follows the list:
Korean Short Ribs
A crock pot is really the way to go with these, but I did a pretty good job with a loaf tin in the toaster oven. We are after low and slow here. Combine 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of AC vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in bowl. Set aside. Saute some veggies (carrots, onion and cabbage for me) in olive oil and set aside. Dredge the ribs in seasoned flour, add some oil and sear the outsides of them in the same pan. De-glaze the pan and throw everything into the crock-pot. Set it on low and go to work. Or on high for four hours if you are the luckiest man in Guelph. Serve with scalloped potatoes?
As you know, I am not much of a joiner. Small crowds gathered to render polite applause for the mundane, really irks me. I saw this in the flyer and thought, I need to make a change. Apparently Zehr's is going to stage a Guinness Record Attempt in front of a small crowd at selected locations. There will be someone with a microphone ... barf. He or she will be very excited ... barf. There will be speeches as they whip the crowd into a frenzy ... barf. And ... I have frozen suicide cabbage and navy bean soup in the freezer!
If I start preparing the day before, I believe that I can sequester myself into the crowd and really give them the "cutting the cheese" experience. If I time it right, hopefully I can hear comments like "is it supposed to smell like that"? And, of course, the ever popular ... "As soon as he opened it up, you could almost taste it?" I have inexpensive hobbies.
What I'm Reading
Robert L. Forward
Gregory Benford
We Are Watching
Season Two of Hightown. Plot gets a bit of a stretch. I will let you know. Then, our Plex server burped and V.E. had just mentioned Lioness. I was just having a peek, honest, and we were hooked again. Watched both seasons in about three days. Season Two is actually better than Season One and that is saying something. We finished Mobland (it ended well) and while I could watch Margot Robbie read the phonebook, that assassin movie on Netflix is pretty terrible. What I am most excited about is there is new Love Death & Robots content over there! SWMBO is very excited as well.
... and finally
J.D. Vance, referring to Chinese people as peasants, is going to be a recurring theme for a little while with me. Robotics, high-speed rail, general education. Does the "west" lead in any of these categories any more? Now, Pepto Abysmal has Musk out there cutting university research funding and NIH grants. You have to wonder about a country that elects a president who does not read well. The experts all infer about a grade four level seeing as he speaks at a grade five!! Mmm. According to the Pew Research Center, a significant number of Americans have not read a book since graduating from high school! I suspect the same is true here? Hard to find gainful employment and avoid a life of social assistance and / or crime if you read and write at a grade 4 level? What has been bothering me is that I am seeing this picture all over the news. The U.S. newscasters have never referenced the glaring problem. Are they trolling me? So, ten guys break out of a New Orleans jail. One of them left a note. If you see it, you see it.
Mitch & Maddie