Tag: food

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The Best Laid Schemes

Summer took the girls home this morning so she could get her nails done. I made plans to pick up some Ridgewood Brothers BBQ for lunch with my parents, then made it across town early enough to be the first person in line. They hooked me up with some incredible banana pudding, but I forgot to tell them what sides I wanted with my Hog Trough, and ended up having to go back for them later in the afternoon.

Uncle Giao came down with Erica to help move Nova into a dorm at Tech, so my parents ended up bailing on lunch with us and went to Linh instead. Summer brought the girls back and we ate a super late lunch at my house.

I knew Robert had quite a bit of trouble with green wood yesterday, but I didn’t expect to taste the difference in the meat. The smokiness just wasn’t there the way it usually is, and all the meats seemed a bit drier and less flavorful than we’d ever had before. We did finally get some burnt ends though, and they were super rich, fatty, and juicy. Honestly, I think I would actually prefer them left on the brisket, but that may not make sense when you’re serving by the slice. Overall, I hate to say it was SubparBQ, but the expectations at this point are so impossibly high, and everyone deserves an off-day. They’re still my number one pick hands-down, and I’m not even playing favorites.

After we ate, Summer left for her hair appointment. Eventually I got the girls loaded up and we went to my parents’ house to swim for a while. Summer took forever to meet us there, but her highlights looked great. We sat around for a while talking to Mom about cars, then eventually made it back to my house for the evening.

Eaddie and I stopped along the way to get some Dairy Queen for everyone, then they watched some TV for a bit before getting up and exploring the house a bit to make plans for The Great Cleanout. There’s a lot to do, but everyone seemed genuinely excited about it, which felt pretty good. I dug out my box of greenman suits, and Eaddie danced around the living room for a bit. I got some intense stomach cramps from all the laughing.

Autumn was the first to crash as usual. Then Summer went to bed while Eaddie watched some TV and I poked around the internet until the yawning took control.

Nothing can stop it cause you’ve just gotta ride ride ride ride ride!

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Ruby Steaks

Twoscore ago, my parents made the brilliant choice to hitch up and start a life together. Julie was out of town, but Summer and I thought it would be fun to grill some steaks for them after the letdown of the year yesterday at Logan’s. She left to go to the gym and mow the lawn while I cleaned up a bit at home. The girls would be back in time for dinner, so we had their father drop them off at my parents’ house.

When she was ready, I picked Summer up and we headed to Walmart for a quick run-through for the meats. My parents had everything for mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, and some other vegetables, so we got steaks, kielbasas, some smoked cheddar sausages for Autumn, and then some frozen shrimp at the last minute.

I had a little trouble with the heat on the grill, and I think I overcooked Mom’s strip steaks. The others seemed to come out a nice, pink, medium rare. I had a porterhouse all to myself, and the tenderloin side just melted in my mouth. I knew I ate too much, but I had some making up to do after those sirloin atrocities from yesterday.

We didn’t stick around too long since the kids were exhausted. Summer still felt pretty nauseous, so we headed back to their house where she climbed straight into bed. Eaddie and I stayed up a little while playing more iMessage games, and eventually I headed to bed.

Without you, none of this would have been necessary.

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Logan’s Roadkill

Summer and I decided to run to Conway today instead of going all the way to Hot Springs. I was hoping to score a deal on some Nest cameras, among other things. She went to the gym while I got ready at home. I accidentally spilled a bunch of water in the kitchen and had to clean it up first, so I took a frustration break in Overwatch before we headed out.

Our first stop was Logan’s Roadhouse for a late lunch because we were both super hungry. It was the absolute worst food I’ve ever had from a Logan’s. I let them talk me into a choice sirloin that I could barely even cut with a serrated knife, much less chew. Worse yet, the steak didn’t even have any flavor. It was truly awful. Even the potato was bad, with Summer feeling like they were overcooked and dry, and me thinking the opposite that they were undercooked. The service was great, but I wasn’t going to send the food back. I just cut my steak into tiny little pieces, mixed it up with the potato and A1, and swallowed it whole.

Our next stop was Home Depot to see if they had my Nest cameras. We wandered around the store for a bit and ultimately ended up at a register with a piece of paper off of a tear-off calendar-like display. I went to talk to the manager as she got into the locker to look for the goods, and she was the polar opposite of helpful. She didn’t seem to understand a word I was saying, and just had a completely garbage attitude. Maybe it was the masks, because I know I was sick of mine just from our first store visit.

Next up was Kohl’s to burn a $5 reward, bringing a blouse for Summer down to just over a buck. This was our first win of the day, but the mask was really wearing on me by this point. Our next stop was Sam’s, where we just picked up a couple small things and left. On our way out of the shopping center, we decided to stop at Rita’s Italian Ice. This was our second win of the day, because the custard and Italian ice were both amazing.

On the way home, I remembered wanting to get a carwash, so we stopped by Splash and got a quick detail. They were pretty dead, so they had the job done faster than I could pepper my lunch potato.

Summer didn’t feel great most of the afternoon, so when we got home, I put on Fun with Dick and Jane until she was ready to go to bed. Then I played some iMessage games with Eaddie to end the night.

Now all I can think about is an actually-tasty steak.

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Wing It

We got up this morning and munched on some leftovers for brunch. The girls would be going with their father for the week, so Summer had them up and into some chores before I left. I went home to try and clean up a bit myself, but I just felt sapped pretty much all day for some reason. I had a little trouble getting to sleep last night, so it’s possible I just wasn’t well rested.

It took me a few trips, but I got everything unloaded from the car. I had to stop and clean up after the cat as soon as I got into the house, so I didn’t really get anything put away properly until later. Instead of getting things properly cleaned like I needed to, I got into tinkering with Plex until it was time to get a shower and meet back up with the girls.

Dad grilled chicken wings for Julie’s birthday party yesterday, so I met the girls over there for dinner. Their father showed up just a few minutes after we got there, so Summer sent them off and then came back in to eat with me. Infinity War was playing on the TV, so we watched the end of it before heading back to my house for the evening.

Just make the decision to be confident, and no one else will be the wiser.

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A Hot Day for Company

We got up this morning and the girls finished cleaning up for company. I found enough stuff in the refrigerator to make some chicken tacos for brunch, then ran home to clean up before Summer’s friend came over with her family.

I got back and helped patty hamburgers, but had to run to Walmart for some lettuce just as they arrived. When I got back, I took over grilling so everyone else could go catch up. The corn on the cob was taking a bit longer to cook, but then the whole grill caught on fire with all of the grease in the bottom. That would have to be a chore for another day, but the corn came out great.

The girls played a bit of Switch, then Autumn put on The Lorax. I think everyone had gotten pretty tired, and there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation. Autumn spent most of her time with the toddler.

Once they left and everything was cleaned up, I headed home to finally start my taxes. Summer dropped Eaddie off with her parents for a few days, then brought Autumn over for the evening. They watched TV while I scrambled around the house looking for my tax documents, and then I caught the end of Cool Runnings with them before bed.

Image party tomorrow!

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Aye Captain

I dropped Autumn off with Summer this morning so she could do something besides sit around the house while I got ready for work. Summer ended up needing the help anyway, so it worked out at the expense of running late myself.

We had our work cut out for us today, to a much greater extent than I expected. I started out having Autumn file warranty claims while I bounced between servicing other devices and troubleshooting my task sequence for faculty devices.

Just before lunch, Zach called and said they were getting kicked out of the kitchen area and the other half of the cafeteria at Gardner, so they had to bring me the rest of my teacher devices. I didn’t really have room for them either, but we did our best to carve out a hole. I still have a bunch of new monitors sitting in the hallway for Ethan’s eight additional lab computers.

Obama’s been gone so long that
America’s all out of change.

As soon as we finished there, we went to Popeye’s to pick up some chicken for lunch. We got to Summer just before a huge storm hit, and we ate with her. Ronda showed up for an oil change on our way out, so we stopped to talk with her a bit, then made it back to the high school. We ran into a shotgun pattern of warranty expiration dates when filing claims, which had me super stressed. In the end, they’re all just extra devices anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s all garbage, and I don’t really care if it fails because I know it’s not any fault of ours.

We worked pretty late, and I still never got a functioning faculty image made, but I think I may have figured out why. I won’t know until I get to try my new media tomorrow morning. It’s Friday though, and everyone has chosen to work at 8am. I took off last Friday, so tomorrow is my first full scheduled eight hour day since before the pandemic started. I’ve actually worked plenty longer than that by choice, but somehow actually being scheduled for it feels worse.

Summer got off early and went to the gym, so Autumn and I ran by the graveyard to quickly check for any treasure. Then we went home so I could quickly change before going to Walmart for dinner supplies. They had a ton of Petit Jean pepper bacon marked down pretty significantly, so of course I bought all of it.

When we got back to their house, Summer and Eaddie were up in arms about all the things Eaddie hadn’t done at home all day. It took us a while to get our rotisserie chicken wraps going because I had to get in Eaddie’s face about it. I couldn’t fathom rebutting not completing any chores because I had nothing to do all day. That was just stupid, and she knew it.

Dinner was great, and at least felt healthy. Autumn went to her room and passed right out, and Eaddie turned her attitude around to get some things done in her room. She even seemed to be in a good mood about it.

I guess sometimes you’ve just gotta take a hollering.

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Cleankering

We slept in pretty late today, which was a great recharge. I made tuna croissant sandwiches for lunch, and then Summer went to the gym and home to clean up. I played a little Overwatch, then cleaned and tinkered randomly around the house until Summer got back.

We went to my parents’ house for spring rolls for dinner. Julie was late even though she was the one that decided on the time. It wouldn’t have mattered, but Mom was super worried that she had fallen asleep and wasn’t going to come over.

When we got back home, I started some laundry while Summer watched a cake show. Then I got the cat box cleaned up before bed.

Three-day weekends should be standard.

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From Womb to Tomb

Summer took the girls to meet up with their father today while I cleaned and tinkered at the house. Eventually she came back over and we went to my parents’ house for some dinner.

Evidently Autumn went skydiving, and we didn’t learn about it until after the fact. I don’t think either of us really minded except that we didn’t learn that it was even a possibility until after the fact. It’s possible I was more upset about it than Summer.

After dinner, we came back home and watched Cloud Atlas. It was pretty tough to keep up at first, and it was more impressive how many characters each actor portrayed than anything than anything else. After three hours, we decided we liked it, but I’m not sure I’d watch it again. Just another one checked off my list.

I ended the evening tinkering with my TeamSpeak Sinus bot some more, and managed to get YouTube search and streaming to work. I just don’t understand how something so well designed and refined can have such completely absent documentation.

Our lives are not our own. we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.

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Opinions Are Like Family

Summer had to work this morning, so I let the girls sleep in a little while before showering and taking them to my parents’ house for the day. Julie was already there swimming with some friends, so we went in to meet with Chellie and Phil. Dad invited them over to learn a bit about film and print photography.

Julie had picked up some Popeye’s for us for lunch, so we had a little to eat before I sent the girls out to swim. They were a bit shy to get out there because of how much noise Julie and her two friends were making, and Eaddie wasn’t super excited to swim in the first place. I just laid on the couch inside and dozed off a little between apneas.

Eventually I got a grill going and pattied some hamburgers. I managed to fit all of the corn, four types of tubed meat, and some burgers on one grill. The more impressive part was that I finished cooking everything and toasting buns just as the last of the charcoal turned to warm ash.

The food was good, but somehow Julie got onto some tirade about racism. Lelan showed up at one point for just a few minutes, and Summer eventually showed up late after work. It was all a bit more excitement than I could really stand.

On the way home, I stopped by to see if Grant was cooking so I could talk to him about a possible catering job. It was just Felix hanging outside talking to a friend, so I headed on home. Autumn put on Coco much to Eaddie’s umbrage. Summer went straight to bed, so I played a couple rounds of Overwatch with Clint. Then I finished the night with an episode of The Punisher with Eaddie.

A Dothraki wedding family reunion without at least three deaths is considered a dull affair.

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Taco ’bout a Party

We got up this morning and pretty immediately started prepping for Eaddie’s birthday lunch. I prepped vegetables, then got the chicken started in the Instant Pot, and it finished cooking shortly after everyone arrived.

The chicken tacos turned out amazing, and Summer had all of her dressings for them out and ready to go. Nick brought his new girlfriend Robin along, and it was a pretty quick lunch shindig before the opening of a few presents.

When everyone left, I headed out to spend some time at home. I tinkered with my Kobalt cabinet again, and got the doors to close a bit better after some leveling. I got a little cleaned up inside, played a bit of Overwatch, and spent a bit more time trying to configure Plex. I think I’m about ready to start up a rack server for some of that stuff, but that will take some excavation.

As the evening came, some guy rang my doorbell looking for signatures on a petition to remove the county from the list of counties eligible for a casino. I forget how many signatures he said they needed, but I hope it helps.

Eventually I made it back up to Summer’s for the evening. Noah was there, and we watched an episode of Black Mirror before putting Summer to bed. Then the three of us watched the first half of District 9 before Noah and I were ready for some sleep. Eaddie quietly turned 13 and wandered off to her room as well.

Fookin prawns.