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Storytime for Space Hamsters

So I very rarely boil water in the microwave. Occasionally, I’ll melt stock or heat water that I’m going to add to something I am cooking over high heat, but in those circumstances, I am rarely patient enough to do more than take the chill off the liquid.

I certainly never boil water for tea in the microwave…

… because of the A-Team.

There’s one episode where Murdock eats a sandwich cold out of a vending machine, instead of microwaving it, because he’s afraid that the space hamsters will get in it.

Shortly after watching that episode, I was microwaving water for tea, and noticed how breaking the surface tension by adding sugar caused a wash of white foam on the top. Space Hamsters!

So, yeah, to avoid the space hamsters, I always boil water with a hot pot’s heating element or on the stove.

This was a public service announcement.

Dinner tonight (+ lunches)

I am going away for the weekend, so I’d like to use up my perishables.

Foodstuffs with short lifespans
1-2 meal-worths of roasted beef
1-2 meal-worths of ham
3 small red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
green beans
1/2 a small iceberg lettuce

eta:
1/3 a loaf of white sandwich bread
a few pocket pitas
Argh – yeah, and I have pears, too – I should check whether they are ripe yet
/eta

I think the green beans should go in a stir fry with the beef. If I cut them lengthwise, they’ll have a better texture after being frozen.

I think I will not try to make one big stir fry with all the ingredients because, while I could probably make it work, I’m a little horrified by the idea. Partly because the kind of stir fry with green beans should go over rice, but the kind with the lettuce should go with fried noodles. At least in my head.

So I’ve got ham running around. I could make the stir fry and freeze all of it and then make a dinner of ham, eggs, and toast. Or I could scramble them together, with some of the bell pepper, and put them in pita bread.

Okay, so that takes care of everything except a few miscellaneous slices of bread. I could toss them. I used the last of the milk last night, so bread pudding is out. Hmmmm… any ideas? Oh, yeah, and pears. You think I could cut up the pears, mix them up with some bread and brown sugar, bake it, and end up with something edible?

There’s hope that I might finally be getting a new supermarket! It has be vaguely under construction since it closed, but they do seem to actually be making progress recently. Yes I am excited about the cheaper groceries of greater variety – but I am even more excited about the public restroom. Oh my god, will people quit using the lot behind mine as a toilet? Don’t worry, there is a fence between my backyard and the lot, but when the supermarket was open, I could shortcut through the lot… not anymore!

Relaxing

It has been a lovely birthday weekend.

We had a party at work on Friday with pizza… and I brought in a lovely chocolate mousse cake with ganache. It was my first time buying something at The Restaurant School‘s pastry shop, but it was amazing. Then my parents took me out to dinner at a nice restaurant and then I met GeeksDoItBetterfor a midnight screening of Serenity!

Saturday, my actual birthday, I worked overtime and ate most of the rest of the cake. The weather has been good to me again. We were supposed to get lots of snow starting at 2pm, but the temperature stayed above freezing even until 10pm, when I was walking home… and then right after I got home, it started sticking

So I have spent all of Sunday in bed! I woke up at noon and 4pm. It’s now almost 8pm, and I am considering having breakfast. Also, I love my neighbor – for he has shoveled the walkway, even my steps and up to my door.